Chapter 83
Chapter 83
Only after everyone had eaten their fill did Xiao Jingmo remember the two men outside.
“Father, what do you plan to do with them?”
Everyone gathered around the fire pit.
Pei Wanqing held Jin Bao and taught her characters. Lu Shuangshuang showed Xiao Jingyu medicinal herbs, while Nanny Chen mended everyone’s clothes.
Madam Liu could no longer stay awake and had gone to rest with Old Madam Xiao.
The others sat around the fire and talked.
“Bring them in first. I have questions.”
Xiao Che added another log to the fire.
Xiao Jinghao immediately went outside and carried both men in, one in each hand.
“Father, I don’t think Jiang Qing will survive.”
He dropped them onto the ground. Jiang Qing remained curled in the same position.
Xiao Jingmo stood and kicked him, but received no response.
“He’s finished. Throw him out.”
Xiao Jingmo crouched to check and found almost no breath.
Xiao Jinghao dragged him out and tossed him onto the ruins.
These men had harmed countless people while alive. Death was no more than they deserved.
Still clinging to life, Qian Kun turned blue with fear when he saw Jiang Qing dragged away. He struggled toward Xiao Jingmo, pulling his broken leg behind him.
“Please don’t kill me. I won’t run again. I’ll tell you anything. Please spare me.”
Xiao Jingmo looked down at Qian Kun groveling like a dog.
Even so, Xiao Jingmo remained unmoved. As the saying went, betray someone once and they would never trust you again.
Men like Qian Kun played both sides and changed loyalties with the wind.
For his own benefit, he had betrayed even the older brother he once revered. One day, he might sell out the Xiao Family just as thoroughly.
Xiao Jingmo had never intended to spare him. After extracting the last of his value, he would send Qian Kun to join his good brothers.
Xiao Jingmo pulled his robe hem free and stepped back. “Whether you live depends on your performance.
“We’ll verify everything you say with others.
“If you lie, your fate will be worse than your brothers’. I’ll hang you alive as bait in the Black Forest and let the wolves eat you piece by piece.”
Qian Kun shuddered. “No… don’t. I’ll tell the truth.”
When Xiao Jingmo judged him sufficiently frightened, he turned to Xiao Che.
Xiao Che nodded and asked, “Does a patrol come here every year?”
“It depends on the weather. If storms like this continue, no patrol will visit this cursed place all winter unless something unusual happens.”
Xiao Che immediately sensed something wrong. “What counts as unusual?”
“For example, a patrol suddenly came some time ago and transferred two hundred exiles.”
“There are also supply deliveries. Fifty li east of the Heishui Garrison stands a small town with two thousand soldiers. Every two months, a convoy delivers grain there.”
“They sometimes stop at our Garrison to look around and rest, depending on their leader.”
“Zhao Hu’s brother is a squad leader in the transport unit. He secretly brought Zhao Hu grain whenever he led the convoy. It wasn’t much each time, so his superiors never noticed, but he visited every few months.”
Xiao Che frowned. “How many months since his last delivery?”
No wonder the Garrison possessed so much food. Someone had been supplying it.
Qian Kun thought before answering, “Two months. The mountain wasn’t sealed by snow then. By my count, this month’s convoy should arrive soon, but according to the usual rotation, Zhao Hu’s brother shouldn’t be leading it.”
Xiao Che stopped pursuing that subject and asked about the town instead.
He remembered no town there. When had one appeared?
Even Old Han frowned. His Secret Atlas contained no record of it.
“What is the town called? I don’t remember any settlement near the Garrison. Are you making it up?”
Xiao Che thought it quite possible. Qian Kun was dishonest.
Qian Kun protested, “I wouldn’t dare. Jinshi Town was completed only three years ago.
“I found it strange too. There are only mountains and barren rock there. I don’t know why anyone suddenly built a town.
“We never dared investigate. Whenever Zhao Hu’s brother delivered supplies, he spoke privately with Zhao Hu inside. We didn’t dare eavesdrop.”
Xiao Jingmo watched from the side. Qian Kun did not appear to be lying, meaning the town had indeed appeared suddenly.
And despite being a tiny settlement in the middle of nowhere, it had two thousand soldiers. There had to be a secret. He would investigate when he had the chance.
“I’ll accept that you aren’t lying. But why were the exiles here transferred away?
“Does this happen often, or only occasionally?”
Xiao Che had also thought the number of exiles was wrong. Now he knew they had been taken elsewhere.
Qian Kun knew this subject well.
“I know. People come to transfer exiles every year. I was taken once too.
“It was my first year here. They blindfolded us, so we didn’t know where we went. Only after arriving did we learn we were digging in a mine.
“I worked in a gold mine for a year. Later, it collapsed and crushed many people. I escaped by chance, but they never intended to let us return alive. Then someone came to inspect the exiles. Afraid of being exposed, they sent us back.
“They even seized local civilians and pretended they were exiles to deceive the inspectors.
“The two hundred people taken this time have been gone for over a month. They probably won’t return.”
Xiao Che realized the Northern Frontier was far more complicated than they had imagined. Powerful clans and tribal forces were entangled here, colluding with one another and keeping outsiders away.
No wonder Prince Cheng’s people had barely appeared since they entered the Northern Frontier. Even his forces found the region difficult to penetrate.
Xiao Che thought of the hundred remaining exiles. They lacked food and clothing, and snow sealed the mountain all winter. What did they do each day? What did they eat?
“What work do you do every day? How do the exiles earn a living?”
Qian Kun knew all about that. He had been Zhao Hu’s lackey, and whenever Zhao Hu did not wish to work, Qian Kun and the others supervised in his place.
“I survived by flattering Zhao Hu for scraps. The others weren’t so fortunate.
“When there was no snow, they quarried stone to the east.
“Zhao Hu sold the stone privately and kept the money.
“Now the quarry is buried, so the exiles are driven into the Black Pine Forest to cut trees.
“They earn food according to what they bring back. Every person must carry back one pine log each day. Anyone who fails receives nothing.”
“If I remember correctly, the Black Pine Forest is more than thirty li away. How many people can complete that task? They have to drag logs thirty li through snow half a foot deep.”
Xiao Jingmo found Zhao Hu utterly inhuman.
Qian Kun swallowed. “Many fail and receive no food. Winter is when most exiles die. Someone freezes or starves almost every day, but that’s exactly what Zhao Hu wanted.
“He also traded corpses to cannibal tribes for furs.”
Anger filled everyone.
“That animal!”
Old Han remained unusually calm. He had heard such stories years ago and was not surprised.
“Awooo-”
As everyone seethed, a wolf howled.
Old Han’s expression changed.
“This is bad. It’s a wolf pack. The blood from the guards who were crushed to death today must have drawn them here.”