The Great Hero's Daily Life: Assassination and Plunder

Rescuing so many people was troublesome, but it had to be done.

Feeling unable to stand by was one thing, but more importantly, this was related to Lin Xiao's final-wish mission.

The final-wish mission he had received this time was to become a Great Hero. His original plan had been to wait until he grew stronger, then enter the martial world and perform acts of chivalry whenever he had the chance to build up his reputation. Once enough time had passed and his reputation was sufficient, he would find some people to create momentum for him. With that, the name of Great Hero would naturally be his.

But this time, he had happened to run into this matter, so Lin Xiao had no choice but to change his plans and rescue these refugees, taking a different route toward becoming a Great Hero.

The world was currently in chaos, making it easier to build a reputation. As long as he rescued and sheltered these refugees, the more people he saved over time, the greater his fame would become. Even without finding people to build momentum for him, the title of Great Hero would automatically be his—and it would carry far more weight. He would definitely be able to complete the final-wish mission perfectly. It was killing two birds with one stone.

That was what Lin Xiao had thought at first, but once everyone had settled down, the affairs became endless. Several thousand people came to him for everything they needed to eat, drink, relieve themselves, and more. Lin Xiao was so busy that his feet barely touched the ground, and before long, he had completely forgotten what his original intention had been.

This busyness lasted a full ten days. Only after they had built a large number of wooden houses in the valley and enclosed them into a huge village, which he named Zushan Village, did everyone finally have somewhere to live and become barely settled.

But before he could catch his breath, another problem arose: they were running out of food.

They had previously survived by hunting and eating wild fruits, but even the abundant resources of the valley could not withstand the consumption of more than two thousand people. Almost everything edible in the valley had been eaten. Now, the village's hunting teams had to leave the valley and hunt outside it just to meet their needs.

This clearly could not continue. So, once the valley had been settled, Lin Xiao gathered everyone in the center of the village for a meeting. He decided to take people outside to find food and, while he was at it, buy some seeds to plant.

Buying food alone would not solve the problem. They had to become self-sufficient. The valley had water sources, open land, and fertile soil. Once the land was cleared, they could farm it.

After ten days, that hundred-man village guard force had begun to take shape. Lin Xiao left half of them behind to guard the valley while taking the other half out of the mountains.

When they had arrived, every one of the hundred guards had been riding a horse. But when they left, most of them were walking, because they had killed and eaten all the warhorses over the past few days.

After leaving the mountains, Lin Xiao led the group northward. According to the map, there was a small town in that direction.

However, when he arrived, he discovered that the small town had been occupied by the Hu people. It had also been transformed into a massive transit base. Large groups of cavalry regularly patrolled the surrounding area, while huge quantities of plundered goods transported from Zushan Pass through Longtan Gully were stored there before being shipped northward to the various Hu tribes.

Lin Xiao had his men hide in the woods while he came out alone and concealed himself by the roadside. When a Hu patrol passed, he sprang out and attacked, killing most of them and leaving only two alive. From them, he questioned them about the town's situation.

Just as he had expected, this small town called Yulin Town had already become an important transit hub. Every few days, goods looted from the Central Plains were transported there, then sent back to the northern tribes. Hu armies also frequently traveled south from the north through the town.

The town held nearly ten thousand Hu soldiers. It was also not far from Zushan Pass. If fighting broke out, Hu cavalry from Zushan Pass could arrive to reinforce it within two hours, while Hu forces from Shanhaiguan Pass could arrive within two days.

"That's troublesome!"

There was certainly no way to find a channel for buying grain nearby. It would be seized by the Hu people with absolute certainty. If he wanted a large quantity of food, he could only rob it from the Hu people.

After killing the two captives with a palm strike and briefly cleaning up the battlefield, Lin Xiao reunited with his men and told them the situation. He ordered them to follow carefully behind him without revealing themselves.

At this stage, these men could not be of much use. Although they all had weapons and leather armor, they had previously been ordinary people. They were adequate for maintaining order, but taking on the Hu people in a major battle would be suicide. He could not count on them. For now, he could only rely on himself.

There was no need to set an ambush. He simply rode alone on one of the confiscated horses and traveled along the road. Whenever he spotted a small Hu patrol, he charged over and wiped them out. Once it was over, his men swarmed out to clean up the battlefield. The Hu people's armor, weapons, and horses were all excellent things, so they took everything and transported it back. In the future, they could use it to arm more people.

Following the main road until he was less than a mile from Yulin Town, he had already wiped out four Hu patrols, without a single survivor escaping.

After that, he simply guarded the crossroads. Whenever a patrol passed, he attacked. He was striking at them less than a mile from the town—he was being outrageously bold.

Yet somehow, he went an entire day without being discovered. It was not until the patrol failed to return the next day that the Hu people noticed something was wrong. By then, Lin Xiao was long gone.

More than a hundred warhorses, along with all the armor and weapons, were transported back into the mountains by his men. The warhorses could temporarily be used as food. It was wasteful, but there was no time to worry about waste. They were nearly out of food—who had the leisure to care about anything else?

When he came out again the next day, he discovered that the Hu patrols had expanded several times over. Before, each patrol had numbered a dozen or twenty people; now, each one had nearly a hundred. Lin Xiao considered it for a moment, then abandoned the idea of continuing his attacks and prepared to observe first.

He naturally would not have put this number of people in his eyes. He simply was not confident that he could annihilate them all.

After the patrol left, Lin Xiao took another route and led his men directly over the mountains. From there, they could bypass several peaks and reach the Longtan Gully area. He wanted to see what was happening at Zushan Pass.

Just after crossing the mountain ridge, he followed the slope, which was more than a hundred meters high, downward. There, he saw a huge column emerging from the direction of Zushan Pass and heading toward Yulin Town along Longtan Gully.

This was an escort convoy of several thousand people. It was transporting not only several hundred carts of supplies, but also what looked like more than ten thousand Han refugees. Lin Xiao observed carefully and discovered that there was also a large group who appeared to be soldiers of the Great Kang Dynasty who had been captured.

He watched the enormous convoy below with a grave expression, his mind racing as he considered how to make his move.

If he could save this massive haul of supplies, the tens of thousands of refugees, and the two or three thousand captured soldiers, the strength of Zushan Village would rapidly swell. Not only would the supply problem be solved instantly, but they would also gain a population.

The two or three thousand captured soldiers were especially important. Once equipped with weapons, they would be regular soldiers—the kind who could be sent straight into battle. If he could save them, Zushan Village would also gain the military strength to protect itself. Relying on the terrain of Zushan Village for defense, they would remain unshaken even if tens of thousands of Hu people entered the mountains.

Most importantly, if two or three thousand regular soldiers guarded the village, Lin Xiao would be free to roam outside.

He had never intended to stay here forever. He still had to return to the Central Plains to see what the situation there was like, find out whether Dushan Fortress had rebelled, and, while he was at it, look up the Yin Sha Maiden to reminisce over old times and have a heart-to-heart talk. After all, they had once shared a friendship as deep as Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya's.

So what he hesitated over was not whether to attack, but how to do it.

Ten seconds later, when his gaze fell upon the leaders at the head of the Hu army, who were laughing loudly, he made up his mind. He beckoned to his men and whispered a few words in their ears.