After being beaten up and unable to fight back, it was natural to find a big brother to help out or at least find some backing.

This was exactly what Li Le thought after being caught off guard by an ambush before dawn.

No matter if the big brother was their nominal leader, Guo Tai, or the one who actually had the most power among the four of them, Yang Feng, he had to go to the same place.

Li Le also figured that he couldn’t just run over there in a disheveled state.

In their competitive environment, looking pitiful would only give the other party a reason to take over his turf.

He quickly straightened his somewhat crooked clothes and made sure his men, who had retreated with him through a tunnel, tidied up as well, especially brushing off the dust.

This made the thousand or so men look much more presentable.

Only then did they head to Yang Feng’s camp.

Luckily, these people didn’t need to hide from each other as they would from Qiao Yan.

They had informed each other when they moved camps, so finding someone wasn’t a big issue.

In this mutual support situation, there was no need for lies.

Li Le had spent enough time in the mountains around Xiangfen to know them like the back of his hand, so he arrived at Yang Feng’s outer camp before noon.

He was unsurprisingly stopped by Xu Huang, who was on patrol.

Unlike Li Le, who focused on hiding, Yang Feng had an envious subordinate in Li Le’s eyes, who helped him establish a strong foothold here.

In Li Le’s view, Xu Huang was not only good at strategic defense but also a skilled fighter.

If it weren’t for Yang Feng’s early kindness to him, Xu Huang could have led his own Hedong bandit group.

But now, it didn’t matter. Xu Huang was loyal to Yang Feng and guarded the well-positioned camp well.

Li Le thought that if Xu Huang could intercept them quickly, he could also quickly detect any attacks from Leping Marquis’ men, ensuring his safety.

Finally, after being forced to flee, Li Le breathed a sigh of relief.

“Commander Li, what brings you here?” Xu Huang looked suspiciously at Li Le and his men.

Even though Li Le had tidied up himself and his men before coming, Xu Huang knew their capabilities and wasn’t fooled by their appearance.

Their panicked fleeing couldn’t hide the fact that they had lost their base and were being driven away.

Xu Huang’s sharp gaze, coupled with his immediate words, “Commander Li brings a thousand men, and we dare not host them. If you only seek to discuss matters with General Yang, bring thirty to fifty guards,” left Li Le choked for a moment.

He had to confess the truth.

But upon careful consideration, Li Le realized he didn’t need to be so fearful.

Their group had lost to the troops of Marquis Leping at Xingkou Pass, gaining little advantage.

And this situation wasn’t unique to him.

Now, Marquis Leping herself was coming with her men. It wasn’t favorable for him, but it was normal.

At least he had managed to escape and preserve over half of his forces, thanks to leaving himself a retreat.

After trying hard to salvage his reputation, Xu Huang seized on Li Le’s words and asked, “Are you saying Marquis Leping is coming in person this time?”

Glancing at Li Le and his troops, Xu Huang wasn’t as optimistic as Li Le. Upon receiving confirmation, he ordered them to encircle the camp outside, then immediately reported to Yang Feng.

Before he could finish, they received news: Han Xian had also arrived.

Compared to Li Le’s situation, his was even more dire.

During Li Le’s attacks, Qiao Yan didn’t even let Dian Wei intervene.

He played the role of a capable bodyguard.

But Zhao Yun, responsible for attacking Han Xian’s camp, didn’t show such mercy.

Unfortunately, Han Xian knew his influence was only under Yang Feng’s, not hiding like Li Le.

He had a fortified camp and could defend against attacks, so there was no need to worry too much.

If the messenger hadn’t been so convincing, Han Xian wouldn’t have bothered setting up another defense line.

But Zhao Yun and Xu Fu decided to strike during their morning mealtime, which caught everyone off guard!

Considering Zhao Yun’s bravery and past encounters, the defense line seemed pointless, just buying Han Xian a bit of time to escape.

Regretting not listening to advice, Han Xian gathered his remaining troops to join Yang Feng.

Their relationship wasn’t great, so he prepared for tough times ahead.

In this way, if Yang Feng refused to shelter him, Han Xian now had a reason to blame him.

But upon arriving, instead of Yang Feng, he found Li Le busy setting up camp.

They stared at each other for a moment, then asked almost like a password, ‘Leping?’

Seeing each other’s expressions, they realized they shared the same hardships.

Soon they realized, despite their losses and near-death experiences, they still had more than enough left.

As another group of survivors arrived, they received shocking news — Hu Cai had been killed by Chu Yan.

After Hu Cai’s death, a group of bandits barely escaped the chaos and followed a local leader to seek refuge here.

‘Good thing I dug that extra tunnel,’ Li Le couldn’t help but remark, grateful that his opponents were young and lacked skills.

‘Luckily, I had locals among my recruits who alerted us,’ Han Xian added almost simultaneously.

They glanced at each other again, seeing mutual relief in their eyes.

With three of the Hedong commanders under attack by Leping, the pressure was now on Yang Feng.

Because of the different situations faced by these three parties, Yang Feng was completely unaware of Han Xian and Li Le’s arrival, which was a trap set by Qiao Yan.

He just turned to Xu Huang and asked, “In your opinion, will Marquis of Leping attack us?”

After thinking for a moment, Xu Huang replied, “I don’t think so.”

“We have more than four thousand troops, but fighting in the valleys and mountains restricts us due to our large numbers. Even if they were to attack our camp without any defenses, they would need at least five thousand men,” Yang Feng said.

Yang Feng shook his head.

“Leiping County has only ten thousand households, and even if they harbor Black Mountain bandits, their actual combat strength is at most three thousand men. Moreover, many of them have been disarmed to prevent any threat to Leiping’s safety.”

“Any rational person wouldn’t use too many bandits from one faction while dealing with another. After all, nowadays, being a bandit is more advantageous than being a commoner. There’s no guarantee that these two factions won’t unite.”

“With numbers like these, it’s unbelievable.”

It’s only three thousand men.

This is a number that makes it extremely difficult for them to launch an attack on our side.

Yang Feng felt slightly relieved and then asked Xu Huang, “What do you think, should we accommodate both Han Xian and Li Le, or should we let them split up and rebuild their camps?”

Xu Huang didn’t give a direct answer to this question.

He simply said, “These matters should be decided by the General himself.”

From Yang Feng’s previous attitude, his inclination was already clear.

Xu Huang could see through it clearly.

When Hu Cai’s troops arrived, Yang Feng’s sympathy seemed less for the leaders of the same camp and more for these troops.

At such a time, although Xu Huang had an intuition that leaving all these people here might not be the best choice, it wasn’t appropriate to say so.

All he could do now was strengthen the camp’s defenses.

On one hand, he needed to guard against Li Le and Han Xian, and on the other hand, he needed to be wary in case Yang Feng’s judgment of Marquis of Leping was wrong and they truly marched their troops here.

When Xu Huang gave this answer, Yang Feng laughed.

He patted Xu Huang on the shoulder and said, “Gongming, you’re not being sincere.”

But despite saying this, he was quite satisfied with Xu Huang’s knowledgeable and understanding attitude.

He was confident enough to absorb Hu Cai’s troops and perhaps even Li Le’s and Han Xian’s. With absolute numerical superiority on their side, there was no harm in keeping these people here.

Moreover, the position where Xu Huang settled them happened to be the barrier of their camp.

If Marquis of Leping, buoyed by his earlier successes from attacking on three fronts, chose to launch an attack against them, these people could serve as his ‘help.’

But in this alliance leaning towards mutual benefits rather than bonds of friendship, if he coveted this group of people who fled with Hu Cai, wouldn’t others have the same idea?

Li Le and Han Xian had just experienced significant losses in their forces and wanted to replenish their numbers.

They knew well that recruiting new soldiers after a defeat wasn’t easy.

So, they independently set their sights on Hu Cai’s troops.

One side had lost their leader, and the other side needed to reinforce their manpower.

Wasn’t this a mutually beneficial deal?

However, they also understood that at this moment, they were somewhat in a dependent position.”

However, apart from these two, there’s another person eyeing these troops — Guo Tai, the nominal leader.

How did he become the leader?

When these few people first gathered, each commanded only a few hundred men, and no one acknowledged anyone else’s authority, so they pushed him into the position.

At that time, Guo Tai could command a few hundred men, showing he wasn’t completely incapable.

But these people clearly didn’t want a real leader with power over them.

So over the past two years, they’ve restricted his growth.

Now, while these people have developed forces of three to five thousand, and their families have further increased their numbers, he’s left with a pitiful thousand men.

With Hu Cai dead, shouldn’t his troops rightfully fall under the command of this ‘Hedong Commander’?

Guo Tai couldn’t help but think carefully.

At this moment, he couldn’t help considering a more dangerous idea.

If he could unite his forces with those of Li Le, Han Xian, and Hu Cai’s troops, they would outnumber Yang Feng.

Attacking from such close quarters, even Xu Huang’s skills might not suffice to defend against them.

He didn’t expect to swallow all of them at once, but with Hu Cai gone, if he could become a real commanding leader and even eliminate Yang Feng, who had never respected him much — wouldn’t that be marvelous?

However, before achieving this goal, these ambitious individuals faced a more pressing issue.

They were short on food.

With just Yang Feng’s forces stationed here, their food and supplies planning was flawless.

With Xu Huang ensuring their safety, Yang Feng focused more on internal affairs, fearing potential food shortages in the upcoming winter.

But now, with two — no, three factions present, it was becoming troublesome.

Distributing resources would be painful for Yang Feng, possibly leading his own side into trouble.

But if they didn’t distribute?

Everyone was a bandit!

In times of starvation, the default solution was plundering, and grievances would be aired.

As allies, why should Yang Feng’s group eat well while they suffered under Leping?”

As a matter of principle, when resources were scarce, they would simply descend the mountain and raid for what they needed.

But then they received news.

After their successful but incomplete action against the three factions, the Marquis of Leping did not return to Leping as a noble youth should have after such a feat.

Instead, she encamped outside Pingzhou County, just a short distance away, ready to launch an attack at any moment.

In this situation, focusing on Zhiguan Pass seemed inappropriate.

Should they consider Hedong Commandery instead?

---

Compared to their dilemma, Qiao Yan was undoubtedly more relaxed.

Pingzhou belonged to Xihexian, where the military authority of the Prefect was greatly constrained due to the presence of the Protector-General against the Xiongnu.

At least, Qiao Yan, as Marquis of Leping, openly stationed troops here, and there was little the Prefect could do about it.

Filing a complaint was out of the question.

Hadn’t Qiao Yan already laid hands on a provincial inspector in Bingzhou without much consequence, even driving Zhang Yi to exile in Xuzhou? What if she did it again?

Last time, it was for famine relief; this time, it was for suppressing bandits — both reasons were quite reasonable.

He could only turn a blind eye to such transgressions.

With this tacit approval and Qiao Yan easily bringing military supplies from Leping, it didn’t interfere with Pingzhou’s grain stocks.

She even acted as an external guard, though the Prefect of Xihexian was not pleased.

If he had been in a better mood, the county magistrate of Pingzhou would have been eager to send something for military relief.

Qiao Yan stared blankly at the paper and pen before her, lost in thought.

Despite achieving the expected results with the three-pronged attack according to her plan, casualties were unavoidable in combat.

Despite outnumbering the opposition, their physical advantage was balanced by numbers…

In any case, each faction had suffered losses of over a hundred men.

Though they had each killed around four hundred and captured six to seven hundred, it was a clear victory.

However, no fledgling force could afford to take casualties lightly in battle.

But perhaps this was also an opportunity for her.

Through this battle, she could establish systems for rewarding and compensating military achievements and casualties.

As she pondered these regulations, she heard the voice of Xu Fu outside her tent.

“Lord Marquis, representatives from the Hedong Bandits wish to see you.”