The man calmly moved away from her before continuing, "That's exactly what I wanted to tell you. Su He has already interrogated the county magistrate. It's said that the grain and salary were stolen by bandits."
"Bandits? How did they know the food would arrive at that time?"
Or, with so many officers and soldiers, could they just watch helplessly as the food and supplies were snatched away?
Also, why was this matter not reported to the court?
Helian Shengguang knew from her expression that she had guessed a lot of things, so he continued, "Qin Yong has an unusual relationship with these bandits. It's hard to say that there is no cooperation between them."
Duan Qingxi asked, "You mean, these bandits are secretly colluding with Qin Yong, and Qin Yong deliberately sent the disaster victims to the mountains to become bandits, in order to force them to work for him? And to thank the bandits, he gave the grain to them?"
Helian Sheng didn't say yes or no, but simply said, "Anyway, we are going to suppress the bandits, so this is a good opportunity to take back the grain."
After a pause, he looked at Duan Qingxi and asked, "Do you have any good ideas?"
Duan Qingxi frowned and said, "But I don't know much about these bandits."
Hearing this, Helian Sheng stood up and said to her, "Follow me."
Duan Qingxi quickly stood up and was about to go out with him when he suddenly thought of something. He quickly stepped back, found his coat and put it on, then tidied himself up before going out to chase Helian Sheng.
The two of them walked directly to the county magistrate's former study, which had been completely cleared out by Helian Sheng and became a place where Helian Sheng temporarily handled things.
Su He, Xuan Yi and Xuan Er were all there. When they saw Helian Sheng and Duan Qingxi, they saluted them.
Su He said: "Your Majesty, everything is ready."
Helian Sheng said "hmm" lightly, and brought Duan Qingxi to a very long table.
There was a long map on the table. It was roughly drawn, but it was barely legible.
Helian Shengdao said, "This is the hilltop where the bandits are entrenched, but no one has yet been able to pinpoint their exact location. We only know they're probably operating around this area."
Duan Qingxi looked at the hilltops and frowned, "They really know how to choose a location!"
As she spoke, she pointed at the map and said, "These paths leading up the mountain are all dangerous places. They are difficult to conquer but easy to defend. The terrain is extremely high. If we want to send people to encircle and suppress them, I'm afraid they will be discovered before we even reach the top of the mountain where they are!"
After a pause, she took another closer look and continued, "Furthermore, these hills are very closely connected and the terrain is rugged. It's not easy to encircle them from other places. Even if we want to set fire to force them out, it's impossible. They are also very familiar with the terrain here, so even if we have a map, it will be useless."
Su He was stunned. They also knew this, but it was a conclusion they came to after studying it carefully for several nights.
This is also the reason why they have been unable to encircle and suppress those bandits even though they have this map.
Helian Shengdao said, "You are right. Therefore, our top priority now is to find a way to solve this problem."
Duan Qingxi sat down and stared at the map carefully for a long time.
But no matter how she looked, she couldn't find any flaws.
In fact, it is not difficult to suppress bandits, it just takes time.
But the problem is, they don't have time.
They will have to return to Beijing soon. If these bandits cannot be dealt with, it will be useless even if the flood problem is solved.
Being harassed by bandits all year round is no better than suffering from floods.
Moreover, these bandits have brought with them a lot of new victims, and their team is even stronger. If we don't get rid of them today, it will become more difficult to get rid of them in the future when they become stronger.
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