However, when Jiang Tian arrived at Jiangling City in person, he discovered that this was an ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooontdyingdoing. Only someone shouted a few times at Nanshi in Waiguo.
There is a demon!", which resulted in a mass trampling in broad daylight.
However, neither the governor of Jiangling nor the subordinates of the three divisions and four envoys, or the only remaining local unity soldiers, thought of sending people to restore and maintain order; instead, they locked up their respective yamen and guarded them to the death, allowing the situation to further deteriorate.
, and even evolved into a wave of escape that affected half of the city.
Have people's hearts wandered to such an extent? You must know that as the capital of Jingnan Road and one of the sixteen municipalities directly under the central government, Jiangling is a city with a circumference of more than eighteen miles, eight gate towers with small urns and 60 watchtowers.
Jingjiang Embankment, Luocheng, a large city with three layers of defense inside and outside Zicheng;
In the 28th Street District and markets in the city, there is a population of at least nearly 300,000 local residents. On the books, there are permanently the 11th Battalion of the Jingzhou United Army (a small battalion of 800 people), and the Jinghu Navy Army is 6,000.
There are 900 large and small warships; there are also a number of armed forces belonging to the Police Department, the Transportation Department and the Salt and Iron Institute.
However, in this unexpected chaos in the city, they actually did not play any role; they could only sit and watch as the streets were trampled on each other, with hundreds of people killed and injured; if they had not happened to encounter reinforcements from the south, they quickly entered the city and took over.
The situation, I'm afraid the casualties will further expand.
Therefore, after taking over the Jiangling city defense, Jiang Tian unceremoniously declined all invitations to banquets and visits from people in the city for the next three days. He asked Pang Xun to come forward to integrate the remaining local garrison.
people and horses, and conduct a thorough investigation of the current situation in the city.
However, if you don’t investigate, you won’t know. Once you investigate, you will be shocked. I didn’t expect that the combat readiness situation in the city was so bad. In other words, the losses in the three defeats were seriously underestimated and concealed. The 11th Battalion of the Jingzhou United Army was listed in the local military register.
, there are actually only three relatively intact camps left.
The Jinghu navy looks slightly better, with at least half a man and a half of its men left, but only a few warships remain. In addition, there are also some patrols from the Salt and Iron Institute, the Cao camp of the Transport Department, and inspections by the inspectors.
/Guanfang soldiers, the urban management guards of Jiangling Prefecture; the guards of the local palace.
The total number of soldiers can be roughly three to four thousand. However, among them, the relatively experienced soldiers, as well as the middle and low-level generals, were seriously lacking. In order to cope with the situation after the defeat, a large number of new soldiers who lacked training were hastily added. The fighting spirit of the battle was high.
and morale are quite questionable and worrying.
Among them, the only one Jiang Tian could count on was a small group of Xijingli lay officers and several patrol officers who had been assigned to establish a local branch in accordance with the imperial court's instructions. Although they had only been stationed in Jiangling for more than half a year, according to the procedures
A bit of investigation was also conducted.
And during these six months, it was not enough for them to be fettered by the complicated local personnel relationships, or to be corrupted/drawn in by various profit methods. At least compared to those places that habitually conceal the situation or shirk responsibility.
Officials obviously need to be more reliable.
For example, Lu Shenquan, the current inspector of the Jiangling Branch, was one of the thirty-nine direct team members specially selected. Under his leadership, the Jiangling Branch handled and resolved at least a dozen reports of abnormal situations.
With this, it initially established a firm foothold in the local area.
Of course, all of Jiang Tian's current titles are: Sanxue Hanlin Enshrinement Court, Ranger General (Wu Sanguan from the fifth rank), Yushitaili Xingyuan Superintendent (sixth rank and lower), and concurrently inspector of the two capitals
Post envoys; plus temporary dispatches: Quan Zhifen inspected Jingnan Road affairs, and one government and five states pursued arrest envoys.
This also allowed him to temporarily not have to worry about and care about the complicated personnel relationships in the local area in a short period of time. Therefore, Jiang Tian's first order to the branch was to assist in the interrogation of several generals who were defeated and escaped and were imprisoned.
Some remnants of the Yunmeng thieves who were captured in the city.
It's just that the results of the interrogation were a bit disappointing; those defeated soldiers who escaped were either too frightened and couldn't express themselves incoherently, or they had become timid and insane. The so-called "Yunmeng Thief" who was captured was also
Most of them are insignificant peripheral smugglers.
There are even some foreign merchants who were caught in the trap because someone reported suspicious behavior. Despite this, Jiang Tian still found some clues; for example, some soldiers who suddenly died suddenly after escaping back, and others who were arrested.
The businessman was tortured to death.
So on the fourth day of Jiangling Mansion, his deputy Pang Xun basically took control of the defense points inside and outside the city. Jiang Tian finally appeared in public and invited Shaoyin of Jiangling Mansion, the three divisions and four envoys from the same city, and the internal supervisor of the palace.
, the event officer of the Wude Division, the censor of the Xingdao Supervision, etc. discussed the matter together.
However, when these local powerful figures arrived one after another at the Beichen Pavilion, which had been requisitioned as a temporary residence, they were told that because the matter involved confidentiality, they could only enter in person, leaving their personal entourage, retinues, and subordinate officials outside; this
Although the request is surprising, it is not surprising.
Finally, when the dozen or so powerful figures who came one after another saw Jiang Tian on the highest roof of the Beichen Pavilion, their expressions were somewhat subtle; some even felt dissatisfied and wanted to question him on the spot. But he saw that he spoke first.
Said: "Next, I want to show you a good show."
After a while, some noises suddenly came from the courtyard below, and then a blue-robed official who was tied up and gagged was brought in by armored soldiers; Lou who saw this scene
The crowd couldn't help but become commotion, and some even asked loudly: "Jiang is patrolling, Jiang is begging for arrest, what do you mean?"
Jiang Tian took a closer look and saw that the person speaking was none other than Zhong Sunji, the local road inspector. He saw that he had gray hair and a dignified appearance, but he already had an unhappy look on his face. Because he had already recognized this gray-headed and desperate man.
The struggling blue-robed official was the subordinate he brought with him.
"Please Zhong Xingdao, please be patient and just keep watching." However, Jiang Tian just smiled and reminded him indifferently: Immediately after, another expert team member present took out a small bottle and poured something directly.
On the head of the blue-robed official; the next moment he screamed fiercely.
Then, visible heat began to appear all over the body, and the skin on the head and face seemed to melt; it flowed downwards in layers. Seeing this scene, Zhong Sunji couldn't help but widen his eyes in horror.
He raised his eyes and pointed his fingers tremblingly: "You...you, what did you do!"
"Actually, you shouldn't ask me what I did!" Jiang Tian calmly shook his head and said, "Rather, I should ask when and where this subordinate of yours was replaced by a demon.
?" Upon hearing this, everyone else present burst into an uproar and took several steps back from him.
"This... this... how is this possible? Ji Xing is a capable officer under my sect and has been with me for more than ten years." Zhong Sunji, however, was so angry that his whole body was shaking, and he said even more angrily: "These days
How could he be attacked by a demon if he stayed close to his side for a moment..." However, he suddenly paused;
Because, the overall appearance of the green-robed official "Ji Xing" who was screaming and struggling had undergone obvious changes. His head was elongated and protruding backwards, and his mouth was forward with canine teeth. His arms, legs and feet also lengthened and curled up one after another, and his fingers and palms changed.
It became long and sharp like claws; it was a living alien shape.
Asking for arrest, what do you mean?"
Jiang Tian took a closer look and saw that the person speaking was none other than Zhong Sunji, the local road inspector. He saw that he had gray hair and a dignified appearance, but he already had a look of displeasure on his face. Because he had already recognized this gray-headed and dirty-faced man.
The embarrassed blue-robed official was the subordinate he brought with him.
"Please Zhong Xingdao, please be patient and just keep watching." However, Jiang Tian just smiled and reminded him indifferently: Immediately after, another expert team member present took out a small bottle and poured something directly.
On the head of the blue-robed official; the next moment he screamed fiercely.
Then, visible heat began to appear all over the body, and the skin on the head and face seemed to melt; it flowed downwards in layers. Seeing this scene, Zhong Sunji couldn't help but widen his eyes in horror.
He raised his eyes and pointed his fingers tremblingly: "You...you, what did you do!"
"Actually, you shouldn't ask me what I did!" Jiang Tian calmly shook his head and said, "Rather, I should ask when and where this subordinate of yours was replaced by a demon.
?" Upon hearing this, everyone else present burst into an uproar and took several steps back from him.
"This... this... how is this possible? Ji Xing is a capable officer under my sect and has been with me for more than ten years." Zhong Sunji, however, was so angry that his whole body was shaking, and he said even more angrily: "These days
How could he be attacked by a demon if he stayed close to his side for a moment..." However, he suddenly paused;
Because, the overall appearance of the green-robed official "Ji Xing" who was screaming and struggling had undergone obvious changes. His head was elongated and protruding backwards, and his mouth was forward with canine teeth. His arms, legs and feet also lengthened and curled up one after another, and his fingers and palms changed.
It became long and sharp like claws; it was a living alien shape.
However, before the alien, which had just changed its form, had time to break free from the loose rope, the soldier who was waiting nearby used quick eyesight and quick hands to nail its limbs with three prongs of a spear; and then a thick needle was
Insert it into the back of its neck and forcefully extract the red and white marrow fluid.
The alien that was still struggling seemed to have lost most of its strength all of a sudden. It could only twitch and squirm on the ground like it was dying. Jiang Tian then said: "This is a rare monster.
Wei, also known as the organ-eating ghost, can eat other people's organs and change their form to replace them."
"But its greatest ability is that it can absorb people's brain stems and obtain part of the original owner's memories and habits to make a better disguise." Jiang Tian continued to explain: "And the more people it harms, the more similar it will be. So if
Even if you are not an extremely close person, it would be difficult to notice the similarities and differences."
However, after hearing these words, the suspicious eyes of others present were all focused on Zhong Sunji, the censor of the Taoist Supervisory Committee, who had a look of despair on his face; and the short, plump, wealthy Shaoyin of Jiangling Prefecture, and Li Xunting, who was born in a distant branch of the clan.
, also murmured: "Could there be more?"
"Don't worry, everyone. Since you can enter this door safely, you have naturally passed my verification method; you can't be some monster pretending to be someone." However, Jiang Tian smiled at them and said: "But,
It’s not necessarily true for those personal followers and subordinates who came with you.”
Then, Zhang Bao, one of the four great servants with thick eyebrows and big eyes, walked in carrying a simple, green and rusty bronze mirror. After nodding to Jiang Tian, the reflection of the skylight remained motionless, as if in shock.
Zhong Sunji, who was stunned on the spot, immediately had the outline of his internal organs and bones printed on his body.
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Bao shined the Yue King's bone mirror at the organ-eating ghost "Ji Xing" who had been controlled downstairs; the blurry light and shadow revealed was a mixture of gray and white chaos.
But when it was shined on other soldiers, they turned into the organs and bones of normal people again.
Everyone present once again let out a subdued uproar; then someone took the initiative to stand up and said: "In this case, it is naturally our duty to do our best to cooperate with Jiang Fenxun's self-examination and pass the test; I don't know, Jiang Fenxun took over.
Come down, is there anything else I need to do?"
Jiang Tian took a closer look and saw that it was Xiang Shouzheng, the inspector of Jingnan Road (imposition of punishment) who looked serious and scholarly. He couldn't help but nodded to him and said: "Yes, I just need the handwriting of the inspector and all the noble officials.
I think it will cooperate with the subsequent elimination of spies in the city and the government's investigation."