No one expected that Li Zhu went down the mountain to do that kind of thing. Li Zhu was so angry that he wanted to go down the mountain to catch people himself, but was stopped by Feng Yuheng. She asked Li Zhu one last time: "Do you really want to follow me? Give up everything in Qingshan Village?"
Li Zhu nodded, "I have never thought of living in this mountain for a long time, but I have been suffering from the lack of opportunities. As long as the princess does not despise us, from now on, the one hundred of us brothers will be the princess's private soldiers. As long as the princess gives an order, even if it means we rebel against Dashun, we will do it."
"Yes!" people responded immediately, "From now on, we will only listen to the princess!"
Feng Yuheng nodded, "Okay! In that case, I now ask you to pack your clothes immediately and count the horses in the village. Those who have families should also bring their families with them. We will go down the mountain today. The property in the mountain will belong to Ji'an County, and I will be in charge of the allocation. In addition, the compensation of fifty taels of silver for each household of the villagers at the foot of the mountain will be paid from the silver you have in the mountain. Do you have any objections?"
"No." Li Zhu shook his head, and everyone followed suit, saying in unison: "No."
"That's it, then. Get moving and pack up now." After saying that, he looked at Li Zhu's wife again and said with a smile, "You are lucky to have come with us. At least I can give you injections every day."
With this arrangement, the 100 soldiers in Qingshan Village belonged to Feng Yuheng in the blink of an eye and became the first batch of private soldiers in Ji'an County. Even Ban Zou admired her very much. You know, with these 100 people in hand, they will be more confident. Although Ji'an County is Feng Yuheng's fiefdom, she has never intervened in it, and she doesn't know what the situation is like there. It is always difficult to do things without some capable people at hand.
It took people two hours to pack up. They didn't have much belongings with them, so they packed up quickly. Some people got married, bringing their wives and children. The women were very happy. When they heard that he was following Princess Ji'an, they knew that they had finally waited for the right person, and from now on they would no longer have to live in fear. Although it was free to be the king of the mountain, they were not without worries. First, they were afraid that the Eighth Prince would find out the whereabouts of this group of people and send troops to encircle and suppress them; second, they were also afraid that the government would suddenly have a whim and destroy Qingshan Village one day; third, this was a business that risked their lives. Who knew they would encounter a master during the robbery and be killed by him instead.
The women followed their men and were not afraid of death, but those who had children had more considerations, always hoping that the children could live a decent life. They waited for so long, day after day, and finally Feng Yuheng came. This day was a festival for the people of Qingshan Village.
There were 120 horses in the village, 100 of which could be ridden, and the other 20 were just enough to be harnessed to the carriages for the women and children. Li Zhu directed his brothers to carry out all the treasures hidden in the mountains, and they also filled four carriages. People happily told Feng Yuheng that they didn't know what to do with these treasures after they robbed them, so they kept them except for the normal food and clothing expenses in the mountain village, hoping that one day they could follow the Ninth Prince and then give these things away.
Li Zhu took two bundles of silver and handed them to Feng Yuheng: "Princess, these silvers are for you. You can distribute them to the villagers below later! We really didn't know that they didn't dare to go up the mountain to find food and chop firewood. It's all our fault. In addition, Hu Laosan and his men did such a thing, so they are not worthy of following the team. After going down the mountain, let the princess deal with them."
Feng Yuheng nodded, and gave intensive instructions to the carriage carrying Li Zhu's wife, to pour disinfectant in the carriage in advance, and to open the curtains, before ordering everyone to go down the mountain.
She was on the mountain until the afternoon. People hadn't eaten yet, but they didn't feel hungry. Their hearts were filled with excitement, so they didn't have time to eat! But Feng Yuheng also said that people couldn't go without food. After all, they had to continue their journey. They were delayed today and had to leave overnight. Fortunately, there was a lot of food stored in the mountains. Some of it was loaded into the carriage and brought down the mountain. More than half of it could not be taken away. Feng Yuheng decided to leave ten people to guard it, and when they arrived at the border of Haizhou, they would buy some carriages to load it.
At the foot of the mountain, the villagers watched so many bandits coming down the mountain in a mighty force, and they were so scared that they hid back in their houses, fearing that the bandits would hurt them. But they didn't expect that the person who led the bandits down the mountain was the young lady who came last night, and they didn't expect that after the bandits came down the mountain, under the instruction of the young lady, they began to distribute silver to each household to apologize, and each household received fifty taels of silver.
Such a large amount of silver is enough for a family to live on for several years, or even ten years if they are a bit more frugal. People didn't understand why the bandits suddenly changed their nature until Li Zhu spoke as a representative and told them that there would be no more bandits in the mountains in the future, and that they would follow Princess Ji'an to Ji'an County to live an upright life in the sun, and he repeatedly apologized for the inconvenience he had brought to the people.
Only then did people realize that the young lady who was so good at fighting was actually the famous Princess Ji'an! My God, this was the most powerful official they had ever seen, right?
Then everyone rushed out of the house and knelt down to kowtow to Feng Yuheng, as if they were worshipping a Buddha. No matter how Feng Yuheng tried to stop them, they would not get up. Later, Li Zhu yelled a few times at the top of his voice before people got up. It seemed that the remaining power of the bandits was effective.
But the villagers were all very kind. Knowing that these bandits had stopped being bandits and followed the princess, and had given them so much silver, they happily opened their doors and used the food and meat they brought down from the mountains to help the more than 100 people make lunch. Some women even made a lot of pancakes and wrapped them in oil paper for Feng Yuheng to take with him on the road.
Hu Laosan and his men knelt without saying a word, but the envy and yearning in their eyes could not be concealed. Li Zhu knew what they were thinking and why they were in a hurry to go down the mountain to rob the women. It was really because of his wife's illness that the whole village was not very angry. He could understand Hu Laosan very well and wanted to beat him up according to the rules of the village, but he would spare his life and they would still be brothers in the future. But now the village is gone, they are all the people of Princess Ji'an, and he, Li Zhu, no longer has a say in Hu Laosan and his men.
Xiangrong was sitting next to Feng Yuheng drinking porridge, and noticed the helpless look in Li Zhu's eyes when he looked at Hu Laosan. She had heard Huang Quan tell her everything that happened on the mountain like a story. She felt that these people were not bad in nature, but they made mistakes because they were not thoughtful enough. It was not unforgivable, not to mention that her second sister had just recaptured these people. If she killed them rashly, she would probably leave a bad impression on others.
She whispered her thoughts to Feng Yuheng, still timidly, not confident, afraid that she would say something wrong and make her second sister laugh. Unexpectedly, Feng Yuheng laughed, but not at her, she praised her: "We think Rong has really grown up, and can think about things so comprehensively, second sister is very happy."
"Really?" Xiangrong's face turned red. "Second sister thinks so too?"
Feng Yuheng nodded, "You are right. We can show our power, but it is not a law. Since these people have been taken in, we have to treat them as brothers in the future. If our brothers make mistakes, we cannot kill them with one blow, but should teach them in a positive way. Only when teaching fails can we make further considerations."
"So how does Second Sister plan to deal with them?" Xiang Rong was looking forward to it and wanted to say a few more words, but she was afraid that if she said too much, it would interfere with Feng Yuheng's original intention, so she stopped talking and just waited to hear what Feng Yuheng said.
Feng Yuheng asked her instead: "Xiangrong, what do you think? Why don't you give Second Sister some advice? Since you've come out with me, you can't be a secluded lady like you were in the capital. You have to know that from the moment you got on my carriage, it means that you are independent from now on. From then on, you have to rely on yourself for everything, have your own ideas, have your own thoughts, and make certain contributions to the place where you are going to live and the people you are going to live with. We are not going to play, but to build a home. Xiangrong, Second Sister hopes that you, a child with ideas, can also show your own abilities, instead of going to Ji'an County to be a well-behaved girl. That would be meaningless."
Xiangrong was very excited when she heard what her second sister said. She didn't want to live like before, so she persuaded An to let her leave the capital. She wanted to stay with her second sister and be a useful person. Even if she could only help a little, it would be a change for her.
So, the little girl straightened her body and said confidently: "Second sister, I've thought about it. Just now, Sister Huang Quan said that she would leave some people in the mountains to guard the food and grass. Why not leave these six people here as well, go back to the mountains to watch over the house at night, and let them chop wood and hunt game in the mountains during the day, and then send them all to the farmers' homes at the foot of the mountain, and use their own strength to atone their sins until the farmers forgive them. Second sister, what do you think?" After she said this, her eyes were filled with expectation.
Feng Yuheng did not let her down and nodded, fully affirming Xiangrong's plan. He called Hu Laosan and Li Zhu to come over and told them about Xiangrong's idea. Hu Laosan immediately brought five brothers to kowtow to Feng Yuheng, saying, "Thank you, Princess, for not killing us. We will never dare to do it again! Please rest assured, Princess, we brothers will help the villagers here with peace of mind. As long as the villagers need us, we will take care of all the dirty and tiring work. If the villagers don't need anything, we will chop wood and hunt in the mountains, and deliver all the things to the villagers' yards. At night, we will guard the food and wait for the caravan to come back."
Li Zhu did not expect Feng Yuheng to take such an approach in the end. He excitedly told all the soldiers about it, and everyone became more convinced and supportive of Princess Ji'an.
The team stayed in this small village until the end of the afternoon before they started to pack up and set off. Because they had to travel overnight, Feng Yuheng specifically instructed that quilts for nighttime use be prepared in each carriage, as it was still very cold at night.
The motorcade, which was already quite spectacular, became even more majestic after the addition of more than a hundred people. Feng Yuheng sat in the car, with a smile unconsciously rising to the corners of his lips.
Ji'an County, they are almost there!
On the twenty-ninth day of the first lunar month, the capital received an urgent war report sent by the Biannan army and the prefect of Lanzhou. The ancient Shu united with ten small countries in the desert to attack the southern border of Dashun. The Biannan army fought hard but was gradually defeated...
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