Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 188 Assassination
Seeing that Wuming could do something so easily that he himself could not do, Sun Ce was dissatisfied and took up the formal extraction equipment experiment... In the end, he was thrown out by Lu Bu for "intentionally destroying the equipment".
With Wuming's joining, the amount of Artemisia annua extracted was barely enough, and Bai Tu also relaxed. He even dared to go out and give speeches in the city - malaria is mainly transmitted by mosquito bites, and is not as taboo as airborne infectious diseases, which are not suitable for large gatherings.
Firstly, it is to improve his reputation, and secondly, it is to appease people's hearts and let the people see Bai Gong himself walking among the medical staff and patients. Naturally, the tense and pessimistic emotions will dissipate a little.
Bai Tu announced that the General's Mansion would continue to supply Artemisia annua medicine at irregular intervals, and at the same time mobilized the healthy people in the city to follow the malaria prevention guidelines, improve hygiene, and... cut Artemisia annua.
At the same time, Bai Tu also prepared to inspect major counties and prefectures such as Shucheng in Lujiang County to let officials and people in various places know more clearly that Huainan has come under the command of the General of Chariots and Cavalry.
Otherwise, Lujiang had only been annexed not long ago, and Liu Xun finally surrendered the city of Shucheng, so the original official system was retained.
This has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that Lujiang will recover stability faster, and the disadvantage... is naturally that it is heavily influenced by local aristocratic families, making it inconvenient for the General's Office to manage.
Fortunately, the Zhou family, from which the "mistress" came, was a prominent family in Shucheng. After Sun Ce rushed to Shouchun, Zhou Yu had also withdrawn from Yiyang and returned to Shucheng.
With the protection of the local tyrant Zhou and Zhou Yu's skills, there is no need to worry about them causing any trouble.
But... Bai Tu heard that the old officials in Lujiang had some complaints about the management style of the Ministry of Personnel. Some people privately accused Bai Tu of being eager for quick success and instant benefits, only looking at achievements and forgetting everyone's achievements in ethics and morality. If this continues, the world will be in chaos.
To put it bluntly, they are dissatisfied with the "KPI assessment". They prefer to brag about a few great gentlemen and filial sons with noble moral character every year, and talk about how they leave their doors open at night and do not pick up things on the road. Then they happily wait to receive praise and rewards.
As for actually counting the increase in grain production, popularization of education, prevention and control of epidemics, criminal proceedings, etc., how many bridges have been built, how many roads have been repaired, and using this as their most intuitive achievement as officials, they feel uncomfortable.
After all, for these aristocratic families, it is easy to brag about a few filial sons and grandsons, and moral gentlemen. Although building bridges and roads are also indispensable and are also for show, but... if they really want to be so serious, how can they happily annex land and keep servants?
Bai Tu was a very open-minded person. When he heard people talking about how he was corrupting the world, he immediately decided to go and listen to the opinions of grassroots officials in person.
Shucheng is only more than 300 miles away from Shouchun. After the epidemic in Shouchun was under control, Bai Tu set off.
In addition to the hundred-man personal were also the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry led by Cheng Lian and Cao Xing. With normal marching, three days would be enough to arrive.
On the afternoon of the next day, when passing by Lu'an County, Bai Tu discovered a small village that had been looted by a rebel army.
When Yuan Shu left before, except for his own 100,000 elite soldiers, many of the others became bandits on the spot.
After being suppressed by Bai Tu several times, there are no large-scale rebellious soldiers now, but occasionally you can still see some stragglers who usually hide and are difficult to encircle and suppress.
Compared with ordinary bandits, this type of rebel soldiers are "Ji-made soldiers" who are more destructive and powerful.
However, since they were discovered by Bai Tu, they would naturally not sit idly by. When Bai Tu arrived in front of the village, this group of soldiers seemed to have left not long ago.
Bai Tu immediately called several elders from the village and asked them about the situation of the rebel soldiers.
"Yes, they are rebellious soldiers... There are real soldiers, about three hundred people in total... Only a dozen of them are humans. They robbed things and fled to the east, about an hour ago..." The old man was a little afraid and didn't even dare to look directly at Bai Tu.
In the eyes of ordinary people, "real soldiers" refer to Ji-made soldiers.
Bai Tu also knew that this was the time when their trust in the "government" was at its lowest, so he first comforted them with a few words and then asked about the affairs of Lu'an County.
"The county magistrate also knows about the rebels, but... the county lieutenant led people to encircle and suppress them several times, but when the county soldiers arrived, the rebels hid at Dadinggang and could not be caught at all." The old man stated calmly.
Dadinggang is a nearby hill, but...
After listening to the descriptions of several elders in the village, Bai Tu immediately judged the enemy's approximate combat strength and ordered Cheng Lian and Cao Xing to lead the cavalry in pursuit, while Bai Tu stayed in the village for one night.
A few mere rebel soldiers are no match for the 500 Bingzhou Wolf Riders, and they cannot outrun them. We can catch up with them before they reach Dadinggang. It is estimated that Cheng Lian and Cao Xing will be able to bring back their heads tonight.
When the old man heard that Bai Tu wanted to stay temporarily, he quickly arranged a house in the village and made room for him to live. Bai Tu did not refuse. This time it was not Bai Tu's men who were causing the chaos, and the county magistrate and the county lieutenant were also quite diligent in their duties. Bai Tu was not embarrassed, but he asked Lu Lingqi to leave some property behind, and at the same time sent some of his personal guards to go around and see if each family needed any help.
After all, the village had just been robbed, and the atmosphere was very depressing. Bai Tu did not initiate a speech...
Soon it was time for dinner, and several young and strong men in the village brought wine and food. Although the people of Jiujiang were relatively wealthy, they were still able to bring out some pickled meat in this year of severe drought. This could be considered the highest level of courtesy for Bai Tu.
Bai Tu went to the yard specifically and met several young and strong men from the village who had brought food. Seeing that they were all strong and powerful, he specifically recommended them to join the army.
But at this moment, there was a sharp sound of breaking through the air, and a long arrow hit the window next to Bai Tu - at this time, the windows of ordinary people were mostly made of mica, shell pieces, or just wooden lattices with a piece of curtain.
The arrow broke through the window and shot into the house!
The guards around him suddenly became nervous and vaguely saw a figure flash by on the roof in the direction where the arrow came from.
Several of the personal guards quickly sent people chasing in the direction of the arrow. The leader was also wearing gilded armor. In addition to Lu Lingqi, there were eight gilded generals in Bai Tu's guards, all of whom were taught by Taishi Ci personally.
Now that troubled times are approaching, the standards of gilded warriors have become much easier to achieve. Some even get promoted to gilded warriors first, and then, under the pressure of gilded armor, force their inner energy to manifest.
At this time, Lu Lingqi put on armor and stood in front of Bai Tu, looking around vigilantly. Several young and strong men in the village were so scared that they almost dropped their lunch baskets.
However, Bai Tu looked in the direction of the broken window in confusion and said, "Is this 'noise arrow' reminding someone or giving a signal? Lingqi, go get the arrow and let me take a look."
That’s right, the sound of this arrow is louder than the sound of an ordinary arrow breaking through the air. It is actually a whistle arrow with a whistle groove deliberately carved on it!
Bai Tu thought that hundreds of swordsmen would rush out, but in the end, nothing happened.
Hearing this, Lv Lingqi also went over to check curiously. However, as soon as she entered the room, she heard Lv Lingqi shouting, "Be careful..."
As soon as the word "be careful" came several "young and strong men" who had been cowering before suddenly put on armor and pounced on Bai Tu!
The military tokens of several people were previously hidden in the food. The three leading men were also gilded generals.
If he had taken a few steps closer, Bai Tu would have been completely unprepared and might have had a chance. However, Bai Tu had already put on his armor when he heard the arrows. When he heard Lu Lingqi's shout, he was already tense. When he saw the people in front of him attacking, he immediately "whooshed" backwards...
Even though the cavalry that Bai Tu originally brought with him had been sent out and a lot of his personal guards had also been separated, there were still dozens of people left by Bai Tu's side, especially on the left and right, who had already been protected by gilded generals. Bai Tu stepped back, and the people on his left and right immediately stepped forward to block the assassin.
After the other guards around reacted, they used swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks and forks to hack and chopped up several assassins . Only two were captured alive after being stabbed in the palms and knees, and were about to be tortured.
But at this moment, the assassin leader, whose palms were nailed to the ground by the spear, shouted loudly: "General Bai Tu is here!"
Just when they started to take action, Bai Tu heard some noise outside. It seemed... there were indeed a lot of "assassins" hiding in this village!
Now that I think about it, the old man's nervousness when he first answered Bai Tu's question, the detailed description of the rebel soldiers afterwards, and the fact that it was clearly dinner time but there was no smoke from cooking in any of the houses...all of these seemed a bit inconsistent.
Unfortunately, it’s all hindsight now.
This is also because Taishi Ci is still making medicine in Shouchun, otherwise he would have discovered something wrong long ago, and even... even if there were no flaws, he would have been able to feel the other party's murderous intent.
Bai Tu had never expected that he would encounter such a large-scale assassination. He was obviously much more "life-conscious" than his stupid second brother. Not only did he not abandon his personal guards and go out on his own, he even brought five hundred cavalrymen with him. However, he was still not safe.
It’s not Bai Tu’s fault for being careless. He really didn’t expect that there would be so many assassins.
Fortunately, there were some "onlookers" who did not want to reveal their names. They had fired arrows to warn people before. Lü Lingqi also rushed out with an arrow. There was a secret letter attached to the arrow, which said that the village had been occupied by rebel soldiers, and that the enemy was colluding with Yuan's assassins...
That's why Lu Lingqi immediately realized that there might be something wrong with those young men who delivered the food!
At this moment, amidst the chaos outside, there were also a few curses...
"You damned slave of the Yuan family! You actually cheated me!"
"Personal guard? General of Chariots and Cavalry? He's making too much noise about this deal! Do you want to starve your father to death?"
"Stop complaining! Bai Tu is in there. If we rush in and catch him now, we can still survive and maybe even become rich. Otherwise... Beep! The Yuan family is shit!"
Bai Tu also heard that those outside were indeed just random soldiers, not all fearless assassins - this made sense, otherwise, Bai Tu would really have to admire the Yuan family for sending out hundreds of fearless assassins at will.
But these chaotic soldiers had been fooled by the Yuan family's assassins before, and thought that there was a fat sheep passing by here, so they surrounded Bai Tu carelessly.
After the assassination attempt failed, the Yuan family's assassin simply revealed Bai Tu's identity and lured the chaotic soldiers outside, forcing him to sacrifice his life!
