The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 479 Drums sound
Wu Mingxiao unleashed his final strike, severing the last neck before sheathing his sword.

He was almost exhausted, and used the scabbard to support his body. After a moment of recuperation, he walked towards Li Miao.

"Brother Li, let's go into the city."

Li Miao squinted and raised a finger.

"drive."

The bandits pulling the cart trembled all at once, hurriedly pulling the cart over the corpses on the ground and heading towards the city gate.

Li Miao glanced at the corpse as he passed by.

"Even the elite Imperial Guards should have retreated if they suffered more than 30% casualties. These people were the last ones left, yet they still fought to the death... It's quite interesting that a bunch of elite soldiers have emerged from this remote and impoverished place."

"It seems that relying on Wu Mingxiao alone will really make it difficult to get through Fukang County."

As he pondered this, the carriage entered the city.

The moment they crossed the city gate, Wu Mingxiao, who was walking at the front of the convoy, suddenly felt a chill.

It wasn't the cold. After all, he was a fairly skilled martial artist, and even if he practiced Japanese martial arts that didn't emphasize internal energy, the chill of early spring wouldn't have caused him any reaction.

His tremor seemed more like an instinctive reaction.

It was like when he was fighting against the Japanese pirates in Dengzhou, and someone touched his back, causing the hair on his body to suddenly stand up.

Wu Mingxiao instinctively wanted to draw his sword and retreat, but suddenly realized something, turned his head and glanced at Li Miao, who was sitting on the frame of the carriage pretending to be asleep, and couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

Yes, today I have no say in anything.
As if hearing what he was thinking, Li Miao suddenly raised his hand and stretched.

"Haa—alright, buddy, go take care of the child."

"You can't wade through the muddy waters of Fukang County."

"I come."

Having said that, he stepped down from the carriage.

The bandits scrambled to the sides, then knelt down with a thud, banging their foreheads on the ground as cold sweat poured down their faces.

Wu Mingxiao went to the back to take care of the baby.

Li Miao walked to the front of the car and glanced around at the houses on the surrounding street.

Wu Mingxiao didn't know why he suddenly started trembling, but Li Miao knew the reason—it was because he had been stared at by too many eyes, which triggered a stress reaction.

Behind every window and every crack in every door in Fukang County, there is a pair of eyes watching Li Miao and his group intently.

More accurately, they were watching the baby in the car.

With Li Miao's keen hearing, he could even hear the owners of these eyes muttering some fragmented words.

"The child...the child is back..."

"not dead……"

"Which one is my child...?"

The voices varied from men and women to young and old, and the emotions they conveyed were also a jumbled mess.

There is fear, there is sorrow, there is joy, there is hatred.

His emotions were extremely sharp and turbulent; he should have pushed himself out of the room and rushed over.

But not a single movement occurred.

Some people even started sobbing uncontrollably, but quickly covered their mouths, not daring to make a sound. They raised their hands and pressed them against the door, then lowered them again, clutching the hem of their clothes tightly.

Li Miao's gaze turned cold.

"Ha, so you only communicate with your eyes, huh?"

"I'd like to see what kind of thing is doing something so grand!"

Having said that, he took a step and walked towards the county magistrate's office.

Fukang County was not large, with a population of less than ten thousand. Even though the heavily wounded bandits dragged the carriage slowly, it took Li Miao about an hour to reach the magistrate's office. The magistrate's office appeared clean and tidy, and its layout and size were not beyond what Fukang County should be. There was some dust in front of the gate, the gate was tightly closed, and the petition drums placed on both sides were old and yellowed, with no drumsticks visible.

Given the current state of the Dengwen Drum, without even drumsticks, even if a dozen or so strong young men came, they wouldn't be able to ring it.

But is Li Miao an ordinary person?
He chuckled, stepped to the side, and with one hand, as if picking a fruit, took down the Dengwen Drum, which was as wide as a person.

Immediately, he looked at the tightly closed door and a smile appeared on his lips.

With a sudden, powerful flick of the wrist!
Bang!
The enormous Dengwen Drum, like a cannonball, shattered the gate of the county government office!
Amidst the flying sawdust, there were also faint traces of scarlet blood.

Clearly, someone was hiding behind the door, spying on Li Miao and his group through the crack, but they didn't react to Li Miao's actions and were smashed to pieces along with the county government gate.

Thump, thump, thump.

The drum of petition rolled into the county government office, making a dull sound as it beat.

A few breaths later—bang!

It seemed as if the Dengwen Drum had struck a wall and come to a stop. At the same time, the drumhead was shaken by the fierce impact.

The sound of drums reverberated in all directions.

Bang, bang, bang—

Finally, the echo formed in the empty streets and spread throughout the entire Fukang County.

After the drumbeats, Li Miao spoke calmly, his true energy spreading out.

"His Majesty the Great Emperor said: 'In all civil lawsuits, the Drum of Appeal may be struck; anyone who dares to obstruct such an appeal shall be put to death.'"

"Now that the drums have sounded, why haven't you begun the proceedings?"

Swish, swish, swish, swish.

As soon as Li Miao finished speaking, a series of rapid footsteps echoed inside the county government office, accompanied by the clanging of weapons as they moved toward the main gate.

Before anyone arrives, the sound comes first.

"Unauthorized acts, killing of constables, and damage to the government office are all capital offenses! Whatever your grievances may be, you must first surrender and await my judgment before further questioning!"

His voice was deep and powerful; without even seeing him in person, one could conjure up a majestic image in one's mind.

A man in a blue official robe stepped out of the yamen and stood still, surrounded by dozens of burly men with fierce faces.

Just like his voice, the magistrate of Fukang County was indeed a burly man with a large build. His seventh-rank blue official robe was stretched tightly against his body, even the "xiezhi" on his chest was stretched into a ridiculous shape.

His full beard stretched out in all directions like steel needles, and his slanted, three-white-eyed eyes were filled with disdain. He first glanced at the infants on the carriage, sneered, and then fixed his gaze on Li Miao.

"You thief, why don't you surrender?"

Before he finished speaking, the dozens of burly men beside him shouted in unison.

"Surrender! Surrender!"

It was truly a grand spectacle, even louder than the Dengwen Drum.

Several windows on nearby houses, which had been opened a crack, slowly and cautiously closed.

The county magistrate seemed to have noticed this and gave a disdainful sneer.

"Ah, a commoner."

After saying that, he looked at Li Miao again, a sinister smile on his face.

"You scoundrel, for whom have you come to seek justice?"

"Is it for the common people in this city?"

"But I haven't seen the plaintiff. Could it be that you've fabricated an excuse to cover up your crimes of killing a constable and forcibly breaking into the county government office?"

"Too late! Even if you manage to escape today, I will report this to the Embroidered Uniform Guard and have your entire family executed!"

(End of this chapter)