A lowly soldier becomes king, I slaughter my way through the late Tang Dynasty!

"Damn it! Li Rui's intentions are sinister, he's utterly despicable!"

I have heard about what Wang Yuan has done.

Sun Fangjian flew into a rage!

He knew very well that Li Rui's move was a psychological tactic.

Those villagers were his foundation; once they listened to Wang Yuan's words, they would come down the mountain and join Li Rui.

Then all the soldiers under his command will definitely leave with their families.

When that time comes, he'll have no men under his command, so how will he defend Wolf Mountain?

As soon as Sun Fangjian thought about these things, his anger kept rising!

Clang!

He drew his knife and roared.

"I'll kill this bastard!"

Having said that, he raised his knife and slashed at Wang Yuan!

Wang Yuan was bound hand and foot and could not escape.

As the cold light descended, he was filled with terror, and his clothes were instantly soaked with cold sweat!

At a critical moment.

Sun Xingyou quickly grabbed his cousin's wrist.

"Cousin, you mustn't! This man is Li Rui's envoy. If he dies in our stronghold, wouldn't that give Li Rui a perfect excuse to attack?"

Sun Fangjian, still furious, glared at him and said.

"Then let him fight! What kind of bullshit Jade Dragon General is he? When you get to Wolf Mountain, even a dragon has to coil up!"

Sun Xingyou, holding his knife, hurriedly gave a wink to the soldiers at the door.

The latter hurriedly stepped forward and carried Wang Yuan out in a haphazard manner.

Sun Xingyou released his grip and closed the door.

He turned around and lowered his voice.

"Cousin, Li Rui has never been defeated in any battle, big or small, since he was born!"

His reputation throughout Hebei is well-deserved; if he were to launch an attack, the outcome would be uncertain.

Sun Fangjian snorted angrily and sheathed his sword.

"So what? Given the terrain of Wolf Mountain, a thousand men coming, a thousand men dying!"

Sun Xingyou said with a wry smile.

"That was before. Now, with Li Rui's envoy making a fuss, the villagers' minds are already being stirred."

If what he said is true, and the people of Boling County do indeed have a yield of one to three shi per mu, the villagers will surely come down the mountain to seek refuge with Li Rui!

"By then, what will we have left to fight against Li Rui?"

Sun Fangjian was startled, but immediately dismissed it with disdain.

"He's bragging! Three bushels per mu? How can he even say that!"

Sun Xingyou remained silent.

Unable to reach a conclusion, the two locked Wang Yuan in a woodshed.

Neither kill nor release.

The next day.

As Sun Xingyou walked along the narrow path, he immediately sensed that something was amiss in the village.

He clearly saw several villagers whispering in the distance.

But wait until he gets close.

The villagers hurriedly lowered their heads to do their work, as if they were avoiding him.

Even some of the village soldiers started to avoid eye contact!

Sun Xingyou was well aware that Wang Yuan's words had begun to have an effect.

The villagers are eager for a harvest of 3 shi per mu (a unit of land area), and they probably all want to go down the mountain to see if it's true or not.

Sun Xingyou sighed and went straight to the woodshed where Wang Yuan was being held.

As soon as he entered, he got straight to the point.

"May I ask, envoy, does General Li wish to be granted amnesty?"

Wang Yuan, clutching his rumbling stomach, insisted on bowing and then answered.

"If Your Excellency can lead the villagers to submit, everyone will be happy."

Sun Xingyou continued.

"What official positions will General Li assign to my brother and me?"

Wang Yuan replied.

"Commander and Deputy Commander."

Sun Xingyou shook his head.

"Too low."

The bargaining chip his cousin demanded from the Khitans was the governorship of three prefectures.

Compared to a mere commander, they are worlds apart!

Wang Yuan laughed.

"It's a low rank now, but my general has a bright future ahead of him. Who knows what this lowly commander will become in the future?"

Upon hearing this...

Sun Xingyou's heart skipped a beat!

Indeed, Li Rui was only in his early twenties, yet he had already risen to the high position of the head of a town's military command.

If nothing unexpected happens.

He will definitely become a town's military commander in the future.

Who knows what will happen next?

A commander now may very well rise to a high position in the future.

But they were complete strangers to Li Rui, so how could they possibly entrust their future to a stranger?

Sun Xingyou shook his head and left.

Helpless, Wang Yuan shouted through the crack in the door.

"If you won't kill me, at least bring me some food! I'm starving!"

……

Several days later.

Boling County.

The timber and stone for building Langshanwu are already being prepared in large quantities.

Li Rui also took the time to recruit another batch of new soldiers.

They were all selected from the people who were relocated from Weizhou.

They settled in the northern suburbs of Boling County, got a house and land, and their lives improved.

Naturally, I am grateful to Li Rui.

Moreover, being Li Rui's soldier comes with excellent benefits!

So after this round of recruitment, Li Rui gained another three thousand new soldiers.

Together with the original Restoration Army, they had a total of seven thousand men.

Li Rui completely scattered them and reorganized them into new teams.

Outstanding veterans from the Restoration Army were appointed as the new recruits' squad leaders.

Mentoring new recruits is always the fastest way to train them.

Subsequently, Li Rui divided the army into three parts.

Restoration Army, Destroyer Army, Divine Sword Army.

The Restoration Army was organized into three thousand men, with Zeng Feng serving as its commander.

Most of them are respectable men from Boling County.

The Polu Army consisted of 3,000 men, with Zhao Kuangyin serving as its commander.

Based on the new recruits from Weizhou, the veterans of the Restoration Army were incorporated as the soul of the army.

The final Divine Sword Army was a cavalry unit.

It was led by Li Rui himself.

There are only a thousand men at present, most of whom are elite veterans who followed Li Rui in the great victory at Yunshandang.

After the reorganization of the three armed forces was completed, they were all trained together in the northern suburbs of Boling County.

When Li Rui was absent, Zhao Kuangyin concurrently served as the commander of the Divine Sword Army.

Just as he had completed the reorganization of the army and returned to Boling County to handle government affairs.

But he saw Wang Shuyu sitting in the mansion, looking at him with a resentful expression.

Li Rui felt a chill run down his spine and said awkwardly.

"Don't worry, my dear wife, Ziping will be fine."

There has been no news of Wang Yuan for several days since he went up Wolf Mountain.

After all, he was her own younger brother; how could Wang Shuyu not be anxious?

"Hmph~ So many days without any news. If those Sun brothers really did something wicked, their bodies would probably be rotting by now!"

Li Rui reluctantly put his arm around Wang Shuyu.

"It's winter now, it won't smell bad that quickly."

Upon hearing this...

Wang Shuyu glared at Li Rui fiercely and broke free from his embrace.

"I don't care! I only have one younger brother, Ziping. If something happens to him, how can I face my father?"

Li Rui, however, was not worried at all.

"The Sun brothers aren't fools; they wouldn't kill Ziping. Otherwise, why would I have agreed to let Ziping go up the mountain in person?"

in history.

The Sun brothers' ability to straddle the fence between the Jin Dynasty and the Khitan required considerable intelligence.

Later, after Liu Zhiyuan established the Later Han Dynasty, he directly served as the military governor of Dingzhou and Yizhou.

Those who can survive for so long in chaotic times, and even rise to the rank of high-ranking officials, are not fools.

They could never kill Wang Yuan!

Seeing Li Rui's certainty, Wang Shuyu felt somewhat relieved.

"Alright then, I believe you."

Li Rui smiled, pretended to hug Wang Shuyu, and turned to go into the back room.

Having been married for so long, how could Wang Shuyu not know what kind of bad things Li Rui was planning to do?

Normally, she would have complied with Li Rui's wishes.

But when she thought of her younger brother suffering in Langshan, how could she be in the mood for that?

With a slight twist of her waist, she dodged the hug.

"Hmph~ Go find some other sisters."

Li Rui scratched his head and had no choice but to go to the backyard.

Amidst the bustling crowd, Li Rui caught a glimpse of Li Zhiyan, who was making a snowman.

After moving to Boling County, with so many sisters by her side, Li Zhiyan gradually emerged from the shadow of losing her father.

Her smiling face was radiant and breathtaking.

Li Rui was tempted and quickly stepped forward, wanting to formally take Li Zhiyan into his room.