Silence... Everyone was silent, staring at Hu Sanniang.
Hu Sanniang first turned her head to check if there was anything dirty on her face. After finding nothing amiss, she faced the crowd with a straight face and said, "What, am I wrong?"
Wu Yong stared at her blankly for a while before muttering, "That's right...you're absolutely right, but why didn't we think of that?"
Hu Sanniang scoffed, "You all have so many tricks up your sleeves, who knows what kind of wicked schemes you're plotting?"
Everyone was deeply ashamed.
This is the difference between scholars and warriors. In fact, when it comes to strategy, besides Wu Yong, Lin Chong and Lu Junyi were both very sophisticated politicians. These men, no matter what difficulties they faced, always considered the long-term implications. Give them a rule, and their first thought would be to reverse it. Regarding the "Square La Rebellion," Wu Yong probably already devised many strategies without actually engaging in a major conflict with Fang La. If we were to read his mind now, we'd have to flip through several pages to understand him.
Hu Sanniang, however, was a typical military general. Her primary responsibility was leading the charge, and in her mind, there were only friends and enemies, kill and spare. Since she had already decided Fang La was a friend, fighting him to the death was no longer an option. Therefore, upon seeing the character "平" (peace/calm), her first thought was to stage a fake battle. This is a military cunning, similar to Luo Cheng's feigned defeat and Zhang Fei's clever capture of Yan Yan.
With this premise of "peace," the discussion heated up again. If it were "annihilation," it would be a death battle, and even with mutual respect with Fang La, it would ultimately be a fight to the death; but if it were "peace," then there was much more to it. As Hu Sanniang said, the most effective way was to capture Fang La, and then explaining things afterwards would be much simpler.
The strategist Zhu Wu said, "According to Xiao Qiang, if Fang La has already raised an army, then we can fight them on flat ground. We already have the advantage of terrain."
Everyone nodded: "Yes, that makes sense."
Zhu Wu continued, "Furthermore, Fang La's preparations for launching an uprising now are certainly not as thorough as they were last time. We also have the advantage of timing, so it is still very feasible for us to capture Fang La alive in this battle."
Everyone: "Yes, that makes sense."
...I really wonder if these bandits were Qin Shi Huang's subordinates in their past lives.
However, Zhu Wu's words made perfect sense. Last time, when the heroes fought Fang La, they forced their way into Fang La's stronghold. Fang La was a powerful force with high walls and a fortified camp. Many of the bandits were wiped out by rolling logs and stones, especially Zhang Shun and his group of water ghosts, who were almost all killed in ambushes. But on the plains, the 108 Liangshan heroes would have a much greater advantage over Fang La's eight Heavenly Kings.
Zhang Qing rubbed his hands together, saying, "This time I can finally have a good fight with that kid surnamed Li."
Wu Yong looked at everyone and suddenly said with concern, "If we go to fight Fang La, it will inevitably be all 108 of us brothers going together. Those of us on this side understand the inside story, but I'm worried about the other 54 brothers who don't know the details..."
Lu Junyi nodded and said, "That's right, we brothers are always inseparable, so we'll naturally go together. Those 54 are indeed a tricky problem..."
Lin Chong said, "In my opinion, we should be frank with everyone, including about Xiao Qiang. It's awkward to keep things from each other like this. If we really go to fight Fang La, the other brothers might not know their own strength and make a blood feud with Fang La, which would only lead to another life-or-death struggle."
Ruan Xiaoer exclaimed, "What do you mean? That we died once? I wouldn't believe it if anyone told me that."
Lu Junyi looked at Wu Yong and said, "This matter still depends on the strategist to come up with a foolproof plan."
Wu Yong said, "The most urgent task is to find our brothers who haven't regained their memories—let's count how many of us there are, and see which brothers are still missing from the team."
The statistics show that there are 38 people in Duxing under Jiashan, and 16 people have not taken their medicine, including Zhang Shun and Li Kui.
Just then, a person came running up from afar and called out at the door, "Third Sister, are you inside?"
Someone laughed and said, "It's Wang Ai Hu."
As soon as he finished speaking, the short man that Zhu Gui and I had met on our way up the mountain ran into the warehouse. Upon seeing Hu Sanniang, he beamed and said, "I heard someone say you were here, and sure enough, I found you, Sanniang. Let's go home for dinner. I'll personally cook you stir-fried lamb with gourd strips..."
One of the heroes laughed and said, "Wang Ai Hu, are you afraid your wife will run away because you follow her around like that every day?"
Wang Ying wasn't annoyed and laughed, "That's right, you've found a wife just like me."
Hu Sanniang was about 1.73 meters tall, while Wang Ying was more than half a head shorter than her. Hu Sanniang looked down at him, her expression seemingly quite disgusted, snorted, and walked out first. Wang Ying followed behind with a fawning smile, looking around nervously, like a pampered dog kept by a wealthy lady.
Wu Yong smiled as he watched Hu Sanniang and her husband's retreating figures, and said, "It's getting late today, brothers, let's all go back first. When you're sleeping tonight, think about all the people who were left behind, and we'll coordinate an operation tomorrow to find them."
The heroes gave a haphazard reply, and quite a few of them came to pull me back for drinks. The Ruan brothers, because of their superior numbers, seized the initiative.
Back at the "Ruan Mansion," the courtyard was larger than the others. The three brothers, each with a wife, lived together. Ruan Xiao'er, while telling his wife to cook and heat wine, called out over the wall, "Zhang Shun, Zhang Shun—" It turned out that Zhang Shun lived next door.
A woman's voice cursed, "Zhang Shun is dead!"
Ruan Xiaoer said with a forced smile, "Oh, it's sister-in-law. Where's Brother Zhang?"
The woman said irritably, "He went gambling with a bunch of people again."
Ruan Xiaoer whispered to me, "Zhang Shun loves gambling and his wife has beaten him up several times." Then he raised his chin and shouted, "Sister-in-law, when Brother Zhang comes back, tell him to come to me."
The woman said angrily, "He can't go. When he comes back, I'll chop him to pieces!"
I broke out in a cold sweat and whispered, "Isn't this supposed to be a good time when male chauvinism is still prevalent?"
Ruan Xiaowu interjected, "That's not necessarily true. Think about it, there are only men and women in this world, how can it be so fixed? Anyway, there are plenty of men on Liangshan who aren't afraid of their wives—"
I asked again, "What do you need money for if you live in the mountains?"
Ruan Xiaowu said, "Let's gamble."
I:"……"
At this moment, Ruan Xiaoer's wife, while being polite to me, piled a bundle of scallions at Ruan Xiaoer's feet... As Ruan Xiaoer peeled the scallions, he said, "That's why they're called heroes, heroes are all afraid of their wives!"
I laughed and said, "Li Tianrun would definitely like to hear that." But what I was really thinking was: No wonder Song Jiang was the leader; he could kill his wife without hesitation.
After careful analysis, I realized that the ranking of Liangshan was based on how much they feared their wives. Song Jiang killed his wife, so he was ranked first; Lu Junyi also killed his wife, but he didn't kill her as fiercely as Song Jiang, so he was ranked second; Wu Yong and Gongsun Sheng didn't have wives, so they were ranked third and fourth; Lin Chong's wife died, so he was ranked sixth... In this light, my ranking of 109th is not unreasonable.
In fact, their fear of their wives has a real basis. No matter how powerful they are, these people are just lowly bandits. Their wives not only live in fear, but they also live in the mountains, which are isolated from the world. If they don't treat their wives well, who will stay with them?
Soon the food and drinks were served, and the three of us sat down together, drinking and chatting away, our conversation rambling on and on. One minute we were talking about embarrassing things that happened when they first arrived, the next we were reminiscing about our first swimming trip with Zhang Shun. Ruan Xiao'er asked, "By the way, Xiao Qiang, how's Xiao Yu?"
I said, "I wouldn't dare say about amphibians, but among mammals, none can beat her. Once she's in the water, she's like she's back home."
Ruan Xiaowu chuckled, "Little girl, are you in a relationship?"
I sighed and said, "No. She might not say it, but she's probably still thinking about her older brother."
The Ruan brothers echoed this sentiment. Speaking of Ni Siyu naturally led to the topic of Xiang Yu, and I became quite animated whenever I mentioned him, especially the scene where he repelled the enemy with a smile. The usually taciturn Ruan Xiaowu commented: "If I had let out a loud fart, it would have been even more effective."