"I see. It's alright. Now that I'm here, you don't need to worry about these things. I can handle everything."
The fat county magistrate said:
"In that case, I'm sorry to trouble you, Magistrate."
Zhu Yunwen smiled, then stood up and said:
"County Magistrate, you go ahead and get busy. I'll familiarize myself with the situation and then go to the back office to rest."
The fat county magistrate stood up:
"Should I accompany the magistrate and introduce him to everyone around?"
Zhu Yunwen waved his hand:
"No need, you can go about your business."
With that, Zhu Yunwen walked out of the hall.
Throughout the entire process, Zhao Qingzhu stayed by his side. After they left and reached a secluded spot, Zhao Qingzhu finally spoke to Zhu Yunwen:
"I always felt that the fat county magistrate was a bit strange."
Zhu Yunwen nodded and said:
"It's more than just strange, it's downright suspicious. Just you wait and see, things will gradually come to light. Some of the most deeply hidden individuals will soon be exposed by me."
As he spoke, Zhu Yunwen toured the county government office. He found that most of the officials were busy with their tasks, and overall, everything seemed to be going smoothly.
It seems that the only abnormal thing about this place is that there are too many bandits and outlaws.
It's as if this Black Cloud County has some special place that attracts those mountain bandits and outlaws.
Zhao Qingzhu followed behind Zhu Yunwen and asked again:
"Is it possible that the band of mountain bandits who intercepted us on the road were that Axe Gang?"
Zhu Yunwen thought for a moment and said:
"That should be it. We came from the north, and we are indeed about twenty miles away from here. It should be referring to them."
This puzzled Zhao Qingzhu, who then said:
"However, the county magistrate said that the new bandits were called the Axe Gang, but none of the bandits we encountered on the road used axes; they all used swords, knives, clubs, and the like."
They didn't use axes as their weapons, so why did they choose an axe as the name of their gang?
These words stunned Zhu Yunwen. After stopping and thinking carefully for a moment, a mysterious smile appeared on his face.
Then he turned to Zhao Qingzhu and said:
"You've hit the nail on the head. Yes, their name is Axe Gang, so why don't they use axes as weapons?"
The Axe Gang's weapon wasn't an axe, which puzzled Zhao Qingzhu, while Zhu Yunwen had already guessed what was going on.
So he said to Zhao Jiuling and Zhao Qingzhu:
"Is it possible that these bandits and mountain thieves have always been the same group of people, just with different names?"
Among many names, "Axe Gang" is just one of many. Therefore, the name itself is not so important, and whether it fits their gang's identity is irrelevant.
Zhao Qingzhu, whose intelligence was limited, was even more confused after hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, and scratched his head, saying:
"Is this Axe Gang the same group as those old mountain bandits? That's impossible, isn't it? Didn't that fat county magistrate say that he had wiped out many other mountain bandits? He said that this Axe Gang is a new group, how could they be the same group as the old mountain bandits?"
Zhu Yunwen said with a smile:
"Silly girl, you believe everything he says? Putting everything else aside, just this one thing. Is there really something special about Black Cloud County that attracts so many bandits and mountain thieves?"
In some other counties, it's rare for a band of mountain bandits to appear every few years. Even if a place frequently has bandits, that place must be a very remote county, and it must be a very poor place.
Because this place will naturally produce some bandits and outlaws. To give a simple example, if Black Cloud County is very poor and many people are starving and cold, then some people will take a path of no return, that is, become outlaws and become kings in the mountains.
These bandits and outlaws made a living by robbing and plundering. However, even after they were eliminated by the imperial court or local governments, other bandit groups would quickly emerge.
Because there are too many poor people, and they can't survive, they have no choice but to turn to crime. Therefore, it's understandable that bandits and outlaws continue to emerge in remote and impoverished areas.
But look at Heiyun County, does it look like a poor place? When we first entered Heiyun County, we were amazed by how well the people there lived; it was a very prosperous place.
Leaving aside the people in the city, even in the villages we passed through, we didn't see many people who were particularly poor.
Especially now, with the court's policies being very good and the people receiving land, it's even less likely that they would risk becoming mountain bandits or outlaws.
Therefore, one thing can be absolutely ruled out: those so-called mountain bandits and outlaws could not possibly have been forced into such a life by desperate people from Heishui County.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Qingzhu roughly understood what Zhu Yunwen meant and said:
"So you mean that it's impossible for bandits to exist within Heishui County, and the people wouldn't go so far as to become bandits themselves. Therefore, the bandits and outlaws here over the years must have come from other places."
Zhu Yunwen rolled his eyes and said:
"The claim that the mountain bandits and outlaws came from other places is just the fat county magistrate's side of the story. Anyone with a little brainpower would realize that this is impossible."
The world is so big, why is it that only Heiyun County attracts so many bandits and outlaws? Why are there no bandit and outlaw incidents in the surrounding counties of Heiyun County, which are also wealthy?
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
