Devouring Taishan (1)

It was the time of year when the bitter cold of winter began to blanket the earth. Two months earlier, the remnants of the Yellow Turbans had risen again in Yanzhou like a wildfire. Heaven General Zhang Jiao was already dead. Earth General Zhang Bao and Human General Zhang Liang had both been beheaded by the imperial court, yet the madness and unyielding faith of those who believed in the yellow sky refused to die.

The flames had spread to Jizhou as well. The court, completely overwhelmed, could only scramble to downplay the reports of rebellion from every region. In the chaos, the Yellow River had been blockaded. The vital roads connecting Yanzhou to Xuzhou and Qingzhou were completely severed. Only one path remained.

Taishan.

The rugged mountain once shunned as a bandit haven had become the sole passage linking three provinces. Countless merchant caravans, refugees, and displaced people now braved its treacherous slopes. And at the very center of it all stood Jang Yeon.

“Fuck… everywhere else is burning to the ground, but this place is running fucking smoothly,” Jang Yeon muttered. He sat on the southern ridge of Taishan, gazing down at the scene below while tossing back a cup of liquor.

The land was covered in snow and mud, yet beneath it lay dozens of tents, horses, merchant wagons, and guards moving about in organized chaos. Beside him stood Yeon So-yeon, smiling as she handed ledgers to Yu Byeok.

“It’s incomparable to before,” So-yeon said, closing the ledger. “What we control now isn’t just a simple mountain pass. We hold the entire southern region of Taishan. Every trade route connecting Xuzhou, Qingzhou, and Yanzhou flows through us.”

Yu Byeok looked down at the ridge below, then turned slightly toward Jang Yeon. “The number of men we can mobilize has surpassed five thousand. These aren’t the same bastards who used to charge with clubs and bamboo spears. They may be few, but they can ride horses, wield spears, and move in formation. They’re starting to look like real soldiers.”

Jang Yeon set his cup on the ground, propped one knee up, and stared at the sky. A cold wind swept across the snow, carrying a scent that was neither blood nor fire.

It was the smell of money.

I never imagined it would grow this big.

I chuckled softly. “Thanks to those worthless fucks rising up, we’ve actually started living like proper human beings.”

What lay at my feet was no longer a ragtag band of bandits. It was closer to a regional warlord faction. Blacksmiths were hammering away, horses neighed, and on the opposite side, workers hauled supplies while merchant banners fluttered in the wind.

“The world itself is setting the table for us… fuck yeah.”

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Just as I was getting lost in that feeling, a familiar system alert slammed into my brain.

I skimmed the alert window and jerked my chin toward the scene below.

“Good. The table’s set. Now it’s time to figure out how to eat until we’re stuffed.”

My stomach was still empty. We weren’t at the level where we could eat our fill yet. We had simply sat down at a meal that wouldn’t let us starve to death.

“The number of caravans crossing has doubled compared to yesterday,” So-yeon said quietly as she moved closer. “Qingzhou is still unstable, Xuzhou is overrun with Yellow Turban remnants and bandits, and Yanzhou has seen a massive Yellow Turban uprising. In the end, they have no choice but to come through us.”

Yu Byeok stepped up on my other side and continued. “It’s all good, but… we have our limits too. Our numbers have grown, but their training is still inadequate. If the surrounding situation stabilizes, our supplies will become unstable. If we keep taking without giving back, it’ll eventually bite us.”

I nodded. He was right. At best, our current force numbered around five thousand. We were only enjoying such ridiculous benefits because the surrounding situation was so fucked. Honestly, if the local government had been functioning normally, we would have been crushed long ago.

“We’re still just bandits,” I muttered. “We’ve gotten a bit bigger, but we’re still nothing.”

So-yeon asked carefully, “Then… what will you do moving forward?”

I looked down at the ridge once more. The settlement on the mountainside was slowly expanding, and the flow of goods was enough to put my mind at ease.

“…We have to devour the entirety of Taishan.”

Yu Byeok narrowed his eyes. “You’re saying the southern region alone isn’t enough?”

“Obviously,” I snorted. “What’s the point of just holding the roads? We need to grip the entire mountain. Whether they climb from the south or descend from the north, they all move only with our permission.”

So-yeon nodded. Yu Byeok remained silent for a moment, lost in thought.

“It’ll take time to swallow it all… but it doesn’t seem impossible.”

“We’ll nibble away at it bit by bit. Slowly. If we move too boldly, the other bastards will come running with blades.”

I no longer needed to charge in recklessly. With five thousand somewhat armed and trained bandits, I needed to approach this quietly in a way that suited our current scale.

I fell silent again, thinking. It was time to pick up the spoon and start scooping rice from other bowls.

“This is a record of all the forces currently on Taishan,” So-yeon said, weighing down a crudely drawn map with small stones so the wind wouldn’t carry it away. The map was divided by dark red lines, with large and small dots scattered across the sections.

“We control the south. The east has scattered Yellow Turban remnants. The west holds a bandit group of four to five hundred. The north, being close to the Yellow River, has two bandit groups each numbering around five thousand.”

“I don’t give a shit about their names. Just tell me the total headcount,” I asked.

Yu Byeok answered, “Roughly twenty thousand in total. Excluding the south which we hold, the scattered groups in the east total around three thousand. The west only has useless bastards, so about two thousand. The biggest headache is the ten thousand in the north.”

I nodded. “So the ones who can actually fight number around ten thousand.”

“Yes,” Yu Byeok added. “The rest will either be absorbed or flee.”

So-yeon summarized neatly. “Right now, dividing and conquering them individually is more advantageous than all-out conflict. We should start with the west, which has the smallest force, using a mix of persuasion and pressure. Before rumors spread across Taishan, we must immediately mobilize our full strength to the east and crush them.”

She cleared her throat and continued. “Finally, for the north, we need to pacify the east and west first and gather more intelligence. We must keep them separated so they cannot join hands.”

I tapped my scabbard as I listened to So-yeon. “Correct. We start with the weakest shit first.”

My words were short, but their meaning carried weight.

“We’ll clean up the west first. Since we need to stay quiet at the beginning, send messengers asking if they’ll submit. If they refuse, crush them immediately. Give them one ke of time to answer. If they submit, disarm them at once and send them all south. Make sure they can’t pull any tricks.”

Yu Byeok spoke in a firm voice. “Just give the order and I will move immediately.”

“Good. Crush them right away.”

I raised my head and gazed at Taishan. “From now on, we move quietly and swiftly. We’ll scrape up every last one of them. The mountain birds might be noisy as fuck, but haven’t we been eating Taishan’s food too?”

Neither So-yeon nor Yu Byeok laughed at my words. Because at this moment, I, Jang Yeon, had just declared that I would place all of Taishan beneath my feet.

Once my orders were given, things began moving fiercely.

“I’ll instruct every major path to gather all personnel except the minimum required for control,” So-yeon said while checking the ledger that recorded the men assigned to each route. As our forces had grown rapidly, it had become impossible for So-yeon to handle all the clerical work alone. She had gathered five literate refugees who at least had some education and was barely keeping up.

“Overall, this is the current count of horses, spears, bows, arrows, and other miscellaneous shields and weapons.”

I gestured for her to pass it over. The list briefly noted horses, spears, bows, arrows, and other random items like shields and armaments.

“We have fifty horses. How many can actually function as cavalry?”

Yu Byeok, who had been shouting at the bandit bastards nearby, cleared his throat and answered. “We have fifty cavalrymen. Even then, only about half of them can actually stay on a horse.”

“Archers?”

“Around a hundred total. But they’re only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at the level of being able to shoot. Hitting a target is…”

I muttered “Fuck” under my breath.

“Spears?”

“We’ve been building a forge lately and acquiring more through passing merchants, so we’re relatively well-stocked.”

I tapped my sword as I listened. Not bad at all. It was definitely an improvement from before.

“How many can hold shields?”

“They aren’t very sturdy, but we have about three hundred carrying leather or wooden shields.”

Rag shields. It was so perfectly bandit-like that I almost laughed.

“Fine. Better than nothing. Put the shield-bearers in front, place the dagger-wielders behind them, and put the spearmen behind those. Keep the archers and cavalry at the very back.”

“Understood.”

Yu Byeok shouted again, passing my instructions to the men around him. From all directions came the noisy clamor of bandits preparing for deployment as they gathered their weapons.

Some were fighting over spear shafts and getting their cheeks split open. Others were nervously fiddling with bowstrings and ended up tearing their palms open. An army? Fuck that. They were still just bandit bastards. But they were undeniably much better than before.

“I don’t care about the others, but I’ll personally lead the cavalry. Got it?”

“Yes!”

“And remember—one ke. Anyone who doesn’t bow their head within one ke gets ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠crushed immediately.”

“Yes! Boss!”

Three thousand men scraped together from Taishan’s rugged terrain stood in a formation that looked like a patchwork quilt. Their weapons and equipment were all different, but they all called me “Boss” as they finished their preparations for battle.

“Good.”

I cleared my throat so my voice would echo across all of Taishan.

“Let’s fuck them all up and devour the whole mountain!!”

“Uwaaaaaaaa!!!”

Though their breath fogged in the chilly air, the heat radiating from the men drove away the cold. The war cry that erupted from the southern side of Taishan would soon spread across the entire mountain.