Chapter 10: United We Stand

  Wan's brother returned to the mountain stronghold with a gloomy face, not even bothering to acknowledge Xiaohua. He took out his axe and began chopping firewood behind the house in a frenzy. When Kong Xue Meng came over from the private school, Wan's brother was sweating profusely as he chopped wood, muttering something under his breath that couldn't be made out, but looked like he was gritting his teeth. Meanwhile, Xiaohua sat alone on the other side, pouting and staring at Wan's brother with a sullen expression.

  "Hua'er, have you eaten that rare thing? Is it good to eat?" Kong Xue Meng sat down next to Xiaohua, glancing far away at her brother who was sweating profusely, and asked casually.

  "I didn't see anything special like what you said?" Xiaohua replied casually.

  I didn't give it to Xiaohua, did I? Kong Xue Meng took a serious look at Xiaohua and pulled out an empty drink can from his sleeve. "Here, this thing has sweet water inside, it's delicious."

  "Is, is that what Meng Yao gave you?" Xiaohua's eyes widened instantly, and she stroked it in her hand for a long time. Suddenly, her face turned red with shyness, and she also took out something from her bosom, seemingly hesitating for a long time before placing it on the palm of her hand. She begged: "Master, I have one too, it looks like candy from the city, I didn't dare to eat it, nor did I dare to take it out to give to my sister... you, don't tell my sister about this first, okay?"

  "Is this given by Meng Yao's leader?" Kong Xue Meng glanced at him and thought, "You can't bear to take it out, why did you ask me to see it? Isn't this teasing people?"

  Just then, Wang Tie came over with a knife in hand, his face black as coal, looking extremely displeased.

  "Flower, don't want your sister to get angry, hurry up and hide it again." Kong Xue Meng said as he stood up, smiling at Pan Di: "Pan Di, why are you chopping wood yourself? Call a few brothers over and let Xiaohua do it."

  Wan's younger brother let out a snort and flung his axe to the ground with a thud.

  "What's wrong?" Kong Xue Meng asked while quickly recalling the conversation with Meng Yao that morning, seemingly nothing was wrong.

  Xiao Hua also rushed into the house and fetched a towel.

  Brother hastily grabbed a towel and wiped his face, then looked up at the sky and asked, "Have you finished teaching for the day? It should be time for lunch now, shouldn't it?"

  Kong Xue Meng nodded, but didn't understand why she was asking this.

  "Hurry up and go, tell Zhu Dahu, Lin Ergou and the others not to eat lunch yet. Gather all of our mountain protection team and wait for me at the back mountain playground." Xiangdi said, suddenly adding in a stern tone: "Make it clear to them, wear their new year's clothes, polish up the things in their hands, whoever doesn't listen will be forbidden from eating for three days."

  "This——" Kong Xue Meng was baffled by the monk's words, this wasn't a holiday or festival, what's the point of making such a big fuss. Besides, telling those good-for-nothings to wear last year's clothes would surely cause an uproar.

  "He said he'd come to our place for lunch today, to take a look at the situation of our team." Xiangdi said, suddenly dropping a few tears from his eyes. "Let him take a good look, our mountain protection team is full of good men, no one can bully us through the door gap."

  Kong Xue Meng suddenly let out a sigh of relief and laughed, clapping his hands excitedly: "Ah, Brother Meng, this is where you're wrong! This is good news, it means that Meng Tou has taken charge. Don't worry, this matter is settled."

  As soon as Xiaohua heard that Meng Yao was coming over, her heart started racing for no reason. She suddenly stretched out her hands and tightly grasped the clothes in front of her chest, looked at her brother, then glanced at Master who was swaying away, and hastily said: "Sister, I...I'll go find new clothes too, no, I mean, I'll find new clothes for sister."

  Zhu Dahu and Lin Ergou had just assembled their mountain guard and patrol teams on the playground when Meng Yao appeared in the distance. However, this time, apart from his two personal bodyguards, there were more than thirty people following closely behind him.

  Wan's younger brother didn't say a word, gazing far away at Meng Yao's smiling face. In his heart, he couldn't help but hum a tune. Hum, it was cold and icy in the morning, now it has become a laughing tiger.

  "Brother, what are you still dazing about?" Kong Xuemeng urged.

  Wang Tie had no choice but to follow Master Wang obediently, listening to him chatting with Meng Yao, while curiously staring at the row of soldiers lined up behind Meng Yao. For a moment, he felt a deep sense of reverence for the soldier holding a large flag in the first position of the team.

  "Halt!" With a loud command, the entire troop came to an abrupt stop.

  Soon, a spirited and military-like person ran out of the team, came to Meng Yao's front, raised his head and chest, and shouted loudly: "Report to the battalion commander, the first company of the assault battalion has finished lining up, please instruct. The leader of the first company is Fu Xiao Chong, and the instructor is Xiang Youzhi."

  "Take a short rest." Meng Yao's smile disappeared, and he commanded with a solemn face.

  As Meng Yao's voice faded away, the entire valley was filled with a uniform sound of footsteps scraping against the ground, followed by an eerie silence. In that instant, all who were present could only hear the howling mountain wind and the loud flapping of a large flag in the raging gusts.

  Wan's younger brother couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, and secretly took stock of his own team. A feeling of wanting to cry almost welled up in his throat.

  Kong Xue Meng stared blankly at the fluttering flag, his voice trembling as he raised his hand to point at the banner and asked: "Commander Meng, is this really the legendary war flag? I never thought that after so many days, I would finally see your army's war flag for the first time, and it's so breathtaking. Alright, alright, Assault Battalion, a truly resounding banner."

  "Of course," Meng Yao proudly puffed out his chest and replied, "This flag is not just a simple military flag, it's the pride of our war zone, personally awarded by the Commander-in-Chief."

  "War zone?" Kong Xue Meng narrowed his eyes in confusion.

  "Oh," Meng Yao hastily explained, "To put it simply, the three words on this are not something we can just want and get. They are a title given by others after being recognized by others."

  This time, Kong Xue Meng quickly understood. "I see, I see, this is equivalent to the emperor's expeditionary force, after winning battle after battle and returning to the imperial court, the emperor bestowed a title. Which team gets it, which team is the emperor's trump card, the country's elite."

  Meng Yao nodded awkwardly: "So, it can be like this."

  She had originally wanted to put on airs and wait for Meng Yao to ask her, but after seeing the sudden camp's lineup, she completely dispelled this idea, and even brought a bit of caution with her, although she didn't know it herself. With a smile, she walked over to invite Meng Yao onto the earthen platform, leaving Xiaohua staring in amazement on the side.

  Meng Yao didn't bother with pleasantries anymore, since they were going to surrender anyway. Pretending otherwise would be insincere. However, after jumping onto the stage and taking a look around, he really couldn't help but laugh.

  I've only heard of what a mob is, but I've never seen one. Now that I have, I'd rather not have seen it.

  They started whispering to each other, and soon the murmurs turned into a cacophony of sounds that poured out of their throats. The noise quickly grew into a deafening ocean. At first, they were curious, even fantasizing about Meng Yao, this god of wealth-like figure, bringing them some new treasures. But as Meng Yao remained silent, their patience was slowly drained away under his icy stare and silence.

  Master Kong began to feel uneasy, but as time passed, he suddenly seemed to realize something and quickly twirled his sparse goat-like beard, closing his eyes contentedly. Don't you see the Yellow River's water comes from heaven, once gone it doesn't return to the sea? Don't you see one side is disordered grass and the other is a tidy forest, how shameful for people, how shameful!

  Wang Tie followed behind Meng Yao's back, asking in a low voice: "Master, you go ahead and urge them on. If you don't speak up soon, the brothers will get impatient."

  "Don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry." The master said, nodding his head towards the platform below and the playground outside.

  "Look at our brother, what's there to see? Several hundred people are scattered all over the place, whispering to each other, while their family of just over thirty people stands as straight and neat as a newly built wall. She suddenly bit her lip, glaring at Meng Yao and said: "He's trying to make fools of us, showing off his wealth."

  "Just look, just look." The master comforted calmly.

  Finally, someone couldn't bear the scorching sun and fell to the ground with a thud. Although it's already autumn in August, the sun is still too strong to withstand standing still under its exposure. Xiaohua was quite far away, but her eyes were very sharp, and she suddenly saw that Mengyao's forehead and nose were also covered in sweat. She pulled out the towel from her pocket, glanced at her brothers and masters under the tree shade, summoned up her courage, but couldn't move her feet. Forget it, forget it, she could only gaze at Mengyao with concern, praying silently for the sun to be a little smaller, just a little smaller.

  As one by one fell to the ground, Zhu Dahu could no longer bear it, and with a flip of his body, he jumped onto the earthen platform, pointing at Meng Yao and cursing loudly: "You Meng, be quick about it! Although our master has promised to surrender to you, you can't treat us like this. We'll be your partners in the future too, don't you have any compassion? Speak up, what do you want to do, do you want us to surrender or go through trials by fire and water?"

  Meng Yao looked at Zhu Dahu and smiled slightly: "What's wrong, feeling a bit miserable?"

  "Hmph," Zhu Dahu disdainfully turned his head, "I'm not worth it for my brothers. You'd better make it quick, if you want to surrender, I'll let you surrender."

  "Right," Lin Erdou also shouted loudly from below.

  "Great!" Meng Yao suddenly stopped smiling, pointed to the distant mountain top and raised his tone: "Alright, I've just made a plan. Within a month, I'll eliminate the two big bandit groups of Ma Da Hu Zi and Long Xiao Tian. Within three months, I'll thoroughly clean up the area around Niu Tou Shan, let every commoner have land to farm, every household have a house to live in, every family have surplus grain, and everyone have money to spend. Since you said you want to make some kind of bet, I won't make it difficult for you. You can choose one from Ma Da Hu Zi or Long Xiao Tian, the rest will be mine."

  Zhu Dahu was stunned, looking at the audience with a weird expression, and his eyes begged for help from Kong Xuemeng. Kong Xuemeng took one look and hastily closed his eyes even tighter.

  "How come," Meng Yao's smile seemed to return to his face, and he looked at Zhu Dahu with a gentle expression, asking: "Why aren't you speaking, are you afraid or do you have any doubts?"

  Zhu Dahu stomped his foot and began to bitterly exclaim, "The mountain protection team and the patrol team combined have only a little over 300 people. Ma Dahuzi and Long Xiaotian each have over a thousand men, not to mention their quick guns and cannons. How can I fight them? It's not just about fighting, even showing up in front of them is looking for death."

  Meng Yao nodded and slowly pointed outside with his hand, "Then take a look, are there more people on my side?"

  Zhu Dahu suddenly pouted and said, "Just over thirty, no need to mention it, I find it despicable just looking at them." After finishing speaking, he suddenly realized something and hastily corrected himself, saying, "I'm talking about the number of people, nothing else."

  Meng Yao burst out laughing, his eyes disappearing into slits as his voice took on a seductive tone. "So, are you daring enough to take them on? You against all three hundred of them?"

  Zhu Dahu was momentarily stunned, staring wide-eyed at the still-standing small team outside the field, and carefully sizing up Meng Yao, stuttering: "He... they all... all of them are on?"

  Meng Yao nodded.

  Zhu Dahu suddenly burst out laughing and pointed at Meng Yao, bursting into a fit of wild laughter: "Brother Meng, Master, did you all hear that? They're all coming up, just these thirty or so people. Lin Er Gou, come tell him, we don't need to move, one person spitting saliva can drown them all, right?"

  Meng Yao shouted in a calm tone: "Fu Xiao Chong——"

  Fu Xiao Chong also ran over calmly and stood solemnly in front of Meng Yao.

  "It's all yours now, you have the right to do whatever it takes." Meng Yao said, and suddenly added another sentence, "Oh, remember, be ruthless."

  Meng Yao finished speaking and finally hid under the shade of a tree. He comfortably stuck out his tongue, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand, and was about to roll up his sleeves when a pair of small white hands appeared before his eyes. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be that little girl Xiaohua, holding a coarse cloth towel in her hands, staring at his toes, letting him wipe his sweat.

  "Why aren't you talking?" Meng Yao thought for a moment, but still didn't take the towel to wipe his sweaty face. However, he still smiled and said sincerely, "Thank you."

  He who buys cake, if he really took the towel, would still be eaten by his younger brother.

  Wang Ge and Kong Xue Meng stood on either side of him, several pairs of eyes flickering uncertainly as they stared at Zhu Da Hai and Fu Xiao Chong, their faces clouded with uncertainty.

  (PS: Thanks for the support from Bu Nuo, Long Zai Chu Tian and other little friends, three updates this weekend)