When a general is in the field, he may refuse the sovereign's orders. Since the emperor's teacher couldn't physically appear by his side, Soldier Xun wasn't afraid at all.
Not only was he unafraid, he was even quite eloquent about it.
"Strength alone makes a brute; true heroes have both courage and cunning."
Li Shimin's lips twitched slightly. This brat still had milk on his breath and wanted to be a true hero? Did he even know how to write the characters for "hero"?
Fortunately, His Majesty Emperor Li Er was magnanimous and didn't bother arguing with a little kid. It was good for a child to have his own ideas—if he had his own ideas, he should follow them. As long as he knew to turn back when he hit a wall, that was fine. Otherwise, even if he succeeded, he'd always be second-guessing himself.
Xun Ye pretended not to notice anything unusual in the woods. He shouldered his bow and arrows and walked openly toward the village entrance. While staying alert, he still found time to share his plan with His Majesty Emperor Li Er.
He wasn't being cowardly—he just had his own rhythm.
The bandits couldn't possibly know every person in the village. If he walked in boldly, they'd naturally assume he was a local villager.
If those men stayed put, he could reach the village safely and warn the villagers.
If those men jumped out to block his way, even better. If he couldn't fight them, couldn't he outrun them? Had he been training all these years for nothing? He could sprint into the village and yell for help.
"Adoptive father, don't worry. I can learn those flashy moves later. I don't need a near-death experience to grasp the essence."
Once he completed his training, he would become the Tiance General of this era.
Li Shimin floated alongside, carrying his spear, and encouraged the little fool's vision. "I look forward to that day."
He himself was born with incredible strength, and this brat's strength wasn't far behind. As long as he was willing to train hard, charging into an army of thousands as if it were empty ground wasn't just a dream.
It was just his courage that needed work. That still required training.
At the village entrance, children with hair hanging loose were hopping and playing. The adults were busy cleaning houses and setting up offering tables for the sacrifice. If you ignored the bandits lurking nearby waiting to burn, kill, and plunder, the atmosphere was quite peaceful.
With the New Year approaching, there was plenty to keep everyone busy every day.
The Kitchen God's ascent to heaven was a report on his work. When seeing off the Kitchen God, people would deliberately choose sweet and sticky foods as offerings, hoping to glue the Kitchen God's mouth shut so he wouldn't say anything bad in heaven—all to pray for a good year ahead.
Although sugar and grain were precious, sacrifices were different from other matters, and besides, the offerings could be taken back and shared after the ceremony, so few people skimped on this.
For common folk whose greatest worry was filling their stomachs, the Kitchen God sacrifice and blessing was extremely important. A thousand times more care wouldn't be excessive.
The little children playing at the village entrance looked warily at the stranger. One of them ran back into the village in a flurry, and before long, several thin women in plain clothes and wooden hairpins rushed out and took all the children away.
Xun Ye stretched out his hand in a dramatic gesture, but before he could say a single word, he was left alone at the village entrance, standing in the wind.
Li Shimin laughed slyly. "Came to warn them?"
Fortunately, they were a good distance from those bandits, or anyone could have seen something was off at a glance.
"One shouldn't have harmful intentions, but one must be wary of others. The world is chaotic, and I'm carrying a bow and arrows. It's good that the children are cautious." The stubborn one refused to back down, arguing his point even without solid ground. "I just didn't get a chance to speak earlier. Once I find the village elder and explain myself, they'll definitely praise me as a young hero."
Li Shimin made no comment and told him to hurry into the village to find the person in charge so he could hear them praise him—"A young hero descends from heaven to save the entire village. Remarkable, truly remarkable."
Xun Ye: …
Fine, he'd find them!
When he was in Yingchuan, he often dealt with villages. There wasn't a village elder he couldn't negotiate with.
The young man puffed up his cheeks and entered the village. Seeing that the doors of the houses inside were all slightly ajar, he quickly adjusted his expression. As long as he appeared innocent enough, the villagers would let their guard down around him.
Thump, thump, thump.
The crude wooden door was knocked. The woman in the courtyard heard the noise and assumed it was a neighbor coming to borrow something. When she looked up and saw a fair-faced young man with rosy lips behind the door, she was genuinely startled. "You are?"
She hadn't invited him in directly, but at least she hadn't slammed the door in his face like the people at the village entrance.
Xun Ye earned the chance to speak by relying on his face. He immediately stated that he had urgent matters and wished to see the village elder. "Please don't be nervous. I live in the western mountains. I'm not a bad person."
The woman knew that several families fleeing from elsewhere had recently taken refuge in the western mountains. She assumed he'd come to borrow something since life in the mountains was inconvenient. So she set down her work and led him to find the village elder. "Today is the Kitchen God sacrifice. Why is a young man like you traveling alone?"
The mountain paths were difficult to traverse. Even if the household was short on men, they should have found this young man a companion. What if something happened on the road?
Xun Ye smiled warmly, subtly winking at the floating Emperor Li Er beside him, then pointed to the bow and arrows on his back. "I'm carrying weapons. The wild beasts in the mountains can't hurt me."
"Still, you should be careful." The woman sighed and said no more.
The village elder's house wasn't far—just a few words' worth of walking. The woman made the introduction and left, leaving the young man to negotiate with the elder himself.
The village head was thin and gaunt, his exact age impossible to tell, but the weathered lines on his face made it clear he was well along in years.
Bandit soldiers could descend on the village at any moment—there was no time to waste. Xun Ye briefly explained where he had come from, then told the village head about the men dressed as soldiers stationed at the village entrance.
He lived on Jiluoshan to the west. He had set out that day to hunt, but on the way he had encountered a few soldiers acting suspiciously. He had followed them in secret and discovered they might be planning to enter the village to cause trouble.
"Th-this… what are we to do?" The village head's face went pale. He paced in a circle twice, forcing himself to calm down. "Young man, are you certain there are only five at the village entrance?"
In these times, soldiers and bandits were one and the same. As long as those men hadn't entered the village yet, one could still cling to the hope that they were merely resting. But by the time they came in and started burning, killing, and looting, it would be too late to prepare.
Xun Ye nodded. "Only five. All armed with Huanshoudao, and one of them carries a Changji."
"Young man, you have our deepest gratitude. On behalf of the villagers, I thank you." The village head bowed, then hurried back into his house. Soon, three women and two children of five or six ran out. "There are men at the village entrance—beating a gong would alert them. This is the only way we could think to spread the word."
First, they sent family members to notify every household: the elderly and children were to hide indoors with the doors barred, while the able-bodied were to grab whatever weapons they could find—whether rakes, hoes, or clubs, anything within reach.
In recent years, massacres of villages by soldiers had become all too common. He was the village head; he wasn't naive enough to believe that soldiers stationed at the village entrance were just resting.
Five soldiers didn't seem like many, but all five were armed—still a tremendous threat to the village.
Their village had only sixty-some households. The able-bodied young men had all been conscripted by the court, leaving only the old, the weak, women, and children behind.
Just like his own family—two sons gone off to war, their fates unknown, leaving only him and his old wife to care for their daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
Xun Ye watched the village head hastily rally the villagers, expecting that they would soon be ready to fight. But when everyone gathered, he was dumbfounded.
There wasn't a single able-bodied man as he had imagined. Only twenty-odd women—skin and bones like the village head, clutching hoes and rakes—and children who didn't even reach his waist. Not a single youth anywhere near his own age.
Forget going out to fight armed soldiers—he'd worry about them being blown over by a strong gust of wind.
Li Shimin spoke up quietly, "Wars are raging everywhere. When the authorities and local strongmen can't recruit enough soldiers, they seize common folk by force. Whether conscription is voluntary or forced is entirely a matter of luck."
Unfortunately, this village hadn't been so lucky.
As the old saying goes: bandits come like a comb, soldiers come like a fine-toothed rake.
For the common people, encountering soldiers was more terrifying than encountering bandits.
Generals often indulged their troops in looting after battles—partly to vent their emotions, partly to replenish supplies. Some went even further, setting terms upfront when recruiting: no pay, but whatever you can plunder is yours to keep.
Such methods violated the natural order of heaven, but they were extremely effective at boosting morale.
Emperor Li Er, relying on the fact that no one else could see or hear him, circled above their little fool's head and said, "Mixian is near Luoyang. How many times do you think the villages around here have been through conscription drives?"
Why did the court's recruiters always travel a thousand li to find soldiers? Because the surrounding areas had already been "recruited" clean—there was nothing left to "recruit."
There was a method to killing innocents and claiming their heads as war trophies. A large force wouldn't care how many people were in a village, but five men planning to do so would definitely scout the village's situation first.
Use that not-so-quick mind of yours—if the village had plenty of able-bodied men, would a mere five bandit soldiers dare to pick a fight here?
The brat might not have grown up in luxury, but he'd never lacked food or clothing, nor suffered the hardships of displacement. The greatest fright he'd ever experienced in his life was probably meeting the few of them, the A-Piao.
Even with the Xun Shi clan caught up in the Danggu affair, they were still a prominent family. As long as things hadn't completely fallen apart, it was always others who came to them seeking to join their ranks—never a question of being forcibly conscripted.
Without having witnessed true chaos, one couldn't possibly imagine what it meant for the people to be reduced to destitution under the flames of war and natural disaster.
This village was only the beginning. As the tide of war spread, they would see far more.
Hunger without food, cold without clothing—the people suffering, devastation everywhere.
Saving the world and helping the people wasn't as simple as shouting a few slogans. You needed a fire burning in your heart, and you needed to know clearly what you were doing.
Emperor Li Er had much he wanted to say, but on reflection, he decided it wasn't necessary. Children never listened to advice anyway—no amount of talking could match the effect of personal experience.
Only after suffering losses and taking hits could one settle down and think about which path to take.
Like right now—whether the brat had calmed down or not was unclear, but the fire in his heart was certainly burning fiercely.
Xun Ye was indeed both angry and distressed. He had assumed this village was similar to the one back home. If he'd known the situation was like this, he wouldn't have come in at all.
One against five was fine—with the A-Piao Emperor watching over him, what were the odds they'd actually kill him?
The young man clenched his fists and told the village head to hold off for now. He would first probe the depths of those bandit soldiers.
The village head was stunned.
“Young master? Dangerous, young master!”
The village head was alarmed. It was true that their village had few people and weak fighting strength, but he hadn’t intended for the young man who had kindly come to warn them to go die in their place.
He had heard that those who had recently moved to the western hills were all well-off local families. This young master had bright eyes and neat clothing—clearly someone raised with doting care at home. If anything happened to him, even ten lives wouldn’t be enough to make up for it.
Xun Ye paid no heed to the village head’s obstruction, walking silently in large strides toward the village entrance, inwardly berating himself for his earlier choice to enter the village.
If he had dealt with those bandit soldiers outside, the villagers wouldn’t be trembling in fear like this now.
Xun Agu, you fool!
Emperor Li Er once again produced his spear. “Like I said before, grab the Changji first. Doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to use it—just watch how I fight and you’ll send them fleeing in defeat all the same.”
The little simpleton’s courage fluctuated wildly, but his talent for martial arts was extraordinary.
When testing his abilities in the mountains, he had noticed that any move he used, the boy could imitate the very next instant.
As long as the movements were replicated accurately, he could bring out at least sixty to seventy percent of the original power.
If it weren’t for that, he wouldn’t have dared let this fool who had never touched a spear, sword, or halberd go straight up against bandit soldiers.
Xun Ye gritted his teeth and answered, “Alright!”
With the super Hexagon Warrior Emperor Li Er teaching him hands-on, he would definitely beat those bastards until they cried for their mothers.
As luck would have it, he had just reached the path at the village entrance when he came face-to-face with the five bandit soldiers about to enter the village.
Perfect—not even the slightest chance of being wronged.
The men had already treated the entire village as fattened livestock for slaughter. Seeing someone come out, they immediately grinned savagely and raised their Huanshoudao. “No point running—just obediently become our military merit.”
They never expected that the cloth-clad youth charging toward them had no intention of running at all. Instead, he quickened his pace and launched a flying kick.
At this moment, Xun Ye was too consumed by anger to feel fear. He didn’t even know what he was angry about—he was just angry, plain and simple.
How dare you burn and plunder! How dare you rob and pillage! How dare you bully the common folk!
All of you, die!!
The soldier holding the Changji had no time to react before his body was sent airborne. He felt a tremendous force strike his abdomen, searing pain instantly spreading through his entire body, before he crashed heavily into the old tree at the village entrance whose leaves had all fallen.
The other four were startled by the sudden turn of events. Just as they raised their blades to counterattack, the Changji was already upon them with fierce momentum, and all of them followed in the footsteps of their comrade moments later.
In the blink of an eye, the young man who had swept through them all held the Changji in one hand, lifted his foot to step on the nearest one, and let out a long breath.
Satisfied.
Li Shimin: ??
The bandit soldiers who had just been ferocious and menacing were now all writhing on the ground with twisted faces, wailing in agony. Their little simpleton, backlit by the light, stood with his foot on a bandit soldier, looking even more ferocious than the villainous bandits themselves.
Wait—did he even need me here?
Xun Ye planted the Changji upside down into the ground. As the hot blood on it was blown away by the cold wind, he realized he had just won a one-versus-five battle and gasped sharply, quickly rubbing his arms as he hopped off the bandit soldier.
“Thank you, foster father, for the blessing of your war-god aura!”
“Long live foster father!”
Guardian A-Piao: …
Is it possible that what you’re experiencing is called “anger emboldens the cowardly”?
Emperor Li Er speechlessly withdrew his spear once again, feeling like he had come along just to hold them back.
Not far away, the village head and the women holding hoes and rakes stood dumbfounded, only snapping back to reality when Xun Ye called for them to bring rope.
Those soldiers were not to be trifled with—they really did need to be tied up.
Five armored soldiers were gagged and bound tightly. The village head and the villagers showered the brave young man who had stepped in with endless gratitude, praising him until the young hero himself began to feel embarrassed.
Hehe, keep praising, keep praising—don’t stop.
But although the crisis had been resolved, the matter was not over. The village had no way to deal with these bandit soldiers.
“Send them to the authorities?” Xun Ye rubbed his chin. “The county seat seems a bit far from here.”
Not just a bit far—there was also no guarantee these men would be punished. If they escaped punishment and came back with vengeance in their hearts, their troubles would be even greater.
The village head hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Yesterday, villagers went out to gather firewood and spotted an army camped by the river. The camp entrance is surrounded by abatis, so they probably won’t be leaving anytime soon.”
Xun Ye wasn’t too reassured. “Is it safe?”
After Emperor Li Er’s all-around, three-dimensional, surround-sound exposition, he now felt that no soldier was worth trusting.
The village head couldn’t guarantee the camp was safe either. Sending these bandit soldiers to the authorities might accomplish nothing, and sending them to the military camp seemed even more likely to let them escape.
Xun Ye frowned deeply and instinctively looked at the Guardian A-Piao beside him.
—Godfather, they’re tied up. What do we do now?
Li Shimin rubbed his nose, not daring to admit that his initial thought had been to execute these villainous bandit soldiers and bury them in a random pit.
For scum like this, having a pit to be buried in was already generous. If he were to handle it, he’d just leave their corpses out in the wilderness—saving the effort of digging.
Alright, he reflected, teaching a child must be done step by step. You can’t just start off all bloody and gory.
Just as Xun Ye and the village head were frowning in worry, several oxcarts appeared on the official road in the distance.
The entire village sat along one side of the official road, which did not extend into the village itself. Yet, for some reason, the lead oxcart left the road and headed toward the village entrance.
The cold was biting, and the cart's compartment was sealed tightly, revealing nothing of what lay within.
The village head's expression grew ever more troubled. Their village had few people, and everyone was desperately poor—no one had wealthy relatives who could afford oxcarts. What was this all about?
The oxcart came to a steady stop at the village entrance. A slender, thin hand drew back the curtain, and a young scholar with a weary expression leaned out. He paused at the sight of the soldiers bound tightly on the ground, then pretended not to notice and spoke slowly, "May I ask, is this place Jiluoshan?"
The village head sized up the newcomer cautiously, bowing with great care. "Jiluoshan is to the west. You've come to the wrong place, young sir."
"Thank you, uncle." The young scholar, who bore a slightly ailing look, clasped his hands in thanks. Yet after thanking him, he did not have the driver turn the cart around. Instead, he slowly descended from the vehicle. "Ah Jiao, nephew—why do you not greet your uncle upon seeing him?"