eurekapd Chapter 434 Complete Collapse
Chapter 434 Complete Collapse
After Luo Zheng returned to the county government office, he immediately ordered Song Xingzhou to lead his troops into the mountains to eliminate the wild beasts in the mountains and search for the traces of those private soldiers.
Although those people may have already left, as long as Luo Zheng finds traces of the private soldiers' presence, he can report to them.
The other party evacuated in a hurry and it is impossible for them to take everything with them, so they must have left many traces.
There are also remains of corpses in the mountains. Once we have cleared out the beasts, we can search carefully.
With the wreckage as evidence, we can proceed to the next step.
The other party didn't have any magical powers, so it was impossible for them to transport the body into the mountains without anyone noticing. They would have to use tools to do so, and it was inevitable that people would see them on the way.
It’s just that the body was hidden before, so people who saw it naturally didn’t investigate further.
Now, as long as we investigate carefully, we can find clues, and then unravel them, follow the clues, and find those involved one by one!
The most important thing is that King Zhou is currently paralyzed due to a stroke. Without him in charge, the people under his command are like jackals without fangs, and it will be much easier to deal with them.
After Song Xingzhou left, Luo Zheng had someone spread the news that yesterday's wild beast attack and snake bite were secretly controlled by someone to prevent anyone from discovering the private soldiers hiding in the mountains.
When the news came out, those who were dissatisfied with Luo Zheng because of his injuries were all shocked. They hated the person behind the scenes, but were secretly glad that they did not go any deeper and meet those private soldiers.
Otherwise, the other party may become desperate and kill to silence the witness!
And those smart people in the city have already guessed that things are about to change in Gusu City!
Some people were secretly excited about this, but others were worried that if King Zhou fell, they would also suffer.
Luo Zheng didn't care what these people thought. Without King Zhou taking the lead, the people under his command would not have the courage to rebel.
No matter how unwilling they were, they could only hold it in.
After giving the order, Luo Zheng personally wrote a memorial and sent someone to deliver it to the capital at full speed.
It was three days later when Emperor Taihe received the memorial.
When seeing the human bones and private soldiers found in the mountains, Luo Zheng led his men into the mountains but was obstructed. Afterwards, he and King Zhou were assassinated one after another. Emperor Taihe's face became extremely ugly.
Especially when he saw that King Zhou was injured in the belly, the wound was only as long as a fingernail and only scratched the skin, he was so angry that he sneered repeatedly.
"Being stabbed by Jia Rui, the knife was poisoned, and then suffering a stroke and paralysis? Uncle Wang is too careless."
Emperor Taihe said something meaningful and wrote a note to Luo Zheng, ordering him to thoroughly investigate the identity of the corpses in the mountains and the whereabouts of those private soldiers. At critical moments, he could even take advantage of the situation.
After writing it, he immediately ordered someone to ride as fast as possible and personally deliver the note to Luo Zheng.
Luo Zheng's investigation lasted more than two months.
After the wild animals in the mountains were hunted, Luo Zheng would have people cut open their stomachs and check the contents to confirm whether these animals had eaten humans recently.
After all the wild beasts were hunted down, he organized a large number of people to search the mountains in order to find all the human remains.
The military camp hidden in the mountains was also found, but it was deserted, with only some houses and daily necessities that had not been disposed of in time left.
Some people also found a large number of human remains under the cliff.
Although most of the corpses have turned into bones, there are still some corpses that have not yet completely rotted.
Five of the bodies were quite fresh, having died no more than two days ago, and their appearance before death could still be clearly identified.
There were two men and three women. They were good-looking and not very old, probably no more than twenty years old.
But the marks on their bodies were shocking, and it was obvious that they had suffered long-term abuse and humiliation.
It is not difficult to guess the identities of these people. They are beautiful and have such marks on their bodies. They are obviously camp prostitutes who provide sexual relief for people.
There were many old scars on the bodies. Feng Xinyi guessed that it was because they were injured that they could not evacuate quickly with the private soldiers, so they were killed and thrown off the cliff.
If this is true, it means that the other party may have other camp prostitutes in his hands.
Thinking of this possibility, Feng Xinyi couldn't help but say to Luo Zheng, "We must find the whereabouts of those people!"
Luo Zheng comforted her, "There are too many of them. Once they leave the mountains, they can no longer hide. Unless they completely scatter, as long as there are too many of them, they will reveal their tracks. I have arranged for people to guard the important roads and passes, and they will never let them escape!"
The number of private soldiers raised by King Zhou was naturally more than that thousand. Those people were just backup forces that he secretly kept nearby because he was worried about his own safety.
He also had many more private soldiers, who were kept in various forests. These people usually disguised themselves as bandits, robbing and extorting passing caravans, which allowed them to train their troops and make a fortune.
But after being a bandit for a long time, it is inevitable that you will have other thoughts.
It is simply wishful thinking for King Zhou to want to raise a strong army in this way!
After Luo Zheng received the order from Emperor Taihe, he thoroughly investigated the identity of the corpse and the accomplices, and ordered Song Xingzhou to lead troops to eliminate the nearby bandits in the name of tracking down private soldiers.
In the past, with the King of Zhou keeping an eye on them, local officials and garrisons turned a blind eye to these bandits.
Now that King Zhou has suffered a stroke and is paralyzed, and with Luo Zheng as the imperial envoy, the local defenders naturally dare not disobey orders and can only secretly send letters to the bandits, hoping that they will escape quickly.
Unexpectedly, Luo Zheng directly let people release the news of surrender.
The bandits hide in the mountains and forests, robbing passing caravans from time to time. They seem to be very free, but in fact, such days are not easy for many bandits.
After all, there are only a few people who really like to live on the edge of a knife. Most people still hope to live a stable life.
Especially after having children, many people would not want their children to continue to be bandits.
If real bandits are like this, what about those private soldiers pretending to be bandits?
As soon as Luo Zheng released the news of the amnesty, many private soldiers were tempted, but they were worried that it was a trap and could not make up their minds for a while.
However, after some people secretly defected and accepted the amnesty, the rest of the people could no longer sit still.
Even the leader of the mountain stronghold was unwilling to wait any longer, and decisively sent someone to convey a message to Luo Zheng, expressing his willingness to accept the amnesty, but gave some conditions, hoping that Luo Zheng would agree.
Luo Zheng directly agreed to those conditions that were not excessive.
As for those diehards who put forward excessive demands, Luo Zheng did not negotiate with them at all. He directly gave them an ultimatum. If they continued to be stubborn, they would only end up being wiped out.
Anyway, many people have already accepted the amnesty, and these people just need an opportunity to redeem themselves from their crimes.
Those diehards who do not want to be credited as heroes by their former colleagues have no choice but to compromise.
In the end, most of these private soldiers accepted Luo Zheng's offer of amnesty, and only a few of them chose to secretly escape because they were involved in a major case.
Luo Zheng was not polite and directly issued a wanted order.
In this way, he defeated the private troops secretly raised by the King of Zhou without bloodshed.