The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 121 Strangulation
The rebel army from the Jin Kingdom was just about to cross the mountains when they were ambushed by thousands of powerful crossbowmen hidden in the forest. The arrows rained down like death warrants, and everyone was caught off guard and pierced by thousands of arrows. They had no time to prepare for anything, unaware that some people had died even earlier than them.

As early as that night, dozens of boats were hiding in the reeds on one side of Taihu Lake under the cover of darkness.

A thin and haggard young man dressed in a white scholar's robe and wearing a white turban was sitting in the cabin. He was just over twenty years old, but his hair was already white. He coughed incessantly, and his reddened eyes were fixed on the oil lamp in front of him.

Beside him stood a burly man dressed in a short-sleeved fisherman's outfit. He was robust and crudely dressed, completely unlike the young man.

He picked up the still-warm teapot, poured a cup of tea for the young man, and pushed it towards him.

"Young Master Han, have some tea to soothe your throat. It's still early, why don't you rest for a while? I'll call you to set off when it's time."

Young Master Han came to his senses, but instead of drinking the tea, he smiled bitterly and said, "With my father's revenge still unavenged, how can I sleep? This time, I owe a great debt to Chief Zhou for his strong support."

Chief Zhou replied, "Young Master Han, what are you saying? Not to mention that although my brothers from Taihu Lake Stronghold are originally from the water bandits, they also know the meaning of loyalty and righteousness."

My late father was a military officer in the imperial court. After he died in battle against the Jin Dynasty, the people in the court accused him of poor command, causing heavy losses to his troops, and directly confiscated my Zhou family's property.

If I hadn't been practicing martial arts away from home at the time, I would have been beheaded many years ago. From then on, I became an outlaw and stopped serving the imperial court.

However, my father died at the hands of Jin Gou, and I deeply hate him. Young Master Han's request to kill Jin Gou together is exactly what I wanted.

Moreover, Young Master Han is very generous; my brothers have all received resettlement allowances. How could they not be willing to die for him?

Young Master Han nodded and said, "Many righteous men are found in this wilderness; I truly believe this today."

After daybreak, we took a boat from Taihu Lake, went ashore, bypassed Suzhou City, and arrived at Tiger Hill ahead of others to ambush them.

Shi Chang of the Shi family is stirring up trouble in Suzhou, with spies everywhere, but he doesn't know that I haven't even entered Suzhou. Let's see how he finds my trail.

Once the Golden Dog Messenger arrives, lead your brothers to immediately charge out and capture him.

"As long as I obtain evidence that Shi Miyuan betrayed the Song Dynasty, and exonerate my late father, I can kill Shi Miyuan and avenge my entire Han family of one hundred people."

"Don't worry, young master. All of us brothers are brave and fierce, and with the weapons you've given us, we dare to even touch the Jin army."

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Wanyan Shang picked up another crisp jujube, but this time he didn't throw it away. Instead, he stuffed it into the mouth of the beautiful maid.

"This second ambush is said to be aimed at the remnants of Han Tuozhou."

"That's right. After the Han family's property was confiscated, only Han Tuozhou's youngest son was released. Although Han Tuozhou is dead, his remaining forces have not yet been wiped out."

Most of the pro-war faction in the court appeared subservient on the surface, but secretly supported the remnants of the Han family.

Unfortunately, even among the so-called pro-war faction, there were opportunists who sided with my father early on and told me their plans in detail.

They used the money to recruit people for the remaining rebels and secretly transported out weapons, unaware that their every move had already been discovered by us.

My master now possesses all the evidence against them. Once the remnants of the Han family are dead, he will purge the court and utterly crush these war faction members.

~~~~~~~~~~~
The dawn broke, and the sun was already rising over Taihu Lake. Young Master Han downed his chilled tea in one gulp; the coolness invigorated him. He turned to Chief Zhou and said, "Chief Zhou, the time has come. Today our uprising will surely succeed. We will rebuild the Song Dynasty and restore order to our land. Chief Zhou will deserve a share of the credit." Chief Zhou understood, climbed out of the cabin, and loudly called to his men. But before they could all respond, they heard them cry out, "Fire! Chief, fire!"

The reed marsh they were in had been calm just moments before, but in an instant it was engulfed in flames. At that time, the wind on Taihu Lake was not strong, so how could the fire spread so quickly?

He bent down and touched the water's surface, only to discover that it was covered in kerosene. In the short time it took him to react, the fire grew larger and larger, and the smoke enveloped the entire reed marshland, making it impossible to control.

Knowing that their plan had been exposed, Chief Zhou knew that escaping was the priority. He was quite righteous, so he pulled the completely stunned Young Master Han out of the cabin and shouted, "Go underwater! Everyone escape and leave the rest to fate!"

After saying that, he grabbed the trembling Young Master Han and jumped into the water, forcing himself to swim away.

The fire spread rapidly. Some people were knocked unconscious by the smoke, while others, who had not dived deep enough, were covered in oil and burned to death on the lake surface amidst screams. Only a few survived and crawled out of the reeds; less than one in ten remained.

But by this time, the reed marshes were already surrounded by the navy, all dressed as Song Dynasty soldiers. On one of the warships, a man who looked like a military general sat upright in a grand chair, drinking tea and leisurely watching the towering flames.

Upon discovering that someone had swum out of the water, he said nothing, but with a wave of his hand, hundreds of soldiers, dressed in fish-skin water armor and carrying short knives, plunged into the water.

In the short span of half an incense stick's time, a large amount of blood appeared on the water. Although the Taihu Lake bandits were skilled swimmers, they were outnumbered and quickly slaughtered.

Finally, several naval soldiers brought the already stabbed Chief Zhou and the unconscious Han Gongzi, who had choked on water, to the military commander.

The military officer, not having seen the completely dead Chief Zhou, frowned and ordered the soldiers to throw him away. Then he reached out and checked Young Master Han's breath; he was still breathing.

"Very good. With this remnant of the Han family around, it will be difficult for this general not to be promoted this time."

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At this moment, Shi Shun felt confident and self-satisfied, and unconsciously raised his attitude towards Wanyan Shang.

"Judging by the time, the people led by the remnants of the Han family must have been almost completely wiped out. Those pro-war faction members won't have a good time from now on."

Wanyan Shang took out a crisp jujube and put it in his mouth, then gestured for Shi Shun to try one as well.

"I don't know much about the three ambushes that followed. Please tell me the story, Young Master Shi."

Shi Shun also took a bite of the crisp date, and felt his mouth water, his smile widening.

"This third group is aimed at those outlaws and scoundrels, who are a diverse group with their own agendas."

In particular, the Beggars' Sect has always defied the government's control and caused trouble everywhere. There are also some people like the Beggars' Sect who claim to be loyal and righteous, and their purpose in coming here is to sabotage the peace talks.

My father believes that the Beggars' Sect and those who are not loyal to the imperial court must be taught a lesson.

The rest of the people were not worth mentioning. They didn't care about the peace talks between Song and Jin, nor were they interested in military books. However, they had heard that the "Wumu Legacy" contained the essence of Yue Fei's martial arts. You should know that although Yue Fei was not a martial arts practitioner, he was still a top master.

They're all like hyenas, pouncing on anything that offers a benefit. That's fine, their intentions are different, which makes them useful to me.

These rabble, having heard the news we spread, are marching towards Tiger Hill, but unfortunately, they are destined never to reach it.

(End of this chapter)