Hua Yi was quite clever. He noticed that the two bandits' eyes were darting around, and he knew there was definitely something wrong with them.
Even if Hu Axiong were stupid, he wouldn't have come here.
Besides, it doesn't seem right that only two bandits were captured.
Hua Yi stared at the two of them and asked coolly, "Has your leader already killed everyone in Linchuan County?"
Hua Yi was just bluffing them. Given the bandits' nature, if they couldn't find Cao Qiang or guessed that Cao Qiang was dead, the most likely thing they would do was kill the person in the know and then run away.
The two bandits were startled. They didn't know Hua Yi, but the fact that a stranger had guessed what they were doing made them feel uneasy.
Hua Yi could tell from their expressions that her guess was correct.
"Hu Axiong thought that Young Master Cao was dead and was afraid that he would not be able to explain himself when he returned to Linchuan County, so he killed him to cover it up and wanted to find another backer, right?"
The two bandits dared not answer, for what the other said was true.
Upon hearing this, Cao Qiang immediately understood, but with his hands and feet bound, he was unable to move. He could only angrily shout, "That Hu Axiong! He wouldn't have bothered looking for me, but he even killed me to silence me!"
"Was it Hu Axiong who instructed me to trip over the flames?"
Cao Qiang immediately started overthinking things.
After this incident, it's hard for him not to overthink things.
The two bandits shook their heads: "Our leader never instructed us to harm you."
But the two of them were also unsure. Hu Axiong hadn't instructed them to do it, but that didn't mean he hadn't instructed others.
But given the urgency of the situation, there was no time to give instructions.
Perhaps, it really was an accident.
Cao Qiang refused to believe it no matter what. He wondered why his guards hadn't rescued him and let him run away with Hu Axiong.
It turns out that the guards saw through Hu Axiong's intentions.
"Hu Axiong, I'm not done with you yet."
Cao Qiang was furious. He was already agitated from being burned and tormented, and this only made him angrier.
Sun Er chuckled coldly: "Young Master Cao, just shut up. We're all prisoners now. Do you think we can settle scores with our boss?"
Cao Qiang glared at them fiercely. It seemed that these two bandits had realized the situation and were no longer afraid of him.
“Who says we can’t settle accounts? Even if it’s Chen Xi, would she dare kill me? Our Cao family will wipe her out.”
The two bandits muttered to themselves again, "Yes, the Cao family, they are like overlords of Jianming Prefecture."
How could a small border county like Ai County possibly oppose the Cao family?
At most, Cao Qiang will suffer some punishment, and then Bian Ai County will have to say nice things to the Cao family to try and win their forgiveness.
Hua Yi inwardly groaned. How could Cao Qiang still not see the situation clearly? If Shen Xi was truly afraid of him, she would quietly execute him. In any case, apart from her people, only these prisoners knew that Cao Qiang was in Shen Xi's hands.
Then they could just frame Hu Axiong, but all the prisoners would have to die with Cao Qiang.
If Chenxi wasn't afraid of the Cao family, Cao Qiang's life wouldn't have been spared either.
If Cao Qiang dares to set fire to someone else's leader, he won't even know how he died.
At this moment, another seriously wounded soldier died, but so late, no one came to see them. The people just watched the body being left to dry, and it was hard to guess what each of them was thinking.
Hua Yi gazed at the stars in the sky, which were somewhat blurry, while smoke rose into the air, obscuring half of the sky.
The fire has already spread over.
Kong Ze arranged for people to cook. The food brought by the villagers of Wangjiazhuang and Xiaowangjiazhuang included both raw and cooked options. The cooked food was heated up, while the raw food needed to be cooked on the spot.
This food was barely enough to feed the soldiers halfway, and the mountain path was rugged, making it impossible to carry much more. Moreover, food had to be reserved for the commander and his guards.
The village chief of Wangjiazhuang explained apologetically, "It's not that we don't want to take more, but firstly, the mountain roads are difficult to travel, and secondly, we don't have enough people. More than half of the villagers have died or been injured, and we need some people to stay behind to take care of them. We can't take that much."
"And when the bandits saw that things weren't going well, they set fire to the village's granary, which was damaged. The grain they took was all from the villagers' own land."
Han Rang and Li De showed no resentment whatsoever. The villagers had a hard life, and only about twenty of them were able to come this time.
In a village of 300 people, the number of dead and injured has reached 200. These people need to be cared for. After deducting children and elderly people with mobility issues, there are not many young people left who can climb mountains and cross valleys.
Xiaowangjiazhuang had a small population of only about a hundred people, and many of them were killed or injured.
The granary in Wangjiazhuang was shared by several neighboring villages. This fire destroyed nearly a month's worth of grain for those villages.
Everyone feels sorry for them, but there's nothing that can be done.
Because the firebreak was wide enough and enough water was pumped out, wetting the firebreak completely, there was no chance for it to spread when the fire came.
Even so, the soldiers remained at the edge of the firebreak, spraying water onto the fire.
When Dou Yong heard that Han Liu had brought back two people, he obtained Han Rang's consent and interrogated the two.
They then made the two men sign and affix their fingerprints to their statements.
Dou Yong then formed a complete chain of events.
This time, in Linchuan County, soldiers were either killed or wounded, and even the county magistrate, Cao Sen, might perish here.
I wonder if the leader has any plans to take over Linchuan County?
At this time, taking over Linchuan County would be the best thing ever.
The fire finally went out in the middle of the night.
But no one dared to go in directly, because it was hot and stuffy inside, and there was some smoke.
Li De became anxious again.
When can we go in?
Dou Yong glanced at the situation and sighed, "It will take at least a day."
It might even take two days.
However, according to his understanding, the leaders and their comrades did not bring water or dry food.
If it delays for another two days, the leaders probably won't be able to hold on.
In other words, they would need to risk going in within a day at most.
Dou Yong brushed the soot off his body and hair, looking at the charred area behind the cordon. The tall trees were not completely burned away, leaving many bare trunks.
The dark, black branches of these large trees were emitting black smoke, and it was unclear when they would reignite or simply burn down to the bottom.
Dou Yong gritted his teeth and asked Kong Ze, "How much water can the village well pump out in a day?"
Kong Ze was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding.
"Platoon leader, I don't know."
Dou Yong glared at him: "Didn't we pump water all night yesterday? Don't you know how much water came out?"
Kong Ze blushed slightly; he hadn't really noticed.
They've used every water container they can find in the village just to spray water on the isolation strips; they're not even comfortable with just the isolation itself.
"I'll go ask the person who pumps the water."
After saying that, Kong Ze ran off in a flash.
There is only this one well in the village.
Drilling wells here is quite difficult due to the geological conditions. Moreover, the entire county is drilling wells, and there are only so many technical personnel available. Drilling a well in this remote area is already the greatest effort we can make in a short period of time.
Li De asked, puzzled, "Why do you ask how much water can be pumped out in a day?"
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