C17 (1/2)
Just two days later, the Yang Mansion was in the middle of recruiting a few village warriors when she suddenly received an official letter from, telling him to go to the taiwai Manor in the prefecture at the beginning of December at noon. The Lord Taishang wanted to discuss the matter of exterminating bandits with the village gentry. Yang Lin couldn't help but to laugh, thinking that Chen Ze was really nimble in handling things, getting his father settled so quickly.
On the morning of the tenth day, Yang Lin brought Yang Hu, Yang Bao and a dozen or so servants to the Forbidden City. However, when he arrived at the taiwai's manor, he was shocked. At this time, there were already more than a dozen squire waiting in the lobby of the taiwai Residence.
Not only did Lord Taishang invite, Xu Zhu, Li Shuang, Wang Da, but also the other six counties' twelve countryside gentry. The one thing these gentry had in common was that they all lived in Little Flood Mountain and suffered from those bandits.
”Lord Taishang has arrived.”
Following the yamen runners' shouts, a tall middle-aged man walked into the main hall of taiwai Mansion. This was the taiwai Great Elder, Chen Song. He expressionlessly walked to the seat behind the main desk and sat down, his sharp eyes sweeping across the entire hall before slowly opening his mouth.
”Gentlemen, the reason why I called you all here today is to discuss how to eliminate the bandits from Little Flood Mountain. Currently in Little Hong Mountain, there are a total of four large bandit groups, Zhang Dazui, Wu Dazhi, Wang Laosan and Liu Ergou. They rob and rob homes, murder and arson, committing all sorts of crimes, all of you have been harmed by them.
”In order to ensure the safety of our citizens, the This Official has decided to recruit village men and eliminate the bandits. Each of your sixteen countryside gentry will recruit one thousand five hundred men, each to prepare their own weapons and equipment. They will be led by the County Officer General Palace to eliminate these bandits before the end of the year, allowing everyone to live a comfortable life. ”Do you have any questions?”
”No, my lord.”
Hearing the Lord Taishang's question, they knew that it was just an act. Although they were talking about exterminating bandits, who could say no? Furthermore, everyone had been deeply affected by the bandits, so exterminating them was indeed a great thing.
”Alright, I'll give you five days. After five days, County Officer General will go to your village and lead the villagers to kill the bandits. Everyone, hurry up and go back and prepare. ”
After Lord Taishang Chen Song finished speaking, he stood up and waved to everyone, and turned to leave the hall. Yang Lin could not help but sigh in his heart, the efficiency of Lord Taishang was actually quite high, with just a few words, he was able to explain everything clearly, without saying a single word.
”High, it really is high.”
Yang Lin secretly nodded his head, this Lord Taishang was truly wise. Asking the sixteen squire families to contribute, he only sent County Officer General to lead them to war, he did not need to spend a single cent to eliminate the bandits, and he could even earn a big contribution.
”It's not hard to have fifteen hundred village men, but where can we get weapons and equipment?”
”That's right, those bandits are bright with blades and spears, and they also have armor. Even with our arrows and hunting knife s, we are not a match for them.”
”I don't have much time. Even if I invited the blacksmith to do it, it would still be too late.”
”Don't the soldiers have weapons? I wonder if you can sell some to us? ”
”I'm afraid that won't do. The weapons of the county guards are strictly forbidden to be owned by the commoners. Who would dare to buy them?”
Outside the main hall of the taiwai Palace, all the nobles started discussing. There were archers and hunting knife there, but compared to the weapons of the bandits, they were still far behind. It was no wonder that the gentry were worried.
When Yang Lin saw Xu Zhu, Li Shuang, and Wang Da, he went forward to greet them. A few people stood together and talked about the weapons. Just as they were talking, a few servant like servants walked over, they walked to the side of Yang Lin and the rest and cupped their hands towards them.
”Old masters, my family's young master wants to invite you all over to discuss something with him.”
Yang Lin and Xu Zhu knew what to do, so they followed the servant, while Li Shuang and Wang Da seemed to be confused, and could only follow. The few of them followed the servant into a small tavern. Pushing open the door to a private room, it turned out to be Chen Ze sitting inside. He cupped his hands to everyone and invited them to sit down.
”Four old masters, according to the arrangements of the Lord Taishang, I will lead the County Officer General to exterminate the bandits your four families in five days. Our job is to eliminate Zhang Dazui, and the other bandits are to be eliminated by the other squire. Is there anything I can help you with? ”
Hearing Chen Ze's words, Yang Lin admired the Lord Taishang even more. The Lord Taishang was really high, he invited so many country bumpkins, making the bandits become very powerful, he could sell the weapons to them, but other people could not say anything, because those village bumpkins were brought by the County Officer General, who could say that they were not soldiers? Isn't it reasonable and fair to use weapons on soldiers?
”Chen Gongzi, all we lack are weapons and equipment. Can you help us get some?”
Since Chen Ze wanted to act, then Yang Lin will cooperate with him a little and act out this show even more perfectly. Indeed, Yang Lin's words made Li Shuang and Wang Da nod their heads. Chen Ze understood and laughed, he pretended to think for a while and then nodded at them.
”Sure.”
”Alright, everyone, prepare a spear, a long knife, a set of armor, and some tents.”
”Alright, I'll prepare fifteen hundred sets for each of you.”
Knowing that his mission was Zhang Dazui, after returning to the Yang Mansion, Yang Lin started to think about the captured bandits. Under Hua Tuo's meticulous treatment, the injuries of the injured bandits had basically stabilized. More than thirty bandits were already able to walk freely on the ground.
Yang Lin started with these more than thirty bandits and talked to them separately, asking them about the situation in Dark Dragon Mountain's Mouth. But although these fellows were grateful to Yang Mansion for saving their lives, none of them were willing to sell out Dark Dragon Mountain's Mouth.
From their eyes, Yang Lin could see their fear. They were afraid that Zhang Dazui would take revenge on them, because their families were all in the Wulong Mountain area, whereas Zhang Dazui was a vicious bandit with a strong desire for revenge. The bandit who betrayed him in the past had their entire family annihilated by him.
”Don't even think about it, this time you will not forget about Zhang Dazui if you don't eliminate him. If you tell me about Zhang Dazui, I'll bring your whole family to the Yang Family Villa. If you don't tell me, I can destroy your entire family too. ”
Yang Lin, who had a modern interrogation technique in his heart, was not discouraged. He imprisoned over thirty bandits and had them take turns interrogating, not allowing them to rest at all. As long as they were asleep, he would wake them up and then use both soft and hard, bombarding them day and night.
Such a method of interrogation was even more effective than torture. Even the trained agents were unable to endure it. No one knew how many heroes would be able to survive this ordeal. They would even obediently confess to stealing a piece of candy when they were young.
The bandits finally could not hold on any longer. There were more than thirty bandits, and none of them survived the five days. All of them began to confess. They told everything about Wulong Mountain and Zhang Dazui in detail. They even mentioned about Zhang Dazui snoring and farting while he slept.
It turned out that in the vicinity of Wulong Mountain, there was about one ten thousand people that was distributed among more than fifty villages, with a radius of a hundred miles. Due to the scarcity of land, the mountain people lived by hunting. Most families did not have overnight food, and there were even many families living in caves.
Zhang Dazui's bandit's nest was located in the Wulong Mountain. The cave was cool and dry, and it was spring all year round. There were so many caves that even the bandits didn't fully understand what was going on. Even if you surrounded Dark Dragon Cave, it would be hard to catch Zhang Dazui.
However, there was a situation that still caught Yang Lin's attention. Although Zhang Dazui did not have a family, he had quite a few, and three of them had borne him children. Of these three, two had daughters, one had a son, and the one who had a son was especially pleasing to him.
Having spent all his life on the blade and killed many people, Zhang Dazui became exceptionally careful. He was always on guard against retaliation from others, so everything about him was kept a secret. An average bandit simply didn't know the names of his bandits and where they lived.
Amongst these bandits, only one bandit named Li Quan knew some of Zhang Dazui's secrets and was his trusted aide. After a few exchanges, Li Quan finally revealed his name and locations, but he did not go to those homes, but heard about it from Zhang Dazui's guards. In order to protect his own family, Li Quan agreed to take Yang Lin to find the Xiao Shuixian who gave birth to his son.
”Zhang Dazui still has a spy in Yang Family Villa.”
Just when Yang Lin told Li Quan to get down, he did not expect Li Quan to suddenly kneel down and say another shocking thing. It was probably because he had already confessed to Xiao Shuixian and felt that there was no way out. If Zhang Dazui didn't die, he probably wouldn't end up well.
”Oh, there's a traitor? Who is he? ”
Yang Lin was really shocked, he never thought that the bandits at this time would actually know how to work as spies. If the bandits had planted a spy by his side, would he still be able to sleep? Moreover, he had also interrogated bandits these past few days. If Zhang Dazui found out about this, wouldn't he be running away?
”I've also never seen him before. Usually, there will be a special person to deliver the news to him. I only know that his name is Er Lai Zi, and he seems to be a servant of the Yang Mansion. It was he who sent the message that Zhang Dazui came to attack Yang Mansion. ”
”Ah, a servant?”
Yang Lin was really about to faint, he immediately ordered two servants to bring Li Quan away, then sent someone to get Yang Cheng. This news shocked Yang Lin too much. No wonder the Madame and Yang Juan had fainted just now. The bandits came that night, it was because a traitor had appeared in Yang Mansion.
”Old master, you called me?”
Regardless of whether he was willing or not, Yang Cheng still respectfully called him Master Yang Lin. Yang Lin did not stand on ceremony with him, he raised his hand and pointed to the place where Li Quan was sitting just now, where Yang Cheng sat down after thanking him. Yang Lin sized up Yang Cheng, and felt that no matter what, Yang Cheng could not possibly be a traitor.
”Uncle Cheng, among all the servants in Yang Mansion, who is called Er Lai Zi?”
”Er Laizi, no.”