The two hundred men that Zhao Hanzhang and Zhao Ming had requested had arrived and were now stationed in the city. Zhao Hanzhang left Qiu Wu to guard Biyang County while she led the rest out of the city.

She hadn’t come to fight—she’d come to pacify them. So when they reached the foot of the mountain, she stopped and had Wu Erlang shout up to the mountain.

Wu Erlang walked to the front of the formation, put his hands on his hips, and shouted up the mountain, “People on the mountain, listen! You’re surrounded! Our Vice Administrator wants to speak with your mountain king… Ow!”

Zhao Hanzhang, mounted on her horse, whacked him on the head with her riding crop. Wu Erlang turned to look at her, confusion and some fear in his eyes.

Zhao Hanzhang said to him irritably, “What do you mean ‘mountain king’? Call him the bandit leader!”

Wu Erlang understood. He cleared his throat and shouted up the mountain again, “People on the mountain, listen! You’re surrounded! If you know what’s good for you, come out and pay your respects to our Vice Administrator! Our Vice Administrator wants to speak with your bandit leader!”

Zhao Hanzhang was satisfied and nodded slightly.

She had come to pacify them, but if it came to a fight, she wasn’t afraid. Although they only had two hundred men, they had horses, weapons, and soldiers who had been trained and could follow orders. Never mind that the other side only had just over three hundred men—even if they had twice as many, she’d have the courage to fight.

Through the incident in Biyang County, Zhao Hanzhang had also gotten a sense of how things worked. In this world, with people and events, it was like this: when you were strong, they were weak; when you were weak, they were strong.

So if she was more forceful and more shameless, they would be intimidated by her authority and weaken.

When she stopped thinking about observing propriety and following rules, their etiquette and rules could no longer restrain her.

Wu Erlang shouted twice in succession. The sound echoed through the mountains, the reflected voice carrying a thick Suiping accent.

Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t noticed yet, but the people on the mountain had already replied in Biyang dialect, “Get lost! What’s someone from Suiping doing coming to our Biyang to stir up trouble?”

When Zhao Hanzhang heard this, she hadn’t expected this person to have regional prejudices. She raised her chin and said to Wu Erlang, “Tell him I’m the Vice Administrator of Runan Commandery. Whether he’s from Biyang County or Suiping County, they’re all my subjects!”

Wu Erlang, seeing that she was backing him up, immediately became bolder. Putting his hands on his hips, he shouted up, “Our Vice Administrator says, whether it’s you or me, we’re all her subjects! Stop beating around the bush and quickly get whoever’s in charge out here—our Vice Administrator wants to speak with him!”

Wu Erlang shouted, “A seven-foot man who doesn’t even have the courage to meet our Vice Administrator—that’s too pathetic! If you’re going to be like that, what kind of bandit are you? You might as well go home and farm!”

The mountain went silent again.

Fu Tinghan withdrew his gaze from surveying the surroundings and said to Zhao Hanzhang, “This place is easy to defend but difficult to attack. If it really comes to a fight, it won’t be easy to attack. In mountain forests, cavalry can’t maneuver effectively either.”

Zhao Hanzhang narrowed her eyes. “Jungle warfare then?”

“We still have too little information. Send out scouts to collect data on the terrain of the nearby mountain forests,” Fu Tinghan said. “I can build models and analyze the data for you.”

If pacification didn’t work, they would indeed have to fight. Otherwise, leaving such a large bandit force in Biyang County, especially when they were still continuously recruiting, given time, they would not only endanger Biyang County but also the nearby Suiping, Queshan, and Quyang would all suffer.

Zhao Hanzhang absolutely would not allow a second armed force to exist in her territory—not even dirt-poor bandits.

Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze deepened. She summoned all the scouts and ordered, “You will follow Young Master Fu’s commands. Collect all the terrain information from the area and scout the situation on the mountain.”

The scouts acknowledged and gathered around Fu Tinghan to receive their instructions.

Zhao Hanzhang sat on her horse and waited for quite a while. Seeing no response from the mountain, she had soldiers take turns shouting.

She assigned people to stand guard on patrol, then everyone rested where they were.

Fu Tinghan sent all the scouts out in groups, then he occupied a relatively flat spot and took out the paper, ink, and writing materials he carried with him.

Zhao Hanzhang squatted beside him and sighed, “What I’m most worried about is them refusing to cooperate.”

Fu Tinghan casually picked up a thin branch and began drawing on the ground, his expression calm. “They’re probably quite unsettled too. They might be discussing on the mountain how to deal with you—they’re only staying silent like this without reacting because they haven’t reached a decision yet.”

“This also shows from another angle that their opinions aren’t unified, which is a good thing.”

The bandits on the mountain were indeed arguing incessantly. Some insisted on surrendering. “The proclamation said that as long as we return to farming, we’ll still be law-abiding citizens, and the authorities will let bygones be bygones.”

“If you can believe what the authorities say, pigs can climb trees!”

“That’s right. We can’t go down. They’re probably trying to trick us. Once we go down, they’ll kill us, and then they’ll get credit for wiping out bandits.”

“My cousin was also starving before and blocked the road to demand money with his village brothers. Now he’s back in the village. The village chief came to find him personally and took them to the county office to receive relief grain. Not only did that female official not punish him, she even encouraged him and told him to farm properly.”

The person insisting on surrender said with a resolute expression, “So I still think we should go down the mountain. Big Brother, this official is different from that previous County Magistrate Hu. This is a female official—maybe she’s naturally more softhearted, kinder, and easier to talk to than men.”

The boss, who had been sitting without expressing an opinion, heard this and gave a derisive laugh. “Softhearted, kind, and easy to talk to? If she were really softhearted, kind, and easy to talk to, she wouldn’t have beheaded County Magistrate Hu on first meeting.”

“Then…”

“But you’re right about one thing—this official is indeed different from other officials,” the boss said thoughtfully. “Come on, let’s go down the mountain and take a look.”

“Big Brother, we can’t go!”

The majority expressed opposition.

So while Zhao Hanzhang and her people were squatting idly at the foot of the mountain, resting, a fierce argument was erupting on the mountain.

They were just a group of farmers who had become bandits because they truly couldn’t survive. Although they recognized Wei Dayi as the mountain boss, his prestige was actually insufficient—everyone had only joined him because he had more people.

Moreover, they hadn’t joined one or two at a time, but in whole families, clans, and villages, bringing their entire households. The power structure was complex, and although Wei Dayi was capable, he still hadn’t managed to recognize everyone.

They claimed to have over three hundred men, but counting their wives, children, and parents behind them, there were nearly a thousand people!

The bandits also lacked experience and didn’t know to exaggerate their numbers. Otherwise, if they’d claimed to have two thousand men, County Magistrate Hu definitely wouldn’t have looked down on them. How would he have dared to neglect his duties and pretend not to see this gang of bandits in the back mountain ravine?

In any case, the bandit group had complicated power dynamics. Wei Dayi couldn’t control everyone, so everyone talked over each other expressing their opinions. Soon the atmosphere became heated. Before Wei Dayi could even react, two people below had started fighting, and then their families, friends, and fellow villagers started fighting each other…

Wei Dayi was speechless.

He had only shouted once, “Stop fighting! The urgent matter at hand is…”

Someone whose eyes had turned red from fighting threw a punch straight at his eye…

Wei Dayi’s eyes narrowed. Furious, he kicked the person flying, then rolled up his sleeves and joined in personally. The bandits who usually hung around with Wei Dayi saw this and immediately rolled up their sleeves, howling as they charged in.