Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 830: Chapter 168: The Official Can’t Match the Bandit (Part 2)

In Baoning Prefecture, he is already one of the top experts.

Therefore, he is qualified to sit in front of Magistrate Li Wenchun and Lizhou Guard Commander Sun Derong.

Magistrate Li Wenchun is a withered old man. He has been the magistrate of Baoning Prefecture for seven years, which shows that he is an official with no background in the court; otherwise, he definitely wouldn’t have stayed in Baoning Prefecture for seven years.

Li Wenchun is very experienced in handling affairs. The decision to close the city gates and wait for reinforcements was made by him.

In the hall, Li Wenchun looked at Sun Derong and Li Baoshan and said hoarsely, ”Mr. Sun, Mr. Li, do you have any strategies to repel the enemy?”

Sun Derong looked at Li Baoshan; his position as Lizhou Guard Commander was actually just for show, and his subordinates were a group of peasants.

According to regulations, the entire Lizhou Guard should have 5,600 soldiers, but in reality, he can only gather slightly over 2,000 soldiers, and these soldiers take turns garrisoning the prefecture city.

He has already done well to accomplish this.

As for repelling the enemy, that’s a joke; most of Lizhou Guard’s soldiers have never fought a battle, nor have they even seen blood shed. Counting on them for battle is less reliable than recruiting the able-bodied from within the city.

At least the able-bodied within the city would fight for their families, while Lizhou Guard’s soldiers are probably thinking about how to escape.

Sun Derong knew his abilities were lacking, and he also knew the quality of the soldiers under his command, so he placed his hopes on Li Baoshan.

Li Baoshan, with a solemn expression, asked, ”May I ask if the Prefect understands the bandit army outside the city?”

Truth be told, he didn’t really know the origins of the Taiping Army, nor was he well-informed about Taiping County, because in Bashu, there were several rebel groups, with Taiping County’s Yang Mingzhao ranking last among them.

Therefore, even if Li Baoshan paid attention to the rebels on a daily basis, his focus would be on the Black Tiger King and Nine Heavens King in the southern part of Bashu.

However, Li Wenchun was quite familiar with the situation in Taiping County, and he said, ”The bandit army outside the city comes from Taiping County, and their leader is named Yang Zhao. His origin is very mysterious; not only outsiders, but even their own people don’t know the origin of Mr. Yang.”

”Some speculate he comes from a wealthy merchant family, and others suppose he has Martial Arts backing, as he has many Martial Arts masters around him.”

”In Taiping County, he distributed land, repaired irrigation, trained farmer-soldiers, and built forts. In just over two years, he organized Taiping County methodically, allowing the people to be well-fed and every family to have surplus grain!”

Hearing this, Li Baoshan and the other two exchanged glances.

”Isn’t this not a bandit?” Li Baoshan doubtedly said.

Li Wenchun’s expression was also quite complicated, ”To gentry and wealthy landlords, he is a bandit because he redistributed their land to poor people. But to poor people, he is a great and good man, a benevolent officer!”

The four fell silent.

They all despised bandits.

But these rebels from Taiping County left them at a loss for how to evaluate them.

”Alas~~” Li Wenchun sighed deeply, saying, ”In my thirty years as an official, having been County Magistrate multiple times, I have never governed a place as peaceful as Taiping County!”

Li Wenchun was a competent official, and wherever he was posted, he would develop water resources and promote agriculture.

Unfortunately, being in officialdom, he faced too many restrictions.

He couldn’t do this, nor that; he couldn’t suppress the gentry, and couldn’t offend the powerful.

This left him with his hands tied, always unable to accomplish things.

”Prefect, now is not the time to discuss this; we should still think about how to repel the enemy!” Deputy Magistrate Xu Fusheng reminded.

”Hmm, let’s first discuss strategies to repel the enemy!” Li Wenchun nodded in agreement.

Although in his heart he greatly approved of many of Taiping County’s policies, as an official of the court, he had a duty to defend the city and absolutely couldn’t hand the prefecture city over to rebels.

Li Baoshan pondered for a moment, then said, ”Repelling the enemy would require long-term planning!”

”The soldiers within the city are not fit for major tasks, so the first thing we must do is train a batch of able-bodied young men who are willing to fight!”

”First, we need to request reinforcements from the Governor’s Office; if reinforcements are available, we only need to hold the city.”

”Second, we need to train the able-bodied; if there are no reinforcements, then we can only rely on the city’s able-bodied to repel the enemy!”

Xu Fusheng said, ”Isn’t it too late to train the able-bodied now?”

Li Baoshan shook his head, ”That is our only option; we must be prepared on two fronts. Compared to reinforcements from the Governor’s Office, I find training the able-bodied more reliable; within three months, we can form a capable force!”

Li Wenchun agreed and said, ”Indeed, we only need to hold the city for three months. There aren’t many bandits outside the city; we should be able to last three months.”

The situation in Bashu Province is just like this: the Governor’s Office is unreliable, and local prefectures, states, and counties can only rely on themselves. But the prefectures, states, and counties don’t have much money or grain, so unless faced with an imminent threat, they can’t do anything. Only when the enemy is at the gates will they scramble to gather money and grain, and train the able-bodied.

”Money and grain is a problem!” Sun Derong said.

Li Wenchun said, ”I will visit the wealthy households in the city to ask them to donate money and grain. I believe, in these times, they would be willing to contribute to recruit the able-bodied.”

Unless faced with an imminent threat, those gentry and wealthy households would never donate money and grain.

Now that the rebels are right outside the city, Li Wenchun believes he can persuade those wealthy households to contribute money and grain.

After the four of them made their arrangements, they each went their separate ways. Li Wenchun and Xu Fusheng were responsible for gathering money and grain, while Li Baoshan and Sun Derong were responsible for recruiting and training the able-bodied.

...

At night, under the dim moonlight, a fleeting shadow silently crossed the city wall and entered the city.

After entering the city, Li Dagui immediately began looking for Zhang Mo and Li Cheng, who had infiltrated the city ten days earlier.

It took him a whole two hours, almost circling the city, before he found the marks left by Zhang Mo and Li Cheng.

In an ordinary residential house, Li Cheng, who was sleeping, suddenly sat up, ”Who?”

”It’s me!” Li Dagui slipped into the house silently. After recognizing him, Li Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.

”Greetings, Senior. Does the Young Master have new orders?” Li Cheng quickly got up from his wooden board bed and asked.

Li Dagui nodded and said, ”Do you know where Li Baoshan resides?”

Li Cheng replied without hesitation, ”I do; he resides within the Martial Arts Department Office. This afternoon, he went to the Prefecture Office, and after leaving, he returned to the Martial Arts Department, which is preparing to recruit and train the able-bodied.”

They hadn’t come into the city for idleness; they closely monitored the actions of various offices, probed the city’s defensive strength, sought ways to breach the city, and more.

As Li Baoshan was the Commander of the Martial Arts Department and the one with the highest level of cultivation, he was naturally their primary surveillance target.

Without saying much, Li Dagui left after tossing down a comment.

”You all wait here; I’m going to meet Li Baoshan!”

He had already identified the location of the Martial Arts Department Office while wandering around the city earlier.

Leaving Li Cheng’s place, he quickly infiltrated the Martial Arts Department Office.

The Martial Arts Department Office wasn’t large, apart from military guards, there were some civil servants and laborers.

Li Dagui quickly determined which room Li Baoshan was residing in.

Li Baoshan’s family lived within the city, so his family didn’t reside in the office.

Usually, he stayed at his home, but being busy with the recruitment and training of the able-bodied today, he stayed in the office.

Li Dagui silently infiltrated Li Baoshan’s room, found a chair, and sat in front of Li Baoshan’s bed.

”Since you’re awake, you might as well get up. A guest has arrived; are you planning on hiding and not receiving guests?” Li Dagui said with a light laugh.

Within the bed’s curtain, Li Baoshan’s hand was already on the hilt of his sword.

He had sensed someone had infiltrated his room when Li Dagui moved the chair.

Truth be told, he was startled and almost jumped up to slash at whoever it was.

However, he knew that the intruder’s strength was far above his, so he chose to pretend to sleep, hoping for a chance to counter-attack.

But he didn’t expect the intruder to actually wake him up!