The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 156: Guarding and Stealing
In two prison cells halfway up the mountain in Longpanzhai.

The large cell held more than a hundred boys under the age of ten.

They've been captured and taken up the mountain for two days, and they're still fast asleep.

Fearing the children would wake up and make noise, the bandits simply gave all the children a sleeping drug to make them fall asleep.

In the small cell next to the large cell, there were several old men with gray hair and beards.

The old men were awake, but wished they could just faint.

Hearing the commotion outside the cell, the old men whispered among themselves.

"Village chief, they've made their move! Tonight!"

"Alas! The long-standing peace and prosperity of our Beicang Village is about to be ruined by our hands! Those are the border troops guarding the northwest frontier! We are sinners against the imperial court, sinners indeed."

"Village chief, it's not that we don't understand the greater good, but can we just stand by and watch all the men in the village be killed?"

"Let's focus on the present for now!"

"."

With over 800 households guarding the village, Beicang is neither easy to steal from nor easy to rob.

Although the number of border troops left behind is small, they have muskets, so it's best not to alert them.

After discussing it, the ten leaders of Longpan Village came up with a brilliant idea: to have the people of Beicang Village steal from their own homes.

In order to force the villagers to agree to participate in the plan.

They stole the village's children and elderly at night, leaving behind the Longpanzhai (Dragon Pan Village) sign.

The next day, they sent people to Beicang Village to negotiate with the villagers.

It concerns the lives of over a hundred male grandsons from various families, as well as the lives of several patriarchs from large families, represented by the village chief.

The villagers had no choice but to keep the news of the bandits a closely guarded secret.

After coercion, the next step is naturally enticement.

The bandits promised not to let them take risks for no reason.

No matter how much grain Longpanzhai takes, 20% of it is considered a hard-earned reward for Beicang Village.

They were willing to convert the grain price in Youzhou into silver and distribute it to the villagers.

To show our sincerity, we can prepay each household fifty taels of silver.

A huge pie fell on the heads of the villagers.

The accountant was making a clicking sound on the abacus.

"My goodness! Even if the bandits only take 100,000 shi of grain, 20,000 shi, at the current grain price, would be worth 350 taels of silver to every household in our village!"

"hiss!"

The men in charge all gasped in shock.

What does it mean that each household can receive 350 taels of silver?
So, the villagers were all half-heartedly pushed onto the pirate ship.

These past two days, Beicang Village seems no different from usual.

But we can no longer see the scenes of mischievous children playing and running around in the village.

But it's normal.

It's freezing cold, who wants to go outside?

The thousand musket team members were divided into three shifts, taking turns on duty at the four intersections outside Beicang Village for twelve hours each.

At night, only the sea wind howls and howls in Beicang Village.

The musketeers on night duty tightened their fur coats.

He couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Damn it, how come the wind in Youzhou is colder than in our Northwest?"

The voice just fell.

A group of fifty night patrolmen from Beicang Village walked towards us.

The leader of the night patrol greeted the musket team members warmly.

"Brothers on the border, it's even colder tonight than last night. Be careful not to get your hands and feet frostbitten."

"Hey! Thanks for reminding me, sir. Is your village always this cold?"

"It's been cold all the time, and it gets colder every year. Last winter was colder than any other year."

"Oh dear, so it's not just us Northwesterners who feel this way?"

The two teams on night duty found themselves getting along very well as they discussed this topic.

They talked for a while in the wind.

My throat is so dry.

The leader of Beicang Village casually untied a gourd from his waist, took a swig himself, and then called to the others:
"Come on, everyone, have a sip of strong liquor to warm yourselves up! But don't drink too much, just a small sip each." "No, no, we're on night duty, drinking will get us a beating!"

"What are you talking about drinking? A tiny sip is just rinsing your mouth!"

It's really hard to refuse the villagers' hospitality.

With the outdoor temperature tonight feeling below minus seven or eight degrees Celsius, a strong liquor is definitely needed to warm up our chilly hearts.

The average Northwestern man can drink at least a pound of liquor.

It's just a bottle of strong liquor, what could possibly happen?
They had never witnessed the power of the bandit patriarch's secret drug!
In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea (five minutes).

Three hundred and thirty people lay on the ground and fell asleep.

The villagers of Beicang Village had no intention of harming these border soldiers.

They were all moved to a few empty houses in the village.

If you stay outside, you might freeze to death.

After repeatedly confirming that there was no movement from the other border troops at the Haijin Town post station.

More than 3,000 bandits from Longpanzhai poured into the two intersections on the east and north sides of the village.

Before arriving, we had already discussed the division of labor with Beicang Village.

The villagers of Beicang Village are only responsible for opening the warehouse door and filling sacks.

How many bags of grain they can transport in one night is a testament to the capabilities of the more than three thousand people in Longpan Village!

The villagers, familiar with the place, found their way to the gate of the granary.

"squeak"

"squeak"

The gate opened.

The two gates are open.

The granary door opened.

The golden grains were packed into sacks.

You can guard against outside thieves, but you can't guard against thieves within your own family.

Everything is progressing smoothly.

The bandits and villagers didn't see that a huge rat, as big as a dog, was curiously watching them from the top of the wall.

This mouse, which has gained several pounds, is none other than King Atu, who has mutated and is no longer afraid of low temperatures or needs to hibernate!

It stayed with its little brothers in the space for more than a month.

The female mice gave birth to litters one after another.

Poor King Atu could only meet the fragrant human cubs in his dreams.

It was very unhappy to go on this long trip with its owner.

I had been rushing around the whole time, and it wasn't until I arrived in Haijin Town that I was allowed to leave the space and wander around after dark.

No matter what breed of rat it is, none of them dislike grain storage.

Although the owner said they would leave in two or three days.

This did not stop King Atu from liking the various grain aromas in the air above his new territory.

Ok.

It tastes like rice, wheat, soybeans, and millet.
Huh?
Why is the flavor becoming clearer and clearer?
Then it climbed onto the top of the granary wall and saw many two-legged creatures carrying large bags of grain.

Look, look.

It also sensed that something was wrong.

The main problem is that these people have a strong sense of theft.

They tiptoed in and out, and spoke in hushed tones.

However, the master had previously stated that this grain belonged to them and was to be transported back to feed the two-legged creatures in the border town.

After half a cup of tea.

A-Tu's ace warning rang out outside the post station:
"Squeak, squeak, wake up! Wake up! If you keep sleeping, your house will be raided!"

"Aaaaaah! Thief! Thief! Thief! Thief!"

Gan Minglan rolled over and got up, shouting as she did so:
"Something's happening in Beicang Village!"

"Calling the night watch team!"

"Prepare for war! Prepare for war!"

(End of this chapter)