Chapter 33: Getting on the Right Track

The battle at the Yan Family estate did not last long. Once Li Chang’an broke through the high wall, the outcome was no longer in doubt.

As for the assassination attempt by Cao Tian and the two Liang Family brothers, it was an absolute farce.

Even the strongest of the three, Cao Tian, was merely a Martial Artist. Since Li Chang’an had previously killed three such fighters at once, dealing with these men was no problem at all.

After Li Chang’an killed them, the Rebel Army quickly suppressed the private soldiers within the estate.

On Li Chang’an’s prior orders, those who surrendered were spared.

As the ringleader, Master Yan was captured by the Rebel Army to be dealt with later.

When the men of the Rebel Army opened the gates to the Yan Family’s inner courtyard and saw the glittering Gold and mountains of jewels and grain inside, they all gaped in astonishment.

In the past, they had imagined the Emperor to be someone who simply used a golden hoe to till his fields.

They had never imagined that a mere country squire, tucked away in some remote corner of the land, could hoard a fortune they couldn’t spend in ten, or even a hundred, lifetimes!

Wealth has a way of stirring the heart.

Immediately, many of the less scrupulous men found their feet rooted to the spot.

Others were even more direct, rushing into the treasury and desperately stuffing their pockets with gold and silver. ’After all,’ they thought, ’with so much treasure, who would ever notice if a little bit went missing!’

However, just as their hearts pounded with excitement and they frantically gathered riches...

Li Chang’an walked in, carrying a long saber that was still dripping with blood. Without a word, he cut down one of the insatiably greedy men and declared coldly, "The treasury is to be sealed. Anyone who dares touch its contents without permission will be executed without mercy!"

Hearing his bone-chilling voice...

...many inside the Inner Treasury shivered.

Glancing at the gold and silver before them, then back at Li Chang’an, who stood behind them like a god of death, most of the Rebel Army members lost their nerve and dared not make another move.

But a small few, their minds already clouded by greed, continued to frantically bag the treasures.

Li Chang’an showed them no mercy, cutting them down one by one with his long saber.

Blood sprayed across his face, yet he didn’t even blink.

’This kind of scum would only be a liability if left alive.’

...

After all was done, Li Chang’an had the old Daoist and Lü Changning guard the Inner Treasury. The rest were to follow him to another landlord’s estate.

This order caused a brief commotion within the Rebel Army.

The soldiers were exhausted after the battle. ’Shouldn’t we rest for the night and move out in the morning?’ they wondered.

’Besides, with so much wealth and grain piled up in the Yan Mansion’s Inner Treasury, our minds are still on that...’

However, Li Chang’an’s authority had grown immensely. Though the men of the Rebel Army were reluctant, they had no choice but to obey.

Before long, the army arrived outside the Wang Mansion under the cover of darkness.

Just as everyone expected Li Chang’an to repeat his earlier tactic and bombard the compound with the Cannon, he instead leaped into the air. In just a few bounds, he covered several hundred meters.

The compound walls, which an ordinary person wouldn’t even dream of scaling, seemed to not exist before him as he vaulted over them with ease.

Moments later, the sounds of shouting and fighting erupted from within the mansion.

The sounds came quickly, but faded even faster.

After about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the Rebel Army soldiers were stunned to see the tightly sealed gates of the Wang Mansion boom open...

Seeing a group of private soldiers trembling inside the estate...

The men of the Rebel Army were utterly dumbfounded.

They remembered their attack on the Yan Mansion, how several thousand of them had been halted by a mere hundred men, too afraid to advance. Now, they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

...

In just three days, Li Chang’an led the Rebel Army to crush every one of the wealthy gentry families near Sanhuang County.

After breaking into their mansions, Li Chang’an decreed that those who surrendered would be spared, the ringleaders would be captured to await judgment, and the Rebel Army was absolutely forbidden from disturbing common citizens or pillaging like bandits.

Violators would be executed without mercy!

Under normal circumstances, it would have been nearly impossible to get the troops to accept such orders.

After all, don’t men follow their leader through life and death for the promise of titles and nobility, of rising above the common man after conquering new lands?

Who could stare at mountains of gold and silver and not take a single thing?

Yet the Rebel Army did not dare defy Li Chang’an’s commands.

Besides Li Chang’an’s ridiculously overwhelming personal might, the main reason was that, strictly speaking, he had crushed these wealthy gentry families all by himself.

Aside from shedding a little blood during the battle at the Yan Mansion, the Rebel Army’s only role in the other raids had been to take inventory of the rear courtyards and transport the confiscated supplies.

They had shed neither blood nor sweat.

Naturally, they felt it was a fair Balance.

Furthermore, the Rebel Army had already witnessed Li Chang’an’s style: as immovable as a mountain at rest, but as swift as a Thunderbolt in action. Who would dare defy him or play petty tricks right under his nose?

...

The Rebel Army moved so swiftly that many of the local gentry were still lost in their pipe dreams, dragged from their beds by the rebels before they even knew what was happening.

The so-called Alliance they had formed might have appeared united on the surface, but in reality, each member was looking out for their own interests.

In the end, they were crushed one by one by Li Chang’an with lightning speed, before they even had a chance to truly band together.

Li Chang’an ordered his men to hang these men in the streets, letting the oppressed common folk decide their fate.

It was worth noting that three days prior, the Rebel Army had posted notices in the surrounding towns, announcing that relief grain would be distributed near the county seat in three days’ time.

When they first heard the news, the local peasants didn’t believe it at all.

After all, life’s repeated hardships had taught them that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

They might be hoping for the Rebel Army’s relief grain, but who knew what the Rebel Army wanted from them in return?

’Perhaps it’s just a pretext to lure us into a trap!’

But when they heard that the Rebel Leader was none other than the young Master Li Chang’an, the one who had practiced medicine to save the people during the plague, they finally began to waver, becoming half-convinced.

As word spread over the next few days...

Finally, some desperate peasants, clinging to the idea that a wretched life is better than a good death, made their way to Sanhuang County. There, they happened to see the landlords hanging in the street.

At first, the peasants had no idea what the Rebel Army was up to.

Thus, not a single one dared to step forward.

But then Li Chang’an himself appeared. Before the eyes of the crowd, he personally beheaded the master of the Wang Family—a man who had oppressed the people and colluded with bandits to traffic them. In that instant, the crowd erupted.

Countless peasants pointed at the gentry and hurled curses. The rage that exploded in that moment was so intense they looked as if they wanted to drink their blood and devour their flesh.

...

For several days, the blood of Sanhuang County’s cruel and wealthy landlords stained the streets Red.

It was truly a scene of rolling heads.

When the peasants realized the Rebel Leader was Li Chang’an—and that he had not only killed the landlords who lorded over them but was also distributing so much relief grain—they were overwhelmed with gratitude. They began to see him as the parent who had given them a second life.

However, their acquaintance was still new, so the peasants remained somewhat distant, not yet daring to interact with the Rebel Army.

Li Chang’an was not worried about this.

Right then, he was listening to Wang Su and Lü Changning tally the spoils from their campaign of confiscations.

From just this small county, the wealth and grain the Rebel Army had collected from the mansions were enough to expand their one-thousand-man force to five thousand!

Hearing this number, Li Chang’an nodded with satisfaction.

Now that they had secured a base, the Rebel Army had a stable supply of provisions and morale was high. It was time to consider their next steps toward establishing a proper order.

...