SFS Chapter 722 Everyone's fled, the city is empty.
Chapter 722 Everyone's fled, the city is empty.
When Sun Lang was driven to Jiangnan by the Wei army, he didn't go alone. He was accompanied by twenty or thirty brothers who were just as unlucky as him.
These brothers joined Guan Xing's training camp just like him. After the training ended, some chose to go it alone and make a living on their own, but seven or eight of them chose to go with Sun Lang.
In other words, besides himself, Sun Lang had seven or eight other special forces soldiers who had been trained by Guan Xing.
With these people around, Sun Lang's work became much easier. After discussing it, they decisively set up four grain distribution points at the county government office and the mansions of the three major families. Then, they took a gong and banged it randomly, waking up all the sleeping people and making them go to the grain distribution points to collect their grain.
At the same time, they also sent people to carry buckets of water to write large slogans on the walls of the county government office and the mansions of the three major families.
This was naturally taught by Guan Xing. Sun Lang didn't know if it would be effective or how effective it would be, but he wrote it down first.
When the news spread, the people were afraid it was a conspiracy and dared not go. Sun Lang directly arrested several people and forcibly sent them to the county government to collect their grain, and then told them to go home.
Seeing that the villagers who had been arrested had actually received their grain back, the other villagers could no longer hold back. They went home, grabbed sacks and winnowing baskets, and rushed to the grain distribution point as fast as they could.
Soon, a long line formed in the county government compound. Sun Lang, holding a torch, looked at the people receiving their grain, nodded in satisfaction, and shouted loudly: "You all know Liu Huangshu, right? He's the Liu Huangshu who fought Cao Cao for half his life, the one who is incomparably benevolent and righteous. The Huangshu has already declared himself emperor and restored the Han Dynasty. The Northern Expedition is only a matter of one or two years. But you don't need to worry. His Majesty is incomparably benevolent and righteous and will not make things difficult for you. Just do as you please."
"But the grain from the three major families is not easy to obtain. After taking it, you should hide it carefully, or go to the countryside to hide for a while to avoid being retaliated against by the three major families."
The scene was too noisy, and it's unclear whether the people heard Sun Lang's shouts, but the hands that were loading grain never slowed down.
To put it bluntly, the common people harbored some resentment towards the three major families. While Cao Cao was alive, the three families were still somewhat wary of him. However, after Cao Cao's death, the three families became increasingly arrogant, like ferocious beasts unleashed from their shackles. Not only did the land rent increase, but even the rent for shops in the city rose every month, making it difficult for many small merchants to survive.
In this situation, robbing the grain of the three major families not only brought joy to the people of the city from their sudden windfall but also a sense of satisfaction from revenge. They were extremely pleased with themselves and their hands were naturally quick to act.
The county town didn't have much grain stored up. The county government and the three major families together only had a little over 10,000 shi (a unit of dry measure). Each of the five or six thousand households in the town could receive nearly two shi, which was a windfall for the people. They were all busy without fatigue, working until the early morning hours.
The grain distribution was over and it was already dawn; it was time to retreat.
Sun Lang ordered the assembly, gave a brief explanation, and then led a transport team of over a hundred captured nags, donkeys, and mules, carrying a small amount of supplies, to quickly evacuate.
As soon as Sun Lang left, the people in the city fled with their families.
It felt great to receive the grain, but after receiving it, the people began to feel fear. After all, it was the official grain of the county government and the grain of the three major families. How could it be so easy to take?
But it would be too painful to make them spit out the food that's already been put in their bags, so it's better to hide for a while.
This idea resulted in Wuyang quickly becoming a ghost town. I wonder what the magistrate's mood will be when he returns to find the county town deserted.
Sun Lang was having a great time in Wuyang, but the Kunyang magistrate's allied forces had a completely different experience.
In late spring, mosquitoes had already begun to appear. The allied forces were in position by 1-3 AM, but Sun Lang still hadn't arrived by 5-7 AM. The magistrate of Kunyang County, who had been feeding mosquitoes for half the night, became impatient and grabbed Zhou Sanpi by the collar, asking, "Why aren't you here yet? Are you kidding me?"
On Wednesday, Pi hurriedly begged for mercy, saying, "Magistrate, please understand! I still need to work under your rule, how could I dare to cheat you? I swear in the name of my ancestors that I did not lie to you. It was indeed Sun Lang who took the initiative to find me."
The magistrate of Kunyang County also felt that Zhou Sanpi wouldn't dare to lie to him, so he had no choice but to ask, "Then is it possible that you remembered the location wrong? Do you have several old places?"
Zhou Sanpi said with a wry smile, "This is the only one for now. Since Sun Lang didn't say he'd move, it can only be this one."
While they were talking, the magistrate of Kunyang County was bitten by a mosquito again. He angrily cursed, "Tell me quickly what went wrong. If you can't figure it out, I'll bury you in the ground."
On Wednesday, Pi had no idea what went wrong, but dared not refute it and could only try to recall. In this process, he actually found an inspiration and hurriedly asked, "Could it be that there is a problem with my identity?"
“Magistrate, think about it. Sun Lang was a traitor who defected to Guan Yu back then. In other words, Sun Lang committed the crime of treason. This is a crime that requires the entire clan to be punished to completely eliminate the hidden danger. All participants must be punished. I also provided supplies to Sun Lang without knowing the truth back then. Logically speaking, I should at least be exiled. But thanks to you, Magistrate, I have been fine. I can’t guarantee that I won’t arouse Sun Lang’s suspicion.”
"So, Magistrate, do you think Sun Lang might not have left my house immediately after contacting me, but instead hid outside and watched me come to the county town to report to you?"
"Holy crap..." The magistrate of Kunyang County immediately broke down and said, "Why the hell didn't you say so earlier?"
Zhou Sanpi said awkwardly, "I just thought of that myself, but knowing Sun Lang's nature, if he really finds out I've betrayed him, he definitely won't let me off easily, perhaps..."
Thinking of this, Zhou Sanpi suddenly woke up with a start, and shouted, equally distraught, "He knows I hid money in the stable, my money won't..."
The magistrate of Kunyang County had no interest in his property. Instead, he pondered, "It seems Sun Lang won't come. There's no point in continuing to drag this out. But if we withdraw now and Sun Lang comes, we'll miss our chance. In that case, let's split up and have the others continue the ambush. You come with me home to confirm. Let's go."
After saying this, he ordered someone to notify the other county magistrates, and then he took Zhou Sanpi and rode home at full speed.
The place was not far from Zhou Sanpi's house, and the two arrived quickly. Zhou Sanpi rushed into the stable and saw that there was indeed a hole where he hid his money, and the money box inside had disappeared.
Looking up again, I noticed a line of large, eye-catching words written on the wall.
"Zhou Sanpi, you son of a bitch, how dare you betray me! I'll charge you some interest today, and we'll settle the score later."
Ignoring the threat on the wall, Zhou Sanpi painfully banged his head against the wall, shouting, "Sun Lang, how dare you steal my money! You bastard! That's my retirement money! My money!"
He did make a lot of money selling stolen goods for Sun Lang over the years, but thanks to Sun Lang, he spent a lot of money bribing people to get rid of his crimes back then, and now all he has left is this little bit in the stable.
In other words, Sun Lang stole his last savings, which was even more painful than killing him.
The magistrate of Kunyang County ignored Zhou Sanpi's wailing and stared at the words on the wall with a gloomy expression.
He realized he had made a mistake: after receiving Zhou Sanpi's report, he shouldn't have detained Zhou Sanpi under the pretext of preventing leaks.
If we don't penalize Zhou Sanpi, he'll go home. Once he's home, we'll discover this beforehand and report it to him, and he'll cancel the mission or make other arrangements.
As it turned out, he missed the most important information because of detaining Zhou Sanpi, causing thousands of people to be fed mosquitoes in the wild all night.
Although he already knew where the problem lay, as the county magistrate, he could reflect on his own actions, but he could not publicly admit his mistakes.
So he kicked Zhou Sanpi and cursed, "Zhou Sanpi, you're so old, why don't you get married and have children? Why are you living alone? If you had a family member, wouldn't you have found out the money was stolen long ago?"
On Wednesday, Pi immediately cried out in protest, saying that it wasn't that he hadn't married, but that his wife had passed away and he hadn't remarried. The reason for not remarrying was simple: he had too many lovers and didn't know which one to marry.
Wait a minute, what does this have to do with whether I get married or not? Magistrate, if you want to beat me, at least come up with a convincing reason.
The magistrate of Kunyang County was about to kick him again when he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly asked, "Although we have found out why Sun Lang did not enter the ambush, a new problem has arisen. Since Sun Lang did not go to see you, where did he go? He can't possibly be holed up in the mountain stronghold sleeping, can he?"