The gods began by supporting Guo Jing to become emperor

Chapter 117: Disaster at Guiyun Manor
Five days later, the bandit camp in the mountains was littered with dead and wounded.

This time, Guo Jing went out to rob the rich and help the poor, and he brought a hundred people with him. These hundred people were carefully selected by him, and it was no problem for one person to beat two people. Without any intention, he quickly defeated the bandits and broke into the stronghold.

This place is located at the border between the Song and Jin dynasties, and is a no-man's land. On weekdays, there are many bandits entrenched here to rob people on the road. The Jin people are happy to see such chaos on the road, and the Song government has tried to wipe out the bandits many times but failed, because some of them are other people's white gloves, and in the end they can only let them go and do nothing.

Of course, Guo Jing did not attack the big mountain strongholds, but picked a few small mountain strongholds to attack. He took over several strongholds easily without any intention.

In the open space in front of the stronghold, the bandits knelt on the ground and cried in pain. Guo Jing forced them to reveal their shortcomings with just a few words. The leading bandit and those who committed the most evil were executed, and the remaining young and strong were rounded up and detained.

Finally, they collected all the money and food in the village, took them away, set a big fire and left together.

Now Guo Jing will no longer hesitate when killing people. After reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles, he now understands that only by taking drastic measures and acting decisively can he save the casualties to the greatest extent.

As for whether those people should be killed or not, and whether they have committed evil deeds, it is actually not important. It is because they blocked the way of these people. If Hong Qigong were here, he might catch these bandits, interrogate them one by one, and then punish them and make them pay compensation.

But Guo Jing didn't have the energy and time. He knew very well that he couldn't learn from Senior Hong. He could only do this because it was the fastest and best way he could think of. He came here to sweep the place in advance, which in another way reduced the support of the Jin Kingdom.

Once the Jin army marches south, these mountain strongholds will be stones blocking their way. They have to either surrender or die. Now that the Jin Kingdom is strong, there must be many people who will surrender. He cleaned them out in advance and did these things to the best of his ability, which can be regarded as saving some people.

He gave some money to the women and children in the mountain stronghold and advised them to leave. With the war between Jin and Song breaking out, the border became too unsafe.

The round trip took a full seven days, during which many of their people died. When they returned to the island in Taihu Lake, they were all exhausted.

With them came more than 300 captured young men and strong men. Killing them all would be a heinous crime, and letting them go would be the same as doing nothing. Guo Jing simply took them away and used them for his own purposes.

A long time ago, his teacher taught him a truth: people are sometimes a kind of wealth.

On the beach, several hundred people were divided into two groups. One group consisted of more than 600 people under Guo Jing. Guo Jing stood on a platform made of rammed sand, looked at the more than 300 people below, and said in a deep voice, "I know that some of you are Han people under the rule of the Jin Kingdom, and some are civilians under the rule of the Song Kingdom. You all know me. My name is Guo Jing, and I am their leader. I was the one who sent people to break through your stronghold and capture them."

"I know you hate me and are afraid of me, but that doesn't matter. From now on, as long as you follow me, work hard for me, and kill enemies for me, I, Guo Jing, will guarantee that everyone of you will have food to eat and clothes to wear."

In front of these people, Guo Jing did not preach any great principles. He needed to convince the more than 600 people by using the name of resisting the Jin army, but these people did not care about the interests of the country and only wanted to make a living. Otherwise, who would be willing to become a bandit and live a precarious life?
For these people, we can only bribe them to make them obedient, and then slowly conquer them later, provided that they can live until that time.

After just two words, the bandits below began to talk. They looked at each other, then at the burly man holding a knife or a gun next to them, and their hearts were pounding with fear.

A few prestigious guys looked at each other, and then looked at Guo Jing above. If they didn't agree today, they would be dead. The water in Taihu Lake is too cold. So, they gritted their teeth, knelt on the ground, and shouted in a literary manner, "I am willing to serve you, young master!"

Seeing this, the rest of the people also knelt down sparsely and shouted in unison, "We are willing to serve you, sir."

Guo Jing knew that they were unwilling to obey in their hearts, but it didn’t matter. As long as they joined the army, he had plenty of ways to make them obey his orders.

After ordering his men to train them hard, Guo Jing returned to the cabin, picked up a pen and wrote a letter and handed it to Dahu, "Dahu, send someone to escort half of the grain to Guiyun Manor and thank Uncle Lu and Brother Lu for me."

"My subordinate understands."

After saying that, Dahu opened the door and left. Behind him, Guo Jing looked at his departing figure and sighed deeply. Nowadays, many forces gathered in Guiyun Manor, and he did not want to get involved. If he was just a disciple of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, it would be fine, but he also got the true teachings of Senior Hong. If he unfortunately failed during the fight and was discovered by others, it would be a big problem.

There was a huge surplus of money and grain found in the mountain stronghold. He kept half of the grain, and the rest was more than enough to return to Guiyun Manor. It would be enough for these people to take the money with them when they went north.

A few hundred people would be too conspicuous. If they were carrying baggage, wouldn't they be waiting for someone to check? The war was about to start, and the Jin Kingdom would not be stupid enough to let people flee.

……

"boom!"

A sharp arrow exploded in the sky, followed by the sound of rustling footsteps. Looking around, there were several tall official ships floating on the lake. Soldiers in Song Dynasty military uniforms ran down from the ships and ran towards Guiyun Manor.

"Come here, surround Guiyun Manor for me, and don't let anyone go!"

When the soldiers set foot on the territory of Guiyun Manor, the Lu family discovered that the enemy was coming. A shrill voice rang out in the night, "There are enemies!"

Soon, the lights in Guiyun Villa were lit quickly, and Lu Chengfeng was pushed out. He looked at the dark crowd of soldiers outside, and his heart sank to the bottom. Why did the soldiers come?
He thought it might be because of the Taihu bandits, but even if so, the government didn't need to make a big fuss. These soldiers were well-equipped and it was obvious at a glance that they were elite imperial guards directly under the command of the court. How could a small Guiyun Manor have the qualifications to cause the elite imperial guards to take action?
Lu Chengfeng was pushed in front of the leading official. He bowed his body and forced a smile on his face, "Sir, is there any misunderstanding?"

The official standing in the front was wearing a green official robe and had a slightly overweight figure. He looked at Zhuangzi with his fat face and sneered, "Misunderstanding? No misunderstanding. I heard that in recent days, your Guiyun Manor has been sending out invitations to heroes and inviting people from the martial arts world to plot a rebellion. I advise you to lay down your weapons and surrender. This way you can still have a way out. Otherwise..."

(End of this chapter)