I Built a Territory in Ancient Times

r bandits should have gotten wind of this and tucked their tails in between their legs, behaving themselves in integrity.
That’s why this fellow has not encountered them.
However, not running into one doesn’t mean that there aren’t bandits here.  

“You are an outsider, so you’re not aware of it.
Wars are frequent here.
Not to mention there are barbarians who invaded from time to time, bursting into Liangzhou to loot.
There are also bandits coming out from the mountains to loot.
The commoners have suffered no small consequences.
With your people’s caravan coming over here, if you run into these kinds of people, life and properties will have to be left behind.”

“It’s that serious?” Although Ming Yu was prepared, he couldn’t help but frown when he heard this, pretending to be worried.
“Leaving aside barbarians invaders, those black-hearted humans, but aren’t the strength of those bandits inferior to the barbarians? Why don’t the local garrison send people to suppress them? Why let those bandits make trouble in this place?”

Hearing Ming Yu’s words, Xu Wen’s forehead broke out in cold sweat.
What did Wangye mean by this? Is he possibly blaming them? But he couldn’t believe it would fall on the head of the local garrisons!

The old village head had a wise and farsighted vision.
He explained with a smile: “You can’t say it like that.
Firstly, the garrison needs to defend the frontier from the barbarian armies and the military strength is scarce.
Second, those bandits are crafty and cunning.
They never commit a crime in one place.
As soon as they hear the officers and soldiers are coming, they would have long since fled to hide.
The officers and soldiers always rush into thin air.”

Ming Yu only thought about it a bit and he already understood the reason why.
Whenever the soldiers sent armed forces to suppress bandits, they would always make big noises.
So, as long as a secret agent inquired about it, they would know and send a letter in advance for them to plan to escape on time and make those soldiers catch thin air.  

He recalled the previous invasion by barbarians with only a hundred people.
Their actions were like the wind, and several villages suffered calamities in just that short period of time.
If it weren’t for the dispatched General Xie of the Red Robe Army, then he was afraid it would not be so easy to wipe them out.

“Is there really no other way?” Ming Yu rubbed his fingers, his frowned brows tightened.

The village head shook his head and sighed, “How many people are like General Xie in the Great Yan Kingdom?”

Only with General Xie setting out can one intimidate those bandits, but General Xie is already busy with his business.
How can he be distracted by these trivial things when he wants to deal with the confrontational barbarian army?

When the few people arrived in the village head’s house, they sat down and rested.
The house where the village head was living in was considered to be better compared to the whole village.
However, the house was still the same as the others before, only left with four bare walls.
There were also a few decent pieces of furniture.
There was a big Kang(heatable brick bed) in the middle of the house for people to sit cross-legged.

The juniors in the family who received the order brought a few bowls of water over, and there were a few children at the doorway clinging to the door frame, exposing several little heads.
It may be assumed that they were the village head’s young descendants.
They watched eagerly as Ming Yu picked up the bowl and took a sip of water, then licked his lips.    

Ming Yu was taken aback.
There was a slight sweet aftertaste in his mouth.
It may be assumed that the master of the house, in order to not appear rude to the guests, had especially added precious sugar powder inside the water.
These children, each and every one of them, coveted with envy for this sweet water. 

Sugar powder was just an ordinary thing in the capital, but here it was classified as a precious thing.
People here didn’t have enough food to eat.
How could they buy useless things like sugar powder, so it was normal for children to be envious. 

Ming Yu beckoned them to come in.
Several children looked back and forth at each other, then finally came in front of Ming Yu curiously.
Ming Yu took out a delicate pouch from his sleeve, grabbed a handful of candied fruit from it, and handed it to them.
This was what Qingping had prepared for him this morning.
Occasionally, Ming Yu may have some symptoms of hypoglycemia when he wakes up early, so he often had sweet things like candied fruits prepared on his body.

The children glanced at their grandfather, and saw that the grandfather had no objection.
They happily took it, thanked him, and ran out with hoots of laughter.

The village head kindly looked at the back of the children leaving, “Children are not sensible, so visitors, please don’t take offense from them.” 

Ming Yu waved his hand to indicate that it was fine, then continued the previous topic and asked: “I saw that the living conditions here are difficult.
Did the officials not think of a plan for this?”

“What choice could they have? The grain produced in the field nowadays will attract barbarians to invade like the autumn wind every time it matures.
The painstaking hard work throughout the year has become the things inside someone’s else bag in an instant.
Those barbarians are brutal in nature.
Their fighting strength, besides General Xie’s Red Robe Army, when other armies confronted them, nine out of ten would lose their helmets and armors and be utterly defeated.
Ai! it would be good if they could grab some food without hurting people.
But they directly slaughter the villages and take the women and children away.” The village head said all of this from the bottom of his heart, and his words were filled with helplessness.
“It is precisely because of this that the life of the people in Liangzhou is not good from one year to the next.
We are still good here, being not far away from Liangzhou.
In other distant places, people’s lives are more like having today but without a tomorrow.” 

“In that case, why… why don’t you move out of this place?” Ming Yu asked with some difficulty, but he said what was in his heart.

“Hai! Our ancestors have been here for generations, this place is our root, where can we go? In fact, we also know it in our hearts.
Furthermore, we still have the soldiers ahead to protect us, and we believe they are capable of defeating the barbarians.
At that time, we will be able to live peacefully.
“

Isn’t the commoners’ greatest wish to be safe and stable?

If you want to support us, please download our awesome cultivation game Taoist Immortal!