Magistrate Ding is definitely an ally

"Die!"

Li Gui closed in with a furious roar, bringing his axe down straight at Qin Ming's head.

Qin Ming raised his wolf-tooth club, parrying first before launching a counter-attack, engaging Li Gui in a fierce, clanging exchange once more.

The two had already crossed paths during the day, where Qin Ming had held a slight upper hand. Circumstances, however, had changed.

Li Gui had rested comfortably within the stronghold, fully refreshed and vigorous, whereas Qin Ming had spent over an hour pinned down in the damp woods, his limbs stiff and his stamina severely depleted.

During the daytime, they had fought on horseback, and with Qin Ming's superior steed, he had completely dominated the engagement. Now, however, it was foot combat, which heavily favored Li Gui.

In their previous skirmish, the foot soldiers had only held the ground without directly participating. This time, however, as the imperial forces fell into the ambush, the screams echoing behind the stronghold gates were continuous and harrowing, while the rear ranks were pelted by a relentless storm of arrows from the bandits. Lacking any will to fight, Qin Ming could only retreat as he fought, which severely impaired his performance.

Most importantly, over the course of half a day, Li Gui had absorbed a considerable amount of dynastic fortune, pushing his strength to even greater heights.

With one side rising and the other falling, Qin Ming gradually found it impossible to withstand Li Gui's torrential assaults. He was forced onto the defensive, executing fewer and fewer attacks and growing increasingly strained.

At the height of the battle, Li Gui's blood vessels bulged as his entire body turned scarlet red, resembling a boiled prawn, while he roared and fought with abandon.

Qin Ming, on the other hand, felt his hands and feet grow heavy and sore, struggling to keep a firm grip on his weapon. A single moment of distraction allowed an axe blow to send his wolf-tooth club flying, immediately followed by a heavy kick that sent him tumbling to the ground. He failed to get back up for a long time, and was soon bound in ropes by the stronghold's men.

With Qin Ming no longer holding him back, Li Gui was like a fierce tiger breaking out of its cage. Unstoppable, he charged straight into the ranks of the imperial troops, kicking up a storm of blood and slaughter.

In an instant, blood gushed like waterfalls and severed limbs flew through the air, shattering the morale of the imperial forces in just a few decisive blows.

The thousand-odd soldiers ran about in headless panic, bumping into each other blindly. Some lost their minds in terror and fled straight toward the bandit stronghold.

Seeing this, Li Gui gave the order, and the entire stronghold emptied out in pursuit of the routed army.

They chased them all the way from the mountain down to the plains, right up to the front of the military camp, before a volley of erratic arrows finally checked their advance and brought them to a halt.

Yet, those two thousand imperial soldiers had practically been wiped out entirely; not a single soul managed to escape back to the camp.

As for Magistrate Ding, he had spent the night residing in the military camp, waiting only for good news of Qin Ming breaking the stronghold. To his dismay, the earth-shaking sounds of battle throughout the night terrified him so much that he did not sleep a wink.

By dawn, when the sun was already high in the sky and Qin Ming still had not returned, he realized that the commander must have been captured on the mountain. Seized with panic, Magistrate Ding fled ingloriously back to the county seat.

Upon returning to the yamen, he hurriedly summoned Advisor Song once again, launching into a bitter complaint:

"That fellow surnamed Qin was full of empty boasts, claiming he would break the stronghold in three days! Look at him now—wasn't he captured by that very Li Gui?"

"It would be one thing if he died on the mountain and ended it there, but he has brought disaster upon this magistrate, leaving me to shoulder this enormous blame!"

"It's clear our bandit-suppression campaign is failing once more. What on earth are we to do?"

Advisor Song hastily comforted him: "Your Honor need not worry excessively."

"As the saying goes, victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists. Even if the Qingzhou forces suffered a defeat, they only lost two thousand men, and there are still over ten thousand elite troops left in the army. On Mount Yu, however, there are merely one or two thousand bandits at most. Even if we exhaust them by trading lives, there is no reason for us to lose."

"Since the secret agents are of no use, we should follow the late Commander Qin's original plan: advance steadily, entrench ourselves at every step, and trade lives for lives until the bandits inside the stronghold are completely worn out. By then, the stronghold will fall on its own."

Magistrate Ding listened, and thought it made absolute sense!

"Indeed, what Changping says is most wise!"

"With over ten thousand imperial troops at our disposal, even if we trade five of our men for one of theirs, we can still grind the bandit army down to nothing!"

"As expected, Sun Tzu's Art of War states that when deploying troops, one must 'use the orthodox to engage'! Exactly so!"

Magistrate Ding patiently settled down to await the outcome of the Qingzhou army's assault on the stronghold. Yet, waiting yielded no news, neither left nor right, prompting him to hastily dispatch messengers to inquire.

The reports revealed that the Qingzhou army claimed Li Gui possessed ferocious martial prowess, and without an equivalent commander to hold him in check, they feared they were no match for him. Consequently, they had shut their gates and refused to sally forth, waiting solely for the arrival of Qingzhou Military Inspector Huang Xin.

Magistrate Ding flew into a rage. Although Qingzhou was not far away, a round trip would still take at least a month. He could afford to wait, but Grand Tutor Cai's birthday celebration certainly could not!

Without a moment's hesitation, Magistrate Ding rushed to the military camp to press them into action. Under his heavy mix of coercion and enticements, the remaining regular commanders dared not refuse and had no choice but to obediently agree, immediately dispatching troops up the mountain to attack the stronghold.

Having achieved his goal, Magistrate Ding returned to the county seat feeling thoroughly satisfied and immensely proud of himself.

A gentleman does not stand under a tottering wall; Magistrate Ding certainly had no desire to endure another agonizing stay in the main camp like last time.

Who could have expected that just as his foot crossed the threshold of the county seat, news arrived: the imperial forces that had gone up the mountain to attack the stronghold had suffered a crushing defeat, sustaining heavy casualties, and had once again cowered back inside their camp, too terrified to venture out.

This drove Magistrate Ding into a fit of fury. In his study, he hurled curses and smashed objects, even shattering his favorite vase.

After venting his temper, he went to urge them once more.

After all, they were merely hired killers; what did it matter if they were all wiped out?

Only this time, the few surviving commanders were not so easily placated. No matter how much he scolded or threatened, they simply refused to deploy troops to suppress the bandits.

They had been thoroughly terrified of Li Gui!

Enraged beyond measure, Magistrate Ding directly threatened that if they refused to obey orders, he would charge them with cowardice and desertion before the battle. Only then were they forced to agree to another campaign.

Fuming with anger, Magistrate Ding returned to the county seat to await the outcome of this assault.

Yet, he waited until evening, and still no news arrived.

Magistrate Ding found this extremely strange, yet he dared not go and check for himself, terrified that if the camp had already fallen to Li Gui, his visit would be nothing more than walking straight into a tiger's den.

When day finally broke, he sent scouts ahead to investigate the situation at the military camp. The scouts returned with word that the camp was practically deserted: all the imperial troops, from high-ranking commanders down to ordinary soldiers, had more or less fled.

Magistrate Ding hurriedly had a few soldiers from the camp rounded up and brought in for questioning. Only then did he learn that after being coerced by Magistrate Ding that day, the commanders had conferred among themselves once he departed. They concluded that attacking the stronghold was ultimately a dead end, and racked their brains without finding any solution.

In the end, one of them threw caution to the wind and suggested they truly commit "desertion in the face of battle."

Having offended the civil official, their military careers were undoubtedly finished anyway. They might as well run away for home before Magistrate Ding had the chance to retaliate and before news reached Qingzhou. If they packed up their gold, silver, and valuables, took their families, and relocated to another prefecture, there was a chance they could make a comeback one day.

After all, they were unranked junior officers; making a living by risking their lives was the same anywhere!

The other commanders weighed the idea and found it quite sensible.

As long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood; as long as one stays alive, there is always a day to turn things around.

And so, the group simply looted whatever valuables were left in the military camp and fled!

No sooner had they left than the lower-ranking officers—such as squad leaders, sergeants, and corporals—lost their footing as well, terrified that Magistrate Ding would take his anger out on them once he found no higher commanders left.

If Magistrate Ding needed a plausible excuse to punish senior and subordinate generals, he didn't need any reason at all to deal with small fry like them; any flimsy pretext would suffice.

Thus, the junior officers fled one by one. Left without any supervision, the remaining soldiers had no intention of staying behind either. After engaging in a thorough looting spree, they too scattered and ran.

Quite a few bold and unburdened ones simply went up the mountain to surrender to the Mount Yu bandits.

The ones left behind in the end were only those slow to react, dull-witted, or simply too cowardly.

Now, it was Magistrate Ding's turn to panic.

Meddling recklessly in military affairs, causing soldiers to desert, and even leading them to surrender to the bandits—these were by no means minor charges!

He hurriedly summoned Advisor Song once more to deliberate on countermeasures.

Yet, even Advisor Song was helpless in the face of such a disaster.

Just as the two of them were at their wits' end, they suddenly heard a report from outside: Commander Qin Ming of the Qingzhou Commandery had returned.

Magistrate Ding and Advisor Song exchanged glances, and a sudden gleam of enlightenment lit up both their eyes simultaneously.

Look at that—wasn't the scapegoat appearing right on cue?