arrow?
The magistrate felt a chill and hurriedly took the arrow to examine it. He found a mark at the arrowhead, but he did not recognize the mark.
"Take everyone back to the county government office."
Upon seeing the constables below, the magistrate's face turned cold.
Those disaster victims were just peasants; where would they get bows and arrows?
Twenty archers were all killed before they could even fire a single arrow.
This is probably some guard pretending to be a disaster victim, deliberately trying to antagonize him.
Thinking of this, he didn't linger any longer and hurriedly returned to the county government office to present a visiting card to the Chen family.
Inside the Chen residence, Wang Shaoyang was playing in the courtyard as usual when suddenly, a guard's knocking interrupted him.
"Come in."
Removing the blindfold from his eyes and waving away the maids playing in the room, Wang Shaoyang invited the others in.
A guard entered the room carrying a feathered arrow in both hands.
"Young master, the official grain being transported to the Changping Granary in Yingzhou has been robbed. At the crime scene, we found this kind of feathered arrow."
"oh?"
Wang Shaoyang raised an eyebrow, casually taking the arrow, thinking to himself that this was probably something someone was doing behind the scenes.
He casually examined the arrow in his hand, checking the markings on the arrowhead. The moment he saw the markings, his eyes narrowed, and he moved the arrow forward a little, carefully stroking the markings. A surge of ecstasy welled up in his heart.
"Okay, okay, okay."
"It's like searching high and low without finding it, only to have it come to you effortlessly."
"I have been sitting here in Nan'an County for more than a month without finding any trace of him. I never expected that he would suddenly appear on his own."
"Hahaha, investigate! Have the magistrate investigate thoroughly and find out exactly where these robbers are."
Wang Shaoyang burst into laughter, filled with unexpected joy, and the guards also looked up in delight.
"Young master, this arrow is..."
"Yes, this is exactly the batch we're looking for."
Wang Shaoyang was in a good mood and quickly wrote a letter, which he sent back to the capital with a guard.
"It looks like the item is in Nan'an County. We should send more people to search the mountains below Nan'an County."
"yes."
The guard was overjoyed and turned to leave to convey the young master's instructions to Master Chen.
Not to mention Wang Shaoyang's surprise at the Chen residence, the people of Jiangjia Village, after receiving the grain, did not dare to return to the village. They waited until nightfall before slowly transporting the grain back to the village.
All of this was done quietly, and apart from the people who went with them, no one in the household knew what important thing they had done.
They were all shocked when they saw the head of the household carrying back the grain.
This matter concerned the life and death of each family, but it was not publicized.
Jiang Bai had the biggest harvest, but instead of carrying all the grain home, she took advantage of the night to transport the grain to Pingshan Mountain, where she hid it inside the underground stone gate.
After finishing his own grain work, Jiang Bai sneaked into the clan chief's house late at night.
"Grandpa, Grandpa."
She crouched outside the clan chief's room like a ghost, calling out in a low voice.
The clan chief was already worried and hadn't been able to sleep. Hearing her cry, he suddenly sat up.
"Grandpa."
Jiang Bai's head popped out of the window, startling the clan chief. He hurriedly got out of bed and went to the window, looking around before scolding, "You little brat, what are you doing in my house in the middle of the night?"
Jiang Bai chuckled and said, "Grandpa, the government grain has been stolen. Next, soldiers will probably come to search the villages. Please tell everyone to make sure they hide the grain well, otherwise their whole family could lose their lives."
"Do you even need to tell me that? Alright, go home and get some sleep. It's the middle of the night, what kind of behavior is this for a young woman like you?"
The clan chief thought something had happened, but it turned out to be about hiding grain, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing that the clan chief understood, Jiang Bai said no more and turned to go home.
The clan leader couldn't sleep after she made such a fuss.
He went out and woke up the village head, then visited each household. Sure enough, every household had hidden their grain very well.
"Uncle, I'm afraid the villagers won't be able to withstand the soldiers' investigation."
After visiting all the households in the village involved in the grain looting, the village headman had a new worry. Everyone's emotions were written all over their faces, and they couldn't hide anything. If the officials came down to investigate, they were afraid the truth would be exposed.
"It's alright. In the days to come, we'll send people up the mountain and let them leave their families behind to wait for the screening."
That's one way to do it.
The next morning, as expected, the clan chief summoned everyone away, and the entire Jiangjia Village headed towards Pingshan in a grand procession.
Dozens of people went into the mountains in a large group, and even the wild animals on the mountain dared not provoke them.
Almost immediately after these people entered the mountains, county officials arrived and went from village to village, checking the grain reserves of each household.
Those who remained in the village were unaware of the grain robbery, so when the officials arrived, they were reluctant but had no choice but to open their granaries for the officials to inspect.
"How come your family only has this little bit of food?"
When the officials arrived at Jiang Bai's house, they found that their granary was empty, with not even a corner filled with grain, leading them to suspect that they had hidden the grain elsewhere.
"My lord, please forgive me. My wife was brought into this household by marriage. After this year's grain harvest, we paid the grain tax, and ninety percent of the remaining grain was sent to the clan granary. That's why we only have this little bit of grain at home."
Jiang Bai's face was full of sorrow, her brows and eyes filled with grief. Jiang Lu followed behind her, wiping away her tears with her sleeve.
Jiang Songwen is much better now. Apart from not being talkative, everything else is normal.
The siblings stood pitifully before the officials, so pitiful that the officials couldn't bear to ask them anything.
"Then...how will you survive?"
Pointing to the thin layer of grain in the granary, the officials felt sorry for her.
"Thank you for your concern, sir. I take my younger siblings up the mountain every day to hunt for wild game and exchange it for food. We manage to get by."
The official felt sorry for her and stopped asking questions, not even thinking to ask who her husband was.
"Why won't you let me show up?"
After the officials left, Ji Yanwen came out of the room and looked at Jiang Bai with some confusion.
Before the officials arrived, she made him lie in bed and pretend to be sick, saying that she and her sister could handle it.
"Of course it's because people nowadays look down on women and pity the weak."
Why create unnecessary trouble when you already have a good advantage?
"You all stay at home, I'll go up the mountain to take a look."
Jiang Bai was a little worried.
With so many villagers going up the mountain, what if they discover the wild boar's den, where all her possessions might be hidden?
The good news is that the villagers didn't notice.
The bad news is that another group discovered it.
A group of about ten people, dressed in gray cloth and carrying swords, came up to Pingshan from another path. Following the trampling marks on Pingshan, they arrived at the outside of the Wild Boar Cave.
"Let's go in and take a look."
The leader winked at one of the men, who nodded, gripped his knife, and headed toward the wild boar's den.
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