Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 591 The Mountain Bandits' Life-or-Death Situation
Actually, it's not shameful to decide one's stance based on one's own position. If one of the two groups of bandits separated by a river changes their stance, the final result will inevitably be a life-or-death struggle with the other side.

Because I'm a respectable person now, while you know too much about my past. In other words, I'm a soldier now, but you're still a thief. Regardless of what happened in the past, we can only be enemies now.

This has nothing to do with face, relationships, or anything else; the only thing that matters is where you sit.

The bandits of Yao County transformed into a local militia. They could stand in the sunlight again and become human beings with a legitimate name. They also loathed their former selves. In fact, they were even more ruthless in their attacks on other bandits than the government troops.

At first, Master Hu still had some hope, thinking that his previous relationship with Old Sun might still be of some use. But the moment he stepped into Li County, his heart hardened like a stone. He wanted Old Sun dead, and Old Sun had to die. Only when Old Sun was dead could he stop being endlessly extorted by him.

You should know that Master Hu had a prestigious name back in the day: Hu the Three-Cut.

The setting sun was like blood. Old Hu squatted on Eagle's Beak Cliff on the west side of Ghost Cry Ridge in Li County, his knuckles white from clenching his fists. The black flag embroidered with the character "Sun" still fluttered in front of the cave village gate. The mountain wind carried the stench of decay, the smell of the mass grave to the east. When they first arrived, he and Old Sun had recruited many people from this place, including quite a few who worked for the government.

"Uncle Hu, we've scouted ahead." Old Zhao, the hunter, crouched down and leaned closer, his straw raincoat still damp with dew. "That Boss Sun has locked all our men in the cave, and the one guarding the warehouse on the back mountain is Wang Scarface."

Hu squinted, the moonlight tracing the scar on his forehead. Former brothers were now destined to fight to the death, but no one was to blame but himself for being so blind.

As the third watchman's clapper sounded, over a hundred local militiamen, carrying tin cans, crept up to the north slope. These tin cans had been smuggled from Jiangnan Road through "Brother Zhang's" connections. Old Master Hu remembered that when Brother Zhang demonstrated it before, a single tin can had collapsed half a woodshed; its power was astonishing.

The mountain wind was blowing from the southeast, and he licked his chapped lips.

"put!"

Thirty fiery meteors ripped through the night. The gate tower was the first to explode, and the bandits on night watch fell like grasshoppers on fire. Immediately afterward, the stables in the southwest corner burst into flames, and the frightened horses crashed through the fence, rampaging through the village with flames in their wake.

"Heavenly lightning! It's heavenly lightning!" Before the exclamation from the stockade wall had even faded, almost simultaneously, a bamboo arrow soaked in snake venom had pierced the sentry's throat. Master Hu swung his willow-leaf dagger, and where the blade flashed, three streams of blood gushed onto the stone wall.

Suddenly, the sound of metal clashing came from the direction of the cave. Master Hu's heart tightened—according to the plan, Old Zhao was supposed to lead his men to infiltrate through the cave's secret passage to rescue them. He swiftly slashed down two bandits, then suddenly caught a glimpse of a blade flashing past the chieftain's hall.

It's that old Sun!

His old friend of twenty years turned a deep purplish-red, his broadsword slicing through the thick smoke as he aimed straight for Master Hu's face. Master Hu ducked to dodge, his willow-leaf blade grazing the other's armor, sending sparks flying. As the second strike aimed at Old Sun's wrist, the nine-ringed sword suddenly changed its move, pressing down, the copper ring on the back of the blade slamming into Master Hu's shoulder.

The excruciating pain made Hu Ye's vision blur, and he heard Old Sun's cold laughter in his ears: "Good, really good. Twenty years of brotherhood, I never thought it would be you leading men to wipe out my bandits."

A foul stench filled the air as the broadsword cleaved down with immense force.

"Now you know how to talk about brothers? When you robbed my goods and detained my men, did you even think about these brothers?"

Suddenly, the previously misfired iron tube exploded, the blast sending the two men flying. Hu Ye crashed into a stone pillar, his mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood, and saw his men hurling smoking bamboo tubes at the stronghold's council hall, the very heart of the mountain stronghold, causing the hall's beams to collapse. Old Sun struggled to his feet, but Hu Ye's long, willow-leaf-shaped knife was already embedded in his throat, and then, still not satisfied, he plunged it into his heart.

Old friend's face quickly turned ashen, and his body collapsed completely. Before taking his last breath, he raised his head to look at Master Hu, his eyes holding a profound meaning, as if he were saying, "I'll be waiting for you down there," before he breathed his last.

At dawn, the surviving bandits were chained together in a long line. Old Hu stood before the charred gate of the stronghold, gazing at the gradually brightening eastern horizon. Old Zhao brought over a sandalwood box containing land deeds and silver notes and valuables accumulated by Sun Yanwang over the years.

"Gather everything together." Master Hu glanced at the village militia sitting on the ground beside him, their arms bleeding profusely. "Send someone to Linxi Town to fetch a doctor. Give each of the injured brothers five taels of silver. Also, send someone to Li County to gather up the men of this Master Sun and tell them that Li and Yao Counties are now under my command."

The mountain wind swirled up with ashes, and the cry of a partridge echoed in the distance. Master Hu touched the empty scabbard; the pain returned, and he sat down wearily on a large rock nearby, panting heavily.

This surprise attack on the mountain stronghold resulted in the capture of the ringleader in one fell swoop; the remaining bandits were nothing more than scattered rabble. The most interesting thing about bandits and mountain thieves is that if the government comes to suppress them, they are almost always helpless, but if other bandit gangs come to deal with them, they are almost always defeated.

He ordered his men to cut off the head of the bandit leader, Lao Sun, and put it in a box. Then, he openly went to Li County and took over Lao Sun's people and businesses there. The local magistrate refused? What a joke! He didn't even know who was in charge in this area.

After resting for two days in Li County, Master Hu hung the head of his good brother on the city gate for all to see. In this hot and humid southwest region, the head emitted a foul stench and was covered with maggots, but Master Hu did not mind, because he knew that the head of his good brother was the stepping stone he had used to climb up the social ladder.

To others it was nothing more than a stinking head infested with maggots, but to him it was a priceless treasure.

"Suppress the bandits! Suppress them completely. Anyone who prevents the lives of ordinary people, anyone who obstructs trade and transportation, is a bandit!"

Standing on the high platform in Li County, Master Hu shouted passionately, "This bandit leader Sun is stubborn and unrepentant! Today he deserves his punishment. Our county's militia is determined to protect this land and will not allow such vicious thieves to run rampant!"

The villagers below were completely bewildered. "Wait... how did you, Chief Hu, suddenly become the protector of the villagers? Back when you two were in charge of Li and Yao counties, you were much more ruthless than Chief Sun."

What about roasting hostages into jerky and sending them back to their homes? What about dismembering people alive until they're just skeletons? Those are all things you, Boss Hu, have done. Even ordinary bandits would tremble at the mention of your name. And now, things have turned out quite well. The bandits have become a local militia, and they've even created a so-called "protection of peace in the region."

It's funny to say.

But who dares to laugh now? Hu the Boss is no longer restrained, and with the addition of having annexed Sun the Boss's business and property, he's practically a local tyrant in this small territory.

You still dare to laugh? Don't you care about your life?
However, Master Hu was quite amiable at this moment, mainly because he was in a good mood. After several days of accounting and confiscation, all of Master Sun's assets, from top to bottom, were now in his hands, including houses, land deeds, farmland, and various shops and goods, which, when calculated, amounted to about 100,000 taels of silver.

He could devour this huge piece of meat all by himself, leaving no room for anyone else. Even the magistrate of Li County dared not speak out against it.

Furthermore, after all this turmoil, his forces quickly grew to eight thousand men. With money to his name, he could recruit local militia on a large scale. To be honest, he's now dreaming of wearing a dragon robe.

It is expanding, extremely expanding.

After taking control of the situation in Li County, he led his men back to Yao County, still carrying the head. However, because it was so smelly, he had it treated with lime. Although it was so rotten that its original appearance was unrecognizable, at least it wasn't as foul-smelling.

The local militia's successful suppression of the bandits was a tremendous achievement. Master Hu replicated his operation in Li County, which was a great success in Yao County, making him the talk of the town.

"Is this a good thing?" Xu Shiji watched as Master Hu spoke eloquently and passionately, and he turned to Xia Lin and asked in a low voice, "He's gaining momentum now."

"Great, of course it's a good thing." Xia Linyi stood under a tree, arms crossed, and said with a smile, "This area has lost two bandit hideouts all at once."

"Then what is he?"

“Consider them potential rebels.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Xu Shiji's eyes sharpened, and he immediately understood the implication. He laughed and said, "You really treat him like a dog."

Xia Lin spread his hands helplessly: "To be honest, I've seen many heroes and have even met famous ministers of our time. These little bandits are too green. When it comes to dealing with them, I usually have to rely on brute force to overpower them. I can't really gain anything by outsmarting them."

"One force can overcome ten techniques; all martial arts practitioners understand this."

“But this kind of person,” Xia Lin gestured with his chin toward Hu Ye, whose face was flushed from drinking some alcohol at noon, “is no different from a dog in my eyes. In my opinion, the difference between those famous scholars and him is much greater than the difference between him and a wild dog in the mountains.”

Xia Lin was arrogant but not haughty. He looked down on people like Master Hu from the bottom of his heart, but he still dealt with the issue about him very seriously. After all, many things in this world are hard to explain. Novels need logical coherence, but the real world is unreasonable. When some people's luck comes, it is really hard to stop them. Even insignificant little things can have the possibility of turning the tide.

Throughout history, both in China and abroad, there have been countless instances of people capsizing in unexpected ways.

"What are you going to do next?"

Xia Lin pursed her lips: "How many more days?"

"Time is running out. The twenty days you mentioned, now there are less than ten days left, or more precisely, seven days."

Xia Lin touched his purse, took out fifty taels of silver and handed it to Xu Shiji: "I'll lose this round. Twenty days might not be enough."

"Then tell me how many days it will take?"

Give me another month.

"Of course, one hundred taels will do."

"Brother Xu doesn't look down on people."

"Hahaha, let's wait and see."

Xia Lin postponed the deadline by a month, not because he couldn't handle Master Hu, but because Master Hu's arrogance and smugness would likely attract the attention of the Guangxi warlord, and Xia Lin's target was that man who dared to call himself warlord.

After Hu Ye finished dealing with things outside, he walked in triumphantly. Seeing Xia Lin sitting in the shop, he whistled with a hint of mockery, "Brother Zhang, what do you think of your brother?"

Xia Lin quickly stood up, cupped his hands in greeting, and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Brother Hu! Congratulations, Brother Hu!"

"Don't be so polite, your method really works. By the way..." Old Hu looked around, and after making sure no one was around, he leaned close to Xia Lin and whispered, "How about we get some more of those iron cylinders?"

Xia Lin's expression changed drastically: "Brother Hu, beheading..."

In fact, Master Hu had a rough idea of ​​what was going on. Even in Jiangnan Province, this thing was definitely not something that ordinary people could possess. It was probably something that had been passed down from their army. Just thinking about it, he knew that it was not easy to obtain.

“Brother, that thing is amazing. I thought Old Sun’s village was impregnable, but who knew that when the Thunder Tunnel went off, the wires inside got all messed up, and my local militia wiped them out without breaking a sweat. You find a way to get some more, money is no object.”

"Brother Hu," Xia Lin quickly cupped his hands in greeting, "This isn't something you can just get your hands on. If they find out, believe it or not, the Po Lu Army could just cross the border and slaughter us. I'm only doing this because I'm worried about Brother Hu's safety, so I risked my life to get some for you."

"Alright, alright, I won't make things difficult for you." Old Master Hu was unusually understanding at this moment: "Come on, I'll treat you to dinner, and later I'll have the prettiest woman in the county keep you company."

Xia Lin bowed and thanked him, then went to eat with Master Hu.

Master Hu is a completely different person now. Whether it's his entourage or the guests he hosts, their status has clearly risen a notch.

In this small county town, he is like a rising star, shining brightly.

With nearly 10,000 people under his command and owning almost 30% of the industries in two counties, he was naturally the most powerful person here. And with his power, people around him would naturally flatter him to the extreme, making him incredibly popular.

The problem is that their boasts are getting more and more outrageous. During the banquet, someone compared Hu Ye's annihilation of Sun's bandits to Xia Daosheng's great victory over the Turks.

At first, Master Hu was still somewhat clear-headed, but as more and more people joined in the praise, he even began to doubt whether he was really as wise and capable as Xia Daosheng.

"Master Hu, I'm not trying to be mean, but Xia Daosheng from Jiangnan Road was not as good as you back then. Now look at him. If you ask me, if Master Hu wanted to, it wouldn't take ten or eight years. Just two or three years would be enough to make Xia Daosheng treat you with utmost respect. His nickname outside is Night Emperor, right? You, on the other hand, are the Sun Emperor."

Xia Lin turned her head to look at the person who spoke, smacked her lips, nodded, and thought that this person was somewhat cultured, but not much.

"Hahahaha..." Master Hu was also happy at this moment. He stood up with his eyes red from drinking: "Gentlemen, if that day really comes, you will all be my meritorious officials who helped me rise to power."

Xia Lin held a mouthful of wine in his mouth, unsure whether to swallow or spit it out. What kind of nonsense is this, calling someone a "heroic figure"? He wiped out a band of two thousand people who weren't even all in one place, and he's now a "heroic figure"?
Okay, let’s play it this way, right?

Xia Lin picked up her wine glass and stood up: "Then I congratulate Brother Hu in advance!"

(End of this chapter)