On the way back, the three of them were unusually quiet. No one complained of being tired. On the contrary, they walked faster. In addition, Jiang Yimian did not take a detour, and they arrived at the edge of the forest in a little over an hour.
While stuffing broken yam pieces into his basket, Zhao Dashu kept an eye on the others. He finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Jiang Yimian return with the three of them. "Sister Mian, are you alright?"
Jiang Yimian smiled and shook her head, then handed over the vegetable pancakes and bamboo tubes from her basket before saying, "Eat something to fill your stomach first, then you can eat properly when you get back."
Zhao Dashu responded, and seeing that Song Quanzhao and the others showed no sign of leaving, he leaned close to Jiang Yimian's ear and whispered, "Who are these people? What are they planning to do?"
They appeared out of nowhere and inexplicably asked for water.
Jiang Yimian simply said, "They're not bad people. We have some things to do, so you should go back first."
Zhao Dashu hesitated for a moment, but seeing how serious the other party was, he had no choice but to agree and leave first.
The others in the woods breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Song Quanzhao return unharmed. They rushed over to check on him and were only relieved to find that he was alright.
Song Quanzhao then looked at Jiang Yimian and said, "Miss, can you tell me what your solution is now?"
The matter of the mountain stronghold cannot be delayed any longer. Winter is approaching, and if the refugees cannot be resettled before the heavy snow, the imperial court will need to spend even more manpower, material resources, and financial resources.
He needs to speed things up.
Jiang Yimian did not answer, but said, "Sir, give me a few men and let them follow my command. Before today, I will make sure you know everything about the mountain stronghold."
The constables thought Jiang Yimian was just bragging and scoffed, "You? Even government officials can't do that, so what makes you think you can? Stop bragging."
"That's right, sir, don't listen to her nonsense. She's just a peasant girl. What can she do for us? It would be easier for you to use the advisor's method and find someone to infiltrate the mountain stronghold."
Song Quanzhao frowned and looked coldly at the person who spoke. "You say it's easy to sneak into the mountain stronghold? Then you try to sneak in. I am the county magistrate, yet you have to listen to your advisor. I think you don't respect me. Go back now and think of a way with your advisor. By tomorrow, I want to hear about the situation in the stronghold from you. If you can't tell me, I will charge you with disrupting the investigation."
The reason why Qingshui County was poor and backward in the past was largely because the previous magistrate was corrupt and abused the people. When war broke out, the magistrate simply fled and did not care about the people of the county.
Fortunately, he was stopped on his way to the capital. Because he was carrying too much gold and silver and was just a minor county magistrate, the prefect immediately discovered his embezzlement. After the embezzlement was investigated, the county magistrate was imprisoned and is now probably executed.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been transferred here.
It's laughable that these former constables and clerks from the county government want to ride roughshod over him. He's been ignoring them these days, focusing only on the refugees. Now it's time to deal with these guys.
Upon hearing this, the two admirers of the advisors were so frightened that they knelt down and begged for mercy, but Song Quanzhao ignored them and had them taken away.
The woods fell silent again.
Song Quanzhao then continued, "How many people does Miss Jiang need?"
Jiang Yimian pointed to the remaining constable, then to Zhao Dacai, and said, "Just the two of them."
Song Quanzhao nodded. These two were his men who had always followed him and wouldn't cause trouble, so he could trust them.
He instructed the two to follow Jiang Yimian's advice and leave with Lin Yan'an.
Lin Yan'an quickly said, "Sir, may I stay and go with Constable Zhao and the others?"
He was genuinely curious about Jiang Yimian's method.
Song Quanzhao looked at Jiang Yimian, and only responded when he saw that she didn't care. He then instructed the others not to alert the enemy, to run away immediately if they encountered danger, and that saving their lives was the most important thing before leaving.
There were still many matters at the yamen waiting for him to handle, so he had to go back and check on things first. Only after understanding the situation in the mountain stronghold could he formulate appropriate countermeasures.
After everyone had gone down the mountain along the path, Jiang Yimian led the three of them to the woods halfway up the mountain.
The group hid behind the bushes, keeping an eye on the mountain stronghold and the main road leading to it.
They waited for more than half an hour, but found nothing. They could only see two people on the watchtower talking in the distance, but nothing else.
Zhao Da grew anxious and quickly said, "Miss Jiang, weren't we going to check on the situation in the mountain stronghold? What are we doing here?"
Another constable, Ma Ming, also frowned and looked at her.
Lin Yan'an sat casually on the ground, waving his folding fan and saying with a smile, "Miss Jiang must have a good idea. Don't worry, just wait patiently."
This guy can take down a vicious wolf with his bare hands, so he must have other ways of finding out about the mountain stronghold.
Hearing this, Zhao Dacai whispered, "Then, Miss Jiang, could you please tell me what we're waiting for here?"
Jiang Yimian ignored the three pairs of expectant eyes, took out a few wild vegetable cakes and bamboo tubes from her basket, distributed them to the group, and said indifferently, "Of course, we'll wait for the bandits to come to us. When we see a lone bandit, we'll just grab one and ask him about the situation in the stronghold."
As he spoke, he found a dry spot and sat down, showing no sign of being reliable in front of the magistrate.
Zhao Da stared in disbelief, his eyes wide with shock. "Miss Jiang, were you trying to trick the magistrate with your words? Are you crazy or am I looking for a lone bandit at the gate of the stronghold?"
Not to mention that those bandits always travel in groups, so no one is ever alone, the fact that they catch bandits right at the entrance of their stronghold is just too outrageous.
The people on that lookout tower could see the surrounding area clearly; they would be instantly spotted the moment they stepped out of the woods.
Ma Ming looked at Jiang Yimian as if she were an idiot, genuinely curious about how this rambling person had managed to fool the county magistrate.
Lin Yan'an was also a bit dumbfounded at this moment. He didn't even bother to wave his folding fan anymore. He stared at Jiang Yimian and said irritably, "Miss Jiang, stop joking. Let's get down to business."
His family's goods depend on this person. Don't say he misjudged them; this person is just talking nonsense and making fun of them.
Jiang Yimian glanced at him and said calmly, "I'm not joking. You guys keep an eye on things here. I'm going to take a nap. Call me when someone comes."
After saying that, he got up from the ground, leaped up into the tree, and leaned against a few branches, closing his eyes.
Zhao Da was furious. He took a bite out of the wild vegetable pancake in his hand and mumbled incoherently, "How could I, a wise man of over twenty years, be fooled by a little girl? I'm so angry!"
The thought of facing the magistrate's wrath upon returning made him shudder slightly, and he bit down on the vegetable pancake in his hand even harder.
He thought it would taste terrible, but it turned out to be quite good. He wolfed down the wild vegetable pancake in his hand and drank a big gulp of water before feeling much better about his empty stomach.
Ma Ming and Lin Yan'an were the same; after eating the pancakes in big bites, even their earlier frustration disappeared considerably.
But the thought of them wasting their time here made him extremely anxious.
Ma Ming glanced at the person in the tree, and then, as if thinking of something, frowned and whispered a few words to Zhao Da.
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