Chapter 79

  These four thousand soldiers were vastly different from the ones Tang Yin saw yesterday, with neat uniforms and complete armor, wearing war knives at their waists and holding long spears. Perhaps it was due to receiving military pay and wearing new padded jackets and armor that the soldiers' morale had greatly improved, each one standing tall and straight. Just watching them gave off an aura of momentum.

  Yes! Tang Yin nodded secretly, no matter how strong the soldiers' combat effectiveness was, as long as their morale was boosted, they looked much more pleasing to the eye.

  He walked onto the high platform of the school's military field, his eyes gleaming like electricity as he slowly scanned the crowd of soldiers below. In a loud voice, he declared: "I am Tang Yin, the newly appointed County Magistrate of Pingyuan County. Today, I have gathered all of you brothers here to eradicate banditry."

  Everyone was quiet below, holding their breath and listening intently to his speech.

  "Bandits are rampant, and merchants dare not come to our Pingyuan County to do business. Without commerce, Pingyuan County cannot be rich and prosperous, and the people cannot even talk about having enough food and clothing. If the people are not full and warm, how can we talk about stability? We can't even achieve stability, let alone resist foreign enemies. Therefore, bandits are a great scourge to Pingyuan County and must be eliminated. I hope you brothers can work together with me, even if we don't talk about the grand principles of protecting our homes and country. At least we should live up to the uniforms on our bodies and the weapons in our hands!"

  His words were reasonable, sincere and practical, and also had a strong persuasive power. With Tang Yan's arrival in Pingyuan County, he brought the greatest benefits to the soldiers, making his reputation in the army extremely high. After hearing his words, the soldiers shouted in unison: "Eliminate bandits! Eliminate bandits! Eliminate bandits......"

  For a time, the shouting was like thunder, lasting for a long time without stopping.

  Even Zhang Zhou, who was the most reluctant to go and suppress the bandits, was influenced by the soldiers at this time and involuntarily followed them in shouting slogans with raised arms.

  Bai Yong watched from the side, nodding his head in approval. Tang Yin was indeed a commander who inspired loyalty and devotion, worthy of risking one's life to follow.

  Tang Yin led his subordinates with more than 4,000 soldiers, and they marched out of Heng City in a mighty manner to the lair of the Shangguan brothers' bandits.

  The whole journey was uneventful, and on the second day at noon, the troops arrived at Santailing.

  Sanshiling is a mountainous area, and the lair of the Shangguan brothers is located within it.

  Before entering the mountain, Tang Yin ordered the troops to stop and called his generals to discuss the next tactic.

  Tang Yin adopted Qiu Zhen's suggestion and decided to lead 500 soldiers to advance into the mountain first, single-handedly challenge the Shangguan brothers, and then lure them away.

  After hearing his words, everyone shook their heads one after another, thinking that this was too risky. Tang Yin was the commander-in-chief after all; if anything happened to him, it would be disastrous.

  However, Tang Yin was stubborn and Gu Yue and others did not dare to dissuade him. Bai Yong spoke bluntly, saying: "This is probably not a good idea."

  Tang Yin asked back: "Where does General Bai think is inappropriate?"

  Bai Yong said with a serious expression: "General Tang is our commander-in-chief and absolutely cannot take risks lightly."

  Tang Yin sneered at such words, if he went there would be danger, wouldn't others going be even more likely to go and never return? Not only could they not lure out the Shangguan brothers, but they would also lose their lives in vain.

  Before he could speak, Bai Yong continued: "Besides, how can Tang Gongzi, as the county governor, bring only 500 people to suppress the bandits? Although Shangguan brothers are not extremely intelligent, they should still be able to see through the trick."

  Tang Yin's eyes deepened, this was a problem he hadn't thought of, indeed, the Upper Guan brothers knew they were county guards, only bringing 500 people forward, which was somewhat unreasonable.

  "What is General Yee Bai's view on this?"

  "Let me go!" said Bai Yong: "Although I am not familiar with the two brothers of Shangguan, I also understand their habits. Let me go and lead them away, it shouldn't be a difficult task!"

  "Sir, I think it's feasible for General Bai to go!" Qiu Zhen immediately chimed in.

  "Oh..." Tang Yin fell into thought for a moment, then nodded and said: "Alright, let General Bai go in my place. Also," he looked at Gu Yue and Le Tian, saying: "Generals Gu and Le, you two accompany General Bai together, it's also good to have someone to look out for each other."

  Gu Yue, Le Tian, Li Wei, Liu Zhongsheng, Chen Fang and Ai Jia were temporarily not assigned to specific positions, all of whom were classified as "Pian Jiang" by Tang Yin, with a position that was neither high nor low.

  Bai Yong did not want anyone to accompany him, but it was also impolite to decline Tang Yin's kindness. He cupped his hands and bowed, saying: "Your subordinate obeys!"

  Tang Yin turned to Zhang Zhou and said, "Give me a map of this area."

  Zhang Zhou responded with a sound, hastily pulled out the map from his bosom and handed it over to Tang Yin.

  He took it, spread it on the ground, looked at it for a moment, pointed to the map and said: "This is the lair of the bandits. I and General Li, General Liu, General Chen, and General Ai will ambush here. General Bai only needs to bring the Shangguan brothers to this place!" His hand drew on the map as he explained.

  Bai Yong, Gu Yue and Le Tian looked at each other seriously and nodded repeatedly.

  Tang Yin continued, "General Zhang will lead the remaining 3,500 brothers to ambush here. After General Bai and his brother Officer Bai lure them away, we'll launch a surprise attack on the bandits' stronghold. We must be swift and ruthless, don't get entangled with the bandits, and end the battle quickly!"

  "Understood!" With military orders at stake, Zhang Zhou dared not be vague and loudly acknowledged the command.

  After all things were clearly entrusted, Tang Yin then put away the map and led the crowd into the mountainous area.

  Bai Yong, Gu Yue and Le Tian led 500 soldiers at the fastest speed to rush towards the bandits' stronghold.

  Not long after walking in the mountains, a hurried whistle sounded from ahead, sharp and piercing, one after another, gradually fading away.

  Seeing Gu Yue and Le Tian's serious faces, they subconsciously gripped their weapons tightly. Bai Yong smiled slightly and waved his hand, saying: "The two generals don't need to be tense, this is the bandit's lookout discovering our trail and passing on the message to the stronghold."

  "Will the bandits come out and kill soon?" Gu Yue asked.

  Bai Yong was about the same age as him, but in terms of combat experience, Gu Yue far surpassed him.

  "We'll have to wait a bit longer, just listen for the whistle and we can judge, the bandits are very surprised by our arrival, completely unprepared." Bai Yong said lightly as he rode his horse.

  As expected, they continued on their way for a long time without encountering any bandits who had killed their way out, only occasionally hearing the sound of whistles coming from afar.

  As they walked deeper into the mountains, after a while, Bai Yong reined in his warhorse and raised his arm, signaling the troops to halt their advance.

  "General Bai, what's wrong?" asked Gu Yue, puzzled.

  "If we go further forward, it will be too far from where Lord Tang is ambushing." Bai Yong looked ahead with a serious expression and said: "The bandits' sentry sounds have stopped, I estimate they've gathered all their men and are coming out to fight."

  Gu Yue and Le Tian showed a suspicious expression, not believing Bai Yong's speculation. The front was calm and peaceful, and no matter how they looked at it, it didn't seem like there were any large groups of bandits about to emerge.

  Just as the two of them were silently muttering to themselves, they suddenly heard a loud laughter coming from ahead, followed by someone shouting loudly: "I wonder who dares to bring people into the mountain. It turns out to be General Bai! What wind has blown General Bai to this humble place today?"

  At the sound, everyone was shocked at the same time and looked up.

  Two figures quickly emerged from the grass heap in front, and these two were none other than Shangguan Yuanwu and Shangguan Yuanbiao. Behind them, countless bandits with disheveled clothes followed one after another.

  It really was guessed by Bai Yong! Gu Yue and Le Tian couldn't help but take a few more glances at him.

  The surprise on Bai Yong's face appeared quickly and disappeared even faster.

  He used to run into the twin brothers in Heng City, and although they didn't have any particular friendship, they also didn't have any bad blood between them. Later, when the Shangguan brothers became outlaws, they no longer had any dealings with each other.

  He glanced at the two of them for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "You two, because of your brotherly relationship, I have always turned a blind eye to what you have done, not interfering or asking questions. But this time you have gone too far, actually robbing County Magistrate Tang's head! Today I am here on orders to punish you, and I apologize for any offense!"

  "Haha!" Shangguan Yuanbiao burst out laughing and said: "Bai Yong, you are a big shot in Pingyuan County, listen to my advice, quickly abandon the army! If you like leading troops and fighting battles, then follow us brothers. Otherwise, sooner or later you will die on the battlefield. Serving in the military in Pingyuan County has no future and no benefits, why bother looking for trouble?"

  Bai Yong shook his head and smiled, saying: "If it were in the past, I might have really listened to your advice, but now it's different. Lord Tang is a rare and wise commander, I believe that with Lord Tang around, Pingyuan County will definitely be rebuilt in peace. Shangguan brothers, I'd rather advise you two to give up your bandit identities, follow me into the army, and follow Lord Tang. You'll definitely achieve something and won't disappoint either of you."

  "Fart!" Officer Yuan Biao sneered, "The commander is incompetent, and the subordinates are the first to die. Every county guard who has taken office in Pingyuan County, which one didn't come with a majestic appearance, only to end up killing countless soldiers? This new Tang Yin, I think he's no different either. Bai Yong, you don't have to listen to my brother's advice, but you'd better take your men and scram quickly, otherwise... Heh heh!" He smiled eerily without finishing his sentence.

  "What if not?"

  "Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless, I'll kill you without leaving a single piece of armor!"

  "Hmph!" Bai Yong sneered, saying proudly: "One generation of bandits, generations of bandits. You two not only do not repent, but also strongly argue, and the face of the Shangguan family has been lost by you two. You bandits, what qualifications do you have to speak loudly in front of me?"

  "Ah!" Shangguan Yuanbiao jumped up in anger, pointing at Bai Yong's nose and scolding loudly: "Damn it! I had good intentions, but you little bastard treated me like a fool. Since you're looking for death, I'll fulfill your wish today!"

  As he spoke, he brandished his gun and charged at Bai Yong.

  Bai Yong deliberately provoked the Shangguan brothers, appearing to not be afraid of them on the surface but in reality he didn't dare to be even slightly careless. He was too familiar with the cultivation of these two brothers and if they really started fighting, he would hardly have any chance of winning. It's just a matter of how long he could hold out.

  He quickly jumped off his war horse and took down his long sword from the saddle bridge, meeting Shangguan Yuanbiao.

  With a slap, his mouth didn't stop either, and he sarcastically said: "With you two brothers, I'm ashamed for Yuanji's sake. You're willing to degenerate, that's fine, but you've also brought shame to Yuanji's back. If I were you two, I'd have smashed my head to death long ago. Being alive is also a loss of face, and it implicates your brothers..."