Chapter 38: Almost a Civil Rebellion
This was a bandit who, although he had been captured by Wang An, was still a vicious person at heart. There was no reason for him to stand there and get beaten.

The men with glasses were about to be hit by sticks, clubs and stones, and they were all grimacing, ready to fight to the death.

But at this moment, Wang An, with a dozen black-armored soldiers, came over and stood between the two sides, raising his hand and admonishing, "Stop, folks, please listen to me!"

When the common people who were attending the funeral saw that the soldiers were trying to stop them, they forced themselves to put down their sticks. Immediately, several common people, dressed in mourning and with red eyes, stood up.

"These bandits have killed people without mercy. We are trying to avenge the innocent people who died. Who are you and why are you stopping us?"

"Is he accepting bribes from the bandits and bending the law for personal gain?"

Wang An could understand the feelings of the people who had lost their loved ones, so he did not get angry even when he was criticized by thousands of people.

However, before Wang An could speak, Chen He rushed out in a terrified state, glaring and scolding:
"You are so ignorant, how dare you be rude in front of the prince!"

However, the people did not buy it and remained angry.

"Your Majesty, when has our Jizhou ever had a prince?"

"Not to mention the prince, even the imperial court may have forgotten the existence of Jizhou!"

"Master Chen, please stop trying to bluff us. Since we naturalized Jizhou, have we ever had a prince?"

"How could those royal relatives with soft pillows and high beds come to a cold and bitter place like Jizhou?"

Chen He sighed, his face flushed, and he said helplessly: "I am Chen He, a native of Jizhou. You fellow villagers have seen how I behave. When have I ever lied to you?"

When the people heard this, they looked at each other and became hesitant.

It seems that Chen He is a very honest official, otherwise the people would not believe him with just one sentence.

Chen He continued, "Let the villagers know that this is His Royal Highness Prince Xin. From now on, our Jizhou is the prince's fiefdom, and you are also his subjects. Don't be so rude in the future."

The people were immediately shocked, but at the same time they finally believed that the young man before them was indeed the first vassal king of Jizhou in two hundred years.

Although Wang An's status was extremely honorable, and these people had already believed what Chen He said, although there was awe in their eyes when they looked at Wang An, there was no respect at all.

Instead of kneeling and saluting, they stared at Wang An blankly. One old woman even stiffened her neck and said, "That sounds nice, but since we are all the prince's subjects, are you just going to watch your subjects being killed?"

Wang An frowned, but he was not angry. Instead, he tried his best to make his tone sound gentle: "Why do you say that, old man? Since they are my people, I can't wait to show sympathy to them, so how can I let my people be harmed!"

The old woman snorted coldly, pointed at the Crescent Mountain bandits behind Wang An, and said sternly: "My family of four all died at the hands of these bandits. If the prince regards my family members who died unjustly as his subjects, he should kill these bandits and avenge my family's tragic death!"

The old woman's words seemed to ignite the resonance of other people, and their eyes turned red and they all agreed loudly!

The bandits behind Wang An also became agitated upon hearing this. The reason they were willing to be captured was because Wang An promised not to kill them if they surrendered their weapons.

If he was going to die, there was no reason not to fight. Seeing that something unbearable was about to happen, and seeing that this old woman was unreasonable, a few words could incite a big chaos.

Although the bandits and their families had been captured, it was extremely difficult for Wang An to escort them with less than 200 men.

If Wang An had not used various means to suppress the situation along the way, chaos would have broken out before they even reached Baicheng.

Now that they have reached the city gate, they cannot afford to make any mistakes, otherwise the captives will flee in all directions or even break into the city. Who knows how many people will be lost in the chaos.

Wang An's face immediately darkened and he shouted, "Old man, you are wrong. On the second day after I arrived in Baicheng, I led only 200 people to attack more than 3,000 people in Crescent Moon Mountain in the middle of the night, and beheaded more than ten leaders including the leader of the Crescent Moon Mountain bandits, Guo Shanhu!"

"I have killed more than 300 bandits, and now all their heads are here. How can you say that I will not seek justice and revenge for the people who died tragically?"

After Wang An finished speaking, the black-armored guards immediately pushed out several carts from the team, which were shockingly filled with bloody heads!
Although the people were in great grief, they were also frightened when they suddenly saw these hundreds of hideous heads.

Some of the timid ones were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground.

Chen Huaian also stood up at the right time and said indignantly: "All the villagers have seen it. The old prince came to our Baicheng from afar. He didn't even have two meals a day before he led the guards of the palace to attack Crescent Moon Mountain and killed the mountain tiger with his own hands!"

"You have done your utmost to the people of Baicheng. We Jizhou people should act with conscience. You are not grateful for the things you have given us, but are arrogant and rude. If this gets out, people all over the world will poke at our Jizhou people's spines!"

"We in Jizhou can be poor, but we must never lose our conscience. Without conscience, we are no longer human, but beasts!"

"The villagers are not unaware of the fierce reputation of Crescent Moon Mountain. It is a large bandit stronghold that is said to have 3,000 people. There is only one road leading up the mountain, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack! And the bandit leader, Guoshanhu, is a demon who kills without blinking an eye!"

"In order to avenge the people of Baicheng, the prince led only two hundred soldiers to the mountain overnight, not caring about the lives of the people. This is such a great favor. You ungrateful people still want to question the prince?"

The people looked at each other, with expressions of guilt and emotion on their faces.

It was not until then that they all knelt down and saluted like Wang An.

"I bow to thank the prince for his great kindness!"

"Your Majesty avenged the people of Baicheng. This kindness must be felt deeply!"

"It is us who have offended the prince without knowing what is good for us. Please punish us, prince!"

At this time, it was not only the people whose family members had been killed who were kneeling on the ground. Many other passers-by, after listening to what Chen He said, finally understood who were the people who had been captured outside the city in the past few days.

They were all shocked, excited and couldn't believe it.

The Crescent Mountain bandit stronghold, the biggest cancer outside Baicheng, has stood for ten years and committed countless evils, but now it has been eradicated just like that?
The young man on the horse, the first vassal king of Jizhou in 200 years, did such a big thing on the second day after his arrival in Jizhou?

I didn't want to believe it, but the more than 2,000 prisoners and hundreds of heads could not be faked, and Chen He swore it!
(End of this chapter)