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

Chapter 572 Zong Ze: You're cheating! [1st update]

Zong Baoguo, Wang Jing, and the others all turned to look at King Qi.

At this moment, the general with a leopard's head, round eyes, swallow's jaw, and tiger's beard was introducing the preliminary selection, which he called "Contending for Hegemony at Qingfeng Mountain".

Cai Fu drew a hilltop on Qingfeng Mountain to serve as the preliminary competition venue.

All contestants will be assigned to this hilltop.

You can only bring water, not food, and you can survive on the mountain for three days.

The key item is the waist tag.

If your badge is gone after three days, or if you withdraw early, then you are considered eliminated.

Three days later, you will only have your own waist tag, and you will also lose your eligibility for the second round of interviews.

However, at this stage, if you join the Qi army directly, you can start as a captain.

That's pretty good, after all, a captain is equivalent to a general of a hundred men, and can command a hundred soldiers.

Three days later, if you have more than two waist tokens, you will automatically proceed to the second round of interviews.

If you have more than ten waist tokens, you will automatically enter the final round.

Those who make it to the finals start as commanders.

Five cities were under one command, meaning that the commander could lead five hundred soldiers.

Don't assume that there's only one rank difference between a captain and a commander; the difference between those ranks is huge.

Swords and spears are indiscriminate, clubs and sticks are merciless; there's nothing that can be done about it, and those who practice martial arts are bound to suffer bumps and bruises.

Therefore, the rules allow injuring others, but not killing.

The murderer, once identified, will be torn to pieces.

Each person is equipped with a signal arrow, which is used to signal if they are injured or forced to withdraw.

A rescue team will come to pick them up.

Zongfang discovered a key point: "Father, we can form an alliance!"
"As long as my son and I are together, we'll be invincible."

"If I really can't snatch someone else's waist token, I can give you mine, and then you'll advance, Daddy!"

"Bullshit! You think I need what you give me? That's cheating!"

Zong Baoguo glared at his son: "But an alliance is possible."

"King Qi's preliminary selection was very well done. It not only tested their ability to survive in the wild and their individual combat skills, but also their organizational, command, and leadership abilities..."

"I wonder who is advising the King of Qi."

Wang Jing chimed in from the side, "I've heard that the King of Qi has four great strategists under his command: Wen Huanzhang, Zhu Wu, Li Gang, and Li Zhu..."

"Li Gang?"

Zong Baoguo's eyes widened: "Could it be Li Gang, the Grand Counselor?"

Wang Jing: "It's this Li Gang!"

Zong Baoguo could hardly believe his ears: "Li Gang is a great loyal minister!"

"Could it be that he was also demoted by the emperor...?"

Wang Jing was taken aback: "Also?"

Zong Baoguo quickly changed the subject: "Listen, what did General Lin say?"

Wang Jing, fearing he might have missed something, quickly looked at Lin Chong, who then said:
"...These are all the rules!"
"Participants, please collect your water pouches, signal arrows, healing items, and other necessary supplies. Prepare to depart!"

As expected, he overheard it, but Wang Jing felt it shouldn't have much of an impact, after all, he was incredibly brave.

He's determined to be the vanguard general in this campaign against Liao!

At the same time, Yang Zaixing, Gao Chong, Zhang Kui and the others thought the same thing.

Cai Fu only allowed the second generation of Liangshan Marsh to participate, so this was their stage to shine.

To avoid attracting attention, they deliberately didn't ride white horses or wear white robes, dressing like江湖 heroes.

They didn't even stand together, since a group of teenagers standing together would be too conspicuous and would easily be guessed as the adopted sons of the State of Qi.

Of course, there were more than just a few of them in the second generation of Liangshan.

Niu Gao, Dong Xian, Zheng Huai, Di Lei, Luo Yanqing and others also came to Qingzhou from all over the country.

As for the established figures from the second generation, such as Zhu Tong, Yang Xiong, and Zhang Qing, they won't join in the fun.

Niu Gao, standing near Gao Chong, leaned over and whispered in Gao Chong's ear: "Brother Chong, with so many brothers of the second generation of Liangshan, when we all get together, won't all the waist tokens be ours?"

"Duh!"

Gao Chong rolled her eyes at him, annoyed.
"Don't you know that my father only did three things when he established the State of Qi?"

"If we all come together, where is the fairness?"

"Watch out, don't run into me, I won't hold back!"

Niu Gao was also drunk, so he had no choice but to leave dejectedly.

"Chong-ge'er, you're really too stubborn!"

Niu Gao went to other people, but they all said the same thing, and even his junior brother refused to form an alliance with him.

However, Niu Gao overheard others discussing forming an alliance, which made his dark face turn completely white with anger.

The Blood Dragon Riders brought 321 contestants to Qingfeng Mountain, where the Great Sword Camp led the way to deploy them.

Cai Fu mobilized 10,000 troops to surround the hilltop to prevent any unforeseen events.

At noon, the preliminary selection officially began.

Niu Gao was led to a dense forest by two soldiers from the Big Sword Camp. With a grin, he asked the two soldiers:
"My name is Niu Gao, my two brothers!"

"Don't worry if you haven't heard of me, you must have heard of my master!"

"My master is 'Flowery Monk' Lu Zhishen!"

"Can I talk to you guys... Hey? Hey? Don't go!"

The two soldiers from the Big Sword Battalion disappeared into the dense forest without looking back. Niu Gao stamped his foot in frustration.

"I haven't eaten yet!"

Because he drank too much last night, he got up late this morning and rushed to Xiaoxiaochang without eating breakfast.

As soon as he arrived at Qingfeng Mountain, he got hungry, so Niu Gao had no choice but to carry two iron maces to find something to eat.

He hadn't walked far when he spotted a wild rabbit, and Niu Gao happily went after it.

But the rabbit, though not fast, darted into the grass and disappeared somewhere.

Niu Gao was feeling down when he suddenly saw a boy carrying a wild rabbit walking out of the woods.

"rabbit!"

Niu Gao spread out his two four-sided iron maces, like a giant crab blocking the path of the boy.

"Give me back my rabbit!"

The boy, carrying a rabbit in one hand and a hatchet in the other, glared at them:
"I caught this rabbit, why should I return it to you?"

Niu Gao shouted, "I spotted this rabbit first and chased it into the woods, but you got the benefit!"
"Give me back my rabbit if you know what's good for you, or don't blame my iron mace for being blind!"

The boy, not wanting to return it, threw the rabbit to the ground, stunning it. Then, their two large axes, each the size of a cartwheel, clashed together.
"My axe doesn't have eyes either!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

Niu Gao swung his four-sided iron mace at the boy:

"Let's settle this once and for all!"

"The male eats the rabbit, and the female skins and roasts it for the male!"

The boy, enraged, yelled and brandished his axe, engaging Niu Gao in battle.

The two fought forty or fifty rounds, with neither gaining the upper hand.

Niu Gao exclaimed in surprise, "Young man, you wield that axe quite well!"

The boy snorted coldly, "Your iron rod is quite something!"

"This is called an iron mace!"

Niu Gao felt he couldn't win against this half-grown boy, so he decisively decided to turn enemy into friend:
"Young brother, you can't do anything to me, and I can't do anything to you either. How about we form an alliance?"

"If we brothers team up, we'll be invincible when we snatch other people's waist tokens, won't we?"

The boy, upon hearing this, exclaimed, "That makes sense!"

So the two stopped fighting, and Niu Gao instructed the young boy:
"Young man, roast the rabbit first, then we can discuss the matter!"

The boy: "..."

(End of this chapter)