The order was not to take too many lives, not to refrain from killing. That was a world of difference.
It seemed Zhang Bancheng was no tenderhearted soul either!
As Tang Changsheng pondered this, the guards sprang into action. With a shout, they loosed a volley of arrows. Barely a dozen shafts flew, but two or three Refugees fell dead.
The other Refugees screamed and fled, drawing even more unrestrained laughter from the guards.
Zhang Bancheng sighed softly. "There are Refugees even in the capital region. It seems the situation..." He shook his head.
The duck felt the first warmth of the spring river.
It seemed high officials like Zhang Bancheng and Zhang Qiuyan had been the first to sense the growing instability of Wu Hou State.
That did not mean they had turned disloyal, but they had at least begun thinking of ways to protect themselves. Otherwise, they would not be searching everywhere for Daoists to bring into their households.
They were trying to put some distance between themselves and Marquis Wu!
Tang Changsheng's thoughts raced. Suddenly, he saw the twenty-odd guards who had chased the Refugees away fleeing back in disarray.
Had they walked into an ambush? Could there be an expert among these Refugees? Tang Changsheng's eyes sharpened.
At the outset, bands of Refugees had always been the easiest to deal with: an utter rabble. And because education had always been hard to come by, uprisings of Refugees often began with little knowledge or strategic sense.
But if Refugees were not crushed early and had two or three years to harden, they could become a formidable army.
If they then joined forces with educated scholars, they could swiftly become a force powerful enough to change dynasties.
Had these Refugees already reached that third stage?
*It didn't look