On December 7, the first year of Tong’an in the Han Empire, in the southeast of the Han Empire, Yuezhou City…
Heavy snow fell from the sky, covering the entire Yuezhou land in goose feather-like snow. For the people of Yuezhou City, such heavy snow had not been seen for many years, and this year's abnormality was interpreted by the rulers of Yuezhou City at this moment as "the auspicious sign of the appearance of white lotus in the world."
At this moment, Yuezhou City has become the ruling center of the White Lotus Sect, and the "capital" of the "White Lotus Kingdom" is now located in Yuezhou City.
The "auspicious" snow was still falling, and at the southern gate of Yuezhou City, the soldiers guarding the city locked their heads and watched the people from the Yitang in the city using wheelbarrows to pull out the bodies of those who had frozen to death in the heavy snow in the past few days.
The corpses were piled on a cart, covered with straw mats. Pairs of naked, bloodless and shoeless feet were exposed from under the mats. They were already stiff or black.
The people who were queuing at the city gate to enter the city looked at the corpses under the straw mats, each with an expression of pity on their faces, but they did not dare to speak, and just watched silently.
Those corpses were the city's homeless children, beggars, and those who were imprisoned in the North City Camp by the White Lotus Sect.
With the auspicious snowfall, which represented the appearance of the White Lotus, all those people in the city who had no place to stay and only thin clothes on were cleared out within two days. The mass grave outside Yuezhou city could hardly accommodate so many corpses in the past few days. In addition, the weather was cold and the soil was hard. Many corpses fell into a small ravine near the mass grave after being pulled out of the city.
The wild dogs outside Yuezhou City that no one feeds have almost all gathered at the mass grave in the past few days. Occasionally, you can see them in the snow for one or two days. The mouths and eyes of the wild dogs are red, and they look ferocious when they look at people. In the past, some people would hunt wild dogs outside the city to eat, but in the past few days, even the homeless people who are still alive don't eat those wild dogs because they really can't eat them.
In sharp contrast to the mass graves outside the city, the city has been undergoing large-scale construction and decorations in recent days, and almost everyone is preparing for an upcoming grand ceremony.
Just like the procession that was lining up to enter the city at this moment, the carriages were loaded with wine and meat, silk and satin, gold and silver jewelry, and some carriages were loaded with all kinds of gorgeous furniture or various building materials - golden nanmu, the finest white marble, and the farthest, red bricks shipped from Fuzhou...
It was in this heavy snow that a convoy carrying the flag of the White Lotus Sect, coming from afar in the wind and snow, arrived at the south gate entrance of Yuezhou City and joined the army queuing to enter the city.
"Da", a wheelbarrow that a man was pushing had just walked out of the door when its wheel hit a small stone on the road. The driver's hand shook, the wheelbarrow tilted, and two stiff corpses covered with mats on the cart rolled off.
The two bodies were a woman and a child of seven or eight years old. The bodies were wearing ragged clothes, and they looked like mother and child. The woman was hugging the child tightly in her arms, and the child was curled up tightly in the woman's arms. Because the muscles and bones of the body were stiff, they could not be separated, so they could only be carried to the car together...
When the two bodies rolled down, the eyes of the people waiting at the city gate suddenly turned over, and many of them showed a look of pity. Several children who were waiting to enter the city turned their heads, but the adults around them covered their eyes and prevented them from looking.
"What are you doing? Take the bodies away quickly and don't block them here. Bang..." A White Lotus leader who was guarding the city gate came over and stared at the poor wheelbarrow driver with his flaming eyes. While he was speaking, he whipped the driver with the whip in his hand.
The driver who was beaten gritted his teeth and dared not say a word. When the other drivers pushing wheelbarrows saw this, they hurried over to help. They lifted the two bodies on the ground back onto the cart, covered them with straw mats, and pushed the cart away with a creaking sound in silence.
This was just a small episode. After the wheelbarrows carrying the corpses left, the south gate of Yuezhou City returned to calm. People entering the city lined up, and the same was true for people leaving the city.
Yan Liqiang watched as the bodies of the mother and son who had fallen to the ground were lifted back onto the wheelbarrow and then carried away. At this moment, he was sitting in a carriage in the middle of the convoy with the White Lotus flag. He was wearing a mountain wind mask on his face, a thick cotton coat, a White Lotus headscarf on his head, a dog-skin scarf around his neck, revealing half of his face, and a goose-feather knife on his waist. He was dressed like a guard.
When watching the bodies of the mother and son fall from the wheelbarrow, Yan Liqiang clenched his fists tightly. After hearing the Dragon King's cough, he turned his head and forced himself to relax.
The Dragon King was sitting next to Yan Liqiang, hunched over, dressed like an old coachman.
Li Hongtu and Ji Xiaoyao were also in the convoy. Li Hongtu also dressed up as a coachman, while Ji Xiaoyao looked like an accountant. Hua Ruxue was also in the convoy, sitting in a carriage in front of Yan Liqiang with several other women. In this convoy of hundreds of people, Yan Liqiang and his group were completely inconspicuous.
Cui Lichen did not follow Yan Liqiang and the others, but another team. For this operation, Cui Lichen issued a call to the Yu Luo Palace. A group of top Yu Luo Palace masters had already entered Yuezhou for the same purpose, and they would attack together...
Soon, it was Yan Liqiang and his team's turn to undergo inspection before entering the city.
"Where are you from?" The young White Lotus officer who had just whipped the driver asked a steward who got off the carriage in front.
"We are from General Guangwei's mansion..." the steward replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"What's in the car?"
“These are all things needed for the grand ceremony!”
"Well, I need to check..."
"This general, please go ahead..."
The little leader of the White Lotus Sect waved his hand and took two White Lotus soldiers to check each car one by one. Among the cars in the front, three were loaded with large boxes full of gold, silver and jewelry. The cars at the back were loaded with silks, some exquisite objects and people. Yan Liqiang's car was loaded with a whole car of fine kesi silk.
The small leader of the White Lotus Sect checked each car one by one. When he checked the car in front of Yan Liqiang, he used the spear in his hand to lift the curtain, and heard several women's screams coming from the car.
The White Lotus leader's eyes lit up as he looked at the woman in the car. After swallowing hard, he turned around and looked at the manager of the motorcade. His momentum and voice suddenly became several times louder. "Didn't you say that the motorcade was full of things for the grand ceremony? What's going on? Call all these women down. I want to check them carefully..."
The steward was not panicked at all. He just looked at the little leader calmly, and even looked at him with a hint of disdain. "The women in this car are the beauties selected by General Guangwei. They will be sent to the palace soon. Sir, are you sure you want to let these beauties come down for inspection?"
Hearing this, the face of the little leader of the White Lotus changed, and his body seemed to tremble. He was so arrogant just now, but in the blink of an eye, he was smiling and his waist slumped. "Haha, it's okay, it's okay, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, you can go in...", saying this, he waved his hand towards the city gate, and the convoy entered Yuezhou city safely.
The streets of Yuezhou City were swept clean even in the heavy snow. What was even more surprising was the trees on both sides of the street. In the winter, the trees on both sides of the street had no leaves, only branches were left. But at this moment, the branches of the trees on both sides of the street were hung with colorful cloth and satin, forcibly decorating them with a festive atmosphere, and no expense was spared...
Many newlyweds on the street did not have much clothes. They were walking in a hurry and shivering in the wind and snow, but no one dared to tear down the cloth and silks hanging on the trees and wrap themselves up.
Just a few minutes after entering the city, a large group of well-equipped and powerful cavalry passed by Yan Liqiang and his convoy.
"These are the cavalry stationed in the city, called Qianye Guards. They are completely selected and controlled by the rebel's cronies, and are also the strongest force in the rebel's hands. There are 50,000 Qianye Guards in the city, and another 100,000 in the camp west of the city. On the day of the ceremony, the Qianye Guards will be responsible for guarding outside the rebel's palace. Once we take action, these Qianye Guards will rush into the palace, and the Qianye Guards outside the city will also rush into the city to respond..." The Dragon King, who was sitting next to Yan Liqiang, looked at the road ahead without moving his lips, but the voice as thin as a mosquito's hum was clearly heard by Yan Liqiang.
"Should all these Qianye guards die?"
Yan Liqiang didn't move his mouth, but the same sound reached the Dragon King's ears.
"People who don't deserve to die can't enter Qianye Guard. Those who can enter Qianye Guard have innocent people's blood on their hands. As long as we wipe out Qianye Guard, the situation in Yuezhou City can be controlled..."
Yan Liqiang looked coldly at the cavalry that disappeared in front of him and said calmly, "Okay, I'll take the lives of these 150,000 Qianye Guards!"
(End of this chapter)