Qin Junyao touched the wall, using the scant light to find the alcove in Grandma Qin's room where the oil lamp was kept.
She took out a tinder from her spatial dimension and lit the oil lamp, thinking that the light might calm the donkey and Xiao Yu.
When Qin Junyao turned around with the oil lamp, she found that apart from Qin Xiaoyu, who was wailing beside Grandma Qin, everyone else was kneeling on the ground.
"Grandma, Father, Mother, why are you kneeling? Get up quickly," Qin Junyao said, holding the lamp in one hand and reaching out to help them up.
"Junyao, kneel down quickly. This is Heaven's wrath. Kneel and beg Heaven, beg the Bodhisattva," Mother Qin stopped Qin Junyao's hand, crying and negotiating with her daughter.
Qin Junyao squatted down and looked at Grandma Qin, who was chanting something with her hands clasped in prayer, and Qin Father and Qin Da Niu, who were kneeling on the ground with trembling shoulders. She knew that her family wouldn't listen to anything she said now. Sudan Novel Network
With the light in the room, the trembling window could be seen more clearly, which made the kneeling people even more panicked.
Qin Junyao had no choice. She stood up, took out a candy from her spatial dimension and put it in Qin Xiaoyu's mouth, then took out a large cabbage for the constantly bleating donkey, and of course, she didn't forget the one in Qin Da Niu's room.
When she returned to Grandma Qin's room, Qin Junyao had a zither and a low stool in her hands.
Calming her mind and concentrating, a Zen guqin piece called "Boundless Heart" slowly flowed from Qin Junyao's hands.
A wisp of mortal world gives birth to love, the Dharma realm void is the boundless heart.
The ethereal and tranquil, free and peaceful zither music made the people kneeling on the ground slowly raise their heads, open their eyes, and forget the suddenly darkened sky, forget the sound of the wind like chasing ghosts.
Qin Junyao's hands did not stop. She said to her family who were looking at her, "What you see outside is a sandstorm. It's like wind, rain, and snow. It's just that because we are close to the desert, the strong wind blows up the sand and dust."
"This is not the wrath of the Old Master. The darkness is because there is too much sand in the sky blocking the sun. You don't need to kneel and beg. When the wind passes and the sand settles, it will be fine."
Grandma Qin lowered her hands clasped in front of her chest, still kneeling, "Yaoyao, are you telling the truth?"
"Grandma, I swear on my life that it's true. The ground is cold, so don't kneel. This sandstorm will last for a long time."
Grandma Qin thought for a moment, took out her three copper coins from her waist, tossed them once, took a deep breath, and sat on the ground.
"Eldest, help me up."
"Third, light all the oil lamps in the room. Eldest's wife, heat the kang."
Helped up by Qin Father, Grandma Qin looked at Qin Junyao, who was playing the zither, with a complex expression. "Yaoyao, stop playing. When can we go out?"
Qin Junyao stopped her movements and looked outside. "When the wind dies down a bit. We might not be able to open our eyes if we go out now."
The wind outside was indeed so strong that one couldn't open their eyes, especially at the salt lake surrounded by the desert.
The weather that made the room almost completely dark was merely twilight outside.
Suo Zi rubbed his eyes, which were full of sand, but ended up rubbing the sand on his hands into them.
This caused Suo Zi's already red eyes to instantly well up with tears, and the tears only flowed down his cheeks in the wind.
"Chui Zi, with such heavy rain and sand, where are you going?" Suo Zi had originally thought he could sleep soundly indoors during the rain and sandstorm.
Unexpectedly, he was woken up by Chui Zi and led a hundred people out in the rain and sand.
Zhao Liang Cai, holding a large hammer, walked at the front. "You'll know when we get there."
After saying this, Zhao Liang Cai stopped talking. As soon as he opened his mouth, sand would get in.
The destination was not far, the stationed camp of the Second Division of the Salt Army.
Because of the sandstorm, both the sentries and the salt workers had returned to their dugouts or stone houses.
The tents had been taken down, so Zhao Liang Cai and his men could see the stone house where the general of the Second Division lived at a glance.
"Peh, ugh, Chui Zi, why are we here?" Suo Zi spat out the sand in his mouth and asked Zhao Liang Cai.
Zhao Liang Cai turned around and used his back against the wind to gather the captains of several small teams.
"You've all been frustrated by the targeting of the Second and Third Divisions in the past few months, haven't you? Heaven is helping us today. Let's kill them."
Suo Zi thought he had misheard due to the strong wind, but then Zhao Liang Cai began to issue orders to the captains of several small teams.
At this moment, Zhao Liang Cai was not Suo Zi's childhood friend Zhao Chui Zi, but General Zhao of the Eighth Division. Suo Zi could not question him further at this time.
They pulled each other in pairs, advancing towards the stone house in the center of the Second Division. When they reached the door, Zhao Liang Cai actually heard women's screams from inside.
"Remember, leave no one alive."
Zhao Liang Cai said this again to the subordinates standing behind him, then clenched the long-handled hammer in his right hand.
He took a deep breath, swung his right arm, and smashed the long-handled hammer towards the wooden door.
With a "clang," the bolt of the wooden door snapped, and the soldiers behind Zhao Liang Cai entered one after another.
Zhao Liang Cai moved his numb right hand and followed them into the room.
Inside the room, two scantily clad women were already lying in a pool of blood. The two generals of the Second and Third Divisions, with their upper bodies bare, were fighting with Zhao Liang Cai's men, wielding long spears.
Zhao Liang Cai smiled. It was even better that there were two of them; it saved him the trouble of looking for them.
The general of the Second Division was already injured. Seeing the burly, sand-covered Zhao Liang Cai enter, he realized who these people belonged to. "Zhao Liang Cai, who gave you the courage?"
"Do you know who is behind us? If you withdraw now, I can still put in a good word for you with Commander Shao."
"Hmph, if you have people behind you, don't I have people behind me? How dare you plot against my family, I'll take off an arm first," Zhao Liang Cai said, turning the large hammer in his hand and looking at the battered generals of the Second and Third Divisions.
If they weren't holding long spears, they would have already been hacked to death.
The generals were not incompetent. The general of the Third Division was quite eloquent. "Brothers, did you hear that? Your general is taking personal revenge."
"Don't forget that your families have also been brought here."
"On the surface, he is showing concern for you, but in reality, it is to make you sell your lives better. If you kill him now, our Second Division will give you gold, women, whatever you want."
The stone house was not large, and there were as many as ten soldiers who had entered. Even if the generals of the Second and Third Divisions were powerful, they couldn't exert themselves fully.
Zhao Liang Cai's subordinates seemed to ignore the persuasive words and continued to fight fiercely.
Zhao Liang Cai tightened his grip on the long-handled hammer and entered the fray. With a few swings, the generals of the Second and Third Divisions were incapacitated and lay on the ground, spitting blood.
"The salt lake is just this big. Everyone knows what kind of leader leads their troops."
"Gold? Women?" Zhao Liang Cai kicked the two dying men lying on the ground. "Are they earned by robbing grain from the common people?"
Zhao Liang Cai finished speaking, stepped on the necks of the lying men, and sent them on their way.
Suo Zi had already found the military seal of the Second Division and the correspondence records of the Northwest Great Camp in the room, and then proceeded to eliminate the loyalists and close associates of the Second and Third Divisions.
Zhao Liang Cai had a list of these people prepared long ago.