Quick Transmigration: Even Extras Want to Be Leading Actresses

Chapter 188 Breakthrough Round (3)

Regardless of how anxious the people who stayed in the capital were, Gu Shijiu was doing quite well.

Because she finally found a bandit's den.

After some persuasion, Gu Shijiu became the leader of Black Wind Stronghold as he wished.

They settled down in the bandit's den with the emperor, Cao Huan, and Li Gui.

The original leader, Wang San, was impressed by Gu Shijiu's heroic spirit and voluntarily became her subordinate.

The emperor frowned as he looked at the environment in the bandit's den.

These people should have been honest farmers, and they didn't seem like wicked villains, so why did they become bandits in the mountains?

Wang San was furious when he said this: "It's all because those damned government officials didn't want us to live."

Our area enjoys favorable weather and abundant harvests every year. If the officials hadn't been so ruthless in their extortion, things wouldn't be like this.

When the previous magistrate was in office, everyone could still fill their stomachs after paying their taxes each year.

But ever since the new magistrate took office, life has become more and more difficult.

In addition to the original taxes, new taxes are constantly being introduced. It is said that the imperial court does not actually have that many taxes; they are all for the county magistrates to enjoy themselves.

As time went on, people couldn't pay their taxes and were forced to sell themselves into servitude. We are all law-abiding citizens; how can we become slaves? We might as well become bandits in the mountains.

This Wang San seems to have some knowledge; no wonder he became the leader of this group.

The emperor frowned, trying to recall who the magistrate of this place was, but couldn't remember for a long time.

Gu Shijiu pouted and whispered to Cao Huan, "I knew this emperor was no good."

She had met emperors and several national leaders, but none of them were like this.

Cao Huan told her to lower her voice: "Don't say 'no,' who are you trying to piss off?"

Gu Shijiu didn't understand, but the emperor did.

His blood surged, and he tried his best not to pay attention to the matter, but unexpectedly, his sore spot was suddenly touched.

Is it even possible to make it work?

The emperor, in a bad mood, wandered around a bandit's den.

The bandits were actually not many, only three to five hundred in total, and they were originally farmers from nearby villages and towns.

There are many mountains here, especially these continuous mountain ranges, so it's really not easy to find someone if they hide in them.

The bandits hid me in a secluded valley in the mountains.

Surrounded by mountains and with only one narrow passage, it was an easy defensive stronghold to defend and difficult to attack.

Further in, these people even cultivated some farmland.

Women and children lived in several rows of thatched huts. When they saw Gu Shijiu and his group, their eyes were filled with panic, especially those with daughters at home.

Gu Shijiu didn't understand the meaning behind those expressions; otherwise, she might have explained to them that there were no men among them.

The emperor was filled with doubt. These people, whose only weapons were farm tools, had no one come to suppress the bandits.

Cao Huan sneered from the side: "Whenever an official reports on national peace and prosperity, which official would report on a small group of bandits like this?"

Without reporting it, troops cannot be mobilized. As for relying on the yamen runners in the county government, they might even be related to the local bandits.

If it were reported that bandits had appeared in the jurisdiction, it would be a serious dereliction of duty. The county magistrate was afraid of being held accountable, so he simply kept it a secret.

These people can't cause any real trouble anyway; let the next administration deal with them after the current one leaves.

The emperor was no fool; he understood the crux of the matter after a moment's thought and was furious.

"Aren't these incompetent parasites afraid of causing a real disaster?"

Of course I'm afraid, but that's for the future. It's more important to take care of what's in front of me right now.

If nothing had happened, then we would have avoided this huge trouble.

Local officials, clinging to a侥幸心理 (a sense of侥幸, or a belief that they could get away with it), failed to report the fact that some farmers had fled to the mountains.

Gu Shijiu and her group stayed here for a few days, eating only coarse, hard flatbread every day, which made them very unhappy.

She thought that becoming a bandit would mean living a life of luxury, but she never expected that her meals would be worse than what they ate on the road.

As the food in Black Wind Stronghold dwindled, the villagers began to stir.

Not daring to cause trouble for Gu Shijiu, they resorted to stealing food from other people.

Gu Shijiu happened to see a thin but strong man snatching food from a woman.

The woman pleaded tearfully, "Zhang Da, I have a baby at home who is not even a month old. Please, give us a way to live."

Gu Shijiu had only intended to take the emperor and his entourage for a casual stroll, but unexpectedly stumbled upon this scene.

The man called Zhang Da looked conflicted, but still managed to snatch away the few pieces of food the woman had.

"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for not having a man in your family. I also have a wife and children at home, and I have to take care of them first."

The woman burst into tears, collapsed to the ground, and pounded her chest in despair: "What kind of world is this?"

Gu Shijiu handed her the coarse grain biscuits he was holding: "Aren't you having enough to eat?"

The woman took the pancake, stuffed it directly into her mouth, and swallowed it in a few bites before choking and hiccuping.

Gu Shijiu looked at the woman's thin, wood-like arms without saying a word.

The woman who finished the pancake did not express her gratitude, but went back into the house with her head down.

Gu Shijiu followed behind her and saw that there was another baby in the house. Like its mother, the baby had thin limbs and cried like a kitten.

She then asked the woman, "Don't you have enough food?"

The woman finally couldn't hold back any longer, raised her head, her face full of resentment: "What kind of talk is this? Don't you know how much grain we have?"

If it weren't for you guys coming, the village's food supplies would barely last until the next harvest.

But when the four of you came, you took away so much food, and we can only go hungry!

"The men in the village are no match for you, we accept that. So why are you pretending to be kind here?"

Gu Shijiu then realized that Black Wind Village was so poor.

The woman was still sobbing: "The neighboring Wolf Fang Village is rolling in money, why don't you go and rob them?"

Gu Shijiu's eyes lit up: "Come, tell me about the situation at Langya Village in detail."

Unlike Black Wind Village, which still retains the habit of farming, Wolf Fang Village made its fortune purely by robbing caravans.

There are several hundred people in the village. Whenever they encounter a large caravan, they will come down the mountain to rob it and make a fortune.

It is said that there is plenty of wine and meat there, and everyone is dressed in gold and silver, living like immortals.

"Then why don't you rob caravans?" Gu Shijiu asked curiously.

“Large caravans have dozens or even hundreds of guards, all of them well-fed and slick. How can we, who can’t even get enough to eat, possibly defeat them?”

As for those small vendors and ordinary people, they are all poor; even if they tried to rob, they wouldn't get much, so they might as well save their energy.

The woman's tone was somewhat downcast.

Cao Huan rolled his eyes at the emperor: "That Wolf Fang Stronghold must be run by government officials, fleecing the merchants."

If the banditry escalates, the government can kill the Black Wind Stronghold members to appease the aggrieved parties and appease their superiors on behalf of Wolf Fang Stronghold.

Gu Shijiu never expected such a thing to happen, and he praised the official's intelligence: "So clever!"

The woman was stunned for a moment: "So, we're all doomed no matter what?"

They even had to take the blame for the real bandits.

The emperor originally thought the county magistrate was simply too afraid to report it, but he didn't expect the magistrate to be even smarter than he thought.