Chapter 26, Zhang Muzhi! The Atrocity of the County Magistrate!
He Chuan’s gaze was cold and he did not say a word. His heart was filled with killing intent as he injected some inner qi into his palm.
It was as if he had noticed something.
The bandit leader immediately changed his words.
“Wait!”
“I can tell you a secret!”
“It’s about Grass Temple Village!”
He Chuan’s hand froze.
“Speak!”
The bandit leader rolled his eyes and took the opportunity to speak, “I can say it, but you have to promise that you’ll let me go.”
“You’re not qualified to negotiate with me.”
He Chuan snorted coldly and exerted force in his hand, sending the sword forward a little.
The bandit leader was startled, thinking that his head was going to be moved.
In the end, the blade only scratched a little bit of his skin.
The pain made him understand that once the ten-year-old kid’s patience was exhausted, he would definitely die.
At this moment, all the bandits gathered around and glared at He Chuan.
“If you take one step forward, your boss’s head will fall to the ground.”
He Chuan’s tender voice spread throughout the scene. His sharp gaze swept across everyone and everyone could not help but take a few steps back.
This group of bandits was already scared of him.
Who had ever seen a fart-sized child kill thousands of people?
Today was an eye-opener!
“Idiot!”
The bandit leader shouted, “All of you get lost! Get lost! Do you want me to die?!”
The bandits immediately did not dare to act rashly. They looked at each other and slowly retreated.
“Speak!”
He Chuan’s tone became more serious. He did not have much patience anymore.
“I’ll speak… I’ll speak…”
Faced with such a powerful He Chuan, the leader of the bandits had no choice but to answer.
“I wasn’t the only one who massacred the Grass Temple Village. I was also ordered by someone…”
“He is the county magistrate who is in charge of this place, Zhang Muzhi!”
As he said this, he started to observe He Chuan’s expression.
Looking at the little brat’s furrowed brows and confused expression, he understood that he did not know the cause and effect of this matter.
It seemed that he was here to ‘carry out justice for the heavens’.
He was only here to take revenge for the villagers of Grass Temple Village.
In the eyes of the bandit leader, He Chuan must be a genius disciple of some martial arts aristocratic family, going out to train!
He might even have even stronger martial artists protecting him.
Because he had passed by this place and seen their atrocities, he had made a bold move.
Otherwise, how could he explain that such a big child had such profound martial arts?
And he had cultivated both internal and external cultivation!
His martial arts skills were probably at the top among third-rate martial artists.
He did not have the slightest chance of winning.
Not to mention there was also a guardian who was hiding nearby and would attack when He Chuan encountered danger.
Because of this, he did not want to escape and could only shift his hatred.
When He Chuan heard the name ‘Zhang Muzhi’, he did not have much of an impression.
However, he was not unfamiliar with the title of county magistrate.
This was an official appointed by the imperial court.
He was in charge of dozens or hundreds of villages and towns. In this remote place, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was the local emperor who ruled the area.
You’re telling me that he sent you to slaughter the people in his area?
Do you think I’m stupid?
Can he bear such a huge responsibility?
Can he hide it?
However, when He Chuan verified it through the Deduction System, it was confirmed from the side that the bandit leader was telling the truth.
Could it be that the officials and bandits were really colluding?
Seeing the bandit leader’s cautious look and wanting to probe further, He Chuan was impatient.
“If you have something to say, then say it quickly. If you don’t say it, then there’s no need to say it.”
The bandit leader was shocked and quickly told him the whole story.
“At that time, there was an outbreak of plague in Grass Temple Village. When the report was made, several people had already died. More than half of the villagers were infected and couldn’t be controlled at all.”
“Failing to control the plague is a big crime. Once the higher-ups find out about it, the dismissal and investigation will be the light punishment!”
“This Zhang Muzhi’s nickname is Pockmarked Zhang. He bought his way to be an official. How could he become one!?”
“Therefore, this Zhang Muzhi wanted to forcefully suppress the news, lock up all the people who were infected, and send them to the temple to await death.”
“However, there are still some family members in the village who are not infected. In the past two years, they would run to the county office from time to time to ask about the whereabouts and situation of their family members.”
“Zhang Muzhi didn’t send anyone to the temple to check at all. How would he know if these people were dead or alive? He could only put up with it perfunctorily.”
“He was worried that these people’s family members would find out the truth and report it to the imperial court, so he went all out and found me…”
“Actually, this has nothing to do with me!”
“It was Zhang Muzhi who asked me to come over and kill all the people in Grass Temple Village. At the same time, he took over a few nearby villages and towns, sealed the news, and executed those who didn’t listen.”
“I had no choice… He could apply for a crusade order at any time and ask the imperial court to send troops to crusade against me. I was also thinking about the future of this group of brothers…”
“Look! This is the tax law that was just issued. I specially asked him to reduce the taxes of these few villages by half so that the lives of these people would not be so difficult.”
As he spoke, the bandit leader took out a yellow paper with a seal on it. The content of the tax reduction was indeed written on it, and the signature was also Zhang Muzhi.
He Chuan took a closer look and suddenly felt that something was wrong.
“You said that he was an official who bought his way to be the county magistrate?”
“That’s right.”
“The county magistrate is just an official who sits in the court to hear cases. Where did he get the right to change the taxes?”
“Little Brother… Oh no, Big Brother, you don’t know, the higher-ups saw that Zhang Muzhi’s prevention and control of the epidemic was beneficial and promoted him by one level. He has already become the county head magistrate.”
“What about the imperial court? How did they do things? Letting a dog-like official like him climb up the ranks?”
The bandit leader looked at the Buddhist monk knife on his neck and carefully swallowed his saliva.
“That… Cough, the imperial court did send people over, but they were all brought by Zhang Muzhi to play around. After playing for a few days, their bodies were weak, so they naturally couldn’t come to Grass Temple Village to check on the situation.”
He Chuan took a deep breath and clenched his fists unconsciously.
This world was really ridiculous.
It was one thing to buy and sell official positions, but there were actually officials and bandits colluding to take the opportunity to get promoted and get rich!
It was really…
Really…
Really deserve to die!
The bandit leader seemed to have felt something.
“No… spare me…”
Whoosh!
He Chuan suddenly moved the sword in his hand horizontally.
The blade, which was full of crack, was wrapped with inner qi, and it cut open the throat of the bandit leader with incomparable ease.
Warm scarlet blood gushed out.
He clutched his neck in panic and knelt on the ground.
He looked at He Chuan with fear in his eyes, as if he was still asking why he had killed him.
“Spare you? Then did you spare the women you played with?”