Chapter 25 The Three Brothers of the Yang Family

Chapter 25 The Three Brothers of the Yang Family

Chapter 25 The Three Brothers of the Yang Family

When he saw Li Hu, Zhu Shenzhui smiled.

This guy is really honest. A few days ago when they broke up, Li Hu mentioned that he would come to pick him up when the time comes, and who would have thought that he actually came to pick him up.

In such weather, he had to wait on the mountain road for two days. Fortunately, he had such a temper.

Everyone was very happy to see each other, especially Li Hu, who was so happy to see that Zhu Shenzhui really brought him a lot of food and utensils that he couldn't stop smiling. He quickly called his brothers to help the people in Wangjia Village transport supplies. He led the way, and the group happily headed towards the Laojun Temple.

Zhu Shenzhui and Li Hu walked together, asking about their situation in the past few days.

Li Hu told Zhu Shenzhui that they had almost cleaned up the Laojun Temple in the past few days and had also selected several places suitable for farming near the Laojun Temple. He would bring people to open up the land in the early spring of next year.

As for the rest, since it is early winter and it has snowed in the past two days, we will wait until spring comes. There are no merchants passing by Yangtou Mountain these days, but we did meet a few ordinary passers-by. Li Hu and his men did not make things difficult for these people. They treated them well as Zhu Shenzhui said, collected a few dozen coins of "tea money" from them, and explained the rules to them in the future. Although the money was not much, it was a good start anyway.

The group soon arrived at the Laojun Temple. When they got there, they saw that it was just as Li Hu had said. Compared to when they left some time ago, the Laojun Temple had changed a lot.

In addition to the Laojun Temple and the shacks they had built before, they also built several new houses with wood nearby. Although these houses were very simple, they were much better than the original shacks. Moreover, Li Hu and his men now had a place to live. With the firewood they had prepared and the grain and utensils that Zhu Shenzhu had brought to them, they could survive the winter without much trouble.

Zhu Shenzui and his party returned with grain and utensils. Their arrival made the people waiting in the Laojun Temple extremely happy. Some old men even shed tears when they saw the grain unloaded from the donkeys and mules.

These people who followed Li Hu into Yangtou Mountain could be said to have become refugees without a future. They had no savings and even very little food to eat.

Seeing that the weather is getting colder and colder, it may not be easy to survive even by digging wild vegetables in the mountains. If Zhu Shenzui had not brought them so much food and rice this time, they really don’t know how they can survive this winter.

For a moment, everyone was extremely grateful to Zhu Shenzui, as this was a life-saving favor!
Even though there were a few young men who were not convinced by Zhu Shenzui because Wang Jinwu captured Li Hu and forced him to bow his head last time, after seeing this scene, their remaining resentment disappeared in an instant, and was replaced by admiration and gratitude.

After handing the things over to the people below to deal with, they came to the main hall. Li Hu's son Li You obediently served them tea, which was the persimmon leaf tea they drank last time.

Zhu Shenzhui took it with a smile, said thank you, drank half a bowl and then put the tea down.

Zhu Shenzui was talking with Li Hu and his brothers in the main hall. He told them that this time he not only brought grain and utensils, but also a lot of seeds. These seeds can be used in the spring of next year. If the crops are well taken care of, there will be a harvest in the autumn of next year, and Yangtou Mountain will have its own income.

Li Hu and his companions were overjoyed upon hearing this and thanked Zhu Shenzhui repeatedly.

Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand and asked Li Hu how big the land he was looking for was. Li Hu told him how big the land was. Zhu Shenzhui frowned slightly and said that the place was still a little small. If there were few people, the land might be enough, but Li Hu had more than a hundred people, so this little land might not be enough.

"Sixth Master, we have thought about this too. We will look for it again after some time. Yangtou Mountain is so big, we can always find a few more places to farm." Hu Lin said on the side.

"That's fine, but farming in the mountains is not as good as usual, especially with water. I'm afraid it's a bit troublesome. You just need to think about it. If it doesn't work, I'll send you some grain in the spring next year."

"Sixth Master..." When Zhu Shenzhui said this, Li Hu and others were all moved and stood up to salute. It was Li Hu who first met Zhu Shenzhui and led his men to rob him. Who would have thought that the other party not only did not take their lives, but also helped them so much. How could they repay such a great kindness!
Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand to stop them from talking, asked them to sit down, and said with a smile: "Actually, I'm helping you because I get along well with you, and I admire you for what you have done. As for the third thing, I also have some ideas of my own, and I plan to use you guys' Yangtou Mountain to do something."

"If Sixth Master wants us to do something, just tell us. Even if it requires me, Li Hu, to go through fire and water, I will do it!" Li Hu said, patting his chest without saying a word.

"Haha, it's not that serious, just a small matter." Zhu Shenzhui said happily, and then told Li Hu about his plan. He planned to wait until the beginning of next spring to set up a stronghold in Yangtou Mountain and send two people to take care of it.

This stronghold will be used as a transit point for their future salt transportation, and they will stockpile a batch of salt here in the future.

Since this business uses Yangtou Mountain, Zhu Shenzhui will not treat Li Hu unfairly. Li Hu and his friends will help take care of it. In the future, a portion of silver will be left to Li Hu for every pound of salt sold from Yangtou Mountain. This money can be in cash or in the form of grain and rice, depending on Li Hu's needs. If Li Hu agrees, the matter will be settled. Zhu Shenzhui had considered this matter before. Yangtou Mountain has a good terrain and is a must-go place to Zhao Village. If Yangtou Mountain can be managed well, it will be of great benefit to Zhu Shenzhui.

It was impossible to do this before, after all, Zhu Shenzhui couldn't keep anyone in Yangtou Mountain. If he left too few people, it would be unsafe, and if he left too many people, it would not be worth the loss. But now that Li Hu and his people have settled in Yangtou Mountain, it's different. He only needs to send two people to assist, and Li Hu can help with everything else.

In addition, the risk of smuggling salt is extremely high. Currently, most of Zhu Shenzhu's salt is hidden in Wangjia Village. Although it is not a big problem for a while, it will be very troublesome if the news leaks out over time. A cunning rabbit has three burrows. Zhu Shenzhu needs a new base to share the risk for Wangjia Village, and Yangtou Mountain is the most suitable place.

There is another reason that Zhu Shenzui did not mention, and that is that Zhu Shenzui wanted to use this incident to completely recruit Li Hu and his gang from Yangtou Mountain for his own use.

It is not appropriate to say this now. The purpose of proposing this condition is to create a subtle influence. As long as Li Hu does not object, then as time goes by, the two sides will gradually be tied together, and this matter will come to fruition in the future.

After hearing what Zhu Shenzhui said, Li Hu agreed without thinking. This matter was not difficult for him. Zhu Shenzhui had helped them so much and received so much kindness. Not to mention such a small matter, even if it was a big matter, he had to do it.

Seeing that Li Hu agreed, Zhu Shenzui thanked Li Hu with tea instead of wine, and then mentioned the things he had learned from others during this salt smuggling.

Zhu Shenzui did not tell Li Hu the truth about the mine supervisor. He only told them that the Jinyiwei had intervened in the matter, and that the mine supervisor and the Jinyiwei were still looking for the whereabouts of Li Hu and others. He asked them to stay in Yangtou Mountain and be careful and never let any news leak out.

After hearing what Zhu Shenzhui said, everyone looked at each other with extremely nervous expressions.

Not to mention that the mine inspector was sent by the emperor, the reputation of the Jinyiwei was even more intimidating.

Li Hu was a low-ranking military officer, so he knew the abilities of the Jinyiwei. If a person wanted to hide, he might be able to avoid the eyes and ears of the government, but he would definitely not be able to escape the pursuit of the Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei had been famous in the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years and had long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

"Sixth Master's matter..."

"You don't have to panic about this matter. I have asked someone from the Imperial Guards to smooth things over and temporarily suppress it. Besides, the term of office of the mine supervisor is not long. I have already inquired about it. The mine supervisor has been in office for several years now. Who knows, he might be recalled to the capital one day. Once this useless guy leaves, the Imperial Guards will find a way to make some arrangements. Who knows, this matter may be concealed."

"However, you can continue to use the nickname Zuoshanhu, but for safety reasons you can no longer use the name Lihu. Once it gets out, there's no guarantee that it won't get to the ears of the mine supervisor, and it will be a big problem if he finds you. Tiger, I think you should change your name. Any name is fine."

"Okay! I'll listen to Sixth Master!" Li Hu nodded without hesitation.

Zhu Shenzui then turned his gaze to Lu Yishen and Hu Lin. The two of them were Li Hu's sworn brothers and were also the leading miners. It would not be enough for Li Hu alone to change his name, so they would probably have to change their names as well.

"Me too!"

Lu Yisheng and Hu Lin agreed in unison without thinking, but as for what to call it, they had not received much education and could not figure it out for a moment, so they turned to Zhu Shenzhui for help.

Zhu Shenzhui smiled, thought about it and gave the three of them pseudonyms. Since they settled in Yangtou Mountain, for convenience, they all had the surname Yang.

Li Hu changed his name to Yang Biao, Lu Yishen changed his name to Yang Yi, and Hu Lin was called Yang Lin. How about that?

After hearing these three names, the three of them muttered twice, their eyes brightened and they praised them repeatedly. Then Zhu Shenzhui turned his eyes to Zhang Xijun who had been silent. Zhang Xijun smiled and said that he didn't need to change it because the name he was using now was not his real name.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Shenzhui was quite surprised, but seeing that Li Hu and the other two did not object, it seemed that Master Zhang was indeed not lying.

(End of this chapter)