Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 70 You Don’t Even Want to Call Me Mr.

Dozens of young and old men knelt in the reception room and cried loudly, while fifty armored players stood ready around them.

Many of them were "beggar soldiers" who died in the attack on the landlord's stronghold. Players recognized the wealthy, but the wealthy could not recognize the players whose faces had changed.

A wealthy man with gray hair crawled to Li Mu's feet on his knees and tearfully accused the beggar thief of his crimes.

"Since the founding of our Guangshan Liang family, we have always been an honest and dedicated farming and scholarly family, keeping the words of the sages in mind and never doing anything that would harm the world or injustice.

In recent years, I have only slightly delayed paying taxes, and the beggar bandits seized the opportunity to use it as an excuse. They said that my Liang family owed taxes and deserved to be put to death. Not only did they kill my Liang family patriarch, they also suddenly led troops to break into Liangjiazhuang.

My Liang clan members resisted and preserved our family's reputation. The men were tortured dozens of times day and night by the bandits, and the women were humiliated by them in turns. Even the chickens, ducks, fish, and sheep were slaughtered by the bandits to vent their anger. Even passing stray dogs were slapped. It was truly outrageous!
When I got wind of the news and rushed back to the Liang family, I killed everyone in the Liang family, young and old. Those accomplices to the enemy were all moving our money, food and supplies.

That was the family fortune accumulated by three generations of my family, and it just fell into the hands of those treacherous people! Those damned treacherous people laughed at me, saying, "Brothers, we've got food again," and even urged me to carry a bag too.

If I hadn't been out inspecting the tenants that day, I would have probably become a dead soul at the hands of the beggar thieves!
Right now, all the counties and cities in southern Henan have fallen into the hands of bandits. I heard that there's a Li family leader who has built a stronghold south of Shangcheng to protect himself. Everyone says that only you can keep us safe and give us justice!

The gray-haired old man raised his trembling hands and reached out to Li Mu's trouser legs, as if to wipe his tears and snot.

Just when he was about to succeed, the player next to him was quick-witted and grabbed the old man by the back of his neck and pushed him several steps away.

"Hey, I'm a guest after all, how can you be so rude?"

Li Mu said polite words, but thought to himself that it was a good job, and rewarded the man with 5 merit points.

Li Mu winked at the player next to him, and someone immediately brought him a pot of hot tea.

"Thank you." The wealthy people stood up, took the teacups and drank it. After drinking the warm tea, they felt comfortable all over.

Everyone sighed that the head of the Li family had good eyesight. He knew that you said you were thirsty and immediately offered you some tea to moisten your throat.

"What do you want me to do?" Li Mu sat steadily in the hall, his young face revealing the temperament of a big boss.

"We are willing to make Li Xiaoyou the leader of the anti-bandit forces in southern Henan and assist the government forces in retaking our homeland!"

Li Mu shook his head. "You've asked me to lead the suppression of the bandits in the city, but that's absolutely impossible... I admit I'm not very knowledgeable. I previously trained over 200 servants to help the Zhao family fight the bandits, but they collapsed at the first blow. I don't know if they dispersed or surrendered. The bandits are growing stronger and stronger. How can a mere farmer like me fight against these 'beggars'?"

"Little friend Li, don't underestimate yourself!"

"Yes, yes. Lijiazhai is the only place in this hundred-mile radius that maintains peace. This shows how capable you are."

"Being able to stand out in this war-torn land, my friend Li's future is undoubtedly limitless! If he can unite with the government troops to defeat the beggar bandits, the imperial court will reward him, and the Li family will be honored."

"It's a pity that you don't have the title of scholar. Otherwise, with the emperor's nature of promoting talents without exception, Li Xiaoyou will definitely achieve great things. Who knows, you might even become a minister in a few years!"

"What nonsense are you talking about! Why does Li Xiaoyou need fame and honor to serve the court?" An old man immediately refuted, "Li Xiaoyou is a young talent with extraordinary talent. He has single-handedly created the current situation of Lijiazhai. Even if you are a juren, what's the use of it? You still need to seek protection from others."

"Old Wu, if someone says that to me, I won't argue, but why are you joining in the fun? You organized 800 local militiamen to follow the government army to suppress the bandits, but in the end, they were all a bunch of rotten fish and shrimps, and they were defeated in a day. Do you really think you have the ability to train troops and fight like them?"

"Me!" The old man was provoked by this and his face turned red. The words were stuck in his throat and he almost suffocated to death. He felt better after being comforted by his old friend and fed a sip of warm tea.

Seeing the old man was furious, his friends immediately pointed at the man who was refuting them and started cursing at him, almost wanting to stage a literary fight. "That's enough! Do you think this is your home?"

Li Mu roared, quickly calming down the verbal fight between the two parties.

"Look at you all fighting amongst yourselves, you're so pathetic! The enemy hasn't even attacked us yet, and you're already fighting amongst yourselves! How disgraceful!"

Li Mu stood up and walked to several middle-aged and elderly people.

Everyone was several levels higher than Li Mu in terms of age and seniority. Although they felt unhappy about being scolded by a junior, as if they were "going against the grain" and "upsetting the moral principles," when they thought about it carefully, Li Mu was right.

If they could work together and unite, not to mention wiping out the beggar thieves, at least they would not allow the thieves to be so arrogant.

"You came to my house, without any regard for friendship or reason, and as soon as you entered the door, you asked me to go to war and fight the enemy for you. Is this in accordance with etiquette? Do you think I am a junior member of your clan who can be summoned and dismissed at will?
If you just want peace and behave yourself here, I will naturally keep you safe.

If you want people to shed blood and sacrifice for your family business, I won't do it. Last time, when more than 200 servants died, no one from the Zhao family paid me the pension! "

"You misunderstood, we..."

"You don't even want to call me sir!" Li Mu glared at the old man who spoke.

The latter stumbled for a moment, his mind racing. All the rules of seniority and ethics were put aside for the time being. He finally corrected his hesitation and addressed the title, "Mr. Li, I, I am willing to destroy my family fortune to support the cause of suppressing bandits!"

As soon as the old man finished speaking, he took out a stack of paper from his sleeve. He was a little reluctant to hand it over, and then he pulled it back. But Li Mu couldn't bear to watch it anymore and grabbed it.

"This is a Jiangdong business founded by the Huizhou merchants. Three thousand taels, payable on sight."

Holding dozens of silver bills, Li Mu couldn't help but sigh, "You old man, when the beggar army was squeezing money and food from you, you pretended to be poor and cried. Now that your own interests have been damaged, you are really working hard to pay the money."

Li Mu even suspected that this was not the old man's full "strength".

Seeing the first example of "bleeding", other wealthy people also took out the silver bills or gold jewelry they had with them.

Those who did not have enough money immediately stated that when Li Mu led his troops passing by, they would welcome the "bandit-suppressing army" with food and drink, and offer the money and food that they owed to him.

The wealthy families from several states and counties contributed a little each, and together they raised a total of 45,000 taels of silver for Li Mu, not including the money and food supplies for the soldiers crossing the border.

OK OK.

Li Mu thought to himself that if the gentry had not been forced into a desperate situation and he had not pushed them further, this group of gentry who cried poor to everyone they met would have no idea how great their potential was.

You must know that Li Mu, who got the tax and service register, knew very well that the annual taxes collected from Shangcheng County only added up to 40,000 to 50,000 taels. If these old guys just put together the money, it would be enough to support a county.

Li Mu really wanted to ask these people how good it felt to plunder the people's wealth, but this "people's wealth" fell into Li Mu's hands again.

He wants to use this money well and spend it all on the construction of the county!
"After I gather my troops and horses, prepare food and weapons, I will immediately head north to recapture the mall!"

(End of this chapter)