"Yang Ming, you take five men and the rest of Fengdu City's people to transport the grain back. The rest of you will follow this King to investigate which group dared to steal this King's property!"
A flicker of ruthlessness flashed in Xiao Wangye's eyes as he swiftly issued his orders.
Thus, the flustered personnel immediately reorganized themselves into two groups, each heading in a different direction.
The group of men in black were burdened with heavy grain, so their progress would certainly not be fast, and the traces they left behind along the way were quite obvious.
Xiao Wangye and the convoy separated. His own group, traveling light, found it no difficult task to catch up to the men in black.
They followed the tracks, quickening their pace.
Xiao Wangye and his guards soon caught up to the men in black, clearly seeing their fleeing figures. However, he did not immediately engage. Instead, he instructed his guards to tread lightly and keep following them.
It seemed these men in black assumed the convoy had few men and, in the confusion of being suddenly robbed, had been slow to react. They were, therefore, openly transporting the grain along the road.
However, the path they took was quite hidden, mostly through dense forests. Fortunately, Xiao Wangye and his men kept close enough not to lose them.
They continued to pursue until a low mountain appeared ahead, and the men in black ascended it.
After circling for a few more stretches, they reached the mountaintop and, amidst thick thorny bushes, cleared a passage to a cave.
The men in black, carrying the grain, entered the cave one by one. The others who were injured or had finished their tasks removed their decorations and descended the mountain.
Seeing that about a dozen people remained inside the cave, Xiao Wangye, using the trees for cover, led his men to stealthily approach the cave entrance.
"Heh! We've grabbed quite a bit of grain this time!"
The not-so-wide cave was filled with sacks of grain, forming a small mountain, packed tightly.
The remaining space was very limited, barely enough for these dozen or so men. Any more would be too crowded.
Through the sunlight, Xiao Wangye secretly glanced inside. Seeing the men gathered around the grain with their backs to them, he then darted into the cave and concealed himself in the shadows.
His guards, following his instructions, were all positioned at the cave entrance, ready to obey any command.
"That's for sure. We've made a fortune this time. Everyone will probably get a good share of silver, right?"
Several of the thieves, looking gleefully at the sacks of grain, sat together, clearly showing no intention of leaving.
They chatted animatedly, clearly satisfied with the day's operation.
"Yes, once this batch of grain is sold, we'll definitely earn a substantial sum!"
"Right, right! And there's a reward too! That lord said the reward for this successful operation will be triple the usual amount."
"Lord?"
Xiao Wangye's ears perked up as he caught the keyword, and his mind immediately became active.
Judging solely by the attire of these thieves and their act of robbing and secretly hiding the grain in a cave, they could not possibly be ordinary mountain bandits.
After all, bandits have their own mountain strongholds and rob openly. Why would they wear masks and hide their true faces?
Furthermore, the mention of a "lord" by these men only solidified Xiao Wangye's suspicions.
This was a premeditated robbery, and the mastermind's objective was to seize this batch of meticulously collected grain from him!
With this conclusion, everything became clear.
Xiao Wangye indeed had enemies, the foremost among them who wanted to see him dead being the current Emperor.
However, he was currently in his own fiefdom, and it was unlikely that the young emperor would expend such great effort to target him.
His other enemies were mostly in the capital. Even if they were truly relentless, they would not send people to rob grain but rather assassinate him directly.
The matter of collecting grain was a sudden whim of Xiao Wangye, and this entire operation had taken only two or three days.
For news to travel from Fengdu City back to the capital, it would take at least this much time, not to mention receiving a reply.
Moreover, the return route was not something that people in the capital could possibly guess out of thin air. Only those within his own convoy would know it.
Within the convoy, besides the royal guards brought by Xiao Wangye, there were only the official soldiers from Fengdu City.
The guards he brought with him were naturally those whom Xiao Wangye trusted implicitly, and they would certainly not betray him.
This being the case, the only ones who could have exposed the route and passed on information privately were those official soldiers!
To whom could the Fengdu City soldiers have leaked the information?
The truth was self-evident.
At this thought, Xiao Wangye's mind was suddenly illuminated, as if struck by a divine revelation. He untangled the entire event, piecing together every detail.
The enemy had first deliberately feigned a grain shortage in Fengdu City's granaries, forcing Xiao Wangye to go out and collect grain. This required a considerable number of people, and his dozen or so guards were insufficient.
Once he had collected the grain and was on his way back, the official soldiers who had accompanied the convoy played their part. They secretly informed the return route to allow the enemy to send people to intercept and seize the grain.
In this way, the enemy could not only gain a large sum of money without expending any effort but also cause him to return empty-handed.
The methods of this mastermind were undeniably clever, killing two birds with one stone.
Not only could they gain wealth through Xiao Wangye's hands, but they could also cause him to lose popular support!
Upon returning to Fengdu City, Xiao Wangye had immediately ordered the opening of the granaries for disaster relief, distributing grain to the city's populace. This would undoubtedly earn him the gratitude and hope of all the citizens.
At this point, with no grain left in the city's granaries, if he failed to procure grain and bring it back, the people he had previously aided would only come to resent him.
Human nature is such that when you have the power to protect them, they will be grateful.
But the moment they discover you can no longer protect them, they will begin to harbor resentment.
With the loss of public support, Xiao Wangye would find it difficult to establish a foothold in Fengdu City in the future.
Currently, the authority was still in the hands of Luo Qinquan, and the city's dignitaries and officials were in a state of anxiety due to the strange illness, all in a wait-and-see attitude.
If Xiao Wangye could not break through and seize power from Luo Qinquan, his days in Fengdu City would become extremely difficult.
Even though he was the Regent, even though Fengdu City was his fiefdom, without actual power, everything else was illusory.
In this situation, what Xiao Wangye had to win was popular support.
And his enemy was none other than the prefect who currently controlled all affairs in Fengdu City, Lord Luo Qinquan.
It was likely that only he could be behind this incident.
Even though he had surmised the mastermind, Xiao Wangye could not act rashly for the moment, as he lacked evidence.
His mind stirred, he glanced at the thieves in the cave and then at the fading sunlight at the cave entrance. A plan suddenly formed in his mind.
Taking advantage of the unsuspecting thieves inside the cave, he flickered out.
After briefly instructing and arranging his guards, the rest would simply have to wait for nightfall.