At Least You Know What's Good for You

Garrison Commander Li bowed with a bitter face. "Your Excellency, the imperial court hasn't paid our soldiers for months. Look at my men, they're not even getting enough to eat. How can they fight? If we really want them to go out to war, we should at least give them some money, otherwise I'm afraid they'll all desert halfway there."

This wasn't entirely an excuse; it was common for garrisons in the interior to be behind on their pay, and he was telling the truth. The prefect immediately looked at Pan Hongxuan beside him, his eyes conveying a clear message.

Pan Hongxuan, of course, understood and immediately picked up the conversation:

"Garrison Commander Li, the Pan and Li families of Yuxi Prefecture are both prominent local families, and we should help each other out."

If thieves dare to vandalize my Pan Household's estate today, they'll dare to touch your Li Household's property tomorrow. The principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold" is self-evident.

What you said is true. In that case, my Pan Household will contribute two thousand taels of silver as a departure fee. What do you think?

Garrison Commander Li inwardly scoffed. Two thousand taels to appease beggars? That's barely a few taels per person. If they were really risking their lives, this amount wouldn't be enough.

He said slowly:

"Chief Pan, it's not that I'm disrespecting you. The soldiers under my command are over ten taels of silver in arrears. I can't command these thousand men without ten thousand taels. We have to pay their back wages first before they'll be willing to fight for us."

Pan Hongxuan cursed inwardly, "Where the hell do you think you have a thousand men? You'd be lucky to get five hundred at most."

Even if I gave you ten thousand taels, it's impossible for it all to reach the soldiers. But he dared not say this aloud, and could only suppress his anger:

"In that case, I'll contribute five thousand taels. Suppressing the bandits isn't just for the Pan Household, but also for the stability of Yuxi Prefecture, and it will benefit your Li Household as well. Garrison Commander Li, please don't refuse any longer."

After weighing the options, Garrison Commander Li decided to stop while he was ahead and nodded.

Pan Hongxuan was prepared, knowing that money would be needed to get things done, so he carried silver notes with him. He took out two one-thousand-tael silver notes and handed them over:

"Here are two thousand taels; take them for now. I'll give you the remaining three thousand taels after your triumphant return. I mean what I say. I didn't bring that much with me when I left home."

Garrison Commander Li took the silver note, glanced at it, and put it in his pocket. He knew that no one carried several thousand taels of silver on them, so he said:

"Alright, I trust Chief Pan's reputation."

He turned and walked outside the courtyard, waving the silver notes at the soldiers waiting below, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Brothers, watch this! Chief Pan has given us two thousand taels as a start-up fee! Once we return from suppressing the bandits, I'll exchange it all for cash and distribute it to everyone, not a penny less! I will never break my promise."

Pan Hongxuan, standing behind, was furious, thinking to himself that this kid was really ruthless, demanding three thousand taels of silver right off the bat. But at this point, he could only endure it and hope that troops would be dispatched soon to reclaim the goods.

The group slowly made their way out of the north gate, and after walking only two miles, they could see a patch of red dots in the fields to the north.

The other side had obviously heard the commotion as well. At a command from afar, the scattered men quickly moved into position and, in no time, formed a neat formation, blocking the way in the middle of the road.

Although Garrison Commander Li's soldiers weren't very good, he was, after all, a military officer and knew his stuff.

At a glance, he could tell that the group opposite them moved with discipline and were well-organized, definitely not ordinary bandits or vagrants. Then, seeing their uniform red helmets, his heart skipped a beat—these were the people from Azure Cloud Stronghold!

He had heard of Azure Cloud Stronghold before. It was actually the former Black Wind Stronghold, which gathered tens of thousands of refugees. They usually repaired roads and reclaimed wasteland and never robbed or plundered. So the families in the city turned a blind eye and lived in peace.

Who would have thought that these people would go so far, taking over two of the Pan Household's estates?

He looked closer and saw that there were at least a thousand people opposite him. The crossbowmen in the front row were all made of fine steel, with the arrowheads gleaming coldly. They were pointing directly at him, less than a mile away.

Looking back at his soldiers, they were all pale-faced, their legs were trembling, and they could barely hold their swords. They had lost all will to fight.

As Garrison Commander Li sat on his horse, his heart pounding with anxiety, he heard a series of neat shouts from the opposing formation. A thousand men marched in unison, pressing straight towards them.

They definitely couldn't win in a fight, and they couldn't afford to waste time either; the enemy was clearly going to charge forward. With only two hundred meters left, some of his soldiers had already started secretly taking steps backward, practically ready to run away.

While Garrison Commander Li was still hesitating, a series of whooshing sounds filled the air as crossbow bolts from the opposite side came flying at once, all grazing the heads of the group. The strong winds made their ears hurt, but not a single person was injured.

Garrison Commander Li was so frightened that he quickly shrank his neck and lay flat on his horse's back, his heart pounding. He knew perfectly well that this wasn't a matter of missing the target; it was a warning from the enemy. The crossbow bolts were so powerful and had such a long range that if they had been fired even slightly lower, they would have been riddled with holes on the spot.

"What kind of crossbow is this? How can it have such power from so far away?" The personal guard beside him trembled. "Sir, how can we possibly win against this? It's just suicide! Let's retreat, we don't need the silver!"

No sooner had he said that than some members of the team couldn't take it anymore and turned to run.

With one person leading the charge, the rest instantly erupted into chaos, scattering and fleeing in all directions. In the blink of an eye, only a few dozen personal guards remained, surrounding Garrison Commander Li.

Another volley of crossbow bolts came hurtling towards them, grazing their scalps. The remaining guards panicked and began to urge them on:

"Sir, let's retreat! With so few men, going up there would be pointless!"

Garrison Commander Li straightened up, looked at the well-organized formation opposite him, and sighed heavily:

"Let's retreat. They're showing us some mercy; they didn't really go all out."

He realized that the other side didn't actually want his life; they just wanted to scare them away. Once he understood this, he felt more at ease. He turned his horse around, stopped galloping recklessly, and slowly retreated with the remaining personal guards.

Hu Tieniu stood at the front of the formation, watching the Government Army flee completely, and spat on the ground:

"You're lucky you know what's good for you. If you really didn't know better, I'd leave you all here today."

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "Let's go back to the village!" He then led his men back towards the Pan Household Manor.