Previously, the government had not specifically investigated on which mountain the tribute was lost. They could only delineate the specific area based on the feedback from the post stations.
Strangely enough, when Shi Feiyu and his group raided the suspected bandit dens before, they didn't find the whereabouts of the missing tribute.
Unexpectedly, they found it on this unremarkable and desolate mountain.
Shi Feiyu and his personal guards were all startled when they saw the glittering gold and silver jewelry, silk fabrics, and delicate utensils in the cave.
Even with the accumulation of Shi Feiyu's family for generations, they had never seen such a sight at one go. It truly deserved to be the scale of offerings to the royal family with the strength of the whole country.
"How did these people rob them?" Ying Siji picked up a pair of imperial - green jade rabbits. The jade was of pure quality, extremely rare, and the carving technique was also superb. Its value was obvious.
"How else could they do it? Just like what they did tonight," Qiu Sanxiang replied.
For such a large - quantity and valuable tribute, the escort scale would surely not be small, even several times that of their bandit - suppressing army. Directly robbing would be a suicidal act.
Sure enough, after interrogating the bandit leader, the latter confessed the process of the robbery. When the tribute team passed by, the people in the bandit village carried several loads of plums and were going to the city to sell them.
The tribute team was escorting so many precious tributes, and they were afraid of every single item getting damaged. Their traveling efficiency was not even one - tenth of that of the current bandit - suppressing army.
All the way in the wilderness, they lacked fresh fruits and vegetables and had to eat dry meat and rice every day. When they saw the plums, their saliva naturally flowed.
They bought all the plums at once. However, the plums had been soaked in poison. Even if some fastidious people washed them with water, they couldn't completely remove the toxicity. Moreover, most of the soldiers were rough men and didn't pay much attention. They just wiped the plums on their clothes and ate them.
As a result, within a moment, everyone was poisoned and bleeding from the seven orifices. Those who didn't eat the plums or ingested less toxin couldn't resist the onslaught of the bandits.
These bandits were extremely cunning. They knew that the government could delineate the section where the tribute was robbed from the supply points of the post stations and cities.
For such a large batch of tributes, the imperial court would surely investigate to the end.
So these mountain bandits changed into the clothes of the tribute team, took out the treasures and placed them in the cave. After destroying the bodies of the officials and soldiers of the tribute team, they pretended to be the tribute team and carried the 'tributes' which were just empty boxes filled with stones to continue on their journey.
They were low - key and cautious all the way. After crossing two provinces, they stopped on a desolate section of the road, destroyed the tribute boxes and packaging, changed back into their own clothes, and returned to their hometown in batches.
In this way, the section where the tribute was lost was nearly a thousand miles away from their lair. No matter how the imperial court investigated and raided, the trouble wouldn't reach them.
It was just bad luck that since the imperial court couldn't find the tribute, they directly ordered Shi Feiyu to clean up the entire tribute route.
This group of mountain bandits, who had the advantage of geographical location and local support, finally made a slip in their otherwise meticulous plan. Their overly cautious arrangement made smart people notice the clues at a glance and become even more vigilant.
Shi Feiyu was sitting on the tiger - skin chair of the bandit leader, looking at the bandit leader and several other leaders who were tied up and kneeling on the ground below.
His gaze stayed on the bandit leader for a moment. The bandit leader was holding his neck high, looking like he was ready to face death fearlessly.
A hint of casual mockery flashed in Shi Feiyu's eyes. Without hesitation, he skipped this fool and fixed his eyes on a gentle - looking scholar behind the bandit leader.
He said with a half - smile, "If it were in a chaotic era, it would be a once - in - a - thousand - years opportunity for a schemer like you. But why did you submit to such a fool?"
Hearing this, the bandit leader, who thought he was tall, mighty, and full of wisdom, ignored the rag in his mouth and let out a muffled cry like a man who would rather die than be humiliated.
Shi Feiyu said, "He's too noisy. Cut out his tongue."
Qiu Sanxiang took out the rag from the bandit leader's mouth and made a slash with his dagger to complete the task.
The atmosphere in the hall became as stifling as if it were suffocating.
But when the scholar saw this, his eyes lit up. He quickly said, "Yes, I come from a humble background. I offended a villain in my early years, and my future has been bumpy for many years. Although I have lofty aspirations, I've repeatedly been obstructed when trying to obtain the title of a scholar in the imperial examination and failed to achieve it."
"Seeing that there was no hope for my future in this life, the world began to show signs of chaos. In recent years, there have been continuous natural disasters, and the villagers have become bandits. Although it's not a decent thing, it's also a chance for me to turn things around."
Indeed, as he said, as one of the few literate people in the village, his words still carried some weight.
He divided the villagers into two groups, one in the open and the other in the dark, to support each other. They rarely carried out direct robberies and mostly tried to obtain the maximum benefits at the minimum cost. Their methods were insidious and they never talked about morality.
This strategy worked. This bandit village made a fortune quietly. Although it was unknown on the surface, it had actually accumulated a considerable fortune.
When the tribute team passed by, the scholar knew that his chance had come.
The value of those tributes was enough for him to form an army. He could wait patiently and quietly. When the world was on the verge of collapse and chaos, he would emerge and join the new round of the battle for hegemony.
"So, your plan was to sneak attack us, seize the war horses, weapons, armors, and the imperial edict, then pretend to be the bandit - suppressing army and continue to advance. Using this name, you would join forces with other mountain bandits, and then use your military strength and financial resources to gather and reorganize them, creating an army out of thin air?"
With the imperial edict in hand, the local government troops had to cooperate fully. Coupled with the scholar's cunning, except for a few powerful bandits who had already established their influence, the rest would have no choice but to submit.
This guy's initial sneak attack on the bandit - suppressing army was not for self - protection. He was really bold and daring.
When the scholar heard that Shi Feiyu understood his plan, his smile became even more excited.
"General, you're really wise. Originally, the probability of this plan succeeding was very high. Unfortunately, it fell into your hands. I'm truly convinced."
"I know I'm guilty of a capital crime, but I think I still have some useful skills. General, you have an extraordinary appearance. When I saw you, I couldn't help but want to prostrate myself on the ground. I just hope to have the honor to serve you. Please give me a chance to show my ambition."
If these words got out, Shi Feiyu would be beheaded. Qiu Sanxiang and the others frowned, and their expressions were also a bit uneasy.
But Shi Feiyu didn't refute at all. He just said, "Robbing the tribute is a capital crime. How dare you, a criminal leader, openly ask a court official for leniency?"
Hearing this, the confidence on the scholar's face grew stronger. "General, it's almost an hour since you seized the tribute."
"But you let your own people collect and register them personally. This kind of trivial and thankless work shows that you have no intention of notifying the prefect to take over. I think the general has lofty aspirations and will never turn away useful people."
Just as he finished speaking, there suddenly came a soft laugh.
It was a woman's voice, with an inexplicable meaning that made the scholar's hair stand on end.
He subconsciously turned to look at the woman, and then he found that his line of sight suddenly became higher, then quickly turned upside down and fell. Finally, it stopped on the hem of the woman's skirt, which was inevitably stained with a circle of dust from walking on the mountain road.
He didn't lower his head. Why did this happen? The scholar immediately realized that his head had been cut off.
Shi Feiyu wiped the blood on his knife, glanced at Pei Liang, and said nothing.
When he lowered his head to put the knife back into the scabbard, the corner of his mouth twitched upwards, showing a hint of pleasure.
Although not a bosom friend, she was the only one so far who understood both his ambitions and his perseverance. They were on the same path and in tune with each other. When he suddenly came to his senses, they were still neck and neck.
Shi Feiyu suddenly recalled the day when Pei Liang stopped him and said she admired him.
If she said that again next time...
Pei Liang didn't stay in the hall for long. Seeing that they were going to be busy, she called a few people and went straight to the kitchen to prepare a late - night snack.
They had only a hasty meal at night and had been busy for several hours. They were probably starving.
Shi Feiyu's plan was obvious. The bandit - suppressing army was an elite force personally selected by him and only loyal to him. Actually, that scholar's guess was quite right.
Shi Feiyu really had no intention of handing over the tributes. In the original work, when he met the female protagonist again, he had already built up a considerable underground force. He probably accumulated his capital during this bandit - suppressing mission.
However, Shi Feiyu would not use a guy like that scholar, who was greedy, had no moral bottom - line, only had sinister schemes but no perseverance or courage to act on them.
It was true that Shi Feiyu had ambitions, but at the same time, he also had compassion for the common people in the world. Moreover, that scholar was just being self - conceited.
There was a lot of money in the bandits' den, so there were naturally plenty of good meat and vegetables secretly purchased.
Pei Liang put in all her skills. After the soldiers finished their work, she served up a continuous stream of delicious food. Immediately, everyone was no longer sleepy.
As they got closer to the Jiangnan region, there were fewer bandits' dens along the tribute route. After all, Jiangnan was wealthy. To maintain the peace and prosperity in this chaotic world, they would regularly provide money and supplies to organize bandit - suppression campaigns, and the remaining bandits were no longer a threat.
Shi Feiyu had already cleared out all the fierce bandits along the tribute route. According to the order, he also had to report the results of the mission to the governor of Jiangnan.
So he simply escorted Pei Liang to her destination.
Pei Liang was going to seek refuge with the second apprentice of Chef Pei. When Chef Pei chose Wei Yingshu's father as his successor, the second apprentice, who had been actively vying for the position, was extremely disappointed. Disheartened, he left the capital and headed south.
Finally, he opened a restaurant in the prosperous Jiangnan region. After more than a decade of operation, he had established a foothold there.
Although he had some grudges in the first few years, this second uncle always remembered the kindness of his master. He had never stopped sending gifts and paying respects over the years. When Grandpa Pei passed away, he specially rushed from Jiangnan to the capital to offer sacrifices and observe mourning.
In the original work, the Pei family was ruined by Wei Yingshu. The second uncle was too far away to help. By the time he learned about it, it was already too late to reverse the situation.
Therefore, in the later plot when Wei Yingshu went to Jiangnan, the second uncle and the Jiangnan Catering Chamber of Commerce he was in became the new obstacles.
It was to avenge the Pei family. However, the result was predictable.
Pei Liang remembered that Grandpa Pei had said that the second uncle's glutinous rice duck was a masterpiece, and the level of this dish was even higher than that of Grandpa Pei. She couldn't wait to have a taste.
So she said to Shi Feiyu, "If you're not in a hurry, you can go to my uncle's restaurant with me for a meal before going to the governor's yamen to report the results of the mission."
The little chefs were all eager to try. Everyone's eyes were as eager as a dog seeing a meat bun, staring intently at Shi Feiyu.
Shi Feiyu had just made a fortune recently and was never stingy with his subordinates. So he nodded and said, "Let's have a meal first, get ready, and then go to see the governor."
The second uncle's restaurant was easy to find. After asking two or three people on the way, they arrived at the destination.
The exterior decoration style of the restaurant was exactly the same as that of Tianxiang Tower. No wonder in the original work, when Wei Yingshu saw it for the first time, she said it was as if Tianxiang Tower had been moved here.
There were several gilded characters on the front door, reading "Yixiang Tower". It was obvious that the regret of not taking over Tianxiang Tower was reflected in every aspect.
Just as they were approaching, Pei Liang saw a commotion at the entrance of Yixiang Tower, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.
Several fierce hooligans were holding a middle - aged man down on the ground and beating him.
Several waiters in the restaurant wanted to step forward to help, but they were pushed down violently or kicked in the head, which extinguished their courage.
Some onlookers murmured their dissatisfaction, but under the intimidation of the leading hooligan, they didn't dare to intervene.
At this time, a fat man in brocade clothes came out of Yixiang Tower, fanning himself and sneering, "Shopkeeper Sui, my mother got sick after eating the food in your Yixiang Tower. I've even brought her here. How could it be false?"
"A life for a life, a debt for a debt. You harmed my mother. I only ask you to hand over the secret recipe of that duck. It's already an extra favor. Even in court, I'm in the right."
"You... you are bullying people openly in broad daylight. Is there no justice?" the beaten middle - aged man gasped.
"Justice? I'm worried about my mother's life. I'm just beating up the unscrupulous merchant who harmed her. I'm always in the right."
Through the door of Yixiang Tower, everyone could see an old woman lying on a sedan chair inside, looking listless and drooling.
For a moment, the regular customers in Yixiang Tower didn't know what to say.
Shopkeeper Sui showed a look of anxiety and despair, "You're just bullying people with your power."
The fat man laughed, "I'm in the right. So what if I'm bullying people with my power?"
"If you have the guts, go and bring a few hundred people here. If you really do that, I'll call you grandpa on the spot."
"Really? I'll fulfill your wish."
A clear female voice came from behind.
The fat man turned around and saw a large group of people behind him, all looking at him with fierce looks in their eyes.
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All villains in the picture.
