Chapter 7: Beat it in the past and destroy it

  Since he easily cured the epidemic with a small pill, Li Zhe found that many things suddenly became easy. Things that used to require careful consideration and explanation now gained immediate agreement from others without any hesitation. His authority within the migrant group also seemed to have risen to a new height, such that for several days no one dared to discuss anything with him, and everyone was obediently in agreement, then carried out his instructions flawlessly.

  As for the refugees at the bottom, they were even more exaggerated. When they saw him, they were so excited that they couldn't speak, and they would often fall to the ground in a big patch, kowtowing repeatedly. At first, Li Zhe thought it was because of his own noble character charm, but after many times, he couldn't help feeling a bit bored. He had no choice but to hide in the house and not show his face.

  Is this the legendary aura of the protagonist? I haven't heard that my time-space system comes with this skill! Li Zhe was slightly puzzled.

  The place where the current Liumin group is located is a small town, only thirty miles away from Dingying County, hence the name Sanshilipu, which is under the jurisdiction of Runan Prefecture, but not far from Yingchuan, and is considered to be the intersection of Yingchuan and Runan two counties.

  The town was originally sparsely populated, but with the arrival of the refugee group, the place's prosperity has been restored. During Li Zhe's absence, several thousand refugees had gathered here, making it a fairly large town.

  But Su Laozhang, with his men, showed extraordinary organizational ability in the days when Li Zhe was not around. He grasped food and weapons, allocated them evenly according to population, divided the migrant groups into more than a dozen civilian societies by region and clan, and had them live in different parts of the town. Then, he selected tribal elders from among them to serve as leaders of the civilian societies, ordering the society leaders to select capable civilians to form guard teams that patrolled and trained day and night, initially establishing a fairly organized migrant force.

  Such a large group naturally finds it difficult to move around, and can only be stationed locally. Su Laozhang also organized several teams of merchants to sell "divine fire" and various materials in nearby Dingying, Shangcai and other places, purchasing grain and ironware from various wealthy families and fortresses, and finding ways to connect with the remaining local wealthy families, reaching an agreement, obtaining the right to open up land outside the town, and even leading the refugees to prepare for a long stay.

  Li Zheyi returned home to find that he had become a genuine and unadulterated wealthy landlord, and was even the extra-large type.

  No, Su Laozhang immediately reported to Li Zhe with great respect: "Master! The small bandits nearby have all been investigated by us. Many of them are refugees who have no food to eat. These people promised not to commit crimes again as long as we provide them with grain."

  Many other local strongholds have also made deals with us, as long as we provide them with "divine fire", they will coexist peacefully with us.

  The only worry is the Yu Family Fortress, which is a large clan in this area, with three to five thousand people in the clan. They gather together and dominate one side, engaging in both farming and banditry, often robbing nearby travelers. The county town's governor can't do anything about them. Now, the Yu Family Fortress wants us to hand over our money and grain, otherwise they will send people to attack our town, it's really infuriating!

  Su Laozhang still had some resentment towards Jia Baoyu, but Li Zhe didn't take it to heart.

  But Su Laozhang's work ability was really surprising to Li Zhe, to be honest, this kind of settlement and organization work is extremely tedious, Li Zhe asked himself if he could easily do well with such a small foundation, everything in front of him already made Li Zhe very satisfied, this is several thousand people! Among them, more than half are young and strong, the old and weak cannot withstand this cruel natural selection.

  But what's even more satisfying is Su Laozhang's appellation - Master, this is not an ordinary appellation for people in the Three Kingdoms era, it means that Su Laozhang has already regarded Li Zhe as his master, and he and his family have completely regarded themselves as vassals, this is a big leap forward for Li Zhe's personal charm, huh! Li Zhe thought so himself.

  Thinking of this, Li Zhe made what he thought was his most affable smile and asked Old Man Su warmly: "Old Man Su, let's put other things aside for now, I'd like to ask you something private first."

  "Please speak, sir." Old Su was still very respectful.

  "May I ask what is Mr. Su's full name, his birthplace and age? How should we address him?"

  When Li Zhe didn't ask about official business, but instead showed concern for himself, Old Su's emotions became somewhat agitated, his heart was deeply moved. There's no way around it, we Chinese have always been like this, official business can never be as considerate as private matters. If Li Zhe had asked about official business, Old Su would have thought that the master was just being grandiose, but if Li Zhe showed concern for his subordinate's private matters, then to the subordinate it would seem much more considerate, like a family member. This is what it means to win people's hearts.

  "I don't dare to be addressed as 'master', I, Su, am 49 years old this year. In the past, I was just an ordinary villager, not a big name at all. However, in my clan, I am ranked third, so if it's convenient for you, master, please just call me Su San."

  Su San's answer made Li Zhe very surprised, no name is normal, many people in the countryside have this, as for 49? Li Zhe looked at Su San with a puzzled expression, looking like he was clearly in his sixties or seventies, but claiming to be only 49 was just too unbelievable.

  "Then I'll just call you Old Su! You're older, so calling you San would be too disrespectful. Old Su, I see that your arrangements in the town are as if you've already planned to live here for a long time?"

  "Reporting to the master, I indeed have such an idea. Now that our people are increasing in number, it's very inconvenient to travel on the road. Moreover, if our large group of people were to arrive at the big city in the prefecture, I'm afraid those officials wouldn't allow us refugees to enter the city either, but would only permit us to open up wasteland and settle outside the city, which would be even more inconvenient."

  Now that we've arrived here, the town's housing and wells are all readily available, and the townspeople have all fled. We'll stay here for now, and then head to the county seat to offer some bribes, buy off some officials, and get our household registrations in order. After all, resettling refugees is a real achievement for these officials!

  "Next we will open up wasteland and start farming here, establish a town by ourselves, and once it's built up, it will be famous far and wide."

  Li Zheyi thought that this was indeed a long-term solution and also secretly coincided with his own thoughts, but was it really so easy to do?

  "Su Lao! I'm not familiar with the situation in this place, according to your understanding, is it so easy to establish a foothold here? Not to mention those bandits everywhere, what about those powerful families in the fortresses? Won't they gather together to rob us once we've built this place up and have food? After all, this town originally belonged to them."

  Su San smiled, the master indeed is a god among men, not understanding worldly affairs, and his judgment of Li Zhe became even more determined. "Master, rest assured! The situation in this town we have already investigated for some time now,

  "Originally, the large tracts of land in the town had either died or dispersed, and there weren't many people left. As for those fortresses, only a few of the original landowners remained in the town. We can use grain, iron tools, and treasures to trade with them, and they will definitely be satisfied. Even if there are a few tough ones, seeing that we have more people, they won't dare to easily resort to violence."

  "What about Naju Fortress? Isn't Naju Fortress very dissatisfied with us?"

  Li Zhe asked, Su San's face immediately fell, "No! Please punish us, sir. We've made it clear to all the other households, but this Yu Family Village is stubborn and won't listen, demanding that we hand over money and grain to them. But they're not even officials, why should we give in to them? It's really because our subordinates didn't handle things properly!"

  Li Zhe didn't blame him, but instead asked directly: "What is the basis for the Yu family's domineering behavior in Yujia Fortress? How many armed men do they have?"

  This remark really hits the nail on the head. In this chaotic world, so-called trading rules don't have much market value; what truly works is real swords and guns.

  Since the late Han Dynasty, Ru'nan County has experienced several hardships, and the people here have become accustomed to speaking with knives and guns. Although Cao Cao now nominally controls Ru'nan, due to the ongoing Battle of Guandu, it is not easy to maintain his own base in Yingchuan and Chenliu, let alone having the energy to clean up the chaos in this remote area.

  Nowadays, these places are purely who has the bigger fist and who occupies the reason. Each side is purely speaking with their fists. These bandits are both farmers and robbers. If they don't pay attention, they will be robbed in an instant. What kind of rules can there be? The reason why they didn't rob Old Su and his family earlier was simply because this group of refugees had too many people and were too powerful, and they were afraid of breaking their own teeth.

  Now Su San and others want to spend the winter in the town, as there are no dangers around, someone will naturally come out to set up a stall, and Yu's house is just one of the most urgent ones.

  In that case, let's talk with our fists!

  "Fight your way past and annihilate the Zhao family!" Li Zhe said viciously.