Chapter 20: Achieving Glory and Winning a Wife

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Old Li Qi remembered the oath-taking ceremony vividly. Following the same method as before, he rounded up all the major and minor leaders of the Sushan stronghold, then ordered the henchmen to line up and swear allegiance one by one.

At this moment, everyone realized that this group was definitely not government troops.

The leaders quickly switched sides, begging desperately to surrender.

But Li Gui had no use for these worthless men and didn’t even bother to acknowledge them. With a wave of his hand, he signaled for the ceremony to continue.

Once the process was complete, Li Gui revealed his true identity to the bandits and took away the strongest men and women.

As for the elderly, weak, and disabled, he left them to fend for themselves.

Although Li Gui was short on manpower, he was even more short on food.

Despite having stockpiled some grain beforehand through existing contacts, after falling out with the local official Li Daguiren, those grain merchants severed ties with him.

Currently, the supplies in Yushan stronghold were just enough to get by. But after wiping out all the bandit camps, daily consumption would be substantial, especially since they needed to maintain meat rations during training, which would soon become insufficient.

The recent annexation of Sushan stronghold had yielded a lot of provisions, but given the current consumption rate, it wouldn’t last long.

What would the consequences be for a group of starving bandits?

Especially since these bandits had received basic military training!

Therefore, Li Gui needed to streamline his forces, discarding all the useless ones who couldn’t fight, then implementing a bottom-tier elimination system. He planned to divide the spearmen into primary and reserve units with different treatment to save food.

Of course, he kept all these plans to himself, sharing them with no one.

Considering the intelligence of these bandits, they probably couldn’t guess.

After taking all the valuables, grain, women, and livestock—pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks—from the stronghold, Li Gui set fire to Sushan stronghold.

Traditionally, bandits always combined killing and arson. Li Gui hadn’t understood why before, but now, having done it himself, he knew.

Thanks to corrupt officials, too many refugees fleeing conscription had gathered.

If Sushan stronghold remained, it wouldn’t last a month before another bandit group settled there.

Wouldn’t that make all his efforts worthless?

A raging fire reduced the stronghold to bare earth. Even if other bandits wanted to establish a camp there, it would take at least three to five months.

These rough men didn’t understand the need to create firebreaks, so Li Gui had to worry about everything himself.

Back at the camp, they held a grand celebration once more.

The annexation of Sushan stronghold had been too easy, so no one had distinguished themselves, and naturally, rewards were scarce.

However, they had to give some rewards; otherwise, the morale of this ragtag group would plummet.

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Moreover, Li Gui wanted the new recruits to see the good life of the camp’s soldiers as an example, encouraging them to stay loyal.

Thus, the celebration went on as usual, with plenty of meat for those who had fought.

But considering the large number of prisoners in the camp, alcohol was rationed for security reasons.

Even so, the prisoners, forced to eat only vegetarian fare, stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

They had never seen such feasting inside a bandit camp.

Only someone like Li Gui, who treated the stronghold as a consumable resource, would be so reckless in indulging.

Much of the meat came from the recent plunder of Sushan stronghold.

Li Gui watched coldly from the side and, when the moment was right, stood to announce:

“Since you have come to the stronghold, you are brothers. From now on, anyone who distinguishes themselves will be given all the wine and meat they want!”

“Starting tomorrow, all new brothers will be mixed into the ranks and participate in daily training competitions. Losers will eat only vegetarian food!”

The next day, Li Gui shuffled everyone into new units, ensuring they trained, ate, and slept mixed together.

This approach worked excellently. Initially, there was some estrangement, but after three to five days of living and training together, everyone became close, slapping backs and joking like brothers.

After several days of training, feeling that the news of Sushan stronghold’s downfall had spread throughout the surrounding mountains, Li Gui decided to continue clearing out other camps.

Previously, he had overestimated the military strength of nearby strongholds, proceeding cautiously to avoid heavy losses.

But after these two battles, he had not achieved the training effect he wanted and instead worried that others might surrender upon hearing the news.

So he deliberately let things simmer for a few days, waiting for neighboring camps to prepare properly rather than collapsing at a single assault.

Gathering his men once more, Li Gui began the war rally.

“The bandits of Pen Mountain commit all manner of evils, their crimes cannot be pardoned. I will act as heaven’s agent and wipe them out!”

Upon hearing this, his men, having tasted success, immediately roared and raised their fists in unison:

“Act as heaven’s agent!”

“Wipe out the strongholds!”

“Seize the silver!”

“Seize the grain!”

“Seize the women!”

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Li Gui raised his hand to quiet them and added:

“There are already dozens of women in the camp. Those who distinguish themselves in this battle may select a wife first. I will personally officiate your marriages!”

At this, all the men went wild with joy.

There had been women in the camp before, but they were mostly the prized concubines of the leaders—ordinary foot soldiers weren’t allowed near them.

Even the less attractive or older women were fiercely fought over and beyond ordinary men’s reach.

Usually, they either satisfied themselves or saved up a few copper coins to visit brothels in town for relief.

As for marrying and having children, that was a dream they never dared to entertain.

The scholars said, “Poverty doesn’t last beyond three generations—how could a poor man have a wife?”

Last time, Li Gui didn’t distribute women partly because there were too few, making it hard to divide them fairly.

Also, the soldiers hadn’t earned significant merit; giving money and meat was enough reward.

If they treated this distribution as the norm, future rewards would fall short and hurt morale.

This time, having seized more women from Sushan stronghold and with those already in Pen Mountain camp, there were nearly a hundred women, enough to reward the meritorious soldiers.

Regarding merit, Li Gui decided that in the upcoming assault on Pen Mountain stronghold, he would not kill indiscriminately upon entry but conduct a proper siege.

Only such a battle would truly yield combat experience and achieve training goals.

In other words, it would be a tough fight. There would be no shortage of casualties, so these women would help ease the soldiers’ wounds and pain.

Still, Li Gui worried things might backfire—if losses were too high, it would be a big loss.

So he dangled these women like carrots in front of the men, ensuring the single soldiers would eagerly charge forward.

He was not concerned that this incentive would be too effective and turn the battle into a one-sided affair.

If Pen Mountain stronghold collapsed as easily as Sushan, opportunities for merit would be few, and the number of women to distribute would be limited.

There were many strongholds left to conquer; there would be more chances to prove themselves.

As for whether the women would be willing—well…