Chapter 218 – Exterminating Bandits, Kill or Capture (Part 8)
“Tsk, tsk, tsk—Xiaoyu, take a look. Some of these bandits were forced into this life, while others just want to reap the rewards without any effort, relying on snatching the labor of others. Those people have toiled in the fields for a year, but they don’t even earn as much as these bandits get from one big heist.”
Boxes overflowing with loot filled the hall, and Jiang Pengji rested casually, leaning back with her legs crossed like a boneless wonder in her chair.
Her slender fingers pointed at the opened boxes, her gaze playfully sweeping over the tightly bound bandits.
Xu Ke eyed the contents of the boxes, a flicker of anxiety evident on his forehead. It wasn’t that he was worried about the bandits themselves; he was more concerned that Young Master might become addicted to bandit-busting and get carried away with black-on-black crime.
Though… he couldn’t deny it was quite thrilling.
Meng Hunyun sat confidently in the chair of the bandit’s Second-in-command, while Xu Ke appeared considerably more refined beside him.
The former asked in a booming voice, “Young Master, what do we do with these people? Should we handle them like this or like that?”
Meng Hunyun made two very obvious gestures, causing the bandits below to tremble in fear, shivering and crying rivers of snot and tears.
“Please spare me, sirs! I was forced into this den of thieves; I never did any evil deeds before…”
“…Oh, great merciful sirs, please spare me! I have an elderly mother above and a three-year-old child below. They rely entirely on me for survival. If I die, how will my sixty-year-old mother and my wailing child live? I beg you…”
“I was also coerced in by that heartless fiend, please let me go…”
Desperate for their lives, each bandit began to dramatize their plight, some knocking their heads on the ground in supplication, while others tried to sell out the bandit’s lair secrets for a shot at survival. The stories they spun were so heartrending, it would make anyone feel compassion.
However, no matter how these people pleaded or acted, Xu Ke remained coolly indifferent, while Meng Hunyun wore an “I couldn’t care less” expression.
The true decision-maker, Jiang Pengji, surveyed each of them with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, as if watching a circus performance.
“Let’s not rush to deal with these people…” Jiang Pengji steepled her fingers thoughtfully, then turned to Xu Ke, “All the loot we found in this bandit lair—it’s all here? How much grain is there, and how much money do we have?”
Xu Ke looked down at his simple records on bamboo slips and replied, “Approximately three hundred stones of grain and the equivalent of about seven hundred taels of silver.”
That was just an estimate; given the haste, a more thorough inventory would wait until they returned.
Jiang Pengji smiled, “Three hundred stones of grain, seven hundred taels of silver… that’s equal to your Young Master’s allowance for several years…”
Xu Ke secretly rolled his eyes. If you considered money, Jiang Pengji’s allowance from Liu Residence was indeed not much—just a few taels a month. But when accounting for food, snacks, writing materials, and cloth, especially the pricey bamboo paper outside, could that really be called poor?
“Pack everything up; we’re taking it all back.” Jiang Pengji waved her hand, her aura more formidable than that of the Bandit Leader. “Everyone worked hard today; once we’re back, each of you will receive one tael of silver and a pound of pork. After the tough training, you all deserve a treat.”
As for where these expenses would come from?
Joking, of course, it was from the confiscated bandit goods!
How many people were in the squad?
Just that little reward wouldn’t hurt at all; rather, it would win their hearts and bolster morale. Now, wasn’t that a smart move?
“Also, each squad leader will receive a separate share.” The treatment for the regular troops and the squad leaders was naturally different, to make it clear they had to train harder and rise up to enjoy better treatment, “Make sure to write this down.”
Xu Ke nodded as he noted the details.
Jiang Pengji didn’t forget Xu Ke and Meng Hunyun, with each getting ten taels, while Meng Hunyun also scored some extra jars of wine and five pounds of pork. Xu Ke, on the other hand, received a few bolts of high-quality cotton cloth, along with some equivalent medicinal materials.
This arrangement was purely because Meng Hunyun was single—one bellyful meant the whole family didn’t go hungry, while Xu Ke still had to care for his aunt.
In front of a group of bandits, distributing their plundered gains made Jiang Pengji seem particularly nonchalant, as if she were sharing her own… Well, now they truly did belong to her!
With a swift flick of her hand, Xu Ke understood and began moving the boxes to clear the area for dealing with the bandits.
“You… you bandits! If you want to kill us, go ahead!” The captured Bandit Leader scowled darkly.
Everyone: “!!!”
The livestream audience happily watched as Jiang Pengji divided up the spoils, only to be stunned by the genuine threat from the authentic Bandit Leader.
【Blue Lotus Gentleman】: 6666, that’s so epic!
【Old Driver Alliance】: Hahaha, streamer, did you hear that? Even the Bandit Leader calls you a bandit. What does that mean?
【Mu Yuqingfeng】: Cold face, it means the streamer is the real boss of the bandit world.
They work hard to rob and steal, collecting wealth with sweat and tears, only for the streamer to swoop in and take it all!
Surely a true bandit among bandits?
“Kill or captured?” Jiang Pengji clapped her hands in laughter, “You’ve got guts! Well, go die then.”
Silence enveloped the crowd, initially expecting Jiang Pengji to appreciate the man’s courage, only to be met with such a response.
“Actually, you don’t even need to speak. You won’t survive anyways.”
With a cold smirk, Jiang Pengji snapped the man’s neck, the blood pouring from the Bandit Leader staining the back of her hand.
Nong Qin hurriedly handed her a napkin, which she accepted with her left hand while discarding the dead bandit’s corpse to the side. Wiping the blood from her hand, her brow never wrinkled, “Now, who else wants to say, ‘kill or captured’? Hmm? Who dares?”
The powerful and chilling aura was suffocating, leaving the bandits with a creeping sense that they might be next.
“Brave people are strong and admirable. But a scumbag who dares challenge me? If he doesn’t die, who else will?”
Jiang Pengji curled her lips, the blood on her hand now wiped clean. She pocketed the napkin instead of tossing it away carelessly.
Her gaze swept over the crowd, and not a single person dared to meet her eyes.
People treasure their lives, even these bandits who wore their heads like hats.
Meng Hunyun followed Jiang Pengji with a knife; if she furrowed her brows at anyone, his blade would drop their head.
Without any warning and without a hint of defense, the bandits were terrified to the point of losing control of their bowels.
The atmosphere was eerily quiet, filled only with the thickening scent of blood and the occasional splash of blood as heads rolled.
The livestream audience, equally terrified, forgot to even send messages…
As they watched the live broadcast, they felt shivers down their spines, hands trembling, sweat pouring like rain, not to mention the bandits caught in the midst of the chaos.
