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After subjugating the bandits who appeared in Maoyi County of Anwen Commandery and cleaning up the surrounding area...
Waaaaah—!!
The moment we returned to Jinyang Fortress in Bing Province, we were met with roaring cheers.
"Lü Fengxian! Lü Fengxian! Lü Fengxian!"
Triumphant generals always receive cheers like this.
Unless the general in question is some monumental piece of trash, anyone popular with the people will drop whatever they're doing to come out and shout their praise.
This time was no different.
People of all ages and both sexes had flooded the streets, rejoicing in our victory.
They'd already heard the news of our triumph via messenger.
- Lü Fengxian led a thousand troops into battle, and thousands of bandits fell in an instant!
The number of bandits we'd exterminated was roughly three thousand.
I couldn't help wondering where the hell these bandit hordes kept coming from.
They're not even hiding anywhere.
Every time I killed two thousand bandits only for three thousand more to pop up, it really drove home that this was ancient China.
There were just too many bandits.
More than that, there were just too damn many people.
Truly the scale of the continent.
The population was overflowing to the point where it wasn't an exaggeration at all.
I wonder if more than half of them are bandits.
There were more bandits than soldiers.
No matter how suspicious the times or how chaotic the era had become, the bandits showed no signs of thinning out.
This land of Bing Province was especially bad.
The best outcome would be if we never had to march out to battle again...
"Th-there! Look!"
A group of kids burst out from the crowd.
"Eek!"
"Ah, goodness!"
"San-gou! What the hell are you doing?!"
The surrounding adults tried to stop them all at once, but the snot-nosed brats rushed up to me with sparkling eyes, holding something out.
"General! A gift for you!"
"..."
The kids had made a mistake.
Blocking the path of a general marching back from battle was definitely a problem.
The wooden trinket they offered as a gift was probably a toy warhorse they'd carved themselves.
The child meant well with pure intentions, but right now, they'd obstructed the advance of the regular army.
"General."
Song Xian caught up from behind, urging me on.
"Shall I handle it?"
His brief glance carried a multitude of meanings.
"Kids."
Without dismounting, I raised a hand to the adults frantically trying to yank the child back.
"Is that all you've got?"
"Y-Yes...?"
The kid's face stiffened.
"I asked if that's all you've got."
"Th-that..."
The adults' faces hardened too, turning pale, and only then did the kids seem to sense they'd done something wrong.
"I didn't fight alone, so how could I alone accept your gift?"
"Ah...!"
"Look."
I pointed behind me.
"All those who fought alongside me deserve your gift too. If I accept it just because I'm the commander, won't they feel slighted?"
Standing silently there were the thousand troops who'd halted in sync with me.
"If you're going to prepare a gift, you need a thousand warhorses. Isn't that right, Lieutenant Song?"
"You're doing it again. Sigh."