Yang Qianhuan's Brilliant Plan

The senior and junior disciples talked as they walked, and half an hour later, they turned from the secluded, winding path onto the main road.

The official road suddenly became bustling, not in the ordinary sense, but because many refugees had gathered on both sides of the road.

They were dressed in tattered clothes; some were digging at grass and tree roots, some were sitting blankly, and some were lying on haystacks, barely breathing.

Among the crowd were rows of simple tents.

This place is extremely far from the city; what are they doing here, especially since they have nothing to eat? Chu Caiwei observed this and was somewhat puzzled.

When she turned her gaze back to Yang Qianhuan in front of her, she noticed that he was wearing a veiled hat, and what hung down was not a light veil, but a thick cotton cloth, the kind of thick cotton cloth that even extraordinary martial artists could not see through.

"Mom, I'm so hungry."

On the roadside, a six or seven-year-old boy was curled up in his mother's arms.

The mother and son were disheveled and emaciated from hunger.

"Just a little longer, and you won't be hungry anymore."

The young mother held her child in her arms, shivering in the cold wind, and said, "You won't be hungry anymore once you fall asleep."

The young mother had multiple bruises on her face, dark red blood on her wrists, and pale lips, suggesting she was injured or ill.

In Chu Caiwei's eyes, the young woman's helpless and numb expression was reflected, as were the child's longing for food and fear of hunger.

She walked slowly over, squatted down in front of the mother and son, and took out two steamed buns wrapped in greaseproof paper from her deerskin pouch.

In an instant, pairs of bloodshot eyes looked over, gleaming with an indescribable light, so terrifying that they seemed not to come from human form.

The young woman took the steamed bun, shook the drowsy child awake, and said urgently:

"Eat quickly, eat quickly!"

At the same time, while stuffing steamed buns into her mouth, she grabbed a sharpened stone from beside her and swept her fierce gaze over the surrounding refugees who were swallowing their saliva and eager to try.

Throughout the process, she kept urging the child to eat faster.

Seeing the boy's eyes roll back in his head from choking, Chu Caiwei quickly took out a water pouch and handed it to him, saying softly:

"Slow down, drink some water."

While the boy was drinking water, Chu Caiwei looked at the young woman and asked:

What are you all doing gathered here?

In her observations, the ways of survival of refugees can be roughly divided into three types. One is to become outlaws and plunder other people, like locusts swarming across the land. The people who are plundered also become refugees, and the scale of the refugees grows larger and larger.

One option was to stay outside the city, relying on the imperial court's charity to survive, or to search the mountains and fields for anything to eat.

One option is to enlist in the army and become a militia member.

In this last scenario, the fewest people would choose it. Firstly, the imperial court had limited food supplies and could not support too many militiamen. Secondly, Qingzhou was at war, and if they became militiamen, they would soon be sent to the Qingzhou battlefield.

And these refugees gathered here, far from any village or shop, sitting in the cold wind waiting to die?

The young woman took two bites of the steamed bun, then stopped eating, holding it in her hand, and said in a hoarse voice:

"There's a mountain six miles ahead, and there's a mountain king on it. Every few days they go out to rob things, and every time they come back, they send someone to bring them some food."

Seeing that the child had finished eating the steamed bun, the young woman handed him the one she was holding:

"Eat."

She then looked at Chu Caiwei, scrutinized her for a moment, and pleaded in a low voice:

"Young lady, can you take my child with you?"

Chu Caiwei was taken aback. She definitely couldn't bring a child with her. The boy looked about the same age as Xu Lingyin, but he was thin and timid, clearly not as easy to raise Xu Lingyin.

Moreover, she was an exiled person from the Bureau of Astronomy, traveling around, and a frail child like her could not endure the hardships of travel.

Just as he was about to refuse, he suddenly heard a young woman's mournful voice:

"I can't protect him anymore. Those people are looking at him more and more strangely. Last night, someone secretly took my child away. Luckily, I woke up in time and fought them to the death."

Chu Caiwei suddenly understood what the bruises on her face and the dark red bloodstains on her hands were.

At that moment, Chu Caiwei could barely breathe.

Just then, her ears twitched as she heard the sound of horses' hooves.

She stood up and looked towards the official road ahead, where she saw a cavalry troop galloping towards them. Leading them was a beautiful woman in a black dress, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a spirited demeanor.

"Splash!"

The lifeless refugees instantly "came to life," sprang to their feet, and moved toward the cavalry.

Snap!

The woman in the black dress cracked her whip, forcing back the surging refugees, and shouted:

"Line up properly. Anyone who dares to bump into me will be whipped to death by this old lady."

The refugees seemed extremely wary of her, and obediently lined up in formation.

The cavalrymen dismounted, each carrying a cloth bag filled with steamed buns, and distributed one to each of them.

When each refugee had received their food, their cloth bag was empty.

The woman in the black dress, mounted on horseback, looked Yang Qianhuan and Chu Caiwei up and down, and said:

"Judging from your attire, you don't seem to be disaster victims. Where are you from?"

Just as Chu Caiwei was about to speak, she saw Yang Qianhuan float into the air, his back to the crowd, and slowly say:

"I reach out to invite the bright moon and pluck the stars; there is no one like me in this world."

"If Heaven had not given birth to Yang Qianhuan, the Great Feng would have remained in perpetual darkness."

Everyone present, including the refugees, stared in astonishment, their faces filled with awe.

The woman in the black dress looked wary, but dared not act rashly, and said in a deep voice:

What is your purpose in coming here?

She quietly tightened her grip on the knife hilt.

Not long ago, the government even sent troops to attack the mountain in an attempt to wipe them out.

Although he was eventually driven back, Li Lang was certain that the government would not let the matter rest. At this critical juncture, a mysterious figure with considerable cultivation suddenly appeared, who was very likely a master sent by the imperial court.

Yang Qianhuan said slowly:

"I have come here to visit my friend Li Lingsu. Have you heard of me?"

The sun hung listlessly in the sky, offering no warmth whatsoever. Smoke curled from the chimneys of this easily defensible mountain stronghold.

A man dressed in a tattered cotton-padded coat, carrying a bamboo basket, arrived at the watchtower at the entrance of the mountain village and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Come down for dinner."

"OK."

On the watchtower, the lookout responded, then suddenly asked, puzzled:

"Hey, Fourth Master's back. Why did he bring so many people with him?"

The woman in the black dress rode swiftly to the outskirts of the mountain stronghold and exchanged a "safe return" gesture with the guards on the watchtower.

The village gate slowly opened.

"Fourth Master, why did you bring those disaster victims back from outside?"

A guard eagerly stepped forward to take the horse's reins, while his gaze kept drifting towards the girl in the yellow dress behind him.

With large almond-shaped eyes, a slightly thin face, and delicate features, she is an extremely rare beauty.

The woman in the black dress said calmly:

"These aren't our people, just settle them in for now."

After giving a brief explanation, she dismounted and led Chu Caiwei inside.

They traveled uphill, passing through simple wooden and earthen houses, until they reached their destination. It was still an earthen house, but now it had a fence around it.

The woman in the black dress shouted:

"Li Lang, come out, an old friend is looking for you."

A moment later, three people came out of the house. The one in the middle was exceptionally handsome and had a distinguished bearing; he was a refined gentleman.

On the right is a beautiful woman in a white dress, with a refined and elegant demeanor; on the left is a woman in purple, with fair skin and bright, sparkling eyes.

They were all extremely beautiful women.

The woman in the white dress and the woman in the purple dress frowned slightly and became wary when they saw Chu Caiwei.

"Miss Caiwei!"

Li Lingsu, who had already been in contact with Yang Qianhuan, was not surprised at all. She looked around and said:

Where is Brother Yang?

Just then, Yang Qianhuan's voice, like that of a chanter, came from the roof tiles:

"If Heaven had not given birth to me, Yang Qianhuan, the Great Feng would have remained in perpetual darkness."

"I would reach out to invite the moon and pluck the stars from the sky; there is no one like me in this world."

Everyone turned to look, and on the black tiles stood a man in white, his hands behind his back, his robes fluttering.

This inspired the women in white and purple, who were unaware of his background, to respect him and believe that he was a reclusive master.

Even the woman in the black dress, who had only heard a couple of lines of poetry, was still filled with amazement.

Li Lingsu addressed the three women:

"Let me introduce you. This is Yang Qianhuan from the Bureau of Astronomy. You can just call him Senior Brother Yang. He's the third disciple of the Director of the Observatory."

Then three more women were introduced.

The woman in the white dress is named Zhao Susu, and her father is a county magistrate; the woman in the purple dress is named Yu Hanxiu, and her father is the leader of a local martial arts gang; the woman in the black dress is named Lan Lan, and she is a disciple of the Fuyun Sect in Xiangzhou, with a cultivation level of the Spirit Refining Realm.

"Susu is proficient in arithmetic and can help me manage the household accounts and expenses of the entire village. Xiuer used to help her father train and manage the followers; the order in the village depends entirely on her. Lan'er has the strongest cultivation; she's responsible for going out with me to seize land."

Li Lingsu said, "Miaozhen is right. I'm not cut out for leading troops into battle, and I can't learn even if she teaches me. Fortunately, I have many talented people among my acquaintances."

Yang Qianhuan hesitated for a long time before finally uttering a sentence:

"As expected of you!"

Li Lingsu waved her hand, inviting Yang Qianhuan and Chu Caiwei inside for tea, and said:

What brings you here? Is there something important to discuss?

Wearing a veiled hat and sitting with his back to the crowd, Yang Qianhuan remained silent.

Chu Caiwei said:

"Senior Brother Yang, wanting to outshine Xu Qi'an, planned to donate all the Bureau of Astronomy's assets, which angered Senior Brother Song, who reported him. As a result, we were exiled by the Director of the Astronomical Bureau."

After holding it in for a long time, Li Lingsu finally uttered a sentence:

As expected of you!

"Why did you come out too, Miss Caiwei? Why did you get involved?"

Chu Caiwei said somewhat shyly:

"If you take food from someone, you have to do their work. Senior Brother Yang treated me to a meal, didn't he?"

As expected of Li Lingsu, she thought to herself.

At this moment, Yang Qianhuan said:

"I've brought back the group of refugees I encountered on the way. I plan to do what you did: gather refugees and become mountain bandits. I'll take care of the provisions, but they'll have to stay in Brother Li's village for now."

Yang Qianhuan and Chu Caiwei brought the disaster victims with them.

Li Lingsu glanced at Zhao Susu, who was in charge of expenses, and seeing her nod, she immediately agreed:

"Of course, of course. With Brother Yang's unpredictable teleportation abilities, plundering the granaries of the wealthy and unscrupulous is a piece of cake."

Yang Qianhuan shook her head:

"I don't loot; if you want supplies, just buy them."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Susu smiled faintly and said:

"Senior Brother Yang, this is no small expense, especially with grain prices rising these days."

Before he could finish speaking, Chu Caiwei said:

"When we left the Bureau of Astronomy, the Director gave each of us 50,000 taels of silver."

Li Lingsu was dumbfounded. "Fifty thousand taels of silver! The Bureau of Astronomy is indeed very wealthy."

Chu Caiwei shook her head:

"It's gold."

"Murder and robbery, let's do it," Li Lingsu thought to herself.

Yang Qianhuan said in a deep voice:

"My purpose here, besides being unable to bear the suffering of the people and offering assistance, is primarily to gather strength and become a formidable army."

"Then go to Qingzhou to fight? It seems Brother Yang and I are kindred spirits," Li Lingsu remarked.

Yang Qianhuan paused for a moment, then said:

"That's certainly one of the objectives. Also, this is actually a method I devised to suppress Xu Qi'an."

Although she didn't know how he could suppress Xu Qi'an like that, Li Lingsu was happy to hear the words "suppress Xu Qi'an" and quickly asked:

"Why do you say that?"

Yang Qianhuan said calmly:

"That scoundrel Xu Qi'an, relying on his flattery of the common people, has repeatedly shown off. No matter what I do, I can't catch up with him, it's truly disheartening."

His female confidantes were all extraordinary, which was truly disheartening. Li Lingsu wholeheartedly agreed, "Alas, Brother Yang understands me."

Yang Qianhuan's tone remained calm, because of her confidence:

"But recently, I suddenly had a brilliant plan. If it succeeds, it will allow Yang Qianhuan's three names to surpass Xu Qi'an's."

P. S.: Typos will be corrected later.