Lin Yinan glanced at Yun Ming, who was already fast asleep on the bamboo bed, and said calmly with a slight smile, "Please invite him in."
Zhao Mang entered the room and hurriedly bowed, "Greetings, Lord City Lord!"
"Zhao Mang was unaware of the City Lord's arrival and has failed to greet you properly; this is truly an offense!"
"Greetings, Village Chief." Lin Yinan said calmly.
Glancing at Lin Shuo lying on the bed, Zhao Mang apologized, "During the previous storm, the city lord's men were injured by falling trees while trying to help the villagers. I truly admire their selfless spirit."
"The village chief's words are truly insightful. I wonder what the village chief and the villagers were doing when this happened?"
Zhao Mang said guiltily, "It's all my fault. I didn't take good care of Brother Lin."
"Is the village chief facing any difficulties in management?" Lin Yinan asked directly.
Zhao Mang hesitated. In the past, everyone lived on different mountain peaks and would not see each other for ten days or half a month.
Now that everyone lives in the village, they see each other all the time, so some friction is inevitable.
Most of the villagers have complex backgrounds, and it was found that they were difficult to communicate with after a short period of time.
A small number of villagers are unwilling to participate in hard labor; they just want to live off the land, hunt, and enjoy a leisurely and carefree life.
"Are the villagers still a little unaccustomed to spring plowing?" Zhao Mang asked cautiously.
"Oh? I really didn't know that farming required an adaptation." Lin Yinan glanced at him and said with a forced smile, "Since some people can't adapt, let them go back to their thatched huts in the mountains."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Mang's heart skipped a beat; he knew that the city lord was not someone to be fooled.
He hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, "Lord City Lord, please forgive me!"
“Village Chief Zhaomang, get up. It’s good that you care about our relationship, but if someone takes advantage of that relationship to cause trouble, we must not tolerate it.”
"Yes, I understand."
Lin Yinan's eyes were slightly cold. When she passed by the terraced fields, she noticed something was wrong. Although there were more than 300 people in the village, very few were working on the terraced fields.
“This land was conquered by us. If they do not wish to stay and cultivate it, they should vacate the land so that I can bring my men here.”
She casually glanced up at Zhao Mang, her deep eyes scrutinizing him.
Zhao Mang felt like he had thorns in his back, and his straight back involuntarily bent slightly. "I will definitely discipline them properly. Now let them go and harrow the fields."
After he left, Yun Shiyi said, "Madam, shall I go and investigate?"
Lin Yinan picked up the tea on the table and took a sip.
"No need. We don't have many people now, so pushing us too hard would be counterproductive."
As soon as they stepped out of the house, Sparrow Girl and several villagers surrounded them.
"Mountain Sparrow's father, did the city lord say anything?"
"Has anyone been blamed?"
Zhao Mang sighed, glanced back at the two guards standing at the door, and waved to the group.
"Let's go back and talk about it."
Along the way, they frequently encountered villagers peeking out of their houses. When they saw that it was Zhao Mang and his group approaching, they hurriedly slammed the doors shut with a loud bang.
After returning home, Zhao Mang relayed his promise to Lin Yinan to everyone.
One villager looked troubled. "Brother Mang, the problem is that they don't listen to us anymore, so it's no use talking to them."
“Go and convey the message first, and we’ll see if they listen or not, and then decide what to do next,” Zhao Mang sighed.
The men accepted the order and left.
Zhao Mang had just sat down in the chair when he saw the person who had left return.
"Brother Mang, most of the mountain people have been incited by the brothers A Cai and A Wang. They are planning to rob the cattle and tools brought by the forest manager."
"What?" Zhao Mang stood up so forcefully that he knocked over the chair.
The messenger, who had been running so fast, was covered in sweat. "It's true," he said, "they heard that not many people came from Longtan, so they decided to go and tie up the people in the fields."
"They are absolutely lawless!"
Zhao Mang led his men and hurriedly rushed to the fields.
Qianxia was changing the cloth on Lin Shuo's forehead to help him cool down faster.
Turning her gaze away, Lin Yinan asked Yun Shiyi, who was meditating nearby, "Shiyi, if we fire a signal flare from here, will the other guards on the mountain be able to see it?"
"I may not be able to see it, but I can give it a try," Yun Shiyi said truthfully.
"Make arrangements to send a signal and see if they can receive it; things might not be peaceful here."
She was careless; she didn't investigate Chi'an's situation properly before rashly sending her second uncle over with people.
The sound of Yun Shiyi closing the door woke Yun Ming, who was in a light sleep.
He opened his eyes and saw Lin Yinan straightening her sleeves, so he sat up.
"Third Sister-in-law, is Uncle Lin feeling any better?"
"The fever is slowly subsiding."
"Yunming, tell Third Sister-in-law, are the villagers in this village not following orders?"
"It's a small part. The villagers in the village are quite complicated. Some of their family members had previously joined bandits and were killed by my third brother. They are very hostile to our arrival."
"Hate?"
Lin Yinan suddenly realized why the terraced fields hadn't been completed for so long.
Yun Ming's face was full of resentment. They had come to help them. "Well, it's one thing for them to be hostile, but they also did all sorts of bad things, trying to sow discord between us and the villagers. I..."
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Yinan gestured for him to be quiet.
There's a commotion outside!
As soon as she finished speaking, the guard pushed open the door and came in.
"Madam, the villagers have taken Chen Shi, Wu Song, and several of our brothers hostage and are heading this way."
Where is the mango recruiter?
"Confront them and persuade the villagers to release the people."
A fierce glint flashed in Lin Yinan's eyes. "You've come at the right time. I'll go and meet them."
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