Song Jiang chuckled and said, "That's quite rare."
Several people below then cried out, "We can't read!"
I then stepped forward at the opportune moment and said, "In that case, those who support the offer of amnesty should raise their hands first."
Wu Yong and Lu Junyi exchanged a glance, both standing motionless, unsure of what to do.
Below, among the thirty-odd people, although they knew they had to fight Fang La, they were also the least willing to do it. After some internal struggle, only about twenty people hesitantly raised their hands, including a few who weren't clients. I asked, "What about those who don't want to be offered amnesty?"
They suddenly raised a large number of people, and although a few were still hesitant, at first glance, it seemed that at least more than half of them had joined.
Seeing that his proposal was untenable, Song Jiang turned to Wu Yong and asked with a dry laugh, "What does the strategist think?"
Wu Yong gave me a deep look, then stepped forward as if he had made a decision and said, "We must fight Fang La..."
"Buzz..." The crowd erupted in uproar. Wu Yong was known for his exceptional wisdom and was highly respected by everyone. No one had expected him to say such a thing.
Wu Yong exchanged a glance with Lu Junyi, then announced loudly, "Brothers, I'd like to formally introduce someone to you—" Wu Yong pulled me in front of him and said, "Junyi, Instructor Lin, and I, along with 54 other brothers, have been living at Xiaoqiang's house for a year..."
The remaining 30-odd people stood up amidst the bewildered expressions of the onlookers. Wu Yong continued, "Xiao Qiang comes from 1000 years in the future. To put it simply, he is our descendant..." I glanced at him, stunned.
"The reason we were able to go to him is because we've all died once. Of course, the other brothers are the same; the only difference is that they weren't with us. Now, Xiaoqiang has come back to find us because we were sent back from 1000 years in the future by the cycle of Heaven's will. That is to say, we have already experienced life and death once, and thus witnessed the beginning and end of Liangshan. To be honest, most of the brothers here participated in the campaign against Fang La in their previous lives. In the end, we won, but many people died in that campaign—but I won't go into details. According to the principle that history cannot be changed, we have to fight Fang La again. However, I can tell you that we have already discussed the specific countermeasures yesterday. This time, we only need to defeat him, and neither side will lose anyone. Once we complete this task, it will be much easier for the brothers to choose what kind of life they want. Therefore, my suggestion is that we first accept amnesty and then fight Fang La."
Wu Yong's eloquence was undoubtedly excellent, but the topic he chose was far too profound. Most people below knew what he was saying, but did not understand what he meant—just like when I listened to math class back in the day.
Li Kui shouted, "What are you saying, strategist? I, Tie Niu, don't understand a word! Are you suffering from heatstroke?"
Chapter 114 Fake Amnesty
Wu Yong gave an order: "Bring the wine—" He nodded at me as he spoke, and I grabbed a handful of blue herbs and held them in my hand.
Li Kui muttered to himself, "It seems the strategist really has heatstroke. He never lets me drink unless it's absolutely necessary, so..." As he spoke, a jar of wine was placed in front of him. Li Kui greedily scooped out a bowlful, and Wu Yong took a blue pill from my hand and threw it into the bowl. Li Kui asked curiously, "What's this for?"
Wu Yong smiled slightly and said, "Drink up, are you afraid I'll harm you?"
After putting the medicine into the bowl in front of everyone, Li Kui still hesitated. Ruan Xiaoer patted him and said, "Drink it quickly, you fool, you'll remember everything after you drink it."
In reality, even if you put a bowl of wine in front of Li Kui, he would still drink it if he felt it wasn't enough to kill him. Seeing that he could drink openly, the black man tilted his head back and gulped it down. Then he went to scoop more, saying, "Let me get another bowl to eat."
Before the black man could even reach the jar, his eyes suddenly went blank, and he abruptly hugged Song Jiang, crying out, "Brother, I've missed you so much!"
Song Jiang, unaware of our schemes, stared intently in our direction when Li Kui suddenly grabbed him, leaving him both amused and exasperated. "Tie Niu, what are you doing?"
Li Kui wiped away his tears, stared blankly at the wine bowl, and said, "I remember now, I really did die from drinking poison in my past life."
Song Jiang, confused, asked, "Who gave you poisoned wine?"
Li Kui smiled through his tears and said, "Brother, I don't blame you. Just seeing you is more important than anything else."
Song Jiang was even more bewildered, looking at Wu Yong and saying, "Strategist, what's going on here...?"
Wu Yong brought the bowl to Zhang Shun, put the medicine in it, and said, "It's your turn."
Zhang Shun was craning his neck to look when the bowl was handed to him. He exclaimed, "I'm not drinking it! Who knows what's inside..."
Ruan Xiao'er and Ruan Xiao'wu grabbed Zhang Shun's arms on either side and forced him to drink water without explanation. Zhang Heng, seeing this, became anxious and shouted, "Hey, you can't force a cow to drink water if it doesn't want to!"
As Zhang Shun was forced to swallow the wine, he cursed, "Can you even speak human language? Glug glug..."
As soon as the Ruan brothers withdrew their hands, everyone immediately turned their attention to Zhang Shun, eager to see his reaction. Zhang Shun hastily rolled up his trouser leg to look, then laughed loudly, "Haha, the injury is indeed healed! Not even a scar remains!"
We were both speechless. When Zhang Shun was with me, Li Tianrun slashed his leg. Although he was able to go into the water again later, he was left with a big scar. Zhang Shun rolled up his trouser leg, patted Zhang Heng on the shoulder and said, "Brother, is your wife about to give birth? I'm letting you know in advance that it's a boy. But don't name him Zhang Zuolin, it's unlucky."
Zhang Heng: "..."
At this moment, Wu Yong had already arrived in front of Dai Zong, who asked in surprise, "What about me?"
Lu Zhishen snatched the bowl away, saying, "What are you all up to? I'll eat a bowl and see!"
Wu Yong dodged the question, saying, "No, I can't live without you—but be careful of your brother in your next life."
While we were talking, Dai Zong drank his wine from his bowl and immediately put it down, saying, "We need to hurry up. Fang La won't wait for us. If we follow the strategist's advice, even a day's delay could be extremely risky—Fang La might not be able to become Li Zicheng."
As expected of someone who gathers intelligence, they are always only responsible for the fastest, newest, and most important information.
At this moment, apart from the few who had just taken the antidote, the other dozen or so heroes from the 54 tribes who hadn't yet taken the medicine were all pointed out by the others. They stood there, somewhat puzzled and bewildered, waiting to take the antidote, their eyes filled with both tension and anticipation. Curiosity often prevails in such situations, and since they weren't worried that Wu Yong and his group would harm them, they didn't refuse. Some of the people nearby even kept asking Wu Yong: "Strategist, am I one of those people you mentioned?" They all waited with grins for their turn to be identified.
However, Song Jiang suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. Several of his senior generals had suddenly switched sides, and this trend seemed to be spreading. Regardless of whether this shift was beneficial to the amnesty, it was certainly detrimental to his position as the top leader.
Suddenly, Song Heipang stood in front of the crowd, waving his arms vigorously and shouting, "Wait a minute! No one is allowed to drink that wine anymore!" He went up to Wu Yong and asked, "Strategist, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Lu Junyi said, "Brother, do you not believe what we said?"
This made Song Jiang even more suspicious. He owed Lu Junyi an explanation regarding who should be the leader. According to the dying wish of Chao Gai, the original leader of Liangshan, whoever captured Shi Wengong would be promoted. Song Jiang, almost shamelessly, violated this rule as a time traveler. Now that Lu Junyi had spoken up at this juncture, even someone ten times more honest than Song Jiang would be troubled. He spread his arms to block the dozen or so people, disregarding all reason, and simply shouted, "No one is allowed to drink that wine until the situation is clear!"
Wu Yong and Lu Junyi exchanged wry smiles. Song Jiang's actions had instantly created a tense atmosphere, and if things continued this way, Liangshan might fall apart. I looked at the situation and suddenly realized that we had overlooked an extremely important person from beginning to end. I pointed to a handsome young man among the men behind Song Jiang and said, "Song Qing, you come here."
Yes, we've been overlooking Song Qing. He was originally insignificant on Liangshan, but things are different now: he and Song Jiang are brothers! At this crucial moment, a single sentence from him speaks louder than many explanations.
Song Qing, who had been standing there bewildered, was startled when I called his name and asked, "How do you know me?"
I said, "You drink this bowl of wine on everyone's behalf, and then everything will become clear." I then said to Song Jiang, "Brother, if you're worried that I'm conspiring with the strategist to deceive you, you must trust your own brother, right? If he still can't remember anything after drinking the wine, then I'll leave without a word and never set foot on Liangshan again. But if he can remember what happened before, then everything will be clear. What do you say?"
Song Jiang hesitated, glancing at his brothers. Song Qing stepped forward and said with a smile, "I think Brother Xiao Qiang is right. Brother, let me give it a try."
After much hesitation, Song Jiang finally stepped aside. Wu Yong, carrying a bowl of medicinal wine, approached Song Qing, his hands trembling slightly, and said, "Brother Song Qing, you must drink this well—"