Chapter 186: The County Commandant Walks into the Trap

As night fell over Ziwu County, the entire county city appeared silent.

Although there were flickering fires on the city walls, they could only light up a small flat area in front of the city gate.

“I heard the new County Magistrate gives every newly recruited soldier three Silver Coins every month.”

“That’s right! The new County Magistrate is much more generous than the previous Magistrate Zhou.”

“It’s not just about being generous; he’s also quite powerful. You haven’t heard the night watchman patrolling at this late hour, have you? Let me tell you, that night watchman has been arrested.”

“Why arrest a night watchman? Did he commit a crime?”

“He definitely committed a crime, and a big one.”

Two or three soldiers guarding the city stood on the City Wall chatting casually. Just when they were talking about the night watchman, noisy footsteps suddenly came from outside the city.

“Is someone coming?”

Hearing the footsteps outside, the three men immediately turned to look down, and soon realized the newcomers were also soldiers from within the county.

The leader of them was the County Commandant, He Yin.

As soon as He Yin arrived at the city gate, he immediately shouted up at the City Wall, “Open the gate! Open the gate for me quickly!”

“Is that the County Commandant My Lord?”

“Nonsense! Open the gate for me right now.”

Outside the County City, the slightly chubby He Yin sat on his horse, looking impatient on his face. “I heard news that the new County Magistrate has captured the bandit leader, so I am returning to the city tonight. Open the gate for me quickly!”

“Um, County Commandant please wait. We will open the gate right now.”

Although the Imperial Court had ordered that gates must not be opened after nightfall, the people outside were the County Commandant. A few small soldiers dared not stop him, nodded in agreement, and immediately went down to open the gate.

As the City Gate opened, He Yin immediately led his two hundred-plus men and brothers into the county city. As they walked out of the City Gate range and entered the streets on both sides, He Yin suddenly realized something was wrong.

Although it should be very quiet inside the county city after nightfall, it should never be completely silent.

At the same time, the City Gate was closed again by the night watch soldiers.

“This is not right. Something has changed inside the city.”

“Brothers, follow me and rush out!”

After He Yin took two steps forward, he immediately reined his horse around to turn back. In that instant, as he turned, figures began to pour out from the City Wall and the stone stairs of the city wall.

Following that, lights appeared one after another in the houses on both sides of the streets, and soldiers walked out one by one.

“Commandant He? Where do you think you’re going?”

In a small house not far from He Yin, Mo Xiaobai, accompanied by Li Ji, Li Guang, Guo Jia, and others, walked out, smiling as he looked at He Yin. “You are so eager to leave. Do you want to fully confirm your identity as a bandit?”

“Who are you? Don’t slander me here with baseless accusations!”

Surrounded by over a hundred people inside the city, He Yin’s face immediately turned dark. He turned around to look at Mo Xiaobai and spoke coldly, “Now, I suspect you are the murderer of the previous County Magistrate. My soldiers, attack! Avenge the County Magistrate!”

“Overestimating yourself!”

Looking at the group of county soldiers rushing towards him, Mo Xiaobai’s expression did not change.

Twenty paces.

Fifteen paces.

Ten paces.

In just a short distance of a few dozen meters, the soldiers rushed forward quickly. However, just before they reached a point less than ten meters in front of Mo Xiaobai, the ground suddenly gave way beneath their feet, and they fell in one by one.

At the same time, Li Guang also moved.

He drew his bow and nocked an arrow in one fluid motion. There was no need to aim; the arrow flew straight for the County Commandant’s left shoulder.

With just one shot, he knocked the County Commandant off his horse.

As for why he did not kill the County Commandant, it was entirely due to Mo Xiaobai’s instructions. He needed He Yin’s head for a purpose.

When He Yin fell from his horse, this battle, which could not even be called a turmoil, quickly came to an end. With Li Ji and Li Guang joining the fight and killing a few of He Yin’s die-hard loyalists, everyone else obediently put down their weapons.

For these county soldiers, Li Ji and Li Guang were undoubtedly two Gods of Slaughter.

They could not fight back, nor could they escape.

If they did not want to die, they had to put down their weapons and surrender.

Looking at He Yin, who was tied up tightly in front of him, Mo Xiaobai laughed softly and spoke, “Didn’t you want to know who I am? I am the new County Magistrate, here in Ziwu County to deal with corrupt officials like you.”

“Are you wondering why I knew you would return? The answer is very simple. The news you heard outside the city was deliberately spread by me. Whether it was passed from the County Government Office to various townships, or the Zhou Residence sent people to find you directly, it was all intentional. I was just seeing if you would take the bait.”

“Looking at the current situation, you have indeed not disappointed me. With just a small trick, you obediently returned, which saves me from going out of the city and guessing where you might be hiding all over the mountain.”

“Maogong, take him away and let him meet the night watchman and Miss Yun!”

The progress of events was smoother than Mo Xiaobai had imagined. Although this was already the second night, Mo Xiaobai estimated that he could complete all the Instances ahead of schedule.

When Li Ji led He Yin and the group of county soldiers away, Mo Xiaobai finally smiled and spoke to Li Guang, “This time, thanks go to the Flying General as well. You guarded for so long during the day to gain the results of tonight.”

“It is all thanks to My Lord’s careful planning. I only acted according to orders.”

“Stop being modest. It’s good that you kept a close watch. I truly did not expect that the Zhou Family would not investigate the situation inside the city first, but instead contact the County Commandant outside the city first. But now it is fine. Since he conspired with the County Commandant, he is clearly involved.”

Mo Xiaobai joked, then shook his head and sighed, “The matter in Ziwu County is now largely clear. The only thing that cannot be explained is one issue.”

“My Lord, are you referring to the method of killing?”

Guo Jia, standing nearby, timely added, “This also confuses me. Even if there was a pre-planned intention to kill Zhou Yi, there was no need to stab dozens of holes into the corpse. Even if the hatred was great, when a person dies, their life ends like a lamp going out. It is truly not appropriate to destroy the corpse in such a manner to hide the traces.”

Destroy the corpse to hide the traces?

The four words flashed through Mo Xiaobai’s mind. He stopped abruptly as he was about to turn back to the County Government Office. “Fengxiao, what did you say?”

“My Lord, is this?”

“Did you just say, destroy the corpse to hide the traces?”

“Is there anything inappropriate in what I said? Such actions are no different from destroying a corpse.”

“It is indeed no different from destroying a corpse, but what you said might be the truth. Destroying the corpse was not the goal; the goal was to hide the traces.”

Mo Xiaobai’s mind opened up, and his associative ability was also very rich. “Do you remember what the steward said when we went to the Zhou Residence? He said that all matters in the residence were not arranged by Zhou Ding but were decided by that lady. At that time, I only thought it was strange, but since Zhou Ding seemed overly grief-stricken, I did not think further.”

“Now, looking back, this sentence itself is full of suspicious points. Who is who between the two Zhou brothers, Zhou Yi and Zhou Ding? Who was alive in the end? Who died?”

The Zhou brothers: who died and who lived?

With the question from his own My Lord, even Guo Jia, known for his countless schemes, was momentarily stunned. He also recalled the news he first heard about Zhou Yi’s state.

The head and belly were covered with small holes like wooden hairpins!

If the murderer did not have a pathological hobby of torturing corpses, then he must have been covering something up!