Chapter 17: The Plan

After wandering for a while, Li You finished a meal with a group of bandits. He sat alone on a large rock in front of the small courtyard, clutching his still-empty stomach with one hand, feeling somewhat lost and helpless.

"My god, even being a bandit in this world doesn't guarantee a full stomach! Aren't the bandits in movies always drinking from large bowls, eating meat from large bowls, and occasionally snatching a chieftain’s wife?"

The bandits' food was better than that of the miners and salt slaves, but only slightly.

Although they had two solid meals, there was basically no oil or fat, and it was, damn it, steamed corn buns again.

In his right hand, he held a clay jar that Wa Qingyun had given him. Inside the jar was some mustard green that had grown green, moldy fuzz. This fuzz was a full inch or two long. Li You once suspected that Wa Qingyun wanted to poison him and was just about to throw it away when he suddenly froze. He stared at it carefully for a moment and stammered...

"Could this fellow be penicillin?"

When ancient tailors injured their hands, they would use moldy paste for treatment; the use of antibiotics like penicillin and aureomycin was not limited to modern times.

For example, chloromycetin, chloramphenicol, and oxytetracycline—the prototypes for these three all originated from traditional Chinese medicine.

In the Ming Dynasty, Tianning Temple in Changzhou would place mustard greens in large vats, exposing them to the sun by day and dew by night to let them mold until green fuzz grew three or four inches long, known as "green mold." They would then seal the vat and bury it in the earth. Ten years later, when the vat was opened, the mustard greens inside had completely turned to water, and the moldy fuzz had vanished. This was called "aged mustard green brine," which was the earliest penicillin.

Chloramphenicol and oxytetracycline came from Loess Decoction, earthworms, and loess.

There is also the prototype for nitroglycerin, which comes from the "Prescriptions for Miscellaneous Diseases" in the *Essential Prescriptions from the Golden Cabinet*. It was used to treat "corpse-like syncope" by placing cinnamon shavings under the tongue; the method of use was exactly the same.

Li You decided to keep the jar. In case he developed a fever like Wu Dading did last time, this thing might just be able to reduce inflammation.

However, this stuff would definitely need to be improved.

It was true that in his past life, his grandfather was an old farmer, but he was also a folk physician, so he did know a little about this.

Today, not only had he gained a certain understanding of the Nanshan mining area, but since Wa Qingyun no longer guarded against him and had opened up, Li You had also gained a deeper understanding of Longmen Shanzhai.

At the same time, the various types of thieves and bandits in the current world left a deep impression in the memories of his original body...

So-called bandits are the "greenwood heroes" in the style of the Liangshan outlaws, groups pulled together by local swordsmen.

So-called habitual bandits are those who specialize in robbery, arson, murder, and kidnapping for ransom. Wherever they go, they indiscriminately loot everything clean, regardless of whether the victims are rich or poor, good or bad. However, they rarely commit acts of slaughtering entire villages or households, and they have certain internal rules. They pass their trade down through generations; sons inherit their fathers' professions, and even entire clans or villages are habitual bandits. In peaceful times, they farm and hunt; when the world is slightly chaotic, they pick up their blades and head to the mountains. Wu Ying, Wu Zhuge, and their ilk belong to these standard, hereditary habitual bandits.

So-called soldier-bandits are mostly disbanded or routed troops who harbor a heavy sense of vengeance against the world.

So-called official-bandits are those where officials and bandits collude to harm the common people.

So-called horse-bandits naturally have cavalry that raids and plunders, coming and going like the wind, possessing immense strength.

The nature of Longmen Shanzhai is extremely complex because it has a cavalry, gentry and official backgrounds, border army deserters, and even a leader like Wu Zhuge, whose ancestors were habitual bandits. From top to bottom, there are over 170 people, and if you add the crowd of miners and children, the number is truly staggering.

In such a large forest, internal infighting is inevitable. Under the "pillar of heaven" Wu Zhuge, Longmen Shanzhai has three other decision-makers, all with different backgrounds and interests that are hard to align.

Wu Zhuge has the strongest force under his command. He divided his eighty-plus men into four squads and appointed his own squad leaders, called "Squad Commanders": Wu Nai, Zhang Cang, Wang Qiong, and Niu Jinku. He firmly controls the core power of the Shanzhai: the cavalry and the archers.

This cavalry has twenty-six horses, a small portion of which were brought by Shi Dayong. In this era of war, having a horse means having an extra life. Archers are considered technical troops; from the bows and arrows to the men themselves, they are extremely expensive.

Next is Zhang Zhuanggen. Under his command are two Squad Commanders, Lu the Madman and Zhao the One-Eyed, totaling fifty or sixty men.

His men are a mixed bag, mostly formed by merging small groups. They are responsible for "setting lines and suppressing water," with average combat power, mainly handling interrogations, intelligence gathering, and scouting.

Then there is Cao Er. The number of his men fluctuates significantly. There are many retainers kept within the Cao estate, but those he usually keeps by his side are mostly ruffians and foot-gang members from Mianxian, such as Shi Jiu'en, Huang Mao, and Gu Laosan. There are also some yamen runners who committed crimes in the official service, such as Mu Qianjun, Chen Shu, Zhang Zhengxiong, and Xu Lifang.

Finally, a small portion are those who defected from the former head leader Wu Ying, such as Wa Qingyun and Liu Longjin. These people mostly engage in mining affairs in the Nanshan mining area and rarely participate in bloody tasks like raiding or robbing roads; their combat power is undoubtedly the worst.

The one with the fewest men is the current fourth leader, Shi Dayong. When he first came to join the Shanzhai, he not only had thirteen warhorses but also twenty-eight followers.

However, Shi Dayong became depressed and drank all day. His former subordinates felt that following him meant starving to death sooner or later, even as bandits. Many were lured away by other leaders, and even his personal guard, Niu Jinku, followed Wu Zhuge, so he currently only has seven men left.

In short, the current bandit gang has a deeply ingrained traditional Chinese family structure, but unlike a family, the authority of the bandit gang is fraternal rather than paternal—that is to say, it is peer-based. It is precisely this peer-based nature that creates "bandit democracy."

For instance, it is not that simple for Li You to join. Aside from needing a guarantor, if one wants to join alone by self-recommendation, one must have "iron-window camaraderie." Without iron-window camaraderie, a recommendation, or equipment and weapons, it is basically impossible to join. Even if one does join, one is only a "cub."

Cubs are the most miserable in the bandit gang. They charge at the front in hard battles and retreat at the back. If marching during the day, they must cut grass to feed the horses, wash clothes, and cook; at night, they must take turns standing guard and sentry, and even sleep in stone pits. When dividing the loot, they can only wait until the bandit leaders and the various heads have finished, and the old bandits have finished, to eat whatever is left. This is the rule of the trade, and almost all old bandits went through this.

But Li You has already used his fake scholar identity and his silver tongue to infiltrate the Shanzhai, and he is thinking more about how to live better under the current system of the Shanzhai.

"Bandit democracy..."

Li You muttered. Everything has its pros and cons, especially something like "democracy." A peer-based organizational management system naturally disperses power, causing each leader to have their own hidden agenda.

Like a bandit member such as Wa Qingyun, he often pledges loyalty to his own boss, Cao Er, rather than to Wu Zhuge.

This situation was likely fostered by Cao Er himself, and it is probably the same among all the leaders. This can be seen from Wa Qingyun's derogatory nickname for Wu Zhuge, and Li You even feels that Wa Qingyun wouldn't even be loyal to Cao Er.

"A tiny bandit gang has so many factions; just imagine how the Great Ming imperial court must be?"

Li You talked to himself, but his heart felt even more depressed.

He has currently achieved his basic goal: surviving by relying on this fake scholar identity. But what should he do next?

Should he shout, "I want to change this world..." or shout, "I want to be the Emperor..." or perhaps, "After I pacify the world, I will be the Emperor, drunk on the knees of beauties, awake to hold the power of the world..."

Why be an Emperor? It's quite taxing on one's vitality.

These thoughts only flashed through Li You's mind for an instant before he became too lazy to fantasize. As the saying goes, "Gold will always shine." In that relatively fair era of his past life, he had struggled until he was thirty without ever shining or even winning the basic right to reproduce.

With such an astonishing track record, he really didn't believe he could defy the heavens and change his fate in this man-eating, chaotic feudal era. Just by relying on the few extra pounds of strength he suddenly had? Or by relying on this martial arts skill?

Li You muttered to himself: "Keep my feet on the ground. It is more practical to follow the original plan and become a bandit leader. But how exactly should I go about it?"