Chapter 59

Surprisingly, I managed to catch up with the second update, this is the legendary double update…

Hua Xiong chopped off Chang Xi's head with one stroke, turned around, and swung his saber to kill all of Chang Xi's so-called confidants. Chen Xi had already told him before he came that among these leaders of Mount Tai, some were local warlords, some were wandering knights forced to become bandits, and only Chang Xi, who was known as the leader of the Mount Tai bandits, was actually the governor of Donghai in Xu Province.

However, Hua Xiong naturally didn't give this guy a chance to reveal his true identity. A third-rate character who was approached by a master at the level of Inner Qi Separation didn't even get to leave a last word before his head was chopped off.

Before Chang Xi's subordinates could figure out what was happening, Hua Xiong planted his large saber on the ground and shouted, "Listen up, from now on, I am your leader!"

"Avenging Leader Chang Xi..." A burly, bearded man seemed to react only at that moment, roared, and charged at Hua Xiong. Hua Xiong simply waved his saber from a distance, and the man was instantly split in two.

"Who else wants revenge?" Hua Xiong said with a sinister smile.

"No one, that's good. Listen up, from now on, I am your leader, I am called Hua Hu! Remember, Mount Tai will be our territory from now on. Anyone who dares to make a fuss, I'll cut them down with one stroke!" Hua Xiong roared fiercely, and those in front of him felt a ringing in their ears and saw stars in their eyes.

"Leader Hua! Greetings, Leader Hua!" The planted supporters, arranged by Chen Xi in advance, responded loudly after everyone was stunned. People are often blindly obedient; with the first one leading, the second and third naturally followed, and soon the hillside was filled with shouts.

"Good, I'll lead you to rob other bandits. Tell me where the other bandits are?" Hua Xiong shouted loudly.

From the chaotic responses, Hua Xiong roughly understood the situation, so he shouted, "Let's go back to the stronghold, gather the troops, and I'll show you what real bandits are like!"

After Hua Xiong returned to the stronghold, there was another round of slaughter. A group of bandits, without anyone to command them and only knowing how to charge blindly, had no effect on a master at the level of Inner Qi Separation. Then, he promoted his subordinates, placing the planted supporters in high positions, and basically completed the reorganization.

Hua Xiong took out the scroll Chen Xi had given him from his chest. There were no brilliant strategies, just instructions on what to do. Having taken over a stronghold, the next step was to train according to the instructions on the scroll.

Hua Xiong looked at the words on the white cloth with some hesitation. There were no precise training methods, just a goal and a hint.

The goal was simple: train the people in your stronghold to be mindless. Whatever you say, their bodies will do it without their brains processing it. The hint was: don't treat them as human beings. If there are no difficulties, create difficulties, and train them to death.

Of course, to show his compassion, Chen Xi added a sentence: "I am doing this to give the bandits a chance to reform and to prevent good people from becoming bandits. If they have become bandits and want to be rehabilitated, in other warlords' territories, surrendering might be enough, but in my territory, they must understand their past mistakes!"

Hua Xiong almost didn't understand the long-winded explanation, but he knew the goal and the hint. Training, since the strategist said to train them to death, he would do just that. After all, they weren't his soldiers, just bandits, so if they died, so be it.

Clearly, Chen Xi had completely misunderstood. His "train them to death" was just a saying, but to Hua Xiong, it meant literally training them to death. Since they were bandits, he didn't treat them as human beings. On the first day, over a hundred died…

By the second day, there was a bit of military order. On the third day, some couldn't take it and were buried. On the fourth day, a mutiny occurred, and over three hundred died. Hua Xiong caught everyone and continued the training. The strategist had said to train for a month, then go out to deal with the Mount Tai bandits, rest for three days, and repeat the cycle for six months.

After twenty days, Hua Xiong suddenly found that his bandits were more adept at formations than his own troops. Clearly, these guys didn't understand formations, but whenever Hua Xiong said how to arrange a certain area, all the bandits would instantly adjust as if they were on steroids.

He also noticed that these guys no longer tried to escape or rebel as they did in the first few days. During training, whatever Hua Xiong said, they did without any delay.

Since these guys were so obedient, Hua Xiong didn't continue his inhumane training, such as carrying a 300-pound boulder up a cliff, or not eating if they didn't complete a task in time. The bandits were now well-fed, and they were extremely grateful to Hua Xiong, making him feel very uncomfortable. To make them even more grateful, he occasionally gave them some extra benefits, like extra meals…

If Chen Xi had seen this, he would have been horrified. This was essentially creating a large number of Stockholm Syndrome patients. However, this was a case of unintended consequences. The method was wrong, but the goal was achieved. If this happened in the 21st century, it would be considered a human rights violation…

Hua Xiong continued to train them. He had already trained the bandits to be extremely obedient. If there was a pit ahead, Hua Xiong would say to fill it with people, and immediately someone would jump in. It wasn't out of reverence, but because they had been trained to react automatically. Hua Xiong's words bypassed their brains, and their bodies obeyed directly. The shadow of death had forced these people into a state of elite soldiers.

Saying they were elite might be an exaggeration, but in terms of following orders, they were top-notch, far surpassing any ordinary group. If Hua Xiong said to change formations, they would do it even if there were knives in front of them. Hua Xiong had trained them to be mindless, and the psychological issues he inadvertently caused made these people instinctively support him…

Chen Xi, of course, didn't know that Hua Xiong, due to a misunderstanding, had trained the bandits into the most obedient and disciplined troops of the time.

Even if he knew, there was nothing he could do. He knew it was a psychological issue and how to alleviate it, but he didn't have the time or energy. Besides, he was bored and had nothing better to do!

Who would know how Hua Xiong trained these troops to support him? Besides, if he cured them, wouldn't he be weakening his own strength? In this era, who cared about such trivial matters? Giving them food was already considered a good deed. At least Hua Xiong had reformed these bandits, which was a good thing from both the perspective of the common people and the bandits. Therefore, there was no need to correct it.

"Yide, go to Mount Tai and find Zijian. Have him bring Sun Guan back to me. How dare he rob my grain? I haven't even dealt with them, and they dare to provoke me." Chen Xi said angrily. He hadn't gone to deal with those bandits; he had only used facts to make them come down the mountain to become civilians. He never expected Sun Guan to be so ungrateful and dare to rob his grain, 80,000 dan. If he hadn't sent troops to escort it, Sun Guan would have really stolen it.

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