Rise of a Lonely City: From Exiled Prince to Ruler of the Nine Provinces

Just as the construction site of Zhenbei City was bustling with activity and the entire Hanyuan region was focusing its main efforts on this magnificent project, an ominous cloud was quietly gathering in the shadows on the northern border.

The rise of Han Yuan was like a boulder thrown into still water, stirring up ripples far beyond mere outward submission and allegiance.

It shattered the fragile balance that existed in the North, especially by jeopardizing the interests of those forces that relied on chaos, plunder, and smuggling.

The bandit gangs, caravans, and smuggling groups, originally scattered in the hundreds of miles of mountains, dense forests, and wastelands surrounding Hanyuan, felt an unprecedented threat.

The salt and iron monopoly cut off their smuggling profits; the trade routes were protected by the Hanyuan Army, greatly increasing the risk of plunder; the refugees were absorbed and settled by Hanyuan, depriving them of "soldier resources" and targets for extortion; even more terrifying, the Hanyuan Army's military strength grew day by day, suppressing bandits everywhere, and after Panshibao surrendered, several small bandit groups in the vicinity had been eradicated.

The horrific destruction of Black Wind Stronghold terrified all the bandits.

A strong sense of crisis permeated the hearts of these desperate outlaws who had lived on the edge of death. They realized that if they continued to fight individually as before, they would eventually be crushed one by one by the behemoth that was Han Yuan.

Thus, a secret meeting was quietly held in a treacherous valley called "Ghost's Sorrow," three hundred miles northwest of Hanyuan.

This place is mountainous and densely forested, with rugged roads, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is a no-man's-land and has always been a "holy land" for various ruthless bandits to sell stolen goods, divide the spoils, and negotiate.

The initiator of this alliance was Liu Biao, nicknamed "A Gust of Wind," who was entrenched in "Duantouling" in the northwest.

This man, around forty years old, was once a fierce soldier in the border army. He fled after committing a crime and gathered a band of more than three hundred men. He was ruthless, skilled in archery and horsemanship, and was the most powerful bandit leader in the Northwest.

He sent his men with his personal letter and tokens to contact thirteen notable bandit leaders, caravan bosses, and salt smugglers within a radius of five hundred li.

On the day of the alliance meeting, a bonfire roared on a naturally formed giant stone platform at the bottom of the "Ghost's Sorrow" valley.

The leaders or representatives of the thirteen factions sat around the fire, each with a ferocious expression and fierce eyes. Behind them stood their most capable henchmen, their swords half-drawn. The atmosphere was heavy and filled with suspicion.

"Gentlemen, the reason I've brought you all to this godforsaken place today is not for anything else, but to see how long this thing on our necks, our livelihood, can hold out!"

Liu Biao was a burly man with a face full of scars, a single scar running diagonally from his left forehead to his right jaw, adding to his menacing appearance. His voice was booming and he got straight to the point.

"Boss Liu, speak your mind! Those bastards from Hanyuan are getting more and more arrogant lately! My goods were seized twice in Panshi Fortress! More than a dozen brothers were lost!" A one-eyed man spat fiercely. He was the leader of the "Black Sand Gang," specializing in smuggling salt and iron.

"That's right! My 'business' outside Qinghe Town was also ruined by a group of soldiers in black armor! Damn it, those arrows were really ruthless!" Another tall, thin man was the leader of the "Grasshopper" bandits, skilled in mounted archery and plunder.

Everyone chimed in with their own complaints, their words filled with fear and resentment towards Han Yuan.

"Quiet down, everyone!"

Liu Biao waved his hand to quell the noise. "What's the use of just complaining? What's Han Yuan like now? Tens of thousands of soldiers, high walls and deep moats, even the Prince of Yong and the Left Wise Prince of Northern Yan can't do anything about him! And he's still building a new city by the Baishui River! Once that new city is built, he'll have even more soldiers and more food. Will we still have a way to survive? Are we just going to be wiped out one by one and have our heads displayed on the city gates?"

These words struck a nerve with everyone, and the room fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the crackling of the campfire.

"Does Boss Liu mean...we should team up and work with him?"

A sinister voice rang out. The speaker was "Poison Scholar" Sun Bu'er. He was originally a failed scholar with a belly full of evil intentions. Although he only had about a hundred men under his command, he was skilled in using poison and setting ambushes, making him extremely difficult to deal with.

"Do it? How do you do it?"

Liu Biao sneered, "Even if all of us from these dozen or so families were to gather together, how many men could we possibly fight? Two thousand at most! Would that be enough to fill the teeth of the Han Yuan Army? To attack the city? That would be suicide!"

"Then what do you suggest we do? Just wait to die?" the one-eyed man said irritably.

"A direct confrontation is suicide, but we can make him suffer, make him feel pain, and let him know that this Northern Border isn't ruled by Xiao Chen alone!"

Liu Biao's eyes flashed with a fierce light. "We won't fight him head-on. We'll rob his caravans, burn his provisions, kill his lone soldiers, harass his construction sites, and intercept his small groups of men sent to various places! We'll break into smaller groups, move like the wind, and target his weakest points! We'll make him overwhelmed and exhausted!"

"That's a great idea!"

The leader of the Grasshoppers nodded. "We know the terrain well. We can just disappear into the mountains and forests, and even if his army comes, they won't be able to find us!"

"We can also spread rumors that he is tyrannical and extorts money from the people, and that he is going to force the refugees to work as laborers to the point of exhaustion, so that the refugees will not dare to go to him again, and may even cause trouble!" Poisonous scholar Sun Bu'er said with a sinister smile.

"Yes! Cut off his financial resources, disrupt his rear, and deplete his military strength!"

Liu Biao slammed his fist on the table and declared, "We, the thirteen families, hereby swear a blood oath, forming an alliance! We will share information and coordinate our actions. The spoils we plunder will be divided according to our contributions and the pre-arranged plan. If any family is targeted by Han Yuan, the others must come to its aid, or at least harass Han Yuan elsewhere to relieve its siege! What do you say?"

Forming alliances and sticking together for mutual support is the most instinctive choice for smaller forces when facing a powerful threat.

Although they had many disagreements, in the face of the common enemy, Han Yuan, unity became the only way to survive.

After a heated argument and haggling, the thirteen factions finally reached a preliminary alliance agreement.

Although it is loose, it does provide a framework for coordinated action.

They defined their respective "areas of activity" and "cooperation zones," agreed on codes and methods for transmitting messages, and even elected Liu Biao as the temporary "leader" to coordinate major operations.

They drank the blood wine and made their vows.

An attack and sabotage targeting the Cold Abyss, originating from the shadows, has begun.

These bandits knew that a direct confrontation would lead to certain death, but like a pack of cunning and deadly hyenas, they were prepared to take advantage of their familiarity with the terrain and their agility to keep tearing at the gradually forming lion of Hanyuan, attempting to bleed it, exhaust it, and even cause chaos from within.

After the alliance meeting, the bandit leaders dispersed and quickly took action. Soon, unusual "accidents" began to occur around Hanyuan.

A convoy transporting coal from Heishan Town to the construction site in Zhenbeicheng was attacked in a valley 80 miles from Panshibao. Most of the 20 soldiers escorting the coal were killed, the drivers were killed, and the coal was stolen and burned.

Two officials and their guards who went to Qinghe Town to survey the hydrology were attacked by poisoned arrows while camping in the wild. All of them were killed, and their bodies were stripped naked and hung on trees.

A fire broke out at night at a temporary timber storage site on the outskirts of the Zhenbeicheng construction site, causing considerable damage.

On the trade route to the grasslands, three small caravans were robbed in succession, losing both people and goods.

Rumors began to circulate among the refugees, saying that hundreds of people had died from exhaustion at the construction site in Zhenbei City, and their bodies had been thrown into the Baishui River to feed the fish; and that King Hanyuan would soon conscript all the able-bodied refugees into the army and send them south to fight against King Yong as cannon fodder...

Although these were all small-scale raids and the losses seemed insignificant, their high frequency, wide range, elusive movements, and cruel methods greatly disrupted the order behind Hanyuan, affected the transportation of supplies and the stability of the people, and posed a potential threat to the Zhenbei City under construction.

The news gradually came to Xiao Chen's desk.

"Your Highness, it seems that some clowns are just trying to stretch their muscles."

Zhao Tie, with a stern expression, placed the latest attack reports on the table.

Night Owl has begun to figure out the patterns and methods of these attacks. Unlike the previous scattered banditry, it seems that there is now a coordinated effort.

Xiao Chen looked at the attack locations marked on the map, which were like festering sores, scattered along the edge of Han Yuan's territory.

"The alliance has been formed?" He asked calmly, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Yes. Thirteen families, led by Liu Biao, known as 'A Gust of Wind,' are entrenched in the area from 'Broken Head Ridge' to 'Ghost's Sorrow' in the northwest. Their total number is estimated to be around two thousand, all of them ruthless bandits and desperate fugitives." Zhao Tie reported the intelligence gathered by Night Owl.

"Two thousand rabble dare to provoke the tiger's whiskers."

Wang Dashan sneered, "Your Highness, give me three thousand soldiers, and I will wipe out these bandits completely, eliminating them at the last moment!"

Xiao Chen shook his head: "They bandit when they gather, and civilians when they disperse. They hide deep in the mountains and forests, familiar with the terrain. A large army would be extremely costly to suppress them, and it would be easy to find nothing, while they would use the terrain to harass us instead. That's their plan, to wear us down and disrupt our plans."

"Are we just going to let them run rampant?" Zhang Meng roared.

"Of course not."

Xiao Chen tapped his fingers lightly on the map, his eyes growing colder. "They want to play dirty tricks, they want to wage guerrilla warfare. Then we'll show them what real... hunting is."

He raised his head, his gaze sharp as a knife: "Issue the following orders: First, the garrison at Panshi Camp and Qinghe Town, all transport teams, and construction sites must strengthen their defenses, enforce the curfew, and double the number of sentries, both overt and covert. Second, increase cavalry patrols along trade routes leading to various locations, but these patrols must be small-scale and swift, serving as a deterrent. Third, strengthen control over the resettlement areas for displaced persons, rigorously investigate the source of rumors, and publicly refute them to set the record straight."

"Most importantly," Xiao Chen looked at Zhao Tie, "the entire Night Owl gang is mobilized. There's no need to bother searching for their hideout anymore. Keep a close eye on these thirteen gang leaders, and their most trusted lieutenants! I need to know where each of them frequents, their hobbies, who they meet with, and even which mistress's house they sleep at night!"

"Wang Dashan, select the most elite veterans from the army, skilled in mountain and jungle warfare, adept at infiltration and tracking, and with excellent archery skills, to form several 'hunting teams,' each with no more than fifty people. Equip them with the best steel knives, crossbows, leather armor, grappling hooks, and antidotes. You will personally select and train them."

"Zhang Meng, your cavalry will split into several hundred-man squads. Instead of patrolling, they will remain on standby around several key areas, maintaining maximum mobility."

Xiao Chen's voice was cold and clear: "Don't they like to break up into smaller groups and move like the wind? We'll use elite troops against scattered bandits, hunters against prey. Night Owls will find them, the hunting teams will kill them, and the cavalry will intercept and surround them. If we don't move, we won't move; but if we do, we'll kill their leaders and crush their core! I will turn these northern mountains and dense forests into the burial ground of these bandits! I will let everyone know that those who offend my Cold Abyss, no matter how far away, will be punished; those who hide, will die!"

A more covert and deadly counter-hunt against the bandit alliance was thus launched.

The battle in the shadows has just begun.