Once There Were Bandits - 4: Crushing White Lion After Qinghu, Systematically Dismantling Fujian's Twelve Branches
After toppling Qinghu Village, we methodically crushed White Lion Branch next. It had me quietly thrilled, wondering what the subsequent branches might throw at us.
But that excitement halted at the following mountain.
"Criminal Shin Ji-gang confesses his sins before you great kings! We beseech Your Majesties to show mercy upon these sinners!"
"Show us mercy!"
The bandits, already descended from the mountain and prostrated at the pass, numbered just over sixty. The sight of them all slamming foreheads to the ground in unison was truly spectacular. They'd even piled their weapons in one spot, as if to prove they harbored no intent to resist.
"Ho. So there are fellows like this too."
"Wise ones amid the fools."
Gu Gangwang and Dong-gu Wang nodded in satisfaction at this unconditional surrender. If they're going to yield anyway, those who beg for life before the blows land look far better than those who grovel after a beating. Even kings are human—they can't help but view the compliant ones favorably.
Burning a mountain was a hassle for the kings too. A Hwagyeong master had to fully extend their senses to confirm no slash-and-burn farmers or civilians lurked within, ensuring it was a pure bandit den before setting it ablaze. Afterward, every ember had to be extinguished to prevent regrowth, and time would be needed to let the slopes recover.
But if this Shin Ji-gang and his men surrendered, all that could be skipped. What joy!
"Confessing their sins, eh."
My grandfather stroked his beard at Shin Ji-gang's declaration of surrender.
"They know well that they are sinners."
With those words, Grandfather approached the prone bandits. One might think it risky for a king to near bandits without guards, but Grandfather was a Hwagyeong high master who could shatter the mountain with a flick of his wrist. Instead, the bandits began trembling as he drew close.
"Ever since the exalted founder rose for the greater good and drove the vile Mongols beyond the Great Wall, peace has reigned in the Central Plains where chaos once dwelt. In such a prosperous era, the crime of you lot choosing the bandit's path is no light matter."
The bandits bowed even lower at Grandfather's words, laced with uncharacteristic dignity. My companions and I knew his usual self, so we took it in stride, but these bandits only knew him as Daesong's top founding merit subject, a One-Generation King, and a Hwagyeong high master—titles gleaming with glory.
"How could we deny our own folly! Unable to adapt to the beautiful realm forged by the exalted founder, we trod a reckless and rude path. We dare not lift our heads beneath Heaven!"
Thus, Shin Ji-gang offered a heartrending self-criticism, begging for Grandfather's merciful judgment. A wise move. Even for the same crime, self-surrendered sinners fare subtly better than those captured by force. Showing some leniency to the former encourages the second and third to follow suit.
"What say you all to that?"
"We leave the judgment to Lord Giwang."
Grandfather turned to the two kings, then gazed down at the bandits once more at Dong-gu Wang's words. Within this punitive force, Grandfather held the highest rank. The fate of surrendered prisoners was naturally his to decide.
"Surrender does not erase sin. The harm you inflicted on the innocent folk while living as bandits will scar the realm forever."
Shin Ji-gang and his men flinched, but Grandfather pressed on.
"Yet even sinners who truly repent and heed the state's reeducation deserve a new life."
The ignorant commoner can become a gentleman through effort; the sinner, through remorse, earns forgiveness—that is Confucian teaching. Of course, grave offenders too far gone for reeducation are exceptions. The Central Plains teems with manpower; recycling such refuse is pointless.
"Thus, I grant you a chance. Confess all your crimes and await judgment. If deemed redeemable, even you shall bask in His Majesty's lofty grace and mercy."
"We shall obey! We submit to the stern laws of the state!"
"Good. May your courage shine through."
From "you scum" to "you all"—that subtle shift marked the end as the bandits were bound by the soldiers. Now they would face the punitive force's interrogation, their fates decided by the severity of their revealed crimes. Their clean surrender might earn some leniency... but if they'd butchered innocents like pros, they'd reap their karma in full.
May your courage shine through. I echoed Grandfather's hope inwardly. Not out of pity for bandits, but to set a precedent: surrendered bandits receiving the state's mercy and surviving en masse. If word spread that even clean surrenders ended in mass execution for grave crimes? The remaining dens would fight to the death. A spectator like me had no patience for that hassle.
These surrendered bandits hailed from a mid-tier den called Yeongpung Village. Like most Fujian bandit groups now, they'd risen amid the fall of the twelve great branches—foxes emerging in the tiger's absence, lying low until then.
"Minor crimes, this lot."
"Indeed. Compared to the old forest riffraff, they're backyard militia level."
As Grandfather and Gu Gangwang noted, they were ordinary, humble bandits without major atrocities. Odd to pair "ordinary" and "humble" with "bandits," but reality bore it out. Sure, they'd extorted the folk—that "bandit" label demanded it—but no killings or slave trading. Minor crimes, then.
"Just roll 'em into a penal brigade."
Gu Gangwang, already putting captured waterfall pirates from Guizhou to good use in his own penal unit, naturally suggested the same for these. I agreed. Recyclable trash belonged at northern passes like Shanhaiguan or closer southern borders like Wolnam. More guards meant strength in numbers.
"Hmm."
But Grandfather, our ultimate authority, hummed thoughtfully while stroking his beard.
"Grandfather? Is something amiss?"
His odd behavior prompted a cautious query. If something had irked him unbeknownst to us, better a grandson speak up than the kings.
"It's this."
He continued stroking his beard as he replied.
"Fujian's terrain is such a pain. Even after we crush 'em like this, time will see them sprout anew."
"That's... true."
No denying it. Bandits, river pirates, sea raiders—they're freakish growths from nature itself. The three kings' flashy purges enabled temporary eradication now, but as long as mountains existed—especially Fujian's abundance—they'd return.
"Tidying trash-choked mountains every time is a bother. Why not fill them ourselves first?"
"Pardon?"
My head tilted at Grandfather's words. Fill the mountains ourselves? What?
"Usable bandits. No need to ship 'em to borders—keep 'em in Fujian. Station them on mountains ripe for bandit nests to prevent self-spawning."
Ah.
His kind explanation clicked instantly. Mountains left fallow become bandit fodder anyway, so plant obedient ones to maintain order?
Privateer bandits...?
Confusing. Grandfather surely hadn't gone mad suggesting "rob folk all you want, we approve lol," but using bandits to check bandits? Unheard of.
"Is that allowed?"
"What's to stop it? They're Daesong soldiers devoting themselves to the realm's peace regardless. Just stationed in Fujian, not the borders."
Damn. It almost made sense that way.
Surrendering en masse with one's underlings took real guts. Our crimes weren't death-worthy in my book, but people are always lenient with themselves. If the state's verdict differed from my guess? Head rolls.
We'll live, at least.
Treatment post-surrender was decent enough, barring the initial binding. Surveillance and questioning, sure—but no torture. Regular meals made captivity bearable, kindling hope. We'd pay for our sins, but nothing unbearable.
"You shall become the militia guarding Fujian's mountains."
But I'd never foreseen this punishment.
"...Pardon?"
The punitive force commander's words—expecting another interrogation—left my mind blank. Militia guarding Fujian's mountains? What? We'd been caught operating there, no? And militia over penal brigade? Weren't redeemable bandits traditionally sent to border zones?
"Your zeal for rebirth burns hotter than the sins of your past. Thus, the state grants you this chance: suppress the rise of new bandits."
I blinked dumbly. I got it. Like how the great branches once checked the small ones, now we were to corral newcomers ourselves. Handle it in-house, no need for official intervention.
"Of course, your ranks will swell with more militia, and the state shall support your smooth operations. Dedicate yourselves to Fujian's peace without worry."
His words confirmed my hunch, nearly drawing a laugh. This was... just a slight rebrand from the untouchable sects of old, tasking us like a sect with security duties?
"We shall devote our lives to the realm and its people."
Calculations done, I slammed my forehead down. Infinitely better than rolling at the borders.