The Stepmother is Unkind

After working day after day, the old miners have long lost their will and have no hope, and they are no different from the walking dead.

New miners, some people quickly accept their fate, some people are not reconciled.

During this period of time, the guards of the Xie family have quietly attracted the miners who were unwilling and wanted to resist.

A few guards suddenly burst out, and all the miners were stunned by the sudden abnormality, but after Yanxia and a group of miners who didn't accept their fate reacted, they immediately rushed to help.

Some of them are bare-handed, some pick up stones on the ground as weapons, and some go to get tools for work...

There are a lot of guards, otherwise so many miners cannot be controlled.

Therefore, while the guards suppressed the crowd, they still had the energy to scold—

"What are you doing?!"

"Did it go against the sky?"

"Get back!"

The guards have all practiced martial arts for many years, and they can fight against several enemies.

Yanxia and the others have not been trained, and they all rely on brute force to fight. They can't eat or sleep well. Naturally, they can't compare to the strong guards.

The rest of the miners were actually more than twice as many as the resisting group, and together they were more than the guards, but all of them huddled together in fear, and no one dared to go up to help.

Some people even looked at the miners who were beating with the guards mockingly as if they were fools, thinking that it was a futile effort, and it might even cause them to be beaten.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from the top of the mine, startling everyone below, and even the two parties who were fighting looked up.

More and more people slid down the edge of the mine. The guards didn't know them, and they looked flustered and lost their sense of proportion.

A few Xie family guards knew what they knew, they didn't care about the people who came, and they attacked the guards even harder, full of momentum.

While attacking, they encouraged the miners, shouting: "Reinforcement is here! Reinforcement is here!"

More than a thousand Qianzhong troops, some of them have fallen to the bottom of the mine, and the top continues to slide down, and there is this shouting blessing, Yan Jun and others who have fallen to the wind and are almost invincible are all excited on the face, and they find it again. Vigorously, he fought back fiercely.

The group of miners who hadn't moved for a while were sluggish for a moment, with ecstasy in their eyes, and then they got up and grabbed the things at hand as weapons. Their cowardice and numbness turned into crazy hatred, and they rushed like crazy. guards.

The situation was reversed, and the melee began.

The soundproofing of the mine is excellent.

On the ground, the clansmen of the two clans in the Butterfly Valley knew nothing about the mine.

Today is the third day of the third lunar month, the biggest festival of the year in South Vietnam. Patriarch Hu got married in the prefecture city. All the influential people of the two ethnic groups went to the prefecture city to attend the wedding of Patriarch Hu, but the festival still had to pass.

Therefore, in the daytime, the Butterfly Valley celebrates for a long time. After the sky darkens, a huge bonfire is lit in the open space behind the Butterfly Immortal Temple.

They had happy smiles on their faces, as if there was a paradise under their feet, free from any rot and sin.

On the wide road outside the Butterfly Valley, more than 3,000 troops from the Central Guizhou Province lined up neatly. Xie Qin rode at the head of the queue. Everyone hid in the darkness and silently looked at the Die Immortal Temple, which separated the two sides.

Here, they can clearly hear the laughter and the beautiful folk songs sung by young women.

And around Die Immortal Temple, a circle of dim yellow halo looks like a miracle from a distance.

But this is not the case. The establishment of the Die Immortal Temple is the beginning of the greed of the two races.

"Lang Jun, it's almost time."

Xie Qin heard the words, raised his left hand, swung forward, and ordered coldly, "Come in!"

The captain of the Qianzhong Military Academy in the front row received the order and quickly formed the team. The soldiers rushed into the mouth of Butterfly Valley in unison, divided into two in front of the Butterfly Immortal Temple, and attacked from both sides in a surrounding situation.

In the open space, when the two clansmen did not notice the abnormality at first, they were still beating. After hearing the loud footsteps, they slowly stopped and looked at the source of the sound.

When so many people suddenly appeared with sharp long knives in their hands, the people at the bonfire broke away from the festival in an instant. kill.

They know that what the clan did is wrong, they have no guilt, and they are prepared to resist.

The Qianzhong Army naturally did not show any mercy, and the sword fell, seriously injured or killed, until it could no longer resist.

Relying on the mines, the two clans became more and more powerful. The entire Lingnan industry had countless industries and many clansmen. There were thousands of people living in the Butterfly Valley, almost equivalent to the number of people in a small county.

Among these people, half are old and weak, women and children, and the remaining half are young and strong. Excluding the part guarded in the mine and the part taken away by the two clan chiefs, there are still more than a thousand people.

Even if these people were not at an advantage compared with the number of troops in the Central Guizhou, the fighting between the two sides was still extremely fierce.

Some people from the two tribes rushed back to their respective villages.

In the barbarian village, on a bamboo building in the patriarch's house, the concubine has never been in the mood to participate in the festival celebrations in Butterfly Valley, and today is the day Nan Ke married that dog of the patriarch Hu. She stayed in the bamboo building alone. Can't sleep.

The singing outside stopped, and strange voices came again. Occasionally, there were voices, and they sounded extremely alarmed, so she got up to check.

The concubine stood on the second floor, watching the villagers running by in a panic, a little puzzled, but then she thought of something, and quickly moved a chair over and stood on it and looked at the bonfire.

She couldn't see it clearly, but under the response of the fire, she could clearly distinguish the shadow of the sword fighting.

Must be a spy!

It must be bad luck in Butterfly Valley!

And those who ran home did not forget to pack up the gold and silver, and with the gold and silver, they ran into the clan temple without looking back, got into the mine, and planned to escape from the mine.

The concubine looked at the direction they were running, and in a hurry, she didn't want any of the two clans to escape.

There was nothing she could do to stop her, she could only be in a hurry.

But not long after, there was a strange phenomenon in the clan temple. There were people who escaped from the clan temple and collided with the people who entered. After a long period of confusion, those people began to flee in all directions.

The concubine didn't even care that the people in the Hu clan chief's house escaped, she just stood on tiptoe and stared at the direction of the clan temple.

After a while, there seemed to be a steady stream of people coming from the clan temple to arrest those who had escaped.

Seeing this scene, the concubine laughed happily, "Hahaha... Retribution! Retribution is finally here! Hahaha..."

At the clan temple, following the Qianzhong Army out of the mine, the miners who saw the sun finally had a real feeling, and they were all emotional.

"We are finally saved! Saved!"

"Ahhh-"

"Ugh..."

Some of the miners cried bitterly, some were screaming frantically, and some just fainted.

The elite soldiers of the Central Guizhou Army can easily arrest ordinary people.

The guards did not follow the Qianzhong army to arrest people, but stayed beside the miners. On the one hand, they directed the relatively stable miners to help tie up the people caught by the Qianzhong army and drive them to one place. The miners were full of hatred and could not control their emotions.

The Qianzhong Army conducted a house-to-house search, and everyone, young and old, rushed to the front of the clan temple and concentrated on guarding them.

The patriarch Hu's courtyard was conspicuous, and the concubine was naturally brought over. The Xie family's guards knew about her, so there was no embarrassment. Together with some other Nanmeng women, they could not move around for the time being.

The concubines and other women did not resist and were extremely obedient, but the eyes they looked at those people were full of joy.

When more and more people were caught together, the people from the Central Guizhou Army began to decrease, so they divided some of them to support the Central Guizhou Army at the campfire.

Flanking from both sides, the young men of the two races, who had long been defeated, were even more powerless to resist.

About three quarters of an hour before and after, the Qianzhong Army completely captured the Butterfly Valley.

The soldiers returned to the Butterfly Immortal Temple and reported to the front: "Thank you, Governor, the entire Butterfly Valley is under control."

"You have a job."

Xie Qin drove his horse around the Die Immortal Temple at this time, and went straight to the clan temple after crossing the mess.

The Qianzhong army formed a circle, holding torches to illuminate the open space in front of the clan temple.

"Lang Jun." The guards stepped forward and saluted with fists.

Xie Qin looked at the guards who ventured in, said "It's hard work", and turned to a group of miners.

Most of them were skinny, and looked at Xie Qin, who was on a tall horse, in a panic, at a loss.

A guard said: "This is the governor of the state, and the governor sent me to rescue you."

When the miners heard this, they fell to the ground one after another, kowtowing to the benefactor, "Thank you, Lord Inspector, thank you Lord Inspector..."

Xie Qin called them up, ordered people to temporarily place the hundreds of miners, and ordered people to continue to search and register their homes from house to house, and then ordered people to lead the way and enter the mine to check in person.

The guards have roughly figured out the various routes of the mine. When leading the way, they avoided the thatched hut and reached the bottom of the mine.

Xie Qin listened to the guard's instructions and imagined that the miners were digging day after day and year after year in this dark place, and his face became colder.

In this mine, there are many abandoned mines. Under the leadership of the guards, Xie Qin saw the mines where silver was cast, the mines where iron was cast for training troops, and the mines where ore was temporarily stored...

"Lang Jun, it's the mass grave in front of you, don't you go there?" The guards persuaded him.

Xie Qin had already smelled a peculiar smell, but he just raised his sleeves to cover his mouth and nose lightly, and did not stop.

The guards had to walk in front with a few soldiers holding torches. If they found that the mass grave was too terrifying, they could see it in advance and cover it.

The last time the guards came over, they were almost in the dark and didn't see anything.

This time, it was the same guard, holding a torch and approaching the mass grave, only to see a little, and immediately backed away in fear, followed by a few other soldiers hurriedly.

They are all well-trained, and it’s not that they haven’t seen blood before, but they didn’t dare to take a second look at the scene below, and when they recalled the scene they saw just now, they couldn’t help but beat their hearts faster. .

The guard covered his mouth and discouraged again: "Langjun, don't look at it."

Xie Qin only looked at their expressions, and knew that the bottom must be terrible.

But he is an official and aspires to serve the people. The more he is like this, the more he has to see it with his own eyes, to make it public, to teach the world to be vigilant, and to teach all officials to be vigilant.

Therefore, Xie Qin took the torch from the guard's hand and approached the mass grave regardless of the guard's obstruction.

What kind of scene was that, the corpses were slaughtered, the bones were piled up, and there were many unknown corpses hidden under the stones and gravels.

Xie Qin couldn't bear to look any more, turned around and strode away from the place. He had an excellent memory, and when he went back, he didn't need anyone to lead the way, and went straight out of the mine.

Others followed suit.

When he walked out of the cave, Xie Qin still couldn't calm down completely. He waved his hand to teach others to go outside first, and then stood alone in front of the stone statue, looking up at the two holy faces on the stone statue.

A hundred years ago, whether there really was such a pair of young people who broke through everything and cared about being together is unknown to outsiders, but the legend of the Butterfly Immortal spread to the Quartet and the temple of the Die Immortal, which is full of incense, are obviously intentional. .

If you didn't investigate carefully, who would have thought that there are so many sins hidden under this Butterfly Valley?

He looked at the spiritual positions on both sides again, why does a temple like this keep the candles burning and the incense burning?

Suddenly, Xie Qin's eyes sharpened, he took a step back with his right foot, and turned his upper body to the side to avoid the sharp blade slashed from the right side.

The hilt of the knife was in the hands of a man. The man was one of the people who guarded the temple. Before he could escape, he hid under the offering table, and the teaching cloth covered his figure.

He recognized Xie Qin as the prefect, and guessed that someone from the government rushed into the village, but he hated him and wanted to hold him hostage to keep the people safe, so he pulled out a knife and waited for an opportunity to stab Xie Qin.

However, the family members have been riding and shooting martial arts since elementary school, and Xie Qin has not slackened since he grew up. He was keenly aware of the crisis and swiftly avoided it.

But the man missed the first blow, his eyes became more and more fierce, and he swung the knife like a fish died and the net was broken, and continued to slash at Xie Qin's neck.

Xie Qin avoided the knife to the left again, and quickly counterattacked, grabbing the wrist of the man holding the handle of the knife with his left hand, bending his right elbow, and slamming his chest violently.

The man couldn't dodge, the other hand clenched a fist and swung towards Sechin's head.

Xie Qin felt the style of the fist, tilted his head to the left, dodged the first punch, raised his right hand to block before the second punch caught up, and after blocking, punched the man's face.

The man's nose hurt, and tears poured out instantly, and when the fist left, two strands of blood slowly flowed down.

Xie Qin took the opportunity to hold the man's wrist tightly, and after the knife landed, he held his wrist and twisted it backwards, and then kicked heavily in his leg, forcing the man to kneel on the ground.

The guards and soldiers at the door immediately noticed the change and rushed in to protect them. However, from the assassination to Xie Qin's subduing, everything happened in an instant, so they only played the role of detaining the man after they came in.

The two soldiers held the man tightly, and the guards clasped their fists to plead guilty, "The subordinates are not well protected..."

"It's not your fault."

Xie Qin took out a handkerchief from the embroidery, slowly wiped his hands, looked at the man who was pressed to the ground, and said indifferently, "Some people are just over their heads."

After he wiped his hands, he threw it away, and the jinpa fell into the incense burner.

The burning incense pierced through the brocade in an instant, and the holes on the brocade expanded little by little until the entire veil was ablaze, burning the entire incense stick together.

From this day on, Butterfly Valley will no longer have the Butterfly Immortal Temple and the Clan Temple, only the temple to pay homage to the undead who died tragically under the persecution of the two ethnic groups.

In the prefecture, Yin Mingyu, Chu He and Qi Jiedu were also waiting for the hour.

There is no curfew in the prefecture, and it is necessary to wait until the night is completely dark and the people return home before they can act.

When Yin Mingyu and Mrs. Qi were dealing with all the guests at the Hu residence, the envoy Qi Jiedu was waiting at the envoy's mansion.

What he needs to do is to mobilize his personal soldiers to control all the industries and industries related to the barbarians and the scorpions with the fastest speed and the least harm to the people while the Hu and Fan clan chiefs can't react in time. House, control the entire state city.

Xie Ce was about to sleep at his usual time. He didn't want to sleep at someone else's house. He wanted to stay awake and wait for his mother to pick him up.

But the sheep was lying on the ground and always closed its eyes, so Xie Ce led it back and forth.

He said he was going to wait at the front, and he could see his mother immediately. Jin Er persuaded him a few words, and seeing that he insisted, he instructed people to go to the front yard of the Jiedushi Mansion to ask Qi Jiedushi for instructions.

Qi Jiedu gave permission.

Xie Ce appeared in the main hall of the front yard.

Qi Jiedushi was wearing a suit of armor and sat on a chair with a golden sword.

As soon as Xie Ce saw his appearance, he threw down the sheep and ran to Qi Jiedushi's side with his eyes full of light, amazed.

Qi Jiedushi looked at him and asked, "Aren't you afraid?"

Xie Ce didn't understand, "What are you afraid of? Why are you afraid?"

When Qi Jiedu heard this, he looked at his innocent face. Xie Ce didn't know that it was normal for what happened in Nanyue, but at such a young age, he didn't feel timid at all because he was alone. It was truly extraordinary.

Xie Ce didn't care about those, looked at his armor and his knife enviously, and asked, "Grandfather Qi, can I touch it?"

Qi Jiedu: "...touch it."

Xie Ce was overjoyed, leaned over and stretched out his small hand, poked it carefully twice, and then covered it with his whole hand to explore, even more joyful.

After all, Qi Jiedushi had gone through the storm, and after seeing Xie Ce's innocent smile for a long time, he completely calmed down. When the time was approaching, he immediately walked into the courtyard and issued military orders to the soldiers one by one.

Xie Ce was lying behind the door, looking at Qi Jiedu's majestic appearance, his eyes full of admiration.

The sheep lay outside the door and slept soundly.

A group of personal soldiers got the order and set off immediately. The soldiers who had been waiting outside the city for a long time were also ready to be dispatched, and they entered the city and quickly went to various places.

The people in the city were still awake. When they heard the movement, they opened the door and came out to check. But when they opened the door and saw the soldiers on the street, they immediately shrank back in fright.

Most of the people in Xicheng District are ordinary people. Only some ordinary people of two ethnic groups have purchased real estate here, so they need to send troops there.

Dongcheng District is prosperous, and there are two ethnic groups behind many restaurants, brothels and casinos in the northeast of the city. It is this place that needs to be controlled first.

Today, because of the marriage of Patriarch Hu, many powerful people in Zhoucheng are attending banquets in Hu's house, and Dongcheng District is a little deserted than before.

As soon as the soldiers broke into the various buildings, they screamed. Most of them were either disheveled or unprepared. Some people wanted to resist one or two, but they were quickly controlled by Qi Jiedushi's soldiers. .

At the same time, soldiers in the southeast of the city also entered, starting from the outermost periphery, gradually controlling those families who were closely related to the two ethnic groups.

Hu's house—

Chu He made excuses to keep the prefecture officials, no matter how they complained, he didn't mean to let them go.

Liu Sima and other officials insisted on leaving, so Chu He directly asked the Xie family guards to close the gate of the prefecture.

Therefore, not only the governor never appeared, but also other state officials.

The time was getting late, and the more Patriarch Hu watched the dancers dance, the more turbulent his heart was, and he wanted to go back to the bridal chamber, so he said, "You guys continue to enjoy the dance and drink, and the third master will entertain me, so I won't accompany you."

Yin Mingyu looked at the sky and knew that the envoy Qi Jiedu had already started to act. He could delay for a while, and then he smiled and said, "Patriarch Hu, the governor said that he will come, you might as well wait a little longer."

Patriarch Hu had long been impatient, and said, "The person sent by Mrs. Inspector to ask questions has been gone for a long time and has not come back. Maybe the Inspector has something to do and can't come."

"Besides, today is my big day, so I can't delay my wedding ceremony, right?"

If it was someone else, Patriarch Hu would not be polite at all, but facing Mrs. Prefect, and Mrs. Jiedu was present, no matter how arrogant and dissatisfied he was, he was in control, and his tone was not too bad.

The guests laughed and joked, saying: "Today the Hu clan grows up happy, it can't be too late for the bridal chamber..."

Only Patriarch Fan looked at Mrs. Prefect, and became more and more suspicious, so he also tentatively said: "Mrs. Prefect, it's getting late, why don't you leave today, tomorrow I'll hold a banquet for Lord Prefect and Madam Prefect, Patriarch Hu's bridal chamber. important."

When the patriarch Hu heard the rare good words from the surnamed Fan, he nodded lavishly and said, "Yes, it won't be too late to entertain the Chief Prefect tomorrow."

When Yin Mingyu saw this, he picked up the wine glass, got up with a smile, and said calmly: "Today, it is indeed my family's adult who missed the appointment and taught the patriarch Hu to delay the ceremony for a long time. Patriarch Hu has a glass of wine, I hope Patriarch Hu will not mind."

"Mrs. Inspector has already said, I'll do it first as a tribute." Patriarch Hu picked up the wine glass, drank it with a dunk, flipped the wine glass over, and showed her the empty wine glass.

Yin Mingyu watched him finish drinking, and said "refreshing", just now he picked up the wine glass, gave a slight respect, and then covered his mouth with his sleeves and drank it all in one go.

Patriarch Hu said: "Everyone have fun."

After he finished speaking, he raised his legs to leave, his face full of urgency.

"Patriarch Hu, wait." Yin Mingyu spoke again.

Patriarch Hu was really annoying, and asked angrily, "Mrs. Prefect, what else is there?"

Patriarch Fan was accustomed to being cautious and noticed that she was behaving differently. Looking at her cold eyes, he also got up and said, "Mrs. Prefect, I'm also curious about what's going on with you today."

The expressions of the two patriarchs were a bit wrong, and the atmosphere was inexplicably tit-for-tat, and the other guests couldn't help looking at each other.

Yin Mingyu was still smiling, took another glass of wine handed over by Yin'er, and said to everyone, "It's rare that so many people gather in one place. Originally, Lord Prefect wanted to take this opportunity to have a sincere talk with you about the future of Nanyue in the future. But Lord Inspector was unable to come, so I might as well say a few words on my behalf."

Mrs. Fan got Patriarch Fan's eyes and immediately said: "Mrs. Prefect, we are a group of women in the back house, so it's not easy to get involved with men's affairs."

She said, turning to Mrs. Liu Sima next to her, "Mrs. Liu, are you right?"

Mrs. Liu Sima nodded slightly and wanted to agree.

Madam Liu behind her tugged at her sleeve twice to prevent her from getting involved.

During this gap, Yin Mingyu had already said: "Mrs. Fan's words are bad. Since she enjoys power and wealth, she cannot use her being a woman as an excuse to cover up her inhumane and injustice."

Madam Liu Sima was astonished because her daughter failed to respond in a timely manner.

When Mrs. Fan heard her say this, she couldn't help but feel annoyed, "What is the meaning of Mrs. Prefect's words in front of Mrs. Jiedushi?"

Mrs. Qi usually picked up her wine glass when she was out of the way, and drank slowly without saying a word, letting Yin Mingyu speak.

Patriarch Fan, as if he couldn't stand his wife's humiliation, stood up and cupped his hands, angrily said, "Mrs. Prefect has a noble status, I won't dare to offend you, so I will retire!"

As soon as he moved, the entire group of the Yi clan got up and planned to leave directly.

Yin Mingyu slowly put down the wine glass he was holding, and said gently, "Patriarch Fan, are you not giving me face?"

"I think Mrs. Prefect is not giving me face." Patriarch Fan's eyes became more and more gloomy, he raised his foot directly, and ordered the clan, "Go!"

Patriarch Fan and his party walked towards the courtyard gate, their faces were full of "whoever dares to stop them is against them", and the others stepped aside one after another, daring not to annoy them.

In the distant night sky, two or three sky lanterns slowly rose, and slowly sky lanterns gradually rose in other directions.

Yin Mingyu raised his wine glass and slammed it on the slate ground in front of the patriarch Fan and the others, "I told you to stay honest, didn't you hear?"

The guests present were instantly surprised, and Patriarch Fan and others couldn't help but stop and glared at her.

As soon as the cracking sounded, within a few breaths, the guards of the Xie family rushed in and raided the patriarch Fan and others in the courtyard.

Their movements were too fast, and just as they were about to draw a knife, they were already put on their necks by the knife.

"what-"

The guests at the scene screamed and fled in panic.

Even if the barbarians and the rogues are just on the same page, they are grasshoppers on the same rope.

Seeing this, Hu Jin, the third master, got up immediately and called for people to come to relieve the siege, "Come..."

But as soon as he uttered a word, he felt a pain in his neck.

On the other side, the patriarch Hu, who was dressed in happy clothes, became confused when he saw it, and he turned around and ran away without any responsibility from the patriarch.

But as soon as he took two steps, a short knife was brushed across his neck.

Patriarch Hu was so frightened that he did not dare to move, his chin raised high, for fear that the blade would cut his throat.

The one holding the short knife was Madam Qi's maid.

The guests looked at the maid and the chilling knives in their hands, and turned to the two most honorable ladies in South Vietnam.

Mrs. Qi didn't know when, she also had a short knife in her hand and was playing with it.

Yin Mingyu stood beside Mrs. Qi and said lightly, "I said it all, just be honest and don't act rashly."

Beside them, the guards of the Xie family were guarding with knives, and their eyes were as sharp and fierce as falcons, which taught people to be intimidated.

The place was very quiet.

A guest's hand trembled while holding the cup, he didn't hold it, and it fell with a bang.

Yin Mingyu and Madam Qi glanced over.

He was so frightened that he slipped to his knees and begged for mercy: "Forgive, spare your life..."

Yin Mingyu and Madam Qi retracted their gazes, the man softened and sweated profusely.

Mrs. Liu Sima subconsciously clenched the hand of her daughter Liu Niangzi, while Liu Niangzi looked at the two ladies with radiant eyes.

Like her, there are also several young ladies from the prefecture city, and they all look up at Yin Mingyu and Mrs. Qi with longing.

And when everyone didn't notice, the sky lanterns in the night church in the state city illuminated the sky like stars, like a dream.

Outside this house, Chu He of the prefecture government and a group of officials discovered this scene, and some people in the prefecture city also discovered this scene and looked up at the same time.

The sky in Lingnan has changed.

From this night on, this sky lantern is the witness.