The emperor faked his death? Never mind, I will ascend the throne directly!

Chen Tingshu nodded after hearing this. "Just now, a cook in the county government office also mentioned this matter. They are acting more and more rampantly."

Li Chengfeng smiled faintly: "The more rampant they are, the easier it will be for us to catch them."

"After the disaster here is dealt with, I will teach them a lesson!"

Chen Tingshu looked at the confident Li Chengfeng and couldn't help feeling proud.

This is the emperor he swore to follow until his death!

After the two of them integrated the information in their hands, they acted separately.

Disaster relief efforts in Jiangnan are in full swing, but General He Sheng is having trouble tracking down the stolen relief supplies.

He led his troops towards the valley where the incident occurred and saw several escort soldiers who had escaped with injuries at the post station.

They all looked pale and were wrapped in bandages.

Seeing He Sheng coming in, the soldiers struggled to stand up and salute.

He Sheng raised his hand to signal them not to be polite, "Let's skip the empty talk. Just tell us what happened in detail."

The soldier with the least injury stepped forward, saluted, and replied, "General, when we reached Chifeng Valley, we suddenly encountered a group of people dressed as refugees."

"They pretended to ask us for food, and when we tried to give them some food to send them away, they suddenly rioted."

"They took advantage of the scramble for food to scatter us."

"Then they pulled out weapons hidden on their bodies and attacked us."

"We fought desperately, but unfortunately we were outnumbered and our supplies were stolen. Only a few of us managed to escape."

He Sheng slammed the table angrily, "This is too much!"

"The emperor is so rampant, damn it!"

The soldiers also lowered their heads and dared not speak.

He Sheng suppressed his anger and said, "Continue."

"Are there any characteristics in their appearance or clothing?"

The soldier continued, "They are pretending to be disaster victims. Their clothes are tattered and their weapons are a style I have never seen before."

He Sheng asked the soldier to draw a rough outline of the weapon.

"Do you remember what their leader looks like?"

They looked at each other and then slowly began to describe.

After piecing together the information from several people, He Sheng ordered someone to draw a rough picture of the leader's appearance.

Then he told a few people to take good care of their injuries and left with the main force.

Afterwards, He Sheng led his men to Chifeng Valley in person.

In the valley, there was a faint smell of blood in the air.

The bodies of the escort soldiers were scattered all over the ground, as were the burnt wreckage of the vehicles that were escorting the supplies.

He Sheng squatted down, carefully examined the traces on the ground, picked up a handful of soil, put it to his nose and sniffed it.

Based on the horseshoe prints left at the scene, He Sheng determined the direction of the robbers' escape and followed them all the way.

He Sheng followed the traces left by the robbers, but when he reached a dense forest, the clues were suddenly cut off.

The robbers seemed to have vanished out of thin air, leaving no trace.

He Sheng returned to the general's mansion, feeling extremely upset.

Just when He Sheng was at his wit's end, a personal guard came hurriedly to report: "General, Lord Song sent someone to deliver a secret letter."

He Sheng took the letter, waved away his attendants, and walked into the study alone.

When he opened the envelope, he saw only a few short lines of words in the letter, but it cheered up He Sheng.

In the letter, Song Weiyu pointed out that according to the information she obtained through special channels, after repeated consideration, this group of robbers was most likely a group of bandits entrenched in Feiyun Village.

Feiyun Village is located deep in the Daqing Mountains. The terrain is steep and easy to defend but difficult to attack. The government has tried to encircle and suppress it many times but all failed.

After reading the letter, He Sheng was shocked and immediately ordered:

"Gather all soldiers and attack Feiyun Village overnight!"

He Sheng rode on his horse with a solemn expression. He knew that this journey was extremely dangerous, but in order to recover the relief supplies, he had to give it a try.

After a night of forced march, the army led by He Sheng finally arrived at Feiyun Village.

The village gate was closed and there was silence all around.

At He Sheng's command, the soldiers quickly surrounded the stronghold.

The shouts and cries of killing shook the earth, breaking the tranquility of the mountain village.

Soldiers who have been to the battlefield are not comparable to those ordinary soldiers trained by the government.

After a fierce battle, the soldiers broke through the gate and rushed into the stronghold.

In a hidden cave deep within the mountain stronghold, He Sheng found the looted disaster relief supplies. Several of the stronghold's leaders were also captured, each one being forced to kneel on the ground by soldiers.

He Sheng looked at the scene in front of him, and a heavy stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

He compared the portraits with those of the bandits one by one, and after seeing that the leader of the stronghold had also been captured, he said:

"Take them all back and interrogate them thoroughly!"

"Yes!" the soldiers answered in unison.

He Sheng ordered people to count the supplies and found that some food was missing and all the silver and money were missing.

He first took these supplies back to the capital and went to discuss countermeasures with Song Wei Yu.

In another hidden passage of the village, a gorgeously dressed woman was hiding with several deadpools.

Soon, a spy came and reported: "My lady, they are gone."

Unexpectedly, this person was the long-missing Concubine Liu.

Since the former crown prince was deposed, Concubine Liu has been in hiding.

She united some of the people who had supported the prince in the past, and planned to slowly build up her power so that she could make a comeback.

However, Li Chengfeng was ruthless and suppressed the nobles and old ministers everywhere.

As a last resort, Concubine Liu thought of cooperating with the bandits.

They only care about money and kill without blinking an eye.

It is safest to cooperate with them at present.

"Let's go."

Concubine Liu gave the order.

They supported Concubine Liu and walked out of the stronghold. They had already hidden all the silver and money in the stronghold during the chaos.

Find it now and take it away.

Song Wei Yu counted the remaining supplies and, not daring to waste time, ordered them to be escorted to Jiangnan Prefecture immediately.

"Let's hand those bandits over to Lord He for trial."

He Sheng replied: "Leave it to me."

After returning to the general's mansion, he came to the cell where the bandits were imprisoned.

Each of the bandits was treated well and was covered in wounds.

He Sheng sat on the armchair and said, "Bring out the big boss."

After saying that, a man with whip marks all over his body and disheveled hair was brought out.

"Tell me, who gave you the courage to rob the imperial court's disaster relief funds? And who's backing you up?"

The man smiled disdainfully after hearing this. "I'm responsible for my own actions. You court lackeys are no match for me. I'll go to the tiger den even though I know there's a tiger in the mountain!"

He Sheng laughed after hearing this. "You are still defeated by me. Be smart and explain the facts clearly so that you don't suffer as much."

The bandit leader sneered, "Kill me if you dare. In eighteen years, I'll be a hero again!"

He Sheng didn't waste any time talking to him and ordered his men to use all the torture instruments on him.

Looking at the bandit leader lying on the ground, he sneered, "Pull the second in command over here."

The soldiers dragged the second-in-command, who was shaking like a sieve, over.

He was so frightened that he told He Sheng everything he knew without him asking.

He Sheng walked out of the cell with the interrogation record.

The next day, he went to Zhenguo Temple to find Song Weiyu and explained the details of the interrogation to her.