Chapter 280: Leave a Good Impression

Huang Yifu's face was pale. Just now, Yang Zhengshan had just casually fired a shot and broke several of his ribs. At this moment, his waist and abdomen were in great pain, as if a funnel had drained all his strength.

"General Yang, please forgive me for the sake of Xingyue Sect!"

What else could Huang Yifu say? The only thing he could do at this moment was to beg for mercy, and the only one he could rely on was the Xingyue Sect.

"forgive!"

Yang Zhengshan sneered.

Whether or not they can be forgiven does not depend on the reputation of Xingyue Sect, but on what these people have done.

In his eyes, the Xingyue Sect has no face at all.

He didn't say anything more, but sat down on the chair casually.

The chair is wide and padded with sheepskin, making it very comfortable to sit on.

He reached out and took the wine jar next to him, sniffed the wine inside, and then put it down with disgust.

This bandit seems to be having a bad time too!
The drinks should be relatively cheap.

Drinking big bowls of wine and eating big bowls of meat sounds very happy, but in fact, just think about it and you will understand that life in this mountain forest is not very happy.

Who in their right mind would go to the mountains and become a bandit?

Only those who have committed crimes and cannot make a living would go up the mountain to become bandits.

Yang Zhengshan didn't say anything, and no one in the hall dared to speak. For a moment, the hall was silent, while the shouting and screaming outside the hall continued, and screams came one after another.

However, the shouting and screaming outside the hall did not last long and it subsided in just a quarter of an hour.

Song Dashan walked into the hall with a swift and vigorous step, "General, all the bandits outside have been killed, and the cotton cloth and carriages have all been found!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "Lin Xiaoyun, let's go!"

As he said that, he walked out of the hall. Lin Xiaoyun, who was confused, was stunned for a moment, then quickly followed him.

"It's boring, just kill them all!" Yang Zhengshan threw down a sentence and left the lobby.

Then, there were sounds of fighting and screams in the hall.

When the fighting in the hall stopped, there were no more living bandits in the entire village.

All that was left was to clean up the battlefield, but Yang Zhengshan didn't need to worry about that, as the soldiers were very familiar with cleaning up the battlefield.

These soldiers had all fought with Yang Zhengshan in the north, and they had cleaned up the battlefield countless times.

Yang Zhengshan sat on a rock, feeling somewhat bored. The warm sunlight shining on him made him feel a little sleepy.

He had high expectations before coming here, but it ended like this. It was really meaningless.

If he had known this would happen, he would rather not come and let Song Dashan bring people over.

"Sir, we found a lot of women in the back! They were all abducted to the mountain by bandits!" Song Dashan ran over again to report.

"Ask them if they are willing to go home. If they are, we can send them to the nearest county town later." Yang Zhengshan said.

"Well, they don't want to! They have all lost their reputations! Some of them even wanted to commit suicide! I asked my brothers to stop them!" Song Dashan whispered.

Yang Zhengshan had a headache. This matter was really difficult to handle.

A woman who has lost her reputation will inevitably have a difficult future life.

Even if they go home, the situation will still be difficult. But if they are not allowed to go home, will they be taken back to Tenglongwei?
Yang Zhengshan thought about it and it seemed that it might be possible to bring back Tenglongwei!
"how many?"

“More than thirty people!”

"Then take them all back!"

It is definitely not an option to just ignore them. By bringing Tenglongwei back, at least we can find them something to do. If nothing else, there will be no problem in keeping them well fed and clothed.

Moreover, they will receive less criticism in Tenglongwei, and maybe after a while, they can get married and have a home to call their own.

"Thank you General for taking me in!"

As soon as Yang Zhengshan finished speaking, Lin Xiaoyun, who had been standing next to him, knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

After the panic, Lin Xiaoyun calmed down, regained her rationality, and started to think. She knew very well what would happen to her when she returned home.

Her relatives will despise her, her neighbors will spurn her, some people with bad intentions will harass her, and all kinds of rumors and insults will surround her.

So she didn't want to go back, she would rather die than go back.

Yang Zhengshan was willing to take her in, and that was her last hope.

"Get up! Live a good life in the future, and don't feel sorry for yourself because of this!"

Yang Zhengshan is still very gentle towards these women.

They did nothing wrong, they were just targeted by the malice of this world.

Yang Zhengshan doesn't think of himself as a savior, but since he has encountered this situation, he is willing to help. This is not a difficult task for him.

"Tell your brothers not to talk nonsense when they go back. No matter how others ask, they won't be able to explain themselves clearly!"

Yang Zhengshan instructed Song Dashan.

Any explanation is useless. So many women going to Tenglongwei alone will definitely cause some controversy.

It is better not to explain for this kind of thing. Not explaining is his attitude. It won't be long before everyone understands what he means and the matter will be over.

"Yes!" Song Dashan responded.

"Go and help calm those women!" Yang Zhengshan said to Lin Xiaoyun again.

"Yes!"

Lin Xiaoyun, who had calmed down, was still very smart. She immediately understood what Yang Zhengshan meant.

The soldiers are definitely not good at comforting those injured women, and Lin Xiaoyun is undoubtedly the most suitable person here.

Yang Zhengshan let her go because he saw that she was smart.

About two quarters of an hour later, Lin Xiaoyun led a group of neatly dressed women to Yang Zhengshan to thank him. Yang Zhengshan simply comforted them with a few words and asked them to wait for the soldiers to clean up the battlefield and return to Tenglongwei together.

There is no point in saying too much. The damage they have suffered can only be healed with the passage of time. Yang Zhengshan cannot make them forget this painful memory just by saying a few words.

The soldiers quickly loaded the cotton cloth looted by the bandits onto the carts.

Fortunately, these carriages and cotton cloth were just stolen by the bandits not long ago, and the bandits had not had time to deal with them.

In addition to the horse farm and cotton cloth, the bandits' savings also became the spoils of Yang Zhengshan and his men.

This group of bandits was still very poor, with only a few thousand taels of silver. In addition to the silver, they also stored a lot of necessities such as food, wine and beverages.

The quantity was not large, but it was certainly impossible to transport all of them away in one trip, so Yang Zhengshan took most of the soldiers down the mountain first, and asked Song Dashan to stay here for one night, and then send someone to transport the remaining things away tomorrow.

It was a journey of more than a hundred miles, and it was already late at night when Yang Zhengshan returned to the Acropolis. However, he had already sent someone back on horseback to arrange accommodation for Lin Xiaoyun and other women.

Although the time was a bit tight, these women finally had a place to stay.

The next day, Yang Zhengshan sent more than a hundred soldiers to bring back the remaining things from Qingfu Mountain.

The money and grain were not much, but they were worth several thousand taels of silver. Yang Zhengshan was not so extravagant as to ignore the several thousand taels of silver.

In the morning, Yang Zhengshan called Wu Zhan to the study.

"Go to Jing'an City and ask the Wang family to come and take the silver away!"

"Master, we still have to pay silver!" Wu Zhan asked in surprise.

The Wang family's cotton cloth was robbed by bandits, and they took it back from the bandits. According to the rules of the underworld, these cotton cloths no longer had anything to do with the Wang family.

According to the rules of officialdom, Yang Zhengshan, the commander of the Tenglong Guard, had no responsibility to eliminate bandits.

So even if they don't pay, the Wang family has nothing to say.

"Not only must you give it, but you must give it every penny!"

"We will need help from merchants in many places in the future. We can take this opportunity to gain a good reputation and leave a good impression on the merchants in Jing'an City. When we need help in the future, we can go to them and they will be more willing to help us!"

Yang Zhengshan explained.

Tenglongwei is not Anyuan City.

Tenglongwei is located in a relatively remote area, in the southeast of Qinghua Prefecture, more than 200 miles away from Qinghua Prefecture and more than 200 miles away from Jing'an Prefecture. There are no large cities around except for a few small counties.

The Acropolis is just a small city. If it develops business, it can at most radiate to the thousands of households in the surrounding areas.

In terms of commercial potential, it may not be as good as those county towns.

If Yang Zhengshan wants to develop the Acropolis's business in the future, he will inevitably need the support of businessmen.

The Luo family is definitely his first choice, but relying solely on the Luo family is not enough, he needs more businessmen to come and invest.

That’s right, it’s about attracting investment!
Do them a favor now, and then ask them for help when you need it in the future. Can they refuse?
Besides, this batch of cotton cloth originally belonged to the Wang family and just changed hands among the bandits. There was no need for Yang Zhengshan to ruin his reputation for a few thousand taels of silver.

Wu Zhan didn't quite understand Yang Zhengshan's plan, but since Yang Zhengshan gave the order, he just had to carry it out.

After Wu Zhan left, Yang Zhengshan called Lu Wenhua over again.

"Have the women been arranged?"

"Everything has been arranged. They are now living in Nanyuan. We prepared food and cotton cloth for them last night. I just went to check on them and they are relatively safe!" said Lu Wenhua.

Nanyuan was originally where the Lan family's servants lived. Now that the Lan family's servants have become military households, many houses there have become vacant.

"Give them some sewing to do, eh, don't leave them idle!"

Yang Zhengshan is not Zhou Baopi, and he does not want to exploit these poor women.

It’s just that people tend to think too much when they are idle, but when they are busy, they don’t think too much.

There was a lot of needlework to be done in the yamen. His close followers and the soldiers who came with him all needed help making clothes.

We can't let these rough guys thread the needle.

Previously, the Yang family's embroidery workshop helped to do it, so Li specially increased the staff of the embroidery workshop, but it was still a bit overwhelmed.

Now with these women, the work of the embroiderers in the Yang family embroidery workshop can be more relaxed.

"Yes!"

Lu Wenhua asked again: “Sir, is there anything else?”

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and thought for a while, then said, "Do you want to go back to Anning County this year?"

Lu Wenhua has been with him and hasn't been back for several years.

There is less work to do in the government office this year, so Lu Wenhua can take some time to go back and stay at home for a few more days.

Lu Wenhua was stunned. He didn't expect Yang Zhengshan to suddenly change the topic to private matters.

"How about I go back and take a look?"

"Well, it would be a good idea to go back and take a look. Wenyuan will be taking the imperial examination in Beijing next year. You and Mingcheng should go back and ask the old man what he thinks. If necessary, let Mingcheng and Wenyuan go to Beijing."

"I asked someone to buy a house in the capital before, so they don't have to worry about having no place to live when they go to the capital."

"If you run into trouble in the capital, I have some connections in the capital, Mingcheng knows them all, and he can help you avoid some trouble!"

Yang Zhengshan said.

Darong’s spring examination is in March. If Lu Wenyuan takes part in next year’s spring examination, he should set off for Beijing after the New Year.

The journey is long and no one can predict what accidents may happen, so it is necessary to arrange for someone to escort.

If he was a disciple from a poor family, he could only bring a servant with him and follow the caravan or travel with his classmates.

The Lu family can be considered a poor family, but they still have the Yang family as their in-laws. It is only right for the Yang family to help if the Lu family doesn't have any.

"Then I would like to thank my uncle on my behalf!" Lu Wenhua smiled brightly.

Yang Zhengshan's attention and concern for Lu Wenyuan made him happy and also made him understand the meaning of family.

(End of this chapter)