Chapter 436 Testing Each Other 2
Lianyi brought thirteen children this time, both boys and girls, and none of them remembered where they came from. Lianyi questioned them one by one, and basically all of them were stolen or abducted, so they were sent directly to the county government office.
In order to attract enough attention, she specifically consulted the chief clerk and gave him fifty taels of silver as spending money before the children were reunited with their families.
"Excuse me, Master. These children are all smart and clever, but they did not sell themselves voluntarily. Their parents must be looking forward to finding them. Please take care of them."
The chief clerk took the silver and promised with a smile that he would do his best to get the matter done. Fifty taels was more than enough to support a dozen children for a few days, and the rest was his hard work fee, so he would naturally take it into consideration.
"If there are really children who can't find their parents, please ask the chief clerk to arrange for someone to pass a message to Ruyi Inn. I will help these children find a way out and avoid putting you in a difficult position."
"Well, young lady, you are indeed chivalrous. It would be great if there were more people like you in this world."
The chief clerk praised him generously and accepted the task.
Lianyi specifically said a few words to the children before leaving the county government office.
At this time, in the backyard of the county government office, Qi Qi was talking to the Huairou County Magistrate. The topic was about the operation to eliminate the bandits.
"County Magistrate Cao, you deliberately spread rumors about the treasure map just to get these people to go and wipe out the bandits?"
"Yes, sir!"
Huairou County Magistrate Cao Dun said respectfully.
"Your idea is quite bold and it's a good plan."
Qi Qi did not deny the other party's actions.
"Master Qi, I have no choice but to do this. The bandits lingered in Qingshi Gorge, blocking the road and robbing people without regard for the living or the cold. I organized several encirclement and suppression operations, but all failed. Several yamen runners were seriously injured and are still lying at home.
I suspect that they have an insider in Huairou County, which is why every action fails. So I dare not use people from Huairou County, so I came up with this idea. "
"You used the rumors about the treasure to lure those people here. These people are not from Huairou. Their goal is the treasure map you spread in the rumors, so they will not be bribed. They are just right to help you deal with the bandits."
Qi Qi took a sip of tea and analyzed calmly.
"Yes, what Master Qi said is consistent with my original intention. The people from the underworld who came this time are quite careful about their reputation. They came to Qingshi Canyon under the pretext of helping the county government eliminate banditry. They just wanted the spoils from the bandit's lair. I can totally accept this."
Magistrate Cao did not hide anything and told the truth about how these gangsters had taken advantage of his situation.
"County Magistrate Cao is sensible. I won't ask any more questions. I have another mission. I just came to verify the rumors you spread."
"The rumor Cao arranged for people to spread was that the bandits in Qingshi Canyon accidentally got a treasure map, which they snatched from passers-by. After confirming that it was a treasure map, they even gave up their robbery business and set out to look for the treasure after making preparations."
"True and false, real and fake, it is indeed easy to lure people into the trap."
Qi Qi said pertinently.
"Please forgive me for making a fool of myself, Master Qi."
Qi Qi and Magistrate Cao exchanged a few words. Qi Qi's guards hurried to his side and whispered a few words in his ear. Qi Qi's face changed and his eyes became sharp.
"Are you sure it's a spy?"
"Sure!"
"Continue the interrogation. Send someone to follow Magistrate Cao's men to bring back all the bandits. No one should be left behind. All the bodies should be brought back for a thorough inspection."
Qi Qi gave the order.
"Yes, I will gather the men right away."
After the guards left, Qi Qi turned to Magistrate Cao and said:
"My men found a tattoo unique to the Mongolians on the bandit leader who was escorted back. They determined that the bandit leader was a spy planted by the Mongolians. Does Magistrate Cao know about this?"
After hearing Qi Qi's words, County Magistrate Cao's face changed immediately. This was a big deal. This group of bandits was actually very powerful. He immediately stood up and explained:
"Master Qi, please forgive me for my carelessness. We have failed to capture the bandit leader several times and have never found out his identity."
"Maybe it's not that they didn't find out, but someone is covering for them."
Qi Qi understood it as soon as he thought about it, but he did not doubt County Magistrate Cao very much. After all, the other party had thought of using people from the underworld to fight against the bandits, which was considered to have caught the other party by surprise. This allowed him to inadvertently catch a big fish. When thinking about the "Feng Qi Wutong" mother and son who had been captured before, he already had a rough guess in his mind, which he would be able to confirm after the interrogation.
"No wonder Cao's several cleanup operations failed. It turns out."
Magistrate Cao was not stupid and immediately understood what Qi Qi meant.
"Magistrate Cao, we need to think about how to expose these people's true colors."
Qi Qi put down the teacup in his hand and said.
"Yes, I will write an order right now and arrange for the yamen runners to secretly escort the captured bandits back first."
The county government immediately became busy.
On the other side, the gangsters who stayed in Qingshi Canyon, under the leadership of Xiao Shu, have found the bandits' lair. Those left here were the wounded and women, who were all locked up in one place. These gangsters searched the entire village but found no treasure map.
"Brother Xiao, we found a secret room under the bandit leader's wooden bed, but it's empty. There's nothing inside."
Wang Meimei said with a frown.
"Have you found any other secret rooms or compartments?"
"There is a secret compartment under the main seat in their hall, but it is empty! Either the things have been moved away long ago, or the things are carried by the bandit leader!"
At this point, Wang Meimei's face changed:
"Brother Xiao, the people guarding the bandits are the subordinates of Mr. Qi, and the one who captured the bandit leader was his man, and he took him away. Because he captured him, we can't take the credit, so we let them go. Do you think he has found the treasure map and taken it away?"
"Arrange a few people to continue searching the village, and ask the women who were left behind. We will go after them now."
Xiao Shu made a prompt decision.
"Those women are clueless. They don't know anything about the treasure map, and they've been gone for three days."
Wang Meimei didn't think the other party would wait to be caught up by them.
"Find the person first!"
Xiao Shu closed the jade fan in his hand with a "snap" and said with a gloomy face.
"Okay, I'll go gather everyone."
When these gangsters heard this, they realized they might have been tricked and could not swallow this humiliation. They immediately left Qingshi Canyon and followed the trail.
A day later, they met the yamen runners and Mr. Qi's men on the way, and the atmosphere between the two sides was somewhat unfriendly.
"What do you mean? Are you stopping us from doing our job?"
The bailiff said with a cold face that he hated these gangsters the most. They fought and killed each other all day long, and he didn't know why they had to clean up the aftermath of a murder.
"We don't want to stop you, we just want to ask Mr. Qi's men whether they have found the treasure map on the bandit leader."
Xiao Shu asked with a bow.
"What treasure map? I don't know. But I found a Mongolian tattoo on the bandit leader. I confirmed that he is a Mongolian spy. Now I have to bring all the bandits back. If you are interested, you can follow me to Huairou County Government Office."
Here is a chapter of Fatty's, see you tomorrow~
(End of this chapter)
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