Chapter 108 - The Counter-Attack

For days, the lights in a certain house in the village had burned through the night. To avoid prying eyes, the wooden shutters on the paper windows were kept firmly shut.

Zhao Dachong was half-reclined on a couch in the east room, a piece of furniture as exquisite as it was out of place in this humble farmhouse. The mat was of mottled bamboo, the screen of marble. A sword with a sharkskin scabbard, inlaid with gold and silver, hung on the earthen wall, and a multi-tiered curio cabinet of purple sandalwood stood cluttered with a chaotic assortment of antiques and a few unwashed bowls. Leaning against the wall were a staff as tall as a man’s eyebrows and a brocade-spring saber.

Zhao Dachong sipped strong, dark tea, his voice a low murmur as he gave orders, made inquiries, and plotted with the people who came and went. He was a sturdy young man, his short frame packed with muscle. His dark face, usually adorned with a smug grin, was now taut, his temper, always short, having soured even further. He was a man simmering with anger, prone to smashing bowls, cursing, and striking out at those around him.

Of Dang Namen’s four chief lieutenants, Zhao Dachong had always considered his father, Zhao Haiqing, to be the foremost, a confidant among confidants. He had followed Old Dang for years, serving as his “general manager,” orchestrating all matters, great and small, within the gang and the mountain stronghold.

After his father joined Dang Namen’s rebellion, Zhao Dachong, an ordinary farm boy, had also risen in stature. Now in his early twenties, he had been just a boy of twelve or thirteen when he first fell in with Dang Namen. In the village, he had beaten the children he once fought with until they knelt and begged for mercy, calling him “grandpa.” He had even stabbed a grain merchant’s son to death with a bamboo spear, supposedly because the boy had once taunted him with a chicken leg. The act had made his name, and the bandits had all flattered him as a “tiger father with no dog son.”

From then on, Zhao Dachong had grown arrogant. He disliked life in the mountain stronghold; the endless cycle of sleeping, drinking, and womanizing with a large group of men had quickly grown tedious. Besides, the bandits there offered him little flattery. So he had followed Xin Nari and Wang Wushu back to the village. With his status as “Young Master Zhao Haiqing,” he was a figure who could walk sideways in the Thirteen Villages. Even Xin Nari had to address him as “Master Zhao,” for he feared this reckless youth. Because he himself had become one of the four chief lieutenants despite being only a few years older, Zhao Dachong was not convinced of his superiority. He often boasted that he was only holding back out of respect for his father, otherwise, Xin Nari was nothing, and it wouldn’t have been his turn to rise. So Xin Nari simply avoided him.

His tyranny in the village was notorious. He often carried a staff that reached his eyebrows, his fighting style, learned from Wang Wushu, fast and ruthless. If he disliked the look of someone, he would strike them down, leaving them on the ground, sometimes vomiting blood.

When his father’s head and Dang Namen’s were hung at the gate of the ancestral hall, Zhao Dachong had fled with a few followers. Later, seeing that the “transmigrator thieves” hadn’t touched a single hair on the bandits’ families, he had secretly returned. He had changed into a hemp robe, knelt on the floor of the main hall, and kowtowed three times in the direction of the ancestral hall. Since then, he had been hiding in his house, not going out. Secretly, however, he was colluding with the bandits’ families, preparing to make a move. The bandits’ families, who had been demoralized and living in constant fear, were finally rallied under his threats and constant encouragement.

Just then, a knock sounded at the outer courtyard gate. Zhao Dachong started, but then he listened carefully and recognized the secret knock of his own men. He relaxed, a wave of self-pity washing over him, and let out a heavy sigh.

The man who entered was thin as a monkey. His name was Zhao Haiji, a down-and-out villager and a distant cousin of Zhao Haiqing. He had profited greatly from his association with Dang Namen. He had tried to join the gang several times, but Dang Namen, deeming him too timid, had always refused. In the end, he had become the gang’s runner in the village.

“Master Zhao! Someone from Fourth Master Xin’s side is here!” he said, placing a basket for cutting pigweed on the ground and sidling up to the wooden couch.

Zhao Dachong, long accustomed to this kind of fawning that ignored seniority, sat up. “Are they here? Where are they?”

He used to look down on Xin Nari, but times had changed. If he wanted revenge, he couldn’t do it without him. The last spy had reported that Xin Nari had gathered another fifty or so men. The news had brought both relief and a pang of jealousy. With a force, he had the capital to make a comeback. Whether it was Xin Nari or someone else, he would use them first. As long as he could wipe out the work team this time, and do it beautifully, he would naturally be the one to rally the men and become the new leader. Zhao Dachong’s young mind was filled with a strange delusion, a sense that he was destined to be the main character. With Old Dang and his father dead, it was now his turn.

“They’re hiding outside the village. They’ll come in after dark.”

“Good. Bring him in tonight. And please, run around to the houses and call all the important people here.”

“Alright! I’ll go right away,” Zhao Haiji nodded repeatedly.

“Any movement from the work team?”

“The red-haired monk has drawn a lot of people to his ancestral hall to listen to his teachings. It’s very lively every night. Mostly old and young women.”

Hearing this, Zhao Dachong felt a flicker of relief. This foreign monk had come from Bairen and was using the ancestral hall, so he was clearly connected to the transmigrator thieves. Since the people he gathered were all women, there was nothing to fear.

“I heard that the two female officials are practicing medicine in the foreign temple, shaking bells and all. They’re probably trying to win over the villagers that way.”

“Fine, let them practice medicine. It’s not like they can stir up any trouble,” Zhao Dachong said, feigning nonchalance, though a seed of unease remained. Although there were about twenty bandit families, and they could muster forty or fifty people at a moment’s notice, it was still not enough to compare with those devil-like Australians.

After a moment, he said slowly, “These few days, you should be more careful yourself. Don’t reveal your tracks when you’re running around.”

“I know. I’m being careful.”

Zhao Dachong looked at him and said with a sudden burst of excitement, “Eighth Uncle, don’t look at how powerful these Australians are now. It won’t last long!”

Zhao Haiji, unsure why he was suddenly being addressed with such respect, quickly agreed, “Of course. They’re outsiders. They can’t stir up many people with their deception. What great things can they do?”

“No, the Australians are still very powerful,” Zhao Dachong said, shaking his head in a manner that mimicked Dang Namen holding council. “But, as they say, a powerful dragon can’t crush a local snake. In these Thirteen Villages, we are the local snakes. They should have just stayed in the county town, right? They insist on coming down to snatch food from the mouths of our greenwood brothers, trying to eat it all themselves! We can’t let people look down on us!”

“Yes! Yes!” Zhao Haiji was completely bewildered, not understanding the meaning of this speech.

“After we drive the Australians away and rally our forces again, you will be my general manager!” Zhao Dachong said with the air of a man who recognizes talent. “After all, we both share the name Zhao. You should be more careful these days.”

“Thank you for the promotion, Master!” Zhao Haiji thought to himself that his nephew was talking too big and seemed a bit unreliable. Xin Nari had dozens of brothers with him, would he not compete with you for the top spot? It was still a question whether Zhao Dachong could handle Xin Nari, and yet he was already talking about promoting him.

He knew that this nephew of his was essentially an inexperienced young master. Although he was ruthless and vicious enough, he was still very naive when it came to worldly affairs and human nature.

Whatever. Zhao Haiji thought to himself, if the work team isn’t driven away, the Thirteen Villages will change sooner or later, and that’s something he didn’t want to see. As for who would be the leader after they succeeded, let Zhao Dachong and Xin Nari fight it out.

“Yes, yes, go on. Be careful! Although the work team is led by two women, the most venomous heart belongs to a woman. They might have some tricks up their sleeves. Eighth Uncle, be extra careful.” At this point, he paused and called out to the inner room:

“Come here a moment.”

The blue-flowered cloth curtain on the door to the inner room was lifted, and Xin Nari’s sister, Xin Nachun, walked out. She was a robust, big girl, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. In this era, she was considered an old maid in both the city and the countryside. Because she had never worked in the fields, her skin was much fairer and more delicate than that of ordinary farm girls. She lived a comfortable life and had long since lost her virginity. Her figure was very full, and she looked like a young married woman, though she still wore her hair in a maiden’s style. She wore a light, white-and-red floral silk shirt, a red silk sash around her waist, and white silk trousers. The collar of her shirt was unbuttoned, revealing the red dudou that tightly bound her chest, which was not only beautiful but also alluring.

She glanced at Zhao Haiji, then sat down on the edge of the kang and began to drink tea from a bowl, ignoring him. A strong scent of perfume filled the room, making Zhao Haiji so flustered he didn’t know where to put his hands. He quickly bowed.

“Miss Xin.”

Zhao Dachong had a group of sycophants around him, and the most famous and intimate was Xin Nachun. This girl was of the “crazy” type, a notoriously fierce and unruly character. When Xin Nari was still “working for the government,” she would openly meddle in lawsuits and haggle in the marketplace. Even Xin Nari couldn’t control her, and she was a well-known figure in the county. It wasn’t until Xin Nari offended the gentry and the siblings lost their backing that the county magistrate at the time wanted to arrest her, give her a caning, and put her in a cangue as a public example “to rectify public morals.” After her brother told her that if she stayed, she would be stripped of her pants and spanked, the big girl finally fled the county with him.

In Daolu Village, relying on her status as Xin Nari’s sister, she also became a prominent figure. Xin Nachun had no martial arts skills, but she had a bit of a bandit air and a fiery temper. She pestered Wang Wushu to teach her some flashy but impractical martial arts, and she always dressed in the neat attire of a traveling performer, with a small knife tucked into her belt. She came and went in the village, turning heads wherever she went. Inevitably, she attracted a lot of attention and gossip.

Miss Xin had her heart set on Zhao Dachong and wanted to marry him. In a way, the two of them were a “good match.” However, Zhao Dachong felt that he had had affairs with the daughters of several large and small grain merchants, and his status was now different. He thought that once Old Dang was granted amnesty, his father could also get a position as a platoon or company commander, and he would become a legitimate son of a military officer. Then it would be appropriate to marry the daughter of a gentry. So he only fooled around with her and never mentioned marriage. After a few years, Xin Nachun’s youth began to fade, and she became more and more afraid that Zhao Dachong would dump her. She flattered him to the point that even her brother couldn’t stand it. The most famous joke was that when Zhao Dachong went to the market to visit a prostitute, Xin Nachun actually stood guard at the door. Xin Nari felt so ashamed that he simply never saw his sister, to avoid the annoyance.

Xin Nachun didn’t even bother to acknowledge him, just nodded and looked at Zhao Dachong.

“Go inside and get two strings of cash,” Zhao Dachong ordered.

Zhao Haiji quickly said, “No, no, we’re all family, why be so formal!” He said this, but he didn’t move. Xin Nachun pouted, went inside, and came out again, tossing two strings of copper coins into his arms. Only then did he bow in thanks and back out of the room.

“Leaving? Take a message to Old Lady Mei, tell her to come here.”

Xin Nachun stopped him. “I’d better go and call her. It’s more convenient for me to go.”

“Alright, you go in a little while.” Zhao Dachong leaned back on the couch, wondering what the foreign monk was up to. Although a few women couldn’t cause much trouble, he still had to ask clearly.

Xin Nachun sat beside him and sneered, “That good-for-nothing Zhao Haiji as a general manager? I think he’s more suited to be a runner. All he knows is how to ask for a few coins, taking some every time he comes.”

“Hmph, if you don’t give him a little something, will he risk his life?” Although Zhao Dachong was not yet tired of her body, he disliked her habit of meddling in everything. “You’re a woman, all you see are the few coins in front of you, you have no vision!”

“What’s wrong with being a woman? You’re a grown man, but you’re also hiding in the house.”

Zhao Dachong’s anger flared up. He wanted to give her a couple of slaps as usual and tell her to get out—that usually worked, and the girl would be quiet for a few days after being hit. But today, considering that he needed to use her brother’s men, he just snorted and said, “If I show my face now, wouldn’t I be courting death? Would you be happy if I died?”

“Bullshit!” Xin Nachun twisted around and climbed on top of him. “Don’t talk about death, ptooey, ptooey! You are my man, don’t talk nonsense.”

“Who’s your man—” Zhao Dachong cursed this slut in his heart, but he said, “We haven’t had the wedding ceremony yet, it doesn’t count.”

“You liar, you heartless man!” Xin Nachun began to pound his chest. This crazy behavior made Zhao Dachong feel even more annoyed. He quickly pushed her away.

“Stop fooling around, go and get Old Lady Mei and her old man for me!”

That evening, the old Mei couple was summoned. They were an ordinary and law-abiding family in the village, who never followed the bandits to get rich.

Zhao Dachong didn’t get any useful information from Old Lady Mei. The old woman had been completely bewildered by Lu Ruohua, and her mouth was full of words about the Holy Mother and the Holy Son, being saved and going to heaven.

“Stop your nonsense!” Zhao Dachong said impatiently. “Who did the two female officials talk to? What did they talk about?”

“They talked to everyone—” Old Lady Mei didn’t know what this fierce Zhao Dachong wanted to know and trembled uncontrollably. “Everyone who went to the church talked to them, asked them to check their illnesses. They are kind people, may God bless them…”

“Nothing else?”

“…”

Seeing that the old woman was incoherent and spouting a lot of confusing words, he knew that it was useless to ask any further. He turned to Old Man Mei.

“You tell me, what are these people doing in the ancestral hall?”

“I… I… don’t know…”

Old Man Mei was an extremely honest peasant, the kind of person who was afraid of being hit by a falling leaf. He had not approved of his wife believing in that foreign religion, but seeing her getting healthier day by day, he thought it was not a bad thing. He never expected to provoke this demon, Zhao Dachong.

“The two women didn’t say anything to you and your wife?”

“I’m a farmer, what is there to talk about with them…” Old Man Mei said, but he thought to himself: the work team has been very well-behaved since they came to the village. They don’t rob or take anything. Except for requisitioning some grain and vegetables, they don’t take anything else. Compared to the bandits and the government troops, it’s like heaven and earth. But he couldn’t say this, so he just mumbled something.

“Now that the work team is here, it’s time for you to take revenge.”

This question was a punch to the gut. One of Old Man Mei’s daughters, who was already engaged, had been forcibly taken by a minor bandit leader and kept in the mountain stronghold. Now that the stronghold was broken, he didn’t know if she was alive or dead. Last time, his wife had mentioned it by chance in the church, and the female official surnamed Du had said she would help to find her—perhaps she was still alive, and if they found her, they would send her back.

“Master Zhao, how would I dare…” he replied, trembling.

Before Old Man Mei could finish, Zhao Dachong glared at him and said, “Let me tell you, the work team won’t be here for long. The Australians are sea bandits from overseas. Even if our greenwood brothers can’t deal with them, the court will send a large army to annihilate them. Don’t look at how they killed so many people in our village, that was just a cheap shot from a surprise attack! I’m telling you, Fourth Master Xin now has several hundred men. When the time comes for a real fight, the Australians will run faster than rabbits! Old Mei! We are from the same village. If your family mixes with them, no one will be able to protect you then…”

At this point, he paused and looked at him. Beads of sweat appeared on the honest Old Man Mei’s forehead. Zhao Dachong continued, “If you want to be safe in the future, don’t mess with them. If they ask you anything, just say you don’t know. Understand?”

Zhao Dachong said this, then smiled. “Actually, we are also a family—didn’t your daughter marry one of our brothers?”

At the mention of his daughter, Old Man Mei’s lips trembled.

Zhao Dachong felt that it was enough. He wiped the fake smile from his face and said coldly, “If you have the guts, go and wag your tongue in front of the work team. We’ll see what happens.”

At this point, Zhao Dachong raised his right hand and waved it in the air, adding, “When the time comes, hmph!”

“Yes, yes, how would I dare…”

Seeing that Old Man Mei’s face had turned pale with fear, Zhao Dachong finally revealed his true intentions.

“Old Mei!” he said, “You and your wife don’t often go to the foreign monk’s place…”

“We won’t go anymore, we won’t go anymore—”

“Go, why not go,” Zhao Dachong said. “You should go often, build a relationship with the people inside. See how they sleep, where they put their weapons, and so on. Watch carefully and come back and tell me. There will be a great reward!”

Old Man Mei’s legs gave way, and he almost fell. Although he was an ignorant peasant, he knew that this was asking him to be a spy. If the Australians found out, he would be beheaded. The image of the row of bloody, grinning heads at the gate of the ancestral hall immediately appeared in his mind.

“This, this, is not possible,” Old Man Mei said incoherently.

“What’s not possible, are you tired of living?” Zhao Dachong’s eyes bulged like a goldfish’s as he cursed. “If you don’t go, I’ll chop you two up right now and feed you to the pigs in the pigsty!”

“Just go, it will be good for you,” Xin Nachun waved her hand casually. “The few acres of land you rent, I’ll give them to you!”

The land Old Man Mei rented belonged neither to Zhao Dachong nor to Xin Nachun, but these two demons were used to having their way in the village, and the landowner would not dare to resist. She said this without feeling any impropriety.

Old Man Mei, supported by his wife, walked out of the Zhao house. The sun was shining brightly outside. He felt dizzy, as if he had just had a nightmare.

“Tomorrow is the Sabbath, Father Lu wants you to go too,” his wife reminded him naggingly.

“I’ll go,” Old Man Mei said sullenly. He had not been baptized yet, but his heart had been moved. His wife believed, and said that after death, one could go to heaven. He had heard Lu Ruohua describe heaven many times, and he felt that it was similar to the Western Paradise described in the Buddhist “sutra chanting” he had heard from monks before. It was probably a similar place.

Old Man Mei had also heard something about the “Ten Commandments,” “hell,” and “purgatory.” If he became a spy, the “omniscient and omnipotent” “God” would probably not forgive him and his wife easily. Thinking of the vivid descriptions of hell his wife had given him, the hair on Old Man Mei’s neck stood on end. The imagined scene felt even more terrifying than the picture of the eighteen levels of hell he had seen in the temple in the county town as a child. With a heavy heart, he slowly helped his wife away.

That night, there was a storm. Zhao Dachong looked at the copper water clock. It was already past the hour of xu. Zhao Haiji still hadn’t brought the person. He paced anxiously to the window and lifted a crack in the shutter to look outside. It was pitch black outside, and the rain was pouring down. Xin Nachun had taken off her outer coat and was wearing only a bright red small jacket and loose-fitting trousers, revealing her two white arms and a glimpse of her chest. She was lounging on the wooden couch, playing with a small knife with an ivory handle. Seeing him pacing like an ant on a hot pan, she smiled.

“It’s raining and dark, it’s a good time to enter the village. It won’t delay things.”

“What do you know!” Zhao Dachong cursed impatiently. In fact, he didn’t know what he was talking about either. He just had a deep sense of unease that clung to him. Sometimes, a thought would surface from the bottom of his heart: after they destroyed the work team, would the Australians let it go?

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, first three times, then five times, and then silence. This was the secret signal he had arranged with Zhao Haiji. He quickly knocked on the shutter, and someone went to open the courtyard gate quietly.

Zhao Dachong quickly opened the door of the room. With a gust of wind and rain, a dark figure flashed into the room. He was wearing a coir raincoat, and water dripped onto the brick floor. He took off the raincoat. The man was short and stocky, with shifty eyes that scanned the surroundings and then landed on Xin Nachun, unable to move away.

“Third Uncle?!” Zhao Dachong exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

The visitor was his cousin: Zhao Haixie. He had followed Zhao Haiqing in the mountain stronghold, and his escape this time was a great joy to him.

Zhao Haixie quickly made a gesture to stop him and bolted the door. He threw his bamboo hat by the door, revealing a face full of fierce flesh. He sat down on a chair. “Pour me some water! I’ve been hiding in the woods all day, I’m dying of thirst.”

“Nachun! Pour Third Uncle some water!” Zhao Dachong quickly called out. This Zhao Haixie commanded much more respect from Zhao Dachong than Zhao Haiji—he was someone who had been through thick and thin with his father.

Xin Nachun quickly poured a bowl of strong tea, swayed her hips, and brought it over, calling out sweetly, “Third Uncle!”

“Good, good.” Zhao Haixie looked at her white chest with lustful eyes and then greedily at her round buttocks as she walked away. Only then did he tilt his head back and drink the water. He pushed the tea bowl onto the table. “The mountain roads are difficult, and there are militia patrols everywhere. I’ve climbed dozens of miles of mountains and ridges, I’m exhausted.”

“Eighth Uncle didn’t tell me it was you who came…” Zhao Dachong said.

“It has nothing to do with Haiji,” Zhao Haixie said. “He doesn’t even know I’m here.” He snorted. “That kid is a coward. If he gets caught, he’ll sell people out in a heartbeat—he saw a young boy I brought with me.”

“Third Uncle’s arrival has brought hope to everyone!” Zhao Dachong did not dare to be presumptuous in front of this cousin and quickly complimented him a few times.

Zhao Haixie had also suffered greatly after the fall of the mountain stronghold. After escaping, he had lived on the streets, begging for food. He finally found Xin Nari. After contacting Zhao Dachong, the two of them decided that if they didn’t fight back and show the Australians their power, they would have no future in the local area. Moreover, they had the hatred of so many relatives and brothers to avenge, so he returned to the village with some men. He came personally because Zhao Dachong respected him and was easier to talk to than others.

“The Australians’ troops have all gone to the border of Danzhou. We can finally catch our breath.” Zhao Haixie drank enough water. “This time, Fourth Xin has gathered dozens of men again, we’ll launch a surprise attack! Avenge everyone!”

“I’ve already contacted all the families in the village. At the sound of a gong, we can gather dozens of people, even the women can fight!” Zhao Dachong said excitedly.

Zhao Haixie stared at Xin Nachun with greedy eyes for a while before saying, “Let’s not let the women fight, it’ll be a joke if people find out. Let’s just talk about the able-bodied men in each family, how many are there still?”

“Not many.” Zhao Dachong’s mood immediately sank. “Including the half-grown boys and the old men, we can only gather about forty. How many people do you have there?”

“About fifty,” Zhao Haixie said, “but most of them are not from this area. I’m afraid they won’t be on the same side as us.”

“What’s the big deal? Just let them plunder for three days! Anyway, the Australians will definitely fight back, and we can’t hold on. If we can’t have it, the Australians can’t have it either!”

Zhao Haixie looked at his nephew and said slowly, “Good, ruthless enough! That makes things easier. I think we should do this to all the places in the Thirteen Villages. Those who are willing to follow us, we’ll take them; those who are not, hmph, hmph…”

“Good! Good!” Zhao Dachong nodded repeatedly. “But what do we do after that? Where do we take the men, the families, and the loot? We need a place to go.”

“To Luomao Mountain!” Zhao Haixie had already discussed the plan with Xin Nari. They definitely couldn’t stay in the Thirteen Villages area. It was better to take advantage of the opportunity when the bandit suppression detachments were beginning to pursue the bandits to the periphery, launch an attack, and then take the men, families, and property to Luomao Mountain to join Hu Lanyan.

“Hu Lanyan?” Zhao Dachong had heard of this fellow bandit. “Is he reliable? Will he betray us?”

“Haha, don’t worry, Hu Lanyan is Old Dang’s sworn brother,” Zhao Haixie said. “Luomao Mountain, where Hu Lanyan is, is the territory of the Miao people. He has to deal with the Miao people and the bandit suppression teams. If we go, he’ll be more than happy to welcome us.”

“But the bandit suppression teams will also go to Luomao Mountain—”

“You think Luomao Mountain is a joke? The Miao people are not to be trifled with. The miasma in the mountains is heavy, and people who don’t know the way dare not go. The Australians are not familiar with the place, so they won’t dare to go there for a while. We’ll be fine if we hide out for this period!” Zhao Dachong lowered his voice. “Second Master Gou is also in Hu Lanyan’s mountain stronghold. He’s a man of great resourcefulness! He’s connected to the sea lords outside.”

The Gou family was originally a major force in the Lin’gao underworld. Ever since they were the first to be eliminated by the transmigrator group, Zhao Dachong had always felt that he was all talk and no substance.

“Second Gou?” Zhao Dachong was very dismissive. “Besides the kūnzéi ones, even Zhu Cailao wants to catch him. He’s a clay bodhisattva crossing the river—he can’t even save himself.”

“Zhu Cailao is not the only sea lord,” Zhao Haixie said. “His power is still there. I heard that his own wealth was not taken by the bald-haired thieves, and he has a lot of treasure in his hands. If we all join together, when the situation changes, we can come down from the mountain! The Australians have good things everywhere. If we can get some, we’ll be rich!”

“What about food?” Zhao Dachong asked.

“Xin Nari and I have discussed it. We’ll just make a big scene. Burn down all the houses in the Thirteen Villages. Without food and shelter, we’ll force everyone to follow us. With more people, we can break through any earthen wall, why worry about not getting food?”

“That way we can get food, but won’t there be more people…”

“Are you stupid? We’ll let the peasant bumpkins be the vanguard when we attack the fortresses along the way. By the time we reach Luomao Mountain, at least half of them will be dead, so there will naturally be enough food.”

“Good!” Zhao Dachong slapped his thigh. “Let’s do it! How do we start?”

“How many people does the work team have now?”

“Twenty soldiers, five team members, and two women,” Zhao Dachong said excitedly. “A total of twenty-eight. We can gather a hundred people, three against one, we’ll definitely win!”

“It’s hard to say,” Zhao Haixie shook his head repeatedly. “The bald-haired thieves’ firearms are very powerful. If we openly attack the ancestral hall, I’m afraid we’ll be defeated again. When they broke the stronghold, they shot at us from a distance with their bird-guns, and we couldn’t do anything about it. And they also used cannons, which were very ruthless!”

“Then what should we do, get more men?” Zhao Dachong thought about it and realized that a three-to-one advantage was not really an advantage at all.

Xin Nachun spoke up, “I think a surprise attack is better than a frontal assault. Let’s catch them off guard.”

“How do we catch them off guard?” Zhao Haixie was very interested.

Xin Nachun said, “The strength of the kūnzéi ones is their firearms. What if we ruin all their gunpowder? If they can’t fire their guns without gunpowder, let’s see how strong they can be!”

“That’s a good idea! But how do we ruin it?”

“The old couple from the Mei family are the perfect tools,” Xin Nachun said.

Zhao Dachong was not convinced. “Those two old things? No way. They’re so timid, they’re only good for gathering information.”