Chapter 48: Undercurrents Within the Stronghold

The news of the imperial court's amnesty quickly spread throughout the mountain stronghold, bringing joy to some and worry to others.

When it came to such an amnesty, only those chieftains with established ranks could actually become officials; it was impossible for everyone to be granted an official position, even down to the lowest-ranking military officers.

Once Yushan Stronghold was amnestied by the imperial court, the subordinate commanders and unit leaders would at best be distributed unranked, miscellaneous official titles and incorporated into the provincial garrison forces.

If they were lucky, they could continue serving as subordinate commanders or unit leaders; if they were unlucky, they wouldn't even secure such a petty, unranked regular position.

As for the ordinary bandits, they would be directly broken up and assigned to various garrison units, remaining nothing more than foot soldiers.

Currently, as bandits, though the ordinary soldiers endured hard daily training, their food and provisions were plentiful. Whenever a battle was won, the stronghold would host a grand banquet with massive chunks of meat and generous bowls of wine, and after every raid on the gentry, there were hefty monetary rewards. All of this, however, would vanish once they became regular soldiers.

There were those law-abiding ones willing to transform their status from bandits to soldiers, returning to their hometowns in an upright manner to become honest, obedient foot soldiers.

Yet far more numerous were the unruly ones, who would rather remain bandits here in Yushan than become honest, expendable cannon fodder once more.

Their hearts had been spoiled by Li Gui with wine, meat, gold, and silver.

Even so, they knew very well in their hearts that whether the stronghold accepted the amnesty or not, the attitude of minor soldiers like them meant nothing; only the decisions of the several chieftains mattered!

If the ordinary soldiers harbored some dissent regarding the amnesty, the attitudes of the stronghold's other three chieftains were entirely unanimous.

"Brother, this old seventh of mine never imagined that one day I could become an official. I must thank you, Brother, for this immense grace!"

Li Laoqi's face was flushed with excitement as he prostrated himself on the ground, kowtowing with loud, echoing thuds.

Huang Silang followed closely behind, his face ecstatic as he shouted at the top of his lungs:

"I used to think that being a chieftain with hundreds of men under my command, eating meat whenever I wanted and drinking wine whenever I pleased, was the happiest life possible. Little did I know this is only the beginning, and the truly joyful days are yet to come!"

Zhu Fu also smiled and said, "I have carefully inquired about this. The commander slain by Brother held the rank of a division commander, commanding an army under him. Since Brother even killed a division commander, I presume the official rank granted in this amnesty will not be low, certainly no lower than that dead ghost's."

"Amnesty? Division commander? Heh..." Li Gui let out two cold laughs. Seeing that his subordinates were all extremely eager about "securing a future," he did not wish to dampen their spirits, and merely said, "Let's wait and see what kind of bird-official position the imperial court tosses our way first! If it satisfies me, accepting the amnesty is not entirely out of the question."

Originally, the emergence of Yushan Stronghold had been an accident, and Li Gui had never expected it to develop so smoothly.

However, its current stage of development was already the limit for Yushan Stronghold. To go any further would require attacking prefectures and counties, and beginning to seize walled cities.

Once a city fell, the imperial court's response would be entirely different, and the forces sent to suppress them would inevitably be the elite imperial troops or the Western Army.

Although Yushan was a rugged place with towering mountains and dense forests, it could not be considered an impregnable natural barrier. If the imperial court were to turn ruthless and set fire to the mountains in autumn, they could easily reduce Yushan Stronghold to ashes.

Even without resorting to such vicious tactics, if they relied purely on hard-hitting troops and generals, Li Gui's thousand or so infantrymen could not hold out for more than a few months.

Coupled with psychological warfare, divide-and-conquer tactics, one only had to look at the ecstatic expressions of Huang Silang and Li Laoqi right now to know the outcome.

Therefore, if the imperial court truly offered a decent price, allowing Li Gui to develop here in peace and spend a few years turning this place into an iron fortress, playing along with them for a while was worth considering.

Yet the scholars in the imperial court were no fools either; they had their own set of procedures for pacification and amnesty. How could they possibly allow him to retain his original army? The most likely outcome would be relegation to some idle, nominal post.

This was hardly what Li Gui desired. When that time came...

We shall take it one step at a time!

A reckless warrior need not overthink things. At worst, he would turn the world upside down and see if this grandfather could achieve enlightenment through slaughter, hacking his way straight to becoming a superman!

Having made up his mind, Li Gui had the news of the amnesty passed down. At the same time, he ordered the minor chieftains to secretly monitor the movements of their men, especially those fellows who were unwilling to accept the amnesty, and compile a complete list of their names.

Everyone assumed the Great Chieftain did not want anyone to disrupt the grand plan of amnesty, so they carried out the task with great diligence. Within a few days, they had thoroughly investigated the backgrounds of all the personnel and secretly reported back.

Li Gui ordered a reorganization, separating this group into an independent camp under his direct command, upgrading their treatment by one tier, and ensuring their daily supply of wine and meat was fully covered.

Outsiders were unaware of Li Gui's intentions, assuming the Great Chieftain was merely pacifying the men to prevent them from causing trouble and ruining the amnesty, and thus paid no mind to their preferential treatment.

Receiving such treatment, the men in the new camp not only failed to shed their resentment, but grew even more dissatisfied.

Whenever they thought about becoming ordinary soldiers in the future with no more wine and meat to enjoy, they filled with complaints and wished they could stir up trouble to wreck this amnesty altogether.

Li Gui acted entirely oblivious. Not only did he issue no punishments, but he also intensified their training, driving these men to the point of endless grievances.

Within a few days, complaints arose everywhere within the new camp, and many ambitious fellows even began secretly conspiring to stage a rebellion after Yushan Stronghold accepted the amnesty.

Some secretly reported these matters to Li Gui, but Li Gui simply ignored them, letting them mess around as they pleased.

At first, many responded to the conspiracy. But as soon as they thought about the fact that the government troops sent to suppress them in the future would most likely be led by none other than their current Great Chieftain, Brother Li, half their hearts turned cold instantly, and they dared not entertain thoughts of rebellion any longer.

This conspiracy thus came to a halt, flaring up and dying out in a matter of days.

With many mouths in the stronghold, the affairs of the new camp quickly spread throughout the entire place.

The other bandits mocked these ignorant fools while diligently saving money, preparing to buy land and build houses after the amnesty so they could live in peace as law-abiding citizens.

Only Zhu Fu was observant. Seeing this state of affairs, he harbored his own thoughts, yet uttered no superfluous words, choosing simply to stand by and watch coldly.

After half a month passed in this manner, one day, the tavern outside the city at the foot of the mountain sent word: the imperial envoy had already arrived at Yishui County and would soon ascend the mountain to read the imperial decree.

The stronghold instantly bustled with activity. Everyone hung red silks and festive banners all over the mountain, swept and cleaned the grounds, and prepared the incense tables in advance, waiting solely for the envoy's arrival.

Unexpectedly, upon reaching Yishui County, the envoy went no further, simply dispatching a messenger to Yushan to summon the people of Yushan to the city gates of Yishui County to receive the amnesty decree.

Thinking nothing amiss, everyone hurriedly prepared to pack their things and accompany the messenger to the county town. Li Gui promptly halted them, shouting curses:

"You thieving scoundrels!"

"Your minds have been completely blinded by official caps!"

"If that is a trap and an ambush, once we reach the city walls, I am not afraid for myself, but I fear for your lives!"

"Right now, the stronghold has won, and they are begging the stronghold to accept the amnesty, not us begging them for mercy!"

"I shall stay right here on this mountain! If he wants to decree his will, let him come up the mountain to see me!"