Flat Rabbit's earlier shouts reached the detained rebels' ears—but instead of inspiring hope, they only sounded ridiculous.
What does the arrival of the logistics team have to do with us?
They're just hauling supplies for the officials and officers.
We'll still be fed thin gruel—just enough to keep us alive, never enough to feel full.
As far as the captives were concerned, nothing would change.
The long convoy of carts slowly rolled up to Flat Rabbit.
The captain of the logistics team dismounted, pulled a document from his sleeve, and handed it over respectfully.
"Lord Rabbit, please inspect the goods and sign for them."
"Oh, inspect?" Flat Rabbit waved his hand impatiently.
"What's there to inspect? We're all brothers here. I trust them—"
Before he could finish, the logistics captain rolled his eyes.
"Lord Rabbit, even trust has its limits. If you sign first and later find two carts of grain missing, you'll be the one compensating for them."
Flat Rabbit froze.
Sweat instantly poured down his face.
Other leaders in Gao Family Village might afford to lose two carts of grain without blinking—but Flat Rabbit was genuinely poor. Painfully so. He was famous for being incorruptible, and also famous for barely owning a roof over his head.
Making him compensate for two carts of grain would be worse than chopping him into spicy rabbit head.
"…Fine."
With a long sigh, Flat Rabbit bent over and personally lifted the tarpaulin on each cart, inspecting them one by one. He checked sack after sack, muttering under his breath.
When it came time to compare the goods to the manifest, his head began to ache.
After all—he wasn't very literate.
Luckily, ever since joining the Gao Family Village Militia, he had been forcibly sent to classes. Thanks to those lessons, he now possessed the bare minimum literacy and arithmetic needed to survive official paperwork.
Squinting hard, he finally finished checking everything.
He picked up a brush, carefully drew a crooked rabbit head on the form, then slapped his palm down beside it.
Done.
The logistics captain stared.
"…Lord Rabbit, don't you even know how to write your own name?"
Flat Rabbit snorted.
"Do you even know my name? If I wrote it properly, who would recognize it? But once this rabbit head is drawn—who in the world wouldn't know it was Lord Rabbit who signed?"
The logistics captain fell silent.
Annoyingly enough… the logic was flawless.
With a helpless sigh, the captain cupped his hands.
"Very well. We'll take our leave. Next time we come, we'll bring Blue Hats skilled in cement production, agriculture, and mining. Please prepare proper accommodations so the technicians won't have to sleep in tents."
"I know, I know!" Flat Rabbit waved him off.
"Stop nagging. Go back and hurry the next shipment!"
The captain didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After saluting, he mounted his horse and departed.
Flat Rabbit turned back toward the mountain of supplies piled behind him.
Grain sacks. Tools. Equipment.
His spirits soared.
Throwing his head back, he burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! You Henan labor reform prisoners—your suffering ends today!"
He spread his arms grandly.
"From now on, Lord Rabbit has you covered! As long as you study well, work hard, and properly undergo labor reform, I guarantee you'll live like proper human beings!"
The detained rebels didn't even bother reacting.
They had heard this kind of boasting far too many times over the past few days. Their faces were blank, their expressions numb.
Flat Rabbit didn't mind at all.
He strode to a large cart and yanked off the tarpaulin with a flourish.
Inside—neatly stacked sacks of flour.
"Grain has arrived!" he announced loudly.
"Everyone gets one jin! Eat your fill first—we'll talk about the rest later!"
The detained rebels stiffened.
"…A whole jin?"
They stared at him in disbelief.
This was the same Flat Rabbit who had been handing out watery gruel not long ago. Suddenly becoming this generous felt… unreal.
But he wasn't bluffing.
Ten thousand jin of grain were distributed without hesitation—enough for every detained rebel to eat until full.
Shock rippled through the crowd.
Only then did the captives begin to feel that this fellow named Flat Rabbit… might not actually be so bad.
"So we didn't fall into the hands of 'evil government troops,'" they whispered to one another,
"but into something… surprisingly normal."
That night, countless earthen pots and makeshift stoves were set up at the foot of Tianzhu Mountain. The smell of cooked flour drifted through the air.
The detained rebels ate until they were full.
And for people like them, nothing was more reassuring than a full stomach.
With warmth returning to their bodies, the cold no longer felt so unbearable. They slept in clusters at the mountain's base.
Early the next morning, Flat Rabbit once again distributed ample grain for breakfast.
Then he clapped his hands and announced cheerfully,
"Alright! First task—build your own prison cells and lock yourselves inside them!"
"…?"
"Let's head up the mountain. We'll find a sheltered valley and build properly."
The detained rebels didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
But after being fed properly, they decided to obey.
Listening to Yi Dou Gu or listening to Flat Rabbit—what difference did it make?
Then—
They suddenly realized something unsettling.
This "government general" was called Flat Rabbit.
That name sounded suspiciously like a bandit's alias.
A terrifying realization struck them all at once.
Could it be… we weren't captured by government troops at all?
Could this be another bandit gang preying on its own kind?
No wonder he wanted to go up Tianzhu Mountain.
This was textbook mountain bandit behavior.
…But in that case, there was even less to fear.
The detained rebels climbed Tianzhu Mountain, found a broad, sheltered valley, and began felling trees and cutting wood—constructing their own prison cells using techniques identical to those of a bandit stronghold.
A few days later, Gao Family Village's second transport team arrived.
With them came another massive shipment of supplies—as well as numerous Blue Hats responsible for guiding the prisoners in constructing cement factories and establishing Gao Family Village–style industries.
At the same time, fresh militia recruits arrived to take over camp management.
With replacements in place, the veteran soldiers were finally able to withdraw and return to the front lines.
And with their strength restored, the frontline forces resumed their advance—
Yunxi County.
After routing Governor Jiang Yunyi of Yunyang, the bandits occupied the city.
Wealthy households were looted clean.
The official treasury was emptied.
City walls were torn down. Houses were burned.
Inside the commander's tent, Chuang Wang, the Dashing General, Lao Huihui, and the West Camp's Eight Great Kings convened an urgent meeting.
News of Yi Dou Gu's defeat in Shangnan County had already reached them.
That mysterious firearms unit had become a name that made bandits turn pale.
Chuang Wang spoke grimly,
"That firearms unit is now stationed in Shangnan County. They clearly intend to block our path into Shaanxi."
He continued,
"Shaanxi is sealed. Sichuan is blocked by the White Pole Soldiers. Zhang Yingchang of Henan is advancing from the north, and Eunuch Chen Daguan and Zuo Liangyu are chasing us from the east."
He looked around the tent.
"Tell me—where do we go now?"
No one answered.
With enemies behind and killers ahead, the situation was dire.
Just then, a scout rushed in and knelt.
"Reporting! A representative sent by a Jin merchant requests an audience outside."
"A Jin merchant?" Chuang Wang frowned.
"What would Jin merchants want with us?"