"Rural soldier?" Lu Jing still held on to a glimmer of hope.
However, the man shook his head and said, "No, he is a civilian husband, and he was sent to the northwest to suppress the rebellion."
Lu Jing also gave up completely when he heard this.
Come on, these people will definitely not be found.
So he asked again, "Where can I find villagers around here?"
"If you can't find it, bandits are rampant in Yuzhou. Those who can escape have long since escaped, and those who can't escape have hid in the castles of local wealthy families or big squires. Recently, we can't find anyone to rob them. .”
The man said helplessly, "I'm contacting the other two groups to see if we can jointly capture an earth fort, otherwise this winter will be very difficult."
"What were you doing earlier? You obviously occupy such a large piece of land, why don't you grow your own food?" Lu Jing asked curiously.
“It’s difficult,” the man said, “we are not the only ones doing this moneyless business around here, there are also refugees running around, and people can do anything when they are extremely hungry.
"We don't have the protection of the earthen fort, so it's hard for us to farm with peace of mind. In addition, although the officers and soldiers can't do anything to us, they will come to raid every once in a while. When there are many people, we can't even stay in the fortress and can only get into it. It’s deeper in the mountains, so it’s not that we don’t want to plant it, but it’s useless even if we plant it.”
"I probably understand your situation." Lu Ding nodded.
The man hesitated for a moment, but finally asked the question he had wanted to ask for a long time, "Who are you, and why do you come to our Qinglong Village?"
"Although I'm not a good person, I don't really like to deal with gangsters like you. I know that you all turn into bandits, and everyone probably has their own helplessness behind them."
At this point, Lu Jing paused and looked at the boy again.
The latter felt inexplicably guilty at this glance, but he still tried his best to put a smile on his face.
Lu Jing ignored him and continued, "You can say that you were forced to do this in order to survive, but after all, your hands were stained with blood after all. In troubled times... I know this is quite normal. Yes, but just because something is normal doesn’t mean it’s right.
"I'm not from the government. Although from my personal point of view, I really want to send you all to prison, but in this case I don't seem to be able to find anyone who can farm the land for me."
The man frowned, "You want us to farm land for you, didn't you hear what I said before?"
"It's easy to deal with the refugees and bandits. Just build a bunker and surround this place. I heard when we went up the mountain that you are one of the two largest groups of bandits in the area. With the help of the bunker, you should be able to deal with it." Easily resist other people's attacks."
Seeing that the man was about to say something again, Lu Jing waved his hand to interrupt him and continued, "I know what you want to say. If you build earthen forts, the officers and soldiers will tear them down, and those officers and soldiers will attack you from time to time. , but I can help you solve this problem."
"How are you going to solve it?" the man asked doubtfully.
"When I return to the city, I will go to the government and tell them about the construction of the earthen fortress."
"Then you just wait for the army to come and demolish our earthen fort." The man sneered.
"Of course it won't work if you tell me, but if I tell you there's still a good chance of success."
"Why?"
"Because I am the owner of this land." Lu Jing pointed to his nose.
"…………"
The man was speechless, and it was obvious that he didn't quite believe what Lu Jing said.
So Lu Jing took out the land deed again, placed it in front of him, and said, "What do you call your Excellency?"
"Ge Ping, everyone in the village calls me Boss Ge."
"Then I'll call you Boss Ge," Lu Jing said.
"I don't dare. You are a martial arts expert. How dare you call yourself the boss in front of you?"
"It doesn't matter, it's just a title. Just like I didn't ask you what your real name is, right?" Lu Jing said indifferently.
Ge Ping sighed, "Now that I have fallen into the trap of being a bandit, I naturally have no face to face the elders in my hometown again, and I don't want my bad deeds to be spread back to my hometown."
"I understand," Lu Jingdao, "So how have you considered my proposal? Have you ever thought about not continuing to plunder for a living and live a more stable life?"
Ge Ping had already seen the land deed at this time and returned it to Lu Jing with both hands. However, he did not express his position immediately, but asked more questions.
"If I don't agree, will you send me to the government?"
Lu Ding nodded, "After all, you are living on my territory now. If you don't want to contribute to me, I certainly have no reason to let you continue to live there."
"Then it seems I have no choice." Ge Ping said.
"Who said that? You can also recruit good people and try to attack me." Lu Jing helped the other side to make suggestions.
However, Ge Ping was not fooled and said in a deep voice, "Since you dare to come to our village alone, you must be fully confident that you can capture us all."
"It's a bit exaggerated to take them all. After all, there are more than 200 of you, and I only have one. If someone takes advantage of the chaos and sneaks into the mountain, I won't bother to look for it." Lu Jing said truthfully.
He also wants to understand now that although he himself doesn't like Geping and his bandits very much, the current situation in Yuzhou means that even if he wants to farm, he has to break out troops first.
Ge Ping's group happens to be good at farming, and their fighting skills are not satisfactory. One person can work two jobs, but only get one salary. This is the kind of worker Lu Jing needs most.
Seeing that he had no choice at all, Ge Ping no longer hesitated and said straightforwardly, "Okay, I promise you, as long as you can survive in this world, it doesn't make much difference how you live.
"But let's agree first. Although I am willing to farm land for you, the two hundred people in the village may not necessarily have the same thoughts as me.
"Even in troubled times, those who dare to work in this industry are not easy to make money. Some people are born to like a life of getting something for nothing, especially after seeing blood, they will not be willing to just return to farming honestly."
"Since you told me that, you must have already thought of a solution." Lu Jing said.
"That's right," Ge Ping nodded, "aren't you going to the government to discuss the construction of the earth fort? But those officers and soldiers also know our details. Although you have the land deed in your hand, they may not feel at ease just like this. In this case, it's not as good as Plus a letter of nomination.
"Don't worry, there won't be too many people. With my prestige in the village, one hundred, sixty or seventy people can still stay. And without those people, there will be fewer people with different intentions from now on."
Lu Jing thought for a moment and then added, "And the women you kidnapped, if they want to go down the mountain, let them go home."
