Chapter 65: Fan Tong

"This subordinate pays respects to the Fourth Imperial Prince!" Inside the prefectural office, the Censor of Yannan Dao and the Marching General of Yannan Dao respectfully bowed and saluted the Fourth Imperial Prince, Huangfu Mingfeng.

Among the eighteen Daos of Great Cang, each Dao was appointed one Censor and one Marching General, who respectively managed civil and military affairs. Among them, the Censor held the primary position, while the Marching General served as the deputy. In terms of official rank, the Dao Censor was half a rank higher than the Dao Marching General.

The remaining small nests of bandits in Hebei Dao were simply not worth mentioning; how could they possibly withstand three thousand well-equipped imperial guards? In just a few days, they had been completely wiped out.

Meanwhile, Wang Yu had once again harvested 40 summoning points, pushing his total number of summoning points back up to 99. Among those bandits of the Three Mountains, apart from Li Que at the very beginning, not a single one had reached the super-first-class level. At most, they were only first-class, with martial arts stats in the low eighties—utterly insignificant.

The minor bandit suppression campaigns served merely as a preliminary exercise to let the Fourth Imperial Prince try his hand, and to allow those academic scholars to witness some bloodshed. Wasting no further time, the group traveled day and night toward Yannan Dao.

These were military transport vehicles, propelled by mechanical power, capable of traveling without stopping day and night. It was only necessary to rotate the operators of the automaton beasts at appropriate intervals.

"Both lords, please rise!" The Fourth Imperial Prince extended a hand in a gesture to raise them.

"Your Highness, this subordinate has already prepared a temporary residence for Your Highness. May I ask Your Highness to move there?" Fan Tong, who was the Censor of Yannan Dao, submitted.

"There is no rush. I wonder if Prefect Fan has prepared the troops? This bandit suppression campaign was personally designated by His Majesty, and there must not be the slightest mistake!" the Fourth Imperial Prince Huangfu Mingfeng said solemnly.

A mere temporary residence was an insignificantly small matter to the Fourth Imperial Prince. In any case, he would not be staying here for many days; even if this Yannan Dao Censor were to build him an imperial palace, it would make no difference.

Besides, this fellow was a prince after all. Although his previous status had been somewhat awkward, what kind of luxurious places had he not seen!

Compared to a temporary residence, the Fourth Imperial Prince Huangfu Mingfeng was far more concerned about the bandit suppression mission this time. Ten thousand bandit troops occupying hazardous natural terrain was no trivial matter; he had to be extremely cautious.

If he botched his very first assignment, how could he ever hope to make a comeback in the future? Otherwise, why would the Fourth Imperial Prince have listened halfway along the journey to the suggestion of someone who was neither friend nor foe, deciding to first seek out a few small-scale bandit nests to hone his skills? After all, this was his first time personally leading an army, and he himself was not entirely confident at heart!

Furthermore, among those academic scholars, how many had ever personally engaged in combat before? If he did not find a nest of small bandits to let them see some bloodshed in advance, what would happen if they dropped the chain when fighting the fierce bandits of Liangshan later on?

It was precisely because the Fourth Imperial Prince Huangfu Mingfeng cared immensely about this bandit suppression campaign that he proactively inquired about the troops.

Liangshan possessed a formidable force of well over ten thousand fierce bandits; naturally, they could not rely solely on the three thousand imperial guards. For this expedition, aside from the three thousand Jin troops brought by Huangfu Mingfeng, Yannan Dao was required to dispatch an additional fifteen thousand troops under his command.

"This..." Fan Tong had not expected that this imperial prince would ask about the troops right off the bat. After a momentary pause, he raised his hands in a salute and slowly began, "Reporting to Your Highness, matters concerning the troops are entirely under the charge of General Chen Xuanbao. This subordinate has already prepared all necessary supplies such as provisions and military equipment for Your Highness!"

Chen Xuanbao was the Marching General of Yannan Dao. Wang Yu cast a casual glance: a command stat of 94, coupled with a martial arts stat of 90—not bad, he could be considered a man of talent.

Hearing Fan Tong say this, the Fourth Imperial Prince Huangfu Mingfeng did not continue to question him alone, but instead shifted his gaze to Chen Xuanbao standing nearby.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the fifteen thousand soldiers have already been prepared for Your Highness; they are all strapping lads from the military," Chen Xuanbao said with a stern expression, without any hesitation.

On this matter, neither Fan Tong nor Chen Xuanbao would dare to fake anything. After all, even His Imperial Majesty might be paying attention to this affair. At least on the surface, they had to arrange everything properly without the slightest error.

"Hahaha, good! If this bandit suppression campaign is successful, your names will certainly not be missing from the roster of merits for the two of you!" the Fourth Imperial Prince Huangfu Mingfeng squeezed out a smile and said.

At the same time, he did not forget to placate these two men. A fierce dragon struggles to suppress a local snake; these two had operated in Yannan Dao for many years, and their influence here was not weak. In the days to come, he would likely need to trouble them often, and many matters would require the active assistance of these two men.

"Your Highness jests. Suppressing bandits is a bounden duty for officials of Great Cang like us; how would we dare to covet merits?" The two men said with solemn expressions.

Regardless of what they truly thought in their hearts, the outward appearances could not be lacking. At least, the facade had to be maintained.

"I still have one more matter to ask the two lords. I wonder if the two lords would deign to enlighten me!" The Fourth Imperial Prince nodded slightly and spoke again.

"Your Highness, please speak frankly. As long as the two of us know, we will certainly tell you everything we know!" Fan Tong took a proactive step forward and said.

No matter what, the other party was an imperial prince, while they were subjects of Great Cang. If an imperial prince asked subjects a few questions, and they knew the answers, would they dare not reply?

"The two lords have resided in Yannan Dao for many years. I wonder how much understanding you have regarding those fierce bandits of Liangshan!" The Fourth Imperial Prince immediately brought up the topic.

Knowing oneself and the enemy ensures victory in every battle; the Imperial Prince still understood this principle. Therefore, before taking formal action, gathering more information about the opponent was by no means a mistake. The more thoroughly he understood the enemy, the greater his chances of winning would be.

Precisely because of these considerations, right after inquiring about the troop preparations, the Fourth Imperial Prince Huangfu Mingfeng immediately sought out these two men to gather whatever intelligence they had on Liangshan.

Since these two fellows had operated in Yannan Dao for years, they should know quite a few things.

"Reporting to Your Highness, within Liangshan, there are mainly two bandit leaders. The first is Chao Gai. This person was originally a village security chief and possessed some modest wealth. He once seized a bluestone pagoda from a temple and placed it in his village, which is why people call him the 'Heaven-Fulfilling Tower King'."

"Tower King? That is truly an audacious epithet!" Previously, although the Fourth Imperial Prince knew Chao Gai's name, he truly had no idea that the man possessed such a nickname. Daring to call oneself a king—and a heavenly king at that—even they, members of the imperial family, did not yet possess such qualifications.

"The other leader in Liangshan is named Song Jiang. He was once a minor clerk in a county yamen under the jurisdiction of Yannan Dao. He has a dark complexion and a short stature; he is ordinarily righteous in his dealings, spends money like dirt, loves making friends, and is renowned throughout the surrounding region as the 'Timely Rain'," Fan Tong continued.