Zhu Liao’s voice trembled. “Th-this way?”
They had helped dig the tunnel. At first, they had been forced to do it, but they had their own private motives as well. After all, they wanted to see the family members who had been captured and taken into Wenxia City.
They had come here in the first place to dig the tunnel.
These people not only made them dig, but also fed them—proper meals that left them full.
They had never eaten their fill in their entire lives!
This had been the best period of their lives.
Now that they heard Xia Chanyi’s words, the villagers suddenly felt ashamed. They were eating someone else’s food and taking someone else’s wages, yet all they could think about was their own selfish desires. They had even wanted to bring the rest of the villagers here.
Only a dozen or so able-bodied young men had remained in the village. The others were elderly, weak, or children. Even if they came, they would not be able to do much work, yet they would still have to consume other people’s grain.
The villagers all lowered their heads in shame.
Unaware of what they were thinking, Xia Chanyi spoke firmly. “Yes. Don’t worry. When the time comes, have their families come to us. Any children who are still young can attend school for free.”
The villagers were shocked once again. “W-We lowly people can go to school too?”
Xia Chanyi frowned. “Who said you’re lowly? Here, no one is lowly. Your children—and all of you—can attend school. You need to learn to read and write.”
Wenxia City.
Ji Duoyan reclined against a low couch and rubbed his temples. “Several patrol teams in Fuping Commandery were killed as well?”
No one knew what had happened recently. Chongzhou had become extremely chaotic, and he felt utterly overwhelmed.
Ji Bo hurriedly replied, “That’s right. Judging by the methods used, it looks very much like the bandits from before. They’re powerful, and they flee as soon as the fight is over.”
Ji Huairen frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. Weren’t those bandits few in number? How could they be committing crimes in several places at once?”
Ji Bo thought for a moment. “Could several groups of bandits have joined forces?”
That was certainly possible. Everyone knew that whether they were wandering bandits or mountain bandits, the outlaws of Chongzhou were all Han Chinese. It was only natural for them to unite.
Ji Duoyan let out a quiet breath, his mood gloomy. “Wasn’t everything fine before? Why have they started causing trouble again?”
No one could answer him. None of them understood why the mountain bandits had suddenly become active again.
After a long while, Ji Huairen finally spoke. “Could it be that there’s nothing left to eat in the mountains, so they’ve come out to seize food?”
Their patrol soldiers generally did not travel too far, but it was normal for them to spend an entire day patrolling. They therefore usually carried a small amount of dry rations.
Ji Bo thought about it, then nodded. “Perhaps. The drought this year is even worse than last year. It really wouldn’t be easy to find food in the mountains.”
Ji Duoyan frowned. “Haven’t we captured even one of them alive to question?”
Ji Bo’s expression darkened. “No. No matter how many men we send, they’re wiped out every time.”
In the past, the patrol teams sent outside generally consisted of a dozen or several dozen men.
After patrol teams began being slaughtered one after another, the Ji army expanded them to more than a hundred men, and sometimes even several hundred. Yet they were still annihilated without a sound.
So far, the number of soldiers killed outside across several commanderies had already exceeded two thousand.
Ji Duoyan pondered. “Search every area where they’re known to operate!”
Ji Bo looked troubled. “There aren’t any places they frequent. Every attack seems random. They might strike in the south today, then in the east tomorrow.”
Ji Duoyan stared at him in astonishment. “What?”
Ji Bo helplessly nodded. “Otherwise, we would have found their hideout long ago. It’s precisely because they’re so unpredictable that they’re difficult to catch.”
Ji Duoyan felt his headache worsen.
Ji Bo continued his analysis. “However, based on the traces at the scenes, they don’t seem to have many people. They also take food, weapons, and clothing every time, which shows that they’re indeed rather poor.”
The supposedly poor Shuangjiang threw several sets of armor from her back onto the ground with a heavy clang.
Mu Chichi also tossed down a suit of armor and grumbled unhappily, “Honestly, who wears armor while patrolling in weather this hot? What a bunch of lunatics.”
Shuangjiang took the water flask from her waist and drank some water. “They were probably scared after being beaten.”
Mu Chichi thought about it and realized that this was probably true. When they had first begun their attacks, the Ji army’s patrols had not been wearing armor.
She snorted. “If we weren’t trying to mislead them, I’d be too lazy to strip this stuff off every time.”
Shuangjiang smiled. “These things aren’t worth much to us, but they’re all iron. We can melt them down and forge something else later, or sell them to Daqing. Either way, they’re money.”
Mu Chichi chuckled. “I’m just complaining. If you really told me to throw them away, I wouldn’t be willing to.”
Everyone had once lived in poverty. No one understood the pain of those days better than they did.
Once everyone had rested enough, Shuangjiang gave the order. “Bury everything. We’re moving.”
With so much spoils of war, there was no way they could carry it all when they had to change locations after every battle.
So after each fight, they would travel some distance away. Once they were sure it was safe, they would find a way to hide everything.
The group immediately got to work. Several female soldiers who carried engineer shovels with them began digging into a natural pit they had chosen.
The pit was already fairly deep. They only needed to dig a little farther down.
Speaking of which, the engineer shovels were truly useful. Their handles could be assembled, making them extremely convenient. They could be used not only to dig pits for burying weapons, but also to bury people—and to deal with people as weapons.
Apparently, this had also been invented by their Lord. It was truly remarkable.
Mu Chichi was drawing a map in a small notebook. This was the ninth batch of weapons they had buried, so they absolutely could not forget where they were.
Once they captured Chongzhou, they could have someone follow the map and dig up the hidden treasure.
Shuangjiang leaned over and glanced at the map Mu Chichi had drawn. She had to admit that Mu Chichi was very skilled at mapmaking.
Well, perhaps she was the only person who could actually understand it.
Without a word, Shuangjiang made a few concealed markings around the area.
After finishing their discussion at the Grand Chanyu’s residence, Ji Bo hurried back to his own estate. He looked left and right, but did not see the person he wanted to see.
“Where is Beauty Wei?”
For a man, that title was extraordinarily humiliating.
Yet Ji Bo enjoyed it immensely. In particular, whenever he saw Wei Tai forcing a smile at him, Ji Bo felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
Heh. What Young Marquis?
Once, he had been so full of himself that he had killed three of Ji Bo’s generals in succession. But now, wasn’t he still forced to submit to Ji Bo and let him do as he pleased?
The thought made his body heat up again.
The steward hurriedly reminded him, “General, you’ve forgotten. Beauty Wei said he wanted to go out for a walk, and you gave him permission.”
Only then did Ji Bo remember.
Wei Tai had not gone outside since entering Wenxia City. Recently, he had been very obedient, which pleased Ji Bo greatly.
So when Wei Tai had asked to go out and look around, Ji Bo had thought that the area around Wenxia City was fairly safe and agreed.
For some reason, a sudden chill ran through him, and he sensed that something was wrong.
But then he remembered that he had sent more than a hundred soldiers to accompany Wei Tai, and his worries eased.
Although patrol soldiers had been killed all over the place recently, nothing had happened near Wenxia City. Ever since that group of bandits had been wounded by Ye Shang and the others, there had not been another incident of banditry in the area.
And yet the Wei Tai whom Ji Bo had been certain would be safe now lay in a pool of blood, his face smeared with blood, his beautiful peach-blossom eyes staring lifelessly into the distance.
