Chapter 53: Coal

re still bewildered, upon hearing that they only needed to repay forty wen a month to live in brick houses, they were instantly delighted."Forty coins, that's not much.""Yes, yes, doing work for Yang...Wang Tiezhu hugged the chicken and took the opportunity to run behind Yang Lin, his face already pale.

Yang Lin still aimed his crossbow at the bandits.

Although the bandits have surrendered, he still dared not be careless. If any bandit dared to act recklessly, he would shoot them without hesitation!

However, it turned out that Yang Lin had overthought things.

The bandit leader is dead, and the remaining seven bandits are terrified. They are all lying on the ground, trembling and shrinking back, not daring to resist in any way.

The bandit was so honest that he left Yang Lin dumbfounded.

Originally, he didn't intend to let these bandits live!

Now that everyone has surrendered and isn't resisting at all, I can't just keep killing them one by one, can I

"Come out!" Yang Lin shouted.

The bandits were taken aback and carefully glanced at Yang Lin.

What's coming out What's coming out

There was absolute silence all around, not a single sound.

Yang Lin was also speechless.

He only then realized, he had specifically instructed the women beforehand that he would only fire an arrow when he called out "Release!" and under no circumstances should they move regardless of what they heard.

The guard squad was also instructed the same way. He told them that they could only come out when he shouted "Quickly, quickly, quickly." Under any other circumstances, no matter what they heard, they were not to come out.

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

"Come out!"

Yang Lin hurriedly shouted.

Hip hip hooray!

"Charge!"

"Kill!"

"Damn it!"

Hearing the "signal," Zhong Tao rushed to the front, leading his security team and shouting as they charged out.

Then....

They were all stunned.

Seeing the seven bandits lying on the ground trembling, all the guards were dumbfounded.

What's the situation

What's going on, bandits

"They disarmed them all and tied them up!"

Seeing the guards still stunned, Yang Lin hurriedly reminded them.

It was then that everyone came to their senses, swarming around, taking the bandits' weapons, and frantically searching for ropes to tie them up.

"Spare our lives, please! We are not bandits, we were also deceived."

"It was all the leader's orders, he's the only real bandit here. We were just up in the mountains trying to survive."

"This is my first time... sniffle sniffle sniffle..."

The bandits were crying. Before they could even be interrogated, they confessed everything about their operations, leaving no secrets untold.

According to them, the only real bandit was the one Yang Lin had killed. The rest were just idle villagers from surrounding communities who got a bad idea and decided to become bandits for a while.

They haven't killed anyone, nor do they have the guts to kill. They only robbed a few villages while following their leader.

The process of plundering was very simple, because when the villagers heard the word "bandits," they were too afraid to resist. So, wherever they went, they allowed themselves to be robbed.

But I didn't expect that, when I came to Koushan Village, someone would dare to resist.

And with one strike, he took out their leader!

This scared the living daylights out of them. Zhong Tao asked, "What should we do with these guys"

"Here comes the official!" Yang Lin said.

Zhong Tao hesitated: "According to them, they aren't exactly heinous bandits. If we hand them over to the authorities, they might end up being executed!"

Looking at these trembling bandits, thinking that they were once ordinary people too, Zhong Tao felt a pang of sympathy.

"What if... we just let it go They promised they won't do it again."

Zhong Tao looked expectantly at Yang Lin.

Yang Lin said coldly, "Zhong Gege, you can't be so merciful at this time!"

"They say they are not bandits, so they aren't They say they have reformed and deserve a chance"

Yang Lin shook his head and said, "No matter who they were before, the moment they stormed into our village and started looting our money, grain, and supplies, they became bandits!"

"Times are hard, and everyone is struggling to survive, but that's no excuse for hurting others!"

Although I also believe they haven't killed anyone, what about the villages they robbed Whose food wasn't saved with careful rationing What have those people who were robbed done wrong

Everyone is responsible for what they have done! Since they chose to be bandits, they should be prepared to face the consequences of being a bandit! I don't care if they were successful bandits or unsuccessful bandits, they are still bandits!

"Do you feel sorry for them now Do you want to let them go Did they ever feel sorry for us If we were unable to protect ourselves, would they have spared us"

"Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself!"

Every word Yang Lin spoke struck Zhong Tao's heart deeply.

After Yang Lin finished speaking, Zhong Tao had already hung his head in shame.

Many of the guard members originally shared Zhong Tao's thoughts and felt a bit sorry for these "incompetent" bandits when facing them.

But after hearing Yang Lin finish speaking, he realized that they had all misunderstood!

Totally wrong!

"I got it!"

Zhong Tao nodded heavily. He paid no attention to the pleas for mercy from the bandits, his mind was made up this time.

Bound seven bandits to the nearby trees, waiting for the village head to return before sending them to the authorities.

The women also came out at this time. Li Yuyao and Liao Hongying were the first to appear. When they saw Yang Lin effortlessly take down the bandits with a single arrow, they were astonished.

They were both a little disappointed. They had planned so carefully, but in the end, nothing came into play. Yang Lin solved it all by himself.

"What should I do next"

Li Yuyao asked.

These scoundrels will all be sent to the authorities and punished according to law.

As for this deceased… let the authorities handle it.

Yang Lin didn't want to have anything to do with the government at all.

They were a pack of ravenous wolves who wouldn't leave anything but bones!

Bringing down Liu Youcai was justified, but it took four hundred taels of silver and a lot of effort to finally resolve the situation. Things almost went south several times along the way!

Four hundred taels of silver, a sum that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of, was almost all of Yang Lin's savings. This finally satisfied those big shots.

And this time, while the bandits who died in the village were easy enough to handle, the seven captured bandits posed a real problem.

Kill cannot be killed, release cannot be released.

Therefore, reporting to the authorities and leaving it to them to handle is the best course of action.

Yang Lin was also a little worried that those wolves in the county town would turn against him, taking the opportunity to frame him...

At that moment, Zhong Tao, who was in charge of searching the bandits, ran over with something in his hand and showed it to Yang Lin.

"Yang Lin, look at this stone. Is it useful The bandit said that this kind of stone can be used to start a fire. What do you think I don't think it's possible. How can a stone start a fire But the bandit seemed very knowledgeable and said they had many such stones."

Zhong Tao passed a dark stone to Yang Lin.

Yang Lin saw this stone, but was surprised to widen his eyes.

"Coal"wns a brick kiln. It's been days since he hasn't fired any bricks. It's not that he doesn't make money by firing bricks, but the bricks he fires simply can't be sold!""Oh But there's a problem with th...