Start with a red name

Chapter 163: Please be my guarantor and take me in

After confirming that all the markets in Yueluyuan had made clear statements, Geng Xuan and his party did not stay in Wanping Market any longer.

Regardless of the fact that it was getting late, they immediately set out westward.

Although there were some time constraints, the return trip to the West was not rushed.

This was a decision that had been made since yesterday.

Hong Quan had already made arrangements in advance for the various gains from this trip to Yueluyuan. He started his journey back west yesterday, ahead of Geng Xuan and others.

When Geng Xuan led Hong Quan and his group away, Wanpingji no longer had any connection with him.

However, when Geng Xuan and his group left, Wanpingji did not regain its vitality, but instead quickly became deserted.

The group of knights in the market had already been called away by Liu Yueji.

Now, with the departure of Geng Xuan and his party, Sheng Xiang and Gu Yuqun, the two masters of marrow refining, also followed Geng Xuan and his party and left with a group of trusted subordinates.

In addition, Geng Xuan had previously carried out a brutal massacre on Wanpingji.

The result was that the combat power at the marrow refining level was completely destroyed, and the backbone forces at the bone refining and blood refining levels were also gone by seven or eight out of ten.

Although there seem to be many people in the huge market, it no longer has the basic foundation to support the market.

Before a new order is established, there will inevitably be some turmoil.

Those who saw the opportunity early made the decision to escape at the first opportunity.

After these people left, the remaining people became even more panicked and soon went their separate ways.

Either return to the neighborhood, or go to other markets.

Just like that, Wanpingji, which was once a prosperous place, turned into a deserted city in a very short time.

……

After riding quickly for about two and a half hours, Geng Xuan and his party arrived at Liuyunfang.

In order to avoid interfering with the grain transport team departing from Wanpingji, Geng Xuan and others deliberately chose another road that was farther and more difficult to travel.

But even so, as we got closer to Liuyunfang.

You can also see that there are grain transport convoys coming in from other roads, just like streams flowing into rivers, and entering the road leading to Liuyunfang.

When these people saw Geng Xuan and his group of Xuanyou cavalry approaching from afar, they all stopped and stood by the side of the road.

Many people lowered their heads and looked at the ground beneath their feet, but their slightly trembling bodies betrayed the fear in their hearts.

Some of the brave ones would look at Geng Xuan and his group with curiosity and fear.

He only took a quick glance and then quickly looked away.

It was as if this one glance had drained away all the courage in their hearts.

Just by looking at the performance of these people, Geng Xuan knew that the "bad reputation" of his group had basically spread to the entire Yuelu Plain.

It has even replaced the Wuyou Palace and become the new "source of fear" in people's hearts.

In order to avoid causing greater disturbance to these grain transport teams, Geng Xuan would bypass them in advance whenever he saw a grain transport team appearing ahead.

It was also for this reason that Geng Xuan and his party arrived at Liuyunfang more than half an hour later than the normal time when Xuanyouma traveled.

……

When the team was still five or six miles away from Liuyunfang, Geng Xuan had already seen that Cheng Jia, the owner of Zhonghefang, and a strange middle-aged man were leading a group of more than ten people, riding Yuanzhou horses, galloping towards them.

Geng Xuan knew that this must be the welcoming team that Liuyunfang had sent to greet him after learning that he and his group were about to arrive.

Long before Geng Xuan and his party left Wanpingji, Hong Quan had already released a carrier pigeon to inform them that he and his party had officially returned west.

The purpose of doing this was not only to give advance notice so that all parties along the way could be prepared, but also to remind them not to continue sending carrier pigeons to Wanpingji.

Geng Xuan also had some guesses in his mind about the middle-aged man riding side by side with Zhonghefangzhu.

In the blink of an eye, the group of people were already a hundred steps away from Geng Xuan and others.

As Geng Xuan and others approached, they reined in their horses and slowly turned their horses around.

The middle-aged man bowed to Geng Xuan and said respectfully:
"But is it the leader of the Giant Bear Gang, Su? It's Shao Yuntao, the owner of the Lower Cloud House."

The shoulder height of an ordinary Yuanzhou horse is generally between 1.1 and 1.3 meters.

The Yuanzhou horses ridden by Cheng Jia, Shao Yuntao and others were all selected from the best horses, with a shoulder height generally exceeding 1.3 meters.

The Yuanzhou horses they rode were 1.5 meters tall at the shoulder.

Among Yuanzhou horses, these are already tall and majestic enough, but in front of Xuanyou horses that are over two meters tall at the shoulder, they are just like dwarf ponies.

As the two horse teams approached and rode side by side, even the Yuanzhou horses themselves seemed to feel panic and inferior.

The field that we saw when we first entered Yueluyuan, which was being plowed by farmers, has now been leveled into a large open space.

The grain transport convoys that came here from various markets in Yueluyuan all unloaded the grain here.

When unloading the grain, a group of people will confirm and count the type, quality, weight, etc. of the grain one by one.

These people come from three sources.

The first group is professionals who are proficient in this field and were selected from the Five Squares by Liang Wenying, Cheng Jia and others.

Because the affairs of the Wufang westward migration were complicated and intricate, the Wufang temporarily broke down the barriers between the lifangs.

Whether it is the mobilization of personnel or materials, all are concentrated together.

Unified coordination and unified command.

The westward migration team consisting of more than 92,000 people passed through Liuyunfang and continued their journey westward after resting for a night.

Cheng Jia, however, stayed behind with some people from the Five Districts.

Not only was he responsible for facilitating the flow of information between the 5,000 people left behind in Wufang and the large group migrating westwards.

He is also responsible for communicating with Liuyunfang, the vagrant group headed by Liu Yueji, and the grain transport teams coming from all over Yueluyuan.

It's not that they wanted to get involved in this on their own initiative, but they were commissioned by Hong Quan to act as a third party.

The second part is the elite people selected by Liu Yueji from the groups of knights and vagrants.

As the person in charge of grain transportation, Liu Yueji must of course be clear about how much grain has flowed into his hands.

The third part is the manpower arranged by Liuyunfang. As the party providing storage and transfer sites, Liuyunfang must of course know how much grain has entered its own territory.

In addition, the leaders of each grain transport team also have an idea of how much grain the convoys actually have.

Only when the quantities of grain checked separately by these four companies are completely consistent, can this batch of grain be considered successfully delivered.

When Geng Xuan and others arrived, they saw such a bustling scene.

A convoy of grain is being quickly transported down. After being checked and weighed, it is then sorted and stacked together according to the type and quality of the grain.

Teams shuttled back and forth between these grain piles.

Many people hold paper and pen in their hands, constantly recording something.

Behind this grain transport team, there were two other grain transport teams waiting in line.

On the other side of this huge storage yard, another even larger and more well-organized convoy, loaded with carts of grain and equipped with bright hurricane-proof lanterns, broke into the rapidly darkening night and set out on the journey westward.

Geng Xuan rode on Xuanyou's horse and took a quick look around.

He originally planned to just rest for a while, recover his strength, and then continue his journey west.

Under Shao Yuntao's almost begging invitation, he agreed to stay in Liuyunfang for a while.

As soon as you enter Liuyunfang, you can see the difference between it and Fengzefang.

Fengzefang at least has a road to decorate the storefront, but Liuyunfang is so shabby that one can tell at a glance.

The most luxurious and grand mansion in the entire neighborhood, located near the gate, is far inferior to Liang Wenying's mansion.

Shao Yuntao saw that Geng Xuan had been looking around since he entered Liuyunfang, with a look of shame and nervousness on his face.

Now, his mentality is probably a bit like a student who courageously hands in the test paper he has worked hard on to a teacher who is said to be very strict.

Contrary to Shao Yuntao's inner uneasiness, Geng Xuan's impression of Shao Yuntao actually improved a lot after seeing the situation in Liuyunfang.

Although, the concentration of red names above Shao Yuntao's head is not inferior to those of Cheng Jia, Chang Sidao and other abbots.

This trip to Yueluyuan can be called a gain or a compromise.

Geng Xuan was more tolerant of the red names on the heads of people like abbots, chieftains, and leaders of vagrant settlements.

This is not because he empathizes with their difficulties, but because in Geng Xuan's eyes, they are no longer "people".

It is an organizational core consisting of at least hundreds and at most tens of thousands of people.

Unlike organizations like Wuyou Palace, Geng Xuan strongly agrees with the existence of these organizations and even supports them.

The role of these people objectively maintains the stability, order, and development of these organizations.

If they are removed from this organization, it will inevitably lead to turmoil, chaos, and may even lead to the collapse of the entire organization.

Therefore, in Geng Xuan's eyes, the red names above these people's heads were no longer the accumulation of their personal sins of killing, but a characteristic that must be possessed by the core of this organization.

Therefore, if he recognizes the rationality and even necessity of the existence of these organizations, he must tolerate the existence of these cores with too high a concentration of red names.

To put it in simpler terms.

In Yueluyuan, and even in the Kyushu of the current world.

A leader who is in charge of the life and death of tens of thousands of people is a warm-hearted, kind, non-competitive and harmonious person.

Even if Geng Xuan used his "eyes of true vision" to see, he would find that this was truly a good person who was consistent in appearance and heart.

Is it a blessing or a disaster for this organization?

Based on this perception, Geng Xuan no longer had much prejudice against people like Cheng Jia and Shao Yuntao, who had a much more famous reputation than others.

When Geng Xuan entered the mansion under the guidance of Shao Yuntao and walked around the screen wall, he found that the open courtyard was brightly lit.

Large wooden tables filled with sumptuous dishes have been set up in the yard.

There is an open-air kitchen next to it.

Two gang members who were left behind at Liuyunfang by Cheng Hui and Xie Hang to be in charge of sending and receiving carrier pigeons were watching a group of people cooking and serving food.

When they saw Geng Xuan and others coming in, they hurried forward to greet them.

"Gang leader."

"Gang leader."

After the greeting, the two men came to Hong Quan and said that the banquet was completed under their own eyes and he could use it with confidence.

They were talking in low voices as Shao Yuntao led Geng Xuan across the courtyard and continued walking towards the hall.

"The last time you passed by Liuyunfang, you were in such a hurry that by the time I realized what was happening, you were already far away.

Please let me treat you well this time!"

There are nine tables in the hall, one of which is at the innermost side of the room, in the center of the hall.

The other eight tables were placed four on the left and four on the right.

On each table, there were already more exquisite dishes, fruits, drinks and other items.

When Shao Yuntao led Geng Xuan into the hall, several people had already gathered at the entrance of the hall and saluted Geng Xuan respectfully.

According to Shao Yuntao's introduction, these people were the leaders of nearby neighborhoods.

Although they were not as affected as Liuyunfang in the commotion these days, they were also greatly disturbed.

To be honest, with their strength, any grain transport team passing by could easily destroy them.

Because this grain transport team is composed of people carefully selected from various markets.

Among them, there are many practitioners in the Blood Refining Realm and even the Bone Refining Realm who are accompanying the team to provide escort.

Every day, they watch so many forces that can easily destroy them pass by them, coming and going.

The fact that these abbots were not frightened to death can be considered as quite courageous.

An hour and a half later, Geng Xuan and his companions, who had had a hearty meal, left Liuyunfang with the farewell of Cheng Jia, Shao Yuntao and other abbots.

Riding on the well-rested Xuanyou horses, the cavalry continued their journey westward at night.

Sitting on Xuanyou's horse, Geng Xuan was still thinking about a few things Shao Yuntao said when the banquet was about to end.

One is the question of how Liuyunfang should deal with itself in the future.

At the beginning, Fan Hongsheng led a team of Xuanyou cavalry to the door in a strong manner, and the request he put forward was just to let Liuyunfang serve as a transit station for the westward migration of the five squares.

Shao Yuntao, who was very sensible about the current situation, immediately agreed on behalf of Liuyunfang without discussing too many details with Fan Hongsheng.

But soon, from Liuyunfang's perspective, things became "more and more excessive" and completely out of control.

Not only did the five districts have to use Liuyunfang as a transit station when they moved westward.

All the grain "donated" from the 72 markets in Yueluyuan were also ordered to be sent to Liuyunfang for concentration.

As a result, Liuyunfang, which was originally unknown and invisible in Yueluyuan, became completely famous.

It is so famous that every leading figure in the market will remember it firmly in their hearts.

Shao Yuntao was not surprised by this, but only frightened.

Judging from the current situation, if Liuyunfang continues to stay in Yueluyuan, its future situation will be more embarrassing than Fengzefang, Zhonghefang and other five families.

Even dangerous.

Therefore, Shao Yuntao said that Liuyunfang must now work diligently to complete the relocation of the five districts and the transportation of grain to the west.

But he hoped that after these things were done, Liuyunfang would be able to move to the vicinity of Chiwu Mountain like Fengzefang, Zhonghefang, Jingshunfang and the other five Jiafangs, and survive under the protection of a strong man like him.

Geng Xuan agreed to Shao Yuntao's request without giving it much thought.

In fact, Shao Yuntao was able to endure this matter until the banquet was about to end and Geng Xuan and his group were about to leave. He was very patient.

Liu Yueji, Hong Quan and others had already analyzed that after this incident, Liuyunfang's situation would become extremely dangerous and embarrassing.

With Shao Yuntao's ability, he could naturally see this.

When he invited him to stay for dinner in an almost pleading tone, Geng Xuan already knew what he was going to say.

Moreover, Geng Xuan agreed to Shao Yuntao's request.

He also promised that when the time comes, he would treat the same treatment as the five other middle-class areas that moved west, including Fengzefang.

Each resident of Liuyunfang was given a housewarming gift of two taels of silver per person.

But the second thing Shao Yuntao mentioned really surprised Geng Xuan.

He asked Geng Xuan what they were going to do with their current Lifang in Yueluyuan after the five Lifangs of Fengzefang, Zhonghefang, Jingshunfang, Lingbaofang and Wanshoufang moved westward.

When Geng Xuan heard Shao Yuntao raise this question, he was stunned for a moment.

Then she replied, "You should ask Liang Wenying, Cheng Jia and the others about this, right?"

As he spoke, Geng Xuan looked at Cheng Jia who was also present at the time.

Cheng Jia immediately replied respectfully:

"The day before yesterday, the westward migration team stayed overnight at Liuyunfang. Fangzhu Liang and his men were there, and Fangzhu Shao asked this question.

We discussed it and felt that for such a big matter, we should consult you before making a decision."

Cheng Jia's answer made Geng Xuan stunned again.

However, he soon came to his senses.

On the surface, the reactions of Liang Wenying, Cheng Jia and others were naturally expressions of respect for him.

——For such a big matter, we would never act on our own without your instructions.

But if you think about it carefully, you will understand that this is the only choice Wujiafang has to make.

According to their own ideas, they would certainly like to find a generous and wealthy customer to take over the neighborhood they have run for many years.

The neighborhoods with tens of thousands of houses and luxurious mansions, large tracts of mulberry and orchards, complete water conservancy facilities, and more importantly, hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile farmland were all converted into silver.

It’s a pity that this kind of thing can only be thought about in the mind and is not possible to be put into practice.

There is no one in the entire Yueluyuan who can really come up with such a large sum of money.

We have to look for it among the noble families in Yuanjing.

But for those wealthy and powerful families, would they spend such a large sum of money to make a "fair deal" with these five families?

He is a vampire noble, but he has never thought about doing farming himself.

Moreover, for those hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, how much do you think is an appropriate price per acre?

According to the simple concept of the neighborhood, if one acre of land can produce a value of two hundred coins a year.

So, if I value this acre of land based on its value in ten or twenty years, and sell it for two to four taels per acre, is that not too much?

Of course, there are good years and bad years. We can discuss in detail how to make the valuation based on the output over a certain number of years.

To the people in the neighborhood who owned these lands, this seemed completely reasonable and there was no intention of extortion at all.

However, this could just be their wishful thinking.

No one will pay for this valuation except themselves.

No one would pay hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver for these hundreds of thousands of acres of land.

The reason why Wujiafang owns these hundreds of thousands of acres of land is not because of their hard work or the inheritance from generation to generation.

But the nearly 100,000 residents.

With their protection, these fields are theirs. When these nearly 100,000 residents left, these hundreds of thousands of acres of cultivated fields naturally became "no man's land".

It's still winter now and they just left, so it's not very noticeable yet.

When the spring planting season comes next year, if these five villages are still deserted, let's see if the villages adjacent to them will quietly invade the fields and move their boundaries!
Within two years, the land that originally belonged to Wujiafang will "disappear" quietly.

Don’t say that the surrounding neighborhoods are doing something wrong.

If we were in Wujiafang’s shoes, we would do the same.

If such a thing happened, Geng Xuan would not have the audacity to cause trouble for those neighbors who had encroached on farmland and moved their boundaries.

Let them spit out the land they have eaten and return it to Wujiafang.

Therefore, the window of opportunity to deal with this matter is actually very short.

There is only one or two months.

After this winter, when the surrounding neighborhoods have established a fait accompli, Geng Xuan will not be able to wade into this muddy water himself.

Sell, can’t sell.

The Five Districts were obviously unwilling to just leave it there and allow the surrounding districts to erode it.

After thinking this through, Geng Xuan guessed that Shao Yuntao's question was both to help Wufang express his thoughts and to explore the way forward for Liuyunfang.

——Because it had been determined at that time that Liuyunfang would also move westward like Wufang.

Then, they will also face the fact that these existing fields are likely to be wasted.

After understanding Shao Yuntao's intention, Geng Xuan asked directly, "Do you have any good suggestions?"

He had already seen that Shao Yuntao must have given this matter a lot of thought.

When he asked this question, some things should have already been brewing in his mind.

Shao Yuntao did not hide anything and pointed at the neighborhood owners from Liuyunfang and said:

"I have discussed this with them, and they said that if you are willing to guarantee Wujiafang, they are willing to move east and take over all the current businesses in Wujiafang."

Geng Xuan was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect Shao Yuntao to make such a suggestion.

However, if he thought about it carefully, if he was willing to act as a guarantor, these neighborhoods would really be willing to take over the deal.

The area where Liuyunfang is located is already the edge of the western side of Yueluyuan.

Compared with the neighborhoods such as Fengzefang and Zhonghefang, it is backward in all aspects.

Not only is there a lack of more complete and systematic water conservancy facilities.

More importantly, the land in Fengzefang and Zhonghefang, which are closer to the central area of Yueluyuan, are cultivated fields that have been carefully tended by generations of farmers for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Many of the fields around Liuyunfang have only been gradually reclaimed in recent decades.

With the same amount of labor, there is a huge difference in grain yield per mu.

At the same time, Geng Xuan also thought that the premise for these neighborhoods to agree to this transaction was to ask him to be a guarantor. There was another intention behind this, which was to use him to deter those rice shops.

Because if the rice industry is not solved, it seems that there is not much difference between more and less grain production.

——Anyway, in the end, everyone will be exploited to the limit by Mi Xing.

But if this deal is guaranteed by him, the ruthless man who subjugated the 72 markets in Yueluyuan, it would also prevent these rice shops from exploiting them to the extreme.

Only in this way can a good harvest have meaning.

Logically speaking, this incident would not bring much benefit to Geng Xuan, but would instead create many new troubles.

But after hearing Shao Yuntao's suggestion, Geng Xuan had the idea of getting involved.

The biggest obstacle that prevents Wujiafang’s land from being realized is also the meaning of his existence as a “guarantor”.

From another perspective, isn’t this the function of the “government”?
Later, Shao Yuntao, Cheng Jia, and other neighborhood leaders said a lot more.

For example, the neighborhoods surrounding Liuyunfang have relatively small populations.

If the deal can be concluded, they will also have to merge and combine the workshops.

The two Fangs must join forces to take over a big Fang like Fengze Fang or Jingshun Fang.

For example, they didn't have much money.

If the deal is reached, including moving east, a lot of money will have to be spent.

Therefore, giving cash is impossible.

The only reward they can offer is the future output from the fields.

Every year, they are willing to take out 50%, of which 25% will be given to Fengzefang, Zhonghefang and other neighborhoods for a period of ten years.

Then give another 25% to the "guarantor" for a period of time - permanently.

As long as Geng Xuan is willing to guarantee the legality of the transaction, they are willing to continue paying the fee.

My goodness, this is considered protection money.

It’s better to just change the name and call it grain tax.

This turn of events really came quite unexpectedly.

This just happened to confirm Geng Xuan's other guess, that they wanted to use him, a "vicious man", to resist Mi Xing's bullying.

The other side of paying him, their "guarantor", 25% of the harvest as "protection fee" every year was that he had to keep these rice shops out of these neighborhoods.

Otherwise, this 25% "protection fee" is just a blank check that cannot be cashed.

After figuring out the twists and turns behind this, Geng Xuan fell silent for a moment.

These neighborhood leaders thought that they had handled the matter in a circuitous and covert manner, and that as long as they did not take the initiative to make it public before the harvest season next year, the incident would not cause any waves.

But once the harvest season comes, all the tricks will be exposed.

By then, even if he showed more sincerity, there would be no room for easing the tension between him and those high-ranking families in Yuanjing and the top forces in Yuanzhou.

Not only the forces within Yuanzhou, but also the other eight states, countless eyes will be focused on him.

After figuring this out, Geng Xuan not only did not feel panic, but instead felt eager to try.

Isn’t there still a year left?
However, before agreeing to be the "guarantor", Geng Xuan asked one last question.

“Liang Wenying and his men moved west this time because they were worried about retaliation from Wuyou Palace.

You guys are actively getting involved with me like this, aren't you worried?"

"We are of course worried, but is there a better way?"

A monk sighed and explained the reason for his decision.

There is also fierce competition among the neighbors in Yueluyuan.

People like them, who have gradually fallen to the edge of Yueluyuan and have a population of only a few thousand people, are losers in this harsh competition no matter what the reason.

And their situation has reached a very dangerous state.

In order to maintain the situation in the neighborhood, it requires a huge effort.

Taking a step forward and continuing to squeeze to the center of Yueluyuan would almost be wishful thinking.

But the next step is that the neighborhood will collapse and become a loose sand, and it will be easy for vagrants to beg for food everywhere.

Given a choice, no one in the neighborhood would be willing to go this far.

So, when such an opportunity arises.

At the same time, a multiple-choice question with two choices was placed before them.

On one hand, they could enter the central area of Yueluyuan and take over Dalifang, which has a mature system, complete facilities, fertile land, and is much better than their place in every aspect. However, they might have to face retaliation from Wuyou Palace.
On the one hand, people continue to stay here, and everyone in the neighborhood tries their best to struggle to survive in order to avoid becoming vagrants.

How to make this choice between the two options? The owners of the neighborhoods who came to the banquet gave their answers with practical actions.

"..." After a moment's silence, Geng Xuan gave his clear answer in everyone's expectant eyes.

"Okay, I'll be the guarantor!"

……

The Xuanyou cavalry traveled westward and had already left Liuyunfang.

Geng Xuan was still thinking about the things that were discussed at the table.

However, his thoughts were not limited to what the abbots were talking about at that time.

He couldn't help but continue digging deeper following these people's thoughts.

These neighborhoods must truly gain a foothold in places like Liuyunfang and Zhonghefang.

The number of people should at least not be less than that of Fengzefang.

Even because of the lack of experience and the tense relationship with the surrounding "new neighbors".

More manpower is needed than the current five districts to continue operating the five large districts.

Well, doesn't this mean that on the edge of Yueluyuan, there will be villages with a population of over 100,000 people that will be emptied out?
These remote and relatively barren neighborhoods are certainly not worth mentioning in the eyes of the local people.

But on the other hand, for those nomadic settlements that are more peripheral and where survival is less guaranteed, this is also the "land flowing with milk and honey" that they covet!
There are also differences between nomadic settlements.

An idea that seemed a bit too tiring and might make tens or even millions of people busy emerged in Geng Xuan's mind.

"Since we are going to do it, why not just make it bigger!"

"Compared to helping them escape from this quagmire of suffering, giving them hope of upward mobility is equally valuable as gold.

This is also much easier to achieve.”

Moreover, Geng Xuan was certain that he would not stop his actions.

Be it Wuyou Palace or other forces in Yuanzhou, none of them would have the leisure to pay attention to the movements of a group of low-level residents and vagrants.

Before he fell, the so-called danger did not really exist for them.

With this in mind, about an hour after the Xuanyou cavalry left Liuyunfang, Geng Xuan and his party had arrived near the nomadic settlement led by Xu Dazhi and Zhang Yao.

The small river that originally blocked the east and west banks has been paved with a small bridge more than ten meters wide using huge rocks and logs.

When Geng Xuan and his companions arrived at the bridge, they saw Liu Yueji coming out from under the bridge with a torch in hand.

Behind him followed Xu Dazhi and a group of vagrants from the settlement.

Judging from their appearance, they must be checking whether there are any safety hazards in the hastily built bridge.

This is a task that must be performed every time a grain convoy is about to pass.

Geng Xuan had already learned about this matter through carrier pigeon messaging.

Just when Geng Xuan and others arrived at Liuyunfang, a grain transport team that had just departed from Liuyunfang happened to be not far from here.

Liu Yueji came out from under the bridge and saw Geng Xuan and his group. A bright smile immediately broke out on her face and she strode towards them.

"Boss, you're here?"

Geng Xuan nodded, and thinking about what he had been thinking along the way, he wanted to have a good talk with Liu Yueji.

He believed that with Liu Yueji's equally eager-to-help personality, she would definitely be willing to help him accomplish this.

At this moment, Geng Xuan suddenly turned his head and looked towards the night sky to the west.

The next moment, Geng Xuan suddenly stretched out his hand and waved towards the sky.

While the others were still confused, they saw a black shadow suddenly falling from the sky and landing on the small bridge in front of them with a "puff".

Everyone looked closely and saw that it was an owl.

However, the "head" of this owl is not connected to its body.

Instead, it fell into the small river nearby with a splash.

At this moment, two cooing sounds were heard from the night sky above, and a pigeon appeared in the area of light created by torches used by Liu Yueji and others.

Geng Xuan stretched out his hand and let the pigeon land in his hand. He unfolded the message it brought and glanced at it. With a gleam in his eyes, Geng Xuan said to Liu Yueji:
"I wanted to talk to you about something in detail, but now it seems that it is not possible... When you have a chance, I will talk to you at Santongji."

Liu Yueji immediately handed the torch to Xu Dazhi next to him and said:
"Boss, I can go with you now."

Geng Xuan asked: "Are you going to ignore the situation here?"

Liu Yueji replied:
"I have nothing to do here. I was just patrolling along the way and you just happened to meet me here."

Seeing this, Geng Xuan nodded and said, "Then follow me."

As he said that, he let Liu Yueji ride on an empty horse.

——Because six gang members died, there will be a few more empty horses without riders on the return journey.

Liu Yueji smiled and jumped on the horse. She said hello to Xu Dazhi and the others, then followed Geng Xuan and the others and continued to rush westward.

About two hours later, Geng Xuan and others crossed the dried-up ancient river channel.

Enter the wilderness on the west side.

Soon, a large camp appeared in the sight of Geng Xuan and others.

This camp naturally started from the five districts, including Fengzefang, Zhonghefang, and more than 92,000 people from the five districts arrived here after three days of trekking.

Judging from their current state, they obviously just arrived not long ago.

On the 22nd, the team set out from Wufang, traveled more than 200 miles, and stayed overnight in Liuyunfang.

After that, after another two days of trekking, they traveled a total of more than 300 miles and arrived here.

This was also the temporary place designated by Geng Xuan for them to stay.

However, Geng Xuan hurried here not to check the specific situation of the westward migration of the five districts.

There are bright torches that illuminate the area around the camp, so any people or animals approaching will be discovered immediately.

But after Geng Xuan led a group of Xuanyou cavalry into the illuminated area, they were soon discovered.

A group of people who were waiting at the entrance of the camp quickly came over here.

Liang Wenying, Chang Sidao and other leaders of the five districts all surrounded them and kept them company.

There are many familiar faces among this group of people.

Fang Jintang, Qi Mingcheng, and the other four people in the early stage of marrow refining who followed closely beside them were all old acquaintances.

But at the same time, there are five new faces.

However, to be honest, although this was the first time Geng Xuan met them, they had been "spiritually connected" with each other for a long time.

Long before he became familiar with Fang Jintang and others, he already had a deep bond with these people.

The group of people walked quickly up to Geng Xuan and greeted him respectfully.

Geng Xuan dismounted and looked at the man walking side by side with Fang Jintang and Qi Mingcheng, and asked with a smile:

"Are you the Grand Master Feng Yu?"

The man smiled bitterly and shook his head:
"How dare you, a stray dog, call yourself the master of a museum?

But sir, if I hadn’t come to visit you today, you wouldn’t have known that there is a real dragon like you hidden in Chiwu Mountain!”

This person was none other than Feng Yu, the former master of Baiyuanji, who was cheated by Geng Xuan and lost his family.

The four people behind him also came from the marrow refining school of Baiyuanji.

Among them, two were Feng Yu’s close confidants who had fled with him.

Although the other two were not his confidants, they had been colleagues for many years. In addition, they all had a common memory of fleeing under the pressure of Anleji, so naturally their relationship was not bad.

This time, when Feng Yu heard that Santongji and Qingyuanji had made great achievements and wanted to take the opportunity to get on board, in order to boost his own momentum, he brought these two people with him.

The news that Wu Youxin and his Xuanyou Iron Cavalry were completely wiped out and the Wu family in Anleji was severely damaged has been widely circulated in recent times, and naturally these two people have heard about it.

After hearing Feng Yu's invitation, he agreed without any hesitation.

Only those who have truly wandered know how valuable a stable foundation is.

Now, the severely damaged Wu family has been recruiting troops on a large scale and is preparing to fight head-on with the Santong Group and the Qingyuan Group.

If these people want to return to Baiyuanji, this is the best and last chance.

However, what they did not expect was that their original purpose was to go to Santongji to visit Fang Jintang and Qi Mingcheng, the "father-in-law and son-in-law".

But in the end, I was led here by these two people.

——The temporary place designated by Geng Xuan for these five districts to stay was not far behind Santongji, only about twenty miles away.

Then, I was told by the two not long ago——

There are people behind us!

At this moment, looking at Geng Xuan, Feng Yu felt the absurdity of getting on a pirate ship, but also felt uncontrollably excited and eager to try.

There was no way out after learning from Fang Jintang and Qi Mingcheng what Geng Xuan had done during this period.

Anyone who has a little bit of ideas will tremble all over.

If you can't control it even a little, you'll get goose bumps all over your body.

Feng Yu understood this and stopped being pretentious. He half-knelt on the ground and said:
"Feng Yu is a stray dog. I beg the gang leader to take him in!"

The four people following Feng Yu also half-knelt down with him.

"The stray dog Ding Fuquan/Pang Wen/Tao Bai/Wang Hengshu, beg the gang leader to take him in!"

Even though he had known the result in advance through carrier pigeon messages, Geng Xuan couldn't help but feel emotional at this moment as he looked at the five Marrow Refining Realm experts who came to surrender without him using any means and knelt on the ground respectfully.

(End of this chapter)