Chapter 122: Is it too cruel?
"Protect the cargo."
With Meng Xiyan's loud shout, the whole team took action.
The people escorting the grain quickly gathered together, and the guard team immediately split into two teams.
One team guarded the food supplies in the rear, while another team stood out and fought the enemy with swords drawn.
After a while, a large group of people rushed out from the trees, screaming.
Meng Xiyan rode on a tall white horse, scanning the bandits with sharp eyes.
They were wearing ragged clothes and holding hoes and machetes.
There were a lot of people on the other side, and they were shouting very hard, but their steps were very unsteady.
At first glance, they were all disaster victims.
However.
Meng Xiyan suddenly drew his bow and drew his arrow.
There was a "whoosh" sound breaking through the air.
A tall disaster victim in the crowd was shot in the chest, screamed, and fell to the ground.
Those were the real bandits mixed in with the disaster victims.
When the victims saw someone fall down, they were stunned for a moment and then stepped back in fear.
Human nature is to live.
No one wants to die until the last moment.
“Everyone, they have food in the car.
Think about my parents and children at home. If I quit now, they will starve to death."
The people who were retreating stopped again.
They stared at the food carts with green light in their eyes and continued to rush forward like wolves.
Meng Xiyan turned around and shouted to the small leader of the Imperial Guard: "Zhaohua, as usual, capture the leader first."
"Don't worry, I will never lose a grain of food." Zhao Hua's eyes were sharp and he quickly found out the real bandits mixed in the crowd.
He shot two arrows in succession, and indeed two men fell to the ground.
Meng Xiyan had also shot down two people.
However, he didn't hit any of their vital points, causing them to fall down with screams.
Seeing how powerful they were, the victims dared not rush forward.
"Run!" Someone among the refugees shouted, and the victims and the remaining bandits retreated back into the woods like a tide.
"Where are you running to!" Zhao Hua shouted and kicked his horse's belly to chase after him.
"Zhaohua." Meng Xiyan called him, "Be careful not to lure the tiger away from the mountain."
Zhao Hua had no choice but to stop.
Meng Xiyan ordered his men to tie up the two surviving people and interrogate them.
Under the torture, the two men quickly confessed.
“We were originally bandits in the mountains, but after the drought, we came down and occupied several villages.
We detained the women, children and young men in the village, and recruited them into teams to rob the traveling merchants.
Sir, we have confessed everything. Please give us a way to live..."
However, before they could finish their words, Meng Xiyan cut their necks with a knife, killing them on the spot.
Meng Xiyan swung his arm to shake off the blood drops on the long sword.
Zhao Hua was so angry that his fists cracked. "This is outrageous! Everyone is struggling to survive, yet they're oppressing their compatriots...Brother Xi Yan, just let me take the men and wipe out their lair."
Meng Xiyan felt uncomfortable when he was called "big brother".
He said in a serious tone, "No. Transporting food and disaster relief is the most urgent task right now. Suppressing the bandits will have to wait until we have everything arranged."
Zhao Hua sighed, he knew this would be the result.
After burying the body on the spot, they continued on their way.
Zhao Hua and Meng Xiyan rode their horses side by side.
Meng Xiyan frowned and said, "We are about to reach the capital of Jinyang Prefecture. Didn't you notice that something is missing?"
Zhao Hua pinched his chin: "What's missing?"
"The imperial envoy sent by His Majesty to capture Lan Hong set out three days earlier than us.
They travel light, so it takes them much less time to get there than it does for us.”
Logically, they should have escorted Lan Hong back to the capital long ago, and we would most likely have met them along the way. But we should have arrived in the capital tonight at the latest... and there's still no sign of them."
"You mean, the imperial envoy also encountered robbers and his head and body were separated?" Zhao Hua said exaggeratedly.
Meng Xiyan couldn't help but glared at him.
Zhao Hua chuckled, then put away his playful expression and said seriously, "You mean, there was a coup in Jinyang Prefecture? How dare they do that?
The drought in Jinyang Prefecture is so severe now. Without relief from the imperial court, these people..."
Meng Xiyan remained silent.
If Wen Yan heard Zhao Hua's words, he would definitely tell him what Lan Hong said in his previous life: "The common people are just tools for creating wealth, no different from chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep. This group starved to death, so that those who survived will have a chance to regenerate."
However, these people still did not dare to openly disobey the court.
Meng Xiyan, with his 20,000 soldiers, was able to capture the small Jinyang Prefecture in less than a day.
They are even better at deceiving their superiors and subordinates and enriching themselves.
but.
Meng Xiyan and his men knew nothing about Jinyang City, which put them in a very dangerous and passive position.
I don’t know where Brother Chen Yi is at this moment.
It would be much more convenient if we could get in touch.
**
Capital city.
Chief Jiang of the Imperial Guard, dressed in casual clothes, came to "A Little Ink" to find Wen Yan and Meng Chifei.
Leader Jiang said, "The arsonist has been identified. It was Chunya, Wen Ruyue's maid. She bribed two thugs to set the fire."
Wen Yan had an expression of "as expected", "I knew it would be her."
The maids in wealthy families are nothing more than their masters' mouthpieces.
What the maid does is actually what her master wants.
Once the crime is exposed, the maidservant will be the best scapegoat.
"Her relationship with you is...so I came here specifically to ask, what do you want to do? Do you want to drop it here? Or do you want to continue investigating?"
"Of course, we will continue investigating." Wen Yan made the decision without hesitation.
Chief Jiang said, "In my many years of experience in handling cases, I still can't find the real culprit. It must be this Chunya who is taking the blame."
Wen Yan smiled and said, "I know."
"Then you still..."
"If I can't kill her, it's good to give her some trouble." Wen Yan had a smile on her face, without any emotional fluctuations.
Wen Ruyue is too slow in collecting food, so I have to give her some encouragement.
"As you wish."
"Please ensure the most severe punishment possible. For example, destroying something bestowed upon the Emperor is a form of contempt for the Emperor's authority. Ideally, the entire family should be executed. If that isn't possible, all property should be confiscated, and the entire clan should be exiled to a quarry, never to be allowed out."
Leader: “…”
Miss Wen looks weak and delicate, but how could she be so cruel and ruthless in doing things?
Wen Ruyue likes to use profit to lure her servants to take the blame for her crimes.
The servants felt that they had to sacrifice their own worthless lives to buy money or jobs for their families.
Not a loss!
Wen Yan wanted to put an end to the maids' delusions and tell them that their lives would not bring them wealth and glory, but would instead lead to the deaths of their families.
Someone beside Chief Jiang said, "Isn't this too cruel? Isn't your shop okay?"
Wen Yan gave the man a strange look.
"If they succeed in setting the fire, 'A Little Ink' will be reduced to ashes.
If we lose the items we auctioned, how can we earn money for disaster relief?
You sympathize with the entire family of the bad guys, so why don't you sympathize with the 480,000 people in Jinyang Prefecture who are about to starve to death?"
The man's face turned pale after hearing what Wen Yan said, and he didn't dare to look at Wen Yan again.
Chief Jiang is very fast.
In just half an hour, the news that the Imperial Guards went to the Marquis of Jinping's mansion to arrest people spread throughout the city.
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