Provocation

The time left for these wealthy families was too short. They had insufficient time to relocate their assets and grain stores, so a great deal was plundered.

Those wealthy families also had some martial arts practitioners serving as guards in their homes.

There were only a dozen or so who had trained in martial arts, while the rest were mere mortals. They might have been able to resist a few dozen or a hundred bandits, but against an army of thousands, they had no power to resist at all and were easily overrun.

Before the afternoon had even arrived, the fortified manors of the local wealthy families in Liangcheng were broken into one by one.

Some of the smarter ones did not resist; most of their money and grain were stolen, but their lives and land remained, giving them a chance to start over.

Some wealthy families who fought to the death were slaughtered entirely. Their families were laid out neatly within their manors, and their land became ownerless property.

"Place these corpses in front of the Liangcheng Thousand-Household Office, about two hundred paces away—outside their range of fire." Liu Zuolong pointed at the corpses of several wealthy men and instructed his deputy.

The deputy did not understand the intent and asked Liu Zuolong, "General, are we trying to provoke them and force them to come out of the city to fight?"

Liu Zuolong laughed heartily:

"It is mainly to see their reaction. If they keep the city gates tightly shut and make no move, it means they are truly terrified, and I can continue to plunder with peace of mind.

If they send people out to collect the bodies or hurl insults, it means they still have some backbone, and we must deal with them more carefully. Through the reaction of the Liangcheng Thousand-Household Office, we can judge the morale of the defenders and the boldness of the commander."

"This battle is not about blades and weapons, but about the heart. Placing the corpses there is more effective than fighting a siege. The officials in the city will soon find they cannot even sleep soundly." Liu Zuolong thought about his arrangement and felt it was brilliant.

The deputy listened to this, looking thoughtful, and then praised, "High, General, that is truly high."

Liu Zuolong laughed, "Alright, stop the flattery. How is the work I tasked you with regarding the recruitment of refugees and the poor in this area?"

The deputy hurriedly replied, "A total of three hundred and thirty-one people enlisted today, mostly young and strong."

"Good, three hundred is not bad. When they are living well later, let them return and talk to their fellow villagers. One can bring back several more.

Hmph, I wonder how many more years this Great Jin can hold on?"

Liu Zuolong's tone was full of contempt for the Great Jin.

Following Liu Zuolong's orders, several roving bandits dragged the wealthy men one by one to the foot of the Liangcheng Thousand-Household Office, leaving their bodies exposed in the wilderness.

"What are they doing? Who are those corpses they laid out?"

"Could they be local residents?"

After all, they were still quite far away; they could only tell they were human, but could not see the faces of the corpses clearly, so they could only guess wildly.

After these corpses were placed, the roving bandits began to spew filth, cursing toward the Liangcheng Thousand-Household Office: "Cowards! Weaklings! Are you going to keep hiding in your shells like turtles?"

Later, these people cursed more and more viciously, even bringing up the ancestors of Thousand-Household Commander Su for eighteen generations.

The defenders on the city wall saw this scene and began to discuss it in hushed tones.

The defenders on the wall included not only the Garrison troops but also the commoners pressed into service from below. Seeing the roving bandits lay those corpses outside the city, their hearts grew cold, their hands and feet turned icy, and their fingers trembled slightly from fear. They were afraid—they were truly terrified.

What if their own loved ones were among them...

Looking at the Garrison troops, they basically had no reaction, which inevitably made them feel disappointed in the Garrison.

"This is bad." Thousand-Household Commander Su watched this scene, feeling a sense of foreboding in his heart.

Those corpses were clearly those of the wealthy families.

He realized that the opponent was dismantling their morale; it was not just intimidation, but an attempt to incite internal conflict within the Garrison.

The illicit income of the Thousand-Household Commander and the Hundred-Household Commander, as well as the money used to grease the palms of the Shangguan, all relied on the "filial piety" of the local wealthy families.

If the Garrison remained indifferent to the destruction of these wealthy families, ignoring them without even taking a stance, the "filial piety" given to him in the future would dwindle. What would happen to his own source of wealth?

He gritted his teeth and gave an order to the defenders on the wall: "Bring back the corpses of those wealthy men. Five taels of silver for each body! Whoever kills those roving bandits, ten taels for each bandit leader!"

Once these words were spoken, although everyone felt pleasantly surprised at the prospect of a reward, they realized upon reflection that it was impossible. After all, they were far apart, well beyond the range of ordinary bows and arrows; if they shot, they might not even touch the edge of the enemy.

Lin Xuan looked at the roving bandits with burning eyes. The act of the bandits laying out the corpses did not affect him, but hearing that there was a reward, he became interested.

However, he remained cautious. What if there were experts hidden among these roving bandits? If he left the city, he might be surrounded by experts.

But relatively speaking, one good point was that from the Liangcheng Thousand-Household Office, the view was wide. Furthermore, it was winter, the leaves had all fallen, and the nearby woods were empty.

He could not see any roving bandits lying in ambush nearby!

"Lin Xuan requests to go!" He stepped forward a few paces.

As soon as his voice fell, a tall and sturdy youth beside him also said, "Zhang Quan requests to go!"

Thousand-Household Commander Su nodded: "Then the two of you shall go and try! If you truly bring back the bandit leaders and the corpses, I will never break my word."

Lin Xuan looked at Zhang Quan, wondering if this person had wanted to go from the start, or if he only had the idea after seeing Lin Xuan step forward.

Lin Xuan had no intention of fighting them head-on. He planned to use his bow and arrow to probe and kill the roving bandits; if it didn't work, he would run.

After opening the city gate, the two of them ran toward the few roving bandits.

Lin Xuan did not run too fast; he was feigning.

Seeing only two people come out, and not running very fast, the roving bandits were neither panicked nor hurried, waiting in place.

When Lin Xuan was only one hundred paces away, he suddenly accelerated, reached out to take the longbow from his back, nocked an Armor-Piercing Arrow, and shot it toward one of the bandits.

Lin Xuan's move was somewhat unexpected. The roving bandits tried to dodge, but the distance was tricky; Lin Xuan maintained a distance of forty paces from them.

The first arrow struck the bandit's arm directly, piercing clean through his forearm.

He let out a miserable shriek, stumbling back several steps as he tried to flee.

But it was already too late; Lin Xuan's second arrow was already in flight, striking him square in the back and piercing straight through his heart.

Lin Xuan was a little curious; it turned out this group was truly just all talk, with no hidden ambush waiting.

Seeing one killed by a sneak attack, Zhang Quan felt his confidence grow. He drew his bow and fired at another bandit, but this one was of a much higher cultivation realm. Taking short, quick steps, the bandit dodged to the side and evaded the arrow.

"This person is at least at the mid-stage of Bone Binding." Zhang Quan made his assessment.