So that's the case, no wonder it was burned by fire, there were funerals and people died, and you couldn't even see the chickens or dogs. This bandit was very cruel.
However, there will be more cruel things in the days to come. Not only bandits will kill, but also officers and soldiers. It will not only be a small mountain village that suffers, but the city.
During the ten years of war, the rebels in Ankang Mountain were extremely ferocious, often slaughtering chickens and dogs wherever they went.
Li Minglou sighed and stood up: "Let's go." He looked at Yuan Ji again and said, "Leave the money to them."
With more money, life will be easier, although it will only be a drop in the bucket.
Yuan Ji responded, put the money he had just collected into the old man's yard, and accompanied Li Minglou out, telling the details he had learned: "More than thirty bandits came in the middle of the night and robbed each house.
Those who dared to resist were beaten severely, and several weak ones were beaten to death, including Zhang Xiaoqian's father and mother. The mother died at that time, but the father was still holding on for breath. Just now Xiaoqian came in and died."
Li Minglou walked silently to her horse. When she heard the heartbreaking cry of a man coming from the village, she withdrew her gaze and took the reins from Fang Er. Jin Jue had already mounted the horse with the help of the guards.
Li Minglou knew how to ride a horse. During the ten years he lived in Taiyuan Prefecture, he often rode horses on the mountains without any discomfort along the way.
The crying over there suddenly disappeared and there was a noise.
"Xiaoqian, no!"
"Stop him quickly!"
Li Minglou immediately saw the young man in soap clothes from the village rushing out with a knife in his hand. The villagers behind him hurriedly chased and blocked him.
"My parents are dead. I want revenge. I want to save Lan Niang." Zhang Xiaoqian shouted loudly.
Yuan Ji urged his horse to Li Minglou: "In addition to livestock, food and money, the bandits also robbed a dozen women, including Zhang Xiaoqian's newlywed wife."
Zhang Xiaoqian ran very fast, and Li Minglou could see his red eyes.
"Stop him!" the limping old man shouted, holding up his wooden stick.
Two villagers standing on the roadside rushed forward and held Zhang Xiaoqian down.
"Xiao Qian, you are going to die alone." The old man lamented, "You are the only one left in the Zhang family."
Zhang Xiaoqian knelt down and screamed: "I'm the only one left. What am I still doing here? I've only been away for a few days and there's nothing left when I come back."
Many villagers shed tears after hearing this.
With tears in his eyes, the old man pulled up his trousers to reveal his injured leg. The blood had stopped flowing. He turned over the flesh and exposed the bones. He said, "It's not that we don't want you to take revenge. We also want to take revenge, but how? Xiaoqian, hurry up.
Go to the county and ask the master to send someone to suppress the bandits."
The person who originally delivered the letter came to Zhang Xiaoqian for this reason.
Zhang Xiaoqian is the only person in the village who works as an errand. He can talk to the county magistrate, thinking that he will come with an official errand.
Zhang Xiaoqian's expression became even more painful, and he fell to the ground like a beast with its legs cut off. He hit his head heavily on the ground: "There is no official duty."
What does it mean that there are no official duties? The villagers were puzzled.
"I went to see the master after I heard the news. The master said..." Zhang Xiaoqian buried his face on the ground and was ashamed to see his neighbors. "We don't have the manpower to suppress the bandits, so we have to wait a little longer."
How come there are no officers? There are many people in the county government, and there are officers and soldiers in Dou County. Everyone has seen the soldiers who came to arrest deserters and almost destroyed the village.
Zhang Xiaoqian's voice was sobbing blood: "I'm going to escort the birthday gift to the Governor of Western Zhejiang."
Li Minglou reined in his horse and looked at the young man banging his head on the ground. Not only was his eyes red, but his forehead was also red, with patches of blood oozing out.
The governor of western Zhejiang, Ande Zhong, was the eldest son of Ankangshan.
Although An's son did not have a son to succeed his father as Jiedushi, An's father and son were both named Jiedushi, which was also the first time in the Great Xia Dynasty.
Ankang Mountain is in the north and Ande Zhong is in the southeast. Although they are both governors of one place, they are intimidated by two or three places. Even a small county town in Huainan whose name I don't know has to give him a birthday gift.
In the past, I only listened to Jiang Liang and Liu Fan telling how the Ankangshan father and son were arrogant and extravagant. Listening to the story was different from seeing it with my own eyes.
The villagers looked confused and didn't understand who the governor of western Zhejiang was, let alone why human life was not as important as birthday gifts, but they understood that this meant that there would be no officers and soldiers coming to suppress bandits and save people.
Zhang Xiaoqian jumped up from the ground: "I will save people myself."
The old man looked sad: "You are going to die alone."
"I would rather die than live alone." Zhang Xiaoqian smiled miserably and looked around: "Let's all go together."
The surrounding villagers looked frightened.
"Weren't there other people who were also taken away?" Zhang Xiaoqian shouted, looking at a man, "Uncle Chunshan, was Xiaomai Zi taken away?"
The man called Uncle Chunshan looked sad. A woman beside him had already cried loudly: "God damn it, I can't live anymore."
"Okay, I'll go." Chunshan shouted with red eyes, "I can't even protect my wife and children, so I'll just die."
Then seven or eight men also stood up.
The old man covered his face with sadness: "It's not that he's afraid of death. Those bandits have weapons and occupy high places in the mountains. We have so few people and no weapons, so we are going to die."
"Approximately how many bandits are there?" someone asked.
The old man wiped his tears and said, "More than thirty people came that night."
"Have they occupied the mountain here for a long time?" the man asked next.
The old man thought for a while and shook his head: "It didn't take long. This kind of thing hasn't happened in the first half of the year."
"Then there are not many of them, we are enough," the man said.
Why is it enough? There are only over a hundred people in the village, and more than half of them are old, weak, sick, and disabled. There are only twenty or thirty people who are young and strong. The old man sighed: "Don't say stupid things, you, you...
.”
His voice stopped, and he looked at the person who had just spoken in surprise. Other villagers also looked over, and Zhang Xiaoqian also raised his head. A man covered in a big black cloak stood tall, blocking the morning light and casting a shadow.
Yuanji's last words were to Li Minglou.
Li Minglou nodded: "I have been here only a short time, and there has never been such a robbery. The number of people should be just a few dozen people." Her eyes fell on Zhang Xiaoqian, "You are a local and familiar with this place.
Let’s take them to check it out first.”
Zhang Xiaoqian looked past Li Minglou and looked behind her. There were fifty tall and strong guards there. They had bulging bags on their horses, and they were obviously carrying weapons.
"Who are you?" he asked in a dry voice.
The old man came out first and waved to Li Minglou: "Miss, this has nothing to do with you. You should hurry up and find the doctor."
This was a timid old man, but he was also brave. On a rainy night when he had just been robbed and was still injured, he dared to open the door and let strangers stay overnight.
Li Minglou smiled: "Since you don't want to pay for the accommodation, let's pay for it with work."