Upon hearing this, Village Chief Li opened his mouth, then looked back at Jiang Qinyu. Seeing her calmly leading the child and following behind the crowd, he immediately felt relieved.
"Village Chief, we..." Liu Erleng was sweating profusely, looking at Village Chief Li anxiously in a low voice.
Village Chief Li patted his hand, "It's alright, we have our ancestors protecting us."
The entrance to the ancestral hall's cellar is quite hidden; this group of people might not be able to find it.
Liu Er gritted his teeth and whispered to the people around him, "Let's all grab something handy to carry with us. If... we absolutely can't let them take the stuff away!"
After saying that, he ran home quickly and brought out a hoe.
Village Chief Li did not stop them. If the supplies in the ancestral hall were found, and they clashed with the officials, they would be less passive if they had something in their hands.
Seeing this, the others also ran to find something they could use, and brought out hoes, sticks, axes and the like.
Officer Wang quickly noticed that the people of Dingshui Village were all carrying weapons, and his brow furrowed as he realized what was going on.
Why are they so nervous about this place? Could it be that the grain is hidden in the ancestral hall?
"Old Zhang, have the men search carefully. Don't let a single ant in the ancestral hall escape!" Officer Wang shouted to his men.
Upon hearing this, the people of Dingshui Village became even more tense, and even the women couldn't help but run home to fetch kitchen knives, spatulas, and other kitchen utensils.
The more they acted this way, the more firmly Wang, the head constable, believed that there must be something the magistrate wanted in the ancestral hall.
The other officials thought they were in Dingshui Village to collect taxes, but Chief Constable Wang had received a secret order from Zhu Youcai to take back everything he found if he noticed anything unusual.
Although he didn't know what the magistrate meant by the abnormality, he was sure it wasn't just about the grain.
Besides grain, what could attract the attention of the county magistrate were things like gold and silver jewelry.
If I lead the team out today and find something in Dingshui Village, wouldn't I also make a fortune?
Officer Wang had a clever plan in mind, and at that moment, the man wearing a straw hat behind him spoke up: "Officer Wang, let me go in and help too?"
"Alright, I'll go in with you. Don't let any clue slip by, understand?" Chief Constable Wang adjusted the broadsword at his waist, glanced back at Village Chief Li and the others, and then strode into the ancestral hall.
The man wearing the straw hat also glanced back at the people of Dingshui Village. Underneath the straw hat was the One-Eyed King's signature face with an eyepatch.
If he doesn't find the lost stuff today, he won't be able to stay in the underworld any longer!
As soon as all the officials entered the ancestral hall, the villagers erupted in uproar.
"Village chief, are we just going to watch them go in and search?"
"What if...?"
"What if we run out of food again and have to flee famine again?"
"I don't want to flee the famine..."
Everyone started talking at once, and the scene got a little out of control.
Village Chief Li immediately raised his voice to reassure everyone: "Don't worry, everyone. Our ancestors are enshrined in the ancestral hall. They will surely bless us!"
People in this era were very superstitious. Although there was no clear distinction between Taoism and Buddhism, they were particularly in awe of ghosts and gods.
When people are unable to confront a powerful enemy in reality, their subconscious reaction is to seek the protection of ghosts and gods.
Village Chief Li's words put everyone at ease. Everyone prayed in their hearts for their ancestors' protection, determined not to let the officials find their supplies.
After entering the ancestral hall, Constable Wang and One-Eyed Wang began searching through the rooms one by one, and soon found the cellar that had only been dug recently.
"Boss, the cellar is empty, there's nothing there!" someone shouted from inside the cellar.
How could Officer Wang and One-Eyed Wang possibly believe it? The two immediately went down into the cellar.
When they came down, they looked around and found the place empty. Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
What are the people in Dingshui Village digging cellars for? Why are there no things inside?
"Boss, there's another cellar over here!"
Just then, someone outside shouted in their direction.
Constable Wang and One-Eyed Wang immediately climbed up and rushed to the cellar on the other side of the ancestral hall.
However, to their dismay, there was still nothing inside.
"What the hell... what's going on? How come there's nothing here?" Constable Wang paced back and forth, somewhat agitated.
The one-eyed king's face was filled with malice. "They must have hidden the thing!"
"Hide it? Where else could we hide it? We've searched every house in the village, but we haven't found any large quantities of grain!" Officer Wang scratched his head in frustration.
If he can't find anything, he won't be able to explain himself when he goes back, but they really haven't found anything in Dingshui Village. What should he do?
"The grain tax is mandatory. If they don't pay, they'll arrest people. I don't believe their people can hide that batch of grain after they've been arrested!" the One-Eyed King said hatefully.
Officer Wang rolled his eyes. "Do you think arresting people is as simple as just doing it? Look at those guys outside, aren't they easy to deal with?"
Although there are more than thirty of them today, there are at least a hundred able-bodied men in Dingshui Village. If these men really fight with them, it's hard to say who will suffer the loss!
One-Eyed King choked, wanting to renege on his promise and say he'd arrest the person first, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.
At this point, One-Eyed King began to doubt whether he had really mistaken someone for someone else. Were the people who robbed the grain on Qinggang Mountain that night not from Dingshui Village?
Otherwise, it doesn't make sense!
With so much grain, gold, silver, and weapons, if this group had actually gotten their hands on it, they would surely have used the silver to buy more grain. But that's not what happened.
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