Chapter 62: Pride

【Big chapter, continuing to beg for a push toward 100 followers! Begging, begging, begging!】

"A bunch of whelps born from dogs! My gear was taken by these bastards! If not, I'd split that scum in two with a single slash!"

Gao Conglong followed Li You to the wooden shed and immediately began shouting in rage!

"Damn it! This is truly infuriating!"

Even Zhou Yin, a man of few words, could not hold back his anger and joined in cursing.

"Let's just go kill Wu Dading and take over! Why should we directly become the mountain king and endure this bitterness?" Wu Dading said, filled with indignation.

"Kill Wu Dading now? Have you lost your mind?"

A position is never generated by a single individual; it is the embodiment of the will of a group or a class. The person in a position is merely a spokesperson for a period of time. Ultimately, power creates the position, not the position creating power. So, if we kill Wu Zhuge, the man holding the great master position, will Longmen Shanzhai collapse?

Obviously not. Could it really be like the political schemes of Mei Changsu in "Nirvana in Fire," where removing various ministers and high officials step by step equals eliminating the conflict and hollowing out the court? This is clearly illogical.

"What good does killing Wu Dading do? If we kill him, can we become the mountain king? In the end, won't the second, third, and fourth masters wipe us out all at once? What are you thinking?"

Li You scolded.

"Donkey... so we just keep pretending to be weak? Really become a bandit and serve Wu Dading? Although I am just a common soldier with a cheap life, many in this Longmen Shanzhai are nothing but beasts!"

Guan Hongxin said with a gloomy face.

Great Ming soldiers are all full of inferiority; the consciousness of being low-born is deeply rooted in every soldier's heart. Moreover, they are generally so poor that they sell their wives and give away their children.

During festivals, the times to remember ancestors, they also cannot afford any decent offerings due to poverty, which makes them feel they have disgraced their ancestors. People like Guan Hongxin are among the few not corrupted by this great dye vat, possessing their own principles and personal dignity.

"Yes, my life was saved by you, Scholar Li, time and again. I am willing to serve you, but to be a bandit and serve a scum like Wu Dading who kills as easily as chopping wood, I would rather have died that day!" Gao Conglong also roared low.

Li Qinxiang said nothing, but looked at Li You with bright eyes. Immediately, everyone stopped, including Liu Quezi, Qian Chengzhi, and others, all staring straight at Li You.

Li You stopped and said, "Are you afraid of death?"

"Heh, we are merely withered grass in the world. Even if we die, no one will know if anyone comes to bury us... The thought of fearing death has never crossed our minds... We only fear living without hope!"

"Following me will bring hope!"

Li You said solemnly: "If you think the dwelling is bad, we should build it! If you think there is no food, we should start farming and hunting! If someone bullies us, we should forge knives and spears! The place we are in is our heaven and earth; how we are determines how our heaven and earth is...

As for serving whom, everyone need not consider it. We all only need to serve ourselves. Currently, scraping by in this bandit fortress is forced by the times!

I know you are all heroes who cannot swallow this anger, wanting to erupt in rage, wanting to fight to the death. You have the courage, but can you survive?

If you die, can you leave behind descendants to continue the family line? Can you bring glory to your ancestors?

You have been soldiers for half your lives, each possessing unique skills. Before dying, can you save Xiao Juzi, Xiao Niang, Yu Zhengchun, and other children? Can you save Li Xiujuan, Wang Xiugu, and other women? Can you repay your parents for raising you? Finally... can you repay the brotherhood of me helping you time and again?"

Li You's words were long, making Li Qinxiang, Gao Conglong, and others have slightly red eyes. Even Guan Hongxin, the tough guy, was sniffing hard at this moment.

"Alright, since erupting in rage achieves nothing, why not trust me once?"

"I will follow you to the death, Scholar."

"I will follow you to the death, Scholar."

Gao Conghu, Qi Jingkun, and Wu Dading knelt down first, shouting loudly.

Li Qinxiang did not think much and immediately pledged loyalty.

Next, Gao Conglong, Zhou Yin, and others, full of hot blood, knelt down and shouted as well.

Only Wang Youting appeared slightly hesitant, but finally, after meeting Li You's gaze, he knelt down too.

Li You hurriedly helped them up: "We will definitely survive, and live even better!"

He knew that besides the grace of saving their lives, his status as a Xiucai also played a huge role.

But he couldn't help feeling somewhat proud; such a group of arrogant and unyielding people had now submitted to him.

While feeling proud, Li You couldn't help but sigh: "Impulsive people mostly live at the bottom; people at the top are never impulsive because they are not driven by emotions... It seems I am quite good. Perhaps I can really reverse my luck, become a marquis, a prime minister, or even a king or overlord?"

The proud him now completely failed to recognize human nature, because in the near future, he would regret this.

Since everyone was willing to take Li You as their leader, they naturally began building houses according to Li You's plan.

To build a simple thatched cottage, axes and firewood knives were not needed. Fortunately, there was ready-made iron here, and even ready-made craftsmen, so Li You simply decided to forge the iron shovels, nails, and other tools needed as well.

Gao Conglong, Zhou Yin, and others, seeing so much iron, naturally had their eyes shining. Iron was already extremely precious in this era of backward productivity, let alone in this chaotic world of flashing blades and swords, so they all wanted to forge weapons for themselves.

"Forge axes and these tools first! As for suitable weapons, what's the rush? Later, Old Liu and others will naturally forge them for you. Their craftsmanship is absolutely perfect!"

Li You saw through their thoughts and couldn't help but laugh and scold.

"Really?"

Gao Conghu said excitedly. Having served in the army for nine years, to be honest, he had never owned a decent weapon. Who could have an iron mountain like this Longmen bandit group, where everyone had one or two shiny weapons!

"Heh, that's good! But forging weapons, it's better if we do it ourselves to make them fit our hands. Later, with Old Liu's guidance, we will forge them ourselves!"

Gao Conglong said excitedly. His own sidearm had been used for over six years, and it was already full of notches!

More than ten people working together were fast, but it still took a whole day.

Mainly because Liu Quezi, Zhou Yin, Li Qinxiang, and the others had eaten poorly recently and done heavy work. Having only eaten two good meals, their bodies naturally hadn't recovered; after working for a while, they would break out in cold sweats all over.

During this time, Shouhou'er and Niu Jinku came over. Niu Jinku purely had an itch to show off his skills and wanted to see Li You's archery, while Shouhou'er and Wang Qiong genuinely wanted to join the training, but seeing Li You was busy, they had to give up.

That night, besides leaving five people on night watch, Huang Mao'er enthusiastically invited Peng Yun and others back to the small courtyard. They definitely dared not enter the main house, but the two side rooms were packed to the brim.

Even the beds of Wa Qingyun and Liu Longjin were occupied by them, and laughter like "Suozzi, Shizi, Wanzi..." would ring out from time to time.

"These people are too shameless. Where is this Scholar training them? They've come to Nanshan to act like masters." Wa Qingyun said with a face full of resentment.

"Who else has knives and bows?" Wu Dading was quite open-minded; anyway, now that Li You had awakened, just follow Li You in everything.

"It's fine. Let's sleep in the earth dugouts tonight! A little hardship doesn't matter."

Li You was not angry. In his past life, to get a mouthful of food, what anger or suffering hadn't he endured? What did this amount to?

As for exerting strength and doing hard labor, in the words of farmers, hard labor is not worth money. If something can be solved by hard labor and effort, it will never be solved with money.

For now, as long as he slowly wins over the hearts of the mine workers, eventually the daughter-in-law will become the mother-in-law.

The next day, Peng Yun and others basically didn't move. It was Li You leading Wu Dading, whose chains had been removed, along with Li Qinxiang and others, up the mountain to cut down trees, then rolling them to the foot of the mountain. A group of mine workers, led by Dang Xiongxin and Xiang Hu, dragged the timber back to the mining area.

Xiang Hu, Qi Gengxin, and other carpenters, along with Liu Quezi and Qian Chengzhi, led some men to clear the ground; the new house was built beside Liu Quezi's dilapidated earthen cave, a spot sheltered from the wind by the rock face and situated on higher ground, with a stream still flowing nearby not far across, making it convenient for the women of the Wang family to fetch water.

In two days, the thatched cottage was already taking shape; before the crowd could take a careful look, Peng Yun suddenly arrived with a group, and the mine workers immediately fell silent.

"Whoa... by damn, that's quite the sight!"

Peng Yun's group looked left and right like monkeys, finally setting their eyes on the largest thatched room on the north side, and they couldn't help but shout:

"Wow, damn it, this is much more comfortable than cramming into the side chamber over there. Sanzao, Daniu, go get our bedding..."

Two burly men with beards were about to grab the quilts and move in!

"Damn it, this is reserved for the Young Master. By damn, whoever dares step one foot further will first taste how sharp my axe is!"