lovenovelstory Chapter 16 Nursery Rhymes
Chapter 16 Nursery Rhymes
Liu Gong leaned on his cane, his cloudy old eyes filled with shock.
Having lived most of his life, he believed he had developed a keen eye for people, but today, Li Sheng surprised him time and time again.
What kind of farm boy is this?
Liu Wu stood there, his expression changing repeatedly.
He wanted to say something to save face, but he opened his mouth several times without finding the right words.
He lost in gladiatorial combat and in archery, and he accepted his defeat wholeheartedly, without any excuses.
The person behind him was about to say something when he slapped him back: "Shut up, aren't you embarrassed enough?"
The man shrank back, not daring to utter another sound.
Liu Wu took a deep breath, strode up to Li Sheng, turned his head and clasped his hands in a fist salute.
"Brother Li Sheng, I, Liu Wu, am convinced. From now on, you are the captain of the village militia. I hope you can protect everyone!"
His voice was loud enough that all the villagers around him heard it.
Those who had originally followed him also stepped forward and bowed with clasped hands.
Li Sheng looked at the scene before him and a gentle smile appeared on his face.
He reached out and patted Liu Wu on the shoulder, then said something surprising:
"Brother Liu Wu, I would like to ask you to be the deputy captain of the local militia."
The entire room fell silent.
Liu Wu turned his head sharply, looking at Li Sheng in disbelief, thinking he had misheard.
"What...what did you say? Vice-captain?"
His eyes widened, and his lips moved a few times.
"I was just arguing with you about the captain's position, and instead of getting angry, you're making me your deputy?"
Li Sheng smiled slightly, his gaze calm.
"Brother Liu Wu, it would be a waste if you didn't join the local militia. I heard that your father served in the army and made meritorious contributions. You probably learned more than just hunting archery from him, right? You must know a lot about military tactics, formations, scouting, and reconnaissance."
Liu Wu's eyes widened, but he didn't deny it. He simply said in a deep voice, "I do know some things, but..."
"That's right."
Li Sheng interrupted him, his tone sincere.
"The village militia needs to protect the village and its people; brute force alone isn't enough. They need to understand rules and military strategy. You are an invaluable asset. This vice-captain position absolutely belongs to you, Brother Liu Wu!"
Actually, Li Sheng had other reasons for trying to win over Liu Wu, namely that Liu Wu himself was not a bad person.
As far as he knew, Liu Wu would share his hunted prey with the elders of the village, which showed that he was a kind and virtuous person.
Otherwise, even if Liu Wu had mastered the training methods for soldiers, he would not have appointed him as the deputy captain.
Liu Wu stood there, stunned, his expression extremely complex.
The other family members behind him looked at each other, none of them expecting Li Sheng to say such a thing.
After a few moments of silence, he exhaled a long breath, clasped his hands in a fist salute again, this time looking directly at Li Sheng with a slight bow, clearly impressed by his performance.
"These days, everyone in the village says that the Li brothers are kind and righteous. I, Liu Wu, had only heard about it before, but after seeing them today, I know that the rumors are true."
He straightened up, his gaze intense.
"I, Liu Wu, am utterly convinced of Brother Li Sheng's magnanimity. From this day forward, I am willing to dedicate all my knowledge to assisting Brother Li Sheng in training the local militia and preparing their weapons to defend against the bandits!"
Li Sheng nodded in satisfaction and patted his arm heavily.
He knew in his heart that he was currently outnumbered and weak, and his influence in the village was still shallow. Those thirty-odd young men were far from enough.
Liu Wu's family holds some influence in the village, and he himself is truly capable. It's far better to have him by our side than to have another rival.
Uniting more people is the right path.
"good!"
Li Sheng said loudly.
"With Brother Liu Wu's help, our village's militia will surely be able to protect the peace of this area!"
At this moment, Liu Gong walked forward, leaning on his cane, his cloudy old eyes full of approval.
He had lived for over fifty years and seen many young people, but he had never seen anyone like Li Sheng who, after winning a competition, would actively try to win over his opponent.
This young man has a grand vision!
Liu Gong stroked his beard, turned to the crowd, and raised his voice.
"In that case, from today onwards, Li Sheng will be the head of our village's militia! Liu Wu will be the deputy. Does anyone have any objections?"
A deafening cheer erupted from the crowd.
"good--!"
Zhao Hu shouted the loudest, while Li Feng, Li Shi, and the others were also beaming.
Li Sheng stood in the center of the field, sunlight shining on his face, looking radiant.
……
Half a month is neither a long nor a short time.
Li Sheng stood shirtless by the newly dug pond at the east end of the village, holding a large fish he had caught in his hand.
Looking at the vast expanse of water before me, I finally felt a sense of peace.
This story begins during the spring planting season.
That day, he and his brothers were helping with plowing in the fields. During a break, an old farmer named Li from the village squatted on the edge of the field, picked up a handful of soil, rubbed it between his fingertips, looked up at the sky, and said in a muffled voice, "This year's rainfall is probably much less than in previous years. Look at this soil. In previous years at this time of year, you could squeeze water out of it, but this year it's so dry it crumbles."
Li Sheng didn't say anything at the time, but his heart skipped a beat.
He recalled something. Historical records indicated that a severe drought would occur in the Han Dynasty this year, causing significant crop failures in some areas and even leading to cannibalism.
He had to do something.
So he proposed building a pond in the village.
In previous years, the villagers would never have been willing to go through this trouble.
There's still so much work to be done in the fields, who has the time to dig a pond that might not even be of any use?
Therefore, Li Sheng had no choice but to use the name of his "soul returning to the Yellow Heaven" to make a prophecy that a severe drought was coming this year: "When my soul returned to the Yellow Heaven, the God Taiyi told me that most of this year's crops would wither and die in the ground."
This one sentence spread throughout the village.
With Li Sheng's keen interest in spreading the word, he even composed a nursery rhyme and had the villagers spread it in the county: "The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, a great drought struck, the land was parched for miles, and people ate each other!"
Surprisingly, given the superstitious and prophetic social atmosphere of the Han Dynasty, the nursery rhyme spread quite widely, even reaching neighboring counties.
The villagers believed Li Sheng's prophecy.
After spending these days together, the villagers weren't blind, and they naturally noticed the changes in Li Sheng.
They had spent over twenty years with Li Sheng, and many of them had even watched him grow up. How could they not know what kind of person he was?
Therefore, after his followers spontaneously spread the story of Li Sheng's "return to the Yellow Heaven and meet the gods," they actually began to believe it to some extent.
Thus, the motion to dig a pond was passed without any problem.
In the past two weeks, he mobilized almost all the able-bodied people in the village, totaling three to four hundred.
With everyone working together, they dug down with hoes and carried out baskets of soil.
Relying on the stream flowing down from the North Mountain, they dug a large pond by hand in the low-lying area where the stream bends.
The pond is wide and sparkling, stretching over eighty zhang from east to west and nearly sixty zhang from south to north.