Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 283 - 213: Suppressing Bandits

Chapter 283: Chapter 213: Suppressing Bandits

While Chu Ge was racking his brains trying to solve the conundrum of Wang Wenchuan’s reforms, Zhao Haiping was earnestly strategizing his way through Yu Jiaxuan’s storyline.

After more than a day of intense gaming, most players had basically figured out the relationship between these two storylines.

The instance "Hesitation to Speak" seemed to have two threads, literary and martial, where Zhang Renxia and Wang Wenchuan were obviously on the literary side, and Yu Jiaxuan on the martial.

However, unlike the instance "Aspiration for Nobility," "Hesitation to Speak" didn’t seem to force players to perfectly clear both threads.

There wasn’t as close a relationship between Yu Jiaxuan and Wang Wenchuan as there was between General Deng and Governor Lin.

Therefore, many players were speculating that there might be a focus on one thread over the other.

Players could choose to focus on either Yu Jiaxuan or Wang Wenchuan, and briefly touch upon the other thread to make the most cost-effective progress.

As long as they ensured victory in the Battle of Niuzhu, the instance would be considered successfully cleared.

Of course, this was not yet confirmed and was purely speculation from some of the more advanced players.

Zhao Haiping, naturally, chose Yu Jiaxuan’s thread as his main focus.

At that moment, he was in the role of the Jiangxi Governor, and his next mission objective seemed simple: pacify the outlaws!

This also marked the second stage of Yu Jiaxuan’s character storyline.

After charging into a camp of fifty thousand with just fifty men and capturing Ma Anbang, Yu Jiaxuan’s timeline could only be described with the word "squandered."

The game didn’t even provide any reason but jumped straight to the scene of him drinking with Zhang Renxia, and two whole years flew by in an instant.

With only nine years left until the Battle of Niuzhu, from Yu Jiaxuan’s perspective, he had done nothing in those two years except dealing with some trivial local matters and, thanks to the generous salary of a Qi Dynasty official, built himself a house.

Northern expedition? Training troops? Implementing new laws?

All of those had nothing to do with him.

Zhao Haiping had also been puzzled why Yu Jiaxuan, after such great achievements that made the "Holy Emperor sigh thrice," didn’t get reused for two years?

After briefly consulting the historical records, he understood.

The question wasn’t strange; in fact, it was almost inevitable.

Because Yu Jiaxuan was a "returnee."

A "returnee" referred to those who had rebelled and returned to the Qi Dynasty from Jin Country.

Yu Jiaxuan not only grew up in the occupied area of Jin Country, but his grandfather was also an official for the Jin. Although his grandfather had instilled the idea of reclaiming the old territory in Yu Jiaxuan from childhood, to the eyes of the Qi court, he was still classified as part of "those not our ilk."

The game didn’t show the scene of Yu Jiaxuan leading the Rebel Army back to Qi, but Zhao Haiping could find these historical records himself.

After returning to Qi, the court indeed held a very dignified ceremony to receive him.

But behind the seemingly high-profile ceremony lay stark distrust.

The more than ten thousand members of the Rebel Army were disbursed among various armies, leaving Yu Jiaxuan with no military power and an administrative position instead.

At the time, Yu Jiaxuan didn’t realize the severity of this.

He took it as standard procedure since the returning Rebel Army wasn’t trusted by the court, which seemed understandable.

In his view, even if he couldn’t lead troops temporarily, he could still fulfill his ambitions through civil service. After all, gold shines no matter where it is.

As long as he achieved success as an official, he would eventually get promoted. In the environment of Qi, even civil officials reaching high positions could enter the Privy Council and lead troops.

In several of Qi’s major battles before, civil officials were involved.

Over the next two years, Yu Jiaxuan repeatedly submitted memorials and wrote the "Ten Thousand Word Strategy for Pacifying the Barbars," to the amazement and widespread acclaim of all who heard it.

Yet these documents were doomed not to be accepted by the court.

One phrase, "The enemy will inevitably perish after sixty years, the fall of the enemy will be Huaxia’s greater worry," should have been a penetrating analysis and a lifesaving remedy for Qi, but it ultimately became a prophetic omen of Qi’s demise.

Before this, Zhao Haiping had not known much about Yu Jiaxuan, only that he was a renowned poet of history.

Now, he felt a deep kinship with Yu Jiaxuan’s indignation.

Once, he was spirited and heroic, leading a cavalry raid to bring back the traitor.

But now, the hero had no opportunity to wield his sword.

Of course, compared to the real-life Yu Jiaxuan, the players were in a better situation.

In this severely distorted historical segment, Wang Wenchuan’s reforms were also underway.

At least the players could console themselves with, "The reforms are incomplete, thus we shouldn’t rashly provoke conflict."

Players could say that Yu Jiaxuan had no arena to display his military prowess because the Qi treasury was empty, and the army’s combat power was weak, hence any fight would not yield good results.

Once Wang Wenchuan’s reforms were successful and the army gained combat power, it would not be too late to fight.

Yu Jiaxuan was still young and could afford to wait.

But in the real history, while Yu Jiaxuan’s years slipped away, the Qi Dynasty did nothing but continued its peaceful and joyous revelry, playing music and dancing.

One could only imagine the true depth of Yu Jiaxuan’s frustration.

Fortunately, players could skip these meaningless waits and go directly to the next stage of the challenge.

This mission, too, was to pacify the outlaws.

Zhao Haiping looked at the complex terrain of small hills ahead, then at his unkempt and reluctantly spirited government troops behind him.

"Who are these bandits?" Zhao Haiping asked the Deputy General at his side.

There’s a saying that goes, ’Know thyself, know thy enemy, and you shall never be defeated in a hundred battles.’ Despite his experience leading troops primarily emerging from a series of failures, Zhao Haiping had at least grasped this basic principle.

To rid the lands of bandits, one must first understand the enemy situation.

The Deputy General quickly bowed and said, "Reporting to the presiding officer, these bandits are known as ’Tea Bandits’, so called because their leader is a tea merchant over sixty years old. This man, called Lai Wenzheng, recruited local militia and guards for smuggling and took to the hills due to having killed a government officer.

"He has fought across several provinces, not only hiding in the mountains to escape the imperial army’s encirclement several times but also taking advantage of the imperial forces’ unpreparedness to luckily win a few skirmishes.

"However, presiding officer, rest assured, this time our large army is entering the mountains with a definitive advantage. With your brilliant and valiant leadership, capturing Lai Wenzheng should be easily achievable."

Zhao Haiping nodded slightly, pondering in his mind.

A tea merchant... and an old one at that...

Starting a life as a bandit in the hills at such an old age was indeed vigorous.

But considering these people dared to smuggle and kill government officers, they must certainly be fierce and vicious characters. Having fought across multiple provinces and hidden within the mountain recesses, and even managing to defeat the imperial army in their state of disarray, it seemed this leader, Lai Wenzheng, despite his age, understood some military tactics and would be tough to deal with.

A gang of tea-leaf smugglers had managed to defeat the official forces and move unchallenged across several places, truly a slap in the face for the imperial government.

No wonder the imperial court had finally thought of Yu Jiaxuan.

The court considered him a "reformed man," there’s absolutely no way they would allow him to command an army against Jin Country. But they were aware of his capabilities, hence they sent him as a firefighter, to do the dirty and tiring job of suppressing bandits.

Well, what else could he do?

At this moment, Zhao Haiping also felt he had no other choice but to be a useful tool for the Qi Dynasty court, hoping that after suppressing the bandits, he could use this merit to rise in status and get closer to the Bull Crossing battle.

"The army advances into the mountains!"

At Zhao Haiping’s command, the imperial forces set out, heading towards the mountains ahead.

Before this, Zhao Haiping had of course made some other arrangements.

He had already arranged for guides to scout several key mountain passages and deployed some Deputy Generals to block all these passages in advance.

By doing so, he would then lead the imperial army into a frontal attack, aiming to capture the enemy as if trapping turtles in a jar.

The mountain paths were rugged and steep, so Zhao Haiping and his men did not ride horses but proceeded on foot.

Before departing, Zhao Haiping chose a handy long knife as his weapon.

He was indeed still not accustomed to Yu Jiaxuan’s treasured sword, feeling more secure using a long knife.

Zhao Haiping was confident about this bandit-suppression campaign.

Although these imperial troops didn’t seem very strong in combat, often ending up ten-to-one against the Jin forces, this was, after all, a bandit-suppression operation.

They had an absolute advantage in force, and the soldiers’ morale could relatively be maintained.

Moreover, in the era of cold weapons, individual combat power significantly bolstered morale. Acting as Yu Jiaxuan, Zhao Haiping could exhibit his maximum Combat Power, and leading a charge himself to break the bandits shouldn’t be a big problem.

"The stockade gate is just ahead," pointed out the Deputy General, indicating a rudimentary wooden barrier not far away.

Zhao Haiping’s brows furrowed, sensing something amiss.

Why does it seem so quiet?

Could there be an ambush?

That’s unlikely... they’re just bandits, already at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength, what good would an ambush do?

Or could it be...

Zhao Haiping suddenly had an ominous premonition and immediately commanded, "Charge in!"

The imperial soldiers surged forward and burst through the stockade gate.

To their surprise, they found the mountain stronghold entirely empty.

The bandits’ habitat was not a large stronghold and was quite rudimentary. According to previous intelligence, it only housed a few hundred people.

The stronghold could barely accommodate all the bandits, and being impregnable was definitely out of the question.

But where were the people?

The imperial soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment, while the Deputy General turned to Zhao Haiping, waiting for his next command.

Zhao Haiping approached the cooking area in the stronghold and felt the ash in the stove.

"There’s still some warmth... spread out and pursue!"

Zhao Haiping decisively ordered several Deputy Generals to lead the imperial troops down various mountain paths in pursuit.

Logically, since he had already arranged for the key passages to be guarded, if the bandits were going down the mountain at this time, they would certainly encounter some of the imperial forces.

Sending troops now for a pincer attack, should they manage to hold onto the bandits until all forces converged, wouldn’t they be easily captured?

At his command, the imperial forces revived their spirits and started descending the mountain.

What Zhao Haiping hadn’t anticipated was that despite scouring the entire mountain inside and out, they came up empty-handed.

The troops responsible for blocking the mountain exits didn’t see a single bandit, and both groups of imperial soldiers stared at each other, utterly confused.

Zhao Haiping also scratched his head in puzzlement.

What happened?