Chapter 134: Subduing Qin Mo

As Fan Ying arrived with his men, Zhang Wu and the remaining bandits on the hillside sank deeper into despair. Earlier, they had only faced a defensive line of archers led by Heizi, but now they confronted two hundred fully armed garrison troops from Fuxu Town. The sheer excellence of their equipment alone was enough to terrify Zhang Wu and his gang.

When the two hundred cavalrymen, gleaming in their armor, appeared, Qin Mo and his followers felt their hearts leap into their throats. A few of them even began to tremble slightly; paralyzed by panic, they could not summon even the slightest thought of resistance. Especially when Fan Ying’s slightly perplexed gaze swept over Qin Mo and the others, it instantly tightened everyone's nerves.

"Brother Li, what is this?" Obviously, Qin Mo and his men looked completely out of place standing alongside Ding Li or Li Shan. To Fan Ying, Qin Mo's group looked far more like fellow travelers of the bandits on the slope.

"Our own people! Hehe!" Ding Li replied with a casual smile, casting a meaningful glance at the tense Qin Mo opposite him. Then he turned back to Fan Ying and continued with a smile, "Brother Fan! Since you're here, I'll leave the remaining bandit scum up there to you!"

With that, Ding Li deliberately swept a glance over the corpses of the dead bandits scattered around and continued with a meaningful smile, "Brother Fan, do you believe me now? Counting those fellows up there, there are a full four hundred of them. Even if you divide them among your brothers, each man can claim the military merit of two heads!"

"On behalf of my brothers, I thank Brother Li in advance!" Fan Ying naturally understood Ding Li's intention. Military merits for killing bandits were completely useless to Ding Li, but they were exceptionally important to Fan Ying. Given such a large number of heads, Fan Ying might even be promoted by a rank in officialdom.

Of course, Fan Ying was no fool; he dared not claim all the credit for such a massive achievement. After thanking Ding Li, he hurriedly turned to cup his fists in salute to Li Shan, solemnly promising that the casualties and losses of the Miao Escort Agency in this battle would be personally reported by Fan Ying himself, and he would request awards for the surviving escort guards.

Fan Ying knew about Yang Hongwen's formation of the bandit-suppression army. Now that the Miao Escort Agency had become the designated escort team for the Zhang Clan's Chamber of Commerce, it was no secret that thirty members of the Miao Escort Agency were about to join the bandit-suppression army. Faced with such a grand merit, Fan Ying intended to allocate thirty shares to the Miao Escort Agency no matter what.

Not only did Fan Ying reap a massive harvest of merit, but the Miao Escort Agency—and Li Shan in particular—gained even more. Although they generously yielded a large share of the credit, what they received in return was the goodwill of the entire two-hundred-strong garrison, including Fan Ying.

All of this left Qin Mo and his companions utterly astonished. Their gazes toward Ding Li grew increasingly complex. Until now, they still did not know Ding Li's true identity, but this was certainly not the time to step forward and ask questions. They had no choice but to stay put and remain silent, though their worries quickly vanished, replaced by serious consideration of the condition Ding Li had just proposed.

Immediately afterward, Fan Ying initiated operations against the remaining bandits on the slope. Yet these operations seemed almost too simple, or rather, too smooth. Fan Ying directly sent men to shout a few words up at the bandits on the hillside, and the bandits immediately descended into chaos. Upon hearing that resisters would be executed without mercy and those who surrendered would be treated leniently, well over half of them discarded their weapons and rushed down the slope shouting. Under Fan Ying's repeated enticements and intimidation, the remaining small fraction of bandits dwindled until only five or six people were left around Zhang Wu.

"Send a team up and hack them all to pieces!" Seeing that some stubborn bandits remained, Fan Ying waved to signal his shouting subordinates to stop, then turned to give instructions to several squad leaders beside him. However, he was promptly stopped by Ding Li.

Before Fan Ying could voice his question, Ding Li turned to look at Qin Mo's group, smiled as he glanced up at the hillside, and asked, "How about you fellows go up?"

"Ah?" Qin Mo was instantly stunned, and even Fan Ying and his squad leaders were taken aback. But Ding Li paid no heed to their reactions, and Fan Ying and the others found it difficult to say anything against it. Qin Mo quickly grasped Ding Li's intention. He cast a grateful look at Ding Li, cupped his fists in a solemn salute to Ding Li and the others with a grave expression, then his face hardened as he pulled on his reins and urged his mount forward: "Brothers, let's go get our revenge!"

Aside from Fan Ying's men, Li Shan, Heizi, and the others all understood Ding Li's intentions. Zhang Pazi and Zhang Wu were brothers who had stabbed Qin Mo in the back. Previously, Ding Li had handed Zhang Pazi over to Qin Mo's group, allowing them to take their revenge with their own hands. Now, he was giving them the opportunity to execute Zhang Wu themselves—undoubtedly wanting to win their gratitude and secure their absolute loyalty.

"Brother Li!" Watching Qin Mo and his men charge up the hillside, a silent Fan Ying hesitated for a moment before speaking in a low, grave tone to remind Ding Li: "You need to think this through. I can pretend I know nothing about this on my end, but after all, they are bandits, a bunch of undisciplined rogue soldiers! If Brother Li really takes them in, you must be extremely careful in the future!"

Hearing this, realizing that Fan Ying had already seen through the identity of Qin Mo's group, Ding Li turned to cast a grateful glance at him, then looked back at Qin Mo and his men galloping away on horseback. With a firm expression, he replied in a deep voice: "Thank you for the warning, Brother Fan! However, in my eyes, they are neither wandering bandits nor rogue soldiers. Like you and me, they are human beings—people of flesh and blood, people of loyalty and honor!"

Words having reached this point, Fan Ying found it inappropriate to say anything more. After a brief moment of reflection, he understood that Qin Mo and his men must have done something previously to make Ding Li utter such words, and Fan Ying did not believe Ding Li was making a careless decision.

Following that, the garrison troops brought by Fan Ying set about clearing the battlefield, while the escort guards began gathering crossbow bolts, collecting every single one that could be salvaged and reused. After all, crossbow bolts were considerably more expensive to manufacture than regular feathered arrows, and more importantly, they lacked the right to forge crossbow bolts privately, making them all the more precious.

The surrendered bandits were bound together with ropes, totaling forty-fours men. A squad of fifty cavalrymen under Fan Ying's command escorted them back to Fuxu Town first, while the remainder were personally led by Fan Ying to travel alongside the caravan, taking the opportunity to discuss the specific distribution of military merits in detail with Ding Li and Li Shan.

The bandit leader Zhang Wu met a fate very similar to that of his elder brother Zhang Pazi: hacked to death by Qin Mo's group with a flurry of blades. Even the few fellows who remained fiercely loyal to Zhang Wu and refused to surrender to the death could not escape, which allowed Qin Mo and his men to thoroughly vent the rage in their hearts.

When the coachmen and handymen arrived at the hillside to repair the carriages that had been overturned and damaged by Qin Mo and his men, Qin Mo and his followers stood awkwardly to the side. They wanted to step forward and help, but they did not know what they could do; they wanted to walk over and offer a few words of apology, but they simply could not bring themselves to speak.

After instructing Heizi to lead men on a perimeter patrol, Ding Li leaped down from his mount, walked quickly toward Qin Mo's group, and asked with a smile: "Gentlemen, have you considered the proposal from just now?"

By this point, Qin Mo and his men had no other options left, especially since Ding Li had indirectly saved them earlier—otherwise, Fan Ying's two hundred armored cavalry would never have let them go.

Without a moment's hesitation, or rather, needing no further hesitation at all, Qin Mo immediately dropped to one knee, cupped his fists heavily, and made his solemn, resolute reply: "Qin Mo and my brothers are willing to follow Brother Li!"

Immediately afterward, the men behind him followed Qin Mo's lead, dropping to their knees one after another and shouting out their pledges over one another.

"Get up! Quickly get up! From now on, we are brothers of the same family, no need for such formalities! Among family, we don't have so many rules!" Seeing this, Ding Li was filled with excitement. He hurried forward to pull Qin Mo to his feet, then moved among the rest, hauling them up one by one.

Qin Mo's group were not particularly reserved individuals. Seeing that Ding Li was not merely speaking polite pleasantries, they quickly relaxed. Surrounding Ding Li in the center, they began chatting animatedly.

"Brother Li, from now on, whenever there are goods that need escorting, just give us the word!" Once the atmosphere had lightened, Qin Mo looked around at the gradually assembling caravan, naturally assuming Ding Li to be the chief manager of the escort agency, and magnanimously assured him: "Since Brother Li saved our brothers, we cannot be freeloaders!"

"Hahaha!" Hearing this, Ding Li threw his head back and laughed heartily, reaching out to pat Qin Mo on the shoulder. Then he shook his head with a smile to explain to the bewildered group: "I am not in the escort business. I am just heading to Fuxu Town along the way, and I happen to be acquainted with the chief escort of the agency, Brother Li Shan, so we are traveling together!"

"Ah? Then, then..." Not only Qin Mo, but the rest of those who had just submitted to Ding Li were quite astonished. Yet Qin Mo quickly recovered; if Ding Li were merely the manager of an escort agency, it was utterly impossible for the garrison of Fuxu Town to show him such immense respect. Furthermore, Qin Mo clearly remembered that Ding Li had previously said he would find a way to change the status of their group—something far beyond the capability of an ordinary escort agency manager.

Observing their blank and puzzled expressions, Ding Li smiled mysteriously and asked them: "My brothers, you haven't been wandering around this region for a short time. Have you ever heard of the South Sea Gang?"

"Heard of them, of course I have!" Qin Mo immediately nodded in reply. Pausing slightly, he added: "Not just the South Sea Gang, but also the Chaozhou Gang and the Mongol Gang! However, I heard that the Chaozhou Gang has now been appointed as a local militia by the Tang Dynasty court and is no longer considered a gang organization!"

"That's right! It seems your sources of information are quite sharp!" Ding Li smiled and nodded, prompting Qin Mo to continue: "Naturally, Brother Li. In our line of work, if our intelligence isn't fast, the government would have wiped us out long ago. Besides, the Chaozhou Gang becoming a militia caused quite a sensation! And hasn't the Chaozhou Gang recently blockaded the port of Guangzhou entirely? Word is it has something to do with the South Sea Gang!"

"Indeed they blockaded it! But it wasn't the Chaozhou Gang who wanted to blockade it; it was the South Sea Gang that made them do it!" At the mention of the militia sealing off Guangzhou Port, a faint smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of Ding Li's mouth. Pausing for a moment, Ding Li shook his head with a smile, then patted Qin Mo's shoulder and announced loudly to the crowd: "Remember, from now on, you are all part of the South Sea Gang!"

With that, ignoring the astonishment on everyone's faces, Ding Li turned and walked away from the crowd, his words brimming with unmistakable pride.