Chapter 198: 『The Bridge Keeper』

Facing this intriguing gaze directed straight at him, Jier did not pretend not to notice, but instead gave his men a wink.

Aoni followed Jier's gaze; although he did not understand what was happening, he still took Sipulu, who wielded a Changdao, and two other Warrior subordinates, dismounted, and strode over.

Upon discovering that Aoni and the four others were walking toward the wooden house by the bridge, the gazes from inside the house were immediately withdrawn, and the several adult males who had been arguing with the merchants over money on the Wooden Bridge also noticed this; they immediately grew anxious, abandoned the merchants, and hurried toward the wooden house with quick steps.

As they walked, they shouted at Aoni: "What are you doing? What do you want? Stop right there! You are not allowed to approach our house!"

Once they left the Wooden Bridge, the merchants on the bridge looked at each other and smiled cunningly, gesturing and speaking to let Weier and the others at the front of the Caravan take the opportunity to cross the Wooden Bridge. Weier was not a foolish fellow; since the Local Merchants who frequently traveled this Shanglu said so, he did not stand on ceremony, took the lead, and rode his horse across the sturdy Wooden Bridge.

The horse-drawn carriages carrying people and goods lined up and crossed one after another.

Some of the adult males guarding the bridge turned their heads and saw this scene, but they could not spare the time to collect money; they grabbed and intercepted Aoni and his four men as they approached their wooden house, surrounding them by virtue of their numerical advantage.

However, these local bridge guards only carried homemade short Hunting Bows on their backs, wore wood-chopping knives at their waists, and most only wore vests made of animal hide; they were simply no match for the fully armed Aoni and his men.

Therefore, while it was called a siege, it was actually just them reaching out their hands to block Aoni and the others from approaching the wooden house.

Originally, Aoni and the four men had only come over to take a look under orders, but the strange behavior of these people activated the vigilance of the group.

"What? I just came over to take a look and ask the people in the house for a drink of water. This damn weather is really hot."

As he spoke, Aoni picked up the Water bottle at his waist and shook it; the half-bottle of water made a splashing sound.

"If you want water, go down to the bridge and fill it yourself. Why are you walking toward our house?"

"That's right, I warn you, don't come any closer. We aren't even collecting your bridge toll, so hurry up and leave! Especially you, fellow."

Being pointed at by these people, Aoni was also unhappy: "What? What about me? Do I look like a bad guy? %%￥! I am a very good person, you know? I think you guys are the ones who are a bit strange. Don't stop me; today I am going to see what is so strange in your house."

After finishing, Aoni tried to barge toward the house. These men immediately intercepted him, scrambling to grab Aoni, with all their attention focused on him.

At this very moment, the corners of Sipulu's mouth curled up; he quickened his pace and arrived in front of one of the edge-most wooden houses in two or three steps. After a gasp from inside the house, he pushed the wooden door of the house hard, but someone inside was blocking it.

He exerted force, and the person inside could not hold it back, so the wooden door was pushed open inward by Sipulu.

The situation inside was very different from what Sipulu had originally expected; there were no strange people or objects, only several women with children inside, looking in panic at Sipulu who was about to break in.

"Hey! What are you doing? Stay away from my family!"

Unexpectedly, those men who were blocking Aoni reacted very strongly; they all abandoned Aoni and ran quickly toward Sipulu's direction.

Of course, Sipulu would not be caught so easily. Although he was wearing well-fitting Plate Armor, he was agile; with a few twists and turns, he shook the men who wanted to block him or catch him, causing them to fall to the ground.

"Daddy—"

A small child broke free from the woman's hand in the house, hurried out, and threw themselves onto a fallen man. The two of them pulled and tugged at each other, finally managing to climb up.

Sipulu touched his nose, feeling a bit strange; why did he seem like a bad guy?

He retreated a few steps, widened the distance between himself and these people, and then looked far toward Jier.

Jier did not respond to his subordinate's questioning gaze, but lifted his chin toward Aoni, who was being ignored on the side. Aoni understood immediately and, taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to him, suddenly pushed open the door of another wooden house in front of him with force.

The woman inside tried to block it, but her strength was far inferior to Aoni's; she was pushed down behind the door by the gate, revealing the situation in the other room.

This room also had several farm women hiding inside with their children. Seeing the door being forced open, they huddled in the corner of the room with their children.

"Strange."

Jier muttered, and Xueya Site, who was driving the carriage nearby, asked: "What is strange? But Jier, why did you have Aoni and the others do this? If it was just to lure away the bridge guards blocking the road, isn't it a bit excessive for us to do this? I think the merchants who frequently travel this road have ways to solve this matter at a low cost; there is no need for us to do these things at all."

Jier shook his head: "It is not that simple. Let someone go and call all the merchants at the bridgehead over immediately; I have something to ask them. Be quick."

Zhongtusi, who was riding a horse, responded and immediately spurred his horse to run over, calling the merchants Jier needed. During this time, Aoni and the others were arguing with the bridge guards. Aoni and the others were at a loss, so they had to entangle themselves with these people in a messy way without apologizing, neither leaving nor doing anything else.

Because they still felt a little guilty, neither Aoni nor Sipulu retorted or argued; they just swayed their bodies, not letting these bridge guards catch them. Sipulu even seized the opportunity to push open the doors of two other wooden houses.

The houses were all filled with women and children huddled inside, looking very normal, which made many of Jier's Warriors wonder what Jier was having everyone do.

But when the local merchants accompanying the team were called over, Jier asked them directly: "Answer me, which of you is more familiar with those few bridge guards, or recognizes them?"

It would have been fine if Jier hadn't said anything, but after he asked this, the local merchants from 【Libie Guanka】 finally came to their senses slightly, and after looking at each other, their faces revealed horror.

Especially that chubby merchant, Mr. Angsinuo, who frequently traveled the middle Shanglu of Ke'er Shan Jun and was quite familiar with some of the villages and checkpoints along the way. He hadn't realized it before, but after Jier's reminder, he discovered that those so-called bridge guards were indeed new faces.

One must know that these bridge guards were basically people from nearby villages or guys who had stopped working as Bandits. The former had the support of their own villages and could occupy the defense work of these bridges, while the latter had stopped their looting work and were usually old Bandits who were crippled or old, specifically looking for these jobs.

The situation at this bridge belonged to the latter. Mr. Angsinuo used to be able to chat with the old Bandits guarding the bridge, flattering them with nice words, and those old Bandits would mostly wave their hands and let his Caravan pass through the bridge for free.

Because the weather was too hot, he was dizzy and didn't pay attention to the change of bridge guards at this location. At this moment, after Jier's reminder, he finally realized something.

Thus, Mr. Angsinuo immediately informed Jier of the situation he knew. After finishing, he looked at those so-called 'bridge guards' with fearful eyes.

"Don't be so nervous, don't be so nervous, everyone. Although I don't know when these bridge guards were 'replaced', since these people are living here with their families, compared to some cunning and cruel old Bandits guarding this bridge, perhaps these people with families are not so bad?"

After pacifying the merchants, Jier personally rode his horse close to Aoni and those 'bridge guards' who were still entangled. The merchants, also confident that they had the powerful Knight Jier sitting in command, followed along one after another.

To see what exactly was going on here.

"My Lord, why have you come over?"

Seeing Jier come over personally, Aoni immediately stood at attention and saluted Jier. The next moment, he was grabbed from both sides by the panting 'bridge guards'. These people wanted to press him against the outer wall of the wooden house, but when they turned their heads and saw Jier, whose equipment and aura were completely different from the others, they immediately let go and retreated to the side, cowering.

At the same time, they whispered to their own wives to close the doors and not come out.

And Jier's first sentence made them collapse to the ground in fear.

"You are not real bridge guards, are you? Where did you come from? Where did the original bridge guards go? Are they alive or dead? You have a few other people, right? Where are they? Let them come out together."

Jier's series of questions terrified these seven or eight adult males and also surprised everyone else; they did not know how Jier knew so many things, as many of them had not been able to see anything at all.

"Answer me!"

Seeing that they were still just trembling and unwilling to open their mouths, Jier waved his hand, letting the Warriors suppress these people and block the doors of the wooden houses.

The women and children inside the houses sensed that the situation was wrong and began to cry and wail, emitting a miserable sound that grew stronger and stronger. However, none of the people outside, including Jier, felt any pity for this crying; it only made their hair stand on end.

Aoni and Sipulu were suppressing the men on the ground, and seeing that they had no intention of speaking, they prepared to take action.

Jier raised his hand to stop Aoni and the others' rough actions, thought for a moment, and said: "Since you don't want to talk, then I will say it. Everyone listen and see if there is any problem with my statement."

Many people around looked at Jier, waiting for him to speak.

"At the very beginning, I did not notice any problem here. After all, both I and my men are here for the first time and do not understand the original situation here. And after you blocked the bridgehead and wouldn't let us pass, I sent the accompanying merchants to handle the matter, and the merchants did not have any suspicions about you."

Speaking of this, Mr. Angsinuo, who frequently traveled this route, smiled awkwardly and apologized repeatedly.

Jier waved his hand at him, signaling that he need not be like this, and then he continued: "But later, I noticed that there were many gazes watching me from the wooden house side. This is normally quite common; as the leader of the Caravan, I am the first to be noticed wherever I go. But the problem is that on this remote Shanglu, having just a few male bridge guards is enough; where would there be so many unnecessary bridge guards? And they were secretly peeking at me from inside the house without coming out."

Jier pointed at the doorway of the wooden house: "If this were a normal situation, even if those bridge guards really brought their children and families over during their off-hours, shouldn't the wooden door be open, with the people inside looking at us passersby with frank curiosity? Is there any need to hide and peer out from the shadows? Just like at Sichakou Cun, which we passed earlier."

"I felt something was wrong at the time, and I guessed whether the identities of the people in the house were questionable—were they perhaps poor women captured and held captive by those adult male bridge guards because of this remote location?"

"So, I had a few of my men go over to check the situation and test them."

Aoni scratched his head; he hadn't expected that Jier would think of so much just based on some gazes from inside the house, while he himself hadn't realized what was specifically happening until just now.

Jier spread his hands toward the group and continued: "The development of events was just as I had anticipated. The few bridge guards blocking the toll didn't even want the money; they hurriedly ran back to the house to block Aoni and the others' probe. But soon, I discovered a child running out from the house, affectionately shielding a bridge guard who had fallen to the ground. This was interesting. The people in the house were not poor captives, but indeed the bridge guards' families."

"But the problem returns: by this remote and insecure bridge, it is generally impossible for bridge guards to bring their own children, wives, and daughters to work and live together. First of all, it is not safe enough here. Unless the children stay in the house all day, there is no fence or simple protection around the wooden house. A mountain leopard or a wild wolf could easily snatch away a small child, and even some birds of prey could swoop down and carry off animals or people weighing less than a goat to eat."

"Therefore, there must be a problem here!"

Jier finally nodded and said.

The people around nodded in agreement, feeling that Knight Jier's analysis had no issues.

"I subsequently had the Merchants accompanying the Caravan called over to explain the situation here. I quickly discovered that the original bridge guards of this bridge were actually a few disabled old Bandits who had retired from their life of robbery. This is very interesting. It's not that these remote checkpoints and bridges cannot have personnel rotations, but it went from a few disabled old Bandits to a group of adult males with families, and the number of people is clearly greater than the number that should be stationed here."

"What is going on here? Gentlemen, can you give everyone an answer? How about giving an answer promptly to avoid us using some methods you won't like to actively discover the answer to our questions?"

Jier looked down at these 'bridge guards', his expression gradually turning cold.

He certainly wasn't trying to uphold justice for a few retired old Bandits; he wasn't crazy. He was just curious, curious about what exactly had happened in this place.

"M-my lord, if we tell you, will you spare us?"

An adult male who was being suppressed and kneeling on the ground struggled to lift his head and tried to ask.

"Spare you from what? Driving away or killing a few Bandits? What does that have to do with me, right? I am not the local Knight Lord, just a passerby curious about this place. Besides, the local lord probably doesn't care about these things on the Shanglu. Perhaps the Merchant Guild that maintains the Shanglu routes will manage you, but others, including these Merchants passing by, don't have the spare energy to care about you."

Hearing Jier say this, these people had no choice but to bite the bullet and believe Jier's words, so after a moment of silence, they spoke up.

"My lord, this Knight lord, we are actually not locals; we are Farmers who fled from a village outside the commandery city, Duan Ya Cheng."

"Fled from the commandery city? Why?"

Jier was a bit confused. Logically, the capital of a commandery is the best place in any region. Unless a serious situation broke out, it shouldn't be the case that people from there would be the ones fleeing.

"My lord, it is the tax increases. The lord started increasing taxes last year. At first, it was a war support tax; either pay the tax, or have the family provide a person to let the young men go to the front lines to help transport goods. Everyone was already poor, so they all chose to let the young men in their families go out to provide labor. But, my lord, the lords suffered a crushing defeat last year."

Speaking of this, they secretly looked at Jier's expression. Jier knew what they were thinking, so he said: "I am not a local; I come from the Northwest Province, a very distant place."

They felt relieved and continued: "Many lords suffered crushing defeats. Although the children in our families didn't become Soldiers fighting on the front lines, they weren't allowed to return either. They said it was to build defenses, f-fortifications. To build a defensive line."

"When it reached last winter, the lord increased taxes again, saying it was to provide cold-weather clothing for the children building the defensive line at the front. It wasn't realistic for our area to provide the clothing ourselves, so they made everyone pay money and grain. After exchanging it for money, they would buy new clothing directly at the front defensive line."

"Everyone gritted their teeth and handed over all the grain except for their rations and seed grain. Although it wasn't much, it should have been enough to exchange for new clothing for the children at home, right?"

"And when spring arrived this year, this time the lord wanted to participate in the war. It was again drafting people to join the army and forcibly collecting grain to supplement military rations. Although everyone was unwilling, the lord said he could open up the mountain forests to let everyone go Hunting freely, and we could also go down to the river to catch fish at will. Only then did everyone grit their teeth and hand over their rations, and let the extra labor in their families join the army to fight. I heard that unlike providing labor, Soldiers who fight can bring back a large amount of spoils of war. As long as they can win, everyone will get rich!"

Jier curled his lips and crossed his arms, saying nothing. Meanwhile, the surrounding Merchants whispered to each other, saying in low voices that these Farmers who tilled the land were truly easy to fool.

?? It's so hot, this weather.