Chapter 177 Perfect Misdirection
After discussing with the three Qin brothers, Yang Wei, Xu Zheng, and others, Lü Songli decided to distribute the money according to the military's reward and punishment system. Those who hadn't contributed would not be included in the distribution. After all, the Qin family women and children needed protection this time. Any further distribution would be inappropriate.
Lu Songli anticipated the enemy's situation and got the most gold and silver, taking away 10,000 taels directly.
No one had any objection to this. Her contribution was obvious. In addition, she got the location of Duan Kaishen's villa and the connection code from several close people brought by Duan Kaishen.
The second most numerous person was Qin Sheng. Not only did he shoot and kill the culprit Duan Kaishen, he also led the reconnaissance team to kill the enemy. Not only did he effectively eliminate the enemy, he also saved many brothers.
Next came Qin Heng, Qin Zhao, Yang Wei, and Xu Zheng in descending order. Members of the reconnaissance team and Yang Wei's escort agency were rewarded based on their military merits.
In less than half an hour, the stolen goods worth more than 30,000 taels were divided up.
Next, they need to discuss how they should proceed.
And from now on, the Qin family will have to work harder.
In other words, the dress-up game was over, because they were now not far from Pingzhou, and it was time to restore their status and treatment as exiles, otherwise, Xu Zheng and others would be in trouble. In addition, changing their identities would also help them avoid being tracked down by Youzhou.
Lu Songli asked the child if he was afraid?
The children shook their heads.
Lu Songli nodded. She calculated that there were still twenty days left before the deadline to arrive in Pingzhou, which was enough time. At most, she could just travel one day less.
"Sixth Young Master's wife, should I leave the convoy first and wait for you in Pingzhou?" Xue Xu asked.
After all, he had been in Qinglong Village before, so his identity could probably be discovered if they were to investigate thoroughly. If they found him, it would be disadvantageous to them.
When the people present heard this, many of them looked at him suspiciously. Could this guy still want to run away?
In response to other people's suspicious looks, the old man just smiled faintly. What he saw was different from what they saw, so he didn't care about them.
Lu Songli pondered for a moment, then discussed it with them. They decided to split their forces into three groups. The Qin family and the bailiffs would take the central official road. Yang Wei's escort agency and the reconnaissance team would take the side roads, one on the left and one on the right. This would also ensure their safety, and in the event of any emergency, both teams could provide quick support.
Xue Xu followed the people from Yang Wei's Escort Agency.
After making the decision, that night, Lu Songli and his team split up and headed towards Pingzhou.
In a town forty miles outside Youzhou City, where Lu Songli and his men had once been stationed, a middle-aged man in official uniform stood on a high place, frowning and thinking.
At this time, the coroner he brought with him came over and said, "Master Duan, after investigation, it is clear that your nephew was killed by a stronghold."
The evidence, both personal and material, as well as some subtle details, all pointed to the bandits. Furthermore, their style of robbing each other of their own was consistent with the bandits' behavior.
Duan Chen didn't say anything.
"Master Duan, I think that while the murderer is most likely from the mountain stronghold, we can't rule out the possibility that they're trying to frame Qingfeng Village." The coroner thought to himself, these Qingfeng Village bandits are cunning, actually trying to disguise themselves as Qinglong Village. If a servant hadn't overheard them, they would have been in for a long detour.
The servant was nearly silenced. He was knocked unconscious and stabbed in the chest. Fortunately, the other party's knife skills were not accurate and the stab missed the target, allowing him to provide them with some important information.
However, Qinglong Village was wiped out in one fell swoop, and this group of bandits didn’t think it was bad luck!
After following the case all the way, the coroner also came to his own conclusion. He was more inclined to believe that the perpetrators were from the neighboring Jizhou who came out to fish.
He had evidence. First, Qingfeng Village was in Yanzhou after all, and these strongholds usually committed crimes near their home base and rarely robbed across other areas.
Secondly, it was said that the bandits were pulling out over a dozen carts of medicinal herbs. If the bandits weren't out fishing, and such a fat sheep passed through Jizhou, wouldn't the many strongholds in Jizhou be blind enough to not rob them? Could they just watch them leave Jizhou safely?
But what good is it if we can guess who the criminal gang is? Although Duan Zhubo has some influence in Youzhou, he has no control over Jizhou. It is impossible for him to comb through all the strongholds in Jizhou.
Besides, bandits come and go like birds. When Duan Kaishen encountered this, what else could he do except consider himself unlucky?
"Check to see if there have been any large-scale armies or caravans passing through Youzhou recently," Duan Chen ordered.
"Large-scale? How many people need to be screened?"
"Forty or fifty people."
Last night, my nephew took out about a hundred strong men, and they were all killed. It can be inferred that the other party’s fighting power is not low.
Although the people my nephew keeps are not top-notch fighters, they are not fake either. If the other side wants to completely wipe out my nephew's team, they need at least 40 or 50 strong men with high martial arts skills. It is impossible for such a large group of people to be silent.
His nephew led his men out after the first watch last night. The servant who survived by chance said that the other party arrived at the villa around the fourth watch, which means that the two teams fought for about an hour.
None of the people brought by his nephew, including himself, could escape. There must be an archer in the opposing team.
He would ask people to pay attention to whether there were any people with particularly good archery skills among all the mountain strongholds in Jizhou.
Duan Xing and his team were completely misled, and their reconnaissance direction was mostly wrong.
In fact, if Li Jue had told Duan Li the truth when Duan Li came to him to ask about the situation, Duan Li would not have been misled like that.
Li Jue, however, believed in the idea of "less trouble is more." He insisted that he didn't know the other party's identity and that he was selling medicine, and he saw that the herbs were of good quality, so he bought them. That was all.
Li Jue didn't want to cause trouble. What if he told the truth and Duan Chen couldn't find the murderer, he would put the blame for Duan Kaishen's death on him. Where would he go to seek justice?
In addition, the group of people he traded with were obviously not easy to deal with.
Furthermore, after Duan Kaishen's death, a large piece of territory was left in the Youzhou medicinal materials business. He was trying hard to swallow it up, so how could he have the energy to meddle in other people's business?
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