As we approached the entrance, two more guards had appeared. Unlike the usual doormen, these two weren't standing inside; instead, they were standing with their hands on their hips guarding the door – clearly thugs. Xiang Yu led the way, and the burly thug, instead of opening the door, blocked it, his attitude surprisingly polite, though his smile was more like a grimace: "Are you here to have some fun?"
Xiang Yu grunted incoherently and continued walking inside. Hengrou Er smiled in the same way as Hengrou Yi: "Gentlemen, you should come back another time. It's a bit inconvenient here today."
I hid behind Wu Sangui and said, "Are all the young ladies here having their periods today?"
The burly man, unusually suppressing his anger, said, "Hehe, sir, you're quite the joker. Perhaps you could come another day..."
Wu Sangui said impatiently, "What if we weren't here to have fun?"
The burly man shuddered and said, "You are...?"
"Looking for someone." Xiang Yu placed his two hands on the back of Hengrouyi's and Hengrouyi's heads respectively, clapping his hands together. Hengrouyi slumped to the ground, wobbling and weak.
This caused a commotion among the thugs behind us. Xiang Yu ignored them and stepped through the door first, followed closely by us, with Ersha bringing up the rear. Once we were all inside, the remaining thugs squeezed through the revolving door, trying to rush in. Xiang Yu grabbed a hinge and swung it around with all his might, making the normally slow revolving door spin like a top. The thugs squealed and yelled like mice trapped at the bottom of a bottle. Several times I watched them spin right in front of me, but they couldn't get out due to inertia. After a few more spins, while they were still outside, Xiang Yu grabbed the revolving door, and they flew out like spitting saliva, then began to stagger around the street like drunkards.
Now no one outside dared to run in anymore. Qin Shi Huang and I stood guard at the door, while Fatty started imitating Xiang Yu, cranking the revolving door...
Wu Sangui and his men glanced around the hall and saw that everyone was middle-aged. Although their clothing didn't reveal much, their expressions and demeanor were ruthless and capable. It was clear that these were the elite members of a gang. Xiang Yu chuckled, "Now that's more like the underworld."
Although these people saw us enter, none of them acted rashly. A man around forty years old stood up and said, "Friends, let's sit down and talk things over. How exactly has our young master offended you all? To be frank, I have some influence with the old man. If our young master is in the wrong, I will naturally inform the old man, and then we will handle it internally..."
I immediately recognized the tactic of "courtesy before force" and jumped out, shouting, "Enough nonsense! Where's Lei Ming?" To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed. After all this time, he didn't even know who his opponent was. This clearly showed that I wasn't up to the task.
The other side was well-prepared for the fight, so they didn't have much patience. The middle-aged leader pointed at my nose and said, "I think we'd better sit down and talk. We don't want to gang up on the weak..."
Hua Mulan frowned and interrupted him, asking, "Where's Lei Ming?"
The man glanced at Mulan, then immediately changed his expression, saying in a sly tone, "Our young master isn't here, is he...?"
Wu Sangui roared, "What's there to say if they're not here? Attack!" He charged forward, and Xiang Yu and his men followed suit in a fan-shaped attack. Having been gangsters for so many years, this was probably the first time they'd encountered someone even more unreasonable than themselves, catching them completely off guard. They never expected that with so many of them, the other side would dare to provoke them. In the blink of an eye, those on the sofas, before they could even stand up, were slapped hard by Xiang Yu, falling to the ground in an instant. This time, their side numbered about 30 people, all seemingly seasoned veterans. Specifically, while we were beating them up, we were also praising their skills. After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, when all the men were lying on the ground, they even showed expressions of unsatisfied satisfaction.
Wu Sangui wiped his sweat, took out a map, looked at it for a while, and said, "Next, we should go to Qianleduo Nightclub—what a terrible name!"
Wu Sangui put the map away, pointed at the group on the ground, and said, "You'd better let Lei Ming wait for us at Qianleduo, otherwise we'll smash them one by one. If he doesn't show up today, we'll continue smashing them tomorrow!"
Xiang Yu looked around and said, "How can we have so much time to come every day? I think the right thing to do is to set fire to each city we visit." See? Once he started conquering cities and seizing territory, his bloodthirsty nature resurfaced.
Mulan, being soft-hearted, said, "Forget it, it's such a waste to burn it. Next time we'll bring more people and move everything away." This also aligns with the spirit of a trailblazer.
Lei Laosi's men: "..."
When we got to the door, Fatty Ying was still diligently cranking the revolving door. Actually, even if he stopped, no one would come in. Everything happening inside was clearly visible from the outside. Who would deliberately walk into the line of fire if they didn't want to court death?
So, under everyone's watchful eyes, we got into the carriage and drove off. Inside, Wu Sangui turned up his collar, fanning himself, and said, "We've been fighting for so long, we're really thirsty. Let's find a place to drink some water before we go on." Xiang Yu and Hua Mulan agreed.
I said, "Okay, I'll buy some water at the next intersection."
Ersha blinked his eyes and suddenly said, "Why buy water? Isn't there a bar on our list? I want Hennessy!"
Chapter Twenty: The Art of the Emperor
Everyone else seemed to agree with Ersha's suggestion, but I had some reservations. I said, "Aren't they still waiting for us at Qianleduo?" It's not good to keep people waiting—I've realized that I've become kinder since hanging out with them, which is practically the biggest challenge to the saying "One who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black."
Of course, I quickly figured out why: everyone on this bus except me was a ruthless killer. Brother Ying, don't look so innocent; you've killed the most!
Halfway there, Mulan suddenly pressed her fist against her stomach and frowned. I knew her old problem had flared up again, so I floored the gas and arrived at our destination—Lei Laosi's second bar.
It seems this place hasn't been affected by us yet, and everything remains calm. Bars aren't as complicated as nightclubs; at most, people here are doing drugs and getting high, so there's no reason for them to be a primary target for military operations. Besides, we've always informed Lei Laosi's men of our next target, so this place hasn't been alerted.
The waiter, with one hand behind his back, politely asked what we wanted. I ordered a cup of Biluochun tea for Mulan first. Of course, tea in a bar is like Chinese food in Chinatown—it's just for show. I mainly wanted Mulan to take her medicine while it was still warm.
Knowing this was my first time drinking with Wu Sangui, I specifically ordered two bottles of pure vodka. I figured this was the only kind of liquor here that suited the old traitor's taste. I waved away the waiter who wanted to bring us soft drinks to mix with the vodka, and poured Wu Sangui a large glass first. I raised it and clinked glasses with the old man: "Um… I appreciate the thought, hehe, let's drink." I was a little embarrassed, unsure how to address him. He had saved my life earlier, and I hadn't been able to help but call him "Third Brother," but that feeling had worn off.
Wu Sangui downed his drink in one gulp and laughed, "You're not even calling me 'brother' anymore?"
I chuckled awkwardly and said, "Third Brother..."
Wu Sangui filled his cup and sighed, "Ah, I accept your contempt for me, since I've already done what I've done. But Xiaoqiang, let me ask you, what should I have done back then? That bastard Li Zicheng verbally told me to surrender, but openly seized my women and persecuted my father. Should I have gone and become his slave? It's not that I lacked loyalty to the emperor, but I was being perfectly loyal, and the Zhu family ruined their own empire. I led my troops to Beijing to rescue him, but halfway there, that Chongzhen brat hung himself from a crooked tree. My first thought was, no matter what..." "If I couldn't let the Qing army enter the pass, I would lead my troops back to guard Shanhaiguan. At that time, I was in a dilemma. If I were loyal to the death, I would lead my troops to fight Li Zicheng to the death, but the Qing army would still have to enter the pass. I thought and thought, that guy surnamed Li is still a Han Chinese after all, so I might as well surrender to Li. But you know what the hell he did. If I had fought and died with the Qing army at Shanhaiguan, no one would have said anything, but what about my pride? In the end, your third brother is not afraid of death, but if I only live for myself, I deserve to be scorned." At this point, Wu Sangui became a little agitated and took a big gulp of wine.
I quickly said, "Let's not talk about the past. Now we are all 56 ethnic groups, it's pointless to bring this up." It was clear that Old Wu wasn't as completely at peace with his actions as he claimed. And what he said made a lot of sense. What would I do in his shoes? Imagine, I'm about to surrender, and someone takes my steamed buns! Do they even consider me a human being? How can I swallow that? Well… wait a minute. Who's the fool who took my buns? In the end, that saying "beautiful women bring trouble" still has some truth to it.
By this time, Qin Shi Huang had almost figured out the whole story of what had happened to Wu Sangui. He touched his wine cup and said, "If you ask me, you should have started your own faction when you were young."
Wu Sangui said, "There is no place for me to stand. At that time, the poor people all supported Li Zicheng, and a large part of the rich people were the remnants of the Ming Dynasty. If I stand in the middle, I will only die faster."
Qin Shi Huang chuckled: "Does the Zhu family have any descendants? Are poor people afraid of the Qing army?"
Wu Sangui asked in astonishment, "What do you mean?"
Xiang Yu gently patted the table and exclaimed in admiration, "Brother Ying is indeed very thoughtful. His idea is for you to support a descendant of the Zhu family, and under the banner of destroying the Qing, win over the poor as well. Wouldn't the final empire then be yours?"
The charming Mulan said, "That's not right. According to that logic, if they conquered the world, it would be the descendants of the Zhu family who would rule it."
Upon hearing her words, Qin Shi Huang, Xiang Yu, and Wu Sangui all smiled at each other, looking at her like an innocent little sister. In truth, not only these emperors and warlords, but even I knew what to do. Just when the empire was almost secured and a large group of loyal followers had been formed, who could guarantee that the descendant of the Zhu family wouldn't suddenly die of a strange illness? Hasn't this happened countless times in history? Cao Cao coerced the emperor to command the feudal lords; Sima Zhao's intentions were obvious to everyone. In fact, Qin Shi Huang forced Lü Buwei to commit suicide to truly seize power, and Xiang Yu established King Huai of Chu as his successor—these were all of the same nature. A mature politician naturally knows how to strike a balance and remove obstacles at the right time.
Wu Sangui pondered for a while, then suddenly said, "What about Chen Yuanyuan?" Wu Sangui nudged Xiang Yu, "Brother Xiang, if your Yu Ji were kidnapped, could you suppress your anger and plan for the future?"
Xiang Yu paused for a moment, then shook his head and smiled bitterly, "If someone had asked me before whether I wanted the empire or A Yu, I would have told them without hesitation that I wanted the empire. But after experiencing life and death, I can't say for sure now." Finally, Xiang Yu said with a sigh, "Brother Wu and I are both impulsive and reckless men. What talk of empire and hegemony is just a laughing stock."
Qin Shi Huang smiled slightly and stopped talking about the topic.
In the end, Xiang Yu, though ambitious, was too sentimental and lacked the courage to act decisively. Old Wu, on the other hand, had little ambition, only a penchant for momentary pleasures. He was always forced into situations by others, never taking the initiative to do anything himself. Fatty, however, was the most successful, unifying the seven kingdoms and building the Great Wall, though his love life was a bit dull. It's just like the lyrics: "Being a real man isn't easy, but he never complains, keeping his feelings for his children hidden deep inside..."
I put my arm around Ersha's shoulder and said, "They're all bad people, only the two of us are innocent. Let's have a drink."
Ersha pushed me away and said with disdain, "You're so childish!"