There are less than two months until the autumn harvest. Lingnan has accelerated its efforts to suppress bandits before the autumn harvest.
Li Chengmu initially had 5,000 troops, but the first time he returned to Fucheng to suppress the bandits, the number reached more than 6,000.
Now we have been out suppressing bandits for more than a month. With the bandits recruited, the team has exceeded 10,000 troops.
As the team grew, some shortcomings in discipline were exposed. Li Chengmu wrote a letter to report these problems to Xia Jing.
Xia Jing didn't say much about this matter, and only replied with four words: "Kill the chicken to scare the monkey"!
Through severe punishment, the discipline of the army has improved a lot. With the war, the bandits who were recruited and the original soldiers got along more and more harmoniously, and their cooperation in combat became more and more tacit.
The team is developing in a positive direction, and the happiest person is Li Chengmu.
On this day, the team wandering in the Luofu Mountains received news from Ye Bushou that there was a river not far ahead, and they saw boats coming in and out.
"Deep in the mountains and old forests, there are few people around. Why are there ships? What do you think of this matter, sir?"
Li Chengmu asked the middle-aged man next to him.
This man's surname was Long, his given name was Yutian, his courtesy name was Wuxia, and he was known as Sai Zhuge. He was originally the second boss of a bandit den outside Luofu Mountain. After surrendering to Li Chengmu, he became his adviser.
He pondered for a while and then said: "If my subordinate's guess is correct, along the river, there should be the largest bandit den in Luofu Mountain. The leader is called Sima Lu. He was exiled in the 26th year of Huiyuan.
When I arrived in Lingnan, I ended up going up to the mountains and became a bandit for some unknown reason."
"Sima Lu?" Li Chengmu was stunned and tried to recall when the imperial court had such a person.
"The fifth master may not have an impression of him. After all, you were still young when he was exiled. But if you go back and ask the prince and princess, you should know about this person. He was the prostitute of Huiyuan in the 20th year. During his political career, he was simply a corrupt official.
Because he was unsociable in the officialdom, he was often impeached by the court officials. Emperor Huiyuan lost trust in him after many times, and was finally overthrown by the official Luo Zhi, imprisoned and exiled to Lingnan."
"A clean figure in the officialdom ended up becoming a bandit causing trouble?"
Li Chengmu didn't know how to describe his mood at this moment. Should he be angry or sad?
"Ahem." Long Yutian coughed awkwardly after hearing what he said. No matter what, he was once one of them, but if he wanted to say that it was a disaster, he would not admit it.
"Perhaps he was also forced to go to Liangshan. When a person is at a disadvantage, many choices are forced."
Li Chengmu glanced at Long Yutian and nodded, "Maybe, then what should we do next?"
The location of this bandit's den is a bit special, and it's a bit difficult to break into. They don't have enough ships to transport people deep in the mountains.
When Long Yutian was young, he had admiration for this young man who was about the same age as himself. From the bottom of his heart, he still wanted to save things and recruit this young man.
Therefore, he said without hesitation: "To be honest with the Fifth Master, the young subordinates will admire him very much. For our Tanhua Lang who has been in Huiyuan for 20 years, we can first be polite and then attack. We can first persuade him to surrender. If
If he doesn't understand, we will send out troops to destroy him."
As he said that, he looked at Li Chengmu: "Fifth Master, what do you think?"
Li Chengmu became more interested in this prostitute and asked, "It's okay to persuade him to surrender, but who should we send?"
Long Yutian stood up and bowed to him, saying, "If Fifth Master allows me, I am willing to make this trip."
"Sir is willing to take the risk and make this trip. Of course I can't ask for it. It's a big thank you to you sir." Li Chengmu agreed immediately. His mother-in-law had a saying that was right: Don't use people you doubt, and don't trust people you employ.
Since he appointed Long Yutian as his adviser, he would not be stingy with this trust.
Sima Lu's headquarters deep in the river was their territory. Li Chengmu led 10,000 troops in, and they naturally knew it.
The traces of 10,000 men were discovered, and Sima Lu's troops stood ready. Relying on their familiarity with the terrain and the fact that their numbers were about the same, the bandits were even more geared up, preparing to attack and teach these officers and soldiers an unforgettable lesson.
Relatively speaking, Sima Lu was not as excited as the brothers below him. He stared at the fluttering "Sima" flag with no emotion or anger on his face.
After a while, a bandit rushed into the lobby and knelt directly in front of Sima Lu, "Brother, there is a man at the bottom of the mountain who calls himself Sai Zhuge and wants to see him. He said that as long as he tells his name, you will know who he is."
Sima Lu came back to his senses and said calmly: "Oh, what is he doing here? Does he want to persuade me to bow to the Li family because he is weak?"
Ma Qilin, the second master sitting at the bottom, said with hope: "Brother, why don't you let me take my brothers down the mountain to kill them? I heard that these officers and soldiers collected a lot of treasures outside Luofu Mountain. They are very rich."
!”
After that, he saw Sima Lu lowered his eyes and remained silent, and then continued to speak: "I think they are demonstrating against us at the foot of the mountain. Killing them can not only gain treasures but also establish prestige. Brother, why not do it?"
There are only 10,000 officers and soldiers below, and now there are 12,000 of their brothers on the mountain. They have the advantage in terms of terrain and numbers. He and his brothers work hard to destroy them.
You know, in Luofu Mountain, they can chase any bandit force all over the mountain.
It can be said that in Luofu Mountain, they dominate, no one dares to bully them!
How could Sima Lu not see that Ma Qilin wanted to make meritorious service internally and establish prestige externally?
But after listening to his words, he still shook his head and said, "Let's not rush for the moment. Since they want to show courtesy first and then attack, why don't we be more generous and help them. Since he is already here, why not let him in and see what he says?"
After hearing what he said, Ma Qilin thought it made sense and stopped talking.
Sima Lu asked the bandit who delivered the message to bring the person over.
After the messenger brother left, Ma Qilin asked the doubts in his heart, "Brother, there are many peripheral forces that have surrendered. Do you think they will really have a good future by following King Qian?"
According to Ma Qilin's own opinion, he didn't really trust the government or the imperial court.
It is difficult to survive outside in troubled times. If you go into the mountains and become a bandit, life is difficult, but it is not as difficult as ordinary people.
Sima Lu frowned slightly, shook his head and said: "I can't tell the situation at the moment. According to the few things King Qian came to Lingnan to do, we can see that he has done something good, but the court has disappointed me."
Therefore, he can't say now whether it is good or bad to submit to the palace.
The brothers below fell silent after hearing the words of the two heads of family. To be honest, no one wanted to be a bandit. They would rather be recruited by the court if they could be recruited.
After all, who doesn’t want to be able to return home in glory one day?
However, the prerequisite for recruiting peace is to meet a wise ruler. If he is a foolish monarch, he would be more comfortable being a bandit in the mountains.
Long Yutian was blindfolded and taken up the mountain. The black cloth strip was not allowed to be removed until he entered the lobby.
Along the way, you can't see the mountains with your eyes, but walking up with your feet, you can tell that the mountain road is difficult and dangerous.
I thought to myself, if the persuasion to surrender failed, what was the possibility of capturing this stronghold?
"Brother Zhuge's eyes haven't adapted yet?"
Sima Lu saw Long Yutian staring blankly with his eyes narrowed, so he spoke first.
Hearing the voice, Long Yutian composed himself, cupped his fists and said, "Sorry, I was thinking about something and was distracted for a moment."
Sima Lu sneered: "Oh, how much do you look down on me, Sima Lu, that you dare to be distracted in my Loyalty Hall!"
After hearing his threatening words, Long Yutian just smiled and said, "I have admired your name for a long time, and seeing you today makes me think about how glorious the master was back then, and I lost my mind for a moment. I am disrespectful! I hope the master can forgive me.
.”
Sima Lu's face turned dark when he heard him mention that time. He suspected that the man in front of him was here to incite hatred.
Although he often misses his former high-spiritedness, it is also the last thing he wants to mention in front of others.
"If you have something to talk about, stop talking about the past!"
Long Yutian sighed inwardly, knowing that he still cared about what happened back then, so he changed the subject at the right time and talked about the purpose of coming here.
"Nowadays, the world is difficult. It is rare for Brother Sima to still care about the people, not to join in with the thieves, to maintain his original intention, and to maintain his own bottom line. We, the Fifth Master, admire Brother Sima's personality and talent, and specially sent me to persuade him.
I want you to take your brothers and surrender to the palace."
It can be said that Sima Lu was once a clean stream in the officialdom, but after falling out of grass and becoming a bandit, he became a clean stream among the bandits.
The bandits led by Sima Lu, in order to survive, did not rob anyone they saw, but were selective, for example, they specialized in robbing powerful gentry, landlords and officials with a bad reputation.
However, for such selective robbery, relatively speaking, their resources are much less than other bandits. Therefore, the bandits under Sima Lu either do not take action, but once they do, they will make a big move.
If they hadn't been in a secretive location, the various forces in Lingnan might have wiped him out long ago. Guarding against thieves for a thousand days made everyone exhausted.
"Ha ha."
Sima Lu laughed as if he had heard a big joke. When he had laughed enough, he asked the brothers next to him, "Did you hear it? He said that the fifth master of the palace admires me! Haha, why don't you hear this?"
Reliable, just fooling a fool!"
As he said this, he did not forget to glare at Long Yutian, thinking that he was being fooled by a fool.
The brothers next to him also started laughing, and they did not forget to imitate the master and glare at Long Yutian.
Ma Qilin said: "Brother, don't belittle yourself. After all, you are also Huiyuan's 20th year's scout. If I really want to say it, you are more powerful than the fifth master Nashi Laozi."
Long Yutian lowered his posture, cupped his hands and said, "What I said is absolutely true. Brother Sima has a good conscience and treats the people well. In exchange for the Fifth Master's promise, please consider Brother Sima carefully."
After that, Long Yutian took out a letter from his arms and handed it to the bandit next to him.
Sima Lu suppressed the smile on his face and shouted loudly: "I am a bandit who commits all kinds of evil and a sinner exiled to Lingnan. Are you, the fifth master, afraid that I will pretend to surrender to him and then rise up to resist and kill him?"
Long Yutian raised his hand to the outside and replied loudly: "Our Fifth Master believes in not trusting people but trusting them. Facts have proved that I am the best example. Fifth Lord treats people so sincerely. Brother Sima, you still have
What’s there to worry about?”
Having said that, Long Yutian actually had such worries in his heart. This person was recruited through him. If something went wrong, he would be the first to be questioned.
But his face remained calm, making it difficult to tell what he was really thinking.
Sima Lu and Ma Qilin looked at each other, both of them were shocked by what they just said.
They also felt the sincerity of the so-called Fifth Master, but they also had many concerns.
Sima Lu still asked with a solemn face: "Just recruit us as you said, how will your fifth master arrange for us? As far as I know, your fifth master only has ten thousand soldiers, and my team is comparable to
He still has 2,000 more people, so it’s not certain who will annex whom by then."
After hearing this, Long Yutian knew that this was meant to alleviate the situation, so he smiled and said, "Our fifth master can appoint you as a staff general for the time being. If Brother Sima is capable, it is not a problem to appoint you as the commander-in-chief."
Therefore, whatever official position you want to be in depends entirely on whether you have the ability.
Sima Lu glanced at Ma Qilin and did not answer Long Yutian immediately, but said: "This matter happened too suddenly. We have to discuss it with our brothers."
With that said, before Long Yutian could speak, he shouted out the door: "Come here! Please Sai Zhuge go and rest!"
Long Yutian was startled, thinking that Sima Lu had turned his back on him, but no matter how panicked he felt, he didn't dare to show timidity on his face and tried to maintain his demeanor.
He handed over to Sima Lu and said, "I'll leave for a while. Brother Sima and my brothers will discuss it carefully. Whether you become a bandit that is despised by everyone or return home with honor as a soldier, it all depends on your decision today."
Sima Lu didn't have as many thoughts as Long Yutian, so he waved his hand to him and signaled him to leave quickly.
After everyone left, he turned back and asked, "What do you think?"
Ma Qilin was the first to ask: "Brother, this is under the name of the Fifth Master. His team seems to be all soldiers. Could it be that we will become his soldiers instead of King Qian's soldiers?"
Sima Lu nodded and frowned: "This is also what I am worried about. If we submit to the Fifth Master, then we will be his personal soldiers. It is equivalent to directly joining the team. Just like the emperor has many sons, we have chosen one of them.
Just like a prince.
It would be different if we submitted under the name of the prince. We don’t have to worry about taking sides, but one bad thing is that because of our origins, we will not be able to become the prince’s direct team in the future."
Ma Qilin didn't know much about this, "Then according to what eldest brother said, is it better for us to submit under the name of the fifth master, or under the name of the prince?"
"The fifth master mentioned by Zhuge is the legitimate son of King Qian. He was born to the current princess. In terms of competitive strength, this fifth master is no worse than the eldest son of his original wife." Sima Lu sighed, "It's just,
What I hate the most is the struggle for power and intrigue. I was exiled to Lingnan for this reason more than ten years ago. Now that I am asked to return to the original environment, to be honest, I am a little resistant."
These words made Ma Qilin feel a little sympathetic to him, but
"Brother, there are differences between the past and now. In the past, you were a civil servant. Civil servants were the most frivolous and the best at playing tricks. But this time we entered the court as military generals. Military generals are not good at scheming and are open-minded. They will not be like before.
It’s a tragedy, don’t worry.”
Sima Lu was greatly surprised that Ma Qilin could say this, "Second brother, do you want to submit to this fifth master?"
Ma Qilin chuckled: "No matter what your eldest brother chooses, I will follow him."
Sima Lu nodded, probably knowing what his brothers were thinking. They all probably thought that one day they would be able to return to their hometown with honor.
Thank you Kuang Lei 123, 45. Looking up at your former innocence, A! Ziye, Minmin, China Fuze, Ye Xingchen 3399, Guoshi Checheng, the hacked book friend kept checking in again, book friend 20180522172239715,