Chapter Twenty-Five: Subjugating the Enemy

  According to Zuo Kui, the wine cellar was located on the southeast side of the Jin army camp. Since it was not an important military material, the Jurchen people handed it over to the Jin army for guarding. However, in the eyes of ordinary Jurchen soldiers, fine wine was no less valuable than gold, silver and jewels. Therefore, from time to time, Jurchen soldiers would break into the Jin army camp, demanding wine to drink. The team of Pu Wei, who were dispatched to the Jin army camp for garrison duty, also took advantage of their stay to drink plenty of wine.

  Zuo Kai was a bit worried, if he walked away for a while, would Jin soldiers come to his door asking for wine? Now turning back, what if they ran into them? Thinking of this, he carefully asked Di Lie who was hiding in the dark: "Leader, where is our main force ambushing? Should we send a signal for them to come out?"

  Di Lie gave him a calm glance: "Don't worry about this, just lead the way. As for our people, they will appear when it's time."

  Zuo Kai nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Yes, yes, I was talking too much..."

  Just then, a loud and rough voice came from the front gate of the camp: "Little Zuo, is that you? What are you muttering to yourself? Hurry back to the camp."

  Zuo quietly said to Di Lie, "That's Xiao's fellow countryman, Fang Hong, a big-headed man who used to be involved in smuggling salt. He has some courage and dares to fight, currently he is on duty at the Pu Zhang camp, tonight he will be inspecting the south gate of the military camp. I previously gave him a bottle of wine before leaving the camp, you see..."

  "Bring him over." In the darkness, Di Lie's expression couldn't be seen, but his voice was icy cold.

  Zuo Kai hesitated for a moment, then nodded reluctantly and called out in a low voice: "Fang Datou, I still have half a jug of Fengquan fine wine here. Do you want to drink some? If so, come over."

  Fang Da Tou heard this and turned his head to instruct a few of the guards at the gate, then came over excitedly. As he walked, he said: "You little brat, when did your alcohol tolerance become so weak? Hmm, are you thinking about that little girl again? I advise you to stop daydreaming, she's already the favorite of the Thousand House Master, do you want to snatch food from a tiger's mouth? Are you tired of living?"

  He smiled awkwardly, subconsciously glancing at Di Lie's hiding spot, hesitated as Fang Hong approached, and finally couldn't help but say: "Fang Da Tou, let's not die for Jin Gou anymore..."

  Fang Hong was startled and slowed down his pace: "What did you say?"

  "He's right, you don't have to die for the Jin people anymore." In the dark thicket, Di Lie stood up with a crossbow and slowly walked over. On his left, Yang Zhe quickly strung an arrow on his bow and circled around to block Fang Hong's retreat from behind. Two cold glints of arrows locked onto Fang Hong's chest and back. Meanwhile, Ye Die'er followed Di Lie's orders, drew out her wrist knife, and darted in and out of the thicket further away. The rustling of the grass and trees made it seem like there were ambushers everywhere, with flashes of cold light from knives, making it seem like a real trap to those who didn't know what was going on.

  They were more than twenty zhang away from the gate, and there was a slope blocking the view. In the darkness of the dense wild grass, the patrol at the gate did not notice anything unusual here.

  Fang Hong was initially startled by the two men's golden armor, and it took him a while to understand the situation. He glared at Zuo Kai with a fierce gaze, then turned to face Di Lie in front of him: "Are you a good man from Taixing Mountain? Which mountain stronghold do you belong to? Tianping Mountain Stronghold? Bao Du Mountain Stronghold or Wuma Mountain Stronghold?"

  Seeing Di Lie's lack of reaction, Fang Hong shook his head and sighed: "If it were another small village, I would advise you all to leave quickly before the Jin people notice. In these days, many good men have come to tweak the Jin people's tiger whiskers, but none have survived... Little Left, think carefully, if this gets your blind old father involved, you'll be ashamed to live in this world."

  Zuo's face turned slightly pale, and he couldn't help but glance at Di Lie.

  Di Lie said coldly: "We are who we are, no need for you to worry about our background. We only need your cooperation."

  Fang Hong nodded and said, "I understand. I have only 53 brothers under my command, all of whom are guarding the south gate of the camp, including the gatehouse, the watchtower, and the trenches. I will gather them all here and bind myself up front, hoping that you heroes won't harm their lives."

  This Fang Hong's appearance was far beyond Di Lie's expectations. At close range, he saw that this person had a big belly and waist, was strong and powerful, with a head as big as a bucket, no wonder they called him "Big Head". On a face full of fleshy scars were tattooed many tattoos, his facial features were quite ferocious. One would say that such a person is not so easy to get along with, how could he be so good at talking?

  Fang Hong seemed to see Di Lie's doubts and sighed, "Fang Mou has been running in the Jianghu for a long time and knows that good men don't take advantage of the situation. Moreover, the Jin people have oppressed us Han people too much, Fang Mou can't bear this arrogant atmosphere and has wanted to join the Taixing gang for a long time. However, Fang Mou is alone and unattached, but his brothers under him have families and are being held hostage by the Jin people. If there's any unusual movement, it will implicate their families, so they don't dare to act rashly. The good man has tied us up in the camp, after the event, the Jin people will think that we've done our best and won't make things difficult for the brothers."

  Di Lie nodded and said: "Understood, I'll do as you say. However, the place to tie up the person is not in the camp, but here, because...the camp will be very unsafe."

  Then, Fang Hong first gathered the six men guarding the gate of the camp and tied up five of them, leaving one to pass on the message. Later, he called down the eight soldiers who were on duty at the watchtower and tied them all up. Then, he led the soldiers who were on duty in various places to the outside of the camp gate one by one and took them down.

  Things went pretty smoothly at the front, and most of the soldiers didn't care what they thought in their hearts. Seeing Fang Hong giving orders to cooperate, and with the beneficial arrows on the side, they also extinguished their rebellious hearts and surrendered. However, when the last batch of personnel left the village gate, something unexpected happened.

  The two burly men walking at the back of the team, carrying bows and holding guns, looked around cautiously. Seeing Fang Hong from a distance, they shouted in a loud and rough voice: "Fang Da Tou, what are you up to? Why is there no one on sentry duty, not even anyone guarding the gate? If we brothers report this to Taren Pu, you'll be in big trouble!"

  Fang Hong's face twitched slightly, and he glanced at Di Lie before responding coldly: "Sai Lu, Mo Lu brothers, you two Jurchen dogs are just the sand and mouse droppings that the Jin people have mixed into our Han army. You rely on your bravery and the support of Talun, that Jin official, to bully us Han soldiers every day. This battalion has a total of 55 men, but I, Fang, only acknowledge 53 brothers; you two squad leaders are not included."

  Fang Hong's words were a bit too much for the Khitan brothers, and they got more and more agitated. Luckily, they still remembered the military rule that forbade loud noises at night in the camp, so they lowered their voices and growled: "You... you're really asking for it! Don't think you're all that just because you have a bit of brute strength. Last time we fought, it was a draw. Come on, let's settle this once and for all now that no one is around to stop us. This time, there won't be any Han general coming to intervene!"

  These two brothers did not know that Fang Hong's words were half scolding them and half saying to Di Lie and others.

  Fang Hong's implicit meaning, Di Lie could naturally hear it, and even the implication of "borrowing a knife to kill" could be clearly felt. However, at this extraordinary time, Di Lie didn't mind being "borrowed" like that. Moreover, if others wanted to borrow a knife to kill, he could also kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, using this to establish his authority.

  In Fang Hong's view, the simplest way to get rid of these two brothers is for Di and Yang to shoot arrows at the same time. The two brothers will be caught off guard and fall to the ground with arrows in them.

  Di Lie also knew this was the most straightforward way, but from his perspective, he couldn't do it.

  If that's the case, one, if you can't shoot an arrow to seal the throat, it will inevitably make the enemy cry out in pain and alarm the entire Jin army camp; two, at this time, except for Fang Hong, there is still a last batch of people who have not been captured. These captives are all very uncertain, once they shoot arrows, without the pressure of beneficial arrows, will these people be so honest? It's hard to say, at least that Fang Da Tou doesn't look like a good person to get along with.

  Di Lie's mind was racing, and he suddenly threw the crossbow in his hand to the left: "Next, you take care of these people." His whole body rushed towards Seru and Moru brothers like a tornado.

  The two brothers saw a person suddenly rush out of the darkness and pounce on them, and they both jumped in fright. Seru had already held his bow, and instinctively drew an arrow, strung it, and drew the bowstring. The entire action was smooth and familiar.

  But what Seru didn't expect was that Di Lie, who was originally ten steps away, suddenly dodged to the side and slid along the grass, using his momentum to slide right under Seru's feet. Suddenly losing his target, Seru hastily lowered his arrow and drew his bow, ready to shoot...

  Di Lie stretched out his hand and caught the arrow on the bow arm, then suddenly pulled it back, snatching the arrow away. At the same time, he tripped Seru with a kick of his feet, sending him tumbling to the ground. Before Seru could react, Di Lie plunged the arrow in his hand into his throat.

  Di Lie's one blow succeeded, and before he could jump up, a gust of wind arose behind him - he suddenly turned his head, just in time to see Mo Lu holding the long spear with both hands reversed, raised high, and thrusting it violently towards his back.

  Di Lie reacted in time, twisting his body to the left. His left hand grasped the front end of the gun barrel, rendering Mo Lu's efforts useless no matter how hard he tried to push it down. His right hand formed a tiger claw shape and swiftly reached up, grabbing Mo Lu's groin.

  Mo Lu's eyes bulged out like a cow's, his mouth opened into an "O" shape, and a thunderous shout was about to burst forth...

  Di Lie's left hand exerted force, twisting and breaking the long spear. He reversed the spearhead and with a "pu" sound, it pierced into Moru's Blood Pan's large mouth...

  When Zuo Kai was busy catching the crossbow, he was confused and didn't know where to aim. Di Lie had already swiftly returned, lightly taking the crossbow from his hand, a faint sentence floating into Zuo Kai's ear: "Still the same words, your little life is saved."

  At that moment, Zuo Kai's spine was cold and sweaty.

  Seeing the arrow that had been re-aimed at him, Fang Hong took a deep breath and looked at the two corpses not far away. He then stretched out his hand to untie the curved knife at his waist, casually threw it on the ground, and put his hands behind his back, making a gesture of surrender: "Good fellow, good martial arts! Fang Mou has been serving under General Wu Yong for a long time, and had fought against these two brothers twice before, but was never able to defeat them. However, you have killed this pair of Khitan brothers with just one encounter. I, Fang Mou, am convinced and willing to surrender, and I will bind myself along with the other brothers here. I wish all of you good fellows a successful night."

  "Thanks for your auspicious words, we will definitely reach our combat goal tonight." Di Lie waved his hand towards the back.

  Ye Die'er immediately jumped out of the grass and joined with others, rushing towards the military camp together.

  Fang Hong and his men stared at the four figures that had not entered the darkness, all of them with their eyes wide open in shock.

  Are you kidding me? Just four people dare to launch a night raid on the Golden Army's camp?! Are our eyes playing tricks on us, or have those few gone crazy?!