A hint of panic flashed in the eyes of the two bound men, but they still tried to remain calm.
Manager Ma walked out of the mine with his hands behind his back. He noticed that one of the two men looked familiar. He racked his brains and said, "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before?"
The two bound men turned their faces away, pretending not to recognize Manager Feng.
At this moment, Steward Feng suddenly remembered, and he turned to look at the man carefully again. "I've seen you at the Yu family's residence. You're a guard of the Yu family!"
"I'm a villager from Shilipu, I don't know you at all." The guard still stubbornly refused to admit it.
Manager Ma wasn't annoyed. He put his hands behind his back and muttered to himself, "Could it be that I really remembered it wrong?"
A quarter of an hour later, the village chief was brought over on horseback by the guards.
Yun Yi pointed at the two people tied with rice dumplings and asked, "Village chief, do you think these two are villagers from Shili Pu?"
The two bound men had no idea that the villagers from Shili Pu had actually come looking for them. The information provided by that official was wrong; it turned out that there were still people living in Xihe County.
The village chief stepped forward, glanced at the clothes, and said, "No, how could the people in our village afford such fine clothes and shoes?"
A murderous glint flashed in Yun's eyes. He waved to the guard beside him, "Drag him out and kill him!"
The village chief shrank back in fear and moved to the side.
Seeing the guards come forward to drag them away, the two spies panicked and twisted their bodies frantically, crying out, "No, you can't kill us! If you kill us, the Yu family will never let you off!"
Because of the struggle, fine beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads. Seeing that Yun Yi was unmoved, they turned their gaze to Steward Ma.
"Manager Ma, please save us!"
Manager Ma laughed, "You just said you didn't know me at all?"
“Kill us, Steward Ma, don’t forget, your family is still in Nanzhou Prefecture!” they threatened.
"Pah! Go ahead and kill me if you dare, I'm scared!" Steward Ma sneered disdainfully.
His family members were brought from Nanzhou Prefecture to Longtan by people arranged by Yun Yi before the Lunar New Year, and they even met once during the New Year.
They were facing certain death and had no concern whatsoever about the news leaking out.
The two were dragged away by the guards.
In the distance, other guards led two horses over.
"Boss, we found two horses. They hid them really well."
Yun Yi said, "Take him away and feed him properly."
He walked up to Steward Ma, patted him on the shoulder with his large hand, and looked at him with admiration. "Well done. I'll write it down for you and give you two extra points on your assessment."
Manager Ma's eyes lit up, and he bowed to him repeatedly in thanks.
"Work hard, and you'll be rewarded accordingly."
After Yun finished speaking, he left with his guards.
Manager Ma chuckled, joy welling up from the bottom of his heart. Since working for Longtan's group, not only had he received good treatment, but his family had also been properly taken care of.
After Yunye returned, they uncovered two more groups of people who had come to investigate in the following days.
Nanzhou Prefecture
Inside the Yu family's council hall, Yu Shida angrily swept the tea set off the table. He had sent out two or three teams to investigate, but no one had returned yet.
Yu Xunmei looked at him leisurely and pushed the water glass in front of her towards him.
"Have a sip of water and calm down."
“They were all elites sent out, how can I not be angry?” Yu Shida downed his tea in one gulp and threw it on the ground, saying angrily.
He had always had everything arranged by the Yu family head, and his life had been smooth sailing. He had never suffered such a great loss before.
Remembering the meticulous and thorough head of the Yu family, Yu Shida asked, "Father hasn't woken up yet?"
Seeing his furious expression, Yu Xunmei's eyes flashed with a hint of mockery, and she said calmly, "Perhaps we should analyze who is the person who has both occupied the Xihe Iron Mine and the ability to sink Japanese ships?"
Yu Shida stood there, lost in thought.
A moment later, as he considered a possibility, his eyes widened in disbelief and shock.
"Do you think it could have been done by those bandits from Chi'an?"
“They have been entrenched in Chi’an for many years, acting tyrannically and cruelly harming their neighbors. It’s very likely that they did so,” Yu Xunmei said.
Yu Shida clapped his hands, surprised by his own cleverness. "There are iron mines in Xihe. They will inevitably be tempted by them. I have heard that the bandits of Chi'an are close to the Zhong family in Huaizhou City. Why don't I send someone to Huaizhou City to ask the Zhong family?"
"I think it's feasible."
After the two agreed, Yu Shida sent someone to Huaizhou City to investigate the situation.
In Huaizhou City, the Zhong family patriarch listened to the Yu family guards' account, his face showing signs of constipation. He then gave a wink to his advisor, Mr. He, who was sitting below him.
Mr. He cleared his throat and said, "To be honest, the bandits in Chi'an have already been wiped out."
Upon hearing this news, the Yu family guards were stunned and speechless for a long time before finally saying, "What? You actually wiped out the bandit suppression team in Chi'an?"
The head of the Zhong family turned his face away, and Mr. He said, "There is someone else in charge of suppressing the bandits."
"Who possesses such extraordinary abilities?"
"That's a bit hard to say."
The Yu family guard was somewhat incredulous, and the Zhong family member spoke hesitantly, so he thought the Zhong family member was making excuses and unwilling to introduce him to the bandit leader. He insisted on going up the mountain.
Left with no other choice, the Zhong family head had to ask Mr. He to accompany the Yu family guards to Chi'an.
Standing atop the bandit stronghold that had once been occupied by bandits, the Yu family guards saw that it was filled with ragged mountain people.
The mountain people were arranged to live there by Yun Mo and his men after they had finished suppressing the bandits.
Faced with the sudden appearance of several elegantly dressed guests, the mountain people were at a loss, as they were not the benefactors who had come to suppress the bandits.
"Do you know who killed the bandits?" the Yu family guards shouted sternly.
The mountain people looked at each other, lowered their heads, and shrank back without saying a word.
Not knowing who the visitor was, they couldn't easily reveal their benefactor.
Their benefactor said he would come after spring to teach them how to grow grain. Once they had grown grain, they wouldn't have to be mountain dwellers anymore and wouldn't have to worry about running out of food.
Mr. He stepped forward and asked an elderly man, "Old man, do you know who came to suppress the bandits back then?"
The old man's wrinkled face was full of confusion, and he shook his head.
"I don't know. When we first heard the shouts of killing here, we were so scared that we hid in the deep mountains. When we came out half a month later, the bandits had all disappeared. The bandits' stronghold had been emptied of everything, and there was bloodstains everywhere. This stronghold can keep out the sun and rain, so we thought we'd clean it up and move in."
Upon hearing this, Yu's guard was greatly disappointed. He looked at Mr. He with suspicion, as the Zhong family had a history of dealings with bandits.
"Your Zhong family didn't hear a single word about it?"
Mr. He glanced at him sideways, clearly displeased with his question, "Are these bandits being raised by our Zhong family?"
The Yu family guards tried to explain, but Mr. He snorted coldly, not giving them a chance, and turned to walk down the mountain.
After Mr. He returned, he whispered to the head of the Zhong family for a while.
When questioned by the Yu family guards, the Zhong family steward, who was in charge of receiving them, remained vague and evasive.
Having received no useful information, the Yu family guards dared not delay any longer and hurriedly returned.
Before leaving, he met with the head of the Zhong family and advised him to put aside his grudges and prejudices and cooperate with the Yu family, which was the best choice.
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