Green Mountain
Chapter 163 - 120, Civil strife_2

Chapter 163: 120, Civil strife_2

A spy asked in confusion, "My lord, the Luocheng Military Department isn’t just loafing around, If there’s a rebellion, they will immediately close the city gate and wait for the official army to suppress it. If they don’t close the gate in time, it’s a capital offense. Even if the Liu Family offers them a lot of money, it won’t work."

Jin Zhu replied coldly, "I guess, by now, the Liu Family has already opened the West City Gate."

As soon as he finished speaking, several men rode around a street corner and saw the West City Gate wide open. All the soldiers in front of the gate had their throats slit, and corpses lay scattered on the ground.

From afar, Chen Ji, through the open gate, saw a dense crowd of disaster victims raising torches and holding nail rakes and wooden sticks, charging towards Luocheng City with a menacing air.

A spy asked urgently, "My lord, what should we do now?"

Jin Zhu was thinking of retreating. What did the careers of Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin have to do with him? What did it matter to him if the mob ran into Luocheng City and started killing and looting?

He wasn’t the official responsible for this place!

Jin Zhu looked at Chen Ji, "We’ve already done our best today. The mistakes made by those civil servants competing against each other have nothing to do with us! Besides, your father isn’t fond of you, his loss of office will just relieve your anger!"

Chen Ji stopped his horse. Below his hat, his gaze silently shifted towards the firelight outside the city gate, where an uneasy atmosphere seemed to stir with the dancing shadows of the torches.

Chen Ji asked, "If the disaster victims break into the city, how many people will die?"

Jin Zhu, watching the dancing firelight in Chen Ji’s eyes, exclaimed, "What does it matter to you how many die? These disaster victims won’t even reach Anxi Street! Chen Ji, cannot we just pretend we haven’t come tonight? As long as we don’t intervene, this matter won’t concern us. Once we intervene, even if it’s not our fault, those civil servants will pin it on us!"

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than Chen Ji bent low, spurred his horse, and ran straight towards the city gate, "Close the gate, don’t let the disaster victims rush in!"

The spies were startled and turned to look at Jin Zhu.

Jin Zhu, watching Chen Ji’s receding figure, gritted his teeth and said, "Leave him, let him die!"

But after hesitating for a few breaths, he fiercely whipped his horse and shouted, "Damn it, follow me to close the city gate! I’ve truly had bad luck for eight lifetimes to deal with this!"

Everyone galloped to the city gate, and as the disaster victims approached within a hundred paces, the spies helped push the two giant red-painted city gates slowly together.

Once they had topped the gate with wooden stakes, they finally caught their breath.

Chen Ji and Jin Zhu went up to the city tower and looked down at the disaster victims.

Chen Ji raised a torch and shouted loudly, "Who dares to breach the city?"

From among the densely packed torches below, someone roared, "The court burned our grain storehouse, not letting us live! Open the door, we want to enter the city for food!"

Jin Zhu frowned, "How can anyone believe such an absurd rumor, why would the court burn your grain storehouse!"

Chen Ji yelled, "There must be villains inciting this, everyone, do not believe the rumors!"

No sooner had he spoken than someone in the crowd shouted, "Don’t listen to these bureaucrats, they are full in the city, standing and talking without back pain, break down the door!"

The next moment, Chen Ji squinted his eyes and noticed that in the night, thirty-odd disaster victims were carrying a heavy log towards the city gate with ropes slung over their shoulders.

They came prepared!

With a thunderous crash, Chen Ji and Jin Zhu stood on the city tower, feeling the earth shake and the whole city trembling, shedding bits of stone and dust.

Chen Ji asked, "How long can the city gate hold?’

Jin Zhu’s scalp tingled, "I don’t know, I’ve never been to a border town, I’ve never seen a siege!"

Chen Ji observed for a moment, "It’s bad, the city gate is old and not well-maintained, it might be breached very soon."

Jin Zhu looked back at the dark crowd in Luocheng, "This rebellion might bring calamity to tens of thousands of people."

After hesitating for a moment, he then pulled out a golden Order Arrow from his bosom, holding it high over his head, "The King’s Command Flag is here, as if His Majesty himself is present! I, Song Qian, am the governor appointed by His Majesty, patrolling the world, managing the military and soothing the people! I am aware of the disaster in West Henan, and have ordered Luocheng City Prefect, Lord Zhang, to open the granaries and distribute grain, the relief food will arrive very soon!"

The disaster victims gradually stopped shouting and looked up at the glittering King’s Command Flag, hesitating.

Chen Ji looked at Jin Zhu with a complex expression, this member of the Twelve Signs, there is truly not a single truth in his mouth.

At that moment, someone in the crowd shouted, "It’s definitely fake, I’ve seen the real King’s Command Flag, it doesn’t look like that at all!"

Jin Zhu, infuriated, jumped up and cursed, "Bullshit, this was personally handed to me by His Majesty, you dare to say it’s fake? Who is in the crowd inciting rebellion?! The food will arrive very soon, if it doesn’t arrive by daybreak, I’ll open the gates myself and let you enter the city to do as you please!"

Someone else instigated, "Don’t believe him, he’s surely summoning the official army to suppress us, I don’t believe the court will really distribute grain!"

Caught between the incitement and the King’s Command Flag, Jin Zhu, sweating profusely, exclaimed, "I’ve never dealt with this kind of situation! What should we do now?"

On the city tower, the spies looked tensely at one another, tightly gripping their knife handles, unsure of what to do.

Just as the disaster victims were about to ram the door again, Chen Ji suddenly shouted to the crowd below, "I will go down and wait with you for Lord Zhang to open the granary. If no grain appears before 5 AM, you may kill me."

Having said that, he found a rope within the city tower and handed one end to Jin Zhu, "Hold this end of the rope and let me out of the city."

Jin Zhu was shocked, "Are you mad? Is it worth risking your life like this? There are definitely people from the Liu Family below inciting the rebellion, what if they incite the disaster victims to kill you?"