usatvline Chapter 213 Assassination
Chapter 213 Assassination
Meng Fuqing, who was the subject of much discussion, wielded the whip that the blacksmith had given him with great force. The long whip was entirely black and not made of particularly precious material, but with the addition of rattan, its power was greatly increased.
That night, Meng Fuqing asked Xie Jin if he had been cured of the poison. Xie Jin shook his head, "The way those medicines are prepared is very particular. They can only be taken tomorrow."
Meng Fuqing nodded and handed the three prepared prescriptions to Xie Jin.
The first is a formula for extracting high-purity saltpeter—the urine-saltpeter method; the second is a formula for black powder granules that can enhance the explosive power of black powder; and the third is a formula for nitrate-sugar explosives.
She had consulted Ling Qi before and learned that in this era, there was only gunpowder, and there was no way to purify saltpeter. The cheat code was used to cheat in such situations.
"These formulas can increase the power of gunpowder."
Looking at the prescription in his hand, Xie Jin wasn't particularly shocked. He had previously thought that there might be some unknown books hidden in that space, which would explain Meng Fuqing's erudition.
He put away the prescription and said seriously, "With the lord's help, I will surely win this battle. The lord doesn't mind if I give the prescription to Ling Qi, does he?"
"My lord has granted your request. It is getting late, General, please proceed with caution."
Meng Fuqing turned to leave, but was stopped by the person behind her. The person changed their address, "If nothing unexpected happens, we can set off south in three days. Qingqing, would you like to spend more time with me?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a wolf howled.
The wolf howl was quite close to them. Meng Fuqing looked in the direction of the sound and saw a white shadow dart into the study and pounce on the two of them.
Meng Fuqing said to the officials who were chasing the white wolf and were out of breath, "You may leave now. This beast is mine."
The clerk, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, hurriedly apologized and ran away.
Seeing that the white wolf had a lot of grass clippings on it, Meng Fuqing figured it must have crawled in through a dog hole, so he bent down and patted it off.
"They actually found their way here..." This surprised her somewhat.
Xie Jin wanted to pick up where they left off, but Bai Lang was unwilling to leave, tilting his head and looking at the two of them very seriously.
So, General Xie left the government office with a cold, handsome face.
Three days later, Xie Jin led 5,000 soldiers to Zhannan, taking Bai Lang with him, while leaving Lu Zhi to guard the city.
Within a day, people gathered in the bustling city to protest, accusing the government of oppressing the people and using the guise of buying and selling to commit robbery. They also incited the people with their words.
However, the people were unmoved. Not only were taxes reduced by 10% this autumn, but the price of grain in the prefectural city dropped in just a few days. For the people in this year of disaster, this was a great thing.
Those who intended to incite the people were escorted to the government office. Under interrogation, it was discovered that some of them were family heads who were dissatisfied with Meng Fuqing's actions, while others had accepted money to work for other forces.
The spy was ordered by Meng Fuqing to be beaten to death, and the others were given twenty strokes of the cane. Their taxes were no longer reduced or exempted.
Military intelligence kept coming in from the front lines. The forces in Zhannan were complex and their troops were relatively small. After swiftly capturing a county town in Zhannan, they patiently advanced step by step. Mu Feng also frequently reported on the distribution of forces in Zhannan, with good news coming one after another.
Meng Fuqing was not idle in Jing'an Prefecture either. As her base of operations, Jing'an Prefecture had to be well managed. If she couldn't win the hearts of the people of a city, how could she talk about the world submitting to her?
Managing a city is no easy task. She read through the local gazetteer and county annals repeatedly, and together with Yan He, she disguised herself and concealed her identity before personally inspecting the territory of Jing'an Prefecture.
She had never been involved in government affairs before, so she could only learn little by little from Xu Weizhi. Fortunately, she was quick-witted and the calculations weren't too difficult.
During the day, she inspected Jing'an Prefecture, and before going to bed, she would go to the library in her space to browse through modern books. After her inspection, she listed out a series of areas that needed improvement.
For example, they promoted tools such as curved plows, iron-toothed harrows, and dragon-bone waterwheels; implemented rice-wheat rotation; wrote down methods for improving soil fertility; and proposed using lime to improve acidic soil...
To improve her ability to write traditional Chinese characters, she deliberately changed the font when taking notes.
These things cannot be accomplished overnight; they can only be advanced little by little.
Busy as he was about to enter Linan County on his way back, Meng Fuqing realized that he hadn't been back to Hanhua Village for a long time. A few days ago, Shan Qiyu came to the prefectural city and said that the roof beams of his house had already been raised.
It's time to go back and take a look.
Just as he was about to inform Yan He, he suddenly saw a man dressed as a government official riding a fast horse up the road ahead.
The man dismounted and knelt on one knee. "Reporting to Lord Meng, several people from Hanhua Village have come to the prefectural city looking for you, claiming that your younger sister, Meng Ranran, has been kidnapped by villains and her whereabouts are unknown!"
Previously, fearing that someone might target his family and the people of Hanhua Village in order to get back at him, Meng Fuqing sent people from the Hidden Pavilion to secretly guard Hanhua Village.
Lu Sen and his band of bandits were no pushovers; the fact that they could kidnap people from Hanhua Village meant they were no ordinary group.
She asked, "Has the government office taken any action?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly looked up in one direction, and an arrow shot straight toward her.
"Watch out!" Yan He shouted sharply.
Meng Fuqing leaned back in time to dodge the arrow.
Unexpectedly, Ling Jiu appeared with eight people and got into a fight with more than a dozen masked men who suddenly appeared.
Yan He shouted to Meng Fuqing, "Sir, go to Hanhua Village first. Ranran is more important. I'll take care of things here, don't worry!"
"Yes, sir, this place is dangerous, let's leave first!" The clerk held a knife in one hand, guarding Meng Fuqing, his voice trembling with fear.
Meng Fuqing's gaze fell on his face for a moment, then quickly looked away.
Seeing that Yan He and the others were not having much trouble dealing with these people, she said to Ling Jiu, "Ling Jiu, come with me first."
As she spoke, she flicked her whip, sending one of the men who lunged at her flying.
"Yes!"
Under the cover of Yan He and others, the three successfully broke through the encirclement. After walking a distance, Meng Fuqing deliberately lagged behind and raised his whip to strike the clerk.
The clerk ducked narrowly to avoid the attack, his expression changing drastically: "What does this mean, sir?!"
When Ling Jiu saw Meng Fuqing attack the yamen official, he didn't ask why and subdued the man in a few moves.
Meng Fuqing dismounted and walked up to him: "How many people from Hanhua Village went to the prefectural city?"
“Three, three people,” the clerk said.
"Why didn't they send someone with you to find me? Why was it you, not Niu Er, who came?"
The person sent to the prefectural city must have been carefully selected by Meng Bochang or Lu Sen. Only one of them needs to come, and the matter can be explained on the way, saving more time.
"Little, little..."
The clerk was sweating profusely and stammering.
Meng Fuqing flicked his whip, wrapped it around his neck, and with a little force, forced him to raise his head. "Three."
"two."
Ling Jiu drew his sword.
Upon seeing this, the clerk cried out in terror, "Speak! I'll speak! I was greedy for money, please spare my life, Your Honor..."
"What is that person's name and characteristics? When and where did you complete the transaction?"
"Little one..."
Several more arrows came flying at them. The two men tried to dodge, but the clerk didn't even have a chance to dodge before being shot in the throat.
Seven or eight more masked men sprang out from the woods. Meng Fuqing and Ling Jiu stood back to back. Meng Fuqing gave the order: "Kill."
As soon as they finished speaking, the two attacked simultaneously.
Meng Fuqing's internal strength might not be as great as the assassin's, but she could still create afterimages with the whip in her hand.
If someone were to observe closely, they would see that the whip seemed glued to the person's body, never missing its mark. Often, after three lashes, the person being whipped would have no chance to retaliate.
She had intended to spare their lives, but when those people saw the situation was not right, they bit open the poison sac in their mouths, causing her to bleed from all seven orifices and die.
The two searched their bodies but found nothing.
At this moment, one of Ling Jiu's men rushed over, "Miss Yan is missing!"