Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 60 The Way of the Thief

"Sir Gongsun, we are not good at manual labor, we only know how to farm. Right now is the time to harvest the grain..."

The Taoist priest of Taiping at Shili Pavilion tried his best to defend himself: "We are willing to support Gongsun Sima if he wants to fight, but we really don't know how to make weapons and such."

"You can cut down trees, right? I know this land belongs to Liu Bei. Let everyone here go and cut down trees. We can harvest the crops in a couple of days!"

Gongsun Zan waved his hand and conscripted everyone: "Work through the night to quickly build siege weapons, otherwise if a large group of bandits comes, you will all lose your lives!"

"Logging is certainly possible, but we don't have axes or knives."

The Taoist priest was very reasonable: "You can't just chop down trees with your bare hands..."

"...Take out all the knives and axes and distribute them to the brothers, so they can eat and rest. Tomorrow we will build weapons to attack the city."

Gongsun Zan thought about it and agreed, so he ordered his men to take out the machetes and axes from the army and hand them all over to the laborers at the Shili Pavilion Charity House.

The army didn't have many axes and knives for logging, only a couple hundred, but over four hundred people came from Shiliting.

Half the people are logging, and the majority are transporting the timber. This is just the right way to get the work done most efficiently, which is quite suitable.

The leader of the tenant farmers at Shili Pavilion was an old man, wearing a straw hat and a raincoat, carrying a machete and scraping the blade with his fingers. He led all the men and women to the west.

Trees are scarce near Zhuoxian County, so logging has to be done on the western slopes.

All the carts in the charity home were also taken out.

It was getting late, so the soldiers couldn't all go. They had just marched nearly fifty miles and needed to rest. Only a few people were sent to supervise the work.

Gongsun Zan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that everyone here was very cooperative.

With so many laborers available, the speed of building machinery will surely be faster... right?

but……

The next morning, Gongsun Zan woke up to find the Shili Pavilion charity house deserted and flew into a rage: "Where are they?! Haven't they all returned?!"

Of course he didn't come back.

Not only did the people from Shili Pavilion never return, but even the Taoist priests from Taiping Dao never came back.

They took all the machetes and axes with them...

The soldiers who were overseeing the work were tied to trees on the western slope to be eaten by mosquitoes.

Siege equipment and the like will probably be hard to forge in a short time; the technique of handcrafting wood is quite difficult.

On the banks of the Juma River, Duan Jiong was already discussing business with the Taoist priests of the Taiping Dao: "Don't worry about the money and provisions for the charity; Liu Langjun will make up for it later. Does your Taiping Dao usually have any dealings with the Taihang Mountains?"

"I trust Mr. Liu."

The Taoist Master Taiping nodded: "There are indeed some dealings with the Taihang Mountains... It's not that I'm associating with bandits. There are also believers and virtuous people in the Taihang Mountains. Under the Yellow Heaven, all people are equal, and even the mountain people can believe in the Tao..."

"Liu Lang asked for help from the Taiping Dao to stop the Taihang bandits from robbing grain here. The tenants here are all poor refugees, and you should have known about this when you were at Shiliting."

Duan Jiong pointed to the fields near Shiliting that were about to ripen: "They replanted late this year, so the harvest wasn't good. If they lose these life-saving grains..."

"This is a good intention."

The Taoist priest agreed: "Young Master Liu is kind and benevolent, but the Taihang bandits may not be willing to listen. I can only do my best."

"You just need to try your best to persuade them... If they don't listen to advice, then don't blame me for taking action."

Duan Jiong brandished the long sword in his hand.

……

Meanwhile, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei led their men south. Before long, they received a report from scouts that a large number of bandits had approached Fanyang and were attacking the county town.

"How many bandits are there? Do they have cavalry?"

Liu Bei needed to confirm the composition of the Taihang bandits.

“They were everywhere, countless. We didn’t see any cavalry… Most of the bandits were in the fields with sickles, stealing grain.”

This was a night scout sent out when they were preparing to attack Zhuoxian. They were quite professional: "The largest force they've gathered is estimated to be over three thousand men, all armed, and they're currently attacking Fanyang City." "What's the situation in Fanyang County?"

Liu Bei continued to inquire in detail.

"I didn't dare to get close enough to investigate, but I'm afraid I won't be able to hold out for long. There seems to be no movement in the city; I haven't even seen a flag."

The night scout shook his head: "My lord, the Taihang bandits are just a large group of bandits attacking the city, while other scattered bandits take the opportunity to collect grain. If they can break into the city, they will enter; if they can't, they will at least collect the grain from the fields, just like when I was in Zhongshan."

These night scouts were recruited from among the refugees in Zhongshan. The Taihang bandits would raid grain in Zhongshan almost every year, and the people in western Zhongshan were very familiar with this.

This situation was rare in Zhuojun because it was relatively far from the Taihang Mountains. It was necessary to have a city as a bridgehead for transit so that the harvested grain could be quickly transported back to the bridgehead, allowing the bandits to make multiple trips.

At the same time, the city walls could block the imperial army and prevent the supply lines from being cut off, so that the grain could be transported back.

If there is no place to stay, the food that is looted can only be carried on one's person, and the cost of traveling there and back is more than the cost of looting.

Of course, once the operation is complete and the city's grain has been transported to the mountains, the Taihang bandits will quickly abandon the city. They won't wait for the imperial army to come and annihilate them; there are still many elderly and children in the mountains waiting to be fed.

The Taihang bandits' bridgehead this time was naturally Beixincheng.

If they can capture other cities, the scope of their looting can be expanded. If they cannot capture other cities, they can only operate within a hundred miles of Beixin City.

The area that Beixincheng can cover extends north to Fanyang and Zhuoxian, and south to Tangxian and Lunu in Zhongshan.

The most prosperous place among them was Zhuoxian.

However, Zhuoxian was the farthest away. The Taihang bandits attacked Fanyang, but it was actually for Zhuoxian. At that time, Fanyang was not prosperous and the city was not large.

After understanding the situation, Liu Bei nodded: "Let's go to Lujiawu Fortress."

Fanyang and Beixincheng are only 30 li apart, so there's no way to send a rescue.

The bandits were quite large; by the time Liu Bei arrived, the city had already fallen.

Moreover, who knows, after they leave, the number of bandit soldiers might be more than three thousand.

Lujiawu Fortress is located north of Fanyang City, between Zhuoxian County and Fanyang City.

If nothing unexpected happens, the thieves will rob them all the way here.

Since the thieves did not go to the Juma River, Liu Bei retrieved the ox-horn hat from the Lu Family Manor. At this moment, Liu Bei took the hat to the outside of the Lu Family Fortress.

However, he did not approach the fortified village. Instead, he waited a few miles south of the village and specifically chose a conspicuous open space to set up camp for the night, waiting for the Taihang bandits to arrive.

This wasn't to do anyone a favor, but rather to prevent the Taihang bandits from lingering in Lujiawu Fortress; Liu Bei wanted them to hurry to Zhuo County.

The next morning, thieves slowly approached.

"Heroes of Taihang, do you know the name of Big Ears?"

Liu Bei was wearing a straw hat with ox horns on his head at this time, and he immediately went to meet the bandits when he saw them.

"One of our own..."

The vanguard of the bandits was quite polite to the man in the horn-covered hat: "Big Ears... I've heard of you. Brother, are you looking to join us?"

"Is the leader who came out this time Brother Zuo Zi?"

Liu Bei slightly nodded his bamboo hat as a greeting: "I have business to discuss with Zuo Zi."

“Brother Zuo Zi is right behind us. I’ll take you there… but your brothers have to stay here first.”

The thief looked at Liu Bei, then at Zhang Fei and the others: "They're all elite soldiers... Brother Big Ears, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just how things are here."

“I understand. However, I have some business dealings with this family, and they may also have business dealings with Brother Zuo Zi later. How about you don’t go into this pavilion?”

Liu Bei pointed to the town of Lujia behind him.

"Alright, we won't go into the pavilion, but we'll have to see what Brother Zuo Zi has to say..."

The thieves led Liu Bei for a while until they reached an abandoned post station by the main road.

(End of this chapter)