Lin Wanwan brought her people back home and saw two people lying on the table. Lin Wu and his men stepped forward, tied them up and threw them on the ground.
Shen Mo turned the two people over with his feet and observed their clothes and appearance.
"These two should be the leaders of Hutou Village. How do you want to deal with them?"
Lin Wanwan snorted coldly, "Let the county magistrate interrogate them and punish them according to the law. They have committed many evil deeds. It would be a shame if they are not given the punishment in prison!"
Shen Mo curled the corners of his lips and said with a smile: "Then they may not live to be executed."
"They deserve it! Just use some ginseng slices to keep them alive! Damn it, how many families and girls have they harmed! I asked around yesterday, and they kidnapped at least 30 or 40 girls and killed more than a hundred people, not even sparing a one-month-old baby! They are worse than beasts! Bah! Lin Wu! Throw out everything they used, I'm so disgusted!"
"Yes, girl!"
After a while, County Magistrate Gao and his men hurried in. He glanced at the bandits on the ground and suddenly found one of them looked familiar. He hurriedly squatted down and looked at him carefully.
As if thinking of something, he stood up with a sullen face and said to Lin Wanwan: "The bandits who broke into the village have been found and tied up. I have to take them back for interrogation. I won't keep them any longer. Don't worry, they will be punished according to the law within two days!"
Lin Wanwan nodded and said, "Okay, thank you for your hard work! I won't take you any longer. The ox cart is ready. I'll let Lin Wen and the others take you back."
"Okay, thank you Miss Lin!"
"You're welcome, sir. This is what we should do."
Lin Wanwan sent Magistrate Gao to the door, then turned to Shen Mo and said, "It's so late, you should go back to sleep! You haven't had a good rest in the past two days."
"Okay, go back to sleep too!"
Shen Mo watched her walk back into the house before turning around and walking back into the dark night to search with the patrol team to see if there were any fish that had escaped the net.
The next day, seeing that there was no longer any danger in the village, they sent people to bring the elderly and children back. The refugees and people from other villages also returned to the outside of the village to line up for water.
After the interrogation, Magistrate Gao personally led people to Hutou Village, rescued the girls, and secretly sent them back to their homes. The woman who served Sun Youhu hated him so much that she led the magistrate to find the secret room where the treasures were hidden. Inside the room were letters between the county magistrate and Sun Youhu, and the account book of money Sun Youhu paid to the county magistrate every month. This was solid evidence that the county magistrate was colluding with the bandits, so Magistrate Gao immediately reported the matter to the state government.
The bandits in the prison had been tortured to the point of being on the verge of death, but the jailers did not let them go. They used various torture instruments in turn, and they just had to stay alive until the execution.
The location of Hutouzhai is superior, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The imperial court sent people to encircle and suppress it many times, but all failed. When the prefect of Yunzhou heard the news, he personally led people to Yun'an County and tried the case together with County Magistrate Gao.
Compensation was given to the persecuted families, and all the occupied fields and shops were returned. The county magistrate and Sun Youhu were severely punished, and their property was confiscated and they were executed in the autumn. Others were also executed or exiled, and no one was spared.
At the end of the trial, because too many officials were involved, they had no idea where to start, so they could only report everything to Prime Minister Shen. What happened afterwards was not their business.
It was a rare heavy rain that fell in various places. It lasted for three or four days, moistening the dry fields and filling the rivers and ponds with water again. The people could not help but cry for joy. They had finally survived!
Some refugees took the dry food distributed by the county and set out on the road back to their hometowns, while some did not want to go back and wanted to settle down here. County Magistrate Gao also agreed and divided them into different villages and asked the village heads to take them back.
Linjia Village received the most refugees, and many refugees gathered in the thatched huts and thatched houses outside the village entrance, unwilling to leave. They were grateful for the help provided by Linjia Village and wanted to live here. County Magistrate Gao was at a loss as to what to do but ask the head of the village to take them back to the village.
But there are nearly two hundred refugees, and there are not enough houses in the village for them to live in!
Lin Wanwan had no choice but to have people vacate the workshop's dormitory and let them move in first. After two days of repairs, she let them build houses together with the villagers. Every day, Lin Wanwan would distribute food to them according to how much effort they put in.
Most of the crops in the field died of drought, only potatoes were still growing tenaciously. She planted another batch of food and sent some of it back to Magistrate Gao.
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