“My husband, go and attend to your proper business first.”
After the intimacy they had just shared, Zuo Feifei naturally wanted to stay nestled with Jin Feng.
Yet she knew he truly had matters to attend to, so she sensibly got up and helped him dress.
“Feifei, why don’t you come back to Xihe Bay with Auntie and me?”
It was the height of passion, and Jin Feng was also reluctant to part with Zuo Feifei.
Zuo Feifei was tempted for a moment, but in the end she shook her head.
“No, it took so much effort to finally get Tieguan Mountain running smoothly. If someone else takes over now, I’m afraid everything will fall into disorder again.”
She had poured too much of her heart into Tieguan Mountain. Now that the soap factory was steadily growing, she truly could not bear to leave.
“Very well then. Once I’ve dealt with things back home, I’ll come to see you.”
Jin Feng cupped Zuo Feifei’s small face and kissed her.
The once shy and reserved Zuo Feifei was now completely open. She responded with unusual fervour.
After a long while, breathless, she wrapped her arms around Jin Feng’s waist. “My husband, let me hold you a little longer!”
She clung to him until Da Liu called from the doorway. Only then did Zuo Feifei reluctantly let go.
“I’m leaving.”
Jin Feng gently patted Zuo Feifei’s cheek and turned to depart.
In the courtyard, Da Liu’s eyes gleamed with gossip as he stared fixedly at the door.
He knew full well there was someone in Jin Feng’s room, yet he dared not approach too closely. He only hoped the person inside would come out with Jin Feng.
To his disappointment, Jin Feng emerged alone and even closed the door behind him.
Zuo Feifei, her clothes still dishevelled, followed to the doorway, paused there, and watched through the crack as Jin Feng and Da Liu walked away.
“Sir, who on earth is in the room?”
Da Liu’s voice rang out.
“Get lost, get lost, get lost!”
Jin Feng aimed a few kicks at Da Liu’s backside.
“Sir, you’ve already kicked me, just tell me…”
Da Liu refused to give up.
Jin Feng glanced around, walked over, and picked up a shovel.
“Sir, you said yourself that a gentleman uses words, not violence!”
Da Liu yelled and fled.
Jin Feng chased after him, shovel in hand.
From behind the door, Zuo Feifei watched the pair run farther and farther away, covering her mouth as she laughed quietly.
Yet when she thought about how long it might be before she saw Jin Feng again, her smile faded.
They had only just parted, and already she missed him unbearably…
The veteran soldier waited with the horses on the open ground by the gate, the Wan siblings standing beside him.
It was the moment when the night and day shifts changed. Seeing Jin Feng leave, the female workers gathered around.
“Sir, why are you leaving so soon?”
“When will you come again?”
“Sir, why did you have someone guard the courtyard gate at night? There aren’t any thieves on our mountain!”
“Hey, Sister Yuting, how do you know someone was guarding sir’s gate?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Sister Yuting must have gone to check last night!”
“Sister Yuting, you only had to say to the guard that you were going to warm sir’s bed, and he would definitely have let you in!”
“Exactly, the weather has turned cold. It’s lonely for sir to sleep alone.”
“How do you know sir slept alone?”
“He had the gate guarded. No one could get in. Who else could he sleep with?”
“Oh right, the factory director lives in the same courtyard as sir!”
“That’s true. Usually the factory director comes to see sir off. Why didn’t she today?”
…
The female workers had teased Jin Feng and Zuo Feifei before, but Jin Feng had never taken it seriously. After all, an upright person fears no crooked shadow.
Now that he really was with Zuo Feifei, hearing their teasing made him feel rather guilty.
He slapped his horse’s rump and galloped toward the mountain pass without looking back.
Da Liu, following behind, suddenly widened his eyes with an expression that said the case was solved.
Of course! Apart from Zuo Feifei, who else could be in the room when veterans were guarding the courtyard at night?
Among the several bandit strongholds Jin Feng had seized, Tieguan Mountain was the closest to Xihe Bay. Riding hard, by the time the sun had just risen over the hills, Jin Feng and his party reached Xihe Bay.
Without stopping at home, Jin Feng went straight to the camp on the rear mountain.
He pushed open the door of the operations room and found not only Xiao Yu there, but Zhang Liang as well.
“Sir!”
Zhang Liang stood and greeted Jin Feng.
Perhaps because he now commanded troops, Jin Feng felt that Zhang Liang stood even straighter this time, his face brimming with confidence, giving off the air of a true iron-blooded soldier.
“Brother Liang is back! You’ve done brilliantly lately!”
Jin Feng praised him with a smile.
After taking over the bandit-suppression force, Zhang Liang did not rush to attack like Qing Muluan had done. Instead, he first sent Zhong Ming’s team to various rural counties to carry out propaganda.
Then he gathered the several thousand men of the suppression force at Wulang Mountain for intensive training.
Influenced by Qing Huai, Zhang Liang had always been strict with rewards and punishments when managing the escort bureau.
However, the suppression force consisted of Qing Yuan’s and Chang Xin troops, over whom Zhang Liang had no authority to punish. At first, no one paid him any attention.
Zhang Liang remained patient, noting the names of troublemakers in a little notebook and sending the list back to Xihe Bay for Qing Muluan.
Qing Muluan went to Wulang Mountain, beheaded several ringleaders, and flogged dozens more. Only then did the soldiers become afraid.
From that point on, no one dared disobey during training.
While Zhang Liang conducted intensive training at Wulang Mountain, Zhong Ming’s team spread out across the surrounding counties to gather intelligence.
By now “ten-wen salt” was sold throughout Guangyuan, and the name of the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce and Jin Feng himself had spread everywhere.
When the common people heard that Mr. Jin could not bear to see them exploited by bandits and was sending escort masters to fight the bandits on their behalf, they responded enthusiastically and actively helped Zhong Ming’s team collect information.
The power of the masses is boundless. With the help of the common people, Zhong Ming’s team quickly mapped out the situation of bandits in every area, including the location of their lairs, the number of men, and the characteristics of each stronghold. The intelligence was extremely detailed.
Once the intelligence was obtained, Zhang Liang divided the suppression force into more than twenty units of varying sizes according to the different circumstances of each bandit group. He bypassed Zhaohua County, which was closest to Qingshan County, and struck directly at the other counties.
The bandits in those counties had assumed the suppression force would attack Zhaohua first and were merely watching from the sidelines, planning to prepare only when the force reached Zhaohua. They never expected Zhang Liang to adopt the opposite strategy to Qing Muluan’s. They were caught completely off guard.
When Jin Feng had explained military tactics to Qing Muluan, Zhang Liang had often listened in.
Although he was barely literate, his wealth of combat experience allowed him to learn faster than Qing Muluan and to apply tactics more flexibly.
Based on the intelligence from Zhong Ming’s team, Zhang Liang devised different attack plans for each bandit force.
Some he assaulted directly, some he flooded with diverted mountain streams, some he smoked out like rats, some he bombarded with catapults hurling flash bombs…
The tactics proved highly successful. In an extremely short time, with overwhelming momentum, he wiped out every large bandit force in the counties except Zhaohua.
He then left small garrisons in the captured strongholds, recombined his troops into a single overwhelming force, and swept through Zhaohua.
The entire series of operations left even Jin Feng stunned with admiration.
Now Blackwater Ditch was almost overflowing with captured bandits.
Of course, many bandits had undoubtedly escaped. Completely exterminating them would be very difficult and require prolonged fighting.
Nevertheless, after this campaign, small bandit groups could no longer pose a serious threat.
At the very least, they no longer dared to swagger into villages to collect their annual “tribute” as they once had.
This had already achieved the goals set by Jin Feng and Qing Muluan.
