Chapter 1650: Again in Chaos

An incident occurred involving Qingyang, the Regent, right at the entrance of Youhu Villa. He Xiao didn't hesitate, taking off at once.

While his escape was decisive, it left Zhao Song in a terrible predicament.

The palace envoy also followed, looking displeased. "Commander Zhao," he demanded, "what's going on here? Where is He Xiao?"

Zhao Song was flustered, unsure how to explain. A palace guard ran out of the house and said, "Sir, there's a letter on the table!"

Zhao Song took it and saw He Lingchuan's handwriting on the envelope: "To Lord Qiu Long, personally."

Next to it, another small line read: "Please hand this over to Zhao Song."

That scoundrel! Zhao Song clenched his teeth. He Xiao had fled, yet still had the nerve to order him around!

But he didn't dare to tear open the envelope to see the contents.

He looked again, and the ink on the envelope was still wet. So he immediately ordered, "Pass the word: expand the search area around the villa!"

However, Zhao Song had a sinking feeling that given He Xiao's capabilities, once he escaped beyond the villa, it would be extremely difficult to apprehend him.

Palace Envoy Yu also understood, his face equally pale. "He Xiao, he... he escaped?"

Zhao Song, with a hoarse voice, said, "At least he's not in this house or courtyard anymore."

Palace Envoy Yu urgently said, "Commander Zhao, how could you let him escape!"

"Me? Is it solely my fault?" Zhao Song, exasperated, retorted with a bitter laugh. "Didn't Lord Yu also agree to let him go back to his room to change?"

If the King lays blame, they'd both be held accountable!

They stared at each other, wide-eyed and flustered.

After a few breaths, Palace Envoy Yu finally managed to utter five words: "What do we do now?"

Zhao Song didn't answer, pacing back and forth in the room several times.

Time crawled by agonizingly slow. Finally, the palace guards from outside returned, but they brought bad news:

"He wasn't found."

Despite hundreds of people searching, no trace of He Xiao was found near the villa; only a few vagrants were discovered in the woods. They possessed primal energy, making it difficult for ordinary disguises or stealth abilities to escape their notice.

Zhao Song and Palace Envoy Yu's hearts sank, but fearing further delay, they left some men to continue the search. Clutching He Xiao's letter, they departed the villa to report back to the city.

Just as Qingyang and the Beijia special envoy entered the palace, riots erupted again in Tianshui City!

In the past two days, since granaries were opened and food was distributed, the vagrants had been appeased. Although theft cases had not ceased, large-scale, collective riots had largely stopped. Tianshui City had finally regained its original tranquility, and King Yao also believed his policies were sound and his arrangements effective.

However, this riot at dusk was a slap in the face for everyone, for its scale was unprecedented and its speed astonishingly fast!

The riot's cause was an argument between several vagrants and officials during the evening porridge distribution. One side complained the porridge was too watery for even dogs to eat, accusing officials of embezzling food meant for vagrants. The other side cursed them as worse than pigs and dogs, claiming that even giving them porridge was a waste.

At such a critical juncture, already strained nerves could not tolerate such provocation.

Several officials were spluttering insults when suddenly the vagrants across from them drew knives and cut them down one by one, blood spattering everywhere!

More lives were lost.

How could the authorities tolerate such rampant arrogance from murderers? Hundreds of officials rushed in to arrest people, while other vagrants threw things at them, including a few firecrackers and explosive projectiles!

With several explosions, the ground burst into chaos, thoroughly igniting the fury of both sides.

A large-scale melee thus commenced.

In the past, when the authorities encircled and suppressed vagrants, they only needed to clear out hovels one by one. Each hovel housed dozens, at most two hundred vagrants. Officials and patrol armies had an overwhelming advantage in numbers and weaponry, so fighting them required little effort.

However, times were different now!

To strengthen management of the vagrants and prevent a city-wide riot upon the arrival of the Emperor's Dew, King Yao adopted Bai Tan's suggestion to move the city's vagrants into four major camps for round-the-clock monitoring. This, however, led to a massive congregation of vagrants. The smallest camp held over ten thousand people, while the largest reached an astonishing forty thousand!

In terms of numbers, the authorities no longer had the advantage.

This riot originated from the camp of forty thousand vagrants.

Suddenly, the vagrants surged out like floodwaters bursting through a dam!

The approximately two thousand military police assigned to control them were powerless to stop the torrent. Although their weapons were excellent, facing an enemy-to-force ratio of twenty to one, they were still helpless. Furthermore, after several days of relief food, the vagrants, while not fully revitalized, were in better spirits than before.

The thought of Tianshui City opening its military granaries to feed these rebellious individuals filled the officials with indignation.

Not to mention, some vagrants suddenly produced swords, spears, and halberds, constantly attacking them! These penniless vagrants barely owned a shovel or a pitchfork, let alone such a vast supply of sophisticated, standard weaponry. And more and more weapons appeared; eventually, three out of every ten vagrants were armed with weapons and protective gear!

Overall, the vagrants' combat strength was far inferior to that of the patrol army. However, given the vast disparity in numbers between the two sides, the patrol army was surprisingly forced into a continuous retreat!

"Where are the patrol armies from the West and East districts?" Bai Tan roared in a furious rage. "Bring them over to reinforce! Quickly!"

The main body of vagrants who charged out of the camp did not disperse but moved as a unified group, attacking the North District!

The North District was home to the upper echelons of official nobility, characterized by high walls, grand courtyards, and magnificent architecture. The vagrant group, leveraging their numerical superiority, easily overwhelmed the North District's defenders and then stormed into several large mansions!

As luck would have it, the protective formations of these mansions had precisely malfunctioned, failing to keep enemies out.

The first mansion to fall was none other than the Gu family, influential official merchants! Yes, the very Gu family that monopolized the exclusive distribution rights of Wei Silver Agent, one of Yao Kingdom's largest official merchant families, and a top influential household in Tianshui City. Even He Lingchuan, during his first visit to Tianshui City, was given the cold shoulder by the Gu family.

The Gu family's mansion in the North District was the largest and most luxurious, and naturally had the most comprehensive defenses. Yet somehow, both the front and rear defensive formations failed, and even the backup formations couldn't be activated! However numerous the Gu family's guards and household servants, they were no match for the sheer number of vagrants.

Against such overwhelming numbers, the Gu family stood no chance. The vagrants stormed the mansion, dragging out every member of the family and their servants.

Gu Xuan was dragged from his hiding place. Amidst the screams of his family and the chaotic sight of figures and torches, he was unable to discern who led the attackers before his neck was severed with a single strike. Before his headless body even hit the ground, several vagrants nearby began fighting fiercely over the jade pendant at his waist and the necklace around his neck!

The Gu family's decades of prosperity and wealth collapsed in a single day.

Suffering the same fate were another seven or eight affluent mansions stormed by the vagrants.

Besides rampant killing and looting, the vagrants also occupied the mansions, using their high walls and thick doors to defend against the patrol army's attacks! These vagrants, surprisingly, had abandoned their previous disorganization. They now understood how to find and firmly entrench themselves in strongholds. They had strongholds, fortifications, weapons, protective gear, and large quantities of food stockpiled in the mansions.