Chapter 18 Dog Bites Dog

  Liu Zhang also felt a bit awkward, clearing his throat to stop the soldiers' laughter. He saw Xiao Furen's cheeks puffed up in anger, but he himself wanted to laugh. With great effort, he managed to keep a straight face and said: "Miss Xiao, if you were to die, what would your brother Sha Mo Ke do?"

  Xiao Furan initially was fearless and defiant, with an air of arrogance, looking down on the world. But upon hearing these words, she suddenly wilted, hanging her head in silence.

  Liu Zhang walked up to her, took a look, and although she was dressed like a beggar, without any makeup or even a hairpin, she couldn't hide her delicate and elegant beauty. With the heroic spirit between her eyebrows, but with a lost expression on her face, it had a unique flavor.

  Liu Zhang saw that Xiao Furan's tattered clothes had some shredded leaves on the collar, and he reached out to brush them off for her. However, Xiao Furan thought Liu Zhang was going to touch her chin, so she shrunk back in fright, lifted her head, and glared at him angrily, saying: "What do you think you're doing? You're despicable, shameless, and vile."

  Liu Zhang looked at Xiao Furan's smooth face with a hint of anger, and couldn't help but find it amusing. He decided to tease her a bit, clearing his throat and saying: "In that case, I, the official, have been widowed for four years and still don't have a wife. Why don't you follow me back, and I'll let your big brother go?"

  "You...!" Xiao Furen's face turned red with rage, she panted heavily and cursed loudly: "Liu Zhang you treacherous dog, you toad who wants to eat swan meat, wanting me to marry you? Don't even dream about it! You shameless dog, I'd love to twist your head off, feed your ears to the pigs, your teeth to the dogs, and use your hair as a broom..."

  Liu Zhang was too close to Xiao Fu Rong, and his saliva splashed onto her face. The Sichuan girl was indeed as beautiful as she was fiery-tempered. Wiping her face, she coldly shouted: "This little wretch doesn't know how to behave, take him away and behead him immediately!"

  "Yes." The two soldiers immediately took orders and left, but before they had taken a few steps, suddenly heard Xiang Fu Rong let out a loud cry, squatting on the ground, crying with a broken heart, her liver and intestines torn apart. While shedding tears, she said: "You Han people bully others, how can you be so cruel? You Han people bully others."

  The crowd around burst into laughter, and Liu Zhang couldn't help but laugh too. He stopped teasing her and said with his hands behind his back to Xiao Fu Rong: "Alright, don't think that I really look up to you. You're not even as good as a beggar on the streets of Chengdu. How about this? Let's make a bet."

  "My great army is stationed at the foot of this mountain. Within ten days, you can come and attack me as many times as you want. If you defeat me once, I will immediately release Shamo Ke. However, if I capture you three times, you must hand over Zhao Wei to me. In that case, I will still release Shamo Ke. What do you say?"

  Xiao Furong immediately stopped crying, stood up, with tears on her face, and hummed: "Our Manchu village has just over a thousand people, you are a vast and dense crowd, how can I defeat you, cat crying and fake kindness to the mouse."

  Liu Zhang thought to himself that this barbarian girl was quite clever, and smiled: "Alright, I'll take another step back. You only need to make me lose face."

  Xiao Furong's eyes rolled: "Are you a man of your word?"

  "Arithmetic."

  "No slacking off."

  Liu Zhang: "......"

  "Alright, I promise you." Xiao Furen said confidently.

  Liu Zhang waved his hand, and the soldiers untied Xiao Furan's bonds. Xiao Furan turned her head and walked away, taking two steps before suddenly turning back towards Liu Zhang. Zhang Ren and others were startled and rushed forward to guard him, but saw that Xiao Furan had walked up to the commander's desk, grabbed a stack of egg pancakes, thought for a moment, felt unsatisfied, and then used her clothes to scoop up some roasted meat, leaving calmly as if nothing was wrong.

  The generals stared blankly at her. Liu Zhang smiled and said to Zhang Ren, "Tonight, Xiao Fu Rong will definitely come to raid the camp, be careful to defend."

  "Rest assured, milord," Zhang Ren said with a bow, "I will definitely capture this barbarian woman alive once again."

  At night, Xiaofeng led a thousand barbarian soldiers to sneak down the mountain. From a distance, they saw that Liu Zhang's large camp was brightly lit and had guards posted everywhere. They could only lie in wait in the grass, waiting for an opportunity. A barbarian next to him said, "Young master, it seems that the Han people are already on guard, I'm afraid our surprise attack will not succeed."

  Xiao Furan held a blade of grass in her mouth, chewed it and said: "We only have ten days, I sleep during the day and come to squat at night, we can catch an opportunity once, don't talk nonsense, keep a close eye on them, maybe before dawn the Han people will relax their vigilance."

  A group of barbarians were quietly lying in ambush, while on the mountain, Li Yi summoned Pang Le to a desolate and uninhabited place, saying: "Do you see? That barbarian woman has almost brought all the barbarians from the barbarian village down the mountain."

  "What's it to me?" Pang Le asked in puzzlement.

  Li Yi sighed and said, "Don't you understand yet? That barbarian woman obviously fell into Liu Zhang's trap, mobilizing all her troops, only to be annihilated by Liu Zhang. The barbarian stronghold can hold out because of its treacherous terrain, but without soldiers, even the most treacherous terrain is useless. These thousand barbarians will not return, and we will die without a place to bury our bodies."

  "Ah." Pang Le was suddenly enlightened and also shocked, hastily asking: "What should we do then? Let's persuade the lord to retreat immediately!"

  Li Yi shook his head and said, "Where can we escape to now? The most important thing is that the lord's will is gone, and he was defeated at Fu City, which scared him out of his wits. Even if we escape, it's impossible for us to rise again."

  "What shall we do?" Pang Le was at a loss.

  Li Yi suddenly revealed a sinister expression and said coldly: "Kill Zhao Wei and surrender to Liu Zhang."

  "Ah……" Pang Le's mouth was agape, staring at Li Yi in disbelief. Li Yi continued: "Zhao Wei has become a startled bird, and it is impossible for him to do anything else. Following him will only lead to our heads being separated from our bodies. It's better to betray him now that Liu Zhang has just quelled the great chaos and needs people to stabilize the situation. He will definitely accept us."

  Pang Le anxiously said: "What about the barbarians? We are in a barbarian village, and the barbarians attach great importance to loyalty. They would rather risk everything to rescue Shamoke than hand over their master... or hand over Zhao Wei. Will they let us kill Zhao Wei and go surrender to Liu Zhang?"

  Li Yi said coldly, "The barbarians are stupid. Since they have taken in Zhao Wei, they will definitely protect him. Anyway, most of the barbarians have already fallen into our trap. We might as well take advantage of this and kill both Yan Wu and Tie together. Helping Liu Zhang kill the leader of the Wuxi barbarians would be another great achievement."

  Pang Le hesitated for a long time before finally nodding heavily.

  In the cave, Ye Wu Tie, Zhao Wei, Li Yi and Pang Le sat on the ground, in front of them a black red cloth with piles of roasted meat. Li Yi picked up two jars of wine and placed them in the center of the red cloth, laughing loudly: "Ye Wu Tie, my master thanks you for taking us in, these are the spoils of our hunt over the past few days, specially prepared to entertain you, please don't be offended."

  "Hahaha." Ye Wutie said with a mouthful of chicken leg, "What's the fuss about, General Li? We mountain people eat this all year round. What's there to dislike? Don't mention thanks, we're friends, and I'm just a guest in a friend's home. You don't have to be polite either, I can't stand Han rules. Let's eat, drink big bowls of wine, and eat big chunks of meat, hahaha."

  Li Yi also smiled and poured a bowl of wine for Zhao Wei, saying in a low voice: "Master, you should toast to the great king of Yu Wu Tie."

  Zhao Wei didn't know why Li Yi suddenly wanted to invite Ye Wu Tie for a banquet, but he also thought it was proper. As a guest under someone's roof, one should be humble. Zhao Wei raised his wine cup and said to Ye Wu Tie: "Your Majesty, Zhao Wei offers you a toast."

  "Oh, okay." Yan Wuji hurriedly put down the chicken leg, wiped his mouth with a towel, and picked up the wine to take a sip. Zhao Wei also followed suit and drank some. Li Yi and Pang Le exchanged a smile.

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