Chapter 1548: Release the Prisoners
Chapter 1548: Chapter 1548: Release the Prisoners
This sort of grand spectacle that’s rare even once in decades—everyone wants to watch it. The people of Beicang Prefecture are bold and naturally flock there.
As to whether it would anger Wu Mang, the people of Beicang Prefecture are not afraid. Wu Mang isn’t a Rong person, could he still slaughter them all?
"Ah, so these are the captured Witch Army soldiers, right? That’s really quite a lot, filling the whole street as they kneel. Lord Ying, you guys are truly impressive!"
Upon seeing so many Witch Army soldiers, the people of Beicang Prefecture praised Luo Ying, making Wu Mang very uneasy.
It turns out that the townsfolk have indeed been won over by Luo Ying.
Luckily, Luo Ying was willing to return the city; if Luo Ying had raised the banner of rebellion, this Beicang Prefecture would have become his territory.
"Luo Family kid, hurry up with the execution. So many people gathering together might lead to an incident." Wu Mang felt humiliated and urged Luo Ying to execute the Witch Army soldiers.
Quickly kill, once it’s done he can leave; he truly couldn’t bear this embarrassment.
Luo Ying smiled, stood up straight, and after saying some words to incense Wu Mang, he then ordered Pang Hai: "Kill!"
"Yes." Pang Hai immediately took action, wielding the blade to cut down fifty heads of the Witch Army in one go.
"Ahhh!"
The crowd let out terrified screams, some timid townsfolk had already fled. Wu Po and his son, upon seeing this, were also quite frightened. By the time the Witch Army had all been killed, the father and son had already fainted from fear.
Luo Ying’s face was extremely grim, pointing at them and saying: "Such useless trash, and you dare hand over Beicang Prefecture to them? Wu Mang, you’re truly senile!"
He added: "Hurry and take your two pieces of garbage away, even another glance at them is disheartening!"
Wu Mang’s old face turned beet red at these words, he didn’t respond but instead asked: "When are you leaving?"
Luo Ying replied: "Whenever your hundred thousand taels of silver along with the supplies and weapons arrive is when we’ll leave."
So if you want the city, if you want to end this mockery quickly, you better send the items soon.
Hearing this, Wu Mang could only remain silent and instructed Magistrate Jin: "Send a batch of government officials to carry General Wu and his son, along with the Rong Witch Army, out of the city."
He alone couldn’t move so many people.
"Yes." Magistrate Jin was drenched in cold sweat, constantly busy like a servant, getting a dozen or more officials to carry Wu Po and his son along with the Rong Witch Army away.
This negotiation left Wu Mang at a significant loss, with a terribly humiliated face as he left, his expression ominously dark.
Pang Hai commented: "Lord Ying, Old Man Wu is probably devising a way to kill us, we should keep Wu Po and his son as hostages."
Luo Ying said: "Old Man Wu cares most about Wu Po and his son. If we keep them, Wu Mang might fight us to the death; giving him hope will make him compromise faster."
He added: "Wu Mang is smart, his Wu Family is implicated in this matter. To save the Wu Family, even if he’s angry enough to want to kill, he would only set up an ambush to attack us, he wouldn’t truly fight us to the death. He doesn’t have the time to fight us to the death, Beicang Prefecture’s tunnels have to be filled, the mechanisms reset, that alone can keep him plenty busy."
Pang Hai, hearing this, was reassured.
Magistrate Jin by the side listened with concern; already worrying enough, Luo Ying’s reminder about the tunnels just added to his troubles... better for him to just wish for death.
"Magistrate Jin, I heard there’s quite a number of good people wrongfully imprisoned by tyrants and wealthy bullies. Hurry up and release them. Keeping these good people imprisoned, do you intend to be a dog official?" After Wu Mang and his group disappeared from sight, Luo Ying shouted this at the lamenting Magistrate Jin.
Magistrate Jin wiped a sweat, wanted to say that releasing so many prisoners at once wouldn’t do, the records would be hard to manage, but at the thought of Luo Ying’s temper and methods, swallowed his words and said: "I will release them as soon as possible."
So when higher authorities investigate, he could claim that it was only the fierce bandits from Eagle Food Gang who released the prisoners, having nothing to do with him.
Luo Ying, unsatisfied, shouted: "What do you mean as soon as possible? Since they’re wrongfully accused, why do you still keep them imprisoned? Release them immediately, or I’ll throw you in jail myself!"
Magistrate Jin had no choice but to say: "Alright, alright, I’ll immediately release those prisoners wrongfully imprisoned by the wicked tyrants."
"That’s more like it." Luo Ying added: "I heard the Yang Family falsely accused two prisoners? The Yang Family are Rong people, the ones they accused must be good people, release them too."
Last night, after deciding to meet Wu Mang at the government office, they had sent people there to set up an ambush, in case Wu Mang attempted to assassinate Luo Ying.
And their people encountered a little kid with a piece of paper that clearly read: Government office main courtyard, Gao Family brothers, master Qin San Lang.
Gao Dong and his brother actually belong to San Lang’s group; they must be rescued.
But rescuing just the two of them would look too suspicious, so Luo Ying came up with the idea of releasing all those wrongfully imprisoned from the government office.
Releasing so many prisoners at once, with the Gao brothers among them, wouldn’t stand out at all.
After giving instructions, Luo Ying didn’t linger, instead leaving with Pang Hai and the others.
In the evening, Er Ping and Xiao Erliu were brought to see Luo Ying by the Eagle Food Gang.
"Greetings, Lord Ying." Er Ping and Xiao Erliu knelt to pay their respects to Luo Ying.
Luo Ying looked at them, frowning: "Why have you turned so skinny like this, haven’t you eaten?"
Is Qin Laoyao truly this poor? Can’t even afford to feed his servants? How embarrassing.
"Bring some meat, let them eat first!" Luo Ying instructed.
Er Ping explained: "We’ve eaten, we’re not hungry now. The reason we’re so thin is that we were tortured some time ago, and we were also poisoned."
He then recounted their dealings with Housekeeper Yang.
Luo Ying listened admiringly, pleased that San Lang could train such competent people: "So it was you two who discovered something wrong with the Yang Mansion, not bad."
Er Ping felt a bit awkward and said: "It wasn’t me who found out, it was actually Brother You Ping. He was injured, and because I needed to cover for him, I posed as him to come forward and show up. Brother You Ping is the truly impressive one."
Er Ping greatly admired You Ping, and the reason he looked so similar to You Ping was because they might be brothers from the same parents.
However, they didn’t wish to delve into it, unwilling to recall the times in the Water Bandit Village.
Their mother was taken to the Water Bandit Village, violated by many bandits. She had no idea who fathered the children, and he believed You Ping was his paternal brother because they looked alike.
"I see." Luo Ying asked further about matters concerning Qin San Lang, and Er Ping explained everything.
Finally, Luo Ying carefully asked about Gu Jinli’s facial sores and foul odor: "...What’s the deal with the sores on Gu Family’s face and the rotten egg smell?"
As Luo Ying asked this, his heart trembled in fear; if the sores on Gu Family’s face and the body odor were real, Brother Mu would endure great injustice!
Fortunately, Er Ping smiled and revealed the truth.