The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

Li Jiaxuan's eyes widened suddenly.

This truly surprised him; he hadn't expected that Li Chengye and the others had contacted him for this purpose.

But then he agreed, saying, "Releasing grain is a good thing; I agree."

"Dong, dong!" A gong sounded, and the villagers quickly gathered. This time, the gathering place was not in the ancestral hall, but in front of Zhao Shouren's courtyard.

The news of the grain distribution spread like wildfire throughout the village, and men, women, and children flocked in from every corner, forming a huge, bustling crowd. All three or four hundred people remaining in the village had arrived.

Bags of grain were carried out of the Zhao family's storeroom and piled up into a small mountain on the open ground. The villagers' eyes were fixed on the grain piles, their excitement growing, and the buzzing of whispers grew louder and louder. The whole village seemed to have been brought to life as if a stagnant pool had been thrown in with a boulder.

Beside the grain sacks, a man was tied to a wooden stake with his hands behind his back—it was Zhao Shouren. He had been slashed by Li Chengye, and although he was barely breathing, he was not dead. A dagger lay at his feet.

Li Jiaxuan looked at Li Chengye with some anger: "You plan to distribute the grain like this?"

"That's right, that's how it should be done," Li Chengye replied.

He had just announced the grain distribution rules to the entire village: each person would receive one shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain. The only exception was that everyone had to stab Zhao Shouren before receiving their grain.

Several families were initially unwilling to do this, but Li Chengye declared directly, "Anyone who doesn't want to do this is Zhao Shouren's lackey! Zhao's servants have all been killed, what do you want to do?" Upon seeing this, those families immediately became obedient.

Li Jiaxuan looked sorrowful and said to Li Chengye, "You're trying to drag the whole village onto your warship! What will we do if the government comes to suppress us?"

Li Chengye responded bluntly: "As long as everyone keeps this a secret, it won't leak out. We killed Zhao Shouren. If the authorities come, we can all pin the blame on us. But I don't want any of my family members who stayed in the village to inform on us."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiaxuan knew that he could no longer stop Li Chengye.

The villagers took away the bags of grain one by one, and Zhao Shouren's body was covered with more and more knife wounds. In the end, he was reduced to a pile of mud, a scene that was both bloody and disgusting.

After distributing the grain, Li Chengye burned all the IOUs he had found at Zhao Shouren's house in front of everyone in the village, which drew cheers from the villagers.

The grain confiscated from the Zhao residence amounted to more than 460 shi (a unit of dry measure). After distributing it at 1 shi per person, more than 100 shi remained.

If one bushel of grain is eaten sparingly, it's enough for one person to eat until this autumn harvest, so the village doesn't have to worry about famine for the time being.

When the house was searched, there were still more than a dozen sheep left. After thinking for a while, Li Chengye sent five sheep to the clan chief Li Jiaxuan's house, and also sent fifty taels of silver that had been found in Zhao Shouren's house.

He looked at the remaining seven or eight sheep and smiled.

"Slaughter the sheep!" he ordered, waving his hand. "Tonight, everyone will have a hearty meal!"

The crowd readily agreed and dragged out three fat sheep. One of the large rams seemed to sense its fate, bleating mournfully and kicking its hooves wildly. But soon, a flash of light appeared, and the bleating stopped abruptly.

The large pot dragged out from the Zhao family's house was set up directly in the yard. Large chunks of mutton were cut off, rinsed briefly with water, and then thrown into the pot.

The fire was fueled by a salvaged solid wood courtyard gate, and it burned extremely brightly.

Soon the mutton was bubbling in the pot, and the rich aroma rose with the steam, making everyone's mouths water. Zhu Yao and a few others searched the cellar of the Zhao family's kitchen and found several dusty jars of rice wine. They broke open the mud seals, and the aroma of the wine mixed with the smell of meat made everyone's mouths water even more.

When he saw the wine being served, Li Chengye initially wanted to stop them. However, seeing the ecstatic expressions on everyone's faces upon seeing the wine, and considering that the government troops wouldn't arrive until the day after tomorrow even if they arrived quickly, he decided not to stop them and let everyone eat and drink to their heart's content. He even scooped out a large piece of mutton with skin from the pot himself.

"This meat is so delicious, I've never eaten such good lamb before."

Yang Chongwang, who was standing next to him, had an injured left hand and was gnawing on a sheep's foreleg with his right hand. He said, "It's been a long time since I've felt this good. In the second year of the Tianqi reign, the Turks invaded and we gave them a good beating. Back then, the general also slaughtered a sheep to reward us. Only that time can be compared to today."

Li Chengye then became interested and asked, "Have the Mongols become so powerful these days? Their region is poor, people are often starving, and they don't have any good weapons or armor. How come they still manage to invade the border every year?"

"Why? To survive! Brother Chengye, don't be fooled by the fact that our village is now littered with starving corpses. On the grasslands, this place is a land of abundance they could only dream of. Take this big iron pot we're using to stew meat, for example..."

Yang Chongwang pointed to the dark, murky pot with a lamb leg bone. "In some small tribes on the grasslands, that's an item that can be passed down as a family heirloom! They come to rob it for salt, iron, grain, cloth... just to survive. It's the same on both sides of the border wall; the trouble is all because they can't survive."

Li Chengye remained silent.

Yang Chongwang sighed, "When I left Yulin, I only wanted to live a peaceful life, but I never expected it to come to this."

Seeing Yang Chongwang's disappointment, Li Chengye comforted him, "Nothing is more important than survival. If we don't rise up in rebellion today, we'll starve to death sooner or later. It's the government's fault, not ours. It's wrong to rebel and kill in times of peace, but in times of famine, killing to survive is justified."

After listening, Yang Chongwang took a big gulp of wine and laughed loudly, "Well said! There's no greater principle in the world than survival. If the Ming Dynasty won't let us live, then we'll simply rebel!"

As the two were talking, several hesitant figures appeared in the shadows at the edge of the firelight. Li Chengye, with his sharp eyes, recognized them as Li Luo, a fellow clansman, and several other young men of similar age.

Li Chengye shouted, "Li Luo, what are you guys doing squatting there? Come and eat some meat!"

Li Luo and the other young men shoved each other for a bit, then finally mustered up the courage to step forward, only to suddenly kneel down in front of Li Chengye and Yang Chongwang.

"Brother Chengye, we want to go with you."

Li Chengye paused for a moment, then put down his bowl: "Didn't I already give your family grain? Eat sparingly, and it shouldn't be too hard to get through this winter."

Liu Er shook his head, his tone very honest: "My family only has two mu of land left. Even if we plant it all every year with good weather, we still won't be able to harvest a single shi of grain. After we finish the grain you give us, we still won't have a way to survive. I might as well follow you; at least I can save my family some food." His voice trailed off, and he didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

Hearing this, Li Chengye walked to the big pot, scooped out two pieces of meat from the bottom of the pot, put them in a bowl, and handed them to Li Luo.

"Then let's eat. Come with us tomorrow morning."

Li Luo wolfed down his food. The other young men also got meat and squatted down to eat it greedily.

Li Luo's situation was not uncommon. One by one, about a dozen more people wanted to go with him. Some were truly struggling financially, while others felt they had no future in the village and came to seek refuge with him. Li Chengye welcomed all who came and had Wang Laoqi and the others slaughter another sheep and cook a pot of meat.

In the crowd, Li Chengye spotted Qin, the village veterinarian, and asked, "Qin, why are you coming with us?"

After finishing a bowl of mutton soup, Master Qin finally spoke: "If you leave, there won't be a single livestock left in the village. Who will I treat? I'm not even a half-baked doctor. What can I do if I don't go with you? Besides, I know the roads of Huanglong Mountain better than you do. I've traded horses before, and I traveled the Huanglong Mountain roads. I can even give you directions."

Li Chengye was delighted to hear this and scooped a leg of lamb from the pot and handed it to her. Qin Ye quickly waved her hand, saying, "That's enough, that's enough. I've already eaten two bowls. I really can't eat any more." As she spoke, she still took the leg of lamb, wiped it clean, and put it in her pocket.

At this moment, Li Chengen, who had gone to deliver sheep and silver to the clan chief, returned.

Li Chengen walked to the fire and said to Li Chengye, "Brother, the things were given to the clan chief, and he accepted them all. He also took my father with him, saying he would take good care of him."

Li Chengye frowned: "Didn't I tell you to stay and take care of your father? Why are you back?"

"It was my father who told me to follow you," Li Chengen said firmly. "He said it himself after he woke up. He's with the clan chief, and he's well taken care of. He doesn't need me. If I follow you, Chengye, to make my way in the world, maybe I can find a better future for my father."

Li Chengye shook his head: "Chengen, have you thought this through? If we go out like this, we'll be 'thieves'."

Li Chengen grinned: "That doesn't matter! In our village these days, who doesn't live off stolen goods? Brother, I'm sticking with you."

Seeing this, Li Chengye said no more, picked up the wine jar next to him, and poured a bowl for his younger brother.

"Drink up, drink well, and tomorrow we'll hit the road together."

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Li Chengye was the first to wake up. He kicked out the embers of the dying campfire, woke up Shi Tou and Cheng En, and told them to wake everyone up.

After a brief period of commotion, the group quickly assembled and organized. The captured oxcarts were yoked, and the mules and horses were laden with grain and essential supplies. Everyone carried them on their shoulders and in their hands, and even the large iron pot used for stewing mutton was tied to an oxcart.

As the group, which numbered nearly a hundred, passed through the village, many people opened their doors to watch them go, and several women even knelt down.

Li Chengye said to Yang Chongwang, "Look, this is the will of the people."