230 Taking Advantage of the Situation
The young man’s face was pale and his heart was beating like a drum. His legs were trembling in fear and he could barely stand.
However, when he thought of the villagers in the village who were still waiting for money and food to save their lives, he could only suppress his fear and speak with difficulty.
“Fight with your lives! We’re not afraid of death!”
Because he was so afraid, his voice trembled.
Yu Niaoniao looked at him with a faint smile. “Are you sure none of you are afraid of death? Look back at your companions. They look quite afraid.”
The young man turned to look at everyone and saw that they were all retreating. They were clearly frightened by Yu Niaoniao’s arrow.
They were all flesh and blood. If they were unlucky enough to be shot by an arrow, they would not survive even if it did not hit their vital points.
Because they did not have a doctor. Once they were injured, no one could treat them and they could only wait for death.
The young man questioned loudly and angrily, “When those officials forcefully took our land, you chose to retreat! When the government forcefully confiscated our strong men, you also chose to retreat! Now that we have no land and no home, are you guys still going to retreat?”
These words were powerful as if they were filled with blood.
Everyone paused.
Yes, they had nothing left.
If they retreated any further, only death awaited them.
The young man said loudly, “If we can’t bring money and food back, our wives, children, and parents will starve and die of illness. Do you want to see that happen?”
Everyone agreed. “No! We want money and food!”
The young man looked toward Yu Niaoniao and Lu Yao with reckless ruthlessness.
“Then snatch all their money and food!”
In an instant, the bandits were like jackals, tigers, and leopards. They fiercely stepped over the trees in front of them and pounced at Lu Yao with sticks!
Lu Yao hurriedly swung his sword to protect himself.
Yu Niaoniao, Dang Gui, and the little attendant also joined the battle.
As for Lo Pingsha, he flew over everyone’s heads and landed in front of the young man.
The young man wanted to resist, but he had never practiced martial arts and was no match for Lo Pingsha at all.
Lo Pingsha snatched the other party’s axe and grabbed the young man by the neck.
“If you move again, I’ll kill him.”
Seeing this scene, the bandits stopped.
The young man could clearly feel the strength of the hand around his neck. If the other party wanted to, he could break his neck at any time.
Faced with the threat of death, he still refused to retreat.
“Folks! Leave me alone. Hurry up and snatch the money and food. With money and food, everyone can live!”
Seeing that the bandits were still hesitating, Yu Niaoniao hurriedly interrupted.
“Wait a minute! You just said that the government took your land by force and captured your strong men. What’s going on?”
The young man straightened his neck and said, “What does this have to do with you?!”
Yu Niaoniao said, “I guess you not only need money and food now, but you also need a physician, right? My brother is a doctor. His medical skills are very brilliant. As long as you don’t mess around and talk to us properly, he will give you treatment and medicine. How about that?”
These words hit their weak spot. Many of the villagers were sick and needed treatment urgently. However, treating illnesses and getting medicine required a lot of money. They did not have money, so they could only take the risk and resort to robbery.
The young man was skeptical. “Why should I believe you?”
Yu Niaoniao did not know what to do to prove what she had said. She could only look at Lo Pingsha for help.
Lo Pingsha said stiffly, “There’s a medical kit in my luggage.”
Dang Gui immediately ran to the carriage.
She dug out Lo Pingsha’s luggage and found a heavy medical kit.
Dang Gui placed the medical box where everyone could see it. She opened the lid and revealed what was inside. There were pulse cushions, threads, gauze, small scissors, silver needles, some commonly used medicine, and so on.
These were indeed things that physicians would use.
The young man finally believed Yu Niaoniao.
He gave up resisting and raised his hands.
“As long as this physician is willing to treat our loved ones, I can tell you whatever you want to know.”
Seeing this, the other bandits also put down their weapons.
Yu Niaoniao nodded at Lo Pingsha.
Lo Pingsha understood and released the young man. He walked over, picked up the medical kit, and spoke to the bandits, “Send all your patients over. We have other things to do. We don’t have time to waste here. Be quick.”
The young man was overjoyed and immediately instructed everyone to return.
Most of the bandits had left, leaving only the two young girls with the young man.
Yu Niaoniao had already put away her bow.
She saw how thin the three of them were and said to Dang Gui.
“Go get the rations and water from the car.”
Dang Gui quickly brought over a bulging cloth bag.
Yu Niaoniao took out six steamed buns and distributed them to the three of them.
When the three of them saw the steamed buns, their eyes immediately turned red.
Before they could thank her, they grabbed the steamed buns and ate it in big mouthfuls. They almost choked because they were in a hurry.
After wolfing down the food, the three of them clearly wanted more. But Yu Niaoniao did not take out any more steamed buns.
“Who the hell are you?”
Because of the steamed buns, the three of them looked much more energetic. The young man in the lead spoke with more confidence.
“My name is Xia Haisheng. These two are my cousins. We originally lived in Xia Village, but because our land had been taken away by the authorities, We were unable to bear the taxes and were forced to become tenant farmers. But not long after, the authorities sent someone to recruit and captured many strong men. This way, there weren’t enough people to farm. We couldn’t farm so many fields for utilities. In the end, we couldn’t even be tenant farmers. We were forced to leave the village and become bandits.”
Hearing this, Yu Niaoniao finally understood. It seemed that the village they had passed by was the Xia family village. The reason why there was no one in the village was that the villagers had all fled.
Lu Yao frowned and could not help but ask.
“Why did the authorities take your land for no reason?”
Speaking of this, Xia Haisheng was furious.
“The weather hasn’t been good these few years. The harvest in our fields is very bad. It’s a problem to even eat. However, not only did the government not reduce taxes, but they even increased them by a lot. Many families were forced to sell their children and fields. Those landlords took advantage of the situation and deliberately bought our land at an extremely low price.”
Lo Pingsha spoke quietly, “The Imperial Court has explicitly stipulated that the price of private land trading must not be less than 70% of the market average. This statute was to prevent anyone from having ill intentions and annexing a lot of lands. You can report it to the authorities.”
230 Taking Advantage of the Situation
The young man’s face was pale and his heart was beating like a drum. His legs were trembling in fear and he could barely stand.
However, when he thought of the villagers in the village who were still waiting for money and food to save their lives, he could only suppress his fear and speak with difficulty.
“Fight with your lives! We’re not afraid of death!”
Because he was so afraid, his voice trembled.
Yu Niaoniao looked at him with a faint smile. “Are you sure none of you are afraid of death? Look back at your companions. They look quite afraid.”
The young man turned to look at everyone and saw that they were all retreating. They were clearly frightened by Yu Niaoniao’s arrow.
They were all flesh and blood. If they were unlucky enough to be shot by an arrow, they would not survive even if it did not hit their vital points.
Because they did not have a doctor. Once they were injured, no one could treat them and they could only wait for death.
The young man questioned loudly and angrily, “When those officials forcefully took our land, you chose to retreat! When the government forcefully confiscated our strong men, you also chose to retreat! Now that we have no land and no home, are you guys still going to retreat?”
These words were powerful as if they were filled with blood.
Everyone paused.
Yes, they had nothing left.
If they retreated any further, only death awaited them.
The young man said loudly, “If we can’t bring money and food back, our wives, children, and parents will starve and die of illness. Do you want to see that happen?”
Everyone agreed. “No! We want money and food!”
The young man looked toward Yu Niaoniao and Lu Yao with reckless ruthlessness.
“Then snatch all their money and food!”
In an instant, the bandits were like jackals, tigers, and leopards. They fiercely stepped over the trees in front of them and pounced at Lu Yao with sticks!
Lu Yao hurriedly swung his sword to protect himself.
Yu Niaoniao, Dang Gui, and the little attendant also joined the battle.
As for Lo Pingsha, he flew over everyone’s heads and landed in front of the young man.
The young man wanted to resist, but he had never practiced martial arts and was no match for Lo Pingsha at all.
Lo Pingsha snatched the other party’s axe and grabbed the young man by the neck.
“If you move again, I’ll kill him.”
Seeing this scene, the bandits stopped.
The young man could clearly feel the strength of the hand around his neck. If the other party wanted to, he could break his neck at any time.
Faced with the threat of death, he still refused to retreat.
“Folks! Leave me alone. Hurry up and snatch the money and food. With money and food, everyone can live!”
Seeing that the bandits were still hesitating, Yu Niaoniao hurriedly interrupted.
“Wait a minute! You just said that the government took your land by force and captured your strong men. What’s going on?”
The young man straightened his neck and said, “What does this have to do with you?!”
Yu Niaoniao said, “I guess you not only need money and food now, but you also need a physician, right? My brother is a doctor. His medical skills are very brilliant. As long as you don’t mess around and talk to us properly, he will give you treatment and medicine. How about that?”
These words hit their weak spot. Many of the villagers were sick and needed treatment urgently. However, treating illnesses and getting medicine required a lot of money. They did not have money, so they could only take the risk and resort to robbery.
The young man was skeptical. “Why should I believe you?”
Yu Niaoniao did not know what to do to prove what she had said. She could only look at Lo Pingsha for help.
Lo Pingsha said stiffly, “There’s a medical kit in my luggage.”
Dang Gui immediately ran to the carriage.
She dug out Lo Pingsha’s luggage and found a heavy medical kit.
Dang Gui placed the medical box where everyone could see it. She opened the lid and revealed what was inside. There were pulse cushions, threads, gauze, small scissors, silver needles, some commonly used medicine, and so on.
These were indeed things that physicians would use.
The young man finally believed Yu Niaoniao.
He gave up resisting and raised his hands.
“As long as this physician is willing to treat our loved ones, I can tell you whatever you want to know.”
Seeing this, the other bandits also put down their weapons.
Yu Niaoniao nodded at Lo Pingsha.
Lo Pingsha understood and released the young man. He walked over, picked up the medical kit, and spoke to the bandits, “Send all your patients over. We have other things to do. We don’t have time to waste here. Be quick.”
The young man was overjoyed and immediately instructed everyone to return.
Most of the bandits had left, leaving only the two young girls with the young man.
Yu Niaoniao had already put away her bow.
She saw how thin the three of them were and said to Dang Gui.
“Go get the rations and water from the car.”
Dang Gui quickly brought over a bulging cloth bag.
Yu Niaoniao took out six steamed buns and distributed them to the three of them.
When the three of them saw the steamed buns, their eyes immediately turned red.
Before they could thank her, they grabbed the steamed buns and ate it in big mouthfuls. They almost choked because they were in a hurry.
After wolfing down the food, the three of them clearly wanted more. But Yu Niaoniao did not take out any more steamed buns.
“Who the hell are you?”
Because of the steamed buns, the three of them looked much more energetic. The young man in the lead spoke with more confidence.
“My name is Xia Haisheng. These two are my cousins. We originally lived in Xia Village, but because our land had been taken away by the authorities, We were unable to bear the taxes and were forced to become tenant farmers. But not long after, the authorities sent someone to recruit and captured many strong men. This way, there weren’t enough people to farm. We couldn’t farm so many fields for utilities. In the end, we couldn’t even be tenant farmers. We were forced to leave the village and become bandits.”
Hearing this, Yu Niaoniao finally understood. It seemed that the village they had passed by was the Xia family village. The reason why there was no one in the village was that the villagers had all fled.
Lu Yao frowned and could not help but ask.
“Why did the authorities take your land for no reason?”
Speaking of this, Xia Haisheng was furious.
“The weather hasn’t been good these few years. The harvest in our fields is very bad. It’s a problem to even eat. However, not only did the government not reduce taxes, but they even increased them by a lot. Many families were forced to sell their children and fields. Those landlords took advantage of the situation and deliberately bought our land at an extremely low price.”
Lo Pingsha spoke quietly, “The Imperial Court has explicitly stipulated that the price of private land trading must not be less than 70% of the market average. This statute was to prevent anyone from having ill intentions and annexing a lot of lands. You can report it to the authorities.”
