Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 23: The Protector and the Villagers (Please continue reading)

It would be impossible to rashly lead a village of able-bodied men to venture out without consulting the village elders.

In rural China, clan systems are prevalent. Without the permission of his elders, Zhang Xian couldn't even take one person with him, let alone an entire village of teenagers.

Now that the village elder has given his approval, things will be much easier to do in the future. As for what the village elder said about not letting the land in the small mountain village go to waste, that will naturally not happen.

Even if the people in a small mountain village let their land lie fallow, he wouldn't let it lie fallow; it's all experience points.

Despite the fact that something major had happened in the morning, Zhang Xian acted as usual in the afternoon.

When it's time to cultivate the land, they cultivate the land; when it's time to organize the village's young men to practice marching drills, they practice marching drills using the village's speech book.

Everything is geared towards gaining experience points.

However, after finishing his storytelling today, he did not dismiss everyone as usual, but instead asked them to stand still and continue listening to him.

The land in the small mountain village was originally used by the villagers to dry their grain, but since it's not yet spring planting season, Zhang Xian has used it for training.

Seeing a group of young men looking at him with obvious curiosity, Zhang Xian smiled.

"Keeping you around isn't a big deal, but I just want to ask how many of you really want to work for me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the twenty-odd people in the fairly neat queue all raised their hands.

The room was quiet; no one spoke.

See, the training results over the past week or so haven't been very good.

"Alright, since you all want to work for me, I'll be frank with you."

"You must have heard about what happened this morning. That's right, your Brother Xian saved the life of the young master of the Guo family, so the Guo family paid your Brother Xian a piece of land as payment for his medical treatment."

"Therefore, I plan to build a manor, and you are the manor caretakers I intend to hire. Since you are hired, there will naturally be remuneration."

Zhang Xian walked back and forth in front of the two rows of people, talking as he held up two fingers.

"There are two salaries for hiring you. One is fifty coins per day, including food and lodging. The other is that once the estate is up and running, we will organize people to help all households cultivate their land."

"You may speak now. Are you all willing?"

"Yes! I want to work with Brother Xian!"

"That's right."

"Brother Xian, I'll stick with you."

"Me too!"

"."

The scene suddenly became noisy. Zhang Xian smiled when he saw this, but after a while, he reached out and stopped the noise.

"Alright, we just talked about compensation, now let's talk about responsibility. Zhuang Hu, as the name suggests, is to protect the manor, so I will be training you all very hard from now on, so don't complain when that happens."

Furthermore, guarding the estate inevitably involves some fighting, so this is actually a different kind of military unit. I'll give you one night to consider it. Once you've decided, I will sign a contract with you after tomorrow morning's training!

"Now, disband!"

[Commander Experience +10]

After saying that, Zhang Xian left on his own, leaving behind a group of young men who were looking at each other in confusion.

Among the boys, Huwa suddenly shouted, "Anyway, I'm definitely going to follow Brother Xian. I'm going to tell my mother right now."

He ran off in a hurry, and most of the others did the same, each going home.
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West of Zhengding County, in the direction of Puwu County.

Xiahou Lan rode on horseback with three or four men on the imperial road.

"Almost there."

Seeing the scattered shacks that looked much like those outside Zhen Ding County, Xiahou Lan raised his arm and stopped his horse.

The men following him also reined in their horses.

The horses were all old and worn-out, used for hauling goods and traveling, but this also allowed the village lads to get used to riding them.

This is extremely rare in other villages, mainly because small mountain villages are mostly inhabited by military families, and the village elders intentionally cultivate them to achieve this situation.

"Alan, are these the people Brother Xian wants?" someone asked Xiahou Lan. The latter shook her head: "I don't know. First, make sure everyone has their weapons ready and doesn't get scattered."

"I know."

As they rode along, Xiahou Lan's gaze lingered on the shacks where young children or the elderly lived.

There were many beggars on the road, but with weapons in hand, no one dared to attack them.

"Note down this household, and then there's that one."

As Xiahou Lan and the others walked forward, they noted down the refugees who met Zhang Xian's requirements.

I originally thought it would be difficult to find refugees who meet Brother Xian's requirements, but it turned out to be not difficult at all.

Compared to Zhengding County, Puwu County had a larger number of refugees, and their hunger was more severe.

"Let's not go any further, let's leave it at that." Xiahou Lan's eyes showed obvious annoyance.

Ever since he heard Brother Xian's lofty ambitions at the pavilion in Guo's mansion that day, he had often pondered why some people were always forced to wander.

In the end, there was only one answer: man-made disaster.

Compared to natural disasters, man-made disasters are always the primary cause of the increase in the number of displaced people.

The wealthy and powerful families had millions of grains in their coffers, but the poor had only bran in their hands.

"Brother Xian, you're right."

Xiahou Lan recalled the principles of the world that Zhang Xian often told him.

People should have enough to eat and wear, not be treated like commodities to be chosen and picked over like this!

He led his men to a shack.

"A certain family head needs some tenant farmers. Would you be willing to come?"

The man lying on his side had somewhat hazy eyes and a thin body, but Xiahou Lan could tell that he had a good frame. Beside him, a peasant woman, an old woman, and a boy were all in similar condition.

Xiahou Lan looked them over and continued, "I can take your whole family there."

The man stretched out a trembling, extremely weak hand: "Yes, yes."

"Block their view," Xiahou Lan said to the people behind her.

The young men lined up in a row, blocking the shack behind them.

Reaching into his robes, Xiahou Lan took out a steamed bun, soaked it in water from the gourd until soft, and gave it to the family of four.

He didn't give them much, just two or three bites each. Brother Xian often told them that people who were starving would have problems if they ate too much at once, so he only gave them a few bites to help them regain some strength.

After they finished eating, Xiahou Lan pointed in the direction of Zhen Ding County and said, "We will take your family towards Zhen Ding County. We will catch up with you and take you to the village later."

"Thank you benefactor, thank you benefactor."

The man, who had eaten a few bites of the soft steamed bun, wanted to kowtow, but Xiahou Lan stopped him.

He didn't say anything more, but went to another shack.

The same procedure applies: first ask, then feed, and finally explain.

After several such attempts, Xiahou Lan and his group guided a total of thirty-three refugee households toward Zhengding County.

Compared to the thousands of refugees outside the county, the departure of these thirty-three refugee households caused no ripples whatsoever.

Once the last selected refugee family had set off onto the main road, Xiahou Lan and his group departed.

It's about forty miles from Puwu County to Zhengding County. Given the current speed of these refugees, it would take them until after nightfall to reach the small mountain village. He planned to let the refugees eat something somewhere ahead first.

"Stone, go back to the village first and tell Brother Xian about our situation. Tell him to prepare some food. I will arrive with my men after dusk."

"okay."

The oldest of the group of young men, Shi Tou, spurred his horse and sped off towards the small mountain village.

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(End of this chapter)