Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

"Okay, bring everyone you can, regardless of age or gender."

"Thank you, my lord!"

"I'll give you more time; come back in two months."

"Brothers who can't go this time, you'll have another chance; I'll give you two months too!"

"promise!"

The soldiers, longing for home, couldn't wait any longer. They packed their bags, took the travel expenses allocated by Huang Chao's army, and called their friends and companions, carrying the mission entrusted to them by the King of Qi, and returned to their hometowns, which they had been away from for two years.

After the soldiers who had gone to visit their families left, Li You had more than 1,200 soldiers at his disposal.

"Uncle, we need to find a place in the countryside of Chengwu County to settle the relatives that the soldiers brought back."

"Alright, but...didn't the lord just ask about Juye Marsh? Why not move there to set up camp?"

"There's no need. Our mission in Shandong this time is not to secretly develop our power, but to make it public, to let the people of Shandong know of our existence and join us, to eliminate the powerful families, expand our military strength, and to dare to fight against the government, instead of hiding."

Li You thought for a moment, then said, "Since we've just entered Shandong, there's no need to provoke the government too much. Let's change the name of our Huang Chao army to 'Junping Society,' meaning to equalize land ownership, to attract interested people to join. Once we have a large enough population, we can seize the opportunity to launch a few major events to completely shake the foundations of the powerful families in Shandong."

"What are these major events?"

"The first thing is to equalize the land in Shandong, so that the people of Shandong can benefit, and let them know that this is done by the Equalization Society. They can also ask the Equalization Society to help them resolve any difficult issues, especially those related to powerful families. The second thing can be done now: Chao Yang, you can distribute the eight or nine thousand copies of the sage's books that you printed."

"good!"

Since devising the plan last year, Chao Yang has been working hard on it.

Now that he could finally publish his book to impoverished scholars in the same situation as himself, Chao Yang was filled with excitement.

"The third thing is to continue to expand and strengthen the industries of Huang Chao's army in various places, especially the salt industry that Shao Kang has in Shandong. The output of these industries should provide financial support for what we are doing now. If necessary, the troops expanded by Mr. Wang in Hebei and the troops we have expanded in Tongbai Mountain can be brought over to join the battle."

"That's all for now. We can't handle anything more. Once the visiting families return, we'll have a pretext to start our business, and then we can officially begin what we're planning to do in Shandong this year."

……

A storm begins with a single ripple.

The bandits that Li You initially failed to locate unexpectedly reappeared on their own not long afterward.

However, it was by chance that Yin Hongzhi's soldiers encountered them while they were searching for soldiers and purchasing houses in remote villages.

It turned out that this band of bandits hadn't hidden in the marshy areas, but had instead changed their names and settled in a remote village in Chengwu County. They were originally farmers, cultivating land in abandoned areas and managing to make a small harvest. In addition, they secretly robbed wealthy households of their grain and valuables, and engaged in double-crossing, persisting until now, and their group had expanded to seven hundred men, scattered across different villages.

After encountering Huang Chao's soldiers, they assumed they were bandits from elsewhere (in reality, they were not much different), and the two sides immediately engaged in battle, but Huang Chao's army captured them and brought them back to the capital.

"Who is your leader?"

"It's Brother Guan Qi! Who are you people?"

"You are flying my banner. To tell you the truth, I am the King of Qi!"

"King Qi? King Qi is dead. You must be an imposter!"

"Whether I am real or not is not for you to judge. Now let you go back and tell your leader Guan Qi that I want to see him."

"What do you want with our leader?"

Yan Hongliang kicked the guy: "Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask, hurry back and report!"

……

Guan Qi, the bandit leader of Chengwu County, was tall and strong with a full beard, a typical tough man from Shandong.

Guan Qi was quite surprised to hear his subordinate's report.

Where did these heroes come from?

"Go and call Huang Mazi over here."

"promise!"

Guan Qi's men are scattered in various villages nearby, so it will take some time to find them for questioning.

Huang Mazi was a capable lieutenant under Guan Qi, but he had some pockmarks on his face, so the brothers called him Huang Mazi. Over time, no one called him by his real name anymore.

"Didn't you join the rebellion with King Qi? Is King Qi still alive or not?"

"Alas, he's long dead. I saw it with my own eyes."

"So, who are these people?"

Huang Mazi thought for a moment, then said, "Brother, they're definitely bandits like us, impersonating the King of Qi. But they're clever enough to create a fake King of Qi to fool people. Should we learn from them?"

"You scoundrel! The spirit of King Qi is watching from heaven, aren't you afraid of retribution?"

"...Brother is wise."

In Guan Qi's view, King Qi was a heroic figure.

Every now and then, he would lead his leaders to that temple to worship King Qi.

There were many people like Huang Mazi who had previously joined the rebel army of King Qi and were now under Guan Qi's command.

"Take a dozen or so men and go scout ahead to see how many troops they have. If they don't outnumber us, then wipe out these traitors impersonating the King of Qi!"

"promise!"

Although Guan Qi admired King Qi, he was not a stupid person who only knew how to use his muscles but not his brain.

It is rare for a bandit to be able to persist for two years in the face of government suppression, which is enough to prove Guan Qi's ability.

Huang Mazi accepted the order, took his weapon, and led his trusted men to the scene of the incident to investigate.

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough manpower.

After a small-scale confrontation, Huang Mazi himself was captured and brought before Li You.

"You...you...are you really the Prince of Qi..." Upon seeing Li You, Huang Mazi's face was filled with astonishment, as if he had seen a ghost.

Li You frowned: "Have you seen me before?"

"Yes, yes, I've seen you before! I followed Your Majesty all the way to Xingyang!"

"Oh? You were one of the commoners who joined my ranks back then?"

"Yes, it is me! King Qi, you...you're still alive..."

Li You laughed, "What old man? I'm still young. Come on, untie him!"

After being untied, Huang Mazi immediately bowed and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Get up, get up, you don't need to kowtow anymore!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Huang Mazi stood up and looked at King Qi respectfully.

Li You thought to himself: Is this what it feels like to have someone bow down and worship after you announce your name?

All I can say is that the treatment Mr. Shi Nai'an gave to Song Jiang, the burly man from Shandong, was truly excellent.

"What's your name?"

"Your Majesty, my name is Huang Amao, but because I have pockmarks on my face, my brothers call me Huang Mazi (Pockmarked Huang)."

"Huang Amao, Huang Mao... I'll just call you Huang Mazi. Who's the leader of your group?"