On the battlefields where Dayuan fought against foreign tribes, military merit was determined by the number of heads taken. However, Ye Jingchen felt that internally, this was not the correct way to calculate merit.
Mountain bandits are also citizens of Da Yuan. If citizens of Da Yuan commit crimes, they should be punished by the laws of Da Yuan!
According to Xie Chang'an's intelligence, this bandit stronghold has about four hundred people, including many elderly, weak, women and children. The number of able-bodied men who can truly pose a threat to the guards should be only two hundred or less.
Among the elderly, women, and children, some were family members of the bandits, aiding and abetting their evil deeds, while others were forcibly abducted to the mountains by the bandits and were also victims.
This mountain range is located right next to the official road, and bandits made a living by robbing people on the road.
The reason why the bandits have been able to grow to their current size and have never been wiped out by the local military forces is because they have inside agents within the military. Whenever the government wants to suppress the bandits, the bandits can get advance notice and hide in the deep mountains and forests.
This mountain range is very large. If a few hundred people hide deep in the mountains, it's like fish swimming into the sea; they won't cause the slightest ripple.
However, Ye Jinghe's thousand soldiers immediately circled around to the deep mountains behind the bandit stronghold, cutting off their retreat.
As for the road ahead, when the army set off in the morning, Ye Jinghe ordered two hundred soldiers to guard all the passages down the mountain and not let a single bandit escape.
The houses in the bandit stronghold were made of wood, using local materials. Because of the strong winds in the mountains, Ye Jinghe ordered his men to sneak into the stronghold first, set a few fires with the wind, and cause a disturbance. Then, while the bandits were putting out the fires, the infantry attacked the stronghold, and the archers occupied the high ground and drew their bows.
The guards won a particularly impressive victory in this battle, with only a dozen or so men sustaining minor injuries.
As for the bandits, those who surrendered were not killed; instead, they were all bound together with the elderly, women, and children and sent to the local government for investigation.
To prevent the local government from closing the case arbitrarily, Ye Jingchen also wrote a letter requesting the emperor to send an imperial envoy to supervise the handling of the case.
After seeing everyone off, the soldiers ransacked the stronghold and found a lot of gold and silver treasures.
Ye Jingchen also ordered that the money be sent to the government. After the bandits were tried, the stolen goods that should have been returned to their rightful owners would be returned to them, and those that were unclaimed would be handed over to the imperial envoy to be taken back to the capital and added to the national treasury.
"Brother, how did I do?" Ye Jinghe asked excitedly after everything had settled down.
He had an expression that seemed to be seeking praise, and Ye Jingchen did not disappoint him, smiling and affirming his assessment.
"You did very well. You didn't become arrogant because of the disparity in strength between the guards and the bandits! Even an eagle should fight with all its might when hunting a rabbit. I hope you can always remain rational and cautious, and take responsibility for the lives of your soldiers!"
"Don't worry, brother, I will definitely not let you down!" Ye Jinghe promised firmly.
After resting for one night at the bandit stronghold, they set off the next day with three days' worth of dry rations and drinking water.
The next bandit stronghold is about a hundred miles away. Two days to travel and one day to suppress the bandits should be enough.
For the next month or so, the guards continued their journey like this: traveling, suppressing bandits, and then continuing on their way to the next stronghold.
After a month of training, this group of soldiers had undergone significant changes. Their faces were resolute, their eyes were determined, and their movements were agile. The biggest change was that their trust in Ye Jinghe had risen to a terrifying level, and they obeyed his orders without question.
During that month, Ye Jinghe led his men to wipe out ten bandit strongholds, earning enough military merits to be promoted to captain before he began leading his soldiers back to the capital via the official road.
At this point, Ye Jingchen's eighteenth birthday was less than a month away.
The soldiers marched much faster on the official road than in the mountains and forests, and with all their might, it took them less than half a month to get back.
Thanks to this campaign to suppress the bandits, the emperor's national treasury and private coffers were greatly replenished.
After they returned to the capital, the emperor was overjoyed. He not only appointed Ye Jinghe as a military officer, but also widely publicized his status as the fifth prince.
The Fifth Prince was originally the least noticeable prince. He had no maternal clan to rely on, no palace of his own, and no one to depend on. In the eyes of the court officials, he was like a transparent person.
But after that, he became the most popular prince and princess.
Because he was the first to touch the center of power.
As a result, he finally caught the attention of aristocratic families and nobles.
Among the guards, Ye Jinghe's achievements, coupled with his status as a prince, made all the generals, including the commander-in-chief, wary of him, and he gained immense influence.
He began training the 200,000-strong guard battalion according to his own training methods.
As for those noble scions who couldn't endure his intense training, they either persevered or got out.
Ye Jinghe's goal has always been clear. After going out to suppress bandits, it became even clearer upon his return.
Even if he cannot become the nominal commander of the guard, he will train these 200,000 soldiers into an iron-blooded army and become the de facto uncrowned king.
Then he can help his brother do whatever he wants and get rid of anyone he doesn't want to deal with!
After returning from the bandit suppression, Ye Jingchen assigned Ye Jinghe homework, asking him to write an essay about his reflections on the bandit suppression.
Knowing that Ye Jinghe didn't like doing this type of assignment, Ye Jingchen specifically emphasized that the reflections had to be more than three thousand words.
Actually, he was overthinking it. If the homework had been assigned by the emperor, Ye Jinghe might have done it perfunctorily, but since it was his brother who assigned the homework, Ye Jinghe wrote it very carefully.
He analyzed the reasons for the formation and growth of mountain bandits from the perspectives of official governance and people's livelihood, and also found his shortcomings from these ten battles.
In short, this reflection contains not a trace of arrogance or complacency.
Ye Jingchen was worried that he would be blinded by these ten victories, so he assigned him homework, and he was very satisfied with the homework after receiving it.
Although these ten battles to suppress bandits were won easily and decisively, the largest bandit stronghold in the ten battles had only five or six hundred people, including the elderly, women and children. The actual fighting strength of the able-bodied men was probably only around four hundred, while the guard battalion had a thousand men, giving them an absolute advantage in numbers.
Moreover, the guards were better equipped than the bandits, and their soldiers were far superior in physical fitness and reaction speed.
Furthermore, every battle was a surprise attack, taking the enemy by surprise, and there was no direct confrontation with the bandits.
Therefore, these ten battles can test whether Ye Jinghe has indeed mastered military strategy and tactics, and also show that he does have the talent to arrange troops and deploy them according to local conditions, but other aspects cannot prove anything.
After all, Ye Jinghe could not guarantee that he would have the advantage in numbers and military equipment in every war he would experience in the future, nor could he guarantee that every war would be fought under adequate preparation. Therefore, he still had a lot to learn.
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