Chapter Eighteen: Taking Stock of Family Property

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  At the first morning meeting convened by Hei Fengzhai's new leader, Xu Bin announced the appointment of Wang Erchu as the new leader. The date for burying his deceased father was also decided, set three days later, a day specially chosen by Xu Yizhong as suitable for burial.

  Considering that Heifengzhai is nearby in the mountains, there are also some 'like-minded' allies who need to be notified. At that time, Xu will also open the mountain gate to welcome guests and receive condolences from these allied forces for the death of the great leader of the mountain stronghold.

  These trivial matters of the mountain stronghold can be handled by Li Chengbing and Second Uncle Xu Yizhong, but Xu Bin, the newly appointed head of the household, did his first thing as soon as he took office, which was to start checking how much capital he had available.

  It's easy to recruit soldiers and buy horses these days, but it's not feasible to support the daily expenses and equipment of an army without money. In any era, the principle that nothing can be done without money is universally applicable.

  When Xu Yizhong brought Xu Bin to the room he lived in the backyard, opened a secret door and stepped into the tunnel built under the room, Xu Bin only knew that this year's bandits hid money, one was more clever than the other.

  The two uncles at home are no exception, and the small safe is set up directly in their living room. If no one leads the way, it's really hard to find the small warehouse where the Black Wind Fortress stores all its family property for a while.

  Holding the account book recorded by Xu Yizhong, looking at the boxes of silver coins stacked up neatly, Xu Bin finally knew what it meant to count coins painstakingly. Looking at the nearly one million silver coins on the account book, if he were to count them alone, it would probably take him at least a day's work. So he just took a rough glance at the boxes stacked with silver coins and wisely chose not to count them one by one.

  Apart from nearly 100,000 taels of silver, the Black Wind Stockade had also accumulated over a thousand taels of gold over the years. As for the scattered silver coins, there were quite a few as well. Roughly estimating, in this small warehouse alone, converted into gold and whatnot, Xu Bin could temporarily dispose of more than 100,000 taels of silver.

  This also means that with the wealth accumulated by Heifeng over the years, Xu Bin, the only heir of the Xu family, can also be considered a small private landowner.

  After checking the mountain stronghold's financial reserves, Xu Bin went to the arsenal and saw that compared to those silver dollars, weapons were the foundation of every bandit stronghold. However, when he arrived at the arsenal and saw the various guns and ammunition on display, he felt a bit dizzy.

  Inside, most of the domestically-made Longhua rifles are Dragon Yang-made, with at least over a hundred visible at a glance. There are also some German-made Mauser rifles and Icelandic-made M1896 rifles. In short, it seems that all types of rifles used by the Longhua National Army can be found here.

  The bullets stored in the warehouse are also piled together with different models. It has to be said that compared to financial management, the ability of this second uncle at home is still lacking in gun management.

  However, thinking about it, bandits these days spend money to buy guns, most of them just buy whatever they can get their hands on, as long as it works and can shoot. Many bandits even rely on robbing others for guns to arm themselves, so the chaos in gun models is inevitable. Regarding this, Xu Bin felt that standardizing gun models was a must-solve problem if he wanted to build his own controlled troops.

  This also means that he will have to spend a considerable amount of money to purchase standardized firearms and ammunition. During the warlord era, the arms trade was extremely hot, which means that the price of guns and ammunition would be somewhat inflated!

  The Long March of ten thousand miles has not yet taken its first step, and there will be countless difficulties waiting for oneself in the future. Xu Bin also lamented at this time, "In these times, wanting to do something, why is it so hard?"

  Thinking back to his past life, working in a unit was boring. He had read some online novels about rebirth and reincarnation, especially those historical military ones, where the main character would always be incredibly powerful and have a string of good luck. But when it came to him getting a chance at rebirth, all he got was a foundation as a bandit's den, and nothing else. He could only take things one step at a time, working hard from the ground up.

  This will make a great achievement, and it is more fulfilling to reach Xu Bin's ultimate goal of creating history. It goes without saying that the future prospects are boundless!

  Looking at the warehouse, there were not a few weapons, but most of them were severely damaged. The maintenance of firearms was in a state of zero. Some discarded rifles with rust told Xu Bin that there were indeed many mountain rules that needed to be changed later.

  Thinking of forming a team in the future, Xu Bin picked up a rifle in front of him and asked Xu Yizhong beside him: "Second uncle, where did the village usually buy guns and bullets? What is the price of such a Type 56 assault rifle on the market now?"

  When Xu Bin mentioned buying a Mauser rifle, Xu Yizhong clearly did not understand and said: "Bin'er, aren't these many guns enough for us to use? Why do we need to go buy more? You know that the prices of guns sold outside are exorbitant. For example, this Mauser rifle can only be bought at a foreign firm in Hero City, and the price is at least 60 silver dollars per gun."

  Although he didn't understand why Xu Bin asked about the price of rifles, Xu Yizhong still tried his best to tell him what he knew. He had also seen the changes in Xu Bin over the past two days and was delighted by them. Originally, he thought that after Big Brother's passing, the mountain stronghold would fall into chaos or even be taken over by others.

  As a result, this normally dull nephew suddenly burst into bloom and shocked the mountain stronghold's old guards into silence. He even eliminated Ma Liu, who had been at odds with the Xu family for many years. This made Xu Yizhong feel that his own later life was still secure. He couldn't help with the expansion of the mountain stronghold, but he could take care of the logistics for his nephew.

  Sixty silver dollars for one cigar, it's really an expensive thing!

  It seems that forming a unit of troops is quite expensive, just buying guns and ammunition would cost nearly 10,000 taels of silver, this business of maintaining an army really is a costly affair!

  Although he felt that the price of this Mauser rifle was a bit high, in Xu Bin's view, the domestically-made Longyang rifle in the warehouse was slightly inferior to the imported Deutsche Werke Mauser rifle in terms of quality and accuracy. Moreover, he wanted to purchase a batch of weapons, but more importantly, he wanted to understand the market conditions of firearms this year.

  This also makes it convenient for him to expand the scale of his troops in an orderly and reasonable manner according to his financial situation before achieving autonomous production of weapons. Don't recruit too many people, only to be unable to support them with equipment later on.

  After inspecting the armory, Xu Bin also checked the grain storage in the mountain stronghold. The warehouse stored rice, millet, and other coarse grains. Calculating roughly, the total amount of grain stored should be enough to feed the people in the mountain stronghold for about a month.

  These coarse grains that are hard for ordinary people to eat, seem very common to Xu Bin. After checking the grain reserves, he quickly walked out with a clear mind.

  Later, without saying a word, he took Second Uncle to a flat area near the mountain stronghold that was usually deserted and said: "Second Uncle, I think this place is relatively flat. You can spare some time to have people build several pigpens and chicken coops here. Then send someone to buy some piglets and chicks from the foot of the mountain to raise them. In the future, we won't need to go down the mountain to purchase these things. What do you think of this idea?"

  When Xu Bin said he wanted to raise pigs and chickens in the stronghold, Xu Yizhong was taken aback and said: "These things can be bought down the mountain, why do you want to raise them yourself? Raising those things is a waste of time, not to mention that the mountain stronghold is all men, who would be willing to do this kind of woman's work? With this effort, it's better to send someone down the mountain to grab a ticket, and then everything will be available."

  I've always been curious about Heifengzhai, after all these years it's still a bandit den with no big changes. It turns out that the leader's mindset is not good, always thinking that if the mountain stronghold lacks something, they just go and rob. Never considered what it means to adapt to local conditions, be self-sufficient, and live a prosperous life.

  No wonder the villagers nearby have a bad impression of these bandits from Junfeng Mountain, it turns out that these bandits like to rob people's livestock that they raise with great difficulty to exchange for money. The common people would be strange if they didn't hate you!

  For Second Uncle's puzzlement, Xu Bin explained helplessly: "Second Uncle, what I want to tell you is that if we keep looting, we will never be able to shake off the notorious name of bandits. Some things, I think it's better to rely on ourselves to solve."

  And after dealing with my father's aftermath, the brothers in the mountain stronghold, I will assess their abilities one by one. Those who are not up to par will be eliminated, but they won't be driven out, and instead, they'll follow you to do logistics and focus on animal husbandry production. This is also a way for them to continue staying in the stronghold.

  There is a saying, 'soldiers are valuable for their quality, not quantity'. In the future, those who can follow me to fight must have ideological qualities that meet my requirements. For those older brothers who have been with me for many years, I won't let them stay in the team either, and of course, I won't drive them away like before.

  "Now let you build up these pig houses and so on, specially to let them be in charge of raising, and not let them stay idle in the mountain stronghold. You should know that my ambition is much bigger than father's, I hope you can unconditionally support me, Second Uncle."

  Xu Yizhong heard Xu Bin say this, and obviously somewhat at a loss for words, said: "Bin'er, what do you really want to do? Our Heifeng Gang doesn't rob people, are we going to become county magistrates instead? And what's with that 'selecting people' business you mentioned, aren't you afraid that doing things like that will make the old brothers in the gang lose heart?"

  Looking at the stubborn Second Uncle, Xu Bin said: "Second Uncle, you've been with Father in this Black Wind Fortress for almost twenty years. Do you really think that such days are truly enjoyable?"

  No need for me to say, you also know that although we don't rob the villagers at the foot of the mountain like other bandits do, those villagers still treat us as nothing but common thieves when they see us.

  Even if you normally take money to buy things, why do you need to dress up? Aren't you also afraid that others will see that you're a bandit? Is this kind of life where people look down on you really what you want?

  There's another thing you're wrong about, why can't we go to the county town and be the county master in the future? And I can tell you, as long as I have one or two years of time, I dare guarantee that this Ju Xiang City will be what I say goes. Even if the county master comes, he'll have to treat us with courtesy.

  "As for the old brothers who have been eliminated, we don't want to get rid of them. I just said that they are too old and not suitable for the job of fighting and risking their lives. Let's find something for them to do in the mountain stronghold, let them stay in the mountain stronghold to enjoy their old age, isn't it better for them?"

  Uh! If what was said earlier made Xu Yizhong feel a bit puzzled, then now hearing this speech, Xu Yizhong felt that his nephew was being somewhat too arrogant. But no matter how he looked at it, he felt that his nephew didn't seem to be joking with him, but rather was very serious.

  It's unlikely that this kid is really unwilling to stay on the mountain, but instead wants to go out into the outside world and make a name for himself. But is the world outside the mountain really so easy to navigate?

  For a while, Xu Yizhong really couldn't understand Xu Bin's great ambitions, because in his opinion, the current life is really not bad, why change it?

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