It had been more than 20 days since the bandits started working, so many of them should have accumulated enough bullets by now. Jin Lan came back after counting for a long time and scratched his head. "Since some of our brothers joined us some time ago, we distributed quite a lot of bullets to them. So each of us should still be short of two or three bullets. We should have enough after another day of making bricks tomorrow."
The surrounding refugees were stunned when they heard that. Jin Lan quickly explained, "If we're not going to rob you, why would we rob you?"
Jin Lan said excitedly, "Of course we're robbing you! We have a few hundred people, and we're so united. We can definitely sweep through the entire South!"
Yang Xiaojin had been wondering if these people would cause any trouble, so she had been secretly observing them. At the time, she wondered why Ren Xiaosu was not worried at all. But in the end, she realized her worries were unfounded.
Jin Lan said in embarrassment, "We can't just let our fellow villagers continue living in the caves, right? There are so many children around, and it's very humid to live in the caves. It's not good for their health."
The refugees even advised Ren Xiaosu not to hit them so hard. It made the bandits who got hit feel ashamed.
"What if we get one in the future?" Zhang Yiheng muttered.
Xu Jinyuan hesitantly took the guns from him. Jin Lan and Zhang Yiheng, who looked excited, followed suit.
There was no grand sense of patriotism. Ren Xiaosu's message to the bandits was to protect their property, their family, and their friends. Everything was done from a self-interest perspective.
Jin Lan did not make it too obvious. After all, there were several groups of bandits in the North who were still very fierce.
If they really left a powerful individual like Ren Xiaosu and a rope that kept them together, they would probably still break up very quickly and go their separate ways.
But now was not the time to think about this. Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, "You haven't counted the bullets we used to build the houses today. I already said that everyone involved in building the houses would get 15 bullets. I meant what I said."
If Ren Xiaosu had returned the guns to them right from the start, they would definitely not have been so excited. That was because those guns belonged to them in the first place, and they were given to them by the other factions for free.
Jin Lan and Zhang Yiheng were still bragging to the refugees yesterday that they would let everyone have a place to stay.
This time, they built 12 houses in one go. In this desolate wasteland, there were finally brick houses rising from the ground. Ren Xiaosu looked at all of this and had mixed feelings. Those sturdy brick houses seemed to symbolize the continuation of human civilization.
"But there are many people like them." Ren Xiaosu said, "They also have children and wives."
Ren Xiaosu was silent for a moment. He pointed to the refugees who were watching them and said, "Robbery? Rob them? "
Fortunately, there hadn't been any new bandits joining recently. The number of bandits was about 400. Of course, there were some who escaped, but only a few.
With that, Jin Lan and the others suddenly got excited. After working hard for more than 20 days, their hard work was finally going to bear fruit!
Of course, be it the strength, willpower, or beliefs of this group, they were just a small seed.
There was no need to maintain world peace or anything like that. This kind of thing did not have much to do with them.
Therefore, they would probably have to face some friction with the forces in the north and see who would emerge victorious.
Or if they encountered a strong enemy now, they would be able to defeat them very quickly.
"Mhm." Yang Xiaojin nodded. "But it doesn't seem like they have any ulterior motives anymore."
Xu Jinyuan wondered, "Then what are we going to do with the guns?"
Each house was about 28 square meters, and each house required about 1,900 bricks to build, so it could accommodate more than a dozen people.
With the brick houses rising from the ground, the bandits were full of strength and could work very quickly.
Ren Xiaosu got Jin Lan to bring the firearms over. "What are y 'all going to do with these guns?"
Yang Xiaojin watched all of this quietly from the side. She looked at the young man who was like the protagonist of the stage. She had once said that it would be very difficult for a group of bandits to find their beliefs and that it would be good enough if they could unite.
Later on, this kind of thing never happened again.
Ren Xiaosu picked up a gun and handed it to Xu Jinyuan with both hands. "Take this gun, and we'll be a family. We'll be comrades, brothers, and family."
Zhang Yiheng added, "We can also build schools and factories."
Seeing how Xu Jinyuan was looking forward to exchanging for bullets every day.
Ren Xiaosu saw Xu Jinyuan directing the construction of the houses while a female refugee looked at him affectionately next to him. He turned to Yang Xiaojin and said, "He's one of the people you said were problematic, right?"
As the bandits gathered here, the desolate refugee settlement suddenly seemed to gain a little more liveliness.
It was only at this moment that Yang Xiaojin remembered they were here to exterminate the bandits.
But to her surprise, in just over 20 days, a collective concept had quietly taken shape, and a belief in "protection" was born.
These hooligans could still bully the refugees, but they did not even dare to think about bullying the bandits.
It was as though this qualification was worth a thousand taels of gold. In the past, they were not this happy even when they robbed the caravans of their money, nor were they as proud as they were today. That was because this was something they had earned with their sweat and tears.
Although there were some bandits who went to the refugees' houses to steal dried corn cobs, the refugees did not say anything when they found out. Instead, it was Ren Xiaosu who gave that guy a good beating and even confiscated his bullets.
But it was different now. Being able to exchange a hundred bullets for a gun was like an honor. The reason they were excited was not because of the gun, but because they were qualified to carry a gun in this settlement.
But Yang Xiaojin felt that it was already very impressive that Ren Xiaosu was able to plant this seed of hope.
However, there were some refugees who bullied other refugees and went to other people's houses to freeload every day like hooligans. In the end, Jin Lan and the others could not stand it any longer, so they beat up those hooligans and brought them to the bandits to be reformed.
Xu Jinyuan did not say anything. Xiaocui was shyly making eyes at him outside.
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was walking towards the newly built brick houses. He asked Jin Lan, "How many bullets do we have?"
Ren Xiaosu asked him with a smile, "By the time y 'all have enough bullets, will you still be able to build houses?"
Although the number of houses was still a little small compared to the number of people they had, the bricks from the second kiln had already started burning. They would be able to take them out in another two days to continue building houses.
It was indeed because the new bandits had slowed down everyone's progress. Otherwise, with the additional costs of moving the bricks, mixing the clay mixture, and planting the seeds, the bandits would have already accumulated enough bullets.
Ren Xiaosu was amused. "Build a factory, my ass. We don't have the technology to build a factory."
Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin had mentioned that the bandits from the north had probably headed south. Otherwise, they would not have not seen a single new bandit in the past ten days.
They were hugging the cold, black guns like they were treasures. Jin Lan said to the villagers, "Don't worry, with me around, no bandits can rob you!"
"Protect them," Ren Xiaosu said with a smile. He pointed at the female refugee who was hooking up with Xu Jinyuan every day and said, "Protect Xiaocui, the villagers, and your families."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
