Chapter 1782: Visitors from Daokou Gully

Chapter 1782: Chapter 1782: Visitors from Daokou Gully

"What did you say?" Qiu Troop Commander thought he heard wrong and asked Wen Rong.

Heh, Wen Rong let out a cold laugh: "I asked, how do you plan to seek justice for us, by killing yourself? By killing yourself!!"

The last few words were shouted, his thin face twisted like a demon, as if he wanted to devour Qiu Troop Commander.

Qiu Troop Commander was taken aback, leaning back in disbelief as he looked at Wen Rong... Earlier, this child was crying and begging him to seek justice for his sister, how did he change like this in the blink of an eye?

Wen Rong leaned forward with his small body, eyes red with anger as if soaked in blood, and shouted: "What, you still want me to be grateful to you? If it weren’t for you, how would someone with the surname Tang dare commit so many evil deeds? Those beasts said they were backed by Lord Troop Commander, saying that Lord Troop Commander was almost like Lord Magistrate, resisting was useless, we had no choice but to accept our fate!"

Wen Rong pointed to the coffin containing Wen Qiong’s body and said: "Do you see my sister’s corpse? She’s watching you, watching you, you beast, pretending to be a good person here... Pah, helping us get justice, what are you pretending to be a good person for? Only your death can atone! Only your..."

Bang, Qin San Lang made his move, knocking Wen Rong unconscious, and called out to a soldier in the Punishment Room yard: "Take him back to the house to rest."

Then he said to Little Pingxi: "Go find Erqing and have her get Qing Pu to come and examine Wen Rong."

Wen Rong was acting very abnormal, likely having been seriously affected, becoming somewhat deranged. He needed some calming herbal medicine, otherwise, he might truly go mad.

"Oh, oh." Little Pingxi quickly ran to the Old Gu Family’s residence to find Erqing and get Qing Pu to examine him.

Little Yan Tai and the others were very worried about Wen Rong, wanting to take care of him, but they also remembered Wen Rong’s instructions to watch over Sister Qiong’s body.

"Seal the coffin and move the coffin to the tent at the spiritual shrine," Qin San Lang instructed the soldiers, then looked at Little Yan Tai and the others: "Go accompany Wen Rong."

"... Alright." Little Yan Tai and the others then got up, following the soldier holding Wen Rong: "Uncle, wait for us."

The soldier’s steps paused, waiting for the group of little kids to catch up before leaving.

Qiu Troop Commander still knelt before the coffin. Until the coffin was carried away, he couldn’t snap out of it.

Niu Dabao and the others felt some pity when they saw this, but no one went up to comfort him... Was Qiu Troop Commander really without fault? He definitely had fault, one could say he indirectly caused Wen Qiong’s death, so even if he hadn’t helped County Captain Tang, they still hated him.

Qin San Lang walked over and pulled up Qiu Troop Commander: "Qiu Troop Commander, things have come to this point, regret is useless. What’s to be done now is to immediately gather the troops to surround Lishui Village’s evil bandits, lest they cause great disaster."

He told Qiu Troop Commander about County Captain Tang’s private army dealings in Lishui Village.

"Private army, how dare he!" Qiu Troop Commander was shocked, wishing he could slash Tang Zhongzhou. In this dynasty, maintaining a private army was a crime punishable by extermination of one’s nine familial connections.

Qin San Lang said: "He’s already raised several hundred. While the people from Daokou Gully haven’t arrived, Qiu Troop Commander should lead troops to crush them, it could count as meritorious service and maybe even save your official position."

Qiu Troop Commander gave a bitter smile: "That child wasn’t wrong, I deserve to die a thousand deaths... I don’t dare think of keeping my position, I only hope to catch all the evil bandits!"

Qin San Lang saw that Qiu Troop Commander agreed to besiege Lishui Village, so he handed over the information brought back by You Xi, including the map of Lishui Village, the sentry distribution map, and the trap location map to Qiu Troop Commander.

Qiu Troop Commander was very grateful: "Company Commander Qin, thank you... Rest assured, I won’t be muddleheaded anymore. After exterminating Lishui Village’s evil bandits, I will bind myself and await the people from Daokou Gully."

He wasn’t foolish, he knew Qin San Lang was worried he might want to destroy everything, hence giving him so much hope.

Though he also thought of going down with them, when he thought of his wife and children back home, he didn’t dare to do so... Since he wouldn’t survive, he must at least merit some achievement to earn a way out for his family.

"Low Level General awaits your triumphant return," Qin San Lang was half at ease, said some polite words, and personally sent Qiu Troop Commander and his group out of the village.

Company Commander Jin watched and clicked his tongue, genuinely impressed, he was really impressed with Company Commander Qin.

This kid wasn’t only a good soldier, even handling civil servant matters adeptly, with just one mouth, he mellowed out Qiu Troop Commander, resolving a major conflict without losing a soldier, and even managed to coax Qiu Troop Commander to help them annihilate the evil bandits in Lishui Village.

"Company Commander Qin, it’s getting late, you should head back for a meal. Don’t worry about the village’s defense, leave it to me. The brats under my command have been idle for too long, they need some night patrol practice lest their skills grow rusty." Company Commander Jin said sycophantically, eyes shining at Qin San Lang as if seeing the road to his promotion, feeling both excited and expectant, to the point that Niu Dabao felt sick watching.

"Company Commander Jin, San Lang is no beauty, why are you staring at him like that?" Niu Dabao pulled Company Commander Jin away: "Weren’t you just talking about night patrol? Hurry up then, it’ll allow us to get a good rest tonight."

Even so, after eating, Niu Dabao still led soldiers to patrol the village.

Qin San Lang also gathered scouts from various companies, dispatching them towards the four directions of Gu Family Village, with one team sent near Lishui Village.

They did this out of concern that Qiu Troop Commander might be acting, appearing to crush Lishui Village’s bandits, only to deliver a returning horse spear in reality, catching them off guard.

Fortunately, Qiu Troop Commander was scared by Wen Rong, understanding his wrongdoings deeply, and personally charged, leading troops to battle the bandits in Lishui Village all day, finally capturing all the criminals and villains.

During the cleanup of Lishui Village battlefield, his soldiers found many cellars, where people were held, including passing merchants, beautiful girls and boys, and even Gaoshui County citizens who refused to collude with County Captain Tang!

Qiu Troop Commander personally met those citizens, asked which families they belonged to, and then brought the county government’s death registry book, matching the names one by one.

Only then did he discover that the detained citizens had been marked on Gaoshui County’s death register by Tang Zhongzhou.

Writing off living citizens as dead, how dare Tang Zhongzhou!

"...They said, as long as we repent and help deceive passing officials, they would amend the death register for us, letting us live again~" said the rescued Gaoshui County citizens, the person speaking was even a scholar from the county.

The scholar’s surname was Shan, being the only remaining scholar in Gaoshui County.

"I survived because of the scholar status; they said passing officials trust those with official titles more~" Scholar Shan leaned against a soldier drinking water, after catching his breath, he continued: "Those detained are mostly useful people~"

Those with no use had died.

Thinking of this, Scholar Shan suddenly burst into tears: "Brother-in-law, I’m sorry, I harmed your whole family~"

Scholar Shan had a stubborn temperament, refusing to help Ding Dayong deceive people even unto death, angering Ding Dayong who then killed his brother-in-law’s entire family, with his brother-in-law’s wife even...

Remembering this, Scholar Shan, out of breath, fainted.

"Quick, save him!" Qiu Troop Commander quickly called the military doctor to save him, but before the doctor could revive Scholar Shan, he couldn’t bear it and ran out of Lishui Village.

He deserved death, he truly deserved death, these evil deeds happened right under his nose, yet he was completely oblivious!

However, did he really notice no anomaly?

There should have been, but he trusted Tang Zhongzhou, thinking that whatever evil deeds Tang Zhongzhou committed were merely necessary wartime measures to stabilize the people.

...

Two days later, Qiu Troop Commander had nearly dealt with everything regarding Lishui Village, and true to his word, after handling matters he had his personal soldier bind him and take him to the Punishment Room at Gu Family Village, awaiting the people from Daokou Gully.

Qin San Lang said he didn’t need to do this.

But Qiu Troop Commander shook his head: "I deserve death a thousand times, and these are light in comparison."