Who says sleep is not spiritual practice?

Chapter 222
On the 24th of the first lunar month, a disaster occurred in a remote village named Xiaotian Village in the upper reaches of the Qingjiang River. The houses collapsed, and more than half of the cattle, sheep, chickens and dogs were killed or injured. More than [-] people in the village were all missing!

There are traces of giants rampaging in the village, but the police investigating the case and the local county magistrate claimed that bandits were rampaging and wiped away all traces!
On the 27th of the first lunar month, three days later, a village called Liuyin Village in the middle reaches of the Qingjiang River also suffered a massacre. None of the more than [-] people in the village survived!

The local county magistrate also claimed that bandits were responsible.

For a long time, there have been many people from all over the Chu country who became bandits, especially after Jiang Qiushui, who was born as a bandit, was named king with a different surname more than [-] years ago, it attracted a large number of people to occupy the mountain and become king.

This is especially the case in Qingzhou.

Because King Jingxuan of Qingjiang liked to collect antiques and strange things all his life.

There are some rare objects whose owners are not high in strength and status, and they will be forced to buy them at a low price if they are guilty of committing crimes.

But there are also some rare objects whose owners are more powerful or have a more respected status. He dare not offend too much, so he can only choose to buy them at a high price.

In order to have enough silver to buy rare items, Jing Xuan increased taxes again and again, making life difficult for the people under his rule!

The common people are miserable. Among them, the timid ones either swallowed their anger or fled to the neighboring state capital, and the bold ones went up the mountain to become bandits. Those with a bit of conscience would follow what the King of the North did in the past, robbing the rich and helping the poor. Those who have no conscience They will only do some activities of robbing houses and bullying the people at the bottom.

The ridiculous thing is that after Jingxuan increased taxes and caused chaos in Qingzhou, someone brought the lawsuit to the capital. Every time the emperor Jinghong learned about it, he would scold him in front of all civil and military officials in the court, and then use the emperor In the name of Qingzhou, he ordered to reduce taxes for the people of Qingzhou.

However, Jingxuan increased taxes by [-]%, while Jinghong only reduced taxes by [-]%. After all, the tax was increased by a full [-]% on the original basis!

After repeating this cycle for many times, the taxes paid by the people of Qingzhou are twice as much as before Jing Xuan came!
But the common people only hate Jing Xuan, but they are grateful to Jing Hong!

Very ironic!

but……

Compared with the three states in the north, Qingzhou is relatively rich. In addition, Jingxuan only imposes heavy taxes on the people and treats businessmen very preferentially. Therefore, on the surface, Qingzhou still looks prosperous.

Five days after the tragedy in Liuyin Village, on the second day of February.

King Jingxuan of Qingjiang led his personal guards to catch more than [-] bandits who were attacking the third village in the area of ​​Qingjiang.

It's a pity that he went one step too late, and all the people in the village were killed!

Rumor has it that in a rage, Jing Xuan cut off the tongues of all the thieves, and drowned them in the Qingjiang River in public.

This time, he rarely won the praise of the people.

But on the second day, after the ghosts of the local government sneaked into the depths of the Qingjiang River, they found that there were no corpses of bandits at the bottom of the water, and the corpses of the people in the third village were also missing!
So Mengren sent judge Cui Hua to investigate.

Cui Hua pretended to be the detective investigating the case and Jing Xuan's bodyguard successively, and got several of his colleagues drunk, and only then did he tell some truths.

It turns out that more than 400 thieves were just taking the place of the dead ghosts!

The real culprit is a monster that looks like a giant python!

One of the detectives who investigated the case was the son of the old county magistrate. He said that a similar case happened in Qingzhou ten years ago. After a few days, he was reprimanded by Jing Xuan instead, so he was not promoted, and he sat on the county magistrate's seat for ten years!
This time he learned to be smart, and personally led people to clean up the traces in the village, and declared that it was the bandits who did it, so he was rewarded by Jingxuan.

According to him, it may not be long before the old county magistrate will be promoted to an official position of one or two ranks, and by the way, the seat under his buttocks will be vacated for his son!
So obviously, Jing Xuan is deliberately covering up and pampering this monster!
"It has been six days since the second day of February, and there has been no disaster similar to the disappearance of the whole village in the Qingjiang area. Tens of thousands of people died!"

"So, it's bound to happen again."

Jiang Qingyu was sitting in the carriage with a map on his lap. He circled the locations of the three villages that had been ravaged by monsters on the map with his hands, and calculated the location of the other party's next appearance.

Perhaps it was to avoid causing panic among the people and moving away from Qingjiang, putting itself in a predicament where no one could swallow it, or because its limited strength could not eat too many people. A small village of two thousand.

And such villages are actually rare in the Qingjiang area.

"According to Mengren's speculation, it takes a while for the monster to digest every time it eats people. Six days is enough for it to digest all the people in the third village and even more than 400 scapegoats. Will show up again!"

"And according to the old practice, the next target will be one of these seven villages!"

Jiang Qingyu reached out and clicked seven locations on the map.

Since he didn't speak, he was just scheming in his mind, so the women on the side didn't know what to do when they saw him.

"Fourth brother, what are you gesticulating?"

Jiang Qingmeng looked curious:
"I heard that the scenery around the Qingjiang River is beautiful, do you want to take us to find some places to have fun?"

Jiang Qingyu smiled and shook her head.

This trip enters Beijing, from Wangcheng to Qingjiang, there are [-] miles of official roads to go, and it will take about two or three days. After boarding the boat at the port, it will take about four or five days to go down the river and pass through Qingzhou. time.

If King Jingxuan of Qingjiang set up obstructions for revenge during the period, I'm afraid it will be delayed even longer.

Finally, disembarking from another port of Qingjiang, it will take some time to go to the capital.

Therefore, even if he wants to travel around the mountains and rivers, he will be more inclined to choose the capital area instead of Qingzhou.

"Wait, obstruct?"

Suddenly, Jiang Qingyu narrowed her eyes slightly:

"If it is true as I guessed, the giant python has an ulterior relationship with Jing Yang, the ancestor of the Jing family's Dragon Raising Realm, will Jing Xuan try to manipulate the giant python to attack my fleet?"

He pondered for a moment, then shook his head again:
"No, if Jingxuan could control the giant python, there wouldn't be so many twists and turns in the past half month. He has a lot of ways to make the people in Xiaotian Village, Liuyin Village and other villages disappear more reasonably, and prevent the local magistrate and the arrest Find out about this soon!"

"and……"

"I am Crouching Dragon Fate, which is of great use to Jing Yang, he will definitely not allow the giant python to eat—"

Halfway through thinking about it, Jiang Qingyu couldn't help feeling scalp tingle:
"No!"

"Jing Hong decreed me to be crowned son more than two months ago. More than [-] years ago, I was sure of winning the winter hunting contest, and half a month ago, a monster suspected of being a giant python appeared in Qingzhou, creating One cannibalism incident after another!"

"Could it be..."

"Is it coming for me?"

At this time, Jiang Qingyu's face was uncertain.

He suspected that this was a conspiracy against him, but felt that it was unlikely.

After all, the Jing clan sits back and watches the King of the North continue to grow, so it doesn't make sense to attack him so early, who is also a Crouching Dragon!
Moreover, how can the other party be sure that he will go by water?

You know, if Mengren hadn't sent a message about the giant python swallowing people, he originally planned to listen to the advice of the King of the North and take the official route to Jizhou!

"Young master, your face is so ugly!"

On the side, Xiaoman sensed that something was wrong with Jiang Qingyu, and said with concern:
"Is there something wrong with your body?"

"fine."

Jiang Qingyu calmed down a little.

According to previous records, the giant python's strength should be at the star-catching level. With his Yin body in the early stage of Yinshen and the power of incense and fire from Nanshan Temple, it should be enough to deal with it.

But everything is just in case.

Even if he can suppress it, the safety of the people around him cannot be guaranteed.

If someone dies because of this, it will be his fault!

Because he could have avoided the python by not taking the water route.

"How about giving up the waterway?"

"I don't take the water route. I have been staying in the carriage with Xiaoman and others. I can only go to Qingjiang to look for the giant python at night. It will take a lot of time to go back and forth. I'm afraid there will be not enough time left to search."

Jiang Qingyu frowned deeply, unable to make a decision for a while.

The female relatives seemed to see that he was worried, and they all sat quietly by the side without disturbing him.

Among them, Jiang Qingyin was holding the Chunlei Qin given to Jiang Qingyu by Li Jingxing, the lord of Qin Palace, in a daze.

Even though she knew there was something wrong with Qin, she still persuaded Jiang Qingyu to take it with her, after all...

If what Li Jingxing said was true, then the means on the zither could only hurt ordinary people with low cultivation, as long as they pay a little attention, there is still a chance to repair it.

She is short of a famous piano.

Regarding this, Jiang Qingyu didn't say anything, but let people let the wind out, and made the matter that the Lord of the Qin Palace entrusted him to bring a faulty piano to Beijing to ask Mr. Xun to repair it to the public, so as not to be blamed for accidents in the end .

On the other side, Jiang Qingmeng had a complicated expression and kept sighing.

Unlike the others, when she goes to the capital, she has someone she wants to meet——

The master who has severed the master-student relationship with him.

That self-proclaimed second heroine in the world, but later fell in love with a powerless scholar, chose to bury the famous sword in the ground, picked up a kitchen knife and learned how to cook.

"Master, Master, I don't know if you are married or not?"

"If you get married..."

"Scholar who has not yet obtained fame, and comes from a poor family, I'm afraid I won't be able to promise you a wedding that makes all the women in the world envy, right?"

"But Qingmeng knows that you don't care about this."

"But when I think of the second chivalrous woman in the world who took me to the end of the world with a sword, she couldn't even trap the whole world, but now she is trapped in a shabby house with four walls, and I feel that I am not worth it for you!"

"Well, counting the days, spring is about to begin, and the spring examination of Jixia Academy will also start. I hope that the scholar you like can become a blockbuster and be appreciated by the nobles, and lead you to live a good life."

……

That night, Jiang Qingyu received a summons to reject the North King.

At the port of Qingjiang in Bingzhou, twenty merchant ships loaded with goods from a hermit family named Xiong are waiting.

King Jubei had already greeted him, and the other party promised to set off with him, passing through Qingzhou along the river, to the capital.

(End of this chapter)