Chapter 58: Building the Team

Li You naturally understood this logic as well; he might not be able to afford to feed so many people, and furthermore, who knew when the next batch of grain would be given?

Li You immediately waved his hand and said, "Only those who do their work well, show outstanding performance, or possess useful skills can be promoted into our Longmen Shanzhai! Do you really think just anyone can enter the Shanzhai?"

"Today is just to inform you! From now on, perform well!"

Upon hearing this, many people scrambled up, looking extremely disappointed, but Li Qinxiang suddenly stepped out and said, "I want to join the Shanzhai!"

Behind him, Gao Conglong and the others also stared blankly at Li Qinxiang.

Wu Zhuge, who had been feeling the urge to urinate, saw it was Li Qinxiang and suddenly became amused, saying, "How is it that before, I begged you to join, and now you are begging to join us? Wasn't it 'better to die than submit' that day?"

"Let me tell you, my Longmen Shanzhai is not a place you can come and go as you please. Get lost!"

"Why? With the skills of us brothers, are we not worthy of your Longmen Shanzhai?" Li Qinxiang said.

"Wait until you have your shackles removed and swords in hand, and then you want to raid our Shanzhai again?" Wu Zhuge mocked.

Li You’s heart tightened as he spoke, "Chief, these men truly have excellent martial arts. If we give them up, wouldn't that just make the Liu brothers clap and cheer? Walking the jianghu, 'loyalty' comes first. If the Chief clears the air of past grievances, how could they return kindness with enmity?"

"And if they still do?"

Wu Zhuge squinted at Li You and said, "You scholars have devious minds; what little scheme are you cooking up in your head?"

Li You’s heart pounded, and he jumped up, exclaiming, "I stake my own head on it!"

Having said that, Li You stepped closer and whispered urgently into his ear, "Great Chief, do you really want to continue being bullied by that bunch from Mao'erba?"

"Such talented men of war, whom we couldn't recruit before, must be eliminated, but now that the prodigal sons have returned, they are a great asset to us. If you are worried, just use them as cannon fodder when the time comes!"

Wu Zhuge’s expression shifted, and he finally stood up, saying, "Handle it yourself, don't play any little tricks on me... Anyway, with just this much grain, after a while, I want to see these brats able to take the field and kill the enemy!"

With that, he took his men and left.

Li Qinxiang and the others still stood where they were, their minds dazed by Li You’s words just now...

"I stake my own head on it!"

As the saying goes, a scholar dies for one who understands him.

Li You’s words made the chests of Li Qinxiang, Gao Conghu, and the others burn with heat; even those with frivolous temperaments like Gao Conglong and Guan Hongxin felt their eyes redden. This was trust through and through!

Wu Zhuge left, and Huang Mao and the others looked coldly at Li You before driving the miners and salt slaves back to work. The miners and salt slaves indeed had disagreements; after all, with so much grain piled together, who didn't want a bite to eat?

Yet, many in their hearts cursed Li You for being a piece of trash; just a few days ago he seemed to be on their side, but in the blink of an eye, he was fawning over Wu Zhuge, acting like a total lackey and hawk.

Since ancient times, scholars have prided themselves on "establishing a heart for heaven and earth, and a destiny for the people," remaining unyielding. When disaster strikes, they are supposed to prefer death over submission, to be shattered to pieces, and to be heroic for eternity.

But what kind of scholar is Li You, this spineless wretch who aids the tyrant?

Yes, the scholars of the Great Ming indeed had great backbone; most were not necessarily afraid of death. If they died, they died. They would sit with their sleeves folded, discussing human nature, and when faced with danger, they would die to serve the Emperor. They lived gracefully and died tragically, as if both life and death were remarkable things.

Sure enough, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were only 136 "disloyal officials" who abandoned the Ming and surrendered to the Qing, while 3,786 died for the Ming in resistance against the Qing. This figure is the official statistic from the "Record of Martyrs of the Previous Dynasty" compiled during the Qianlong reign.

And the number of scholars among the common people who were never counted had already reached the tens of thousands.

The loyalty and martyrdom of the Chinese people are as continuous as a thread, which is the most of any dynasty in history, but what use was this to the Great Ming?

The Yongli Emperor ultimately met his end under the bowstring of Wu Sangui, drawing a period for the Great Ming.

Since scholars accepted the various privileges of the Great Ming and enjoyed respect and glory, they should have taken on the social responsibilities they ought to bear during the autumn of racial survival, rather than thinking it was remarkable to just go and die.

Of course, the ignorant masses have their own shortsightedness and hatefulness, and the intellectuals have their own arrogance and integrity, but for Li You, this fake scholar, he only wanted to live as well as he could, and then let those around him live well too.

As for his changes and intentions, time will prove everything.

Li You really wanted to distribute the grain equally, then have everyone work together and train in martial arts together. Once he had more resources and a say, he would have all the miners remove their leg shackles, implement a wage system, and allow those who wanted to go home to do so.

This would not only increase efficiency but also save a lot of labor for guards, and even develop to the point where he could recruit people later. The saying "blocking is not as good as diverting" is exactly this logic.

But he also knew the difficulties were numerous. The original miners and salt slaves totaled thirty-nine, plus the dozen or so brought from Lueyang with Li You, and later adding Li Qinxiang, Gao Conglong, and Wu Dading—seven in total—that was already sixty-five or sixty-six.

That didn't even count the ten children, two women, and people like Old Man Liu and Qian Chengzhi, which made it nearly eighty people.

At this time, the food had little oil or fat, and both children and adults had large appetites. A strong man needed four catties of coarse grain a day, so calculating that, it would consume about two shi of grain a day!

This didn't even count the archers Wu Zhuge had forced upon him. Although these twenty-one men were for him to train, who could say there weren't Wu Zhuge’s eyes and ears among them monitoring him?

This was a huge constraint on him.

Things are never perfect. According to Li You’s original plan, he wanted some grain and then to build up a team himself, especially since this team would include border soldiers and veterans like Li Qinxiang.

But Wu Zhuge had a few more tricks up his sleeve, stuffing people in for him to train. It was clearly just training; like Lin Chong the Leopard Head, he was just a drill instructor. He certainly couldn't count on these people to follow him in doing anything.

What was fatal was that he was only given seven-plus shi of grain, and adding the black beans and other miscellaneous grains, it was less than nine shi. And he estimated that this was the only time he would get it; if he wanted more grain, he had to achieve some results, otherwise, the next distribution would be indefinitely delayed.

After weighing the options, Li You chose Li Qinxiang and the other six, plus Wu Dading, totaling seven, and then selected Lu Yi, Xiang Ying, Wa Qingyun, Liu Longjin, Qi Jingkun, and others, totaling thirteen, to form a "bandit team."

As for Xu Sanshui, Wu Zhaodi, and others, although he had helped treat their minor injuries, he felt these few were not reliable enough, so he gave up on them.

This lineup of thirteen didn't need training; they were already very strong.

Li Qinxiang, Zhou Yin, and the others were originally from the border army; although they were deserters, their temperaments were not vicious, and they dared to challenge the Longmen bandits, so their skills probably weren't bad.

Wa Qingyun and Liu Longjin were people Li You was relatively familiar with; their martial arts were average, but their character was good, especially Liu Longjin, who could read a few basic characters.

Wu Dading goes without saying; they grew up together. He could take a beating for someone else and could cry at a funeral while playing the suona. He was his good brother, skilled in both civil and martial arts.

Qi Jingkun, Xiang Ying, and the others were all eager to risk their lives for Li You to repay the debt of saving their lives.

If Wu Zhuge really never sent anyone to rotate duties again, this suddenly formed team could be said to be the strongest lineup in Nanshan.