Tang Dynasty Swordsman

Page 143

Chapter Nineteen: Soldier or Thief?

Li Ji estimated that as long as production could be largely restored, Weibo would not necessarily lack grain, cloth, and even salt. However, other supplies, including money, iron, and warhorses, would need to be purchased from other states, making transportation crucial.

Land transport is far less costly and faster than water transport, so since Weizhou occupies a section of the Yongji Canal, it should make good use of it. Therefore, after obtaining Xue Song's consent, he traveled northeast from Anyang to the Huan River, then found a boat north of Huan River City and sailed eastward.

Of course, he would send someone ahead by fast horse overland to your hometown to announce his imminent arrival.

From the Huan River to Guixiang, the waterway was less than a hundred li. Traveling by tow rope, it took a day and a half, finally arriving at the Guixiang dock on the afternoon of the seventh day of the fifth lunar month. He had expected the chief clerk to be there with his officials to greet him, but to his surprise, the shore was teeming with people, mostly commoners; neither officials nor banners were in sight…

Even if the Chief Clerk ordered all the elders of the city to come and welcome him, shouldn't he be standing in the most conspicuous place? And those surrounding him should all be gentry and elders, dressed in silk robes and satin gowns, not all in simple cloth clothes. Gradually, the ship drew closer, and the faces on the shore became clearly visible. Hundreds of soldiers, armed with weapons, surrounded the dock, most facing outwards, blocking the flow of people from all directions, their posture suggesting a formidable enemy. There were no officials like the Chief Clerk on the dock, only a general in a blue robe leading a dozen or so men in plain clothes…

Moreover, most of those dressed in plain clothes had murderous intent on their faces and carried swords at their waists!

Jiao Xiwang sensed something was wrong and instinctively stepped behind Li Ji, warning, "Could it be... could it be that thieves are causing trouble?!"

Li Ji shook his head: "If they were bandits, they would have already started fighting on the shore... They are probably former soldiers from Weizhou who have come to ask me to take them in." Xue Song had given him a heads-up about the possibility of this happening.

Jiao Xiwang said in a trembling voice, "How can there be so many people... If there is a request, a few people should be publicly recommended..."

Li Ji pointed: "Those people on the dock, I suppose they are the representatives... elected by the public."

“Then these remaining people shouldn’t have come so close…” Jiao Xiwang couldn’t help but pace back and forth. “What are the officials in the prefecture doing? They should send troops to drive them all away! Coming in such a surging manner is not a plea for orders, but clearly an attempt to coerce Commander Li!”

Li Ji smiled coldly: "Why would I fear their coercion? If they have ill intentions, they can fire a few volleys of arrows to prevent me from reaching the shore. But I will have all my soldiers on the shore, and my thousands of troops will be like weeds!"

Hearing that the other side might shoot arrows, Jiao Xiwang panicked even more, shrinking back and hiding completely behind Li Ji. Li Ji turned around and smiled: "Supervisor, please go back to your cabin and sit down. I will go ashore first to talk to them."

Then a general on the dock called out loudly, "Has the General arrived? This humble general has come to greet him."

Li Ji pointed behind him and said, "The banner is right here, don't you recognize it? Since you know I'm here, why don't you bow?"

A shout boomed like thunder, causing a commotion on the shore. The young general was the first to kneel, followed by the burly men beside him, and then the crowd outside the circle…

Seeing this, Li Ji felt somewhat relieved. In truth, he was still somewhat worried. Although Jiao Xiwang had boasted, he ultimately only had about three hundred soldiers under his command, scattered across various boats protecting his subordinates, families, and property. Even if they landed, they couldn't be organized hastily. What if the enemy attacked while they were crossing? A hundred against one—his side had little chance of victory.

I'm here to assume my post, not to seize territory. I'm completely unprepared!

As the ship gradually approached the dock, laborers came to set up gangplanks. Just as Li Ji was about to take a step, Gao Ying leaned closer and whispered, "The newcomers are not friendly. Commander Li, you must be careful. It would be better if I, your humble servant, went first and confronted them."

Li Ji waved his hand: "No need for Gong Chu, I can decide this matter myself."

Yin Shen also volunteered, saying, "I will escort Commander Li ashore." He felt quite guilty. He had already sent men to infiltrate Weizhou to investigate the local customs and conditions. How could he have failed to report such an important matter beforehand? If he didn't bravely go now, he feared the commander would not forgive him later... If only Generals Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun were also on this leading ship!

Li Ji nodded—after all, Yin Shen was a capable fighter, unlike Gao Ying who was merely a scholar—and then swaggered ashore on a plank, with Yin Shen leading a dozen or so personal guards following behind.

Li Ji approached the kneeling crowd but remained silent, merely surveying them with cold eyes. Only after his personal guards had arranged the folding chairs did he plop down, remove the long sword from his waist, place his hands in front of him, and then speak: "Get up, all of you."

"Thank you, General Xie!"

Li Ji first turned his gaze to the young general in the lead and slowly asked, "Who are you?"

"This humble general is Nie Feng, a minor official of Weizhou."

In the military, the general rank system was as follows: below the commander-in-chief was the military commander, then the military commander, the ten generals (i.e., regular generals), and the deputy general. In modern terms, the deputy general was the lowest-ranking officer, and below that, one could only be considered a non-commissioned officer. As for Nie Feng's title of "discreet deputy general," it means that he had the qualifications of a deputy general but did not actually command troops.

Of course, this rank is not a military rank. This is the same sequence as an army of 10,000 men and an army of 1,000 men.

Upon hearing the name Nie Feng, Li Ji frowned slightly and immediately looked the man up and down—he was probably around the same age as himself, in his early twenties but not yet thirty, with a broad face, thick eyebrows and a thin beard, quite a spirited young man.

"So you are Nie Feng—Commander Xue of the Zhaoyi Army once mentioned you to me..."

Xue Song recommended Nie Feng to him. Li Ji feigned gratitude, but was secretly wary—if you recommended a civil official, that would be fine, but since he is a military general, and you value him so much, and he is willing to serve you, why won't you accept him? Is leaving this person with me out of good intentions or malice? Are you trying to plant a spy by my side?

Hearing Nie Feng identify himself as a "junior deputy general," I felt a little relieved—so he's a low-ranking military officer, and so young, no wonder… Xue Song once commanded the Weizhou army, so most of the upper and middle ranks of the Weizhou army had followed him to Fuyang. Someone of Nie Feng's status and position probably wouldn't be able to get in. After all, Xue Song's family probably doesn't have much surplus grain; they can't support too many officers and soldiers for the time being.

Where is the Prefect of Weizhou?

"Reporting to the Commander, the Chief Clerk is still in the city..."

Why didn't you come to greet me?

"This..." Nie Feng smiled awkwardly, "I dare not lie. The Chief Clerk saw that everyone had gathered and feared that the city might fall, so he dared not leave without permission..."

"Then why have all these people gathered here?"

Before Nie Feng could answer, a burly man beside him spoke up first: "The straw men have come to pay their respects to the commander and have something to report!"

"And who are you?"

“Li Ziyi, former deputy general of Weizhou, pays his respects to the commander.”

Li Ji glanced at Li Ziyi and thought, "Wow, he's really ugly..." Before he could ask any more questions, the commoners around him started to chime in with their names—"Former Deputy General of Weizhou, Yang Shigu," "Former Rear Guard of Weizhou, so-and-so," "Former Junior Officer of Weizhou, so-and-so"...

Li Ji slammed his scabbard down heavily and roared, "Since you all served in the army, how can you be so undisciplined? The Weizhou army is so unruly, no wonder they were defeated in the battle east of Changle! Stand still, from left to right, from front to back, and report one by one!"

His naturally loud voice was quite intimidating; everyone who heard it paled, and several people in the back rows visibly trembled. After a while, everyone finally calmed down and re-signed—but it was still a bit chaotic, because the commander said "from left to right," but was that according to his left-right rule, or according to ours?

"Do you have any reports to submit?"

"Exactly..."

“One or two people will be publicly recommended to speak to me, and the rest will step back and not speak unless asked.”

Everyone couldn't help but look at each other.

They had planned perfectly well—in their own opinion—to threaten and coerce the new commander, but Nie Feng seized on their weakness and suggested to Li Ziyi that they should quickly disperse the crowd, and that only a dozen or so representatives should come with them to meet the new commander. However, with tens of thousands of people huddled together without a clear leader, and dozens of leaders whom everyone recognized, the situation was chaotic and difficult to organize quickly. No one was willing to disperse without achieving anything.

As the fleet bearing the banner of the military governor approached, Nie Feng had no choice but to lead the dozens of representatives to the dock to wait for them. The rest of the people refused to leave, so they were not allowed to push forward any further and should stay on the outer edge for the time being.

Even so, some people still raised objections: "What if the new commander comes ashore and kills us first?" Nie Feng immediately retorted: "If you are afraid, you can hide in the crowd and don't need to follow us!" But Li Ziyi and the others refused to take off their weapons. Nie Feng alone could not control the crowd and had no choice but to give up.

Then there were those who arrived late, squeezing in while shouting, "I want to go too!" causing extreme chaos at the dock. Fortunately, Li Ziyi and Yang Shigu, who were quite prestigious in the army, designated everyone, telling them who should come along and who wasn't qualified and should stay outside.

Therefore, Li Ji asked them to elect one or two people to come forward. It was normal for tens of thousands of people to have dozens of representatives, but with so many people talking at once, who could I talk to? After a long period of awkward silence, everyone finally stepped back and made way for Li and Yang.

As Li Ji sized up the two men, he thought to himself: Oh, these two are the workers' representatives... ugh, the vagrant representatives. Let's see if we can win them over as traitors... ugh, vagrant traitors, traitors to the people... anyway, that's the gist of it.

First, listen to the two men kowtow and state their requests—mainly Yang Shigu was speaking, while Li Ziyi was not as eloquent as Yang Shigu and only occasionally interjected to supplement—it was indeed hoped that Li Ji would re-enlist the soldiers who had fled from Weizhou and bring them under the command of the Weibo military governor.

Li Ji then pointed outside the circle: "Are they all here? How many people are there in total?"

Yang Shigu replied, "Most of them are here, but some have traveled far and have not yet had time to come and pay their respects to the commander. In total... there are more than ten thousand."

Li Ji thought to himself, "You don't even have a real number, and you can't even be accurate to the thousands. This is the extent of your organizational skills." He then asked, "After the defeat in Chang Le East, where did they all scatter to?" Immediately, his eyebrows furrowed: "Answer truthfully, without any concealment!"

The majority of the former Weizhou army were natives of Weizhou or people from nearby Bo, Bei, Xiang, and Ming prefectures. After their defeat and scattering, those with families fled back home, while those without could only band together for warmth. The mid- to high-ranking officers, even those who hadn't followed Xue Song into the Zhaoyi Army, all owned land in their hometowns—some inherited, some acquired through force after rising to power—and were temporarily secure in their livelihoods. Although they might want to wear military uniforms again, they would never be the first to jump out and test the new commander's limits. Therefore, those who gathered at the gates of Guixiang City were all lower-ranking officers or ordinary soldiers.

Among them, Li Ziyi and Yang Shigu were the highest-ranking deputy generals, and they also held the honorary titles of Senior Light Cavalry Captain and Light Cavalry Captain.

That Yang Shigu was quite eloquent, not only quick-witted but also expressive, and his words were quite persuasive. Li Ji was somewhat wary, because such ability could be persuasive when facing superiors and peers, but could easily be transformed into incitement when facing subordinates and the public. He would say things like, "We are poor and have no other way to do anything but return to the army. We beg the new commander to accept us."

Because most soldiers didn't own much land—otherwise they wouldn't have abandoned their families to join the army and make a living on the edge—even if they wanted to return to farming, they could only become tenants of wealthy families, at their beck and call, practically slaves. Besides, even if you wanted to sell yourself into slavery, someone had to be willing to take you in, right? Which family would trust a veteran to take in? Wealthy families could only afford to hire a few dozen or a hundred guards and bodyguards at most; the number of positions was extremely limited.

Therefore, they could only rely on the money and silk they had plundered or received as gifts during the years of battles, which they were gradually depleting. Moreover, most of the loot went to their superiors, and because of the repeated defeats, the rewards were not much. During the war and after the initial pacification, supplies were scarce and the price of grain soared, so they simply could not sustain themselves for long.

Nie Feng, whether to show his loyalty to the new commander or for some other purpose, deliberately interjected and pointed out: "There are also thieves." Yang Shigu quickly explained: "They are not thieves, but petty thieves..." Firstly, they are locals, so it is not convenient to be too ruthless; secondly, given the terrain of Weizhou, there are no high mountains or deep valleys, so it is impossible to gather a large group of strongmen.

In short, everyone was struggling to survive. They had been hoping for a new commander to arrive and be willing to raise the banner of recruitment again, so they were all gritting their teeth and enduring it...

Yang Shigu didn't say anything more, but the implication was clear: if the new commander refused to accept him, that man, when driven to desperation, was capable of anything. If he could rally a hundred followers and truly become a bandit, these ten thousand or so men alone wouldn't dare attack a city, but they could wreak havoc on every town and market!

Li Ji asked calmly, "Since you are a Light Cavalry Commandant with seven acres of land, enough to make a living, why do you still need to risk your life on the edge of a knife? Is it because the court has not yet granted you this privilege?"

According to Li Yu's amnesty decree, as long as officials of the puppet Yan surrender, all their official positions, posts, and honors will be retained. Of course, specific cases should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. For high-ranking officials like Xu Shuji who have sided with the rebels, let alone being captured, even if they surrender voluntarily, there is no reason for them to be reinstated. They will definitely be transferred. Thus, officials will have land for their posts, and honored officials will have land for their merits. Even if they go home to farm, they will not go hungry.

Chapter Twenty: Including Former Soldiers

The ten thousand or so former Weizhou soldiers gathered outside Guixiang City, though all dressed in simple clothes, showed a clear distinction between rich and poor. Those on the outer circle were mostly dressed in worn, even tattered, garments, many barefoot; while the representatives within the inner circle were much neater, especially Yang Shigu, whose upper garment was clearly a modified brocade robe—it was unclear whether it had been bought or stolen…

Because it's very unlikely that a regular soldier could command a large following, those who could become representatives had to be at least junior officers or non-commissioned officers.

Each situation needs to be analyzed individually. Li Jiguang brought up Yang Shigu's case, asking, "Weren't you granted land for merit? Why don't you go home to farm and instead continue serving in the army? Serving in the army is very risky, what are the benefits?"

Yang Shigu smiled bitterly, "Even if the court were willing to grant it, where would so much land come from?" He pointed behind him, "The general has thousands of men before him, most of whom have meritorious service. Even those who have been promoted to the fifth or sixth rank are already filling the fields. If all of them were granted meritorious land, I'm afraid all the land in Weizhou would be divided up. Even though I am now a Light Cavalry Commandant, the land I received from the false Yan was only ten mu, which is hardly enough to support my family."

Li Ziyi interjected, "When I was promoted to Light Cavalry Captain, I was entitled to ten qing of land, but I have not received an inch of it. The land passed down from my ancestors is less than five mu..."

—With the farming methods of those days, five mu of land wasn't even enough for a grown woman to work on.

"If the commander is willing to grant land according to his merits, we will disperse immediately."

Li Ji thought to himself, "How is that possible? You all said that if all the former generals and soldiers of Weizhou were granted land based on their merits, it's possible that even if all the farmland in Weizhou were divided up, it wouldn't be enough. What am I supposed to do then?"

The system of official ranks was a reward system inherited from the Northern Dynasties, specifically awarded to those who had rendered meritorious service in killing enemies. As described in the Ballad of Mulan, "His merits were awarded twelve ranks, and he was rewarded with hundreds and thousands of honors." There were twelve ranks in total, from the first to the twelfth. In the early Tang Dynasty, these ranks were quite valuable. The twelfth rank of Shangzhuguo and the eleventh rank of Shangzhuguo were equivalent to the second rank of officialdom. The lowest rank, Wuqiwei, was equivalent to the seventh rank. Thus, Li Ziyi's eighth rank of Shangqingcheduwei was equivalent to the fourth rank, and Yang Shigu's seventh rank of Qingcheduwei was equivalent to the fourth rank.

But if we really calculate it that way, then these two could stand upright without kneeling and sit on equal footing with Li Ji...

In fact, as the conferment of ranks became increasingly indiscriminate, and with the gradual shift from civil to military officials after the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras, these ranks became completely worthless. Li Bi once said to Li Ji, commenting on ranks: "According to the decree, they are on par with high-ranking officials, but in reality, they are below even the lowest-ranking clerks." Nowadays, even a high-ranking official like Shangzhuguo, if without any official position, is no different from an ordinary citizen.

But are ranks of honor merely a title without any practical benefits? Theoretically, they should. First, those with honors are granted land, and a considerable amount at that. Even a first-rank Wuqiwei or second-rank Yunqiwei receives sixty mu of land—enough, if cultivated diligently, to barely support a family of three. Second, honored officials are exempt from taxes, regular corvée labor, and miscellaneous corvée, only required to perform temporary corvée labor (roughly equivalent to temporary workers in various government offices). Third, if one performs temporary corvée labor, called "fanshang," one can be granted an official position based on the length of service—generally, a Shangzhuguo (a high-ranking official) is granted the sixth rank, decreasing sequentially, while Yunqiwei and Wuqiwei are granted the ninth rank. Fourth, those with honors equivalent to the third to fifth ranks can have their sons granted hereditary privileges…

In other words, theoretically, Li Ziyi and Yang Shigu should each receive ten or seven qing of land as meritorious land and be exempt from corvée labor; they had both joined the army before the An Lushan Rebellion, and if their years in the pseudo-Yan era were also included, they could have become seventh-rank officials and had one son granted an official position. But in reality, all of this was just empty talk.

According to Yang Shigu, even allotted land and permanent land have not been granted for a long time, let alone merit land. Li Ji nodded secretly, thinking to himself that his official land has always been tied up in his salary, and he has never even seen a single acre of land. According to the Tang law (the Yan law was a pure copy of the Tang law), whether it was official land or merit land, if it was insufficient, it should be replaced with rice. But where would there be so much grain? Who would be willing to distribute it?

The only advantage of being a meritorious official is that you are exempt from corvée labor, but your superiors often drag their soldiers to do private work for them, which is not much different from performing corvée labor.

The pseudo-Yan was a makeshift operation, and they didn't pay attention to many things; now that the Li Tang dynasty has taken over, they are both poor and exhausted, so they can't afford to be particular about anything. Li Ziyi said that if the general were to grant land according to merit, we would immediately disperse, knowing that Li Ji would not agree.

Weizhou simply didn't have that much arable land, and its granaries didn't have that much money and grain to offset the merit land.

Li Ji had considered confiscating land from wealthy households and distributing it, but aside from the fact that this was too difficult, he was ultimately just a local official, not a rebel, and couldn't possibly go head-to-head with all the officials and landlords in the country; even if he succeeded, he would definitely restore the equal-field system of the early Tang Dynasty, and wouldn't recognize the honorary ranks he had previously been granted.

The only way to solve the problem is to reinstate these guys and let them continue serving in the military and receiving government pay.

After Yang Shigu and Li Ziyi pleaded for a long time, Li Ji, seeing that some of the guys in the back row seemed impatient, slowly nodded: "I can take you in..."

Everyone was overjoyed and hurriedly kowtowed, saying, "Thank you, General!"

Li Ji waved his hand, "Wait a minute." He then looked at Nie Feng and asked him, "How many soldiers does Weizhou have now?"

Nie Feng replied, "There are over ten thousand people in the city, and three to four thousand more are stationed in the various counties and townships."

In peaceful times, and not in a major border town, this would already be considered an excessive number of troops; but now, surrounded by surrendered generals and powerful vassals, Weibo's small number of troops is not much different from being undefended.

"How much rice and grain is left in the granary?"

Nie Feng frowned: "This humble general does not know, but it should be no less than thirty to fifty thousand bushels."

Li Ji looked up at the sky and silently calculated in his mind—if it were 30,000 bushels of grain, it probably wouldn't be enough to feed 10,000 people until the autumn harvest… He then paused, put down his long sword, looked down at Li, Yang and the others, and slowly said, “I am here by order of the court to guard this Xiong Prefecture. 10,000 soldiers are not enough, so I will recruit more—but it is impossible to recruit all of you.”

Li Ziyi frowned, about to speak, when Yang Shigu reached out and tugged at his collar, saying first, "There should be some selection... but we are truly poor, with no land to cultivate and no other occupation. We hope the commander will recruit more..."

Li Ji smiled wryly: "In your opinion, how many should we recruit?"

“We will need another 20,000 soldiers…” Yang Shigu paused for a moment, then quickly added, “No fewer than 30,000 will be scattered throughout the surrounding countryside, but those who arrived too late will have to be abandoned.”

If another 20,000 are recruited, plus the previous 10,000, that makes 30,000. Actually, that's not a lot—the court hoped that Li Ji would train 50,000 elite soldiers—but the problem is that there isn't enough food. "I should go into the city to count the remaining granaries to determine the exact number of recruits."

Li Ziyi hurriedly said, "Please give me a definite answer first, General, whether or not we should recruit 20,000 men? What if you keep making such a vague statement and then turn your back on us once we get into the city?"

Yin Shen stood behind Li Ji, staring wide-eyed and shouting, "Are you trying to coerce the military commander?!" But his voice wasn't loud enough, and his appearance wasn't fierce enough, so he couldn't scare the other party at all.

Yang Shigu hurriedly bowed his head, but deliberately raised his voice eight octaves: "I dare not, but please, Commander, accept all those who come to pay their respects, and allow them to retain their previous ranks and honors!"

Upon hearing this, everyone echoed, "Please, General, accept us all!" The shouts of over ten thousand people were almost in unison, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing, their momentum extremely terrifying. Yin Shen and the others, including Gao Ying and Du Huangshang who were still on the ship, all changed color.

Only Li Ji remained unmoved—"I've seen countless armies and horses. You're like thugs and bandits now, how could I be afraid?" He pointed and said sternly, "Don't try to fool me. Are you all old soldiers from Weizhou? How come there are still children with their hair in tufts of hair?!"

Actually, that's an exaggeration. There really weren't any young children or teenagers, but Li Ji clearly saw that there were quite a few teenagers in the crowd, probably only thirteen or fourteen years old at the very least—you're saying they were soldiers too?

Yang Shigu hurriedly explained, “Although they are young, they are all veterans... Some came to enlist, while others are the sons of comrades who died in battle. Their families are too poor to make a living, so they had no choice but to join the army. Commander, rest assured, they have all seen blood, and many have even killed people. But after a year or two of raising them, they will surely be strong and able to charge into battle.”

"Then what about the old and frail with white hair?"

“They joined the army in the early years of the Tianbao era, or even during the Kaiyuan era. They have been in the army for decades and have long regarded the military as their home. It is truly unbearable to abandon them… If the commander abandons them, it is tantamount to killing them. Many of their relatives and friends are in the army and will surely feel grief…”

Li Ji thought to himself, "What a load of crap, you mean 'I will definitely be your enemy'?"

"There aren't many people on the left and right, so I hope the commander will collect a large number of them."

Their idea is that you should accept everyone who gathers today, regardless of age, weakness, or disability; and depending on the situation, you should also accept about 10,000 from those who come back later. Keep the lion's share, and we won't bother with the meager amounts left—it's perfectly reasonable, isn't it?

In fact, Li Ji had already decided to recruit the former Weizhou soldiers who had previously deserted on his way here. Firstly, he was eager to expand his army as long as resources and equipment allowed—the original 10,000 men were certainly not enough—so it was better to recruit veterans with combat experience, or at least military service qualifications, than to recruit new recruits. Secondly, based on information gathered from various sources, he knew that most of the Hebei soldiers were veterans of the Long March, not farmers serving in the military. Many of them had no skills other than fighting, and if they were scattered among the people, they would be a rather unstable social factor.

To put it bluntly, you need to provide a way out for veterans, even those from the opposing side. Historically, after a period of chaos and initial pacification, a crucial element is having enough arable land to distribute. However, it's unlikely that Wei and Bo provinces have that much idle land. Even if there is idle land available for distribution, Li Ji would first need to arrive in the garrison and send people to carefully inspect and register it before implementation. Before that, you must spend money and grain to support those former soldiers to prevent them from causing trouble.

Although he had never expected that tens of thousands of former soldiers would surround the dock, ostensibly to plead for his life but in reality to coerce him, he was far from at ease. However, with the crisis imminent, he could only grit his teeth and back down slightly—his own honor and disgrace were minor compared to the unrest he was causing.

Of course, one must also adopt a sufficiently assertive stance to steer the nature of the incident from coercion to pleading for orders, so that one will only feel slightly uncomfortable, not humiliated, and will not incur the contempt of one's subordinates.

Li Ji was truly unafraid of the ten thousand or so refugees before him. He had seen plenty of similar unorganized and undisciplined armed gangs; as long as the leader was killed, the rest would inevitably scatter. Now, with his long sword in hand, he could draw it at any moment. Most of the refugee representatives were encircled in front of him, prostrating themselves on the ground, making it difficult for them to draw their swords. He was confident that he could instantly strike and kill half of them. As for the rest—Yin Shen and a dozen or so personal guards were standing behind him.

The problem is that this makes his hatred for the former soldiers of Weizhou irreconcilable. It's not just the ten thousand or so people before him; there are probably over twenty thousand more scattered in the surrounding countryside who haven't yet arrived. Even if they were all small criminal gangs of two or three people, let alone bandits, it would be impossible to wipe them out in a short time. How could he restore order and develop production then?

However, although the decision to recruit former soldiers had been made, they had to be usable personnel, right? Before even disembarking, Li Ji discovered that among these more than ten thousand former soldiers, even according to the lowest recruitment standards, less than 60% could be recruited... While there were basically no disabled soldiers—the disabled themselves knew that even if they returned to the barracks, they could not stay there any longer—there were quite a few elderly people with white hair and young children. I don't want these soldiers!