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After Xiao Kun secretly reported the news to Qin Heng, Qin Heng quickly arranged for people to send all the officials from the government down the mountain.
Qin Zhao then arranged for people to follow Xiao Kun to the small cave. When he saw the neatly arranged valuable items, he was speechless.
He arranged for people to transport these boxes and crates. After coming out, he looked up at the sky again and thought to himself that he no longer wanted to envy and be jealous.
He wanted to ask, “Dear Heavens, do you need a son? How about me?”
When Lu Songli and Xue Xu arrived at the mountain stronghold, Xue Xu said he wanted to go back to his room to get something. Lu Songli asked two brothers to accompany him, while she went straight to the main hall.
At this time, Qin Zhao had just had all the wealth stacked neatly. Several boxes of the books she had requested were also inside. These books were all looted by the Qinglong Bandits and deemed useless, so they were stacked in a corner of the warehouse.
Lu Songli looked at the wealth they had seized this time and couldn’t help but sigh, “Indeed, the fastest way to make money is through shady dealings.”
This sigh was accidentally heard by Qin Sheng, who looked at the confiscated goods and fell into contemplation.
From then on, Qin Sheng discovered a new land, a fast track to wealth. Whenever his wife’s business ventures needed more funds, he would lead troops out, raid a couple of strongholds, loot their warehouses, and bring everything back.
It could be said that from then on, Qin Sheng left everyone else in the dust on this shady path. The name of General Qin Sheng also made various bandits and strongholds tremble in fear.
At this time, Xue Xu, the old man, came over casually and said, “I didn’t expect you guys to really take down the Qinglong Bandits? The Qinglong Bandits’s leader, Qiu Hai, has a private treasury with a lot of good stuff inside…”
“Boss Xue Xu, are you talking about these things?” Qin Zhao stepped aside, took two steps back, and let him see the neatly arranged boxes and crates clearly.
Xue Xu looked at the familiar appearance of the boxes and crates, his voice suddenly stopped, and after a while, he found his voice, “How did you find that place?” He remembered that Qiu Hai’s private treasury was very secretive.
After learning that the secret warehouse was found by Qin Sheng accidentally, he circled around Qin Sheng, muttering to himself about the boy’s luck.
Originally, he wanted to use this secret to bargain for his freedom and make some money. But now, it seemed unlikely. So he decided to just follow them all the way to Pingzhou! Xue Xu never owed anyone!
Since he was going out anyway, he could just settle down anywhere. It was better to follow them! Lu Desheng’s daughter said she would wipe out the bandits, and he wanted to see how far they could go. He was also very curious about their future development.
As the first light broke through, the clouds dispersed and the snow stopped after two full days of heavy snow.
The Qinglong Bandits was taken down by the government, and Zhang Xian began interrogating the prisoners today. This news spread to several villages early in the morning.
The villagers of Qingxi Village and nearby villages who could go all rushed to the county town today, just to witness the bandits who had oppressed them for years being punished!
Lu Songli and the others also prepared to set off. Early in the morning before departure, Lu Songli had Lu Mingzhi write a letter to be delivered to Zhang Xian at the county office.
Lu Songli did not forget her promise to introduce them to their father. With this letter as a guarantee, the two should be able to establish a connection smoothly.
What Lu Songli did not know was that after Zhang Xian received the letter she had sent through someone, he wrote a letter to Changli two days later.
Changli was where he had been stationed before, and where he had been managing for several years.
Da Li divided Liaodong, Changli, Xuanmu, Daifang, and Lelang into Pingzhou, with the capital in Xiangping. These exiles were actually doing the handover in Xiangping. Changli was very close to Xiangping.
When Lu Songli and the others set off, starting from Qingxi Village, countless villagers came out of their homes with things to see them off.
They had already tested it out, and the new fire kang at Chief Chen’s house really helped them get through the winter. A large kang could accommodate many people, and as long as the fire was burning, even families with few members could wrap themselves in thin blankets and sleep warmly until dawn. They no longer had to be woken up in the middle of the night like before due to the cold.
Therefore, under Chief Chen’s initiative, Qingxi Village had already prepared a kang bed for each household. They did not forget the person who taught them the technique of making the kang, Lu Songli. That’s why these households with some surplus goods each brought something to see them off.
In addition, Old Lady Chen speculated that the elimination of the Qinglong Bandits was likely also closely related to them. But she did not mention it, and only after a long time did she bring up the matter with the sisters in the village.
Lu Songli and her group knew that Qingxi Village had never been prosperous due to the presence of the Qinglong Bandits. But at this moment, the villagers were really insistent on their hospitality. They kept refusing, saying they didn’t lack food and asked them to take the food back for their own use. However, the villagers did not listen. If they didn’t accept, the villagers would directly place or hang the items on the carriage shafts.
Unable to do anything about it, they had to accept all the things the villagers gave them. Then, Lu Songli had someone take out two bags of grain from the carriage to give to Chief Chen, so he could distribute them to the villagers who came to see them off later.
In this era, grain was always a valuable commodity, second only to gold.
Originally, this journey of over a thousand miles had indeed consumed a lot of food. Fortunately, after capturing the Qinglong Bandits, they had gained a lot of resources, and now their entire team did not lack food. Giving two bags of grain was just a drop in the bucket.
Lu Songli and her group left Qingxi Village and left Tonghua County in a horse carriage.
It could be said that they had left a deep impression on the people of Qingxi Village.
Later, when Lu Desheng and his group passed through Qingxi Village and learned that they were Lu Songli’s parents, they received very good care and hospitality.
That year, there were no more deaths in Qingxi Village during the winter. Whether old or young, as long as they had a fire kang at home, they safely passed through a cold winter.
When the villagers realized this, they suddenly remembered what Old Lady Chen had relayed about Lu Songli’s words, that the common people could one day live in a place without banditry. Perhaps, one day, the world could really be as she described?
A seed of hope was suddenly planted in the hearts of the common people in the area.
In fact, Lu Songli’s original words were not like this at all, but in the countryside, stories tend to change completely as they are passed on.
Later, when Qin Sheng led his troops to attack Gunzhou, he received a lot of help from the common people in secret, and the advance of the battle line was much faster than expected.