"The Farmer's Fat Wife" - Fat Men Are All Potential Stocks (Part Sixteen)...

After the south fell into chaos, the emperor was extremely anxious.

But sometimes, even the most urgent matters can only be watched helplessly, especially in the context of a small-scale peasant economy in ancient times.

If the grain isn't ripe, that means no pay for the soldiers.

Over the centuries, bureaucratic institutions have grown increasingly powerful, with layers of exploitation and collusion among themselves, pocketing all the profits while having no money left.

When they ran out of money, they could only exploit the common people even more. When a natural disaster struck, the people would rebel. In the north, a group of Manichaeans were also secretly inciting the people to rebel, and their power grew very quickly.

The previous conscription in the south was to suppress the rapidly rising Manichaean rebels in the north.

The border guards dared not move, for if they did, their neighbors would invade.

The imperial court is already facing such difficulties, and it is unbelievable that those rioters in the south would be so ignorant of the bigger picture, adding to the chaos at this critical juncture.

The emperor was so angry with everyone that he wished he could unleash his imperial power and send down lightning to kill them all. However, his divine father seemed to have no interest in him, so he could only repeat the same routine every day: going back to the inner palace to vent his anger and then going back to the court to vent his anger.

What are you lot good for when the imperial court keeps you around? You're utterly useless when it matters!

The ministers below looked at each other, none of them wanting to step forward in such a thorny matter.

A group of people were pushing and shoving each other when, suddenly, a clever person came up with a solution.

Why not use those soldiers conscripted from the south to suppress the Manichaean rebels as hostages to quell the southern bandit rebellion?

The seven bandit leaders were indeed incredibly audacious, daring to commit such a heinous act.

However, the followers they gathered were mostly locals from the south, and the threat of hostages would inevitably throw the rebel army into chaos.

Upon hearing this, the emperor exclaimed, "What a great idea!" and immediately issued an order to mobilize troops.

This is where the advantages of household registration become apparent: precise location.

Of course, it's impossible to send only soldiers from the rebel areas to suppress them. If all the soldiers were from the rebel areas, they would cooperate from within and without, and the entire region would turn against them.

The focus was on detaining the bandit leaders' hometowns. After several days of investigation and reporting, the identities of the bandit leaders had been uncovered, and the imperial court began to focus on detaining their fellow villagers.

In ancient times, news traveled slowly, and lower-ranking soldiers had no way to obtain information. The protagonist was unaware that his hometown had rebelled when he was arrested as a fellow villager of the traitor Aoki. He didn't even know who the traitor Aoki was.

The crowd looked at each other in bewilderment, and amidst the shouts and curses of arresting people, they roughly understood what was going on. They were being used as advance troops, essentially "human favor bombs."

They took the families of the rebels to the front lines to serve as human shields. If the rebels fired arrows, they would be the first to be shot dead. If they retreated, the government troops would also be the first to shoot them dead.

If the rebels are too ruthless, they will be overwhelmed by the government troops; if they are ruthless, they will kill their own family members.

A mother killing her son, a wife killing her husband, a child killing his father—such human tragedies are enough to break even the strongest heart.

So although the tactic was vicious, it was actually effective. This was the usual way to deal with rebels: tie up family members and bring them to the front lines to break the rebels' morale.

Generally speaking, those who rebel must have soldiers. Even if they are coerced into rebellion by their commander, they are not in control of their own destiny while in the army and can only watch helplessly as their family members are shot to death, becoming the ones who suffer a mental breakdown.

Who would have thought I'd end up being a hostage!

Although it's not pleasant to shoot your own family members to death, it's not pleasant to be shot to death by your own family members either. The people who were suddenly stripped of their armor were stunned.

That's why you have to do the bad things yourself. Otherwise, if you delegate them to someone else, you never know what might happen and you'll suddenly get caught up in it without any warning.

The male protagonist was obediently fighting alongside the main force and had no idea what was happening when he was thrown into a hostage camp.

In the high-pressure environment of ancient times, soldiers and ruffians generally had very low moral standards, and they were overjoyed to see others suffer.

Soldiers like to make fun of "sheep" (victims of war), since they are people who deserve to die and can be bullied and abused by anyone.

If it were an ordinary person, they might be bullied and helpless, forced to the front lines and begging, "Mommy, don't shoot arrows! I don't want to die!"

But the male lead is different; he's not an ordinary person.

As the male lead, he possesses a ruthless streak and a certain amount of luck.

We've been forced into this situation; we're doomed whether we go forward or retreat. So what are we hesitating for? Let's rebel!

The protagonist seized the opportunity and, under cover of darkness, led all the "sheep" in a rebellion, seized the weapons, and then joined the local Manichaean forces.

If this were a normal broadcast program, this would definitely be the male lead's most outstanding moment, and the system would arrange a hundred cameras to repeatedly capture it. But now this highlight is useless!

Although the male protagonist successfully rebelled, avoiding being dragged to the front lines as a human shield and having Ye Xiqing take revenge by drawing her bow and shooting arrows at him, the only one who will benefit from his rebellion is Ye Xiqing!

If the government troops are tied down by the protagonist and the Manichaeans' actions, then who will be sent to the south to quell the rebellion...?

...

Ye Xiqing was in Huaizhou, preparing his troops and waiting for the arrival of the government army.

On the surface, they seemed relaxed, but in reality, they were completely on edge. Then came another harvest, and the government troops didn't come.

Upon receiving the news, it turned out that the Manichaean rebellion had become more serious, and if left unchecked, it would invade their homeland. Therefore, the government troops would not be coming this year.

Ye Xiqing: ...

Haha!

Upon receiving the message, Ye Xiqing was so happy that she jumped up from the ground. Despite her heavy body, she actually had a pretty good jumping ability.

Put away the report and give the order directly: the government troops are going to spend the New Year at home again, but our soldiers can't have trained for nothing, let's get to work!

Of course, it's not that they would go over if the government troops didn't come; now is indeed not a good time to fight. They are really lucky to avoid fighting the government troops.

They planned to take advantage of the absence of government troops to suppress the bandits!

Within Huaizhou, there were also bandit forces, and along the coast, there were sea pirates.

Ye Xiqing was determined to remove the thorns from her body. She hadn't dared to act rashly before because of the threats from the government troops, but now that the government troops weren't coming, she would just have to clean her neck and wait to die!

After confirming that the government troops were not coming, Ye Xiqing immediately ordered Prime Minister Zhu to issue an order to suppress the bandits, using diplomacy first and then force.

The old dynasty was incompetent and tyrannical, harming the people and forcing them into banditry.

Many people who went up the mountain may not have done so by their own will. Now, King Aoki is giving everyone a chance to be human again. As long as they go down the mountain and return home, they will be given land again and become good people once more.

If they remain obstinate, King Aoki will lead a large army to quell the rebellion!

The old dynasty never suppressed bandits, but unexpectedly, Ye Xiqing and her gang of real bandits occupied Huaizhou and now they actually want to suppress them.

When the order was first issued, everyone wondered if it was real or fake, and didn't take it seriously.

However, the old dynasty did not suppress bandits because it was unnecessary. They were all working for the emperor; why would someone take a salary and risk their life for their boss?

Ye Xiqing and the others really wanted to stay in Huaizhou for a long time. They shouldn't compare themselves to the old government's workers with those who only had this much wealth.

After the order to suppress bandits was issued, many small groups of bandits surrendered. After all, not every bandit group could drink and eat meat in large quantities; many could not survive. Hearing that the government was redistributing land, they hurried back to register their households again.

The remaining ones are those who are very confident in their own strength and think Ye Xiqing is nothing, then the only option is to eliminate them by force.

In the past, bandits had an advantage over government troops. They knew the terrain well and had a popular base. At that time, the people were living in dire straits and had a kind of tolerance towards bandits, like that of salt merchants. Even if they knew the bandits' identities, they would pretend not to see them.

Things are different now. Ye Xiqing has redistributed land to everyone in Huaizhou and encouraged a free economy, giving everyone hope for the future.

They could live and work in peace as law-abiding citizens and have access to upward mobility, while bandits immediately became a discordant element that threatened everyone.

Ye Xiqing issued another order: there would be a reward for reporting bandits. Ordinary bandits would be rewarded with ten taels of silver, and the reward would increase by ten taels for each level of the bandit stronghold, with no upper limit.

Those who colluded with bandits were treated as part of the same group and were captured and executed along with them.

With more people comes greater strength. The prefecture has a complete organizational structure and more functions than bandits. It's impossible for bandits to have no interaction with the residential areas at all.

Not every bandit leader is intelligent or wise; many big bandit leaders have grown powerful inexplicably.

Judging from their refusal to surrender, it's clear they lack long-term vision and keen intuition.

The water temperature has changed a long time ago, but it still feels the same as before.

The scouts on the mountain were spotted by the merchants as they went down to buy supplies, and the merchants quickly reported this to the authorities and had them arrested.

After capturing them, they were locked in separate rooms, subjected to a prisoner's dilemma. The poor ancient bandits had never encountered such a sophisticated psychological offensive before, and they collapsed on the spot.

After following the scouts up the mountain, the soldiers, who had been training for a long time, demonstrated to the bandits the superiority of the government troops.

Ye Xiqing didn't train any unusual martial arts moves when he was training his troops; he simply found a few former soldiers to practice military formations.

If two people are fighting, they can compare their fighting techniques. But if there are so many people, what kind of fighting techniques can they compare? Of course, they should show the enemy the power of unity.

Twelve men formed a squad, with four shield bearers attacking from the front and defending from the rear, while others carried bows and crossbows, short swords, and long weapons, supporting each other.

The twelve-man squad was easy to assemble and disperse, possessing both mobility for pursuit and offensive and defensive capabilities. Ye Xiqing's team was also heavily armed, leaving the bandits feeling powerless, as if they were trying to cut down a giant turtle.

These days everyone has been in closed training, using sticks dipped in lime and arrows coated in ink to attack each other, simulating real combat, and chopping wood to imitate chopping bones.

Ye Xiqing spared no expense on equipment; if it could reduce casualties, then every piece of equipment must be of the highest quality.

It was the first time they were using real weapons, and everyone was a little nervous at first.

However, the bandits were really too weak-willed. They charged forward together and found that killing the bandits was easier than killing their own comrades. The more they killed, the more confident they became, and they rushed in and killed the bandit leader.

Those who were terrified didn't dare to fight back and immediately knelt down and surrendered.

Faced with the surrendered men, the soldiers below went berserk: "General Niu, shall we kill him or not?"

Niu Xiaohuan glanced at it. She used to follow Ye Xiqing to slaughter pigs, and later followed her to kill people. She had absolutely no sense of the boundaries of life. Fortunately, she was quite obedient.

"The Prime Minister and the King have said that those who surrender will not be killed. You bastards, if you don't want to die, kneel down and thank His Majesty!"

Upon hearing this, even more people surrendered instantly. Soon, there wasn't a single person left standing in the stronghold; they were either kneeling in surrender or lying dead on their knees.

Ye Xiqing had been preparing for a long time, ready to take down the biggest bandit leader. After he was wiped out, the bandit forces throughout Huaizhou were shaken.

Ye Xiqing displayed the bandits' heads on the city wall for several days, and then ordered the government troops to soon quell all the bandits.

Those who now abandon darkness and embrace light can still atone for their sins with their good deeds and be redistributed their land as good citizens.

If someone brings down the heads of bandits, there will be a reward: ten taels of silver for an ordinary bandit leader, and ten taels more for each higher-ranking leader, with no upper limit.

This move was truly vicious. The elimination of the biggest bandit leader already terrified the remaining bandits.

Now, even ordinary members are offered a reward of ten taels of silver. So the question is, in ancient times, was the life of a comrade more important, or the reward of ten taels of silver?

Ye Xiqing launched a fierce attack, making the remaining bandits realize her strength as the Green Wood King.

On one hand, they offered generous rewards to undermine trust among the bandits, making everyone like a frightened bird, suspicious of each other at the slightest provocation.

All that was left to do was to both promote military might and actually pardon the prisoners and redistribute land to them.

Anyway, they won't have children after the separation, and they'll just return to the government after they die. If they marry a woman at a high price, the children will follow the mother's traits, so it doesn't matter.

In the end, all the isolated bandits collapsed. In order to seize the opportunity to make a contribution, they killed each other countless times, and the entire Huaizhou area was pacified!

If the government troops had attacked this year, Ye Xiqing would never have had such a calm opportunity to quell the internal strife. But the government troops didn't attack, so what could be done?

Sometimes luck is also a part of strength; rebellion is essentially a business that relies on luck.

-----------------------

Author's note: Qingqing: System, thank you, you finally gave me the best male lead.