LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 41: Prepare for War
Zhou Yuan returned to the military fort to take refuge, but the painted skins in Jing'an City suffered.
They received a martial law patrol order for no reason, and began to pay close attention to all suspicious objects around them.
But Jing'an City is the county office after all, and there are endless vendors, county office runners, scholars, and street performers coming and going every day.
It is too difficult to find a suspicious target among these people, not to mention that the painted skins cannot completely block the four gates of the county city.
But the high pressure from the painted skin ghost mother and the painted skin literati made it impossible for the painted skins to stay out of it.
Therefore, the atmosphere in Jing'an City gradually became strange.
Rogues patrolled, noble ladies paraded, dancers went outings, and even the county office assistants changed their usual behavior and went deep into various markets to understand the people's sentiments.
As the saying goes, if you stay calm in times of crisis, great things will be accomplished. It is better to be still than to move.
As the Painted Skins acted out of character, the state government's spies followed several suspicious targets and locked onto several forces and some people in the city.
"Respectfully inform the general that the merchants, dancers, ruffians, and doctors in the city are all abnormal.
The county office officials and assistants are also improper. The list of assistants is recorded here in detail. There are countless officials. I hope they will be dismissed and re-elected."
On July 12, the 13th year of Hongye, Lieutenant Jing'an received a secret letter from the state government's spies.
Looking at the long list of assistants, Lieutenant Jing'an was very satisfied.
Regardless of whether there were any injustices among them, the fact that the assistants on the list could be controlled by the Painted Skin ghosts meant that their official careers were over.
For Lieutenant Jing'an, this list was not only a merit that could be realized at any time, but also an opportunity for the court to show favor.
As long as these county office assistants were arrested and those grassroots officials were dismissed, the extra positions would naturally be able to absorb a group of new aspiring young people.
As for whether those implicated would feel dissatisfied, that was never a question the court would consider.
The Great Wei was a country where warriors led the army and subordinates supervised the government. The court officials were only slightly gentle on the issue of garrisoning troops in the military fort, and they were not so easy to talk to ordinary officials.
"Well, you are indeed a spy of the prefecture, and your efficiency is high.
As long as these treacherous ghosts are cleared out, Jing'an County may be able to hold a literary examination to select assistants and benefit the people."
The Jing'an lieutenant was sighing at the excellence of the prefecture's spies, and his accompanying guards sent another secret report.
"Report to the lieutenant, the activities of ghosts in the city are abnormal, and they even dare to close the streets and patrol the city.
We have investigated carefully for several days and have locked in suspects in various industries, among which red houses and brothels are the most, and county officials are supplemented.
Between the two, the gangs and pharmacies in the city serve as a link. The bandits are so powerful that they have become an organization. Please make a decision, lieutenant."
This secret report is an encrypted document, made by the Jing'an Army's own military spies.
After reading the secret report from the army, Lieutenant Jing'an was thinking about how to deal with it. Unexpectedly, the county office also sent a secret letter.
The situation described in it was completely different from the previous two secret letters.
Written by the county governor, he said that the officials were on their own and the chief officer was difficult to control. He was afraid that the officials would have different orders, so he asked Lieutenant Jing'an to lead the army into the city to impose martial law.
"Okay, I see you don't want to hide anymore, you think you have the ability to govern Jing'an by yourself."
"Pass my order, supervise the warriors of the counties under the county to enter the camp, and order the soldiers of the three camps of Wuwei, Shesheng, and Xiaoqi to prepare for war.
Order the soldiers in the army to enter but not leave, and send fast cavalry to the state capital to ask the governor of Huaizhou to dispatch reinforcements.
Urgently report to the court that the ghost plague Zhu Xian does not want to hide, and his ambition grows and he wants to attack the county city. The minister, Jing'an Lieutenant Jiang Ren, will follow the law of the capital town to carry out the order, enter the town to suppress the ghost plague, and show the majesty of the court."
An order quickly spread to the three camps of the army, and the regular soldiers prepared for war, and the auxiliary soldiers gathered first, ready to transport supplies with the army.
The entire military fort started to operate quickly in front of Zhou Yuan. This war machine was being warmed up, and the time to start was not far away.
"Captain General, order to open the armoury, take out spiritual objects to replenish qi for the warriors in the counties, and take out treasures from the secret realm to equip the brave in the army."
The captain's personal soldiers who were busy passing on orders, the military officers who were assembling the army, and the special wooden boxes that kept coming in and out of the armoury made Zhou Yuan realize the seriousness of the problem.
The Painted Skins were probably confused and made mistakes. Their excessive behavior made Captain Jing'an think they were going to do it for real.
The key is that Captain Jing'an is more ruthless and more powerful than them. Once he took it seriously, things escalated sharply.
"Where is Zhou Yuan, the Lord of the Divine Arm?"
"Zhou Yuan is here, do you have any orders?"
"Captain, order Zhou Yuan to temporarily supervise the Divine Arm Team, and lead three secret treasure bows, sixty evil arrows, three hundred blood arrows, and twenty spiritual liquids.
There are twenty brave men in my team, equipped with arrows and medicine, and guards shooting sound."
"Zhou Yuan, take the order, and supervise the soldiers to prepare for war."
The Jing'an Army is not an independent warlord, but a garrison under the Wei court.
Although the spiritual objects produced in their camp are not abundant, the court will not ignore them, but equip them with enough armaments for a war.
When Zhou Yuan took the order to supervise the troops, Cai Cheng in Jing'an City was still enjoying the warmth of his home.
At this moment, he, the military commander, suddenly became unimportant. In the face of strict orders, no one would leak any information to him.
But even so, the painted skins in the city still felt something unusual.
This abnormality was not that they had the ability to check the people traveling to and from the counties in the county, or that they had spies in the military camp.
It was because the street closure and city patrol went too smoothly, and the county officials only gave a few pointers before tacitly approving their actions.
After patrolling the city for several days, the Painted Skin Scholars had gotten rid of their initial panic and regained their sanity.
"Mother, because the clothes of the gods of the city were lost, we dispatched too many of our own people to investigate. Some of them were good and some were bad, and it was inevitable that some problems would be exposed.
There should be many spies in the city. They will probably analyze and report the situation in the city to their superiors."
"Mother, our actions are not in line with the actions of the officials in the city. If we go too far, we may be regarded as a provocation and declare war."
The painted skin scholars looked at the prosperous and bustling Jing'an City and felt that the human army might not be able to hold back.
The premise for them to enjoy the fun is to hide in the city like humans and learn human behavior. Once exposed, the court will never allow them to stay in the city.
"Can we temporarily return to the secret realm to rest, and then sneak into the city to make arrangements after a while?"
"No."
"No."
Two opposing voices, one from Luo Ying, an assistant in the county office, and the other from the painted skin ghost mother.
"There are so many spies in the city, and we don't know how many of us have been exposed.
If we return to our nest to avoid disaster, the location of the secret realm will most likely be discovered by the spies. In this way, after we are wiped out, we will have no chance to enter the world again."
"Luo Ying is right. Avoiding today's disaster will definitely cause trouble in the future.
No matter how powerful the Jing'an lieutenant is, he can't slaughter the people in the city. Let him kill some exposed ghosts and report back. Once he withdraws, this city will still be ours."
"Mother is wise. We request to suspend the closure of the streets and patrols in the city, so that our people can hide among the people again."
The Painted Skin Ghost Mother shook her head. She stroked the tall and thin young man in her arms and sighed softly.
"In three days, it will be the Zhongyuan Festival. The day when the ghost gate opens is also the day when I change my life.
Let them attract the attention of the Jing'an lieutenant. I brought them into the world and enjoyed many years of happiness. There should be some repayment."