Chapter 84: The Power Over Life and Death (Fourth Update)

Fang Xu led Gu Bei, Old Wu, and the others in a grand procession toward the county magistrate’s office.

When had the vegetable sellers and merchants along the road ever seen such an imposing sight? More importantly, there was the murderous aura radiating from Old Wu and the rest.

Many people could not help but look toward the county office ahead of Fang Xu and his men, and more than a few frowned at once.

Could these people be here to make trouble? Did they not know the county office here had ties to the Danyang Commandery Governor?

The vegetable sellers and merchants who had gathered to watch were all eager for a spectacle, and one after another they followed along.

Fang Xu, of course, could not be bothered with any of that. In his view, he would actually have preferred for those merchants to come along.

Why? Because in this world, who spread news the fastest?

Naturally, it was the mouths of these vegetable sellers and merchants. Once they learned something, it could be spread at the greatest speed.

Fang Xu also wanted the majesty of Great Qin to thunder across the land, so that those with sinister intentions would understand one simple thing.

This world belonged to Great Qin, and it would not tolerate such vermin running wild and doing as they pleased.

The clerks and bailiffs standing before the county office had never seen such a scene. One after another, they frantically shut the gate.

Then they hurriedly woke the county magistrate who was still in the warmth of female company. The magistrate had been rather displeased at first.

He had been in the middle of a delightful spring dream, only to have it shattered. Who could be happy about that? Just as he was about to punish the culprit, he heard what the bailiff had to say.

The county magistrate shuddered all over, then hastily got up and dressed himself in his bulky official robe before heading toward the main hall.

After all, Fang Xu had shown him no courtesy whatsoever. From the mouth of the second-in-command, who was already dead, Fang Xu had learned that this county magistrate was in league with the horse bandits in the mountains.

From that moment on, Fang Xu had no good feelings left toward him. In Fang Xu’s eyes, did such a man even count as human?

Only a human being deserved his respect, didn’t they?

Then, at Fang Xu’s command, Old Wu led the guards to smash straight through the gate of the county office.

The heavy wooden boards crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom, kicking up a thick layer of dust from the floor.

“This is truly madness!” everyone watching could not help thinking. No one had expected Fang Xu to dare damage public property so openly. Was he not afraid of offending the county magistrate? And if not the magistrate, was he not afraid of offending the Danyang Commandery Governor?

Yet when they saw the cold smile at the corner of Fang Xu’s mouth, many of the spectators understood: the county magistrate had likely run into someone he could not afford to provoke this time.

Fang Xu naturally paid them no mind. The instant the gate was breached, Old Wu and the others surged in.

In a flash they drew the Spring-Embroidered sabers from their waists and revealed the flying-fish robes beneath.

Among the crowd, someone caught sight of the robes and the sabers clenched in Old Wu and the others’ hands, and a glint flashed in his eyes.

Then he quietly slipped away from the crowd.

The bailiffs, of course, recognized the attire of Old Wu and his men.

Not one of them dared resist.

After all, the flying-fish robes and Spring-Embroidered sabers were the very things every bailiff longed for, dreamed of obtaining.

What did those sabers and robes signify? They meant the power of life and death in their hands, even the authority to act first and report later.

This was the system Qin Suwen had set in place. The guards had originally been members of the Qin household; giving them some privileges was hardly unreasonable.

More importantly, to wear the flying-fish robes and carry the Spring-Embroidered saber meant that from this day forth, you belonged to Great Qin. You lived as a man of Great Qin, and died as its ghost.

Above all, it required absolute obedience. If Qin Suwen ordered Old Wu and the others to cut their own throats, they would probably not hesitate for even a moment, because that was simply what they were meant to do, like dead men pledged to service.

Old Wu and the others pressed their sabers against the bailiffs’ throats and forced a path open through the middle.

Gu Bei followed Fang Xu along that cleared way, while the bailiffs on either side looked on in panic.

They truly had no idea which god had descended upon them this time.

In ordinary times, these bailiffs bullied the locals, extorted money and goods, and acted like petty tyrants. But when they faced Old Wu and the others, they revealed their true nature.

They were nothing more than cowards who preyed on the weak and cringed before the strong.

That was enough to earn Old Wu and the others’ contempt.

If they had dared resist, Old Wu and the others might have looked at them a little differently. But clearly, that was impossible.

The bailiffs were not fools. Since they had already recognized the flying-fish robes, how could they choose to court death?

Fang Xu smiled as the county magistrate finally rushed over, while the magistrate looked at the scene before him in disbelief.

“You! Who exactly are you? How dare you storm into the courtroom without permission? Men! Seize him for me!”

The county magistrate bellowed in a shrill, squawking voice, but Fang Xu looked at him as though he were a complete idiot.

From Fang Xu’s perspective, could this county magistrate not see that this was no longer his stage?

“Damn it! Can’t any of you hear this official? Or do you all want to die?” It seemed the magistrate had still failed to grasp the gravity of the situation.

He had not even noticed the ferocity on the faces of the bailiffs. If they had been able to speak freely, they would likely have screamed at their magistrate long ago.

Are you truly a pig? Or have you stuffed yourself so full that your brains have been clogged shut?

Can’t you see who these people are? Are the flying-fish robes and Spring-Embroidered sabers something anyone can impersonate? Do you still not understand the situation?

Unfortunately, with Old Wu and the others’ sabers pressed to their throats, not a single word could escape the bailiffs’ lips. The sharp blades had already cut through the skin at their necks.

“Are you a pig?” Fang Xu asked in mild surprise as he looked at the county magistrate. The man was indeed plump enough that comparing him to a pig seemed perfectly apt.