Chapter 4: Plundering Objectives

  The sky was still dark, and Xiao Tianjian was awakened from a nightmare. He dreamed that someone was holding a steel knife and chopping towards him fiercely. He let out a loud cry and suddenly sat up, grabbing the waist knife beside him. When he looked up, he saw his subordinates staring at him with surprised eyes. Only then did he hastily wipe away his sweat, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and cleared his throat before standing up.

  Tie Tou hastily handed over the bamboo tube filled with water to his face, and Xiao Tian Jian took a few big gulps, only then did he calm down. When he fell asleep, he dreamed of the people he had robbed and killed in recent days coming to demand their lives back from him, but he was powerless to resist. Especially that beggar whose steamed bun he had snatched away, who kept pulling at him and shouting "Give me back my life!"

  He shook his head, and Xiao Tianjian gradually calmed down. He comforted himself in his heart that he was not wrong, and what he did was right for the sake of survival. In this world, no matter when, it is always the law of the jungle, where only the strong can survive, and as a weak person, one's fate is to be eliminated. Therefore, he should not have any guilt, let alone that beggar would not necessarily live even if he had that steamed bun at the time. So he used this excuse to ease his mind a bit.

  "Holding a tray, where are we going today?" Zhao Er Tuo saw that Xiao Tian Jian was already awake and hurried over to ask him.

  "This was also the question that Xiao Tianjian considered before he went to sleep last night. He beckoned with his hand and let a few of the earliest followers come over, asking them: 'Do you know if there are any other big households around here that we can target?'"

  Everyone's face was a bit awkward, and they all understood the meaning of Xiao Tianjian's question, which was to ask them to come up with an idea to find a target to take action on!

  However, the rebel army has been causing trouble in Shaanxi for many years now. With the government troops frequently chasing and suppressing them, both sides have been killing each other, making everyone in Shaanxi live in fear. Moreover, the government troops' discipline is poor, they can't even get their salaries, and are often hungry and cold. They have no choice but to loot, which makes them more brutal than the rebel army. As a result, all sorts of bad things happen everywhere. The rich either flee with their families or build earthen forts and recruit private soldiers to defend themselves. Even if hundreds or thousands of rebels try to attack one of these fortified villages, it's not easy for them to succeed. With so few men, trying to take a village or fort is almost suicidal.

  So after Xiao Tianjian asked this question, everyone was silent and didn't answer. They all looked at each other in dismay, with no one responding.

  Xiao Tianjian saw that everyone was silent and felt a bit helpless. He continued to ask another question, wanting to see if anyone had any ideas!

  This time, someone finally answered, and the person who answered was none other than Feng Gouzzi, the thin monkey-like man who had been flogged yesterday. Enduring the pain on his back, he carefully approached Xiao Tianjian and said: "Boss, from here, heading west for over 20 miles, there is an earthen fort, which is Liu Bapi's old residence. We might as well go there to rob him, I heard that this rich man's house has a lot of grain, if we succeed, it will be enough for us to eat for a while!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, someone immediately raised an objection. A man named Yang Laoben pointed at Feng Gouzzi and scolded: "You're good, Feng Gouzzi! Even if you were whipped by the boss yesterday, you can't harm us brothers like this! Who doesn't know that Liu Bapi's fortress is hard to attack? Last time, hundreds of righteous army soldiers attacked for several days, killed more than a hundred people, and still couldn't take down his stronghold. You want us to go attack Liu Bapi's stronghold with just a few men, don't you want to honestly kill us?"

  "Take the tray, this won't do, no matter what we can't listen to this guy. We only have a few people, in my opinion it's better to go and surrender to Gao Chongwang! I've heard that Gao Chongwang has tens of thousands of troops under his command, with your skills, if you join him, at the very least you'll become a leader!"

  Zhao Er's words immediately drew some people's agreement, and they all pointed at Feng Gouzi and scolded him loudly, saying that Feng Gouzi was not good-hearted and wanted to harm everyone. Some even rolled up their sleeves and were about to go over and teach Feng Gouzi a lesson.

  "Shut up, all of you! Don't you still have any respect for me? I'm the one who brought this up, and even if Feng Gouzzi can come up with an opinion, it's better than you guys saying nothing at all! Let Feng Gouzzi finish speaking, whether he goes or not is my decision!" Xiao Tianjian suddenly frowned and scolded these people.

  Xiao Tianjian of course knew who Gao Yanwang was, as he knew from his later life that Gao Yanwang was actually Gao Yingxiang. Li Zicheng, on the other hand, was only promoted by his subordinates to be the new Chuan Wang after Gao Yingxiang's defeat and death. At this time, the leader of the largest righteous army should have been Gao Yingxiang, but Xiao Tianjian didn't think about it. He had also been considering what to do next during this period, but unfortunately, he was very clear about Gao Yingxiang's fate, knowing that he was not a person who could achieve great things and would eventually be captured by the government, ending up with a miserable end! Therefore, Xiao Tianjian didn't think it was a good idea to surrender to Gao Yingxiang, let alone he wasn't even sure where Gao Yingxiang was at this time, so there was no place for him to go.

  Now, apart from Gao Yingxiang, the only other righteous armies with a bit of reputation are the Eight Great Kings Zhang Xianzhong, Old Huihui, Cao Cao Luo Ruzai and so on. Although Xiao Tianjian had heard of these people, he was certain that none of them would amount to anything except for Li Zicheng who almost succeeded later on. Therefore, he didn't want to go join them either. Moreover, with his identity and the little power he held, even if he did join them, at best they might make him a small leader, but if they looked down on him, he would probably end up as just a lowly soldier! So for now, he basically doesn't consider this option, it's more enjoyable being his own boss!

  So Zhao Er Liu led the group to go and welcome Gao Ying Xiang, Xiao Tian Jian immediately became very angry, and he quickly spoke out to scold Zhao Er Liu and his men. As soon as everyone heard Xiao Tian Jian speak, they hurriedly closed their mouths and quietly stood aside.

  "Feng Gouz, you didn't finish what you were saying. Why did you suggest we go to Liu Bopi's stronghold? What were you thinking?" Xiao Tianjian turned to Feng Gouz and asked him.

  Feng Gouzi looked at Xiao Tianjian with gratitude and quickly replied: "I'm telling the truth! I didn't mean to harm everyone. Recently, I heard that Liu Bapi's stronghold was attacked by the righteous army, although it wasn't taken down, but Liu Bapi was scared out of his wits. He brought most of his family members and servants, and transferred a large portion of his wealth to his new mansion in Fengxiang Prefecture. Now, there are hardly any people left in his old mansion, mostly just his tenant farmers who are being taken care of by his steward.

  Although his den is very strong, Xiaode used to sneak into his house and steal things, knowing that there was a place where he could enter quietly. With fewer people, it's easier to get things done, Xiaode can lead the way, who knows if we can succeed!

  Every word I say is true, I dare not deceive you! Otherwise, let me die a terrible death!"

  When Feng Gouzi said these words, Xiao Tianjian stared at his eyes all the time. After he finished speaking, Xiao Tianjian did not find that Feng Gouzi's eyes flickered, and secretly calculated for a while, and then made up his mind in his heart.

  "Alright! I believe you! Since you said so, today we'll go and do something big, let's attack Liu Bao Pi's stronghold!" Xiao Tian Jian stood up and said to everyone present.

  Everyone had some doubts, and suspected that Xiao Tianjian was crazy to believe in Feng Gouzzi's words, leading them to fight against Liu Baozhen's mansion. This is simply playing with their lives! It made everyone hesitant, unsure whether to follow him or not.

  Looking at the eyes of the people around him, Xiao Tianjian couldn't help but be patient. He found a wooden stake to sit on and said to the crowd: "I know you're afraid, but since you've followed me, Xiao Tianjian, into this line of work, there's no turning back now!"

  It's pointless to say the obvious, you all understand it yourselves. Think about how we used to live in the past. In this world, if you want to survive, being timid and afraid of trouble will only lead to starving to death. We've been struggling for almost a month now, but every day we can still only eat until we're half full. It's because we don't dare to take risks. If we continue like this, either we'll end up begging for food again and waiting for death, or we might as well do something big and try to survive for a few more days!

  It's all the same whether you die early or late, so why not take a chance and make it exciting! If we succeed, we'll have no worries about food and clothing for a while. If we fail, we can just leave and that's it!

  I know you look down on Feng Gouzi, but since he followed me, I regard him as my own brother. To you guys, it's the same!

  I trust Fung Dog, yesterday I scolded him because he made a mistake. But as long as he follows me for one more day, I will trust him for that day! If you don't have the guts, then don't follow me today. But those who stay behind must not be afraid of death, otherwise, I won't tolerate them!"

  Feng Gouzi listened to Xiao Tianjian's words, his nose suddenly sour again, and tears almost flowed out...

  Tie Tou stood up, his voice loud and clear: "I follow the palm of the plate, he says where to go, we go! Our lives are given by the palm of the plate, not you, you would have starved to death long ago, what's there to be afraid of? At worst, die a quick death!" He pressed hard on the waist knife he had just obtained, as if showing off to the crowd.

  Then the big and powerful cow also stood up, opening its mouth to say: "I'll go with Palm Plate, Iron Head is right. If it weren't for Palm Plate, we would have starved to death long ago. What's the point of being afraid of death? In this era, life is cheap, if you're afraid of death then you might as well be dead! I'm willing to risk my life!"

  In the end, no one chose to leave, because everyone knew that if they left, they would probably not survive for a few days. Now they have someone to lead them and there is still a glimmer of hope, so although everyone was worried, in the end they all stayed.

  More than 20 li is not considered far, but for this group of people, they still walked for most of the day and didn't arrive near Liu Family Village until afternoon.

  After Xiao Tianjian raised his hand, everyone squatted down in a ditch and stretched their heads out of the ditch to look towards the earthwork in front.

  Liu Boqi is indeed wealthy and rough, after some management, his villa occupies dozens of acres of land, surrounded by a high earth wall over 10 feet tall, with wooden arrow towers at each corner. There are only two gates in the front and back for people to enter and exit. A deep moat surrounds the villa, and a drawbridge is needed to enter and exit. The surrounding area is open farmland, and from the top of the earth wall, you can see very far away. Basically, anyone approaching the villa cannot escape the eyes of the people inside, it is an easy-to-defend and hard-to-attack place.

  After seeing the situation of Liu's village, everyone couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, thinking that it was no wonder that the chaotic army couldn't conquer Liu's village. This place is indeed not easy to deal with. If not, in these few years, such a village would have been taken down by various bandits long ago. How could they still be entrenched here? Some people couldn't help but start scolding Feng Gouzzi again, blaming him for being so stubborn and coming up with the idea of attacking this village.

  Xiao Tianjian also lay on the edge of the ditch, carefully sizing up the Liu family village in front of him. In his heart, he was secretly worried and hesitant. He was very clear about his current strength, and if they relied on their small group to try to take the Liu family village by force, it would be a suicidal move. Before they even reached the earthen wall of the village, they might be shot dead by the strong men inside the village with arrows. He couldn't help but worry that his decision to come here today was a bit reckless and impulsive, and he had a feeling of being overly greedy, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.

  (Collect, red tickets and rewards are welcome! Hehe! Every time I start a new book, it's like going to war, I need to be fully prepared! Please!)