For the first time, Han Zhe wanted to fight thoroughly and satisfyingly. He was very clear that he should be running now, but he just couldn’t control his own legs. He was clearly fleeing—so why was he charging forward? The fellow before him had very high martial skills and he very likely couldn’t beat him—so why not escape? He only needed to flip over that low wall, then follow that tree to fly onto the rooftop, then run to another hiding place in the city. He could completely make a comeback.

After slashing at Dan Ying dozens of times, Han Zhe finally confirmed that he truly had not the slightest intention of running. He only wanted to chop these bastards before him into meat sauce. What his brain was thinking was one thing, what his body wanted to do was another matter entirely. The two absolutely could not be confused, so Han Zhe brought out all his abilities, fighting Dan Ying to the death in this small space.

The clashing sounds of blades and swords attracted several young bandit chiefs. They carefully poked their heads out from the broken wall and discovered Dan Ying fighting inseparably with Han Zhe, while those two terrifying giants leaned against each other sitting motionless in a pool of blood. Only then did they boldly walk over from the other side of the wall.

“Whoever kills Old Scoundrel Han becomes lord of Dongting Lake!” Han Zhe shouted this sentence amid his hectic activity. As long as they could kill Old Scoundrel Han, the master fighting him would retreat on his own. Then everyone could swarm forward and chop him into dog meat sauce.

“Little Ying, can you handle this or not? If not, this big brother is coming up. I’ve long found this bastard unpleasant to look at.” A bearded water bandit laughed “hehe” as he pulled out his horizontal blade, looking eager to try.

“Cheng Feng, if you dare come up, I’ll skin you when we get back.” After dodging several consecutive slashing strikes from Han Zhe, Dan Ying replied irritably. Masters were hard to find—these past years he’d been so lonely he was going crazy. Now even trash like Cheng Feng was coming to mock him.

Han Zhe looked back at the dead Han Nu. He contracted his body and rolled like a ball to Dan Ying’s side. His snow-bright blade rolled in waves toward Dan Ying’s legs.

This time Dan Ying didn’t dodge. With several continuous strikes he scattered the blade waves, saying with a smile: “It’s useless. If this is all you’ve got, you can’t escape. Fight me properly—maybe I’ll let you go.”

An umbrella suddenly emerged from Han Zhe’s chest, barely blocking the horizontal blade Dan Ying had slashed over. His body retreated with the force. Qin Zhan’s long mo-blade came spinning over with a whooshing sound. To save time, Han Zhe still didn’t dodge or evade, moving the umbrella from his chest to his back. The mo-blade struck heavily on his back. An arrow of blood immediately sprayed out, and his body also fell toward that low wall with the powerful force. As long as he reached the low wall, the mechanism installed there would naturally send him safely to the hidden room.

His body fell for a very long time without hitting the ground—this was Han Zhe’s sensation. His back burned with searing pain, nearly making him pass out. The only thing he could do was look at this opportunity. From the tone in which Cheng Feng and his opponent spoke, the two were as familiar as could be. Such circumstances weren’t wonderful—leaving quickly was the best policy.

Once the thought of retreat arose, he immediately lost the courage to fight. Han Zhe wasn’t a fool—in an instant he understood he’d fallen into a trap, perhaps a very large trap. If he didn’t leave now, when would he?

The familiar sound of the mechanism activating didn’t ring out. Only then did he discover he’d fallen onto a large net. Four familiar young people were laughing “xixi haha” as they looked at him. These few were also water bandit leaders he’d promoted himself.

Both of Han Zhe’s legs were caught in the fishing net. With a wave of his hand, a large cloud of yellow powder was flung out. The four young water bandits didn’t dare meet its edge head-on and dragged the fishing net running upwind. All the yellow powder followed the wind and floated onto Han Nu’s body. Han Zhe inhaled a huge gulp of the choking powder and couldn’t help coughing violently. Struggling, he pulled out a large handful of medicinal pills from his chest and stuffed them in his mouth before stopping the coughing. Even so, threads of blood had already appeared at the corners of his mouth. He scratched at his chest cavity, tearing his clothes to tatters. On his pale chest, seven or eight bloody scratch marks had already appeared.

“Bind me!” Han Zhe shouted hoarsely. Cheng Feng and Qin Zhan didn’t dare be negligent. They hurriedly untied their belts and bound Han Zhe’s body tightly. Even like this, Han Zhe still struggled desperately without rest. His pale face turned bright red, as if he was in tremendous pain.

Seeing the general situation was settled, Liu Fang came to the low wall where Dan Ying had wanted to go. He picked up a fist-sized stone and tossed it over. The result was no reaction at all. Puzzled, he walked forward two steps. With just a “clang” sound, his entire person fell into a black hole. His body barely landed on a great pile of straw. His age showing after all, after this fall his back was very uncomfortable. Struggling, he said to Dan Ying who was lying at the hole’s opening: “Little Ying, it’s over. You fire the fireworks signal. This old man twisted his back. Let’s live in the hole for a few days. When the water bandits are too hungry to bear it, they’ll surrender. Now we need to extract ourselves from inside.”

Dan Ying wiped the cold sweat from his head. Just now when Liu Fang had fallen into the black hole, he’d almost cried out. Fortunately the person was fine—otherwise there’d be no way to explain to his brother-in-law.

Dan Ying lit the fireworks signal and jumped down from above. Cheng Feng grabbed Han Zhe, wrapped him tightly in the fishing net, and threw him down from above. Then several people descended one after another. The last to come down, Cheng Feng groped to push up two thick wooden boards like stone slabs, refastening them. This time, even if someone stepped on them, they wouldn’t know there was a big pit underneath.

Dan Ying walked at the front holding a fire starter. After turning twice, they arrived at a stone room, tidied very cleanly. The ground was covered with straw like golden threads—very comfortable to lie on. Nearby shelves held lots of food—air-dried chicken and smoked meat. In bamboo baskets hanging on the wall were many large flatbreads. What made Cheng Feng happiest was that there was actually a large jar of wine, the mud seal on top not even removed. Beside it was a small hole just large enough for one person to stick their head out. After Qin Zhan stuck his head out, he discovered with surprise that not far from him was actually the water surface of a well. With just an extended arm he could reach the cool well water.

A young water bandit walked into another corridor. Before long he returned, the fire starter still lit. He spat and said: “Bad luck—that’s the latrine over there.”

Liu Fang pointed at an oil bowl on the wall. Dan Ying tossed the fire starter into it. Instantly a bright flame rose up, illuminating the entire stone room. Very peculiar—there was actually no smoke. Liu Fang sniffed and said: “This is actually whale brain oil. This stuff seems to only be available from the Yun Family—how is it here too?”

Dan Ying scratched his head embarrassedly and said: “Brother-in-law gave the whale brain oil business to Daya as part of her dowry. These past two years quite a bit has been sold. This guy actually has some too.”

Qin Zhan propped the finally quieted Han Zhe against the wall. This fellow immediately slid down softly to the base of the wall. Only then did Dan Ying notice this guy’s clothes were already soaked through with sweat.

Yun Ye sat in the troop review tower, his eyes constantly staring at Yuezhou City. Not until two bright shooting stars rose from the city did he nod. After returning to sit inside the troop review tower, he said to Wu She: “The great matter is settled. Little Ying, Master Liu and the others have captured that fellow. Now they just need to find the hidden room I prepared for them in the city. After living there a few days, everything will be perfectly fine.”

Hearing Yun Ye say this, Wu She put down the teacup in his hand and said slowly: “I’ve accompanied you drinking bland tea and water for a day and night. Now we can switch to drinking wine, right? Bring up some good dishes too—filling ones. You’re a young person who can withstand hunger, but for an old man like me, going hungry isn’t good.”

Old Qian immediately went to arrange wine and food. Where would the wily old steward Qian not understand? This time the Marquis had won another great victory. Thinking of the several cheap plots of land he’d picked out for the family, Old Qian felt like his body was floating in the sky, feet treading on soft clouds, completely comfortable throughout. Seeing Little Lingdang busily cooking porridge in the back, his old face smiled like a chrysanthemum.

Zhangsun Chong rode his war horse, wielding a large halberd, his crimson cloak pulled straight by the strong wind—what an imposing and majestic general. He quickly galloped onto a small hill, looking down at Yuezhou City smoking everywhere, looking like ruins. He pointed his riding crop at the city walls and said to Yang Yueming: “Such a city—you and I should be able to take it in one assault.”

Yang Yueming shook his head and said: “Our Grand Marshal won’t allow an attack. We just need to guard the city gates well and not let the water bandits run out. There’s not a single grain of rice in the city. After three days of hunger, even iron-forged heroes will soften into a puddle of mud. Then we go in and collect dead dogs—not worth trading our brothers’ lives for it.”

“Fighting wars with your Grand Marshal is just so boring. They’re just water bandits—killing a few to exchange for some military merit for the brothers would be good. But he absolutely won’t let us massacre freely.” Zhangsun Chong was a bit unhappy.

“General Zhangsun, it’s better if we follow our Grand Marshal’s orders. These water bandits all have their uses. We’re about to start building the new city. Materials from everywhere are all prepared. As long as we save the labor costs too, won’t we all get rich? When it comes to making money, listen to our Grand Marshal—you won’t go wrong.”

Hearing Yang Yueming’s words, Zhangsun Chong’s face finally showed a smile. Three days at most—in three days he could make a huge fortune. Hearing that the land deeds for the new city had all been returned to Yun Ye by the merchants, Zhangsun Chong, for the sake of brotherhood, had also purchased some land deeds. Now it was good—the water bandits on the lake had almost all been killed clean. Only a few small fish remained, being chased all over the lake by Liu Renyuan. It probably wouldn’t take long before their heads would be hung on flagpoles by those madmen from the sea. The bandits on land had now all burrowed into Yuezhou City. In a few days when they were too hungry to bear it, they would collapse. He didn’t need to worry about it.

When Guan Tinglong, Han Cheng, Qian Sheng, and Cui Jiu, who had served as county magistrate for a few days, rushed to beneath Yuezhou City, they saw a strange scene. Water bandits on the city walls were constantly grabbing ropes to slide down. Often before they’d even slid to the base of the city walls, they’d be nailed alive to the walls by eight-ox crossbows. Those water bandits hit by crossbow bolts who couldn’t die immediately were nailed to the city walls, loudly pleading and weeping, yet no one paid them any heed.