Chapter 544: The Change at Pingxi

Upon his return to Pingxi City, Yan Liqiang found out that the city gates had much stricter security measures than a few days ago.

The soldiers at the city gates were all armed with swords and spears. The numbers were also greater than before and they checked everyone strictly, especially the Shatu people.

Yan Liqiang knew what this was of course. Just two days ago, Wang Jianbei lit up the fire barrels in the areas where the Shatu people gathered.

The black four-wheeled carriage went into the city without obstruction. On the city streets, it wasn’t the police patrolling the streets anymore, but the soldiers. People who normally loitered around didn’t roam the streets anymore, and most people walked past quickly.

The black four-wheeled carriage rode straight to the Prefectural Governor’s Office. Yan Liqiang got off the carriage and was welcomed into the back garden of the Prefectural Governor’s Office by the attendant. Prefectural Governor Wang Jianbei had already set up a feast in the garden as though he had just been waiting for Yan Liqiang to come.

“Hahaha, Liqiang, you came just at the right time!” Wang Jianbei laughed and held Yan Liqiang’s arm as he pulled Yan Liqiang hospitably into the balcony. “I knew you would come around this time. The wine and food were just brought up, waiting for you!”

“Prefectural Governor, you seem to be in a good mood!” Yan Liqiang smiled. If it was his other life, Yan Liqiang definitely would not have come when one man kept inviting another man to have dinner in a garden, but Wang Jianbei seemed to love this atmosphere. Of course, he didn’t have other intentions.

“The night sky is beautiful today. Here, I can invite you to watch a great show, hahaha…” Wang Jianbei said and poured Yan Liqiang a cup of wine.

“You’ve chosen it to be tonight?” Yan Liqiang asked.

“Mhm. Two days ago, I pulled out the soldiers that maintained order in the east city. We’ll let the dogs fight each other. The east city has been quite boisterous these two days. Tension has been building up between the two sides. Tonight will probably be a wild night!” Wang Jianbei smiled and poured himself a cup.

“Haha, then let this first cup of wine be cheers to the future prosperity of our Pingxi Prefecture!” Yan Liqiang raised his cup and smiled. The two touched cups and drank.

“This decision wasn’t easy to make!” Wang Jianbei sighed. “Without the support of the Provincial Governor and you, I’d be hesitant to create such a commotion in Pingxi City…”

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“Those people are the tumor of Pingxi City. They always create ruckus and chaos. One slight unhappiness and they create a huge commotion to rebel against the bureaucracy. If there’s a change in the situation, these people are a huge threat to the city. The heavens sees the law of karma. In these few decades, these people used forceful and shameless means to rob places. The citizens have endured many hardships and have nowhere to ask for help. That area is now a place for hiding all the darkness and filth. Even though the Prefectural Governor used some means to remove this threat from Pingxi City, it’s like scraping the bones to remove the poison. It’ll be a huge merit. Liqiang will salute a cup to Prefectural Governor!” Yan Liqiang poured wine for them both and then the two downed it all again.

“The aftermath will be left to you, Liqiang. You must not let people hit my backbone!”

“Hahaha, rest assured Prefectural Governor. Leave that area to me. I promise it will be ten times more prosperous than when the Shatu were there!”

“That’s great, that’s great!” Wang Jianbei smiled and nodded.

“The Shatu have nefarious intent and are used to being domineering in the city. If we attack tonight, the Prefectural Governor needs to be wary of forcing them into a last stand based on their numbers!”

“Liqiang, don’t worry, I have made the arrangements. Your idea from last time is very good. Life has been getting harder for those Shatu people in the city this year. Quite a few of them have already left the city. There are much fewer Shatu people here compared to a few years ago!”

Drinking and talking about the future plans for that area of the city with the Prefectural Governor, Yan Liqiang had the feeling that he was a greedy real estate developer conspiring with officials to forcefully mow down a piece of land.

Of course, to the Shatu people in the city, Yan Liqiang’s heart was quite dark indeed, but this was a compliment to Yan Liqiang because being evil to bad people was an act of kindness itself. Only after kicking away those Shatu people would Pingxi City finally be removed from a big threat. Yan Liqiang would be able to sleep peacefully. Otherwise, those Shatu people were like a ticking time bomb. If some situation arose, those Shatu people would be able to conspire with the Shatu people from the outside. The damage they would be able to do would be immeasurable. This possibility made Yan Liqiang restless. Kicking away the Shatu people in the city was his target after coming back home this time.

If the Dark Razor Tribe and Dark Wood Tribe didn’t have a conflict, it wouldn’t be easy to kick out those Shatu people in the city. The way Yan Liqiang thought of before was to slowly cook the frog, slowly exhausting their power. But in this conflict, there was a better way to take care of them.

This was because out of the Shatu people gathered in the city, the most numerous were the Dark Razor and Dark Wood Tribe people. The two combined accounted for more than 70% of the Shatu population in the city. The Dark Razor Tribe and Dark Wood Tribe had about the same number of people, and these two tribes lived separately. Dark Razor Tribe was slightly stronger in power and was the leader and manager of the Shatu people in the city. If something happened, the Dark Razor Tribe could gather all the Shatu in the city and mobilize them.

But now, as the conflict between the Dark Razor and Dark Wood Tribes grew, the atmosphere had changed. The Dark Razor and Dark Wood people’s relations in the city grew tense. There would often be small conflicts. Before, Wang Jianbei sent soldiers into their area for patrol to maintain peace. They segregated the area that the Dark Razor and Dark Wood Tribes lived in from the nearby streets. He set up a firewall between the two tribes, but now Wang Jianbei had taken that wall away. His excuse was that the situation at the Gulang Plains was unstable. He needed to assist defending White Stone Pass.

Wang Jianbei not only took away the firewall, but he also added fire to oil. These two days, people from the Dark Razor Tribe and Dark Wood Tribe mysteriously disappeared. This caused tension to escalate to unprecedented levels.

…

In less than two hours, the wine wasn’t finished but the sky was completely dark. Not long after that, a fiery inferno rose up from the direction of the Pingxi City’s Nine Dragons Bridge, illuminating the sky red…