For several days, Li Dao Xuan kept switching his perspective, looking down at the situation of the so-called "returning-home bandit troops" across multiple regions.
What he saw was anything but optimistic.
More than half of these returning-home bandit troops no longer had any intention of being decent human beings.
On their way home, they either robbed or killed, depending on which option felt more convenient at the time.
When they encountered Fang Wushang's official troops, they would immediately put on a harmless face, claiming they had already accepted imperial amnesty and only wanted to return home and start over as good citizens.
Fang Wushang, being a straightforward man, would not attack them under those conditions.
But the moment Fang Wushang's forces left, those same groups would immediately turn around and start looting villages again, as if nothing had ever happened.
If not for Li Dao Xuan watching from the sky, several villages of innocent civilians would already have been slaughtered clean.
In frustration, he even extended his metaphorical "Thanos hand" and directly eliminated several groups of returning-home bandit troops on the spot.
Meanwhile, six hundred former rebel convicts from the Guyuan forces, Gao Village Family militia units, cavalry units, and Bai Yuan's newly organized large militia were all stationed along the route.
They fought almost every single day.
Skirmish after skirmish.
Until the borders of the counties were lined with hundreds of severed heads displayed as warnings.
Only then did the later waves of returning-home bandit troops finally calm down.
They saw the heads.
They understood the message.
And they reluctantly accepted the "food distribution and pacification" policies of Gao Village Family, choosing to attempt farming again.
But Li Dao Xuan still did not dare to place such people into Gao Village Family or any densely populated settlements.
He was genuinely afraid that once his attention shifted away, they would erupt again and harm his own small people.
So he assigned these unstable groups to remote, desolate villages where they could not easily interact with ordinary civilians.
Only then did he slowly begin feeding them enough grain so they would realize something simple.
They did not need to rob to survive anymore.
Only after that could their mentality gradually shift back toward normal human behavior.
Even with his near unlimited grain supply, handling these returning-home bandit troops was still exhausting.
Without such resources, the difficulty faced by the Ming court would have been unimaginable.
Soon after, Minister Liang Shixian received reports that returning-home bandit troops around the Tongguan road and Hancheng area were causing widespread chaos.
They robbed, killed, and completely disrupted order, causing the local population to rage against the so-called "amnesty policy."
This wave of chaos also enraged Hong Chengchou, who was stationed in Hancheng.
Hong Chengchou adopted a method similar to Li Dao Xuan's.
He executed troublemakers and hung their heads at village entrances as warnings to those who came after.
But unlike Li Dao Xuan, he did not have unlimited grain.
So while the heads deterred violence temporarily, hunger eventually broke through fear.
The returning-home bandit troops would pause for a while.
Then, starving, they would begin looting civilians again.
So the cycle continued.
Kill, display, starve, loot, repeat.
This entire chaotic process lasted several days.
Only when all the Heyang rebel forces had fully completed their "return home" process did things finally begin to stabilize.
In the golden autumn of October, Cheng County experienced a massive harvest.
Across villages and towns, grain stores were filled to the brim.
Dao Xuan Tianzun's miraculous interventions, summoning rain, creating lakes, and forming reservoirs, had finally allowed the people of Cheng County to overcome the devastating drought.
Life in the region slowly returned with visible vitality.
At the same time, the Gao Village Family militia had expanded to a full thousand men.
They were now preparing to enter Huanglong Mountain to eliminate bandits and avenge the four Gao Village Family small people who had been assassinated.
That morning, Gao Yiye arrived at the gates of the military camp.
Her appearance alone was enough to make everyone understand one thing immediately.
Dao Xuan Tianzun was personally taking this matter seriously.
Even though preparations had been ongoing for months, Li Dao Xuan had never forgotten the blood debt of those four small people.
His unofficial nickname within the system had quietly become something like "the grudge holding Tianzun."
Gao Yiye stepped forward and said, "Everyone, report the military equipment status."
At his command, one thousand militia soldiers lined up neatly in the training ground.
They began reporting their equipment in an orderly fashion.
Three hundred flintlock muskets, one hundred grenade throwers, and six hundred soldiers still equipped with cold weapons.
Interestingly, even though Li Dao Xuan had never explicitly provided this idea, Gao Village Family blacksmiths had independently developed the concept of the bayonet.
It was almost as if human innovation naturally converged at the same technological stage.
After the musketeers complained that enemies became dangerous once they closed distance, the blacksmiths began thinking hard.
If the problem was close combat, then the solution was simple.
Attach a blade.
But not just any blade.
It could not be too wide or too heavy, otherwise it would interfere with firing.
So it had to be long, thin, and sharp.
A stabbing blade mounted on the muzzle.
Thus, the bayonet was born.
Li Dao Xuan scanned the militia through his "observation" ability and carefully evaluated their equipment.
He nodded with satisfaction.
A force of this size, if properly commanded, was more than enough to deal with Wang Zuogua's bandit forces.
And with Cheng Xu in command, there was at least one thing he did not worry about.
This man did not seem capable of chaotic decision making.
Stable.
Very stable.
Maybe too stable.
Li Dao Xuan said seriously, "Once you enter Huanglong Mountain, I will no longer be able to assist you directly. I need to stay and oversee Gao Village Family operations. This battle must be fought without my direct support."
The soldiers immediately felt a subtle drop in morale.
They were used to having Tianzun hovering above them like an invisible safety net.
Now suddenly told that the safety net was gone, even the strongest among them felt a slight uncertainty.
Cheng Xu quickly calculated the situation.
With Tianzun present, victory rate was one hundred percent.
Without Tianzun, the enemy Wang Zuogua had at least ten thousand troops.
Mixed with former border soldiers, defected garrison troops, and courier units.
Their combat strength was significantly higher than before.
With one thousand men against ten thousand, even with firearms, victory was not guaranteed.
If ambushed and engaged at close range, firearms would lose effectiveness entirely.
In that scenario, they might lose.
Maybe a twenty percent chance.
As he thought this, a strange image flashed across his mind.
A very "grandmother-like" figure floated across the sky, dressed like a celestial immortal, trailing long ribbons of light.
For some reason, that absurd image represented "twenty percent risk" in his brain.
Cheng Xu felt immediate psychological pressure.
The kind of pressure that felt like his ancestors were watching him from the sky and judging his performance.
Li Dao Xuan noticed their hesitation and shook his head slightly.
But this operation had to happen.
These soldiers needed experience.
They could not remain under protection forever.
One day, he would have to let go anyway.
Better to release them against Wang Zuogua now than later when facing even greater threats like the Manchu forces.
He spoke again, his tone firm and serious.
"Remember this clearly."
"Your lives come first."
"Do not sacrifice yourselves for the sake of suppressing bandits. Bandit suppression can wait, but your lives cannot be replaced once lost."
The militia fell silent.
The weight of those words settled heavily over the entire training ground.
Notes & Context
[1] Returning bandits and policy failure
Late-Ming amnesty often failed not because of mercy, but because food supply collapsed first. Hunger undermined every policy.
[2] Heads as deterrence
Public execution and display were standard psychological warfare. Effective short-term, useless without logistics.
[3] Independent invention of the bayonet
Historically, bayonets emerged organically once firearms became widespread. Close combat creates the same solution everywhere.
[4] Huanglong Mountain
Mountain strongholds favored bandits: narrow paths, ambush points, and terrain that neutralized numbers and firearms.
[5] Why Dao Xuan Tianzun steps back
Reliance on divine intervention creates fragile forces. Survival against future threats requires human decision-making under pressure.