Thief Emperor

Chapter 53: Become bigger and stronger!

In the Cangshan village.

Li Yun finally met the dozen or so young people from Hexi Village again.

Now the Cangshan stronghold has become wealthy. In addition to the 5,000 strings of cash extorted from the Gu family, a lot of money has also been made from the two strongholds that were later wiped out, especially the second Dragon King Stronghold.

Therefore, these young men, who were originally ragged and extremely thin, were now basically wearing clean new clothes.

But the time was too short and they didn't have time to gain weight.

Although they had been in the mountains for some time, they were still unfamiliar with the environment. Especially after learning that this was a bandit stronghold, most of these children from farming families were timid and did not dare to speak.

Only two people would often go to talk to Liu Bo who brought them up the mountain.

Among these two people, one is Meng Chong’s son Meng Hai, and the other one also has the surname Meng, named Meng Qing.

And Meng Qing was the young man Li Yun saw that night, the one who almost beat the Shidai County Magistrate to death with a wooden stick.

After seeing Li Yun, these Hexi young men were quite excited, especially Meng Hai, who rushed over and looked up at Li Yun: "Li... Village, Village Chief."

His eyes were filled with anxiety: "Where's my dad? And my mom, my brothers and sisters..."

"Where are they now? Are they okay?"

Li Yun sighed silently and shook his head slightly: "I don't know."

He didn't lie.

What he was sure of that night was that Meng Chong and his family escaped from Hexi Village through the smoke. However, after they fled, the state’s government troops had been chasing them, and it was hard to say whether they could escape to a safe place.

He looked at Meng Hai and said slowly, "Hexi Village has been burned down by soldiers."

"Your father and his family escaped, but we don't know whether they are alive or dead."

Then he looked at the others and said, "You guys are probably in the same situation."

The young people immediately started talking about it.

Li Yun looked at Meng Hai and asked, "You guys, just stay in my village for a while. Your father knows you are here. If he is safe, he will come to find you."

Meng Hai was still young after all, and his eyes were full of tears. He wiped his tears with his sleeves and asked, "So... we are here, do you want to go rob with us?"

Li Yun smiled and said, "Not for now."

"You are all still young, you can exercise and practice martial arts in the village."

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and said slowly, "When you are sixteen years old, you can choose to stay in the village and work with me, or go down the mountain to make a living on your own."

Before Meng Hai could speak, Meng Qing at the side spoke up: "Village leader, we will follow you."

Li Yun recognized him and said with a smile: "I remember you. You killed an official that day. What's your name?"

Meng Qing looked determined and said, "My name is Meng Qing."

"Captain, if we go down the mountain we will be captured by the government troops. There is no other way to go. Please take us in."

"Didn't I already take him in?"

Li Yun patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "You are a good boy, you will have a promising future. Don't rush to choose, live in the village for a year or two first. I am rich now, and I have plenty of spare money to support you."

Meng Qing lowered his head and said, "But we can't eat and live for free."

Village Chief Li scratched his head, then laughed heartily and said, "Then stay in the village and help collect firewood and fetch water. When we have land in a while, you can help me with farm work."

“Can you do farm work?”

Meng Hai quickly said: "We have been helping with housework at home since we were young."

"That's fine."

Li Yun said, "After a while, when I have time, I will teach you some basic Kung Fu."

After saying this, he looked at Meng Qing again and asked, "Are you and Meng Hai a family?"

Meng Hai on the side said quickly: "In our Hexi Village, most people have the surname Meng. He is the son of Uncle Jiu, and the seventh of his generation."

"Well."

Li Yun remembered that the cause of the incident in Hexi Village was because the village head bullied Meng Hai's uncle's family, that is, Meng Qing's family.

He looked at Meng Qing and said silently: "Eat well and grow stronger."

Meng Qing seemed to understand what Li Yun meant and said loudly: "I will eat well!"

Li Yun patted his shoulder and said, "Let's go. I'll take you to get familiar with Cangshan Mountain tomorrow."

After saying this, he dispersed the young men and said loudly, "Old Nine, Skinny Monkey, come to my yard, let's talk about something."

Li Zheng and Liu Bo were standing not far away. Upon hearing what was said, they trotted over, followed Li Yun, and entered Li Yun's yard.

At this time, many of the former leaders of the stronghold, namely Zhou Liang and his people, were watching this scene silently.

Obviously, the small courtyard of the village chief has unknowingly replaced the chairs in the main hall and has become the place where real decisions are made in Cangshan Village.

But unfortunately, no one can say anything.

After all, the changes in Cangshan Dazhai in these two months are really huge.

…………

In the small courtyard, the village chief Li sat in the main seat, looked at the two brothers in front of him, and asked, "How much money is left in the village?"

When Li Yun was not in the mountains, Liu Bo was basically the one who took care of the village. After thinking for a while, he immediately replied: "We already have some money and food stored in our village. The 5,000 strings of cash we got from Gu's family last time have not been used up. Later, they sent us money twice more. Now we have more than 5,000 strings of cash."

He looked at Li Yun and continued, "In addition to the food that my second brother brought up the mountain earlier, there are also cloth and medicinal herbs..."

"It still adds up to a lot anyway."

"correct."

He looked at Li Yun and asked, "The skinny monkey came back the day before yesterday and said that my second brother wanted to buy some land. I didn't know what that meant for a while, so I haven't done it yet."

“The matter of buying land.”

Li Yun touched his chin, thought for a while, and said, "My idea is to build a farm like Mr. Zheng's, with a few thousand acres of land, and then I can legitimately raise some farmhands in the farm."

“No need to be sneaky on the mountain.”

Li Yun continued: "Also, with a legitimate identity, you can make money through business."

"However, these can be done slowly, there is no need to rush in one or two days."

Liu Bo blinked his eyes: "Why do you suddenly want to do business, second brother? Isn't our current business with no capital much more profitable than those businesses?"

Li Yun glanced at him and said with a smile: "You don't understand, some businesses are much faster to start than to rob money."

"But I want to make one thing clear. No matter how we develop and grow in the future, Cangshan Village will always be our foundation. No matter how much money we make, we can't become a rich man. Instead, we must invest most of the money in Cangshan Village."

“We need to recruit more people.”

Li Yun clenched his fists and said fiercely: "The more the better!"

Liu Bo had read a few books. He looked at Li Zheng and asked, "Second brother, what do you want to do?"

"Of course it has become stronger."

Li looked down at his hands and said slowly: "We are bandits now and are looked down upon by others. When we become strong, once the world changes, we will no longer be bandits, but volunteers!"

"However, this is all a long time in the future. Our current goal is to get more capable people."

Mr. Li knocked on the table lightly and said, "Then, destroy the largest stronghold in Qingyang."

"Second brother, are you talking about the Ten Kings Village in Lingyang Mountain?"

Liu Bo swallowed his saliva, then whispered: "They have more than a hundred capable fighters, and there are hundreds of people in the entire village. Why does Second Brother always want to make things difficult for them?"

"Because only by destroying them can our Cangshan Village become the largest village in Qingyang."

Li gently yanked the cloth strip in his hand, and then he looked at Liu Bo and Li Zheng, and said in a deep voice: "At that time, the whole Qingyang and even the whole Xuanzhou underworld will be under our control!"

The underworld is easy to understand. Upon hearing this, Liu Bo gave a thumbs up.

"Second brother is so domineering!"

(End of this chapter)