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

Chapter 314 Song Jiang: Is there any way to shut Tang Niu'er up? [3rd update, please vote]

"What is his purpose in saying these things? Who instructed him? What is his motive?"

Song Jiang's face darkened.

This isn't Tang Niu'er's first offense; every time they drink together, they bring up his past misdeeds!
But after sobering up, Tang Niu'er remembered nothing.

Once or twice is fine, but if it happens too often, Song Jiang becomes suspicious and angry.
Isn't this ruining his own reputation?

"I think should not be……"

Lei Heng couldn't help but speak up for his fellow villager Tang Niu'er:

"When Tang Niu'er is sober, he never talks nonsense and does his best in everything he does."

"It was just drunken ramblings..."

"Humph!"

Song Jiang looked at Wu Yong: "What does the strategist think?"

Wu Yong originally didn't want to get involved.

After all, Tang Niu'er and Lei Heng were both direct descendants of Song Jiang's Yunzhou faction.

Moreover, Tang Niu'er did indeed take the blame for Song Jiang, so Song Jiang couldn't easily touch Tang Niu'er.

But since Song Jiang had already come to him with the questions, Wu Yong had no choice but to wave his feather fan and say:

"There's no motive, is there...?"

"Tang Niu'er is my brother's direct descendant."

He followed his brother when his brother was still working as a clerk in Yuncheng County.

"If you say he was bribed by the imperial court, his usual behavior doesn't seem to suggest it; everything seems normal."

"The only abnormal thing is that he talks nonsense after drinking, or his brother made him quit drinking from now on?"

"Ugh--"

Song Jiang was very depressed.

Through Tang Niu'er's drunken spread of the news, many people now know that he took the blame for them.

If something were to happen to Tang Niu'er now, what would others think of him?
But no matter how much Tang Niu'er talks nonsense, it won't work!

Although most of the brothers who followed Song Jiang to Erlong Mountain were there for common interests.

That's because Song Jiang had a good reputation, and these brothers were willing to trust him.

For example, if Bai Sheng said he would lead his brothers to accept the imperial pardon, how many heroes would dare to follow him?

The problem now is that Tang Niu'er is damaging Song Jiang's reputation, causing more and more people to doubt Song Jiang's character.

If the brothers all doubt Song Jiang's character, who would dare to continue following him?
Who knows if Song Jiang wanted to lead his brothers to accept the imperial pardon, or if he wanted to use his brothers' blood to stain his own official robes?

"Strategist, I have implicated Tang Niu'er, and I hope to repay him."

Song Jiang grasped Wu Yong's hand and looked at him sincerely:

"Is there any way to make Tang Niu'er feel less wronged?"

Wu Yong covered the lower half of his face with his goose feather fan, lowered his gaze, and pondered for a moment:

"There is a way."

"Erlong Mountain is still a bit cramped to accommodate so many of our brothers. Why don't we open another branch village?"

Song Jiang's eyes lit up: "Open another one? Where should we open it?"

"Qingfeng Mountain".

Wu Yong, waving his goose feather fan, said, "Qingfeng Mountain was originally the territory of Yan Shun, Wang Ai Hu, and Zheng Tian Shou."

“We will open a branch village in Qingfeng Mountain and bury Yan Shun, Wang Ai Hu, and Zheng Tian Shou back in their hometown.”

"In this way, Qingfeng Mountain and Erlong Mountain can complement each other, and their development will be twice as fast."

Song Jiang nodded repeatedly: "That makes sense!"

Wu Yong then said, "Tang Niu'er is my brother's right-hand man, but he joined the mountain too late and has not yet made any contributions, so he cannot win the respect of the masses. Why not send Tang Niu'er with some henchmen to Qingfeng Mountain to conduct a preliminary battle and investigate the situation?"

"It's better to avoid the situation we had when we came to Erlong Mountain, where we had to fight Brother Dong Ping first."

"Tang Niu'er will get the credit, what do you think, brother?"

"Wow! Wow!"

Song Jiang, as expected of Wu Yong's good friend, understood the implied meaning from the song, and immediately felt much more at ease.

The next day, Song Jiang held a large meeting in the main hall of Baozhu Temple and assigned this task to Tang Niu'er:

"Brother Tang, you will set off for Qingfeng Mountain tomorrow. If you handle this matter well, you will be credited with the greatest merit!"

Upon hearing such a good thing, some of the heroes felt envious and jealous, while others praised Song Jiang's benevolence and righteousness...

Investigating the situation at Qingfeng Mountain is practically a freebie; anyone who goes can easily get the credit.

Of course, there were also clever people, such as Zhu Wu and Li Ying, who felt that there was something strange about this matter.

But no one was foolish enough to say it aloud; Zhu Wu and Li Ying both kept their suspicions to themselves.

Tang Niu'er had no choice but to agree, and that night he went to find Li Ying and Du Xing and drank heavily all night.

The next day, Song Jiang personally escorted Tang Niu'er through the three passes, holding Tang Niu'er's hand with reluctance as he parted.
"Brother, take care on your journey!"
"If you encounter bandits robbing you on the road, announce the name of Liangshan Marsh!"

If you're really worried about me getting into trouble, then bring me a few more brothers!

Tang Niu'er glanced back at the few henchmen Song Jiang had brought for him:
They were all misshapen and deformed, and there was even a cripple among them...

Song Jiang's explanation for this was to avoid attracting attention by traveling discreetly and keeping a low profile.

Moreover, Song Jiang said: Brother Tang, you were able to fight the Northern Sword King for twenty rounds without a clear winner!
Ordinary martial arts heroes are no match for you. Bringing so many people will only hold you back!
Tang Niu'er hadn't expected the boomerang to arrive so quickly, and was speechless...

So Tang Niu'er had no choice but to lead his four oddly-looking henchmen down Erlong Mountain with a miserable expression.

Since both Erlong Mountain and Qingfeng Mountain are within Qingzhou, Tang Niu'er will reach Qingfeng Mountain in less than two days.

They stayed at a roadside inn that night. While eating, the lame henchman said to Tang Niu'er:

“Brother, it’s still thirty li from here to Qingfeng Mountain. We’ll be able to reach Qingfeng Mountain tomorrow.”

After hearing this, Tang Niu'er drank a bowl of wine and said:
"I can't take it anymore, I'm drunk, I'm going to rest now."

The four lackeys secretly mocked Tang Niu'er as he staggered upstairs.

Is that all the alcohol you can drink?

No wonder everyone on Erlong Mountain is saying that Chief Tang is going to start talking nonsense after just two bowls of wine!

After the four henchmen had eaten and drunk their fill, they returned to their rooms and went to sleep.

It was already past midnight. The shopkeeper cleaned up the mess and left only one oil lamp in the lobby on the first floor.

Just as the shopkeeper was putting on his coat and preparing to rest, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

"Still getting customers so late?"

It wasn't surprising that the shopkeeper muttered as he went to open the door; these roadside inns catered to guests who had missed their lodgings.

Upon opening the door, the shopkeeper was startled to see several masked men. Just as he was about to close the door, he was stabbed!

"Pfft!"

A masked man with a round face and big ears went up and stabbed him, not intending to leave him alive at all.

The shopkeeper collapsed before he could even cry for help, and several masked men stealthily entered the roadside shop.

They went up to the guest rooms on the second floor, pried open the doors one by one, and started hacking at the people on the beds with knives!

Without even distinguishing faces, they charged from one room to another, preferring to kill the innocent rather than let the guilty go free!

When they reached the last room, several masked men pried open the door and went in, only to be chilled to the bone by the drafty wind.

The masked men looked closely and realized that the window of the guest room was open...

[Don't worry, there's more to come. First, please give me some monthly tickets and recommendations!]

(End of this chapter)