"Madam Su, we have arrested nineteen people here, all of whom came out of this tunnel."
Yu Feipeng had also been lying in ambush there. As a constable, he hadn't had such a satisfying time catching bandits in a long time.
Have you caught all the gophers?
“I had a few more brothers go down to chase after them. This tunnel leads straight to the foot of the mountain over there in the fields, and the exit is a grave.”
"Good! Tie them all up. We'll hand them over to Magistrate Jiang for interrogation later."
"Yes, Madam Su."
Su Luo was certain that the bandits would come because of this tunnel, and only a few people in Changping Village knew about tonight's events.
Magistrate Jiang was also at Chen's residence. Once the group of people was subdued, he would naturally step forward to uphold justice.
With such a commotion at the soy sauce factory, every household in the village lit up their oil lamps.
Most of the bandits in front were captured, but the leader, who was quite skilled, was not captured by the Red Feather Army or Li Chang'an.
Nangong Chiyu used his foot to hook a large knife on the ground and swung it at the leader who was wearing a tiger-skin coat.
Erhu could hold his own against those people, but against Nangong Chiyu, he was completely helpless.
His only thought was to escape: "As long as the green hills remain, there's always firewood to burn. Let's get out..."
"Trying to run away!"
Nangong Chiyu must be captured alive, otherwise he would have died long ago.
A large knife was thrown, slashing Erhu's leg. He fell straight to the ground and was instantly subdued.
Seeing that all the bandits who had broken into Changping Village had been arrested, more than a hundred households in the village got up to watch, and the soy sauce factory was packed with people in the middle of the night.
"Su Luo, have all these people been arrested?"
The village chief was sweating profusely with anxiety. He hadn't slept well for the past three days since he learned that bandits were planning to rob the soy sauce.
Especially today, he couldn't even eat, and his heart was pounding with anxiety.
"Village chief, all those who came tonight are here. If there are any remaining bandits, we will hand them over to Magistrate Jiang."
Looking at the fifty people who were tied up, plus the thirty or so who were dead on the ground, there were more than thirty of them.
It's terrifying that such a large band of bandits was hiding in Yongle County without anyone knowing.
"Someone, go and summon Magistrate Jiang," Nangong Chiyu ordered a member of the Chiyu Army.
The bolder villagers stood in front, chattering and pointing at the bandits.
"They're actually bandits! They even tried to steal our Changping soy sauce. They deserve to die."
"Exactly, they have hands and feet, can't they find a way to make a living? I spit on them for doing this kind of work..."
After one of the bandits spat at the middle of the village, everyone in the village spat at the same thing. These people deserved to be struck by lightning.
“Village chief, I propose that we kill these bandits to prevent them from harming others.”
One of the villagers said, and then everyone shouted in unison, "Yes, kill them, kill them..."
The village chief raised his hand to quiet everyone down: "A country has its laws, and a family has its rules. Magistrate Jiang is also here tonight, and he will deal with these people according to the law."
The laws of Nanning show no mercy to bandits; they may not be killed, but they will be imprisoned for life until they die.
"Luo Luo, where did you hide the soy sauce?"
Nangong Chiyu saw that there was not a single bottle of the prepared soy sauce left, and wondered where Su Luo and the others had hidden it.
"We keep a little bit in every villager's house. Even if bandits robbed us, they couldn't search every house, so we minimized our soy sauce losses."
"This method will work?" Nangong Chiyu really didn't know what was going on in Su Luo's head.
Who would have thought that such a large soy sauce factory would distribute the packaged soy sauce to villagers' homes? Normally, wouldn't it be better to put it in one place?
Before long, Magistrate Jiang arrived, and the villagers automatically made way for him. Being able to defeat the bandits could be attributed to his merit.
This glorious achievement will be added to any future promotions.
The yamen runners provided Magistrate Jiang with a table and chairs, which served as a makeshift temporary courtroom.
The villagers came over, each carrying an oil lamp and a torch, illuminating the entire area around the soy sauce factory.
Magistrate Jiang grabbed a simple gavel with his right hand and slammed it down, pointing it at the bandit leader.
“You audacious thief, how dare you lurk here with treacherous intentions! Quickly confess your accomplices, and I will spare you the death penalty.”
Erhu was spat on, but he raised his murderous eyes and ignored them.
"The victor is king, the loser is a bandit; kill if you want."
He had planned for so long, but he never expected to fall into a trap set by a group of villagers.
For the past six months, Erhu has been thinking about doing something big while staying at the soy sauce factory.
They let all vehicles and horses pass over their mountain pass, precisely because they didn't want to alert the authorities.
Last time, five brothers robbed a carriage to go to a brothel, and they were seen doing it.
When the authorities were alerted and began searching the mountains, he knew things were in serious trouble. As the leader, he immediately had the five men beaten to death with sticks.
How could these five men kill over a hundred brothers and alert the authorities, thus preventing them from remaining in hiding?
They intended to act quickly, seize the batch of soy sauce, and then launder all the money from the soy sauce factory.
After digging the tunnel to smuggle soy sauce, they used a diversionary tactic from above to lure away the people from the soy sauce factory.
Little did they know, a trap had already been set up for them.
"Hmph! You're a tough nut to crack. Even if you don't talk, and you have so many men under you, I don't believe that every single one of them is so tight-lipped."
Erhu turned to look at the brothers who had come with him and shouted a loud command.
"When you're in this business, loyalty is everything. Even if you all die, you can't drag your brothers down with you."
"Yes, Boss! We will never drag our brothers down with us, even to the death."
The dozens of people who were captured alive were still filled with righteous indignation.
Su Luo and Nangong Chiyu stood beside Magistrate Jiang.
The gavel slammed down, and all the yamen runners and Red Feather Army soldiers held their knives to the necks of those people before their voices finally ceased.
Su Luo sneered indignantly: "What a bandit den with so much loyalty and righteousness! Your loyalty is based on plundering other people's property. It's utterly despicable."
Erhu rolled his eyes at Su Luo, thinking, "What does a stinky woman know?"
Su Luo was shocked to see that even though he had become a prisoner, he still acted arrogantly.
“Lord Jiang, they won’t say where their accomplices are, but there’s one person who won’t keep his mouth shut.”
Magistrate Jiang looked at Su Luo. The layers of defenses deployed tonight were all arranged by this Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
It seems simple, but every part is indispensable, and those thirty people are definitely not ordinary people.
"Who is the Deputy Minister of Agriculture referring to?"
Su Luo scanned the crowd in the village and then sneered.
"How could a bandit's den hiding outside know anything about our soy sauce factory?"
When we make soy sauce, every step—from warehousing to packaging—is done by the villagers.
How would they know this, and with such precision? Unless there's a mole within our village.
The village chief's eyes swept over the villagers.
Everyone looked at each other, and for a moment...
No one in the village thought anyone was the mole, since the soy sauce factory belonged to everyone.
Who would conspire with outsiders to sabotage their own business, unless they don't own a share in the soy sauce factory and are simply jealous of others?
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