Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Once he, as the leader of the stronghold, set this precedent, it would be difficult to correct the prevailing atmosphere on Liangshan.

“Brother, there are government officials at the dock. Docking now will only cause trouble.”

Shi Xiu suggested, "Why don't we keep our passenger ship going forward and stop at the next town? Then we can send someone back to find out what's going on. If the girl's family is safe and sound, we can send her back. If her family has been imprisoned by the authorities, we'll figure something out then."

"That's all we can do now," Zhao Yuan nodded helplessly.

The three passenger ships then went upstream and headed north.

On the dock,

Looking in the direction the passenger ship had departed, Liu Guang felt a pang of regret.

If he had been a little harsher on the constables, his daughter wouldn't be in this predicament!

But the thought that attacking the officials would make him no different from a traitor made Liu Guang hesitate again.

.............

On the deck of the passenger ship, Zhang Shun remembered that Li Kui was still hanging on the ship and hadn't been dealt with yet, so he hurriedly asked Zhao Yuan for instructions.

"Put him down. Since he's such a filial son, what harm is there in giving him a ride?"

After Zhao Yuan finished speaking, Zhang Shun hurriedly told Wang Dingliu to untie the ropes binding Li Kui.

Unexpectedly, the dark-skinned man, just like before, thought the passenger ship was going to throw him overboard and immediately began to struggle wildly.

This time, however, there were many people on board.

Long Hu Xiong Jiao, Ruan Xiao Qi, and Shi Xiu all went over to help, and they managed to pull up the rope and drag Li Kui back onto the deck.

Zhang Shun stepped forward and untied Li Kui's ropes.

As soon as the black man was untied, he rushed to the mast and clung tightly to the railing.

"Hehe, none of you can kick me off the ship!" Li Kui chuckled smugly.

The crowd around, watching this dark-skinned fellow act foolishly, burst into laughter.

Even Zhao Yuan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

In the original Water Margin novel, Li Kui is a very well-developed character.

However, he was a man who enjoyed killing innocent people indiscriminately. He could kill four-year-old children, he could kill fifty-year-old people, and he had even eaten human flesh.

During the storming of the execution ground in Jiangzhou, the fighting escalated so fiercely that no one cared about the government troops or the common people; they only focused on charging and killing, leaving corpses strewn across the fields and rivers of blood flowing. It was truly a case of a celestial killer descending to earth.

In truth, Li Kui was an extremely simple-minded person.

If you were to call him an utterly wicked person, this fellow has also done quite a few good deeds.

You might say he's a good man, but he's also done a lot of bad things.

Jin Shengtan believed that Li Kui was utterly innocent and carefree, while Li Zhi believed that Li Kui was neither good nor evil in any way.

The two people's assessments essentially convey the same meaning.

That is, in Li Kui's heart, there is actually no moral standard of good and evil.

This guy acts completely arbitrarily, doing whatever he wants.

Li Kui is like a child, a blank sheet of paper.

He simply allowed his subservient boss to scribble on his paper.

If Song Jiang wrote the word "courage," he would have no fear and would advance to the death.

If Song Jiang were to write the word "loyalty," he would be completely devoted to him and would rather die than complain.

No wonder later generations said that this guy was Song Jiang's killing machine, doing almost everything Song Jiang said.

Li Kui hadn't even met Song Jiang yet, but he'd already run into Zhao Yuan's hands.

Zhao Yuan naturally wouldn't push him out.

After all, many of Li Kui's evil deeds in the original timeline have not yet occurred.

Today, this dark-skinned man clinging to the mast and acting recklessly is just a minor jailer in Jiangzhou. Because he is worried about his elderly mother at home, he has traveled thousands of miles back to his hometown.

Since Song Jiang was able to train Li Kui into a ruthless killer,

Zhao Yuan was confident that he could teach Li Kui a lesson. Even if he couldn't become a good person, he would at least make him understand that he couldn't kill innocent people indiscriminately.

If this fellow is truly beyond redemption, we should wait until he commits further evil deeds before punishing him...

Chapter 183 Li Kui gave me the "friend zone" card

“Hey, this is my brother. You want to take a boat north, and my brother has already agreed. Stop fooling around!” Wang Dingliu said helplessly.

"Who knows if he's telling the truth or not?"

Li Kui scoffed, "You two just said you wanted to have a match with me, but you tricked me into the water and I almost drowned."

No wonder this guy didn't believe we'd take him north; he'd already learned his lesson earlier...

Zhao Yuan thought for a moment and said, "My two brothers are both skilled in water combat, which is why I dragged you into the water to compete. I'll give you another chance now. We'll have a fight on the deck. If you win, I'll take you back to Shandong."

"What if I don't agree?" Li Kui asked innocently.

“I’ll take you north even if you don’t agree, but in that case, you’ll just have to keep clinging to this mast.”

Zhao Yuan laughed and said, "Well, if you agree to my terms, you'll get good wine and meat if you win. If you don't, you'll just have to eat the wind on the deck."

"Alright! I agree to a match with you!"

Li Kui nodded, then smiled slyly and said, "But we won't compete in fists and feet, we'll compete in strength!"

"Why?" Zhao Yuan asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Since you dare to challenge me to a fight, then you must have some skill in martial arts."

Li Kui chuckled and said, "I need to go back to Yizhou to pick up my mother. This competition is one I can only win, not lose, so of course I have to compete in what I'm best at!"

This black fellow knows how to be clever.

Zhao Yuan chuckled inwardly, then nodded in agreement.

Li Kui then released the railing and walked triumphantly to Zhao Yuan.

"Hey lad, don't blame me for not warning you, I was born with the strength of a bull. Don't try to take it back if you lose!"

"These are all my brothers. How could I do something so shameless in front of them!"

Zhao Yuan replied, "Tell me, how should we compare our strength?"

"this......"

Li Kui scratched his head: "You and I stand here, whoever can push the other backward first loses, how about it?"

"Okay, let's compete like this!"

Seeing Zhao Yuan nod in agreement, Li Kui grinned sheepishly.

After walking over, he raised both hands and placed them on Zhao Yuan's shoulders.

Zhao Yuan followed his example and also raised his hand to press down on Li Kui's shoulders.

"I'm about to unleash my power!"

After giving a reminder, Li Kui suddenly let out a loud shout!

His dark skin bulged, his muscles bulged, and he pressed down on Zhao Yuan with a menacing aura.

However, what happened next was completely unexpected for Li Kui.

He had used all his strength, and even his dark face had turned a deep reddish-black, but he still couldn't move Zhao Yuan.

Or rather, Zhao Yuan remained almost completely still from the very beginning.

The onlookers saw that Li Kui's face was bulging with veins, while Zhao Yuan remained calm, and they knew that Li Kui had lost.

"Hey, don't show off! You may have the strength of a bull, but my brother has superhuman strength. He once killed a tiger with a single punch. Why don't you admit defeat quickly!" Ruan Xiaoqi laughed.

Zhang Shun also kindly said, "Man, a loss is a loss. Since Brother Zhao has already promised to take you north, he certainly won't go back on his word!"

Others tried to persuade him, but Li Kui ignored them, gritting his teeth and mustering all his strength to push Zhao Yuan away.

Seeing that he refused to admit defeat, Zhao Yuan knew that he would not be able to subdue this brute without a real fight, so he also mustered his strength and began to fight back!

Li Kui was leaning forward, trying to use the momentum to overpower Zhao Yuan.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, a powerful force suddenly came.

Li Kui didn't even have time to react.

He stumbled backward several steps.

"Brother, you flatter me," Zhao Yuan said, cupping his hands in greeting.

"Hmph, you won, so why should I let you win?"

Li Kui pursed his lips and muttered something.

He then ignored everyone, picked up his axe from the deck, and walked towards the ship's side.

When he reached the side of the boat, he peered into the river below, then looked troubled and stood there motionless.

Seeing this, Zhang Shun asked curiously, "Hey, what are you doing? Repenting over your actions with water in your face?"

"Hey, you guy who was sparring with me just now,"

Li Kui ignored Zhang Shun and turned to Zhao Yuan, shouting, "I can't swim. If I jump in like this, I'll probably drown. Just do me a good deed and find a small boat to take me ashore."

"Hey, Blackie, aren't you going back to Shandong?" Wang Dingliu asked.

Li Kui's dark face was full of frustration.

“Your brother is indeed stronger than me. I’m willing to accept defeat. Since I’ve already lost, I should get off the boat.”

"Brother, did I just say that if you lose, you'll disembark?" Zhao Yuan asked with a smile.

"this......"

Li Kui blinked his large, bell-like eyes, then suddenly slapped his forehead: "So, even though I lost, I can still continue traveling north with you by boat?"

After seeing Zhao Yuan nod,

The dark-skinned man paused for a moment, then lowered his head and thought for a while.

Suddenly, he stepped forward and knelt down in front of Zhao Yuan.

"Brother, Tie Niu knows you did this on purpose. You're a kind person, willing to give Tie Niu a boat ride home to pick up his mother. Tie Niu thanks you so much!"

After saying that, the man kowtowed three times with a loud "thump, thump, thump".

"Brother, why do this!"

Zhao Yuan quickly helped Li Kui up.

Zhang Shun, who was standing nearby, then asked, "By the way, Blackie, I've heard you call yourself Li Kui before. Is that your real name?"

Li Kui snorted: "My full name is Li Kui, my nickname is Tie Niu, and I also have the name Black Whirlwind. This is my real name, so why would I need to deceive you!"

After he introduced himself, everyone else followed suit and gave their names as well.

Upon hearing "Zhao Dalang of Liangshan," Li Kui suddenly paused, turned to look at Ruan Xiaoqi beside him, and...

"During the competition just now, who did you say killed the giant worm with one punch?"

"What kind of memory do you have, you rascal?"

Ruan Xiaoqi said irritably, "Of course it's my brother. When he was crossing Jingyang Ridge, he was attacked by a tiger, but he killed the tiger with just one punch!"

"No wonder the name Zhao Dalang sounded familiar. So you're the Zhao Dalang from Tokyo who killed the tiger with a single punch!"

Li Kui complained, "If I had known your identity earlier, I wouldn't have bothered to compete with you in strength."

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Although Li Kui is extremely bloodthirsty, his simple and honest personality makes him quite likable.

In just half a day,

This dark-skinned fellow quickly became acquainted with everyone on the ship, drinking with one and eating meat with another, completely at ease being one of them...

Chapter 184 Abduction of Liu Huiniang

The three passenger boats from Liangshan went upstream.