I worked myself to the bone to become a saint, and survived on a deserted island with a stunning pri

Chu Nan hesitated for a moment, then slowly pushed open the door.

The next moment, he saw seven dirty-clothed women huddled in a corner of the room, looking at him in terror.

With a sigh, Chu Nan said softly, "Don't be afraid, I'm not here to hurt you."

The women still looked terrified, clearly not believing Chu Nan's words.

Chu Nan's expression was also somewhat complicated.

Judging from the women's terrified expressions, they had clearly been treated roughly by Wangcai and his gang.

"These beasts..." Chu Nan cursed under his breath.

Seeing that the women didn't respond, Chu Nan's gaze fell on a woman who looked to be around 30 years old, and he asked with a smile, "What's your name? Where do you live?"

Upon hearing this, the woman trembled: "Your Majesty... my surname is Liu, and I live in Chenjia Township."

"Do you want to go home? If so, I'll send someone to take you home."

Upon hearing this, the woman's face showed a look of sorrow.

"I'm already a used and defiled woman, how could my husband still want me...?"

Hearing her words, Chu Nan fell silent.

The etiquette and teachings of the feudal era were indeed much more severe.

Although it wasn't the woman's fault that she was violated, it was still very difficult for others to accept.

"Where do you want to go? If you want to live alone, I'll give you some money so you can open a small shop and make a living," Chu Nan said after thinking for a moment.

Upon hearing this, the woman shook her head, looking bewildered.

"This young woman doesn't know what to do either..."

Chu Nan rubbed his temples, looked at the seven women whose faces were almost identical, and couldn't help but frown.

They had all been violated by bandits, and it was unlikely that they would ever be able to return home.

Even if she goes back, her family probably won't accept a woman who has been violated.

"How about this, you can stay in the village and take care of sewing and mending."

"I will pay you wages monthly according to the standard rate."

"Whenever you want to leave, I'll send someone to take you away. You can go wherever you want."

"Furthermore, from now on, absolutely no one will bully you again," Chu Nan said in a deep voice.

Upon hearing Chu Nan's words, the seven women exchanged glances. Seemingly having made up their minds, they all stood up, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to Chu Nan.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you, Your Majesty."

Chu Nan quickly waved his hand: "I'm not some kind of king, my name is Chu Nan."

"Thank you, Young Master Chu, thank you, benefactor Chu." The women kowtowed repeatedly, tears streaming down their faces.

"Alright, don't be too sad. You can live in this side courtyard from now on."

"I will arrange two guards at the gate. They have no history of banditry, so you can rest assured."

"If anyone bullies you, tell me, and I will punish them severely." Chu Nan reassured them.

After making arrangements for the women who had been wronged, Chu Nan returned to the hall.

After a night's rest, Qinglong Village was no longer as panicked as it had been the night before.

Chu Nan summoned Zhang San and asked him to count the number of people, then gather everyone in the square on the mountaintop.

Then they brought over a few of the smaller leaders.

The essence of management lies not in one person managing everyone, but in managing those who can manage others.

So Zhang San went out and searched for about 10 minutes, then led 10 people in.

"This humble servant greets the chief." Except for Zhang San, the other 10 people all knelt down and bowed.

Of these 10 people, three were originally from the mountain stronghold in that valley. The other seven were from Qinglong Village.

"Please sit down!" Chu Nan raised his hand and pointed to the seats on both sides.

The 11 people, including Zhang San, sat on both sides, their eyes fixed on Chu Nan.

"Now that the two villages have been merged, how many people are there?"

Upon hearing Chu Nan's question, Zhang San quickly stood up and replied, "Reporting to the chief, I have already counted them, and there are a total of 193 people."

"Including the head of the gang, there are a total of 194 people."

"Oh, that includes Xiaozhu, but not the seven women," Zhang San added.

Chu Nan nodded: "Good, nearly 200 people, that's quite a force for us."

"Next, we need to train the brothers and get them some weapons and armor," Chu Nan said in a deep voice.

The bandits looked at each other, wondering what Chu Nan meant.

"To survive here, staying in a remote corner is definitely not an option."

"Only by annexing and plundering can we strengthen ourselves. Only when we are strong can we avoid being bullied, have food to eat, meat to eat, and wine to drink."

Hearing Chu Nan's words, the bandits were all tempted.

People become bandits just to have food to eat and to avoid being bullied.

What Chu Nan said reflected their most genuine and direct thoughts.

"So what should the leader do?"

"Yes, boss, I also want to have enough to eat and not be bullied. I used to be a farmer, but if I hadn't been starving, I wouldn't have come up the mountain to become a bandit."

Upon hearing this, the others nodded in agreement.

"Yes, if people had food to eat and land to cultivate, who would want to be a bandit?"

"I used to have 40 mu of land in Xiaogou Village. But one year the harvest was bad, and I had no choice but to sell the land to Liu the rich man."

"That bastard Liu is so wicked. Whenever the harvest is bad, he buys land everywhere. He owns more than half of the land in the village. The villagers in our village are all his tenants, working for him. We work ourselves to the bone all year round, but we can't even get enough to eat, and we even owe him wages."

As the two of them started complaining, the others also began to chime in.

They recounted their hardships and why they had become bandits in the mountains.

Chu Nan's expression was somewhat strange; he felt as if he had heard these words somewhere before.

"These landlords weren't necessarily bad, but their existence made it impossible for ordinary people to survive."

"Why? Because they control the means of production!"

"They have money, they have the resources to weather the storm. They can buy your land when you're in trouble, and turn you into their tenants when the harvest is good."

"Therefore, if we don't want to be bullied, we must also control the means of production."

"We don't bully others, but we also can't let others bully us."

"Do you want to stop being bullied?"

Upon hearing Chu Nan's words, the crowd became excited.

"Yes!!!" everyone shouted in unison.

Chu Nan slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "Fine! If you don't want to be bullied, if you want to eat your fill, if you want to eat meat, if you want to drink, if you want your wife and kids to live a good life, then follow me!"

"I guarantee that in less than a year, you'll be living better than those landlords!"

One of the bandits looked at Chu Nan excitedly: "Since the boss has said so, then I'll entrust my life to the boss. I'll do whatever the boss says!"

"I want my son to be safe from being bullied, to have enough to eat, and maybe even to be able to read and write."

"Me too!"

………………