Li Wanming's gaze swept past the crowd and landed on Chen Mazi, who was shivering in the corner. "Hey, you've known me the longest. Won't you say a few words in my defense?"
Chen Mazi timidly raised his head, forcing a smile on his sallow face that looked worse than a cry. "The great leader is wise and mighty, renowned far and wide. For them to kneel before you... it's only right. You deserve it!"
"Here we go again..." Li Wanming frowned helplessly. "I've told you countless times that I claimed to be the great leader of your Black Wind Stronghold just as a temporary measure. I never really wanted to be your leader!"
"Yes, yes, yes..." Chen Mazi nodded like a pounding garlic, his dry lips trembling. "The great leader is right. Whatever you want us to call you, we'll call you. Just please put me out of my misery, grandma!"
His eye sockets were sunken, and his hunched body made him look like a boneless shrimp. His already sallow complexion looked even more haggard, and there was a look of bitter despair in his eyes...
Oh, heavens!
He had been locked up in Tiger Head Stronghold by Jiang Xiaohuan for several days! He had been cutting trees and making arrows day and night, and he was on the verge of collapse...
In any case, it was a death sentence whether he faced it head-on or cowered. He really just wanted to end his suffering quickly.
Li Wanming looked up at the sky in disbelief.
What a mess!
It was all because of her great reputation in the past that no one believed her now.
Looking at these bandits trembling in fear, it seemed as if she was going to devour them the next second...
She decided not to waste any more words and asked directly, "You used to be bandits in the mountains, so you're most familiar with the situation here. I ask you, are there any secret passages in the mountains that the government doesn't know about?"
"No, there aren't!"
The red-faced man kneeling at the front immediately replied, "When the general suppressed the bandits back then, we told them all the secret food routes and passages we knew. All of them were sealed by the officials. Even the rat holes were filled with lime water and sealed tightly!"
Li Wanming narrowed her eyes slightly. "Really?"
The bandit problem in Dayi Mountain had persisted for decades, with no less than a hundred bandit strongholds of various sizes. Even if Li Rusong and Yuan Jinqiu had been thorough in their suppression back then, it was inevitable that some had slipped through the net. The hidden paths and secret passages in the mountains were probably as dense as spider webs.
Jiang Xiaohuan struck the red-faced man on the shoulder with the scabbard of her sword. "Think carefully before you speak! Huang Laosan, if I find out that you're hiding something, I'll skin you alive and feed you to the dogs in the mountains!"
Huang Laosan grimaced in pain, but his beady eyes were darting around.
Li Wanming stared at him and knew what was going on. She softly called out, "Chuntao..."
"Yes!"
Chuntao quickly rummaged through her bag and took out a silver ingot weighing twenty taels. She waved it in front of everyone and said crisply, "Look carefully. Whoever can tell us the secret passages in the mountains will get this silver ingot!"
The men looked at each other and immediately raised their hands eagerly.
"I know!"
"I'm clear about it!"
"I'll take you there right away!"
Among them, Huang Laosan shouted the loudest.
Li Wanming slowly walked up to him and looked down at him with a half-smile. "Didn't you say that even the rat holes in the mountains were sealed tightly?"
Huang Laosan scratched his head and said sheepishly, "The rat holes were sealed, but there are still the holes dug by pangolins..."
...
In July, Dayi Mountain was hot and humid, making it almost impossible to breathe.
The dense tree canopies blocked the sky completely. The humid heat steamed in the forest, and even the cicadas' chirping sounded listless.
Huang Laosan and Chen Mazi led Li Wanming and the others through the dense forest. The "path" under their feet could hardly be called a path. Hidden beneath the decaying leaves were intertwined tree roots, and the vines were coiled around the tree trunks like entangled snakes. They had to use machetes to cut through them.
"Watch out!"
Huang Laosan suddenly shouted and grabbed Jiang Xiaohuan, who almost stepped into a void.
He pushed aside a dense cluster of ferns, revealing a hidden slope. The slope was covered with moss and was so slippery that it could reflect one's figure.
"Is this the place?" Jiang Xiaohuan looked suspiciously at the unassuming thicket in front of her and exclaimed, "Don't tell me you're going to make us slide all the way to Qingzhou from here...?"
Huang Laosan wiped the sweat off his face and gasped, "Don't be impatient, miss! Once we get over that slope in front, you'll see..."
Saying that, he hunched over and carefully climbed up the side of the slope, motioning for the others to follow him.
When they were almost out of strength, Huang Laosan suddenly stopped in front of a rock wall covered with ivy. He grabbed a thick old vine and gave it a hard tug. The ivy rustled and lifted, revealing a dark cave inside.
The cool air from the cave rushed out, carrying the smell of earth and moisture.
Huang Laosan said proudly, "Great Leader Li, if you crawl in from here, it'll only take about an incense stick's time to reach Fengyang Slope southwest of Qingzhou City!"
The entrance of the cave was very low, only allowing one person to crawl through on their hands and knees.
Li Wanming frowned slightly but said nothing.
"So small? Is this really a secret passage?" Chuntao sighed and looked inside. "Even a slightly stocky person wouldn't be able to get through. Could it really be a hole dug by a pangolin?"
"Hehe!" Huang Laosan grinned and grabbed a black vine beside him. With a "whoosh" sound, the ground rumbled and sank half a foot, revealing a space about half a person's height.
Now the cave was big enough for two strong men to walk side by side.
"Not bad, Huang Laosan!" Jiang Xiaohuan patted him on the shoulder. "Your Gathering Righteousness Hall has this! No wonder your hall leader was the hardest to catch during the bandit suppression. It turns out you had such a cave!"
Huang Laosan scratched his head and said sheepishly, "Even the smartest fox can't outwit a good hunter. In the end, we were all captured by the officials and beheaded..."
Li Wanming looked at the deep cave. The cool, humid air hit her face.
She reached out and touched the water droplets seeping out of the rock wall. The worry in her eyes finally faded, and a look of determination slowly appeared on her face. This passage was big enough to hide a surprise force.
Feng Xiao was leading 150,000 men straight towards Qingzhou. Although there were only 80,000 defending troops in Qingzhou City, the news of the recapture of Yanchuan had spread, and An Luo would surely launch a desperate counterattack.
Once An Luo's large army surrounded the city, Feng Xiao's 150,000 men would be no match.
So they had to find a way to bury An Luo's reinforcements outside Qingzhou City.
...
Chen Mazi lit a torch and, together with Huang Laosan, took the lead into the cave. Li Wanming and the others followed slowly.
After walking seven or eight steps, the damp rock walls gradually receded to the sides. Suddenly, their eyes opened wide -
A huge natural cave appeared in front of them.
The ceiling of the cave was over ten zhang high. Countless hanging stalactites were like sharp swords hanging above their heads, glistening with a bluish light in the torchlight. Under their feet was a flat limestone platform, about half the size of a parade ground.