Chen Nong and Bai Chuan's faces were blackened by the smoke, making them look like they had just come down from a mine. Now, with their faces streaked with tears, they looked like tabby cats.
Boss Chen and his team followed the leader to rescue the people inside the cave, but unfortunately they could only rescue two-thirds of them. Most of them suffered burns, and some were unconscious from the smoke. The rest were burned to death.
The old woman who led the operation also escaped, but she was burned on one hand and is currently unconscious.
People like Chen Nong who only suffered minor injuries are considered to be doing very well.
Zhou and the village chief's wife didn't want the children to see such a terrible scene, so they pulled them apart.
After rescuing the people, Old Man Chen and his men had no more worries. They led everyone to raid the thieves' den. After capturing their people, how could they not collect some interest?
Meanwhile, they also rescued the people who were tied up in the remaining three caves.
Just then, a villager ran over and said, "The bandit leader is missing! We've searched everywhere but can't find him."
The other second-in-commands and third-in-commands were all tied up.
Chen's eldest daughter-in-law said, "He probably ran away on a side road, probably the one we just took. Gouzi, you guys go after him. If you find him, take care of him. If you don't, come back quickly."
Gouzi and his gang followed the path they had come from and caught up with the bandit leader just as he was about to reach the stone gate. They then dealt with the two bandits.
After working for about an hour, they finally managed to tie up all the bandits in the den.
Old Man Chen found the key and led everyone to the warehouse to loot supplies. When they opened it, they found several bags of grain, some cloth, swords and other weapons. There weren't many weapons, but it was better than nothing. Most importantly, there were two large water vats.
Chen Laoda opened a bag of grain and exclaimed with delight, "Dad, it's black flour!"
Old Chen opened a large jar and exclaimed happily, "Dad, there's salt!"
The people from Peach Blossom Village and the Alliance Village following behind were envious and eager to join in.
Old Man Chen turned his head and said, "We won't share these supplies with you. Find what you want yourself, each according to your own abilities. You didn't contribute anything by following us. You didn't even dare to tie up a bandit, so don't even think about stealing our spoils."
The people from Peach Blossom Village and the Alliance Village were both red-faced and agitated, but they couldn't refute it; it was simply the truth.
The people from Peach Blossom Village inside snorted and led them out.
The missing people from Peach Blossom Village were all burned to death. They're gone, but we still need to bring some supplies back.
Upon hearing that the bandits had all been tied up, the people who had been rescued from the other caves immediately rushed out to grab supplies.
Old Man Chen, looking at the Peach Blossom Village group at the head, squinted and said, "Are you sure you want to lead them to rob us?"
The people of Peach Blossom Village protested, "Everyone who sees it gets a share, why shouldn't we get any?"
Upon hearing this, Old Man Chen waved his hand, and immediately, three arrows shot swiftly towards the people of Peach Blossom Village.
The people of Peach Blossom Village were instantly pierced through the throat by an arrow. Their eyes widened in their dying moments, never expecting that the people of Anping Village would be so deadly.
When the remaining refugees saw that their leader was dead, they all began to back down.
Old Man Chen said fiercely, "If you dare to oppose us again, we'll kill you all!"
Upon hearing this, the refugees immediately fled.
The remaining members of the Peach Blossom Village alliance huddled to the side, trembling with fear. When the Peach Blossom Villagers suggested robbing Anping Village's supplies, they hid far away. Why were they so unlucky to have allied with a group of troublemakers? They always tried to rob Anping Village, but they always lost.
One of the men said, "We've found our family members. We'll just follow the people from Anping Village back home. We won't try to steal anything from inside. There aren't enough of us to fight back, and even if we did, we couldn't protect it."
A woman said, "Yes, yes, stop robbing. Those refugees are like bandits. Let's stay away."
The fire burned down more than half of the bandit's den before going out on its own.
Most of the refugees who had looted the village were killed or injured. Those who survived managed to grab some supplies and escaped in groups. Those who remained clung tightly to the supplies they had found, watching the people of Anping Village with predatory eyes.
Old Man Chen looked outside and, seeing that it was getting dark, said, "Let's find a place to rest here tonight and set off early tomorrow morning to catch up with the team."
Old Master Chen said, "Father, what should we do with those refugees who are eyeing us covetously outside?"
He didn't think the refugees wouldn't do something sneaky at night.
Old Man Chen said, "Didn't we find a sack of sleeping pills? When they rest later, throw one into their group. After they fall down, tie them up and take them back to the cave to squeeze in with the bandits, so they won't cause any more trouble for me."
After drugging and tying up the refugees who were planning to cause trouble and taking them back to the cave, Old Man Chen gathered the looted supplies together and divided them up.
They found three horses, which was easy to divide; one horse went to each village.
The weapons included farm tools such as broadswords and hoes, totaling sixty, which were divided equally among the three villages.
The remaining food, water, salt, and cloth were divided equally among the three villages, with half of the food and water being taken out.
The remaining half will be divided equally among those who came out to search for the missing person after it is used up. Those who have put in the effort should get more benefits.
The hard part was the silver; they found over a hundred taels of silver and a pile of copper coins.
Copper coins were easy to distribute, but the Chen family and the village chief's family both wanted silver, because upgrading their steamed buns and eggs required silver.
He decided to take the silver back first and see if he could exchange the supplies for silver with the people of Hehua Village in Dashan Village.
After Old Man Chen and his men had eaten and drunk their fill, he led his men to deal with the bandits. They had taken care of the bandits' leaders, and after questioning the remaining bandits, they dealt with the higher-ranking ones and those who had committed many evil deeds. The rest of the bandits were then tied up with the refugees.
The next morning, everyone set off early. Before leaving, they untied the refugees in the cave. As for the bandits, they were not untied, and whether they could escape was up to their own fate.
As soon as the people of Anping Village left, the people from the Peach Blossom Village Alliance Village followed, followed by the refugees who had been burned earlier, and at the very back were the refugees who had just been untied.
When the untied refugees woke up, they found that all the supplies they had looted were gone, and they hated the people outside.
This time, Old Man Chen and his group took the main gate. Although the road was wider, it was still a mountain path, rugged and difficult to walk on.
They couldn't carry the supplies they found, as there were many stones, so they had to carry them on shoulder poles or have two people lift them together.
After descending the mountain, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief; the mountain path was truly difficult to traverse.
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