Fang Jie exclaimed in surprise, "How did you know about this?"
I asked, puzzled, "Who is Er Ya?"
Fang La whispered to me, "My wife's niece is Xiao Jie's cousin—I was wondering how I knew about this?"
Old Wang laughed and said, "Of course you don't know, the two of them were supposed to get married in six months. You rushed into battle first, and now the two are separated."
Fang Jie exclaimed happily, "So, Er Ya and I ended up together?"
Old Wang said regretfully, "The marriage was arranged, but it's a pity you died in battle before you could consummate the marriage."
Fang Jie was both happy and worried. He held Old Wang's hand and said, "Uncle, this matter is entirely up to you to take charge."
Fang La retorted angrily, "You little bastard who'll follow whoever feeds him. Don't forget I'm your uncle too!"
Fang Jie said with a miserable face, "You two might as well just kill me."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Old Wang stopped laughing and said to Fang La, "Let's go see Song Jiang right now. I guarantee your safety with my life."
Fang La said, "Don't be so formal. Here's what we'll do: to avoid giving them any reason to think too much, Xiao Jie and the others shouldn't go yet. Let's gather our troops and prepare to go to Liangshan. To be honest, we're all poor people. We're following me to make a living, and nobody wants to risk their lives."
I said, "There's one more thing to do. We can take that short guy Wang Ying, whom you arrested during the day, with us."
Fang La said, "That's easy. Someone, bring Wang Ying up here."
Soldiers brought Wang Ying in. The short man was bound hand and foot, his face full of resentment, and he said, "If you have the guts, let me go and we'll fight to the death!"
Li Tianrun No. 1 had learned his lesson this time, glaring at him and saying, "Have you no shame? You're in this state, why should I fight you to the death?"
Wang Ying snorted and said, "Then kill me or torture me..."
"Shut up!" I walked behind Wang Ying and untied his ropes. "Didn't you have a course on being captured like this when you were learning your skills?" Wang Ying asked in surprise, "Xiao Qiang? What are you doing here?"
"Let your wife talk to you about it when you get back. Let's go now."
Our group included Lao Wang and Fang La, plus Wang Ying (who was present when we arrived), but we were missing Li Tianrun No. 1. We rode quickly back to the Liangshan headquarters, found Lu Junyi and the others, and immediately convened an emergency meeting of all the Liangshan leaders in their main tent.
Before long, groups of two or three people strolled over. Some of them exchanged pleasantries with Fang La. After a day of fierce fighting, although the two sides were still enemies for the time being, they had begun to appreciate each other. Fang La returned the greetings and said with a smile, "Indeed, you are all brothers who get along well with me."
Once everyone had arrived, I accompanied Fang La and Lao Wang, and we sat sideways in the front row of the Heavenly Stars according to guest etiquette. Song Jiang stared intently at Fang La, hesitating several times as if he wanted to speak. Beside him, Wang Taiwei, the supervising officer, looked even more uncertain, wondering what we were up to.
Wu Yong cleared his throat and stood up, saying, "Brothers, congratulations! The plan has finally gone smoothly so far. Brother Fang La has agreed to withdraw his troops, and we can say that our mission has been accomplished."
A cheer erupted from below. Fang La smiled, stood up, and clasped his hands in a fist salute to the crowd. Immediately, several of the heroes who had gotten into trouble at the Yucai meeting called out, "Brother Fang, say a few words."
Fang La: "Uh... I basically have nothing to say. I'm not an unreasonable person. I only realized now that everyone had shown mercy during the day. Thank you all. I also apologize to Brother Wang Ying on behalf of my nephew."
Everyone said, "Brother Fang is being too polite."
Wang Ying was all smiles and clinging to Hu Sanniang, having long since forgotten about being captured. Hu Sanniang, however, seemed indifferent to him.
Wu Yong waved his hand and said, "The matter has been discussed openly. We just talked about it. After Brother Fang withdraws his troops, he will need a place to stay. Brother Junyi and I would like to invite Brother Fang to join Liangshan. However, Brother Fang has already established his reputation, so we will not force him to join us. From now on, he and all of us will be the common leaders of Liangshan. If Brother Fang has another place he prefers, we will need to help him rebuild his home."
The others said, "Why are you leaving? Let's live happily together from now on."
Fang La smiled and greeted everyone.
Wu Yong said, "So, is this matter settled then?"
Everyone: "It's settled, it's settled."
"Alright, everyone, let's go back to our respective camps, pack our things, and then head to Liangshan."
The crowd cheered and each grabbed their own stools, ready to leave the meeting.
"Stop right there!" A man stood up, looking furious and annoyed. "Do you even respect me as your elder brother?" It was Song Jiang.
Looking back, people realized they had almost completely forgotten about their leader. Song Jiang slammed his hands on the table, angrily saying, "Who gave you permission to return to the mountain? Are you planning another rebellion?"
Everyone looked at Wu Yong, waiting for him to smooth things over. Song Jiang's status and influence in Liangshan were undeniable; everyone had to admit that without Song Jiang's initial appeal, Liangshan would not have reached its peak. Therefore, no one was willing to come out and refute him.
Wu Yong looked at Song Jiang and said gently, "Brother, wasn't this all agreed upon beforehand?"
Song Jiang waved his hands wildly and said, "I don't care, I knew that if you did this, you would be treacherous villains!"
Old Wang said unhappily, "Brother Song, what do you want us to do? You don't want the two sides to stop fighting and shake hands to make peace. Do you only want the brothers to kill each other and fight to the death before you're happy?"
Song Jiang straightened his chest and raised his head, putting on a righteous and awe-inspiring appearance, and said: "I only know that a good man should serve the court and be loyal to the country. This is also for the future of my brothers, so that no one will call us Liangshan bandits anymore."
Old Wang smiled and shook his head, saying, "You're wrong. When we were on Liangshan, the imperial court couldn't touch you. Although they called you a bandit, they were genuinely afraid of you and even had to secretly admire you as someone of importance. But because you accepted the imperial pardon and worked for those bastards, they truly despise you now. Even if they don't say it, they've really treated you like a lackey ever since..." As Old Wang spoke, he suddenly pointed at Grand Commandant Wang, "Don't believe me? Ask him if that's what he thinks." All the heroes nodded in agreement.
At this point, Grand Commandant Wang could barely speak, trembling as he said, "I, I... Chief Song, you can't just stand by and watch them rebel."
I interjected, "This isn't a rebellion. How about this: we'll always acknowledge that Liangshan is an inseparable part of the Song Dynasty's territory, and promise the court we'll never claim to be kings again. Is that alright?"
Like a stubborn child, Song Jiang kept saying, "I don't care, I don't care! If you want to come back to Liangshan, you'll have to step over my dead body."
Lu Junyi said slowly, "Brother, a wise man knows when to yield. Don't let the brothers down again."
Why use "又"?
In the past, Old Lu was definitely inclined towards the appeasement faction. A large landowner like him, with houses and fields, would never want to live with the reputation of a bandit. But after experiencing a series of upheavals, Old Lu has become a staunch revolutionary fighter.
Song Jiang sighed, "The people's hearts are scattered, and the troops are difficult to lead!"
Everyone pleaded together, "Brother, let's go up the mountain!"