Chapter Twenty-Four: After the War

  "Hey, boss, we're here." "Alright, good, everyone's here now. Zhang Zhen, do you have anything to say?" "No, Liu He, just hurry up and distribute the food, isn't that always the usual practice?"

  It's only natural that everyone would say this, and Zhang Zhen was the first to speak up. She could see that everyone had arrived at Liu He's door before dawn for a reason, and it wasn't just about the grain they had obtained. Of course, there was no hope of getting the horse-drawn carriage or horses from them either.

  "Alright, let's distribute the food first. We can't let everyone go hungry after this trip, right? Take those perishable grains, each of you take 50 kilograms, and I'll keep the rest for future use."

  "I said to Liu He, why do you need so much grain? Can't we distribute it together?" At this time, Little Chili Zhang Zhen became unhappy.

  "Divide, divide, I'll divide it up, they'll just sell it back to me. It's not worth dividing now, and besides, in this chaotic world, what's the use of wanting money or grain? As long as we can eat our fill, that's enough. When things settle down later, don't even mention grain, I'll also divide up the money among everyone."

  "In a chaotic world, the way of the world is slowly getting better." "Getting better? Why has Northeast China been occupied by Little Japan? Won't they fight their way to Central China?" "Are you saying..."

  "It's alright, as long as you understand, it's settled. It's better not to say anything more, you should know my good intentions." At this point, Zhang Zhen stopped talking, she wanted to take her time to digest the things she learned today.

  Look at these long workers, they are all excited to get food, no matter how much, they are very happy, in a few days, they can get 50 kilograms of food, it's really satisfying. And as for the gun, the bullets are all from the east house.

  ………

  "Alright, now that everyone has sent back the grain, I have a few words to say. First, I want to ask you all, if you shoot and hit someone again in the future, will you still vomit? If you do, then it's best not to go out again. This time they had fewer people, so we were able to match up one-on-one, and it was a deliberate attack on an unsuspecting enemy, which is what counts as victory. If they had a few more guns, when you were vomiting, you would have been wiped out by them."

  "Master, from now on we won't bother you, rest assured." "Yes, I believe your words, but there's still more to say. This man isn't someone who strikes without reason. Your gun is aimed at bandits and those with great evil, which is right, especially in these chaotic times. If it were a peaceful era, even if they had committed great evils, it wouldn't be for us to judge, but for the authorities to judge. Do you understand?"

  "Got it, if the master tells us to fight, we'll fight. If the master tells us to beat a dog, we won't go chasing chickens."

  "Well, Master Dong, what about us? What should we do?" the surrendered bandit asked. "You guys will also become my long-term laborers from now on, and when things settle down, I'll even lend you land to farm."

  "Ah, Master Liu, you are a good man." These eight bandits, even among the dead ones, there were a few who had been forced to become bandits by other bandits. In fact, they were just poor farmers who couldn't make ends meet and had turned to banditry out of desperation. When Liu He suggested that they work as laborers instead, they would have food and drink, and naturally wouldn't need to be bandits anymore.

  "Also, this time Li Lu and Liu San did a great job, so I'm rewarding Li Lu with five silver dollars and Liu San with three. Don't be jealous of them, they really have their own strengths, and they handled this matter very well. They were able to report the bandits' formation and personnel in a timely manner, which is why we didn't suffer any losses. And Li Lu, from now on you'll be the head of the reconnaissance team, you can choose people from among these laborers or pick someone from the village who knows the local situation well, but don't force them to do it."

  "Master, I'll definitely make this matter go smoothly and beautifully, just you wait and see." Li Lu was rewarded and naturally became very excited, patting his chest to guarantee it.

  "Also, Zhang Zhen." "Yes." Now that we're talking business, Zhang Zhen was still able to distinguish clearly, "Zhang Zhen, for those like Li Lu who are scouts, you must treat them specially and strictly require them to recognize characters." "Boss, do we have to? I get a headache just looking at words."

  "It won't do, as scouts, you are not only scouts but also stronger than scouts. Sometimes when you can't come back, someone needs to bring a message back for you. You don't just need to recognize characters, but also write in code. When you let unfamiliar people bring messages, you need to use code to write them. Recognizing characters is a compulsory task for you, can you do it?"

  Finally, Liu He added emphasis, "Yes, Master, we will definitely study and recognize characters well." "Also, there is one more thing, I want to explain your performance this time. Firstly, Zhang Zhen, you didn't know how to start, I trusted your marksmanship very much, but unexpectedly you shot at the bandit's chest."

  "I, I didn't see you shoot that bandit's brains out and feel a bit sick." "Sick? That was a life-and-death battlefield. If you hadn't shot him dead with one bullet, it wouldn't have taken much effort to fire the gun. Once he fired back at you, weren't you just asking for trouble? Besides, if the opponent had opened fire, they couldn't have hurt you, and there were your friends too. With so many people, it's normal to get hit by a shotgun. And what about you guys? After I finished firing, I looked at you all, and what did you do? Do you need to stand up to fire a gun?"

  "We're not nervous." "Alright, this time we'll let it slide that you were nervous. Next time, you must listen to orders, this is for your own safety."

  "Master, do we still need to go out and fight the bandits? Where are we going?" Everyone was anxious upon hearing this. They had gone out once before and received 50 kilograms of grain, and Li Lu Liu San had even received a silver yuan as a reward - that was a shiny new silver yuan! Look at Li Lu's expression, using two fingers to pinch the silver yuan, blowing on it with force and quickly putting it up to his ear. This wasn't about verifying whether the silver yuan was genuine or not, but rather showing off.

  Indeed, there were some unsatisfactory aspects this time. Although it was the first time, these people can be considered old hands, with each person firing thousands of shots, but their mental quality is still not up to par and needs to be strengthened.

  "Li Lu, you lead the way to find the bandits' lair. This time, you don't need to bring guns. Just disguise yourselves and you can go." "Master, why do we need to disguise ourselves?" "Foolish, if you just go up the mountain like this and run into the bandits, are you going to say you're there to farm?"

  "Ah, yes, we can disguise ourselves as herb collectors. This is the perfect time for collecting herbs everywhere." Liu He waved his hand and let them go, Li Lu had already understood what Liu He meant.