Meanwhile…
In southeastern Henan, just beyond Li Daoxuan's current field of view, the land near Lu'an was still green.
The drought that had crippled so many regions had not struck here as brutally. Grass still clung stubbornly to the soil. Trees still held their leaves. From a distance, it even looked peaceful.
But peace was an illusion.
If the heavens had spared the people here from famine, men had not. Bandits came. Government troops came. Sometimes you could not even tell which was worse. The common folk survived between the two like grain caught between millstones.
Outside a small village, hidden among the brush, Chuang Wang crouched with Li Yan, Li Guo, Liu Zongmin, and a little more than a hundred loyal followers. This was all that remained of what had once been a vast force.
In the past, if Chuang Wang had seen such a small village, he would not have hesitated. He would have stormed in, stripped it clean, and moved on without a second thought.
But that was before the crushing defeat in the Shu Mountains. Before humiliation. Before reflection. And before Li Yan's relentless persuasion finally pierced through his pride.
Li Zicheng had decided to change.
He would no longer burn, kill, and plunder. He would try, at the very least, to become a man worthy of following.
He licked his cracked lips and muttered, "Master Li, you told me no burning, no killing, no looting. You told me to practice benevolence and righteousness. Fine. But my men are starving. Over a hundred mouths. What do we do now?"
Li Yan's face was calm, but his voice carried weight.
"This," he said slowly, "is exactly when resolve is tested. If we cannot endure hunger for a single day and fall back into evil, then we were never meant to accomplish anything great."
Chuang Wang let out a breath. "So we dig for wild vegetables."
"Dig," Li Yan replied. "I will dig with you."
There was no mockery in his tone.
The men exchanged glances. The once-feared rebels of the land, reduced to foraging like peasants. Yet no one complained. They picked up tools and prepared to scatter into the fields.
Then voices drifted over the wind.
Men. Many men.
From the distance came a unit of roughly three hundred soldiers, marching under an official banner. Government troops.
At least, that was what the banner claimed.
Their leader had the eyes of a thief. His soldiers looked more like roadside bandits than imperial guards. Their armor was mismatched, their discipline nonexistent.
Li Guo narrowed his eyes. "One of Zuo Liangyu's irregular units."
Chuang Wang grunted. "I recognize them. Zuo Liangyu took them in quietly years ago. That commander used to be a minor chieftain back at the Xingyang conference. I've met him."
Liu Zongmin spat into the dirt. "They're here to loot the village."
Li Yan's eyes sharpened.
"Good," he said softly. "Heaven has delivered us an opportunity."
Chuang Wang glanced at him.
"Brother Chuang Wang," Li Yan continued, "let your righteous cause begin here. Destroy these corrupt troops. Protect the villagers. If you win people through protection instead of fear, the soldiers you gain will be ten times stronger than those forced to kneel at knifepoint."
Chuang Wang straightened.
He turned to the Old Eighth Squad behind him. These were his core men, the ones who had survived everything.
"Brothers," he said, voice rising, "time to work. This time, we are not thieves. We are heroes."
A roar answered him.
He pulled out a folded banner and handed it to Hao Yaoqi.
"Raise it well. This is our new standard."
The cloth snapped open in the wind.
Five bold characters blazed across it.
Fengtian Changyi Battalion.
Almost at the same time, Zuo Liangyu's ragtag force stormed into the village.
Doors were kicked in. Women screamed. Old men were dragged outside. Soldiers shouted demands for grain, silver, anything of value.
The village collapsed into panic.
Then from the woods erupted a thunderous roar.
Hao Yaoqi burst from the treeline first, banner strapped across his back like a war standard of judgment. Behind him came Li Guo and Liu Zongmin, blades flashing. Then Chuang Wang himself, leading more than a hundred hardened men.
"Corrupt imperial dogs!" they bellowed. "Prepare to die!"
Zuo Liangyu's men faltered immediately.
"Where did they come from?"
"Damn it, these lunatics are fierce!"
They tried to form ranks, but they were former bandits playing at being soldiers. Their morale cracked at the first collision.
The Old Eighth Squad hit like a hammer.
Steel rang against steel. Men screamed. Within moments, the so-called government troops were breaking apart, fleeing in all directions.
Chuang Wang cut straight toward the commander.
The man's face drained of color when he recognized him.
"The Dashing General? No… you're Chuang Wang now. What are you doing here? And what is this Fengtian Changyi Battalion nonsense?"
Chuang Wang smiled coldly.
"There's a lot you don't know."
Their blades met in a flurry of sparks. After only a few exchanges, Chuang Wang stepped inside the man's guard and struck once.
The commander's head fell.
The rest was slaughter.
Outnumbered, yet unstoppable, the hundred-plus rebels shattered a force three times their size. Survivors fled like scattered crows.
Chuang Wang did not order pursuit.
Instead, they searched the fallen soldiers. Grain. Dried rations. A little silver. Enough for a proper meal.
By the small river beside the village, the Fengtian Changyi Battalion cooked.
One by one, doors creaked open.
Villagers peeked out. No one was being dragged away. No houses were burning. The men by the river were laughing, cooking, not looting.
A few brave villagers approached.
"Heroes… where are you from? Thank you for saving us."
Li Yan stood.
"We are Chuang Wang's army."
Silence.
Then panic.
"The Bandit Chuang?!"
They turned to run.
Li Yan did not chase them. He simply raised his voice.
"Do not fear! Perhaps he made mistakes before. He will not again."
He gave a signal.
As rehearsed, the men began to sing.
"Chuang Wang's righteous army, neither kills nor plunders."
"Open wide your gates for Chuang Wang, he takes not a grain."
"Rise early to greet Chuang Wang, and joy will follow."
The melody was simple. Catchy. Impossible to forget.
Illiterate villagers might not remember proclamations, but they remembered songs.
By sunset, children were humming it.
The next morning, as Chuang Wang prepared to depart, villagers gathered in front of Li Yan, carrying what little wealth they possessed.
"Chuang Wang, take us with you."
"We will follow you."
"The soldiers you defeated will return with more troops. If we stay, we die."
"We have no choice."
For a long moment, Chuang Wang said nothing.
Then he looked at Li Yan.
Li Yan nodded once.
Chuang Wang faced the villagers.
"You trust me?"
They nodded.
"Then I swear this. From this day forward, I will protect you. We will cut down corrupt officials. We will rise together. And we will smash this rotten court."
The villagers cheered.
When they left, the Fengtian Changyi Battalion had grown past two hundred.
It was not a large increase.
But Chuang Wang could see the difference in their eyes.
These men were not dragged here by fear. They came by choice.
They trusted him.
They would not run at the first sign of danger.
For the first time in a long while, Chuang Wang felt something unfamiliar stirring in his chest.
This…
This was an army.
He only wondered whether he had learned this lesson too late.