Chapter 57: Joining

"What? Unwilling?" Wu Zhuge squinted his triangular eyes, staring at Li You with meticulous focus, as if trying to see right through his entire person.

"Of course I'm willing! It's just... I fear that if Zhang Baitou's men are assigned to me, they might hold prejudices against me..." Li You said, his mind racing through a hundred turns.

"Heh... he'd be delighted not to have to take these bastards! He's a clerk by trade, a half-baked scholar at best. Managing grain and money is fine, but sending him to lead this lawless bunch of filth would be asking for his life!"

Wu Zhuge laughed, "Besides, I'm only asking you to serve as an instructor for a month or two; the men still belong to Zhang Cang!"

"You want me to be Lin Chong? Damn monkey, hurry up and have a diabetic crisis!"

Li You cursed viciously in his heart; such a scheme was calculated too precisely, making him train the soldiers for free while simultaneously restraining his growth!

"I am lowly and my words carry little weight; I fear these brothers won't obey my orders? Moreover, I heard Zhang Baitou say that some of these brothers are old veterans who have lived and died with the Boss... My temper is impulsive; I fear I might cause trouble for the Boss!" Li You still refused to give up.

"Won't obey?"

Wu Zhuge acted as if he had heard a joke, saying, "Wang Qiong, Shouhou, and the others all call you the 'Killer Scholar'; is there anyone you can't control? As for your impulsive temper..."

"Rest assured, although these men are veterans, they spend their days playing cards and drinking wine; some can't even draw the bows in their hands. How can this go on?"

"I'm handing the men over to you; kill or flay them as you see fit, as long as you hand me back a group of sharpshooters who can shoot with both hands like you... Oh, train Cao Er's men too; they're just as bad, doing nothing but playing Mahjong all day, it's annoying to look at!"

"Good!"

With things having reached this point, Li You couldn't possibly be so unperceptive, so he shouted excitedly, "I will train elite soldiers and strong generals for the Boss!"

"Elite soldiers and strong generals?"

Wu Zhuge laughed heartily, "Good! Once you've trained this group of archers, we'll go first and slaughter those two surnamed Liu at Mao'er Ba!"

"I am willing to serve the Boss! Just assign me some female cooks; otherwise, with only rough men around, cooking might be inconvenient."

"Good, but there isn't much grain... If we continue like this, we'll eventually eat through our savings. I wonder if there's any news from Qingyang Station..."

Wu Zhuge muttered to himself; who knew where his mind had wandered to at that moment.

"Oh my, I say since we'll all be stirring the same pot from now on, there's no rush for this brief moment. Come, let's eat first." Da Yun'er spoke at the right moment, casting a charming glance at Li You.

Li You had eyes only for the food; how could he notice Da Yun'er?

After a bout of wolfing down food, Li You went with Wu Zhuge to find Zhang Cang at the grain depot.

Zhang Cang was indeed as Wu Zhuge had described: wearing a coarse black cotton shirt, a dull gray hairnet, and looking like a kind-faced, honest old man.

He cheerfully issued grain to Li You: one dan of rice, three dan of millet, two dan of buckwheat flour, and half a bag of bran, corn, soybeans, plus a crate of black beans, etc. Having received this grain, it looked like a lot, but if fed to all the mine workers, it wouldn't last a few days, let alone with a group of archers going along.