Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 494 - 492: Blind Dog Eyes

In recent days, there’s been no wind or rain, so how could a perfectly good tree fall across the road? Clearly, it’s the prelude to an ambush.

Lin Wanwan instantly recalled the highway robbery case Xiao Chong mentioned a few days ago. She cursed her bad luck silently—how did she end up encountering such a thing?

It didn’t take long for the suspicions to be confirmed. Lin Wanwan had just signaled for her convoy to stop when a group of wild, bloodthirsty men, armed with sharpened spears, cleavers, and bows, erupted from the woods by the road.

This ravenous group of wildlings charged blindly at Lin Wanwan’s team, completely oblivious. A disorganized mob without systematic training was no match for the trained martial slaves.

If Xiao Yixun’s group of martial-skilled servants hadn’t joined the convoy today, it might have been a tough battle. However, with Xiao Yixun’s men all possessing martial arts skills, the team’s combat effectiveness instantly improved by several levels. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Kun Lun, Ali, the bearded giant Zhong Yi, Da Bao, along with a few of Xiao Yixun’s newly arrived disabled servants were the first to confront them. Each of these individuals had some martial skills.

Among them, Kun Lun and Ali, both Kunlun slaves, were physically strong and towering. Although their moves were not proficient, their overwhelming physical prowess made them resemble bulldozers amid the short-statured wildlings.

Not to mention individuals like the bearded giant, who possessed both physical strength and martial arts skills, they moved through the makeshift traps of the wildlings as if through an unguarded realm.

The other servants were not just for show either, and soon had the wildlings routed.

Ah Jing and Ah Li, holding swords, guarded in front of their masters’ carriages, skillfully deflecting incoming arrows. Not only couldn’t the arrows hit the horses, but they couldn’t even touch the carriages’ sides.

"They’re too tough, run!" one wildling shouted from the group before abandoning his companions and bolting into the woods.

Seeing this, the others also fled in disarray, willing to risk taking a couple of hits just to retreat.

The Great Tang had strict control over iron implements. Even ordinary citizens needed certification from the village chief to buy a cleaver from the blacksmith.

Therefore, even though Lin Wanwan could easily obtain many weapons in the modern era, she didn’t take the risk of bringing them to the Great Tang. So the weapons used by the convoy were mostly non-lethal sticks, with even axes being in short supply.

Only Ah Li and Ah Jing, the two female guards, held sharpened swords, but they didn’t directly engage in combat, so there weren’t many wildlings lying on the ground, and those caught alone weren’t fatally injured.

Looking at the filthy, foul-smelling wildlings bound up, Lin Wanwan felt too lazy to interrogate them, directly ordering Sun Chuyao, "Sun Chuyao, take some people and deliver these robbers to County Government for Xiao Mingfu."

"Understood!"

Ahead, the burly men like Kun Lun, Ali, Zhong Yi, Da Bao, and others were already clearing the fallen tree blocking the road, while Lin Wanwan sat in the carriage waiting.

As for Xiao Yixun and little Qingyu sitting in the carriage, the former remained expressionless and unperturbed, while the latter excitedly yelled about fighting bad guys without a hint of fear. The lynx beside her was also eager to move, and if a wildling had come closer just now, it surely would have been the first to tear out the intruder’s throat.

Contrarily, a few personal maids like Hong Yan, Little Rongrong, and Song Sulan turned pale with fright. As for Hua Nong and Yun Shang, having experienced last year’s incident at Lin Family Manor where eight bandits were speared to death, they remained calm in this situation.

This highway robbery incident quickly blew over, and the group continued their journey.

Recently, the days of the autumn harvest have been quite unsettling. Not only do mountain men lie in wait in the dense forests along various mountain paths to rob travelers, but they also raid villages for grain during the night.

Most of these mountain men fled to the forests to escape war and taxes, becoming homeless and turning into bandits with no legal status.

In fact, Li Shimin had encouraged these runaways to return to their original homes to increase the population under his rule, but in the mountains, many runaways, due to lack of information, dared not descend to rejoin society.

These individuals gathered in the forests, gradually forming factions, becoming a security threat, and frequently plundering the people and travelers below the mountains. This was an issue that every county magistrate had to face.

In the mountainous Jiangnan Road and Lingnan Road, this problem was particularly severe, with mountain bandits being one of the most troublesome issues for county magistrates.

Xiao Chong had long considered this matter but had not yet begun full-scale operations.

The attack that Lin Wanwan experienced this time also showed that the mountain men’s courage was growing, hardly constrained by fear; hence, their extermination was not far off.

Not to mention Xiao Chong was a "domineering" type of official himself, even the benevolence-loving county magistrate could not tolerate hearing of mountain men attacking nobles.

For the gentry in Mao County, this was also an extremely malicious act that must not be tolerated!

If today they dared rob a Village Lady, tomorrow they might dare to attack them. How could that be allowed?

Therefore, when the County Government issued an announcement to raise funds for the suppression of bandits, the gentry and nobility of Mao County, who had already been tight-fisted under Xiao Chong’s rule, suddenly became generous, making donations and providing support in abundance.

Lin Wanwan wasn’t worried about Xiao Chong’s maneuvers at all.

She never believed those bandits, living primitively in remote mountains and armed with crude weapons and lacking medicine, could pose any trouble for a well-provisioned, cunning man like Xiao Chong.

In fact, Xiao Chong always gave Lin Wanwan a sense of having everything under control; no matter how troublesome or complex the issue, he would handle it effortlessly.

After collecting funds, Xiao Chong did not rush into action but first carefully studied past records of bandit suppression in Mao County. He discovered something interesting—every time the government assembled forces to target and suppress the bandits, they either missed or walked into an ambush, with real combat opportunities being extremely rare.

What does this indicate?

Clearly, these mountain bandits were not acting alone; they even had official insiders!

Xiao Chong laughed. Were they playing a spy game right under his nose? Could he tolerate that? It was worth remembering that Xiao Chong’s first aspiration as a youth was not to be a county magistrate but a general!

In the Great Tang, civil and military roles were often combined. Xiao Chong immediately began to play his own version of an undercover operation.

First, he circulated rumors about plans to attack the mountain with the most severe bandit presence, and then sent word to the military camp stationed on the outskirts of Mao County to propose joint operations.

Everything seemed ready, yet he delayed mobilizing his troops, instead dispatching his loyal subordinates to monitor officials at various levels within the County Government. If any anomalies were found, he would arrest and interrogate them in secret immediately.

Xiao Chong didn’t apply heavy-handed tactics; his interrogations were subtle, using methods to inspire love and responsibility to enlighten and rehabilitate them into double agents.

Of course, this "love" and "responsibility" were not directed towards the bandits or the common people but towards their own families.

Xiao Chong would casually discuss their family situations, and even repeat derogatory remarks they had made to their spouses, as if he had listened at their bedheads, thus thoroughly scaring them.

Then, with an elegant demeanor, Xiao Chong reassured them to work loyally for the County Government. As the county magistrate, he promised not to neglect any diligent subordinate, ensuring both their well-being and that of their families before releasing them.