After the interstellar female general died in battle, she transmigrated into the body of a dashing p

Li San's mood instantly plummeted, and he couldn't help but lament, "In our area, it rains incessantly every two months. A little over a month ago, the dike in Luotian County suddenly broke, affecting several surrounding counties as well. They were all disaster victims who were preparing to flee to Baishan County."

Luotian County? Zheng Zhian felt the name sounded familiar; she must have heard it somewhere before. Her mind, like a giant intelligent database, quickly retrieved information about Luotian County.

She quickly realized where she was. Luotian County was located in the southwest, near the western border, and belonged to the Anlin River, a branch of the Anjiang River, in the upper reaches of the Hanliang River. It was somewhat different from Luxintuo, which was closer to the northwest.

Sure enough, Yuan Ming led them astray.

If she remembered correctly, the imperial court allocated funds to Luotian County to repair the dikes two years ago.

"There has been a lot of rain this year?" Zheng Zhian asked thoughtfully, his eyes half-closed.

For some reason, these words were like a spark thrown into an oil drum. Li San's emotions were instantly ignited, his face turned as black as ink, and he sneered through gritted teeth, "Big? How big can it be? It's just that the dam has been in disrepair for years, and those officials just casually found a few people to put a layer on it to make it look like a repair. It's no wonder it can't stop anything!"

After saying that, he turned his head and spat on the ground, saying, "They're all those damn corrupt officials."

Zheng Zhian had never witnessed firsthand the dirty dealings of some officials, but he had heard of them.

She turned her head and looked at Ling Fei with slightly darkened eyes.

"Is the disaster very serious?" Chunhua frowned slightly, her expression becoming serious.

Although Chunhua and Xiachan both dressed as men, Xiachan had a cold and aloof temperament that kept people at a distance, making it difficult for others to tell that she was a girl. However, Chunhua was naturally pretty and spoke and acted with the proper manners she had cultivated over the years.

It was immediately obvious that she was a girl dressed as a boy.

Li San was naturally rugged, and his voice was naturally high-pitched when he spoke. When he looked at her and met her serious and lively almond-shaped eyes, his voice unconsciously lowered. "Little girl, if it's not serious, who would want to drag their family and run away to another place?"

“They don’t have that much spare money to squander.” He then glanced at Zheng Zhian meaningfully.

No wonder he's a rich young master; he never forgets to bring such a beautiful young lady along when he goes out for fun.

Zheng Zhian was puzzled by his gaze and stared back at him. If she knew what Li San was thinking, she would cry out to the heavens: "Injustice!"

"What are you doing, third brother?"

The group entered the manor while chatting.

Looking in the direction of the sound, the person was tall and slender, about a head shorter than Li San, and looked like he had been malnourished for a long time. His cheekbones were prominent, and his eyes were long and narrow, making him look very shrewd.

At this moment, Li San's sharp eyes swept over the group. He was clearly surprised and happily took three steps forward. "Second Brother, why are you back so soon?"

"What's going on?" The man didn't answer, but looked directly at Zheng Zhian and the others.

Zheng Zhi felt relieved; he was indeed the second brother Li San had mentioned, Sun Er.

According to what Li San had said before, they were not originally mountain bandits. At first, he and two other brothers were preparing to go to Baishan County to take refuge after the disaster occurred. However, Baishan County refused to let the refugees in, citing the fear that they might carry the disease and infect the people in the city.

With nowhere else to turn, their leader remembered that he had once wandered into this mountain forest while hunting and knew that there was an abandoned manor there, so he decided to settle there temporarily.

Li San was born a butcher, and Sun Er was once a beggar. Later, he followed their elder brother Zhang He, who worked as an accountant in a restaurant.

Who knew that they would encounter more and more refugees? Zhang He couldn't bear to see so many people with nowhere to go, so he told them to stay and wait for the disaster to pass before returning home.

Who knew that this wait would last for one or two months, and the imperial court would not come up with a plan for the disaster in Luotian County. The number of people on the mountain was increasing, and many of them were even falling ill with colds. Eventually, hunting could no longer support so many people, so they thought of intercepting wealthy merchants passing by on the mountain road to get some silver.

Li San immediately took out the silver notes from his pocket and handed them to him, explaining, "He is Yun An, and those are his guards." He put his arm around his second brother's shoulder, turned around and continued in a low voice, "He is the kind of playboy you used to talk about. He gave us five hundred taels of silver, saying he wanted to come to our manor for a few days. He said if they stayed longer, he could give us another five hundred taels. I thought it was a good deal, so I brought them back."

At the same time, he raised his other hand and pointed. Sun's eyes gleamed as he held the silver note in his hand, as proud as if he had made a huge deal. He had to tell his older brother about this; he wasn't just a pig butcher.

"I heard you arrested two rich kids, is it them?" Sun Er's shrewd eyes shot towards him, something just didn't feel right.

He's a highway robber; even if he's not as vicious as the rumors say, he definitely doesn't look like a good person. No matter how stupid Yun An is, he wouldn't willingly hand over money and then ask to stay for a few days...

Li San shook his head repeatedly. "I had someone move the other two small houses in Guanzhong."

I robbed them of eight hundred taels, and agreed that his men would go back and gather two thousand taels for the common people.

Completely oblivious to his second brother's increasingly dark expression, he continued talking to himself, "Second brother, you know what, being a bandit is a quick way to make money! No wonder..."

"Why did you bring him back?" Sun Er had lost all patience listening to his smug description.

Li San was stunned for a moment, blinking blankly. "Making money!" Didn't his second brother and the others also rob people on the road before? This time it was his turn, and he even made more money than the two of them. Why didn't his second brother seem very happy?

The hand that was on Sun Er's shoulder was silently withdrawn by him.

Unbeknownst to the two, their conversation was heard by Zheng Zhian and the others without missing a single word, and even Chunhua, the one with the weakest martial arts skills among them, could hear it clearly.

Zheng Zhian waited quietly with a smile in his eyes, showing no intention of interrupting the two brothers.

"Do you know what you are now?" Sun Er asked through gritted teeth.

Li San replied in a very serious tone: "People!"

Enraged, Sun Er raised his hand to knock a blow to his head, muttering under his breath, "Pig brain."

They were now just bandits, but not the kind with high martial arts skills. Every time they robbed with their leader, they only took readily available money and jewelry, never intercepting people. They were afraid that some powerful families would come with their own forces, and they wouldn't be able to handle it.

That kid is something else; he not only brought them back, but he brought two groups with him.

Although Li San didn't understand, seeing his second brother's look of wanting to kill him, he knew he must have done something wrong, so he lowered his head and waited to be taught a lesson.

But after waiting for a long time, I didn't feel the pain I had imagined.

He looked up and saw that his second brother had already walked towards Yun'an.

"Young Master Yun, I am Sun Er." He raised his hand and clasped his hands in greeting to Zheng Zhian, who was at the head of the group.

He may not have any other skills, but he has developed a keen eye for people through more than twenty years of begging.

He had just secretly observed the five people. Besides their outstanding appearance, their aura was also extraordinary. In particular, the one at the front, whose gaze made him subconsciously tense up, and he didn't even dare to meet his eyes.

Such a person would never be the young master or son of an ordinary wealthy merchant.

Zheng Zhian smiled and returned the greeting with clasped hands: "My name is Yun An. We apologize for our abrupt arrival and for any inconvenience caused. Please forgive us, Brother Sun."

"Not at all, it was my third brother who was very offensive. I hope Young Master Yun will not hold it against him."

Both men greeted him with friendly smiles, but their expressions were full of probing; neither of them mentioned the robbery by Li San down the mountain.