Reborn in Liangshan: I built the strongest lineup

"Get up! Get up now!"

Yang Zhi lashed the lying soldiers with the rattan cane again and again, showing no mercy.

However, these soldiers seemed determined today to fight to the death rather than get up.

"Yang, no matter what we say, you're not getting up today!"

A soldier was lying on the ground, clinging tightly to a tree beside him, refusing to let go.

At this moment, the two officers and Lao Xie also caught up.

Upon seeing that Yang Zhi was about to hit someone again, the two officers immediately started cursing.

"Yang Zhi! Do you have any humanity?! It's so hot, and we've traveled such a long way! You won't even let us rest! Are you even human?!"

"That's right. These brothers are the pillars of their families. They were born of parents. You don't care about them and you beat and scold them at will. Have you ever considered how their parents feel?"

"If they die here, that would be irresponsible towards their parents!"

Yang Zhi said, sticking his neck out, that he felt he was right.

"Yang Zhi, listen to me."

Old Xie caught up at this moment, panting heavily.

"Take a break. In this weather, you won't be able to stay awake if you don't rest."

Old Xie was covered in sweat, his white hair plastered to his forehead; clearly, he was also nearing his limit.

"We can't rest! Resting now is no different from courting death. Do you know that if I were a strongman, I would be lying in ambush here, waiting for people to walk right into my trap?"

Yang Zhi was extremely anxious. Why couldn't you all understand good and bad advice?

"Yang Zhi! Don't talk nonsense!"

Old Xie finally got angry.

"You've been saying all along that there are strongmen, strongmen, but we haven't seen a single ordinary person, let alone a strongman, while walking along the mountain roads. Where are the strongmen you're talking about?"

Old Xie plopped down, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"People often say, 'Those who don't listen to the advice of their elders will suffer the consequences.' Yang Zhi, I'm so much older than you, so I'm practically your senior, right?"

"Along the way, I watched you lead the troops forward. When you encountered something you were unhappy about, you would either beat or scold them. What, is this how the Yang family of Tianbo Prefecture leads troops?"

"Why can't we let everyone rest a bit before we leave? Is that really not okay?"

"Old Steward! Those few don't know anything, but don't you know anything either?"

Yang Zhi earnestly advised him.

"Look at this hill. There's no one for seven or eight miles around. If we don't hurry up and get there, we might not be able to find a place to stay tonight!"

"If we can't find a place to stay and the birthday gifts are stolen, we'll all be in deep trouble!"

Yang Zhi was anxious, as if if he stayed here for another quarter of an hour, the birthday gifts would be lost immediately.

"Yang Zhi! First of all, you are just a lowly scout, while these soldiers are the elite of the army. It is very inappropriate for you to beat and scold them like this!"

"Secondly, even if we're in a hurry, it won't make a difference if we wait a little longer! Yang Zhi, you're overthinking it. To be honest, I've traveled through Sichuan and Guangdong, and the roads there are no more difficult than here."

After catching his breath, Lao Xie began to lecture Yang Zhi:

“Even I, a wet nurse, know that delivering supplies requires everyone’s concerted effort and we must maintain everyone’s morale. Yang Zhi, you’re from a military family, do I really need to teach you this simplest of principles?”

"If this were in the military, believe it or not, they would have mutinied and cut off your head while you were asleep in the middle of the night!"

Old Xie's words, though a bit rough, were still reasonable. For a moment, Yang Zhi was stumped and didn't know what to say.

Right there, Yang Zhi's ears twitched, and he turned to look into the woods. After a rustling sound, a head suddenly peeked out from the woods!

Upon seeing Yang Zhi and the others, this man shouted "Ah yeah!" and then quickly shrank back!

Yang Zhi immediately perked up:

"See! What did I tell you? There's a thief!"

As he spoke, he drew his broadsword and charged towards the man!

"Who dares to spy on our camp!"

Yang Zhi rushed into the bushes and after a few steps came to a clearing. It was not far from where they were resting, and they could even see where they were resting.

Upon seeing this, Yang Zhi immediately became very alert, brandishing his broadsword and shouting loudly!

"Big brother! It's him! He saw me relieving myself! Ugh! Shameless!"

But to his surprise, as soon as he finished speaking, one of the men opposite him pointed at him and cursed!

"You bastard! Stop spouting nonsense!"

Yang Zhi was furious when he heard this. What kind of nonsense was this? Why was he judging people based on their urination? He wasn't a dung beetle!

"It was you! Just now you were with that old thief, watching my ass!"

But to his surprise, the man seemed to have identified Yang Zhi as the one who had watched him relieve himself, and he never let him go.

"Alright! I see this guest is quite handsome; he's clearly not the kind of person who would do such a despicable thing. You must have mistaken him for someone else!"

The leader on the other side looked like a hero, so he immediately stopped his men.

"Sir, may I ask what you do for a living? It's a misunderstanding. My brother here is ignorant and has offended you. Please forgive him."

Not only did he stop his men, but he also apologized to Yang Zhi, which made Yang Zhi feel much better.

"Oh, it's nothing, just a misunderstanding. I really didn't know this brother was relieving himself there. We're just passing through, and because it's so hot, we decided to rest on this hill. What about you?"

Yang Zhi also cupped his hands in greeting to the leading hero, feeling that it was rare to encounter someone who was reasonable.

"Oh, what a coincidence! My brother and I are the same; we sell dates! Look."

The burly man at the head of the group turned to the side, allowing Yang Zhi to see the cart and loads behind them, which were filled with dates!

"Hey bro, it's so hot, wanna have some dates? They might cool you down."

The leader said to Yang Zhi.

"No, it's not easy for you to do business. Let's just forget about it."

Yang Zhi looked at it, then shook his head. When you're traveling, you shouldn't eat anything given to you by strangers; that's an ironclad rule.

"Our dates are pretty good, look."

However, the big man seemed to think that Yang Zhi looked down on his dates, and he got a little impatient. In his haste, he grabbed some dates from his cart and stuffed them into his mouth.

While stuffing it in, he said:

"Look, this is really delicious!"

He stuffed his mouth full of dates and chewed them with great effort, looking somewhat pained.

Under his watchful eye, the others also picked up the dates from the car and tried to stuff them into their mouths.

Yang Zhi quickly told everyone:

"I believe your dates are especially good. You don't need to eat them. Drink water, drink water, don't choke."

Only then did everyone put down the dates and scramble to grab the water jug, which made Yang Zhi think that they really were a group of exceptionally honest date sellers.

"Since we are all businessmen and it was all a misunderstanding, we don't need to say anything more. You all get some rest, and I'll go back to rest too."

Yang Zhi clasped his hands in a fist salute to everyone.

"Okay, brother, if you want dates, come over here, we're right here."

The leader on this side finally swallowed the jujube in his mouth and bowed to Yang Zhi.

All who come are guests. Since we've met by chance, brother, would you like some dates?