Chapter 588 - Assignment of Affairs

Judging from the scattered residences, Qucheng is far poorer than everyone imagined, and although it is a neighbor of Shiyan City, it cannot be compared with Shiyan City at all.

Some time later, when the army approached the houses, there were corpses and bloodstains on both sides of the road, except for some flashing instruments, and from what appeared to be a fight.

Further on, the number of corpses on the side of the road increased, all dressed as civilians. Not only that, but some farm tools and rotten vegetables can be found everywhere early. In connection with the screams of the two spies before, it is conceivable that there was indeed a chaos in the city, but it is not certain who killed the civilians on the streets.

The scene on the street became more and more miserable, and some of the corpses still had the painful look on their faces that made it unbearable to look at them directly. Looking at those corpses lying on the ground, like items that had been discarded at random, Lin Xuanzhong suddenly had a feeling that their lives were worthless, no different from those rotten melons, vegetables and fruits.

Before they knew it, the army had walked several miles along the main road, and from beginning to end there was not a single figure except for the fierce birds that were gnawing on the corpses, and there was no sound around, as if walking in an empty city.

With a wave of his hand, Lin Xuanzhong asked the army to stop, and then turned to look at Xing Hu and Wang Yiyi. "Two generals, Qucheng may have been sacked by nearby bandits, and many civilians were killed for no reason!"

"What does Commander Lin mean is that this is not the work of the city lord of Qucheng?" The next moment, Wang Yiyi asked questions.

"I heard from the villagers of Orchid Village that the city lord of Qucheng is a man of power and wealth, and his personality is not cruel, so he would not do such a thing. Besides, these civilians look very poor, not enough to attract the city lord of Naqu City!" Lin Xuanzhong had already thought about it just now, and after analysis, Lin Xuanzhong felt that it was more likely that these civilians would die at the hands of the bandits.

"Then, according to Commander Lin's opinion, will the city lord of Qucheng still be in the city?" Thinking that Lin Xuanzhong's analysis made some sense, Wang Yiyi asked again.

"Presumably long since he was out of the city, otherwise those bandits would not have killed civilians unscrupulously," Lin Xuanzhong's face showed a solemn look, he was surprised by the ferocious behavior of those bandits, and at the same time sympathized with the plight of these civilians, it was hard to imagine that those bandits would not even let go of the civilians who were powerless, and the degree of brutality was outrageous. In addition, judging from the current situation, it seems that there are quite a few bandits.

"It doesn't matter who did it, let's go to the City Lord's Mansion to find out," Xing Hu was a little impatient as he listened to the two of them talking, and couldn't help but scream. Although Xing Hu is a rough person, he is not a bad person, and the scene in front of him is also unbearable. It is worth mentioning that in the past, when Xing Hu was in charge of local affairs, he mainly focused on cracking down on bandits, so Xing Hu's cry was mixed with a lot of anger.

"General Lin, why don't I lead a team of people to search all over the city to see if there are any living city residents, and then see if there is any food left in those residences?" When Xing Hu proposed to go to the city to have a look, Wang Yiyi proposed to search the city first, and the suggestions of the two were reasonable.

"Then General Lao Wang will take a thousand soldiers to search around, and if he finds civilians who are still alive, he will send them to the city, and he will personally ask them about some information," understood that the main purpose of Wang Yi's roar was to search for food, but Lin Xuanzhong didn't want to see any more killings, so he still gave a special explanation.

"Yes," said Wang Yiyi, who ordered him to ride to the back of the group, and divided a thousand men to take him away, and then divided the thousand into several groups, and searched from all directions at the same time. At the same time, Lin Xuanzhong took Xing Hu and continued to walk towards the city.

The further you went, the more corpses there were on the road, and the massacre seemed to come so suddenly, with many people dying in the streets, not having time to escape.

Under Lin Xuanzhong's arrangement, there were already soldiers in front of him who were responsible for clearing the road and moving the corpses and some items to both sides of the road, while Lin Xuanzhong and Xing Hu were constantly observing the surrounding situation. At the same time, Li Shuangxi, who was also sitting on the horse, was already so frightened that he couldn't speak.

The miserable scene in front of him, Li Shuangxi has never seen it in his life, and the more he watched, the more nervous he became. Unlike Li Shuangxi, for Lin Xuanzhong and those who have been on the battlefield for a long time, the scene in front of them can be said to be not the slightest terrifying, the only thing is just to make them sympathize.

All the way to the city, as expected, there was still not a single living person to see, Qucheng completely looked like a dead city, with only messy streets and scattered corpses. After checking the surroundings, the army stopped in front of the city lord's mansion. Speaking of which, the City Lord's Mansion in front of him was obviously the most majestic building in the city, but it was still lifeless, and there was not a single guard at the door.

After sending a team of people into the City Lord's Mansion to search, Lin Xuanzhong was thinking about what to do next. The situation in Qucheng was undoubtedly worse than expected, the city lord and those family forces fled, countless civilians were killed, and no one was seen alive. Lin Xuanzhong really didn't have confidence in collecting enough grain and grass in such an empty city, but the task assigned by Yan Nantian would not change because of the situation in Qucheng, so the situation was very grim.

After a period of helplessness, Lin Xuanzhong thought of what Hong Lao had said about sending grain last night, and he didn't really expect the little grain in the village, but now Lin Xuanzhong thought about it intentionally or unintentionally, and it can be said that the current situation is not what Lin Xuanzhong wants to see.

"General Lin, that bastard city lord has already run away, what should we do?" The scenes along the way kept stimulating Xing Hu, making Xing Hu accumulate a lot of anger, and now without a clue, Xing Hu was already extremely angry about the behavior of the city lord of Qucheng and those bandits.

"General Xing, don't worry, wait for General Wang to come back and find out the situation. ”

"So what are we going to do now?"

"It's not a matter if those corpses have been left on the streets, General Xing will take the soldiers below to clean them up, I think the army may have to be stationed in Qucheng for a few days. ”

"How many days?"

"But General Yan only gave us three days' rations, where did we get so much food to last a few days, shouldn't we go directly to Qincheng?"

"The situation in Qincheng is still unclear, I want to send someone to check the situation first, I don't know if any of you are willing to take the initiative to go," Looking back at Zhang Jiutian and several other lieutenant generals, Lin Xuanzhong planned to send some people with good strength. It is not required that there are many people, but the people who go must be strong.

"General, it's still early, wouldn't it be better for us to bring the army over directly, why do we have to send some people first?"

"I'm worried that the situation in Qincheng is similar to that of Qucheng, and it's still a waste of time to get there," it can be seen from the poverty of Qucheng that Qincheng will not be richer and stronger than Qucheng. If the city lord of Qincheng also escaped with money, then the situation in Qincheng was likely to be similar to that of Qucheng, so Lin Xuanzhong wanted to find out the situation before taking action.

"General Lin, the situation won't be so bad, right?" When Lin Xuanzhong speculated about the situation in Qincheng, Xing Hu couldn't help but get nervous. If it is really as Lin Xuanzhong said, then the difficulties they will encounter on this trip are beyond imagination, and Xing Hu naturally does not want this.

"General, my subordinates are willing to go," it may be that as Lin Xuanzhong's direct subordinate, Yu Tong was the first to express his desire to go.

"Commander Lin, the more his subordinates go," followed by one of Xing Hu's subordinates.

"Okay, the two of you will pick two or three subordinates from the army, disguise yourself, bring some rations and rush to Qincheng as soon as possible, it is best to inquire about the situation in a private way. If you meet with the official personnel of Qucheng, you can directly identify yourself, so as to convey the meaning that the night army is going to collect food. Yu Tong and the other deputy general were both seventh-order martial cultivators, and the two of them would bring some people there, and Lin Xuanzhong was very relieved.

"Yes," the two men were ordered to leave, and each went to the army to select three people, and soon the eight returned together.

"You go to the City Lord's Mansion to find some ordinary clothes to change into military uniforms before leaving," Seeing that the people were ready, Lin Xuanzhong explained again. At the same time, it happened that the person who had just entered the City Lord's Mansion to search came out of it.

"General, there is no one in the mansion, and it is still very chaotic inside, as if it has been turned over by bandits. ”

"I know," nodded to the commander who reported the news, and Lin Xuanzhong explained again: "You go in and find a few sets of clean clothes to come out, and give them to Deputy General Yu." ”

"Yes," following what Lin Xuanzhong pointed out, the commander noticed Yu Tong and the others, and didn't understand what Lin Xuanzhong wanted to do, but he didn't ask.

"General, let's go in with them," Yu Tong was worried that the clothes found below were not good, and immediately proposed to Lin Xuanzhong.

"Okay," said a simple promise, and Lin Xuanzhong watched them go in. Now that Xing Hu had gone to arrange for someone to dispose of the corpse, Lin Xuanzhong had nothing to do, so he had to wait at the gate of the City Lord's Mansion with peace of mind.

"General, since there is no one in the City Lord's Mansion, it is better to let the people go in and clean up so that we can settle down," Xing Hu came back not long and gave Lin Xuanzhong a proposal.

"It's still General Xing who is thoughtful. ”

"You go and surround the General's Mansion and don't allow any outsiders to come in," with Lin Xuanzhong's consent, Xing Hu immediately gave instructions to the soldiers below, "You go in and clean up the City Lord's Mansion." ”

Xing Hu pointed casually, and the soldiers below immediately divided into two teams, one team spread to both sides around the gate of the City Lord's Mansion, wanting to surround the City Lord's Mansion, and the other team directly entered the City Lord's Mansion. In the blink of an eye, only a part of the soldiers wearing the Golden Scale Bow were left around Lin Xuanzhong and mixed with the other archers.

Not long after that group of soldiers entered the City Lord's Mansion, because he felt that waiting at the door was not a big deal, Lin Xuanzhong entered the mansion with the remaining two hundred archers. The so-called archers were not real archers, just some foot soldiers who could use bows and arrows selected from Lin Xuanzhong's headquarters.

After entering the City Lord's Mansion, as reported by the commander just now, it was a mess inside, and it can be guessed that after the City Lord ran away with his family, the later bandits turned over the City Lord's Mansion again. In this way, it was less likely that Lin Xuanzhong would want to find something valuable in the City Lord's Mansion.