"You brazen rabble!"
Just as Wang Chen cut down the second head, a squad of fully armed soldiers charged over and began slaughtering the refugees surrounding Ye Dai and the others. In moments, more than a dozen people had been cut down.
Ye Dai was Ye Xiangming's daughter. Though she had been born to an outside mistress, County Assistant Lord Ye's fondness for her was an open secret throughout Qing'an County Town. Few people were unaware of it.
And these soldiers responsible for maintaining order outside the city were all Ye Xiangming's men.
When the disaster victims had gathered around them just now, these soldiers had immediately become highly vigilant, and thus reacted very quickly.
They were even more cruel and ruthless than Wang Chen. They killed without mercy even those who knelt and begged for forgiveness, using severed heads and streaming blood to warn the other refugees.
It was not that these soldiers enjoyed killing. But without such brutal means to kill a chicken and frighten the monkeys, the nearly ten thousand refugees could not be controlled. If they rioted, the consequences would be unthinkable.
A small disturbance was swiftly suppressed.
"Let's go back."
Wang Chen sheathed his sword and said gently to his wife and concubines, "Leave relief efforts to others from now on."
Ye Dai nodded, her pretty face deathly pale.
She had always been raised in the sheltered inner chambers and knew nothing of the world's cruelty. Today, she had received a harsh lesson.
Her entire worldview had been violently shaken.
Not long after Wang Chen returned home with his wife and concubines, his father-in-law, Ye Xiangming, hurried over.
The County Assistant Lord had clearly received word of what had happened. He came to ask about the situation, then scolded Ye Dai with a stern face.