My Promotion Story Through Time Travel

Chapter 178 Cannon Fodder

"Young Master, it's chilly outside. Don't come out yet. I'll go out and take a look." Zhu Zi's voice came from outside.

Then the courtyard gate creaked open, presumably indicating that Zhu Zi had gone out.

Lin Ziping was somewhat uneasy. After getting dressed, he also decided to go out and take a look.

When he reached the door, he thought for a moment, then turned back, tied the dagger to his leg, and picked up the knife hanging on the wall.

"Young master, I heard that bandits have entered the city!" Zhu Zi's voice was tinged with anxiety.

"What?!" Lin Ziping opened the door and looked at the pillar.

Zhu Zi said, "It's a mess outside. I heard there was a conflict at the city gate, bandits have entered the city, and there's a fire in the direction of the county government office."

problem occurs!

Lin Ziping's heart skipped a beat, and he plunged headlong into the wind and snow.

"Young master, put on some more clothes before you go." Lin Ziping ignored the voice of the pillar behind him and hurriedly headed towards the county government office.

When I got out onto the street, it was indeed in complete chaos, just as Zhu Zi had said.

The sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking filled the air, along with fights, cries of pain, and the firelight illuminating half the sky.

The streets were filled with all sorts of people. On the way to the county government office, I saw that several wealthy families in the city had gathered in front of their houses with people dressed in rags.

This group of people acted like madmen, grabbing at anyone they saw and launching indiscriminate attacks.

Lin Ziping almost ran into them directly along the way, and only managed to shake them off after many twists and turns.

Even after rushing, it still took almost an hour to arrive at the county government office.

The county government office did not catch fire, but the entrance was in a mess, and the bronze mirror that Magistrate Wei used to straighten his clothes, distinguish good from evil, and clarify right from wrong was knocked to the ground.

Upon entering the county government office, one finds papers scattered everywhere, along with tools such as wooden sticks and hoes.

Lin Ziping searched inside and out, but couldn't find a single person.

That shouldn't be the case. The county government office is like the heart of a county town. There are people on duty 24 hours a day. How could they have their vitals exploited so early?

Lin Ziping recalled the peasant uprisings that his teacher had talked about in his history class. Although the number of people involved was large, they always had certain limitations.

Judging from the current situation Lin Ziping is facing, this doesn't even qualify as an uprising, so how did the county government office get captured?

Undeterred, Lin Ziping walked to the innermost part of the county government office, where the county magistrate usually worked, and the backyard was where he lived.

Aside from the time he came to report the high grain prices to Magistrate Wei, he never came again.

Lin Ziping looked around carefully, but there was still no one there. The small door leading to the backyard was locked, and he could not see anything through the crack in the door.

Suddenly, Lin Ziping thought of the warehouse and hurriedly ran to check it.

To everyone's surprise, the warehouse door was wide open, and the inside was empty.

Upon seeing this, my doubts deepened.

Just then, Lin Ziping heard footsteps outside.

Unable to distinguish between friend and foe, Lin Ziping hurriedly found a place to hide.

"Brother, this county government office is so dark, there's nobody here?" The voice was clear and bright, it must have been a young man.

"Snapped--"

A crisp slap rang out.

"You idiot, with things in such chaos outside, how can the people inside the county government office still stay put?"

It was impossible to tell the speaker's age, but judging from his words, he must be the older brother the young man was referring to.

Lin Ziping held his breath and listened carefully.

"Ha, brother is right. So what are we here for?"

"Snapped--"

A crisp slap rang out.

"We're thieves, we're here to steal things, not to play!"

"Brother, this is the county government office, I'm scared." The young man's voice was trembling with a hint of tears.

"What are you afraid of? I, Sun Lao Er, have traveled all over the country for so many years, and I've never stolen from the county government office before. Besides, those people just carried a few boxes out and nothing happened to them, didn't they?"

"Brother is awesome! Fuchun is dirt poor, but the county government is quite lucrative. A few days ago, they took out several cartloads of goods, and now they have several more boxes."

"Good lad, you haven't wasted your time following me, you've learned something. Today I'll teach you another trick: fishing in troubled waters."

"Hehe, I know that."

……

Their subsequent words were all boasting and completely worthless. Occasionally, rustling sounds could be heard, indicating that the two had found something.

Lin Ziping originally wanted to capture the two, but there were more pressing matters at hand.

So he threw two stones into the yard, making a "thump-thump" sound.

The rustling sound stopped abruptly, followed by the pattering footsteps fading into the distance.

Lin Ziping waited for about 15 minutes, and seeing that there was no movement, he cautiously came out from the shadows.

He was thinking about what was inside the large boxes the two petty thieves had mentioned.

Lin Ziping looked around. Although it was still snowing, there was already a glimmer of light on the horizon.

The county officials have not yet appeared, and Lin Ziping recounted the events of the past two days.

The incident originated from Li Zhen and others besieging the city, and then somehow it developed into the current situation.

Thinking of this, he decided to go and take a look at the city gate.

Just as they reached the entrance of the county government office, they bumped into Li Zhen and his group.

"What are you doing here?" The knife in Lin Ziping's hand reflected a cold light.

Li Zhen was walking at the front of the group when he was startled by Lin Ziping's sudden voice and took two steps back.

Lin Ziping stepped forward slowly and shouted sternly, "Did you set the fire in the city?"

"Officer Lin," Li Zhen called out.

"Stop talking nonsense, tell me, what are you doing here?" Lin Ziping brandished the knife in his hand. "Where are the rest of you?"

“I…I…we’ve come to find food…to find grain,” said a child following behind Li Zhen, without speaking.

Lin Zi looked at the child with a flat face.

Under Lin Ziping's gaze, the child with Qi Lizhen's waist shrank back: "They said the county government has grain."

they?

Lin Ziping was about to press for more information.

Li Zhen said, "Why is Officer Lin pressing us so hard? We're just trying to survive."

Lin Ziping glanced at Li Zhen a few times, then looked at the dozen or so people following behind him. They were all elderly, weak, women and children, thinly dressed, shivering, with their eyes downcast, not daring to meet his gaze.

"Where are the others?" Lin Ziping asked, turning his gaze away.

Li Zhen gave a wry smile: "We were just strangers who met by chance, and there was no mutual benefit between us. Once we've achieved our goal, we'll naturally go our separate ways."

"Heh, what's the purpose?" Lin Ziping asked.

Li Zhen looked intently at Lin Ziping: "Alive."

Lin Ziping looked around at him and the people behind him and agreed with his statement.

"There's no grain stored in the county government office. Let's go somewhere else." Lin Ziping sighed. "Judging from your tone, you seem like a scholar. You must know the consequences of leading people to break into the county government office at night."

Li Zhen looked at Lin Ziping and said, "I'm not afraid of death!"

Lin Ziping nodded and looked at the people behind Li Zhen, asking, "What about them?"

Snowflakes came whistling in with the cold wind.

There were too many strange things these past two days, and Lin Ziping was constantly on edge.

Lin Ziping still had some reservations about the legendary sixth sense.

Looking at Li Zhen and the others, it was too similar to the cannon fodder plots described in old novels, and Lin Ziping couldn't help but remind them.

"Boom-"

Li Zhen knelt down.

Lin Ziping was startled and quickly stepped forward to help him up: "What are you doing?"

"Lord Lin, we are at our wits' end, please give us some guidance." Li Zhen stubbornly knelt on the ground, touching his forehead to the ground, and bowed deeply to Lin Ziping.

Those behind him also knelt down upon seeing this.

Lin Ziping was taken aback, then angrily said, "What do you mean by this? Why are you kneeling before a lowly clerk like me? What grievance do you have? The county magistrate and the county assistant are here, and even His Highness the Prince is here. Why are you kneeling before me?"

After saying this, he sheathed the knife and strode away.