The sun was glaring. Zhao Youcai stood atop the charred wall of the mountain stronghold, shielding his eyes with one hand while craning his neck to look down the small path leading up the mountain. In the empty space below, over a dozen men either squatted or stood around. A man chewing on a grass root asked, “Are they here yet? Zhao, you’re not tricking us, are you?”

The sun overhead was scorching. Zhao Youcai was becoming irritable from the heat, and being pressed like this only made him more impatient. “What would we three brothers gain from tricking you? I found a connection and thought of you all as brothers from the old days, so I kindly brought you in on this! Everyone on the road knows that many merchant caravans have been ambushed near Tongcheng—there’s money to be made!”

Zhao Deng’er was more quick-witted than Zhao Dazhu and chimed in, “Exactly! Those two officials said that for every person we recruit, we get a hundred coins! And later we can even get an official position!”

The man with the grass root didn’t respond. Initially, they had worried this might be a trap set by the Xinzhou prefecture authorities to capture them, but recruiting someone for only a hundred coins—the profit wasn’t enough to make anyone lose their head, so it didn’t seem like an official trap. That’s why they decided to follow along and see. After all, as low-level bandits, going to another mountain stronghold wouldn’t earn them any importance either. They’d still be scraping by, having to charge ahead and take blows during raids. If several of them teamed up to rob on their own, they could only target isolated refugees, but those refugees were usually even poorer than they were. As for those groups of dozens or hundreds of refugees traveling together, or wealthy households with horses, carriages, and escort guards—they’d have to have a death wish to provoke them. If they had the backing of the authorities and a stable position from now on, that would naturally be ideal.

After waiting about another quarter-hour, Zhao Youcai atop the wall finally said, “They’re here, they’re here!”

The group quickly looked toward the small path leading into the stronghold and saw two men, one tall and one short, both wearing conical hats and arrow-sleeved robes, approaching. The shorter one had a lean build, his hat brim pulled extremely low, making it impossible to see his face clearly. The taller one stood at least eight chi tall, carrying something slung diagonally across his back, covered with a cloth case for ancient zithers, so they couldn’t make it out clearly. A thick beard covered half his face, leaving only his sharp, cold brows and eyes visible.

Both had an extraordinary bearing. The group of bandits who had been lazily leaning against the wall unconsciously straightened up a bit. Zhao Youcai quickly jumped down from the wall and trotted over to greet them obsequiously, “The mountain path is difficult—thank you both officials for your trouble!” He fanned Wen Yu with his hand and called to Zhao Dazhu, “Zhu’er, quickly bring chairs for the two officials!”

The fat bandit hurried to find chairs. Wen Yu lowered her voice, “No need to trouble yourselves. I came today for business.” As she spoke, she swept her gaze over those who were also discretely sizing up her and Xiao Li. “These are the people you found?”

When she raised her eyes, the waiting bandits could also see her appearance clearly. They only saw a dark-skinned youth with a clear spirit and refined bones. Compared to the tall, long-legged, bearded man behind him, he seemed far less intimidating.

Zhao Youcai’s face was full of smiles. “Exactly, exactly! Seventeen people in total—thirteen are former brothers from Qingyun Stronghold, and the other four were recruited by other brothers.”

Wen Yu then took down a small booklet hanging from her waist. When she opened it, there was a writing brush tucked inside, and about half of the booklet was already filled with names. This action caught the bandits’ attention. Though they couldn’t read, the densely packed ink marks looked like names, making them think the booklet might be a military roster. Was this really military recruitment from Tongcheng? The bandits’ expressions varied, but then they unconsciously stood even more properly, clearly intimidated.

Wen Yu seemed completely unaware of this. She picked up the brush and had Zhao Youcai bring her a small dish, rubbed the ink stick a couple times, dipped it in ink, and asked the man standing at the front, “Do you know this is military recruitment for Tongcheng?”

The man being questioned nervously swallowed and nodded.

Wen Yu then said, “Name.”

The man stammered, “Ma… Ma Dayou.”

“Place of origin.”

“Ah?”

“Your birthplace.”

“Oh, oh, this humble one is from Teng County, Xinzhou.”

Wen Yu recorded this information in the booklet, not caring that he was craning his neck to look at the roster, and continued asking, “What weapons are you skilled with?”

This man had only scraped by in a bandit den and often couldn’t even get his hands on a proper blade. How would he know how to use any weapons? He nervously wiped his sweat repeatedly and said, “Blade… this humble one is skilled with a blade.”

Actually, the only proper weapon he’d ever touched was a blade.

The other bandits watching also felt dazed by Wen Yu’s systematic process. Someone in the back quietly said, “This recruitment really seems like the real thing. I heard that years ago when the court conscripted soldiers for war, they asked these questions…”

Before he finished speaking, he felt a chilling gaze shoot toward him. The speaking bandit looked up and met the look Xiao Li shot at him, immediately falling silent. The others also held their breath even more.

Only the three men—Zhao Youcai and his companions—besides their nervousness, couldn’t suppress the flush on their faces. They felt they had truly stumbled upon great fortune, latching onto such a powerful connection, while also feeling extremely proud in front of the bandits who had just been questioning them.

Wen Yu continued asking, “What is the arm strength of your left and right arms respectively?”

The man became even more nervous, stuttering, “I… I don’t know.”

The bandits waiting behind also became tense. They had all been farmers before—how would they know how to measure their own arm strength?

There happened to be a millstone weight in the empty space. Wen Yu said to Xiao Li, “Estimate how heavy that stone weight is.”

Though Xiao Li knew before coming that this trip was just to intimidate these bandits and use them for the next phase of the plan, Wen Yu’s serious questioning and recording almost made even him believe they were actually here to recruit soldiers. Now that he was called upon, he didn’t say much, just walked straight to the stone weight, gripped the wooden handle on it, and easily lifted it with one arm. After estimating the weight, he answered, “About a hundred and fifty jin.”

Seeing him effortlessly lift the millstone weight, the bandits became even more shocked, thinking Tongcheng was truly formidable—even a random low-ranking officer running errands in the military had such arm strength.

After Xiao Li returned, Wen Yu tilted her chin toward the man and said, “Go try whether you can lift that stone weight with one arm.”

The man went to the millstone weight. He spat on his palms, rubbed his hands together, then held his breath before trying to lift the stone weight. But even using all his strength, the stone weight was only partially lifted and didn’t completely leave the ground. After trying with both left and right hands with the same result, Wen Yu made some notation in the booklet and said without looking up, “Next.”

The man dejectedly went to wait on the other side, while the new man who stepped forward nervously yet with some anticipation reported his name and place of origin.

Watching from the side, the three men—Zhao Youcai and his companions—unconsciously wiped cold sweat, thinking that this arm strength test and questions about weapon skills must be linked to future military positions. It was fortunate they hadn’t been tested for arm strength that day. They just didn’t know whether they’d have to make up the test after registering all these people. The several men waited with trepidation until it finally ended without being called for a supplementary test, and only then did they put their hearts back in their bellies.

Out of the seventeen bandits, only three tall, strong men could barely lift the stone weight with one arm. The crowd had already been subdued by this bloodless show of authority. When Wen Yu put down her brush and looked up at them, each one’s expression was as obedient as could be.

One man who had lifted the stone weight was exceptionally excited and asked, “Official, those of us who can lift that stone weight—when we join the military, will we be assigned to elite troops?”

Wen Yu merely glanced over coolly, “That stone weight exceeds one dan by a bit. In the military, those who can draw a one-dan bow are already elite.”

Joy had just appeared on the man’s face when he heard Wen Yu continue, “But the strength to lift something with one arm is not the same as the strength to draw a bow. If you could lift that stone weight with one arm overhead, then drawing a one-dan bow would be effortless for you, and I could guarantee your placement in the archer battalion to train in mounted archery.”

The joy on the man’s face froze. He naturally knew how much strength he had used to barely lift that stone weight. Though he had already seen Xiao Li easily lift the stone weight earlier, lifting and raising overhead were vastly different. Unconvinced, he said, “Raising a hundred-fifty-jin weight overhead with one arm—Official, are you making fun of this humble one?”

Wen Yu frowned slightly. These people had never touched bows and arrows, so naturally they didn’t know that the arm strength required to draw a bow was not equivalent to the arm strength they used to lift heavy objects. Xiao Li’s injuries hadn’t fully healed yet. She knew that lifting the stone weight wouldn’t be a problem for him, which is why she had him weigh it, but raising the stone weight overhead would be much more strenuous. Wen Yu didn’t dare risk Xiao Li’s safety again, so she didn’t call on him and only said, “Once you enter the military camp later, you’ll understand.”

That man was clearly still unconvinced and was about to argue further when Xiao Li flicked his foot against the wooden handle at the edge of the stone weight. As the stone weight rose slightly, he caught the bottom of the stone weight with one hand and steadily lifted the round millstone weight up.

A chorus of gasping sounds filled the surroundings.

Xiao Li looked at the man and said coolly, “Do you see now?”

The man was greatly shocked and quickly lowered his head in shame, “This humble one was ignorant and offended the official.”

Zhao Youcai, fearing this fool who didn’t know his own limitations had offended Wen Yu and the other official and would implicate him as well, launched into a tirade at the man, “You turtle-eyed fool pressing mung beans on your eyes, did you grow those eyes for nothing? You really think you’re something! The official already wrote your name in the booklet—how could they not arrange positions for you?”

The man’s face turned through shades of blue, red, and white from the scolding, but he didn’t dare talk back.

Zhao Youcai kept apologizing to Wen Yu, but she was worried that Xiao Li lifting the stone weight might have torn his wound open and had no time to pay attention to this side. When she met Xiao Li’s gaze and he gave her a reassuring look, the worry in Wen Yu’s heart was temporarily suppressed.

She interrupted Zhao Youcai, “That’s enough. Today I came up the mountain not only to formally register those you recruited, but also to officially conscript soldiers among the refugees.” She looked at the group of bandits. “Since you were all originally locals from Xinzhou and previously worked at Qingyun Stronghold, you should know that in Zhao County below the mountain, there’s a wealthy merchant surnamed Jia who bullies men and women, seizes common people’s fields and homes, drove countless tenant farmers to death—his crimes are too numerous to record. Now, under the pretext of supporting government military supplies, he has bribed officials and colluded with them. He pretends benevolence by distributing porridge, but would rather let the grain forcibly collected from tenant farmers rot and use it as fertilizer than leave the tenant farmers even a mouthful of grain for winter.”

Many bandits had been farmers before and naturally knew how detestable the Jia family was. Just hearing Wen Yu describe this made them furious, and they cried out in grief and indignation, “We became bandits because those official lords and merchant lords are all in cahoots, leaving people no way to survive! Otherwise, who would want to spend their whole lives with their heads tucked in their belts, hiding and skulking about?”

Wen Yu successfully stirred up this group’s emotions. She herself remained calm as ever and only said, “Tonight you will all follow me to raid the Jia family’s grain storage estate, distribute all the grain, and proclaim to the world: Pei Song is dead! Those who come to serve in our Tongcheng military will not lack provisions or pay!”

The bigger the commotion, the faster the news would spread. The prefectures near Xinzhou should then become restless!