Chapter Fifty Firearms

  "Since Master Wang thinks highly of me, Xiao, then I, Xiao, will humbly obey! This matter is easily settled, let's consider it decided!" After thinking for a moment, Xiao Tianjian agreed.

  "Alright! Let's settle this first. Since we're going to take down Fanjia Fortress, let's decide how to split the spoils beforehand. It's better to discuss the ugly matters upfront rather than hurting our relationship after taking down the fortress. I see that Xiao Dangjia has around 60 or so brothers, while I've brought over 200 this time. As the leader, I'll take a bigger share - let's say 70% for me and 30% for you, Xiao Dangjia. Are you satisfied with this split?"

  Xiao Tianjian listened and nodded, "Since Wang Tianlong has said so, then we brothers will take advantage of it. Thank you, Wang Dangjia! Xiao Mou is not polite!"

  Wang Tianlong burst out laughing and said: "Alright! Xiao brothers are straightforward! It's settled then! I'll take the lead, wait for you at the front, and we can discuss how to attack Fan Family Fortress later! Farewell!"

  "Alright! Then I'll have to trouble Brother Wang to take the lead!" Xiao Tianjian also laughed and made a fist at Wang Tiandong.

  Wang Tiandong clasped his fist, then didn't say much either. He turned the horse's head and beckoned to his dozen or so mounted subordinates, who galloped off in a cloud of dust on the dirt road.

  As they watched Wang Tianlong and his men leave, Xiao Tianjian's brothers let out a collective sigh of relief. The squad leaders ordered their teams to rest in place. Feng Gouzi approached Xiao Tianjian with his rifle, saying: "Boss! Don't trust what Wang Tianlong said, he's notorious for being ruthless and has done many shady deals before! We need to be on our guard against him! He's not a man of his word, and people in the underworld don't want to deal with him! Why don't we just forget about going to Fanjia Fortress? It's better that way!"

  "He dares! If he dares to lick the spittle he spat out, I'll stab him!" Zhao Erdui, who had always been slippery, was the first to respond. After going through several battles, Zhao Erdui now felt a surge of confidence and a bit of disdain for these people, especially after they were all equipped with javelins and leather armor. His self-confidence was unprecedentedly inflated, and he wasn't too afraid of Wang Tiandong. As soon as he heard Feng Gouzzi say this, he immediately started arguing.

  Xiao Tianjian thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "Let's not worry about Wang Tiandong's character for now. What he said this time is right. As for the matter of attacking Fanjia Fortress, we might not be able to handle it ourselves! Joining forces with them does provide some guarantee! We just need to be careful! Let's go take a look at the situation first! If Wang Tiandong goes back on his word, we're not easy to bully either! Everyone has been training for so long! How can we be afraid of them? Alright, this has delayed us for quite some time! Everyone should get up and leave now!"

  Now, many people have a blind trust in Xiao Tianjian. Whatever he says goes, and no one has any objections, including the new partners who are also willing to listen to Xiao Tianjian's orders. So these people immediately got up, lined up again, and set foot on the road to Fanjia Fortress once more.

  "Shi Rang, you take the big cow and a few others to go ahead first, follow Wang Tianlong to check out the situation! We'll be right behind!" Xiao Tianjian ordered after the team set off.

  Shi Rang nodded and immediately summoned several of Da Niu's subordinates, then whipped his horse and left the troops, rushing ahead in the direction of Fanjia Fortress.

  Xiao Tianjian had just led his team to pass the intersection ahead, when he saw Wang Tiandong's barefooted subordinates rushing past them with a whooshing sound. Both sides curiously sized each other up, although there was no hostility, but still some wariness between them.

  Xiao Tianjian also quietly observed Wang Tiandong's subordinates, and after finishing, he sneered in his heart. Although Wang Tiandong had more than 200 people under him, which was a lot more than Xiao Tianjian's, they were in disarray when they acted, with no discipline to speak of. Some people laughed loudly, some scolded, and others occasionally stopped to catch their breath before being forced back into the group by the leader's whip.

  Their equipment was even more chaotic, with some holding rusty and tattered hacking knives, others holding standard issue military waist knives, some holding bamboo spears, and wooden pole long guns. Laughably, there were also people holding feces forks, iron rakes, and someone simply carrying a wooden stick. There were even those who carried a wooden pitchfork used for threshing grain. This equipment made Xiao Tianjian think of when he had first gathered Feng Gouzi, Zhao Er'luo and the others, at that time their equipment was basically no different from Wang Tiandong's subordinates now, they could be completely called a motley crew.

  What made Xiao Tianjian despise them even more was not the equipment issue, but that these people were obviously a group of guys who had not undergone any regular training. Not only were their weapons complicated, but they also lacked discipline. Such people, if they were to be considered as enemies, would be no match for his own 40-odd soldiers, despite being outnumbered.

  But as the other team's procession rumbled past them, some of the things people were carrying in the back made Xiao Tianjian's eyes widen.

  Only a few people were seen hurrying along with a donkey pulling a flatbed cart, on which was loaded a round iron thing about one meter long, looking very unremarkable and black. Behind them, several people were each carrying one of the things that Xiao Tianjian had been thinking about day and night, glancing back at them as they hastened along under the leader's urging, passing them by and rushing in the direction of Fanjia Village.

  "Yan Zhongxi! Yan Zhongxi come over here!" Xiao Tianjian immediately shouted out, his voice sounding somewhat excited.

  Yan Chongxi shouted: "Here!" and ran to Xiao Tian's side in big strides: "Please give orders with the tray!"

  "What's that? What is that thing?" Xiao Tianjian pointed at the donkey-pulled cart and asked Yan Chongxi.

  "If it's a palm-sized plate, that's a tiger squatting cannon! There are quite a few of these things in the border army, but I didn't expect Wang Tianglong to get his hands on one from who-knows-where!" Yan Chongxi said with a glance, immediately responding to Xiao Tianjian.

  Xiao Tianjian was now certain about what he had seen, and it turned out that he had seen a similar tiger squatting cannon when he visited the museum in his early years. At that time, he just thought it was fresh and didn't pay much attention to it. The shape of the cannon was very similar to the one Wang Tiandong owned now, so he asked Yan Zhongxi to confirm it.

  "Those people are carrying bird guns!" Xiao Tianjian asked Yan Chongxi again.

  "Ah, got it! I said how could Wang Tianglong be so bold! It turns out they actually have this kind of thing! These people really don't know life or death, even daring to use this stuff, let's see how they die!" Yan Chongxi spat on the ground and said with disdain.

  "Oh? What do you mean by that?" Xiao Tianjian hastily asked.

  "Ha! The bird gun is a good thing, but nowadays the officials in various places are making it, and they're all useless. The officials embezzle iron materials and cheat the craftsmen out of their wages, so the craftsmen can only make do with shoddy workmanship. As a result, when these things are used on the battlefield, they often explode, and the bird gun soldiers don't dare to use them. Most of them are just thrown into storage to fill up the numbers! So I'm telling you, those people are courting death, and if they dare to use it, there'll be a big show to watch! Hehe!" Yan Zhongxi immediately explained this to Xiao Tianjian.

  Xiao Tianjian let out a faint sigh in his heart, because he knew that Yan Zhongxi was telling the truth. By the end of the Ming dynasty, various systems had already collapsed, and it was impossible to expect craftsmen who were not well-fed or warmly dressed, with insufficient materials, to produce qualified weapons. He had also seen similar situations from many places and naturally understood them.

  Unfortunately, the brilliant technicians of the Ming dynasty continued to advance China's military technology, but after this era, their efforts were replicated and declined due to the collapse of the system. As a result, when the Qing dynasty ruled China later on, China's leading military technology stagnated, leading to China's weakness for hundreds of years, becoming a third-rate country in the world, like a piece of meat on a platter, whoever wanted to cut it off would come and take a slice. Although the Chinese people eventually stood up again, technically they spent decades trying to catch up with the Western powers but still fell far behind.

  Whenever Xiao Tianjian thinks of the stupid and arrogant mites ruling China's history, he can't help but want to scold those bastards. They're simply a group of pigs with no vision whatsoever. With the intelligence and wisdom of the Chinese people, it's impossible to sink to that level. However, some lousy directors in later generations still enjoy filming Qing dynasty dramas, licking the asses of those pig-headed rulers and promoting their so-called merits and virtues! Damn it! Now that I've come to this era, if I had the chance, I'd risk my life to prevent these wild boars from occupying China!

  Xiao Tianjian's thoughts had strayed, and Yan Chongxi, who was beside him, didn't know why Xiao Tianjian suddenly became so angry, so he quietly reminded him: "Let's go, shall we?"

  "Huh?! Oh! Let's go! Keep up with them! Maintain formation! Don't embarrass me!" Xiao Tianjian was taken aback for a moment, but quickly regained his composure and temporarily pushed the thought to the back of his mind. His current situation suddenly reminded him of Hu Han San's lyrics: "In the old days, my team had just started out, with only ten or so people and seven or eight guns..." This comparison made them seem somewhat similar.

  I'm going to become a great hero! Bah! What was I thinking? I am tall and powerful, majestic and elegant, how can that short and fat guy compare to me? I will do something big!

  Xiao Tianjian quickly spat out a few times in his heart, shaking off this idea. He looked at the soldiers under him, one by one standing up straight, even the auxiliary soldiers among them puffed out their chests and walked in line with big strides from beside him. Every person's face was filled with a proud expression, apparently they had seen Wang Tianlong's subordinates and felt that compared to them, they were not on the same level at all.

  "Not bad! Morale is passable! Not embarrassing for the old man!" Xiao Tianjian took a deep breath, put a bamboo whistle to his mouth and blew it.

  Dozens of people immediately trampled on his whistle, their footsteps becoming much more uniform, all feet stepping on one point, raising a cloud of dust on the dirt road, rolling towards Fanjiabao. The uniform footsteps and whistling sounds made those who were running ahead, Wang Tiandong's men, turn around in surprise, staring at them...

  Let the red envelopes come more fiercely!