After these men had all quieted down, Pang Xiao stepped forward with hands clasped behind his back and scolded sternly, “What, you want to rebel? So many of you gathering to cause trouble, and not for the first time! I just now would have been justified in annihilating you all on the spot, do you know that!”

With Pang Xiao putting it this way, these men suddenly came to their senses and couldn’t help feeling somewhat fearful.

This was no longer a time to consider whether Pang Xiao’s footing in the army was still unstable—most of the Pingnan Army now obeyed Pang Xiao’s commands. If he had truly decided just now to eliminate dissidents and killed them all without hesitation, he would only need to add “annihilated rebel troops” when reporting to the court. Not only would the Emperor not blame him, he might even reward him.

At this point, no one dared continue shouting loudly at Pang Xiao. But some ringleaders still said unwillingly, “Your Highness has been suppressing bandits for so long yet refuses to take us brothers along. Could it be because you despise us? Your Highness’s handling of affairs is rather too unjust.”

Pang Xiao chuckled lightly, “Why I didn’t take you along at first—doesn’t a single one of you know the reason?”

Hearing this, the crowd gradually fell into awkward silence.

How could they not know the reason?

The Prince was holding a grudge about their initial troublemaking that nearly caused a mutiny, which was why he wouldn’t take them along to get rich.

Some still wanted to argue stubbornly with Pang Xiao, but there were also clever ones who put on flattering smiles and negotiated quietly with Pang Xiao, “Your Highness, please calm your anger. We’re all rough men who never studied much since childhood—we can’t recognize a basket full of big characters. Don’t hold it against us ignorant folk.”

Understanding this person’s intent, others chimed in with soft words, “That’s right, Your Highness. We were senseless and made you angry—that was our fault. The Pingnan Army are all brothers behind closed doors—if there’s money to be made, let’s make it together.”

“We were worthless before. Your Highness, just treat us like farts and let it go!”

…

What had just been cursing and swearing had now become noisy flattery.

Pang Xiao looked helpless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “We’re all brothers who’ve faced life and death together—there’s really no need to make things so tense.”

“Yes, yes. Your Highness is right. From now on, we brothers will never do such inhuman things again!”

“Right, whatever Your Highness says, we’ll listen. If Your Highness tells us to chase dogs, we absolutely won’t pursue chickens!”

“Your Highness, please take us to suppress bandits—we also want to do something for the common people!”

…

Pang Xiao immediately shifted his gaze to the man who had just spoken, causing him to shiver and swallow back the flattering words that were about to leave his mouth, becoming increasingly uneasy.

Who knew Pang Xiao could no longer hold back and burst into hearty laughter.

Huzi, who had been standing behind Pang Xiao looking righteous and indignant, also began laughing at this sight. Even the loyal Tiger Guards behind him and the Pingnan Army soldiers who obeyed Pang Xiao were the same.

The atmosphere immediately relaxed.

Pang Xiao pointed at the crowd, saying helplessly, “You bunch of rascals—either you’re causing me trouble or you’re putting on this act now. Who taught you this!”

This remark hit everyone right in the heart, making them panic and hastily declare, “We didn’t learn from anyone!”

“No one taught us!”

A perfect case of protesting too much.

Pang Xiao acted as if he hadn’t noticed anything amiss, smiling helplessly, “Forget it. I never really intended not to take you along. Since we’re suppressing bandits, let’s go together. We’ll share any wealth we find!”

“Good! Good! Long live Your Highness! Long live Your Highness!”

The crowd below all cheered in unison as if they had received the world’s greatest treasure. They had long been envious watching others receive their “pay”!

Pang Xiao then ordered these thousand men to form ranks and depart.

Thinking about getting rich, these men’s morale was unprecedentedly high. Each was like a hungry tiger just descended from the mountains, their eyes gleaming with light.

Pang Xiao led the cavalry troops away from the Pingnan Army camp, heading straight for a nearby area called Canglong Mountain.

The thousand men followed in orderly fashion, everyone eager and ready to fight.

If there had been an “old veteran” among this troop who had previously followed Pang Xiao to “suppress bandits” along main roads and small paths, he would have discovered that the route Pang Xiao was taking this time was completely different from before—this time it seemed he was truly heading for a bandit stronghold…

Canglong Mountain consisted of three connected mountain ranges. Because of their elongated formation and dense vegetation, they looked like a long flying dragon from afar, hence the name.

In these troubled times, bandits were gradually increasing in number.

Recently, the brothers from villages within ten li had all been on edge. A reckless young Marshal had arrived from the court who apparently had nothing better to do than suppress bandits?!

Were their tributes insufficient? Or was this Marshal’s head full of holes?

From the moment news of bandit suppression spread, the brothers had all grown nervous. The leaders of various large and small strongholds had gathered at Canglong Stronghold on Canglong Mountain to meet and discuss how to face the enemy.

When they learned that the reckless young man wanting to suppress bandits was actually the invincible war god Pang Xiao, everyone nearly wet themselves with fear on the spot.

How could they possibly be a match for him!

Even if they were given ten or eight more years to train their troops, it probably wouldn’t be enough to withstand one finger flick from that man!

The leaders were all frantic, steeling themselves to devise countermeasures. Taking advantage of that demon not yet attacking, they hastily set up thorough deployments—digging pitfalls, stockpiling grain, keeping extremely busy.

Who would have known that when they had arranged their battle formations and were waiting to face the enemy, scouts brought new intelligence.

That demon Prince, under the banner of suppressing bandits, was actually leading troops to squat by roadsides all day robbing people, specifically targeting Sitong Company, with no intention whatsoever of attacking their strongholds.

This certainly made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, followed by various discussions. Some thought Pang Xiao was unscrupulous, but most of the mountain bandits felt that Pang Xiao, being both skilled in martial arts and clever, was truly bandit material. What a pity they had no opportunity to convince him to join them—otherwise, wouldn’t their brothers’ enterprise grow ever larger?

However, they didn’t hastily withdraw their defenses, still somewhat afraid that Pang Xiao might actually attack.

But they waited and waited until their patience was exhausted, and he was still focused on robbery, showing not the slightest interest in even glancing at them.

The various leaders all cursed Pang Xiao in their hearts—that sanctimonious fellow was truly blessed! Doing the same bandit work, he got to be both a prince and a robber, while these brothers worked more professionally yet had no such good fortune.

Some brothers had long suggested everyone disperse, each returning to their own homes to guard their own strongholds.

However, some leaders were more flexible and cautious, fearing there might be a trap, and didn’t dare disband their forces immediately.

Thus, this group of mountain bandits united from various strongholds still gathered at Canglong Mountain.

Though the people remained in one place, they no longer seriously maintained defenses. After all, the Prince was in the same line of work and was busy dealing with Sitong Company—where would he find the leisure to come to their strongholds?

But they had celebrated too early.

That demon actually would bring troops to attack their stronghold!

Pang Xiao raised his long blade, pointing at Canglong Mountain before them, loudly rallying his troops, “Brothers! This is the stronghold with countless treasures inside, and they’re all a bunch of good-for-nothings. With the training we brothers have done these days, taking them down is just a matter of throwing a few punches. Everyone, don’t hesitate—charge!”

Having personally watched others return to camp with large and small carts of treasure and received back pay, how could these thousand men have any doubts about this place? Without hesitation, they grabbed their weapons and charged up.

In the stronghold’s meeting hall, the men were still sleeping in disorder, having drunk themselves senseless the night before. How could they imagine that today someone would attack their mountain?

Even the sentries at the mountain gate only awakened from their sleep when people had already charged up the mountain and the sound of breaking twigs underfoot was too loud and too close. They threw aside their wine jars and shouted warnings inward while frantically searching for weapons to meet the enemy.

Pang Xiao led everyone and in just two hours had completely cleared out the entire Canglong Mountain, annihilating over a thousand mountain bandits, capturing over a thousand prisoners, and rescuing more than seven hundred common people who had been captured as laborers.

Only because these mountain bandits had prepared earlier and set up many traps and mechanisms on the mountain did the attacking forces suffer over a hundred casualties.

But if considered as a battle, though the entire mountain assault process couldn’t be called particularly smooth, it was still a victory of few against many.

The only tragic thing was that among the more than seven hundred rescued people, four or five hundred were women. The oldest of these women was barely in her prime, and they had all suffered inhuman torture at the hands of the mountain bandits. After being rescued, none showed joy on their faces—only despair remained.

More than ten women even knelt to thank the rescuing Pingnan Army, then turned and threw themselves against trees and rocks to commit suicide.

With the first suicide, a group followed suit, though those who were slower were frantically stopped by the Pingnan Army.

Pang Xiao’s eyes turned red with anger as he shouted, “What are you doing! The brothers rescued you—was it so you could die!”

The women’s weeping was heartbreaking, letting listeners feel their sorrow and despair.

“General doesn’t understand. We women have nowhere to go. Even if abducted women have homes to return to, their families won’t tolerate us for the sake of face. Then we would still face death—rather than see those relatives’ unwelcoming expressions, we might as well end it all here.”

With these words, people immediately began wailing and attempting suicide again. Some struck rocks, some untied their sashes to hang themselves—it was truly chaos and utterly tragic.

“Stop them, quickly!” Pang Xiao immediately ordered, his heart already stifled to the point of breathlessness. His beloved Yining had also been abducted once and had struggled to survive in the desert for quite some time, nearly being forcibly taken as a consort by the Prince of Xiyue.

Had his Yining also thought of ending it all then? Had she also thought her family wouldn’t tolerate her when she returned home?

In fact, when she returned to the mansion, her family indeed couldn’t tolerate her. Her mother-in-law suspected the origins of the child in her womb and had even given her safflower to induce miscarriage…