frightfiction Chapter 125 How to deal with these people
Chapter 125 How to deal with these people
Everyone acted together, tied up the bandits they had helped to subdue, and took them to the open space in front of the cave.
Aunt Li was panting heavily, still glaring at Li Chongbai:
"You little bastard, didn't you flee to Jiangbei County with your father? Why did you start banditry?"
Li Chongbai lowered his head, making himself look innocent and pitiful:
"Grandma, we were ambushed on the road. I barely escaped and then met this group of people. I was really forced into a corner. They threatened me that if I didn't follow them, they would kill me."
"Brother Bo, we are not threatening you. It was you who brought us here. Otherwise, how would they have ended up like this following the leader?" Erdan said indignantly.
"Yes, I said I could eat meat by following you, but now it's all my fault!" another bandit also complained.
Li Chongbai's face changed, and he quickly retorted: "You are talking nonsense, it is obvious that you forced me to do it."
Li Ke pulled Lin Wan aside and asked softly, "Sister-in-law, why is only my second brother here? Where are the others? Where is Dad? Where is Xiaosong?"
Although his father had abandoned them many times, Li Ke still wanted to know whether he was alive or dead.
Uncle Li and his men had already arrived at the place where they had just fought, not far away. When they found traces, they were frightened and ran back in panic.
Only after seeing the figures of the people at the entrance of the cave did he calm down a little.
When they got closer, they found Li Chongbai and several other men with bruised faces and noses tied up and lying on the ground.
He walked over and asked calmly and coldly, "Chongbai, both of your uncles have confessed, are you still going to lie?"
When Uncle Li arrived here just now and heard him lie that he was coerced, he knew that this child was hopeless as he was doing evil things at such a young age.
In his heart, he was also blaming Li Changren for not educating his son well. Well, let alone educating his son, Li Changren himself had a bad character.
He also blamed himself for always feeling that he owed his younger brother's family because his younger brother died while trying to save him during the famine 20 years ago. So he took extra care of Li Changren, the only bloodline left by his younger brother, but neglected the importance of strict discipline.
By interrogating Li Chongbai, they learned that at that time Li Changren's family and the Zhang family secretly left the village and fled to Jiangbei County. When they were about to cross the border of Xiaoshan, they were ambushed by soldiers. Only Li Chongbai, Zhang Daniu and Zhang Erniu escaped.
In order to allow Li Chongbai to escape, Zhang held back the officers and soldiers who were chasing him and was beaten to death on the spot.
As for the others, Li Chongbai was not sure where they went. He didn't know whether they escaped or were caught on the spot.
Seeing that Uncle Li had finished the interrogation, Li Changli stepped forward and asked, "Dad, how do we deal with these two groups of people?"
When asked this, Uncle Li didn't know what to do for a moment. He couldn't keep them tied up forever. They couldn't afford to feed them and it would be a waste of food.
But he couldn't just give an order to kill all these people, so he looked to He Lizheng and Fang Xuewen. Both of them had served as village heads before and had rich experience. He hoped that they could give him some advice.
Before the two of them could speak, someone nearby shouted:
"Why not just kill him, so he won't harm others."
"I think we should just cut the tendons in their hands and feet and throw them out to fend for themselves."
Everyone was discussing this matter one after another.
"Don't, don't mess around, I'll tell you a secret," the short bandit suddenly shouted, "If you let me go, I know where our leader hides his food. He has been robbing people for a month and has hidden a lot of food and valuables."
When He Lizheng heard that there was food, his heart moved. What they lacked most now was food, and now there was Fang Xuewen's family, so naturally the more food the better.
He said seriously, "Are you telling the truth? If you tell even a single lie, I will make you suffer a fate worse than death."
"I don't dare. I've been caught by you. How dare I?"
After some discussion, everyone decided that Li Chongwu would take a few people to escort the small bandit to find the place where the grain was hidden.
Along the way, everyone looked around vigilantly to prevent any fraud.
In a hidden cave not far from the mountain temple, they found about twenty stones of grain and about one hundred and fifty taels of silver.
There was too much food to carry, so two people were left to guard it, while the others took the silver and money back to the cave.
All the bandits were taken to the open space in front of the entrance outside the cave and knocked unconscious again with the love potion.
They were lying on the ground in a crooked position, with several people guarding them.
After Li Chongwu and his men came back, they informed everyone of the discovery of grain and money. After learning the details, everyone was shocked.
After all, not everyone made arrangements in advance like the few families living in seclusion in the caves and transported food into the mountains in advance.
Most of them were villagers who temporarily fled into the mountains, and they did not carry much food with them.
"Oh my god, they stole so much food and money, how many people did they rob? How do these people live?"
"In that kind of emergency, few people were able to escape and hide in the mountains in time. I think they could have brought a lot of food with them. We farmers don't have much money saved after a year. So, if you count it this way, we should have robbed at least 20 households."
"We must not let these evil people off easily, but we can't report to the police right now. How should we deal with this?"
"As for the grain and money, should we divide them among ourselves or return them? We don't know how to return them."
He Lizheng was about to say that he wanted some of the food for his own use, but Uncle Li had already spoken:
"These grains should be the life-saving grains of the villagers who were robbed. We have stored grains. It is recommended that you do not embezzle other people's life-saving grains. As for the silver and money, return them to the owners after sorting them out. We will interrogate the bandits later, find the robbed villagers, and return the grains to them. As for these bandits, see if there is any way to deal with them."
He was very clear about the grain storage situation of each household. In addition, he had dug up a lot of konjac and kudzu, so he knew that everyone had a lot of grain stored and would definitely be able to hold out until the summer harvest, so he made this suggestion.
After hearing what Uncle Li said, He Lizheng gave up the idea of asking for food.
They have now dug up a lot of kudzu and konjac, so at least they have some food left, and they can also go to farther places to dig more. But those who were robbed probably have nothing now.
He then added: "Uncle Li is right. We can't do something that goes against our conscience. But I think it's best to return the grain secretly without revealing our hiding place, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble."
The people living in seclusion in the cave have enough food stored until next summer's harvest, and everyone supports Uncle Li's decision to return the food.
Everyone began to prepare to interrogate the bandits.
They woke up the bandits, interrogated them one by one, and asked them to lead the way to the hiding places of the stolen grain.
Since they robbed more than 20 households, they themselves couldn't figure out how much they had robbed from each household or who the money belonged to.
Everyone discussed and decided that based on the number of people in each household that they had secretly observed, they would distribute the grain equally according to the population and secretly return it to the households. As for the silver and money, they could not use them now, so they sealed them up for the time being.
Uncle Li found Lin Wan and asked her to help calculate how much food should be allocated to each household.
In the following days, they hunted in the wild during the day and went to return the food to each family under the cover of darkness under the guidance of the bandits.
As for these bandits, after they found out all the places where the grain was hidden, after some discussion, everyone decided that since they were villagers, they couldn't just kill them, but they couldn't let them go and continue to cause trouble either.
It was decided to secretly send them to the gate of the county town, to be arrested by the soldiers and sent to the army, and their life or death would depend on their luck.
Lin Wan saw the hidden danger at that time and said worriedly: "What if they tell the soldiers about it? Don't let them attract soldiers to search the villagers hiding in the mountains."
Lin Wan felt that the officers and soldiers had not entered the mountains to search for such a long time because they felt that the cost was high and the benefits were low. Those officers and soldiers were not familiar with the depths of the mountains, and it would be dangerous to go in, and they might not necessarily gain anything.
But if someone leads the way and allows precise strikes, they might be willing to go out, so we can't take the risk.
Doctor Zhong beside him snorted coldly: "It will be better if the poison makes you mute."
He also threw them a ceramic bottle and told them to just add water and drink it.
What a good idea!
Lin Wan gave Dr. Zhong a big thumbs up.