#517 - Huailing Incident
The next morning, Huailing City.
“Look! There's a person tied to the tall pole on the city tower!”
“It looks like the Emperor!!”
“How could it be? You must be mistaken.”
“I'm not mistaken! Years ago, when the Emperor was traveling, I was fortunate enough to see the Son of Heaven from afar! Besides, that person is wearing a dragon robe!”
“Hiss, it really does look like a dragon robe!!”
“What?! Why would His Majesty be... It must be that dog thief Wu Ding who did it!!”
“He... he actually dares to humiliate our Great Feng Emperor like this!!”
“I'm... I'm furious!!!”
“Fellow villagers! Let's rush up and save the Emperor!!”
“That's right! Great Feng must not suffer such humiliation!!”
“...”
The sudden appearance of a living person hanging on the city wall naturally attracted a lot of attention.
Especially since this person was the Emperor of Great Feng.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the area around the north city tower of Huailing City was crowded with thousands of people, all shouting angrily, the atmosphere escalating with each angry curse.
Yes, our Great Feng has surrendered.
But that doesn't mean we have to be humiliated like this by your Great Ning!!
Hanging Li Qi on the city wall for public display is equivalent to a resounding slap in the face of every Great Feng citizen.
Previously, they might not have cared too much about the change of dynasty, something too distant.
A woman carrying a vegetable basket, a dark-skinned laborer, a vendor carrying a pole, a scholar in a Confucian robe...
The crowd grew larger and larger, thousands of people shouting and shoving, gradually pressing towards the "security line" formed by the Great Ning soldiers.
“Bang!”
“Bang, bang, bang!!!”
“Back off!!”
“Back off!!!”
Bodies collided against the shield surface, creating a chaotic thud.
The Great Ning soldiers all held their long spears horizontally and raised their shields high, gritting their teeth and wrestling with the angry crowd in front of them.
Although they were all martial artists of ranked levels, their strength far exceeded these ordinary people.
But they couldn't withstand the power of many ants killing an elephant. Countless small forces stacked layer upon layer, and the resulting impact was no longer weak.
Soon, under the increasing pressure, the "defense line" formed by the Great Ning soldiers began to loosen, and the shield wall also began to shake.
Some soldiers had already drawn their sabers, trying to scare back the approaching crowd.
However, the latter seemed to be completely unafraid of those gleaming sabers, and it was unknown whether they had truly put life and death aside, or whether they believed that the Great Ning soldiers would not dare to kill them.
After all, indiscriminate killing of civilians was not something that could be tolerated in any era.
Only...
“General!”
On the city tower, a deputy general hurriedly ran to Wu Ding, bowed his head and cupped his hands: “More and more rioters are gathering around the city wall, and now there are no less than three thousand! And more people are coming this way after hearing the news!”
“Do you want to send more people to stop them? Or allow the brothers to take action to disperse them?”
“...”
“No need.”
A sneer appeared on his face, and Wu Ding glanced at the dark crowd below.
Although he could defeat this rabble with just one move, as a second-rank master, he disdained to attack ordinary people unless necessary.
But just because he didn't bother to take action didn't mean he would let these "rebellious people" go.
“Release the arrows.”
In the deputy general's astonished eyes, Wu Ding smiled and uttered two words.
The next moment, hundreds of archers on the city wall simultaneously drew their bows and nocked their arrows, shooting without hesitation at the unarmed crowd.
“Swish!”
“Swish, swish, swish!!”
Amidst the sound of bowstrings snapping, dense arrows like flying locusts whizzed towards the crowded men, women, and children, instantly igniting a chorus of dying screams around the city wall.
How could ordinary people withstand the arrows shot by martial artists? Moreover, now that they didn't even need to aim, after just a few rounds of rapid volley, there were hardly any living people left standing in the originally dense crowd.
“Ah!!!!”
“Kill... killing people!”
“Run away!”
“Devil! Devil!!”
“I'll fight you!!!”
“...”
From beginning to end, in less than a hundred breaths, nearly three thousand people were killed.
This wasn't a battle, it was simply a massacre.
The area around the north city tower instantly turned into a living hell, blood soaking the yellow earth, and the shrill screams were heart-wrenching.
Whether Wu Ding chose to solve the problem in this "simplest way" was at Ning Yongnian's instruction was unknown.
In short, his expression now didn't fluctuate in the slightest.
“Clang!”
With a wave of his hand, the saber at his waist was suddenly unsheathed.
A dazzling blade of light flashed, instantly shattering countless fresh corpses, and then leaving a knife mark several inches deep on the ground.
This knife mark was connected end to end, completely surrounding the north city tower.
“Hmph! Listen well, you all!”
Stepping out and standing on the city tower, Wu Ding pointed back at Li Qi on the tall pole.
“Your Great Feng Emperor! Previously ordered the massacre of two million people in my Yuanzhou City!”
“This act is against all reason, so Heaven sent down punishment, destroying five hundred thousand of your Great Feng soldiers overnight!”
“My Emperor also does not tolerate this despicable act, so he sent troops west to punish the tyrant!”
“This benevolent act should have brought peace to the world, but you not only are ungrateful, but you are also stubbornly clinging to your delusion, and are willing to be lackeys of the tyrant!”
“Those who assist the wicked will be killed!”
Glancing coldly at the crowd in the distance who were angry but dared not approach the city tower again, Wu Ding sneered:
“Hmph! The tyrant is hung here, anyone who wants to save him can try!”
“But this general will make it clear first!”
“From this moment on, anyone who enters this area will die!”
“...”
Massacring three thousand civilians.
Compared to the Yuanzhou City massacre, this incident seemed "insignificant", but taken alone, it was definitely another "humanitarian crisis".
After all, there were not many forces who dared to massacre civilians in public.
If this matter was the work of a certain sect, then this sect would undoubtedly be immediately classified as a "demonic sect".
But if it was the work of a country... it could only be said that Great Ning's "international reputation" might be affected to some extent.
“...”
“Young Master, that's how it is.”
In Guanghan County, Wei Changtian learned about Li Qi being hung on the city wall for public display, as well as this "Huailing Incident", at noon.
He had just told Chu Xianping yesterday that "unless something is particularly important about Great Feng, there is no need to report it", and as a result, such a "particularly important" thing happened today...
And to be honest, although Wei Changtian was surprised, he didn't actually guess what Ning Yongnian was trying to do with this.
After all, he didn't know the "multiple-choice question" that the latter had left for Li Wutong, and only thought that Ning Yongnian wanted to pin the blame for the Yuanzhou City massacre on Li Qi.
Therefore, after sighing in his heart, Wei Changtian didn't think too much about it.
He only felt that this would undoubtedly make it more difficult for him to comfort Li Wutong in the future.
As for Li Qi... logically speaking, he should actually find a way to rescue this future father-in-law.
But unfortunately, he really didn't have the ability to do so now.
Kui Long couldn't participate in secular power struggles, so he definitely wouldn't save the emperor of a country.
Go there in person?
He had very few system points left, and he was afraid that he would be trapped in Great Feng at that time.
Therefore... alas, it was still that sentence.
Rescuing Li Wutong was all he could do at the moment.
