After her rebirth, the empress received a tragic and beautiful script.

Chapter 243 Conflict

"When it snowed heavily at the end of last year, many people came to the granary to ask the granary keeper to open the granary for relief. But those people never saw the gate open until they died. They only waited for the people sent by the government to collect the bodies."

"The manager of this granary is called Qin Gao. He was transferred from another place, not from Qing County. He is a dog official who flatters his superiors and bullies his subordinates. He only cares about his official hat and doesn't care about the lives of the people. Some time ago, there were disaster victims who couldn't get any food and came to the granary to ask for rice porridge. Not only did he not get any rice porridge, he was beaten by the warehouse official and dragged to a few streets away. Later, a soldier checkpoint was even set up on the avenue in front of the granary to prevent disaster victims from causing trouble."

"Qin Gao's adjutant Qi Liyi is a local kid from Qing County. He felt bad seeing his fellow villagers suffering and starving. He couldn't stand Qin Gao's behavior, so he discussed with several local warehouse officials and killed Qin Gao while he was asleep the night before yesterday. The next day, before dawn, they opened the granary to provide disaster relief to the people."

"As soon as the granary was opened, almost every household in Qing County came out. The street was full of people. Some helped to maintain order, some joined Qi Liyi and his men to help distribute the grain, and some quietly sent their knives and swords to them and placed them there."

Hearing this, Lu Yanchen had roughly deduced the whole story. He looked back at the soldiers who were still attacking the gate and asked, "Did the soldiers come later?"

"Yes, not long after, the county magistrate brought people to arrest Qi Liyi. Qi Liyi said that he would write a letter to the court to explain the disaster in Qing County and demanded to see the emperor's imperial edict, otherwise he would never surrender. The county magistrate did not reason with him and immediately started fighting. The fight lasted a whole day and night yesterday. Later, Qi Liyi and his men were defeated, so they closed the door and fought against the government soldiers."

After listening to this, Lu Yanchen frowned.

In theory, he belonged to the Northern Expedition Army, and his direct superior was Xu Ye, the governor of Yunzhou. He came here only to replenish food and supplies, and there was no reason for him to interfere in the affairs of Yingzhou. What's more, he only brought a dozen people with him at this time. If he really got involved, and the matter got out of hand, he would have no advantage in combat power.

However, if this matter cannot be resolved in a short period of time, he will not be able to obtain food and grass, which will delay his subsequent marching progress and combat plans.

After thinking for a long time, he decided to write a letter to Ye Qinghuai and Xu Ye to explain the situation first.

However, just as he was about to leave this place of trouble, a group of soldiers and officers came over from the other side of the street where he was, escorting a group of the elderly, the weak, women and children. The team moved very slowly, mixed with the shrill cries of children and the low sobs of women.

They ignored Lu Yanchen and his group, and walked straight to the door of the granary. When the soldiers attacking the door saw them, they stopped what they were doing and made way for this group of people.

Lu Yanchen had a bad feeling.

As expected, the county magistrate Tan Chunhui appeared out of nowhere. He was wearing a neat official uniform and stood at the front of the crowd, shouting, "Listen, everyone inside. You have assassinated an official appointed by the imperial court, hijacked the granary, and released official grain privately. Each of these is a capital crime! If you resist arrest, your entire clan will be implicated! If you repent now, open the granary door and surrender! Otherwise, I will execute your relatives on the spot first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the people who were watching the show around him started to riot.

Only then did Lu Yanchen realize that many of them were carrying lethal farm tools such as hammers and axes.

Obviously, they were not just here to watch the fun.

The tense atmosphere made Lu Yanchen subconsciously put his hand on the hilt of the knife.

Seeing his action, the team of Western soldiers behind him also went into battle preparation.

At this moment, several arrows suddenly shot out from the towering granary wall.

Those were no ordinary arrows. The arrowheads were wrapped with a strip of cloth, which was filled with sawdust and gunpowder, and the outside was a shell solidified from rosin oil. Although no fire could be seen, the tail of each arrow was dragging thick smoke. For a moment, the entire street was filled with smoke, and only the shadowy figures of people could be seen.

The smoke was spreading, and the tightly closed granary door opened to both sides. A tall and thin man appeared vaguely in the middle of the granary door, and his voice penetrated the fog, as if it resounded throughout the sky of Qing County -

"Heaven is cruel, it takes away from the deficient and gives to the surplus. I am sick of the inequality between the rich and the poor, and now I will make it equal for you! Dog official, accept your fate!"

With his loud shout, countless figures rushed out from the granary door and killed the city defenders outside the door.

Almost at the same time, someone in the crowd shouted "Kill!" and the people around seemed to be encouraged. They raised the tools in their hands and rushed to the battlefield.

The street outside the granary was in chaos, with the sounds of swords and guns clashing and the screams of the injured everywhere.

"General, we..." The personal soldiers following Lu Yanchen gripped the hilts of their swords tightly, their faces filled with indignation, as if they might draw their swords and join the battle at any time.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, Lu Yanchen raised his hand to stop him.

"Don't act rashly. This is Yingzhou, and we have no right to use military force here." Lu Yanchen spoke calmly, he did not want to get involved in unnecessary disputes.

Soon, the smoke arrows burned out, the thick smoke on the street dissipated, and the tragic battle situation appeared before everyone's eyes.

The warehouse officials headed by Qi Liyi protected the women, children and family members with shackles in the middle, and faced off against the defenders with swords and guns in hand. The ground was covered with blood and thin civilians lying on the ground groaning in pain. The survivors were still struggling to push themselves towards the defenders' swords.

It wasn't an evenly matched battle at all.

A soldier in armor and holding a sword can knock down a civilian wielding a sickle with just two strikes.

But these people seem to be fearless of death. Even if they are like an ant trying to shake a tree, even if they have to use blood or corpses, they will overwhelm their opponents with a huge difference in strength.

People continued to pour out from the street corners to join the battle, even the blind old man joined in, and he even joined in with his bare hands.

The air was filled with the smell of blood, a bloody smell of despair and anger.

The scene before us was more shocking and more heartbreaking than the mountain of corpses.

It is said that the only difficult thing in the world is death, but these people before them are simply seeking death. They have no way to live, so they choose to use their insignificant death to issue a powerless question to the blind God and to issue a curse to those high and mighty people.

At this time, a baggage soldier who was pushing a grain cart behind Lu Yanchen looked at a corner of the crowd and suddenly exclaimed, "Lao Cao!"

Lu Yanchen followed his gaze and saw that one of the warehouse officials who were protecting the women and children was wearing a different color armor from everyone else around him. He was fighting with the city defenders with a knife in his right hand, and holding a woman with his left hand, protecting her firmly behind him.

It was Cao Qing.