Lin Yu's life of traveling through time

Chapter 136: Survival in the Ancient World (5)

In the following days, Daliang City was busy, but there were too few people and everything seemed stretched. Everyone was busy with too many things, and Lin Yu always had a sense of urgency. He contacted Lao Liu and asked him to help watch the situation around Daliang City and ensure its safety before their defense was established.

That day, Lin Yu called Li Cunshu over and said, "Cunshu, do you know the situation around Daliang City?"

"Sir, I am a local and I know the situation within a hundred miles."

"That's good." Lin Yu nodded and continued to ask: "Do you know if there are any bandits around here?"

"Bandits? Yes, there are. I wonder if you want to..."

"Oh! That's good, Cunshu. We still have too few people in Daliang City. How far is this bandit's location from Daliang City?"

"There used to be twenty large and small strongholds within a hundred miles of Daliang City. We are also located on the border, so in addition to bandits, there are also some roving bandits. Among them, there are also some stray soldiers of the Hu people in these strongholds.

When Daliang City was prosperous, these people did come to rob people. Even now, it's because we have a plague and no one dares to come. They have no shortage of supplies in the mountain stronghold. After all, there are powerful people behind the robberies."

"I see. If that's the case, sooner or later we'll be targeted. We have to get rid of them."

"But we have over a hundred people in total, and there are only sixty young men and soldiers who can fight. This is a huge disparity. A small mountain stronghold has hundreds of people, and a large one has thousands."

"Tsk, tell me about the village you are familiar with."

"Well, there's actually a large stronghold called Dragon and Tiger Stronghold. Its leader was supposed to be a hunter from a village near Daliang City. But you know what kind of people the officials in Daliang City were before. The Chief Secretary was a sycophantic, flattering villain. Survival was already difficult, especially on the border, and with so many years of constant war, the governor only knew how to exploit and increase taxes. So, these two brothers, in a fit of rage, turned to banditry, targeting these inhumane officials and treacherous merchants."

"Then this time they..."

Li Cunshu knew what Lin Yu wanted to ask, so he explained: "Hey! Their stronghold is in the south of the city. On weekdays, they also help the people resist the harassment of their own people and the barbarians. But you also know that many of the more than ten countries now were established by the barbarians.

Originally, the famine here was not caused by any natural disaster. Although there were floods in other places, it would not affect here. But our emperor and officials did not care about these things. They only cared about conscripting soldiers and fighting wars. If there was no food, they would collect it. If there were no people, they would conscript soldiers. But they also had to leave people time and space to farm.

Daliang City was initially self-sufficient, but due to a food shortage, the government recklessly confiscated all grain without regard for the consequences, leaving no grain for the people. Many strong laborers were also forcibly taken away. This was one of the reasons for the famine in Daliang City.

Because those two brothers came down the mountain and brought some food to our people. But not only did the food not reach the people, our Chief Secretary also joined forces with the barbarians to burn down Longhu Village. Who would have thought that this would have been his own fault? Longhu Village was not burned down, and the Chief Secretary dragged his body back and ordered the city to be sealed off, not allowing the hungry refugees from outside to enter, let alone the hungry refugees to escape to the mountain village. That is why you were initially trapped at Mantou Mountain at the west gate.

Without food, no one dared to resist at first. When people were extremely hungry, they started to eat each other. And the Chief Secretary was a disaster. Did you know that the plague started from him? I don't know if he was crazy. He became so arrogant after the prefect left. Seeing that he had contracted the plague and had no possibility of treatment, he hid it from people and asked them to spread the things he used everywhere, hoping to drag the entire Daliang city to be buried with him.

The prefect had originally planned to leave with someone to take over, but upon arrival, word reached them of a plague raging in Daliang City, spreading rapidly and killing countless people. They immediately ordered the city gates to be guarded, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving. At the west gate, considering the famine, they recruited a few men to threaten their families to guard the gate. Within three days, as they had hoped, almost all the city residents had perished. If you hadn't arrived, we would have been buried here too.

The two leaders of Longhu Village naturally tried to protect themselves first and did not show up again."

Lin Yu thought the situation in Daliang City was pretty much what he'd guessed. However, while the two heads of Dragon and Tiger Village had their share of minor flaws, they were still true men. He held no ill feelings towards Dragon and Tiger Village, and even admired their fortitude in these troubled times.

But no matter how much he admires him, he is now in Daliang City. How can he accommodate such a big threat when he is trying to build this place? How can he allow others to snore beside his bed?

What's more, he wanted to restore the people's livelihood in Daliang City and survive in the cracks, so he had to solve the bandit problem. He really needed population.

"Cun Shu, if we want Daliang City to recover and thrive, if we want to live here safely and protect this place, we must incorporate Longhuzhai."

"Sir, please forgive my rudeness. I wonder if you want to fight for a piece of the world in this chaotic world?"

Lin Yu was silent for a while. At first, he just wanted to have a place to settle down, but it seemed that he would never be able to have peace of mind if he didn't fight for his own piece of the world. In view of this chaotic world, he was afraid that even if he didn't fight for his own piece of the world, his life would still be in chaos and he would be in danger at any moment.

"Yes, I want to fight. Fate is in the hands of no one. No one cares about us so-called ants. I don't want to live in such precarious conditions anymore."

Li Cunshu laughed: "Hahaha...Okay, my lord, if you don't mind, I'm willing to assist you."

Lin Yu raised his eyebrows: "Do you trust me so much? I really have nothing right now."

"No, you are different. I have seen clearly during the time I have spent with you, my lord. Although I am not talented, I have never made a mistake in judging people."

Yan Ping stood aside and continued, "Yan Ping is also willing to serve Master Lin as our lord. In these troubled times, if we fight for our fortune, we can live a good life. If we lose, we will die. This means Yan's life will not be in vain."

Lin Yu hurried down and helped the two men up: "Please stand up quickly. We still have to solve the problem of Longhu Village first. Only when Daliang City recovers can we have a chance to fight for it in the future."