The Journey to Suppress the Rebellion (Part 1)

With Xia Luqi and ten thousand troops in Song Prefecture, harassing the Western Kang army from time to time, Gao Yuan believed that with the strength of the Jiannan Army, holding out for three or four months would not be a problem.

As for himself, he would certainly seize enough benefits before Song Ren and The Emperor could react.

His first target was Fucheng County in Mianzhou, which was closest to Chengdu. This was the rebel force nearest to Chengdu and the smallest in scale, with only two to three thousand men, but they were holding tens of thousands of commoners hostage.

Of course, Gao Yuan hadn't gathered this intelligence himself; his secret guards only had networks in Chengdu, Nanzheng, Mianyang, and other places, and hadn't reached these areas yet.

He had sent someone to obtain this information from the Magistrate of Chengdu County for ten taels of gold.

To be fair, although the magistrate was greedy, he truly delivered after receiving the money. He told Gao Yuan everything—where the rebels were, their scale, who their leader was, and what their combat strength was like.

Though it cost a lot of money, it allowed Gao Yuan to operate with a clear target.

The leader of this rebel force in Fucheng County was named Leader of the rebels. He was originally the ninth son of a local wealthy family. Because he was born to a concubine, he was oppressed and marginalized by his family, so miserable that he didn't even have a proper name.

In the end, he was forced to become a bandit in the mountains, specifically robbing wealthy families and passing merchant caravans. However, he didn't harass the commoners much, so his reputation in the local area was decent.

After Song Ren's massive conscription of laborers and collection of folk grain sparked riots, Leader of the rebels took the opportunity to descend from the mountains and recruit many young men fleeing the disaster.

It just so happened that the Magistrate of Fucheng County was also a useless fool. After taking money from the Wu family, he sent the County Lieutenant with three hundred local guards into the mountains to suppress the bandits.

The result was a defeat; the three hundred guards were almost completely wiped out. Not only did they lose their lives and equipment, but even Fucheng County itself was given to Leader of the rebels.

The first thing Leader of the rebels did after entering the city was to settle accounts with his eight elder brothers, and then he raised the banner of the rebel army.

"This Leader of the rebels isn't bad; he didn't oppress the commoners. If possible, I could bring him under my command."

After reading the intelligence, Gao Yuan felt inclined to recruit Leader of the rebels.

In the Fucheng County government office, a man with a beard and a headscarf rushed into the main hall and bowed to everyone.

"Reporting to the chiefs, the scouts report that an army has come from the direction of Chengdu. There are about ten thousand of them, and it looks like they're coming for us?"

Leader of the rebels narrowed his eyes, but before he could speak, his subordinates began to clamor.

"Hahaha, more people coming to their deaths. Ten thousand men—it looks like we're going to get rich this time."

"I heard the Jiannan Army is in Song Prefecture and Hanzhong. I don't know where they scraped together so many people."

"Could it be more forcibly conscripted commoners? The Chief, should we fight?"

"Exactly! How about another ambush to wipe out this rabble?"

Leader of the rebels ignored them and looked at the junior officer who had come to report.

"Did you see clearly what banner they are flying?"

"They are flying the 'Gao' banner, and there are five hundred Cavalry among them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the hall became noisy again.

"Gao? Is there a general named Gao in the Jiannan Circuit? Could it be some random person filling the numbers?"

"Probably not. They have Cavalry; could the Imperial Court have sent troops?"

It seemed there were still some sensible people among them who knew that having Cavalry meant they certainly weren't just a rabble.

Leader of the rebels also realized something was wrong and immediately ordered:

"Send more scouts to continue investigating. We must find out where these troops came from. Pass the order: the whole city is to be on high alert."

Everyone still admired their The Chief very much, so they immediately stood up and cupped their hands in salute.

"Understood!"

Twenty li outside the city, in Gao Yuan's camp, Zhao Meng and Xian Chong each dragged in a man who was tied up and threw them onto the ground in front of Gao Yuan.

"Reporting to my Lord, we have captured two scouts. Please decide their fate."

Gao Yuan didn't even lift his eyelids, continuing to read the book in his hand, and asked faintly:

"Have they been interrogated?"

"They have. They are two scouts under the rebel leader Leader of the rebels, specifically sent to scout our army's strength."

The two scouts were already trembling with fear, certain that they were doomed today.

Gao Yuan finally put down the book, looked up at the two trembling young men, and smiled.

"Go back and tell your The Chief that the one coming to subjugate him is Gao Yuan. If he is still a man of blood and spirit, he should open the city and surrender, then follow me to fight the alien races instead of killing each other here."

Seeing the two young men still looking dazed, Xian Chong beside him introduced with a face full of pride:

"This is the Consort of the Pacifying the South, Duke of Xicheng Commandery, military governor of diannan circuit, Grand General of Huaihua, Supreme Pillar of State, and Grand Master of Radiance in Purple Gold, Gao Yuan."

This string of titles left the two young men dazed, and they looked at the people before them in confusion.

Gao Yuan was speechless at Xian Chong's failed attempt at showing off. With such a long string of titles, it would be a miracle if these two could remember them. He waved his hand helplessly.

"Alright, alright, let them go."

"Understood!"

The two scouts were captured inexplicably and then released just as inexplicably.

On their way back to the city, they exchanged a few words.

"Who was that person? Did you remember?"

The other person shook his head honestly.

"I didn't. I just remember the surname Gao, and something about a 'fuma' (Consort). What does a 'fuma' do? Raise horses?"

"Probably. Whatever, let's just go back and tell the The Chief."

The two returned to Fucheng and rushed to the county office to see Leader of the rebels. They talked over each other, describing how they were captured and repeating Gao Yuan's words.

"The Chief, the leader is a horse-raiser who looks prettier than a young lady, named Gao Yuan?"

Leader of the rebels's men were stunned and asked in disbelief:

"A horse-raiser? Would the government army let a horse-raiser lead troops?"

"He looks prettier than a young lady? Could he be a Eunuch? The government army must really be out of people, hahaha!"

The soldier was very confident in his memory.

"Yes, that person seemed to have a long string of official titles, but we brothers didn't remember them. We only remembered one position, something to do with horses..."

"Right, what kind of horse was it?"

Everyone began to ponder. They knew it probably wasn't a horse-raising position, so what official positions in the court had the word 'horse' in them?

Unfortunately, they were all uneducated and had no idea what the names of those court positions were.

But Leader of the rebels's mind was reeling. When he heard the name "Gao Yuan," the title with "horse" in it, and their description of his appearance, he already knew who had come.

He stood up, walked over to the two men, and recited a title.

"Consort of the Pacifying the South, military governor of diannan circuit, Gao Yuan, right?"

The two men seemed to have their memories triggered and nodded blankly.

"Yes, yes, yes, that's exactly what they said."

Now, no one could sit still. Leader of the rebels irritably waved his hand for the two to leave before returning to his seat.

Seeing him like this, someone couldn't help but ask:

"The Chief, I've heard that this Gao Yuan is invincible and unstoppable. We..."

Someone immediately retorted indignantly.

"What 'invincible'? He just fought those short barbarians. In my opinion, he's just an empty name."

"Exactly, these people from noble families love to praise each other."

"That's not necessarily true. Don't forget, the Western Kang people were beaten severely by him."

"Why are you always boosting others' morale and undermining our own?"

"It's not about boosting others' morale; it's about concern. We only have over three thousand troops, while they have over ten thousand, and they are border troops seasoned in battle."

"Who cares about border troops? Isn't the Jiannan Army a border army? Weren't they still wiped out by us?"

Leader of the rebels frowned as he looked at his subordinates. He knew that the successful ambush had made these men somewhat blindly confident.