Chapter 17: Thieves Have Their Own Code
Wang Dian, who lives on the large slope in the east of the city, is one of the most wealthy households in Andu County.
On the day when Beiyong's army entered the city, Wang Dian was so frightened that he kept offering his filial piety. There were more than a dozen carts of grain, cloth, fields, and jewelry, which shows their sincerity.
Since the Jin State took control of the Yellow River Basin, it did not rely on aristocratic families like the Qi State, but it would still give some privileges and preferential treatment to the aristocratic families.
This is the way of survival for big households. After paying tribute and saving the lives of his family, Wang Dian felt relieved a little.
"In terms of family clan, my great-grandfather and the Wang family of Taiyuan were originally from the same clan. They were a powerful family in this generation, more noble than the Chen family of Yingchuan, not to mention the Feng family of Xuzhou. However, after the Qi Dynasty was established for more than 20 years, I was ostracized by my family. The imperial court also refused to reuse him...On the contrary, that old dog Feng Jingting married a second wife of the Chen family in Yingchuan, and then climbed into the Xiao family of Lanling and took advantage of the situation..."
"The prince has given up his talents. Fortunately, when dynasties change, whoever is in power has to win over aristocratic families. When the situation stabilizes, the prince will ask someone to recommend him to see if he can serve as the county governor..."
Late at night, the Wang family's house was brightly lit. Wang Dian was sitting on his knees in front of the rosewood table, chatting with the diners, scolding Feng Jingting for his villainous behavior, when suddenly there was a commotion in the outer courtyard.
"The bandits are coming... Head of the family, it's terrible, the bandits are coming..."
A servant rushed to the eaves and panicked.
"The bandits, the bandits kidnapped Da Langjun and asked the head of the family to go out and talk..."
Wang Dian's head became so hot that he almost fainted.
Wang Chao is his legitimate son, the flesh and blood of his heart.
Since the Beiyong Army entered the city, some of the original defenders of Andu fell into the grass and fled to the people. In order to keep themselves warm and fed, it is inevitable that they would go around and steal, but large households had soldiers, and generally rogue bandits would not dare to enter the house.
Wang Dian couldn't believe that someone would target the Wang family.
"The Northern Yong Army all respects me. Which bandit is so bold?"
In the yard, there was a group of about twenty bandits wearing black clothes, black trousers, and black scarves, and their swords were clearly placed on Wang Chao's neck.
The eldest husband of the palace was in disheveled clothes, with two bare legs under his thin robe, shouting "Father, help me". There was another woman in the same disheveled clothes, who was Wang Dian's concubine Shan, with her arms hanging down. Head, body trembling.
This battle made Wang Dian a little dizzy.
"You are such a brave dog! Why don't you let my son go quickly..."
"Prince." A low voice came from behind the masked bandit.
Wang Dian looked over.
This man was covered with a black scarf and had a slender figure, much smaller than the other gangsters. Unexpectedly, he was the leader of the gang.
"I was able to capture your son easily today, thanks to the prince's favorite concubine. If the two of them hadn't stayed at night and dismissed the guards, I wouldn't have gone so smoothly."
Wang Dian had just seen that situation and already had a bad premonition.
But the family scandal should not be publicized, and it was not easy for him to ask questions.
Now that he said it in front of the soldiers and servants, his face turned red, a bad breath welled up in his mouth, and his whole body was shaking.
The bandit leader kicked Wang Dalangjun who was lying on the ground and said coldly.
"A son who cheats his father and his concubine destroys all moral principles. Once this person becomes lowly, he is worthless. If the prince refuses to redeem him, I will not force him to do anything but give him one-third of the grain he has saved. I will help the prince clean up his house and kill this evildoer." If the prince has a deep love for you, the price will be different - well, at least half of your family's food reserves."
"Beast!" Wang Dian spat at his son and took the opportunity to look around.
There were about twenty bandits, and there were thirty or forty soldiers in his mansion. Furthermore, the Beiyong Army will patrol around at night, and the bandits may not dare to kill people blatantly——
"What are you thinking about, Your Majesty?" the bandit leader spoke again, "The poor bandits are at the end of their rope, what can they not dare to do? Your Majesty, your patience is limited."
After saying that, the bandit leader shouted coldly, "Bring the person up."
I saw two dirty men with barely discernible faces being dragged forward by the bandits. Under their torn clothes, the scars were clearly visible, as if they had been beaten and tortured.
"These are two concubine sons from the Xu family in the south of the city. They were unlucky enough to fall into the hands of a certain person. Father Xu has more than a dozen sons, but he refuses to pay for their redemption..."
The bandit leader calmly introduced the identity of the visitor and said in a neutral tone:
"Keep the useless people and chop them up! Open Wang Gong's eyes——"
The gangster in black didn't answer, like a piece of wood without emotion. Before the sound could be heard, he stabbed with two three-foot-long knives.
"Ah-ah!"
Screams pierced the night sky, and the two fell to the ground, their eyes wide open.
Dark blood flowed out from their bodies, and they were hideous and terrifying, as if they were completely dead.
Wang Dian's expression changed, and Mrs. Wang who came after hearing the news even screamed and fell to the ground on the spot, begging Wang Dian to save her son...
"Okay, okay, I'll redeem, redeem..."
Wang Dian did not expect that the bandits would really dare to kill people.
No matter how unsatisfactory Dalang is, he is still the eldest son and his life is still at stake.
"Open the granary and let the brave men take it..."
As soon as the servant responded, the bandit leader laughed.
"Let the rice and grain in the warehouse be left to the prince for emergencies. I am not greedy."
Then, a sly smile appeared in those dark eyes, "I blame you for not making it clear. The grain storage you want refers to the prince's underground vault."
Wang Dian was so shocked that his old face twisted.
In troubled times, which big family doesn't save food in advance?
Under the Wang family's mansion, the three-story cellar is impregnable. Before the war, Wang Dian had stored gold, silver, jade and colorful silk grain underground. The grain stored in it was enough to feed his family for twenty years...
But who leaked the news about this, and how could the bandits know about it?
"Don't be afraid, Lord Wang." The bandit leader's voice was more amiable than before, and sounded very pleasant. "I have also read the books of sages, and I am not an unreasonable person. As the saying goes, there is a code of conduct for thieves, and I never force others to do things against their will. At worst, I will learn from the governor and burn down the house..."
"Give... give..." Wang Dian's legs softened, and he sat on the ground, hugging his head and crying with Mrs. Wang.
—
The bandits came prepared, and the small boat carrying grain was parked on the river outside the back house.
Fortunately, the bandit leader kept his word and really only took half when he said he would take half.
Wang Dian felt a little lucky when he saw this, because he met a righteous bandit.
Half of the stored grain in exchange for the lives of the whole family was worth it.
"No need to see you off, my Lord. Your son will return home tomorrow afternoon."
The bandit leader bowed to Wang Dian with great grace, then waved his hand and had someone carry the nearly fainted Wang Dalang out of the house. He also considerately cleaned up the body and bloodstains, and then politely took away the five pigs, two big cows, several jars of pickled meat and various food and drink expenses from the Wang family, and then left with satisfaction.
"Oh! I'm dying of suffocation."
As soon as they reached the middle of the river, the two corpses crawled up and rubbed their arms to pretend to be dead.
One of them even blinked eagerly to ask for credit.
"Girl, did I act well?"
The bandit leader did not remove the veil, but a smile could be seen in his eye sockets.
"Very good, reward them when you go back!"
A group of bandits laughed.
The two corpses were Chang Da and A Lou.
The injuries on their bodies were real, all thanks to Chun Yuyan. The blood was fake. Feng Yun made the blood bag himself. It burst when he stabbed it with a knife. It was enough to scare people.
A Lou grinned, his teeth were exposed.
He was very proud that he had accomplished a great thing and was no longer a freeloader.
"It's great that I can make merit even if I'm injured."
"Thanks to the good plan of the girl." Xing Bing glanced at him.
Twelve Niang was brave and resourceful. She got so much food without losing a single soldier, and she also got the reputation of "righteous bandit". He admired her very much...
The rest of the Mei Ling troops were even more so.
They were all excited.
"We will make a living from now on."
"Yes! Follow Twelve Niang, we won't be afraid of going hungry."
"There are several big families in Andu County, they must have stored food..."
Bandits and robbers are the norm in wartime. People's livelihood is difficult. When people are hungry, all courtesy, righteousness, and integrity are empty talk.
A group of Mei Linglang discussed enthusiastically and enthusiastically.
Feng Yun waited until they were happy before calmly pouring a bucket of cold water on them.
"This is just the first time, and it won't happen again."
"Huh? Why?" Young Master Mei was puzzled.
The river breeze was blowing gently in the middle of the night.
Feng Yun looked at the waves at night and said coldly: "If you walk on the night road for a long time, you will encounter ghosts. If we do this kind of business, we will not only not be able to live and work in peace, but we can't even keep our lives..."
Everyone's face fell immediately.
"We are not afraid of death!"
"That's right. We are going to die anyway, and it's better to die full than hungry."
Feng Yun looked at their excited looks and knew that it was the food that gave them the confidence. He smiled immediately, and a slight chill appeared in his eyes.
"Since I know about Wang Dian's grain storage, do you think Pei Jue doesn't know?"
Everyone looked at each other in surprise.
The Wang family is a big family, so it's not strange that they have surplus grain at home. What's strange is where did the girl know about the underground cellar?
Feng Yun smiled slightly.
Of course, she couldn't tell others that the person who went to the Wang family to rob food in her previous life was Pei Jue - Wang Dian's cellar was also raided by Pei Jue himself.
When the Beiyong Army was most short of food, all the wealthy families in the city were raided, and Wang Dian was naturally no exception. The three-story cellar full of food shocked Andu County at the time and spread like wildfire...
It was equivalent to that she had robbed General Pei's business in advance.
Feng Yun sat on the boat and looked at the dark sky, with no expression, "In the future, you will all get married and have children. Once you have a stigma, how can your descendants hold their heads up and live a good life?"
"Remember! What happened tonight will rot in my stomach. Who dares to spit out a word..."
She glanced at A Lou, "The corpse on the boat is the end."
A Lou was stunned and sneered.
All the Mei brothers laughed and were very happy.
"The girl is smart. If we follow her, we won't be afraid of being hungry anymore."
"Yes! With the girl here and General Pei's protection, we won't be afraid of anyone in the future..."
Feng Yun curled her lips.
If General Pei knew that she had robbed the food first, I wonder what he would feel, and why would he protect her?
However, she left half of the food for Pei Jue, which was kind.
"Xing Bing." Feng Yun watched the boat sail into the river and whispered, "Let's go back from Huayuejian."
Ao Qi: She, she, she robbed my uncle's food?
Ye Chuang: What's the matter, don't you want to rob your uncle's people?
Ao Qi:? ? Nonsense! I just want to catch fish.