Yu Ruo stood outside, watching the scene in the courtyard, and took a deep breath. A wave of relief welled up from deep within him.
Thank goodness, these weren't truly the soldiers under his command.
He felt a sense of powerlessness, as if he had just begun to engage with the Seventh Prince only to be yanked back forcefully by his own side.
Looking back at his confident and ambitious self from a month ago now seemed like a joke.
The people on his side didn't even possess the most basic obedience.
He now had to start devising an escape plan, lest he be captured by the Seventh Prince before even exchanging a few moves.
That would truly make for an ugly scene.
Three days later.
A batch of weapons was secretly delivered to Qingzhou.
Two hundred composite bows, and sixty Divine Arm Crossbows.
This shipment was confidential, and the Ministry of Works had even specially dispatched an accompanying official. "Your Highness, aside from the portion delivered to you, the majority of this first batch has been supplied to the Northern Frontier."
Qu Dubian: "Hmm, as it should be."
They were originally created to counter the Northern Frontier cavalry. Xia Fuyang should find them very useful once he gets his hands on them.
He inspected the shipment. "Alright. Once the testing is complete and there are no issues, you may leave."
"Yes, sir."
After the testing was finished, Qu Dubian summoned Xi Zixing.
"The men can be sent out now. I wonder if the acting skills they've trained for these three days can fool that band of bandits."
Xi Zixing shrugged: "Suspicion is a seed. When the time comes, it will naturally sprout."
Black Butcher Stronghold.
Cui Er went up the mountain and was seized as soon as he arrived, then thrown before the Big Boss.
He was Old Lady Cui's son. He had gone down the mountain to gather information over half a month ago and hadn't returned. Everyone in the Black Butcher Stronghold thought he was dead.
The Big Boss asked suspiciously: "What's your situation?"
Cui Er was bound with ropes. He struggled and said: "Boss! The government troops down below are indeed up to something. They appear lax, but are actually very tight-knit. I almost got discovered sneaking home in the dark. I hid under the kitchen stove for all this time before daring to come back."
"You have no idea how strictly they're controlling things! It's precisely to prevent any inside agents from the villages."
After this explanation,
Cui Er even showed the soot from the stove and his singed hair. "Look, Big Brother, I'm really not lying."
He said urgently: "My whole family's life is here, you know where my wife and kids live. How would I dare lie to you? If you're suspicious, Boss, just send someone down to check and you'll know."
The Big Boss's suspicion lessened a bit. "I was just worried you'd been caught. We're all brothers, it'd be terrible to lose your life."
Cui Er: "The main thing is, I overheard a secret. The more I thought about it, the more frightening it seemed, so I felt I should hurry back and tell you, Big Brother."
Big Boss: "Speak."
Cui Er frowned, lowering his voice: "While under the stove, I heard the village head who came to my house say it. He heard the Seventh Prince say that there are court agents among the bandits. They infiltrated a long time ago, just to assist the court in suppressing the bandits. During the final major assault, they'll coordinate from within."
The Big Boss's heart skipped a beat. "Did you hear who it was?"
Cui Er shook his head: "No. And we don't even know if he was talking about our Black Butcher Stronghold. After all, there's also the Tiger Leopard Stronghold and the Lone Wolf Stronghold in Jizhou."
The Second Boss also frowned.
This kind of ambiguous statement was the most likely to breed suspicion.
Cui Er added: "However, I noticed those important officials from the capital are very particular about food, drink, and even bathing separately. A court agent would probably be similar, right?"
"Or maybe, they're just exceptionally well-disguised. But they'd be the ones stopping things from getting done, finding all sorts of excuses, buying time for the court."
Second Boss: "Alright, we understand. You may go now."
Cui Er stood up, his expression completely forthright: "I know I was down there for too long. It's only right for you, Big Brother and Second Brother, to be suspicious. I'm willing to be tied up in the woodshed and go nowhere. Once you've investigated and cleared things up, I'll come out."
Big Boss: "How can we do that? I trust you, we're all brothers..."
"No!" Cui Er insisted, "All potential threats must be eliminated, including myself. Big Brother, just don't forget to have someone bring me food."
He resolutely went to the woodshed. His action actually made the two bosses, who had initially suspected him, feel somewhat guilty. For a moment, they looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
The two bosses were silent for a while.
The Second Boss said hesitantly: "Third Brother... he seems to be the least sociable one."
Big Boss: "Don't suspect blindly. Without Third Brother, could we have come this far?"
Second Boss: "But usually, he hasn't really stopped us from doing things. This time he tried to stop us, we didn't listen, and we ended up stealing so much grain."
The Big Boss clasped his hands behind his back, frowned for a moment, then said: "Let's observe a bit more."
A shadow of doubt had settled in his heart after all. He and the Second Boss were blood brothers. Third Brother had only arrived half a year ago; their bond only went so far.
One month since the grain was stolen.
The bandit-suppression army in Qingzhou began to engage in back-and-forth battles with the bandits on the mountain.
The bandits relied on the advantage of terrain. Within three hundred meters of the stronghold, their defenses were dense—fire couldn't reach it, arrows couldn't reach it.
The army fought and retreated, capturing sixty-seven bandits.
The conflict seemed to have entered a stalemate.
Yet, amidst this stalemate, Yu Ruo sensed something amiss.
He received news from the Northern Frontier.
Xia Fuyang at the border city of the Northern Frontier, in a recent engagement with the enemy, had for the first time used a type of crossbow with a range far exceeding ordinary bows, powerful enough to pierce through a warhorse.
Its range could reach four hundred meters, and it was presented by the Seventh Prince.
Before this, they only knew the Seventh Prince had presented weapons, but were unclear about their power.
Now they knew. The Divine Arm Crossbow made its debut on the Northern Frontier, annihilating an entire unprepared cavalry unit from over three hundred meters away.
He immediately went to find the Big Boss: "Big Brother, it's best we lay low and avoid the heat for a while, perhaps move to Jizhou."
"Avoid the heat?" the Big Boss roared angrily. "They captured over seventy of my brothers! Avoid the heat now? I'll beat them to death!"
Yu Ruo: "The situation seems off."
Big Boss: "What's off? What's off now? Third Brother, what you should be thinking about now is how to make those damned officials suffer, not how to make us run away!"
Yu Ruo: "...They might attack the stronghold."
The Big Boss wagged his finger: "Now you're joking, Third Brother. Don't you understand? Even government-issue bows, if they can shoot two hundred meters, that's the best. Our defenses are at three hundred meters."
He was utterly unwilling to listen.
Yu Ruo took a deep breath, went out directly, found the men he trusted here, gathered some belongings, and prepared to retreat at any moment.
Deep night.
Ling'an Village.
Qu Dubian stood before sixty soldiers.
As soon as the weapons arrived, he began selecting sixty soldiers with good aim to wield the Divine Arm Crossbows. Commander Zhang was prominently among them.
When Commander Zhang tested the Divine Arm Crossbow, he was astounded. Its power, its range—ordinary bows paled in comparison!
No soldier could refuse such a weapon. He couldn't, and neither could the others.
The competition for these sixty spots was fierce, almost coming to blows.
Now, finally, the training was complete, and it was time to take the field.
Qu Dubian looked directly at them and said, "Whether this operation can succeed depends entirely on you. After so much training, don't disgrace me."
"Those who make mistakes will be punished according to military law."
"Yes!"
Qu Dubian commanded, "Set off."
Sixty people quickly and stealthily slipped into the night.
They carried topographic maps and had lured the enemy back and forth so many times that they easily found a shooting position 350 meters away.
At the foot of the mountain.
Zuo Tianlang squinted his eyes. Behind him, more than a thousand soldiers were silently waiting in the mountain depression, just waiting for the order.
The crossbowmen of the divine arm tied combustible cotton soaked in oil to the sharp arrowheads. After lighting the fuses, they shot the arrows out at high speed.
Suddenly, the flying arrows burst into gorgeous sparks. In the shocked sight of the bandits, they hit the haystacks around and the black gunpowder used for defense.
Boom!
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
There was a panic.
According to their experience, they first rolled down stones and then shot arrows crazily towards the foot of the mountain. When the stones rolled to the foot of the mountain, Zuo Tianlang made a prompt decision and shouted, "Attack the mountain!"
"Charge!"
A group of soldiers who had been pent - up for two months held up their shields and rushed up the mountain like crazy.
Damn it! Finally, the day has come! Day after day, they had to endure the provocative looks of those bandits. The general - in - chief was really patient!
They roared and made such a great noise that it didn't seem like there were only more than a thousand of them.
The crossbowmen of the divine arm quickly eliminated the enemy at the sentry posts, making it unobstructed for the soldiers attacking the mountain below to come up.
Colonel Zhang had a sudden inspiration. In the chaos, he shouted, "Run! The imperial court has brought ten thousand troops up the mountain!"
"Ten thousand troops! Run for your lives!"
Without the 300 - meter defense line and with the fire burning inside, everyone was in a complete mess.
The big boss of the bandits ran out with his pants half - up, looking shocked. "What's going on?"
"Boss, the imperial court has brought ten thousand troops up the mountain! We didn't even detect them within our 300 - meter defense line!"
"Ten thousand?!"
The big boss was stunned by this number.
More and more people were in a panic, and the fire was spreading rapidly.
Qu Dubian stood at the foot of the mountain, looking at the burning Black Butcher's Stronghold on the top of the mountain.
The faint sounds of fighting and shouting added a touch of blood to the night.
This was the first time he had commanded a real - life battle in two lifetimes. Even though he had calculated all the possibilities, he still couldn't sleep at night.
When the sky began to turn pale, Colonel Zhang came down the mountain covered in blood.
He knelt on one knee in front of Qu Dubian and reported, "Your Excellency, we have captured 173 bandits. Our army has 15 casualties, 10 of them with minor injuries."
Qu Dubian asked, "Have you caught the bandit leader?"
Colonel Zhang replied, "We only caught the second - in - command. The big boss was dragged away by the third - in - command, and 20 remaining bandits also ran away."
Qu Dubian frowned slightly and asked, "Wasn't there an encirclement set up in Jizhou? Why didn't they fall into the net?"
Colonel Zhang shook his head and said, "I saw from a high place that the third - in - command dragged them into the river. Judging from the direction, they went to the Tiger - Leopard Stronghold."
"The Tiger - Leopard Stronghold..."
That meant they took the risk of being swept away by the river and went to seek refuge in a strange bandit den.
Going from being the boss to having little say, the gap was not ordinary. He also didn't expect them to escape from there, after all, the encirclement had been formed.
Qu Dubian said, "That third - in - command is really something."
He tore a hole in the encirclement and ruined his plan to completely capture the Black Butcher's Stronghold.
Colonel Zhang said with some annoyance, "It's our negligence that we didn't discover their tracks in time."
Qu Dubian patted his shoulder and said, "It's not your fault. It's my oversight. Well, go and let the injured brothers have a good rest. Make sure to take good care of them. If there are any problems or needs, come to me. We can't let the soldiers' blood be shed in vain."
Colonel Zhang felt a surge of enthusiasm and clasped his fists and shouted, "Yes, General!"
After Colonel Zhang left and the smell of blood had dissipated, Qu Dubian still stood there.
Xi Zixing walked to his side and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Qu Dubian replied, "I'm thinking about how the capital will react."
Xi Zixing smiled and said, "Some will doubt, some won't believe, and some will be shocked."
However, in the face of absolute strength, all doubts and disbelief will be flattened by the sharp edge.
In September of that year, the Black Butcher's Stronghold was captured.
Although the imperial court was happy, most people didn't pay much attention.
In October of the same year.
The Seventh Prince led his troops to attack the Tiger - Leopard Stronghold. Taking advantage of its geographical location, he used the siege strategy to trap them for two months and the gentle strategy to lure them. When the food in the Tiger - Leopard Stronghold was exhausted, they all surrendered.
Then, following the Seventh Prince's order, the Tiger - Leopard Stronghold was kept intact to relax the vigilance of the Ax Gang in Jizhou, and then they launched a surprise attack by going around the mountain.
In December of that year, they captured two bandit dens, the Tiger - Leopard Stronghold and the Ax Gang, and won a great victory.
There was a lot of discussion in the capital. Some suspected that it was Zuo Tianlang's credit and that the Seventh Prince was just taking the credit.
In January of the next year, Xi Zixing returned to the capital. He angrily refuted the remarks about taking credit. He had a war of words with a group of scholars in Ruyi Tower and scolded them so that they didn't dare to come forward. Finally, he was dragged home by Xi Shiqiu to review his studies.
In February of the next year, the Seventh Prince, together with 1,000 bandit - suppressing soldiers from Jizhou, led 3,000 troops to cross the Jizhou River at night, captured Qin Mountain, and chased the bandits for a hundred miles, achieving a great victory.
In the same February.
The Seventh Prince stationed his troops at the foot of Wangchu Mountain. There was only one last bandit gathering point left.
Hearing the rumors in the capital, Zuo Tianlang submitted a memorial in advance to request rewards. He listed the achievements of the Seventh Prince and all the soldiers in the memorial. The wording was fair and the content was verifiable.
Emperor Chongzhao also wrote the word "approved" on the memorial. He was just waiting for the bandit - suppression to be completely over before issuing the rewards.
From then on.
In the capital, no one dared to ask with doubt like they did eight months ago, "Can the Seventh Prince lead the troops?"