Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 72 Competitiveness

The village has only a little over a thousand acres of land, and a large portion of it is located along the river, so the ditch digging project could be completed after three days.

During the midday break, Tuoba Niu and his companions headed towards the dining hall.

The shovels, hoes, and other tools were left by the riverbank. Everyone here is a local, so there's no need to worry about anyone stealing anything.

Tuoba Niu washed his face by the river and wiped it with his clothes. After putting down the clothes, he saw Beiji Wu walking over.

"Master Wu!" Tuoba Niu acted as if he had seen someone he was afraid of, behaving very cautiously.

Beijiwu nodded. "It's been a month, and the livestock we bought are basically fine. As we agreed, I'll give you the money now, and you can go home and prepare for winter."

Beijiwu took out a bag of silver from his pocket and threw it at Tuoba Niu.

Tuoba Niu excitedly took the cloth bag and weighed the silver in his hand.

Beijiwu laughed and said, "Open it and take a look. Count it in front of me. It's fifty-four taels in total."

Tuoba Niu opened the money bag, took out the silver, and after confirming with his companions that it was real silver, he quickly put it all back into his pocket.

"Thank you so much, Master Wu!!"

Beijiwu said, "Go back after you finish eating. The three women who married into the village all have husbands now. I will arrange for someone to build new houses for them in the near future. If anyone in Changchengtun is idle, they can come and do some work."

"Men, women, and children are all welcome. Food and lodging will be provided. There will be no wages, but once you come, you must obey orders and work hard."

There is a severe shortage of people in Arctic Wu, so we can take advantage of the free room and board to recruit some free laborers.

In this era, being provided with food and lodging was already considered a very good treatment. Although Tuoba Niu had been beaten by Beiji Wu once, he no longer hated him.

"Master Wu..." Tuoba Niu looked at Beiji Wu cautiously, hesitated for a moment, and said, "If you don't mind, could you allow us to come here?"

Beijiwu smiled and said, "Of course! But my place is only suitable for families. If you want to herd cattle and horses, Changchengtun is more suitable."

Tuoba Niu understood the meaning of Beiji Wu.

"Don't worry, Master Wu! We men will stay in Changchengtun. We'll just settle the children and women here with you for now. If the Tatars invade, we can escape here and reunite with them."

Beijiwu was just worried that after the hundreds of people from Changchengtun fled, the garrison would investigate, and a conflict would inevitably break out.

"Are the Tatars going to war outside?"

Tuoba Niu replied, "The Tatars are no longer as powerful as they used to be. The most important people are the Khitans."

Beijiwu asked, "Were the Khitans powerful?"

When Tuoba Niu saw that Beiji Wu did not understand these things, he explained: "To our south is the Wen Dynasty, to our west are the Western Turks and Eastern Turks, to our north are the Xianbei and Mongol Tatars, and to our east are the Khitans and Jurchens."

"The Khitans in the east are the most powerful. They have been ruling for decades and have hundreds of thousands of cavalry. They often go south to fight."

"The Turks in the west have weakened considerably in recent years, having been decimated by the Xianbei and Mongols in the north."

"However, this place is a battleground on all sides, and we can't stop it from being attacked by anyone."

Arctic Martial gained a more direct understanding of the situation in this region; it was a terrible place unsuitable for development.

However, Arctic Wu was even more certain of one thing: the people of this region had to rely on a stronger force in order to survive in this area.

"Alright, don't send too many people at once. Move your people over here in small groups first. The Hu people shouldn't be heading south this year, right?"

Tuoba Niu replied, "I heard that during the summer harvest, the Khitan people surnamed Yelü attacked from Youzhou to Jizhou and plundered a lot of cattle and sheep. Wenchao's army was no match for them."

"I heard that the Three Guards of Jizhou suffered heavy losses, and they wanted to send troops from here to rescue people, but the commander here refused, and not a single soldier went." Beiji Wu asked, "Why didn't they refuse? Aren't they all from the same court?"

Tuoba Niu felt that Beiji Wu really didn't understand. "The Three Guards of Jizhou occupied the best place and operated there for decades. They were arrogant and killed many people. Originally, that place was Zhao's territory. When Zhao was destroyed by Wen in the south, these Three Guards did not send a single soldier. Instead, they kept demanding military pay, provisions, and rewards."

"Now that the Three Guards of Jizhou are not listening to the south, we must also be wary of them."

Arctic Martial asked curiously, "Then which force is the most powerful right now?"

Tuoba Niu said, "The Khitans in the east are the strongest, and their surname is Yelü. Then there are the Xianbei in the northwest, and their surname is Murong. The Wanyan Jurchens in the northeast are also quite powerful, as are the Dugu King of Liangzhou in the southwest."

Upon hearing these compound surnames, Beijiwu immediately felt a surge of competitive spirit.

"Alright, I understand. Since this is the northernmost part of Wenchao, if things don't go well, just come find me and I'll lead you further north to fight."

Beijiwu, who also has a compound surname, no longer wants to go south and has decided to participate in the PUBG tournament.

Seeing that Beiji Wu was ambitious, had the strength and fighting spirit, Tuoba Niu immediately knelt down and said, "We are willing to follow our chieftain!"

Tuoba Niu, who had been beaten just a few days earlier, actually pledged allegiance to Beiji Wu!
Beiji Wu had also forgotten about beating them a few days ago, and laughed heartily, saying, "Take it slow, no rush. Right now, you guys are out there gathering intelligence for me. Once things get chaotic outside and the time is right, we'll head north together, and I'll lead you to carve out a future!"

Tuoba Niu and his companions knelt down and looked at Beiji Wu, their faces glowing with the rosy light of someone ready to accomplish great things.

"Yes, Chieftain!!"

At this moment, Tuoba Niu and his men were no longer ordinary horse herders from Changchengtun and Beiyuan County, nor were they the mixed-race Hu people whom the soldiers could bully and humiliate at will; they were people of the Shan Nong tribe!

Beijiwu, a mountain farmer!
With Arctic Martial Arts backing them up, the four men felt more confident and assertive.

The four, no longer lost about the future, were filled with fighting spirit when they realized they were doing something big!
In inland areas, unless there is a natural disaster or man-made calamity, it is very difficult to raise a team.

However, in the border regions where battles rage, as long as there is money and food, there will be no shortage of people to respond to a rebellion.

For hundreds of years, the Hu people have risen and fallen, each rise starting from small to large, building a state of millions from a few dozen people.

The Arctic military is capable of fighting; that's its biggest competitive advantage.

A capable and young warrior can easily snowball his own power.

After Tuoba Niu left, Beiji Wu became too lazy to supervise others in repairing ditches.

Since we're definitely going to leave this run-down place and find a base in a region with rivers and plains anyway, there's no need to make this place so nice.

"However, we still need military buildings. We need to build a five- or six-meter-high watchtower as soon as possible, otherwise it will be troublesome if people come at night."

Beijiwu went to the canteen.

A group of people were squatting in the courtyard of the canteen eating. When they saw Beijiwu enter the courtyard, they quickly knelt down.

"Clan leader!"

Beijiwu smiled and said, "There's no need to work this afternoon. Just have ten people do the ditch digging. From now on, the women can make cloth shoes and clothes at home, as well as traditional trousers, jackets, belts, and hats for our mountain farmers!"

"You get work points for spinning thread and making clothes. If you need anything, just report to Li Hong and the others, and I'll go buy it later!"

"Men, rest when you need to, and take care of your household chores when you need to. Five men will be on duty every night to patrol and prevent wild animals and thieves from sneaking in! Also, keep an eye out for bandits and brigands outside. If anything happens, sound the gong, and I'll come out!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; they could finally relax for a while.

"Yes! Patriarch!"

(End of this chapter)