Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 430 Suppressing Bandits
By the time Qu Shaoyang and his wife led their people back to Maoer Mountain, it was already mid-August, and the twins, a boy and a girl, were one year old.

The couple missed the twins' one-year-old birthday ceremony and could only ask Chen and Lin Ruolan what the two babies had won.

"Genquan grabbed a book, and Lingling got angry and took the pestle and scale used by her mother, and refused to give them to anyone who wanted them.

Later, I was still hungry, so I exchanged it for something delicious." Chen said to her son and daughter-in-law with a smile.

"These children of ours all grab different things. I don't know what they will do when they grow up."

"Mom, no matter what the child grabs, it's just for fun, don't take it to heart.

All the children in the family, no matter big or small, boy or girl, had to study and practice martial arts.

When they grow up, they can choose to learn a skill based on their interests."

The children are still young and can’t see anything, so Qu Shaoyang is not in a hurry.

Anyway, he, Chen Xiuyun and Meng Lanxin are still young and can have a few more children.

If you have many children and teach them carefully, you will always have a few who will succeed. As long as you don't raise a scourge, a traitor, or a prodigal son, you will be successful.

"By the way, why don't you see Lan Xin?"

Qu Shaoyang and the others had returned home and sat down for a while, but they hadn't seen Meng Lanxin yet. Qu Shaoyang felt strange and asked.

"Oh, Lan Xin went to Xigang.

Isn't it time to harvest ginseng again? You guys are too busy outside to take care of it, Lan Xin is thinking about the ginseng garden, so she leads people to harvest ginseng.

This year, thanks to Lan Xin, she is the one who takes care of all the business in the ginseng garden."

Qu Laokouer is no longer watching over the gold field, as he is afraid that others will laugh at Qu Shaoyang.

Originally, Qu Laokou wanted to go to Xigang Ginseng Garden with Meng Lanxin, but he didn't understand any of it.

Meng Lanxin was also afraid that Qu Laokou'er would fall back into his stingy ways, so she didn't let him follow her.

Due to the impact of the war, the gold field was closed early last year, the mountain field and water field were not started, and the warehouse and other businesses were also stopped. It can be said that the losses were not small.

This year, there are several hundred feet of ginseng to be harvested in the ginseng garden for sale. Meng Lan was worried about others going, so she took people to watch over it herself.

Qu Shaoyang nodded when he heard that, and asked when they left. He roughly guessed when Meng Lanxin and the others would come back, and then arranged for someone to go and pick them up.

A few days later, Meng Lanxin, Xingye and others came back escorting dozens of sacks of fresh ginseng.

"This year, our family has made a total of 260 meters of goods, and we have collected 35 sacks of mallets.

We roughly estimated that one zhang can lift about 13 or 14 jin."

As soon as Meng Lanxin saw Qu Shaoyang, she excitedly told him about the ginseng yield and other things.

The land where ginseng was being harvested starting this year was owned by some wealthy families in Dianzi Street. In order to please Qu Shaoyang, they specially helped to purchase ginseng plants and seeds.

When these people take action, they will definitely not give bad things, so the ginseng seeds are always of the first or second rank.

The ginseng seeds were big, the soil was good, and with the careful care taken by Huang Maosheng and others, the ginseng naturally grew well.

So even though the number of bags produced this year is less, the output is still not small, only three sacks less than last year.

"Lan Xin, thank you for your hard work. It's all thanks to your hard work in managing the ginseng garden. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many problems."

Qu Shaoyang said this from the bottom of his heart.

Ginseng is a very delicate thing. Every step must be carefully taken care of, and not even a little weeding will do.

The guys in the ginseng garden are good at their work, but after all, it is not their own ginseng field. Without Meng Lanxin going to the ginseng garden from time to time to keep an eye on it, the guys cannot take care of it so carefully.

"You're just talking nonsense. This is our own ginseng garden, and you're not at home. If I don't go over and keep an eye on it, how can I expect others to take care of us?"

Meng Lanxin gave Qu Shaoyang a blank look and then smiled.

"Oh, this is a letter from Li Daishi and Li Zhengwen to you. I happened to see it when I was leading people to Dianzi Street to buy food.

They were originally going to come here in person, but when they heard that you had taken people to Phoenix, they said they would come back later and asked me to bring this letter to you."

Meng Lanxin said this, took out a letter and handed it to Qu Shaoyang.

"A letter from Brother Li?" Qu Shaoyang was quite curious, so he opened the letter and read it carefully.

Last year, when the Japanese invaded, General Changshun of Jilin ordered "Han Bianwai" to lead several battalions of miners to southern Liaoning to assist the Qing army in fighting against the Japanese.

Han Bianwai was too old to lead the troops, so he sent his eldest grandson Han Dengju to recruit 3,000 brave men from all over the country to fight in southern Liaoning.

Li Daishi was the leader sent by the Han family to Shuangdianzi. Although he did not go to the battlefield to fight the enemy, half of his subordinates were withdrawn.

There were many complicated affairs around Shuangdianzi, and many of his subordinates were transferred away, so Li Daishi was very busy.

Not to mention Li Zhengwen, Qu Shaoyang transferred most of the militia and security teams. The bandit gangs around Shuangdianzi took the opportunity to cause trouble in the mountains and water fields.

Li Zhengwen was so busy with all sorts of things that it had been a long time since Qu Shaoyang returned from the battlefield, but the father and son never had the time to come over and congratulate him.

Of course, Li Daishi’s letter was not to explain this.

The main purpose was to inform Qu Shaoyang that the whereabouts of several bandit gangs that attacked Qujiawei last winter have been found.

At that time, because Qu Shaoyang was still killing enemies on the battlefield and the guards at home were insufficient, Chen Xiuyun and Meng Lanxin did not dare to lead people to chase those bandit gangs.

It was only from the wounded prisoners that the names of those gangs were discovered.

When Xingye led his troops back and wanted to suppress the bandits again, he found that there was no one in the gangs' lairs.

The bandits also understood that they had offended Qu Shaoyang by failing to destroy the kiln. They were afraid of Qu Shaoyang's revenge, so they immediately moved to another place after fleeing back.

In this way, Xingye and his team had no way of tracing the case and could only inquire slowly.

Li Daishi and his son put a lot of effort into this matter. With the help of the Han family's influence, they finally found out that those gangs were now running around in Jilin, Changchun, Fuyu, Nong'an and other places.

It is said that these bandits took advantage of the war between the Qing and Japan when the generals of Jilin and Heilongjiang led troops to reinforce Liaodong, and kidnapped people and smashed kilns in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, committing all kinds of evil and committing all kinds of crimes. The government hated them deeply.

"What's wrong? You don't look well." Meng Lanxin found Qu Shaoyang's serious expression strange, so she asked.

"Oh, nothing. I found the traces of those bandits who came to our house to smash the kiln last year.

I was thinking of an excuse to wipe out this group of idiots."

Since these bandits are so bold as to smash the Qu family's kiln, they should be prepared to be retaliated against.

However, the place where these people are currently located is under the jurisdiction of General Jilin, while the Eastern Road is under the jurisdiction of Fengtian.

There are several layers of barriers in between, so Qu Shaoyang cannot lead his troops to suppress the bandits directly. He has to ask for cooperation from General Jilin, which is a bit difficult.

"Found them? We can't let them go. It's best to catch them all."

Thinking of the incident of Hu Zi smashing the kiln last year, Meng Lanxin was so angry that her teeth were itching, so she said hatefully.

"Well, I'll think about this matter and I won't let them off easily." Qu Shaoyang folded the letter again and put it away. After the fresh ginseng was brought back, it had to be washed, steamed, and dried in the sun.

At this time, the land at home had not been harvested yet, so the job of picking ginseng and making goods had to be done by Chen Xiuyun and Meng Lanxin and the maids and wives in the family.

When producing goods last year, Qu Shaoyang said that he wanted to build a separate processing plant, but it was delayed by the war and was never built.

So, this year we are still working on the open space in the fence.

Within a few days, the fence was filled with forks used to dry ginseng.

After pondering for a few days, Qu Shaoyang wrote a memorial and asked someone to send it to Zhang Xiulan, asking Zhang Xiulan to present it to the court.

The memorial stated that bandits in Fengtian and Jilin provinces took advantage of the Qing-Japanese war to kidnap people for extortion, kill people and burn them, and disrupt mountain fields and gold mines, causing the people to suffer and the court to be unable to collect taxes.

In his memorial, Qu Shaoyang pleaded with the court to approve severe punishment.

Regardless of the severity of the crime or whether they are leaders or accomplices, they will all be treated as bandits and executed immediately as a warning.

After receiving the memorial, Zhang Xiulan felt that the matter was a bit serious, so he immediately ordered someone to send the memorial to the capital by express horse.

Coincidentally, Qu Shaoyang's memorial arrived just as General Enze of Jilin's memorial, also talking about the issue of suppressing bandits.

As a result, the issue of bandit suppression received attention from the court.

After some time, the imperial court issued an edict, and Qu Shaoyang was appointed as the general manager of the bandit suppression affairs in Jilin and Fengtian, with the recommendation of General Fengtian and General Jilin.

All departments in Fengtian and Jilin provinces should provide full assistance and not be perfunctory or obstructive.

When Qu Shaoyang handed over the memorial, he was mentally prepared.

Each of those bandit gangs is extremely vicious and cruel. The task of suppressing them is troublesome and tiring, with little profit and heavy casualties, so most officers and soldiers are unwilling to do it.

Moreover, Japan has not withdrawn its troops yet. The main forces of Jilin and Fengtian provinces are still in Fengtian, Liaoyang, Shanhaiguan and other places.

Jilin Province's defense is weak, and it is estimated that not many troops can be spared to suppress the bandits.

Qu Shaoyang has 8,000 border troops under his command, and their combat effectiveness is very strong, making him the best candidate to suppress the bandits.

So after submitting the memorial, Qu Shaoyang began to make plans and arranged people to find out the details of these gangs of all sizes in Jilin and Fengtian provinces.

By the time the imperial court's decree came down, Qu Shaoyang's subordinates had probably figured out the situation.

So, Qu Shaoyang gathered two thousand elite soldiers, took cannons, heavy machine guns, grenades, mines, explosives, etc., and marched directly to Jilin City.

After arriving in Jilin, Qu Shaoyang first went to pay a visit to General Jilin and presented him with a generous gift.

The current Jilin General is Enze, a member of the Bordered Blue Banner of Mongolia, who previously served as the Deputy Governor-General of Jilin.

Last October, former Jilin General Changshun led his troops to southern Liaoning to participate in the war, and Enze temporarily took over the affairs of Jilin General.

Enze was worried about the rampant bandits in the country and the people's miserable lives, and he didn't know how to deal with it.

So he was very happy to see Qu Shaoyang leading his troops. He was even happier to see that Qu Shaoyang was so sensible and gave him a big gift on their first meeting.

Therefore, Enze expressed on the spot his full support for Qu Shaoyang in leading troops to suppress the bandits.

No matter whether you are short of people or guns, you can tell him. As long as the bandit problem can be quelled as soon as possible, everything will be fine.

In this way, with the cooperation of local officials, Qu Shaoyang sent people to Jilin City, Changchun Hall, Fuyu, Nong'an, Yongji and other places to conduct detailed investigations on some places where bandits often appeared, and learned a lot of detailed information about the bandits.

At the end of September, the weather was already very cold, and the day when the bandit gangs would raid large areas and settle accounts and divide profits was not far away.

As time goes by, the bandits become more rampant and they all want to make more money.

Qu Shaoyang also seized this opportunity and arranged a plan to suppress the bandits based on the information he had obtained.

Fuyu, Liujiaweizi.

It was the middle of the night and it was pitch black outside. Everyone should have been fast asleep, but inside the Liu family compound, every household had lit candles.

Soon, white smoke began to rise from the landlord's adobe chimney.

The women tied aprons and were busy steaming bean curd in front of the stove. They took the corn leaves out of the pot and wrapped them in cotton bags as dry food for the journey.

The men in the family also got up from the kang one after another, shook out the Ula grass, and stuffed handfuls of it into their boots.

Wipe the gun carefully again, load it with gunpowder, go out to heat the gun, and then reload the gunpowder and lead bullets.

The farmer, who was originally simple and honest, now had a cold and stern look in his eyes.

The guns were loaded and carried on their shoulders, and the men from each family gathered at the village headman's house at the west end.

The old village chief Liu Zhengde had asked his wives and daughters to prepare several tables of delicious food early on, and also brought two jars of good wine.

"My fellow farmers, we work hard all year round and we only hope to make some money by selling our crops at this time.

I won’t say anything else, I just wish you all a smooth journey.

Come, I toast to everyone." The old village chief picked up the bowl and toasted everyone in front of him.

Today, the men in the enclosure are driving horse-drawn carriages to the big house to sell grain.

The one-way distance from Liujiaweizi to Baojia Shaoguo in Dafangshen is eighty miles, which is not far, but the Hu Zi have been making a lot of noise recently.

The Liujiaweizi had a grudge against the gang known as "Dong Dabiao" and were afraid of meeting them halfway, in which case they would definitely fight to the death.

So, this bowl of wine can be considered as a farewell drink for the young and old men in the village.

"Dad, don't worry, we have so many people here, and we all have guns.

Besides, didn’t Mr. Qu from the caravan agree to go with us today?
They all use quick-firing rifles. If they really meet Dong Dabiao's gang on the road, the worst that can happen is that they fight to the death.

We all have a head on our shoulders, so who is afraid of who?"

Liu Zhengde's son looked at the people sitting at the table over there, patted his chest and made bold statements.

After listening to his son's words, Liu Zhengde looked to the side.

"Master Qu, I am so sorry to bother you all today to escort our food to the main house."

The person sitting next to him was Qu Shaoyang.

At this time, he had already changed out of his official uniform and was disguised as a caravan with thirty or so followers.

They came to Liujiaweizi a few days ago and stayed there for a few days under the pretext of purchasing mountain products, hides and skins, and medicinal materials.

Coincidentally, the people in the enclosure were about to send the new grain this year to the Bao family stove for sale.

Because the outside world has been in turmoil recently, the old village chief of Liujiawei came to Qu Shaoyang and asked them to escort him for a while.

(End of this chapter)