Chapter 28: The People Who Risked Their Lives to Hide in the Mountains

  The second time the troops reorganized to go into the mountains to hunt, Xu Bin's rules changed again. This time, the rules were the same as last time, but hitting the vital parts of the prey, such as the eyes and head, could earn extra points, and flying birds in the mountains could also earn extra points. This means that hunting, which was previously judged solely on the number of prey, now places more emphasis on accuracy and marksmanship, with the same time limit of one day.

  Three troops entered the forest outside the mountain village together this time, and the wild beasts in the mountains who were harmed by them last time heard the sound of guns coming from all directions and fled the mountain forests near Heifeng Village with lingering fear.

  He spent the whole morning and only caught a few wild rabbits and pheasants, Wang Er's boil was not reconciled to failure again, so he led his company to Zhujiashan, which is some distance away from the mountain stronghold.

  The soldier responsible for scouting ahead, suddenly panting and returning to the back of the troops, looked somewhat flustered as he said to Wang Er Zhuang: "Company Commander, there are many people hiding in the woods up ahead, they seem to be the villagers from down the mountain."

  "Wow! There are still villagers who dare to climb the mountain at this time, don't they know there are bandits around here? Although it's said that there are no bandit dens on Zhushan Mountain, but running so far into the mountains, aren't they worried about encountering bandits?"

  Out of curiosity, Wang Er's scar ordered his subordinates to stop advancing and asked the reporting soldier: "How many people did you see in that forest just now?"

  The soldier thought for a moment and said, "There should be forty or fifty of them, including men, women, old and young. Looking at their appearance, it seems like they are hiding from something. They all crouched in the mountain waist nest, even speaking in very low voices."

  Running into the mountains where bandits roam to hide, this is indeed a rare occurrence!

  Hearing that the fleeing villagers had run to Zhujiashan to hide, and seeing no weapons in their hands, Wang Erzhu decided not to worry about it for now and just surround them first. Although Xu Bin had emphasized to them before that they were not allowed to bully ordinary people from then on, but in this mountain, it was still better to be cautious.

  With Wang Er Zhuang's order, these soldiers who were used to walking in the mountains quickly formed a circle and surrounded the low-lying areas where the villagers were hiding.

  When they confirmed that the old hundred names who ran into the mountain for some reason were surrounded, Wang Erzhuang ordered the people around him to be vigilant and moved forward a bit, shouting: "People below, listen! You have been surrounded. Now tell me, what are you doing here? Why did you run to our territory?"

  As Wang Er's sudden shout, the people below who were already frightened and panicked completely lost their minds, no one paid attention to Wang Er's words of encirclement, pulling the people around them preparing to flee in all directions.

  Unfortunately, this was in the mountains, ordinary people had no way to escape the pursuit of bandits, let alone these former soldiers who were originally converted from bandits and had already formed a circle around them. These villagers hiding in the lowlands had no chance of escaping the encirclement.

  Seeing the frightened civilians, like startled birds, crying and begging for mercy in a chaotic scene, Wang Er Zhuo finally couldn't bear it and drew out his handgun from his waist, firing a warning shot.

  The gunshot rang out, and the people who were just in a commotion finally didn't dare to make a sound, looking at Wang Er Zhu with a terrified face, as if they were afraid that Wang Er Zhu would shoot them.

  The old hundred surnames finally calmed down, and Wang Erzhuo slightly softened his tone and asked: "Looking at you, you should be the common people from the foot of the mountain. How dare you rush into this Zhu Family Mountain? Don't you know that there are a lot of bandits in this mountain?

  "Alright, which one of you is the leader? Come out and make it clear to me. Why have you appeared here? If you can give a clear reason, I might spare your lives."

  As Wang Er's voice fell, an old man with a head full of white hair stood up from among the villagers squatting on the ground, looking somewhat frightened, and said: "In response to your words, sir, I am the village chief of Huangjiazhuang at the foot of this mountain. These people are all my fellow villagers. My name is Huang Youren, and I don't know your esteemed name. This matter has arisen suddenly, and disturbing your noble estate is truly inexcusable. Please, sir, give us humble commoners a way to live."

  Upon hearing that these people were indeed villagers from Huangjiazhuang, not far from the Black Wind Stockade, Wang Erchu became even more curious and asked: "Since you are villagers from the foot of the mountain, you should know that there are bandits in this mountain. Why did you dare to bring the whole village into the mountains? Aren't you afraid that the bandits will kill you?"

  Huang Youren let out a helpless sigh: "Old man also knows there are bandits in the mountains, but we can't escape to the outside, so we can only temporarily hide in these mountains. If it's really hopeless, then we can only go into the mountains and become bandits ourselves, at least that way we'll have food to eat! If we don't go into the mountains, I'm afraid our Huang family village of several dozen people won't even be able to keep their rice bowls!"

  This remark made Wang Erzhuang somewhat surprised, but thinking about the current state of affairs outside, it's not a new thing for ordinary people to struggle to make ends meet. At least among these people, there are many who have no way out in the outside world and have become bandits in the mountains.

  The old man in front of me is right, becoming a bandit in the mountains may be looked down upon, but at least there's still food to eat. In these times when even one's life can't be guaranteed, who would care about saving face?

  To make it clear why these villagers risked their lives to enter the mountain, Wang Erzhu first revealed his own name and told the villagers not to be afraid. Although they used to be bandits in this mountain, they now have rules and are not allowed to harm these ordinary people at will. He also asked them to wait here temporarily until he informed the master of the house and then asked the master to decide how to deal with these people.

  When Wang Erniao said that they couldn't harm the ordinary people at will, these villagers from Huangjiazhuang undoubtedly let out a long sigh of relief. Especially those young girls and middle-aged women who were afraid that these bandits would rape them.

  At that time, they really only had one death to preserve their innocence. Or even if they survived, they would still have to suffer the cold eyes and cruel treatment of others afterwards. So, it can be said that the ones who feared entering the mountains the most should be them.

  When Wang Erzhuang was chatting with the village chief of Huangjiayuan Village, he learned that 40 or 50 refugees from the foot of the mountain had escaped into the mountains, who were also villagers from Huangjiayuan Village at the foot of the mountain. Xu Bin said nothing and directly announced the suspension of the hunting action, and the whole team gathered to rush to Zhujiashan where Yilian was located.

  When the soldiers on guard outside saw Xu Bin and his party appear, they hastily sent someone to inform Wang Er Zhuang. Upon learning that the battalion commander had arrived, Wang Er Zhuang said to Huang Youren, who was now slightly calmer: "Village Chief Huang, our battalion commander has arrived. If you have any matters, you can discuss them with him later. He is in charge of all the mountain peaks within a few miles, so as long as he gives his permission, you won't have any problems staying on this mountain."

  Squad leader!

  This title might be unfamiliar to Huang Youren, but he must have heard of the notorious Black Wind Stockade. As it happens, their village, Huang Family Village, is also relatively close to the Black Wind Stockade, so they should know something about the bandits' lair on Treasure Peak. However, in normal times, they rarely suffered from the Black Wind Stockade's raids, which is why they dared to take such a great risk and venture into these mountains to escape disaster.

  When Huang Youren saw that the leader of the group was actually a young kid, he was slightly surprised in his heart, but still managed to squeeze out a smile and bowed: "The humble villager from down the mountain has not been reported, and privately entered the Zhushan Mountain without permission. I hope Commander Xu will forgive us this time. If there is anything that disturbed you, as long as Commander Xu speaks up, our Huangjiazhuang village will definitely try to satisfy your requirements. Please spare us this unintentional mistake for the sake of the dozens of old and young people in our entire village!"

  Little people! Grassroots! This is what ordinary people call those in power in this era.

  Compared to his stern face in the Xu family army, Xu Bin appeared very kind when dealing with these ordinary old people: "Huang Lao, you're being too serious. This Zhusha Mountain isn't even our Xu family army's territory, so what are you talking about private intrusion and disturbance? I'm just curious, you used to live well at the foot of the mountain, why did your whole village flee into these deep mountains now?"

  "Is there some bitter intention? If Old Huang doesn't mind, he can tell me. We've been neighbors for so many years after all, and as long as Black Wind Fortress can help in any way, I'll definitely not decline."

  Seeing the young master being so polite to himself, Old Huang thought for a moment and then looked bitter, telling them why they had fled into these deep mountains with the whole village.

  The reason is actually very simple, that is, the land currently being cultivated by the villagers of Huangjiazhuang Village are all owned by the wealthy landlord Tu Fugui from Baofeng Town at the foot of the mountain. It's just after the autumn harvest, Huangjiazhuang village had a matured rice field that was burned in one night for unknown reasons, and as a result, they couldn't hand over the required rent grain.

  Butcher FuGui sent someone to inform them, giving the villagers of HuangJiaZhuang three days to prepare grain and pay rent. If after three days they send people to collect rent but still can't get grain or goods for rent, then take the young girls from their village to the city as prostitutes in exchange for payment. When the account is settled, return these girls to the village.

  He knew that Tu Fugui had opened a casino and brothel in the city, and also hired a group of gunmen. Not to mention that Baofeng Town was the Tu family's domain, even in Juxiang City, the Tu family also had some prestige. Moreover, the seventh concubine of the county magistrate of Juxiang City is now Tu Fugui's sister, who has won the favor of this lecherous county magistrate.

  The butcher's family in Baofeng Town was so notorious that no one could do anything about them. Moreover, this butcher was somewhat knowledgeable about the rules and knew that open robbery would easily provoke public anger. So many times when he set his sights on a young girl from a certain village, he would think of ways to get her by finding excuses.

  This time, the target was a pair of twin sisters from Huangjiacun. As a result, Huangjiacun, which should have had a good harvest this year, suffered a blood curse because of these twin sisters. Fortunately, all the villagers shared the same surname and were related to each other in private. Therefore, in order to save their lives, these villagers reluctantly fled into the mountains to hide.

  Holding onto the idea that hiding for a while is just temporary, they finally chose to flee into these great mountains. After listening to Xu Bin's words here, I suddenly feel that this matter does indeed have a hint of "beauty causing trouble".

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