Chapter 74: Plan to Make the Whole Village into Bandits

Before Jiang Jinshi could reply, Xiao Hu's questioning voice sounded especially sharp in the night.

"Big brother, should I kill him?"

He didn't whisper it behind the person's back; he said it bluntly, totally ignoring this person.

Jiang Jinshi shook his head: "Not urgent, let's chat a bit first!"

Hearing the elder brother speak, Xiao Hu stopped moving, his eyes fixed on the opponent like a tiger waiting to strike.

"First answer my question: what grudge do you have with the Liu County Magistrate?" Jiang Jinshi spoke loudly, making sure the other could hear him clearly.

"A grudge of extermination!"

The man's figure was hidden in the darkness, indistinct, but from the sound squeezed out between his teeth, Jiang Jinshi could easily guess his ferocious expression.

"Then let me answer your question: the Liu County Magistrate's dog life must be kept for now; I have use for him."

"You also have a grudge with him?" Obviously the man didn't understand Jiang Jinshiyi's behavior of working for the Liu County Magistrate while letting him go.

Jiang Jinshi didn't answer the question, but instead asked curiously: "Your martial arts are excellent; who did you learn from?"

"I've practiced martial arts since childhood!"

"If you're interested in cooperating, you can come find me at Yangguangzhai in Lianhuan Shan." Seeing that it was already late, Jiang Jinshi didn't want to continue talking.

Without waiting for a reply, Xiao Hu turned and led his horse away.

After the two left, a black shadow stood on the tree, motionless for a long time!

At the same time, on the official road where Beijiang borders Zhongyuan, a merchant caravan was resting; under the large bonfire's light, many people could be seen sitting around.

A woman dressed as a farmer stayed apart from the crowd, sitting with her back against a large tree, gnawing on a dry wheat cake.

This person was Jiang Daya; she had good luck, encountering a merchant caravan heading to Zhongyuan, and after paying two taels of silver, she successfully obtained the qualification to follow the caravan.

However, food was self-provided; if she fell behind and couldn't keep up on the road, no one would care about her life or death.

Not far away, a boy stretched out his right hand to do some calculations for a while, then walked straight toward Jiang Daya.

"Miss, what's your name? Where are you headed?"

Jiang Daya swallowed the wheat cake in her mouth, knowing this person had joined the caravan that evening, and replied with a smile: "I'm Jiang Daya, I want to go to Jiangnan! And you, little brother?"

"I'm Yu Heng, just traveling around. Sister, where are you from?" Yu Heng, quite at ease, leaned against Jiang Daya and sat down.

"Jiangcheng, and you?"

Jiang Daya made room for Yu Heng to sit beside her; for some reason, she felt this person was very affable.

"I'm from Jingcheng!" Yu Heng answered Jiang Daya while also wondering why the divination had pointed him to seek this person.

Directly divining the positions of the two asterisms yielded no response, so he could only settle for divining some clues instead.

Afterward, the two chatted about everyday matters; seeing Jiang Daya yawn, Yu Heng tactfully ended the topic and, before leaving, left her with a sentence.

"Sister, the name Jiang Daya isn't very pleasant; I think Jiang Qingyan would suit you better!"

Jiang Daya nodded vaguely, feeling that the boy's words were somewhat amusing.

When she really considered the name he said, she truly felt it sounded much better than her own Jiang Daya!

Although she had never studied, such a name was clearly more suited to scholars; she didn't know if she could use it herself!

As Yu Heng left, his face solemn, he had just divined for Jiang Daya based on her appearance; she ought to have been a person destined to die, but a hint of purple aura had altered her fate.

One must know that interfering in others' life and death invites karma; not only would it fail to save them, it would also entangle oneself deeply.

However, a person of heavenly mandate lies outside this scope; that sister clearly had contact with one of the two asterisms and shares a deep connection, which is why her life was changed.

Thus he went with the flow, bestowing a name so that her future days would go more smoothly.

The so-called "River Clear, Sea Tranquil" means the river runs clear and the sea is calm; applied to Jiang Daya it fits perfectly, for her early life had been too bitter.

At the same time he also obtained a clue: Jiang Daya came from Jiangcheng, so next he only needed to go to Jiangcheng to have a good chance of encountering one of the asterisms.

Thinking of this, Yu Heng lifted his head to gaze at the myriad stars; the light of the Ziwei Star was so faint it was almost invisible, suggesting that the person in Jingcheng couldn't hold out much longer.

As for his senior brother, he likely has already found the Xiliang King by now; it's just unknown whether the Xiliang King will accept the senior brother.

On my side, there's been no progress at all; I dare not delay, so I continue on my way under the moonlight.

Early the next morning, Jiang Jinshi took up his spear and went down the mountain with his brothers to bandit; the Ghost Head Knife he had previously used was given to Xiao Hu.

Today's down‑mountain raiding party was Zhang Honghong's; seeing the chief go out with them to raid, the bandits instantly felt energized, determined to put on a good show before the chief.

Meanwhile, Zhang Honghong watched Xiao Hu's high fighting spirit; since Xiao Hu came up the mountain, she has wanted to compete with him, but each time they arranged a match, Xiao Hu refused.

"Big brother said, we must not attack our fellow stronghold brothers."

That was Xiao Hu's excuse, making Zhang Honghong's teeth itch with anger, yet she could do nothing about it.

This was a good opportunity to discuss with Jiang Jinshi, so she could have a satisfying fight with him.

Now fighting Luo Feng is no fun, since their advantages differ; unless it's a life‑and‑death battle, it's hard to decide a winner.

That is, sparring with Wang Sixi is still somewhat interesting, given his strength isn't bad; as for Wang Hou, nobody wants to fight him, and he rarely appears in the stronghold.

After reaching the designated spot, everyone simply hid in the grass and began a day's "work" of banditry.

Soon Jiang Jinshi discovered the drawback of this kind of banditry: they could only eat what others had left behind.

In other words, Yangguangzhai lies in the middle of this official road, with other strongholds at both ends.

Only the slip‑throughs from other strongholds can fall to Yangguangzhai.

What's the difference between that and picking up others' leftovers?

So far three groups have passed; except for the Qin family's group, which is off‑limits, the other two groups have already been completely cleaned out by the strongholds ahead.

On the contrary, Zhang Honghong had grown accustomed to this; she only wanted to drill with Xiao Hu, but Jiang Jinshi stopped her.

This problem is not small; know that our stronghold's expenses are much higher than the others', and if we lose this income we could only survive on the Liu County Magistrate's monthly silver.

Previously he was busy with other matters and had no mind to concern himself with banditry; now that he has free time, he must settle this issue.

For now the only ideas are two roads: first, drive off the other three strongholds and make the entire Lianhuan Shan under our control.

Second, expand our sphere of influence and increase the banditry outposts.

Jiang Jinshi naturally wanted to use the first method, but he couldn't do it himself! Right now, Yangguangzhai doesn't even have the strength to take on three opponents.

It seems only the second method is usable, but how can he expand his sphere of influence? After all, there may well be bandits on the official roads of other cities.

Suddenly Jiang Jinshi had a flash of inspiration—why bother sticking to the official roads? The small path from Jiangcheng to Da Jiang Cun is also frequently traveled!

Occasionally, small merchant convoys choose to take the small road to avoid bandits, even if it means spending more time on a detour.

If he were to bring all the villages around Jiangcheng under his control, these small paths would be like blood vessels, tightly wrapping the entire Jiangcheng, and could also provide him with more convenience and information.

The only problem to consider is that his current resources can't support such a large 'net'; if the income from the small roads can't cover the expenses, Yangguangzhai would instead be dragged down.

The advantage is that these villagers differ from drifters—they all have families; as long as their families are 'settled' in Yangguangzhai's main base, there's no fear they won't obey orders, and using them will only be more convenient.

Or rather…

Why not start with Da Jiang Cun?