Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 215 King Martial
Even when it was time to close up shop and settle accounts that evening, Si Jiuba was still a little dazed.

"sister!"

Hu Yan's call of "sister" snapped Si Jiuba out of his daze after a day of confusion.

"Sister! I heard you saw King Wu?"

Hu Yan's face was flushed with excitement as she looked at 498 with anticipation.

Wu Yue, who was washing her face next to her, wiped her face with a towel, then lowered her head to wash her arms, feeling the coolness from the cold water and her fair arms.

After a long and tiring day, Wu Yue finally got to leave work.

Si Jiuba glanced at Hu Yan, then at Wu Yue, and then back at Hu Yan.

Hu Yan asked anxiously, "Sister! Why have you become so stupid? What does King Wu look like? Is he especially powerful?"

Si Jiuba tried to laugh, but forced out an awkward smile. "You've seen it before."

"I've seen it?" Hu Yan looked at Si Jiu Ba's expression, which didn't seem like a joke, with a strange expression, and said nonchalantly, "How could I have seen it? Even if I was next to His Majesty when he came out, I would definitely be kneeling on the ground. How could I dare to raise my head!"

498 nodded, feeling slightly better. "Yes, if I had known earlier, I definitely would have knelt on the ground too afraid to speak."

Hu Yan asked, "I heard that King Wu is particularly frightening?"

Si Jiuba quickly said, "Don't talk nonsense!"

When Sijiuba tried to defend Beijiwu, Wuyue, who had just washed her hands, chimed in, "My dad is terrifying, and my mom is afraid of him too. This morning I was so scared I almost wet my pants."

When Hu Yan heard the little girl speak, she laughed and teased, "Who said anything about your dad? But your dad is indeed very scary. When I first met your dad, when he looked at me, I felt like I was naked."

498 rolled her eyes at her, annoyed. "His father isn't a womanizer. Although there are indeed many women in the family, I feel he definitely wouldn't be interested in you. What does it matter to him whether you're wearing clothes or not?"

That's not what Hu Yan meant.

"I mean, in front of Brother Wu, I'm as scared as if I'm naked. It's fine to be naked at home, but the problem is being naked in front of everyone. It's that feeling of being very careful, afraid to move, just like I'm afraid that if he gets angry, I'll die."

Wu Yue chimed in, "My dad is really scary. My mom and the others are all afraid of him."

Hu Yan looked at the little girl who insisted on participating in the adults' conversation.

“We weren’t talking about your father, we were talking about King Wu. You should go home and have dinner.”

Wu Yue had been holding it in for a long time, and she quickly and earnestly revealed the secret she had kept hidden for so long.

"My father is King Wu! I used to be afraid that you would bother me if you found out, but now I'm not afraid anymore!"

Hu Yan laughed and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Children always lie. Does your father's surname mean he's King Wu?"

Seeing that she didn't believe the secret she had revealed, Wu Yue anxiously said, "My father is King Wu! He is the Emperor!"

"Your Majesty is Your Majesty, not Emperor!" Hu Yan looked at the anxious child and said with a smile, "I've known your mother and aunt for years, how could I not know your family situation? You'd better shut up and stop causing trouble for your father, or he'll spank you! He'll spank you in half!"

Wu Yue became even more anxious when no one believed her.

The public image that the family had painstakingly maintained in previous years unexpectedly crumbled overnight.

It's clearly overestimating Wu Yue's abilities to try and overthrow the Arctic Wu's plans all by herself.

No one would take Wu Yue's words seriously; the Beiji Wu family has a complete set of personas and a network of relationships.

She said her father was King Wu, just like a child from an ordinary official's family would say his father was the emperor.

Others would only think that this child is lying, or that he is crazy and will bring disaster upon his father and his whole family.

People who are close to each other usually don't talk about these things carelessly; if they hear them, they pretend they didn't.

People who don't get along with each other might report each other, but they wouldn't dare to report directly to the authorities; they would at most tell the team leader.

Only casual acquaintances would bother with this kind of thing if they had a death wish.

Wu Yue is just a child who tells lies; no one believes her when she tells the truth.

"Her father is King Wu, the Emperor."

498 spoke up.

Hu Yan, who had just been smiling, froze.

Although it was still a smiling face and a similar expression, subtle changes made a world of difference in the feeling.

Hu Yan stared blankly at 498.

"Really." 498 wasn't lying; his expression was very serious.

No further explanation was needed; Hu Yan already believed it!
That thin layer of paper looks very difficult to break through, but once it is, you'll find that it's actually very, very simple.

"Just as I thought... I knew it really was His Majesty. I knew that aura he possessed was not something an ordinary person could have. I heard that King Wu went into battle at the age of sixteen or seventeen, fighting his way through seas of people. Even tigers would avoid King Wu!"

The children nearby heard this and carefully wrote it down.

As Hu Yan was talking, she suddenly remembered something.

"Xiao Gua knows the Emperor's son, so isn't that a prince?"

Wu Yue quickly explained, "Our family doesn't have any princes, only one heir. The others can just be given jobs. My father hasn't decided who will be the crown prince yet. He said he'll choose a promising child later."

498 also realized what was happening.

"Aren't you a princess? Why did His Majesty send you here to sell newspapers with me?"

Wu Yue explained earnestly, "My father said that there are several thousand princesses, noble ladies, empresses and empress dowagers in the palace. Even if you play with a hundred of them every day, you still can't play with them all."

Hu Yan asked curiously, "Where are there so many princesses?"

Wu Yue replied, "In the past, the emperor arrested them, my father arrested them himself, some were arrested by the Hu people, and some were sold by Hu merchants. There were so many of them. Now they all work in the palace, cleaning and tidying up. If they don't do a good job, they will be beaten."

During the westward expansion of the Western Expeditionary Army, merchants from all over the world became extremely active across Eurasia.

The slave trade found new channels, capturing slaves from the West, regions without monarchical protection, and selling them to the great Eastern powers. From these powers, slaves purchased advanced weapons, luxurious silks and porcelains, as well as newspapers and spices from mountain farmers.

Beiji Wu did not engage in a large-scale stamp collecting; he simply killed the emperor, princes, and ministers while taking the women back with him.

At the same time, in order to solve the domestic population problem and to suppress the local reproductive forces, the Western Expeditionary Army was encouraged to transport women back.

Since Beiji Wu likes women, his subordinates will naturally help him offer up beautiful women as tribute.

The members of the Western Expeditionary Army were a mixed group, and each division had a certain degree of autonomy, but they had absolutely no power to resist the orders of the empire.

Paying taxes and tributes on time is a basic responsibility and obligation for survival.

If you have money, pay it; if you don't have money, pay it with women. Even if you borrow money, you have to pay taxes and repay the costs of warhorses and logistics.

The consequences of not paying taxes are severe; it could wipe out an entire tribe. There is no room for negotiation; if King Wu deems your attitude improper, you are likely to die.

Paying taxes is an instinct ingrained in our bones. The Mongols paid taxes to the nobles, the Turks paid taxes to the nobles, the Tibetan serfs paid taxes to the nobles, the Khitans paid taxes to the nobles, and the Jurchens and Koreans also paid taxes to the nobles.

Foreigners also have to pay taxes, and they have to pay taxes for generations to come.

Apart from the Shan Nong Kingdom established by Bei Ji Wu, there are no other exceptions.

Arctic Warrior has mercifully allowed the women, elderly, and children of the three tribes to be exempt from taxes, and he no longer mistreats their families or forcibly takes their cattle and sheep.

If they still don't know what's good for them, then future generations will have to go back to the old ways.

For a man who spends his days drinking and eating meat and has to support his family, dating women is more worthwhile than spending money.

Beautiful women are easy to find, and princesses from all the major and minor countries can be easily swarmed onto the carriage with just a crack of the whip; they're even easier to transport than cattle and sheep.

Without a powerful father or husband, even princesses and empresses are just playthings of the strong.

Beijiwu's approach to educating his children is simply to be ordinary people and not to think of themselves as princesses or princes.

While Sijiuba was busy with his increasingly successful business, Beijiwu, after resolving the summer grain statistics issue, boarded a train and took his five sons directly to Xiacheng.

It wasn't really to eat lychees; it was just a side trip. The main purpose was to arrange for my sons to go to Xiacheng.

The fifth month of the lunar calendar is the hottest time in Xia City. As soon as Beiji Wu and others got off the train, they felt the heat wave. Their bodies started sweating after only a second in the heat.

The Arctic heat was unbearable. "Dad! It's too hot here, let's go back to Luoyang!"

"Be content, it's good enough that we didn't send you to Annam." Beiji Wu couldn't stand it either, but he still insisted on taking his sons and subordinates to the summer palace to escape the heat. "Hurry up! It won't be hot when we get back inside."

In the sweltering summer heat, Liu Jingshun led a group of Linyi people to conquer another feudal state.

Liu Jingshun beheaded the king in front of his wife and children.

In just a few months, with the support of the mountain farmers, Liu Jingshun wiped out the remaining foreign tribes in the Indochina Peninsula.

The Han Chinese people, represented by Liu Jingshun, defeated the Hindu tribes, who were mainly from India.

The actual fighting lasted only half a month; the rest of the time was spent traveling and lying in ambush in the jungle, as well as collecting spoils.

Crossing mountains and ridges was a piece of cake for Liu Jingshun. Having grown up in the mountains and forests, Liu Jingshun and his family had always been hiding from the soldiers and local powerful families who collected taxes.

Liu Jingshun considered himself a dog of the Shan Nong people, so he was only loyal to them.

People other than the Shan Nong people are not considered human. In Liu Jingshun's eyes, people from Annam, Zhenla, and Tianzhu are all unimportant.

The Han people were in a similar situation; the border people who were driven out and oppressed harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Han people accumulated over generations.

Those who don't hate have already integrated into the community.

Liu Jingshun was even more unscrupulous and uncultured than Beijiwu, carrying out his cleanup using primitive and traditional combat methods.

Kill those who disobey; kill all those who can resist and there will be no more resistance.

Firearms are very suitable for jungle warfare, and Liu Jingshun has no bottom line. As long as he finds the prey's trail, he will never engage in direct combat if he can ambush it.

The nearby tribes and states were no match for Liu Jingshun, who was also representing the Shan Nong people in conquering the other tribes and states.

By this time, it had been nine years, and the nobles of other countries also knew of the power of the Mountain Farmers.

Liu Jingshun proved with his strength that the rumor of "surrender or die" was true.

The dense jungle and harsh climate were no match for Liu Jingshun's mixed army. People who couldn't speak the language were like wild beasts, and under Liu Jingshun's command, they carried out a brutal cleansing of the defenseless but resilient tribes.

Although the Indochina Peninsula is still called Annam Province, its actual territory is no less than that of several large provinces in the north.

Like the other legion leaders, Liu Jingshun also faced the problem of paying taxes.

The kings and nobles who were eliminated did indeed possess a considerable amount of gold, silver, jewels, and collections, but compared to the aid provided by the mountain farmers, it was far too little.

Despite being from different regions and not knowing each other, Liu Jingshun, like the other leaders, chose to use women to pay taxes.

Beautiful women, rare antiques, and gold and silver jewelry were all to be handed over. As a steady stream of spoils were transported to the mountain farmers behind them, the emperor of the mountain farmers also provided them with more financial assistance.

Liu Jingshun was unaware that this was a grant that Arctic Martial Arts had intended to provide long ago; he thought it was a reward he had painstakingly earned by paying taxes.

The fact that his painstaking efforts had earned his master's approval and reward made Liu Jingshun happy for quite some time.

Being a servant or a dog isn't something you can just decide to do.

Without a strong master, nothing can be done well.

The Linyi County under Liu Jingshun's administration also attracted 10,000 Han Chinese to join.

These Han Chinese brought with them clean living habits and more standardized daily routines.

Liu Jingshun really liked the positive thing that the small county town would undergo significant changes after he returned from fighting and killing people outside.

The house was raised, and they moved into a clean palace.

They no longer drank plain water served in leaf containers, but tea, a beverage reserved for gentlemen.

My clothes are washed every day, and someone washes them for me every day so I can change into clean, breathable, and comfortable clothes.

The significant change in his quality of life made Liu Jingshun, who was relaxing in the palace to escape the summer heat, feel very comfortable. However, the glass card in his hand made Liu Jingshun feel like his soul was about to fly away.

There was wine and beef on the table next to Liu Jingshun, but he didn't need to eat or drink his fill, or even drink a drop of wine, to feel that all the hard work of the past few months had been worthwhile.

This is an ID card issued from Luoyang City, with Liu Jingshun's name and number written on it, along with special certification from King Wu.

Liu Jingshun, a native of Shanxi.

After a brief three-day rest, Liu Jingshun resumed his conquest of the Southeast Asian archipelago as instructed by King Wu.

Eastern fleet, Western expeditionary army, Southeast reorganization.

There are hardly any places in the world that don't belong to the mountain farmers anymore.

The north is a land of ice and swamps; without people, it has no value for occupation.

A group of people refused to go even to places like Huguang, let alone to the border regions.

After arranging for his sons to study at the Summer Palace, Beijiwu himself took a train to inspect the final section of railway construction.

In the Mountain Farming Kingdom, power is both absolutely centralized and highly decentralized.

Each department performs its own duties, and as long as no problems arise, they are even allowed to appoint an internal official.

Arctic Military is merely a supervisor; it can intervene when it wants, and when it doesn't want to, its subordinates can make their own decisions.

(End of this chapter)