Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 61 Criminals
Liu Taozi rode on a horse and led his men, galloping on the street.

Occasionally, a few people, whether carrying manure or hoes, would put down their things and bow to these knights.

As for those who dress luxuriously and live a life of luxury, they no longer dare to go out at this time.

They sped along the way, and Taozi kept looking around her. The road was no longer empty, but Taozi did not return the greeting, nor did she look at them for long. She just hurried on and continued her patrol.

They rushed all the way to the city wall, and saw heads hanging all over the entrance, fluttering in the wind.

Some hired thieves to beat the people to death, some took the heads of other people's wives, and some broke into people's houses and stole the heads of other people's sheep when they were hungry on the road.

It's not a good start anyway.

They were hung up in neat rows, staring at everyone entering and leaving the city. Their eyes were filled with fear and pain. After being hung up, they were no different from the other heads.

The soldiers at the door made way and watched the knights gallop away.

The clerk hurriedly stood up and saluted.

After these people left, the county soldier suddenly turned around, looked at the clerk, and motioned him to come closer.

"Is this the mandrill from the county government?"

"Ah, it's Mr. Liu, Liu Youjiao."

The county soldier frowned and could not help complaining, "This man is very vicious. Yesterday he broke into the county training ground and captured two of us brothers. No one dared to stop him."

"This is the first time in all these years that I've seen someone dare to break into our barracks and arrest people."

The clerk just smiled and didn't dare to respond.

Taozi rushed out of the county and continued to run wildly. At this moment, the only people following him were Bandits. The other knight was a casual official, so Taozi asked someone to give him a horse to ride.

Tian Zili and Yao Xiong both stayed in the county government office.

At this moment, Kou Liu was following Taozi closely with bright eyes.

He did not volunteer to be an official. He had been in Cheng'an for a long time and was very clear about many things.

However, due to his mother's expectations, he was forced to come to the county government office.

Ever since he came to the county government office, he has been following Taozi. He can hardly find time to accompany his mother, and he has only seen her twice.

Although it was so busy, Kou Liu didn't feel tired.

On the contrary, his life became more passionate.

He found that he actually liked being an official. When those people knelt down to thank him, and when those evil people cried and begged for mercy, he always felt extremely comfortable.

My brother Taozi is not a "good official". There are some old stories handed down among the people, which record many stories about good officials.

The good officials in the story are all very observant. Their eyes are very powerful. They can tell who is good and who is bad at a glance, punish the evildoers and save the people.

Brother Taozi was probably not a good official. He framed people, beat, intimidated, and used lynching.

He sent Yao Xiong, who dragged a bully out on the street, took off his pants, and castrated him. The man almost died from the pain.

He hardly ever looked for evidence. When two county soldiers looked up and asked Brother Taozi for evidence with lustful looks on their faces and asked for the dead woman to come out and testify, Brother Taozi cut off their heads with two knives.

The charge was that they were selling their own weapons, and it was very likely that they were bought by the Pseudo-Zhou spies. After all, their "weapons" were indeed lost after they were captured.

Koru had read the law.

The Great Qi Dynasty had long abolished such cruel punishments as castration. Castrating bullies was a form of lynching.

As for the rest of his actions, they were all threats, intimidation, and frame-ups. No matter how you look at it, he was more like the cruel official in the rumors, the worst cruel official.

But it was this cruel official who changed the entire county in just over ten days.

The bullies trembled with fear, the rich hurried to pay off their debts, the nobles did not dare to go out easily, and the county soldiers did not dare to deliberately stop the women for questioning.

There are more people on the road.

Just as Kou Liu was thinking, Taozi in front of him suddenly pulled the reins. The old horse neighed, raised its front hooves, and then dropped them, splashing a cloud of mud.

Kou Liu and another man also hurriedly reined in their horses.

He looked forward and saw a group of dead people.

They occupied the middle position of the road, moving forward sluggishly. When they spotted the knights, they stopped. Kouliu counted them and found there were about thirty or forty of them.

The bandits and the scattered officials quickly drew their swords.

Although the other side has more people, Kou Liu is not afraid. Not to mention that he has a fierce man like Brother Taozi on his side, even if he meets the enemy alone, he has a horse under his crotch, so he doesn't have to be afraid of any dead people.

He rode forward and whispered to Taozi, "Brother, charge quickly and kill a few of them, and the rest will be defeated without a fight."

Liu Taozi looked at the people in front of him calmly. The figures of these people appeared in his eyes. There was no life on his numb face, and there was a hint of pleading in his desperate eyes.

"Have you ever eaten anyone?"

Liu Taozi asked.

These people just stared blankly ahead, motionless. "Have you ever eaten a human?!!!"

Liu Taozi roared suddenly, frightening the warhorse under Kou Liu, who was almost thrown off the horse. The surrounding birds jumped up, and Taozi's roar continued to spread here.

The faces of those dead people changed drastically, and several of them fell to the ground in fear. Their faces were finally no longer so numb.

One of them knelt on the ground, "No, no, Grandpa, spare me! Spare me! We have been eating dirt and grass all the way."

As the man spoke, tears rolled down his cheeks. He himself didn't know how long it had been since he last cried.

His crying inspired the rest of the people, and they all shed tears, and they came back to life.

Taozi looked at them calmly, "If you want to live, follow me."

"Kouliu, the two of you follow them on both sides."

Taozi gave the order and rode away. Kouliu shouted, asking these people to get up and follow Taozi.

Kou Liu didn't know what Taozi was going to do, but that didn't stop him from carrying out Taozi's orders.

These people were at a loss as to what to do. They followed Taozi in fear, stumbling forward, but much faster than before.

Taozi did not gallop on his horse again, but just moved forward slowly.

They didn't know how long they walked, but after passing through the dense forest, they arrived outside a village.

Kou Liu looked around curiously, it was his first time here.

Continuing walking forward, we saw a thriving peach forest with trees growing very well.

"who?"

Then someone came out of the forest. It was an old man holding a stick and looking alert. When he saw Liu Taozi on the horse, he quickly put down the stick and shouted, "Brother Tao!!"

Liu Taozi dismounted and met the man.

"You are here, we are all wondering when you will come again."

The old man has been guarding Taozi's family here as he promised.

Taozi exchanged a few words with him, then turned around and looked at the dead people.

"This is Zhang Village."

"That's the wild boar forest over there. There are all kinds of animals in there that you can hunt."

"That's the Zhang River, we can go fishing there."

"Most of the farmland around here is unowned and can be cultivated."

"There is a peach forest here, and there are all kinds of fruits around. If you are willing to look for them, you won't starve to death."

The deceased looked at him in astonishment, not knowing why he said this.

Liu Taozi looked at the first person and said, "From today on, your name is Zhang Dahe. You got lost in the mountains and returned."

"Your name is Zhang Zhong, and you are a fisherman here. You once fell into the water, but luckily survived."

"Your name is Zhang"

There are countless names hidden in Taozi's mind.

The plight of the deceased did not come from food, but from their identity. They were basically people who escaped from corvee labor and thus lost their original identities. They had to avoid being captured by the government and had nowhere to go.

But in Da Qi, what is most in short supply is identity, especially in these villages, where people go missing all year round and disappear inexplicably.

Kou Liu looked up in astonishment, as if he understood Taozi's thoughts.

This was especially true for the dead at this moment. They didn't know what to say and just looked at Taozi, at a loss.

Taozi finished speaking and looked at the old man beside her.

"Uncle Zhang, there are only a few old people and children left in the village. If they encounter wild beasts or bandits, they will not be able to survive. What do you think?"

The old man just nodded, "The farmland is going to be abandoned. Okay, take care of each other. I'll listen to Brother Tao."

Liu Taozi looked at those people again, "Follow this old man. I will patrol everywhere every day. If anyone dares to do evil and commit crimes in the village, I will cut him into pieces and eat his flesh alive."

Liu Taozi's eyes were cold and stern, and she didn't seem to be threatening in any way.

Watching the old man and those people leave one after another.

Kou Liu was puzzled, "Brother, why do you want to protect these people? They are not good people, they are all escaped criminals."

“They are not criminals.”

"Those who force fathers to leave their sons, and sons to leave their mothers, and force them to build meaningless Buddhist temples—they are criminals."

(End of this chapter)