"Wait a minute, you bandits!" A short man with a very loud voice among the bandits stopped the convoy.
"Good sirs, I'm from the south picking up relatives from the countryside, not a traveling merchant. I've already spoken to your leader about this. You see, there are chess pieces for passing through on the cart. I hope you can do me a favor."
Upon seeing the approaching men, Old Li wiped his sweat and ran to the front, bowing and saluting the bandits. He also pointed out the tokens of the convoy to the people on the other side.
"Stop talking nonsense. You can leave, but you have to leave your things in the car."
Upon hearing this, everyone present understood that their previous "filial piety" was no longer acknowledged.
"In that case, I have no choice but to offend you."
Xie Ming shouted a sentence, giving the others no chance to maneuver. He rushed out first and pinned down the man who was shouting at them, beating him until he couldn't move.
The second-in-command, who was following behind the bandits, immediately realized that they had encountered a tough opponent.
He figured the other side had about 20 people, roughly the same number as his own, and given their arrogant demeanor, he was determined to capture them.
The second-in-command thought that he would deal with the one who made the first move, and his men could deal with the rest to buy some time. He would then send someone up the mountain to report the news.
Once the eldest brother arrives with his men, all these people will have to obediently stay and serve as their "two-legged sheep."
Having made up his mind, he gritted his teeth and led his brothers to charge towards the Xie family's convoy.
The Xie family heroes, who had trained for a long time, were no pushovers either. Seeing this, they roared and charged forward to fight the other side.
The scene was both comical and bizarre. More than 20 bandits rushed up but there weren't enough to go around, and they were killed by the tribesmen in just a few breaths.
These were honest men who had never seen such a method of killing before, so some of them immediately panicked and looked around helplessly.
Old Li was also stunned by the scene and speechless, but fortunately, he was experienced in traveling and immediately reassured everyone, saying, "Don't panic! These heads can be used to collect rewards at the county government."
After saying that, he swallowed hard. He was still shaken and wondered who his master was and how he could use such methods.
"Bounty?"
Xie Ming spoke first.
"Yes, this area is rife with bandits. The imperial court sends troops to suppress them every year, but they are too familiar with the terrain. When the troops come, they hide in the mountains and no one can find them. Once the government troops leave, they come out again. The county magistrate has been replaced countless times because of this."
"How much silver would we get if we took everything down from the mountain?"
Xie Ming's bright eyes and cheerful voice eased the atmosphere of fear among the crowd.
Old Li held out 5 of these.
"50 taels?"
Old Li shook his head and said, "No! 500, but this is by no means an easy task. Don't underestimate us."
Xie Ming pointed to the corpses on the ground and said bluntly, "We have already made a blood feud with them, and it seems we must settle this score!"
The scene immediately fell silent, and the old clan chief sitting in the back also got out of the carriage.
Having known each other for so long, Xie Ming already knew this person was quite remarkable, so he quickly went over and helped him up.
"Search those thieves first!"
As expected, Xie Ming was not disappointed when the old patriarch spoke.
When the young men pulled out silver notes containing a total of 1,620 taels from those people, their eyes widened in astonishment.
"They probably brought all their belongings with them, and some of them might be quite influential. This feud is now in the making."
He paused for a moment, then added, "But judging from the exchange just now, he might not necessarily lose."
Hearing this, the men, who had never done anything wrong, felt relieved and began to chatter about the important matter of suppressing the bandits.
Once the matter was settled, the clansmen handed the silver notes to the old clan chief for safekeeping. They immediately cleared out an oxcart and moved all the corpses on the ground onto it, intending to use it to collect the reward money from the county government.
Many of the women on the bus witnessed the men rummaging through the corpse, and they were so anxious that they were stamping their feet, thinking that the young men had hidden every penny of money and cash.
After thinking it over and over again, they couldn't care less about anything else. They quickly got off the carriage and searched the place again, and they actually found more than 300 taels of silver.
The aunties and grandmothers who received the silver were overjoyed and said, "You children, leave these things to us aunties from now on."
This incident made the scene a bit more lively and relaxed.
After making arrangements, Xie Ming took almost all the able-bodied men and young women and headed straight for the mountain. It wasn't that he was heartless, but that the elderly and weak he left behind could still protect themselves.
As soon as he went up the mountain, he encountered the leader of the bandits who were leading a large group of men down the mountain. This time, the number of men coming down the mountain was much larger, numbering as many as 70 or 80.
Moreover, unlike the previous people, they weren't empty-handed.
As soon as the two sides met, Xie Ming grabbed the wood-chopping knife from his house and slashed at the people rushing towards him, killing them one by one. In just a few breaths, he had taken down more than 10 people.
The men who followed were also spurred into action, brandishing their knives and sticks at the newcomers.
As soon as someone collapsed, the aunties who came along started touching them, it was almost like a production line.
They were a group of "honest men" who were more like robbers than actual robbers, and they wiped out the entire mountain before nightfall.
Niujiaofeng was the Xie family's most mortal enemy from their past lives. Xie Ming didn't control the blades in his clansmen's hands at all, letting them kill to their hearts' content until the last person fell. Only then did he move to quell the violent and vicious aura in the arena.
Xie Ming reminded everyone not to touch anything on the mountain, but he allowed someone to touch the corpse.
If they took too much, the government would probably not let them off the hook. As for "petty gains," the officials wouldn't care too much.
When everyone descended the mountain with over 6,000 taels of silver, they were all in a daze.
"Father! Is all that money ours?"
Qi Li nervously approached Xie Ming and asked.
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