Chapter 281: The Iron Bird and the Thousand-Mile Eye

“Alright, in that case, we’ll see the result in three days.” Wang Ruixiang didn’t know where Fu Yousan’s hidden fields were, but he was confident. “You can go now.”

“Thank you, sir,” Fu Yizhuang led his men away in embarrassment.

“As for you few households, you have rendered a meritorious service by exposing them,” Wang Ruixiang said magnanimously. “I’ll give you a chance to re-declare.”

“Thank you, sir!”, “Sir is wise!”, “Sir’s great kindness…”

“Alright, cut the crap,” Wang Ruixiang said. “But it’s not over that simply.” He then announced the punishment.

Each household that had concealed land would have to bear the cost of settling one immigrant household, including building their house, reclaiming land, and providing three years of rations.

The people kneeling below turned ashen-faced, with no joy of being pardoned.

This burden was quite heavy. Coupled with the taxes, these large households would not be able to accumulate any wealth for three years. It would be just enough to get by. But if the punishment was not severe, it would not be a deterrent. Wang Ruixiang even felt that this punishment was a bit light.

“What? Do you think the burden is too great?” Wang Ruixiang said. “Then forget it…”

“No, no, we will never forget the great kindness of our lord,” an old man kneeling in front said quickly. Between two evils, choose the lesser. No matter how heavy the loss, it was only for three years. Losing the land would be a great loss!

“There’s no gratitude. I’m afraid you all hate me to death,” Wang Ruixiang spat in front of him, scaring the old man so much that he couldn’t even deny it.

After the meeting, the village was divided into two completely different atmospheres. The ordinary families treated the plight of the large households who had concealed their land as after-dinner gossip, with a certain sense of schadenfreude. The punished households were all plunged into fear. Wang Ruixiang’s performance today had terrified them. These families did not dare to light their lamps and whispered in the dark.

After Fu Yousan let out a few angry roars and Fu Yizhuang was beaten until he ran all over the place, the Fu Yousan household fell into a deathly silence. No one in the Fu family dared to provoke the demon of the family, but at this moment, besides losing his temper, this demon had no other solution. He firmly believed that the Australians could not find his land, but the Australians clearly believed that he had hidden his land, so even if they couldn’t find it, they would definitely punish his family severely to serve as a warning to others. This terrifying prospect made Fu Yousan restless.

Fu Yizhuang summoned the courage to say that it was better to declare honestly. If they went to beg for mercy now, it would be no more than bearing the cost of one immigrant household’s rations for three years. As a result, he was beaten until several bumps appeared on his head. Fu Yousan was unwilling to suffer this loss. He always felt that the Australians were of unknown origin and not a proper government.

His son tried to point out several times that in the past, bandits were not a proper government either, but they still extorted money and grain… Of course, these truths brought him a few more canings. So he stopped talking.

“The bandits want some money and grain, but they won’t take our land!” Fu Yousan’s eyes were red. “This bunch of bald-headed thieves! Hmph, let’s see how they find it!” he paced around the main hall. “Go report to the officials!”

Fu Yizhuang and Fu San Zhuang, who were standing below, were stunned. Report to the officials? Had the old man gone mad? Everyone knew that the Australians were now the officials of Lin’gao, and even Magistrate Wu was polite to them. Reporting to the officials would be asking for a beating.

“Who said to report to the officials in the county yamen!” Fu Yousan said viciously. “Go to the prefectural yamen to report to the officials! This bunch of bandits! San Zhuang, pack up, take two taels of silver and ten days’ worth of dry rations. Leave tomorrow and go to the prefectural yamen to beat the drum and file a complaint!”

These two brothers had long been oppressed by their father and were terrified. Although they knew their father was having another one of his wild ideas, they did not dare to refute him to his face. The two of them quietly went down.

Fu San Zhuang complained, “Big brother, what should we do about this? Really go to Qiongzhou Prefecture?”

“Take two taels of silver to report to the officials. Do you think the officials are all living Bodhisattvas?” Fu Yizhuang knew his father was good at being the head of the family but not at handling matters. He had to make the decisions on all matters, big and small, but he wanted others to do the work. As for seeing officials—even a minor clerk—he didn’t dare. If the family’s affairs were not handled to his satisfaction, he would lose his temper and beat people.

“Besides, if the government troops come to suppress them, our family will be bankrupt just by providing grain and provisions!” Fu San Zhuang also felt that his father was getting more and more senile. They should be avoiding this kind of thing, not getting involved.

Fu Yizhuang nodded. “Our family has no connection with the officials at all. How could father think of reporting to the officials? He’s really getting old and confused!”

“But father has given the order,” Fu San Zhuang didn’t have the courage to openly defy him.

“You should find a place to hide for a few days, and then come back and say it’s done,” Fu Yizhuang was more resourceful. “Anyway, he doesn’t have the guts to go to the prefectural yamen to ask.”

The next day, Wang Ruixiang pushed the “drone” out of the tent. This “treasure” was properly loaded into a special container modified from a shipping container, enjoying the treatment of “special first-class equipment.”

Wang Ruixiang and Jiang Hongjun carefully opened the seals and lifted out this large object.

Except for the easily damaged parts, the plane had been fully assembled in Bairen City and fixed on a specially made frame. Now, it only needed to have its wings attached to take off. Because the terrain here was relatively flat and there was free labor to level the runway, Wang Ruixiang decided not to use the immature catapult launch, but to let it taxi on its own.

The native members of the work team had only heard that the Australians had flying “iron birds,” but they had never seen a real one. When they saw this blue and white object being carried out, they all rushed over.

This thing was too beautiful! The streamlined shape and smooth, bright appearance of the model airplane impressed everyone who saw it. But could this thing really fly?

In everyone’s impression, things that could fly included kites and Kongming lanterns, but they were all made of light and thin materials. For such a heavy-looking behemoth to be able to fly, everyone found it strange—but thinking that the Australians could make a large iron ship float on water, making this thing fly was probably not a difficult task.

The scene of this “iron bird” taking off also caused a sensation in the camp—most of the native personnel had never seen this thing before. Many of them couldn’t help but run after the plane, shouting and getting very excited.

Wang Ruixiang took his equipment and climbed up the tower. He operated it from there. His equipment included not only the remote control for the plane but also a monitor and many other devices. The model airplane was equipped with a camera and a camera. The images captured by the camera were transmitted in real time to the small monitor in front of Wang Ruixiang. Looking down at the ground from the air, many details that were impossible to observe on the ground could be seen very clearly. This was why Wang Ruixiang was so confident in using the model airplane to survey the land.

With the camp as the center, Wang Ruixiang designed a zigzag flight path. In addition to real-time video, the digital camera on the plane took a picture every ten seconds for post-flight analysis to discover situations that were not found in real-time monitoring.

After two flights, Wang Ruixiang discovered undeclared fields in a hilly valley five kilometers south of Meiyang Village, as well as a settlement of houses not on the map. From the captured images, this settlement had more than twenty houses, with the main buildings being brick and tile structures. It was a very complete farmstead.

“It’s really hidden,” Wang Ruixiang carefully studied the video and photos. The location of this estate was very cleverly chosen, with only one entrance and exit, and the road was almost invisible on the ground. If not for the aerial reconnaissance, it would have been really difficult to find.

“The plane is really useful,” Jiang Hongjun exclaimed. He was responsible for the maintenance of this drone. This “only child” had no replacement yet, and the transmigrators had to extend its service life as much as possible.

“It’s a piece of cake for surveying and land investigation. Its true power will be seen in war,” Wang Ruixiang was obsessed with its military use. “It’s a pity that it’s still a model airplane. Even if it can carry bombs, they’ll be at the level of firecrackers.”

He called for Huang Ande. Huang Ande graduated first in the new recruit camp and immediately entered the NCO training class as a corporal. Now he was a sergeant.

“You immediately take ten soldiers and go here to arrest people,” Wang Ruixiang drew the approximate location of the estate on the map. “Although the road is very difficult to find, you must act quickly.”

“Yes!” Huang Ande stood at attention.

“After arresting the people, escort them back. Leave five people at the estate to guard the property and grain—seal it up and wait for the Planning Committee to take it over.”

Huang Ande quickly completed the task. Three hours later, Fu Er Zhuang and the long-term laborers, servants, and their families from the estate were all tied together in a string and escorted back.

They were escorted through the streets of the village and went directly to the gate of Fu Yousan’s house. When the villagers saw that Fu Er Zhuang, who had been missing for several days, had been captured by the Australians, they all came out to watch the excitement, following the procession to Fu Yousan’s doorstep.

When Fu Yizhuang heard the commotion outside, he hurried out. Seeing his second brother captured, his heart sank, and he couldn’t say a word. There was only one thought in his mind: “It’s over!”

“Alright, your brother is back,” Wang Ruixiang pointed at Fu Er Zhuang. “He definitely didn’t go to his wife’s mother’s house.”

Fu Yizhuang’s face turned blue and then red. He didn’t know what to do. The surrounding common people already knew what was going on and were whispering to each other.

“Not counting your brother, there are a total of eleven men and women, two cows, twenty houses, one well, and the grain and cloth in the warehouse. This estate is really not bad,” Wang Ruixiang said with a smile. “Since you insist that this is not your family’s, we will gladly accept it. Do you have anything to say?”

Fu Yizhuang sighed and lowered his head.