The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

Yangwa Village is a small village nestled in the Huanglong Mountain valley, with only about ten households.

As soon as Li Chengye and his group of several hundred people rushed in, they immediately filled the village.

An old man surnamed Tao, who was the leader of the village, was so frightened that he would kowtow and call Li Chengye "Your Majesty" whenever he saw him, fearing that this group of men with knives and guns would harm the women and children in the village.

Li Chengye stepped forward to help him up, then took out about two taels of silver from his pocket and handed it to him: "Old man, we're only staying for a day or two, we will never do anything immoral, please rest assured."

Old Man Tao was skeptical, but having these words and money was better than nothing, especially since these people were all fully armed, carrying knives and guns.

After settling in, Li Chengye immediately sent men to guard the village entrance.

As darkness fell, the aroma of food wafted from the villagers' cooking stoves, but no one spoke in the group; the atmosphere was deathly still.

Qin Ye squatted against the wall, puffing on his pipe; Yang Chongwang lowered his head, sharpening his knife with a sharp, grating sound.

The porridge was boiling in the pot, but no one came forward.

Li Chengye stood up, walked over, picked up a spoon, stirred it, and suddenly burst into laughter.

The laughter was particularly jarring in the silence, and everyone looked up at him.

"Chengye, what are you laughing at?" Master Qin asked in a muffled voice.

Li Chengye thought to himself, "Finally someone asked. If they hadn't, I would have been laughing so hard I couldn't breathe."

He stopped laughing and coughed. "Why are you all looking so gloomy? If you ask me, we've won!"

"We won?" Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

"That's right, we won!" Li Chengye raised his voice. "We retreated from Yijun City to here unscathed. Isn't that a victory? Think about Wang Er's tens of thousands of troops. They collapsed in a day. How many are left? We lost some men, but the old, the young, the women and children are all here, as are the strong men. We also preserved most of our weapons and armor—isn't that a victory?"

That makes sense.

The tension that had been building up in everyone's hearts seemed to ease a little, and people began to get up and serve themselves rice.

Yang Chongwang carried a bowl of porridge to Li Chengye's side and lowered his voice: "What's next? Do you have a plan?"

"Right now, we'll have to see how the government troops move," Li Chengye said in a low voice. "I've already sent scouts to keep an eye on the mountain pass. If the government troops don't seem to be making a large-scale advance into the mountains, we can take a breather. Once we've thoroughly explored the surrounding terrain, we can then decide on our next move."

Yang Chongwang nodded, agreeing that this was indeed the safest approach at the moment.

The group then rested in Yangwa Village.

The next day, scouts reported that the government troops had not entered the mountains, but had only set up camp outside Yijun City.

Upon hearing the news, everyone felt somewhat relieved. Li Chengye decided to rest for another day before leaving.

Before leaving, he led his men to fill all the water tanks in the village.

With little grain left in the village, Li Chengye gave the villagers some more silver so they could buy their own grain in the future, as compensation for the past two days.

They took two old iron pots from the village and continued westward.

After walking about thirty miles along the mountain road, another village came into view, but it was deserted and had obviously been abandoned for a long time.

Every household had a lock on their door.

After looking around, Master Qin sighed, "It seems the whole village has fled to avoid the famine. They've locked the doors, hoping the famine will pass and they can come back... Judging from the current situation, it's unlikely."

Li Chengye had his men pry open the door and put the women, children, and wounded into a house that could still provide shelter from the wind and rain, while the remaining able-bodied people dug and built shacks on an open space on the edge of the village.

Although it was the hot month of July, the mountain dew was heavy at night, and sleeping directly on the ground could easily make you sick.

The group fled in haste, and although they brought some medicinal herbs, getting sick in these mountains would be a real problem.

They settled down temporarily in this deserted village, waiting for the storm to pass.

In the days that followed, everyone rested and trained in the village.

After about ten days, the surrounding roads were also explored.

Go south for another sixty li, and you'll pass Huanglong Mountain. There's a place called Pingqiaokou. From there, head north, and you'll reach Huangling.

I heard that there were two rains there this spring, so the drought wasn't too bad and there was enough food.

They then decided that their next destination would be there.

Just as everyone was preparing to leave, someone came to the door.

It was Old Man Tao from Yangwa Village who came.

Upon seeing Li Chengye, he knelt down, wailing, "Chief Li, save me!"

Li Chengye quickly helped him up: "Father-in-law, what's wrong? Tell me slowly."

Only after inquiring about the cause did they realize that the root of this trouble was the two taels of silver left behind by Li Chengye.

Yangwa Village originally had about ten households, but half of them fled to escape famine, leaving only four or five families, who were also struggling to make ends meet.

After Li Chengye and the others left that day, Tao Laohan's son took the silver and went to Yijun City to buy grain.

Order has been restored in the city, but without the county magistrate, it is now jointly managed by several wealthy families who have returned.

The old man's son, dressed in rags, pulled out a whole ingot of silver to buy grain, which inevitably aroused suspicion. When the grain shopkeeper asked him a few more questions, he stammered and couldn't explain where the money came from, so someone reported him to the authorities.

The gavel slammed down in the yamen, and he, unfamiliar with such a scene, blurted out the truth in a few words, saying it was "given by bandits."

They were locked up immediately, and the money became irrefutable evidence.

People heard that he was to be escorted to the prefectural city and sentenced to severe punishment.

After hearing this, Li Chengye felt that he couldn't ignore the matter.

The person is implicated by their own actions; if they are not saved, they will surely die.

One cannot be without conscience.

After thinking for a moment, he said to Old Man Tao, "I'll think of something."

Yang Chongwang hesitated: "Everyone has agreed to go to Huangling, and we have enough food left. What will we do with the food if we have to make the round trip? How will we get to the destination?"

This is indeed the truth, but a person cannot stand without integrity. Although everyone had their own thoughts, they ultimately did not express them.

After discussing it together, everyone decided to split up and act separately.

Li Chengye only needs four or five skilled men, traveling light and returning quickly.

Yang Chongwang's side needs to prepare more manpower because he might have to "open the door and smash the big house".

So they split up, with Li Chengye leading Liu Ye, Han Sanhu, and four others to rescue Tao Laohan's son. After the mission was accomplished, they would head directly to Huangling to reunite.

Yang Chongwang then led the remaining men to Huangling.

The following evening, Li Chengye and four others changed their clothes, led their horses, packed their armor and weapons in bundles, slung them over the horses' backs, and quietly left Huanglong Mountain.

Li Chengye was a leader in Wang Erjun's army. In addition, he had dealt with the mutinous troops door-to-door in Yijun City, and many people in the city had seen him. Therefore, it was not appropriate for him to show his face directly.

So Liu Ye led the two men into the city, their main task being to find out where Old Tao's son was being held in the city.

Soon, news arrived, but it was bad news: his son had been taken to the prefectural city yesterday.

Upon hearing this, the group felt a chill in their hearts.

"Captain, the prefectural city is far away, and there are many checkpoints. Should we... still go?" Han Sanhu hesitated at this moment.

Liu Ye remained silent, simply waiting for Li Chengye's instructions.

"We have to go save him!" Li Chengye said decisively. "We agreed to save someone's son, how can we give up halfway? He was only taken away yesterday, if we hurry, we should still make it in time."

After hearing what he said, the crowd no longer objected.

Li Chengye mounted his horse and, with Liu Ye and Han Sanhu in tow, galloped towards the prefectural city.

The prefectural city is 360 li away from Yijun County. A fast horse from the post station can get there in a day, but if it is to escort prisoners, it will take three to four days to drive a prison cart.