Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Chapter 380: Going up the mountain*
Xi Bei and Chu Mufeng, who was waiting farther away, quietly followed the man up the mountain.

Meng Changqing sent people to lock up forty-two people in the cell, and then returned to the foot of the mountain and waited for more than an hour. When it was dawn, someone finally came down from the mountain to report the news.

"Okay, it's done!" Xi Bei walked up to Meng Changqing and said happily, "Capture all the people on the mountain. Yang Zheng asked me to come down and call you."

"Walk."

"Let me lead the way." Xi Bei walked in front, introducing the way to Meng Changqing as they climbed up the mountain. "Only this road, if there is no one leading the way, the yamen runners will not be able to reach their stronghold even if they all die."

The mountain road itself was very steep, and the people on the mountain had set up no less than five checkpoints on such a steep road. The facts were exactly as Xi Bei had said.

Seeing this, Meng Changqing asked nervously, "Are you and Lord Bai okay?"

"What can happen to me? Lord Bai is even less likely to be in trouble. He ran faster than a monkey after entering the mountain." Xi Bei kept talking, "Although these checkpoints are easy to defend and difficult to attack, when we came up, there was not a single strong man guarding the checkpoints, and they didn't even have decent weapons. There were even two checkpoints without anyone guarding them. With our skills, it's easy to deal with them."

"All the guards look like this. I'm afraid there aren't many people on the mountain."

"That's not right. There are still dozens of people on the mountain." Xi Bei climbed up first, pulling the hemp rope, and then turned around and threw the hemp rope to Meng Changqing, "Pay attention to your feet, and step firmly before going up."

Before entering the mountain stronghold, I saw dozens of people tied up, sitting on the ground in front of the stronghold. Several people tied together, there was no possibility of escape. The man who escaped before was tied up again and looked as pale as death.

"These are all the people on the mountain." Xi Bei said, "We went up the mountain at a clever time. Most of these people were sleeping, and no one escaped."

Meng Changqing just listened and said nothing. He walked around the mountain village and met Yang Zheng who was searching for secret passages and secret rooms everywhere.

"We guessed right before, there really is a secret passage on the mountain." Yang Zheng pointed at the man huddled in the corner, "After some torture, he confessed everything clearly. We opened several secret rooms and found a lot of good stuff!"

Meng Changqing followed Yang Zheng to see, and saw a lot of gold and silver jewelry placed on a piece of silk.

Meng Changqing flipped through all the things and said, "What good things can there be on the mountain? They are all gold-plated and silver-plated things, not worth much. Brothers, whoever likes them can take them. Don't leave the injured brothers behind, and ask them if they want them." The yamen runner who only dared to hide one or two things secretly heard Meng Changqing's words and his eyes lit up, and he replied loudly, "Yes!"

When he walked out of the door, he saw Yang Zheng following him. Meng Changqing asked him in a low voice, "Why don't you take two pieces home for your children to play with?"

Yang Zheng was a little embarrassed and coughed twice before speaking, "I've already taken them. Leave those to the brothers."

"It's getting light. Brothers, you've worked hard all night. Don't relax now." Meng Changqing said, "Before I went up the mountain, I sent Lai Cai to Hongjia County to borrow some people. We can decide the next step after they arrive."

“Yes, with our manpower, if we escort these people down the mountain, there won’t be enough people left on the mountain, and they might be put in danger.

Although the mountain is empty, the people on the mountain may not have reached the end.

It would be best if reinforcements arrived to help us defend the stronghold.

Judging from the clothes the Ma family members are wearing, it is obvious that they can easily contact the outside world. "At this point, Yang Zheng lowered his voice, "Combined with the rampant banditry in Yangmen County before, these people are probably the bandits. I don't know why they can be safe and sound."

"We don't care about the affairs of other counties." Meng Changqing said, "Show me who the Ma family members are."

Looking in the direction Yang Zheng pointed, Meng Changqing saw a sturdy middle-aged man wearing a long gown that obviously didn't fit him well. "According to the people on the mountain, he is the current head of the Ma family."

"Current?"

Yang Zheng nodded, "How can this gang of robbers be loyal to their master? The head of the Ma family who occupied this dangerous mountain early on was killed by his men when his savings were almost gone.

The so-called head of the Ma family today was once a servant of the Ma family."