"Sir!" When Shunzi went to find Shen Yu, he was stopped and had to shout at Shen Yu.
"Shun Zi?" Shen Yu was a little surprised to see Shun Zi in such a miserable state, and hurriedly asked someone to let him in.
"What's wrong with you? Where is Xueying?" Shen Yu asked.
"We were being hunted. The young lady hid with Baiji and her life or death is unknown now. I came back to ask for help." Shunzi explained briefly.
"What happened? Why are you being chased?" Upon hearing that Wan Xueying was being chased, Shen Yu became a little anxious and even his speech became hurried.
"We must have accidentally discovered a den of thieves, and those people were chasing us because they were afraid of exposing their whereabouts. But through my observation and subsequent fights with them, I found that those people were definitely not ordinary bandits. One of them looked like a scout who was good at tracking." Shunzi reported all his guesses and findings to Shen Yu.
"I understand," Shen Yu nodded. "I'll tell Pei Xuanqing what you said right away."
"Sir, what happened here?" With the exception of Shen Yu and Pei Xuanqing, almost all the officials from Ningyang County were present. Many people were crying out for help, begging the authorities to find their daughters as soon as possible.
"I'll tell you more on the way." The situation was far more complicated than they had imagined. Shen Yu quickly approached Pei Xuanqing and relayed Shunzi's words. He also proposed taking a team to rescue Wan Xueying first.
Knowing that he was worried about Wan Xueying's safety, Pei Xuanqing gave him face and gave him a newly trained team of fifty people to lead temporarily.
"I can only give you two hours. Regardless of whether you can find Miss Wan or not, you must meet up with us immediately." After all, the situation here is bigger and more serious.
"Don't worry, two hours will be enough." Shen Yu did not dare to delay. He rode his horse and took Shunzi and the fifty new recruits given by Pei Xuanqing to the woods where Wan Xueying was hiding.
But he was overly optimistic. They wandered the woods for a long time but couldn't find any trace of Wan Xueying. Furthermore, apart from the two people killed by Shunzi, no other bodies were found.
"Where will they go?" Shen Yu's face was filled with anxiety, his brain had stopped thinking.
Shunzi quickly offered comfort, "The young lady's perception is stronger than any of us. She'll spot them before they even get close. You and Baiji will be fine." This was also the reason he'd left Wan Xueying and Baiji here. He continued, "The young lady has some medicinal powder on hand that could save her life in a critical moment."
"You're right," Shen Yu nodded, "I'm just too concerned."
"Sir Shen," a sergeant of new recruits sent by Pei Xuanqing asked Shen Yu, "The time is almost up. Do we still need to continue searching here?" He was Pei Xuanqing's subordinate, so of course he had to obey Pei Xuanqing's orders.
"No, let's meet up with Master Pei first."
Pei Xuanqing was not far from them at this moment, at the bandit settlement Shunzi had suggested. Pei Xuanqing's Imperial Guards had inquired and discovered that the women who had carried their children around to solicit sympathy and then abducted people were on this mountain. In addition, there were over twenty bandits guarding the area.
"Go and tell those bandits to release the women they captured." Pei Xuanqing ordered one of his men.
"yes."
After half a day of shouting, the bandits remained indifferent and decided to fight to the death.
Pei Xuanqing saw Shen Yu and his men rushing over, but he didn't rush to attack. He first asked Shen Yu, "How is it? Did you find the person?"
Shen Yu shook his head, "No."
"Don't worry, Miss Wan is a lucky person, she will be fine." Pei Xuanqing comforted her sincerely. He didn't believe that Wan Xueying, who was so smart and could dodge his fatal arrow, would get into trouble.
"Yeah," Shen Yu nodded heavily, "I think so too." Then he asked about the situation here.
Pei Xuanqing did not hide the information that the Yulin Guards had obtained and told him everything.
Shen Yu frowned slightly after hearing this and asked in confusion, "There are so many of us. They know that resistance means death, so why don't they just surrender?"
"Maybe they think they have hostages, so it's inconvenient for us to take action?"
Pei Xuanqing's guess was soon confirmed.
When he asked his men to shout to the bandits again, the bandits kidnapped a woman and threatened that if they dared to attack, they would kill the woman immediately.
Pei Xuanqing showed no mercy. He bent his bow and shot the bandit who was tying the woman up and answering him to death on the spot.
He also warned the other party, "If you dare to bring people here again, I will kill one by one! If you bring two, I will kill a pair!"
He was confronting the bandits, but he didn't know that the Yulin Guards had already sneaked into the bandits' camp. By the time the bandits realized something was wrong, half of the twenty or so people had been silently killed.
Not long after, the gate of the bandits' base was opened.
Leaving some people to guard outside, Pei Xuanqing led the rest of the people in one after another.
"Have all the captured women been found?" Pei Xuanqing asked a Yu Lin guard.
"Your Excellency," the Imperial Guard replied, "We have been searching for quite some time and only found these people."
"Is that all?" Pei Xuanqing scanned the faces of those people one by one, but there was not a single familiar face.
He asked the woman closest to him, "Where are the other women who were captured?"
"Your Excellency, I don't know either." The woman answered tremblingly.
"Then who among you knows?" Pei Xuanqing looked at the rest of the people again.
After waiting for a long time, no one answered. Behind him, Fu Shenyu whispered, "Are the remaining bandits deliberately delaying us? Nine out of ten times, this is to allow the remaining bandits to escape further with the captured women."
"Your guess is correct. I have already sent someone to investigate."
"What should we do now? Just wait here?" Shen Yu was still worried about Wan Xueying. He really wanted to take Shunzi with him to continue looking for her.
"Wait a minute." They couldn't just chase after him aimlessly.
"Yes." Shen Yu had no choice but to obey.
"Sir," the Yulin Guard who had just been questioned asked Pei Xuanqing, "What should we do with these women?"
"First, take a team of people to send them back to the county government and let those families claim them."
"yes."
Pei Xuanqing ordered another team to search carefully to see if there was anything left.
Just as the first group of people were about to leave with the women, Pei Xuanqing immediately stopped them.
"Wait a minute!"
Just when everyone was puzzled, Pei Xuanqing drew his sword and slashed at a woman casually.
The woman dodged subconsciously and flew far away in an instant.
Pei Xuanqing narrowed his eyes and snorted coldly, "Catch them all!"
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