Chapter 985

"Anyway, when my troops took your Military Token and went out, they picked out over a hundred white-haired soldiers from the army formation; after inquiring, they all turned out to be relatives of officers." Guo Shuhan said.

Wang Yu stared for a few seconds, then his eyes widened again, "You bastard, how do you have my Military Token? You scoundrel, when we first met at the Refugee Gathering, you were already plotting against me, weren't you? Did you steal it when I was drunk that time?"

"I told you so, you usually don't drink much, but that time you were desperately urging drinks, alright alright, now everything makes sense!"

Guo Shuhan coughed lightly, "People who don't plan ahead will have near-term worries; making schemes certainly requires long-term thinking. However, I didn't steal it—your Military Token is still on you; I merely borrowed it for a day and had people make a few fakes."

"You bastard!" Wang Yu was so angry he kept taking deep breaths.

Even though he had let it go, hearing these things still caused his forehead to throb with pain.

This scoundrel, he's utterly unscrupulous.

Chen Wuji, however, found it highly amusing.

This time he had genuinely picked up a treasure.

Guo Shuhan, far away several hundred li, through advance deployment, let his subordinates branch out and control the entire An Sai Zhou's Bīngmǎ; saying these things from his mouth sounds simple, but actually achieving them is extremely difficult.

As difficult as climbing to heaven!

Chen Wuji had always felt his scout camp was more than capable, but if this task were given to them, he truly had no confidence at all; it would probably fail.

This Guo Shuhan has foresight, strategic mind, meticulous thinking, unconventional, and is both emotional and righteous.

This is purely a great treasure!

"Gentlemen, do me a favor and first calm your anger!" Chen Wuji again laughed and acted as a peacekeeper, "I have some things I don't quite understand; I need to ask further about Qingming."

"Marquis, please speak!" Guo Shuhan immediately said solemnly.

"You have allocated your forces to An Sai Zhou and the Refugee Gathering two places; I roughly understand An Sai Zhou, but what about the Refugee Gathering?" Chen Wuji asked, and suddenly he recalled a more important matter.

He also divided his troops, but don't let the flood wash away the Dragon King Temple.

Guo Shuhan said, "Reporting to the Marquis, my forces are mainly distributed north and south of the Refugee Gathering; my intention was to pacify some mountain bandits, then use their strength to strike, opening this passage from Lingzhou to Lingshouzhou, to provide some convenience for the Marquis's later troop movements in the northern part of Nanyue Jun."

"But I underestimated these bandits' arrogance and ferocity; so far I have succeeded only in one place, and even that came at the cost of my subordinates sacrificing their looks..."

"Wait, sacrifice their looks?" Chen Wuji's brain suddenly short-circuited.

Is that what he understands by "looks"?

If it really were a dual-male union, the bandits' tastes are somewhat twisted, and Guo Shuhan's training method is also a bit terrifying.

For a subordinate to go to such lengths to achieve victory, this is more than mere loyalty.

Guo Shuhan nodded silently, "Replying to the Marquis, yes."

"Subordinate, in order to eradicate the mountain bandit menace within Feng Xian Zhou's borders, I once recruited some personnel from the brothel; those women later remained in the army, and they are relatively skilled at the beauty stratagem."

"Ah, I see, your training method is indeed quite novel and interesting!" Chen Wuji praised, "Quickly notify your subordinates to withdraw from the mountains; my troops are advancing into the mountains."

At this moment, his heart's feeling toward Guo Shuhan was no longer mere admiration; he also felt some respect.

In this era, being able to train troops to this extent is truly rare.

The Imperial City Department, which specializes in intelligence, would probably have to call Guo Shuhan master in her presence.

Too systematic!

"I dare not accept such praise from the Marquis; I feel like I'm showing off my modest skills before an expert." Guo Shuhan humbly said, after a moment's thought, "Marquis, my subordinates have some understanding of the bandits in these mountains; why not have them contact your officers to exchange information and cooperate in wiping out the bandits?"

Chen Wuji thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "That's good; in any case, we must act quickly to avoid friendly fire."

"Yes!" Guo Shuhan replied,

"Marquis, there is another matter: the bandits on this north-south passage through the Refugee Settlement are overly strong, as if backed by someone behind the scenes. Rather than calling them bandits, I feel this passage is more like a hidden troop base."

"Based on what I, as Subordinate, have learned, the situation here is very much like that of Guiling Xian!"

Chen Wuji nodded and asked, "Does it have any similarities to the situation in Feng Xian Zhou?"

"Feng Xian Zhou..." Guo Shuhan hesitated for a moment.

"To be honest, I, as Subordinate, am not clear on this; it's embarrassing to admit, but in order to set an example, I dealt harshly with the bandit menace in Feng Xian Zhou—either burning the mountains, poisoning them, then beheading them and displaying their heads in various counties."

"As Subordinate, I never investigated what lay behind them; at the time I didn't think it necessary."

Chen Wuji turned to Wang Yu and asked, "Does An Sai Zhou have a similar situation?"

"Yes." Wang Yu said.

"The bandits in An Sai Zhou are not few; when I first took office, the area was overrun with bandits. However, I drove most of them down the mountain, and for those stubborn ones, following the advice of Guo Dongxi, I dealt with them rather harshly."

"As for whether there is any connection behind these bandits, I, as Subordinate, have not conducted a detailed investigation."

Chen Wuji nodded and said, "I'm curious how you managed to drive them down the mountain."

"By using their families, fields, and everything they care about." Wang Yu said, "Although the situation was dire at the time, in fact, as long as we thoroughly win over the Village Chiefs, everyone in this area knows which people have joined the bandits and where they make a living on which mountains."

"As Subordinate, my first step was to have their families deliver a notice with a deadline to come down the mountain: within one month, descend, and past offenses would be forgiven; if they did not come down, all their property and fields would be confiscated, their families would be held jointly liable, and their Ancestral Halls and graves would be dug up and turned into farmland."

"Besides that, I, as Subordinate, encouraged people to kill bandits, rewarding two mu of field and ten taels of silver per head, and so on. Using this method, the prefecture didn't spend a single tael of silver, and in the end still gained quite a lot."

After Wang Yu finished speaking, aside from Guo Shuhan, who already knew, the rest of the people were all stunned.

At that moment, Chen Wuji only recalled two phrases in his mind.

"There are always people beyond people, and heavens beyond heavens!"

"If one is not ruthless, one cannot stand firm!"

Wang Yu's series of combined punches really had considerable destructive power.

Just listening to it, he could already feel the bandits' panic and unease.

Wang Yu's series of moves could be said to have almost completely encompassed everything a person in this era holds dear.

Unless that bastard is completely alone, with nothing he cares about.

"Family members held jointly liable, and even the Ancestral Hall and graves must be dug up—who among ordinary people could endure that?"

"In other words, as long as he dares to remain a bandit, Wang Yu will dig up his roots completely!"

"Ningyuan, Lingzhou is in a state of utter neglect awaiting development; from now on I entrust it to you!" Chen Wuji said without hesitation, waving his hand as he handed over the affairs of Lingzhou, "Once you have Lingzhou mostly under control, I think the entire Nanyue Jun's warfare will also be largely settled; by then, this commandery will need your efforts, Ningyuan."

Wang Yu stared, his eyes full of surprise at Chen Wuji, and said, "Marquis, I… I just realized I haven't even said the two words 'surrender' yet— is this appropriate?"