Chapter 170: Carefree

  What woman doesn't like treasures? And it's such a rare treasure, given by the one she loves. Fan Wei treasured the crystal in her palm, and suddenly, the crystal was no longer cold and icy, but warm and sweet, filling her heart with sweetness.

  The next day, Tang Yin set out for Yancheng. Afraid of arousing suspicion on the road, he didn't bring too many people with him. Only the three Shangguan brothers, twenty members of the Dark Arrows who had reached at least the Spiritualization Realm, and a dozen or so gate guests followed him, and no one else was brought along.

  They were just over thirty people, dressed as traveling merchants, riding fast horses through the night.

  From Tianmen to Yancheng, along the way, you have to pass through three counties: Guannan County, Jinguang County, and Lehua County. Guannan County is adjacent to Tianmen, and although its county head has expressed willingness to be loyal to Zhongtian, after all, it's a long way from the emperor, so they just say so but haven't taken any action, such as sending troops to attack Tianmen, nor have they shown hostility towards Tangyuan, the leader of Tianyuan County. The whole Guannan County is still the same as before, and even the entire county hasn't made any preparations for defense. After passing through Guannan, entering Jinguang County's territory, the city walls here begin to be heavily guarded, with night curfews and a tense atmosphere gradually intensifying. It isn't until entering Lehua County that you truly feel the approach of war.

  Geng Qiang was Zhong Tian's swift and fierce general, with a cultivation level that reached the Ling Yuan realm. He was brave in battle, a tenacious and formidable warrior, but he was also cruel and arrogant, not understanding internal politics, and not suitable for being a governor. The reason why Zhong Tian valued him so much was simply because his loyalty was sufficient.

  After Ge Qiang became the county governor, the people of Lehu lived in a state of terror. Ge Qiang controlled public opinion with an iron fist, planting informants everywhere, and as soon as he discovered anyone expressing dissatisfaction with Zhong Tian, they would either be arrested and beheaded without trial or secretly assassinated.

  At that time, speech was extremely open, and even ordinary scholars and common people could directly petition the monarch to propose their own views on major national events. Whether or not the monarch accepted it, they would never kill the scholars or common people who petitioned. Now, the situation in Lehu County has completely changed. One sentence can decide a person's life and death. In this highly tense situation, everyone's nerves are stretched to the extreme. On the surface, people's discontent seems to be suppressed, but in reality, it has all been transferred to secret places. People hate Zhong Tian even more and miss the enlightened era of Feng Wang even more.

  When Tang Yin and his party entered Lehu County, they felt that the place had changed beyond recognition. It was not the scenery that had changed, but the people. The former Lehu County was bustling with activity, with people coming and going, merchants and travelers flooding in. Now, even during the day on the streets, you couldn't see a few people, only piles of soldiers holding long spears patrolling the streets.

  The guards' uniforms had changed, originally the Wind Army was dressed in black clothes and armor, but now they were wearing red clothes and armor. Looking at the soldiers who had changed into new uniforms, Tang Yin sneered in his heart, it seemed that Zhong Tian really wanted to change the Wind Country into the Peng Country, changing the national name and flag was not enough, even the military uniform had to be changed.

  When heaven is about to destroy a man, it first makes him mad.

  Tang Yin and others entered the city and found a restaurant, ordered some dishes, and first filled their stomachs.

  The restaurant was quiet and deserted, with the shopkeeper yawning drowsily. Tang Yin's group entered without waking him up.

  Tang Yin glanced over and walked directly into the store, sitting down at a table near the window. Cheng Jin approached the shopkeeper and knocked on the counter, saying in a low voice: "Wake up, wake up!"

  The shopkeeper slowly opened his eyes and saw Xiaosa rush into the store, suddenly there were so many people, he was a bit stunned. He asked doubtfully: "You are........"

  "Isn't this a restaurant? Of course you come in to eat, are you still doing business?" Cheng Jin's eyebrows were knotted into a ball.

  The little servant finally came to his senses and nodded repeatedly, saying: "Do..."

  Sit down, sit down, gentlemen, please be seated. What would you like to eat?

  Cheng Jin said: "First, let's have a hundred catties of rice, fifty kilograms of beef. We'll eat half the beef and take the other half away..."

  The shopkeeper smiled wryly and said, "Sorry, sir, our small store doesn't have that much beef."

  "What?" Cheng Jin raised an eyebrow, he only wanted fifty catties of beef, not five hundred catties. How could such a big restaurant possibly not have it? He snorted and asked back, "Do you think we can't afford to pay and will eat for free?"

  "No, no, no, sir, you've got it wrong." The shopkeeper rubbed his hands together and sighed, "Sir, as you can see for yourself, there are hardly any customers in the store. We don't get many people coming in all day, so we didn't prepare that much beef."

  Cheng Jin blinked his eyes, looking around left and right. Indeed, in such a large restaurant with dozens of tables, apart from their group of thirty or so people, there were only two other customers. It was now noon, the peak hour for business, and it should be booming. He shook his head slightly and looked up at Tang Yin.

  The latter said in a low voice: "If there is no, then forget it. Whatever there is, let's just have whatever can fill our stomachs!"

  Cheng Jin nodded and said to the shopkeeper, "Did you hear what my young master said? Go prepare!" After speaking, he secretly stuck out his tongue, almost saying something wrong. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and changed it in time.

  "Alright, sir! Just a moment!" The shop assistant replied and quickly walked away.

  Cheng Jin sat down beside Tang Yan and said in a low voice, "I didn't expect that in just a few short months, Lehu County would become like this."

  Tang Yin shrugged and snorted with laughter, saying nothing more.

  Not long after, the shopkeeper brought up the braised head and some side dishes. The braised head was dry and hard, it's unclear how many days it had been left out for. The flavor of the side dishes wasn't great either. Everyone ate with furrowed brows.

  Because the dishes didn't suit their taste, Tang Yin and others also ate very quickly. Just as everyone was about to finish eating, a group of officers and soldiers walked in from outside.

  There were only a dozen or so officers and soldiers, like a small patrol team. The leader of the Taoist sect's eyes rolled around randomly, with an air of evilness, but his evil aura was different from Tang Yin's. Tang Yin's evil aura was accompanied by a murderous and crazy atmosphere, while his was filled with frivolity.

  Suddenly, officials and soldiers came in, and Cheng Jin and others were shocked at the same time. Although they continued to eat, their other hand had slowly moved under the table, grasping the hidden dagger at their waist, ready to take a risk and strike out if something went wrong.

  Tang Yin was much calmer than the others, since the soldiers came in, he didn't even bat an eye, his eyelids didn't even flicker, and he continued to eat quickly with his head down.

  The squad leader looked around the restaurant and asked in a bad tone: "Whose horses are those outside?"

  A low voice caused trouble, Cheng Jin stood up and cupped his hands to the squad leader, smiling and saying: "It's my fault."

  "Huh?" The team leader tilted his head and looked up and down at Cheng Jin, asking: "What's with bringing so many horses?"

  "The little man is for business travel, and the horse is naturally for carrying goods."

  "What goods?" The squad leader snorted and walked up to He Jin, saying: "I don't see any goods of yours."

  "They've all been sold, we're preparing to head home now."

  "Sly excuses!" The squad leader sneered: "Quickly check your phones to see if you're harboring ulterior motives?"

  A sharp glint flashed in Meng's eyes, but he didn't say a word. His hand had already quietly moved to the back of his waist, preparing to draw his sword. Tang Yin, who was standing behind him, grabbed his wrist before he could pull out the blade and squeezed it firmly, signaling that there was no need for violence. At the same time, Tang Yin also stood up, a smile spreading across his face as he said, "We are indeed just merchants passing through this place. We hope General will show us leniency." As he spoke, a stack of silver appeared in his hand and he handed it to the squad leader.

  The squad leader had never been called General in his life, and he was naturally very pleased to hear Tang Yin's words. With the silver handed over to him, his gloomy face suddenly cleared up, and he took Tang Yin's silver without leaving any trace, stuffed it into his waistband, and then said with a pretentious tone: "It's not peaceful recently, during this period of time, it's best not to come out, just stay at home honestly!"

  "Yes! Whatever the general says is right!" Tang Yin said with a smile.

  The squad leader nodded in satisfaction, turned his head to the soldiers under him and said: "Don't be nervous, they are just ordinary merchants." With a toss of silver, Tang Yin and others immediately changed from plotting evil to ordinary merchants, showing how great the power of money is.

  Upon hearing the squad leader's words, the soldiers put down their spears and their expressions returned to normal.

  The squad leader casually picked up a bun, took a bite, turned his head and spat it out, throwing the bun aside, muttering: "What kind of ghost thing." As he said this, he walked towards the other two diners and asked: "What are you two doing?"

  "General, I'm just a humble merchant!"

  "Huh? Doesn't look like it!" The squad leader said with his hands behind his back, glancing at the two of them sideways.

  These two merchants are not as wealthy as Tang Yin, and they can't take out that much silver. The two men said in unison: "Officer, we're really here to attend a lecture, and we have proof..." As they spoke, the two of them took out the merchant's special letter of introduction from their bosoms and handed it over to the squad leader.

  Seeing no benefits from the two, the squad leader's anger burned, took over the letter, didn't even read it and directly tore it up, coldly saying: "What kind of nonsense is this letter? I think you two are suspicious!" As he spoke, he turned his head and ordered: "Take these two away, send them back for interrogation!"

  Shangguan brothers and Cheng Jin among others saw this and couldn't help but frown, subconsciously clenching their fists.

  These are not government soldiers but a group of bandits, no wonder Lehu County is now so desolate, most shops are closed, all caused by these followers of Zhong Tian.

  Tang Yin didn't show as much indignation as everyone else. After sitting down, he said in a soft voice, "Don't mind our business, sit down and continue eating."