Chapter Fifteen: Li Lang's Greatest Loyalty

  Back home, Mrs. He had already cooked dinner and was waiting for the two to return and eat. The mutton soup with millet dry rice was fragrantly arranged on the table.

  He smiled and said, "How are you just back? Are you tired?" She came forward to wipe the sweat for Li Qin and said, "Just now I went to Old Zhao's house and returned two catties of good millet. The Zhao family refused to accept it, but I insisted on putting it on their bed. Borrowing and returning is not difficult, one account settles another account, how can we give people benefits without returning the grain?"

  Li Tian nodded, sat down behind the table and said: "Right, it's better to give more to others, but we can't owe anyone a single grain of rice. Our Li family has never owed anyone any favors."

  "It's better for others to owe me than for me to owe others. My son will definitely learn from his parents, and being a man of integrity comes first!"

  He picked up the bowl and thought, "This idea is quite different from Cao Cao's, it's just the opposite. I wonder where Ah-Dan brother is now and how he's doing. Hmm, he has a backer, so he must be doing better than me, at least he doesn't have to worry about borrowing food from others!"

  After finishing his meal, Li QIN took the bow and arrow to practice in the woods again, bringing the silk book with him before he left. This time, with the experience of the morning and the verification of the silk book, combining theory and practice, shooting arrows again, there was a slight improvement. The basic method of holding the bow and drawing the arrow had long been mastered by the previous owner of this body, so Li QIN started from a high point, only lacking in mastery and the integration of guiding techniques. The previous owner was relatively weak in guiding techniques, but Li QIN was stronger, taking the strengths to make up for the weaknesses, although progress was slow, it was not stagnant.

  He practiced for three whole days, within twenty-five steps, every arrow hit its mark, of course only referring to large targets. During the practice, he also shot two wild chickens and brought them back home for dinner. However, at fifty steps away, he could hardly hit anything, occasionally hitting a target but mostly due to luck rather than actual skill. As for eighty steps or more, as long as it was within three zhang (about 10 meters) in diameter, the arrow would be found, whether it hit something or not, all were just coincidences!

  In three days, Li Tian came to see him several times. Although every time he came to see him, he shook his head and sighed, extremely dissatisfied. However, Li Qin himself thought it was pretty good. He had made rapid progress in just three days, managing to hit a wild chicken, so what more could be asked for? This was already quite good.

  On the fourth day, before dawn, Li Qin came to the forest, after practicing boxing and shooting, he began to practice archery. After half an hour of practice, he left the forest and was about to go home for dinner when he saw Xu Xiaoni rushing over in a panic.

  From a distance, Xu Xiaoni shouted: "Brother Qin, the thieves who came to collect protection fees have arrived, there are over a hundred of them. They are now one mile away from the village, waiting for us to escape. As soon as we run, they will immediately enter the village and take away all our remaining belongings!"

  The method of collecting grain donations in Fuping County is different from others. The county magistrate, Tang Jie, is relatively enlightened. Of course, in this poor and remote area, if he were not enlightened, he would not be able to hold this position. But being enlightened is better than being cruel and evil. As for the regular taxes, there's no room for negotiation, they must be paid. However, when it comes to grain donations, Tang Jie knows that the common people are struggling and cannot afford to donate, so he doesn't expect much from them. As long as the poor people are willing to hide out for a while and come back later to continue farming without delaying the regular taxes, he won't pursue the matter, turning a blind eye and letting it go.

  The army that can go to the countryside to collect donations will take advantage of the opportunity to occupy a small advantage, and when the people escape, if there is anything in their home that they didn't bring with them, they will pick it up by the way, which is considered as earning some extra money.

  Li Qin threw the wooden spear to Xu Xiaoni, letting him take it for himself, and laughed: "What's the hurry? We're not unable to afford it, just give them the sheep!"

  Xu Xiaoni said: "Even if we can afford it, I'm not comfortable seeing soldiers. Right, Qin Ge, I heard the county is recruiting new soldiers, why don't we join the army? This way, in the future, we'll be impressive and dignified. If we just remain ordinary people, our whole lives will be unremarkable!"

  Li Qin nodded and said, "Go on. But this kind of thinking is not good. You don't want to be bullied as a commoner, but when you become a soldier, you think about bullying others?"

  Xu Xiaoni hastily exclaimed: "No, no, I didn't mean it like that!"

  Li QIN walked to the village entrance, looked along the main road, and saw a large group of soldiers in disarray about a mile away. Some were sitting, some were standing, all looking towards the village. Li QIN shook his head, with such poor military discipline, how could they fight? Looking at their appearance, at most they could only go down to the countryside, collect grain and other things. "Resist" bandits, rather than "exterminate" bandits, a difference of one word, enough to illustrate their combat effectiveness!

  In the distance, the soldiers had already begun to murmur and get restless. They had been waiting for a good minute or so, but still didn't see any signs of the villagers from Fu Jiao Village escaping. Their hearts couldn't help but feel anxious, with some even feeling worried.

  A soldier shouted: "Mengtun Chang, why haven't they run away yet? This year's grain donation is not small, their village has 30 stones, is it because they can't afford to pay, so they want to rebel?"

  Another soldier shouted: "Brother Meng, we agreed before leaving the city that if someone rebels, we won't go to suppress them! Who doesn't have an old and young at home? If we get injured while suppressing the rebellion, there's not even a penny of compensation. How can our families make ends meet?"

  The soldiers clamored, and someone suggested that they should hurry up and withdraw to another village. The villagers in this Fugui Village were too shrewd, and they couldn't afford to provoke them or hide from them. They should change to a village with fewer shrewd people, scare away the villagers, pick up some things and leave, and return to the city early.

  The leader of the soldiers is named Meng Mu, over 40 years old, with some minor martial arts skills, but a rough and unrefined person. He was originally from a poor background, and joined the army just to get by and fill his belly. As someone from a poor background, he naturally knew that if you push desperate people too hard, there will be consequences, so he didn't dare enter the village for now.

  Meng Mu hesitated for a moment, saying: "Let's wait a bit longer, maybe they've already started packing up and are about to leave the village to hide. If we withdraw now, wouldn't that be a waste of our waiting here for half a day?"

  Another soldier shouted: "We've been out of the city for so long and still haven't eaten, we didn't eat enough yesterday and are we going to starve again today?"

  "Alright, alright, don't waste any more words! Wait a bit longer, if it doesn't work out then withdraw. What's the big deal?! It's like a lazy donkey on a millstone, producing nothing but shit and piss!" He scolded with his mouth, but in his heart he was drumming up courage, could it be that they really encountered some stubborn commoners? This is going to be the death of me!

  Li QIN of Cun Kou handed the bow and arrow to Xu Xiao Ni, saying: "You go into the village, tell people to drive out the sheep, and prepare some wine and food. I'll go see their leader."

  Xu Xiaoni muttered: "Do we still need to prepare wine and food, and entertain them like they're big shots?" He took the things and went into the village.

  Li Qin patted his clothes, tidied up his hair and walked towards the soldiers with big strides.

  In the distance, a young man was seen coming from the direction of the village. He was a big and tall guy with broad shoulders and a round waist. All the soldiers were alarmed, and Meng Mu was also alarmed!

  The soldiers jumped up from the ground, holding long guns in their hands and shouted: "Hey, that guy, stop, what are you doing here?"

  The soldiers of Fuping are not afraid to fight, although they lack discipline. When it comes to individual combat, everyone is a skilled fighter. The warriors of Liangzhou are among the strongest in the Han Dynasty. If they encounter the Huns invading from the north, they will bravely charge into battle and risk their lives. However, fighting against the Huns is different from fighting against their own people. The civilians cannot afford to donate food, and if the soldiers go to suppress them, they will be called cruel if they win and incompetent if they lose, plus being useless, no one wants to do this kind of thing.

  In Li QIN's eyes, such undisciplined and talkative soldiers can only be considered third-rate goods, no matter how good they are at fighting! People from different eras have different perspectives on the strength and weakness of the military.

  Li Qin's face broke into a smile, and he cupped his hands together in greeting: "Gentlemen officers, brothers, I bid you welcome. You've come to collect the grain donations, haven't you? Our village has already prepared them; please, go ahead and take them!"

  Meng Mu was shocked, he had been collecting grain for many years and had never encountered such a thing. He knew Li Tian, although not well, but Li Tian was still good to talk to, in previous years when he came in the morning, he would hide out and come back in the afternoon, often leaving some miscellaneous flatbread behind, giving him enough face, so he had never made things difficult for Fu Jiao Village. But to say that Fu Jiao Village paid the grain tax in full, this was a rare thing indeed, let alone Fu Jiao Village, no village could do such a thing!

  Meng Mu thought: "It can't be that there's an ambush in the village, can it? That's impossible. We have so many people, almost as many as a whole village. There's no need for an ambush. They could just hide and be done with it!"

  He walked up and asked: "Young brother, what is your relationship with Li Lijun? Are you his son?"

  Li Qindao said: "This military officer has a good eye, I am indeed the son of Li Zhong, my name is Li Qindao!" He stopped about twenty steps away.

  Meng Mu frowned and said: "Why should we pay tribute grain? Why don't we just hide?"

  Li Qindao said: "Since we can afford it, there's no need to hide. The government has grain, which is good for defending against bandits, and also won't put you brothers in a difficult position!" He paused for a moment, then stepped forward a few steps and said: "We don't have thirty stones of grain, can we use fifteen sheep as compensation?"

  Meng Mu was taken aback and said: "What does it mean? Using sheep to offset grain, fifteen sheep?"

  Li Qin turned around and saw that the villagers had already driven out the sheep. He said, "Look, it's those sheep!"

  The soldiers gathered around, shouting: "Your village really has to pay tribute grain?"

  "Brother Li... no, not brother, Lord Li! Ah, ah, this is really making me speechless. In all these years, this is the first time I've ever received a donation of grain! That's right, my name is Meng Mu, just call me by my name, don't ever call me General again, I dare not accept such an honor!"

  Li Qinxin thought: "This man's words are really many, and he is comparable to Zhao Bajin." With a smile, he cupped his hands and said: "Please ask Uncle Meng and the brothers to go with me to check the sheep!"

  He walked ahead, Meng Mu and the soldiers following closely behind. When they arrived at the village entrance, Meng Mu saw Li Tian and called out: "Brother Li, is this really true?" He pointed to the flock of sheep.

  Li Tian nodded and said, "It's true. Recently my son made a small fortune, so we discussed it and decided to donate the grain. Firstly, it will make County Magistrate's hands more comfortable, able to resist bandits; secondly, I don't want to put you in a difficult position, Meng brothers; thirdly... it's also for the good reputation of our village!" When he said the last sentence, his eyes glanced at his son.

  Meng Mu immediately understood, he turned around and gave Li Qin a thumbs up, shouting loudly: "Li Lang, in our Fuping County, you are the most righteous!" It seems that Li Tian is now a wealthy man, wanting to make a name for his son, this face must be given, and it must be given generously!

  But the soldiers behind him all curled their lips in disdain, thinking to themselves: "Still, it's good to have a rich father. Hand over fifteen sheep and County Magistrate will be so delighted that he'll surely grant this young whippersnapper a minor official post. It looks like the Li family is going to rise to prominence!"

  Li QIN loudly said: "Meng Shu overpraised! Brothers, don't you consider me Li QIN as a brother? If you do, please come into the village, I have three sheep at home, slaughter two of them and let brothers have a good meal. Whoever doesn't show up is saying that I am not loyal!"

  The soldiers were stunned, and the crows fell silent.

  Suddenly they all shouted out: "Li Lang is the most righteous! Li Lang, you are the most righteous! Rich and peaceful heroes, you rank first!"

  ——

  "Master's" ranking has risen to 24, Ping An is overjoyed and grateful for the support of brothers and sisters, thank you, thank you so much! Still asking for votes, asking for collection, asking for support, brothers and sisters are too powerful, a million thanks!