Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 121 Redemption
By evening, the fighting on Liu Bei's side had ceased.

"Brother, the bandit leader is here."

Guan Yu arrived and joined Liu Bei. He dismounted and threw the bloody head in his hand next to Liu Weitai's corpse.

"Yun Chang, you've worked hard."

Liu Bei sighed and looked behind Guan Yu: "How are the casualties among the brothers?"

"Four men were killed in battle, and more than ten were wounded."

Guan Yu reported in a low voice.

On Liu Bei's side, five men were killed and more than a dozen were wounded, casualties resulting from fighting enemy soldiers by the river.

Nine elite cavalrymen died in the fight against these bandits. Although the casualties seemed small, Liu Bei was heartbroken.

Although at least several hundred bandits were killed and several hundred more jumped into the river and went missing, it was still a huge loss.

“Yun Chang, go patrol the outer perimeter and let the rioters stay where they are and surrender. There may still be a group of bandits. We must gather the rioters as soon as possible.”

Liu Bei sighed; the basic military strength was too small.

Elite troops are essential; they are the core foundation for the growth of a force. Without a solid foundation, no matter how many people there are in the future, they will just be a disorganized rabble.

But the numbers must also be increased; having more people to bully fewer people is the key to victory.

A third of the rioters fled to other places, and Liu Bei did not pursue them. He had too few men now, and it was good enough that he could gather the rioters in the vicinity.

In order to quickly gather his men, Liu Bei ordered his cavalry to take drastic measures, killing anyone who disobeyed and ran around recklessly as a deterrent.

It would be difficult for just two hundred armored cavalry to gather five or six thousand men in a short period of time; they would have to kill them until they were terrified.

There were too many rioters, making it difficult to resettle or escort them; there weren't even enough ropes.

During the day, they chased the enemy westward. This was no longer the place where they first encountered the enemy. There were also many rioters, and it was difficult to find Liu Bei's location on either the West River Pavilion or the New Pavilion. They had to hurry and exchange messages.

Liu Bei had too few men, so he could only keep the prisoners under guard on the spot and let Guan Yu lead men to drive them away from the outside. He also sent someone to notify Zhang Fei in Xinting overnight to come and join him.

Zhang Fei was patrolling along the river, killing enemies and capturing many rebels along the way. Xinting did not suffer much damage.

……

At the same time, at Xihe Pavilion.

There were no enemies inside the Xihe Pavilion. Duan Jiong guarded the bridge over the Juma River, and no one could cross the river.

But at dusk, a fire was lit on the westernmost side of the pavilion.

The westernmost part should have been safe, but the bandits came from the southeast.

When Zuo Yuan and Duan Jiong arrived at the same time, they found Jiu Chi, who was on the verge of death, and a boy of about twelve or thirteen years old.

The fire was started by the boy, and it burned down the fields and house of the Jiuchi family.

Jiu Chi usually lives in the Taihang Mountains. The fields and houses of the people he and Zhang Ba contacted were all located in the far west, closest to the Taihang Mountains.

"Nine feet tall? How could this be?"

Zuo Yuan stepped forward and asked.

She was one of the few people who knew Jiu Chi from the very beginning, and the contacts in Taihang Mountain mostly delivered intelligence to her.

Nine-foot is in a terrible state now.

He leaned against his own woodpile, covered in blood and wounds, one of his arms broken.

A broken tree branch was stuck diagonally in his abdomen, his intestines were spilling out, and blood was flowing all over the ground.

A nag stood nearby, its back also covered in blood.

The boy was the son of Jiu Chi, whose real name was Chen Feng.

The son of a deserter would be implicated, and to prevent him from falling into the lowest social class, Liu Bei changed his name to Chen Feng when he settled down. He is currently working as an apprentice in a medical clinic. At this moment, Chen Feng's face was covered in tears as he knelt beside him, but he dared not touch Jiu Chi.

Nine-foot was too badly injured to move easily; even a medical apprentice like him has common sense.

"Beware of the west... A man named Li Yizi has blocked the mountain pass, and the Zhangba sword has also been intercepted by that bandit, so the Taihang bandits cannot come to their aid from the west..."

"This man is a retainer of Gongsun Zan, and now he's also a retainer of the Yuan family... He's trying to get me to recruit him as reinforcements for the Taihang Mountains in order to deceive the people inside the pavilion..."

"The bandits are heading towards Xiheting and may arrive tonight. They have many cavalrymen under their command, and Li Damu of Black Mountain is a relative of theirs..."

Upon seeing Zuo Yuan, Jiu Chi seemed to regain some energy, as if he had a sudden burst of vitality before death, and he recounted what had happened to him in fits and starts.

After jumping off the cliff, he was injured all over his body, with a tree branch piercing his abdomen. He wanted to find a small path to climb the mountain and inform the bandits of the Taihang Mountains about the incident, but he was intercepted at various intersections at the foot of the mountain, and cavalrymen were patrolling and searching the mountain roads.

Those cavalrymen were definitely not from the Taihang Mountains; the ones who intercepted them at the crossroads were the men of Li Damu, the Black Mountain bandit. Jiu Chi recognized them.

Thanks to Zhang Niujiao's mediation, Heishan and Beitaihang have always been considered as one entity. Next month is the time for their alliance meeting, and many bandits from Heishan are currently in Beitaihang.

Despite losing an arm, Jiu Chi ambushed a lone cavalryman, seized a horse, and galloped dozens of miles back to Xiheting to report the news.

Setting fire to their own house was also a way to quickly warn others.

"Have the clinic send someone over..."

Zuo Yuan tried to get people to save Jiu Chi, but Duan Jiong turned his face away and sighed silently.

He rode his horse for dozens of miles with this injury, bleeding profusely, until he was beyond saving.

Nine feet was only held up by that last breath...

He just wanted to hold on until he returned to Xiheting to see his son one last time.

If Jiu Chi fails to return in time, the people of Xiheting will probably assume that reinforcements from the Taihang Mountains will come from the west and will not take any precautions.

If Li Yizi had captured the elderly and weak from the families of the Taihang bandits, even if he had only taken a small portion of them hostage...

Regardless of how Liu Bei settles accounts with Li Yizi in the future, Li Yizi will at least keep some of the Taihang bandits in check in the short term, and Xiheting may be lost.

"My time has come... My son, please tell my husband for me..."

Nine Feet seemed to want to reach out and pull the boy beside him, but he couldn't move. He forced an awkward smile and said, "I tried my best..."

"Father……"

The young Chen Feng slammed his head heavily onto the ground.

Zuo Yuan looked at Jiu Chi, who was unable to move, and closed his dry eyes: "You are so loyal and brave, my lord will not fail you. I will also protect your wife and children. Don't worry."

Jiu Chi looked at Zuo Yuan, his smile frozen on his face, and he stopped moving.

……

"Since Li Yizi has cavalry and bandits are coming from the Taihang Mountains, it's too late to ask for help elsewhere. We can only kill Li Yizi in one fell swoop... We can't hold out any longer."

Duan Jiong sighed again and turned to Zuo Yuan.

"But none of us recognize Li Yizi... Moreover, with the Taihang bandits attacking, can the old and weak in the pavilion still be trusted?"

Zuo Yuan also felt that it was impossible to defend. Xiheting was too large, and if a large-scale enemy attack came, a mere two hundred infantrymen would not be able to protect it.

Liu Bei has led his army out to attack, and he is currently engaged in battle. Moreover, his location is uncertain, so even if they find him, he will not be able to return.

Zuo Zi is relatively credible, but he is located a hundred miles to the south in the Damao Mountains, which is too far away to help someone in a nearby crisis.

If the Taihang bandits attack Xiheting, the old people inside the pavilion may not be reliable, and it would be troublesome if someone were an inside agent.

“We don’t need to know Li Yizi… As long as we get the elderly people in the village to transport their money out of the village and give the impression that they are giving up on this place, Li Yizi will come and rob them… If his men rob and kill the elderly, then his plan will fail.”

Duan Jiong frowned and said, "With Liu Langjun's abilities, losing money and grain is a small matter; he can earn it back no matter how much he loses. But the elderly and weak here cannot fall into the hands of bandits, not a single one... They can be killed, but they absolutely cannot be captured, otherwise..."

(End of this chapter)