Peace Order
Chapter 515 - 24: Sword Madman’s Visiting Card, The Spirit of a Famous General!_4

Chapter 515: Chapter 24: Sword Madman’s Visiting Card, The Spirit of a Famous General!_4

A dark mass loomed, among which over five hundred were the City Lord’s private soldiers. There were also condemned prisoners, bandits, and mountain robbers, as well as thirty-three hidden veterans of the Taiping Army, all of them staring intently at Li Guanyi.

Li Guanyi looked at these people and suddenly laughed out loud, saying, "Do you know who I am?"

The crowd was disordered; no one answered, with only a few people hurriedly saying they did not know.

Li Guanyi said, "I am just a person much younger than you. Today, I also wish to ask, who are you?" He walked briskly to the first person, a big man with fierce eyebrows and tattooed face, a criminal sent here as punishment.

Li Guanyi asked, "Why did you break the law?"

The big man glanced at the boy, grinned, and said dismissively, "Killed an official."

"Why did you kill the official?"

"That damn official took over my family’s lands, crippled my old father, so one midnight I grabbed a knife, chopped that old thing’s head off and was scheduled to be executed. Yes, just like that."

Li Guanyi nodded and said, "Good!"

"Quite bold!"

The big man smirked and said, "Speaking of bold, how about you unlock my shackles?"

This big man belonged to the death row camp, also known as the cannon fodder camp, chained by the feet, not allowed to retreat, holding weapons and advancing forward, doomed to face the charge of the Heavy Cavalry. His words were merely mocking.

Suddenly, there was a whistling sound.

Li Guanyi suddenly drew his knife and slashed, severing the chains on the big man’s feet.

The big man was stunned, disbelieving.

The atmosphere around shifted instantaneously. Li Guanyi ordered, "Bring wine!"

A young man from Changfeng Building came over with a jar of wine. The big man’s expression changed, he took the wine and gulped it down, drinking heavily.

Already moving to the second person, he asked, "What did you do?"

The skinny man was overjoyed, laughing as he said, "This man killed an official, unlike me. I was an orphan; a monk took me in as a kitchen help. Just one day after some quarrel, I got angry and killed all the monks, seized the place, and then was brought before the courts. I killed but..."

With a ringing whiz, the skinny man’s head flew off.

A putrid smell of blood spread, chilling everyone’s hearts. The young man said:

"Ungrateful, deserved death!"

For some reason, a solemn air spread among them. The young man continued forward, and next to him, a woman concealed under a hood spoke in a clear, cold voice, forcing the truth out of people in just a few words, which added a hint of reverence for the young man in everyone’s hearts.

Could this person possibly possess the ability to read minds?

Li Guanyi went on to question each one, more than three thousand people; the sky grew dim.

But after killing only a few, leaving just over two thousand eight hundred, he asked those around with each death if it was justified; all of them were confirmed deserving. Finally, when a traitorous murderer of a woman and a benefactor was exposed, cries for execution filled the air.

In the end, Li Guanyi stood forward, had a pile of weapons and a pile of gold and silver carried out.

Splayed to the left and right.

The youth spoke gravely, "My name is Li Guanyi. Today all of you here should know, I won’t deceive you. You must know who your opponents are—Yuwen Hua and Yuwen Tianxian of the Yuwen aristocratic family, renowned generals on the Divine General List."

The crowd buzzed. Those who knew of Li Guanyi and the Yuwen Family spelled out the significance of these two names, which changed everyone’s expressions. The young man pointed at the pile of gold and silver, said, "To battle such a formidable force, those of you who wish to leave may take a share of the silver."

"Those willing to stay, on the other hand, may pick up a weapon."

A middle-aged man hesitated, then walked over, took a share of the silver, and then turned and walked away. No one tried to stop him, so, with the noise of clattering, a crowd rushed to take the silver.

The purse provided by Changfeng Building reduced significantly in an instant, yet the youth’s eyelids didn’t flicker.

In the end, the first official-killer bandit suddenly laughed loudly, walked over, picked up the silver, threw it aside, and took a knife, saying, "Old man’s name is Fan Qing. You’re interesting. This life of mine was already picked up; I just want to see what you aim to do!"

Li Guanyi suddenly made a move, a silver ingot flew over.

Fan Qing looked up, "What?"

Li Guanyi, without looking back, said, "Pay for this month’s military salary."

Fan Qing froze, "Military salary? Aren’t we just a bunch of roughnecks?"

The young man said, "Of course not!"

"Your knives, too, are for your own battles!"

Fan Qing, holding that large ingot of silver and a knife, remained stunned for a long time, then suddenly burst into loud laughter. In the end, out of the more than three thousand people, hundreds were killed and a thousand left; only about eighteen hundred remained.

Pang Shuiyun stared intently at those eighteen hundred, the old man’s heart pounding madly.

There was a very faint but real emerging aura of austere military force.

How could this be, how could this be...

The youth stood at the highest point, bowing.

The eighteen hundred instinctively returned the salute, already in neat formation.

Thus, this had become a military force.

Pang Shuiyun suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to cry aloud.