Martial Arts Have Mastery - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: The Prelude to War

Translator: Tuiwen Editor: Tuiwen

Miss Qin’s smile was beautiful, but Shen Ling only felt a chill as he thought about what the future held for him and the villagers.

He didn’t know what the bandits would do if they found out he had such a strong collaborator on his side. But one thing that he was sure of was that by having Miss Qin on his team, this could indeed turn the odds in his favor.

There was a saying that the enemy of the enemy was a friend. Miss Qin and he were definitely in a cooperative relationship. Naturally, such a relationship was mutually beneficial to both parties.

After making a deal with Miss Qin to buy the triple crossbows, Shen Ling immediately headed to the countryside.

During the peak harvest season, it was a given that someone would be guarding the village.

Shen Ling did not want to leave the farmers to deal with all this by themselves.

In the past few days, he couldn’t even find the spare time to cultivate.

But if he did not stay here, Master Shen, who did not know any martial arts, would be useless in the face of any attack on the village. With no one to protect him here, he would be safer in Qi Hua City.

In the past, when the bandits would come down to rob them, the Shen family would just deal with it.

After all, some bandits would not be so merciless. They would still leave behind some food for the villagers.

However, due to Shen Ling’s influence, the farmers were no longer the same farmers, and the Shen family was longer the same either.

If the bandits did attack again, even if Shen Ling was nowhere to be found, the farmers would not raise their hands and surrender.

In the eyes of the farmers of the village, ever since the moment Shen Ling taught them martial arts…

The days of being kicked around and humiliated were long past!

“Young Master Shen.”

Once Shen Ling arrived back at the village, the old village chief right away came up to him.

“What’s the matter?”

Shen Ling could see that the old village chief had something on his mind and asked him directly.

The old village chief said, “More than a dozen people arrived this morning to join the village. I wanted to ask you for your opinion on whether we should let them stay or not.”

Shen Ling asked in a curious voice, “More than a dozen people? Who are these people? And where did they come from?”

The old village chief shook his head back and forth. “Their identities shouldn’t be a problem. They were all villagers from the nearby villages who had come here for refuge. The group mostly consists of women and children. I heard that their village was plundered by bandits. Their whole food supply was taken away.”

“Is that really so?”

Shen Ling then nodded his head. “Can you offer them housing?”

“Yes.”

The old village chief nodded his head.

A few months ago, when the village was being renovated, he had specially laid out plans to build more houses, so the refugee’s housing situation shouldn’t be a problem.

Shen Ling then replied, “Then arrange housing for them. Also, remember to take their names down. This is very important.”

“Yes.”

The old village chief nodded his head.

Currently, Shen Ling was the unofficial leader of the village. Even Master Shen’s words might not have as much power as Shen Ling’s.

Under Shen Ling’s influence, the villagers first practiced martial arts, then absolutely defeated the bandits of the Green Mountain Stronghold.

After they stamped down the Green Mountain Village, they incorporated the people from the village into theirs so that the sharecroppers’ village did not lack in people. Even harvesting the crops was getting done much faster than it had been done in the past.

In the past, there were more than 200 people working the fields, including women. This year, there were more than 400 working the fields and that also included women.

Shen Ling turned to look at the old village chief and said word by word, “By the way, you should build more houses. The next time there are refugees looking for a safe place to stay, just let them come here. Anyway, the village still has room for more. If we can save all of them, then let’s save all of them.”

“Yes.”

The old village chief nodded his head.

Although he was very worried that with more people working the fields, the tenant farmers would rent less land from the Shen family and as a result, turn up less of a profit for their landlord.

However, because he respected Shen Ling, the old village chief did not argue with him.

After saying goodbye to the old village chief, Shen Ling made his way to the wall of the camp.

Staring out at the golden wheat waves in the distance, he began to mull over what was going on at that time.

It was a very normal thing for bandits to rob villages. Throughout the village’s history, they had seen their fair share of pain and suffering dealt by the hands of the bandits.

However, things might be even more serious this year.

Shen Ling had previously heard that the bandits faced a food shortage and had even struck a deal with them to alleviate the problem.

However, the grain supply he had given them would only last them a month. Today, a month later, the bandit camp would still be in need of more grain.

For regular people, if they needed more grain, they could just go out and buy it.

But for the bandits, when facing a similar situation, they would only go down to the surrounding villages to loot what they needed.

This had already become a part of their subconscious living, just like eating and drinking.

It was precisely because Shen Ling understood this that he knew, without a doubt, that there would be a conflict between him and the bandits.

It was a conflict over food.

“This is not going to be easy at all.”

Shen Ling muttered this to himself. He had read up on the Green Mountain Bandits and knew just how ferocious they were.

In regards to numbers, the number of people of the two villages combined was not as high as the number of Green Mountain Bandits. In regards to the number of people fighting, the number of people in the sharecroppers’ village was even lower.

Therefore, the triple crossbow was an integral part of their defense.

A few days later.

The farmers had completed their harvest, and the newly built granaries were stock full of grain.

In the past few days, there had been no sight of the bandits. However, the crossbows and arrows that Miss Qin had promised had all been delivered on time.

Coincidentally enough, at this moment in time, a bandit that Shen Ling had yet to ever hear of had led a group of his people to attack them.

“What is this?”

A group of bandits stared up at the stone walls of the camp, their eyes filling with doubt.

“Boss, should we still go ahead and rob them?”

Peering up at the tightly shut gates of the camp, one of the bandits had a strange feeling that something was wrong.

They knew what to expect when robbing villages, but this was the first time they had come across a village with a camp wall.

“Of course, we have to rob them!”

A man with a protruding belly and a fierce expression on his face raised his knife. “This looks like a very wealthy village. Brothers, follow me. After we rob this place, you can have your pick of the womenfolk.”

Initially, the bandits were hesitant when faced with the wall of the camp. However, these words had the ability to ignite their fighting spirit.

“Charge!”

In that instant, dozens of people started to charge toward the wall.

“Sigh.”

Standing at his position at the wall, Shen Ling shook his head back and forth.

He stared down at the bandits below who looked pretty unprotected as they charged at the gate. Shen Ling began to feel sorry for them. They had no idea what they were up against.

“Fire the arrows.”

Shen Ling ordered.

The young and strong farmers who were standing at the wall released their arrows.

Whiz —

Arrows fell down in waves.

Hearing the sound of arrows, the bandits all lifted their heads to check, and a shocked expression instantly lit up their faces.

Just like that, the battle was over before they knew it.

Shen Ling didn’t even bother to give the corpses on the ground a second glance.

More time passed by…

The bandits did not come, and Shen Ling would not leave the village.

However, there was no news that the bandits were arriving any time soon. Instead, he heard that the Great Jin Empire had started a war against the Great Qian Empire.

The Great Jin Empire was located on the east side of the Great Qian Empire  In terms of strength, it was a powerful country. Any country that wanted to go up against it would have to come to the battlefield prepared, knowing full well that the Great Jin Empire was a formidable foe.

Based on the deterioration of the Great Qian Empire it was questionable whether the Great Qian Empire would be able keep their enemy at bay.

However, something was off about the timing of this attack. Shen Ling thought that something very strange was going on.

The geography of the Great Jin Empire and the Great Qian Empire were not very different. The Great Jin Empire should also be harvesting grain now.

Since ancient times, apart from nomadic invasions, wars in autumn were very few and far between.

As winter made things different to move around, the normal time for warfare should be spring and summer…

It would benefit the Great Jin Empire to win this war before the winter months came along.

Hopefully, the Great Qian Empire would be able to defend itself against such an imposing enemy.

Shen Ling thought this to himself..