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

Chapter 122 Underworld Lord
Li Yizi wanted Jiu Chi to lead him into Xiheting as reinforcements, of course, in order to control the Taihang bandits' families while minimizing casualties. This was both to maximize profits and to avoid making a deadly enemy of the Taihang bandits.

Now that we know the enemy's intentions, we must first make the enemy settle their scores.

Moreover, it had to be outside the West River Pavilion.

If Li Damu's Black Mountain bandits were allowed into the pavilion, some of the old people inside might recognize them, and there's no guarantee that even bigger problems wouldn't arise.

"Let the people inside the pavilion take the money out, forcing the enemy to make enemies and fall into chaos... Yuan understands."

Zuo Yuan understood Duan Jiong's intention: "But there are tens of thousands of elderly and weak people in the pavilion. They have finally acquired family property and land, and it will be difficult to get them to abandon their families and property in a short period of time..."

"We'll first set ourselves on fire and destroy the fields! Then we'll use the money to buy... open the 'Young Master's Treasury' and have the old and weak transport the money into the Taihang Mountains... anyway, we were going to use money to lure the enemy anyway."

Duan Jiong gritted his teeth: "Though they are old and weak, they are still bandits of Taihang. If they are destined to have no harvest this year, that money is their lifeblood. If Li Yizi wants to take them hostage..."

"Young Master Liu is kind-hearted and doesn't want the elderly and weak to suffer any losses, but now, you have to give to receive! We also need to make the bandits of Taihang understand that if they don't help Xiheting more, people in their families will die!"

Duan Jiong was never a kind person, and he was the same when dealing with the Qiang people.

Zuo Yuan turned to look at the nine-foot-tall corpse and nodded: "We can't let the young master's men die in vain, let's do it this way!"

“I’ll handle this… You just need to open the warehouse and distribute the money.”

Duan Jiong shook his head: "Yuan Nu, you can't let the Taihang bandits hold a grudge against you."

This was Duan Jiong's good intention. Zuo Yuan couldn't go to war with the army, and since Liu Bei, the benevolent man, wasn't there, she had to act as the benevolent man on Liu Bei's behalf.

Because this plan is bound to result in death.

……

That night, a fire broke out in the western part of Xiheting, and large areas of farmland were destroyed.

Zuo Yuan opened the warehouse and distributed the money lavishly.

All the households in the western part of Xiheting were recruited to Liu Bei's manor, and each family received a large amount of money... In fact, no money was distributed at all. Zuo Yuan told them to take as much of the five-zhu coins as they could.

Actually, it's not that much. If there were no car, and each elderly person could only carry five-zhu coins, it would be quite impressive if they could carry several thousand coins... The money is too heavy.

This is compensation for the burned land, and it's considered extremely generous.

Tens of thousands of people quickly formed a huge caravan and headed west with a large amount of money.

Each family also spontaneously dispatched many people to various locations in the Taihang Mountains to report the news and allow the Taihang bandits to come down the mountain to meet them.

At dawn, just as the team reached the western edge of Xiheting, a band of bandits appeared.

The force was larger than expected, with nearly three thousand bandits, including three hundred cavalry.

These cavalrymen were a mixed group of Han and non-Han peoples, and were likely hired.

In order to seize Xiheting... or rather, to seize the families of Taihang Mountain, Li Yizi and his men invested a great deal of resources.

Upon seeing the fire at Xihe Pavilion, Li Yizi was indeed quite flustered—he had no intention of burning down Xihe Pavilion. He and Liu Weitai had originally been counting on the grain stored in Xihe Pavilion to feed their troops, but they hadn't expected this situation to occur. They rushed over, and the two sides encountered each other on the west side of Xihe Pavilion.

That place was near Jiuchi's house.

Li Yizi originally intended to kidnap people, but the old men made the first move, all of them drawing their knives and slashing people without hesitation, showing no fear whatsoever when they saw the cavalry.

The Taihang family members, who carried a large amount of wealth, could not be treated as old or weak.

These old men had also been thieves, and the Taihang bandits were at their most powerful not when they went down the mountain to rob, but when they brought money back down the mountain...

Their children and nephews live in the mountains, but now their fields have been burned and their crops have failed. They must take the money back to the mountains.

The moment the two sides made contact, a fierce battle ensued, and countless Wuzhu coins were scattered on the ground as the old men fought.

Upon seeing the large sum of money, the Black Mountain bandits were completely unable to maintain their fighting ranks and began looting, creating utter chaos.

Seeing the chaotic scene, Li Yizi led his cavalry out to try to maintain discipline.

However, some Black Mountain bandits attacked Li Yizi's cavalry—they were Li Damu's men, but Li Damu himself was not present and could not be easily restrained.

Robbery that is too aggressive can easily lead to internal strife. The cavalry that can be hired, and the Black Mountain bandits who are willing to attack Xiheting... are all naturally willing to risk their lives for money. While the enemy is fighting amongst themselves, Duan Jiong leads two hundred warriors to suddenly break out from the ranks of the old men and head straight for Li Yizi.

Duan Jiong was old, but his skills were still intact. Li Yizi didn't have many men around him, and he was killed on the spot in the sudden attack.

Not long after, a large number of bandits came down from the Taihang Mountains, took the old people into the mountains, and slaughtered all of Li Yizi's men.

Of Li Damu's Black Mountain bandits, very few managed to escape.

These people have offended all the major bandits in the northern Taihang Mountains, so it will be difficult for them to survive.

The battle ended quickly, but the casualties were enormous.

At least two thousand elderly people in the Taihang Mountains were killed or wounded, and the Black Mountain bandits suffered at least two thousand casualties. The three hundred cavalrymen were too fierce in their looting, and most of them did not escape—they dismounted to plunder and loot, and most of them died in the chaos of battle.

Xiheting also suffered heavy losses; half of its fields were burned, half of its population returned to the mountains, and Liu Bei's family lost most of their money, with their warehouses nearly empty.

However, only four men died in Duan Jiong's troops.

The old general didn't care about the lives of the Taihang Mountain people. He waited until both sides had suffered heavy casualties before coming out to snatch the head, just to ensure that Li Yizi was killed.

Ji Mingjun's methods have always been to protect only his comrades.

……

The next day, the messenger Liu Bei sent back to Xihe Pavilion brought back the news.

Liu Bei calmly accepted the reality that half of the fields in Xiheting had been destroyed, and he also highly approved of Duan Jiong's decisiveness.

He didn't rush back to Xiheting, but instead focused on calming down the rioters.

This matter has many lingering consequences... Liu Bei needs to figure out what to do next.

In the past two days, we have gathered about six thousand prisoners, all of them able-bodied men, which should have been a quick way to increase our strength.

However, Liu Bei was leading his private army into battle this time, without any official status.

Moreover, Liu Bei was still in mourning.

Although defending one's homeland does not require consideration of whether one is in mourning, the principle remains the same: those enemies will not reason with Liu Bei.

Gongsun Zan is dead, but his former subordinates can still cause trouble. Liu Bei must be careful now.

We cannot claim credit for suppressing the bandits, otherwise it will become a handle against us.

It's fine as long as the matter of keeping a private army and secretly storing armor isn't made public, but once it's brought into the open, regardless of whether it's for suppressing a riot, Liu Bei will be in trouble.

After all, those were hundreds of suits of armor, not a small number that could be ignored.

But the purpose of the retainers was to protect their homeland, and Liu Bei certainly wouldn't hide from bandits.

Just like the powerful families in the county, every family has its own private army and troops, and every family has hidden armor.

But they all stayed in their fortified villages, and no one came out to deal with the bandits, so the bandits took nearly ten thousand able-bodied men with them...

These powerful families were indeed very good at protecting themselves.

But Liu Bei looked down on this kind of thinking.

Therefore, these powerful clans must pay a price.

They put in the effort and suffered huge losses, so shouldn't the powerful families at least offer some grain as compensation?

No need for money. Too much farmland in Zhuojun has been burned, and grain prices will inevitably skyrocket.

Moreover, there were disasters in various parts of Henan during this period, so money quickly became useless.

After some thought, Liu Bei realized that he would have to do business with people again.

(End of this chapter)