Chapter 41: This boy has lofty ambitions!

"Little brother!"

Inside the main hall of the Black Cloud Stronghold, Chieftain Gou wept bitterly.

This broad-shouldered, rugged warrior was clad in a tiger-skin vest, his hair disheveled, with a centipede-like scar running from the corner of his right eye all the way down to his jaw. At this moment, as he stared at Wu Wenting's confidential letter, his tears streamed down, making his fierce face look even more ferocious.

"That Liang Xiao not only murdered Magistrate Yuan, but also dared to kill my own blood brother! This enmity is irreconcilable!"

"Before Liang Xiao can firmly establish his foothold, brothers, do you dare to follow me and take Liang Xiao's dog life? We'll storm Peixian, live the high life, and plunder all their women and silver!"

The moment his hateful words fell, the left and right chieftains stood up one after another, patting their chests in response.

"We are willing to follow the Chief through fire and water!"

"Peixian's new recruits are nothing more than a rabble of a mob. How could they possibly be a match for our regular troops!"

Chieftain Gou wiped away his tears, gritting his teeth in deep hatred.

"It is already getting late today. Everyone, go and prepare your troops for battle. We set out tomorrow! I will wipe out Liang Xiao's entire clan! By the way, we'll raze the Zhongli family to the ground as well, and capture the number one beauty of Xuzhou to be my stronghold mistress!"

Cheers erupted among the chieftains inside the hall.

A hundred li north of Peixian, the Black Cloud Stronghold was mobilizing in a hurry, waiting only for dawn tomorrow to pour out in full force and slaughter their way south toward Peixian.

As night fell, the day's training at the Wu Garrison camp finally came to an end.

Liang Xiao was quite satisfied with the performance of the new recruits. During the session, he had personally screened another five hundred men from the three thousand applicants who had arrived yesterday.

Currently, the actual troop strength in Peixian exceeded six thousand.

If they could not be armed with weapons as soon as possible, the remaining three thousand-plus men could temporarily handle logistics and land reclamation, which would also be of great use.

To the north of Peixian, he had also dispatched scouts led by two Liang estate guards, riding packhorses provided by the county yamen, patrolling day and night to prevent bandits from crossing the border.

From the very moment he killed Yuan Bailong, he had already prepared himself to deal with a bandit invasion.

Those previous magistrates had simply served as scapegoats for Yuan Bailong—this was precisely Yuan Bailong's cunning.

If Yuan Bailong had officially purchased the position of magistrate of Peixian, he inevitably would have attracted the court's attention.

The Black Cloud Stronghold frequently wreaked havoc around Peixian. If he failed to suppress the bandits, he wouldn't be able to give a proper account to the imperial court and the Governor of Xuzhou.

Yet if he did go to suppress the bandits, facing such a massive gang like the Black Cloud Stronghold would be tantamount to seeking death.

Therefore, for Yuan Bailong to rule the roost in Peixian under the title of Assistant Magistrate, collusion between officials and bandits was an absolute certainty!

By slaying Yuan Bailong and Gou Ming one after another, he was effectively declaring war on the Black Cloud Stronghold.

However, the lair of the Black Cloud Stronghold was at least a hundred li away from Peixian, leaving ample time to prepare defenses and respond in a timely manner.

As night fell, Liang Xiao returned to the county yamen, where Zhuo Zifang had been waiting for some time. Zhuo Zifang informed him of the secret intelligence sent by Zhongli Xiu concerning Wu Wenting's visit to the Zhongli household.

Zhuo Zifang said, "For Wu Wenting to pack up and move with such urgency, making no attempt to conceal it, I can only think of one possibility at present: Peixian is facing a crisis, specifically from the Black Cloud Stronghold..."

"You mean the Wu family is also colluding with the Black Cloud Stronghold?" Liang Xiao's eyes lit up.

Zhuo Zifang nodded, hastily reminding him, "Without ironclad proof, we cannot simply go and raid their estate..."

Liang Xiao chuckled and said, "It seems I need to pay a visit to the Zhongli family first to give them peace of mind."

That very night, Liang Xiao paid a secret visit to the Zhongli estate.

Zhongli Xiu welcomed him into the courtyard and sent someone to notify Zhongli Wanxue.

Led by Zhongli Wanxue, Ningyan entered, and the former said softly, "Sister Ningyan, your young master has come to see you. He truly keeps his promises!"

Ningyan looked at Liang Xiao, her eyes rippling with emotion as she said, "Young master, Sister Wanxue has been so good to me..."

"Oh, it's only right~" Seeing Liang Xiao smile in gratitude, Zhongli Wanxue felt a sweet warmth blossom in her chest. She added, "Lord Liang and my father must have important matters to discuss. Would Sister Ningyan and I wait for you in the side courtyard?"

"No need, Miss Zhongli doesn't need to avoid us. It might not be a bad thing for you to understand some of the inner workings," Liang Xiao said.

Zhongli Wanxue's bright eyes lit up, and she readily agreed. She and Ningyan sat down to the side, brewing tea for Zhongli Xiu and Liang Xiao.

Before the tea could even be brewed, Zhongli Xiu eagerly asked his question.

"Lord Liang, now that the state-farming policy has been launched, is it truly necessary for my family to spend five thousand liang of silver to acquire that ten thousand mu of prime farmland from the Wu family?"

Zhongli Wanxue also looked at Liang Xiao with eyes full of curiosity.

Half a liang of silver for a mu of prime farmland was an unthinkably good deal in the south of the Yangtze.

Yet it was a different story north of the Yangtze. That region could be engulfed by the flames of war at any moment, or even completely lost; thus, even for the finest farmland, no one dared to invest heavily in mass acquisitions.

The reason why the Wu family and Yuan Bailong possessed so much fertile land was purely due to years of collusion between officials and merchants, constantly seizing property through extortion to accumulate their current wealth.

The yield of prime farmland itself was substantial, and it could be resold at any time—truly a rare commodity to hoard.

Even the lowest price for the Wu family's farmland was eight qian of silver per mu, meaning ten thousand mu would cost eight thousand liang.

Liang Xiao nodded. "Five thousand liang for ten thousand mu of prime farmland is naturally an exceptional opportunity, though I wonder if Wu Wenting is willing to sell."

"He quoted a discounted price of eight thousand liang right off the bat, and he's coming to see me again tomorrow. If I can secure the ten thousand mu for five thousand liang, there will be no problem at all!"

Zhongli Xiu spoke with a confident expression, then offered a warning.

"However, this also sideways demonstrates that Wu Wenting is worried that lingering in Peixian will threaten his life. Either he fears Lord Liang will find an excuse to raid their estate, or... he is certain that the bandits of the Black Cloud Stronghold are coming, and he is afraid Lord Liang will deal with him first! Lord Liang, most of Peixian's several thousand soldiers are newly recruited, while the Black Cloud Stronghold's forces likely exceed five thousand, and they are all veteran bandits. They cannot be underestimated!"

Zhongli Wanxue's heart skipped a beat. As she looked at Liang Xiao, the joy in her eyes turned to worry.

In truth, she hadn't expected Liang Xiao to execute Gou Ming publicly back then, let the county raid Gou Ming's estate, and completely uproot the Furious Dragon Gang.

Such a move would inevitably result in a permanent feud with the Black Cloud Stronghold.

As a family with a well-informed intelligence network, the Zhongli family more or less understood that the continuous growth of the Black Cloud Stronghold was inseparable from the covert support and supply provided by Yuan Bailong and the Furious Dragon Gang.

Liang Xiao smiled faintly. "Since the Zhongli Family Head has made up his mind to support me wholeheartedly, why worry about such risks? As long as I am here, and Zifang is here, Peixian will never fall to the bandits."

Zhongli Wanxue nodded without hesitation. "I believe Young Master Liang!"

Zhongli Xiu fell into deep contemplation.

The group of new recruits Liang Xiao had gathered should logically be no match for the Black Cloud Stronghold in a direct engagement.

"Could it be that Lord Liang intends to hunker down and defend the city to the death, or do you have some ingenious counter-strategy, such as a fire attack?" Zhongli Xiu asked.

Liang Xiao replied, "That will depend on the enemy's specific movements. We shall meet soldiers with shields and water with earth."

Zhongli Xiu's heart sank.

Didn't this mean he didn't have a solid strategy yet? This sounded far too evasive!

"Zhongli Family Head, what I need to consider is how to counterattack the Black Cloud Stronghold, rather than simply defending Peixian. From now on, let everything be proven by the total annihilation of the Black Cloud Stronghold. How about that?"

Liang Xiao's words were astonishing. Zhongli Xiu and his daughter froze simultaneously, but quickly came to their senses.

According to Zhongli Wanxue's account, he was the very general who had slain the Left Wise King under the cover of night...

To be able to penetrate an enemy camp single-handedly, coupled with the several thousand troops he now commanded, he certainly possessed the qualifications to be confident.

"Zhongli Family Head, have you ever considered that the lands north of the Yangtze are also thousands of miles of fertile plains? If Peixian and indeed the entire Xuzhou can usher in long-term peace and stability, or even recover the Central Plains, freeing the Xuzhou region from the threat of war forever, what will the future value of these farmlands—especially the prime fields—be?"

"Recover the Central Plains? Long-term peace and stability?" Massive waves churned in Zhongli Xiu's heart.

Father and son of the Zhongli family had originally thought Liang Xiao merely wanted to temper himself in Peixian before returning to the imperial court to rise smoothly through the ranks and reach the pinnacle of officialdom.

Yet he actually wanted to recover the Central Plains?!

This young man's ambitions far exceeded his imagination...

Could he really do it?