Chapter 14: The Bee Is Very Good, It Only Stings Bad People
Qin Wanwan’s innocent big eyes blinked, and in a moment, Colonel Lin picked her up.
“I walked here,” the little girl said righteously.
Colonel Lin: …
“Where are the two people who sent you out?”
Qin Wanwan felt a little guilty.
“We just ran into a snake.”
Colonel Lin hadn’t understood what she meant when a swarm of hornets flew over.
These hornets were the same ones that had chased the bandits earlier.
Everyone instantly became vigilant.
Looking at the faces and bodies of those bandits, you could tell how miserable they were; they were so swollen they couldn’t even open their eyes.
Most importantly, it hurt. Now, the captured bandits were crying out in pain, each louder than the last.
With so many hornets and their small size, it was difficult to fight them off; the only solution was fire and smoke.
Colonel Lin: “Quickly go find torches!”
All the soldiers instinctively surrounded Qin Wanwan, the little one, in the very center.
Qin Wanwan glanced at the hornets, then at Colonel Lin and the others, biting her little finger. She realized the hornets didn’t seem to be very welcome.
So, before the hornets could approach, she conveyed a message in Qilin language.
‘Don’t come any closer.’
All the hornets stopped not too far away from them.
Qin Wanwan: ‘Hurry back now.’
The hornets hesitated. Although they still wanted to be close to the little Qilin, they obediently left.
The moment the hornets left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Good thing they didn’t come over; I didn’t want to become as ugly as those bandits.”
“Speaking of which, it’s strange. These villagers who were captured are with the bandits, so why weren’t they stung by the hornets at all?”
“Could it be that they truly did too many wicked deeds and are now facing retribution?”
Keke proudly tilted his head up. Of course, it was the credit of their Qilin cub.
The Li siblings knew this too, but they dared not speak to these strong soldiers who were armed.
Qin Wanwan said softly, “The little bees are very well-behaved; they only sting bad people.”
Colonel Lin and the others laughed and teased,
“How do those hornets know who the bad people are?”
Qin Wanwan said crisply, “Wanwan told them.”
Everyone laughed even more heartily, clearly thinking she was joking.
After the joking, Colonel Lin led his men to inspect the mine. Upon inspection, it turned out to be a silver mine.
Immediately, everyone’s eyes widened.
“Colonel Lin, it’s a silver mine. No wonder they captured so many villagers.”
“My goodness, these bandits are really something; they actually hoarded a silver mine.”
“Judging by the luster of this silver mine, the silver content should be quite high.”
There was still quite a bit of excavated silver ore inside the mine tunnels. Under Colonel Lin’s command, everyone carried it out basket by basket.
At this sight, their eyes grew eager.
“When will the General arrive?”
Their General was very short of money. They just didn’t know if they could take this silver with them.
Colonel Lin swallowed hard as he looked at the silver ore. How much silver would this smelt into!
However, he didn’t think about keeping the silver mine for himself.
No one present had that audacity.
Besides, the General would not mistreat them.
“Someone go report to the General.”
“Yes!”
The remaining people guarded the silver mine and also settled all the miners who hadn’t escaped.
On the other side, the army led by Xie Chong had completely captured the bandit lair.
And from the bandit leader’s secret chamber, he found numerous ledgers and some letters.
The ledgers detailed transactions between the bandits and the three major noble families in An Sui Prefecture City, as well as the Prefect.
The letters were also nothing more than communication with these families.
Looking at the content of the letters, he let out a cold laugh.
“Someone, send these letters and ledgers to Shangjing on horseback immediately, and bring the remaining bandits to me.”
The letters between the bandits and the Prefect mentioned the silver mine, so he now understood what the bandits were doing by capturing villagers.
The Prefect of this place was truly audacious. He discovered a silver mine but didn’t notify the Imperial Court; instead, he colluded with the bandits to mine it.
After an interrogation, only a few of the bandit leaders and their confidants knew the location of the silver mine.
However, the bandit leader was killed, and the confidants refused to talk.
“Bah, even if I die, you won’t get the location of the silver mine.”
Since he was going to die anyway, he absolutely would not let these people have their way.
Xie Chong frowned and kicked the man, sending him spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“If you don’t talk, plenty of others will.”
Before he could interrogate the remaining people, one of his subordinates arrived.
The person who arrived was the soldier Colonel Lin had sent to deliver the message.
“General, we have discovered a silver mine. Colonel Lin sent me to relay the message.”
Xie Chong’s eyes immediately lit up.
The bandit leader’s confidant being interrogated was furious, his eyes bulging: “Impossible, you must be lying, absolutely impossible!”
Xie Chong sneered, “Execute these few on the spot and send their heads, along with the bandit leader’s head, to the Prefect’s mansion!”
Posting a few wanted posters was just a pretense to fool someone!
However, since the wanted posters were put up, they had to be honored.
He not only wanted to scare the Prefect but also make that old fellow pay the bounty for the bandits!
Now that he knew the location of the silver mine, he was no longer in a hurry. He began ordering people to ransack the bandit stronghold, ensuring not a single valuable item was missed.
Grain, livestock, and everything else were not spared.
Finally, carrying silver, money, and resources, they drove the bandits who hadn’t been killed and various livestock down the mountain.
The bandits’ clothes were all stripped off.
There were also captured people here. After being rescued, some left. Those who didn’t leave were basically captured women with nowhere to go.
Like the other women before them, they were brought back to the army.
Xie Chong personally led his men to An Sui Prefecture City and directly surrounded the Prefect’s mansion.
He also had people loudly publicize the crimes committed by the Prefect, the three noble families, and the bandits.
The entire An Sui Prefecture City erupted.
However, under Xie Chong’s suppression, it didn’t turn into a riot.
“Xie Chong, you dare! I am a Prefect personally appointed by Your Majesty, how dare you arrest me!”
Xie Chong stood expressionless in front of the Prefect’s gate: “I arrested you? I’m just afraid you’ll run, so I’ve surrounded you for now. Your crimes will be decided by His Majesty.”
The Prefect was furious: “What you’re saying is pure nonsense! You’re clearly harboring wicked intentions and trying to rebel. His Majesty will not let you go!”
Xie Chong: “I’ve sent the letters of communication between you and the bandits to Shangjing on horseback. Whether it’s justified or not, we’ll wait for His Majesty’s decree.”
The Prefect spat blood in anger and became even more anxious in his heart.
Damn it, didn’t he tell those people to burn the letters after reading them? Why were they still kept!
It’s over, it’s over…
The Prefect, with a pale face, collapsed onto the ground.
“By the way, did you count the heads of the bandits I sent to your mansion? Among them were the three bandit leaders. According to the reward on the wanted poster you put up, the bandit leaders are one hundred taels of silver each.
Ordinary bandits are fifty taels, and those alive are also fifty. We counted them clearly when they came; there were a total of six hundred and five ordinary bandits, plus three bandit leaders.”
