Newborn 1927

The others shared the burdens carried by Cao Laoba and his wife. Cao Laoba wanted to take the child from his wife, but Liu Maixiang refused. Liu Maixiang took out a baby carrier from the bundle, carried her son on her back, and followed the others. After walking for half a day, they arrived outside the mountain village where the three of them had stayed behind on the fifteenth day of the lunar month.

Bao Ziqiang and Mantou, who were assigned to scout ahead, arrived first and greeted Yang Jiefang with Chu Shiwu. Yang Jiefang asked, "Is everything alright here?" Chu Shiwu smiled and replied, "Nothing's wrong. Zhang Heizi has recovered. There's an old man in Doushan Village who knows about herbs; he changed his medicine, and he's resting in the village now." "Doushan Village? Is that the name of the village? Hmm, the mountains here are indeed very steep!" Yang Jiefang only realized the name of the village at this moment. Chu Shiwu said, "Yes, most of the villagers are surnamed Wang. I compensated them for their losses as you instructed, and now they treat us like family. I came out to bring the brothers into the village. It's getting late; let's stay in the village for the night and continue our journey early tomorrow morning. We won't have to sleep in the wilderness tonight." Yang Jiefang said, "Let's go into the village and see what's going on!"

When Yang Jiefang arrived at the village entrance, many villagers were watching nearby. An elderly man with white hair stepped out from the crowd to greet him. Chu Shiwu introduced, "This is Old Man Wang, the village elder who knows about herbs. He carries some weight in the village." Yang Jiefang quickly stepped forward and said, "Old Man Wang, I'm sorry to bother you." Old Man Wang waved his hand and said, "Just call me Old Man Wang. We're all family, no need to bother you. That young man just said you're staying here tonight. Don't worry! I've already notified everyone to vacate their houses." Yang Jiefang hurriedly said, "Old Man Wang, does your village have any vacant public houses like ancestral halls? If so, please let us stay here for the night. Please don't make the villagers vacate their houses! It's too much trouble for them to go back and forth." Old Man Wang said, "There are some, but there are no beds or bedding. How can anyone stay there?" Yang Jiefang said, "We grown men don't care, as long as we can shelter from the wind and rain and have a place to stay. But we have a woman with a child here. Could you please find them a better place to stay?" Old Man Wang tried to persuade him for a while, but seeing that Yang Jiefang insisted, he had to give up. First, someone was arranged to take Liu Maixiang and her child to stay at a family that also had children. Then, Yang Jiefang and the others were taken to the ancestral hall. Old Wang offered to provide dinner for everyone, but Yang Jiefang declined. They had brought seven days' worth of provisions with them on this trip.

Above the main gate of the ancestral hall, the three large characters "Sanhuaitang" (Three Scholar Trees Hall) were still visible, though faded. A couplet flanked the gate, but the peeling plaster obscured the characters. The hall was somewhat old but relatively clean, and the space was not small, though it was mostly empty, so everyone had to sit on the floor. Inevitably, some harbored resentment, but no one voiced their discontent publicly. Yang Jiefang had begun to wield authority, and most people were willing to follow his decisions. Old Man Wang quickly returned with several people carrying dry grass and mats for everyone to use as bedding; he also brought several quilts from the village. This time, Yang Jiefang did not refuse and repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

Cao Laoba first settled his wife and children, then led out a fat sheep, found an open space, took out a butcher's knife, and slaughtered it to make mutton soup for his brothers. Everyone was overjoyed and rushed forward to help. On the fifteenth, they borrowed a large pot from the village, and the others either borrowed buckets to fetch water or went out to collect firewood and stones to build a stove, busy and happy, all their unhappiness swept away.

Old Wang and his men made several trips back and forth, finally managing to gather enough beds for all the heroes. Feeling a little guilty, he said to Yang Jiefang, "We're just mountain folk, we don't have anything special to offer, just some old things, please don't mind!" Yang Jiefang replied, "This is already very good, how could I possibly mind? Old Wang, come, let's sit down and chat!" Old Wang nodded and sat down with Yang Jiefang on the stone stool by the door.

Yang Jiefang asked, "Uncle Wang, how was this year's harvest? Is there enough food to eat?" Old Wang sighed and said, "The harvest is the same every year. Each mu (unit of land area) only yields so little. Our village has a large population and little arable land, so there's never enough food to eat. Alas, living in this chaotic world, who doesn't live a life of hunger and thirst?" Yang Jiefang then asked, "What do you usually eat?" Old Wang replied, "We eat whatever we have. Our village has a lot of mountainous land, so we mainly grow sorghum. We usually eat sorghum rice and wild vegetable soup." Yang Jiefang asked curiously, "Sorghum rice? Don't you grow corn? I heard corn is high-yielding and tastes good." Old Wang shook his head and said, "Corn doesn't have as high a yield as sorghum rice. It does taste a little better, though. But these days, just filling our stomachs is enough. Who can be picky about food?" Yang Jiefang inquired about the specific yields of both crops. As an old farmer, Old Wang knew the yields of various crops like the back of his hand. It was just a difference in units of measurement that piqued Yang Jiefang's interest. After careful questioning and conversion, he finally arrived at a rough estimate: the average yield of sorghum was 220 jin per mu, and the yield of corn was 200 jin per mu.

Yang Jiefang was a bit bewildered. Didn't those time-traveling predecessors all say that corn was the king of high yields, a savior food? How come its yield was lower than that of local sorghum? If a yield of over 200 jin per mu was considered high, then what were the yields of other crops? After careful inquiry and calculation, Yang Jiefang got a rough estimate: millet yielded 180 jin per mu, winter wheat 150 jin per mu, soybeans 120 jin per mu, peanuts 80 jin per mu, and cotton 50 jin per mu. Sweet potatoes had a decent yield of 1200 jin per mu, but it wasn't a staple food. With such low grain yields, and countless exorbitant taxes to pay, less than 30% of the grain actually reached the people. Each household needed to cultivate 30 to 50 mu of land just to barely make ends meet. But Doushan Village clearly didn't have enough arable land for the villagers to cultivate.

Yang Jiefang couldn't help but ask, "What do you do when there's not enough food?" Old Wang replied, "We go out to find food, dig for wild vegetables in the mountains, and do odd jobs. We have to find a way to survive." Yang Jiefang then asked, "Have you ever reported your difficulties to the government and asked for their help?" Old Wang shouted, "When has the government ever cared about the lives of us common people? Don't look at how hard our village is; we still have to pay our taxes. We'd be grateful if the government would ever show some kindness and reduce our miscellaneous taxes." Yang Jiefang felt a pang of sadness. The Chinese people were truly too kind. Even when life was incredibly difficult, they were grateful if the government reduced their taxes by even a little; they never expected any government relief.

The two chatted casually, and time flew by. The aroma of mutton wafted from the pot, drawing everyone's eager anticipation. They borrowed some large bowls from the village, and everyone took out their own dry rations—flatbread—tearing pieces into the bowls and placing them in the bowls, waiting for the mutton soup to be ready. Seeing that the mutton was cooked, Old Wang stood up, dusted himself off, and was about to leave. Yang Jiefang quickly stopped him, saying, "Uncle Wang, have some with us! I have so much to talk about with you. Let's eat and chat, shall we?" Old Wang hurriedly shook his head, saying, "No, no, no." Yang Jiefang held onto his hand, giving Hou Fei a wink. Hou Fei understood and quickly brought over a large bowl of mutton soup with flatbread, handing it to Old Wang. Old Wang declined a few times, but seeing that Yang Jiefang was genuinely inviting him to eat, he finally accepted.

After dinner, Old Wang chatted with Yang Jiefang for a while, inquiring about his background and age. Yang Jiefang had nothing to hide and told him some unimportant details. He also explained why Hou Fei, Ma Shangfei, Sun Zhiyong, and others had joined the outlaws. Old Wang listened with a sigh, and they chatted until late at night before he got up to go home.

After seeing Old Wang off, Yang Jiefang didn't go to sleep immediately. Standing in the middle of the ancestral hall, he loudly proclaimed, "Brothers, at the entrance of our Qinglong Village's Hall of Righteous Gathering, there are two large banners: one proclaiming 'Acting on Behalf of Heaven,' and the other 'Robbing the Rich to Help the Poor.' As for robbing the rich, we've always done that. But helping the poor? Brothers, how many times have we done that?" This question stumped the heroes. Before, in the mountain stronghold, they couldn't even feed themselves, let alone have money to help the poor. They were ashamed to admit they hadn't done it even once. Yang Jiefang saw the answer in their expressions and continued, "Before, perhaps we didn't do it, not because we were unwilling, but mainly because we didn't have the means. Don't you all agree?" This gave them a way out, and the heroes readily agreed, saying, "Yes, we can't even feed ourselves, how can we have surplus food to help the poor?" "That's right. It's not that we're unwilling, it's just that we don't have the money to help the poor." "Aren't we the poor ourselves?"

Yang Jiefang concluded, “We didn’t have the resources to help the poor before, but now that we do, we should do our best. This time, we found some money on those soldiers, not much, but Qinglong Village isn’t short of it. I think we should keep it all to help the villagers of Doushan Village. That would be the start of our true Robin Hood-style charity. What do you all think?” At this point, who would dare disagree? Naturally, everyone agreed. Yang Jiefang continued, “We brought a lot of dry rations with us this time, and we’re going back tomorrow. We definitely won’t be able to finish them all. My suggestion is that each of us keep two flatbreads for the road, and the rest can be shared with the villagers of Doushan Village.” No one objected to this suggestion either. After all, once they got back, they would have white flour to eat; who would care about these dry, hard flatbreads? But that wasn't all. Yang Jiefang continued, "If we borrow something from someone today, we must clean it and return it to them tomorrow, and we must also thank them! This is called 'borrowing and returning, so it's not difficult to borrow again.' Also, this ancestral hall was lent to us cleanly, so we must clean it carefully after we get up tomorrow morning and return it to them clean." All the heroes smiled wryly to themselves, but no one voiced any objection.

The next morning, the heroes got up early and began packing. Chu Shiwu, along with Zhao Yuanbao, Bao Ziqiang, and a few others, washed the pots and pans and returned them to their owners. Each person, in a small team, was responsible for bundling the straw used as a base and placing it aside; the blankets were folded and placed in the center of the ancestral hall on mats. Since it was unclear whose belongings these items were, they were left there for the owners to retrieve. The team leaders were responsible for collecting their team's surplus rations and placing them together as well. Yang Jiefang took the money, intending to hand it over to Old Wang for distribution when they said goodbye. Once everyone was almost ready, Hou Fei went to call Cao Laoba's family. When Cao Laoba arrived with his wife and children, Old Wang also came along, followed by many villagers from Doushan Village.

Yang Jiefang went up to him and called out, "Uncle Wang, you've come at the right time! We were just about to say goodbye. We've packed up the things we borrowed yesterday; please tell everyone to take them back! We brought a lot of dry food with us this time, and we still have some left in those cloth bags. We'll share them with the villagers later. And this is the money we found on those soldiers. This money was originally taken from you poor people; please share it with the villagers too!" He handed the cloth bag to Old Wang. Old Wang was completely stunned, staring blankly at Yang Jiefang.

Yang Jiefang smiled, turned around, and called for everyone to set off. Old Wang finally realized what was happening and hurriedly caught up, blocking Yang Jiefang's path. He said, "Wait! I have something to say." Yang Jiefang stopped and looked at Old Wang. Old Wang waved his hand and called out, "Come here, all of you. Come to the front, Young Master Yang!" Several young men stepped out from the crowd behind Old Wang. Yang Jiefang was momentarily confused. Old Wang said, "Young Master Yang, these young men in our village are all quite good. What future can they have staying in the village? They have plenty of strength but nowhere to use it. I want them to go out with you and try their luck; maybe they can make something of themselves!" Yang Jiefang was slightly taken aback. He looked closely at the young men—eight in total, all around sixteen or seventeen years old, about his age, all looking at Yang Jiefang with expectant expressions. Yang Jiefang asked, "Do you know who we are? We're not good people. Going out with us is very dangerous; we might not come back."

Old Wang said, "Young Master Yang, don't say that! We common people know who's good and who's bad." One of the young men spoke up, "You are chivalrous heroes, those heartless soldiers were driven away by you. We're not afraid of danger, we're just afraid of being bullied. As long as we're not bullied, we're willing to go out and make our way in the world with you." Yang Jiefang didn't think he had any domineering aura that could make these people bow down to him. The main reason these people were willing to follow him was that the village couldn't support any more people; they had to go out to find food. This era wasn't like later times, where you could easily find a job to support yourself. Without a leader, you couldn't even leave the village; going out to work was no easy feat!

Seeing that Yang Jiefang didn't immediately agree, Old Wang shouted, "Kneel down! Young Master Yang is an educated man with great abilities. He doesn't just take anyone. If you want to come with me, you'd better show some sincerity!" The young men all knelt down in a flash, which frightened Yang Jiefang so much that his face changed color. He shouted, "Get up! Get up! What are you doing? A man's knees are worth gold. He only kneels to heaven, earth, and his parents. Even the emperor isn't worth your kneeling. Listen to me, from now on, if you follow me, don't kneel to anyone, not even me. A real man would rather die standing than live kneeling! Stand up straight and let me see!" The eight young men quickly stood up straight. Yang Jiefang looked them over again and, seeing their determined eyes, turned back and asked, "Uncle Wang, do their parents know? Have they all agreed?" Old Wang replied, "Don't worry! It's all for the good of the next generation. Even if they're reluctant, they're willing. Ah, people always plan for the next generation, and the next generation plans for the generation after that, and so it's passed down from generation to generation. For the next generation to enjoy a good life, someone has to suffer and someone has to work hard! I'm old and useless now, so I can only hope that these young people can make something of themselves."

Yang Jiefang was surprised that an old man from the countryside would have such insights, and immediately agreed, saying, "Well said! Since Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised the banner of rebellion, which king or general didn't risk their lives to achieve their position? In order to give our next generation a better life, let's work together to create our own world!"