Chapter 53: Growing Stronger and Greater!

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In the main stronghold on Cangshan Mountain.

Li Yun finally saw the ten or so young men from Hexi Village again.

Now that the Cangshan stronghold had grown prosperous—not only from the five thousand strings of cash they had extorted from the Gu family, but also from the riches seized after destroying two other bandit lairs, especially the second, Dragon King Stronghold, which yielded a considerable amount of money—the youths who once wore tattered clothes and were painfully thin had now, for the most part, donned clean, new garments.

However, too little time had passed for them to regain their health and fill out. Though they had been in the mountains for some time, the environment was still unfamiliar to them. And now, knowing this was the hideout of mountain bandits, most of these children from farming families seemed timid and withdrawn, speaking little.

Only two among them would often seek out Liu Bo, the man who had brought them up the mountain, for conversation.

One was Meng Hai, son of Meng Chong; the other also bore the surname Meng—Meng Qing.

It was Meng Qing who, that night, Li Yun had witnessed nearly beating the county magistrate’s assistant to death with a wooden staff.

Upon seeing Li Yun, the Hexi youths were visibly moved. Meng Hai, in particular, hurried over and looked up at Li Yun, his voice anxious. “Li—Chief, Chief…”

His eyes brimmed with worry. “Where’s my father? And my mother, my younger brother and sister…?”

“Where are they now? Are they safe?”

Li Yun sighed inwardly and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

He was not lying.

That night, he was certain that Meng Chong had fled Hexi Village with his family through the smoke. But after their escape, the provincial troops had been in hot pursuit. Whether they had found safety remained uncertain.

He looked at Meng Hai and spoke slowly, “Hexi Village has been burned down by the government soldiers.”

“Your father and family escaped, but their fate is unknown.”

Then he turned to the others and said, “You are all likely in the same situation.”

At once, the youths began to murmur among themselves.

Li Yun looked back at Meng Hai. “For now, you’ll stay here in my stronghold. If your father knows you’re here, he’ll come for you when he’s safe.”

Meng Hai, still young, had tears in his eyes. After wiping them with his sleeve, he asked, “Then… will we join you in raiding travelers?”

Li Yun smiled. “Not for now.”

“You’re still young. You can train your bodies and learn some martial arts in the stronghold.”

With his hands behind his back, Li Yun said, “When you turn sixteen, you can choose: stay here and work with me, or go down the mountain and make your own way.”

Before Meng Hai could respond, Meng Qing spoke up. “Chief, we’ll follow you.”

Li Yun recognized him and smiled. “I remember you. You killed an official that day. What’s your name?”

Meng Qing answered firmly, “My name is Meng Qing.”

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“Chief, if we go down the mountain, we’ll be caught by the government troops. We have nowhere else to go. Please let us stay.”

“I already have, haven’t I?” Li Yun patted his shoulder and grinned. “You’re a good lad. You’ll do well in life. There’s no rush to decide now—just stay here for a year or two. I’ve got more than enough money to support you.”

Meng Qing lowered his head. “But we shouldn’t eat and live here for nothing.”

Chief Li scratched his head, then laughed heartily. “Then help out around the stronghold—chop firewood, carry water. Once we have some land, you can help with the farming.”

“Do you know how to farm?”

Meng Hai quickly replied, “We’ve helped with chores since we were little.”

“That’s good,” Li Yun said. “When I have time, I’ll teach you some basic martial arts.”

After speaking, he turned to Meng Qing. “Are you and Meng Hai from the same family?”

Meng Hai quickly explained, “In Hexi Village, most of us are Mengs. He’s my ninth uncle’s son. We’re of the same generation, he’s the seventh among us.”

“I see.”

Li Yun recalled then that the trouble in Hexi Village had started because the village head had bullied Meng Hai’s ninth uncle’s family—Meng Qing’s family.

He looked at Meng Qing and said quietly, “Eat well and grow strong.”

Meng Qing seemed to understand Li Yun’s words, and replied loudly, “I will eat well!”

Li Yun patted his shoulder, then said, “All right, off with you now. Tomorrow I’ll take you around to get to know Cangshan.”

With that, he dismissed the youths, then called out loudly, “Old Ninth, Skinny Monkey, come to my courtyard. We have things to discuss.”

Li Zheng and Liu Bo, who had been standing nearby, hurried over and followed Li Yun into his courtyard.

At this moment, several of the former leaders of the stronghold—Zhou Liang and the others—were watching silently.

It was obvious now that the chief’s courtyard had quietly replaced the main hall as the true center of decision-making in Cangshan Stronghold.

And yet, no one could object.

After all, the changes in Cangshan over the past two months had been nothing short of astonishing.

…

In the courtyard, Chief Li sat in the main seat, looked at his two brothers, and asked, “How much money do we have left in the stronghold?”

Whenever Li Yun was away, Liu Bo managed things. He thought for a moment before replying, “We still have some grain and money saved up. The five thousand strings we got from the Gu family haven’t been used up, and two more sums of money have been sent up since. Right now, we have more than five thousand strings of cash on hand.”

He looked at Li Yun and continued, “Plus, with the grain, cloth, and medicine you’ve brought up the mountain…”

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“In short, it’s still a considerable sum.”

“Oh, and by the way,” he turned to Li Yun, “Skinny Monkey came back the day before yesterday and said you wanted to buy land. I didn’t quite understand what you meant, so I haven’t done anything about it yet.”

“About buying land…” Li Yun stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said, “My idea is to set up an estate like Master Zheng’s—acquire a few thousand acres, and then we can openly employ tenant farmers.”

“No more hiding on the mountain.”

“And, with proper status, we can make money through regular trade.”

“But there’s no rush; these things can be done gradually.”

Liu Bo blinked. “Why do you suddenly want to go into business? Isn’t our current ‘risk-free’ business much more profitable than regular trade?”

Li Yun shot him a glance and smiled. “You don’t understand. Some businesses are even faster at making money than robbery.”

“But one thing must be clear: no matter how we grow and develop, Cangshan Stronghold will always be our foundation. No matter how much money we make, we’re not to become idle gentry—we’ll invest most of it back into the stronghold.”

“We need to recruit more people.” Li Yun clenched his fist and declared, “The more, the better!”

Liu Bo, who had read a few books, exchanged glances with Li Zheng. Then he asked, “Second Brother, what exactly are you planning?”

“To grow strong, of course.” Li Yun looked down at his hands and said quietly, “Right now, we’re bandits—looked down upon by all. But when we’re strong enough, if the world changes, we won’t be bandits anymore. We’ll be a righteous army!”

“But that’s for the future. For now, our goal is to gather as many capable fighters as we can.”

He tapped the table lightly. “Then, we’ll eliminate the biggest stronghold in Qingyang.”

“You mean the Ten Kings Stronghold on Lingyang Mountain?”

Liu Bo swallowed nervously and whispered, “They have over a hundred good fighters, and several hundred people in total. Why do you keep wanting to provoke them, Second Brother?”

“Because only by destroying them can our Cangshan Stronghold become the largest in Qingyang.”

With a flick of his left hand, Li Yun snapped the cloth strip wrapped around it. He looked at Liu Bo and Li Zheng, his voice low and resolute. “Then, the entire underworld of Qingyang, even all of Xuanzhou, will be ours to command!”

The meaning of “underworld” was plain enough. At this, Liu Bo stuck out his thumb.

“Second Brother, you’re bold!”