"It really is the military tally!"
Ren Tianye held the tally, his heart filled with joy.
The tally was forged from black iron. On the front were eight gilded characters: "Chifeng Affiliate - Shanhe Garrison," while the back was engraved with "Garrison Unit Eight Hundred" and the Chifeng flame emblem.
It was exactly what he wanted.
With this tally, in name, these eight hundred men would be under his command.
He could finally start his uprising!
"Ren Tianye, I have already given you the military tally!"
Lying on the ground with two swords stabbed into his body, Zhang Wei was not yet dead. He gasped weakly, "Can you... let me and my wife go now?"
"I promise you, as long as you let me and my wife go, this tally is yours to do with as you please!"
"I will never interfere!"
Ren Tianye drew a soldier's saber and beheaded Zhang Wei with a single strike.
He sneered, "Fool! Even if I kill you, the tally is still mine to do with as I please!"
Ren Tianye looked outside. "Follow me to see the guerilla generals!"
"Yes, General!"
The crowd followed Ren Tianye back in a mighty procession.
Unlike when they arrived with anxious hearts, they were now completely at ease. With the military tally in hand, they could live for a few more days, and their spirits soared.
They soon arrived at the general's camp, but the guerilla generals had already moved their discussion venue.
They had all gone to Sun Xiang's tent.
After asking around, Ren Tianye led his men and barged right in.
"Tianye, where did you go? Why are you only arriving now?"
"But you're just in time!"
Sun Xiang's face lit up with joy when he saw Ren Tianye.
"General Zhang is no longer reliable, and the brothers are discussing what we should do next."
"It's just that we haven't been able to come up with a good strategy for the moment. You usually have the best ideas, and everyone respects you. You decide what we should do next!"
As soon as Sun Xiang spoke, several guerilla generals chimed in in agreement.
"Yes, yes, yes, Tianye, you are the most talented, and the brothers respect you the most. Tell us, what should we do next?"
"Tianye, tell us quickly, what should we do? We can't just sit and wait for death, otherwise the result will definitely be our demise!"
"Tianye, the brothers' lives depend on your ideas. Don't suddenly disappear again this time."
...
Ren Tianye nodded, but did not immediately reveal his thoughts. Instead, he asked, "Brothers, what is the result of your discussion?"
"Alas, there is no result!" Sun Xiang sighed. "Old Zhang's idea is that we join forces with other troops and submit a petition together."
"Old Liu's idea is that we should find someone to defect to."
"Old Wang's idea is that if all else fails, we should plead for mercy from the Female Emperor..."
"Anyway, there are all sorts of ideas, and no one can convince anyone else."
Ren Tianye nodded again. Having gained a comprehensive understanding of everyone's thoughts, he felt more confident and finally spoke.
He said slowly, "Listening to the brothers' ideas, everyone wants to compromise, but have you ever thought about when this compromising will end?"
"Are we going to live at the mercy of others for the rest of our lives?"
"If we join forces with other troops to pressure the Female Emperor, are you really not worried about being purged afterwards? If we become bandits, are you really not worried about being hunted down by government troops every day? If we defect to someone else, have you really considered whether they are genuinely taking us in or if it's a trap?"
"As for pleading for mercy from the Female Emperor, that is even more inadvisable."
"Isn't that equivalent to offering our heads to the Female Emperor, letting her chop them off as she pleases?"
"At that time, we will be the meat on the chopping block."
"Even if everyone doesn't die, we will live in constant fear for the rest of our lives."
"Are you willing to accept such a fate, everyone?"
Ren Tianye's voice was not loud, but every word struck hard into everyone's hearts, pressing the tent into dead silence.
The more everyone thought about it, the more they felt Ren Tianye made sense.
The situation for their eight hundred men was already difficult enough. Making such choices would likely make it even harder.
Rather than that, they might as well just obediently wait to be slaughtered!
Leaving their life and death entirely up to the Female Emperor was a terrible idea.
"Damn it, if all else fails, let's just surrender to the barbarians. I don't believe that in this vast world, there is no place for our eight hundred men!"
Old Liu, with his fiery temper, suddenly blurted this out without thinking.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it.
The barbarians...
They had been fighting the barbarians for so many years; there was a deep-seated blood feud between them. The barbarians never treated the Yu people as humans, often treating them as nothing more than two-legged sheep.
Surrender to the barbarians?
Whether they could save their lives was one thing, but they wouldn't be able to get past the guilt in their hearts, and they would go down in history with a legacy of infamy.
Fortunately, the other guerilla generals knew Old Liu's temper and didn't hold it against him, but they all fell into deep thought.
Looking around, there was still no way out!
Sun Xiang was the quickest to react and said, "Tianye, since you've spoken like this, you must have an idea in mind. Tell us, the brothers will follow you."
With this reminder, the other guerilla generals also perked up. "Tianye, do you have a good plan? Hurry up and tell us, don't keep your older brothers anxious."
"Tianye, everyone trusts you. Whatever you say, we'll do it!"
Seeing that the time was ripe, Ren Tianye stopped beating around the bush and said directly, "Rather than sitting and waiting for death, it's better to fight for a chance at supreme wealth and power!"
"The Great Yu has sat on this throne for eight hundred years."
"Now, it's time for a change of ruler!"
...