Chapter 91: Pulling Out The Camp
The mountain bandits of White Tiger Stockade were all killed into a daze.
Without the slightest sign, the night before they had been feasting on meat and drinking heartily, but suddenly in the dead of night they were killed until blood flowed like rivers.
Great Chieftain Luo Hu’s head was hoisted high.
A Rakshasa-like voice echoed in their ears and hearts.
In the pitch-black slaughter, the bandits scared out of their wits threw down their weapons and knelt.
Some bandits refused to surrender and charged outward. Torches were lit, and a cold voice of a young woman rang out: “Kill all who refuse to surrender.”
After a dozen or so bandits had their heads chopped off, the remaining bandits no longer dared to resist.
Clang clang!
Weapons were collected and thrown into a pile.
The bandits kneeling on the ground had their hands and feet firmly bound with ropes. The crying women and children were also searched out and similarly bound.
At this time, the sky was slightly brightening.
From sneaking into White Tiger Stockade to this moment of complete victory, only two hours had passed.
They won just like that?!
Pei Yan grinned with bared teeth, smug and complacent. Mao Hongling’s eyes sparkled, her lips curving up.
Pei Qinghe’s voice came over: “Stop grinning foolishly, all come over.”
There was still much to do next!
First, tally their own casualties. The medicine packets carried on them came in great use, for stopping bleeding and bandaging.
Then, search for and finish off the wounded, chopping off the bandits’ heads. Pei Clan women were accustomed to such tasks, their hands and feet very nimble. Bloody heads piled into a small mountain.
The captured bandits numbered over two hundred.
Mao Hongling extremely despised these bandits and suggested in a low voice: “Kill them all! These scum are just wasting grain by staying alive.”
But Pei Qinghe said: “Keep them, they will be useful later.”
Mao Hongling never questioned any decision Pei Qinghe made, nodding in agreement.
Next was to gather the women of the stockade.
The women had all been robbed into the mountains, but not all were willing to be rescued. A beautiful young woman around twenty stared at Pei Qinghe with full hatred.
Pei Qinghe raised her brow, stepped forward, and pulled the cotton cloth from the woman’s mouth. The woman spat and cursed angrily nonstop.
Pei Yan sneered, landed a punch, leaving the woman with a bruised and swollen face. Another punch down, and she spat blood.
Pei Qinghe signaled Pei Yan to stop, then selected another young beautiful woman to ask: “Is she one of Luo Hu’s people?”
“Yes… She’s called Yan Zhi, followed Luo Hu for three years. Normally we were all under her management.” That young woman was much more timid, her voice trembling, body shaking nonstop: “I… I was robbed into the mountains. I haven’t done evil, please Sixth Sister Pei spare us.”
Pei Qinghe raised her brow: “You know me?”
The young woman kept her head low, voice trembling: “Sixth Sister Pei has been in Changping County for over a year, wiped out Black Bear Stockade and Wolf Fang Stockade. Your fame is renowned. Though I haven’t seen you, I know that the only young woman in this world who could easily kill Luo Hu is Sixth Sister Pei.”
“Please Sixth Sister Pei spare my life, I really am an innocent commoner…”
Yan Zhi, who had two teeth knocked out, suddenly raised her head, her hateful gaze shooting over like arrows: “You’re also Luo Hu’s woman, just couldn’t compete with me. Normally you gave Luo Hu plenty of ideas and even killed people yourself, now you’re pretending to be a good citizen. Bah! Shameless!”
The young woman did not argue or quarrel with Yan Zhi, but wept while kowtowing and begging for mercy.
Pei Yan scratched her head vigorously and suggested: “How about killing them all!”
Mao Hongling frowned in opposition: “Better to ask and get the facts clear first.”
The recruited refugees had varied intentions; women were the main force for Pei Family Village to recruit. These sixty or seventy women, if all recruited, would give Pei Family a large batch of usable people.
Pei Qinghe approvingly glanced at Mao Hongling, turned to glare at Pei Yan: “Use your brain more when encountering matters, learn more from Second Sister-in-law.”
Pei Yan was used to being scolded and chuckled.
Pei Qinghe separated the captured women and had them questioned one by one. After confirmation, both Yan Zhi and the young woman were killed. The rest were temporarily locked up.
The interrogation of the bandits was much simpler and rougher.
Pei Qinghe carried a long saber, asking one question and killing one person. After killing seven in a row, the remaining bandits completely collapsed, scrambling to reveal where White Tiger Stockade stored its weapons, money, and grain.
Pushing open the storeroom door, sacks of grain were piled like mountains.
Clearly, this was the grain robbed from Shi Family. It took several days’ effort for the five or six hundred bandits to transport all the grain into the mountains.
Besides grain, there was a large batch of bows and arrows. This was an unexpected delight. Beiping Army had sent long sabers and armor, but no bows and arrows. Today’s capture amounted to over fifty.
Mao Hongling felt lingering fear: “Lucky we entered the stockade at midnight and caught them off guard. If attacking head-on, with them high above defending with arrows, who knows how many of us would have died in vain.”
Pei Qinghe anticipated the enemy at every step, achieving great victory with minimal casualties.
Mao Hongling did not think why, only exclaiming in amazement: “Qinghe, you are truly too powerful.”
Pei Qinghe smiled and continued tallying the spoils.
Sabers, spears, axes, ge, truly many weapons. No wonder they escaped from the barracks; their weapons were much better than those of Black Bear Stockade and Wolf Fang Stockade.
The refugees gathered by Pei Family Village could now be gradually equipped.
Gold, silver, jade ware and such were instead the least practical. In chaotic times, even with silver one could not buy grain.
However, few were as calm and rational as Pei Qinghe. The Pei Clan women saw box after box of gold and silver, their brows raised in delight.
“Taking down White Tiger Stockade is enough for Pei Family Village to use for a long time.” Zhou Shi was not agile but quick-witted, happily calculating: “Including the recruited refugees, it’s enough to support for one or two years.”
No wonder Pei Qinghe came to Youzhou full of confidence; turns out she had long planned to rob the mountain bandits.
Pei Qinghe casually said: “Accounts aren’t calculated that way. Feeding so many people, the most crucial is having ample grain. In peaceful times, gold and silver work. Once chaos comes, who would bring out their grain.”
Therefore, relying on the great grain merchant Shi Family was extremely important.
This raid on White Tiger Stockade was not entirely for revenge for Shi Family. Baring fangs to deter hearts, along with combat training, seizing money, grain, and weapons, and capturing bandits and women were also great gains.
After tallying the harvest, Pei Qinghe was in a very good mood and instructed Wu Xiuniang and others to light fires and cook.
Pei Qinghe led people to guard in White Tiger Stockade, while Pei Yan took people down the mountain to send a message.
A few days later, Pei Jia, Pei Yi, Feng Chang, Gu Lian and others brought several hundred refugees into the mountains.
The crowd of refugees carried grain, weapons, gold, and silver, each fully loaded. The captives had hands bound, with a sack of grain also bound to their backs.
Upon descending the mountain, Pei Qinghe set a fire, and the mountain of corpses was quickly swallowed by flames.
“Not burning the stockade?” Pei Yan’s fuzzy head leaned over.
Pei Qinghe habitually reached out to rub it: “Keep it! In case of any mishap later, this stockade can still shelter us.”
