Lin Yi was no longer surprised by this. Back when they had first begun recruiting soldiers, the Heaven-Answering Army's reputation had not yet spread, and many strongholds had been like this.
But now, as their name spread far and wide, such things had become rare.
Afterward, Lin Yi and the others did not enter the stronghold. They merely piled the grain outside its gates, setting up a simple recruiting station.
Several thousand jin of grain did not make for a particularly large pile, but once the mountain folk learned that anyone who enlisted could take away three hundred jin of grain on the spot, many of them immediately lost their composure.
Meanwhile, the mountain folk who had guided them there continued chatting with some of Three Waters Stronghold's older residents, recounting all sorts of things that had happened in their own stronghold lately.
Before long, several younger mountain folk could no longer suppress their curiosity and asked whether the legends of the Heaven-Answering Grand General were true—whether there truly were mountains of meat and mountains of grain.
The mountain folk who had led the way merely pointed at their own cheeks and said, "If there weren't mountains of meat and grain, how could we avoid being starved thin in the dead of winter and instead put on flesh?"
They went on to say that during summer and autumn, whenever farming was slack, they, their wives, and their children had helped the Grand General tan leather and sew winter clothes. Not only had they earned plenty of meat, but they had even used the leftover scraps to piece together a thick set of clothes for their wives.
At once, many mountain folk looked on in envy.
Some sharper-minded mountain folk grew even more curious and immediately asked, "Tanning leather is a