Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Archers and Empty Promises
The one who kills must die, the one who injures or steals must be punished.
This set of three laws seems basic, but in fact, it is hard to achieve. However, the effects it brings are very evident, as history has proven.
Indeed, hearing Chen Mo’s simple and blunt rules, the villagers nodded in agreement, as if it should have always been this way.
The outsiders also nodded in secret agreement.
"Alright." Chen Mo looked at the group of outsiders and said, "If you can accept my rules, you can register to join the village and receive my protection. If you cannot accept it, you should go back to where you came from."
As everyone hesitated, the sky brightened, and a ray of light appeared on the horizon. At that moment, the sky, like a red silk curtain, opened a corner, revealing an arc of the sun, steadily rising until the entire Fu Ze Village was enveloped in light, creating a magical scene.
Chen Mo donned a purple robe, with a halo of purple light around his head.
Even those who had seen it before were instantly filled with awe.
Not to mention those who saw it for the first time; some of the elderly had already knelt down to pray.
"I can accept it."
"I can accept it too."
"Where do I register? I want to register."
These outsiders chose to accept and were willing to join this big family.
The four, including Wang Ping, had not yet finished their tasks and got busy again.
Chen Mo also called Zhang He over to help.
According to statistics, there were more than two hundred households that came.
Among them were 137 able-bodied people.
A total of 566 people.
Han Wu was fortunate; compared to Fu Ze Village, Da Han Village was much more united. When fleeing on Impatiens Road, aside from some who followed Han San into the mountains, most returned to their own village.
A few of them returned to Da Han Village, telling the villagers what happened on Impatiens Road. So, before the official soldiers from Qingtian County came to arrest them, the villagers of Da Han Village had already fled into the mountains and came back to live only after the soldiers left.
Thus, Han Wu’s family was not captured by the government, which was a blessing in disguise.
Chen Mo’s gaze turned to the five men carrying longbows, and he asked, "Which village are you from, and what’s your name?"
The five men became apprehensive as Chen Mo called them, fearing that he would blame them.
Surrounded by Chen Mo’s purple aura, one of the men, with reverence on his face, timidly said, "My name is Hu Qiang."
Then he pointed to the other four men in turn: "This is Hu Shi, Hu Zhiyong, Hu Tie, Hu Shan; we’re all from... Hu Family Village in Qingtian County."
"You’re carrying bows, so you all know how to hunt?" Chen Mo asked.
"We’ve made a living from... hunting for generations."
"Very well, Hu Qiang, right? Later, you five will come up the mountain with me and let me see what you’re capable of," Chen Mo said.
From what he understood, archers are one of the important troop types on the battlefield, often receiving higher treatment than ordinary soldiers.
Similarly, the cost of training a qualified archer is much higher than that of an ordinary soldier.
If these five are truly skilled, Chen Mo will certainly train and make full use of them.
It’s just that he currently has too few talented individuals by his side.
...
After teaching Zhang He the sword technique, everyone had clearly defined roles.
Han Wu led the fishing team to catch fish.
Zhang He led the patrol team, responsible for patrolling and security work.
Han Anniang also found the Liu Clan women and gathered women from several villages to start a women’s assembly.
The new villagers began building houses in the village.
Chen Mo led Hu Qiang and the other five, along with more than a hundred villagers, in a mighty march up the mountain in search of suitable terrain to build a fortified village.
After finding a suitable place, Chen Mo had the hundred-plus villagers construct the village.
He then took Hu Qiang and the other four deep into the mountains to hunt, testing their skills in the process.
The test results found that these five men truly had skills.
He drew a target the size of a washbasin on a large tree and had the five stand sixty paces away to shoot.
Out of ten arrows, each could hit at least four.
While it seemed like a small number, based on what Chen Da told him about military archers, sixty paces shooting an eighteen-pound force, hitting six out of ten arrows was qualified, and hitting more than eight was considered a divine shooter.
The book also mentioned that those taking the advanced scholar exam, under forty years old, must undergo an archery test.
At sixty paces, the target stands fifteen paces away, with two rods twenty paces apart, two feet above the ground, horizontally tied by a rope. Hitting three out of ten arrows, with arrows passing below the rope and hitting the target was considered passing.
One step here is about 1.5 meters.
Chen Mo tried their bows, specially made longbows, with a pull force of at least eighteen pounds.
For a hunter, hitting at least four out of ten arrows is already impressive.
The strongest among the five was Hu Qiang, who could hit six out of ten arrows at sixty paces, and seven at forty paces.
Moreover, Hu Qiang is in his prime, only thirty-three years old, and worth training.
However, Chen Mo was currently too impoverished to provide anything substantial.
If it weren’t for these villagers having no other path and just wanting to survive, expecting them to work without pay or grain would be impossible.
Even using force to coerce them wouldn’t work in the long term and would only cause resentment and laziness.
Therefore, Chen Mo decided to entice them by offering promises. He first called Hu Qiang aside and asked, "Do you want to become a Martial Artist lord?"
Hu Qiang was surprised; who wouldn’t want that?
Though he didn’t understand why Chen Mo said this, he nodded anyway.
"Very well." Chen Mo patted Hu Qiang on the shoulder and said, "From now on, you’ll manage the team building the mountain fort for me as their captain. If you perform well, I can teach you... Immortal Techniques."
Chen Mo initially wanted to say Cultivation Technique.
But since he was seen as a reincarnated Immortal Master by the villagers, calling it Immortal Technique certainly sounded more prestigious.
Hu Qiang blinked, accepted the offer, and with excitement said, "Immortal Master Chen, I... I will definitely work hard and not let you down."
...
After delegating the tasks of building, patrolling, fishing, and spring farming to others, Chen Mo’s burden lightened significantly, though he did not rest idly. He needed to measure the land and allocate it to the villagers.
As for whether there was enough land, it was more than sufficient.
To be honest, even before selling off the land deeds, the villagers of several villages had less than one-tenth of the land collectively. Most of the land belonged to the noble clans and Martial Artists in the city.
Having taken over these villages, Chen Mo naturally also seized the land of those noble lords, allowing him to redistribute it among the villagers.
Once the villagers’ lives improved, those "deserters" who hadn’t yet joined would naturally seek refuge.
The remaining land would be reserved by Chen Mo to recruit these remaining "deserters."