Chapter Nineteen: Establishing Prestige

  The city guard was wailed and cried like a funeral by Yi Yan's big fat man, causing the chickens to fly and the dogs to jump. That night, all the guards on duty lined up in front of the city master's mansion, pulled down their pants and took a beating. Under Yi Yan's crazy roar and scolding, nearly a hundred guards were beaten until they screamed and wailed, and nearly a hundred white buttocks were beaten into five colors, as if a dye house had been opened.

  He let out a few loud roars, and then Yi Yan's big fat body began to wail loudly, his voice sounding like a cuckoo crying blood. Even Wu Qi felt a little sorry for him.

  "Waaah, my money, my money, my money, money, money, money!"

  "Waaah! I've been scraping together money for three years, my money, my money!"

  "Waaah! I risked my life to come to Little Mong City, working day and night to scrape together a living, where's my money?!"

  "Woe is me, I have no money! How can I support my one hundred and thirty wives? So many women, so many guests, so many bodyguards! How can I provide for them, how can I provide for them?! My money, my money, oh my money!"

  "Waaah, no money, how can I bribe, how can I get promoted, how can I leave this damned place?!"

  A majestic mountain of flesh, merely wrapped in a loincloth, sat at the entrance of the city guard's great hall, wailing and crying out in anguish, with snot and tears flying everywhere, waves of flesh rolling across its body, skin slapping against skin, continuously producing crisp crackling sounds, truly a wonder of the mortal world.

  Yi Hang and his two brothers, Yi Yan's biological brothers, stood by, staring at him with wide eyes, scratching their ears and cheeks in dismay. They sighed and lamented continuously, shocked and frightened by the severe losses Yi Yan had suffered. It was too cruel, really too cruel! Except for that heavy golden bed, all of Yi Yan's possessions were moved away, leaving nothing behind, not even a single piece of good silk clothing.

  Three people looked at me, I looked at them, and simultaneously decided that starting tonight, the night watch guards in their own mansions would be doubled.

  Those who were seriously injured and had not yet recovered also followed Lu Chengfeng to comfort Yi Yan.

  At this moment, Yi Yan was at the most vulnerable moment in his life. He didn't care who comforted him, and he burst into tears as soon as he hugged Lu Chengfeng's sleeve, covering Lu Chengfeng with snot and tears.

  "Lu Dianjun, ah! My money, ah! You're the Lu Dianjun of Xiaoming City, you must catch these thieves and cut them into pieces! Waaah... I've been working hard for three years, scraping together every penny, not letting a single coin go to waste. This is all the wealth I've accumulated, and it's meant for bribing officials and buying positions! Waaah... It's easy for us, the younger sons of wealthy families, to rise through the ranks and get rich? Is it easy?"

  "Those treacherous thieves! General, you must help me capture them and behead one of them, make their blood flow like a river!"

  Lu Chengfeng reluctantly agreed to Yi Yan, and after a while, he finally escaped from the big fat man's arms, panting and pulling his sleeves as he turned around and left.

  Don't beg to closely follow Lu Chengfeng, taking small steps and running, just listen to Lu Chengfeng muttering all the way: "Farting, farting, smelling unbearable! What does catching thieves have to do with me? This is the duty of the constable, what does it have to do with me?"

  Lu Chengfeng suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around, pointing at Wu Qi and asking, "Wasn't it you who did this?"

  He stared at Lu Chengfeng in surprise, pointing to his right shoulder wrapped like a rice dumpling and asked, "Do you think I have that ability?"

  Lu Chengfeng furrowed his brow and looked up and down at Mo Qi for a while, then hesitated and shook his head.

  "Yes, you're hurt. But I still think it's your fault! Humph, never mind, the one who got beaten isn't me!"

  With a flick of his sleeve, Lu Chengfeng swaggered into his own residence, loudly calling for Old Hei and the others to help him change out of his outer robe, which was stained with snot and tears. Today, he had to go to the official office to formally take over as the Commander-in-Chief. Originally, when Lu Chengfeng took over as Commander-in-Chief, he needed the City Guardian to accompany him personally, but looking at Yi Yan's state today, it was clear that wasn't going to happen.

  Don't look at Lu Chengfeng walking into the house with a swagger, his mouth crooked, muttering: "Could this guy be a dog?"

  After a moment, Lu Chengfeng changed into a black official uniform, with an iron plaque at his waist and a long sword hanging from it. He wore a high black hat that was one foot two inches tall, and walked out in big strides. Xiao Hei, whose face looked ferocious, put on a heavy fish-scale armor, carried a two-meter-long iron spear, and closely followed behind Lu Chengfeng.

  With his hands behind his back, Lu Chengfeng stood in front of the gate of the Imperial Military Command and looked up at the gloomy sky, saying to himself: "The Great Yan Dynasty has been established for over 2,000 years, and the country of Lü has been founded for 300 years. I'm afraid I'm the most miserable City Guard ever. One Imperial Guard, one guest, haha, here I come to take office!"

  Don't mention it, he thought of Lu Chengfeng's two hundred guards who were either killed or chased away. He shook his head.

  He let out a long sigh, Lu Chengfeng shrugged his shoulders, and a hint of desolation flashed across his eyebrows. However, he quickly took a deep breath, just like a withered seedling that suddenly encountered sweet rain after a long drought, and new vitality surged throughout his body.

  He stretched out his hand and struck the void, Lu Chengfeng laughed loudly: "However, there is still a guest, there is still a guard, not bad, not bad, it's not yet time to exhaust the mountains and rivers! Two of you, two of you, today see me Lu Chengfeng rise from a small Mong Castle, one day, I Lu Chengfeng will open up my own territory!"

  Xiao Hei looked up at Lu Chengfeng with boundless admiration, while Mo Qi yawned and scratched his slightly itchy right shoulder.

  He let out a few loud cries to the sky, and Lu Chengfeng led the two of them around a thick inner wall that was over ten feet high, through a passageway that was over a hundred feet long, and they arrived at a spacious courtyard. The courtyard was over a hundred feet in both length and width, and surrounding it were several government offices where the officials in charge of military affairs, civil administration, population management, justice, and other key departments of Small Meng City concentrated their work.

  On the south side of the square, there is a small gate that is only about one zhang wide, which leads directly to the main street outside the city guard's mansion. Some merchants and residents in the city are entering and exiting through the gate, going to various government offices for work. The office with the most idle people gathered is the public hall of the official in charge of the people.

  Without hesitation, he took a glance and saw that it was a family feud between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Two women, one old and one young, were in the main hall, pointing fingers and scolding each other. Around them, two or three hundred people had gathered, watching the commotion with great interest.

  What a mess today, the city guard Yi Yan was stolen and beaten to the ground, while the official Yi De was there trying to mediate, but he didn't even come to the public hall to handle this civil matter. The superior officer was not present, and the subordinates of the official were also giggling and gathering in the hall, provoking the quarrel between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law with one sentence after another, making the whole scene chaotic and disorderly.

  Wu Qi shook his head and looked at the officials, knowing that Yi Yan brothers had turned Xiaomeng City into a mess. The upper beam is not straight, the lower beam is crooked, the officials of Xiaomeng City have long been corrupted by them.

  The Military Officer is in charge of all military actions in Xiaoming City, responsible for the mobilization and distribution of all military materials in Xiaoming City, and is listed as the first of the four major officers. Therefore, the public house of the Military Officer is located just north of this square, with three high masts erected in front of the gate, and four small public houses are lined up in a row, guarding the main hall where the Military Officer handles daily affairs.

  The four small public houses on both sides of the General's Hall are the Arsenal, which is responsible for military supplies, the Cavalry House, which is responsible for marching and fighting, the Militia House, which is responsible for recruiting militia, and the Barbarian Affairs Office, which is responsible for handling various affairs related to barbarians.

  When I arrived at the front of the General's Mansion, I saw that in front of the gate of the Barbarian Subjugation Office, there were piled up over thirty large carts, all filled with beheaded barbarians' heads. Several minor officials wearing official robes were standing there pinching their noses and counting the number of heads. In front of the gate of the Barbarian Subjugation Office, there was a bulletin board, on which was posted a notice issued by the City Defense Command: one barbarian head would be rewarded with 100 coins.

  This was the vehicle of the Meng villagers, but they didn't recognize these big cars. However, the men from Meng Village were not by the vehicles, they all gathered in front of the granary door, making dissatisfied noises. Apart from them, Wu Qi also heard Zhang Hu's loud roar, seemingly arguing with someone.

  Last night when I entered the city, the sky had already darkened, and the government offices here must have stopped working. So the villagers of Mengcun came early in the morning to hand over the barbarian heads and exchange them for silver rewards. But why did Zhang Hu rush to the treasury house and quarrel with someone?

  Xiang Lu waved at Cheng Feng and hastily ran towards the granary, pushing aside the villagers of Meng Village as he entered the granary.

  The big men in the village were not very good at talking, and when they squeezed into the crowd, they almost swung their fists to give him a few hard hits. Fortunately, they saw that it was Wú Qǐ, so they smiled and parted to let Wú Qǐ walk through.

  In the dimly lit treasury house, a three-foot-high stone platform stood in the center, on which was placed a black-lacquered desk. A middle-aged man with a gaunt face, triangular eyes, and drooping eyebrows sat behind the desk, his beady eyes darting back and forth as he loudly berated Zhang Hu.

  "With just your family's Old Master's divine eyes, this green fire skull of yours is simply a low-quality item. Giving you ten taels of silver to buy it out is already letting you make a huge profit! You insist on saying that this is an inferior magic artifact and must have me, the old master, spend one hundred taels of gold to buy this trash? Are you trying to extort the City Guard?"

  A big black hat was pressed down on his head, Zhang Hu's face turned red with anger, and he stared fiercely at the middle-aged man without saying a word.

  In the treasury, apart from Zhang Hu's several hunting savages, there was another group of burly men. That group of people obviously didn't get along with Zhang Hu, and the leader, a big man wearing black leather armor, sneered at the miserable green skull in Zhang Hu's hand, loudly ridiculing him for being blind to treasure, treating trash as a precious object and bringing it back, and even wasting a valuable "Ding Ling Fu" to seal this skull.

  Several big men and the middle-aged man from that treasury house colluded with each other, frantically downplaying the value of this war trophy obtained by Zhang Hu killing the barbarian leader. They insisted that the green fire skull was a worthless thing, worth at most ten taels of silver, far from being worth the price of a low-grade magic weapon, which should be one hundred taels of gold.

  Without looking back, Lu Chengfeng had already walked away from the crowd and into the distance.

  He smiled and took big strides forward, under the gaze of everyone, he lifted up that thin man with one hand and slapped him in the face with a loud smack.

  One side was frantically beating the man, while the other side loudly rebuked: "Divine eyes? I think you've gone blind in your dog eyes! You're a friend of Patriarch Wuji's family, and you dare to swindle him? The power of this green flame skull, I've personally witnessed it, could it not be considered a low-grade artifact?"

  The palm of his hand was heavy, and more than a dozen slaps were slapped, the man's teeth had already fallen out of his mouth.

  Just as the man let out a shrill cry, the big man who had just colluded with him to provoke the tiger suddenly let out a loud roar and drew his long sword, striking down at Wu Qi.

  Zhang Hu also let out a tiger's roar, and with a reverse grip, he drew out his Wind-Sweeping Great Cleaver, barely blocking the large man's long sword.

  A dull thud, and both of them retreated several steps at the same time.

  **

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