No title, no marriage? Do you think I'm some kind of lapdog?

Five days later…

Su Chuang squatted on the highest mound of the beacon tower, holding a roasted lamb leg in his hand, eating with his mouth full of oil.

"Tsk, the sheep in northern Xinjiang are really smelly."

He spat and tossed the bone to a stray dog ​​wandering around his feet.

"It's far inferior to that in the capital."

Xu Mengran sat next to him, taking small bites of a pancake, glancing at his expression out of the corner of her eye, and couldn't help but laugh:

"You think I'm disgusted by this? Why did you eat three of them?"

I'm hungry!

Su Chuang slapped his thigh.

"I was up half the night last night, and then I wasted time talking nonsense with that one-eyed bastard this morning. How could I not be hungry?"

He spoke with conviction and his voice was loud enough that several of the Mo Dao Guards who were cleaning up the battlefield below trembled when they heard him.

Yue Fei was counting the spoils below when he heard this. He looked up at it, then lowered his head to continue keeping accounts.

My lord, you're getting more and more addicted to this act.

Only Zhao Yun remained expressionless, his bright silver spear held upside down behind him, his eyes scanning the surrounding wilderness.

Besides the smell of blood, there was another odor in the wind—a burnt smell, drifting in from the east.

Su Chuang twitched his nose and grinned.

"Wenhe, that old fox, is quick on his feet."

Seventy li to the east lies Black Wind Village.

The village no longer resembles a village; it looks like a smashed beehive.

The ground was littered with corpses, some dressed in Black Wind Village clothes, some from Vulture Ridge, and some from Wolf Fang Gully.

The three groups mingled together, their blood staining the yellow earth a dark red.

The large banner that read "Acting on Behalf of Heaven" at the entrance of the village was burned down to half a pole, still emitting black smoke.

"Brother! Those bastards from Vulture Ridge have sneaked up from the back of the mountain!"

"The people of Langya Gully have set the granary on fire!"

"Second-in-command... the second-in-command was killed by a stray arrow!"

The sounds of shouts, screams, and clashing weapons mingled together.

The leader of Black Wind Stronghold, "Black-Faced Tiger," carried a large, ghost-headed dagger, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He still doesn't understand it.

Why did Vulture Ridge and Wolf Fang Gully suddenly join forces to attack us?

And that secret letter...

"Black-faced Tiger! You're a fucking traitor!"

Vulture, the leader of Vulture Ridge, charged out from the crowd, swinging his two short axes with a whooshing sound.

"We agreed to split the gold equally among the three families, and you're trying to hog it all?!"

"Bullshit!" Black-faced Tiger swung his sword, "When did I ever say that?!"

"Still pretending?!"

Vulture blocked the knife with his axe, and with his other hand, he pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and slammed it hard onto Black-faced Tiger's face.

"Didn't you write this?! 'General Ye has ordered that Wangbeitai be destroyed first, and the gold will be split 30/70 between us'—it's written in black and white!"

Black-faced Tiger was stunned. He grabbed the letter and glanced at it, his mind going blank.

The handwriting is his.

The seal was also his.

But he never wrote this thing!

"This is a frame-up!" he roared. "Someone's framing me!"

"You framed your mother!"

The leader of Langyagou, "Lone Wolf," also attacked from the side, thrusting his long spear straight at Black-faced Tiger's back.

"The brothers I sent to Wangbeitai to scout the area saw with their own eyes your Third Leader, One-Eyed Wolf, leading men there!"

"Where are the people?! Where is the gold?!"

The black-faced tiger was speechless.

One-Eyed Wolf did indeed take some men out last night, saying he was going to Wangbeitai to "check out the situation."

But he hasn't come back yet.

They were nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead.

"I...I don't know..." Black-faced Tiger's throat was dry.

"Don't know?" the vulture sneered. "Then go to the underworld and think about it!"

The short axe cleaved down.

Looking north from the terrace, inside the earthen house.

Jia Xu stood in front of Su Chuang, his gray cloth shirt stained with a few specks of mud, but his face was clean.

"My lord, Black Wind Stronghold has been destroyed."

His voice was flat and monotone, as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.

"The Vulture Ridge and Wolf Fang Gully suffered more than half their casualties, and the remaining ones are busy looting the village's supplies. They won't be able to help us for the time being."

Su Chuang was sitting with his legs crossed, eating an apple. Upon hearing this, he took a big bite with a "crunch," and juice dripped down his chin.

He casually wiped it off and grinned:

"Wenhe, your tactic of using someone else to do your dirty work is quite clever."

"You flatter me, my lord."

Jia Xu bowed, "These are nothing but trivial skills."

"A trivial skill?"

Su Chuang threw the apple core out the window.

"A single fake letter caused the three villages to turn on each other."

"If this is just child's play, then those old fogies in the Ministry of War are even less than insects, aren't they?"

Jia Xu did not respond.

Xu Mengran listened from the side, secretly surprised.

She knew Jia Xu was poisonous, but she never imagined he was this poisonous.

Without losing a single soldier, the three major bandit strongholds in the northern border region were annihilated.

"Oh, right."

Su Chuang suddenly sat up straight. "Where are the remnants of Black Wind Stronghold now?"

"About a hundred people who escaped are hiding in the 'Ghost's Sorrow' Valley, about twenty miles to the north."

Jia Xu raised his eyes. "Does my lord wish to recruit you?"

Why not?

Su Chuang rubbed his fingers together. "Bandits are human too. If you give them food, who would be willing to risk their life?"

He spoke casually, but Jia Xu understood.

Giving them food is a pretense; their real intention is to recruit them and use them as weapons.

"I'll take care of it right away." Jia Xu turned to leave.

"etc."

Su Chuang called out to him.

"Send Pengju to lead the Mo Dao Guards, make a big show of it—but not to kill people, but to 'recruit' them."

He paused, then added:

"Tell them that if they follow me, they will have meat to eat, wine to drink, and a monthly salary."

"What if you disagree?"

Xu Mengran couldn't help but ask.

Su Chuang turned to look at her and grinned:

"Then let them continue being bandits—but in a different place, like...mining?"

Xu Mengran understood.

We have both soft and hard methods ready; if you don't comply, you'll be "invited" to labor reform.

This is so Su Chuang.

……

In the evening, Su Chuang set up a table inside the beacon tower.

There weren't many vegetables, but there was plenty of meat.

Chen Dashuan and the other veterans sat at the lower end of the table, all of them very reserved.

"Eat up, don't be shy."

Su Chuang carried the wine jug and poured wine for everyone in turn, saying, "From now on, we're all family."

"G-Gong Gong..."

Chen Dashuan held the bowl, his hands trembling slightly. "What have I, this old man, done to deserve this..."

"Virtue? Ability?" Su Chuang grinned.

"Uncle Chen, the fact that you've lived this long and are still able to bring so many people to come and seek refuge with me is the greatest achievement you can have."

He spoke casually, but Chen Dashuan understood.

His eyes reddened, and tears almost fell.

"My lord..."

His voice was hoarse, "Old man... I will definitely help you find out what happened back then..."

"No rush."

Su Chuang patted him on the shoulder, "Eat first, you'll have the energy to work when you're full."

After a few rounds of drinks, the atmosphere became more relaxed.

Su Chuang suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to ask Zhao Yun beside him:

"Zilong, what do you think of Zhang Liao?"

Zhao Yun was gnawing on a lamb chop when he heard this. He put down the bone and wiped his mouth.

"His martial arts skills are excellent, his swordsmanship is fierce and powerful; he has the potential to be a general."

"How does it compare to Ye Qingyue?"

"..." Zhao Yun paused for a moment, "Zhang Liao is a military general, Ye Qingyue... is a politician."

The words were said subtly, but the meaning was clear—Zhang Liao was a warrior, while Ye Qingyue was a political operator.

Not all the way.

Su Chuang smiled.

He picked up his glass, took a sip, and narrowed his eyes.

"How long do you think Zhang Liao, with his personality, can stay under Ye Qingyue's command?"

Zhao Yun remained silent.

Xu Mengran, however, understood the underlying meaning and turned to look at him: "You want to sow discord between them?"

"Sow discord?" Su Chuang shook his head. "That sounds awful."

He put down his wine glass and tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"I just feel... it's a waste for someone as talented as Zhang Liao to follow Ye Qingyue."

"If only I could let him 'see' the true colors of certain people..."

"Perhaps he will choose a brighter path for himself."

The candlelight shone on his face, and his smile deepened.

Xu Mengran looked at it and her heart suddenly tightened.

She knew—Su Chuang was about to make a move again.

The target this time is Zhang Liao.