And standing at the very front were the few men they had sent out on patrol.
At this moment, they were being escorted by these women, tied up tightly, their faces bruised and swollen, barely looking human anymore.
Nest Man saw them and burst into tears on the spot: "Sir, sob sob, sir, save me, sob sob, they hit me, they knocked out one of my teeth..."
Mu Chichi, who was guarding him, could no longer hold back and kicked him: "That tooth fell out because you knocked it yourself while running away. Don't slander us."
Back then, Nest Man had panicked and run straight into a tree, directly knocking out a tooth, blood spilling all over the ground.
He was very tenacious—even after losing a tooth, he still tried to run, and Shuangjiang, without any courtesy, gave him two light kicks, letting him drag across the snow again and again.
The Straw-Raincoat Man and the others also tried to flee, only to be surrounded and beaten by Mu Ning and the female soldiers.
Nest Man choked up, not knowing whether to cry or not, his lips trembling as he had no idea what to say.
"Ahh, you let him go!" A startled cry rang out as an old woman ran out from one of the houses, wailing at the sight of Nest Man.
"My son, what happened to you? Oh, my son, oh dear..."
Shuangjiang furrowed her brows.
Mu Chichi held a knife to Nest Man's neck, and the wailing stopped abruptly: "You... keep your hand steady, don't hurt my son..."
The old woman was still fairly calm, looking at Shuangjiang and the others: "May I ask which faction you belong to, and what business you have at Xiaoqi Mountain?"
Shuangjiang said coldly: "We are the Jinyang Army. We've come today to ask you—are you willing to come back with us?"
"Jinyang Army!" The man gasped: "You are the Jinyang Army?"
Shuangjiang looked at him: "That's right."
The old woman frowned slightly: "Come back? What do you mean?"
Shuangjiang said gravely: "Just what it sounds like. Your village has a total of 1,256 people, yes? All of you are coming back with us."
At this moment, she actually didn't really want to bring these people back. The winter was so long that they couldn't do much work, and the lord would have to feed so many extra mouths for free—it wasn't cost-effective.
But since things had come this far, there was no choice. Who knew how many more would freeze or starve to death over the winter?
She glanced at the people peeking out with their necks tucked in from their hiding spots. Almost all of them had lips chapped black from the cold, and faces so thin their cheeks were sunken. She sighed quietly to herself.
Upon hearing her words, the old woman's face darkened. She looked at Nest Man and the others—clearly, these fools had told the outsiders everything about their situation in the mountains.
Nest Man and the others all hung their heads, not daring to meet her gaze.
What could they do?
These women had come at them with punches and kicks, even threatening to strip them naked and hang them upside down from trees to dry in the wind.
And one woman had threatened them—if they didn't talk, she'd cut off their privates and freeze them.
Sob sob sob, with such cruel and heartless methods, who could withstand that?
"Cowards!" The young woman sneered coldly.
The old woman's face shifted through several changes, then she let out a light sigh: "As you can see, we are just ordinary folk who came up to the mountains to escape the world. Can you spare us?"
Mu Ning sneered: "Ordinary folk? Then who was it that tried to rob us last time?"
The man furrowed his brows, suddenly realizing: "You... you were the ones from last time..."
Mu Ning nodded: "That's right. If we hadn't outnumbered you, you probably would have made your move already."
The man's face flushed red at her words: "Since you discovered us, why didn't you act then?"
Mu Ning shrugged: "No time."
The man was furious: "And if we don't want to go back with you?"
Shuangjiang looked down at him from above: "Don't want to? You want to keep being mountain bandits and disturbing the peace of Fengzhou?"
The man snorted: "If this is about avenging last time, then take it out on us. The old, the weak, and the children in the village have nothing to do with it."
Shuangjiang frowned: "Who said anything about revenge? The Jinyang Army is a righteous force. We just want you to come back and be our people. The able-bodied young men can join the army if they wish."
The old woman shook her head: "We don't want to be anyone's people. Can you just let us be?"
Being "the people" wasn't so simple!
If they went back with them, who knows what might happen—maybe they'd be boiled and eaten. It was winter now, and food was scarce.
Shuangjiang felt a little troubled. She had already asked Nest Man and the others earlier. These people had come up the mountain to be bandits, but they had never actually committed a single robbery so far.
That is to say, they hadn't done anything bad yet, so she couldn't just shoot them outright.
But then again, just because they weren't doing bad things now didn't mean they wouldn't in the future. Eventually, the entire Fengzhou would belong to her lord, and these uncertain factors were best eliminated early.
Mu Ning frowned: "Do you have some misunderstanding about us? If you follow our lord, you'll definitely live better than you do now."
She patted her clothes: "Look at what we're wearing. This is cotton—cotton that only the noble families could afford, and we ordinary soldiers are wearing it."
"Once you come to our place, anyone who works gets to eat their fill. Strong young men can earn about two hundred copper coins a month, and with two hundred copper coins there, you can buy more than half a dan of fine grain."
Before the old woman could say anything, the other villagers got excited. Forgetting their fear and the cold, they all rushed out to ask questions.
"Really, we can earn that much?"
"Your city really has grain to sell? Two hundred copper coins can buy more than half a dan of fine grain? Then coarse grain would get you even more, right?"
Mu Ning nodded: "That's right. Children can go to school too, and women can find work as well."
The crowd grew even more excited.
The old woman who had just been worried about Nest Man didn't even care about her son anymore and quickly asked: "Can old folks like us find work too? My hands are nimble, I'm strong, I can do anything..."
Looking at the excited crowd, the old woman opened her mouth but said nothing.
The conditions they were offering tempted her too, but deep down she felt uneasy. In this whole world, how could such a paradise exist?
But given their current predicament, perhaps following them down the mountain really was a way to survive.
On that side, the people who had received their answers could hardly wait to pack up their belongings and head down the mountain right away.
Shuangjiang finally felt satisfied. She looked at Mu Ning and realized there was still so much she needed to learn.
Mu Ning smiled, then turned to the old woman: "You're the one who can make decisions here, right? Can we talk now?"
The old woman's heart jumped, sensing something bad was coming. She glanced once more at Nest Man and the others, who were trembling like quails, then gritted her teeth: "Fine. Talk. Inside."
Mu Ning and Shuangjiang exchanged a smile. They had Mu Chichi take control of the scene, then the two of them walked down the slope and followed the old woman into her house. The young man and young woman from earlier also came in with them.
The old woman sat down by the fire: "The house is humble, not much to offer in the way of hospitality. You two make yourselves at ease."
Mu Ning wasn't bothered by the modesty and went straight to the point: "I've heard that you manage to steal grain from the Quzhao granary. Is that true?"
