After the Xuanhua garrison mutinied, the governor was killed, officials fled, and Tangzhou had been in a state of anarchy.
Many deserters and mercenaries settled down and became bandits. Among them, Du Jingzhong was the most notorious.
When Du Jingzhong suddenly disappeared, other local powers felt relieved. Because these guys not only looted commoners but also fought among themselves, especially Du Jingzhong.
Of course, some people were curious about what had happened in Fangcheng, so they went there to investigate, with the intention of taking advantage or even occupying Fangcheng directly. However, none of them returned.
For a while, Fangcheng became a place of mystery.
So outsiders didn't dare to go recklessly anymore, they only dared to peek from afar. They discovered some troops in green shirts and black pants stationed there. A big flag with the character "Ye" was fluttering in the wind on the city tower.
The city gate was heavily guarded, carts and horses came in and out busily but in good order. In the following days, batches of people were transported to various places under Fangcheng's jurisdiction.
The local powers pondered, Ye? There was a Ye family near Dengzhou that should not be provoked. Could it be them?
But how did they come to Tangzhou across the border? Didn't the Ye family only mind their own business in Dengzhou before?
What was the deal with bringing in so many people?
With more people, things could be done. They secretly inquired in the fields and finally got the answer. It was indeed the Ye family from Dengzhou.
They had killed Du Jingzhong and occupied Fangcheng, recruited many refugees, distributed houses and land, and were busy farming.
The surrounding people were quite apprehensive, not knowing whether this was good or bad for them.
As time went by, even worse news was revealed: when Fangcheng was captured, Du Jingzhong's men... were said to have been killed to the last man.
This news, once confirmed, changed many people's faces.
After years of being bandits, who could say their hands were totally clean? No one could tell who would be the next to be cut down.
Many were secretly on guard for a long time. However, the Ye family was busy farming. Soon every household was making paper clothes, turning paper pulp into paper clothes.
It seemed that the Ye family was content with the current state and had no intention of further expansion.
As time went on, many people gradually lowered their guard.
People still had to eat and sleep, life went on as usual.
No one knew that this peaceful period was actually the gathering strength period of the Ye family.
As the weather grew cooler day by day, on this day, a force that had been stationed near Shangma led men out to "collect food".
"Collecting food" meant going to villages to demand grain or valuables.
But the men didn't return that day. What returned was a cloud of dust — after all, Henan borders on deserts. Especially now, it was the time of drought.
In short, everyone was dumbfounded.
Fortunately, they were mobile raiders after all. Seeing the dust, the leader knew the scale of the coming attack was beyond their ability to withstand. He decisively ordered: "Retreat!"
Abandoning their lair, wealth, women, the most important thing was to survive!
The gang fled wildly on horseback, looking back to see if they were chased, and cursing: "Sons of bitches!"
Strangely, the large troop behind did not seem to pursue. Just as they slightly relaxed, dust rose from the flank, they were being outflanked!
In shock, the bandits had no choice but to flee in another direction.
After barely escaping, just as they were about to slow down, the ambush in front suddenly emerged and volleys of arrows were shot at them.
Strangely, those arrows seemed a bit weak, falling neatly just a tiny bit off target. Only a few that were uncontrolled injured people in their ranks.
This gave the bandits another chance to escape.
"Who the hell are these people!"
That was the thought of all the bandits. Because they didn't even see any banners, had no idea who the enemy was.
Before they could figure it out, they were outflanked again.
Amazingly.
When they fled east, they were outflanked from the east. Fleeing west, outflanked from the west. Fleeing back, behind them was the main force. Fleeing forward, there were ambushing archers blocking their way.
Going back and forth for nearly two hours, not just the horses couldn't take it anymore, even the men couldn't.
All the bandits had a strong sense — they were being toyed with. Yes, that's how it felt.
The other side kept not attacking, only herding them back and forth within the area they had delineated.
Finally, men and horses were exhausted.
The sky had also darkened.
The bandit leader steeled his heart: "Live or die, damn it!"
He was thinking of gambling it all. Why did the other side only feint attacks? Maybe their formation was not as large as it appeared. Ancient records told of tying tree branches to horse tails to exaggerate forces.
What if the other side was just a small group? What if they were bluffing?
The bandit leader looked around and gritted his teeth, pointing in one direction: "That way!"
The gang rushed in that direction. Meeting the outflanking force, they no longer turned back this time, all drew their blades and charged roaring.
As expected, the other side had exaggerated their might. Seeing them speed up instead of slowing down, the enemy cavalry seemed to split down the middle and rapidly retreated in two directions.
"Damn it! We were tricked indeed!" the leader cursed, even considering chasing back and killing them.
Just then, his underling shouted anxiously: "Boss, watch out!"
Too late, also because it was dark now with all the dust, he didn't notice the caltrops on the ground.
What people were these! Even preparing caltrops!
As this thought flashed through the leader's mind, he was thrown off his horse.
The patch of caltrops tripped many men and horses. The fallen blocked the path for those behind.
As the men struggled to get up and find their horses, the sound of war drums suddenly rose, followed by the sound of arrows cutting through air!
This time, the arrows were no longer falling harmlessly short. This time, countless arrows shot into their ranks like meteors.
The meaty thunks of arrows hitting flesh rang in their ears!
Screams and shrieks together!
Before they could flee, the archers in front swiftly split and pulled back on both flanks in seamless formation.
The true might was revealed as orderly ranks of sword-and-shield troops interspersed with pikemen.
Spear tips glittered coldly in the setting sun.
The war drums beat again.
Rough command voices shouted: "Charge!"
Many fierce battle cries suddenly erupted—
"Kill— Ah!"
"Kill—!"
The bandits shuddered as the well-trained troops stomped to the increasingly rapid drumbeats and surged murderously upon them.
In that moment, with the screams of slaughter rising to the heavens, the setting sun dyed the earth red.
Resisting the pain of his twisted ankle, the leader lifted his blade to meet the enemies, still thinking—
Dammit, who are these people, mobilizing such a huge force just to deal with less than two hundred of them?
Was it necessary?
Was it really necessary!!
When the sky was completely dark, the Green Shirts swept the battlefield, made camp on site, and cooked rice in pots, soon filling the air with the fragrance of food.
The leader's body was slashed several times but his life was spared. He was tied up, and hearing the smell of food, his stomach inevitably growled loudly.
After running for hours, even the strongest man needed to eat!
But clearly no food for him now.
He was brought to the main tent of the central army.
In the firelight, the great big character "Ye" fluttered on the grand banner in the night breeze.
The generals were all very young, extremely young in fact.
And the woman dressed in armor among them, her face was even more enchanting than hibiscus in the firelight.
Well, now he knew whose hands he had fallen into.
The leader was forced to kneel on the ground.
Ye Suijin looked him up and down and asked, "Do you know who I am?"
The leader nodded.
Ye Suijin said, "Tell me then."
The leader replied, "The lord of the Ye Family Fort in Dengzhou."
Ye Suijin smiled. She said, "Let me ask you, why did you choose that direction for your final breakout?"
Before the leader could answer, a young man anxiously cut in, "You must have chosen randomly, right! Say it!"
The slightly older young man beside him gripped the back of the young man's neck: "Shut up, let him speak."
It really wasn't random.
The leader said, "Compared to the other teams, that team's formation was rigid. When flanking, they always wanted to take fixed routes. Not as flexible as the other teams."
The young generals burst into loud laughter.
"Didn't I tell you not to stick rigidly to the book! You have to adapt to the terrain."
"Oh dear, even from afar I could tell it wouldn't go well for you, Junhua."
"You see, we told you before but you just wouldn't believe it. Now you know, don't you?"
The one who had just spoken impatiently was Qilang. The leader had chosen to break through in the direction that was his team's position. Because he didn't know the situation had changed, it became the weak link in the encirclement formation, which the bandit leader had noticed.
Qilang was annoyed.
This time, he had truly recognized his own shortcomings.
The leader understood.
So the Ye Family Fort was using them for military training!
The leader had many swear words, but he held them back in his chest and throat, enduring the discomfort.
Ye Suijin asked him, "What's your name?"
The leader answered, "Zhou Junhua."
"Junhua," Ye Suijin appraised, "That's a good name. I imagine when you were born, your parents had many hopes for you. Did they ever think that one day you would become a bandit, robbing the common people, indiscriminately killing the innocent, and oppressing the poor?"
Zhou Junhua retorted, "It's true I rob people, but I mostly target rich households. And while I have killed people before, I wouldn't say indiscriminately. "
Ye Suijin raised his eyebrows. "I reckon you don't have much ability. Du Jingzhong already has one or two thousand men, yet you only have this many."
Zhou Junhua said, "What Du Jingzhong is doing won't work. He's already conscripted or killed all the able-bodied men in Fangcheng. With no one left to farm the land, sooner or later everyone will be in dire straits. What he's doing is draining the pond to get the fish."
Shilang scoffed.
A bandit leader actually caring about people's livelihood?
Ye Suijin looked seriously at Zhou Junhua. "Were you with the former Xuanhua troops?"
Zhou Junhua said, "Let's not mention that."
Ye Suijin asked, "You were a xiaowei, right?"
Zhou Junhua said, "Zhaowu xiaowei."
The Lang brothers collectively gasped.
Because a zhaowu xiaowei was 6th rank, and above that was youji jiangjun, a proper general.
Among the brothers, only Lang was a youji jiangjun, the rest were still only xiaowei.
This gasp made Zhou Junhua feel bitter inside.
In truth, he didn't even know how he had ended up like this over the years, much of it was out of his control.
Ye Suijin said, "Back then, many people joined Ye Family Fort. Why didn't you come to us?"
Zhou Junhua stayed silent.
Ye Suijin understood, "You looked down on our Ye Family Fort?"
It was true that back then, Ye Family Fort was just one of the big households in Deng Prefecture. Zhou Junhua was 6th rank after all, higher than even the county magistrate.
Unlike Xiang Da who was just a renyong xiaowei, much lower rank, so he readily bowed his head.
Zhou Junhua lifted his head, "Master Ye, I heard that in Fangcheng, Du Jingzhong left no one alive. Is that true?"
Ye Suijin said, "Yes."
Zhou Junhua's expression was pained as he lowered his head again.
After a while, he raised his head, "Master Ye, many of my brothers here are former Xuanhua troops just trying to find a way to survive. I've always kept them in check, never letting them commit great evil. If you must kill, kill me alone and leave them a way out."
But the woman just glanced at him through the firelight, "Whether to kill or not isn't up to me."
"It's up to what you yourselves have done."
"A person's fate is not decided by Heaven or others, but always by oneself."
