Chapter 1246: Puzzlement

In the past few years, there had been natural disasters in many regions. But because Great Qi had income from the sea trade and high-yielding grains, whenever a natural disaster happened in a certain region, the Emperor would reduce taxes and send people to help out the affected citizens.

At the very least, one could borrow grains from the Imperial Court for the time being, and only had to pay a small amount of interest at the end of the year. Therefore, in the Great Qi Dynasty, other than the northern and western lands that had just been reclaimed, there should be very few people who were truly starving.

Moreover, this was Jiangnan, which had always been prosperous. Merely three to four days away from the capital, the lives of the people in Jiangnan were pretty good, much like those living in the capital and the nearby cities. How could there be bandits under such circumstances?

Because they had just experienced an assassination, Little Bear felt that there were too many spies left in Great Qi from other countries. It was hard to guarantee that these bandits were innocent.

Little Bear took the telescope from Little Treasure’s hand and looked at it. “The fighting has stopped. Let’s go down and take a look.”

Hearing this, the guards blocked in front of him and said, “Your Highness, it’s too dangerous down there. Besides, we don’t know who’s leading the troops. What if…”

“I didn’t know who was leading the troops previously, but I know now.” Little Bear circled around the guard and said loudly as he walked down, “He was once my father’s subordinate.”

Little Treasure also saw Fei Bai riding on a horse in the distance. Smiling at the guards, he said, “He’s your commander’s younger brother.”

Their commander was Lord Shi Jian, who used to serve by the side of the Emperor. So the person leading the troops was once a subordinate of King Rong?

In that case, there was no doubt about his loyalty.

Everyone quickly followed.

When Fei Bai saw Prince Rong who suddenly appeared in front of him, his eyes almost popped out. He jumped off the horse and bowed. “Your Highness, why are you here?”

“We’re heading back to the capital and happened to pass by here.” Little Bear asked eagerly, “How long will this battle last? Do you need our help? Our guards have excellent qinggong. Why don’t we send them up there to kill the archers so that it’ll be easier for you to rush up?”

Fei Bai quickly waved his hand. “No need, no need. They’ve been surrounded by my men for more than 20 days, and their weapons are almost exhausted. Even if you guys didn’t come, I planned to launch an attack tonight.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier came to report that they had already set up an ambush on the bandits’ retreat path and were only waiting for orders.

Only then did Little Bear believe that they were planning to attack anyway.

Fei Bai invited the two young masters into the main tent to rest. He warmly offered them the best food they had and said obsequiously, “Young masters, why don’t you continue on your way to the capital? It’s too dangerous here. I, too, have to go back after I’m done here. Considering the two of you have been out of the capital for quite a long time, His Majesty and King Rong will flare up if you delay any longer.”

The guards were originally guarding outside the main tent. When they heard this, they could not help but prick up their ears, hoping that Fei Bai could successfully persuade the two of them.

Little Bear drank a cup of tea and said, “I don’t mind. Anyway, I only came here to find out what’s going on with the bandits.”

Little Treasure also smiled and said, “Since you’re confident that you can eliminate the bandits, we naturally won’t interfere. We’re just curious about why these people became bandits. It’s said that they injured many people.”

Fei Bai’s expression was slightly solemn. He thought for a moment and said, “It’s not that we can’t tell Your Highnesses about this, but this matter is indeed a military secret. I don’t know if His Majesty and King Rong are willing to let you know.”

“Is it related to the spies?” Little Bear asked with a dark expression.

“How did you know?” Fei Bai widened his eyes slightly.

Little Treasure and Little Bear looked at each other and snorted in unison. They tricked him and said, “We also caught a spy. Isn’t this the same thing? What else can’t you tell us? You can tell us. If you can catch them alive, let them meet each other and see if they know each other.”

Fei Bai did not suspect that they were lying, because he had just seen a person tied up tightly by a rope.

Thinking that the Crown Prince had already started to help the Emperor review the memorials, and that King Rong never hid anything from Prince Rong if he asked, Fei Bai only hesitated for a moment before telling them frankly, “I haven’t investigated the origins of these bandits, but they definitely aren’t ordinary people who took to the heather.”

“At the beginning of spring, I was ordered to eliminate the bandits. King Rong and I thought that it was just a small group of bandits, so I didn’t bring many men with me. It was only when we arrived at the local county that we realized that there were no bandits robbing the commoners here. When we checked with the county office, other than the Qin family case reported at the beginning of spring, there was actually no other case involving bandits. The county magistrate suspected that Eldest Master Qin was killed by hired assassins. At that time, I sent people to search the nearby mountains, but I didn’t find any traces of bandits, so I agreed with the county magistrate. We almost led our troops away. We were lucky that when we were about to leave, there was another huge case in the county.”

“Because some traveling scholars were mesmerized by the scenery and took the byway, they encountered bandits and were killed. This case was reported to the government office by the passing villagers when they came across their corpses. At that time, none of the six students and their 12 servants survived. Our intuition told us that something was amiss, so we expanded our search this time and found some clues.”

Fei Bai took a sip of tea and said, “These people don’t look like bandits at all and instead resemble a private army. They gather on the mountain and don’t rob the commoners and rich merchants, but they have grains and weapons. Every once in a while, they will head down the mountain and enter the city to buy some things. They’re very careful. If we hadn’t discovered them first, we probably wouldn’t have noticed them.”

“After we investigated thoroughly, we wanted to capture two people and interrogate them first. Who knew that they would be so vigilant? They discovered it as soon as we made a move, and the two captured people refused to speak no matter what punishments we used on them. The moment we relaxed, the two of them committed suicide.” Fei Bai said regretfully, “I sent people to attack them continuously because I was afraid that they would escape. Over the past two months, we’ve been constantly fighting and sealed off the county. I reckoned that by now they’re running out of food and weapons on the mountain, so I wanted to launch a full-scale attack.”

Little Treasure and Little Bear looked at each other. They were just bluffing Fei Bai to get him to speak initially. But why did this person who didn’t speak no matter how he was interrogated sound so familiar?

“I’ve already reported this matter to King Rong. He asked me to investigate their background, so I’ve been shouting at them to surrender during this period of time. However, no matter how I threatened or tempted the people on the mountain, they weren’t moved.” At this point, Fei Bai felt a little disappointed. He said in a low voice, “These people are comparable to sacrificial soldiers.”

Little Treasure and Little Bear’s expressions darkened. “We have to investigate thoroughly!”

To think there was such a hideout of sacrificial soldiers so close to the capital. Their safety had been challenged like never before, okay?

Little Treasure and Little Bear immediately decided that they wouldn’t leave for the time being. Thinking of the assassins who hadn’t opened their mouths yet, a cold glint flashed across their eyes. They said in a low voice, “Leave no one on the mountain alive. If we can’t capture them alive, kill them all. It’s imperative that no one escapes.”