Two Jin soldiers stepped forward and grabbed Baozi, who, like a female underground party member, shouted fiercely, "Don't touch me, I'll walk by myself!"
The two soldiers seemed unwilling to touch her, so they followed behind. Baozi made a "very satisfying" gesture at me, then walked out first with her head held high and chest puffed out like a hero before her execution. I heard her voice say, "Which way?"
The two soldiers: "...Left."
She's here having some fun, what am I going to do? In desperation, I pointed at Jin Wuzhu and shouted, "You'll regret this!"
Jin Wuzhu glanced at me coldly and shouted, "Guards, beat him out of here!"
In an instant, I received several blows to the calf. As I hopped away, I turned back and cursed, "You bastard, we've made an enemy of each other. You'll regret this sooner or later!"
Jin Wuzhu followed us out of the tent with a smile and said, "Remember, you only have 10 days. Otherwise, I'll send your ugly wife's head to Liangshan!"
Jin Wuzhu turned to go back to his tent, and a group of Jin soldiers chased after me, beating me. If they kept fighting all the way to the cart, would there be any flesh left on my legs? Luckily, the officer who had taken my money came over and pulled the soldiers away, whispering to me, "Don't worry, I'll take care of your wife. She definitely won't suffer any losses. Come back in a few days, apologize, and maybe we'll let her go—"
Although I felt indebted to him for accepting his gifts, and I understood that he was just trying to comfort me, he was actually a really nice guy. I stuffed the remaining gold bricks into his arms, and the man with the fangs looked embarrassed and said, "But let me make this clear, buddy, that Li Shishi is going to be a problem."
I turned to him and comforted him, saying, "Don't worry about that, I have a solution!"
Following the general's orders, a group of Jin soldiers simply surrounded me and pounded the ground with their clubs. I fled back to the carriage, furious, grinding my teeth in anger, and ran all the way back to Liangshan.
Wu Yong and the others were still waiting for me at the tavern. When they saw me get out of the carriage alone, they hurriedly asked, "Where's Baozi?"
With a livid face, I said, "They've been taken hostage by Jin Wuzhu."
The heroes were in an uproar, and it was time to muster the troops and set off. Jin Shaoyan said guiltily, "Brother Qiang, I'm sorry."
I calmed myself down, stopped the crowd, and said to Wu Yong, "Strategist, what do you think we should do now?" As I spoke, I pulled him aside to a quiet place and whispered, "I don't think fighting will work. The Jin army is indeed very powerful." I've seen many military formations, and those 800,000 Jin soldiers are disciplined and well-organized; they are truly a formidable force. If Liangshan really sends troops, I'm afraid they will find it difficult to resist.
Wu Yong, waving his feather fan, said, "I know I can't win by fighting. I've been thinking of a way for the past half day." I quickly asked, "Have you figured it out yet?"
Wu Yong said, "There is a solution."
"Tell me quickly."
Wu Yong smiled and said, "Have you ever heard the saying, 'To subdue the enemy without fighting'?"
I said, "Isn't that a line from 'The Art of War'?" Although I'm not very educated, I often hear those entrepreneurs on TV spouting nonsense. These unscrupulous businessmen always use this line to explain their success.
Wu Yong said, “Yes, what we urgently need now is to subdue the enemy without fighting. As you said, if we fight, the consequences will be very serious. The survival of Liangshan is a small matter; there is also a problem that cannot be changed. Our demand is actually very simple: we want Li Shishi back—of course, now we have Baozi too. What we want is not to eliminate anyone, but to make the enemy understand that we are not easy to bully, and realize that if we really fight, they are not confident. As long as we achieve this, everything will be fine.”
"How can we achieve this?"
“We are outnumbered, so naturally he is not afraid of us. If we want the Jin army to stop, we would need an army ten times larger than theirs. In that case, we wouldn’t even need to lift a finger; we would make them dare not go west.”
I chuckled: "8 million? What are you trying to say?" As far as I know, from ancient times to the present, from foreign countries to China, no country has ever had an army of 8 million at any time, and the total population of many countries in the world is far less than that...
Wu Yong said, "This was inspired by something you said when you left: you said you've served so many clients, but none of them were related to the Jin Kingdom. I don't think that's necessarily true."
I asked curiously, "Who has anything to do with the Jin Dynasty?"
Wu Yong asked mysteriously, "Those who are related don't necessarily have to be friends. Who destroyed the Jin Dynasty?"
I suddenly understood and said, "You mean the Mongols?"
Wu Yong nodded and said, "Yes, to be precise, the Mongols under Genghis Khan. If you can borrow two or three hundred thousand Mongol cavalry from him, it should be a considerable deterrent to Jin Wuzhu."
I stamped my foot and said, "Isn't that obvious?" Let me do the math. 300,000 cavalrymen, let's not even talk about the horses yet, 300,000 men—if I load each cart with 10 people at a time, it would take 30,000 round trips. By the time they all arrive, the first batch will probably be grandfathers...
Wu Yong waved his hand and said, "It's not nonsense, it's all about human effort. Since we were able to travel from a thousand years ago to your country as guests, the Mongols might be able to travel from a few decades in the future to the Song Dynasty to fight. Even if that doesn't work, you can bring Genghis Khan over first. If it really comes to war, he has a wealth of experience fighting the Jin people. So I suggest you discuss this matter with Liu Xianren and the others first."
His words finally gave me a wake-up call. Who knows what that old charlatan is up to at home lately, keeping quiet about all he's been up to? Now that I'm facing such a big problem, I can't let him stay idle!
I hurriedly got into the driveway: "Then I'll go back. Tell your brothers not to act rashly. If I don't come back within 10 days..."
Wu Yong laughed and said, "Don't worry, it only takes two days to get from here to Taiyuan. If we don't hear from you within three days, we'll send troops. There may not be clever ways, but there are always simple ones. Liangshan is not to be underestimated!"
I clasped my hands in a fist salute to the crowd, slammed on the gas pedal, and sped towards 2008.
When I got home, I slammed the car door and rushed into He Tiandou's house. The two old charlatans were sitting comfortably on the sofa, each with a small cup of tea, discussing something while looking at a blueprint.
I picked up the teapot and poured a whole bunch of tea, then put my hands on my hips and said, "You two are having a good time. What's this?!" I picked up the blueprint and started scanning it, but He Tiandou quickly snatched it away and said, "Don't touch this."
I threw the blueprints aside, grabbed Liu Laoliu by the collar, and said, "Brother, I'm in trouble this time. You have to come up with a plan for me."
Old Liu lowered his head and tucked his arm around mine, chuckling, "You only think of Grandpa when you're in trouble? What's going on?"
I plopped down on the sofa and said, "To put it simply, that girl Li Shishi is trapped by the 800,000-strong army of the Wanyan clan. That guy is impervious to reason and nothing works. How can we get him to give in? I'm telling you upfront, you have to help with this. My wife is also in jail, and so is my five-month-old son. I don't want my son to be born in prison!"
He Tiandou said, "Children born in prisons are generally successful..." He quickly stopped when he saw my unfriendly look.
Liu Laoliu lit a cigarette and said, "How do you want us to help you?"
I argued back, "I don't care. Either you send heavenly soldiers to parachute into the enemy's rear, or you gather 8 million troops for me—"
Liu Laoliu looked at He Tiandou and chuckled, "8 million troops is no small number, but it's not impossible. You'll just have to raise the numbers yourself."
I sat bolt upright, startled. "Holy crap, are you serious?"
Liu Laoliu and He Tiandou exchanged a smile, then strolled around the room like high-ranking officials, smoking cigarettes and saying, "We've been expecting this day for a long time."
"What's the meaning?"
Liu Laoliu said, "Do you remember when I put four emperors under your wing to pay your salary?"
"Ah, yes..."
He Tiandou then consciously assumed the duties of a political commissar and said gently, "Do you know why we are doing this?"