The demon world I designed.

Chapter 42 Liuzhou
Due to its unique geographical location, Liuzhou in the south of the Yangtze River was set up as the tenth state capital directly under the central government by the court. Its layout is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with both water and land connections.

Coupled with the beautiful scenery and excellent feng shui pattern, many rich and wealthy businessmen have been attracted to live here, which also makes Liuzhou a place with good oil and water even in the south of the Yangtze River where rich sugarcane is rich. Those who want to be assigned here as officials must have Let's talk about the relationship above.

However, the current earthquake in the officialdom has made Jiangnan officials keep secrets about Liuzhou!
There is no way, the incident of Mr. Painted Skin sounds too horrifying, human skin and bones, digging out flesh and filling marrow, there are terrifying monsters that can directly skin and replace officials, such sneaky places, even if the court claims to have Demons are rectifying the law, but they still can't stop people from panic!

Although Qin Guogong's suggestion was good, it also had negative effects. First of all, Liuzhou officials were all cleaned up. Although it could clean up the remnants of demons to a certain extent, such a big move made the already shaken people's hearts even more difficult to settle down.

For example, in the past few days, the Liuzhou government has no one to manage it, and the Jiangnan governor has to temporarily transfer officials to manage it, but now... who dares to take a post in Liuzhou?
Those who were named declined one after another. They couldn't avoid it and resigned directly, causing the governor of Jiangnan who was in charge of temporary dispatch to have a headache. He has been writing to the court to send new officials over quickly. After all, Liuzhou is now... almost in chaos. !
The appointment of officials in Xinke Jinshi was not very smooth. After all, not all Jinshi were as poor as Chen Qing and dared to risk his life. Only two-thirds of the previous calculation, the manpower can be said to be seriously insufficient!

Even those who have received official seals can procrastinate as long as they can, hoping that others will go to the water first, and they will wait and see.

And in this situation, Chen Qing, a fool, was in a hurry, and rushed to Liuzhou before everyone else! ——
"This is... Liuzhou?"

Chen Qing, who traveled through mountains and rivers and traveled for nearly ten days, almost didn't recognize him when he arrived in Liuzhou City. Even the groom who followed the carriage was dumbfounded.

The huge city of Liuzhou was so desolate that Chen Qing almost thought it had just been ransacked!

There wasn't even an officer or soldier guarding the city. If it wasn't for the clear sky and daylight, Chen Qing would have thought that she had strayed into the Yin-Yang Road.

"What's the situation?"

The groom and Chen Qing stared at each other, and after a moment of silence, the groom hurriedly said: "My lord, I... think, why don't you settle my money now? I... I I feel a little panic here, I won’t stay here today, master, you settle the money, I’m on my way now, maybe I can reach Shangshu County before dark.”

Chen Qing: "..."

If I knew it was so weird, I brought the ghost baby with me. I was afraid that there would be too many people, so I arranged the ghost baby on the side of Qinglong Mountain. Now it is good, there is no ghost on the street!
"Grandpa...look over there!" The groom pointed over there in horror.

Chen Qing was also taken aback when she saw it. It was a butcher's shop, and there were still people selling butchers in this desolate street?
The point is that the butcher looks very creepy, most of the skin on his face has been peeled off, revealing his flesh and bones and the wooden structure that can be faintly seen inside.

boom boom...
The big man saw no one else, he kept cutting bones, his eyes were dull, like a machine, in this ghost town-like street, it was indeed not ordinary horror.

The groom backed away in fright, but Chen Qing frowned and took a step closer.

Naturally, he could see what the butcher who cut the meat was. It was obviously the puppets made by Mr. Huapi. With some repetitive things.

Chen Qing has seen this in Yuchipeng's soldiers who brought back to the capital. Back then, Lu Jiaming's group of soldiers who were replaced by puppets can still do simple jobs in Yuchi's mansion, even though they have no consciousness , but some simple commands are understandable.

Yu Chipeng was reluctant to get rid of his former brothers, so he stayed and helped practice targets in the martial arts field.

But Yuchi's family is a big bloodline family after all, if they are not afraid of these puppets, how dare the common people continue to use them?Are you not afraid?

"Eh? Little brother over there, but you only came to Liuzhou City today?"

Just as he was about to hear a voice, the one who spoke was naturally not the mechanical butcher, but a middle-aged woman who was guarding beside the butcher shop.

The woman's life is fair and clean, although she is a woman in the market, she has obviously not done heavy work, and she is much more beautiful than ordinary peasant women.

Seeing her from a long distance, she warmly greeted her and said, "Do you want to buy some meat back? There is no inn chef here to cook for you. If you buy some, I can personally cook two dishes for you."

Chen Qing was surprised after seeing the other party clearly, and asked directly and cautiously: "Ma Erniang?"

"You are..." The other party was taken aback by Chen Qing's shout, and immediately stopped his chattering salesman and looked over carefully.

"Oh, isn't this Chen Qing?"

When the woman saw her acquaintance, she immediately became more enthusiastic. She stepped forward and looked carefully: "Oh, isn't that the master Jinshi in our alley? Didn't your mother say that she went to the north to become an official? Why are you back?"

"Ah...that...it's a long story." Chen Qing changed the topic with a smile, and looked at the butcher who cut the meat: "Is that Uncle Zhang? What's wrong with him?"

"He..." The woman's eyes darkened when she mentioned her husband-in-law.

"That's it... In the past, I hated him for being lazy and not working, and he often went out to gamble and spend money when he had nothing to do, but now... he can only work!"

Chen Qing was silent, not knowing what to say for a while.

It's been three years since he knew Ma Er's family. He knew the butcher Zhang who loves to be short-lived, but he didn't expect that he still didn't know enough. When was he replaced by Mr. Huang?Or maybe he was just a puppet all the time?

The day she found out the truth, Ma Erniang must have been terrified, right?
But still willing to stay with my man...
Chen Qing felt emotional in his heart, but he didn't feel sad for long, so he asked about the situation in Liuzhou.

"Er Niang, where are the people in the city?"

Seeing that he was an acquaintance, the groom next to him leaned over cautiously and listened quietly. He was also very curious, why did this huge Liuzhou City look like a ghost town, where did all the people go?
"Human?" Ma Erniang looked at the desolate surroundings, and sighed, "They're all gone..."

"Leaving?" Chen Qing was taken aback.

"Haven't you heard about the ghost puppets in Liuzhou City?"

"Listen... I heard about it... I just didn't expect it to be so serious..." Chen Qing carefully observed the other party's mental state. After all, she is the butcher's wife, and she may not be able to beat her with a butcher's knife. .

"You don't know how chaotic the city was at that time. The officers and soldiers suppressed it, banned it, and then closed the city directly. Many people were terrified at the time."

"Since that's the case, people should be locked in Liuzhou." Chen Qing looked around curiously, as if they were all fleeing famine.

"In the beginning, they were not allowed to leave..." Ma Erniang said with a wry smile: "Later, some teachers and wealthy businessmen with connections began to find ways to leave secretly. Once there are many such people, they will be known. There was a lot of trouble at that time, many of my neighbors rushed to the gate of the city, and it is said that several of them were trampled to death..."

Chen Qing's scalp became numb when he heard the other party's words, but a few short sentences could make him imagine the chaotic scene at that time.

"There are too many dead people, and it seems that the chaos is going to be out of control. The higher-ups simply withdrew the officers and soldiers. After this withdrawal, wouldn't they all run away?"

Ma Erniang looked at her husband with complicated eyes.

Chen Qing looked at it, and probably could understand why ordinary people wanted to run away. With these puppets, the officers and soldiers did not dare to move lightly until they received orders, and the neighbors were afraid.
"Where did they all go?" the groom asked curiously.

"Those who have money go to the next state capital, and those who have no money go back to their hometown in the countryside. There is always a place to go..."

Chen Qing thought for a while and asked, "Er Niang, where are your children?"

"I'm back to my hometown in the countryside." Ma Erniang said with a smile: "It just so happens that the piglets in the countryside are about to give birth. It's good for the sons and daughters-in-law to go back and help the old man look after them. Damn you, I'll just stay with you..."

"How many of you have left like this?"

"It shouldn't be many..." Ma Erniang said with a smile: "This North Street, most of them are ordinary people like us. I can only find a dozen or so when I visit the door these days. Family property, the whole family has already moved."

Chen Qing: "..."

It was too late to take pity on Ma Erniang, so Chen Qing walked south!
Originally, he was the first one to come over and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make money, but now he is fine, there are not a few chicken feathers left, the mess is all over the place, and everyone has run away. How can I be a magistrate?
"Chen Qing, where are you going?" Ma Erniang shouted hastily.

"Go to South Street!" Chen Qing replied without turning her head: "Er Niang, help me weigh a catty of meat, and have dinner at your house tonight!"

"Ah? Okay!" Erniang smiled happily, but then said: "There is no ghost on the South Street, what are you doing there?"

But as soon as he shouted out, Chen Qingren's shadow disappeared.

He is in a hurry now, of course he is rushing over to see how many households are left!

Just kidding, most of the ordinary people on North Street are hiding in the countryside, and they can still get them back by using some means. These rich and big households are hard to catch when they leave. Whose tax will they collect?
(End of this chapter)