The sun was setting in the west, and the red afterglow sprinkled on the lake, dyeing the lake with a layer of blood.
County Officer Liu and Zhu Tong returned to Shijie Village and immediately saw the scorched camp. They immediately recalled the soul-stirring incident last night.
Then, the two of them saw Huang An's head hanging on a pole not far away. Beside it was a white cloth with blood words written on it. The corpse was also not far from the pole.
County Officer Liu gasped, shocked speechless by this scene.
Zhu Tong had his men quickly take the head off and put it away along with the corpse. However, when he took the white cloth and looked at it, the words on it made him frown.
"Lord county captain, look at what's written on this white cloth.”Zhu Tong presented the white cloth to County Lieutenant Liu.
County Officer Liu barely glanced at the line of scarlet words and was shocked again. He shouted,"How dare these bandits be so arrogant?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard someone exclaim,"Not good, the Liangshan bandits are here!"
"What?"
County Officer Liu was shocked. He quickly looked toward the lake and saw boats coming toward the village from the distant lake. There were probably two to three hundred people.
"Oh my god!"
County Officer Liu was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He almost jumped up. Without saying a word, he turned around and ran away.
Didn't they say that Liangshan had already retreated? Why did they suddenly come back? Could it be that they were here to capture this county captain?
County Lieutenant Liu shuddered at the thought of this. He exerted all his strength and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The 50 soldiers who had followed them were like mice that had seen a cat. They cried out in alarm and scrambled to escape, not even caring about Huang An's corpse.
"How did these thieves return?”
Zhu Tong could only stomp his feet and hurriedly pick up Huang An's head. He carried his body and ran out of the village.
The county captain and soldiers had run away, so what was the use of Zhu Tong's bravery?
On the other side of Shijie Lake, the leaders were the three Nguyen brothers. They had followed Xu Fengwu's instructions and brought boxes of silver to distribute to the villagers.
The three of them had long noticed the arrival of the government troops in the village and could not help but feel a little surprised. However, when they saw the government troops run away, they immediately laughed mockingly.
After the three of them led the team to the shore, some villagers had already gathered up. When they saw that the leader was San Ruan, they immediately felt relieved and called everyone to hurry over.
In the past, the Xu family was the chief protector of Shijie Village. They knew how many households there were in the village, and the Ruan brothers remembered it in their hearts.
The minions carried boxes of silver money out of the boat, then laid them out by the lake and began to beat gongs and drums to call people over.
"Villagers, come out and collect your money!" Second Young Master Ruan shouted loudly. Each family has ten strings of money. Come and collect them one by one. No more than that. Do you hear me?”
"I heard it!" The villagers who had been waiting for a long time immediately agreed when they heard this. Each and every one of them was in high spirits.
Not to mention losing a few chickens and ducks, even if the cattle were slaughtered, the ten strings of money would be made up for.
Thus, the Liangshan minions gathered by the side of the Shijie Lake and sent troops to every household. Compared to the government troops from before, it was simply the reverse of government and bandits.
The elderly people were all grateful to Xu Fengwu and murmured,""This old man has lived for so many years, but when have I ever seen bandits giving money to people? They look more like government troops than government troops.”
At this moment, Zhu Tong, who was not far away from the village, saw this scene. However, he could only remain silent for a moment. Then, he let out a long sigh and turned to leave Shijie Village.
On the other side, after the Ruan brothers had finished distributing the money, they saw that the sky was already dark. They bid farewell to the villagers and left Shijie Village with more than two hundred people.
The group left Shijie Lake and entered the vast lake. After traveling for a distance, the Ruan brothers suddenly saw five merchant ships sailing towards them from the direction of Jishui River.
This was the bold merchant. Seeing that the sky was already dark and that the Liangshan bandits had defeated the government troops, he was afraid that they were celebrating in the thieves 'nest, so he planned to take the opportunity to slip over.
They never thought that just as they entered Liangshan Lake, this fleet of merchant ships would crash into the hands of the Ruan brothers.
"God, why am I so unlucky?”Looking at the black sea of ships, which were filled with people, the owner of the fleet turned pale and fell to the ground.
"It's over, it's over, it's all over now!”
"Oh my god, why are there so many people?”
"Aren't these bandits going to rest? It was already dark, yet he still came out to do such a thing?”
The boatmen were also crying out in pain, their faces pale from fear. The smarter ones immediately jumped into the water and fled.
The Ruan brothers didn't expect to encounter such an unexpected harvest, so they immediately brought their men to surround them.
"What are you guys doing?" Ruan the Second stood upright at the bow of the ship and called out to the five merchant ships.
The boss was reluctant to part with his goods. He mustered up his courage and stood up. He cupped his hands at Ruan Er and said,""Hero, we are just passing merchants. We have nothing to do with the government army.”
"So what? That regimental trainer was beheaded by Grandpa, how many heads do you have left for me to chop off?”Ruan the Second said with a smile that was not a smile.
The owner of the boat trembled in fear and quickly said,"Please let us go, hero. I'm willing to pay the toll.”
The second son's interest was piqued and he asked,""Toll? How much do you plan to pay?"
The owner hesitated for a moment and said,""Hero, this lowly one is doing a small business and can't compare to those big merchants. I wonder if a hundred strings of coins will work?”
One hundred strings of money. If it was the Ruan brothers, they would only be able to get such a harvest after fishing for two to three years, and it would have to be in a good year.
Even if he had become more generous now, 100 strings of strings was not a small amount.
The Ruan brothers also happened to meet this group of businessmen and did not want to make things difficult for them, so they nodded and said,"Hand over the money first, and I'll let you guys go over.”
"Thank you, hero!" The owner of the ship thanked him profusely and then ordered his trusted aide to retrieve a hundred taels of silver and hand it over with both hands.
The second son weighed the amount of silver and couldn't help but think," There were countless merchants coming and going on the Jishui and Wenshui every day. If they were to collect a hundred strings of money from each of them, wouldn't the mountain stronghold have endless money to spend in the future?
At the thought of this, the second son of the Ruan Family became excited. He glanced at the boss and then called his minions to head towards Mount Liang.
It was only when the people of Liangshan had gone far away that the boat owner heaved a sigh of relief. He hesitated for a moment before he gritted his teeth and said,"Continue moving forward. The money has been paid. We must pass Liangshan Lake today.”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。