Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 414 Father

After appeasing Vladimir, Guo Kang assured him that he would help him seek justice.

Vladimir thanked him, and after that, everyone was silent all the way, and quickly approached the destination.

Guo Kang and Guo Ponu discussed a few words, thinking that since Sergey already knew about it, they simply publicized it with great fanfare.So they raised the flag all the way, and deliberately took a detour in the direction of the main road.

Even so, Sergey's gang did not ambush or intercept, and the outpost never found a large group of enemies.It is estimated that the round of fighting just now, as expected, almost wiped out the thugs who could be mobilized near them.

Since there were no thugs to harass and no fights took place, the bystanders around them became more courageous.Along the way, many people looked at them curiously.

Although most people just looked at it from a distance and didn't dare to ask directly, but after seeing the few people following behind, everyone went to inquire about the situation one after another.

Therefore, it didn't take long before more and more people followed.Obviously, what happened just now has spread throughout the neighborhood.

And as the number of these trailing people increased, people who were afraid to get too close before also came over one after another.

They might have been afraid of retaliation, or were frightened by the battle scene, so they didn't dare to go forward, but seeing the crowd now, they became more courageous.As a result, the crowd quickly swelled up, and soon surrounded the outside again, followed them, and came to a wooden two-story building.

This time, the guard at the gate was a lot more timid, and shouted loudly from afar: "Who!... who is it!"

Although he tried his best to make his tone look fierce, even Guo Kang, who had no business, could tell that these people were trembling and obviously had no confidence, and they were just pretending to be fierce.

He asked everyone to ignore it, and everyone remained silent, maintaining a normal pace, and continued to move forward calmly.

Seeing that this group of people ignored the minions at all, the onlookers calmed down a little.Some people who had stopped originally also took the opportunity to move forward, preparing to observe the confrontation between the two sides at close range.

Of course, in the eyes of the gatekeepers, the matter might not be that simple - in front of him, a small group of murderous people are approaching, detaining an accomplice who seems familiar, with blood on his face.In the distance, the local residents huddled together and surrounded them in black. Although they didn't move forward, they obviously didn't come to support them.

The minions know very well what they do on weekdays.It's a pity that things have come to such a point, and other people obviously won't agree to reconciliation.

The leader of the minions had the courage to pick up an iron fork and put it across his chest, trying to stop them.

This time, Guo Kang decided not to talk nonsense.

He didn't want to pretend to be cool, or show off his fighting skills, it was because he was frightened last time.

In various stories, the first battle of heroes is often full of epic sense.Geniuses in reality, such as Alexander, Xiang Yu, and Huo Qubing, often showed their talent the first time they played.But it's a pity that Guo Kang doesn't seem to have anything outstanding in this regard...

In fact, he also knew that for most of the Zhu Kingdom's children, the first battle was arranged by their families, and they would give them a chance to adapt and practice.But even so, what happened just now was still somewhat different from what he expected.

He still doesn't quite know how high Tuo Huan expects from him—Tu Huan even feels that it's a waste for him to go to such a secondary direction as Egypt, and he should go to the more important northwest border.

But it is a pity that even if Sigismund is not known for his talent in history, his military presence is even more negative, and his "fame" basically depends on being beaten by Hussites. He is much brighter now.

The aristocracy of this era is not the vases that are deliberately raised and discarded in modern times.On the contrary, almost everyone who can get ahead in this violent and chaotic environment is a ruthless person.Like Sigismund himself, he was elected emperor at the age of 10, took charge of a territory at the age of 13, and was already actively involved in the intricate civil war between Shinra, Poland, and Hungary at the age of 18.

As far as Guo Kang's performance is concerned, I'm afraid he really can't beat Sigismund...

Although he didn't know about it yet, Guo Kang knew about the plight of the Shi clan before.At that time, Shi Ke said very worriedly that his younger brother Stan fought several battles with the Poles on the front line, but failed to achieve much results.But thinking about it now, Stan has at least fought the Polish army with real swords and guns, but his command ability is mediocre.

And Guo Kang thought about it, and found that his current best solo record is a [-]-[-] fight with a gangster, and finally won by relying on his sister's emergency...

If this goes on like this, even if other people don't say anything, he himself will feel embarrassed.But now Guo Kang really doesn't have much confidence in his fighting ability, so without thinking much, he subconsciously made the most direct choice - he took out the flintlock pistol he had prepared, pointed it at the guy blocking the way, and directly buckled it. Pull the trigger.

The moment the trigger was pulled, the sear was released, and the hammer, carrying the flint, hit the scythe with a bang.

However, after that, nothing happened.

This time, Guo Kang was mentally prepared: when he failed to strike, he had already stretched out his left hand, pinched the hammer, pulled it back, and then let go again.But after firing it again, the ignition device, which was obviously fine during the test firing, still did not respond.

As for those blocking the way, even if they don't know the model of this "advanced weapon", they can still realize that it is definitely not a good thing for someone with an unfriendly attitude to point an iron pipe at him.

And Guo Kang was in the middle of the crowd this time, attacking him to interrupt... If these strange movements were made, the people next to him would stop him immediately.Not only will it be useless, but it will be targeted by these guys who seem to be more difficult to mess with.

Therefore, after reacting for a while, he turned around and ran away without hesitation.

Guo Ponu next to him looked at Min Luo, then at Guo Kang, hesitating for a moment.After noticing that her younger brother pulled the hammer twice more, but there was still no response, she glanced around again and found that other team members were also looking at them.

She had no choice but to pick up a short spear, stepped forward, and threw it violently, taking the minion who had already run to the gate to fall two steps, and nailed it to the wooden wall.

Fortunately, the people behind couldn't see Guo Kang's actions, only saw that the guy was suddenly scared away, and then he was killed in one fell swoop.For a while, it was quite exciting.

The other minions were so startled that they scattered like birds and beasts, and they didn't chase after them, they just rushed into the house to arrest people.

The guards here are weaker than those there just now. They searched every house, but they didn't encounter much resistance.In the end, except for the two left-behind men who were blocked in the house and could not escape, only a few cooks and house-cleaning servants were caught, and three young girls in revealing clothes.

Everyone searched for a long time, but they couldn't find where Vladimir's children were.We had to assign someone to continue looking for them and interrogate these people at the same time.

The experience just now, coupled with the frustration of losing again, made Guo Kang a little anxious.

"Where are people?" He stepped forward and beat a minion with a pistol: "Where did your boss die? Tell him to get out and see me!"

"He, he, he, he's not here..." I was so frightened that I trembled: "He left with the elder in the morning and hasn't come back yet."

"Elder? Which elder?" Father Mikhail seemed to know something about the situation here. Hearing his words, he asked, "Wine barrel Ivan?"

"It's not him, it's not him." Minion denied, "It's not the elder who is in charge of our area, but the elder Alexander of the 'Golden District'."

"What is he doing here?" asked Father Mikhail, frowning.

"Of course it's a request from a big man." I finished without thinking, regretted it, and calmed down: "Forget it, Father, you better stop asking. Oh, I shouldn't even say it to him... "

Seeing his reaction, Guo Kang was a little surprised, and looked at Father Mikhail.The priest then explained: "The Golden District is the district for the rich. Strictly speaking, the newly built residential districts from the Imperial Palace District to the west of the city are included. Alexander is the gang leader over there."

"The residential area is okay, the palace area..." Guo Kang said in surprise: "These gangs are mainly composed of the lower class in the city. Do the palace area and the aristocratic area have regular members?"

"Of course, not all aristocratic areas are nobles." Father Mikhail shrugged: "Although the nobles always have various methods, from expressly stipulating their status levels to indirect screening with the help of land prices, in short, it is to separate themselves from the lower classes. people, separated in space.”

"But it's actually impossible." He said: "Before I traveled around, I went north to the land of the Swedes, and went south to the east of Sarai, where the Tianfang believers lived. I found that people from different places , have different hobbies, and the treasures they admire and the way to show off their wealth are also different. However, everyone has one thing in common, which is the highest manifestation of status, not in how many things you control, but in controlling people."

"So, even if there is not such a high demand, the nobles always need to create a set of needs, and then gather a large group of people to serve themselves, demonstrating their control over people."

"This is not just an ordinary living need, so as long as the nobles still feel that they are superior, there will always be a large number of lower-class residents who want to live in their territory. Moreover, there have always been a lot of such servants, so the gang also Naturally follow into there."

"No wonder he has an important status." Guo Kang understood immediately: "It is estimated that helping people with dirty work is indispensable."

The minions who were being interrogated did not understand what they were talking about, but seeing that the two men knew Elder Alexander, he quickly said: "It would be better if you knew the situation. Those who deal with the elders are all It’s not like those of us can compare. If you mess with them, not only me, but everyone here will have a hard time. For everyone’s sake, let’s forget it.”

However, Guo Kang didn't bother to talk to him at all.

"If I ask you, just say it well, what kind of tiger skin are you pulling?" He knocked hard again, and screamed: "Have any little boys or girls been sent to this place in the past few days?"

"Yes, yes, yes." This little guy was obviously not a hard-headed person, and immediately lost his momentum, and hurriedly explained: "Our boss has indeed brought some children here these days, but I don't know who they are, and I don't know if they are Tibetans. Where is it? I'm just guarding the door outside..."

"Still pretending to be stupid, right? Let me tell you, this is a big case that the War Commander is personally watching." Seeing this, Guo Kang simply took out the command flag from his arms: "Your elder, and the corrupt officials he served Ruinous officials, you are about to die! If you don’t want to die with them, just answer the questions honestly!”

"But..." I got confused again: "I heard that Elder Alexander's friend is the inspector of the city. The objects they serve are the important people in the court who can meet Barcelius."

"Your war commander, what is it? Can you cover us?" He said nervously, "I've never heard of it? Does he have a inspector?"

"..."

Guo Kang and Father Mikhail were immediately silenced by him.

Since the minion is too ignorant, it is useless to scare him.Guo Kang and others had no choice but to give up and went to interrogate other people.

They asked around, only to realize that these minions might really not know.In the past few days, there were more than two little boys and girls who were taken away, and they should have been prepared by their boss for this elder.Yesterday, the Elder personally visited, and Boss Sergey specially hosted a banquet for him.

It's just that these minions are not qualified to participate and can only guard the gate outside.Even the chef just cooked dishes all night on the first floor. He only knew that the upper floor was chaotic as usual, and he didn't know what happened.

As for those participants, together with those who were looted, they have all been taken away.The whole thing was done by Alexander and Sergey with their confidantes, from beginning to end, without even asking the outsiders to help.

The minions thought that the captured maids should know more about the situation, but they were so frightened that they would not speak no matter how much they asked.Guo Kang had no choice but to come out again to promise that they would be sent to the nunnery run by the church for protection afterwards, and those few people said something.

One of them said that when she was delivering groceries last night, she saw Elder Alexander's subordinates throwing some miscellaneous things out, and there seemed to be someone inside.After she went to clean it, she could still see blood on the ground.

However, Alexander and the others were quite rude to the maid, punching and kicking them frequently, so she didn't dare to inquire about the specific situation.

But she suspects that it may be the victim who was kidnapped earlier.

However, the placement of these "reception gifts" is the responsibility of Sergey's mistress herself.This woman is more vicious than those male thugs, especially towards them, she is often inexplicably jealous, almost every day she finds someone who is unlucky, abuses them, and even beats them to death.The maid is even more afraid to approach and confirm things that have something to do with her.

"That's enough." Guo Kang said quickly.

He ordered the church inspector to go again and check the room she said was next to the banquet hall.Then, together with Father Mikhail and others, he hurried to the garbage dump across the road, and sure enough, he found a big sack.

The appearance of this thing is very sudden.

These days, big bags themselves mean big fabrics.For the poor here, this whole piece of fabric is very valuable in itself, and it can be used in many ways. It is too wasteful to throw garbage.The only explanation is that it was thrown out by Sergey and others and placed here temporarily.No matter how much the poor people next to them want it, they dare not touch it.

The knight captain drew his sword and opened the sack, and a strong stench spread immediately.

Guo Kang retched a few times from Xun, but the people around him were not surprised, and no one paid attention to him.Everyone looked at the juvenile body that rolled out of the sack.

Vladimir rushed up, but as soon as he got out of the crowd, his wife glanced at the corpse, stopped, and kept saying "it wasn't her, it wasn't her", and then she crossed herself and prayed.

Guo Kang didn't know if she recognized that this was not her child, or if she simply didn't dare to confirm it, and could only hope for the blessing of the Heavenly Father.However, Vladimir had no time for her. He rushed over, turned the body over, and paused for a moment.

"no no."

He turned his head and shook his head at Father Mikhail.

Guo Kang heard the words and looked carefully.

The corpse was already mutilated, with bruises on the face and body. The face seemed to have been severely deformed by multiple blows, and the areas around the eyes were too swollen to open.Several large openings were opened in the chest and abdomen, and the intestines flowed out.There was messy half-length hair on the head of the corpse, and the lower body was bloody. It seemed that several pieces of flesh had been cut off, and it was not even possible to tell whether it was a little boy or a little girl.

Guo Kang frowned, subconsciously took half a step back, and bumped into Guo Ponu who was behind him.Guo Ponu patted him, making him recover from the discomfort.

"Record this criminal evidence." He turned back and said to the clerk, "Besides, since the biological parents think it is not, it means that the person we are looking for is still not here. Let's continue..."

Before he could finish, Vladimir's wife suddenly screamed.

She rushed out directly, startling Guo Kang, even the captain of the knight beside the sack was startled by the inhuman voice and took two steps back.

Afterwards, the ragged middle-aged woman lay down on the cold and dirty ground and burst into tears.

Guo Kang stretched his head to look, and saw that she was holding a severed limb in her hand.It should have fallen out when the knight captain was fiddled with the bag just now.

Vladimir also rushed over, and after watching for a moment, he knelt down on the ground without saying a word.

Father Mikhail strode forward and supported him.

Vladimir did not cry directly like his wife, but seemed to be lost.He looked at Father Mikhail in confusion, then at the mutilated calf in the garbage, and fell silent.

"Son, child!" Father Mikhail quickly shook him vigorously: "Be sober! Our Father is watching you from heaven!"

Vladimir raised his head and looked in his direction.But Father Mikhail knew that his somewhat distracted gaze was not looking at himself, but at the higher and farther existence behind him.

Vladimir clasped his hands, trembling, and let out a long sigh.

"Father—"

Then, he fell silent again.After persisting for a while, he lowered his head and collapsed on Father Mikhail's chest, weeping silently.

Not far away, Guo Kang was still staring at the amputated limb.

In his field of vision, this young limb that had lost its vitality seemed to gradually shrivel up and change color, and finally overlapped with the blurred image of his uncle's remaining stump that he had witnessed when he was a child.

"Barbarian..." Guo Kang muttered.

"What did you say?" Guo Ponu leaned over and looked at him worriedly.

"Nothing." Guo Kang shook his head.After a moment of emotion, he quickly regained his composure: "Let's gather the team. We have to keep tracking."

"If you are alive, you want to see people, if you die, you want to see corpses." He commanded the crowd gathered nearby: "Even if they eat the corpses, they still have to cut open their stomachs and dig them out for me. Do you understand?"

Everyone responded in unison.

(End of this chapter)