Chapter 28 - Riot
When Ye Beizhi left the tent, he happened to spot Fang Dingwu coming from the direction of the disturbance.
Fang Dingwu’s face was grave as he said, "I was just over there and got the gist of things. A governmental porridge distribution cart was arriving when a man, perhaps driven by hunger, tried to jump onto the cart to grab something to eat. The officials pushed him off, but he hit his head on the ground when he landed and died on the spot."
Ye Beizhi turned to look in that direction. The chaos was spreading, and in the middle of it all, he could faintly see officials brandishing their weapons.
"Things then got out of hand," Fang Dinwu explained, "These officials, seeing the refugees causing a disturbance, panicked and drew their weapons. That only made things worse."
Ye Beizhi nodded as refugees frantically fled this way and that. He turned and went back into the tent, finding Chi Nanwei, and said, "Let’s go back to the escort agency first."
Chi Nanwei nodded, following Ye Beizhi out.
At this time, someone from the escort agency had driven a cart over. Ye Beizhi quickly helped Chi Nanwei onto the cart. When he glanced back into the crowd, he seemed to notice something.
Ye Beizhi said to Chi Nanwei, "Go back first."
Chi Nanwei looked at Ye Beizhi. "Stay safe," she urged.
Ye Beizhi nodded and reminded Fang Dingwu, "Take good care of her."
Fang Dingwu nodded solemnly.
With Fang Dingwu’s assurance, Ye Beizhi waded into the chaotic crowd.
He moved faster, determined to do something about what he saw. Right in front of him, a little girl sitting on the ground, crying loudly. Panic-stricken people stumbled past her, jostling her around. As she rubbed her eyes, her tears mixed with the dirt on her face, making her tiny face seem even more pitiful.
Ye Beizhi quickly ran over and scooped the girl up from the ground. She was the same girl Ye Beizhi had met on the day he left for his first escort mission. The little girl opened her tearful eyes, saw Ye Beizhi holding her, and cried even harder as she wailed, "Big brother, I can’t find my daddy and mommy!"
Ye Beizhi nodded and said, "Don't worry, let's look for them."
As the words left his mouth, the chaos sounded like it was reaching a tipping point behind him.
"Don’t, don’t come over!" an official warned.
"I told you not to come over!"
Shhhkk!
The sound of metal tearing through flesh cut through the din.
"Government dogs! How dare you injure us!"
"Kill him!"
While holding the little girl, Ye Beizhi turned around and saw that a group of refugees had surrounded the officials guarding a porridge distribution cart. Despite their weapons, the officials were shaking like leaves in the wind. They stammered overlapping warnings to the furious crowd.
"Don’t… don’t come over…" one whispered.
"You guys… you guys don't know what you’re doing!" another cried.
"You’ll all be… be executed!" one official shouted, putting on a final show of false bravado.
In the heat of the moment, the refugees were blinded by rage.
"I don’t care! All I care about is that you killed my brother!"
"Afraid of being executed? Being executed is better than starving to death here!"
"Let these government dogs pay with their lives!"
"Pay with their lives! Pay with their lives!"
The starving refugees were whipped up into a frenzy, venting their accumulated grievances.
Ye Beizhi turned and left with the little girl as the officials behind him decided to make a last stand, raising their weapons to defend themselves as they cried out and tried to break out of the mob.
It had been several hours since the rioting began, and the situation outside the city was only getting worse. The officials were eventually overrun by a swarm of angry refugees. Even then, the stronger refugees seized the remaining food from the weaker ones.
Refugees amassed outside the city gate. Some shouted and cursed, some knelt and cried for help, and some tried to take advantage of the chaos. Regardless, they all shared the same goal of entering the city.
The cries, shouts, and curses blended together into a twisted symphony of human suffering.
Ye Beizhi had yet to find the little girl's parents when he noticed the scene shifting. The city gate was slowly closing. Faced with reality, the assembled refugees cursed in unison at the soldiers overlooking the city wall. Some organized others in a desperate attempt to force the gate open.
It wasn't long before a troop of figures began to appear on the city wall. They were all clad in armor and held their weapons ready. A figure whose armor denoted him as a City Guardian took a leading position on the city wall. He glanced casually at the mob of refugees below, and raised his hand and gave his command.
"Archers at the ready—"
From atop the city's wall, the tense creaking of bowstrings being drawn echoed.
Ye Beizhi’s pupils contracted as he hugged the little girl tightly in his arms. He murmured, "What kind of joke is this…"
Boom!
The frosty ground exploded in his wake as he frantically circulated his qi and wildly rushed back toward the gate.
"Release!"
Above Ye Beizhi, screaming arrows rained down from the sky!
Most of the refugees below could not comprehend why the city guards would fire upon them.They were still in a daze as the deadly arrows descended.
The sound of arrows puncturing flesh came as endlessly as raindrops in a storm. The field of starving refugees fell in large numbers like wheat being harvested. Upon the snowy ground, warm blood flowed in small streams.
Ye Beizhi spun around, using the scabbard of his blade to sweep away a few stray arrows. Looking up at the city wall, he saw that there were very few arrows that could reach his position.
The soldiers on the city wall stopped after shooting a single volley of arrows. In the area covered by that barrage, there were very few people still standing. The area below the city wall was now silent, earlier clamor completely ceased.
"The murder of imperial officials," the City Guardian on the wall announced, "is punishable by death. Hand over those involved in this incident within one day. Otherwise… Jiading Prefecture will no longer provide any food."
Ye Beizhi narrowed his eyes. Without food, they would slowly starve to death. With the heavy snow and blocked roads, the more than ten thousand refugees couldn’t go to another city either as they would starve on the road.
The little girl in Ye Beizhi’s arms was stunned by what she saw. She pressed her hands against her mouth, terrified of making a sound. Ye Beizhi patted her back and walked toward the city gate.
The refugees who had been tightly pressed against the city wall earlier could be considered the lucky ones, as their position made it almost impossible for the arrows to hit them, allowing to barely avoid calamity.
After processing what had just happened, the refugees gradually stirred again. The volume of their fickle discussion slowly swelled.
"Did anyone recognize the people who killed the officials earlier?"
"Does anyone know where those people are hiding?"
"Unless we hand them over, we’re going to starve to death here!"
"Find them!"
Ye Beizhi shook his head and remained silent.
At this moment, the little girl in Ye Beizhi’s arms struggled free and jumped down, running to a woman and throwing herself into her arms. The woman was accompanied by a man. They were much skinnier than when Ye Beizhi had seen them on the day of his first escort mission.
The little girl whispered something in the couple’s ears, and they knew it was Ye Beizhi who had helped them again. They expressed their profound gratitude.
Ye Beizhi waved his hand in acknowledgement. Taking his time, he examined the city wall, and found that it was slick with ice. He sighed inwardly, the wall was rather high and extremely slippery due to the recent snowstorm. He calculated that even with his lightness arts, he would not be able to scale the wall.
This is going to be difficult, he thought. Will Chi Nanwei be worried?
At this moment, a familiar figure appeared on the city wall. Ye Beizhi squinted at the figure, it seemed to be Zhao Feihu.
Zhao Feihu seemed to say something in the City Guardian’s ear. The City Guardian looked down towards Ye Beizhi and their eyes met. Ye Beizhi couldn’t help but frown.
The City Guardian on the wall sneered at him before he turned and disappeared from view.
Soon enough, the sound of a winch turning came from behind the gate. The gate slowly opened and the City Guardian emerged with an entourage of fully armed soldiers. He had clearly identified Ye Beizhi nearby but sneered as he loudly shouted.
"Which one of you is Ye Beizhi? Come out!"
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