The sudden massacre that happened in the middle of the night immediately caused chaos among the residents in this area. The lights in the slums immediately lit up, and the commoners came out to take a look in horror. Some local ruffians took the opportunity to rob, rape, and pillage. The chaos spread out rapidly, and there were wails and howls everywhere.
The Divine Capital had not been peaceful over the past few days. First, the Major Astral Officer had been assassinated, and then there had been a night attack by assassins from the Imperial Plantation. These incidents had greatly raised the imperial court's wariness and attention, and the number and frequency of guards sent out to patrol at night had increased by several folds.
However … these only applied to other regions in the Imperial Capital. In the slums in the southwest region, the poor commoners would never see patrolling guards, let alone the Divine Capital's Blood Guards or the Black and White Protectors.
The people in charge of public security here were the various great sects. They had their own camps, divided up the regions, and ruled over the territories they occupied. Usually, the sects were in charge of the public security in their respective regions, but their actions were not out of kindness. Instead, it was because this would make it easier for them to exploit the commoners and collect protection fees from them.
The Divine Capital was a benevolent place. Every year, thousands upon thousands of refugees would swarm into the capital to seek a living. This time around, the two rivers had flooded, and the capital region had suffered from consecutive disasters. Refugees surged toward the Divine Capital like tidal waves, and as the government, they could not ignore the fate of these refugees. Therefore, the imperial court could only set up a porridge stall to provide relief to the victims.
After all, the benevolent place cared about its reputation.
To the outside world, it was a peaceful and prosperous era for the brilliant Empire. However, if there were also starving commoners everywhere, it would be too much of a slap to the face. Where would the imperial court's dignity be?
Right now, the Great Qi Kingdom was like a huge ship that was riddled with holes. Money was needed everywhere, and there were many things that seemed to be of utmost importance. Who would care about these commoners who had surged into the Divine Capital to seek a living?
As a result, these officials slowly began to let things take their own course and no longer cared about these refugees. These refugees could not go anywhere else, nor could they stay any longer. Gradually, they gathered in the southwest city area, forming a huge slum with a population of more than 300,000.
When these people gathered together and were controlled by the gangs, it was only natural that the public security was not good. The imperial court could not be bothered to waste manpower and resources to manage them, so they simply left it to the gangs. Then, they would throw a bone to the leaders of the gangs from time to time, letting them see that there was room for them to rise and that they could make use of them. In this way, they could indirectly manage these refugees who were giving them a headache.
In this way, the imperial court did not have to spend a single copper coin to settle these refugees, preserving their reputation on the surface. The refugees also had a place to stay. Although they were controlled by the gangs, they survived because of this. The gangs also increased their influence. It was like killing three birds with one stone, and everyone was happy.
Although the insightful people had long since realized that if this continued, the southwest city would become a malignant tumor that would never be removed. But if they were to wipe them out, then they would have to face more than three hundred thousand mouths that were crying piteously for food!
Thinking of this, even the most knowledgeable people would choose to keep their mouths shut. Some officials even hoped that more people would die here so that they wouldn't cause trouble for them in the future!
Therefore, even though this place was as chaotic as boiling porridge, there was still not a single guard or protector who rushed here to manage the public security. They only needed a team of three blood guards and a black and white protector to completely suppress these people!
But … no one came!
This place was like a forgotten wasteland. Chaos and darkness were the main order here!
That night, the Green Flower Brothel was the source of this turmoil. With it as the center, a great wave quickly swept through the surroundings. Originally, everyone was a poor man who was living a hard life. Once the turmoil began, how many people would be able to resist the temptation of looting and pillaging?
From the perspective of tonight's operation, this was a perfect operation.
Xiao Yueping suggested it and Gu Cangping completed it.
With Xiao Yueping's personality, she could have just sent assassins to kill the mother and daughter. There was no need to go through so much trouble. After all, there were millions of people in the Divine Capital. If two of them died and were thrown into a ditch, no traces would be found at all.
However, Gu Cangping still cared about Li Chengfeng's existence. He suggested letting the traitor lure the mother and daughter out first. Then, he would pretend to sell them to a brothel and send them far away, leaving them alive.
But in reality, the real killing move was a backup plan. The assassins that were sent out that night would kill everyone in the Teal Flower Brothel and trigger a riot. This was to conceal the real motive and intention behind this riot.
At that time, even if Li Chengfeng wanted to investigate, he would only be able to trace the floor of the brothel. He would definitely not be able to trace them.
It was just that they never expected … Little Zhu to be so vigilant and quick-witted.
Little Zhu was unwilling to be trapped and escaped from her woodshed early. This allowed her to escape from this crisis!
After escaping from the woodshed, Little Zhu patiently hid in the bushes in the corner and did not show herself. Only when it was late at night did she sneak out. She stuck to the corner of the wall and searched for her mother's whereabouts.
Little Zhu knew that Xu Niang would definitely not lock her mother up in those beautiful attics. Although they would not be locked up in the same courtyard, it would definitely not be far away.
Therefore, she carefully observed a few courtyards and discovered that there was one courtyard that had the most guards. Usually, there would only be two guards patrolling back and forth. But in that courtyard, there were three guards constantly guarding the courtyard's main entrance. One guard at the entrance and two guards at the door of the courtyard.
Little Zhu immediately deduced that her mother was most likely in this courtyard's room!
But Little Zhu still did not make any moves. She hid in a dark corner not far away. A pair of bright eyes stared at the guards at the courtyard's door, patiently waiting for an opportunity.
Finally, after she waited for two hours, the guard turned around and greeted his two companions inside. He turned his head and walked to the side to undo his pants and pee.
Little Zhu immediately crouched down and quickly crawled into the other corner of the wall. When she entered the courtyard, she immediately hid in the dark corner of the wall. Using the trees in the courtyard as cover, she slowly moved towards the woodshed inside.
Little Zhu held her breath and focused, her heart beating quickly. The temperature of the night was bone-chillingly cold, but she did not feel it at all. She only felt that her body was extremely hot, and her palms were sweating. She quietly walked around to the back of the room, and then did the same to the back of the house, looking for a small hole that could be dug.
Fortunately, this was only a woodshed. The structure of the house was just a mud hut. Although there was no mouse hole at the back of the house, there was a small ditch for drainage.
Little Zhu hid behind the house, found a rock, and began to dig along the small hole in the ditch. But it was already late at night. Even the soil was frozen hard. Little Zhu dug a few times but did not manage to dig much.
But the movement here attracted the attention of the Lady Boss inside. She moved closer to the wall in fear and whispered in a low voice, "Who is it?"
Little Zhu held back her tears, and with a sob, she said, "Mother, it's me!"
The Lady Boss's tears immediately flowed down her face!
She covered her mouth, afraid that she would make the slightest sound. After a long while, she said in a trembling voice, "Little Zhu, how did you escape?"
Little Zhu said in a low voice, "Mother, quickly dig from here, we can escape from here!"
The Lady Boss immediately pulled herself together. She picked up a piece of firewood in the room and began to dig along the small ditch that led to the water.