novelraw Chapter 212
Chapter 212
Chapter 212: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction
The practical ability of two hundred people is truly astonishing.
In half an hour, the originally run-down village was cleaned up neatly and orderly.
The guards arranged the best room for their delicate, troublesome yet fairly easy-to-feed His Highness to rest in.
Then His Highness went in.
His Highness, with two dark purple circles under his eyes, lay down contentedly.
Closing the door, the entire village instantly fell silent.
Fang Sheng stood by the door with arms crossed, expressionless.
Suddenly, someone jumped down from the roof. Yi Shisan glanced at the door and quietly asked Fang Sheng, “Sir, His Highness is asleep. What shall we do now?”
Fang Sheng: “Do whatever needs to be done.” Yi Shisan stroked his chin, “Well, how about I go around and hunt a few wild rabbits for His Highness?”
Fang Sheng: “Aren’t you tired?”
Yi Shisan put on a serious face, “Not tired. I can stay up for two more days.”
Previously reprimanded by His Highness, now that they had some free time, if he didn’t try to perform some merit in front of His Highness, he might lose his place in His Highness’s eyes to that Ding Facai fellow!
Fang Sheng shot him a sidelong glance, “Ding Facai has already taken people up the mountain.”
Yi Shisan’s face fell instantly.
Suck-up!
–
Wei Yu slept until the sun was high in the sky.
Usually, someone so tired wouldn’t wake up so easily, but he was fortunate to have a group of diligent guards.
They had gone hunting on their own, made barbecue, sprinkled seasoning packets—everything to wake the deep-sleeping Wei Yu with the enticing aromas.
Even the other hundred elite soldiers were dazzled by the guards’ barbecue skills.
They thought: We’re all guards, so why are these guys so good at barbecue? When out in the wild, just hunting the game is hard enough. Usually, you just cook it roughly and eat, right?
The guards replied, if you can't mix in socially or cook in the kitchen, you simply can’t be one of His Highness’s “insiders”!
The “insiders” are so virtuous—they prepared the food and even brought water for His Highness to wipe his face and clean his hands.
All properly trained, of course.
Wei Yu was very pleased with their initiative.
However, just as he took the meat and hadn’t eaten two bites, some commotion erupted outside.
“Haha, Eldest Brother, come quickly! There’s someone in this village! Oh my god, there are horses! So many horses, Eldest Brother!”
“Whose cooking is this? It smells so damn good…”
“The smell of meat! It’s the smell of meat!”
Outside, some coarse people were shouting and making a ruckus, causing a weary, speechless feeling.
With the meat at his lips, Wei Yu stopped eating.
He sighed, glanced at Fang Sheng, and was about to speak when a deafening voice sounded outside.
“You people, be sensible and hand over all your valuables!”
Wei Yu: …?
Here we go again, being robbed right on our doorstep?
What a bizarre coincidence—it’s hard to avoid going back to old habits.
Wei Yu remained calm.
He stuffed a piece of meat in his mouth and gestured to those standing nearby, “Go ahead. You’ve all done this before and know the process well, so I won’t show myself. Just finish this quickly.”
Fang Sheng: ……
–
Following His Highness’s order, the experienced guards quickly dealt with the bandits who had come knocking uninvited.
There were just over thirty bandits—against two hundred elite court soldiers, the result was unbelievably easy.
Of course, the guards who belonged to Wei Yu knew exactly how to handle bandits, but the other hundred were totally baffled.
Bandits? Usually when caught, they’re locked up or killed outright.
So why did the Wise King’s guards, after tying them up, record their hometowns, names, ages one by one? After that, they forced them to run laps and taught them some moves?
They just didn’t get it at all.
Not getting it is normal—after watching more, they’ll understand.
Wei Yu didn’t have time to explain. After finishing his meal, he didn’t even go out to see. He just asked Fang Sheng about the situation and went back to sleep.
When he woke up again, the captured bandits had been drilled to near collapse by the guards.
The intense exercise made the already hungry bandits even hungrier. They wanted rest, but they couldn’t resist the terrifying group surrounding them, and had no choice but to continue training, wanting to cry but having no tears.
When Wei Yu came out and saw the bandits sweating profusely, beaten down and filthy, he was slightly startled and couldn’t help but ask Fang Sheng, “Aren't you being too harsh? These are just ordinary bandits—be careful not to train them to exhaustion.”
These were his tools later on!
One must learn to maintain them in advance!
Fang Sheng responded calmly, “His Highness, rest assured, I know what I’m doing. This amount of training won’t kill them.”
At worst, their legs will be too weak to stand later.
Wei Yu stared at the crying bandits for a moment.
Then he silently nodded, “Not bad. They look really lively… So, Fang Sheng, have you asked clearly where their hideout is?”
Fang Sheng: ……
Here we go again.
His Highness intends to rebuild his Oxhead Army, right?!
Although he had already had a hunch, hearing Wei Yu say this still made Fang Sheng feel mentally exhausted.
He quietly took a deep breath, “His Highness, the locations have been confirmed. Do you require me to lead people there to incorporate them now?”
Good, using the term ‘incorporate’ was perfect!
Wei Yu was very pleased and looked at Fang Sheng with satisfaction, “Fang Sheng, you have surpassed your teacher. I’m very happy. So what are you waiting for? Why aren’t you going now?”
Fang Sheng: ……
–
Incorporating bandits and rebuilding the bandit army—this was really a simple task for Wei Yu and his guards.
It was just a matter of being familiar with the work!
Just three days.
Within three days, all the bandits in the entire Linxi County, big and small, were taken down by the guards in one fell swoop.
All neatly rounded up—three hundred in total. Adding the two hundred with Wei Yu, the group now numbered five hundred.
Turning the party into five hundred in three days—that’s how miraculous it was. You could tell from the expressions of the hundred elites who came from the capital.
Throughout history, there have been instances of ordering bandits to surrender, but those were cases where the Imperial Court sent its military directly, turning bandits into regular troops!
But what were they doing?
This time, a prince of the current reign angrily unified fragmented mountain bandits into an army—with an Imperial Court-appointed leader, but no official military structure. So what exactly was this force: bandits or soldiers?
The elite soldiers were genuinely confused.
Of course, Wei Yu, returning to his former occupation, would not, as he did in Ji Commandery, use this newly formed bandit army to battle local officials.
He rebuilt this bandit army to maintain order during the flood disaster.
Imperial Court soldiers are fine, but there are always places they cannot reach.
Third Brother has his own things to handle, and Wei Yu has his own mission with his men.