The Female Officer Became a Farmer After Getting Reborn

199 The Demise of Two Mountain Bandit Strongholds

Everyone was busy in the courtyard and did not know that the news had already spread in Qingchuan City. Everyone was discussing that Zou Zude and his wife had lived their lives disgracefully and that a god had appeared. The news that the two of them had suffered retribution spread throughout Qingchuan City.

Mr. Qian ran back from the government office and said to Li Yu, “Madam, the Zou family came to report that Zou Zude and his wife had their tendons severed by someone last night and were paralyzed. The Zou family came and asked if the Li family’s mother and daughter were willing to go back and take care of them. If they were unwilling, the Zou family’s property would be given to the Zou family. Zou Zude and his wife would be taken care of by the Zou family. The Li family’s mother and daughter would be removed from the Zou family and their household register would be moved out.”

Li Yu looked at Madam Li and daughter and said, “What are you thinking? Tell Mr. Qian. He will help you settle it!”

Madam Li held Zou Xia’s hand and knelt down. “Madam, I want to leave the Zou family and establish a female household. Please help me!”

Li Yu nodded and said, “Get up first. Don’t kneel for no reason! You can set up a female household. I also have to hire people to feed pigs, chickens, and ducks at my farm outside the city. If you want, you can work at my place.”

The mother and daughter of the Li family shed tears of joy. “Thank you, Madam. I’m willing to go.”

Seeing that the Li family had decided to leave the Zou family, Mr. Qian thought to himself, “This is the wisest decision. After Zou Zude manages the Zou family’s property for a hundred years, his family line will definitely go extinct. At that time, the property will be taken away by the Zou family, and Madam Li and her daughter won’t be able to keep anything.”

Mr. Qian went to help Madam Li and daughter settle their separation from the Zou family. In the end, Scribe Tu helped the Li family set up a female household. Madam Li changed Zou Xia’s name to Li Xia and stayed with the Zhou family to help.

After Zhou Jia and Shen Wu led their men down the mountain, they rushed towards Mount Daluo without stopping. The leader of the Tiger Head Stronghold had already received the news and sent people to guard the pass.

Shen Wu got someone to tie the linen cloth that was soaked in oil near the arrowhead and let the soldiers light it before shooting it at the bandits behind the pass. The fire arrows shot into the pass and lit up the dried branches and weeds where the bandits were hiding. The fire gave the bandits nowhere to hide, so they turned around and fled up the mountain.

Shen Wu took the opportunity to send people into the stronghold. The people behind began to throw themselves into the fire and enter the village. Shen Wu instructed everyone to continue attacking the lair with rockets. Surrounded by rockets, the bandits ran out. Everyone started fighting.

After half a day of intense battle, the Tiger Head Stronghold was also wiped out in one fell swoop. This time, there were more than a hundred casualties among the soldiers. The property, land deeds, gold, silver, jewelry, and food seized were even more abundant than that of the Green Dragon Stronghold!

At this point, the Tiger Head Stronghold that had occupied Qingchuan for many years had also been reduced to ashes!

As usual, they took out a portion of the gold, silver, and jewelry and distributed them to the dead and injured officials and soldiers who fought. Everyone loaded the food, gold, and silver onto the mule carts and hung them on the horses. They pulled the spoils of war and prisoners down the mountain.

When they entered the city, the citizens of Qingchuan were cheering and celebrating the demise of the two mountain bandit strongholds who had wreaked havoc in Qingchuan for many years!

After entering the city, Shen Wu looked at the more than twenty boxes of treasures in the house and said to Zhou Jia, “Brother Zhou, how about this? Return the real estate deeds of the people of Qingchuan that the bandits snatched to the commoners and leave the food to the county government. Leave ten boxes of these things for the Imperial Court and two boxes for you to repair the city wall. The rest will be divided into three portions. One for you and me, and one for the general!”

Zhou Jia patted Shen Wu’s shoulder and said, “Brother Shen, there’s no need for us to say anything. Just arrange it!”

Shen Wu looked at Zhou Jia regretfully. “It’s a pity that Brother Zhou is a civil official. We should fight together.”

Zhou Jia shook his head and smiled. “Isn’t it better for us brothers to work for Great Yong!”

“Yes!” The two of them looked at each other and laughed.

After Shen Wu left behind the gold and silver to repair the city wall and rebuild the county office, he reported the gold and silver to the Imperial Court. He suppressed the captured bandits and brought the remaining officials and Manager Ouyang back to Qingzhou.

Zhou Jia sent Shen Wu out of the city gate and went home to pull Li Yu to the warehouse where the spoils of war were stored. He pointed at a few boxes of gold, silver, and jewelry and said to Li Yu, “Yu’er, look, these are the treasures seized from the two strongholds. Brother Shen took the treasures that were handed over to the Imperial Court and left for General Shen. These are ours! Also, the money for repairing the city wall and building the county office has been reserved in advance!”

Li Yu looked at the dazzling gold, silver, and jewelry in the room and was shocked. She thought to herself, No wonder those who led troops in ancient times liked to fight and attack cities. The gold, silver, and jewelry from these two mountain bandit nests were extravagant enough to last them until they were old!

“Is it only us and Shen Wu?”

Zhou Jia hugged Li Yu and said with a smile, “All the soldiers who participated in the suppression of the bandits, the casualties, Ruyi, Xu Chun, and so on will be included. These are all unwritten rules. Just accept them in peace!”

Li Yu looked up at Zhou Jia and said gently, “Okay! Then I’m relieved!”

Zhou Jia smiled in relief. “The mountain bandits have been wiped out, and there’s also money in the county office. We can rebuild the county office in peace and repair the streets in the city. We also have to return the commoners’ fields that the mountain bandits occupied and sell the ownerless fields again.” Zhou Jia kissed Li Yu’s face happily and smiled confidently. “Yu’er, I’ll get busy!”

“Go ahead! I want to take a look at the wasteland too!” Li Yu sent Zhou Jia to the door and turned to enter the house. She stored the treasures in the space and went out to the wasteland.

Xiaoyu was also shocked by the gold, silver, and jewelry Ruyi handed to her. She grabbed Ruyi’s clothes and said, “Is it really ours?”

Ruyi smiled and nodded. “Young Master and Madam said that this is what I deserve and asked me to give it to you. Xiaoyu, remember to pick up those without marks. Those with marks can only be used after they are dissolved and crafted again.”

Xiaoyu picked up an exquisite hairpin and looked at it. She shook her head and said, “I’m not used to using these things. Look, Madam never wears these pearls and jade. Her hair is all tied up with a jade hairpin!”

Ruyi smiled in satisfaction. “Okay, do whatever you think is good.”

Zhou Jia got the bailiffs to go to the various villages to publicize and let the villagers who had their fields and houses snatched away by the bandits and the people in the county city come to the county office to retrieve their property.

For several days in a row, villagers came to collect their certificates and household registers. After the villagers took back their fields, they knelt in front of the government office and shouted, “Lord Qingtian, our Qingchuan people have finally welcomed you!”

Zhou Jia, Scribe Tu, and Mr. Qian felt poignant and sweet in their hearts when they saw the villagers’ happy and grateful expressions! Zhou Jia went forward to help the citizens up and said, “Everyone, please get up. This is what an official should do. You don’t have to be so polite!”

Everyone stood up and bowed to Zhou Jia. “Lord Zhou, you’re a good official. Our people of Qingchuan are blessed!”

In the blink of an eye, it was late September. Xu Dong returned to Qing Chuan and reported the news of Qingzhou to Zhou Jia. The two brothers stayed in Qing Chuan to help.

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