Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Strongest Fortress in Xuanzhou!

Inside the Hall of Righteous Gathering at Ten Kings Stronghold.

Li Yun sat at the seat of honor. To his right were Li Zheng and Liu Bo, while the third in command, Zhou Liang, sat to his left.

Liu Bo began, “We’ve more or less finished tallying Ten Kings Stronghold’s possessions. Just in copper coins, there are about twenty thousand strings.”

Li Yun lowered his head to drink his tea, smiling. “They truly are wealthy, as befits the largest stronghold in Xuanzhou.”

Liu Bo continued, “Besides ready cash, there’s a decent amount of gold and silver, but the largest stockpile is grain.”

“They regularly transport massive quantities of grain up the mountain—so much that even if the old harvests rot in heaps, they don’t care.”

Li Yun grew curious and asked, “How much grain did they store?”

Liu Bo scratched his head. “At least several thousand bushels, maybe more. There’s so much I can’t even count.”

The chief frowned. “Hauling grain up the mountain isn’t easy. They’re only two hundred strong, so why amass so much grain?”

Li Zheng grinned from the side. “Whatever their reasons, all that grain is ours now.”

Liu Bo picked up a box from the floor and set it before Li Yun. “Second Brother, there’s also this.”

Li Yun glanced at the box—inside were numerous letters.

He asked, “Correspondence between Ten Kings Stronghold and the prominent families of Xuanzhou?”

“Exactly,” Liu Bo replied with a laugh. “This Old Tong was a sly one. In his room, we found a trove of letters and account books, all deliberately preserved to hold leverage over those gentry. It kept them from easily abandoning him.”

“Some of these documents, we even found on his person.”

“Now, Xuanzhou’s troops are so eager to rescue Ten Kings Stronghold mostly because of these things.”

Liu Bo looked at the letters, laughing. “It’s a pity those big shots in the prefecture didn’t expect such a fierce internal strife at Ten Kings Stronghold. Before they could even arrive, you’d already taken the place, Second Brother.”

Li Yun picked up the letters and after skimming a few, his attention was caught by one bearing the character “Gu” on the envelope.

Opening it and reading through, he saw the signature at the bottom: “Gu.”

He sneered coldly.

So it wasn’t just Xuanzhou’s gentry colluding with the stronghold—even the Gu family of Shidai had “business dealings” with them!

The Gu family of Shidai was an old bureaucratic clan—not high in rank, perhaps, but they’d been officials for generations. And yet, they too were in league with bandits!

One could only imagine how rotten the entire world had become!

Thinking of the mountains of grain stockpiled at Ten Kings Stronghold, Li Yun drew a deep breath.

With the times as they were, he knew he wasn’t the only one who saw the truth: this grain was either Old Tong’s precaution or stored on behalf of someone else.

As he was lost in thought, Zhou Liang, who’d been silent, suddenly asked, “Chief, what do you plan to do with the spoils of Ten Kings Stronghold?”

Li Yun snapped back to the moment and looked at the three men. “I called you here to discuss exactly that.”

“The troops from Xuanzhou are still camped at the foot of the mountain. We don’t have the luxury of time to move everything from Ten Kings Stronghold at our leisure.”

“With only forty or fifty of us, even if we carry off every bit of gold and silver, it wouldn’t amount to much. As for copper coins and grain, they’re impossible to transport—so if we withdraw now, we can only take a tiny fraction.”

“So the question before us is—” The chief looked at his men and said, “Should we stay at Ten Kings Stronghold and take over Lingyang Mountain, or do we grab what valuables we can and retreat to Cangshan?”

“Retreating to Cangshan would be safer. After all, officially, the Cangshan stronghold doesn’t exist anymore in Qingyang’s records. If we lay low, the authorities won’t trouble us there.”

“But if we stay at Ten Kings Stronghold, we could claim all its wealth. Yet the government troops are still below, and their commander has realized we’re not the old Ten Kings Stronghold. He may not dare storm the mountain, but he’ll surely report to Xuanzhou’s Commander Cao Rong. If those officials grow uneasy, they could send more troops. Then we’d be facing not a hundred, but perhaps several hundred.”

“If we decide to stay, we must be certain we can hold the stronghold.”

Zhou Liang stroked his beard in silence.

Li Zheng and Liu Bo exchanged glances, then looked to Li Yun. “Second Brother, you’re our backbone. You decide.”

Zhou Liang nodded. “Chief, your word is ours to follow.”

Li Yun, frowning, sat in silence.

It was a difficult choice.

Staying at Ten Kings Stronghold promised great rewards—not only seizing the largest stronghold but inheriting most of its wealth.

But the risks were just as great.

He couldn’t gauge the depth of the ties between Commander Cao and the bandits. If the connection was strong, Xuanzhou might send its full strength to wipe them out.

He was, after all, still leading a fledgling band—their capacity for risk was limited.

After a while, Li Yun spoke slowly, “Let’s wait two more days and watch how Xuanzhou responds.”

In truth, this meant he was inclined to stay.

The government troops were lackluster fighters, and with the advantage of the terrain, they had a good chance of holding the stronghold.

But what truly solidified Li Yun’s resolve was not the mountain’s natural defenses, but the realization that the so-called thousand-man Xuanzhou force was a fiction—he’d never seen so many men.

For half a year, even during the recent Shidai rebellion, Commander Cao had brought only two hundred armored men at most.

Padding the rolls was routine for these local officials. Li Yun had no idea how much pay Commander Cao pocketed for ghost soldiers, but he was sure Xuanzhou’s real fighting force was under a thousand—perhaps only two hundred, with the rest being phantom entries.

If that was so, Li Yun was fully confident they could hold Ten Kings Stronghold—especially since, in addition to his Cangshan men, over a hundred former bandits had already surrendered.

Once the matter of returning to Cangshan was settled, Li Yun cleared his throat and posed another question: “What should we do with the original members of Ten Kings Stronghold?”

Zhou Liang quickly offered his view. Smiling at Li Yun, he said, “Chief, over a hundred remain from the original stronghold. We can’t kill them all. Many are able-bodied men, others are youths.”

“If you want to expand our forces, these are the best helpers.”

Li Yun tapped his fingers on the table. “My worry is, they might betray us.”

“Chief, you overthink it,” Zhou Liang replied with a grin. “Loyalty isn’t their strongest trait—not in a place like Ten Kings Stronghold. I suggest we keep them here. Let me stay on Ten Kings Peak a while and pick out the useful ones.”

“Besides, most are wounded. If you treat their injuries and show them kindness, I guarantee they’ll behave.”

Li Yun took a deep breath and nodded, agreeing with Zhou Liang.

In these times, expanding one’s power often followed such a pattern.

Sometimes, two armies might be at each other’s throats one day, and fighting side by side the next after surrender.

The only difference was that surrendered troops were treated a bit worse. As Zhou Liang said, as long as they’re not mistreated, few would hold grudges.

A stubborn few might, but they’d never amount to a threat.

“Then let the original members stay.”

At this, Li Yun narrowed his eyes. “But from Old Tong down, all those so-called ten kings must die—no loose ends.”

Without another word, Zhou Liang stood and strode out. “I’ll see to it for you, Chief.”

Li Yun watched him go, chuckling under his breath.

After a sip of tea, he turned to Liu Bo. “Old Ninth, I brought Sun Shouli up the mountain—he used to be Ten Kings Stronghold’s bookkeeper. Over the next few days, work with him to inventory everything thoroughly.”

“And make sure all the corpses in the stronghold are buried behind the mountain. We don’t want any outbreaks.”

Liu Bo nodded quickly. “Second Brother, you can count on me.”

Then he looked at Li Yun and asked, “Second Brother, are we moving the whole stronghold to Lingyang Mountain?”

Li Yun glanced outside, considered, then shook his head. “Cangshan is still our foundation. The elders stay there. Bring only the newcomers and able-bodied men here.”

Thinking aloud, he went on, “If Ten Kings Stronghold thrives, the elders and Uncle Fifth can look after Cangshan, and you all can settle here.”

Liu Bo grinned with excitement. “If we can gain a foothold at Ten Kings Stronghold, we’ll be the biggest band in all Xuanzhou, not just Qingyang!”

Li Yun smiled but said no more, his gaze drifting out the window, thoughtful.

The imperial pacification commissioner.

He’d surely be appointed after the New Year, wouldn’t he?

Please subscribe! Please vote! Gentlemen, your support!

(End of chapter)