Chapter 63 To Kill Commander Liu in Fury
2181 Words
They returned into the Master's room. The second captain Lu Rong couldn't wait to complain the moment he closed the door,
"Master, Liu Biao was too arrogant on the feast. Why didn't you let me teach him a good lesson?"
Leng Qingtang shook his head. He replied in a low voice,
"Liu Biao was once a colonel under the command of Lord Shen. We don't have to go straight to him now. Ai Qing, what did you find?"
The first captain answered,
"As you expected, the Prefect Mansion's granaries are all built underground, and eight out of ten are full. The victims outside the city are so hungry that they have to gulp the snow. That damn prefect didn't open the granaries to relieve people but indulged in entertainment instead!"
Leng Qingtang stroke the table hard with an iron fist, which made the tea in the cup splashed around.
He gave the word in a voice trembling with indignation,
"Take Prefect Guo here!"
Soon, the third captain Zhao Wuji caught Prefect Guo to Leng Qingtang.
As soon as he stepped over the threshold, Prefect Guo was scared into jelly. He bent his knees before Leng Qingtang.
"Master Leng, please forgive me! Please spare my life..."
"How unscrupulous you are! Outside the city, there are numerous people starving and freezing to death all the time. You have plenty of food in the granaries but you didn't relieve them! Instead, you hide in your mansion and sink yourself in wine and women! Are you looking down upon me? Or you are looking down upon His Majesty?"
Leng Qingtang reproached Prefect Guo with a furious look and severe voice.
Three captains stood straight beside him and stared at Prefect Guo with their arms crossed like glaring protectors in the temple that would eliminate evil things at any time.
Prefect Guo quivered like wrecks. He hardly supported his body to salute Leng Qingtang sitting on the chair,
"Please calm down, Master Leng. Please let me explain. At first I mobilized several squires to donate food and set up sheds to provide porridge. However, victims from other places heard the news and flooded into Fengyuan. They caused many riots."
"Colonel Liu and his garrison came to settle the riots and issued a military order to close the gate to keep outside displaced people from entering the city. The grain in the granaries is the aid food brought by Colonel Liu. I cannot defy his military order to open the granaries. Master, please forgive me..."
Prefect Guo's words ended in a sob.
"Then answer me. Why are there so many dancers in your mansion? Why is music playing all the time?"
Leng Qingtang slammed on the table hard as he asked.
Prefect Guo shrank into a ball and couldn't stop kowtowing,
"Please forgive me! Please forgive me! Since the beginning of the snow disaster, my family members and I have been taking turns to conduct porridge support and victims' relief on the streets of Fengyuan days and nights. We didn't slack off at all. However, Colonel Liu is fond of entertainment. He lives in my mansion and asks for meat, wine, songs, and dances every meal."
"In his early years, he fought here and there with Lord Shen and achieved military exploit, and now he often boasts of it. My official position is lower than him. My parents are still alive, and my wife and my children are living with me now. For these reasons I dare not offend him!"
"Master, he didn't lie."
The first captain Ai Qing bent over to whisper at Leng Qingtang's ear,
"Just then I overheard the servants in the mansion complaining about Colonel Liu. They said he is a debauchee. Yesterday Liu Biao got interested in a twelve-year-old maid and r***d her in the woodshed. Both the hosts and servants in this mansion are angry at his actions, but they dare not say a word."
Resentment stuffed Leng Qingtang's chest. The flame of fury was going to burst out.
For many years he hadn't been so angry as he was now. He clenched his teeth,
"He is a bandit and a ruffian!"
He moved his eyes on Prefect Guo who was still prostrating in front of him and strictly reprimanded,
"As the leader of this county, the local magistrate of Fengyuan, how could you be so spineless? You can't even protect your servants, let alone your people!"
"Please spare me, Master!"
Prefect Guo was scolded to sob and couldn't stop kowtowing.
At that time, a guard trotted in and bent over to salute,
"Master, victims outside gathered for a riot. They are going to break the gate. Colonel Liu ordered his men to set up bows and arrows on the wall, ready to release arrows to the victims outside the city!"
"Damn it! Can't he do anything right?"
Leng Qingtang shouted in a fury. Then he led Prefect Guo and Eastern Depot's people to the gate.
The gate of Fengyuan was tightly closed, to which heavy planks nailed. The violent crash came one after another from outside the gate.
Across the city wall, Leng Qingtang heard the deafening shouting outside, louder than a cruel battlefield.
Torches lit, and the archers on the wall were pulling bows to the full. The arrowheads reflected the light of the fire.
The broad-faced Colonel Liu was now shouting to the below,
"Ignorant and stupid men, my army will shoot you if you keep rioting!"
From below came billows of shouting and cursing, but what exactly did they say couldn't be heard clearly.
"Shoot!"
Colonel Liu was provoked. He ordered an archer to release the arrow.
"Stop!" Leng Qingtang let out a shout. He arrived in time.
"Colonel Liu! What are you doing?"
Liu Biao sneered at the Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot,
"Can't you see that, Master Leng? The mobs are rioting. Kill them and we'll solve the problem."
Leng Qingtang looked down from the wall. Under the wall there were thousands of people roaring with ferocious faces.
In this deep and cold winter, the foul air produced by gathering victims surged with their roar, which made Leng Qingtang light-headed. He felt shocked and pain for those suffering people.
"Archers back off! It's an order! Whoever violates the order will be killed!"
Leng Qingtang commanded aloud. His decisive voice, as cold as this winter night, spread in the air.
The archers, awed by the imperial envoy's intimidating attitude, drew back their bows and arrows.
However, their leader was still on the wall. In an atmosphere named embarrassment, they looked at each other and didn't know what to do next.
"You are not allowed to withdraw!"
Colonel Liu reddened eyes and rushed to Leng Qingtang. The third captain Zhao Wuji came up to prevent him from getting closer for fear that he would attack Leng Qingtang.
Clink and clash.
The guards from the Eastern Depot turned against the soldiers, both armed with swords. A fight on the wall was on the verge.
Prefect Guo saluted to Leng Qingtang and then Liu Biao,
"Colonel and Master, please calm down! Don't fight!"
Colonel Liu grabbed a pair of bow and arrow from an archer and shot the arrow to the crowd below.
The arrow pierced the air and hit someone in the crowd. The crowd quieted down for a few seconds and then burst out crying louder than before.
Liu Biao threw the bow away. He gave an impudent smile to Leng Qingtang as if to provoke him.
Leng Qingtang watched that sharp arrow shot out, but it was too late to stop.
He had killed countless people, but none of them were common civilians.
It was not the fault of the victims below. Numerous displaced strangers gathered together only for food and warmth. They combatively stroke the gate, regardless of the consequences of doing this.
Leng Qingtang stroke hard to the wall, enduring the pain on the fist.
He was good at controlling his emotion and used to deal with matters in official circles with a poker-face. However, now, he didn't want to withhold his fury anymore. Pointing at the crowd below, he reproached Liu Biao,
"You b*st*rd! Outside the city are the displaced civilians. They're risking their lives only to beg for a bun to eat and a straw mat to sleep with! Prefect Guo, open the gate! Let the victims into the city! I command you!"
"You can't do that!"
Colonel Liu raised an arm to show disapproval.
He felt insulted by being reproached by a eunuch. Now, hearing that this eunuch was giving the order to open the gate, he straightened his neck and came up to contradict,
"Master Leng, you must have spent too much time in the comfortable Palace that you don't know the difference between our soldiers and your Imperial Guards."
"To us, those rioting victims are the same as enemies on the battlefield. They are born lowly and stupid. To kill them is to save food for us!"
"Humph! To me, to kill you is to save food! Go to catch him!"
Leng Qingfeng sneered. At his command, the second captain and the third captain took actions at the same time. They didn't spend much effort before they subdued fat Colonel Liu and suppressed him, with hands behind, at Leng Qingtang's feet.
Being caught under everyone's nose, a trace of fear flashed in Liu Biao's heart. But he refused to obey, shouting,
"Leng Qingtang, you eunuch dare to throw your weight around me! I'm Lord Shen's man. If you don't respect me, you are insulting Lord Shen and the Imperial Noble Concubine Wan!"
"Please think it over, Master Leng..."
Prefect Guo came over to intercede for Liu Biao.
Although Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot was a dignitary, as the imperial envoy, he had to go back to the capital city after relieving the victims and would possibly never return to Fengyuan.
However, Colonel Liu was a resident officer in Jiangan. Even though he was not as powerful as the Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot, he was a figure that local magistrates dared not offend.
If anything bad had happened, Liu Biao would have taken his frustration out on the prefect of Fengyuan after the imperial envoy left!
A harsh slap on the face stopped his interceding.
Those practicing martial arts were strong in arm strength. Leng Qingtang slapped with about one-third of his full strength, but the prefect was stricken to the dust and rolled around. Prefect Guo stumbled to his feet. His mouth covered with blood, and his jaw nearly dislocated.
Pointing at him, Leng Qingtang scolded Prefect Guo aloud,
"You are such a coward! You gave up the lives of the people under your governance only to save yourself. You're unworthy of being an official!"
Perhaps shocked by the breath-taking conflict on the wall, the crowd below fell into a deathly silence.
Colonel Liu was forced to kneel on the ground. He roared while struggling,
"Leng Qingtang, how dare you! I've marched north and south with Lord Shen and achieved countless military exploits. Even the Court of Judicial Review dare not declare my guilty! What the hell is the Eastern Depot? And you, a lackey in the court, want to convict me of crime? That's ridiculous! Hahaha..."
Prefect Guo tried to stop him in haste. With an awkward face, he begged again and again.
"Please calm down, Master Leng! Please don't be angry! I beg you think it over! Colonel Liu is a ranked-third officer, so only the Ministry of Defense and the Court of Judicial Review have the right to judge him..."
Actually, everyone knew that the Ministry of Defense could do nothing to Colonel Liu because he was once under the command of Lord Shen, the father of the Imperial Noble Concubine Wan. Even he was transferred to the Court of Judicial Review, the officials there would not condemn him under the law.
"Humph! Then I'll manage the case that the Court of Judicial Review won't accept, and kill the moth they won't kill!"
Leng Qingtang looked askance at Prefect Guo. His squinting long eyes were filled with killing sense.
Being seized by his look, Prefect Guo felt as if his tongue were knotted in the mouth, which plugged up all his words.
The first captain Ai Qing came up to hand his sword to Leng Qingtang.
Leng Qingtang turned around, looking at captured Colonel Liu in calm. He added slowly, looking up,
"You just asked me what is Eastern Depot, right? Then I'll tell you. Others dare not judge you, but we dare. Others dare not kill you, but we dare. His Majesty presented us the privilege to act first and report afterward. We are the members of the Eastern Depot! Do you understand?"
As the words just fell, Leng Qingtang had pulled out a soldier's sword and raised his arm. A cold light flashed across the wall. Blood ran over the ground.
He glanced down at the rolling head and threw the sword aside,
"To kill you is a disgrace to my nice sword!"
- Writer
