Chapter 103: You Want To Talk Fairness With Me? Are You Worthy?
“Why?”
Outside Wuya Village, a man’s loud shout rang out in a camp.
This was the leader of Yinshan Fort, named Zhu Wanli, who appeared to be in his thirties with a very fierce appearance.
There was some tension between him and Li Xiao, and he questioned aggressively.
“We at Yinshan Fort have a full three hundred households, yet they only appointed me as a centurion.”
“While Tangshan Fort has only two hundred households, why was he appointed as a deputy chiliarch?”
“This is unfair!”
“I’m not convinced!”
Zhu Wanli looked indignant, as if he had suffered a great injustice.
Yinshan Fort was one of the major villages among the Nine Forts and Eighteen Villages, with strength among the strongest, even surpassing the initial Hexi Fort in population.
This time with household registration, Yinshan Fort was divided into three centurions, and Zhu Wanli himself only became one of them.
The number of households and people under his management was directly reduced by two-thirds.
This seriously infringed on Zhu Wanli himself and his family’s interests.
Most importantly, Tangshan Fort, not far from Yinshan Fort, was also divided into two centurions, but its fort master served as centurion while also holding the position of deputy chiliarch.
In other words, Tangshan Fort’s fort master had instead become Zhu Wanli’s superior officer.
How could Zhu Wanli, who was always arrogant and considered himself powerful, swallow this insult?
Of course, Zhu Wanli’s anger was not solely targeted at Tangshan Fort.
In fact, it was implicitly directed at Li Xiao.
Before this, Yinshan Fort’s strength had even been slightly stronger than Hexi Fort.
But because of this war, Li Xiao rose abruptly.
He directly became Jin Prefecture’s deputy governor, the actual second-in-command.
This made Zhu Wanli very uncomfortable.
He subconsciously thought that he was just not as lucky as Li Xiao.
Besides crawling into a woman’s crotch, what else could he do?
So, the thought of having to listen to a young whippersnapper in the future made him feel extremely awkward.
Thus, he took this opportunity to directly challenge Li Xiao.
Listening to Zhu Wanli’s words, there was no change in the expression on Li Xiao’s face.
His gaze turned to Gu Zizhong beside him.
This was Xiao Simo’s confidant strategist, and as someone who came from handling paperwork, he was most suited for the complex work of household registration.
So when conducting household registration for Jin Prefecture’s Han Tribe, it was mainly based on the opinions of Li Xiao and Gu Zizhong.
“Mister Gu, what do you think?” Li Xiao asked indifferently.
Gu Zizhong was a smart man and naturally understood the root cause of Yinshan Fort’s troublemaking.
So he smiled lightly at Li Xiao and said, “I am just assisting.”
“On such major matters, it should mainly follow Governor Li’s opinion.”
As expected of someone who could deceive that waste Zhao Gu Yachi round and round, he was indeed a slippery eel.
Knowing that the work of household registration was difficult, he pushed all the trouble to Li Xiao.
But crucially, this matter concerned Li Xiao’s own dignity and interests, so he had to step in.
Thus, he nodded lightly to Gu Zizhong, then looked at Zhu Wanli and said in a faint voice, “What do you want?”
“What is fair?”
At this time, the household registration process had reached Yinshan Fort, which was the gathering place for over two hundred soldiers of Yinshan Fort.
So Zhu Wanli was full of confidence and shouted excitedly, “Even Tang Sancai can be a deputy chiliarch, why can’t I?”
Tang Sancai was Tangshan Fort’s fort master.
Zhu Wanli did not mention Li Xiao the deputy governor at all, instead always using Tang Sancai as the spearhead.
Li Xiao naturally knew that Zhu Wanli was a troublemaker, and conveniently, Li Xiao needed someone to help him establish authority in the household registration matter.
He sneered coldly, “You want to be deputy chiliarch? Should I give you my chiliarch position, or even deputy governor position as well?”
Before Zhu Wanli could answer, Li Xiao directly raised the horsewhip in his hand and lashed it down at Zhu Wanli.
With a ‘pa’ sound, it struck his face, and accompanied by Zhu Wanli’s scream, a bloody wound appeared on his face.
“You? Talking to me about fairness? Are you even worthy?” Li Xiao said in an icy voice.
“Ahhh~”
“Little bastard, you dare hit me.”
“I’ll kill you.”
Enraged by Li Xiao’s undisguised words, Zhu Wanli shouted out his true thoughts.
The root cause was that deep down, he did not think Li Xiao was anything special.
He had just luckily won a few battles and, with his handsome face, climbed into the Liao Princess’s bed.
Nothing to fear.
Watching Zhu Wanli clutch his face and scream, Li Xiao sneered disdainfully, “Kill me? You’re not capable!”
At this moment, the atmosphere between both sides instantly became tense.
Li Xiao’s personal guards and Yinshan Fort’s soldiers all subconsciously placed their hands on their hilts.
Facing this tense scene, Li Xiao slowly walked up to Zhu Wanli and said in a relatively calm tone.
“During the Three Geluolu Tribes’ rebellion, Tangshan Fort sternly refused the Geluolu Tribe’s overtures and even raised troops against them.”
“While your Yinshan Fort was entangled with the Geluolu Tribe, with an ambiguous attitude.”
“When the Eastern Capital Army destroyed the Geluolu Tribe, not wiping out your Yinshan Fort along with them was already Lord Xiao Simo’s magnanimity.”
“Yet you did not repent, and later in the Battle of Golden Mountain, Tangshan Fort always charged first in battle without fearing the enemy, while you, Zhu Wanli, cowered and did not advance.”
“In over twenty days, you didn’t advance a single step.”
“And after that, the decisive battle with Sun Khan…”
“Do I need to detail each and every one of these matters?”
Li Xiao’s face showed murderous intent as he roared.
He directly kicked Zhu Wanli in the stomach, and with another scream, Zhu Wanli was kicked to the ground.
This time, he was completely enraged.
Eyes bloodshot, he stood up, drew the straight knife from his waist, and angrily pointed at Li Xiao, saying, “This is slander.”
“These fabricated things are clearly your inventions.”
After the Battle of North Mountain, with the Geluolu People’s power strong, Yinshan Fort inevitably had other thoughts when facing the threat of Geluolu troops.
Not just Yinshan Fort, but even other forts and villages and nomadic tribes, who hadn’t wavered?
It was only the news of Li Xiao eliminating the Aslan Tribe that gave them a shot of confidence.
Otherwise, not only Yinshan Fort might have submitted to the Geluolu, but other forts and villages as well.
So in Zhu Wanli’s view, this was just humanity’s instinctive choice when facing danger.
Li Xiao using it to attack him was truly quibbling.
Thinking this way, Zhu Wanli became somewhat exasperated and shouted to the Yinshan Fort people around, “What are you waiting for?”
“Get them! Tie them up for me.”
“As long as we make a big fuss and join with people from other forts and villages to explain the situation to Lord Xiao.”
“Lord Xiao will surely clear our name and not believe this young whippersnapper’s one-sided words.”
Zhu Wanli still had some tricks, knowing that Xiao Simo did not want more trouble, urgently needed to stabilize Jin Prefecture’s situation, and then return to the Eastern Capital.
He planned to involve more forts and villages to escalate the matter.
Facing this surging public sentiment, Xiao Simo would surely have some concerns and use soft tactics to appease people.
Plus, Zhu Wanli had been fort master for so many years, with great accumulated authority in Yinshan Fort, so under his call, some Yinshan Fort soldiers were poised to act.
Li Xiao’s personal guards and the people Gu Zizhong brought tightly protected them in the middle.
Li Xiao’s expression remained uncalm, merely looking down coldly at Zhu Wanli and saying indifferently, “I already gave you a chance, but if you’re seeking death, don’t blame me for not showing mercy.”
As the words fell, one of Li Xiao’s personal guards behind him took out an ox horn and blew a low horn sound.
“Wooo wooo woo~”
In just a few breaths, a low rumbling sound rose from the land.
The Yinshan Fort soldiers, who had long lived on horseback, naturally recognized what this sound was.
Thus, panic appeared on these soldiers’ faces as they looked around in fear.
Sure enough, on the land, a dense mass of cavalry was charging madly.
In a short time, they surrounded this camp of Yinshan Fort.
Roughly, there were five or six hundred cavalry, all holding bows and arrows aimed at Yinshan Fort’s soldiers.
The scene instantly became tense, and Yinshan Fort’s soldiers began to panic.
Zhu Wanli’s face became even paler.
He had clearly realized the seriousness of the matter.
Li Xiao had been prepared all along.
“I already know all about your plotting.”
“I won’t let off any of your accomplices, including you.” Li Xiao said in a faint voice.
This reform affected many people’s interests.
Like Zhu Wanli, some original fort masters and village masters had their power weakened in this reform.
Some accepted their fate, but Zhu Wanli and a few others were unwilling.
They had privately discussed inciting people to make trouble and fish in troubled waters.
Li Xiao naturally could not tolerate this.
He planned to catch Zhu Wanli and his group all at once.
Saying this, Li Xiao’s gaze turned to Yinshan Fort’s soldiers and he shouted loudly, “I know you were all bewitched by Zhu Wanli.”
“Lay down your weapons and surrender, and I guarantee no pursuit of past actions.”
“Whoever dares go down the same path as Zhu Wanli to the end, not only will you not see tomorrow’s sun.”
“Even your family members will not have a good end.”
“Zhu Wanli bewitched morale, gathered a crowd to make trouble, disobeyed superior officers—his crimes are grave and heinous.”
“He is rebelling; do you want to follow and have your nine clans exterminated too?”
Hearing Li Xiao’s words, Yinshan Fort soldiers’ will to fight instantly collapsed, and some began to lay down their weapons.
The reason was not only that Li Xiao understood human nature, but also that he knew how to use the momentum.
