Chapter 42: The Mysterious Master
What Su Qi'an ordered Fang Jingzhi to do was done beautifully. Shortly after discovering these women who had been ravaged by the bandits, Fang Jingzhi immediately sent people down the mountain to find the old woman Su Qi'an mentioned.
Moreover, they took off their coats and put them on these ragged women. All these soldiers turned around and protected them behind them like a shield.
I waited patiently for the old woman to go up the mountain. After almost half an hour, more than a dozen old women appeared and comforted the ravaged people down the mountain.
A team of soldiers escorted the women until they arrived safely in Lingbei County.
In Great Liang, these women who were brutally humiliated were indeed sympathized with, but after all, this was a backward feudal society.
Even if a county official like Fang Jingzhi was sympathetic, he could not wait patiently and escort him safely.
It would be good if he could rescue them, but what happens to them in the future has nothing to do with him.
If it weren't for Su Qi'an, Fang Jingzhi would never have done this.
Fang Jingzhi was surprised at Su Qi'an's behavior at first, but then he thought about it, after all, Su Qi'an had read the books of sages for so many years.
I still have basic morals in my heart, and I have not been involved in the officialdom. It is normal to have this kind of compassion. When Su Qi'an enters the officialdom in the future, this kind of heart will become as hard as stone. This is the way to be an official.
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Of course, while Su Qi'an still had this kind of compassion, Fang Jingzhi was more than happy to offer him a favor. Only a fool would give up this good opportunity for friendship in the future.
After taking care of this matter, the three of them continued walking inside. This time they walked forward for almost a mile. There was no longer a cave, but they reached the end.
At the end is a huge banquet hall. To put it simply, it is a place where bandits usually gather to drink and have fun.
The banquet hall is not big, only more than 100 square meters, with a long table in the middle, which runs across the banquet hall.
Behind them, there are rows of chairs. I roughly counted about seventy or eighty chairs.
Most of the people who can appear here are the middle and high-rise buildings of Dongzi Mountain. At the end is a high platform with a tiger skin chair placed on the high platform.
Next to it, there are two chairs placed at the same time. On the wall, the word "loyalty" is engraved in blood red.
There were many beast skulls hanging on the surrounding walls, and the torches released heat, filling the banquet hall with warmth.
Normally, one can imagine the bustle in this banquet hall, but this time, all the bandits in Dongzi Mountain suppressed the bandits, killed those who were killed, and captured those who were captured.
There will never be any more vicious bandits causing trouble to the two counties in the future.
Su Qian just glanced at the banquet hall, then stepped forward and climbed directly to the high platform.
Standing in front of the tiger leather seat, Su Qian crossed the seat after a while and placed his palms gently on the armrests.
The fingers seemed to be groping for something. Suddenly, the fingers seemed to touch some kind of mechanism, and the fingertips pressed.
Suddenly, the wall depicting loyalty behind him made a roaring sound, and then, a stone door opened.
Su Qi'an's eyes flashed, but this was what he expected. Generally speaking, where bandits gather, there must be treasures of their own.
I just walked around a lot and found that there was no money at all in the caves that were discovered.
If you say that Dongzishan doesn't have one tael of silver, let alone Su Qian's disbelief, even if you let it out, it will be difficult for the outside world to convince you.
The Dongzishan bandits have been causing trouble to the two counties for more than 20 years. Without any savings, they could gather nearly 600 bandits, and most of them are desperadoes.
Without the attraction of money, who would go up the mountain?
Su Qi'an had never been to a bandit den, but in his previous life, he had watched so many bandit-suppression TV series. Even if he had never eaten pork, hadn't he seen Pig Run?
No, after his tentative exploration, he actually discovered the treasure trove of the Dongzi Mountain bandits' wealth.
The dark door opened, Fang Jingzhi and Xie Cang stepped forward quickly, and the three of them looked at each other.
The next moment, twenty soldiers armed with shields, longbows, and torches were leading the way.
Twenty soldiers were swallowed up by the dark cave at a glance. About a quarter of an hour later, news finally came out from inside.
There are no remaining bandits inside, everything is normal. Treasures were found inside, but adults still need to read them.
Fang Jingzhi was overjoyed when he heard this, and then entered the cave with Su Qi'an and Xie Cang.
Although the cave was dark, there were twenty soldiers exploring the way, and the walls on both sides were covered with torches.
Walking all the way, there were no surprises. The three of them walked for about a mile, and finally saw a pile of gold and silver treasures on a high platform in front of them.
At a glance, even Xie Cang's heart skipped a beat. Not to mention how much gold and silver there was, a rough calculation showed it was at least fifty thousand taels.
Fifty thousand taels may not make sense, but you must know that the tax paid by a county town in a year is only about 20,000 taels.
And this group of bandits from Dongzi Mountain are indeed the most powerful bandits in the two counties.
They actually accumulated two years of tax revenue from Lingbei County, plus the iron ore they discovered, this would only take a few years.
Ordinary soldiers could do nothing about this group of bandits. It was frightening to think about it at that time.
Fortunately, the bandit suppression was successful this time. If it had failed like last time, the consequences would have been disastrous.
The three of them looked at each other, and then Fang Jingzhi said, "Xie Hou, Mr. Su, it is a happy event to defeat the bandits in Dongzi Mountain. Logically speaking, the bandits' treasures will be distributed by the county magistrate."
"If it were another mountain top, the higher ups might not ask, but this is Dongzi Mountain after all, so I have a suggestion."
"Half of the treasure collected this time will be handed over to the county, and the remaining half will be taken out. I want all parties to manage it, and we will divide the remainder equally."
As soon as these words came out, neither Xie Cang nor Su Qi'an spoke. After a moment of silence, they nodded and said, "Then just follow what Mr. Fang said."
Fang Jingzhi breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, when he proposed the plan just now, he was still very nervous.
After all, these five taels of gold and silver are not a small amount. Not to mention him, even Xiehou's annual salary is not fifty thousand.
He was really worried that these two people would attack him here due to uneven distribution.
Here, there are only three and twenty of them, they can be said to be Xiehou's trusted soldiers.
Whatever Xie Hou really wanted to do, he really couldn't resist.
Fortunately, his bet was right, these two people are not villains who kill people for gold and silver.
These days, when people have power, they must have great desires, either for wealth, sex, or eternal fame!
They have power, defeat, and sex. After contacting each other, these two people don't care. They only have a reputation that will last forever.
Fang Jingzhi is also a good judge of people. If these two people were really looking for money, he would not have followed them into the cave just now.
The twenty soldiers behind him were also carefully selected. They knew better than anyone else what things could be taken and what things could not be taken.
Without Xie Cang opening his mouth, the soldier stepped forward expressionlessly and began to count the gold and silver.
Su Qian just glanced at the gold and silver behind him, then turned around and walked out of the cave.
However, when passing by Fang Jing, he said softly, "Haha, Mr. Fang was very nervous just now. I wonder if the two of us passed Mr. Fang's test?"
Fang Jing was stunned, showed an embarrassed smile, quickly cupped his hands, and said to Xie Cang and Su Qi'an.
"I'm sorry, I didn't consider this matter. I promise there will be no next time."
"Well, Fang Jingzhi's worries are normal, but I don't want there to be a next time. After all, Lord Fang is also on the same boat as me. I won't do stupid things like hewing a boat. I hope Lord Fang understands."
"I understand and have been taught a lesson."
Fang Jingzhi nodded repeatedly, then quickly followed Su Qi'an and thanked Cang for leaving.
Just after walking out of the cave, Tong Zhan's figure appeared again among the soldiers lined up in front.
This time, he still held a person in his hand and threw it away casually.
A thin, scarred man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks collapsed to the ground.
This time Tong Zhan did not kill him, but he breathed a sigh of relief. This man was the third boss of Dongzi Mountain, known as Scar Liu.
The shouting and commanding at the top of the mountain just now were all his work. Despite this man's sly look, he has more vicious plots in his heart than the last.
Su Qi'an glanced at the third master who had already had his hands and feet broken, and said coldly.
"Are you the third boss of Dongzi Mountain? Next, I will ask you, what do you answer? Whether you can survive depends on whether your answer satisfies me."
Scar Liu looked at Su Qi'an and nodded weakly. He could see that it was this frail scholar who was in charge of the overall situation.
As for being upset, it depends on when he can sense that this seemingly easy-to-talk scholar is not that mediocre.
If he were truly mediocre, Dongzishan would not be so easily breached, and his group of desperado brothers would not die miserably so easily.
The person in front of him was more cruel and ruthless than him.
"Where is your real boss?
"I don't know. All I know is that the second master became the substitute for the first master three months ago. As for the whereabouts of the first master, we don't know."
Scar Liu's answer was very straightforward and he didn't make any detours like Su Qian's.
"In your impression, what kind of person is your boss?"
"The eldest master is very smart, smarter than us. To put it bluntly, if the second master hadn't gone down the mountain and overturned this time, we would have made great achievements in Dongzishan in a few years. It's a pity, if the eldest master hadn't disappeared.
After three months, I don’t think we will lose so miserably.”
Scar Liu felt very sorry for him. He admired the mysterious master very much. That kind of admiration came from the bottom of his heart. Su Qi'an had seen that kind of vision before.
Just like the little fans I met during the county examination at that time.
For Scar Liu to comment like this, this so-called boss made Su Qian quite curious.
Next, Su Qi'an asked a few more questions about the big boss, and Scar Liu answered them all.
It's a pity that no matter how much Su Qian asked, he couldn't seem to find the slightest impression of this so-called boss.
To put it bluntly, this impression means that as long as it is a person who has seen it and describes it through words, it will have a first impression.
But what Su Qian'an asked about was that he had no impression, because this mysterious boss had almost never shown his face.
As for the face of the so-called big boss that the second boss imitated, it was just a random substitute.
The only thing I have memories of that is mentioned repeatedly is intelligence, extremely terrifying intelligence.
Chapter completed!