Chapter 221 The beginning of disaster
Fan An, a Jinshi in the sixth year of Taihe, has been well-read in poetry and books since childhood and has the ambition to govern the country and ensure national stability. After becoming an official, he worked hard to govern the country and achieved remarkable achievements. The highest official was appointed as the governor of Dongzhou.
Fan An was concerned 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 prosperity and lived a prosperous life. But there is one thing that always weighs on Fan An’s mind.
That''s the green forest bandits!
[Warrior World] In the world, sects in the martial arts world are prevalent. Relying on powerful force, they do not take the king''s law seriously at all, and even privately encircle the sphere of influence, occupy land and plunder the people''s money.
In many places, the people do not even know the emperor, but only know the heads of local sects. Even whether the government office can be managed smoothly depends on the local sect’s eyes.
The court has been worried about this for many years and has organized a bandit suppression operation. However, these martial arts sects have been operating in the local area for many years, have deep foundations and have a large number of resources. Even the ambitions of many generations of young people are not to pass the exam and serve the country, but to join the local sect, learn peerless martial arts, and become heroes. Especially those famous sects, with thousands of disciples under their sects, and their martial arts are very powerful, and the separatist side is no different from a warlord.
Faced with these great factions that have been passed down for hundreds of years, it is not easy to wipe out the enemy. The multiple bandit suppressions have brought about turmoil and famine, besides the exhausted national treasury. Over time, the court has already acknowledged their existence, and some tacit understanding has been reached between local governments and sects, and they are at peace in a delicate balance.
But Fan An did not agree with this situation... In his opinion, national governance must be based on the law. These sects are free from the law and act in accordance with the so-called loyalty and rules of the world, and are superior to the people and even local governments. Whether the people can live a stable life depends entirely on the conscience of the local sects. This is a huge unstable factor for the country and the people!
And there is such a powerful sect in Dongzhou under his rule - Dragon Palace.
This sect is located on the East China Sea. The head of the palace master is one of the famous Four Saints and Three Sages in the martial arts world, Ao Zhen!
The main scope of activities of this sect is in towns and fishing villages along the East China Sea Islands and mainland coasts. Whether fishermen go fishing or caravans go to sea for trade, the Dragon Palace has to take a commission. Over time, the people have become accustomed to the existence of the Dragon Palace, and even voluntarily hand over, which is more active than paying taxes to the court.
These places are the richest areas in Dongzhou. The residents here only recognize the Dragon Palace but not the court, which not only seriously affects local finance and taxation, but also threatens the prestige of the court. For this reason, Fan An wrote several letters, requesting the court to send troops to conquer the Dragon Palace.
The court is not stupid either. The dragon mother Ao Zhen is powerful in the East China Sea. She has tens of thousands of disciples and has dozens of warships under her command. Not to mention that she is lonely and hangs overseas in the Dragon Palace. Even on land, she is a force that cannot be underestimated. Therefore, she has never adopted Fan An’s memorial.
But Fan An did not give up. He not only wanted troops simply, but even went out to sea to inspect and study the layout of the Dragon Palace Islands. According to the on-site situation, he specially formulated a practical and feasible bandit suppression plan and wrote to the court.
At that time, the former emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne. The new emperor was young and energetic. It was because of the incident of the Sword Saint Sect that when he saw Fan An''s memorial, he immediately felt that he should hit these martial arts sects, so he opposed the opposition and sent troops to attack the Dragon Palace with an imperial edict!
Fan An was so excited that he didn''t sleep all night, doing his best to provide convenience and support to the army that came to fight against the thieves.
However, shortly after the army''s warships went to sea, they were ambushed...
The Dragon Palace seemed to have known the imperial court''s plan to suppress bandits for a long time, from the number of troops to the marching route, and even the ambush deployed secretly. The navy had just set off for war, and the rescue was pierced by someone at the bottom of the ship. The commander was stabbed in the flagship. A large number of soldiers were buried in the belly of fish. Those who survived had to surrender and were incorporated by the Dragon Palace, which greatly enhanced its power!
This failure not only caused the court to lose tens of thousands of troops, but also caused the New Emperor''s prestige to fall to the bottom. In anger, the young emperor issued an order to dismiss Fan An from his post and confiscate his home and demote him to a commoner.
This is not the end. Fan An was retaliated by the Dragon Palace later. An assassin took advantage of the darkness to touch his house and killed his family of fifteen. In the end, Fan An escaped because of his natural deformity and his heart was on the right side.
Fan An, whose career was destroyed and his family was destroyed, completely lost hope in life. He mixed into the refugees, left Dongzhou, begged all the way for a living, and went on for many years, and finally came to Shannan Town in a daze...
On this day, he got a bite of leftover rice from the oil mill. After eating, he felt dizzy and fell asleep against the wall. When he woke up again, he found that it was pitch black around him and he couldn''t see his fingers...
Fan An reached out to grop around and soon felt the cold touch. He was locked in an iron cage...
Where is this? Who caught him? Why arrest me? Could it be that the Dragon Palace discovered that I was not dead and was coming to take revenge?
For a moment, he thought of countless possibilities, but he was already dead. No matter what his fate would be like, he didn''t care. If you want this, take it...
At this moment, with the sound of the operation of the mechanism, a ray of light broke through the darkness and a man walked in from the light.
Fan An recognized this person. He was the boss of the Youfang Floor. His surname was Xu. He was very kind and would always give them some leftovers to beggars... Today, it was only after eating Boss Xu''s meal that he fell into a coma...
The boss of the Youfang Floor carried a man on his shoulder. He came in and opened a cage next to Fan An, threw the man in, and locked the door.
Only then did Fan An notice that there were five cages placed 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 went out.
In the next few days, the boss of the oil mill would transport someone in every day and bring food to the previous people. These new arrivals Fan An also knew them, all of whom were beggars and homeless men on the street... They would beg the boss of the oil mill to let them go, unwilling to stay in this dark place, but the boss was indifferent and came to deliver food to them regularly every day.
Only Fan An, who is content with everything, eats when you have food, sleeps when you have no food, and even looks forward to it. One day after eating and falling asleep, he will never wake up again...
However, such a "stable" life did not last long. Finally one day, the boss of the Youfang Floor walked in, opened a cage, pulled out a person, and sent it back after about a quarter of an hour. Then another person took it away, and I don''t know what he was doing.
It was Fan An''s turn, and he followed him obediently. The boss tied her to a pillar, stuffed a piece of rag in his mouth, and then took out a strange transparent tube containing black liquid, and a silver needle was inserted at one end... The boss of the oil mill inserted the silver needle into his arm, then pushed the piston and punched the black liquid into his body.
At first, there was no feeling, but as the black liquid circulated with the blood vessels, Fan An felt great pain. He was sweating all over, his teeth were clenched, and he almost bit through the rag. After almost a quarter of an hour, the pain finally subsided...
Then, the boss of the oil mill sent him back to the cage, and Fan An fell asleep due to the pain just now...
In the following days, I returned to the rhythm of eating and sleeping when I was full and eating. The only difference is that every day the boss of the oil mill will take them out one by one, do some strange physical examinations, and ask if they have felt something recently.
At first, Fan An didn''t feel anything. He didn''t know what the oil mill boss did to him, but it didn''t matter anything. Even in his heart, he had a glimmer of hope that the black liquid was a kind of toxicity. Suddenly one day, he was toxic and sent to his place, and he was completely over...
But as time went by, Fan An quickly discovered that not only did he show no sign of poisoning, but his body felt lighter and stronger, and his originally faint eyes became clearer and clearer...
After all, he was a Jinshi on the two lists. Fan An immediately realized that the boss of the Youfang Floor was developing a potion that could strengthen the human body!
Originally, he was over 60 years old and had no expectations for life, but the sudden gain of power changed his mind.
Back then, he thought that reading the books of sages could make one clear and righteousness and support the country, but unexpectedly, his life was destroyed in the hands of a group of martial artists in the world... No classics or fame could not resist the most primitive violence in the end!
That setback completely collapsed his outlook on life, and his efforts in the first half of his life were completely denied.
But now, by chance, he has gained strength! A power he despised the most before, but ruined his life!
There was light again in Fan An''s eyes!
He felt the changes in his body, and the power was getting stronger day by day. Gradually, he even felt that he could no longer be considered a human. Not only does he have extraordinary power, he can also change freely, giving birth to sharp claws and splitting out tentacles... Of course, these are all secretly experimented when the secret door was closed and it was pitch black. Whenever the boss of the oil mill came for a physical examination, he would return to his human form and pretend that there was no change...
Gradually, not only the physical changes, but his spirit began to sublimate. Even in the darkness, he could feel the four people in the other cages. Fan An could feel that their bodies contained the same power as him, but those powers were sleeping in their bodies and were not stimulated...
Too wasteful!
If I could take over those four forces, I would definitely achieve a complete evolution...
Finally, when Fan An felt that he could perfectly master that power, in the dark, he released his tentacles, pierced into the other four cages, and completely swallowed the experimental subject inside...
This time, he did not experience pain. Instead, those forces were like sweet juice, nourishing his body and making him extremely comfortable. At the same time, he also felt unprecedentedly powerful power!
This is a kind of purest, primitive and 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!
And at this moment, the secret door opened and the boss of the oil mill walked in.
This time, what he saw were four empty cages covered with blood, and an old beggar who was smiling greedily at him...
(This chapter ends)