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

Chapter 391 Dong Ping + Gao Qiu: What a Fate! [3rd Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets]

"Brother, although they surrendered, their hearts are not with you!"

Zhu Wu considered carefully and said, "Instead of having to be wary of them, let them choose whether to stay or leave!"

"Those who are willing to stay must be the ones who are truly willing to surrender to their brother!"

"There's no need to feel sorry for those who don't want to stay and leave; they will spread the word about your brother's wisdom and prowess!"

"More than 40,000 people means more than 40,000 mouths to feed!"

"More than 40,000 mouths can eat up my brother's food reserves completely, and also spread my brother's fame throughout the world!"

"I wonder what my brother thinks—"

Zhu Wu winced in pain as Cai Fu listened to his brilliant plan while cleaning the wound on his chest.

"The wound is large, please bear with it."

Cai Fu cleaned Zhu Wu's wounds and applied An Daoquan's secret tiger bone wound medicine to him.

They fed him another of An Daoquan's ancestral tiger penis life-saving pills, and only then did they feel relieved.

Cai Fu thought Zhu Wu's words made sense; with so many surrendered soldiers, just eating them would make him cry.

However, Cai Fu was unwilling to release them all, so he decided to partially adopt their suggestion.

"Brother is right!"

Cai Fu pondered for two seconds: "How about this, select the elite to stay, and release the old, weak, sick and disabled."

"The elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled all need a mouth to eat, a mouth to spread information, and a mouth to fight a war!"

"So let the old, weak, sick and disabled go. In my opinion, the selected elite should not exceed 10,000 people."

"Then we can eat."

Zhu Wu: "Brother is wise!"

……

What do you want to do?

Gao Qiu glared at the two lackeys, both shocked and furious.

These two lackeys are scouts from Liangshan Marsh.

They didn't know that Gao Qiu was released by Cai Fu; they only knew that they had stumbled upon a high-ranking official in the middle of nowhere!

Of course, the two lackeys wouldn't let Gao Qiu go; wasn't this like a windfall?

"You corrupt official, where do you think you're going!"

Two henchmen jumped off their horses, pinned Gao Qiu to the ground, and tied him up with ropes.

Gao Qiu struggled desperately, and just then he heard the loud sound of horses' hooves!
"Help me—"

Gao Qiu immediately shouted at the top of his lungs:

"I am Gao Qiu—"

The sound of hooves was just passing by; the horse galloped past without stopping when Gao Qiu shouted.

Gao Qiu felt a chill run down his spine when a lowly henchman slapped him hard across the face.
"Try calling one more time!"

Gao Qiu cried, and just then, the sound of horses' hooves returned!
Another henchman jumped up and shouted at the man:

"The heroes of Liangshan are here; idlers, stay away..."

"Pfft!"

Before he could finish speaking, a silver spear pierced his throat!

The henchman who was slapping Gao Qiu in the face hurriedly turned around, only to see a flash of cold light, and the spearhead had already pierced through his heart!

The man slewdly killed one of the henchmen with a single spear thrust, hurriedly dismounted, and helped Gao Qiu to his feet.
"Hmph! Minister En, is it really you?"

Gao Qiu was dumbfounded: "You came here to beat me, or to seduce me?"

The man was taken aback: "Hmph! Of course I'm here to rescue my benefactor!"

Then what are you humming about?

Gao Qiu looked at the man with a strange expression. He had a crooked nose and one ear, but otherwise he was quite handsome.

He was absolutely certain that he didn't know that person, so why was he so unhappy that the person had saved him?

"Hmph! Please forgive me, my esteemed minister!"

The man quickly explained, "My nose was broken by a flying stone thrown by the woman of the traitor Cai Fu. After it healed, it was crooked, and I had trouble breathing! So I have to hum before I speak, it's not out of disrespect to you, my esteemed minister..."

"You were also hurt by Cai Hu's women?"

Gao Qiu suddenly felt like he had met family:
"Oh my god! Look at my front teeth!"
"It was all because Cai Hu's woman hit him with iron pellets!"

"Hmph! What a coincidence?"

The man pressed his advantage, saying, "And my ears were cut off by... Cai Fu!"

He recalled a legend about Cai Fu from the martial arts world:
I wield the knife right under the emperor's nose, and I'll slice off the Grand Commandant's ear with a single stroke!
Since he had inadvertently gotten close to Gao Qiu, the man decided to go all out to get close to him!
Gao Qiu suddenly felt even more at ease with him:

"Oh no! My ears were chopped off by Cai Hu!"

"Hmph! I never thought we'd all be ruined by Cai Fu like this!"

The man grasped Gao Qiu's hands with a sense of mutual respect, much like the swindler grasped Fan Debiao's hands:
What a coincidence!

Gao Qiu also felt that it was quite a coincidence.

After all, that person really did have a crooked nose and was missing an ear.

Most importantly, that person had saved him, so Gao Qiu asked him:
"Hero, why do you call yourself a fish?"

The man introduced himself: "Hmph! Your Excellency, my name is Gao Ping!"

"My family was originally well-off, but my wife was taken by Cai Fu's younger brother, Lu Junyi. They stole my wife and killed my whole family..."

"Jealousy!"

Gao Qiu slapped his thigh, right where Cai Fu had stabbed him, and the pain brought tears to his eyes.

"Minister Eun-sung, be careful!"

That person was naturally Dong Ping.

He used the alias Gao Ping mainly because he didn't know if Cheng Wanli had badmouthed him to Tong Guan.

So even though he decided to join Gao Qiu's cause, he secretly created a resume under an assumed name.

In addition, he deliberately shared the same surname as Gao Qiu in order to further strengthen his relationship with Gao Qiu.

"Takahei, are you willing to protect this fat Tokyo?"

Gao Qiu held Dong Ping's hand and painted a rosy picture for him:
"Once we get to Tokyo, I'll promote you to General Fish, what do you say?"

Dong Ping was overjoyed and immediately bowed deeply in gratitude:
"Hmph! I'm willing to go through fire and water for my benefactor, even to the point of sacrificing my life!"

Gao Qiu breathed a sigh of relief and gripped Dong Ping's hand tightly:
"Takahei, I'm entrusting myself to you!"

Dong Ping: "Hmph! It's all because of that scoundrel!"

……

"Brother, after careful selection, we only have a little over six thousand people who can be considered elite!"

After screening the surrendered soldiers, Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, Han Shizhong, and Yang Zhi reported to Cai Fu.

Cai Fu was somewhat surprised: "Of the more than 40,000 surrendered soldiers, only more than 6,000 were selected?"

Han Shizhong explained: "It wasn't just more than 40,000 surrendered soldiers, but also more than 20,000 wounded soldiers. In the end, only more than 6,000 were selected."

"Tsk!"

Cai Fu finally understood why even 800,000 imperial guards couldn't stop the Jin army from advancing south!
The whole army is made up of the old, weak, sick and disabled. And even then, it's not fully staffed. Many of them are just drawing salaries without working!
They weren't old, weak, sick, or disabled, but their training was sporadic, and their equipment was substandard, obtained through kickbacks...

It would be a miracle if they could stop the Jin army!
"Alright."

Cai Fu was fairly satisfied with the result; more than 6,000 people would be easier to digest.

"Brothers, let's go!"

Cai Fu picked up the ghost-head broadsword and slung the back of the blade over his shoulder:
"Let's go up the mountain and see what that chubby little guy is up to!"

"Roar--"

Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, Yang Zhi, and the others had been eagerly waiting for this moment.

So Cai Fu left half of his men to guard the surrendered soldiers and supplies, and led the other half up the mountain.

Although Zhu Wu was injured, he still had to be carried up on a stretcher. He was determined to eat this melon today!

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(End of this chapter)