Chapter 515: Putting Down Roots

When traditional bandits clash with industrial "security guards" armed to the teeth, the outcome is glaringly obvious: the bandits suffer a crushing defeat.

You can't blame the bandits. Whether in morale, training, tactics, or most critically equipment, they were utterly outclassed — how could they even fight?

So the final fate of Guaitou Wa's Great Boss Lao Qi was to be cheerfully carried onto a boat by Wu Sanye's group, and at the last moment a handful of reed grass was grabbed to wipe the bloodstains from his face — they'd need to verify his identity when they got back.

By evening, the teams sent out to various places returned to Liaolu Camp one after another. Most teams had some gains, some escorting captives and others carrying corpses. Of course, it was unavoidable that some of the corpses were their own men — after all, this was warfare involving cold weapons, and even in victory, it was unlikely to come through without a single casualty the way a hot-weapon battle might.

Night had fallen. On the open ground where a roaring bonfire blazed, Boss Lao Qi's corpse had already been laid out alongside the Second-in-Command's, right in the center of the field.

Arranged neatly around the two bosses, lying in accompaniment, were some of Boss Lao's loyal and brave underlings from his lifetime... the disloyal ones, like Blind Man, had surrendered in time, and now they all wore the standard cast-iron slave-and-criminal shackles mass-produced in the Kiln District, tossed aside and shivering uncontrollably.

The most dazzling presence in camp at that moment was naturally Wu Sanye's team.

On a long trestle table pieced together from field canvas folding tables, wine bowls and opened tins of various military rations were spread out, while on the surrounding campfires lamb and fish were roasting. And Wu Sanye, his face alight with excitement, was introducing his "advanced experience" to the officers and soldiers.

Originally Sanye had not intended to be so conspicuous, but who could have guessed that the moment he led his team back, he would immediately be thrust into the spotlight, turned into the great hero who had cleverly captured the bandit chief. And the several Transmigrators on the scene, for certain propaganda purposes, naturally heaped praise on Sanye and his men as well.

With that, a certain someone found himself hoisted onto a wall — keeping a low profile was no longer possible, so he could only enjoy a moment of life in the limelight.

And so, under the converging stares of envy, jealousy, and resentment, Sanye's team was invited to the main table to drink, and Sanye himself was granted the opportunity to personally recount to General Daren the process of capturing Lao Qi.

After that, once everyone had returned to the ranks, a lively, bustling bonfire party began. During the feast, Pioneer Army commander Wang Bo not only delivered an impassioned speech, but also publicly awarded bonuses to the top three teams with the most gains — the glittering Cao silver dollars were extraordinarily alluring in the firelight, dazzling many an eye.

With overwhelming superiority in intelligence, organizational capability, and armaments, a surprise bandit-suppression battle — like a lion pouncing on a rabbit — was thus concluded within a span of ten days. The Nth-generation bandit gang that had entrenched itself outside Zengcheng County for centuries was defeated before it could leverage its traditional advantages in intelligence and terrain, and to the very end, its leaders never even knew who their opponents were.

Early the next morning, the troops made new movements: one part advanced into the bandit gang's stronghold in the heart of Guaitou Wa to sweep the battlefield, another part returned to Huangpu to rest and refit. The last remaining group, following a prearranged plan, took boats upstream to Zengcheng County to deliver the heads.

And so, Master Gu of Zengcheng County, sitting at home, found joy descending upon him from above: the heads of Lao Qi and a bunch of other great bandits had actually been delivered right to the County Yamen by "righteous volunteers"!

Master Gu and his Adviser, upon learning the news, finally understood the truth of the matter: so that Wang Mobile Corps Commander hadn't been shirking responsibility at all, but had spoken the plain truth — the man really had intended to fund a bandit-suppression campaign out of his own pocket!

In that case, that official dispatch was probably not an attempt to trip him up either?

In any case, Master Gu, who had never in his official career encountered a living bodhisattva, was truly moved this time. So Father Gu hastily changed into his full set of official robes and ordered the main gates of the County Yamen opened to personally receive them. Before long, he saw the head-delivering procession approaching from the distance with blaring horns and beating drums.

For a quiet, slow-paced county town like Zengcheng, today's scene was a grand spectacle rarely seen in years, so before the procession even reached the Yamen gates, both sides of the road were already packed with onlookers who had come with their families in tow, supporting the old and carrying the young, eager to watch the excitement.

What followed was a scene of universal delight.

The "militiamen" from the surrounding villages, amid clamorous gongs and drums, presented the heads of Lao Qi and his gang to Father Gu. After ordering his men to verify the authenticity of the heads, Father Gu promptly accepted this batch of gifts and then rewarded the brave men.

After this, following a secret talk with the visitors, a proclamation was posted outside the gates of the Zengcheng County Office: urging all bandits and criminals within the county borders to turn themselves in within a set deadline; failing that, Gu County Magistrate would mobilize the "militiamen" from the four villages to carry out a Bandit Suppression Campaign and restore to his subjects a bright and clear world, a Taiping golden age.

From this moment on, the province-wide bandit suppression work could be said to have officially begun — since the fighting had already started, secrecy was no longer necessary, and it was better to get the propaganda effort underway.

Since the Transmigrators intended to establish a New World in the future, what they had to do now was naturally to eliminate every opposing force one by one.

In this, bandits were an opposing force, the Scholar-Officials were an opposing force, and the old armies were also an opposing force.

And the Commoners at the very bottom were the people the Transmigrators would take in.

The lower-class populace was the most pragmatic. For these Commoners who would go hungry the moment they stopped working, the court and the officials were truly remote and far away; whoever held power right beside them was whom they had to bow their heads to — this was the basic logic of survival, and also the reason why local tyrants and gentry everywhere could control grassroots political power.

How does that saying go? When they came to strike at the bandits, I did not stand up in opposition; when they struck at the Scholar-Officials, I also offered no opposition; and then, peace reigned under heaven, and a new dynasty was established.

This was exactly what the Transmigrators wanted.

In short, they would still start from the bottom, where Great Ming's power projection was weakest... this, it seemed, was also the inevitable choice for all powers when they were growing strong.

The Transmigrators, having been in this world for several years now, had gained a deep understanding of Great Ming society and had worked out a set of effective methods of conduct for "putting down roots" in Great Ming.

Using the opportunity of the bandit suppression campaign, the Cao family's private army, cloaked in official authority, flexed its muscles before all potential opponents and projected deterrence — this was the most effortless way to supplant Great Ming's actual control at the grassroots level. Once the bandits that the authorities had failed to resolve for a thousand years were eradicated at the root, all remaining opposing forces, when they faced off against Grand Commandant Cao in the future, would naturally make armed resistance their very last option.

For the Transmigrators, who wanted to forcibly swallow the half-cooked meal that was Great Ming, this outcome was the best possible: as long as the land was not engulfed in flames of war on all sides, as long as every power faction hesitated and hesitated again, then the Transmigrators, having gained the most precious time, would be able to establish a new social order at the smallest cost and preserve the nation's Essence Refining to the greatest extent.