Chapter 72: The Lake Tai Bandits

  Ling Yun and Huang Rong talked for a while, then blew out the candle and went to bed. They slept until midnight when they were suddenly awakened by a distant sound of blowing conch shells. They listened carefully and found that it seemed like someone was blowing conch shells. After a while, the sound came again, this time with another shell responding from afar, indicating that there were multiple people blowing shells to communicate with each other.

  "Huang Rong said in a low voice: 'Yun Gege, shall we take a look?'"

  Ling Yun knew that Lu Guanying was gathering the Taohu thieves to prepare for a robbery, but didn't know if they were still targeting the Golden Nation's envoy, and whether this envoy was Yang Kang. Curiosity arose, so he nodded at Huang Rong and said: "Alright, Rong'er, let's go take a look."

  Two people gently pushed open the window and looked out, only to see many people holding lanterns in the courtyard, and several others coming and going, busy with something. Huang Rong raised her head, and saw three or four people crouching on the rooftop above, obviously keeping watch from a commanding height. As the lanterns moved, the light flashed, and the weapons in their hands shone brightly.

  After a while, everyone went out of the village, so Ling Yun and Huang Rong slipped to the west window, seeing no one outside, they quietly jumped out. Both were masters of lightness kung fu, landing as lightly as falling leaves, making no sound at all. The guards on the rooftop remained completely unaware.

  Huang Rong made a hand gesture to Ling Yun, and then turned around to head in the opposite direction. The paths within the manor twisted and turned, with every turn looking exactly the same as the last. After several turns, it was impossible to tell which direction they were heading. But Huang Rong moved with confidence, running swiftly without any hesitation. Sometimes, when there seemed to be no path ahead, she would dart through a fake mountain or circle around a cluster of flowers and suddenly reappear in the corridor. At times, it seemed like they had reached a dead end, but then she would push aside a screen or move behind a large tree to reveal another hidden area. She deliberately avoided walking through the brightly lit moon gate, instead pushing open a door that blended seamlessly into the wall, leaving no visible trace of its existence.

  Witnessing this scene, Ling Yun couldn't help but secretly admire the ingeniousness of this Qimen Dunjia technique. If it weren't for Huang Rong's guidance, who was equally well-versed in Qimen Dunjia, he would have gotten lost on his own.

  The two of them turned seven or eight more corners and arrived at the wall surrounding the backyard. Huang Rong examined the terrain, counted on her fingers several times, and took a few steps forward, treading carefully. Ling Yun heard her muttering to herself: "Zhen one, Kun three, Zhi five, Fu seven, Kun..." He knew she was using the Eight Trigrams divination method to calculate their way out.

  Huang Rong counted as she walked, and when she reached a certain point, she stopped in her tracks. Turning back to Ling Yun, she said, "Only here can we get out; all the other places have mechanisms."

  As she spoke, Huang Rong jumped onto the wall first, and Ling Yun followed her out of the wall. The two left the manor, and Huang Rong said to Ling Yun with a hint of pride: "Brother Yun, Mr. Lu's manor is built according to the layout of the 64 hexagrams of Fuxi, with mechanisms all over the place. However, these strange door and eight trigram techniques are my father's specialty. Mr. Lu may be able to stump others, but he can't stump me."

  Ling Muyun smiled and praised: "That's right, didn't you see who our Rong'er is? How could she be stopped by this little formation?"

  Huang Rong's face turned red with pleasure at his praise, and she said with a pout: "Big Brother Yun, you're teasing me. I won't talk to you anymore."

  "Rong'er, you've misunderstood me, I'm truly praising you, without a single false word."

  Two people whispered and laughed for a couple of sentences, then climbed up the small hill behind the village, looking east. They saw a group of people holding lanterns and torches, walking towards the lake. Huang Rong pulled Ling Yun's sleeve, and the two opened their light skills to chase after them. When they arrived nearby, they hid behind a rock, only to see a row of fishing boats moored by the lake, with people swarming onto the boats, and immediately extinguishing the lights after boarding.

  The two waited until the last batch of people boarded the boat, and when the shore was completely dark, they quietly jumped out and landed on the stern of the largest sailboat. They jumped onto the top of the sail amidst the sound of the oars being pulled out to start the boat. Light as a feather, they floated down, and the people on the boat were completely unaware. The two looked down through the gaps in the bamboo sail, and saw that there was only one person sitting in the middle of the cabin - it was none other than Lu Guanying, the young master of the Lu Manor.

  The fleet sailed out for a few miles, and the sound of conch shells came again from the lake. A person on the large sailboat walked to the bow and also blew a conch shell. After sailing out for several more miles, only small boats were seen lined up on the surface of the lake, as far as the eye could see, like ants gathering, countless in number, like a large green paper splattered with ink dots. The person at the bow of the large sailboat blew three long conch shell sounds, and the big ship dropped anchor in the middle of the lake. More than ten small boats flew over from all directions. Ling Mu Yun knew that what was coming next would be a fierce battle. He lowered his head to look into the boat, only to see Lu Guan Ying calm and composed, not showing any tension before the enemy's attack. He couldn't help but nod secretly, thinking that although Lu Guan Ying's martial arts skills were not high, her demeanor was still good.

  Before long, the boats drew near. On each boat, people came over one after another, either one or two, or three or four at a time. Each person entered the cabin of the big boat, bowed to Lu Guanying and sat down, showing great respect in their manners. The order of seating seemed to have been arranged beforehand, with some arriving first but sitting at the back, while others arrived later but sat at the front. In just one cup of tea's time, everyone was seated. These people had a rough and bold appearance, with a heroic air about them. Although they were dressed as fishermen, it was clear that each of them possessed martial arts skills and were not ordinary fishermen who made a living by fishing. Huang Rong felt secretly amazed in her heart, but Ling Pei Yun knew that these people were all leaders of the Taihu Lake pirates.

  Lu Guanying cupped his hands and asked one of them: "Zhang brother, what have you found out?"

  A thin man stood up from his seat and said, "Reporting to Young Master Zong, the Jin State Envoy has scheduled a night crossing of the lake tonight. That Commander Duan will arrive in more than an hour. This time he is using the pretext of welcoming the Jin State Envoy to plunder along the way, so he arrived late and has not yet met with the Jin State Envoy."

  Lu Guanying said: "How much did he collect? And how many soldiers and horses did he bring?"

  That man said: "Every province and county has a report, his troops are still looting in the countryside, I saw him boarding the ship with more than 20 boxes of goods carried by relatives, which looked very heavy, should be gold and silver, estimated to be worth tens of thousands of taels. The cavalry and infantry led by him totaled 2,000, among them those who crossed the lake were all infantry, because there were not enough boats, about 1,000 people boarded the ship."

  Lu Guanying nodded and then said to everyone: "Everyone, what do you think?"

  Everyone said in unison: "We are willing to listen to Young Master Zuo's orders."

  Lu Guanying clasped his hands together and said, "These are all ill-gotten gains from corrupt officials who have exploited the people's sweat and blood. Since they passed through our Taihu Lake, it would go against heaven's way if we didn't take them. We might as well take everything and distribute half to the poor people nearby, and divide the other half among our various strongholds."

  The crowd erupted in cheers. Huang Rong only then understood that these people were all the leaders of the thieves in Taihu, and it seemed that Lu Guanying was still the overall leader of various strongholds.

  Lu Guanying said, "Don't delay, let's get started right away. Zhang, take five small boats and go scout ahead." The thin man received the order and left the cabin. Lu Guanying followed with assignments: who would lead the vanguard, who would provide backup, who would lead the water ghosts to drill through the bottom of the enemy ship, who would plunder the goods, and who would capture the military officers. He gave orders in an orderly manner.

  Lu Guanying had just finished giving orders, and everyone was about to leave to attend to their tasks when one person stood up and said coldly: "We're making a profitless business out of this, just enough to eat. If we provoke the officials and the wealthy merchants like this, can we still stay in the lake area? And offending the Golden State Envoy is even more unacceptable."

  Ling Yun and Huang Rong heard the familiar voice, tracing the sound to find that it was actually Ma Qingyuan, one of Sha Tongtian's disciples and the "Ghost of the Yellow River", who had somehow ended up here.

  The two did not know that Ma Qingyun's arrival here was actually thanks to Huang Rong. The Yellow River Four Ghosts had been repeatedly toyed with by Huang Rong, causing Sha Tongtian to lose face in front of Wan Yanhonglie and others. Sha Tongtian was originally hot-tempered, and in a fit of rage, he directly expelled the Yellow River Four Ghosts from the school. After being expelled, each of the Yellow River Four Ghosts found their own way, among them Ma Qingyun traveled south to Taihu Lake, where he joined a group of water bandits through introduction. As he was originally from the Yellow River Great Thief and had good martial arts skills as well as being proficient in naval warfare, he was directly promoted to leader, which is why he could attend this gathering.

  Ma Qingxiong had barely finished speaking when Lu Guanying's face suddenly changed color. Before he could even speak, three or four of the bandits began shouting and cursing in unison.

  Lu Guanying forced a smile and said, "Everyone doesn't need to get angry, Brother Ma has just arrived and doesn't know the rules here. Since everyone is determined to do it together, even if we all perish, that would be a death without regret."

  "Alright, you guys handle it, I'm not getting involved in this mess." He said, ignoring the reactions of the crowd, and turned to leave the cabin.

  Huang Rong saw this scene and whispered in Ling Yun's ear: "Brother Yun, this time this guy is probably going to become a real ghost!"

  Ling Muyun nodded in agreement, at this time how could Lu Guanying let Ma Qingxiong leave? If he really let Ma Qingxiong go like this, Lu Guanying would not only lose face but also take the risk of leaking secrets. Which businessman would do such a thing? Ma Qingxiong's move was no different from seeking death, and it's likely that one of the four ghosts of the Yellow River will become a ghost in Taihu Lake tonight.

  Things didn't go as expected by Ling Yun and Huang Rong, just as Ma Qingyun was about to leave, two men suddenly blocked the cabin door and shouted: "Brother Ma, you've beheaded chickens and sworn oaths, we're supposed to share good fortune and bad together, it's not right for you to just leave like this!"

  "Get out of here!" Ma Qingxiong cursed, his two hands swung out and instantly sent the two men flying to both sides. He took a step forward, about to continue exiting the cabin.

  "Leave him alone!" Seeing this scene, Lu Guanying shouted and rushed up, slapping a palm on Ma Qingyong's back.

  Ma Qingxiong sensed a palm wind coming from behind, and hastily dodged to the side. He pulled out a dagger with his left hand from his boot tube and stabbed backwards. Lu Guanying swiftly extended her left arm, pinning Ma's left arm against the outer door, and stepped forward with her foot. Ma Qingxiong swung open his right hand, and his left hand followed with the dagger, as the two immediately engaged in a close-quarters battle within the narrow cabin.

  Ling Mu Yun took a glance and knew that Ma Qing Xiong was no match for Lu Guan Ying. Although Lu Guan Ying's martial arts skills were not high, they were just at the level of a second or third-rate master, but it was enough to deal with a third-rate expert like Ma Qing Xiong.

  As expected by Ling Muyun, as soon as the two men engaged in combat, Lu Guanying took the upper hand with a series of swift and powerful moves. After exchanging more than a dozen blows, Lu Guanying suddenly seized Ma Qingyong's wrist with one hand, while punching him squarely on the chest with his other fist. Ma Qingyong let out a pained cry as he fell backwards. The two men behind him, who had been knocked down earlier by Ma Qingyong, immediately raised their knives and struck simultaneously. Ma Qingyong only managed to utter a blood-curdling scream before meeting his demise on the spot.

  Lu Guanying ordered the two men to throw Ma Qingyong's body into the lake, and then said to the group of thieves: "Brothers, now that the traitor is dead, we must strive to be brave and take the lead."

  The robbers responded in unison and returned to their respective boats. In an instant, the crowd of boats rowed together with thousands of paddles, advancing shoulder to shoulder. Lu Guanying's large boat brought up the rear, majestically heading east across the lake.