I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 248 Blood-stained Salt
Mr. Shen wrote a letter while drunk and gave it to his trusted servant Shen Da, asking him to deliver it secretly to the mountains.

Xiongfeng Village.

The mountain village is still very lively. Winter is here and the bandits don't want to go out. Xiongfeng Village has had a good harvest this year, so people have been drinking and eating meat every day in the mountain village recently and living a very comfortable life.

"Reporting to the three masters, someone from Shunde Prefecture has arrived." A bandit came to the Juyi Hall to report.

"Why are people coming from Shunde Prefecture at this time?" Master Zhang San, the leader of Xiongfeng Village, put down his wine cup and asked in confusion.

"The leader said that the autumn bill was settled in advance, and the messenger also brought a lot of food, wine, meat, cloth and silver." said the bandit who reported.

"This is strange. Those families in Shunde Prefecture have always been delaying their payments. The autumn bills can be paid until after the New Year. How come the sun has risen from the west today and they have settled the bills so early?" said a man dressed as a scholar.

"Third Master, this is a good thing no matter what. Bring the messenger up!" Uncle Zhang waved his hand.

After a while, Shen Da was brought up with a black cloth bag on his head, and the bandits pulled off his hood.

"Mr. Shen greets the three masters." After adjusting to the light in the room, Mr. Shen clasped his fists and bowed.

One of the most important reasons why Xiongfeng Village was able to dominate Taihang Mountains for ten years was its top-secret location.

Every time Shen Da came, he took the things to a valley. The bandits had spies there. When they found out they were coming, they took the things away and blindfolded him and took him to the village. So, even though Shen Da had been to the village many times, he still couldn't figure out the location of Xiongfeng Village.

"It's Shen Da. The bill was settled quite early this year! And how did you get injured?" Uncle Zhang looked at Shen Da with interest.

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Zhang San. I just fell accidentally, it's no big deal! Before I came, my master said that we have been friends for seven or eight years, so he will pay this year's bill in advance," said Shen Da.

The three leaders of Xiongfeng Village exchanged glances and did not comment on Shen Da's words.

Xiongfengzhai has been cooperating with the Shen family and the Li family in Shunde City for many years, and their cooperation project is selling stolen goods.

Xiongfeng Village is located in the Taihang Mountains, with Shanxi Province to the west and Northern Zhili to the east. All the property, gold and silver they robbed in Shanxi were taken to Northern Zhili for sale, and similarly, all the things they robbed in Northern Zhili were taken to Shanxi for sale.

At the same time, these cooperating families would also provide various supplies to the mountain stronghold, and inform the government troops in advance when they came to encircle and suppress it. This was also one of the keys to the Xiongfeng Village being able to stand firm in the Taihang Mountains for ten years.

There are several families that have had a relationship with Xiongfeng Village, and the Shen and Li families in Shunde Prefecture are just two of them.
At this time, a bandit walked into the hall and said, "Reporting to the three masters, there are 20,000 taels of silver added to the supplies received this time."

There were some subtle changes in Master Zhang San's expression: "I was wondering why the sun rose from the west. It turns out you have a request for us. Mr. Shen, we are old acquaintances, so don't hide it. This is not the first time we have helped Master Shen do this. Come on!" Shen Da took out Master Shen's letter and handed it to Master Zhang San.

Master Zhang San took the letter, read it, and then handed it to the second in command, saying, "I thought it was a big deal, isn't it just robbing the caravan of the Royal Store? This is easy to deal with, it's not like we haven't done this before."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Zhang San!" Shen was overjoyed. "My master also said that he would kill more people to relieve his hatred."

“That’s easy.”

Master Zhang sat on the horse whip, waving the whip and beating the gong. His waist ached so much that he had to find something hard to support himself with to feel more comfortable. Although he was wearing thick clothes, the biting cold wind blowing on his exposed eyes was not pleasant. However, his heart was burning with love.

He gave up his vacation and devoted himself to the salt transportation work because he understood the significance of his work, which was to enable more poor families to afford salt.

Although his waist was in pain, as the first car, he knew that they would reach the next rest stop in another half hour, where there would be hot water, hot meals and warm beds waiting for them.

Thinking of this, Master Zhang felt that his waist was not as painful anymore.

At this moment, he suddenly found that the railway ahead was blocked by several large rocks. He immediately pulled the brakes, and the brake pads and the rails rubbed against each other, producing a streak of sparks. At the same time, he controlled the two horses pulling the cart to slow down.

But then he heard a strange sound of breaking wind, and then he felt an arrow flying past his body. He saw that the two horses pulling the cart were hit by arrows, and warm horse blood splashed on his eyes.

The horses were frightened and in pain and refused to slow down. Master Zhang suddenly discovered that a long section of railroad track in front of the big rocks had been removed.

Master Zhang knew that he could not stop the car, so he jumped out of it in a split second. Fortunately, the speed was not high, and he stopped after rolling on the ground a few times. Then he watched the derailed carriage crash into the huge rock blocking the road, making a loud crash. The wooden carriage was smashed into pieces, and the salt bags loaded on it were scattered all over the ground. Many of the salt bags were broken, and the white salt was spilled on the ground.

Master Zhang struggled to stand up and walked a few steps forward to check the situation. He was now extremely angry: "Who did it? Who did it?"

The only answer he got was the sound of a bolt of lightning. The cold arrow shot into his fiery chest, causing his hot blood to gush out. He opened his eyes wide and fell powerlessly onto the salt bag. The red blood stained the salt bag.
And this is just the beginning. The bandits from Xiongfeng Village have been observing the railway for a day and they have made a careful plan for this.

The Mali behind could not hear the gong and had to slow down. The drivers were covered by the rain of arrows from the bandits and lost the ability to control the Mali. The out-of-control Mali crashed straight into the Mali in front. In this way, one Mali after another crashed into each other, and the situation became extremely tragic.
The blood of horses and men dyed the salt scattered on the ground red
The incident happened too suddenly. Dozens of Mali vehicles collided with each other. The Mali vehicles behind them reacted and slowed down and abandoned their vehicles to escape.
At this time, the bandits who had been lying in ambush for a long time appeared and attacked the surviving railway employees.
"This money is too easy to make," the third in command said leisurely while waving his folding fan.

"The Third In Command's plan is still the best." Uncle Zhang nodded with satisfaction as he looked at the mess on the ground.

"Those rails are good, all good iron. Drag some to the village. Have the brothers finish working on them quickly, and then set them on fire."

(End of this chapter)