A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 270 After the Victory

As dawn broke and a thin mist began to drift by.

Hundreds of young and strong men, dressed in coarse linen clothes and with their hair tied up with thin hemp rope, quietly emerged from the mountains and forests.

Most of them were carrying sickles, while some were carrying sticks, carrying poles, baskets, and so on.

Someone kept shouting for everyone to quicken their pace, but they consciously kept their voices down, as if afraid of attracting the attention of someone in the mist or outside the jungle.

As they gradually transitioned from the gentle slope to a flatter area, they came to see the rice stalks swaying gently in the morning mist.

Everyone instinctively held their breath.

A dark-skinned man with many cracked hands couldn't resist grabbing a handful of rice, stuffing it into his mouth, and chewing it carefully.

The rough texture of the rice husks couldn't mask the aroma that gradually spread after the rice was bitten through.

Someone nearby looked anxious, patted him, and said, "Yan Laosan, what are you still chewing for? Hurry up and harvest! If we wait until the sun comes out, so many of us harvesting rice here might be discovered by the government."

Yan Laosan stretched his neck, swallowed the rice porridge mixed with the slightly sour shell in his mouth, coughed twice, and muttered, "Why are you hitting me? I heard the soldiers are all fighting, and the officials have all run away. What are you afraid of?"

That's what he said, but seeing that everyone else had already started harvesting, he didn't dare to be negligent. He hurriedly bent down, grabbed a handful with his left hand, and slashed with his sickle in his right hand, cutting a bunch of rice stalks by the roots.

He worked very efficiently and caught up with the others in no time. While he was sweating profusely, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that the withered old man and the skinny young man next to him were chewing on their food every now and then.

They were clearly impatient and started eating some rice with the husks on.

This is Hedong Road, Langu County.

If you search for records about this place in Bianliang City, you will find many historical records, tracing back to the Qin and Han dynasties, the Tang dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the present day. This place has changed its name many times, and after many changes, it was finally named Langu.

According to the officials' records, this place had tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, was extremely prosperous, the people were well-fed and clothed, there were many local worthies, and the county officials were honest and upright and were very popular.

However, if someone were to actually come and walk around here, they would find that many villages in this county are abandoned, houses are dilapidated, and weeds grow rampant.

The able-bodied men in the area were either conscripted as laborers or miners in previous years, or they moved to the mountains with their families.

The constables and yamen runners in the county town often had to go into the mountains with the servants of wealthy families to search for people.

However, for the past six months or so, I've heard that there's been fighting everywhere, and I don't know what's going on in the county town. No one has been taking care of it for a long time.

Yan Laosan and his group of people from two or three nearby villages met in the mountains and discussed the matter several times. They realized that life was really tough, so they pieced together a few hundred people who were good at seeing and quick on their feet, and a few months ago they came out to plant a crop of rice.

In the past few months, they have often sneaked into their fields like thieves, taking advantage of the good moonlight or before dawn to look after the rice seedlings.

Sometimes, when I'm watering the fields in the middle of the night, I'll suddenly see a figure moving in the distance, and I'll be so frightened that I'll run into the woods without thinking.

Over the course of several months, more than a dozen people got lost or injured in the process.

Fortunately, most of the time, they were just scaring themselves. The constables and officials seemed genuinely too busy to bother with them and never showed up.

Yan Laosan was also one of those who had been injured in a fall. Now, when he moves around, his left ankle still hurts a little. However, as more and more rice is harvested, he feels that the pain is nothing as long as he touches the golden rice stalks and ears.

Overjoyed, everyone around him wore a smile. Some people couldn't help but chuckle to themselves while working, then silently continued working.

The mountains surrounding Langgu County are full of pine and fir trees, all of which grow very tall. Pine needles are edible. Wild astragalus, bracken, mushrooms, and daylilies are all edible. There are also many other wild vegetables that we can't name, which taste bitter and irritating, but everyone knows are edible.

Bitter greens are actually the best dish to eat with rice; you don't even need salt.

The family was so tired of the old dishes that they were sick of them, but if they could have a bowl of rice to steam and eat with the other dishes, the taste would be like heaven and earth.

Let alone vomiting, I wouldn't even be willing to skip a bite of food, let alone slap myself.

As he was thinking, Yan Laosan's left foot started to hurt again. He had to straighten up, lift his left foot, and shake his ankle slightly. Suddenly, he saw what looked like a group of red figures in the distance.

He froze for a moment, then cried out in alarm, "The officials are here!!"

Everyone around panicked. Some people grabbed carrying poles and baskets and tried to run away. Those who had just harvested rice were reluctant to part with the rice in their hands and desperately tried to carry more, which delayed them a bit.

Yan Laosan was also picking up the handfuls of rice he had just put down at his feet. When he looked up, he was stunned.

Those people who were just a little distance away are now right in front of us.

They moved so fast, like tigers and leopards in the mountains, that the villagers couldn't even see them clearly. They only saw a flash of red shadows, and then a group of people carrying sticks blocked their way.

The villagers quickly changed direction, but in another corner, these red figures also appeared.

The "officers" had already surrounded them.

The old man next door to Yan Laosan dropped his sickle and burst into tears. He sat on the ground and stuffed rice into his mouth, eating whatever he could get.

Among the men in red, a burly man walked up to him, grabbed his hand, and prevented him from putting the rice into his mouth.

Are you not even going to give us these few bites?!

The villagers were both afraid and resentful, and their yellow or dark faces flushed red.

Yan Laosan gripped the sickle tightly, his hands trembling, wishing he could rush over and fight them to the death.

That big man actually picked up his neighbor!

They even managed to pull the rice stalks out of the neighbor's mouth!

They even took out a steamed bun!

return……

Steamed buns, mantou?

The withered old man looked at the snow-white steamed bun with a blank expression, just like the young and strong men in the other villages.

The burly man who handed him the steamed bun was tall and strong. He wasn't carrying any knives or guns, but he had a token hanging from his waist. He had a square face, big eyes, a stubble beard, and an old scar on his left ear where half of his earlobe had been cut off, the scar extending to the side of his face.

The man, who seemed to be the leader, patted the old man on the shoulder, took out a water bag, and said, "This rice hasn't been cooked or ground, so you can't swallow too much at once. Old man, drink a couple of sips of water, take a bite of steamed bun, and chew and swallow slowly. Don't hurt your throat."

He turned to look at the villagers, his fierce face showing his two short, sharp eyebrows furrowed together.

The villagers were afraid and moved closer and closer to each other.

"Don't be afraid, we're not here to take your food."

The man quickly grinned and made a smile.

About half an hour later, the sun had risen.

As Yan Laosan and his group walked back into the mountains, they had come with several hundred able-bodied villagers, but on their way back, many men in red clothes followed them.

The group walked slowly, and the men in red didn't urge them much. In fact, when they stared at someone for a long time, they would always receive a smile in return... which made everyone even more afraid.

Who has ever seen so many government officials smiling at peasants?

These officials just spoke to them at length.

The previous dynasty had been overthrown, and the officials of the county, big and small, had been beheaded by many peasants like them.

They also said that the new dynasty was good to the people, had good military discipline, and was there to help them move back to the plains and live in places with fertile land.

I rambled on and on about all sorts of things.

Yan Laosan barely understood anything, but he still got a steamed bun, which he now keeps in his pocket, it smells so good.

The villagers seemed to be bewitched by the aroma of the steamed buns, and only when they were almost at their mountain settlement did they begin to worry again.

Their pace slowed down, until finally they all stopped timidly, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Yan Laosan looked at the people in red in the crowd, and they stopped and looked at them as well. They neither scolded nor drove them away.

The scarred man asked, "Why did you stop? Are we almost there?"

Yan Laosan swallowed hard, seeing that everyone around him was a coward. He steeled himself and shouted, "General, you've found our village. You really won't beat us or punish us with hard labor?"

Constables wouldn't have so many long guns and bows, and bandits wouldn't have such uniform attire.

The people in front of me were all dressed in red, looking dashing and with broad shoulders. Just by looking at them, you could tell that they could lift two or three people like Yan Laosan with one hand.

That would only be soldiers, and among soldiers, the leader is, of course, a general.

"General?"

The scarred man laughed. "I could barely qualify."

Since the Han emperor defeated all the Song armies in the world and established a distant Liao state, replacing the Song with the Han, all the original rebel armies have been reorganized and divided more clearly after their numbers were counted.

In the military today, soldiers are divided into groups of five, with the squad leader writing the names of the other four on a plaque.

Twenty-five men were designated as "A," and each "A" had the names of five squad leaders written on a plaque.

The team consists of 100 people, and the team will write the names of the team leader and other members on a plaque.

This man with a scar on his left ear is the captain of the 100-man squad in Langgu County. To the local people, he could easily be called a general.

"Don't worry. We've already checked in the county town. There were only five villages around here originally. Even if you all escaped to the mountains and survived, there would only be this many able-bodied men left by now."

The scarred captain pointed to the old man who was the first to get a steamed bun and said, "Otherwise, we wouldn't have brought out an old man like this who still has some bones in his body for something like harvesting grain."

"If we really just wanted to conscript people for hard labor, wouldn't it have been easier to just take you all?"

The villagers began to whisper among themselves, their voices rising in discussion.

"That's right. In the past, when officials and wealthy families searched the mountains, they only wanted people who could do the work."

"We've already exhausted all the able-bodied people; there's no point in going back to the wives and maids at home."

Yan Laosan then asked, "So what exactly is the general taking us to do?"

"We've already said that."

The scarred captain's smile was even more genuine this time, not just because the army required them to always smile at the people, but because the very thing he was talking about made him happy just thinking about it.

"Everyone, come back with us to register and distribute land according to population."

Yan Laosan asked in confusion, "They want us to go back to farming? Of course, that's great, but we each had our own land before, so why redistribute it?"

"The fields you used to own didn't belong to you; they belonged to those lords. But now, all the fields belong to the imperial court."

The scarred captain said, "Sigh, I can't explain the specifics in detail. Anyway, someone will teach you how to farm in the future. I heard from the people in charge that after the land was redistributed, each household in your area can get at least four times more grain per year than before."

The villagers were in an uproar, unable to believe such a good thing could happen.

But if there really were no more forced labor and they could farm instead, even if they only received the same amount of grain as before, it would still be better than having to sneak back to farm now.

Nobody likes to do things secretly when it's their own land and food they've grown.

After their conversation with the scarred captain, they started walking forward again and finally led the people to their place in the mountains.

For the next five days, Scarface and his men directed and helped these people who had moved to the mountains to return to their villages.

It took another half month before they could barely finish counting the number of people and dividing the land. They were lucky to have returned from their village; other parts of the county were still busy.

During this period, everyone had already harvested their grain, paying only a very small portion to the government, and taking the rest back to their own homes.

Yan Laosan heard that people from other villages in the county had also returned. They were not as bold as the people from these villages and did not dare to secretly farm, but the imperial court lent them grain, which they could repay slowly over several years, and there was no interest.

Lately, Yan Laosan has been leaving early and returning late, feeling like he's dreaming every day. But it's so good, so good.

Yan Laosan sat on the roof, wiped away the tears that had inexplicably rolled down his cheeks, and grinned foolishly.

Those heavy loads of grain cannot be faked.

No one has lived in the house for a long time, and the thatched hut that needs to be renovated is not fake.

He was lying on the roof turning over the straw to dry, while his wife was cooking inside the house, and the aroma was already wafting up.

"Hey, don't get involved yet. Wait until the grain is steamed and your dad comes downstairs before you start."

Hearing his wife scolding their son, Yan Laosan chuckled and shouted from the rooftop, "If Xiao Liu is hungry, let him have a couple of bites first. A half-grown boy can eat his father out of house and home. He's at the age where he's growing, we can't let him suffer."

The wife scolded, "Then let him wash his hands first. You always spoil him."

Anyway, we have enough food at home now.

Yan Laosan was overjoyed, "If we had this much food back then, I would definitely be a head taller than I am now."

"Hahaha, don't worry, your children will definitely grow taller and taller in the future."

A deep laugh echoed from the dirt road.

Yan Laosan turned around and exclaimed in delight, "General Niu!"

The scarred captain smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Hey, don't rush, no need to come down. You go about your business. I'm going to your village to give some information, I'll be leaving in a bit."

Yan Laosan exclaimed, "What good news is it now?"

"Send your children to literacy classes. Those who know more characters and do well in their studies can apply for priority to help you with farming if you are too busy in the fields. They will also receive preferential treatment if they need to borrow large livestock from the county."

The scarred captain said, "And if you can read a little more, you can learn the basics. There are many benefits. I'm just giving you a brief overview. Your village chief will talk to you about it in detail later."

People ran out from houses on both sides of the dirt road: "General, our meal is ready. Come and have a meal at my house before you leave."

Yan Laosan was just about to extend an invitation when someone beat him to it, and he couldn't help but pound his knee in frustration.

However, Scarface Captain did not accept any invitations. By evening, it was heard that Scarface Captain's men had all withdrawn back to the county town and would be stationed there permanently, rarely coming to the village anymore.

Unbeknownst to the villagers, Scarface Captain's men had just arrived in the county town when they received their transfer orders.

"There are powerful clans in Ziling County who have become bandits in the mountains. General Yue Pengju of Hedong led his troops to suppress them. To prevent the bandits from sneaking into Langu and disturbing the people, he ordered Niu Gao to lead a team to garrison the east side of Yunshan Valley and to patrol carefully without making any mistakes."

………………

Bianliang, November 26th.

"Yue Pengju is really capable; Hedong is basically quiet now."

Li Kaixian yawned, put down the military intelligence report that had just been handed to him, took out a porcelain bottle, poured out a pill and swallowed it, then got up and walked around to help the medicine take effect.

He walked out of the hall and into the courtyard, where he saw people bustling about, carrying documents in their hands.

Li Ying was also out in the courtyard when he saw him come out and said with a smile, "I just heard you say that things are peaceful in Hedong?"

"It's only temporary, but there are still some who didn't deserve to die and have escaped with their lives. If we don't handle things well in the future, they might go down the path of their own destruction and rise again from the ashes."

Li Kaixian sighed and shook his head, saying, "Moreover, places like Hedong are not that troublesome. The former territory of Western Xia and the Liao Kingdom are the real headaches."

Li Ying nodded: "As the saying goes, it's easy to conquer a country, but difficult to govern it. We have an invincible leader who can suppress any large-scale enemy forces, whether it's the Song or Liao dynasties. Compared to those who conquered the country in history, we are already the luckiest."

Li Kaixian said with a smile, "Now it's His Majesty."

"His Majesty……"

Li Ying's expression turned serious. He approached and whispered, "I heard some rumors from Lu Da and the others. Have you heard about them?"

Li Kaixian nodded, his expression turning serious: "The meeting tonight?"

"yes."

Li Ying sighed, "It seems His Majesty is not prepared to be His Majesty."

In the dead of night, more than a hundred ministers of the new Han Dynasty gathered in the garden. The lights were bright, and tea and fruit were prepared, but no one had the heart to touch the tea.

All I could hear was Guan Luoyang speaking.

"Because there's no need for an emperor to exist."

(End of this chapter)