Do you have the strength to force me to join the Liangshan bandits?

Chapter 309 Li Shishi's Successor: Emperor Huizong of Song Received the Same Treatment! [1st Update]

"Second Uncle—"

"Nephew—"

Upon meeting, Yang Zhi and Yang Zaixing embraced tightly, unable to hold back their sorrowful tears.

Cai Fu knew why they were so sad; only the two of them, uncle and nephew, remained of the Yang family line.

There was nothing wrong before we met, but after we met, we realized that we were each other's only family in the world.

The uncle and nephew each recounted their experiences, and Yang Zaixing cried again when he talked about Yang Zhi selling his knife.

Then, when Yang Zhi's birthday gifts were stolen at Huangni Ridge and he had nowhere to go, Yang Zaixing cried again.

This child is too sentimental!

Cai Fu patted Yang Zaixing's head twice, but sentimental people are the ones who value relationships and loyalty.

A rational person could never do something like "I laugh as I brandish my sword at the sky, my heart and soul remain loyal to the Kunlun Mountains."

Yang Zaixing told Yang Zhi that he had become Cai Fu's godfather, which made Yang Zhi very happy.

After all, by not changing his name or surname, Yang Zaixing's adoption of Cai Fu as his godfather meant he had gained another powerful backer.

Because the Yang family spear technique was passed down orally from father to son, Yang Zaixing's spear technique was not complete.

Yang Zhi then asked Yang Zaixing to learn martial arts from him, as he wanted to pass on all his skills to Yang Zaixing.

Of course, Yang Zhi could also learn the complete parts of the material from Yang Zaixing.

At the same time, Qiu Qiongying struck up a conversation with Li Xiulian and found out all about Li Xiulian's background.

This was what Qiu Qiongying thought; in fact, Li Xiulian had thoroughly investigated her background.

After thoroughly examining each other, they each gave an objective evaluation of the other.

Qiu Qiongying: A mere maidservant, how laughable!
Li Xiulian: Little adopted sister, how laughable!
After handing Yang Zaixing over to Yang Zhi, Cai Fu, along with Lu Junyi, Lu Zhishen, and Wu Song, went to An Daoquan's Divine Physician Camp.

Following Cai Fu's directives, An Daoquan carefully selected dozens of promising young talents with exceptional medical skills from Liangshan Marsh.

After several months of careful training, the Divine Physician Camp now has more than a dozen capable doctors.

This is different from the doctors that Chao Gai and Song Jiang kidnapped from the common people in the past; they can all be considered disciples of An Daoquan.

So now An Daoquan is much more relaxed and has tasted the benefits, and is preparing to train more disciples in the future.

Anyway, with Cai Fu's support, An Daoquan's position was as secure as Mount Tai, so he had more time to spend with Li Qiaonu.

Li Qiaonu really needs companionship!

Han Shizhong is receiving treatment from An Daoquan at the Divine Doctor Camp, and Cai Fu came to the camp mainly to see him.

"Big brother!"

When Han Shizhong saw Cai Fu arrive while lying in his hospital bed, he immediately tried to struggle to get up and greet him, but Cai Fu pressed him back down.
"Don't move, just rest and recover."

An Daoquan described Han Shizhong's injuries from the side:

"He wasn't seriously injured, received timely treatment, and is in good health. As long as he rests for a month, he'll be a vigorous and powerful man again!"

Cai Fu was relieved.

Han Shizhong was one of the "Four Generals of the Restoration" and one of the "Seven Kings of the Southern Song Dynasty," a loyal and capable general who was on par with Yue Fei.

If one day he were to achieve the ultimate victory, Han Shizhong would surely be there to support him.

Lu Junyi patted Han Shizhong: "Sixth brother, come and help me manage the Qilin Camp after you recover from your injuries."

"Then we can spar with each other often!"
"I'm not trying to be mean, but you still need to practice your swordsmanship!"

Han Shizhong blushed and said, "Please give me your guidance, Second Brother."

Although Han Shizhong had become sworn brothers with Cai Fu and the others, he joined too late and lacked sufficient prestige and achievements. Directly promoting him to the position of Red Turban leader would certainly not be convincing to the people.

So Cai Fu made it clear to him that he would start as a leader and become Lu Junyi's deputy general.

Once Han Shizhong has built up his prestige and achieved results, Cai Fu will naturally promote him to take charge of a major task.

Han Shizhong had originally climbed up from the bottom, so he understood Cai Fu's intentions and harbored no resentment.

"Brother, have you fallen for a honey trap?"

After exchanging pleasantries, Han Shizhong inquired about the matter he had instructed Cai Fu to handle.

Cai Fu: "We met."

Han Shizhong teased, "Big brother didn't fall for the trap, did he?"

Cai Fu chuckled: "I've succeeded. I've already brought the beauty back to be my maid."

Lu Zhishen suddenly realized: "So that young lady was sent by the imperial court!"
"I'll go and kill her right now!"

"Sit down, what's the rush!"

Cai Fu quickly called out to Lu Zhishen:

"Third brother, the court is using a honey trap, but I can use a counter-espionage strategy!"
"Wouldn't it be wonderful to turn the tables on them?"

Lu Zhishen was completely baffled: "Brother, what's all this talk about plans!"
"Let her eat three hundred blows with my staff first, then we'll talk about reason!"

"Then let's make it into minced meat sauce..."

Cai Fu waved his hand: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

On his way back to his lodgings from the Divine Physician Camp, Cai Fu passed by a cliff and happened to meet Shi Qian training his troops.

After Shi Qian established the intelligence battalion, he selected one thousand men who were suitable to be intelligence agents.

There are two or three hundred people who are born with a penchant for petty thievery, and with a little training from Shi Qian, they can become quite skilled.

At Shi Qian's command, hundreds of naked intelligence soldiers silently charged toward the cliff.

That cliff was a full ten zhang high and extremely steep; in Cai Fu's opinion, even a mountain goat might not be able to climb it.

But these intelligence soldiers were like hairless monkeys; they quickly and nimbly reached the top.

There was no vegetation on the cliff, not even a single blade of grass, except for a large ginkgo tree at the top of the cliff.

The intelligence soldiers who reached the summit would pick a ginkgo leaf and bring it back to Shi Qian.

Before long, Shi Qian had dozens of leaves in his hand, but Shi Qian's expression was not good.

Because the other intelligence soldiers either came down halfway up, or didn't have the strength to climb the tree after reaching the top...

Several even tumbled down the cliff, but luckily they were caught by a large net below and weren't injured. "Brother, it's mainly because the first batch of trained elites have all been sent out; these are the ones that weren't chosen..."

Shi Qian blushed as he explained to Cai Fu, who put his arm around his shoulder and asked with a smile:

"How many people have been sent out?"

Shi Qian: "Originally there were more than 250 people, all of whom were thieves before they joined Liangshan."

"My younger brother trained them for a few months and they became skilled. Now, two hundred spies have been sent out."

"Mainly in the prefectures and cities around Liangshanbo, as well as Tokyo, Weisheng Prefecture, Nanfeng Prefecture, Erlongshan and other places."

"These are the leftovers. Keep them on the mountain to continue training. I guarantee they'll be as swarming as fleas!"

Cai Fu patted Shi Qian's little shoulder with satisfaction:

"Well done, bro, I'm rooting for you!"

Shi Qian puffed out his little chest muscles excitedly: "Brother, don't worry, I will definitely live up to your expectations!"

Meanwhile, Sister-in-law Gu is on a killing spree.

"Say it or not! Say it or not! Say it or not!"

Sister-in-law Gu took a boning knife and made dozens of cuts on the bearded man who was about to kill Li Xiulian!

Each cut was just deep enough to penetrate about three-tenths of an inch into the flesh, so there wasn't much bleeding and it wasn't particularly painful.

The bearded man thought it was nothing special, and stubbornly called out to Sister-in-law Gu:
"That's it? That's it?"

"You probably don't know what my nickname is!"

Sister-in-law Gu sneered as she tossed the boning knife aside, clapped her hands, and several henchmen came in carrying a few wine jars.

Sister-in-law Gu opened a wine jar and showed it to the bearded man.

Upon closer inspection, the bearded man was astonished to find that the wine jar contained a great many earthworms!

The earthworms were all freshly dug out of the mud by the lake, and they were all intertwined and coiled together.

Sister-in-law Gu used chopsticks to pick up an earthworm and placed it on Big Beard's wound. The earthworm instinctively burrowed into the wound.

The bearded man couldn't help but gasp. Sister-in-law Gu asked with a smile, "How is it?"

The bearded man scoffed, "That's it? That's it?"

"Have the guts!"

Sister-in-law Gu asked for a different wine jar, opened it, and showed it to Big Beard. Big Beard saw that it was full of maggots!

"Just caught from the outhouse, isn't it fat!"

Sister-in-law Gu used her chopsticks to pick up a plump, white maggot and placed it on the big bearded man's wound.

The bearded man's face turned green. Sister-in-law Gu asked with a smile, "How was it?"

The bearded man gritted his teeth: "That's it? That's it?"

"Have the guts!"

Sister-in-law Gu then opened a different wine jar and showed it to Big Beard. Big Beard looked at it and saw that it contained ants!

Sister-in-law Gu used chopsticks to pick up one ant after another and place them on Big Beard's wound.

The bearded man was almost in tears, but Sister-in-law Gu asked with a smile, "How is it?"

The bearded man was already convinced: "I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"Have the guts!"

Sister-in-law Gu replaced the wine jar with another one, opened it, and showed it to Big Beard. Big Beard saw that it was full of spiders!

Sister-in-law Gu picked up a large, round, black spider with her chopsticks, but Sun Xin quickly stopped her:

"My lady, he's finally talking..."

"Useless things!"

Aunt Gu, quite displeased, put the spider back into the wine jar and encouraged Big Beard:

"You dare to lie? I also have centipedes, millipedes, and caterpillars here..."

The bearded man, with snot and tears streaming down his face, said, "No, no, I swear every word is true!"

"Actually, Li Xiulian..."

Of course, Sister-in-law Gu couldn't believe his one-sided story, and even if she did, Sun Xin couldn't believe it either.

They interrogated the burly men and the old man separately, and by comparing their testimonies, they could determine the truth.

"You can know a person's face but not their heart!"

Sister-in-law Gu angrily kicked the table over:

"I thought Li Xiulian was a good daughter!"

"Turns out she's a beautiful snake!"

"Fortunately, Brother Cai Fu saw it long ago. That Li Xiulian, no, Li Ping'er, can't fool you!"

Sun Xin carefully lifted the table:

"My wife, please don't get angry, or you'll harm the baby!"

"Our Sun family only has this one son..."

"I know, I know!"

Sister-in-law Gu, annoyed, used her pregnant belly to push him over.
"Get out of the way, I'm going to report to Brother Cai Fu!"

"My wife, you rest. I'll go!"

Sun Xin got up and coaxed Sister-in-law Gu to go to her room to rest during her pregnancy, while he quickly took a boat to Jinshatan Beach.

Soon Sun Xin arrived at Cai Fu's house, only to find Li Xiulian, no, Li Ping'er, serving Cai Fu as he washed his feet.

Li Ping'er's skills in serving others were personally trained by Li Shishi, the most famous courtesan in the Song Dynasty.

She was Li Shishi's cousin, and Li Shishi wanted to groom her as her successor, so how could she not do her best?

Let's just say that's the kind of treatment Emperor Huizong of Song received!
Cai Fu sat imposingly on the edge of the bed, while Li Ping'er knelt on the ground and gently lifted one of his large feet.

(End of this chapter)