The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

The person who arrived was Cheng En, whose face showed urgency, but Li Chengye did not react in any particular way.

There was no other reason than that so many people had come to Huanglong Mountain to seek refuge with him these days.

It's become commonplace.

In fact, it wasn't just his area; the entire Huanglong Mountain area was seeing a continuous influx of migrants from all directions.

Huanglong Mountain extends east to Tongzhou in Xi'an Prefecture, south to Heyang, Chengcheng, and Baishui, and north to Luochuan and Yichuan in Yan'an Prefecture. It is about 60 li long from north to south and about 50 li wide from east to west. This area is precisely the area of ​​the prefectures and counties in northern Shaanxi that are most severely affected by the drought.

People fleeing famine and evading taxes, if they do not intend to join the bandits in rebellion, will mostly choose to hide in Huanglong Mountain.

When Li Chengye and his group left the village, their primary goal was to hide in this mountain.

Today, in addition to Li Chengye's relatively large force, there are more than 30 smaller groups of refugees, each with more than a thousand members, scattered throughout the Huanglong Mountain area. As for the bandits who rob and plunder, they are countless.

"Brother, this person is different. He claims to be an old acquaintance of yours and also says he is an official," Li Chengen said.

"An official?" Li Chengye's interest was piqued. "Did he say his name?"

"He said his name was Suhe and that he had met you before in Ganquan."

"Su He." Li Chengye smiled as he read the name.

This Mr. Su actually came to his door, which was quite unexpected for him.

When I casually let him go at Old Sun's wine shop, it was just to leave another clue to the court's movements.

In the days that followed, he only sent people to his place to retrieve some official reports that had been circulating from the post station, and there was no further interaction between them.

According to Li Luo, who was sent to retrieve the official gazette, he was always on high alert whenever they met, fearing that others would find out.

Recently, at the end of last month, I heard that he was promoted to the position of Registrar and became the "Fourth Master" of Yijun County. He has started to avoid them intentionally, as if he wants to draw a line between them.

Li Luo went to the door several times but couldn't find the person. Later, he simply disguised himself as a family member and went straight to the county government office, and only then was he able to meet him.

This time, their initiative, and the fact that they came in person, is truly strange.

However, no one visits a temple without a reason, and he thought that this Master Su might bring him some interesting news.

At this moment, the Master Su that Li Chengye was talking about was smiling obsequiously, cautiously watching several young men who were pointing at him from a circle with red-tasseled spears.

These boys looked no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, but the tips of their red-tasseled spears gleamed with a cold light.

I had long heard that this traitor Li was diligently training his troops in the mountains, and that Lord Liu, the military commissioner, had failed to capture him despite several attempts. I had previously thought it was just a rumor.

But now it seems that even his few lads can wield guns in formation, so what he said might not be an exaggeration.

Upon realizing this, Suhe couldn't help but worry about the imperial court, but when he thought about the purpose of his trip, he felt more confident.

Previously, whenever Li Chengye went out to harvest grain, no matter how much he harvested, he would always share a portion with the people along the way.

Many people felt that Li Chengye was not the kind of vicious bandit who plundered people and seized land, so they sent their sons, whom they could not support, to him for help, hoping to find a way for their children to survive.

Many of them were teenagers, around thirteen or fourteen years old.

In previous years, these children would have become the strong laborers of their families in two years, and they would have had to be kept to support the family.

However, the past two years have been plagued by drought, resulting in very little harvest. In addition, the saying goes, "A half-grown boy can eat his father's bread," meaning they are at the age when they are growing and need to eat, making it difficult for their families to support them.

They had no choice but to send their children out to Li Chengye, hoping for a chance to live. Over the months, there were no fewer than two or three hundred such boys.

Drawing upon the wisdom of his descendants from his memories, Li Chengye formed the "Red Tassel Team," which was then managed by Li Chengen and Shi Tou respectively.

These children were given chores to do each day, and after some training, they were sent to various mountain passes to keep watch and scout.

Unexpectedly, the results were quite good. On several occasions, the government spies did not take them seriously because they were children, which led to their exposure and capture on the spot.

The boy who was holding the gun was named Guo Silang. He was the fourth child in his family, with two older brothers who were adults. The family line continued, so they gave him a cake and sent him out. The boy next to him was surnamed Quan. Because a crow flew in from the west when he was born, his family felt it was an ominous sign and did not give him a proper name. They just called him "Quan the Crow".

The two were whispering to each other:

"Master Li has been gone for so long, why hasn't he returned yet?" Quan Laoya asked with some concern.

"What is he going to say? He has to report to the President first and explain his purpose. Let's keep a close eye on him. I think this guy... his eyes are darting around, he doesn't seem like a docile person."

Guo Silang remained calm, clearly having full confidence in his captain.

The sun was past noon, the hottest time of the day.

Although Suhe was standing in the shade of the tree, she still felt unbearably hot and kept wiping her forehead with a towel.

To avoid attracting attention, he did not wear a silk shirt today, but only a thin blue linen garment. Despite the thin material, he was still drenched in sweat.

Just as he was getting impatient and was about to ask the boys with red-tasseled spears nearby, Li Chengye led Li Luo over from the mountain path.

Li Chengye had just walked seven or eight steps away from Su He when Su He suddenly knelt down with a "thump," startling Guo Silang and Quan Laoya who were standing nearby.

"Please, Master Li, save me!"

Before he finished speaking, he began to kowtow repeatedly, raising a light dust cloud on the ground, clearly using all his strength.

Li Chengye was completely bewildered, so he quickly stepped forward to help him up: "Master Su, you have to tell me what happened first before I know whether I can save you or not."

Su He wiped away the two tears he had managed to squeeze out from the corners of his eyes and said, "I only ask that Master Li help me kill one person."

"Who to kill?"

"County magistrate."

These words puzzled Li Chengye even more. He looked at Li Luo beside him and asked, "Has a new magistrate arrived in Yijun City?"

It's no wonder he was puzzled.

Before Luo Dai arrived yesterday, he had just heard the scout's report that everything was normal on Yi Jun's side, with no news of a new official taking office or any unusual activity.

Li Luo also shook his head, indicating that he had never heard of it.

Suhe quickly explained, "It's not Yijun, it's the magistrate of Yanchang County."

Ok?

Li Chengye stopped guessing and asked directly, "Aren't you working in Yijun? What does this magistrate position in Yanchang have to do with you?"

Suhe then calmed down and began to tell her story.

Although he spoke cryptically, Li Chengye understood the whole story perfectly.

This was because Master Suhe felt that Li Chengye had something on him, and although he was only delivering court reports, he was always afraid that the other party would take advantage of him.

If one day he were to become an inside agent and break through Yijun City again, wouldn't my hard-earned official position be lost?

So he made every effort to try to be transferred to another county.

If he were still a constable, this matter would naturally be difficult to handle, but now he is a clerk, which, although not a high-ranking official, is still a proper official.

He then asked someone to spend money and happened to learn that there was a vacancy for a warehouse magistrate in Yanchang County.

Thinking that managing the warehouse was a lucrative job, and that it was far from Yijun, he figured that if something happened to Yijun in the future, it wouldn't affect him, so he took out his savings and found a way to bribe the officials.

The higher-ups kept their word and indeed transferred him there.

However, after taking office, he discovered that the situation was far from what he had imagined.

First, before he was transferred, Li Chengye had not yet chosen Nanniwan as his base and was only active in the Huangling area; after he was transferred to Yichuan, Li Chengye had already decided to set up his main camp in Nanniwan, and only a hundred miles south of Nanniwan was Yanchang, which was closer than Yijun.

That wasn't the worst part; the warehouse he took over was empty. An empty warehouse was bad enough, but the books still showed three thousand shi of grain in storage—that was truly a problem.

Historically, the most important aspect of the handover between new and old officials is the audit of accounts, especially the money and grain in the warehouses, which must be signed and sealed by both the former and current officials to ensure a clear handover.

Otherwise, if there is any accountability for future deficits, the blame will only fall on the current incumbent.

But upon closer inquiry, he discovered that the previous employee had accidentally fallen into the water and died after drinking, which was why the position had become vacant.

"Isn't this a scam?" Suhe thought to himself.

In this year of drought, even the Yellow River is drying up, yet people can still drown in the water.

Well, since the previous magistrate was deceased, he reported the truth to Yu Shideng, the magistrate of Yichuan County. Yu Shideng simply said he knew, explaining that the grain had been diverted for disaster relief and famine prevention, but the formalities had not yet been completed. Hearing the magistrate's explanation, Su He felt somewhat relieved.

Less than ten days later, the Shaanxi Provincial Surveillance Commissioner and the Provincial Administration Commissioner suddenly issued a strict order, commanding the prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Yan'an Prefecture to prepare provisions and that Liu Yingyu, the military commissioner, would lead the patrol and garrison officers and soldiers to completely suppress the bandits in northern Shaanxi.

It is said that Liu Yingyu received the support of Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Shi Weiping and was given full authority to command the entire Shaanxi Northern Guard Army, vowing to wipe out the bandits in Shaanxi in one fell swoop.

Before the troops move, the supplies must be prepared. Thus, the task of preparing the supplies fell to us.

Su He was dumbfounded.

In the few days since taking office, Suhe has done a good job. He led his men to the countryside and collected more than 100 shi of tax grain from several villages and towns that still had people.

However, the higher-ups demanded at least two thousand shi (a unit of dry measure), leaving a shortfall of one thousand nine hundred shi. With grain prices soaring, such a huge amount was beyond what Suhe could scrape together, even if he sold his entire family.

At this moment, Yu Shideng seemed to have turned his back on him, urging him to replenish the grain reserves as soon as possible, or he would impeach him for "embezzlement".

Suhe was puzzled by the drastic change in Yu Shideng's attitude.

Later, it was the county clerk who secretly advised him to persuade wealthy households in the county to "borrow grain" to cover their deficits, and then repay them when the tax grain was collected in the future.

Moreover, the grain loan could not be made in the name of the county government; Su He had to borrow it in his personal capacity.

Suhe was originally from Yijun. He had only been in Yanchang for ten days. He was unfamiliar with the place and the people there. How much face could he possibly have? How could he possibly borrow grain from those local rich people?

Left with no other choice, he still went door to door, and unsurprisingly, none of the wealthy families in the county agreed to his request.

At this point, the situation had reached a dead end.

Yu Shideng's grain urging orders grew more urgent each day, and the granary was so empty that rats could run away; he was clearly being used as a scapegoat.

When he was desperate, Suhe was forced to come up with a ruthless plan: whoever was pressing for his life, he would kill them.

Once Yu Shideng, the magistrate of Yichuan County, dies, and such a murder occurs, who will have time to investigate the matter of grain and fodder?

This matter can be settled in a muddled way; at worst, I'll lose my official position, which is better than losing my life.

The person who kills the county magistrate must be capable and reliable. His men are good at oppressing good people and extorting merchants from other places, but killing an official is giving them too much credit.

At that moment, he thought of Li Chengye.

Since ancient times, it has been considered natural and just for government soldiers to suppress bandits and for bandits to kill officials.

If the magistrate is "accidentally" killed by thieves, it can only be said that fate is against him, harming his superior, and it has nothing to do with Su He.

Upon hearing this, Li Chengye couldn't help but laugh.

Although Suhe's calculations were rather crude, they could be considered a "remedy."

The saying "when a person dies, their debts are left to rot" is indeed an age-old truth. However... it's perhaps a bit too crude.

However, Li Chengye was also concerned about another point. He went straight to Su He and asked, "You said that Liu Yingyu is going to lead the garrison and patrol troops to wipe out the bandits in northern Shaanxi. Who gave him this confidence?"

This wasn't because Li Chengye looked down on Liu Yingyu; after several months of fighting, he knew this man was difficult to deal with. But to say that the garrison troops alone could wipe out all the bandits in northern Shaanxi was simply wishful thinking.

Roughly estimated, the number of displaced people gathered in Huanglong Mountain alone was no less than 80,000, while the number of peasant armies of various sizes roaming around Yichuan, Fugu, Suide and other places was also in the tens of thousands.

In contrast, the Ming Dynasty's garrison troops today are known to be utterly corrupt.

Previously, Wang Er suffered a major defeat outside Yulin City. At that time, Tongguan Guard had committed all its main forces, but Wang Er's troops were still less than 20,000 strong, and Zhang Shixiong, the commander of Tongguan Guard, had already suffered heavy losses.

Tongguan Guard was under the direct control of the Shaanxi Military Command and the Ministry of War. Its provisions and pay were more guaranteed than those of Yan'an Guard. In addition, the Ministry of War's Military Affairs Department would take inventory of the Tongguan Armory every year.

Even so, the fighting strength of Tongguan Guard was less than one-tenth of what it was at the beginning of the founding of the country.

I heard that a few days ago, everyone in the Huazhou Thousand-Household Garrison was dressed in mourning clothes, and the Thousand-Household Garrison Commander Zhang Shixiong was even blocked at the gate of the yamen by the families of the Weizhong Army and dared not come out.

Those people were all there to claim compensation for their men who had died in battle, but the court's compensation was delayed, and morale in the army was collapsing.

With such a garrison army lacking manpower, food, and pay, it would be virtually impossible for them to quell the bandits.

As for the patrol and inspection office that Suhe just mentioned, its troops are stronger than those of the garrison troops.

According to later accounts, these local security forces could perhaps be compared to the special police detachments of each county.

This group of people guarded key passes and strategic locations year-round. Although their armor was incomplete and their government supplies were often insufficient, their condition was much better than that of the garrison troops because they could collect regular fees from passing merchants.

Their biggest problem is that they are too few in number.

In the Ming Dynasty, each patrol inspection office had no more than a hundred or so people, half of whom were archers and arquebusiers.

When the incident occurred in Yijun County, Zhou Dezhao mobilized all the county's patrol officers, constables, and yamen runners, and only managed to gather two hundred men. The rest of the soldiers guarding the city were all forcibly recruited able-bodied men from within the city.

Furthermore, there is another point that raises suspicion: the Shaanxi Provincial Governor ordered Yanchang County to prepare 2,000 shi of military rations, a number that was clearly excessive for the existing troop strength of the Yan'an Prefecture garrison as Li Chengye knew.

Unless Liu Yingyu has some hidden trump card, like Wang Er did before, whose trump card is the cavalry from Guanzhong, but the intelligence has not yet revealed it.

Upon thinking of this, Li Chengye felt a chill run down his spine.

He then said to Su He, "Whether or not to kill the magistrate is another matter for now. But how about I cover your granary deficit?"

Su He quickly asked, "That's excellent! But I wonder how Master Li plans to settle this? How can the accounts be settled without executing the magistrate?"

Li Chengye said, "It's very simple. I'll just send someone to burn down your granary, and that will solve everything, won't it?"

"Huh?" Su He exclaimed in surprise.

Li Chengye laughed: "The thieves stole the grain, accidentally started a fire, and the granary was completely destroyed—isn't that even more logical?"

Suhe suddenly realized and nodded repeatedly, "Absolutely, absolutely!"