I was actually robbed.
To be honest, Lin Hai had thought about the safety issues on the road, but no matter how you looked at it, Lu You brought with him a dozen sworn brothers (although two of them were missing an arm and two were missing a leg and could only sit on the cart) and a team of laborers. They were not easy to mess with, yet they were still robbed.
This is unbearable.
"We scouted along the way and found no signs of human activity within five miles of the chosen route, so we became careless on our way back. We were short on manpower, and everyone was pushing the cart, so we could only send two brothers out to scout. One of them accidentally fell into a trap and was captured alive."
Lu You felt a little embarrassed. After all, he was the one who claimed to be well-traveled and experienced, and he was the one who volunteered to buy food. And then he was the one who lost two large carts of food...
"Then they emerged from the woods and surrounded us in the valley, demanding we pay food as ransom."
"So the two carts of food are the ransom for bringing back my two brothers?" Lin Hai asked.
"Yes and no. They only wanted to capture us so they could talk to us. They don't intend to hurt us. They just said that if we pass through their territory in the future, we have to pay a toll of 30%. This time, we had ten carts of food, and they originally wanted three. The one less was to calm the two brothers who were captured."
Hey...
Lin Hai thought, these bandits understand the rules of the underworld, and they have given you face and insider information. If they are really people from the underworld, they can only suffer this loss in silence. If there is really no other way, he can only prepare generous gifts and visit them on the mountain, hoping that they will show some mercy in the future.
"The other party wanted to teach us the rules of the underworld and give us a way out," Wang Liang concluded.
"Yes, Brother Nineteen, what did you tell them at that time?" Lin Hai asked.
"I'll just say I'm transporting grain, and I'll report the rest to the boss, and there'll be an explanation."
"Oh? You didn't say we were from Qinghetun?"
"No, we don't know their position. We're worried they might be bandits formed by scattered Chen Dynasty soldiers. If we reveal we're from the Empire, we're worried we won't be able to escape."
"Well, what Brother Nineteen did was right. At that time, the enemy was strong and we were weak, so we openly admitted our cowardice."
Well, everyone nodded. Even transporting military rations is risky. It is not easy for Lao Nineteen to bring back eight carts of food without getting hurt. We cannot ask for too much under these conditions.
"Brother Nineteen, how many people are there on the other side and what equipment do they have? They only want food and didn't ask for money?" Lin Hai asked after pondering for a while.
Lu You said, "My brothers and I have all seen it. They only have about a hundred men, but no more than thirty of them can actually fight. The rest can only hide behind and wave flags and shout slogans. The weapons they have are also varied. Apart from a few standard Chen Dynasty sabers, there are some farm tools, cut-up wooden sticks, and a few hunting bows. But they are not armored."
Lu You thought for a moment and added, "If we didn't have the advantage of terrain and we still have two brothers in their hands, we would have formed a formation and charged directly. They wouldn't be able to stop us."
Well, that's right.
Lin Hai and Wang Liang exchanged a glance, then said, "Brother Nineteen, I'll have to trouble you. Take the two brothers and find their lair to assess their strength."
"Okay, I'll leave now. If I'm quick, I can be back in a day."
Lu You set off in a rage, but Lin Hai said to Wang Liang, "What we've hidden is just the property of a rural family. It's indeed a lot accumulated over the years, but it's not a good sign if it only goes out and doesn't come in. It's time to find some source of income. At least there must be some income to make people feel at ease."
"Well, Xiao Linzi, you don't need to explain. I understand what you're saying. Besides, it looks like they're only a day's journey away from us. We can't just leave them alone."
"We will never let this go!"
When Lu You came back, Lin Hai immediately gathered everyone in the county to the square in front of the county government office that evening, and stood on a stool to give an impassioned speech to the crowd.
"They took away more than just two bags of food; they took away our hope!"
"Originally, more people could have gone down the mountain to reclaim the wasteland, and more people could have left the forest, but they stole the food!"
"They try to hint at some of the hidden rules of society's dark side, hoping that we will acquiesce to these tacit norms that prevail in the cesspool, but they are wrong."
"We are the government, and we will never compromise with these bandits! Our rice is about to ripen, our chickens have started laying eggs, our houses have been repaired, and our children have started school. As far as I know, some wives are even pregnant, and at this time, those bandits are here again. This is absolutely intolerable!"
"Think about what kind of life you lived in the woods?"
"Think about how long it has been since you last had a proper meal in the woods."
"Think about it, there are ten of you in the woods and you can't even get enough clothes to go out."
"Think about all the sores you've gotten from sleeping in a hole in the ground."
"Think of those two children who were born in the woods but never raised."
"Think about your family members who gave up their last bite of food to you and starved to death alone!"
“If we leave it alone, our yesterdays will become our tomorrows!”
When he got excited, Lin Hai raised his fist to the sky and said, "Send troops to defend our homeland and wipe out the bandits!"
Then he winked at Wang Liang, who immediately raised his fist: "Defend our homeland and wipe out the bandits!"
All the righteousness is brothers: "Defend our homeland and wipe out the bandits!"
Lin Hai took the opportunity to whisper to Yang Xiong, "Don't forget that it's Xiaoling's Miss Fan who's pregnant."
Yang Xiong stepped forward, walked in front of the crowd, raised his fist, and shouted loudly: "Defend our homeland and wipe out the bandits!"
Finally, the crowd erupted in anger, shouting loudly, seemingly venting all the unhappiness of the past few years. Lin Hai seized the opportunity to propose establishing a baojia militia system in Qinghetun. Each household would be assigned a household head. Ten households formed a jia, each with a jia head. Ten jias formed a bao, each with a bao head. For the time being, there would be three understaffed baos, each headed by three sworn brothers, with jia heads selected from the refugees. During the weekdays, each bao would cultivate wasteland. Every evening, while the children were reading, each bao would conduct militia drills under the leadership of the bao head, ensuring they would serve as civilians in peacetime and soldiers in wartime.
Of course, Lin Hai promised not to resort to force except to suppress bandits.
"The Qinghetun militia is here to protect Qinghetun. As long as the other party does not harm the interests of Qinghetun, I will never easily throw away the lives of the militia." Lin Hai, the leader of the Qinghetun Zhuang squad and the commander of the Qinghetun militia, said so.
The last resolution of the night was: led by Wang Liang, a county lieutenant with rich combat experience, twenty fully armed brothers in armor were selected as the backbone force, and the Qinghetun militia commander Lin Hai led his newly formed militia to serve as laborers to attack the bandits around the county.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com