Chapter 7 The Clever Bandit "So I have a wish,...
"What nonsense!" The county magistrate stood up angrily, "What are you still standing here for? Drag this man away!"
The bailiff was smart. He covered the donkey dealer's mouth and quickly dragged him away.
Wait for the person to be dragged out of the court.
The county magistrate's mother stood up and said to the crowd outside the door with a slightly tired look: "My son has been in office for a few years. He is not strong-willed and has not been able to withstand the temptation of power and wealth. There may be many shortcomings. I hope everyone will forgive him.
From now on, anyone with any objections to previous cases can appeal again, and I will definitely let my son give everyone justice. "
As soon as these words were spoken, the people outside could not help but whisper to each other, and a hint of doubt could be seen in everyone's eyes.
Apparently no one believed it.
After this incident, the government office was as deserted as usual, and the people did not seem to take the county magistrate's mother's words to heart.
It was not until the fourth day that the county government received the first case that needed to be retried.
The case was handled fairly, which set a good example. Later, more and more people came to the government office to request a retrial.
The government office was overcrowded for nearly half a month.
Pei Yixue and the others were not sure which cases were tried specifically.
I just heard that the criminals did not receive the punishment they deserved, and all the money that was used as bribes to the county magistrate was compensated to the victim.
If the criminal does not pay enough money for bribery, the government will force him to make up the difference.
Because so much money was given away in a short period of time, the county magistrate's mansion was no longer as luxurious as before.
The mother of the county magistrate, who served as a juror every day, used to have her hair full of pearl hairpins and silks and satins, but now she has her hair tied up in a bun with a wooden hairpin and wears coarse linen clothes.
After half a month, the sick donkey that Pei Yixue and his friends bought had recovered.
After the team responsible for finding sales channels established connections with neighboring counties, the convoy set off with loads of medicinal materials.
It takes a full eight hours for a donkey to travel from Daohua Village to Shuichun County without stopping.
Songwu Mountain is the only way for Pei Yixue and his men to pass. It is well known that bandits often appear in this area.
Under the shade of the trees, the donkeys leisurely nibbled the weeds on the ground.
Pei Yixue leaned against a tree, took the water from Xie Yushu's hand and took a sip, then turned around and continued talking to the person next to him about the dancing elephant in the cartoon.
The atmosphere was just right, but it was ruthlessly broken by someone who didn't understand romance.
"Boss." Zhang Xi came up to them, "Songwu Mountain is ahead. Shall we take a detour?"
These words were like pouring a bucket of cold water on Pei Yixue.
If they went around Songwu Mountain, their journey would be slowed down by at least three hours.
When we arrived at Shuichun County, the city gates had been closed.
What’s worse is that in the cold winter, the daytime temperature is extremely low, and people may not be able to bear it if they spend the night outside.
But if we don't take a detour and run into bandits, it will only be more trouble than gain.
Pei Yixue had been struggling all the way over whether to take a detour or not.
He decided to take it one step at a time and hasn't made a final decision yet.
Now that we have come to this, we have to make a decision.
"Around——" He hadn't even finished the last syllable of the word.
A group of bearded and ferocious-looking men jumped out of the jungle.
"Don't move, damn!"
These people all held big knives in their hands, and then spread out and surrounded them.
Pei Yixue glanced at them calmly and saw two big red characters "Ji Shi" embroidered on the backs of the bandits' clothes.
It is the bandit symbol of Songwu Mountain.
Although each of the men in their caravan was a strong man of eight feet tall and as strong as the bandits, they were still afraid from the bottom of their hearts when they saw the bandits licking blood from the edge of a knife.
They all raised their hands obediently and dared not move.
The leading bandit held up a knife and strode triumphantly toward Pei Yixue.
"You, are the one in charge?"
The knife in his hand was pointed at Pei Yixue and waved, as if he would chop someone if he was dissatisfied.
Pei Yixue was about to speak when he was caught off guard by Xie Yushu who stood beside him and protected him behind him.
"Wife?" The bandit leader glanced at Xie Yushu, his eyes wandering over Pei Yixue, who was naked and not covered at all. "She has a great figure."
Xie Yushu moved his body, trying to block the bandit's sight. He had heard that bandits would not only rob people of their money but also their women, and Pei Yixue's face was too eye-catching among the group of men.
The bandit who was in charge of checking the goods opened all the sacks and said to us urgently, "Brother Hu, these are all medicinal herbs."
"Damn it!" The bandit leader Brother Hu in front of him suddenly looked fierce, and was about to put the knife in his hand on Xie Yushu's neck.
Pei Yixue's eyes darkened, and he quickly pulled Xie Yushu behind him and asked the bandits, "What do you want?"
While asking the question, he quietly opened the porcelain bottle with his hands hidden under his wide sleeves.
The brown powder fell silently to the ground without anyone noticing.
"My old man's barley?"
"What barley?" Pei Yixue wondered.
He said this, but he was counting silently in his heart.
One, two…
Pei Yixue caught the fallen Xie Yushu.
Immediately afterwards, there were a few "bangs", and the bandits, villagers and even donkeys present fell to the ground one after another.
A strengthened version of the drug that knocks out animals. Once it is sprinkled on the ground, it will spread at a speed visible to the naked eye.
No living thing over 20 meters long could escape.
Pei Yixue held the person in his arms tightly, took out a small porcelain bottle from his chest, and placed it under Xie Yushu's nose.
After a while, Xie Yushu opened his eyes again.
He helped the man sit down against the tree trunk, "It will take some time for your strength to recover. Ah Shu, wait for me here. I'll go check on the others."
After waking up the villagers and the donkey one by one, Pei Yixue wanted to wait until the villagers had recovered some strength before tying up the bandits.
When I stood up, I vaguely heard a sound coming from the woods in the distance.
Looking back, he saw a dozen archers appearing from the treetops and ground, all aiming at him.
A bandit on the ground was surrounded by three or five younger brothers. He was wearing a fox fur coat with a large collar, and looked like a mature man in his thirties. There was a calm and shrewd look in his eyes. He did not look like a bandit, but more like a young man from a wealthy family who was out for a picnic.
"You, wake them up too, and move quickly." As the Fox Fur Territory bandits finished speaking, all the archers pulled their bowstrings to their full length.
If Pei Yixue dared to make any unnecessary movements, he would be shot into a sieve immediately.
He could only act according to the bandit's words.
All the people who had just been knocked unconscious woke up in less than half a minute.
The bandits on that side never moved, as if they were afraid of getting too close to the convoy and getting accidentally hit and knocked unconscious.
After the effect of the drug wore off, the bandits recovered their strength and tied up Pei Yixue and the others.
Brother Hu came up to Pei Yixue with a menacing look on his face, and slammed the big knife in his hand onto the side of his neck, nearly dislocating his shoulder.
"Damn it, you are really good at playing dirty tricks. If you don't have a ransom of 1,800 taels, forget about going back!"
They could not go to Shuichun County, so they were transported to Jishizhaizi with their donkeys.
Songwu Mountain has a unique terrain, with cliffs on three sides and only one road leading up the mountain.
It is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it is located at the junction of four counties. If you get robbed here, you don’t know which county to go to report to the police.
Even if they reported it to the authorities, the four counties were unwilling to send troops to encircle and suppress the rebellion, and would often simply evade the issue.
Songwu Mountain was not close to where they were resting, and Jishizhai was located on the top of the mountain, so the journey was long.
I don’t know how long it was before the hoods on Pei Yixue and the others’ heads were torn off, and they realized that it was almost dark.
There is a sentry tower every ten meters in the mountain stronghold, and people patrolling back and forth on the high walls from time to time.
It's simply wishful thinking to escape.
At this time, a female bandit led a group of children around. The oldest was twelve or thirteen years old, and the youngest was only three or four years old.
"That's a lot of barley." The female bandit touched the sack and said cheerfully with a little excitement, "It's enough for us to survive the winter."
"What barley?" Tiger said gloomily, "It's all damn inedible stuff. It made us get up early and work late all day long."
The bandits were talking among themselves.
Pei Yixue, however, had something in mind.
He learned from the bandits' conversation that they were intercepted because someone provided them with false information.
Tell the bandits that they are carrying barley on their truck.
Pei Yixue glanced casually at the villagers in the convoy, trying to find some clues from them.
Was it someone in the convoy, or a villager who stayed in the village, or someone else who provided information about their whereabouts?
Thinking of this, he sighed.
After this lesson, he felt that it would be better to change his caravan into a escort agency in the future.
But the villagers are not suitable for fighting and killing, and the bandits in front of them are members of the escort agency who have come to their doorstep.
Jishizhai claims to be a group of people who save the world and what they do save are homeless children. Most of the people they rob are passing merchant caravans. They rob people of their money but do not harm their lives. This makes them much better than other bandits who burn, kill and rob.
Judging from the bandits' conversation, they have trouble surviving the winter.
It's really not easy to be a bandit like this.
Pei Yixue interrupted the bandits who were talking, "Everyone, can you listen to me?"
He lobbied the bandits to join him in running the escort agency, offering them layers of benefits.
The salary is quite high, with an eight-hour workday, ten days off a month, etc.
Of course, the escort work hours are special, and holidays can be adjusted and superimposed.
Provide retirement support, and if you die accidentally, you can also support the elderly and children in your family.
The bandits were stunned when they heard this, but Brother Tiger suddenly became angry, "You can really make up anything to survive. Do you think we will believe you? All businessmen are insidious and cunning, especially you medicine sellers and doctors, you are the worst."
The man ripped open a sack and grabbed handfuls of herbs and threw them at him.
"It's obviously not difficult to grow medicinal herbs, but after all your efforts, the price has increased tenfold or a hundredfold."
"It's obvious that everyone can afford the medicine, but in the end, few can afford it."
"Treatment of a disease can cost a family a fortune, and those without any money can only endure or wait to die."
"You black-hearted businessmen, will you provide for people's retirement?"
Brother Hu spoke so much that his eyes were red and he was panting.
Pei Yixue did not refute, but agreed: "Indeed, the current price increase of medicinal materials is very serious."
He paused, and then said, "So I have a wish. I hope that everyone in the world can afford to treat their illness, regardless of whether they are rich or poor."
Brother Hu made some sarcastic remarks to him again, but he didn't care.
He was speaking from his heart.
One day, he would make it possible for the people of the entire Daqing Kingdom, and even the people of neighboring countries, to afford medical treatment even if they had no money to eat.
"You don't believe in the future, so why not consider the current problems first." Pei Yixue said, "Do you want to live like this forever? Living on the edge of a knife every day, worrying about your livelihood, are you willing? What about these children?"
A young man immediately glanced at the bandits around him, like a stray dog afraid of being abandoned again, and said hurriedly: "Who said we don't want to?"
Seeing this, the other children followed suit.
"Yes, who said we don't want to?"
"Our cottage is fine."
Pei Yixue asked the bandits led by Hu Qiu, "What do you think, Boss?"
Qi Da was pulled back to his thoughts by him, and looked up at him, "Why should we trust you?"
Pei Yixue is now just an unknown medicinal material merchant. He has no power, and he is not rich enough to rival a country.
There is absolutely no convincing strength.
"Let's not talk about money and power for now." Qi Da chuckled, "With our current status, how can we enter the world as good citizens?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
