Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 324: Mandrills can eat evil spirits!

Qi, Qizhou, Jinan County.

It was just dawn, but the city was already filled with people.

I saw people carrying buckets and basins of different sizes. The adults carried them on their shoulders, while the small ones held them in their hands. They were divided into four rows, some walking forward, while others were walking towards the front.

On both sides stood many officials and soldiers. These people looked ferocious. They paced back and forth, staring at the people with murderous gleams in their eyes.

As the people walked forward, the buckets and basins were filled with water.

The buckets and basins of the people who came out were all empty.

The people's faces were filled with despair.

The woman was sobbing softly, the man looked numb, and a few old men could be seen with wrinkles piled up on their faces, looking dazed.

Some of the children were carrying buckets of water with sore hands and were shivering.

One child could no longer hold on and fell to the ground with his bucket. A clerk nearby suddenly screamed, as if he had committed some unforgivable crime. He rushed into the crowd, grabbed the child's hair and dragged him out. Several fierce soldiers came forward, punching and kicking him. The mother screamed and rushed forward to tear the child apart, but was also knocked down by a stick. As soon as the men dropped the barrels in their hands, soldiers not far away surrounded them, pointed spears at their chests, and forced them all back.

The crowd continued to move forward, and a carriage in the distance left with several corpses.

Everyone was moving forward very slowly, just crawling slowly.

I don’t know how long the line of people coming in and out is, and it seems as if there is no end in sight.

Someone was walking and suddenly fell to the ground and never moved again.

Naturally, someone dragged them away and put them into a carriage.

After an unknown amount of time, this group of people finally arrived at their destination while slowly crawling.

It was a luxurious mansion with its door open.

The people who were carrying water entered the palace little by little. The palace was quite luxurious, but no one was interested in appreciating it. It was surrounded by green trees and exquisite gravel roads. Laughter could be vaguely heard from the high platform in the distance.

Finally, they arrived at their destination.

There was a big pit in the backyard of the mansion, and the people poured the water in their hands into it.

Then, follow the team and walk out little by little.

On a high platform in the distance, Qizhou Governor Gao Chuo raised his wine cup and motioned the people around him to drink with him.

Sitting around him were all young scholars.

These scholars looked at Gao Chuo with shock and fear, and none of them dared to show the integrity of a scholar.

On the side, there were several big dogs resting, and they were busy gnawing on something.

No one dared to even look at it.

Gao Chuo pointed at the people in the distance and said, "The back pond in my palace can only be built like this to show its extraordinaryness."

"The water in my back pond was drawn bucket by bucket by the city's citizens from a century-old well outside the city, and then transported all the way here and poured into the pond bit by bit!"

"I think it will become an allusion in the future!"

Gao Chuo looked at the scholars and found that none of them responded. He emphasized his tone and asked, "Hmm?"

The scribes reacted and nodded hurriedly.

"That's what the king said!!"

"This Houchi must be extraordinary! Absolutely extraordinary!"

"When the pond is completed, I will write a poem for the king."

When Gao Chuo heard this, he laughed especially loudly.

"Well said, keep going! Keep going!"

Several scholars surrounded him and began to flatter him.

These scholars were sweating profusely and almost exhausted after speaking, so Gao Chuo happily rewarded them with money and let them leave the house.

Several people staggered out of the mansion.

However, none of them dared to show any abnormal expression, and it was not until they had left the office for a long time that someone knelt on the ground and broke down crying.

Some people started to retch.

a mess.

The older scribes hurriedly helped these people up, "Go home first! Go home!"

After Gao Wei officially ascended the throne, he appointed King of Nanyang Gao Chuo as the Governor of Qizhou. This position has always been a position that only members of the royal family or important officials can hold.

After Gao Chuo came to Qizhou, he quickly became the biggest scourge of Qizhou.

In terms of cruelty, absurdity, and moodiness, he can be compared with Gao Yang.

He's just a crazy bloody butcher.

It can break out at any time and kill people at any time, and in the most brutal way.

Anyone who dared to oppose or advise him would be killed by him.

He loves to do things that are so cruel that they cannot be described, challenging the bottom line of being a human being.

While several scholars were fleeing in a panic, Gao Chuo also left the mansion with more than a hundred guards.

His favorite thing to do was to travel incognito, leading his guards, riding a tall horse, and leading a few big dogs to go out for fun.

Gao Chuo was wearing silk clothes and had a fashionable hairstyle. She was riding a scarlet warhorse and driving a few big dogs as she rushed out of the mansion.

When he left the house, the people outside suddenly began to panic.

Not only the common people, but also the soldiers and clerks were trembling with fear and hurriedly bowed to greet him.

Gao Chuo ignored these people. He rode his horse wildly and suddenly whipped the whip to the left and right. There was a "snap" sound and someone fell to the ground with a scream.

Even those loyal officials could not escape such a fate. Gao Chuo did not care who was hit by his whip.

No one dared to move. They knelt on the ground and watched Gao Chuo lead the knights to charge forward.

Gao Chuo's face was full of happiness.

He rushed out of the city gate and began to wander on the road outside the city, like a ghost seeking revenge.

Although he was only in his teens, his eyes were flashing with frightening ferocity and bloodshot as he stared around, looking for his own fun.

The knights followed not far away, not daring to get too close nor too far.

Those big dogs seemed to have the support of their owners, and became more and more unscrupulous, running at full speed.

Gao Chuo walked for several miles like this, and along the way he didn't meet any pedestrians.

Gao Chuo was a little angry. He stopped his horse, looked back and waved.

Soon, several knights rode forward and bowed their heads in salute.

"Why is there no one on the official road in broad daylight?"

The officer was stunned, looked into the distance, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

“I really don’t know.”

Gao Chuo laughed and looked at the officers in front of him. His ceremonial guard in Qizhou was not composed of soldiers who could only bully the common people, but the guards who followed him. There were more than 300 Xianbei knights, which were enough to deal with most of the troubles.

He stared at the officer and said, "If you hadn't done some good deeds in the past, I would have really fed you to the dogs."

The officer lowered his head slightly and did not dare to answer.

Gao Chuo cursed, "Do you still need my instructions? Why don't you send someone to look for him?"

"only"

The knights scattered, and Gao Chuo walked dejectedly on the official road, looking around.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

He saw a few vague figures on the farmland in the distance.

"Catch it! Catch it!!"

Gao Chuo pointed into the distance and shouted.

The knights immediately charged forward, only to hear screams in the distance. Gao Chuo looked into the distance with great interest.

A moment later, the officer came to Gao Chuo with his family of three.

They were a young couple, and the child in their arms was only two or three years old.

There was unspeakable fear in the eyes of both men, and the man kept kneeling towards Gao Chuo, begging for his life.

Gao Chuo looked at the family of three with a smile, but was thinking about how to entertain them.

He had played the game of letting a dog eat a child in front of his parents so many times that it was no longer fun.

He also played the game twice of letting a dog eat his parents in front of his children, but it was boring.

Gao Chuo stroked his chin gently and fell into deep thought.

The big dogs were now surrounding the couple, baring their teeth and looking ferocious. The child was frightened and burst into tears.

Gao Chuo pondered for a moment, then looked at the officer beside him, "Chi Luo, what do you think about letting the big dog chew up the cub and then feeding it to the other two people? Is it interesting?"

The officer trembled all over at this moment and slowly looked at Gao Chuo.

This officer was actually an old Xianbei. He had been ordered to protect Gao Chuo over the years and had done a lot of bad things. But even he felt that Gao Chuo had been acting a little outrageous recently.

It's getting more and more outrageous.

He said solemnly: "My king, if you want to kill him, just kill him. Don't do such a thing. It goes against the laws of nature and human ethics."

"The way of heaven?"

Gao Chuo laughed loudly, pointed to the distance and shouted: "Who am I?!" "I am the eldest son of the emperor!"

"The emperor is nothing more than a trapped beast at the moment, trapped in Jinyang, and cannot even issue an imperial decree to leave the city!"

"As the eldest son of the Emperor Emeritus, I am in charge of Qizhou. I may be the ruler of the world in the future. Even the law of nature should make way for me!!"

When Gao Chuo said this, the knights around him were all shocked.

This is true for all officers.

Gao Chuo didn't care at all, "Since you think it's inappropriate, it must be fun!"

"Come on, tie up these two sheep first and smash their jaws so they can't shut up."

The couple hugged their child tightly and cried for mercy again and again, but the knights around them had already dismounted and were ready to take action.

Gao Chuo's eyes became brighter and brighter.

"Boom, boom, boom"

The ground suddenly began to tremble slightly, and the sound of drums could be heard faintly in the distance.

Before Gao Chuo could react, the knights around him quickly mounted their horses and began to line up around Gao Chuo. The officers quickly drew their weapons and stood in front of Gao Chuo.

"What are you crazy about?!"

Gao Chuo had just started scolding when he saw dust flying in the distance and the sound of horse hooves becoming clearer and clearer. It was obvious that a large number of knights were heading towards this place.

The officer hurriedly said, "My lord, I don't know who this person is. Please go back to the city first!!"

Gao Chuo seemed not to hear his words. He stared leisurely into the distance without any fear on his face.

Without waiting for the officer to give orders, the knights appeared in the distance.

There were thousands of them, but they raised no banners.

These knights were all strong and sturdy, with sharp eyes. In a moment, they had formed a battle formation and confronted Gao Chuo's troops.

The officer looked at the army in front of him, sweating profusely.

He could tell at a glance how terrifying the army in front of him was. They were clearly marching at full speed just now, but the moment they saw him, they were able to quickly change their formation, from marching to fighting the enemy. The officer had never seen such a speed of changing formation in his life.

He swallowed, took the initiative to step forward, looked at these elite knights, and said loudly: "I am a lieutenant of the personal guards under the command of the Nanyang King and the Guangzhou Governor. I wonder which general's troops I am from?"

In response to his question, the knights on the opposite side did not answer.

The next moment, the knights quickly made way, and saw a tall general riding a black horse slowly walking out.

"King of Nanyang?"

The general looked around the crowd on the opposite side, and finally looked at Gao Chuo who was surrounded in the middle.

The officer saluted again and said, "I don't know who the general is."

"I'm Liu Taozi."

The officer trembled all over, "General!!"

The knights behind him also became frightened at this moment. They looked at each other and rode their horses slightly back.

Gao Chuo was still the same as before, arrogant and not caring about any foreign generals.

The officer turned around and saw the arrogant King of Nanyang. He thought it was not good and said, "I wonder what orders the general has come here suddenly?"

"I was originally going to Qingzhou, but I heard something when I was passing by, so I came here."

"Tell your men to drop their weapons and kneel on the ground."

The officer was stunned and gritted his teeth, "General, please don't embarrass us."

Liu Taozi said nothing and raised his lance.

The next moment, the knights rode out from beside Liu Taozi and fought head-on with the knights in front of them.

The officer had no time to react and was knocked off his horse by the oncoming knight.

The knights were terrified but none of them ran away. Instead, they rushed forward to stop Liu Taozi's troops.

Gao Chuo watched his men fighting to the death with Liu Taozi's troops. He was not afraid and did not retreat. Instead, he raised his head and laughed wildly.

The knights of both sides started a melee. Even the elite Xianbei guards were unable to cause any casualties to the mandrill camp. In a very short time, these guards were chopped down.

The couple squatted on the ground holding their child, listening to the shouting and screaming coming from all around them, trembling and not daring to move.

After an unknown amount of time, the sounds of fighting around stopped.

Gao Chuo had already been surrounded by knights, and there was not even a single guard left.

Gao Chuo raised his head, still fearless.

Liu Taozi rode his horse slowly to his front.

He stared at Gao Chuo, "How could a half-grown brat be so vicious."

Gao Chuo slowly drew the sword from his waist and pointed it at Liu Taozi in front of him.

"You forced me to do this."

The next moment, Gao Chuo rode out on his horse, raised his sword, and was about to kill Liu Taozi in front of him.

"Pfft~"

A knight beside him slashed his wrist with a knife.

The next moment, the hand holding the sword fell to the ground. Gao Chuo raised his hand in astonishment, and when he saw the bleeding wrist, fear finally appeared in his eyes. He screamed and fell to the ground.

He held his bleeding wrist and cried bitterly.

“Ah! It hurts! It hurts!! Someone, someone, someone!”

The knight raised the lance in his hand and was about to hit him again, but Liu Taozi stretched out his hand to stop him.

Liu Taozi lowered his head and stared at Gao Chuo, "Use him to open the city gate."

A knight then caught him and tied his wrists roughly, for fear that he would bleed to death on the way.

The knights continued to charge towards Jinan.

Liu Taozi looked at the couple curled up on the ground.

"Go home."

Then, Liu Taozi rode away on his horse.

The couple trembled, watching the knights galloping past them, not daring to say a word.

Only after they disappeared in the distance did the man stand up tremblingly and help up his wife and children. He looked into the distance, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed repeatedly in the direction where the knights were going.

The city gates were open and there were no soldiers on the city walls.

The moment Liu Taozi led his troops to attack, the whole city was in chaos.

The clerk who was watching the people fetching water, the county soldiers, fled in all directions, and the people also dropped the buckets in their hands and fled.

Liu Taozi rushed into the city without any hindrance, and even rushed into the government office.

There were not many officials left in the office. He saw many bodies of officials with their faces removed, placed on both sides of the path to the office like trophies.

A moment later, the prefect was tied up and brought to Liu Taozi.

The prefect was an older man, with his hair disheveled and a pale face.

"General!!"

The prefect just knelt on the ground and burst into tears.

"What's going on in the city?"

"Report to the general! Nanyang King Gao Chuo has been doing atrocities, wreaking havoc in prefectures and counties, oppressing the people. When officials oppose him, he sends his guards to attack government offices and brutally kills local officials. He has done all kinds of evil."

The prefect recounted Gao Chuo's evil deeds one by one.

Liu Taozi asked calmly: "What were you doing when he was doing evil?"

When the governor heard this, he cried and said, "General, my office has been breached. What else can I do but bow my head?"

"Since you are a governor, you have to protect the county. I will dismiss you from your post and send you to Pingcheng for punishment. Do you have anything to say?"

"No no!"

"Thank you, General, for not killing me!"

Liu Taozi said with a straight face, "I was originally going to Qingzhou. When I passed the official road of Qizhou, some people blocked my way and told me what happened in Qizhou."

"I never thought that the situation here is worse than I heard."

"When you return to Pingcheng, you must tell the Xingtai what happened here truthfully. You must not hide anything!"

"only!!"

Liu Taozi then looked around and said, "Go and bring Gao Chuo over."

Several knights brought the screaming Gao Chuo and threw him in front of Liu Taozi.

Gao Chuo's face was ferocious. He held his hands and rolled over and screamed.

Liu Taozi looked at him coldly.

"Don't send this kid to Pingcheng."

"Tomorrow, gather the people from West Street and execute him in public to appease the people's anger."

"Send people to inform all directions that whoever dares to bully the people and cause trouble will end up like this."

(End of this chapter)