We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

A small village near the imperial capital.

It was winter, and the wind was cold and bleak at the entrance of the village.

Several Qing army soldiers wearing cotton armor came to the earthen wall in the center of the village and posted a notice with an official seal on it.

The village is so small that there are usually not many outsiders. But now that a group of soldiers have arrived, it instantly attracted the attention of the village intelligence department.

The old ladies who were sitting by the wall basking in the sun immediately looked over and stood up and moved over.

One of them was an old woman with gray hair, squinting at the notice.

After looking for a long time, she recognized the characters, but the characters did not recognize her.

The old lady couldn't help but ask in a hoarse voice, "General, what's going on? Are they going to increase taxes or impose conscription again?"

A new soldier with a childish face heard this and quickly waved his hands: "Fellow countryman, don't dare to call me Army Master anymore!"

"Your Majesty has ordered that we are one family with the common people, so just ask us to be soldiers."

The old lady was immediately puzzled. "This is strange! We've been calling him Master Jun all our lives, so why are we suddenly not allowed to call him that?"

The new recruit was obviously inexperienced. When asked by the old lady, he could only scratch the back of his head and smile foolishly.

But the old lady's curiosity quickly returned to the notice: "What's going on? We are old and our eyesight is dim and we can't read. Can you read it to me? Are there any new regulations from the government?"

The new soldier composed himself and answered truthfully, "It's about suppressing bandits and protecting the people. His Majesty has issued a strict order to thoroughly investigate the bandits and deserters."

"The notice says that anyone found acting suspiciously in our village must be reported immediately to the village chief or the militia at the nearby outpost. No concealment or delay is allowed."

The old lady laughed dryly at this. "Your Majesty, why would you meddle in such trivial matters? Our village has had bandits before, and we've told the village head and even the county officials, but they're all very busy and don't care!"

When the new soldier heard this, his brows immediately frowned: "What new Majesty! How can you speak like that? His Majesty..."

"Watch your attitude!" An older veteran next to him whispered.

The recruit immediately fell silent and swallowed the rest of his words, but there was still some unconvinced look on his face.

When the old ladies saw the young soldier's gloomy face, they felt a little scared.

They looked at each other, not daring to speak anymore, and the atmosphere became a little awkward.

The elder soldier turned his head and gave the old lady in the lead a gentle smile, explaining in a gentle tone: "Grandma, this is what happened."

"His Majesty has us ordinary people in his heart. He is worried that we will be harassed by bandits and that it will affect the spring plowing next year, so he has specially sent a large army to clear them out."

"This time we're serious. Anyone who provides information about bandits or rebels will be investigated immediately."

"Once it's verified, not only will they rid us of the trouble, but the court will also give us a reward!"

"A reward?" The old lady's eyes widened in disbelief. "This is bizarre! I've only heard of rewards for catching bandits, but how can there be a reward just for providing information?"

Another thin old lady nearby seemed to be more informed and interrupted, "You don't know about this, right? There's a similar thing happening in Wangjiazhuang next door."

"There's a guy in their village who's always idle. He doesn't work in the fields, and he doesn't go to the city to make a living."

"But he could smell the aroma of meat every now and then at home, and his life was more comfortable than anyone else's, yet he would beat his wife at the slightest provocation."

"But a few days ago, his neighbors reported him! Guess what? That guy is a bandit, selling stolen goods and gathering information for the mountain bandits!"

"The government seized more than a dozen silver ingots from his kang. They immediately took out the largest one and gave it to his neighbor!"

"Can it really work?" The old lady was stunned and her mind immediately became active.

She suddenly remembered her neighbor, the young man named Zhao.

The young man was not an idler, he also farmed, but he was a little weird.

Several times in the middle of the night, she saw the young man sneaking out of the house and running to the dark place outside the village.

Thinking of this, the old lady immediately became excited and slapped her thigh and said, "We have news, we have to report it!"

The other old ladies were stunned when they heard this, and then they all sneered: "Come on, old man, you have never left our village in your life, what news can you have?"

"Exactly. I'm afraid he's going crazy thinking about the reward money!"

The old soldier also reminded her seriously: "Granny, this kind of thing is not a joke. There must be real evidence."

"If you make random reports and falsely accuse good people, the government will hold you accountable."

The old lady was laughed at by the sisters and frightened by the old soldier. She became angry and said with her neck stiff, "We really have news. It's absolutely true!"

When the other old ladies pressed for details on the news, the old lady turned her head and said, "This involves military secrets. How can I share this with you? What if the news leaks out and the bandits escape? Can you afford it?"

The old ladies laughed even harder: "What military secrets? I see you're just afraid that we won't share your reward!"

The old lady was so embarrassed by what she heard that she simply ignored the group of old ladies and turned to the old soldier and said, "Sir, we need to report it, and we need to report it now!"

The old soldier looked helpless: "Grandma, didn't you say that you can't call me Junye anymore... Forget it, just come with me."

He turned to the two new recruits behind him and instructed, "Take this old woman to the side and ask her about the situation carefully. Write down everything she says and be careful to distinguish the truth from the false."

The two new recruits took the order and led the old lady to the temporary sentry post at the entrance of the village.

Along the way, the old lady kept talking about the situation of the young man from her neighbor Zhao family.

At first, the veteran didn't take it too seriously, thinking it was probably some young people out having fun at night.

But as he listened, his expression gradually became serious.

In this cold winter, ordinary people stay at home to keep warm at night. Who would go out in the middle of the night for no reason?

And from the description, the direction is not to the neighboring village, but to the more remote foot of the mountain...

This is indeed a bit suspicious.

Arriving at the outpost, the old soldier solemnly said to the old lady, "Grandma, we have taken note of what you have reported."

"We will be stationed at the village entrance for the next few days. Please keep a close eye on us. If you see the young man from the Zhao family go out in the middle of the night again, please come and tell us secretly. Don't make any noise."

Seeing that the soldiers were serious, the old lady smiled happily and said, "It's OK! Don't worry, I'll take care of it!"

Before he could even wait until the next night, late that night, the old soldier was awakened by a knock on the door just as he had fallen asleep.

"General! General! Wake up! That kid has slipped out again. I remember the direction and will come to find you right away!"

The veteran squad leader shuddered and lost all sleepiness.

He didn't even bother to correct the address. He quickly stood up and shouted in a low voice, "Something's happening! Wake up! Grab your weapons!"

There is a squad of ten soldiers stationed in this village.

Except for the veteran squad leader who was from the Fengtian Army and was equipped with a musket, the rest were local recruits from the city defense army or government soldiers, with limited training and combat experience.

Fortunately, the veteran squad leader was experienced and he quickly assigned tasks:

He held the musket, and two soldiers who were hunters followed closely with bows and arrows, two strong soldiers held shields in front, three soldiers who changed into more flexible swords followed behind, and the remaining two were responsible for protecting the old lady.

Under the guidance of the old lady, the group walked towards the west end of the village with the help of the faint moonlight.

The village road became more and more desolate. When we reached the end, we saw only a lonely adobe house standing in the darkness.

Half of the roof collapsed, looking particularly desolate in the night wind.

The old lady exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? Isn't this Li Laoguai's house? He died of an illness two years ago, and this house has been empty ever since. They say it's haunted."

When the veteran squad leader heard this, he became even more alert.

The house is empty and haunted...it's the perfect place for bandits to meet!

He made a gesture, ordering the two shieldmen to approach the door quietly and prepare for close combat.

The two archers spread out to the left and right, blocking the windows and the back of the house.

He picked up his musket, took a deep breath, and followed the shieldman.

"boom!"

The old soldier kicked open the broken wooden door.

"Don't move!"

"The government troops are arresting people!"

The soldiers shouted and filed in.

However, the scene inside the dilapidated house stunned everyone.

I saw some hay spread in the corner of the house. A man turned around in horror after hearing the sound, and his white butt was facing the door.

Under him, a naked woman screamed and frantically grabbed the clothes scattered on the ground to cover herself.

There are no bandits at all. It's clearly a pair of wild lovers having a secret meeting here!

The soldiers stood there with their weapons in hand, not knowing what to do.

The old lady was also very brave. When she saw that there was no more fighting inside, she suddenly rushed in.

When she saw the situation in the room clearly, she was stunned at first, and her old face turned red instantly, as if blood was about to drip out.

Then, like a lit firecracker, he rushed forward like crazy, grabbing and beating the naked man:

"Oh my God! You bastard! You shameless bastard! What the hell are you doing? You're bringing shame to our ancestors! You're so disgraceful!"

The old soldier reacted and quickly asked someone to hold the old lady back, and helplessly advised:

"Grandma, Grandma! Calm down. They're doing something immoral and should be dealt with according to village rules and clan laws. Why are you getting so angry?"

Just as he finished speaking, he heard the woman curled up in the haystack sobbing and speaking:

"Mom...I...I won't dare to do that again!"

mom?

The old soldier was slightly startled and looked in astonishment at the old lady who was still struggling to pounce on him and fight.

She sighed and subconsciously comforted him: "Mother-in-law, things have come to this point, the die is cast, I think this young man... well, why not let them be..."

The old lady turned her head suddenly, her eyes red:

"What the hell! She's my daughter-in-law!!!"

veteran:...

Other soldiers: . . .