Traveling to another world and becoming a local owner

"There's no need for that yet. Everything is just speculation. But we have to be on guard against this matter, and we have to find a solution sooner or later." Zhang Ling tapped the table with his fingers and said slowly.

"Young Master, if it doesn't work, just buy some more young and strong men and let Brother Da train them to be guards. The three of us were scouts when we were in Yangping Pass, and Brother Da was our scout captain!" Upon hearing this, Xu Chang immediately shouted.

"Oh? Wei Da, you were also a scout captain?" Zhang Ling was surprised when he heard this and seemed extremely happy.

He knew that scouts were similar to special forces. Not only did they need to have strong individual combat capabilities, but they also had to have reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance capabilities. They also had to be familiar with the combat skills of infantry, cavalry, and archers.

"Yes, young master. I'm just a scout team leader, and I only manage twenty people under me. Hehe!" Wei Da touched the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Okay, you go to the construction site later to pick people. As long as they are young and strong men bought from home, you can pick whoever you like and train them all. If you need anything, go to Cao Shuan and Fusheng and ask them to think of a solution for you as soon as possible." Zhang Ling slapped his thigh and said excitedly.

"Okay, young master. I'll go first." Upon hearing this, Wei Da bowed and clasped his fists, then turned around and left quickly with the two of them.

After they left, Zhang Ling couldn't help but feel relieved. He was worrying about how to improve his self-protection ability, but he didn't expect that after searching everywhere, he would find the person in the dimly lit place.

As the saying goes, gold is easy to get, but a good general is hard to find. He didn't know that these three precious treasures were staying in his own straw hut every day.

Wei Da acted quickly, and the lame man did not try to stop him after knowing that it was Zhang Ling who ordered it.

Out of the forty-six young and strong men, he directly took away twenty-one of them.

Arriving at the grove at the back of the mountain, Wei Da asked everyone to line up neatly.

"The young master has ordered that from today on, you will be under my charge. From now on, you will no longer be ordinary servants, but guards of the Zhang family. If you want to eat and drink well, live in a tiled house and marry a wife, you have to train hard with me. If anyone doesn't want to do it, you can leave now and go back to the construction site to carry bricks." Wei Da came from a military background, so his speech was naturally rough. He shouted at everyone.

When everyone heard this, they all looked confused. They looked at each other, but no one left.

"Very good, since you are all willing to stay, then from now on, you have to listen to me and do as I say! Xu Chang, Huang San, listen to my orders!"

"Yes!" They both answered at the same time, clasping their fists.

"You two stand guard from behind. If anyone slacks off or disobeys orders, you'll be beaten severely with a stick. If they beat the young master to death, I'll report it to him." Wei Da said with a cruel look on his face, glaring at everyone.

"Yes!" the two answered in unison.

In this way, Wei Da led twenty-one young and strong men and began the brutal training.

Although the young and strong were reluctant at first and had some resistance, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and persevere.

But it was not until lunch that they realized what happiness was.

The whole leg of lamb, the stewed chicken and duck, and several large pots full of fat and white rice made everyone feel as if they were living in a dream.

After eating and drinking, Wei Da asked everyone to rest for half an hour, and then continued training.

Since there were no weapons, he could only cut some wooden sticks of appropriate sizes and let everyone practice basic training such as chopping, picking, cutting, and stabbing.

Maybe they were full and energetic, or maybe they felt that training was much better than moving bricks, everyone changed their attitude in the afternoon and were more motivated to train...

As Xia Wenshan was preparing for the provincial examination recently, he stayed at home reading books every day and never went out of the house.

When the Xiaji Commercial Bank staff informed him, he did not know the urgency of the matter and did not dare to disturb them. It was not until lunch that he learned that Zhang Ling was looking for him.

After eating a few mouthfuls of food, Xia Wenshan hurried to the business to meet Li Liulang. After learning the cause of the incident, he rushed to Wangshan Village without stopping.

Zhang Ling waited at home until the afternoon before Xia Wenshan finally arrived.

"Don't blame me, Brother Zhang. The servants at home saw that I was studying, so they didn't inform you and kept you waiting for a long time." Xia Wenshan apologized as soon as they met.

"Brother Xia, that's not what you said. It's not an urgent matter. It doesn't matter. I've asked you to come all the way here. Please take a seat!" Seeing that he didn't seem to be pretending, Zhang Ling greeted him politely.

After the two of them exchanged a few polite words, Zhang Ling told the story of Wu Derong again.

"How can this old man be so shameless!" Xia Wenshan was so angry that he slammed the table and stood up.

"Brother Xia, don't be angry. I have already rejected him. I asked you to come here today because I want to get to know him better and find out what kind of person he is and what his background is." Zhang Ling consoled him and immediately stated his purpose.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, Brother Zhang. We didn't handle this matter well. Wu Derong is the richest man in Huaiyin County and also the sworn enemy of my Xia family." Although Xia Wenshan was a weak scholar, he clenched his fists at this moment, looking furious.

"Oh? The background is so important!" Zhang Ling was surprised. He didn't expect that things would be more troublesome than he imagined.

"Not only that, it is rumored that this person is not only on good terms with the government, but is also secretly colluding with a group of bandits from Heiya Village." Upon hearing this, Xia Wenshan immediately leaned over and spoke softly.

"Heiya Village? Is it the Heiya Mountain at the border of Yingyang and Huaiyin?" Zhang Ling frowned and couldn't help asking.

"Exactly! In the past, Derong Commercial Bank was not well-known and was only a second-rate commercial bank in Huaiyin County. But more than a decade ago, Huaiyin County was hit by bandits and all the merchants suffered, except Wu Derong, who did not lose a penny."

"That's not all. Originally, he only had six small shops in Huaiyin. After deducting expenses, he could only make two to three thousand taels of silver each year. But after the banditry, the major shops were short of funds, and they had to sell some stores one after another. But Wu Derong suddenly made a move and bought more than 20 shops in the county in one go, and immediately became the biggest boss in Huaiyin County." Xia Wenshan narrated the other party's past in one breath.

"More than twenty shops? How much will that cost?" Zhang Ling was very shocked when he heard that.

"It should be at least 40,000 or 50,000 taels of silver! Brother Zhang, think about it, he is just a small businessman, where can he get so much money? Besides, running these shops requires a lot of working capital, otherwise it will not be able to turn around at all." Xia Wenshan said in a low voice with some disdain.

"You mean to say that Wu Derong is most likely the boss behind the Heiyazhai bandits?" Zhang Ling nodded secretly and then asked.

"This is just speculation among colleagues. This person is extremely vindictive, so no one dares to investigate him in a high-profile manner." Xia Wenshan spread his hands helplessly, obviously not sure.

"Well, Brother Xia, how do you think I should deal with this matter?" Zhang Ling also understood the reason, so he asked directly.