Chapter 13: Hu Yi Huang Encounters Bandits on the Road and Zhang Sui Plans to Persuade Him to Join

  Hujia Village of Batai Township

  The Hu family had several magnificent houses, which were built with the silver money accumulated by their ancestors over several generations. Inside, there were embroidered curtains and carved windows, painted galleries and intricately carved beams, specially made tiles, and polished bricks. The upper house was 44 meters long, 5.5 meters wide, and 6.5 meters high, with a total of ten rooms. The lower house was 51 meters long, 5 meters wide, and 6.2 meters high, with thirteen rooms of varying sizes... These grand mansions were all built by Hu Zhanchu himself. A wealthy landlord like him would be rare not only in the mountains but also in the plains and towns of Guangxi.

  Hu Yihuang returned to the environment where he grew up, and was moved to tears by the familiar sights. He thought about how his rebellion had almost cost him his life, and the little resentment he had towards his family disappeared.

  "Second brother, it's really you! You've come back!" A man in his fifties came out from inside the door and excitedly went forward to hug Hu Yi Huan. It was his own elder brother, Hu Yi Fang.

  "It's been ten years, and at the time it was my brother who wronged you, he shouldn't have joined forces with our elders to bully you. I...I've really felt guilty these past few years." Hu Yifeng emotionally pulled Hu Yihuan into the house.

  Hu Yihuang and the other person sat down beside the Eight Immortals' Table. Looking around to make sure no one was listening, Hu Yihuang spoke his mind.

  "What? You've joined the foreign religion, you're confused, those foreign religions are all created by poor people, why bother getting involved and losing all your family property." Hu Yifang thought that his second brother had been deceived by those poor people, cheated out of his family property. Although it is said that when they first divided the family property, Hu Yihuang's share was the smallest, but it was not comparable to an ordinary rich family.

  "Big brother, I have my own thoughts, this time I came only to borrow grain." Hu Yi Huan said stubbornly.

  "Alright, alright, let's not talk about borrowing or not. Consider it as me taking over your property and then returning it to you. How much do you want?" Hu Yi Fang was very disappointed with Hu Yi Huan's intention.

  "Five hundred thousand dan of grain and fifty thousand taels of silver." Hu Yihuang said.

  "What, 500,000 dan? No! Second brother, even if we had that much, we can't just give it away to those poor devils for free. It's not like the time when our father was alive and we had 480,000 dan of grain rent. In recent years, the Hu family has sold a lot of their land holdings." Hu Yifang exhorted with a serious tone, but seeing that Hu Yihuang remained unmoved, he gritted his teeth and continued, "I can only give you 100,000 dan, not one more grain than that."

  Hu Yihuang directed the Hu family's servants to load sacks of grain onto carts, using a total of 80 large carts in front and back. The Hu family had several hundred draft cattle, with one cow allocated for each cart.

  Lin Daji hurriedly ran to the Hu family and found Hu Yihuang, saying "It's not good, second brother, seventh brother was taken away by the government." He told Hu Yihuang about Li Yunzhong being caught.

  "Was it bought off with money? The government just wants to collect more bribes." Hu Yihuang knew that Lin Dajie was a cautious person, and this time the situation might be even more serious.

  "The news from the yamen is that this time the county magistrate has made up his mind to crack down on the God Worshipping Society, and it's said that they will be taken to the prefectural city for execution tomorrow. Fourth brother asked me to inform you, he has already gone to Lingshan County to find Su San Niang, he said to prepare for the worst." Lin Dajun was a bit flustered, not knowing what to do for the best.

  "First put the grain back." Hu Yihuang also felt that this time was different from before. He had a faint feeling in his heart, but he didn't dare to say it out loud.

  Hu Yihuang led a convoy of several dozen carts stretching over a mile, and such an unescorted caravan was an easy target for bandits to rob.

  The grain truck was surrounded on the rugged mountain road, unable to advance or retreat, with a group of bandits blocking both the front and back.

  A man named Ah Wang is the leader of this gang, originally a member of the Triad Society, who led a group of vagrants to riot several months ago and later joined the Heaven and Earth Society with great fanfare. However, he was defeated by government troops last month and has been active in the nearby mountains with his remaining followers.

  "Gentlemen, the grain I have here is for the relief of refugees by the Church of God. Please let me pass." Hu Yihuang was quite confident, as there were tens of thousands of followers of the Church of God in Pingnan County.

  Ya Wang came before Hu Yihuang and said, "You are indeed a member of the Boxer sect."

  "Under the willow tree, may I ask who is the good fellow?"

  "I dare not, it's the Boxers who are truly good men for protecting the refugees. I didn't know these were things of the Boxers, please forgive me for my offense." Ah Wang heard that his opponent was a Boxer and hastily bowed to apologize.

  Hu Yihuang deliberately made friends with Dao "However, the Ya Wang who led the righteous army to rebel against the imperial court's tyranny a few months ago has been famous for a long time. Today, I'm lucky to see him."

  "It's humiliating, being chased by the government troops like a stray dog, let's not mention it." Ah Wang said with a somewhat disheartened wave of his hand.

  "Now is the time when officials force the people to rebel and the people cannot but rebel. Brother, what you are doing is right. I wonder what plans you have for the future." Hu Yihuang thought that this group of bandits could also be a force to be won over.

  "Nowadays, being wanted by the government, where can I go?" Ah Wang sighed and said.

  "Hu Yihuang said in a low voice, 'Now that we are about to take action with the Worshipping God Sect, I wonder if you gentlemen would be willing to join us in this grand endeavor.'"

  Ah Wang exclaimed in surprise, "The Boxers are also going to rise up! This is too good, I am willing to follow the orders of the Boxers." He had been suffocating in these mountains for a long time.

  Hu Yihuang waited in the mountains for Xia Wang to persuade another group of bandits to leave, and brought all his men and horses, totaling over 3,000 people, to join Hu Yihuang in the Huazhou mountain area.

  Su San Niang followed her husband's surname, and since her husband was named Su San, she came to be known as Su San Niang. Su San operated a transportation business and was a member of the Tiandihui. Not long after their marriage, Su San was murdered by his competitors. A group of young porters and powerful boatmen under him persuaded Su San Niang to take charge and lead them in avenging Su San's death. Su San Niang led them to seek help from the Tiandihui, which allocated 500 members for her command. In just a few days, they killed their enemies and burned down the murderers' homes. As a result, Su San Niang became a "female outlaw" wanted by the authorities. From then on, Su San Niang led a robust team, robbing the rich to help the poor, uprooting the strong and supporting the weak, roaming around Heng County, Qinzhou, and Lingshan areas. Many people came to join her, admiring her name, and her team expanded to several thousand people, making her one of the leaders of the Tiandihui.

  Zhang Sui explained his intention, and Su San Niang didn't say a word as she gathered the troops and brought them to Shan Ren Village with Zhang Sui.

  Meng Shangsheng and Zhang Weikun had assembled the elite troops trained by Li Yunzhong in the mountains, waiting here. Seeing Hu Yihuang and Zhang Suo lead several thousand men to come, they felt more confident in rescuing people.

  The north wind is like a knife, and the ground is covered with frost.

  A group of Qing soldiers, armed with swords and guns, were escorting six prisoner carts along a major road near the riverbank. The first three carts held three men, the middle two carts held two young boys, and the last cart held an old man over fifty years old. Li Yunzhong was sitting in the very first cart.

  Knowing that he was going to be beheaded, he calmed down instead, only with some regret in his heart: I don't know if I can return to the 21st century after death. And thinking, if it's dying on the road against the Qing dynasty, later generations can still get a revolutionary martyr title.

  "Kill", "kill"... At this time, countless people and horses emerged from the roadside and rushed towards the government soldiers.

  Li Yunzhong saw that the people in front of him were Meng Shangsheng and Zhang Suimou, and he also saw many familiar faces, all of whom were members of the God Worshipping Society. Li Yunzhong suddenly became excited and no longer worried about whether he could return to the 21st century after his death. He stood up with the help of the prison cart and shouted loudly at them: "Big Brother, Fourth Brother, I'm over here!"

  Meng Shang rushed up and killed his way to the prison cart, cutting off the locked wooden beam and rescuing Li Yunzhong.

  There were only two or three hundred government soldiers, who were killed and scattered in no time. Many of them jumped into the river in a panic.

  Li Yunzhong, who had narrowly escaped death, was chatting and laughing with several brothers when he noticed a stranger among them. The man appeared to be around 40 years old, with bulging muscles on his arms, piercing eyes, and an aura of ferocity that made it clear he was no ordinary person.

  Jian Hu looked at the robust man without speaking, and Jian Hu introduced him saying "This is Lai Wang brothers, thanks to his help this time, we were able to safely rescue you, Seventh Brother."

  Lai Wang soon learned that Li Yunzhong was the leader of this group of God Worshippers, and bowed to him saying "Lai Wang pays his respects to Mr. Li."

  Li Yunzhong was called "mister" for the first time, feeling quite fresh, and he went forward to help him up. "Thank you, Come Wang brothers saved me, nothing to say, from now on you are my brother Li Yunzhong."

  "And I, I saved you too." Su San Niang was standing behind Li Yun Zhong, she didn't know when.

  Li Yunzhong heard a woman's voice and was taken aback, wondering where this woman came from on the battlefield.

  All he saw was a slender figure, an exquisite face, and a sweet smile of a woman who was smiling at him.

  Zhang Sui brought Li Yunzhong to see Su San Niang and introduced him, saying: "This is the Tian Di Hui's Su San Niang. I heard that Seventh Brother was captured for helping the people, so she immediately led her troops to come and rescue him."

  Li Yunzhong didn't hear what Zhang Suimou said, but felt like the poem says: Searching for him in the crowd for a thousand times, that person is actually in a place with dim lights. Felt his bones became three points lighter, his soul floating around. After a while, it was as if his chest was hit by an invisible iron hammer, and suddenly his lips were dry and his tongue was parched.

  Su San Niang saw Li Yun Zhong staring at her as if he had lost his soul, and she felt somewhat displeased. Over the past few years of conquests and battles, her city's defenses had deepened, but she hadn't revealed it.

  "Cough", "cough"...... It turned out that several sworn brothers of Li Yunzhong also couldn't stand his pig-like appearance, and they loudly coughed a few times to remind him.

  Li Yunzhong snapped back to reality, thinking: If I marry her, it won't be a waste of my transmigration. Heaven is really treating me well, first there was Hong Xuanjiao and then Su San Niang, such beauties have all been encountered by me. Sleeping with her would be worth dying for.

  The crowd also didn't want Li Yun to be embarrassed, so they quickly called out to the people cleaning up the battlefield, gathered together and returned to Shanren Village to discuss what to do next.