The commander leading the troops this time is Lin Yanjun. After months of systematic training, Lin Yanjun has grown a lot.

Lin Yanjun was appointed commander-in-chief, Yunnan Ze, who was still waiting in the county town, was appointed deputy commander-in-chief, and Cui Guang and Zheng Anxiang were appointed vanguard officers. They led their troops to ambush at the pass leading to Bian'ai County, using stillness to control movement.

They were just waiting for Li Cunzhi to attack so they could take the spoils.

The tense atmosphere in the county town made many people afraid to take any further action, and they all stayed at home waiting for the inspection.

The Zou family in the county town.

Old Zou quietly tugged at his wife, Li Cuihua: "Are the people you've taken in alright?"

Li Cuihua frowned: "I don't know either, but these people gave a lot of money, saying they would only stay for a few days and then leave, and they gave us a full five taels of silver."

Old Zou was very worried: "Did you check their household registration and travel permits?"

Although the world is in chaos now, Bian'ai County still requires checking household registration and travel permits.

If migrants do not have a travel permit, their identity must be verified and a travel permit issued when they enter the border checkpoint of Ai County.

Li Cuihua pinched the old man: "How could I not check? I checked everything. It's from Guojiatun Township, a legitimate road permit, there's no problem with it."

"It's fine as long as it doesn't matter."

"Do you think we should tell a few people about the search by the soldiers? Do they know about the search?"

"How would I know? If you hadn't come back and told me, I wouldn't have known there was going to be a search."

Old Zou frowned: "The director personally told several of our employees to check in their respective areas to see if there are any suspicious people from other places."

“I’m a little worried about these people who haven’t registered with the community.”

Old Zou made up his mind: "Why don't we just report it directly, so that if they find out here, we won't have anything to say if something happens?"

Li Cuihua agreed: "Go report it. If these people are really alright, then we can rest assured."

"Okay, you watch the house, I'll go report."

Old Zou went directly to the community committee that was in charge of this area.

"Director, a few days ago some people came to my house. They were from Guojiatun Township and their household registration is there. I took them in, but I'm not sure what to do with them."

Director Song of the neighborhood committee was startled: "Why didn't you stay in a hotel or guesthouse?"

Old Zou answered honestly, "I asked, and they arrived quite late that day, and all the hotels and inns were full."

Director Song breathed a sigh of relief, but still reprimanded her sternly: "Isn't it forbidden to harbor outsiders without permission?"

He knew that the higher-ups were investigating people, and if they found anything improper on his end, he'd be finished.

He had long ago strictly prohibited individuals from privately harboring outsiders, saying that even if someone wanted to harbor someone, they had to register with him first.

But ordinary people know that once they register with him, they will basically be assigned to a place he arranges.

Ordinary people can't possibly get any benefits. Even for an ordinary community worker like him, it's hard to get much.

Old Zou looked troubled: "Director, I just didn't have time to report it."

"Alright, don't try to fool me. I know exactly what you guys are up to."

Then he asked, "Are you sure there are no problems with the identities of these people?"

"Confirmed, the travel permit and household registration are fine."

Director Song chuckled: "That's good. You can take them in if you want, but..."

Director Song twirled his fingers.

Old Zou knew what it meant, and resignedly reached into his pocket and took out two taels of silver: "I gave you three taels in total, and I'll give you two taels as a token of my respect."

Director Song glared at him: "What do you mean by 'paying tribute to me'? This is community public funds, not mine."

Yes, yes.

Old Zou agreed verbally, but thought to himself, whether it's public funds or not is up to you to decide.

Director Song has reaped a lot of benefits; everyone in the community knows that.

But what can you do when their family is large and has many members?

"Alright, I understand. If there's no problem, you can keep it."

"In a moment, bring me these people's household registration and travel permits so I can register them."

"well."

Director Song waved his hand: "Go and get it quickly. The search team will be here soon. They will start by checking my records. They will thoroughly examine all the registered personnel."

Old Zou didn't dare to delay and quickly walked home.

Li Cuihua was waiting anxiously when she saw Old Man Zou return. She immediately went over to him and asked in a low voice, "How did it go?"

Director Zou chuckled and said, "It's alright, the station chief just asked me to take a few people's household registrations and travel permits over for registration."

"Let those few people come along too, make sure they're not bad people, so nothing goes wrong."

"good."

Li Cuihua went directly into the room where the people she had taken in were staying.

He said with a smile, "Excuse me, everyone, the community director needs you to register. Please bring your household registration and travel permit to register."

A tall, burly man bluntly said, "We've been here for several days now, and you're only just now registering? Are you playing us for a fool?"

Li Cuihua shuddered; this burly man was too intimidating.

"No, no, this is what the higher-ups want to check. The director has to hand over the register of temporary residents."

Another refined-looking scholar stopped the tall man: "Ah Fei, don't be violent."

"yes."

Ah Fei obediently took a few steps back and stood behind the scholar.

The scholar bowed apologetically to Li Cuihua: "I'm sorry, sister-in-law, we'll go with you and won't make things difficult for you."

Li Cuihua had a good impression of this scholar; he was always very polite.

Can someone like that be a bad person?

As he spoke, another short, dark-skinned man took out a household registration certificate and a travel permit from the package.

Taking advantage of the lull, the scholar asked Li Cuihua, "Why is there a sudden inspection from above?"

Li Cuihua pouted. She knew that since Director Song knew about these people, even if he allowed them to continue living here, he would definitely charge them a sum of money. Naturally, she was very unhappy that the higher-ups wanted to investigate them.

"How was I supposed to know? We used to get checked every two weeks. This time, we only had a check-up six days ago, and now we suddenly need to get checked again."

The scholar's expression changed slightly, and he continued, "Then there's no reason?"

Without thinking, Li Cuihua said directly, "What reason could there be? The soldiers search every two weeks. They mainly check the people coming and going to see if they match up."

"It's just that this time it's earlier than expected."

Li Cuihua didn't want to say anything more; she was already furious about the financial loss.

"Hurry up, my old man is still waiting outside."

"Okay, Cheng, bring your household registration and travel permit, let's go register."

The short, dark-skinned Acheng immediately took his household registration and travel permit and went out with the scholar.

There are five people in total.

There were two others who looked like henchmen.

Old Zou led the way toward the neighborhood committee.

The scholar and Old Man Zou moved a little distance apart and whispered to Acheng, "Are our household registration and travel permits okay?"