Banditry 09

Shen Zhixia, being pushed and jostled while enduring insults, suddenly let out a loud cry and began to wail, "You're all ungrateful! He lent you money and never pressed for repayment, and now you just stand by watching him and me being bullied like this!"

The crowd was momentarily stunned.

"What about when he killed and robbed to buy you jewelry? How do we account for the dead?"

Shen Zhixia covered her ears, "You're lying! He is a good man! Just the other day, he helped Auntie Zhang carry roof tiles..."

"So, according to you, as long as he did one or two trivial little good deeds, it cancels out his mountain of blood debts from the past? Why don't you ask them if they agree?"

Shen Zhixia found that covering her ears couldn't block out the voices, but when she opened her eyes, she saw a group of people with red-rimmed eyes.

The voice sounded somewhat familiar, like a neighbor's.

Now, he was reciting the evil deeds committed by the bandits of the Qingfeng Stronghold, including skinning people alive, extorting ransoms and then killing and hanging the bodies. As he spoke, the shouts and curses from the common people drowned out Shen Zhixia.

Fang Zhiyi looked up at the sky. It was gloomy, with the rumble of thunder, but no lightning ever struck down.

He just never expected that Shen Zhixia's life was truly tenacious. She actually survived the beating, though her face was somewhat disfigured. She secretly searched everywhere and really managed to find Fu Yunshen.

To make a public example, Yan Qi hadn't imprisoned them in the main jail. Instead, he had them placed in several wooden cage-carts—the kind where you can't stand straight or squat down comfortably. Fu Yunshen was gritting his teeth and enduring, occasionally trading insults with a few of his former subordinates nearby.

Seeing Shen Zhixia, he was startled, then overjoyed, "Zhixia, it's great that you're alright!"

Shen Zhixia looked at him, "What do we do? What should we do?"

Fu Yunshen was frightened by her suddenly close-up face—what on earth was that? Fortunately, the voice was indeed Shen Zhixia's, "Zhixia, your face..."

Shen Zhixia instinctively touched her face, only feeling numbness and swelling.

"Go find the treasure, I have money hidden! Then go find a higher-ranking official! Listen to me!" His only hope now was Shen Zhixia.

But the second-in-command next to him mocked, "Still talking about money? Didn't you give all your money to the soldiers?"

Fu Yunshen took a deep breath. He was gambling that only he should know about that location.

He dictated the instructions, and Shen Zhixia forced herself to calm down, memorizing them carefully.

She stumbled out of the city—no one stopped her—mustered her courage, and entered the mountains. Miraculously, no bandits spotted her, perhaps because they had all retreated deep into the hills, and no wild beasts attacked her either.

She seemed exceptionally lucky. But when she saw an empty cave, she collapsed to the ground, wailing loudly.

Fang Zhiyi was busy formulating the next phase of the bandit suppression plan. He hadn't anticipated that the male lead could still escape.

When he arrived, Yan Qi was in a furious rage. During the shift change of the guards, the male lead had secretly picked the iron lock and slipped away, conveniently killing a few of his former subordinates in the process.

Fang Zhiyi comforted Yan Qi, "Alright, alright, his fate isn't to end here yet!"

Yan Qi was furious, "He deserves to die! Someone like him must die!" For the public trial scheduled for the next day, he had specifically reviewed the case files on the Qingfeng Stronghold. Because the bandit leader had been captured, a continuous stream of grievance petitions had been delivered, making his blood boil with anger. He only regretted not having strangled Fu Yunshen back at his home!

Fang Zhiyi narrowed his eyes, "It's fine. Even if he has escaped now, he won't survive. Perhaps, he'll suffer something worse than death."

Yan Qi looked at him puzzled, then after a moment heaved a heavy sigh, "Bandit suppression! We must intensify the bandit suppression!"

Fang Zhiyi patted his shoulder, "Haste makes waste. Before suppressing bandits, we need to expand our manpower a bit first."

Yan Qi was taken aback, "Manpower? I'm just a regiment commander. I don't have the authority to expand the army."

Fang Zhiyi pursed his lips, "Who said anything about expanding the army? Expand the Security Regiment. Also, the guns we seized... no, confiscated from the bandits have all been turned over to the public. Divide the money into two parts: one part as compensation for the victims, but it needs thorough verification; the other part for our bandit suppression expenses."

Yan Qi waved his hand, "You decide!" He already trusted Fang Zhiyi greatly, even having thoughts of introducing him to the Marshal in the future.

Fang Zhiyi began a new round of expansion and reorganization, while having Little Hei closely monitor the movements of the few remaining bandit groups.

Although they were cunning, they were no match for real-time surveillance like Little Hei's. In the next several bandit suppression operations, Yan Qi didn't even have to move. He was busy handling the official duties Fang Zhiyi assigned him, namely the various affairs of Xicheng, leaving him overwhelmed. Fang Zhiyi led the Security Regiment out on attacks. Although the journeys were troublesome, not a single operation came up empty. The new recruits of the Security Regiment had now completely transformed; just standing there, they resembled a pack of beasts ready to devour anyone.

The bandits also couldn't understand why they were still found despite hiding so well.

As one bandit den after another was uprooted, the area around Xicheng became much more peaceful. The reputation of the Security Regiment also gradually grew, not so much because they were exceptionally powerful, but because their methods were even more brutal than the bandits'. Places like Sanyakou, where bandits used to frequently appear, now had heads hanging along the roadside, with inscriptions below stating which bandit stronghold the bodies came from. Not just bandits, even ordinary people passing through felt their hair stand on end.

Fu Yunshen, who had escaped, indeed didn't get far. He didn't dare take the main roads, single-mindedly wanting to find his beloved and flee together. But when he reached the treasure-hiding cave, he too collapsed to the ground, just like Shen Zhixia had before.

He simply couldn't figure out how his treasure hiding spot had been exposed.

It didn't make sense.

As he sat there in despair, the light of torches flared at the cave entrance.

“Haha, as expected, he’s here!” Several somewhat unfamiliar faces appeared. Fu Yunshen’s heart tightened, and then he saw Shen Zhixia, tied up like a zongzi.

Shen Zhixia looked at him, her face full of joy, completely forgetting her own predicament, "Yunshen!"

Unexpectedly, the leader turned and slapped her, "How disgusting, you ugly freak!" After the beating, Shen Zhixia's mouth was crooked and her eyes were askew. Captured by this group of bandits, she had invoked the name 'Mountain Descending Tiger' to save her life. Suspicious but hopeful, they had lain in wait here and indeed ambushed Fu Yunshen. Shen Zhixia was also surprised; she didn't know how Fu Yunshen had managed to escape.

"Who are you?"

"Who are we? Heh, you've caused us great misery, Mountain Descending Tiger. No, should we call you Fu Yunshen, the great philanthropist now, right?" The leader sneered.

Fu Yunshen's heart pounded, and he hurriedly explained, "I didn't harm you! I just wanted to wash my hands of this life, you know that!"

"You washing your hands is one thing, but actually providing bandit suppression funds to the soldiers? Tsk tsk, were you afraid we wouldn't die?" The man approached with a knife.

Fu Yunshen felt a sense of powerlessness, hastily retreating, "I absolutely did not! You've fallen into a trap!"

"A trap? Hahahaha." The bandits all laughed.