“Grand Commander, they’re just a rabble. This subordinate guarantees we can break them with one drum beat.” Yang Yueming, dressed in a boatman’s tattered clothes, came close to Yun Ye and said quietly.

“What’s the point of breaking them? Today we’re prepared to be robbed. Didn’t Old Feng say these people only rob goods and don’t harm people? Let’s see what happens. Don’t tell me you people who’ve sailed the great seas are afraid of these folks with fishing spears.” Yun Ye turned his head to rebuke Yang Yueming. Among his subordinates capable of fighting, only one general had returned—the other three were still rushing here.

“Grand Commander jokes. This subordinate just tested them—these people only rely on numbers and aren’t to be feared. I’m just worried about the Grand Commander’s safety. These people are essentially water bandits. If they get the urge to kill, this subordinate fears he can’t protect the Grand Commander amid the chaos. If something happens, even a hundred deaths couldn’t atone for it.”

“No matter. Look at that little girl with the fishing spear—she’s still smiling at me. Robbery has already become part of their lives. Pass down the order: as long as they don’t harm people, let them be.”

Yang Yueming quietly acknowledged and went below deck to pass the order. Liu Jinbao guarded the bow. Dan Ying stood on the mast. Gou Zi lay like mud on the rail beneath the bow. Wu She was still brewing tea, not even glancing at those water bandits.

A hulking man holding a horizontal blade pushed off with a bamboo pole and boarded the ship, shouting loudly: “This old man only wants goods, not lives! Those who want to live, squat down obediently. Once this master takes the money, he’ll leave. Otherwise, everyone gets thrown in the water to feed the fish!”

From the moment the big man saw this flat-bottomed merchant ship, he felt something was wrong. After jumping aboard, he felt even more wrong. Not only did the people on this ship not shout and yell like people on previous merchant ships, but the people on this ship looked more like water bandits than they did—dark, water-slicked skin and broad feet were these people’s basic features.

Having boarded, he’d already prepared for combat. Today would be a fierce battle no matter what. Who would die was unclear. Fortunately, he had more people—grinding slowly, they could grind these people to death.

Seeing his accomplices control the rudder, only then did he relax. These people apparently hadn’t planned to resist. Turns out they were cowards—made me worry for nothing.

A loud whistle echoed across the lake. Those poling boats—men, women, old and young—all surged toward the large ship. In no time, the ship was crowded with people searching for goods.

Yang Yueming guarded the bow, not letting anyone pass. The strong man was about to speak when he heard Yang Yueming say: “Count yourselves lucky today. My master won’t let us act. Take the goods and leave. Don’t disturb my master.”

The strong man was about to curse, but seeing the unnerving gazes of Dongyu and Ren Xiong nearby, he abandoned the thought of going to the bow. He didn’t guard against a little girl holding an iron fork who kicked Yang Yueming’s shin, waiting for Yang Yueming to crouch down so she could give him a blow to the back of the head. She’d used this method to deal with many people before.

Yang Yueming didn’t even move, his mocking expression so obvious. The little girl shouted loudly: “You unscrupulous rich people, constantly doing evil and oppressing good people! Today is the day you pay your debts!” Clearly embarrassed and angry, she lowered her head and thrust the iron fork toward Yang Yueming. Yang Yueming’s pupils contracted. For enemies who dared attack him, he didn’t care if they were women or children—he’d kill them all to be satisfied.

“Let her through.” Yun Ye’s voice carried over. Yang Yueming stepped sideways, his foot tripping slightly, and the little girl’s fork flew out. She rolled like a gourd to the bow. The strong man was shocked and slashed his horizontal blade diagonally down at Yang Yueming. Yang Yueming unexpectedly extended his palm and caught the blade, then delivered a heavy punch to the strong man’s chest and abdomen. Rolling his eyes back, he fainted, drool continuously flowing from the corners of his mouth.

Yang Yueming gently leaned this water bandit leader whom he’d knocked out with one punch against the ship’s rail, making him look like he was resting. After all, they were just a rabble—the leader had been taken down and no one even noticed. The little girl scrambled up and drew a dagger from her waist, shouting at Yun Ye: “Hand over the money and I’ll spare your life!”

Facing the little girl trying hard to make her face look fierce, Yun Ye’s childlike spirit arose. About the same age as Xiao Ya and already out being a bandit? So he pulled out a copper coin from his bosom and handed it to the little girl, just like he usually coaxed Xiao Ya.

The little girl immediately became happy, snatched the copper coin, and held it up to tell people behind her: “Look, I got red goods! It’s a new copper coin!” Seeing everyone busy searching for goods with no one paying attention to her, the little girl disappointedly put the coin in her bosom. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly returned, rolling her eyes and saying: “You’re a rich person—you must have more red goods. Hand them over and I won’t kill this old man!” Having spoken, she walked behind Wu She and gestured at him with her knife.

Many melon seed shells rained down from above. Seeing the little girl gesturing at Wu She with a knife, threatening Yun Ye to hand over more copper coins, Dan Ying was so shocked that the melon seed shells in his hand scattered down.

Wu She picked up his tea, took a sip, and said to Yun Ye: “Did you hear? If you don’t give money, this old man is done for.”

Yun Ye pulled out another silver coin from his bosom and handed it to the little girl. Wu She was quite dissatisfied and said to the little girl: “Little girl, this fellow is a big wealthy man. One silver coin is too little—you need at least a gold coin.” Having spoken, he took the silver coin from Yun Ye’s hand and placed it in the little girl’s hand.

The little girl instantly developed great affection for this old man helping her rob. Holding the silver coin, she prepared to say some words of thanks to the person helping her. Before the words left her mouth, she felt it wasn’t right. She was a bandit, these two people—one was a hostage, one was a fat sheep. So she took another step forward and said: “Hand over the gold and I’ll leave immediately.” Her voice was much softer, as if she felt very ashamed of this kind of greedy behavior.

“You see, that’s right. Right now you’re robbing him. In a few days, it might be his turn to rob you. This world is like that—you rob me, I rob you. When you have the upper hand, you must collect enough capital to avoid future regrets.”

Hearing Wu She’s words, Yun Ye discovered the old fellow’s eyes were actually full of warmth. While speaking, his hands seemingly casually pinched the little girl’s body a few times. Yun Ye didn’t think the old fellow was taking advantage of the little girl—eighty percent sure he’d found another good martial arts material. He was like this—always having relapses.

Yun Ye helplessly pulled out a gold coin and handed it over. Wu She still took it and placed it in the little girl’s hand, continuing to ask: “What family do you have? So young and already out robbing—it’s too dangerous. Don’t your parents care?”

Perhaps one sentence stirred up the little girl’s bitter history. Wu She’s appearance was so kind, both like a grandmother and like a grandfather. She involuntarily answered: “Little Miao has no parents. Grandfather also died. There’s nothing to eat, so I had no choice but to come out with Aunt Ba and them to find food. Spotting your ship was just a coincidence. Originally we were picking dry reeds by the lake—there might be rice from last year that wasn’t shaken clean. We’d take it home to make carved rice.”

“Oh my, I most love eating carved rice—so slippery and glutinous. Don’t look at my old age—I can still eat two big bowls at a meal. You actually know how to make carved rice—so capable! I raised a useless grand-disciple who can’t do anything. Every day he causes endless worry. Some days ago, he even snatched someone’s daughter from her home. I have no place to put my old face!”

This kind of gossip completely ignited Little Miao’s curiosity. She squatted down, eyes unblinking, looking at Yun Ye and saying: “You’re that bastard who snatched someone’s daughter? What did you snatch her back for? To cook for you?”

One sentence choked Yun Ye with no way to answer. He reached out and pulled up Gou Zi, who was hiding beneath the stairs, pointing at him and saying to the little girl: “The bastard who snatched someone’s daughter is this one, not me.”

Gou Zi was naturally good at coaxing women, regardless of old or young. That Hong Guor could be coaxed by him into leaving home and eloping showed how formidable this fellow’s smooth talk was. Since he knew the teacher had taken a liking to the little girl, how could he not be tactful? An extremely poignant love story was performed by him with twists and turns. Honestly, even Yun Ye was entranced.

When Gou Zi told of how he missed Guor, learning wolf calls atop high mountains to vent his pain, the little girl listened with tears streaming down. Hearing how Gou Zi secretly went to meet the girl at midnight, and her fierce father shot at him with the most terrible great arrows—several times narrowly escaping death—he narrated his tender feelings of disregarding life and death just to see Guor once, gentle and moving. As for the matter of previously looking down on the chubby Guor, naturally he skipped over it without mention.

The story went on for a long time, from afternoon until sunset. When the kind Wu She personally prepared a bedroom for the little girl and closed the doors and windows, Little Miao, staring blankly at the top of the mosquito net, was still pondering why she’d ended up in Yuezhou city like this. However, that meal just now was truly delicious—white rice was much better than carved rice!

The person who stayed behind of course included that unconscious leader. All the water bandits had seen Little Miao chatting happily with the fat sheep on the ship. She was originally a pretty young lady—perhaps those rich people liked Little Miao and kept her to be a concubine. This wasn’t rare among refugees. When a good opportunity came, you grabbed it. Kind-hearted Aunt Ba even threw Little Miao’s little black dog onto the ship, hoping this child’s luck wasn’t bad and she’d meet a good family.

Refugees and water bandits could be treated as equivalent. No matter how you became a refugee, you owed the court taxes—this was clear. If caught by the authorities, you were first guilty. When Guan Tinglong told Yun Ye that actually the great marsh wasn’t lacking people—they were just all refugees—there were seventy-six large water bandit groups on Dongting Lake, with countless small water bandit groups. Rather than saying Dongting Lake was Great Tang’s territory, it would be better to say it was entirely controlled by water bandits.

Great Tang had just founded the nation twenty-some years ago and had no time or energy to suppress bandits. As long as they didn’t harass the prefectures, the authorities turned a blind eye to their existence.

Yun Ye was different. Right now, he wanted to drag even a dog to the construction site, let alone a lake full of refugees. He deliberately took a merchant ship to Dongting Lake to experience these water bandits. Upon contact, Yun Ye greatly liked these water bandits. As long as they underwent labor reform, they would definitely become good citizens.