My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

After an inventory, they found more than thirty old rifles, more than a thousand rounds of bullets, and a number of bows, crossbows, swords and knives.

Tens of thousands of kilograms of grain and a small number of livestock were also found in the warehouse.

At this time, Jiang Youyi stepped forward and reported, "Master, we have eight wounded and one dead in this battle, killed thirty-two enemies, and captured seventy-four."

Jiang Li frowned and asked, "Why are so many people injured?"

Jiang Youyi replied, "Only three of the wounded were shot. The other five were too nervous and fell down, sprained their feet and knocked out their teeth. The one who died was ambushed by someone pretending to be dead, but he is dead now."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Li simply said, "Give his family some compensation later. Now escort the captive to Qianjia Town. That is our spoils of war."

As he said this, he left a few people to guard the food, and the rest escorted the prisoners to Qianjia Town.

When they arrived outside the town, Jiang Youyi stepped forward and shouted, "I am the security captain of Teng Teng Town. I heard that there were bandits causing chaos in Qianjia Town. I was ordered by the mayor to come and eliminate the bandits and bring peace to Qianjia Town."

"Now that the bandits have been captured alive, victims, please come forward and identify the criminals. We will conduct an open trial and bring justice to the victims."

At this time, the residents in the town were all very frightened. After all, such an army that came from nowhere was very scary. You know, these days there was actually not much difference between the army and bandits, especially those small forces.

Jiang Youyi shouted for a long time but no one came out, so he came to ask Jiang Li for instructions. Jiang Li said, "Tell them that if they don't come out for a personal talk, we will release these hundreds of bandits into the town."

As expected, when Jiang Youyi shouted, an old man immediately came out, bowed in front of Jiang Youyi and said, "I am Qian Yongnian, the deputy mayor of Qianjia Town. May I ask what the captain wants me to do?"

Jiang Youyi brought him to Jiang Li and said, "This is our mayor Jiang Li."

Qian Yongnian bowed again and said, "Greetings to Mayor Jiang. I wonder what instructions you have. If Qianjia Town can do it, I will do my best to satisfy you."

Jiang Li took out the mayor's appointment letter from his arms, handed it to Qian Yongnian and said, "Look at this first, and we'll talk about the rest later."

Qian Yongnian took it and smiled flatteringly, "I have never doubted Mayor Jiang's identity. You should take back the appointment letter!"

Jiang Li took the appointment letter and put it in his pocket and said, "I am a straightforward person and I don't hide anything.

"I've inquired. Your town has not taken refuge with any great commander. You have been relying on a security team of more than 30 people to maintain order. They were ambushed by this group of bandits a few days ago, and now there are only about 20 people left."

"I'm going to do business with you. You pay me taxes and I'll protect you."

Seeing Qian Yongnian about to speak, Jiang Li interrupted him and said, "You don't have to answer. Go back and discuss it with the gentry in the town. Just give me a result in half an hour."

"Let's go back!"

After hearing this, Qian Yongnian quickly returned to the town and discussed the matter with the mayor and the town's gentry and elders.

In just over twenty minutes, the gentry and wealthy families came out with the victims' families.

The leading elder walked up to Jiang Li, bowed and said, "I am Qian Shouyi, the mayor of Qianjia Town. I would like to greet Mayor Jiang. Mayor Jiang's coming here has solved the urgent need of Qianjia Town. I would like to bring more than 2,000 people from Qianjia Town to thank Mayor Jiang."

Jiang Li did not respond, but asked calmly, "Mayor Qian, please tell us what the Qianjia Town decision is, so that I can make the next arrangements!"

Qian Shouyi was shocked when he heard this and wondered what the next step would be.

Jiang Li didn't give him time to think and asked again, "Mayor Qian, did you hear what I said?"

Qian Shouyi was shocked when he heard this and quickly replied, "The gentry of Qianjia Town have discussed it and are willing to accept your proposal and submit to Mayor Jiang."

"But please, mayor, protect the lives and property of the townspeople."

Jiang Li felt relieved when he heard that and said, "Of course, but there is one family that we cannot let go so easily."

Then he shouted to the crowd in front, "I heard that Qian Yongfu funded the bandits to wreak havoc in the village, causing several villages to be looted and hundreds of people to be killed or injured. Now I will give him a chance to defend himself and confront these bandits face to face."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and they all looked at Qian Yongfu in the crowd in disbelief.

Qian Yongfu was also extremely panicked at this time. He had thought of this as early as when the group of bandits got out of control, but now that it was made public, he still couldn't remain calm.

He could only wave his hands in panic and explain, "I didn't do that. It was the bandits who made up the accusation. Don't believe them!"

Seeing this, Jiang Li had someone drag him out of the crowd and let the few bandits who were funded by him confront him.

But how could Qian Yongfu admit it? No matter what the bandits said, he insisted it was a false accusation.

Even though Jiang Li displayed more than 30 guns that he had seized, he still refused to admit it. Jiang Li had no choice but to cite the "Great Qing Law Code" and then set up a high platform to publicly interrogate the entire Qian family.

Everyone was puzzled when they saw Jiang Li building a platform. After asking, they realized that this was a sign of the execution of the entire family. So all the wealthy gentry present were panicked. After all, how could anyone have a clean family these days?

Seeing this, Jiang Li quickly promised loudly, "Because Qian Yongfu refused to plead guilty, this high platform was specially built to try Qian Yongfu's family, and no innocent people will be implicated."

"Once this matter is resolved, all past matters will not be pursued. However, if you dare to break the law again in the future, I will settle all the old scores with you without mercy!"

Seeing that the crowd below was still somewhat chaotic, Jiang Li took out his Mauser and fired three shots into the air. Only then did the chaotic crowd calm down.

So Jiang Li directly ordered people to arrest Qian Yongfu's entire family, including the housekeeper, servants and thugs, a total of 62 people.

Then Jiang Li said loudly to the increasing number of people watching the excitement, "I heard that Qian Yongfu's family has committed many illegal acts, so today we have set up this high platform for interrogation."

"If you have any grievances, you can tell me. If it is true, I will punish you according to the Qing Dynasty Law. Now you can speak freely."

But as soon as these words were spoken, the originally quiet crowd began to become noisy, but no one came out to accuse these people of their crimes.

As time went by, the crowd became more vocal, and Jiang Li had no choice but to fire another shot into the air. When the crowd quieted down, he said, "If no one comes forward to identify them, I will let them go. If they don't commit crimes again in the future, they will not be held accountable for any past mistakes."

At this time, a trembling old woman walked out of the crowd. She leaned on a wooden stick and lay on the ground crying, "Mayor, please help me!"

Seeing that someone finally stood up, Jiang Li immediately had someone help the old woman up and said, "If you have any grievances, just tell me. I will definitely seek justice for you."