After returning to the constables' office, Liao Yu immediately gave his orders.
Wu Shuangren went into the office to write a note, and Liao Yu turned to Wu Dongrong. "Your leg hasn't healed yet, so sit this one out."
Wu Dongrong glanced at Wu Shuangren's departing figure and shook his head. "We probably won't face the enemy head-on this time. I'll go as an archer."
As a veteran of the frontier army, he was no slouch with a bow.
Liao Yu opened his mouth to dissuade him, but one look at Wu Dongrong's expression told him it was no use, so he gave up...
Half an hour later, more than three hundred people marched out of the county town gates in a great procession.
Every constable and auxiliary from the constables' office took part, more than fifty people in all.
There were also more than fifty archers responsible for defending the town, thirty of whom joined them.
Lastly came the people mobilized by the Mo Family-
Besides the local militia from the town, there were the Mo Family's own guards, servants, and hired hands. There were also many people who operated under the Mo Family and made money through shady dealings.
There were more than two hundred of them in total. Even the household servants and hired hands who couldn't fight carried clubs. The Mo Family had put nearly every force it could muster to use!
Xu Jing naturally became the commander of the group. Mo Zhenglin and Mo Zhengxing both said they would follow all of Lord Xu's arrangements.
Several of the Mo Family's guards knew how to ride, so Xu Jing stationed them at the very front as scouts.
Xu Jing divided the more than three hundred people roughly into three groups-front, middle, and rear-and appointed a leader for each. He gathered all the archers in the middle of the column, then finally gave the order to set out.
"I didn't expect County Commandant Xu to know how to lead troops in battle. His deployment was very methodical."
In the column, Liao Yu spoke in a low voice.
Wu Shuangren nodded beside him.
He had seen with his own eyes how quickly Xu Jing had brought order to the chaotic group. Not everyone had that kind of ability.
"Uncle Liao, there are so many government men in our group. Would the enemy really dare attack us?"
Wu Shuangren asked quietly.
The local militia was a civilian organization, so it was one thing for the enemy to dare attack them.
But now this group had so many official constables, archers, and even a real imperial official.
Would the enemy really dare make a move in broad daylight?
Liao Yu looked at him and said gravely, "Shuangren, remember this-Yi Province has one provincial capital and five county towns. The law of the land only holds in those towns. Once you leave them, life and death are up to Heaven!"
"..."
"Yi Province is actually doing fairly well. In neighboring Xi Province, the people are fierce and the local powers fight pitched battles outside the towns. There have been cases where over a thousand men took up arms and hundreds were killed in the end! The authorities don't intervene at all, and they couldn't even if they wanted to!"
"..."
"Of the few hundred of us here, County Commandant Xu is an imperial official with a family background, so the enemy might have reservations and not dare touch him. Even if everyone else died today, no one would seek justice for us."
Liao Yu gave a self-mocking smile.
Wu Shuangren clicked his tongue inwardly.
So the saying "imperial authority does not extend below the county" meant more than the local authorities being unable to govern places below the county level. It also meant that outside the county town, there was no law of the land at all!
The group walked briskly along the official road. Mo Family Village was five li from the county town, about half an hour on foot.
A quarter of an hour later, a sudden commotion broke out at the front of the column.
"What's happening?"
"Look!"
"There's a fire... It's in the direction of Mo Family Village!"
"..."
Wu Shuangren looked up and saw thick smoke rising in the distance.
Mo Zhenglin and Mo Zhengxing were leading their people at the very front of the column. Their expressions changed at the sight.
Just as the two were about to ask Xu Jing to order everyone to run, the two Mo Family guards acting as scouts rode back from up ahead.
"Master!"
"The village has fallen!!"
The two guards had brought back news that made hearts tremble.
26 Mist Hidden Temple
Thick smoke blotted out the sunlight, shrouding Mo Family Village in shadow.
The reinforcements, who had taken a detour, appeared on the hillside to the southwest. From a distance, they caught a foul smell-
The hot wind carried the stench of scorched grain stalks and wood, mingled with the metallic tang of rust and blood, nearly making them vomit.
Corpses lay haphazardly across the open ground outside the village, where grain was usually dried. Most wore the militia's short blue-green jackets, and some still clutched spears broken in half.
Several warhorses had also fallen in pools of blood. Some had spears driven through their necks; others had their bellies slit open, their entrails trailing on the ground and drawing swarms of buzzing flies.
Bloodstains stretched from the open ground all the way to the village gate, soaking into the dust and turning it into dark mud.
Mo Zhenglin, walking at the front, swayed. After confirming that no enemies remained nearby, he charged down the slope in long strides.
Mo Zhengxing and the rest of the Mo Family followed close behind.
Wu Shuangren and the others followed them.
The village gate was completely gone; only the frame of the thick wooden doors remained.
Above the lintel, a human head hung from a thick hemp rope.
It was Mo Zhengshang!
The commander of Bo County's local militia had died with his eyes wide open, an expression of extreme fury seemingly frozen on his face.
Blood still dripped steadily from his severed neck.
"Aah-!!!"
Mo Zhenglin dropped to his knees, a howl like that of a wounded beast tearing from his throat.
Mo Zhengshang was not the only Mo Family member who had died in the village. Quite a few of the family's young men had also joined the militia.
Now they were all dead.
Among the Mo Family members following Mo Zhenglin, some burst into tears, while others trembled all over in fear...
Buildings were still burning inside the village, and a row of side rooms on the east side had completely collapsed.
Arrows stuck in the ground, broken spears, and the corpses of militiamen everywhere together formed a scene like hell itself!
The mountain wind blew, making Mo Zhengshang's head sway in the air, his open eyes gazing at the militia he had poured his heart into building.
He had died unable to close his eyes.
Wu Shuangren approached the village, and the force of the scene before him shook him for the first time!
The law of the land only holds in the towns. Once you leave them, life and death are up to Heaven!
The words Liao Yu had told him struck him more deeply now.
A village had been washed in blood, nearly a hundred lives snuffed out just like that!
If I'd happened to be in this village too, could I have survived?
Wu Shuangren couldn't help asking himself.
He instinctively clenched his fists, feeling a greater sense of urgency.
The last rays of the setting sun cast the destroyed Mo Family Village in bloodred light.
From early morning until dusk, they had spent half the day at work. All the militiamen's bodies had been gathered, and Mo Family Village had been cleaned up.
They should have finished sooner, but quite a few people had fled in fright at the sight of the village's dreadful state.
In the end, only half the people remained to clean up.
"There were probably two hundred cavalrymen."
Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong, both frontier army veterans who had been on the battlefield, had reached the same conclusion after examining the traces of battle.
Two hundred cavalrymen-twice as many as everyone had expected!
That was why no one had thought Mo Family Village would fall so quickly.
"Take a good look at those collapsed buildings."
Liao Yu said to Wu Shuangren, "Mo Zhengshang fought someone there before he died. He was probably killed in a one-on-one fight."
The earthen wall reduced to half its height, the broken roof beams, the crushed stones and splintered wood-this was the destruction caused by a fight between two Internal Skill experts!
Wu Shuangren nodded. "So there was an expert among the enemy who was stronger than Commander Mo."
"Right."
Liao Yu's expression was grave.
Two hundred cavalrymen and an expert stronger than Mo Zhengshang-such strength made one's heart quail!
Just then, Wu Dongrong limped over:
"I just asked Third Master Mo. He said the Mist Hidden Temple is the only major power the Mo Family has offended recently. This was very likely the Mist Hidden Temple's doing."
"The Mist Hidden Temple... That's trouble!"
Liao Yu frowned deeply.
He looked at the puzzled Wu Shuangren and explained, "The Mist Hidden Temple is one of the foremost powers in Yi Province. It used to be a Jianghu sect. The monks there didn't just chant scriptures; their martial arts were formidable too. Later, it gradually grew, steadily swallowing up land, taking in disciples on a large scale, and expanding its influence. Now the Mist Hidden Temple owns a thousand qing of farmland, has more than a thousand warrior monks, and experts as numerous as clouds!"
Wu Shuangren said, "How did the Mo Family come to offend a power like that?"
Wu Dongrong picked up the explanation. "The Mist Hidden Temple is the biggest 'salt smuggler' in Yi Province. Half the illicit salt in Yi Province is sold by the temple. The Mo Family was ambitious and wasn't content to sell illicit salt only in Bo County. It wanted to expand, and ended up offending the Mist Hidden Temple. From the look of things, the temple doesn't just want to warn the Mo Family and teach it a lesson. It wants to reach its hand directly into Bo County!"
Wu Shuangren said, "...How will that affect us?"
Wu Dongrong shook his head. "No one can say for sure."
He turned to look in the direction of the distant county town and said, word by word:
"From now on, the sky over Bo County is going to change!"
The bodies were loaded onto several wooden carts, and everyone returned to the county town with them.
The dead militiamen all had families. Many people came to claim their bodies after hearing the news, and once again the air filled with wails and sobs.
Bo County was destined for a sleepless night.
After returning to town, Wu Shuangren and Wu Dongrong went straight home so Xu Nanzhi wouldn't worry.
Xu Nanzhi had prepared their meal and had long been waiting at home for father and son. Seeing them return safe and sound, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's eat."
Wu Dongrong spoke.
The family sat down to dinner.
Wu Dongrong told his wife what had happened at Mo Family Village.
Worry appeared on Xu Nanzhi's face, and she said to Wu Shuangren, "The Mist Hidden Temple acts so overbearingly. From now on, give way where you can when it comes to the illicit salt business. Our family doesn't need that money."
"That's right."
Wu Dongrong added, "The Mist Hidden Temple will definitely send people to take over the illicit salt business in Bo County next. Stay out of it. Offending the Mist Hidden Temple for that little bit of profit isn't worth it."
Wu Shuangren nodded silently.
Yesterday, Liao Yu had told him to learn to give way. Today, his father and mother were telling him the same thing.
Thinking of the dreadful state of Mo Family Village, it did seem that he should give way.
That night, after finishing his daily training, Wu Shuangren tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep for a long time.