Chapter 59: The Sky Changes

Cao Er originally had only about thirty men under his command, including Shi Ji'en, Zhang Zhengxiong, and Chen Shu; this time when he descended the mountain, half of them followed him down.

The remainder were only Huang Mao'er, Cui Shan, Xu Sanshui, Lian Yu, Shi Youchun, and Xu Lifang; previously, Zhao Ding and Kong Shun died in a landslide, and recently Li You killed Gu Laosan, leaving fewer than ten people.

Counting himself, Li You now directly commanded a gang of fourteen men; it could be said that in Cao Er's absence, Li You had become the true person in charge at Nanshan.

Huang Mao'er, Shi Youchun, and others were naturally very wary of this group, so they could only endure, waiting for their master to return to seek justice; at this moment, they quickly became friendly with the archers under Zhang Cang.

These archers came from extremely complex backgrounds; among them were several border soldiers from Northern Shaanxi who had served under Shi Dayong, the most arrogant of whom were led by Peng Yun.

The rest were old bandits who had followed Wu Zhuge for many years, but under Zhang Cang they were rarely trained, spending their days playing cards and drinking alcohol until they had all become gambling addicts and lazy idlers.

The first thing Li You did was not military training, but building houses and firing porcelain bowls; since he finally had legitimate authority, he hurried to set life back on a proper track.

It was now approaching October, and winter was about to arrive; the winter at this time was truly unusually cold, and living in stone caves would certainly freeze people to death, so he had to solve everyone's housing problem first.

But doing these things required professional talent; the information he had gathered by getting along with the mine slaves and salt slaves previously proved especially important.

Besides craftsmen like Liu Quezi and Qian Chengzhi, he also knew that Xiang Hu, the leader of the Xiang family, as well as the apprentice from the Dang family under Le Baofu and Qi Gengxin, were all carpenters; the two salt slaves Ding Zifeng and Ding Zijiang who followed Qian Chengzhi had previously run a public bathhouse, and one of them had formerly been a goldsmith.

The mine slave apprentices under Liu Quezi were uncle and nephew, named Lu Qian and Lu Sheng; one was a barber, and his nephew was a shoemaker who also knew tailoring.

This was about all Li You knew regarding the craftsmen among the mine slaves; as for the mountain bandits, he mostly recorded and observed their character and skills, knowing little for now except that Qi Jingkun had once been a traveling merchant and salt peddler, while Lu Yi and Zeng Changshun were both former hunters.

"These people are far more useful than most bandits who do no labor and only know how to destroy."

Li You thought silently in his heart, which further confirmed his resolve not to leave the mountain stronghold; the social tempering of his past life had long made him aware of his own limitations, and coming here, his greatest reliance was his "vision transcending time and space."

This allowed him to fully recognize which difficulties existed, which paths were impassable, and which policies were suicidal.

Such foresight made avoiding mistakes naturally very easy, yet finding the correct path in the present remained equally difficult.

Regarding matters of state, although Li You could not recall specifics, he at least knew the framework.

History had already provided correct answers to many issues: for instance, serfdom was inferior to feudalism; for instance, closing the country to foreign trade would only lead to greater backwardness; for instance, the system of ignoble status would hinder the development of productive forces; for instance, long swords could not defeat cannons...

However, when it came to every village and town, customs differed every ten li and every five li; geography and culture were vastly different, and real-world situations varied widely; the advantages of a time traveler were utterly useless among the lower strata of society.

Therefore, if he wanted to accomplish something in this chaotic world, he must rely on these professional talents; he could at most offer some guidance on direction. But the question remained: could he become the guide for this era?

If he could not become a guide, then all his efforts would inevitably be swallowed by the torrent of history, leaving hardly any trace behind.

At noon, Li You took six female cooks to the kitchen.

These six women were all around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, named Zhang Laihua, Sun Tianding, Wang Xiugu, Li Xiujuan, Huang Yanzi, and Hong Da'e; all six were unfortunate souls, referred to by the bandits as "capable workers and playthings," living oxen and horses.

Zhang Laihua, Huang Yanzi, and Hong Da'e were among the twelve women abducted from Lueyang together with Li You; after days and months of abuse, only they had survived; some were played to death, some starved to death, some died of illness, and some, unable to endure, smashed their heads against walls and died.

Sun Tianding had been abducted to the mountain earlier; her body was naturally battered and broken in every way; the reason she survived was mainly that she could work like an ox or horse to earn a mouthful of food.

She was originally from Guangyuan, Sichuan; in the seventh year of Chongzhen, the "Yao Huang bandits" led by Yao Tiandong caused chaos in Guangyuan; at that time, her family, facing imminent starvation, fled north to Hanzhong, and the whole family had starved into green-faced ghosts.

Finally, her husband sold her for one dou of rice to a wealthy family in Xiangziping; but Xiangziping was then plundered by the Mao'er Ba bandits, and after the disaster, she was sold again to Longmen Zhai...

Wang Xiugu was the wife of a small landlord from Hejiaying, Hu County; yet she was surprisingly literate, able to read and write characters.

This made Li You feel delighted, and he asked, "Where is your home? Did you attend a private school?"

"I learned to read while serving as an inner chamber maid for the young master in the household of the Juren Wu."

When Wang Xiugu first spoke, she used elegant speech, but immediately switched to her local accent and began weeping, saying, "I am from Jiazhou; my family has farmed for the wealthy in the city for five generations, working like oxen and horses for them, enduring hunger and cold all year round.

In the spring of the second year of Chongzhen, my mother starved to death.

At the end of the fourth year, my father, unable to repay the debts to the King of Hell and seeing no end to our days, hanged himself. Once he died, the landlord forced my mother to give my younger sister to them as debt repayment.

My father was driven to death, my younger sister was snatched away to become a maid, and my mother cried out to heaven with no answer, begged people with no help; she cried for three days without eating, and from a combination of grief and starvation, she died on the fourth day...

Before my mother drew her last breath, she called my older brother, my sister-in-law, and me to her bedside and said, 'Heaven has closed its eyes; there is no way for us poor families to survive in this world. I will go ahead of you and wait for you in the underworld...' "

"Sigh... truly... a nonsensical world." 【Note】

Li You sighed, looking at Wang Xiugu who was only twenty-five years old; his heart felt heavy with sorrow; in later times, she would have just graduated from university, enjoying the brilliant days of youth, yet in this era she had suffered countless hardships and humiliations.

Li Xiujuan was the wife of a hunter from Mian County, slightly younger at about twenty-two or twenty-three; she was the most beautiful, with a scholarly air between her brows that added to her quiet and dignified temperament; therefore, she must have been the most severely abused.

Along the way, her clothes barely covered her vital parts, and her legs still bore un-dried bloodstains; she walked with her legs splayed like a duck, yet her face remained serene, not crying or wailing like Wang Xiugu or Hong Da'e.

"You, rest assured; once you come to Nanshan, no one will dare to harass you in the slightest!" Li You said to the six women.

Wang Xiugu bowed first and performed a hand-clasping salute, saying, "As long as you, sir, can protect us, we will be happy to work like oxen and horses!"

Only then did Sun Tianding and Zhang Laihua realize they should not perform the salute; they simply knelt down, their voices trembling with tears, saying, "We beg you, sir, to protect us!"

At Longmen Zhai, no one cared whether they lived or died; they worked at Beizhai, and at night they were frequently violated by bandits who felt in the mood; even if they died, it was no different from the death of a stinking louse.

Xing Shi and Wang Shi helped the women to their feet; Xing Shi said, "Rest assured, Sir Li is a great benefactor; we only need to work diligently."

"A great benefactor?"

Hearing Xing Shi's words, Li You felt heavy in his heart, with no sense of moral fulfillment.

Having seen another era, that true golden age, what was there to be grateful for about feeding people horse fodder or pig swill?

Such conduct being met with gratitude and reverence was precisely because there existed an official government so extraordinary that common people could not even get horse fodder or pig swill.

Li You could not help but mutter to himself, "My ability is limited, my level is average; it all depends on the damn pig teammates to provide contrast."

When he left the kitchen, he specifically instructed them to use a few dou of small millet, then cut half of the remaining wolf meat to boil into a meat broth to nourish them.

After eating wolf meat the previous day, since Li You had not been present yesterday, Xing Shi and Wang Shi had not dared to act on their own authority, so the four wolf carcasses were still lying by the edge of the salt field.

Everyone actually had it on their minds; today, as soon as Li You returned, there would be meat to eat and millet porridge, instantly stirring up everyone's spirits.

For the bandits to bring glory to their ancestors was certainly nonsense, but being able to fill their stomachs was indeed real. 【Note】

The sky is changing at Nanzhai!

【Note】: Qing Dynasty, "The Scholars," Chapter 4: "Brought in during the morning session, scolded a few times, talked nonsense, and driven out."

Ming Dynasty, Feng Menglong, "Words to Guard the World," Volume 7, "The Scholar Qian Mistakenly Marries the Phoenix": "They look as if they have seen a ghost! I feel as if I am dreaming! When the dreamer wakes up, it is all nonsense."

The "Nonsense Stele" is located at the Zhaoxin Tai scenic area in Chaoge Town, Qixian, Hebi City, Henan Province. It is said to be a Ming Dynasty tombstone.