Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Hejian County Chief abandoned his dignity and raised more than a thousand dans of grain, along with all sorts of weapons and other sundries. As he had expected initially, with the exception of Liu She, no one was willing to provide human force. They all chose to send him away with money.

He thought the force Liu She had deployed was the elites he had been secretly supporting in Hu County. Hejian County Chief was rather confident that the suppressing bandits mission would be successful. He integrated all the items he had collected into an inventory and handed it to Liu She. He made it clear that he was never good at deploying and he hoped Liu She would spare some of his time and effort for it.

No matter what, it was Liu She’s force. Liu She promised to lend it to him, but after all, the Hejian County Chief shouldn’t take his job and point fingers.

Liu She was not going to refuse the supplies. He took it after the Hejian County Chief continually urged, even though he had declined multiple times. He then immediately turned around and gave it to his daughter.

Jiang Pengji had no comment.

He only did some talking before tons of grain and goods came to them. She finally started to see how the second branch of the Liu’s was so wealthy.

Liu She couldn’t see her idea and implied to her, “The County Chief is so on edge that he couldn’t eat or sleep well. He is eager to see the guy who is responsible captured as soon as possible.”

Jiang Pengji’s heart pumped. She knew exactly what he meant and nodded at him. “Leave it to me, father. I know what I’m doing.”

They would still suppress the bandits, but which ones she was going to suppress was entirely up to her. What she needed to do was hand them a pretty result. She assumed that the Hejian County Chief would be very grateful and he would think that Liu She was his best buddy and Liu Xi was a young hero.

Anyway, the benefits from both supplies and reputation would go to them and the other people would still be pleased, even though they were being taken advantage of.

Liu She urged her over and over again anxiously, “The wood that stands out of the forest will be destroyed first; the dirt pile sticking out of the shore will be crushed first. The common people are averagely fatuous––that’s why people with good conduct and capabilities are most often the objects of jealousy and condemnation. I don’t want you to go through this. Therefore, it will be necessary for you to hide your talent to avoid unnecessary conflicts with others. What matters the most is still the result. It would be stupid to play the role of a hero out of impulse to strive for a temporary victory.”

No one had knowledge of her future plans, but Liu She was fully aware of her ambition and talents. He had watched as his kid laid her fingers on the lifeblood of the Meng’s, but she was still acting leisurely and carefree.

Who else was capable of doing it if it wasn’t her?

She needed to develop firmly and steadily. She already had some foundation; her future would go smoothly.

When she was fully prepared, she would only need one chance; she would get on to the top in a short time, then she would stun the world and shake the government court.

“Don’t worry, father. I’m not some brainless, boorish guy,” Jiang Pengji replied with a smile.

Liu She nodded, satisfied, then realized there were some slight mistakes in her words.

She could not be a boorish guy. She was his baby girl.

While Jiang Pengji was working intensively on preparing to suppress the bandits and catching the “murderer” who persecuted the Langjun of the Meng’s, the head of the entourage of the Meng’s headed back to Meng County, Cang Prefecture. He felt a deep depression as he took his twenty injured soldiers, as well as Meng Liang’s coffin, back to the Meng County.

They were all in white mourning clothes and lifted the white covers. They did the memorial ritual for Meng Liang, including throwing paper money and ringing a bell on their way back to the Meng County.

Meng Liang had been dead for awhile. In order to prevent his body from decomposing and to keep the body in one piece, they rushed out to make a special coffin with a full load of ice inside. They did it in a hurry to ensure they could deliver Meng Liang’s body back to his hometown before summertime.

It was not an easy thing to hurry while carrying a coffin, however. The trip would only take them half a month if they rode their horses hard, but it took them a month and a half to arrive. A month and a half… many things could have happened in that time.

During that time, Jiang Pengji had expanded her troop to a thousand people by suppressing bandits and recruiting from the bandits. It was the result of her being particular about the candidates. It would be easily expanded to two thousand if she had loosened the criterion for selection. Over the last month and a half, they had conquered more than twenty bandit stockades and made them into her secret strongholds. She confiscated countless trophies from suppressing the bandits. She turned all the antiques, calligraphy, and painting masterpieces over to the authority, but kept the grain, cotton, and money for herself.

The Hejian County Chief was well aware of why she did it, but he didn’t say anything about it.

In the current era, knowledge was priceless. Therefore, the value of the antiques, calligraphy, and paintings were worth much more than the grain.

But that rule didn’t work the same way for Jiang Pengji. She knew very well that the only way for her to survive in a world full of turmoil was to strengthen her power. The antiques, calligraphy, and paintings were just some mere worldly possessions that would come to her eventually.

That was why those precious objects were only shabby papers in her eyes. She didn’t feel bad about giving them away.

The fact that she didn’t care didn’t mean other people would think the same. When the Hejian County Chief saw the all the possessions that Jiang Pengji handed in, he reckoned her as a too honest and a moral person, as she was suffering losses. Since he took advantage of the deal, he was left dealing with the captured bandit members and Liu She.

The only pity was that they still couldn’t catch the worst one, Meng Hun, who had slaughtered Meng Liang.

But the County Chief felt soothed as soon as he thought about the other hidden dangers in the Hejian County area day by day. The Hejian County Chief harbored a certain sense of envy towards Liu She.

Look at his elite soldiers and look at my own. The gap is way too huge, he thought.

The former soldiers were serious when they talked with the bandit. They told him there would be a flood of blood. The latter could only watch the bandit chase after them and grow bigger.

With the development of the troop, Meng Hun secluded him to the back and left the double work pressure to Xu Ke.

Xu Ke was fully occupied to the point that he barely had time to breathe. If it wasn’t for Qiguan Rang occasionally swinging by to lend him a hand, he would have been worn out already.

When there was a moment he could take a break, he noticed his Langjun’s troop had enlarged to a scale of a thousand people.

1,000 private soldiers meant nothing to a gentry clan that had some foundation. But considering how long the troop had been established and its current status, it was unbelievable how swiftly it had developed. Even though Xu Ke had been watching the whole process, he was surprised by it.

“You seem to have gotten a lot busier recently.”

Qiguan Rang and Wei Yuan’s daughter’s wedding was scheduled after August. It seemed quite far away, but the truth was it was barely enough time for them to go through the complex thousands of rituals required at that time. If Wei Yuan wasn’t in a hurry to marry off his daughter, it could easily have consumed more than a year.

Qiguan Rang was regarded as a soon-to-be groom. It was obvious that he was in a delightful mood. People were in high spirits when they were involved in happy events. There was no longer any gloom on his face.

“I’m not as idle as you are…” Xu Ke said to him in a cold tone. He had recently increased his interactions with Qiguan Rang because of work. They had quite a bit of common interests and had built up a bit of a relationship between them. “You and Master Gongcao put your bet on Langjun. Why haven’t you made a commitment with her yet?”

Jiang Pengji was secretly evolving her force at an increased speed, but there was no hidden perils like an unstable foundation. Xu Ke should have the most credit for helping tamp the foundation. However, everyone had a limited capability, as well as limited energy.

When there were nearly a hundred people in the troop, he was in charge of the internal affairs and Meng Hun was in charge of the external affairs. Their cooperation helped to organize the troop into a good order.

But now, Meng Hun could only hide himself from the public because of the sensitive timing, which meant his work was piling onto Xu Ke’s shoulders. In the current scenario, the size of the troop had extended ten times its initial size; naturally, the quantity of his work had increased more than ten times. There was only an increase in the quantity of the work, but no increase in his paycheck. What was more, he was the sole person for all the work; he had no one to share it with.

He felt like he was going to start a rebellion.