The village head bowed to the two men and explained, "When we entered the village, everyone must have heard the noise and thought we were bandits, so they hid."
He then led his troops into the village, shouting loudly as he walked: "Village head, fellow villagers, I am the head of the village! The county magistrate has returned with relief supplies and troops. We are saved. Everyone, come out! Don't be afraid of bandits..."
Sure enough, after a while, dirty heads appeared from behind the walls, broken door panels, and even in the water tanks.
The village chief poked his head out from a pile of straw, and after seeing that it was indeed the head of the village and the county magistrate, he pulled away the straw and ran out.
He first saluted the county magistrate before looking at Tian Mingwu, who had a serious face.
Seeing his impoliteness, the village head quickly introduced him, "This is General Tian, sent by the imperial court. He's here to escort disaster relief supplies for us. General Tian will also help us suppress the bandits. From now on, we won't have to worry about those damned people anymore."
The village chief was about to salute Tian Mingwu, but Tian Mingwu stopped him and said, "This general doesn't need those empty formalities."
The county magistrate, who was performing a formal ceremony, twitched his lips, touched his nose awkwardly, and tried to reduce his presence as much as possible.
Seeing that Tian Mingwu looked fierce but was actually quite easy to talk to, the village chief turned around and shouted, "Everyone, come out! These are really the troops sent by the imperial court, not bandits."
Suddenly, rustling sounds were heard all around, and then villagers came out from all unexpected places.
When the villagers, who were pale, skinny, covered in dust and wearing thin, old clothes, stood in front of Tian Mingwu, his nose felt sore and he almost shed tears.
How can these be called villagers? They are different from refugees.
He raised his head, calmed down his emotions, and shouted to the soldiers behind him, "What are you still standing there for? Cook, distribute supplies, and repair houses. Do you still need me to teach you?"
At Tian Mingwu's command, Qin Wen and Shen Cheng hurriedly directed everyone to take action.
The county magistrate also quickly ordered his men to help.
There are eleven or twelve villages, large and small, in Wuqiao County affected by banditry.
Tian Mingwu assigned people to take the villagers he knew to various villages and bring the people from the smaller villages to several larger villages for centralized protection until the gang of bandits was caught.
The situation in the village is very bad. Many villagers don’t even have a place to live, let alone make room for the soldiers.
Although the situation was difficult, the village chief and the head of the village discussed it and decided to vacate the best-preserved courtyard in the village for Tian Mingwu and the county magistrates to live in.
Tian Mingwu lived in the village, so the county magistrate naturally had to accompany him. Even if he was asked to go back now, he would be a little afraid.
The news of the army coming to the village should have reached the ears of the two gangs of bandits. I'm afraid those people have panicked at this time and have someone kidnap him on his way back. It would be safer for him to follow Tian Mingwu.
When the village chief and the head of the village found Tian Mingwu and the county magistrate, the two were discussing how to suppress the bandits in the tent.
After learning about their purpose, the county magistrate, before he could even speak, immediately refused. "I'll just stay in the tent. The yard is for the villagers. They're wearing too little and have no shelter from the wind and snow, so it'll be hard for them to survive."
Most people in the village didn't even have a piece of thick clothing, as everything was looted by the ruthless Kaishan Village and Menghu Village.
Although Tian An prepared a lot of sweaters, there were not enough to share, so they could only be given to the elderly and weak and children.
Although soldiers helped repair houses this afternoon, time was limited and not many people could live there.
Most people can only make do with living in their old, dilapidated houses.
Tian Mingwu was kind-hearted and asked the soldiers to squeeze out several tents for the villagers, so that everyone could barely have a place to shelter from the wind.
After Tian Mingwu finished speaking, he looked at the county magistrate beside him and asked, "Are you planning to live in a yard or a tent?"
The county magistrate twitched his lips and complained in his heart, "You said you wanted to give the yard to the villagers, and you still ask me. If I still say I want the yard, won't I be criticized later?"
Although he was complaining in his heart, he still didn't dare to say it out loud. He bowed to Tian Mingwu with both hands and said, "In that case, I will trouble General Tian to take me in."
Tian Mingwu glanced at him and nodded. He thought to himself, "You're smart."
......
The task of suppressing the bandits was urgent. After everyone had rested that night, Tian Mingwu found Chen Cheng and asked him to take a few trusted soldiers to the mountain overnight to investigate the situation of the two houses.
They had no way of judging the specific situation of the bandits based solely on the villagers' descriptions. If they wanted to capture them, they had to investigate on their own.
After Chen Cheng took his men away, Tian Mingwu couldn't sleep, so he followed the soldiers on guard and walked around the village.
All the livestock in the village, including dogs, were taken away. On the winter night, there was no sound of insects or frogs, only the footsteps of patrolling soldiers.
The village seemed particularly quiet. It was fine during the day when there were many people, but at night when there was no one around, Tian Mingwu missed his children who were far away in Beijing.
He had never been separated from the children for such a long time since he met them. He just wanted to settle things here as soon as possible and go back.
He was not in the capital, and he was always afraid that someone would bully his children while he was away.
........
Tian Mingwu was thinking about the children, and so were the children.
On the Laba Festival, Tian An personally cooked a big pot of Laba porridge and asked everyone to sit together and drink the porridge.
But seeing that the seat where Tian Mingwu used to sit was empty, everyone's interest was not very high.
Xiaokang swallowed a mouthful of porridge and said, "The Laba porridge that sister cooked is so delicious! I wonder if Dad has eaten such delicious Laba porridge in Cangzhou."
Xiao Qi put down the spoon, looked at the empty space beside her, and sighed, "The New Year is coming soon. I wonder if Daddy can come back and celebrate the New Year with us this year."
Tian An was not in a very good mood either, and felt that the porridge in the bowl was no longer fragrant.
Tian Mingwu went to provide disaster relief. Let alone Laba porridge, it would be good enough if he could have a hot meal and a hot soup for every meal.
Zhao Yiming pulled Tian An's hand and comforted him, "Even if father-in-law can't celebrate the New Year with us, he certainly won't miss the Lantern Festival. Then we can treat the Lantern Festival as the New Year and celebrate it again to make up for our regrets."
Then he looked at Xiaokang and Xiaoqi.
"During the Spring Festival last year, you two wrote the Spring Festival couplets for your own courtyards. This year, you have learned one more year, so I will give you the couplets for your father-in-law's courtyard as well.
When he comes back and sees the Spring Festival couplets you wrote for him, he will definitely be happy."
Hearing this, the two were eager to try it out.
Tian An looked at the two of them and shook his head helplessly. Two little fools, they were enslaved again without knowing it.
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