“Good heavens, I wasn’t even planning on going in, but you smelled me coming?”

Hu Ma hadn't expected that the little ghost would find him after just one turn around the area.

He smiled, took out a piece of blood offering from his sleeve, and handed it to the tumor-legged little ghost, saying, "Tell him."

"Prepare early, those robbing grain are coming soon!"

After instructing the tumor-legged little ghost, Hu Ma strode away, pacifying the small Hong Tang, who was rolling her eyes on his shoulder, and went over the mountains again.

Yang Gong, the tumor-legged little ghost, stared blankly at the piece of blood offering in his hands, the whole ghost stunned. He stuffed it into his mouth in one bite, then trembled with happiness, and returned to the village joyfully.

A sense of satisfaction filled the air. When Old Man Tai Shan passed by Yang Gong, he didn't even bother to greet him, but Yang Gong reached out and lifted him up, raising his hand to teach him a lesson.

But his nose twitched, and he was immediately surprised: "Blood offering?"

"Where did you steal it from? I haven't smelled the scent of blood offering in a long time."

The tumor-legged little ghost, held in the air, was still beaming, saying: "Lord Hu is auspicious, Lord Hu is getting rich!"

"Uncle?"

Yang Gong was immediately surprised: "My brother Hu Ma is here?"

Looking around but seeing no one, he felt even stranger: "Then why doesn't he come into the village to drink with me?"

The tumor-legged little ghost thought for a moment, then reacted and shouted: "Lord Hu said, those robbing grain are coming, those robbing grain are coming!"

"My brother came to deliver a message to me?"

Yang Gong understood when he heard this. He came from a poor background and knew the weight of the words "robbing grain." He immediately looked solemn, and, carrying the little ghost, went to Old Man Tai Shan to discuss important matters.

*

"Found out the origin of that banner..."

Inside the Ming Prefecture government office, people were sitting together to discuss, but the hall did not appear solemn and dignified, but rather like a restaurant. The tables were full of wine and meat, and everyone was eating and chewing, even if they were choking, they still stuffed it into their mouths.

Even the one who came to report the news first glanced at the meat on the table, swallowed, and seemed to forget the rest of the words.

The General of Heavenly Mandate, sitting in the middle, picked up a pig leg from the table and threw it to him. The messenger hurriedly caught it, took a fierce bite, then stuffed it into his arms, and then said: "It's our Seventh Altar Envoy."

"This person was preaching and giving oracles in the area of West River Ditch Village. In just half a day, he and the seven followers under his command were all killed. The methods were brutal, so he couldn't even send back a message."

"Someone else took up the banners in their hands and, under the guise of the Church of True Reason, attacked the Red Lantern Society's forces, which caused a riot."

Hearing these words, everyone present stopped eating and drinking, raised their heads in unison, and looked a little surprised. Someone said: "That Seventh Altar Envoy is quite capable, how could he be easily killed? Could it be the Red Lantern Society who took action, crying 'stop thief'?"

If it were before, some people would doubt that the Red Lantern Society had the guts, but now, no one in the room answered. The General of Heavenly Mandate sneered: "I saw it long ago, this Red Lantern Goddess has a deep foundation."

"Saying that she is just a small local deity, having just built a temple, but looking at the foundation of her incense, it is probably no less than that of a prefecture..."

"She is feigning divinity and showing weakness, she cannot be underestimated!"

Listening from the side, everyone was shocked and stood up one after another, saying: "What should we do? Please instruct us, General."

The General of Heavenly Mandate was silent, and after a long time, he suddenly waved his hand and said: "You wait here, let me go in and ask for an idea, then I'll talk."

With that, he got up and went straight to the inner residence, leaving everyone in the hall looking at each other with strange expressions. After a pause, they continued to eat and drink, ignoring it.

The General of Heavenly Mandate went directly to the inner residence and arrived in front of the upper room that had been vacated by the family members of the government officials. He tidied up his clothes, and then respectfully kowtowed, saying: "Madam."

Before he could finish speaking, a soft voice rang from inside the inner hall through the door: "Since I have promised myself to you, we are husband and wife, why bother with such formalities?"

"Yes."

The General of Heavenly Mandate answered respectfully, stood up, and was about to push the door open, but the person inside said again: "Just say it outside, I don't like the smell on your body. When the bloody smell on your body dissipates, come and see me!"

The General of Heavenly Mandate said: "Yes."

He took a step back and said: "I just want to ask, how long do we have to wait since we came to Ming Prefecture?"

The person in the inner hall said: "As I said before, we came here to see someone. Now that the person we are waiting for has not appeared, we can only wait."

"Yes."

The General of Heavenly Mandate responded, but then whispered: "But my twenty thousand soldiers can't hold on anymore. We are waiting for us to transport the grain back. Now we can eat big fish and meat here, but there, I'm afraid there aren't enough people to eat."

The person in the inner hall was silent, and after a long while, she said: "If you can't even wait for these few days, how can you accomplish great things?"

The General of Heavenly Mandate didn't speak, but he didn't leave either.

The person in the inner hall was silent for a while, then sighed softly and said: "Alright, blood offering cannot be rushed, but we can first raise grain and go back to alleviate the famine there."

"But you also remember, it is enough to alleviate the famine there, and don't bring the style of Guanzhou to Ming Prefecture. This place has Lao Yin Mountain, and the Town Mountain Lord is a benevolent god, and even more powerful, and will not tolerate your style."

The General of Heavenly Mandate breathed a sigh of relief and whispered: "Understood, thank you very much."

After he finished speaking, he immediately turned around and came out, as if staying for a moment longer would make him unable to control himself. When he was far away from the inner hall, before he entered the main hall, several confidants hurriedly wiped their mouths and came out to meet him.

They all asked in low voices: "General, what did the lady inside say?"

"Heh, she still says to wait."

The General of Heavenly Mandate sneered and said: "She said so well at the beginning, but now all she does is say to wait. That batch of blood offering, they had promised me long ago, it's in the warehouse, but they have to wait for the Red Lantern Society to hand it over."

"That land of grain is within reach, but they insist on letting us just watch it here..."

The Dharma protector next to him showed a worried look on his face and said: "General, we can wait here, eat and drink well, and it won't be enough to live for a hundred years, but what about the family over there..."

"Yes, I know."

The General of Heavenly Mandate sighed softly and said: "It's not that I don't understand, they want to use my hand to force out someone of unknown origin, but tens of thousands of mouths are waiting for food there, how can we have time to play these little tricks with them?"

"Fortunately, she has nodded now, so let's prepare to raise grain first!"

"Finally able to raise grain?"

Hearing his words, the two Dharma protectors next to him were overjoyed, rubbing their palms, as if they were about to set off immediately.

"Oh dear..."

But at this moment, there was a panicked whisper next to him. The three people turned their heads at the same time and saw a man with a small hat on his head and a arrogant expression, who fell out from behind a clump of flowers. It was the small tax officer in the Ming Prefecture government office, who had been serving them.

He almost overheard them, but was frightened by their words.

The General of Heavenly Mandate smiled coldly when he saw him: "I knew you were hiding there just now. Since you heard it, then this general doesn't need to repeat it, right?"

The tax officer was so frightened that his face was ashen, and he said in a panic: "General, please forgive me. Everything else is easy to say, but this Ming Prefecture has not collected grain for twenty years. If we suddenly go to raise grain, I'm afraid..."

"That's your business."

The General of Heavenly Mandate sneered and said grimly: "I want this 100,000 dan of grain, not a single grain can be missing, hand it over to me in full."

"Don't complain, I already know exactly how much rice, livestock, cattle, and sheep there are in your fields, warehouses, and homes. It's just asking you to raise 100,000 dan, what's such a big deal?"

"If you think you have too few people and it's not easy to collect, it doesn't matter, I have enough people with me. From tomorrow onwards, they will go to the countryside with you..."

These words made the small tax officer tremble with fear, and he hurriedly ran back to report. All the officials in the government office were so frightened that they almost fell: "This, this... We have been serving them carefully, just to prevent this kind of thing from happening..."

"In the end, in the end, they couldn't help it?"

"Now our Ming Prefecture has not strictly levied taxes for twenty years. Coupled with good weather, we have achieved such stability. Now to collect this 100,000 dan of grain, wouldn't that be to collect all that is owed in the past twenty years?"

*

"Miss, the Church of True Reason's appetite is too big. You let him take only a part for emergency use, but I'm afraid his appetite can't be filled..."

In the inner hall vacated by the government office, someone whispered after the General of Heavenly Mandate retreated: "If you are not careful and do things too much, then I'm afraid..."

"I know they are people who are crazy for food. Heh, what good thing can eat up the people of a city?"

The lady's voice rang faintly: "The Meng family said he was a General of Heavenly Mandate, but in my eyes, he is more like a Demon General."

"However, since the Meng family and the adults at home think that his life is good, that he can enter the noble's eyes, and that there are tens of thousands of ready-made troops waiting, then those who achieve great things do not stick to small details. What does it matter if we tolerate him a little?"

"This time, he will definitely take this opportunity to collect grain crazily, but it doesn't matter. I have listened to the adults' words and chant the Soul Guiding Curse every day, but my cousin still hasn't shown his face, and hasn't even sent someone to say hello."

"Since this cousin of mine has such a big air, then what if I give him some pressure?"

"If even this step can't force him to show up, and the tens of thousands of hungry ghosts of the Church of True Reason really come to Ming Prefecture, I want to see how much backbone he has left!"