Chapter Sixteen: Returning to Camp Overnight

Liu Heng smiled and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Chief Ma, but I won’t trouble you or the other brothers in your cavalry."

The cavalry was more foe than friend; Liu Heng dared not keep Ma Yunjiu and his men nearby, lest he endanger himself and the grain convoy at every moment.

Seeing Liu Heng’s refusal, Ma Yunjiu smiled and said, "Since Brother Liu has no use for us, I’ll take my men back to camp first. Brother Liu, be careful on the road, and if anything happens, just send someone to the camp with a message."

"I won’t see the chief off. Once the battlefield here is cleared, I’ll bring the grain back to the main camp," Liu Heng called out from behind the grain carts.

"Leaving first, farewell," Ma Yunjiu said with a salute, tugged the reins with his right hand, turned his horse around, and led the rest of his cavalry off toward the bandit camp.

After the cavalry had gone some distance, Chen Xunping lifted his ear from the ground and said to Liu Heng, "The cavalry is far enough away now."

Liu Heng nodded, then said to Chen Xunping, "Second Brother, go behind the hillside on the left and find Brother Shu Heng. Let’s discuss what to do next."

"Alright, I’m going now," Chen Xunping said, raising a torch and heading toward the left hillside alone.

Liu Heng then turned to Yang Yuan. "You take a squad of the refugee recruits and sneak back to the archer camp to check if it’s safe. Have someone send a report to me every mile."

Yang Yuan replied, "The team that drives the carts has been tending the animals; I’ll take them with me this time."

Liu Heng nodded, adding, "I’ll be here waiting for your news."

Yang Yuan strode off, gathering the group of refugee recruits who had not participated in the battle but had been looking after the livestock. He led them away from the grain convoy, vanishing into the night.

After Chen Xunping and Yang Yuan had left, Liu Heng began assigning each squad leader among the refugee recruits to check their squad’s casualties. He also ordered those recruits who had not killed anyone to clear the bandit corpses around the grain carts, including dealing with the wounded bandits who hadn’t died.

Some recruits who had never seen blood before were instructed to repeatedly stab the bodies with wooden spears to help them acclimate to such scenes and begin transforming from novices into seasoned soldiers.

After this ordeal, Liu Heng noticed a change in the temperament of his refugee recruits; each one now bore an indescribable aura.

After tallying, no recruits had died, though thirty-seven had minor injuries. Two of those were from clumsiness, caused by the darkness and their nerves, accidentally hitting the grain cart’s shafts.

This could be counted as a great victory, but Liu Heng knew it wasn’t because his refugee recruits were exceptionally strong. It was entirely due to their advantage of the night and the wagon formation. Had the fight taken place in daylight or open ground, the outcome would have been very different.

"Haha, I never imagined our little brothers here could fight like this. This battle was won beautifully," Li Shuheng exclaimed, laughing out loud upon learning their side had suffered so few casualties and nearly annihilated the enemy.

Beside him, Chen Xunping said, "I didn’t expect our little brothers to have such skill. Just bringing back all this grain from Zheng Family Village without a single injury was impressive enough, but to fight such a victorious battle afterward—back in the day, even Commander Du might not have managed this."

Liu Heng didn’t let the victory cloud his mind. Instead, he said, "Brother Shu Heng, Second Brother, the battle is over, and Zheng Daqiu is dead. What do we do next? It’s clear that Shi Yunhu sent someone to kill us, but he didn’t expect us to be prepared in advance or that our strength would exceed his expectations. Our victory this time was just a fluke. Next time, it won’t be so easy."

At these words, Li Shuheng’s smile vanished.

On the way back, he had already heard from Chen Xunping about what happened at the bandit camp—how the camp leaders Wu the Blind and Zhou the Black-faced were executed by Shi Yunhu, and their forces absorbed by him.

After a moment’s hesitation, he frowned and said, "Now that Shi Yunhu has taken down Wu the Blind and Zhou the Black-faced, we’re definitely next. Although Ma Yunjiu said Zheng Daqiu acted on his own to ambush us tonight, everyone knows Zheng Daqiu came under Shi Yunhu’s orders."

Chen Xunping cursed beside him, "Why don’t we just rebel against that bastard? I’ve never liked Shi Yunhu. Now we have enough grain and men—we could hold our own anywhere. Didn’t we talk about heading to the Greater Liang Mountains? That place’s perfect. Why not just claim our own territory and live freely?"

"Brother Shu Heng, what do you think?" Liu Heng asked Li Shuheng.

Li Shuheng thought for a moment, then said, "Xunping has a point. We’ve completely broken with Shi Yunhu. He sent Zheng Daqiu and Ma Yunjiu against us this time; who knows what else he has in store."

Seeing Liu Heng silent, Li Shuheng asked, "What’s your opinion?"

"My plan is to return to the main camp," Liu Heng said, noticing both men frowned simultaneously. He quickly added, "Don’t rush to judge, brothers. Let me explain."

Li Shuheng suppressed his urge to question and waited for Liu Heng’s explanation.

Liu Heng said, "Something this big happening at the main camp means everyone will be on edge. Officially, Shi Yunhu took over after Wu the Blind and the others died, but we’ve all served at the frontier army. When the leadership changes, the newcomers can’t just take control with a single order. Shi Yunhu faces the same issue. Besides, our own strength..."

He continued, "The archer camp has about a hundred archers. These three hundred refugee recruits I’ve trained all saw blood today, making us a force to reckon with. Shi Yunhu has only the strongest cavalry and maybe five or six hundred men—he’s not that much stronger than us. Now that we’ve brought back so much grain, we can expand our strength and stand against Shi Yunhu. It’s hard for him to swallow us up outright. In the future, it will come down to who has greater power—and the stronger side will have more say in the main camp."

After he finished, Li Shuheng and Chen Xunping fell into deep thought.

Seeing this, Liu Heng knew his brothers weren’t naturally strategic thinkers—they needed everything broken down and explained clearly.

There was more he hadn’t told them.

If they followed their own plan and made themselves kings of the mountain with the grain he’d brought back, Shi Yunhu and the entire bandit camp wouldn’t let them be. For the sake of the grain, the whole camp would unite temporarily against them.

Against Shi Yunhu’s forces, Liu Heng was confident they could hold their own, but against the entire bandit camp driven mad for grain, their few hundred plus the archer camp’s hundred would be hard pressed. Even if they barely kept the grain, their own strength would suffer greatly—or worse, Shi Yunhu might seize the grain outright.

After a moment, Li Shuheng suddenly said, "Return to the main camp, and once there, train more refugee recruits as you said. But that job has to be yours. You did well training this batch."

Liu Heng nodded.

Even if Li Shuheng hadn’t said it, he wouldn’t have handed over training the refugee recruits to anyone else.

Chen Xunping said, "I’ll make arrangements to return to camp."

He turned to leave but was stopped by Liu Heng.

"Not so fast," Liu Heng said. "I’ve already sent Yang Yuan and a team ahead to scout the route. Once it’s confirmed the camp is safe, he’ll send word back, and then we’ll return."

At that moment, a bandit carrying a wooden spear came running over in a hurry.