Chapter 148 A powerful enemy is nearby
After Village Chief Chen and the others left, Yang Wei and his team closed the courtyard gate. Then, according to the established routine, they began allocating housing for the night, assigning people to light the fire, cook, boil water for washing, and care for the horses. Everything went on in an orderly manner.
Xiao Wu from Yang Wei's Escort Agency got into a carriage and took out a large piece of pork from a vat inside to thaw it. The piece of pork weighed twenty pounds. He also took out some dried black fungus, dried bamboo shoots, etc. to soak them, took a few cabbages, peeled seven or eight large radishes, and started to chop the stuffing.
The rest of the people were busy, and the house in the middle of the yard was cleaned up the fastest.
Lu Songli, Yang Wei, Xu Zheng and the three brothers of the Qin family were present.
Xu Zheng frowned and said, "This Qinglong Village is indeed a trouble."
Yes, they knew about Qinglong Village before entering the village.
After Zhou Da led half his men north to support Qin Yan, the remaining half was led by Deputy Captain Hu Guangcong. They were all cavalrymen, skilled horsemen, and it would be a waste to simply use them as bodyguards, similar to the Yang Wei Escort Agency. Therefore, after discussing with the three Qin brothers, Lü Songli decided to use them as scouts, thereby increasing their group's awareness of danger.
The effect was immediate. For example, they had already found out about Qinglong Village two days ago and had already obtained a lot of relevant information.
Qin Heng pointed out, "Cangshan is too big. No matter which route we take, we can't avoid Qinglong Village."
"Since we can't avoid it, we have no choice but to face it head-on." Lu Songli's words set the tone and attitude towards Qinglongzhai.
She also felt that they had been exposed the moment they entered Qingxi Village. She couldn't say anything about the other villages, but Qingxi and Hegu Village, as the two ends of Qinglong Village's hunting range, must have spies.
They had so many carriages, and they were loaded with so much supplies, so they were like fat sheep in the eyes of Qinglong Village.
Yang Wei sighed, "It was a bad idea. He knew this would happen." However, it was only because they had such abundant supplies that they were able to enjoy such a comfortable journey. Since they were enjoying the benefits of such abundant supplies, they couldn't despise the drawbacks they brought.
Lu Songli always solves problems when she encounters them. There is nothing to say.
The other side's stronghold has more than 200 young and strong men. Even if they appear to be a tough nut to crack, the other side will want to take a bite because the meat hanging on them is too tempting.
With a little planning, she could probably get through it, but there would definitely be casualties. This was not her intention.
While they were busy, the guy from the escort agency came to report that someone was knocking on the door.
They looked at each other and decided to discuss it after dinner. If they were not there now, it would easily arouse suspicion.
The village chief's mother, Mrs. Chen, brought a boy of seven or eight years old to thank them.
The boy had a stubborn and somewhat rebellious look on his face. He kept staring at the Qin brothers and the men in the army.
"You are good people. The road is blocked by heavy snow and it is difficult to travel. Why don't you turn back and take another detour?"
Lu Songli knew that she was reminding him of something in disguise. After Yang Wei thanked her for her kindness, he gave her two mixed flour buns.
At this time, Lv Mingzhi quietly found her and said to her, "Second sister, there will be heavy snow in the next two days. Should we stay in Qingxi Village for two days?"
Lu Songli nodded, "Okay, I understand this matter, I will make arrangements."
Being outdoors in the snow is not only difficult to walk on, but also very dangerous.
During this period, whenever it was about to rain or snow, Lv Mingzhi would tell them in advance, which saved them a lot of trouble and saved them a lot of work.
Qin Heng privately praised him more than once for his good reading and useful studies.
Lu Songli told everyone about this, and then Yang Wei arranged for a few more people to bring a ladder and go to the roof to sweep the snow off.
Those who are free can help make dumplings.
When Yang Wei and his companions were clearing the snow, they happened to see Village Chief Chen leading people to clear the snow from his roof. He greeted them from a distance, "Village Chief Chen, are you clearing the snow?"
Village chief Chen nodded and said, "Yes, if the snow is not swept, the roof will easily be damaged." They had already been cleaning, but they stopped cleaning because these strangers came in and scared the villagers.
Yang Wei noticed that after they finished sweeping the village chief's house, they moved on to the next one, using the same team. He immediately understood that these people were planning to sweep the snow from house to house.
"Village Chief Chen, it's getting dark, why don't you arrange for more people?"
Village Chief Chen smiled bitterly. These nobles from Chang'an Prefecture had no idea how difficult life was. Wasn't this because he didn't want to make more arrangements?
But warm clothes are so expensive and hard to come by. In Qingxi Village, every household is considered lucky if they can afford two complete sets of winter clothes and trousers.
The only or only two winter clothes and trousers are usually worn by the person who goes out to do something. The rest of the people at home can just stay in bed when they have nothing to do, which is a little warmer.
It's snowing heavily lately, and they have to clear the snow every day, otherwise they're always worried about the roof collapsing. So he asked every household to send one person, preferably a young and agile person, to take turns clearing the snow.
After Yang Wei understood the situation, he took his men to help Village Chief Chen. Since the meal wasn't ready yet, he helped while asking about the situation in Qinglong Village. Village Chief Chen didn't hide anything from him and told him everything he knew.
Mo Bing brought a lot of people with him and finally made thousands of dumplings. Then nearly seven hundred of them were delivered one after another. The remaining three hundred would be delivered to Hu Guangcong and others later.
While eating, the Lu siblings somehow squeezed together and sat close to each other.
"Second sister, this is good--" After shouting, Lu Mingzhi quickly covered his mouth.
It’s out, it’s out!
The officers paused holding the dumplings, and one of them even dropped the dumpling after hearing this. They wished they could plug their ears. How could they hear this?
Faced with those vague gazes, the officers dared not move, and they didn't know whether to eat the dumplings or not.
It had been obvious for a long time that they looked similar, but they had tried their best to ignore it, almost wanting to pretend to be blind!
But every day, they are refreshing their cognition. Today, he actually shouted it out directly, what should he do?
"Mom, this job is too hard, too daunting," the officers cried in their hearts.
Lu Songli was speechless. What a stupid brother.
Lu Songli put down her chopsticks and everyone looked at her.
The officers were extremely nervous.
Lu Songli smiled at them reassuringly, "Don't be nervous, everyone. My dear brothers, I'm sure you've figured out something over the past few days."
"We're not going to hide anything today. You heard me right. The person next to me is my brother, Lv Mingzhi. Those two are Liu Erxi and Mo Bing. They hired the Yang Wei Escort Agency to go to Pingzhou for business. Since it's on our way, they're taking care of us."
Lu Songli felt that internal stability was crucial at this moment. Sincerity was always a surefire way to win the trust of the officers if he wasn't even willing to tell them the truth after such a minor incident.
"I'm being honest with you all because, first of all, we're not enemies. We share a common goal—to reach Pingzhou safely. And we don't actually have any conflicts of interest with you, right? So, I don't think there's any need for us to be on guard against each other, or even to plot against each other."
"Furthermore, with the formidable enemy of Qinglong Village now at our side, I think we should unite and be friendly, and face the enemy head-on with one voice. What do you think?"
The officers looked at each other and nodded, acknowledging her words. Her implication was that if you don't get in the way, then nothing will happen, because killing you won't do us any good. Now that we have a powerful enemy, if you don't obey and insist on causing trouble, don't blame them for being rude.
"Mrs. Qin-Sixth Young Master, we understand."
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