Amid the cries of cicadas, frogs, and birds, the funeral at the foot of Mount Li came to an end.
Starting the next day, the great army of the Exorcising the Dragon Gang assembled here began dispersing toward the rear... naturally enough. The resources of just two commanderies could not support forty or fifty thousand troops indefinitely, especially with nearly ten thousand prisoners now on hand. The tens of thousands of civilian laborers could not stay long either. Once they received their rewards, it was time to go home.
This seemed likely to be another difficult process.
It was not that the Exorcising the Dragon Army lacked money for rewards and compensation. There truly was no shortage of movable wealth. The crux of the problem was that dispersing the troops would inevitably affect their existing organization, while under a system in which leaders commanded their own troops, troop numbers directly determined the balance of power among the senior leaders and leaders. It was hard not to suspect that someone would seize the opportunity to consolidate power.
Yet the process was so open and aboveboard, so perfectly reasonable, that it was practically unavoidable. Most people could hardly help being on tenterhooks, fretting over gains and losses.
Things unfolded swiftly in the blazing heat of early June.
First, the civilian laborers collected their wages and additional rewards and went home, as though they had merely worked a short-term job. Some, however, carried out new assignments, taking armor, weapons, and banners in need of repair back to the various localities.
Next came a comprehensive screening and selection of the surrendered soldiers and the troops on the eastern front. Those whose physical condition made them little more than placeholders, or whose performance in battle had been abysmal, received travel money and were collectively discharged-escorted-beyond