Chapter 221 The Beginning of the Disaster
Fan An, a Jinshi in the sixth year of Taihe, has read poetry and books since he was a child, and has the ambition to govern the country and bring peace to the country. After becoming an official, he worked hard to govern and achieved remarkable results. His highest official position was the Governor of Dongzhou.
Fan An An cared about the people of the country. During his tenure as an official, he worked diligently and loved the people. Under his rule, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment and lived a prosperous life. But there is one thing that always weighs on Fan An's mind.
That is the banditry in the green forest!
[Martial Arts] In the world of martial arts, martial arts sects are prevalent. They rely on tyrannical force and completely ignore the king's laws. They even privately delineate their spheres of influence, occupy fields, and plunder people's money.
In many places, the people did not even know the emperor, only the local sect leader. As for whether the government yamen can be managed smoothly, it depends on the eyes of the local sect.
The imperial court has also been worried about this for many years, and once organized an operation to suppress bandits. However, these martial arts sects have been operating in the local area for many years, have deep roots, and control a large amount of resources. Even the ambition of generations of young people is not to gain fame and serve the country, but to join a local sect, learn peerless martial arts, and become a hero. Especially those famous sects with tens of thousands of disciples and very strong martial arts. The separatists are no different from warlords.
Faced with these large sects that have been passed down for hundreds of years, it is not easy to exterminate them. The repeated suppression of bandits has brought about nothing but depleted treasury, only turmoil and famine. Over time, the imperial court has acquiesced in their existence, and local officials and sects have reached a certain tacit understanding, and they live in harmony in a delicate balance.
But Fan An does not agree with this situation... In his view, national governance must be based on the law. These Jianghu sects are outside the law, act according to the so-called loyalty and Jianghu rules, and are above the common people. Even above the local government, whether the people of a certain area can live a stable life depends entirely on the conscience of the local sect. This is a huge destabilizing factor for the country and the people!
And in Dongzhou under his rule, there was such a powerful sect-Dragon Palace.
This sect is located on the East China Sea, and its head palace master is one of the famous Four Saints and Three Secrets in the martial arts world, Dragon Mother Ao Zhen!
The main scope of activities of this sect is in the towns and fishing villages on the East China Sea Islands and the coast of the mainland. Whether it is fishermen going out to sea for fishing or caravans going out for trade, Dragon Palace will take a cut of it. Over time, the people have become accustomed to it. Knowing the existence of the Dragon Palace, even voluntarily and consciously handing it over is more positive than paying taxes to the court.
These places are the richest areas in Dongzhou. The residents here only recognize the Dragon Palace and not the imperial court. This not only seriously affects local finance and taxation, but also threatens the prestige of the imperial court. For this reason, Fan An wrote several times, requesting the imperial court to send troops to conquer the Dragon Palace.
The imperial court is not stupid either. Dragon Mother Ao Zhen is powerful in the East China Sea. She has tens of thousands of disciples and dozens of warships under her command. Not to mention that her Dragon Palace is isolated overseas, even on land. This is a force that cannot be underestimated, so it has never adopted Fan An's memorial.
But Fan An did not give up. He was not just a simple recruiter, he even went to sea personally to inspect and study the layout of the Longgong Islands. Based on the situation on the ground, he formulated a practical plan to suppress bandits and submitted a letter. imperial court.
At that time, the previous emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne. The new emperor was young and vigorous. He was feeling angry because of the Sword Master Sect incident. When he saw Fan An's memorial, he immediately felt that he should attack these martial arts sects, so he made every effort to Everyone agreed and issued an imperial edict to mobilize troops to attack the Dragon Palace!
After receiving the news, Fan An was so excited that he stayed up all night and did his best to provide convenience and support for the troops who came to fight against the thieves.
However, not long after the army's warship went to sea, it was ambushed...
Dragon Palace seemed to have known about the imperial court's plan to suppress bandits for a long time, from the number of troops to the marching route, and even the The ambush deployed secretly is clearly understood. The navy had just gone on an expedition. The bottom of the ship was punctured, the commander was stabbed in the flagship, and a large number of soldiers were buried in the belly of the fish. Those who survived had no choice but to surrender and were absorbed by the Dragon Palace, which greatly strengthened its power!
This failure not only cost the court tens of thousands of troops, but also brought the new emperor's prestige to the bottom. In anger, the little emperor ordered Fan An to be dismissed from his post, his family confiscated, and demoted to a commoner.
This wasn't the end of it, Fan An also suffered revenge from the Dragon Palace. An assassin broke into his house at night and killed fifteen members of his family. In the end, only Fan An escaped death because he was born with a deformity and his heart was located on the right side.
Fan An, whose official career was ruined and his family was ruined, completely lost hope in life. He mingled with the refugees and left Dongzhou, begging for a living. After many years of wandering, he finally came to Shannan Town. ...
On this day, he begged for a mouthful of leftovers from the oil shop. After eating, he felt dizzy and fell asleep leaning against the wall. When he woke up again, he found that the surroundings were dark and he stretched out his hand. No fingers were visible...
Fan An reached out and groped around, and soon felt something cold. He was locked in an iron cage...
Where is this place? Who caught him? Why are you arresting me? Could it be that Dragon Palace found out that I was alive and wanted to take revenge?
For a moment, he thought of countless possibilities, but he was already despairing. No matter what his fate would be, it didn't matter to him. If you want this life, take it if you want...
Just here At this time, along with the sound of the mechanism operating, a ray of light broke through the darkness, and a person walked in from the light.
Fan An recognized this man. He was the owner of the oil shop. His surname was Xu. He was very kind. He would always give some leftover food to beggars like them... Today, after eating Boss Xu’s meal, he He just passed out...
The owner of the oil shop also had a person on his shoulders. He came in and opened a cage next to Fan An, threw the person in and locked the door.
Fan An then noticed that there were five cages side by side in this secret room... Fan An didn't know what Boss Xu wanted to do, and he didn't care. When Boss Xu saw that he was awake, he seemed a little surprised why he didn't speak or cry. He looked at him a few more times and then went out.
In the next few days, the owner of the oil mill would transport one person in every day, and at the same time bring food to the previous people. Fan An also knows these newcomers. They are all beggars and homeless people on the street... They will beg the owner of the oil shop to let them go every time, unwilling to stay in this dark place, but the boss is indifferent and just sets the time every day. Come and bring them food.
Only Fan An takes things as they come, eating when there is food and sleeping when there is no food. He even looks forward to the day when he has eaten enough and slept and never wakes up again...
However, this is the case The "stable" days did not last long. Finally one day, the owner of the oil mill came in, opened a cage, and pulled out a person. After about a quarter of an hour, he sent him back, and then another person was taken away. I don't know what he was doing. .
It was Fan An's turn. He followed her out obediently. The boss tied her to a pillar and stuffed a rag into her mouth. Then he took out a strange transparent tube containing The black liquid had a silver needle inserted into one end... The owner of the oil shop inserted the silver needle into his arm, and then pushed the piston, driving the black liquid into his body.
He didn't feel anything at first, but as the black liquid circulated through his blood, Fan An felt great pain. He was sweating all over and clenched his teeth, almost biting through the rag. After almost a quarter of an hour, The pain finally subsided...
Then, the owner of the oil shop sent him back to the cage, and Fan An was too exhausted by the pain just now and fell into a deep sleep...
What happened next As the days passed, the rhythm of eating when I was full, sleeping, and eating when I was full was restored. The only difference is that every day the owner of the oil shop will take them out one by one, do some strange physical examinations, and ask if they have been feeling anything recently.
At first, Fan An didn't feel anything. He didn't know what the owner of the oil shop did to him, but it didn't matter. Even deep down in his heart, he had a glimmer of hope that the black liquid was some kind of drama. The poison suddenly broke out one day, and it was over once and for all when he was sent to the west...
But as time went by, Fan An soon discovered that not only did he show no signs of poisoning, but he felt that his body was getting worse and worse. The lighter I become, the stronger my strength becomes, and my old eyes that were originally dim become clearer...
After all, he was a former two-ranked Jinshi. Fan An immediately realized that the owner of the oil shop was developing a potion that could strengthen the human body!
Originally, when he was over sixty years old, he had no expectations for life, but this sudden power changed his mind.
At that time, he thought that reading the books of sages could clarify the righteousness and help the country, but he did not expect that his life would be ruined in the hands of a group of martial arts warriors... No matter what classics or fame, in the end, they would not be worth the most original works. Violence!
That setback caused his outlook on life to completely collapse, and all his efforts in the first half of his life were completely negated.
But now, by chance, he has gained power! A power that he despised the most before, but it ruined his life!
There was light in Fan An's eyes again!
He felt the changes in his body. The power was getting stronger day by day. Slowly, he even felt that he could no longer be considered a human being. Not only does he have extraordinary strength, he can also change his body freely, grow claws, split tentacles... Of course, these were secretly experiments when the secret door was closed and it was pitch dark. During the examination, he would return to his human form and pretend that nothing had changed...
Gradually, not only the physical changes, but also his spirit began to sublimate. Even in the darkness, he could feel Looking at the four people in the other cages, Fan An could feel that they contained the same power as himself, but those powers were sleeping in their bodies and had not been stimulated...
What a waste!
If I can take away those four powers, I will definitely evolve completely...
Finally, when Fan An felt that he could perfectly master the power, he took advantage of the darkness and released his tentacles, piercing the other four cages and completely devouring the experimental subjects inside...
This time, he did not experience pain. Instead, the power was like sweet juice, nourishing his body and making him extremely comfortable. At the same time, he also felt unprecedented power!
This is the purest, most primitive, and most violent power that is different from martial arts! In the face of this power, those martial arts heroes who claim to be masters can only become my food!
At this moment, the secret door opened and the owner of the oil shop walked in.
This time, what he saw were four empty cages covered in blood, and an old beggar who was smiling greedily at him...
(End of this chapter)