Chapter 129
“Are you afraid our Second Prince will steal your credit, Lord Shen?” Seeing that Shen Yuan seemed not to trust him, Hu Lai considered this possibility. “Don’t worry about that. His Highness thinks very highly of you. He won’t take your credit.”
After all, the more achievements Shen Yuan accumulated, the more His Majesty would value him, and the more useful he’d be to the Second Prince in the future.
Shen Yuan was about to speak when the Chief came over, having plainly heard their conversation. “Since he’s my martial nephew’s man, why not hear him out? Perhaps he has a good idea.”
Good ideas? There were only underhanded, immoral ones.
For instance, secretly poisoning the people in a stronghold. If they wanted to live, they’d have to surrender obediently and receive an antidote each month. But that part was a trick. The poison was real, and so was the immediate cure, but the supposed monthly relapse was false. They’d simply poison them again a month later and pretend it was the same ongoing illness. By the time the bandits, already enlisted in the army, figured it out after a few months, it would be too late. At most, they could curse the court for being sneaky bastards.
Or pick a windy day and secretly set fire to their stronghold. Liaozhou’s winters were windy and dry, making fires difficult to control. Once the stronghold was gone and its grain burned up, bandits with homes could return to them, while those without would have to find another way to survive.
Or spread rumors and frame people. Steal one stronghold’s chief’s wife and take her to another stronghold, then steal the other stronghold’s son and take him to the first. Stir up conflict between them, wait until their chiefs had fought each other to mutual ruin, then step in to clean up the mess and collect the survivors…
Or perhaps…
After several nasty schemes, Shen Yuan and the Chief both fell silent.
The Chief began faintly regretting having opened his big mouth and invited Hu Lai inside.
Though he’d become an outlaw, he always acted openly. If he meant to kill, he killed; if he meant to persuade, he persuaded. He never used underhanded tricks.
So, watching Hu Lai explain these dirty schemes with an air of perfect righteousness, the thoroughly bandit-like Chief muttered inwardly: Officials really were terrifying. Every one had a human face and a beast’s heart.
He couldn’t become an official because he had a beast’s face and a human heart instead.
Silence settled over the room. When neither spoke, Hu Lai stroked his beard. “Do you perhaps feel these methods are too underhanded?”
In fact, he’d already tried his best not to be too immoral. After all, he still needed to recruit Shen Yuan for His Highness. Shen Yuan was pure and righteous, always disdaining dirty tricks. Naturally, Hu Lai had to restrain himself, lest the man’s distaste spill over onto the Second Prince.
He really had worn himself out worrying for His Highness!
Hu Lai was so moved by his own devotion that tears filled his eyes.
Seeing his eyes suddenly grow wet, Shen Yuan thought he felt wronged. He coughed lightly and explained, “Not exactly. It’s just that the purpose of recruitment is to replenish the court’s troops…”
They might even use “bandits” to fight “bandits,” thereby reducing the threat to the Jian’an Dynasty.
“So naturally, the more men, the better,” Shen Yuan said thoughtfully. “These methods cause considerable losses of lives and resources. Forest fires in particular are uncontrollable. Once one spreads out of control, the consequences could be unimaginable.”
Hu Lai twisted his beard. “If you want to recruit them gently, you’ll have to offer money and rewards. But do you… does the court have money?”
If they became the Second Prince’s private troops, Hu Lai could find a way to get the rewards back. But if they became the court’s soldiers, that would be difficult. Bandits were wild by nature. Push them too far, and they might simply quit and run away. That happened all the time.
“We can always scrape some together.” Shen Yuan had been thinking of a gentle approach. If they refused, Qianjin Stronghold‘s men could subdue them by force.
The only concern was that bandits were well informed too. If the strongholds learned what they were doing and united in resistance, recruitment would be difficult.
That was why he was here, asking the Chief about the various strongholds.
“Ah, damn it, what a headache!” The Chief slapped his thigh. “If I could remember all their chiefs’ names and weren’t so conspicuous, I’d have flown into every stronghold with Wuji and cut their heads straight off!”
Shen Yuan shook his head. “Anyone who becomes a chief must have either brains or fighting ability. If we can persuade them, they may hold official posts someday and serve the court.”
Besides, if they killed all the chiefs, the bandits beneath them wouldn’t readily obey new leaders. Bandits valued loyalty too. If they discovered the new chief was the enemy who’d killed their old leader, there would certainly be trouble.
“Can’t do this, can’t do that. What a bother.” The Chief stood. “For my martial nephew’s sake, I agree to accept amnesty and recruitment. As for how we go about it, I’ll follow your instructions.”
He headed for the door. “First, I’ll go get those ice sculptures for my martial nephew. That’s the most important thing.”
But as soon as he stepped outside, he saw the Second Chief striding toward him with a brazier, exclaiming excitedly, “Elder Brother! Look what we’ve found!”
Inside the brazier were numerous black rocks, burning fiercely. The Second Chief set it on the ground. “What a fine name we chose for Qianjin Stronghold! This mountain really is full of black gold!”
Black gold?
His voice was loud enough to draw Shen Yuan and Hu Lai outside. Both found it incredible to see the black rocks burning in the brazier.
Xie Chengze ambled over. Seeing Hu Lai, he raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?”
Hu Lai hastily bowed with clasped hands. “Helping Lord Shen think of ways to recruit the bandits. Unfortunately, none proved useful.”
The corner of Xie Chengze’s mouth twitched. He exchanged a look with Shen Yuan: What were you thinking, daring to use Hu Lai?!
Shen Yuan returned a helpless look: The Chief asked him. I couldn’t embarrass him.
“Behave yourself and stay put. Don’t ruin my good karma.” Xie Chengze patted Hu Lai’s shoulder with mild disdain. “Do you think it’s easy for me to build up any merit? If you squander it all, I’ll end up in hell.”
Hu Lai hastily agreed.
“Still, I may have a workable method for recruitment.” Xie Chengze’s smiling eyes narrowed like a mischievous kitten’s. “It’s a little immoral, but we’re human. Who isn’t immoral now and then?”
Hu Lai: ???
Your Highness? You just told him to be less immoral. How did it become “Everyone is immoral now and then” when it came to you?
Don’t be such a hypocrite!
They returned inside and listened as Xie Chengze lowered his voice and quietly explained his idea. After a while, everyone in the room let out a long sigh.
Second Prince, you really were fucking immoral!
–
Black Tiger Stronghold had struck it rich.
Recently, all the well-known large strongholds in Liaozhou had received this news.
Apparently, Black Tiger Stronghold had been considering opening a branch and set its sights on Mount Qiantai, where no bandits had yet settled. Unexpectedly, while building the stronghold, they had dug black gold out of the mountain.
That black gold could burn for days. Selling it in the county seat had earned them a fortune. Black Tiger Stronghold had decided to wash its hands of banditry entirely and start digging up the mountain to sell black gold instead.
The other strongholds were intensely envious. They wanted to seize the black gold mine Black Tiger Stronghold had found, yet feared the tales of Mount Qiantai’s evil spirit. Just as they decided to wait and watch a little longer, another piece of news arrived.