Chapter 417: It’s all a trick
That night, some people on the mountain quietly came down and surrendered.
Meng Jingfeng now deeply regretted not listening to Chen Jinlong's words during the day and being the first to accept the amnesty.
It can be seen that the Liaodong Army was determined to eliminate the banditry in their territory. For details, please refer to the Eighteen Villages of Liaodong.
When he quietly came down the mountain with his confidants, he found that someone was already talking with the Liaodong Army ahead.
This person was none other than Feng Shuo, the leader of Qinqiu Village.
At that moment, Meng Jingfeng gritted his teeth in hatred. Damn it, someone got there first! As expected, Feng Shuo was a cunning old bastard.
This time, Chunqiu Village has gathered six leaders of Xuantu County. Now one has been captured, two have surrendered quietly, what should be done with the remaining three?
Early in the morning, the three of them looked at each other and decided to surrender. Feng Shuo, the leader of Chunqiu Village, had already surrendered, so why wouldn't they surrender and wait for Feng Shuo to lead his men and strike back? They didn't want to become Feng Shuo's heroes!
According to what Chen Jinlong and others said when they went as representatives to seek amnesty, they could redeem their sentences in three ways: redemption by merit, redemption by money, and redemption by residence.
With the surrender of the leaders of the major strongholds in Xuantu County, their strongholds also surrendered quickly.
Meng Jingfeng and other village chiefs looked at the bandits who did not resist at all, gnashing their teeth secretly, "You should at least resist!" Facing the angry glare of their own village chief, the bandits lowered their heads one by one.
Later, in order to mitigate their guilt, they all revealed the locations of their vaults of gold and silver.
It was unknown how long it had been before the boxes of gold, silver, and jewelry brought back by the Liaodong Army from various mountain strongholds filled the ground.
Qin Sheng walked around them and asked, "Are you sure all your gold, silver and jewelry are here?"
"Yes, yes, half of my life's savings are all here."
"Prince Qin, Sixth Master Qin, we have contributed all our belongings, you must reduce our sentences."
Meng Jingfeng and others wailed one by one.
Qin Heng said, "I can reduce some of your crimes appropriately, but it's impossible to erase them completely. After all, the gold, silver and jewelry you obtained were ill-gotten gains."
Chen Jinlong chimed in, "This is already pretty good. Look at us, we still have to serve in the army, right?"
Meng Jingfeng and others stopped talking. Well, everyone is the same. It seems there is no way out.
"I'm asking you one last time. Are you sure all your gold, silver, and jewelry are here?" Qin Sheng confirmed again and again with these village chiefs who had been recruited.
"It's really all here!" Feng Shuo, Meng Jingfeng and others still said the same thing.
"Okay, if you say so, then so be it." Qin Sheng thought, being tough? Being tough is good.
Qin Sheng's personal soldiers all tried hard to suppress their laughter.
Feng Shuo, Meng Jingfeng and others felt a little uneasy, as if Mr. Qin Liu knew something.
Then they comforted themselves in their hearts and said not to think too much. No one would put all their eggs in one basket. A cunning rabbit has three burrows. Even if they guessed that they still had hidden treasures, so what? If they didn't admit it, the other party couldn't do anything to them.
Qin Sheng said to Qin Heng, "Brother, now that the matter here is over, you can take them back to Houcheng first." He would go back later.
"Okay." Qin Heng knew what he was going to do.
Looking at these people's reactions, Chen Jinlong thought about the property they had hidden before but disappeared, and he seemed to have realized something.
Just when Feng Shuo, Meng Jingfeng and others were escorted back, Qin Sheng brought his personal soldiers and searched their villages one by one.
The large army moved slowly, mainly because Qin Heng deliberately slowed down the pace. Since it was not a forced march, he did not need to overwork the soldiers.
Therefore, when Qin Heng and his group were still on the road, Qin Sheng had already returned to Houcheng before him.
The first thing Qin Sheng did when he returned was to present his treasure to his wife and complain to her, "These people are dishonest. They really think that no one knows about their little tricks."
Lu Songli stroked his hair, "They are indeed dishonest. Now that you have taken away all the treasures they hid, they can only suffer in silence."
"That's what they deserve." Qin Sheng turned over. "Lili, once there's one, there's another. I have a feeling these people might be hiding some money."
Lu Songli confirmed his guess, "It's possible that a cunning rabbit has three burrows."
Qin Sheng frowned, "I've searched their entire village, there's no way I've missed anything."
"Maybe he's not hiding in the village anymore."
Qin Sheng frowned even more tightly. If they had been more honest, it would have been okay to leave them some money for themselves, but now Qin Sheng just felt unhappy.
But now the location where they hid the silver is unknown, and he has no way to search.
Seeing her husband's brows furrowed tightly, Lu Songli found it amusing. She reached out and touched the center of his brows, "Are you trying to force them to hand over the hidden treasures?"
"I'd like to think about it, but I'm afraid that using torture to extract a confession won't work. It's not a good approach either." After all, they have been recruited, and using torture will be detrimental to their future work.
“You’re…”
After Feng Shuo, Meng Jingfeng and others were taken back to Houcheng, they were quickly sentenced.
The six village chiefs need to serve for a period ranging from six months to one year.
They felt very uncomfortable on the first day of work.
Chen Jinlong secretly told them that they could use gold to redeem their sentences, and by giving more silver, they could shorten their service time.
If they could find someone to borrow some money, he would intercede for them.
Chen Jinlong and others no longer have to serve their sentences because they have made great contributions in recruiting them.
At first, Feng Shuo, Meng Jingfeng, and the others were only slightly tempted, but within two days, they relented, all because the military service was too hard. If money could solve the problem, then so be it.
They told Chen Jinlong where they had hidden the treasure and asked him to deal with it.
Since they didn't dare touch the property hidden in the mountain stronghold, they could only move it somewhere else.
This method really works. Chen Jinlong's manipulation this time helped them reduce their sentences by three months to six months.
Then there were those who were wealthy, like Meng Jingfeng, who wanted to use their property to avoid punishment. He told Chen Jinlong two hiding places of their property.
Several of them were successfully reduced to two months, but no matter how much money they spent, they just couldn't get the remaining two months.
This happened several times until all their hidden treasures were taken away.
These people gradually came to their senses and realized that they seemed to have been fooled.
The last time Chen Jinlong came to see them, he brought them some food and daily necessities.
"You kid, are you trying to trick us?"
Chen Jinlong just smiled and said, "There are only two months left. Serve your sentence well."
They understood. It was a trick. It was all a trick! They had been fooled! They all beat their chests and stamped their feet.
Some of the perceptive ones couldn't help but worry, are the treasures they buried in the mountain village still there?
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