I have a fortune book

Chapter 98 Recruiting the Mountain People, the Way of Gathering the Crowd

The next day, the Zhou clan started a vigorous joint training in the name of preparing for the bandits and guarding the clan.

The reserve soldiers who originally belonged to the reserve team all became regulars, and finally got a total of more than [-] soldiers from the Wudu Huzhuang Team. Zhou Bai led the battalion himself, and Zhou Yuan led the deputy battalion.

Some time ago, the Zhou Clan was just attacked by bandits, and at this time there were conflicts between Cangbei County’s side wall and the Kingdom of Jin, and the situation was unstable. Therefore, all the clans in Pingcang County also added their own clan soldiers to patrol the township.

The training of 500 clan soldiers may be a little eye-catching in a small Hongni Township, but it is nothing to the entire Pingcang County.

However, for the sake of caution, when Zhou Bai went to the county government to sign the mountain rental agreement, he also asked Ji Hongzhe's consent to fill in the documents for the temporary drill of the Hongni Township Tour.

This is a common practice in the Daxu countryside in the face of emergencies, especially in Bianzhou, where the situation is often unstable, and the government's military strength sometimes fails to take care of the countryside, so they will allow the rural tyrants to form township soldiers for self-defense.

In addition, by spending 5 taels of silver from the family treasury, Zhou Bai successfully bought [-] mu of wasteland at the foot of Cangshan Mountain, plus a five-year lease of [-] mu of Cangshan Mountain land use rights.

In fact, to put it bluntly, these [-] mu of mountain fields are incidentals to purchasing decent land.

The barren mountainous land that others despise, in Zhou Bai's eyes, is a treasure land in a few years. Unfortunately, there is only a five-year lease, which makes him have to find a way to actually get Cangshan.

Perhaps the conditions for Jinshi and the first degree can be used for this?Or conferred meritorious service and made Cangshan a fiefdom?
At the foot of Cangshan Mountain, the Zhou family’s guard team, who served as local soldiers in Hongni Township, just finished a cross-country training. They have shown a strong demeanor after training according to the basics of martial arts. sequential queue.

It's a pity that although the quality of the soldiers is enough, the real generals are still not enough.

Except for Zhou Yuan, the rest of the team are all top-ranking core generals, at most they are ordinary red life, and it is a little bit reluctant to lead an army of hundreds of people.

The importance of generals is not yet seen. When the territory grows, qualified generals are very critical talents.

After accompanying Zhou Bai in the military parade, Zhou Yuan wanted to share his worries, so he put forward his own suggestion: "My lord, there are not only bandits and bandits in Cangshan Mountain, but also many people who used to live in the mountains to escape the war. Elite soldiers and strong generals."

In Zhou Yuan's narration, Zhou Bai knew the cause and effect. It turned out that before they went into the mountains to suppress bandits, they accidentally suppressed the settlements of the mountain people. Zhou Yuan was deeply impressed by the quality of the mountain people.

"You said that there are generals among the mountain people, and I need to recruit them myself? Then I want to see what kind of general is recommended by the number one general of my Zhou family!" Zhou Bai was in a good mood when he heard the news of the generals. .

On Cangshan Mountain, the mountains are densely covered with dense forests, and the roads are difficult to walk. The various small roads are not for locals, so it is difficult to find out the direction.

However, Zhou Yuan led his troops to clear up the bandits in Cangshan Mountain, and he was already familiar with the surrounding terrain. After all the thirteen villages in Cangshan Mountain were destroyed, the only thing left for him to remember was the settlements of the mountain people.

After crossing mountains and ridges all the way, walking through seven forked mountain roads, passing through two cave tunnels, and jumping over a mountain forest full of poisonous snakes and beasts, Zhou Yuanfang brought Zhou Bai to a mountain dwelling.

This is also a cottage. Unlike the bandits, the mountain people living here are self-sufficient and do not make a living by plundering.

Looking at its luck from a distance, it is scattered, mostly wisps of rising white air, much less than the normal villages at the foot of the mountain, and the people's hearts are not attached.

Moreover, there is often gray air lingering around this cottage. Obviously, the mountain people do not live in peace in this mountain, and even survival is a problem worth considering from time to time.

The bandits in Cangshan Mountain were the main body of the contradiction before, and the scattered and settled mountain people were ignored by Zhou Bai, but after all, Zhou Bai wanted Cangshan Mountain as the foundation of his business. At this time, he only thought about it a little, and a steady stream of memories came to his mind.

It turned out that the ancestors of these mountain people were not real mountain people, but came to live in the mountains to avoid wars and heavy taxes. Therefore, they can communicate with outsiders normally, and there is no big difference in their habits.

"Boom, boom, boom~" The guards at the gate of the village saw Zhou Bai and a group of strangers coming, and hurriedly rang the gong to call for the villagers in the village.

Soon, hundreds of mountain people rushed out with hoes, machetes and other weapons. They were dressed in all kinds of crude fur clothes, and they looked like a mob.

But for such a big cottage to gain a foothold in the mountains, there must be warriors. The dozen or so people walking in the front all held swords, and some even held longbows.

"Who are you? Are you the boss of the mountain who is new here and wants to set up a mountain?!" A burly mountain man with his arms exposed seemed to be the leader. He did not order rashly to attack, but took the initiative to negotiate and inquire.

The leader is not stupid. Although the dozens of people in front of him are small in number, they are all well-armed and strong, and their backgrounds are obviously not simple.

"My name is Zhou Bai, and I am the patriarch of the Zhou Clan. This year's Dingzhou Xieyuan, I am here to recruit you on behalf of the Zhou Clan." Zhou Bai smiled and explained his purpose directly.

"It's refreshing, but our village is used to life in the mountains and forests, so we don't want to go down the mountain to accept the imperial court's control." The leader also responded cleanly.

"Then if I tell you that the government has approved [-] mu of mountain forest for the Zhou family to use, are you willing to cultivate the mountain fields? These fields are tax-free for the first five years, and as long as you join the Zhou family, they can be planted for you for free." Zhou Bai continued.

"us……"

Before the other party hesitated to refuse, Zhou Bai directly stated the conditions: "You can still do business with outsiders, such as salt, food, and clothing. Don't you want to bring a better life for your people?"

"You know that we wiped out the bandits in Cangshan, but do you know that my Zhou family has gods to help? The mountain ghosts who asked you for blood food were driven away by the gods of protection. Only by joining us can you have a safe place to live! "

There are obvious benefits and naked threats, and all the mountain people suddenly fell silent.

The places where these mountain people settled down were also persecuted by mountain ghosts, but the mountain people were unwilling to use human sacrifices, so most of the prey they had worked so hard to catch were dedicated to mountain ghosts.

In addition, the yield of grain grown in the mountains is also pitifully low, which makes their life difficult all the time, and they are often hungry and full.

The leader of the mountain people glanced at the soldiers waiting around Zhou Bai, and sighed, "Oh, we must remain independent and cannot be annexed by you."

Power is hard to break, and after getting along with each other in the past few months, they found that the Zhou family outside is indeed easier to deal with than the imperial court, and now, as the patriarch of Yizhou Jieyuan, they come to the door in person, which is impossible.

Living in the mountains does not mean that the mountain people do not understand the gold content of Xie Yuan. It means that the Zhou family must have a lot of say in the court.

Zhou Bai promised: "It's natural, you can even continue to live here, and I will send people to your cottage to communicate with each other."

"I've met the patriarch!" After the mountain people looked at each other for a few times, they all put down their crude weapons and bowed down to meet Zhou Bai.

Immediately, the originally scattered white air in the cottage began to gather, and the wisps of the mountain people's spirit tended to Zhou Bai, this was the initial way to gather people.

In the dark, Zhou Bai seemed to hear the sound of the carp jumping out of the water. These strange alien people can nourish the growth of the dragon carp.

This gave Zhou Bai a clear understanding that he might not be able to rely solely on a single clan, and that being inclusive of all rivers is the right way to fight for the dragon and gather the crowd.

(End of this chapter)