My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 38 The Promoter

The sun was blazing, but a gentle breeze made it feel less intense.

"Brothers, please have a seat."

Li Xuanba led the two strangers into his courtyard. Because the guesthouse was too small, he asked Liu Chounu to bring over a table and chairs so they could sit down directly in the courtyard.

The two men were both quite young. One of them was burly and had several scars on his face. He looked imposing and was immediately drawn to the decorations in the courtyard. He looked curiously at the martial arts display stand with many golden gourds on it and marveled at it.

The other man was also tall, but he didn't have the same martial demeanor. He was quite handsome, with a kind smile on his face, and an air of elegance and nobility.

These two were sent by the eldest brother to help Li Xuanba.

The burly man was named Feng Li.

He was from Fengyi County in Tongzhou. Born into a military family, he was exceptionally skilled in martial arts, especially archery and horsemanship. He was the strongest warrior among the group of warriors around Li Jiancheng. Previously, when he went hunting with Li Jiancheng, he never missed a shot and easily killed a large bear, which aweed everyone.

The other person was named Wei Ting. He wasn't really a guest of Li Jiancheng, but rather a friend. He happened to come to visit Li Jiancheng and was conscripted by him to help his younger brother with his affairs.

He came from the prominent Jingzhao Wei clan in Guanzhong. He was an upright man, often resourceful, and skilled in riding and archery. He was an excellent friend of Li Jiancheng.

After the two sat down, Li Xuanba finally spoke, saying, "I am still young and don't know much. I will listen to you two on this important matter and will definitely not cause you any trouble."

Wei Ting chuckled and said, "Young Master San is so young, yet he already has a clear understanding of the world's situation and knows to prepare in advance and accumulate strength. He is truly remarkable. We are here to assist you, so please do as you say."

He had barely uttered a sentence when Feng Li angrily interrupted him, "Third Young Master is only ten years old. What great things can he do? The young master has instructed that he should learn from him. Don't speak recklessly and ruin the young master's important plans!"

The atmosphere suddenly turned cold.

Li Laoda gets along very well with his guests and friends, and a large number of powerful people have gathered around him, all willing to risk their lives for him to repay his friendship.

However, the relationships among his guests and friends were not so friendly.

The main reason is that Boss Li accepts all comers. He has all kinds of people around him, some from high-ranking families, some from low-ranking families, some are frontier warriors, some are scions of powerful clans, and there are even a few from commoner backgrounds. When Li Jiancheng is not around, these people can't get along at all.

Li Laoda is excellent at winning people over, but he has a fatal flaw: he is not good at mediating relationships among his subordinates. It takes a lot of skill to get along with everyone.

Li Xuanba seemed to sense something and said, "Thank you for your kindness, brother. Of course, I will follow your instructions and take your words as the standard."

Wei Ting merely glanced at Feng Li without saying a word.

He was different from the impoverished man in front of him. His family had not fallen on hard times. His father was the former Minister of Revenue, and he still had the title left by his father. Moreover, he could serve as a Gentleman in the court next year, and the year after that, he could go directly to the local government to become a chief official. He was not on the same level as these retainers.

Wei Ting ignored Feng Li and went straight to ask Li Xuanba about other things.

"Sanlang, how many men have you gathered? Have you collected enough food and weapons? Have you found a place to settle everyone?"

Li Xuanba hurriedly went inside and took out the map his second brother had drawn for him.

Seeing this map, Wei Ting was even more convinced that this was Li Jiancheng's own idea, but he had simply handed it over to his younger brother, seemingly wanting to test him.
For hundreds of years, setting up farms in secluded places, settling tenants, and hiding people has been the specialty of powerful clans. Large numbers of people were hidden by these clans and became untouchable households that did not pay taxes. The Wei family also did something similar.

Therefore, when he heard about this from Li Jiancheng, he concluded that Li Jiancheng was preparing for the future.

Li Xuanba carefully explained his current situation.

"Including me, there are nineteen riders. I am currently learning to ride, but the rest of us are all skilled in archery and horsemanship. My second brother has already gathered the horses and bows and arrows, and has prepared provisions for them in the orchard in the south courtyard of my house."

After introducing his family's situation, Li Xuanba began to explain his plans, "I intend to bury the deceased on Wild Buffalo Mountain."

Wei Ting and Feng Li listened to his story, nodding from time to time.

Wei Ting suddenly shook his head. "I don't think it's appropriate."

"Oh? What's wrong with it?" "The so-called 'hidden household' isn't about being as remote as possible. It's not about hiding people in some deep mountain forest; it's about making the unreasonable reasonable. I know your family owns public land outside the city, and you have the register of the public land. So, these deceased people can become tenants on your household register, gaining legal status. If anyone questions it, it will be easier to deal with them. That's true 'hidden'."

"If you have the idea of ​​setting up camp deep in the mountains and forests, transportation and construction will be very troublesome. Moreover, the people you gather may not all be obedient. If things go wrong, they may steal your things and disappear into the dense forest, and you will never be able to find them again."

Wei Ting began to earnestly teach this naive young nobleman the skills of his family's traditional aristocratic traditions.

The old nobles had a complete set of procedures for exploiting the common people, hoarding household registrations, and resisting the imperial court.

Wei Ting became more and more excited as he spoke, even imparting some more advanced techniques, "Then you can even save on seeds and oxen, because nominally these resettled people are all government servants of the public fields. If they dare to escape, you can openly and legitimately arrest them."

"In this way, the costs are all borne by the government, and the people are readily available. You can get a large area of ​​farmland and thousands of laborers without doing almost anything. You can set taxes on these tenant farmers at will, leave them enough food to keep them from starving, and take the rest. That is all a favor to them."

"Grain prices are currently high, especially in Hebei, where they are several times higher than in Henan. If the grain produced there were transported to Hebei via the Grand Canal, the profits would be enormous!"

Hearing Wei Ting's words, Li Xuanba's face showed little smile.

It seems that the chaos in the world is not only due to taxes and corvée labor, but also to some opportunists who are constantly pushing this suffering forward.

He didn't like Wei Ting very much anymore, but since the other party was his elder brother's good friend, Li Xuanba couldn't scold him even if he didn't like him.

Wei Ting continued talking to himself, and his words became increasingly outrageous.

Next, he wanted to change Li Xuanba's strategy and settle the people in the farm.

Li Xuanba then spoke up, "Lord Wei, this matter is not easy to handle."

"Oh?"

“My family is new to Xingyang. The Zheng family is still in the city. If we want to settle these people in various farms, we will inevitably have to deal with the Zheng family, which will be extremely risky.”

Wei Ting waved his hand, "Zheng would not dare to report such a matter. Besides, their family has a very good relationship with your family."

“The Zheng family is not monolithic; there are good and bad members. You know that your brother has just made an enemy of their family. If we force things, we might cause trouble.”

Wei Ting paused for a moment, then said, "Alright, let's do it your way. I'll keep in touch with the Zheng family, so don't worry about it!"

Wei Ting gave a few instructions, but didn't seem to care much about the matter, and soon prepared to leave.

But Feng Li did not leave; he remained seated in his place.

When Li Xuanba saw Wei Ting off and returned to the courtyard, Feng Li was playing with Li Xuanba's wooden hammer. Feng Li weighed it in his hand a few times and remarked, "It's quite heavy."

He suddenly turned around and looked at Li Xuanba.

"Third Master, why did you refuse Lord Wei's suggestion just now? Are you truly afraid of the Zheng family?"

Li Xuanba hesitated for a moment before revealing the truth: "I did this not to amass wealth for myself, but to save lives."

"It is indeed easier to settle them on farms, but they are too deeply involved with the government and cannot be maintained. Once my father leaves his post, wouldn't these people be in big trouble? Besides, my family only has two farms. Even if they are all filled, how many people can we help? It would be better to settle them in the deep mountains and forests."

"Although it's more troublesome, more costly, and not of much use to my family, once the land is cultivated, it will be able to help more people in the future and also provide shelter from officials and armies."

Feng Li stared at Li Xuanba in surprise, his gaze softening further.

"Third Brother is indeed kind and righteous."

"I will do everything in my power to help with this matter!!!"

(End of this chapter)