Chapter 828: Turning Chaos into Order, or Turning Order into Chaos?

But it knew that after the Kingdom of Jin Tao and the Longchuan water bandits successfully launched their first surprise attack on Yuheng City, they likely gained experience, and such city-raiding became one after another. Furthermore, the Kingdom of Jin Tao harassed the borders while the Longchuan water bandits raided trade routes; the two sides coordinated tacitly, causing great losses to Yuheng City.

Panlongcheng had no choice but to send troops to assist several times, hoping to help Yuheng City resolve the predicament.

But the Longchuan water bandits were well-versed in the tactic of "the enemy advances, we retreat," deliberately avoiding the Panlongcheng army and the Dafeng army to wage Mobile Corps Commander warfare in the marshes.

The subsequent records left He He Lingchuan even more stunned: the Between Beijia General Fushan Lie gradually annexed the Longchuan bandit gangs, and the force of the former Xiji army he commanded grew increasingly powerful, even capable of contending with government troops; the former Xiji army evolved from initially plundering passing merchant caravans and attacking official patrol guards to directly attacking towns and villages, committing arson and murder, truly rampaging through southern Xiji, with everyone turning pale at the mention of them.

In those years, Longchuan was a carnival paradise for bandits. The scent of wine drifted through the water strongholds every day, and every day people sharpened their blades; a massive number of desperate outlaws rushed in from all directions to join this feast of resistance.

A few years later, which was five years after Panlongcheng took down the Xiji Kingdom, it had to abandon Yuheng City and the former Xiji capital one after another.

At this point, Panlongcheng ceded all occupied Xiji territory and retreated to defend the Panlong Wilderness once again! It was truly a helpless move.

After reading this, He He Lingchuan's heart could not calm down for a long time.

Could the Longchuan bandit scourge really cause such lasting harm? He was currently experiencing that period of history firsthand in the Panlong world, and what he could be certain of was that the Longchuan banditry was merely a minor skin irritation at the beginning. No one expected it to fester into a massive hole that even Panlongcheng could not plug.

As for Xiao Xiao Maoliang leading six hundred men deep into Longchuan to suppress the bandits, Yuheng City had records of this, and He He Lingchuan was very clear about what happened. No matter how it was beautified, an army is a war machine, tending to solve problems through violence. The more He He Lingchuan understood the past of Panlongcheng, the clearer he was that neither Zhong Zhong Shengguang nor the Red General were soft-hearted characters.

Means must serve the end.

And although both the county gazetteer and local clan histories recorded "Panlong troops," He He Lingchuan was very clear that the army stationed in Yuheng City to suppress the Longchuan bandits was not the Dafeng army, nor even the Panlongcheng army, but a force formed by Yuheng City itself by absorbing local Xiluo and Changhou people—that is, the Yuheng City army.

Its training time was short, and its combat experience was far from as rich as the Dafeng army, so in terms of combat power, it could not be mentioned in the same breath as the former two.

Then, was it possible for Panlongcheng to dispatch the Dafeng army to be stationed in Yuheng City specifically to suppress the bandits?

I am afraid it was not that simple.

Although none of the books recorded it, He He Lingchuan knew that Panlongcheng had always faced pressure from the west and the north; the Dafeng army had to focus on guarding Panlongcheng, as that was the base camp.

Even if Zhong Zhong Shengguang could spare a portion of his troops to come to Yuheng City, it would be a drop in the bucket, neither changing the situation nor affecting the overall trend.

In the end, one has to rely on one's own bones to grow flesh; Yuheng City had to figure out its own way to resist foreign insults.

From the perspective of later generations, no matter the reason for Yuheng City's failure to suppress the bandits, it brought a very bad influence to the mother city, Panlongcheng. The gradual abandonment of the southern trade routes forced the closure of Panlongcheng's external connections, leaving it once again in a state of being surrounded by enemies on all sides and isolated without help.

Was Fushan Lie the mastermind behind the Longchuan bandit scourge? I don't know, but it won that game of chess.

Did the final decline of Panlongcheng have anything to do with this incident? He He Lingchuan could not say for sure, but ice three feet thick is not formed by a single day's cold.

These disadvantages and dilemmas would eventually trigger a qualitative change as they slowly accumulated.

Then for him, for He He Lingchuan who was "cheating" by knowing the course of history, what way was there to turn this situation around?

The Longchuan bandit scourge was indeed very complex.

The geography was complex, the composition was complex, and the human hearts were complex.

But could this complexity, in turn, be used by him? He He Lingchuan had an even greater ambition: the Yuheng City in history was a failure.

If he could reverse this defeat, would it mean that Panlongcheng, which also ended in ruin, could have a different outcome?

This temptation was truly too great for him.

Don't talk about the joke of "what's the use of changing an illusory history"; an illusory history cannot give him real primordial power, but Panlongcheng can.

If Panlongcheng could survive the catastrophe and change its fate, what would that mean for him, for the Great Great Great Fanghu, and even for the real world?

How exciting.

Time passed bit by bit while he was thinking.

The night was deep, and Heishuicheng was also sleeping soundly in the darkness.

……

He He Chunhua lay down in his clothes, about to enter a dream.

This was a habit he had developed recently from fighting, convenient for rising at night at any time.

He had been laboring and toiling in the south suppressing rebellions, clearing bandits, and implementing policies, and then traveled without rest all the way west to Heishuicheng; the journey was bumpy, and he desperately needed a good rest tonight.

However, he had not been lying down for long before he sat up again, rubbing his eyes to close the window.

Afterward, he cast a barrier, took the statue and placed it facing east, and lit seven sticks of incense; he was quite proficient in this entire set of actions.

When the dim gray smoke condensed into a blurry human face in the room, He He Chunhua's voice was hoarse from lack of sleep: "Greetings, Divine Venerable."

"You have arrived at Heishuicheng?"

"Yes. Does the Divine Venerable have any instructions?" He was extremely sleepy.

"Is He He Lingchuan already there?"

"Yes, I must find a way to take him to the Panlong ruins; strange occurrences are frequent there." He He Chunhua briefly described the red light piercing the sky tonight.

Yet Nailuotian asked very carefully and pondered for a long time.

He He Chunhua waited for a while, and seeing it did not speak, he had to take the initiative to ask: "Is there a problem?"

"When a divine object appears in the world, there are often strange phenomena," Nailuotian said slowly, "but this disturbance is too great." It was too conspicuous.

He He Chunhua was immediately energized: "In the Divine Venerable's opinion, should we still go?"

"Go," Nailuotian said. "The Tiangong may also send people."

If it retreated, and if it really were a divine object appearing, and if the Great Great Great Fanghu fell into the hands of the Tiangong...

He He Chunhua was startled: "What, Between Beijia also sent people?"

"It is the Tiangong, not Between Beijia," Nailuotian corrected him. "The Star-Plucking Tower lost a treasure related to the Great Great Great Fanghu; the Tiangong will not let go of this clue. They may have arrived long ago."

If the Tiangong was also participating in this contest... He He Chunhua steadied himself: "What are our chances of winning?"

"You need not fear; the Panlong ruins are not the Tiangong's territory," Nailuotian sneered coldly. "The ancient Panlongcheng and the Tiangong are old rivals. The stronger the team the Tiangong sends, perhaps the greater the resistance they will encounter in the ruins or the secret realm. Do not be the first bird to stick its head out; it is best to let the Tiangong step on the mines first. Remember, your most important task is to choose the most appropriate moment to summon me!"

(End of chapter)