Chapter 176
176 Mountain Bandits
After walking for a while, the convoy arrived at a rocky forest. From the rocky forest, 20 or so men with tattered clothes, sallow skin, and ages stopped Li Yu’s convoy.
A tall, square-faced man raised his machete and shouted, “We only want what’s in the cart. Put them down and we’ll let you go.”
Li Yu put down the crossbow in her hand and frowned at Zhou Jia. “These people don’t look like mountain bandits. They look like a group of hungry people.”
Zhou Jia nodded and said to Xu Chun, “Show them our identities and scare them away.”
Xu Chun shouted, “We are officials sent by the Imperial Court to Qingchuan. Hurry up and retreat.”
When the two tall and square-faced bandits at the front heard this, they were stunned for a moment. They gripped the machetes in their hands tightly and shouted nervously, “I’m robbing you wretched officials. All the big guys, charge!”
A few men waved the machetes in their hands and rushed towards Li Yu’s carriage. Xu Chun, Xu Dong, and Ruyi jumped out of the carriage with the machetes and rushed toward the bandits. Halfway through, the bandit in front seemed to have tripped on something and fell to the ground with a thud. The machete in his hand flew out of his hand and landed on the heel of the bandit in front. The bandit who rushed over from behind could not stop and fell on him. This time, the bandit running behind was stunned when he saw the two people on the ground.
Li Yu looked at the mountain bandits and sighed. What a godly operation!
Yang Wei looked at the two people who had fallen to the ground and were flustered. He laughed and said to Mr. Qian, “Hehe, you’re so stupid, yet you still dare to rob me.”
“Sigh! The people must be suffering!” Mr. Qian shook his head and sighed.
One of the men in front had his machete snatched away by Xu Chun and was kicked to the ground. Two of them were kicked to the ground by Ruyi. The bandits running behind saw that the situation was bad and turned to escape.
The man whose machete had been snatched by Xu Chun lay on the ground and looked at the machete that was slashing at him. He hugged his head in fear and shouted, “We won’t rob you anymore. You can leave! We won’t rob you anymore.”
Li Yu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she watched from the cart. She shouted at Xu Chun and Ruyi, “Master Xu, Ruyi, don’t hurt their lives. Just teach them a lesson.”
“Yes, Madam.” After they agreed, they said to the bandits lying on the ground, “Madam said that we can just teach you a lesson. Do you think we should give you a broken leg or a broken arm?”
The square-faced man shrank his limbs and shouted, “Master, spare me! If you break my arms and legs, I won’t be able to work or raise my family. The old people and children at home will starve to death.”
The other men kept begging for mercy. Xu Chun looked at Zhou Jia, who was standing in front of the car, and said, “Sir, what should we do?”
Zhou Jia said to them, “You’re already thinking of robbing and harming others. You’ll rob other pedestrians if I don’t teach you a lesson.”
The few of them knelt on the ground and kowtowed as they begged for mercy. “Sir, we were victims of the disaster in Qingzhou. When we fled through the Clear Wind Ridge, our luggage was snatched by the bandits on the mountain. Later, we fled to Qi County and lived in Qi County. The money we earned was just enough to make a living. A few days ago, Qi County started checking the household register and we were chased out of the city as refugees. We really had no way out, so we did this. Sir, please spare us! We won’t dare to do it again. We have our elders and children. We won’t survive if our limbs are broken.”
Zhou Jia looked at the few of them with red eyes and tears, looking pitiful. He sighed and said, “Since it’s your first offense, I’ll let you off this time. You can immediately set off for Qingzhou and find the government to apply for new household registration. If the Qingzhou government doesn’t give you a new household registration, you can go to Qingchuan to find me to settle down. You can’t stay here anymore.”
They got up and said, “Thank you, sir. We’ll leave now.” They turned around and ran into the forest.
Zhou Jia looked at the victims who had disappeared into the forest and said to Ruyi and the others, “Fortunately, there’s no danger. Let’s go!”
After Zhou Jia got into the car, he said to Li Yu, “Yu’er, the nearby Qi County has begun to clean up the refugees. There’s still more than a month’s journey to Qingchuan. I wonder how many victims will return to their hometown!”
Li Yu smiled. “The number of victims that will return to Qingchuan depends on how well they live in the place. If they are accepted there, just like those who settled in Phoenix Village, do you think they would be willing to return to their original hometown?”
Zhou Jia agreed. “That’s right! I’m afraid none of the villagers of Phoenix Village are willing to return to West Mountain Village.”
The men ran back to the forest in one go. They ignored that they had escaped and hid behind a pile of rocks. They stuck their heads out and looked at the dozen or so men outside. They ran straight to a large rock. There were dozens of people behind the huge rock.
The round-faced man panted and sat on the ground with his back against the big rock. He complained to the villagers waiting there, “Aiyo! We almost couldn’t come back. Erzhu and the others were too much. When they saw us being captured, they turned around and ran. Fortunately, we were lucky and were released by them.”
The tall and thin man complained to the dejected man beside him, “It’s all your fault, Qiang. Why did you fall to the ground and trip me? The child in the car even laughed at us for being stupid.”
Ah Qiang hugged his head and squatted on the ground. “I was so afraid that I tripped over a stone on the ground and fell.”
The white-haired old man sighed and said, “I told you that we can’t rob. The people of our Ma Family Valley have been innocent for generations. Besides, we’re just a group of farmers. How can we do such a murderous business? Call them up and let’s go back to our hometown!”
An old woman sitting at the side slapped her leg and cried, “We’ll have to pass by Qingfeng Ridge when we go back. Will those bandits let us off? Our household registration and title deed are gone. How are we going to survive when we go home?”
The square-faced man suddenly remembered what the official said and said to the old man, “Uncle, the official said that we should go back to Qingzhou to apply for a household register. If we can’t do it, we should go to Qingchuan to find him. Is he lying to us?”
The village chief’s eyes lit up when he heard this. He grabbed the man and asked, “Ah Gui, did he really say that?”
The round-faced man, who was sitting against the rock, touched his head and said, “I remember that the driver said that they were officials sent by the Imperial Court to Qingchuan and asked us to retreat.”
The old man panicked when he heard that. He packed up the luggage on the ground and urged, “Quick, quick, everyone, quickly carry your luggage and follow them. Since they are officials, they won’t be afraid of the bandits of Clear Wind Ridge. We’ll follow behind them and everyone will be safe.”
Everyone picked up their luggage and looked at the old man worriedly. “Uncle Village Chief, can we catch up? They’re all carriages!”
The old man waved his hand and said, “Hurry up or we won’t be able to make it in time.”
The group of people chased after Li Yu and the others.