Hidden in the court

"No, there is a problem. The grain in the field has not been harvested yet?"

"Just let them collect it then."

"Aren't there snakes, scorpions, centipedes and so on?"

Nangong Bian was still confused.

But Nangong Xiao looked at the sun hanging high in the sky and knew something.

“It will be gone by then.”

"Brother, what did you say?"

"It's summer now, and the sun is so scorching. If the fields are not watered, these things will not be able to stay in the fields for a few days. They will either retreat, die in the sun, or rest in the ground. They only need to stay there for half a day."

"Correct! One point."

In the following days, just as everyone imagined, a large number of snakes, scorpions, centipedes and the like suddenly appeared in the fields. Naturally, the villagers who signed the contract did not complete the daily amount on time. Because they could not afford to pay, they went to Taoyuan County Magistrate. Taoyuan County took on their debts and drove them to open up wasteland.

At first, these people were also lazy, until someone spread the word in the village that silver had been dug up from the land. The whole village went crazy carrying hoes to the land, and they all found silver as they wished.

It must be said that Huangcun has a different kind of cohesion. Whether it is the tacit understanding of no one farming, or the secret of keeping the silver, the most important thing is that more than a thousand people opened up thousands of acres of land in three days, and no one leaked it.

On this day, the villagers of Huangcun were still eating at home.

"Clang-"

Then they saw two or three runners from the county government breaking down the door of their house, followed by a cavalryman in black armor.

"The court's official silver was robbed, and now I suspect it was you who did it. Don't move, or you will be killed without mercy!"

"Where is the silver? Tell me!"

Such things happened in hundreds of households in Huangcun, and most of the silver was found out in a short time.

All the villagers were driven together, bustling about and cowering in fear. It was obvious that they knew very well about the silver coins with official seals on them.

"Okay, everyone. A few days ago, the imperial court lost a batch of official silver. Now it has been found. The evidence is irrefutable. According to the law, you are all going to die."

The crowd broke out into a commotion again. An old man walked out of the crowd, babbling as if he had spat out two mouthfuls of phlegm, and was about to speak.

"Old man, don't tell me you dug this silver out of the ground!"

"Sir, this is..."

"Well, I'm not such an unreasonable person. I recovered the silver in time, and I will suppress this matter. You don't have to die, you should know how to be grateful."

The villagers were relieved, but they did not take Ji Mingshang's words seriously.

Ji Mingshang sneered, and Nangong Xiao came over with a piece of cut silver.

"All this silver is fake!"

Ji Mingshang threw the two pieces of silver on the ground, and saw that the large piece that should have been silver was actually silver and yellow, and most of it was copper, with only a thin layer of silver.

The soldiers around immediately drew their swords with a clang, and the cold light flashed. The villagers in the middle felt that the surrounding area suddenly became cold.

"Old man, where did the money really go?!"

The village chief immediately knelt on the ground and said, "Sir, we really dug this silver out of the ground. We didn't touch it, so we really didn't know."

"Okay, you don't know, right? You'll know once you get to jail. Take them all away!"

"Sir, spare me, we really don't know?"

"Spare my life!"

……

"Wait, losing silver is a big deal, and I don't want to cause trouble. It would be best if you can afford to pay. If not, just sign this contract and become a farmhand of the court, with food and lodging provided, and use your wages to pay off your debts."

At this point, Ji Mingshang finally showed his fangs, "Think about it carefully, otherwise you will spend the rest of your life in prison even if you don't die."

Under coercion and inducement, the villagers had no choice but to sign these indentures.

"Okay, now take your tools and go do your first job. Go to the fields to collect grain, and then deliver it all to Taoyuan County Government."

"There must be something hateful about pitiful people. Don't worry about them, brother. They won't starve to death."

When he returned to Jinling, he found at the gate a group of soldiers who had thrown away their armor and weapons and were supporting each other and staggering back. Each of them was covered in blood, and their stained faces showed an undisguised look of panic. Their bloodshot eyes were filled with fear after defeat, and a hint of despair.

Most of them had disheveled hair, and the wounds on their bodies were still aching. They could not help but moan in pain. Their blood-soaked armor kept dripping onto the ground, leaving a trail of bloody marks behind them. As drops of red blood flowed from the soldiers' bodies, the air was filled with the smell of blood, which was nauseating.

One soldier was covered in blood, one of his legs was injured, an arrow had pierced his calf, so he could only drag his leg to walk...

The leading official was covered in dust and dirt, but when he saw Ji Mingshang and his party, he stepped forward excitedly.

"Master Hou..."

A grown man actually cried like that.

"More than a hundred people were injured like this. Tell me slowly, what happened?"

"My Lord, there are not 100, but 200 people. There are only a few dozen left!"

"What happened?"

"I went to a village to collect grain, but they said there was no grain in the village. There was a village on a mountain not far from the village, and there was a group of bandits in it, no more than a hundred people. I wanted to get rid of the harm for the people, so I joined forces with the officials around me. But when we fought, we found that these people were not bandits at all. Their weapons and equipment were more complete than those of the officers and soldiers. Only two hundred people came back with so few people. My Lord, it's so fucking aggrieved..."

Seeing this tragic scene, Ji Mingshang couldn't help but think, "Your Highness, please stay. Brother, please come with me."

The two men gathered three hundred personal soldiers and three hundred imperial guards, and arrived at the destination within half a day.

"Sir, this is it. There is a village at the foot of the mountain, and the bandits' main camp is on the mountain."

The movement of several hundred cavalrymen made quite a noise, and every household in the village poked their heads out.

Ji Mingshang asked a man who went out to check, "Brother, I heard that there are thieves in your area. We are sent by the court to suppress the bandits. Can you tell me about it?"

The man was obviously flustered for a moment, but he quickly calmed down: "I... I don't understand these, you can talk to our village chief."

After that, the man led the way. After a while, a middle-aged man who was a little older came out from the intersection.

"Uncle, we are sent by the imperial court to suppress bandits. Can you tell me about the thieves in this place?"

It is no exaggeration to say that the uncle stepped forward and slid to his knees, crying and howling, "Sir, you have to take charge of us! That group of bandits is absolutely heartless. They come down the mountain every now and then to steal food. We can't survive!"

Ji Mingshang curled his lips, thinking that the performance was too obvious.