Chapter 422: The Feng Family Is Mighty in Huai'an Prefecture!

The only thing of value in Ding Family Stockade was this salt, and seeing it deliberately ruined with filth, anyone could guess the objective. The killing was punishment; seizing the women and children was just making a little extra profit on the side.

To catch Ding Family Stockade completely off guard so that almost no one in the entire stockade could escape, and to slaughter and burn without the slightest mercy or compassion — only seasoned bandits and hardened outlaws could pull that off.

Over there, Ding Jun was shouting and screaming, not knowing how to vent his fury. Chen Sheng walked over and directly dragged the man back. The difference in strength was too great; Ding Jun had no way to resist.

"How many people are missing?"

"Over fifty people gone, all women and children!"

"What enemies does your Ding Family Stockade actually have?" Zhao Jin asked again. Ding Jun's emotions were already extremely frenzied, but firmly restrained by Chen Sheng and fixed by Zhao Jin's chilling gaze, he immediately quieted down.

A refugee settlement in the grass hollows, several hundred households of extreme poverty — there was basically no profit to be had. That thousand-plus catties of salt really didn't amount to much. Deploying over two hundred riders to burn and kill cost far more than that salt was worth, and the same went for selling off the women and children. There had to be some vendetta involved.

"It must be the Feng family, it must be the Feng family!" Ding Jun said through gritted teeth.

The Feng family? Everyone exchanged glances — they had actually heard this name again. Zhao Jin nodded and said in a deep voice, "Explain in detail!"

"... The Feng family wanted us to go to their estate, and also wanted us to stop trafficking salt..."

The matter was simple. The settlements and villages in the grass hollows all had some connection to the salt-field furnace households. They would secretly get some salt from the salt fields and then sell it outside to make money, using that money to supplement their livelihoods.

The Feng family was the number one salt merchant in Yangzhou, controlling the bulk of the private salt trade across all the prefectures and subprefectures north of the river. The private salt that the furnace households smuggled out fell outside the Feng family's jurisdiction and control, and outside the systems of the various local officials and powerful clans, so it had always been strictly forbidden.

Beyond that, the Feng family had built a large estate east of Shuyang, by the shores of Yanxiang Lake, reclaiming wasteland and recruiting people. They had constantly been urging the various villages and settlements in the grass hollows to come over, to swell their population and help them farm. But going there meant becoming tenant farmers. Farming in the grass hollows was harsh, but the land was after all reclaimed by their own hands — they were unwilling to go and toil like beasts of burden for others.

The villages and settlements in the grass hollows relied on this private salt to supplement their livelihoods, so naturally they wouldn't stop the trade, nor were they willing to go become tenant farmers or long-term laborers for the Feng family.

The Feng family had sent people over around mid-year to give a warning. Ding Hong had politely but firmly refused at the time, and the Feng family hadn't made any further moves. Everyone assumed that since the grass hollows were desolate and hard to traverse, the Feng family saw that threats wouldn't work and couldn't be bothered to make a big show of force. No one imagined the Feng family possessed such thunderous ruthlessness, that they would wipe the place out completely in one go.

By now, everyone could guess the fate of those three groups sent out to sell salt. Nine times out of ten, they had been intercepted and dealt with by the Feng family's people — it was just that no one had been able to see the signs.

"Could it not have been the Grass Hollow Bandits?" Zhao Jin pressed.

Ding Jun hesitated for a moment, then said through clenched teeth, "The few gangs operating around here are all familiar with Ding Family Stockade. We had people who rode out too..."

He didn't finish, but everyone understood clearly — Ding Family Stockade itself occasionally dabbled in outlaw business.

Zhao Jin wasn't surprised by this. If they hadn't demonstrated their martial strength the day they arrived at Ding Family Stockade, who knew whether all those able-bodied men might have been tempted by greed.

"Those heaven-cursed Feng family bastards!" These words didn't come from Ding Jun, but from Qi San at the side. His face was full of hatred, his features twisted.

By now, Ding Jun had finally sobered up enough to know what he should be doing. The moment Chen Sheng took his hand off him, Ding Jun dropped straight to his knees, shuffled forward two steps on his knees, and kowtowed with heavy thuds, saying, "Master Jin, I beg Master Jin to avenge Ding Family Stockade. These several hundred lives died so unjustly!"

As he spoke, he broke down crying. His kowtows were so forceful that after just a few, his forehead was immediately slick with blood.

Zhao Jin ignored his actions entirely and directly ordered, "Figure out how to get that woman and the few children onto horses. If Ding Jun won't come along, tie him up and take him!"

Ding Jun jerked his head up, about to continue pleading, but the two household guards beside him had already firmly restrained him. Ding Jun shouted at the top of his lungs, "Master Jin, as long as you can help get revenge, this lowly one will do anything — be crushed to powder, toil like an ox or a horse..."

Zhao Jin merely waved his hand, and the household guards hauled Ding Jun off to the other side.

"Whether or not the mounted troop that attacked Ding Family Stockade belongs to the Feng family isn't important. They seized the women and children — capturing people is either to sell them for money or for some other purpose. With these women and children as encumbrances, they won't make any further moves. Instead, they'll take the captives and head outward, to store or sell them over in Suqian." Zhao Jin laid out his analysis.

Ji Xiang nodded and said, "Big Brother is right. If they still had operations planned, we would have run into them on our way back. There's only this one road here."

Zhao Jin pondered for a moment, then added, "They're heading outward, so we'll head outward too. Once we leave the grass hollows region, no one would dare openly attack so many law-abiding civilians in broad daylight. At that point, our return journey will be safe."

"Big Brother, this Ding Family Stockade..." Liu Yong asked hesitantly. It was rare to see Liu Yong react like that; Dong Bingfeng also looked over.

"Take the few remaining people from Ding Family Stockade and go. We've already done enough. Getting mixed up in other people's grudges here can easily bring trouble!" Zhao Jin said it very firmly. Liu Yong hesitated but said nothing further.

One woman, four children. Ding Jun, now calmed down, could ride on his own. Everyone quickly worked out a method. In Ding Family Stockade, they could still find some large baskets that hadn't been burned — all made from local materials, woven from willow branches and reeds. They padded the insides with something and slung them over the horses, placing the children inside. As for the woman, they had her ride the same horse as Ding Jun. At a time like this, there was no room to worry about propriety or the separation of men and women.

After Zhao Jin made his decision, everyone was very quiet. Qi San took two men and again rode ahead to scout the path. Zhao Jin and the others followed behind on horseback.

By this time, despite his grief, Ding Jun had calmed down considerably. He knew that if he didn't follow Zhao Jin out, he would very likely die here — and then talk of revenge would be even more out of the question.

Ding Jun knelt before Ding Hong's corpse, kowtowed several times, then dragged the body to the base of a wall, pushed over the low wall of rammed earth, buried the body beneath it, and hurriedly followed them out.

Perhaps because refugees endure too much suffering and witness too much death, the woman had already calmed down a fair bit. She soothed the children while sobbing quietly. The three children, meanwhile, had their eyes kept covered the whole time — the scene outside was too horrific; seeing it would terrify them.

Ding Jun held the woman in front of him, somewhat laboriously controlling the reins, silently following the main group forward, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.

As Zhao Jin and the others advanced, they kept their eyes on the ground. The road surface was completely covered with the tracks of several hundred riders, and even the withered grass by the roadside had been trampled flat in many places.

"Master, they came on horseback, dismounted when they got close, then mounted again to charge — they caught Ding Family Stockade completely off guard. Looking at these marks on the ground, there's no doubt about it!" one of the old jianghu hands said as he observed.

Unlike the trip from the camp back to Ding Family Stockade, when they set out from Ding Family Stockade and headed west on the return journey, Zhao Jin specifically instructed everyone not to go fast. The enemy was moving slowly, and if they went fast, they could easily catch up.

"Yi Jinbao, you do business around here often. Have you heard anything about the Feng family?"

"Master, the Feng family is the sky above both Huai'an and Yangzhou Prefectures. When this lowly one comes in to do business, I have to give benefits to the Feng family's people. It's just that my status is low — even when I offer tribute, I can only meet the servants of the Feng family's servants. I can't even get a flag or a token, just a verbal message at best." Yi Jinbao replied with great trepidation.

Over these past few days traveling in the grass hollows, although Yi Jinbao still didn't know the identities of Zhao Jin and his group, seeing their conduct, he knew they were powerful figures passing through — people he couldn't afford to offend.

"Master, the Feng family is the foremost house north of the river! In Yangzhou Prefecture, with all those high officials and bigwigs, it's still the Feng family whose word carries weight. Offending them brings great calamity... This lowly one speaks out of turn, but Xuzhou isn't far from Huai'an Prefecture — the Feng family's reach can extend there too..." Yi Jinbao said a few lines, then saw Zhao Jin's expression darken and hastily changed his tone. He could also tell that Zhao Jin and his group had Xuzhou accents.

Zhao Jin fell silent. Yi Jinbao grew increasingly terrified, thinking he had offended them. Before he could dismount to beg forgiveness, Zhao Jin spoke again: "It seems the Feng family doesn't want anyone else coming into these grass hollows."

Hearing this, Yi Jinbao let out a long breath and quickly agreed, "Exactly! Land is expensive over in Yangzhou, and there are too many powerful people. It's hard for the Feng family to acquire property there. I hear the Feng family wants to swallow up this entire area north of the Yellow River in Huai'an Prefecture — reclaim the wasteland and build estates. Plus, it's close to the salt fields over there, which brings many other conveniences."

"Go follow at the back. If anything happens, remember to hide first," Zhao Jin instructed. Yi Jinbao forced an ingratiating smile and quickly circled around to the rear.

"This time, we just came in to take a look. If we clash with the Feng family and put them on guard, what comes next will be hard to do," Zhao Jin suddenly said from horseback. The return journey was slow, and everyone was somewhat listless. His companions rode alongside Zhao Jin.

Hearing Zhao Jin's words, everyone remained silent. Zhao Jin continued, as if to himself, "The Feng family had two hundred riders this time — they could be fierce bandits or mounted outlaws, maybe even their own household troops. We only have seventy, and we have burdens to carry. If it really came to a fight, we'd likely come out the worse."

Chen Sheng nodded slowly, and everyone else agreed with Zhao Jin's assessment. They rode on a while longer like this, and Zhao Jin spoke again: "Xuzhou is our territory. This Huai'an Prefecture is the Feng family's sphere of influence. If we fight, we'll be plunged into dangerous ground, while the Feng family can mobilize their forces at will."

This time, everyone nodded along. Zhao Jin fell silent, and no one else spoke. The atmosphere was heavy with gloom; all they could hear was the sound of the woman weeping behind them.