Chapter 245 The baby we saved was actually that person!
Xiao Qidi turned off the light and said expressionlessly, "The object used for illumination is called a flashlight."
"Can I... touch it?" the girl asked expectantly.
Ning Jinli gave her the flashlight and taught her how to use it.
This was something that was commonplace for Ning Jinli and even Xiao Qidi, yet it amazed the girl, and the lame man next to her stared in disbelief.
Although it has no other use besides lighting, its shape and material are unprecedented. Its most impressive feature is that it can emit light that is many times brighter than a torch without the need for fire or fuel, and it can also turn off automatically.
It is no exaggeration to call it a priceless treasure.
The girl played with the flashlight for a moment, then returned it to Ning Jinli, saying politely, "Thank you both for broadening my horizons. I apologize to you on behalf of Blackwater Village."
Ning Jinli always felt that this girl didn't seem like the kind of person who would become a river pirate or even a river pirate leader.
This is not judging by appearance, but a strong intuition.
So Ning Jinli asked softly, "You're so young, how did you become a river pirate?"
"Sigh..." The girl sighed, a look of helplessness in her eyes, "If life could be made better, who would want to be a bandit?"
Xiao Qidi frowned slightly. "So, according to you, you were forced into it?"
The girl nodded and began to explain the situation in detail.
“My brother and I were born into ordinary families. We used to live near Blackwater Bay and made a living by fishing, just like other villagers. Ten years ago, the floods in this area became more and more serious, and the local officials used the construction of water conservancy projects as an excuse to increase taxes.”
"The taxes were heavy, but the people thought that as long as the floods could be controlled, they would grit their teeth and save money and grain to pay the taxes. But they didn't expect that after the taxes were paid, the local officials did nothing."
“Every time people went to inquire and urge them, the officials would say that the construction was complicated and that more time was needed to prepare.”
"However, this was just their excuse. They would even change local officials every year or two. Officials came and went like a revolving door, each one adding to the taxes. The people finally realized that they were all making money off the people by using the so-called construction of water conservancy projects."
The girl spoke calmly, but her eyes began to redden slightly as she spoke.
The lame strategist beside him also looked extremely grave.
The girl took a deep breath, looked up at the fog-shrouded sky, and continued:
"There are hundreds of villages of all sizes near Blackwater Bay, with a total population of several thousand. But they all make a living by farming and fishing and are not wealthy. How can they withstand the daily and yearly exploitation by successive waves of officials?"
"The people were getting poorer and poorer, and the officials who took office one after another had bigger and bigger appetites. The taxes became heavier and heavier, and they gradually could not be collected. So they began to abuse their power and eventually developed into outright robbery."
"The people are suffering terribly, one after another their families are destroyed and their lives are taken..."
The girl's voice became slightly choked as she looked away and pointed at the cripple.
"His leg was broken a few years ago when he was punished by the officials for not being able to pay taxes. He was lucky... at least he survived. My parents and countless other people in Blackwater Bay either starved to death, committed suicide, or... died from torture and injuries without treatment... everywhere was filled with lamentations and the swamp was littered with bones. This was the scene I saw most often when I was a child."
Upon hearing this, Ning Jinli's expression changed.
Xiao Qidi's eyes twitched slightly, his voice filled with anger, "How can the imperial court of Zeguo turn a blind eye to such local officials' atrocities and oppression of the people?"
The girl looked at Xiao Qidi seriously. "You're not from Zeguo, are you?"
Xiao Qidi was taken aback, not expecting that the other party had noticed him so easily.
The girl said calmly, "I've heard that only the Xuan Kingdom seems to care about the lives of people in remote areas. For the ruler of the Ze Kingdom, such matters are thankless and exhausting, so even if he knows about them, he turns a blind eye."
The lame man suddenly smiled bitterly and said, "If only our ruler had even a fraction of the care that the King of Xuan Kingdom showed to his people, we wouldn't have fallen to this state..."
"Ahem..." Xiao Qidi coughed lightly, "I didn't expect Xiao Qidi's reputation to have spread here."
Upon hearing the name Xiao Qidi, the girl's eyes lit up with longing. "I've traveled to many places in the past few months and heard many rumors about him. It's said that he is not only tall, imposing, and handsome, but also loves the people like his own children. I really want to see him with my own eyes."
Xiao Qidi couldn't help but smile slightly.
Ning Jinli nudged his waist quietly, then asked, "So you all turned to banditry because you couldn't survive?"
The girl said, "The Blackwater Bay area was ravaged and almost all the houses were empty. My parents died tragically. To protect me, my brother killed several officials who wanted to capture me and sell me for money, which completely offended the government. So... he went all out and called on the surviving people to rebel."
"Over the years, we eventually formed the Blackwater Stronghold, which made a living by robbery. But we were all born into poor families and knew the hardships of ordinary people. So we only robbed the rich and stole food and drink from them, and never harmed the common people. Sometimes, after we pulled off a big heist, we would even set aside some food and money to help the poor."
After saying all this, the girl was still a little worried that Ning Jinli wouldn't believe her, so she raised her hand and swore to the sky, "If every word I said is even slightly false, may my parents' spirits in heaven never rest in peace, and may I die without a burial place!"
“I believe you, I believe you, you don’t have to do this.” Ning Jinli quickly grabbed her hand.
The fish and turtle are now cooked through, sizzling and emitting a delicious aroma.
The girl took off a piece of clothing and handed it to the lame man, telling him to take the place of the old man and watch over the mother and child, and to let the old man come over and have something to eat and rest for a while.
When the old man came to the girl's side, the girl introduced him: "This old man, Uncle Fu, has been with the Xing family since the time of General Xing's grandfather."
"My two benefactors, please accept my bow." The withered old man knelt down properly before Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi and kowtowed three times.
Ning Jinli said, "Uncle Fu, get up quickly!"
Uncle Fu wept uncontrollably, “If it weren’t for you two, my wife and the child in her womb would not have survived… I could never repay you, even if I were to serve you like a slave!”
Xiao Qidi said, "As far as I know, there are great generals in Ze Kingdom with the surname Xing, and they have all been famous generals throughout the ages. Your General Xing wouldn't happen to be..."
Uncle Fu wiped away his tears and said, "Our general's name is Xing Yan, and his father, Marquis Xing, is named Xing Shu..."
Upon hearing these two names, Xiao Qidi was stunned.
It really was that military commander from Ze Kingdom that he knew.
Ning Jinli, who was standing to the side, was stunned. Her pupils trembled, and she hurriedly turned her head to look at the tree branch tent not far away.
No wonder something flashed through my mind when I heard the old man and the girl talking about some fragmented information about the pregnant woman.
The situation was urgent, and she didn't have time to think it through.
Now I understand!
If everything is true, then the newborn child must be...that person?!
Xiao Qidi asked the old man, "Xing Yan is the current commander-in-chief of Ze Kingdom, and his father is a marquis. Both father and son hold high positions and are the pillars of Ze Kingdom. Why is General Xing's wife being hunted down? Who is so bold as to dare to hunt her down?"
The old man's tears, which he had just stopped, suddenly welled up again, and he cried out in anguish, "General Xing... including the Marquis and his wife, all the other hundred-plus members of the Xing family are gone... all gone! Only this old man is left, escaping with Madam Xing, who is ten months pregnant!"
"What?!" Xiao Qidi exclaimed in shock.
Ning Jinli's mind went blank again. "How could this be?! This...this isn't right, is it?"
The old man was heartbroken and cried uncontrollably.
Even though Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi were both shocked and full of questions, they could only try to calm him down first.
The girl also tried to persuade him to think more positively and not to harm his health.
It wasn't until the old man calmed down that Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi learned what had happened from him.
It turns out that Lord Xing and his son, General Xing, had a conflict with the nobles of Ze Kingdom. As a result, both of them were punished by the king of Ze Kingdom and banished to the borderlands. Their entire family was also exiled along with them.
To eliminate any future threat, the nobles and royalty dispatched assassins to pursue and kill him.
As a result, during the exile process, General Xing and more than a hundred of his relatives died one after another.
If Uncle Fu and the general's wife hadn't encountered the second-in-command of Blackwater Village, they would have been doomed.
Finally, the second-in-command and his guards, along with Uncle Fu and Madam Xing, fled to Blackwater Village, where they narrowly escaped being killed.
The second-in-command's guard died because of this.
As Uncle Fu finished speaking, the girl silently shed tears.
The air was thick with sadness and oppression.
Ning Jinli kept recalling the records in historical documents. Although it was impossible for them all to match up due to the long time that had passed, judging from the timeline, General Xing Yan of Ze Kingdom was in a position of great importance at this time, and later became the biggest obstacle for Xuan Kingdom to annex Ze Kingdom.
Moreover, such a momentous event as General Xing's demotion and the near extermination of his entire family should not have been omitted from historical records.
Xiao Qidi's brows were furrowed at this moment.
He had also read the relevant historical materials that Ning Jinli had given him, and like Ning Jinli, he felt increasingly conflicted and full of questions.
Xiao Qidi spoke softly, “The Xing family has been hereditary marquises for generations and has always been highly valued. General Xing himself is also a nobleman of Zeguo. Logically speaking, even if he offended some other princes and nobles, he shouldn’t have fallen to this state. Uncle Fu, what exactly happened?”
With tears welling up in his eyes, Uncle Fu said, "General Xing didn't just offend some royal nobles; he offended all the nobles of Ze Kingdom..."
Ning Jinli quickly pressed, "What did he do?"
Uncle Fu said through tears:
"The Marquis and his son, the General, saw that King Xiao Qidi of Xuan Kingdom had purged the nobles and eliminated the evils of the powerful class, which greatly benefited the people. They judged that in the near future, Xuan Kingdom would surely have a prosperous population and a thriving nation! So they persuaded the King of Ze Kingdom to follow suit. Even if they could not eliminate all the nobles with iron-fisted methods like Xiao Qidi, they must reform the system and use force to restrain the nobles."
Hearing this, Xiao Qidi and Ning Jinli were once again shocked.
The father and son of the Xing family truly cared for the common people; otherwise, how could two noblemen have dared to turn against their own community?
Such foresight and such courage are truly admirable.
However, doing so would clearly shake the enormous interests of the entire royal and noble class in Ze Kingdom.
The Xing family father and son were fighting alone, without the support of favorable timing, location, and people. Their attempt to persuade the ruler of Zeguo to emulate Xiao Qidi's reform methods was doomed to failure.
"Alas..." Xiao Qidi sighed heavily, "What a pity, what a pity. Marquis Xing and General Xing acted too hastily. They only knew that Xiao Qidi had wiped out the nobles of Xuan Kingdom, but they did not know that there were countless opportunities and conditions behind it, none of which could be missing. If the two of them had waited a little longer..."
Ning Jinli understood how much regret Xiao Qidi felt at that moment.
Given time, once he annexes the Ze Kingdom, the Xing family father and son will surely work together with him, becoming a powerful force for him to continue eliminating the remaining nobles of the various states after he unifies them.
Hearing Xiao Qidi's sigh, Uncle Fu was filled with sorrow again. "The Marquis and the General knew that this move would inevitably provoke a backlash from the princes and nobles, but they still did it. Apart from the support of the entire Xing family, no one else helped them. Even the King of Zeguo, who had always relied on the Xing family, turned against them. However, the father and son were unwilling to compromise. They said that even if the Xing family were to lose their heads and shed blood as a result, it might serve as a warning to the world and a lesson for future generations."
Ning Jinli's eyes welled up with tears. In an instant, she thought of the great figure in her world who wrote "I laugh as I brandish my sword to the sky, my heart and soul remain loyal to the Kunlun Mountains."
A sorrowful silence fell over them.
Uncle Fu turned his head and looked at where the general's wife was. A look of relief finally appeared on his aged face. "Fortunately, the lady survived, and the Xing family line has not died out..."
The young woman asked, "I wonder if General Xing has thought of a name for his child?"
"Yes, yes!" Uncle Fu's bloodshot eyes lit up. "The general said that no matter whether the baby is a boy or a girl, it will be named Xing Lie, meaning 'raging fire'!"
Xing Lie!
Upon hearing this name, Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi's pupils dilated, and a wave of shock surged through their hearts once again.
"What a magnificent display of power! No wonder you are General Xing!" The young woman clapped her hands, exclaiming with boundless pride, "Uncle Fu, you and Madam Xing can rest assured. From now on, the eight hundred brothers of Blackwater Stronghold will take good care of you, especially General Xing's posthumous child! As for those damned nobles and princes, send assassins all you want, and we'll slaughter as many as they come!"
"Thank you so much, Second Master!" Uncle Fu knelt down and kowtowed, tears welling in his eyes.
"Huh? By the way... who are you two? Why did you come to a place like Blackwater Bay?" The girl looked at Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi.
The two exchanged a glance, their faces showing thoughtful expressions.
Uncle Fu said, "If it's inconvenient to reveal the identities of our two benefactors, then let's not. Regardless of their identities, they are both benefactors of the Xing family."
"Please wait a moment." Ning Jinli hurriedly got up and pulled Xiao Qidi aside.
She took a deep breath and whispered, "It's confirmed. The baby we rescued is none other than Xing Lie, the invincible overlord in history, whose bravery is unparalleled throughout the ages."
Xiao Qidi nodded. "His family background matches perfectly, there's no mistake. But according to your historical records, this person is at least twenty-seven years younger than me. I'm only eighteen, so why was he born prematurely?"
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