Chapter Fourteen: Eating One's Words and Getting Fat

  After a short while, seeing that the collection was almost done, Li Chong said to Guan Hai: "Guan Hai, take some men to keep an eye on the Mi family's people. Before we return to the mountain stronghold, don't let any news leak out, understand?"

  Guan Hai made a gesture and asked in a low voice: "Do you want to... them?"

  Li Chong shook his head and said, "No need, killing these people is useless, it will only create a deep feud with the Mi family. Letting them go would be more beneficial, it will let the Mi family know our sincerity."

  "Sincerity?" Guan Hai asked in confusion: "What sincerity do we have with the Jiang family?"

  Li Chong smiled faintly and replied: "You'll know later."

  Turning his head, Li Chong smiled at Mian Fang and said: "This should be Mian Fang's son, Mian Fang. As the saying goes, 'Fate brings people together from thousands of miles away', so please invite Young Master Mian to visit our mountain stronghold."

  Meng Fang heard this and was furious in his heart, but he didn't dare to show it. He could only ask: "You thieves, do you want to be disloyal and unrighteous?"

  Li Chong shook his head and smiled: "I didn't betray my promise, at that time I only agreed with you, as long as your people didn't resist, I wouldn't kill you, but I didn't say I would let you go."

  Meng Fang was stunned, he didn't know the harm of wordplay, and was suddenly choked, unable to speak, and could only secretly scold Li Chong for being despicable and shameless.

  "Cover his eyes." Li Zhong gave the order and a big man immediately took out a black cloth, tightly covering Mang Fang's eyes.

  Tai Shi Zi finally lost his composure, and in a low voice said to Li Chong: "Zi Huan, is your family doing business in Pingzhou? How come you're more skilled at robbery than these Yellow Turbans?"

  Li Chong smiled and replied: "Thanks to the great film company and pirated goods."

  Tai Shi Zi was left bewildered, but didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he mentally categorized the "movie company" and "pirated goods" as notorious robbers of past and present, from China and abroad. He exchanged a few words with Li Chong, then bid farewell and left.

  Under the encouragement of food, a yellow scarf bandit forgot his fatigue and transported grain overnight to rush back to the mountain stronghold. The next morning, amidst the cheers of the mountain stronghold's guards, Li Chong and others finally returned to their safe old nest.

  Li Chong had never been to Guan Hai's mountain stronghold before. It was called a stronghold, but it was actually just a small village in the mountains, with all the houses made of wood. In the center of the stronghold, there was a building that looked like an arrow tower, with sentries keeping watch from all sides.

  As Guan Hai had not returned, Li Chong could only issue orders through Liao Hua. After the grain seizure, these men were much more obedient to Li Chong and did not cause any trouble.

  Li Chong's house was newly built, located in the center of the mountain village, and had a large living room that was just right for holding meetings. It seemed that Guan Hai had made arrangements early on. He even arranged for Li Chong to have a woman, who looked quite attractive. Li Chong couldn't help but swallow his saliva, but he still restrained himself from making a move.

  This is not Li Chong being a good person, in this chaotic era, women can only be accessories to men, without men they cannot survive on their own, talking about emotions is too ridiculous. Li Chong simply does not want to have a relationship with this kind of woman, his target is Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao and the like, he does not want to have any relationship with these mediocre women.

  Of course, this woman named Shun Niang was also very useful. At least Li Zhong didn't have to do the laundry and cooking himself anymore.

  As dusk approached, Guan Hai led the remaining people back to the mountain stronghold. Without resting, he immediately summoned the big and small heads to discuss the major and minor matters of the mountain stronghold.

  This time was different. Li Chong just cleared his throat, and the big and small heads immediately quieted down a lot, straightened their waists, looked at Li Chong with their eyes, waiting for Li Chong to speak.

  Li Chong's heart was secretly worried, and he slowly said: "Now we have food, but we must not waste it, and we must be frugal. My idea is that the soldiers can eat their fill, but the remaining people will have a fixed quota every day, what do you think?"

  Guan Hai first expressed his support, saying in a low voice: "Indeed, our grain reserves are not much, we must... must..." Guan Hai's cultural level was not high, and after hesitating for half a day, he still couldn't say what he meant. However, everyone knew what he meant - to reduce food consumption and be prepared for any situation. So everyone nodded in agreement.

  "In addition, the mountain stronghold's fodder must be fully stocked, can't let the livestock freeze and starve to death. Also, the production of charcoal must be carried out immediately. The beautiful houses all need someone to take care of them, do you understand?" Li Chong only felt his head getting bigger by a circle, management work really isn't something humans can handle. At this moment, Li Chong finally felt that the officials from his past life were somewhat useful after all.

  "Secondly, and most importantly, we must train our troops!" Li Chong stood up, looked at the crowd, and said firmly.

  "What I want to tell you is, don't take the training of soldiers as a joke. You have also experienced the imperial court's punishment and should know the combat effectiveness of the imperial court's army, which far surpasses ours. Is it that we are not fighting hard enough? No, the main reason is that our military commands are not unified and our discipline is corrupt."

  Looking around, Li Chong continued: "If you only want to rob and plunder, it doesn't matter. But our goal is not this. We want to be enfeoffed as marquises and become high-ranking officials, to bring glory to our ancestors and make our descendants no longer be called rebels by everyone, so that we don't have to worry about being beheaded by the imperial court one day. These words are not only for you, but also for your subordinates."

  As soon as this was said, the eyes of all the thieves immediately turned red. You know that in ancient times, the most important thing is to honor one's ancestors and bring glory to one's family. For their own descendants, these thieves would give up anything.

  As for military formations and the like, Li Chong knew nothing about them. His plan was to simply copy down the set of military training, as for its effectiveness, that could only be seen later.

  The next day at noon, Li Chong dressed neatly and stood in the center of the stronghold, with about three hundred people standing in front of him. He chose to practice military training at noon mainly because he was afraid that the morning weather would be too cold, and these people's clothing were not as warm as modern ones, so as to avoid non-combat attrition.

  These three hundred or so people were all seasoned veterans, although they had run away many times, almost everyone had blood on their hands, standing together, there was a strong murderous aura.

  Guan Hai stood beside Li Chong, intimidating the bandits. Liao Hua led the big and small heads to act as instructors, each holding a leather whip in their hands. In the eyes of these bandits, the whip was the best and fastest way to educate them. Li Chong didn't interfere much either, nor did he have any illusions about being able to reason with these bandits or persuade them with facts.

  "First of all, soldiers must have a stance, you watch closely..." Li Chong shouted with great momentum, standing upright in front of the crowd of thieves...

  More than ten days have passed, and Li Chong feels physically and mentally exhausted. The quality of these thieves is really low, and they are worlds apart from university students. Li Chong remembers that when he was in college, it took less than two weeks to maintain a standard formation and march in step, but these people can barely stand in a square formation.

  Li Chong only then realized how difficult it was to train a single elite soldier in ancient times, and couldn't help but feel a little disheartened. With such a motley crew, going up against the likes of Cao Cao and Liu Bei would be no different from asking for his own neck to be chopped off. It seemed that his dream of contending for the throne had not even begun before it was on the verge of being shattered.