Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

Yue Peng ran into Li Zhen's room, panting, and said, "Chief, dozens of people have come down from the mountain. They look like villagers from nearby villages."

Li Zhen put down the half-finished drawing in his hand and said to Yue Peng, "Let's go take a look."

When the two arrived at the entrance of the village, they found nearly fifty people with their families kneeling on the ground. Judging from the pale and sickly look on their faces, they hadn't eaten for a long time.

An old man, who seemed to be their leader, saw Li Zhen come out and knew that this was the chieftain. He knelt on the ground and cried out, "Chieftain, please save us poor people! We are from Xiaowang Village. We have suffered from the war and the land is dry. We really can't survive. If you take us in, we will definitely serve you like cattle and horses to repay your kindness."

Li Zhen glanced at the group; most of them were elderly, weak, women, and children, with only about a dozen able-bodied men among the fifty-odd people. Just as Li Zhen was pondering whether to take them in, Wang Changdao approached.

Wang Changdao whispered to Li Zhen, "Chief, these people are tenants of Master Wang from Xiaowangzhuang. If you take them in, it might upset Master Wang."

Hearing this, Li Zhen became interested and asked, "Is Master Wang's family wealthy? How wealthy?"

Wang Changdao's mind went blank for a moment: "This?...?"

Li Zhencai doesn't care about rich folks like Wang or Zhang; what he needs now is population. He has plenty of food and money, but only by accumulating a certain number of people can he complete his plan.

"Everyone, let's go into the stronghold. Yue Peng, take them in to take a shower first, then give each of them a set of our clothes and shoes, and then make them some food. Remember to explain our stronghold's rules to them."

Upon hearing this, the villagers were so moved that tears streamed down their faces. Several of the older villagers immediately knelt down before Li Zhen, insisting on kowtowing to him several times.

Li Zhen didn't care about that. He quickly had people take these people inside, and then went to find Yue Ying to see how their training was going.

After getting to know them over this period of time, I learned that the elders of the Yue brothers, Yue Peng and Yue Ying, were originally generals in the border army who moved here for various reasons. They had been exposed to various weapons since childhood and had a solid foundation in martial arts, far superior to Wang Changdao.

Although Wang Changdao's martial arts skills were inferior to theirs, he was a long-time follower of Li Zhen, and his loyalty was unmatched. Li Zhen did not mistreat Wang Changdao; after the houses in the mountain stronghold were built, he directly allocated one room to him and Widow Zhang, and even served as their officiant at their wedding, bringing the two of them together.

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In Xiaowangzhuang, a dozen miles away from Lijiazhai, a steward reported to Master Wang, who was drinking tea: "Master, those lowly people have all run to Lijiazhai. According to my men, the chief of Lijiazhai has taken them in."

"Snapped!"

The fine teacup was smashed to pieces, and Master Wang was furious: "Outrageous! How dare a small village like Xinzhai take in people from my Wang family! Prepare a carriage for me; I'm going to Tangyin City."

Cui Yu, the magistrate of Tangyin County, was the brother-in-law of Wang Yuanwai. It was with Wang Yuanwai's help that he obtained this minor magistrate position by giving gifts.

Tangyin was under the jurisdiction of Anyang Prefecture. The prefect there was sent from Hejian Prefecture in the north. Since Daming Prefecture had only been taken over by the Jin Dynasty for a short time, the Jin Dynasty did not impose much taxation in order to appease the local people and restore production. Therefore, the magistrate was relatively idle in the area.

At this point, the magistrate's authority can be summarized as follows:

*To manage all administrative affairs of the county, including household registration, taxes, and grain.

* Responsible for judicial adjudication work, and handling cases fairly and impartially in accordance with the law.

* He concurrently served as the military commander or supervisor, managing military affairs.

*Focus on local economic development and take measures to promote economic prosperity.

*Promote social education to improve the moral standards and social customs of the people.

When Magistrate Cui heard that his brother-in-law had arrived, he immediately met with him. Master Wang did not mince words and told Magistrate Cui about the escape of the tenants from Xiaowang Village, and wanted to borrow a group of men to go to Lijiazhai to demand the people back.

In less than half an hour, Master Wang, full of high spirits, led his men out of Tangyin City and headed towards Li Family Village.

These people were all from local militias, and the leader of each team was a brigade commander. Each brigade consisted of between twenty-five and thirty people.

They had only heard about the situation in Li Family Village from the grain shopkeeper in the county town, who knew that Li Zhen was from a prominent family in the south. They weren't afraid of someone with little local power; perhaps they could even make some money by going there today.

When they arrived outside Li Family Village, they saw a village wall more than ten meters high standing there, with guards patrolling back and forth with weapons on it, and a large flag with the character "Li" standing prominently in the most conspicuous position.

The team leader swallowed hard and asked Master Wang, "Master, are you sure this is Li Family Village? I feel like their defenses are even stronger than those of Tangyin City."

Before they could finish speaking, Yue Ying's voice came from the stockade wall: "This is Li Family Stockade. What are you doing here? No unauthorized personnel are allowed to come near!"

Master Wang was also puzzled. How could such a large village have sprung up so close to his own Xiaowangzhuang? He had originally thought that Lijiazhai was just a small mountain village with a false reputation.

Although somewhat timid, he still mustered his courage and shouted, "I am Master Wang from Xiaowangzhuang. My tenants have run away to your place. If you know what's good for you, release them immediately, and I, Master Wang, will forgive them. Otherwise, the soldiers behind me will not be easy to deal with."

At this moment, Li Zhen also arrived at the stockade wall. Looking at the twenty or thirty local soldiers outside, he said to Yue Peng, "Give them a lesson."

Yue Peng, holding a composite bow, took out an arrow and shot it at the shouting Wang Yuanwai.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow shot off Master Wang's hat, startling everyone who scrambled to find cover.

The leader, Ya Zheng, said somewhat nervously, "We are government troops. What you are doing is tantamount to rebellion. Be careful, or the county magistrate will come down and punish you."

Li Zhen took out a megaphone and shouted outside, "Our Li Family Village doesn't want to be enemies with anyone, but we're not afraid of any power either. Do you think I was able to come here and build this village without anyone supporting me? Go back and find out more before you come back."

Before Master Wang could say anything more, the clerk next to him grabbed him and whispered, "Master, why don't we go back first and let the magistrate investigate thoroughly? If he really is the son of some important person, then ten of our heads wouldn't be enough to chop off."

So these people slunk back to Tangyin City and told the whole story of what had happened in Lijiazhai. To be on the safe side, Magistrate Cui even summoned the grain shop manager to the county office, wanting to find out where the man came from.