Dingshui Village has a total of 56 households, with more than 300 people of all ages, but only about 180 young and middle-aged men and women.
Only a little over a hundred able-bodied young men came out tonight, including Meng Tianze, a hunter who lived at the end of the village, and Chen Shao, the youngest son of Aunt Qin, who was usually the smartest person in the whole village.
The two of them, along with Jiang Qinyu, formed the vanguard trio to scout ahead tonight.
When they were still two miles away from Qinggang Mountain, Jiang Qinyu reminded them, "Village chief, it's time to tell everyone to put out their torches."
It was late at night, and their village was more than ten miles away from Qinggang Mountain, so it was impossible to come out completely in the dark. The team lit a few torches.
Village Chief Li stopped and gestured for the people behind him to stop, then asked Jiang Qinyu, "Isn't it too early to eliminate them now?"
It's two miles away, and the road up the mountain is difficult to walk on. What if someone falls and gets hurt?
Jiang Qinyu was very annoyed and patiently explained, "Qinggang Mountain has been a scourge to the village for so many years, they must have arranged for people to patrol at night. They are on the mountain and can see far. If we swagger over there with torches, tonight's plan will be ruined."
Perhaps due to their natural fear of bandits, the villagers were all on edge tonight, and no one paid attention to many details. But when they heard Jiang Qinyu's words, they immediately realized what was going on.
Village Chief Li slapped his forehead. "You're right! Those behind, hurry up and put out the torches!"
The fire in the ranks quickly went out, but some people still couldn't see the bigger picture and kept grumbling unconvinced.
"What would a woman like her know? She's two miles away, how could she possibly see us?"
"Exactly, I don't know what they're up to. It's pitch black, do they want us to be blind?"
Upon hearing these remarks, Village Chief Li immediately raised his voice and shouted, "What do you know! I don't have time to argue with you right now. Those who want to go, shut the hell up and listen to me. Cowards can go back now!"
The whole grain-grabbing thing was already upsetting enough, and these people were adding to his troubles. How could he not get angry?
"It's no big deal, Village Chief, don't be angry. Let's do as we agreed before and have Old Meng take Ah Shao and my eldest son's family to scout ahead," Old Man Lu stepped in to smooth things over.
Thinking of the important matter at hand, Village Chief Li took a deep breath and looked at Meng Tianze and Chen Shao, "You guys must be careful, don't let them find out. Once you find where the grain is hidden, come back and let us know..."
He gave the group some instructions, but Jiang Qinyu, seeing that it was getting late, interrupted him and said, "Uncle Village Chief, we should go."
Village Chief Li then stopped talking and watched the three leave quickly. He then said to the others, "Let's hurry up and go too, but everyone remember to be careful on the road ahead and don't make any noise..."
Jiang Qinyu ignored the people behind her and continued on her way while mentally activating the system and the task item map hint function.
With a map in her mind showing scattered green lights on both sides of the road, Jiang Qinyu carefully distinguished and compared them before drawing a conclusion.
The system's map hint function only covers a 200-meter radius around her; she won't be visible outside that radius.
This range isn't very large, but it's not small either; it's just barely enough.
Jiang Qinyu wasn't picky; having something useful was better than having nothing at all.
Meng Tianze was the eldest of the three, but because of Jiang Qinyu's previous behavior, after they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Meng Tianze asked her first, "Lu Yanzheng's family, which road do we take to get up?"
Before Qinggang Mountain was occupied by bandits, it was a place where nearby villages went into the mountains to hunt and look for mountain products. A main road and several small paths were built there by people.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Qinyu first glanced at the map in her mind, and then said, "Take the small path on the right."
There are no green dots on the map now, which means that everything in this area has been looted, but they can't take the main road and can only choose the shortest side road.
She had chosen the same path that Meng Tianze wanted to take, and Meng Tianze immediately nodded, signaling the two of them to follow him.
Chen Shaoping is usually quite carefree, but he's not stupid. He knows tonight's events are dangerous, so he hasn't said much along the way. Right now, he's just following orders and staying behind Jiang Qinyu.
The three of them, with Meng Tianze leading the way, Jiang Qinyu in the middle, and Chen Shao bringing up the rear, made their way up at a fairly fast pace.
After walking for a short while, Meng Tianze suddenly reached out and blocked their way. Jiang Qinyu and Chen Shao immediately stopped and looked in the direction Meng Tianze was pointing. Their hearts tightened instantly.
Two bandits carrying torches and large machetes were patrolling ahead.
"I say, isn't our boss being overly cautious? Given our situation, is it really necessary to send people to patrol the mountains at night?"
"That's right. Many villages outside have fled to escape famine, and there's not a soul left. There's really no need for us brothers to suffer like this."
"Speaking of which, how does the eldest brother plan to feed the brothers in the village? The grain we robbed from Dingshui Village yesterday wasn't much, only enough for us to eat for half a month. I think they're going to flee the famine too. Once they're all gone, are we going to flee the famine as well?"
"How would I know? But we really should think of a way out..."
The two bandits walked away, discussing their conversation, never imagining that anyone would sneak up the mountain.
After they left, Jiang Qinyu and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Meng Tianze frowned and looked at Jiang Qinyu, "Sister-in-law, those two just said that there's not much food left in Qinggang Mountain. If we go to rob food tonight, won't that provoke the bandits? What if they bring their men and storm into the village again?"
"This is what I told you all before. We now have two paths: either we secretly steal the grain back, or we have no choice but to fight them to the death." Jiang Qinyu looked at the dark mountain peaks, her tone cold and detached.
It's best not to take action if possible, but she felt the best solution was to eliminate the threat at its root. Only by completely removing the bandits could the people of Dingshui Village stay in the village and seek other ways to make a living.
Chen Shao suddenly spoke up, "Uncle Meng, no matter what, we'll die if we run out of food. Rather than starve to death in a cowardly way, we might as well fight those bandits to the death."
Meng Tianze, who had been wavering, felt ashamed after hearing Chen Shao's words and immediately reaffirmed his stance, "Alright, let's hurry up and find where the grain is hidden. Once you find it, go back and call for help."
He didn't think he could smuggle the grain away secretly, but he always had to try.
The group quickly walked uphill for a while, when a notification sound suddenly rang in Jiang Qinyu's mind.
[Ding! Number of items available to complete the quest detected. Please open the map to view!]
Jiang Qinyu glanced at it in her mind and her eyes widened immediately.
Good heavens! There's a huge green dot flashing in the upper left corner of the map, as if waiting for her to collect the fruit.
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