Book 21 Chapter 4 – Fortune Makes The Man

Upon returning to Xiapi, before even sitting comfortably, Kou Zhong already began receiving important figures [orig. people with head and face] of the neighboring towns and counties who came to attach themselves to him. Among them, there was no lack of generals of Li Zitong’s inner circle.

One of them was a man called Li Xingyuan, aged about thirty, tall and mighty, but he did not come from Li Zitong’s hometown, but another big city Muyang, located between Xiapi and Donghai. He was willing to surrender Muyang, which was tantamount to half of Donghai County has fallen into Kou Zhong’s bag.

Kou Zhong was greatly surprised and asked the reason, Li Xingyuan snorted coldly and said, “Li Zitong is harsh and merciless, he employs only close and distant relatives, and not based on talent or ability, his insight narrow and shallow, absolutely not a man with high aspiration. Frankly speaking, originally Xingyuan hesitated and could not make decision, but the various generals under my command, as well as business and agricultural leaders, from the most senior to the youngest, all unanimously agree to seek shelter under Shao Shuai. Only then did Xingyuan understand the meaning of ‘ten thousand people convert their allegiance’.”

Kou Zhong could not help laughing; he said, “Xingyuan is honest enough, I like this kind of straightforward man. I wonder how’s Donghai situation currently?”

Li Xingyuan replied, “Donghai County is currently under the leadership of Li Zitong’s younger brother Li Ziyun, so they will never surrender to Shao Shuai. Moreover, they have adequate rations and fodder; a year or a half shouldn’t be any problem.”

Frowning, Kou Zhong asked, “What kind of person is Li Ziyun?”

Li Xingyuan replied in disdain, “Other than bullying and humiliating the small and weak, taking the fat and wealth of the people, what else does he know? Precisely because Li Zitong knew that he is bold but not very astute that he appointed rotten ghost scholar Tong Shuwen to be his Junshi [military counselor]. This man is extremely shrewd, unlike Li Ziyun, who’s just a straw bag [i.e. idiot].”

Highly interested, Kou Zhong pursued further, “Why did Xingyuan call him rotten ghost scholar?”

Gnashing his teeth in anger, Li Xingyuan replied, “Tong Shuwen loves to call himself a noble and virtuous man the most, always claims that he is well-read in the book of the Sages, that his learning was the Way of the Emperor, benevolence and righteousness hang onto his mouth all day long; yet beneath the surface he is ‘greedy of flowers’, he has ruined the reputation and integrity of I don’t know how many women. Even his subordinates’ wives, concubines, and daughters did not escape his clutch. Were it not for his superior martial art skill, plus he is under Li Zitong, two brothers’ protection, someone would have cut him into ten thousand pieces.”

Kou Zhong deduced that this must be Li Xingyuan’s most important reason; he could not help being grateful that he was not a womanizer at all. Nodding, he said, “To capture Donghai, this man is the key. If we can remove him, no matter how vicious Li Ziyun is, he will only be a toothless tiger. Does Xingyuan have any good proposal?”

Li Xingyuan showed a difficult expression; he said, “In Donghai, there is no one more afraid of assassin than Tong Shuwen; therefore, not only he is very careful, his action is secretive, even going to bed at night, he never sleeps in the same room two nights in a row. To assassinate Li Ziyun is a bit easier.”

Kou Zhong mused, “Xingyuan came to see me, did Li Ziyun know?”

Li Xingyuan replied, “Although Tong Shuwen has his spies among my men, he can’t conceal it from me. This time I am especially careful; they shouldn’t be aware.”

Kou Zhong happily said, “In that case it will work! Xingyuan should return to Muyang immediately, keep it under the lid, wait for me to draft a comprehensive plan, and then I will coordinate with you for further action.”

Li Xingyuan nodded his acknowledgement. His eyes revealed a fervent expectation, he said, “Xingyuan has a presumptuous request, I really hope Shao Shuai would grant it.”

Kou Zhong cheerfully said, “We are now brothers, whatever load you have in your mind, please speak out boldly!”

Li Xingyuan spoke in low voice, “I wish for Shao Shuai to start off leniently, don’t let disaster befall the common people of Donghai County.”

Taken aback, Kou Zhong laughed and said, “That is not presumptuous request! That is compassion, plus it is in accordance with the Heaven’s law. Xingyuan, set your heart at ease. If the only way to capture Donghai is by murdering the entire city, I, Kou Zhong, will definitely refuse to do it. If I break this oath, may I, Kou Zhong, die a horrible death.”

Severely shaken, Li Xingyuan prostrated himself; he was so moved that he could not say anything.

Kou Zhong hastily helped him up. After discussing the method on how they would contact each other, Li Xingyuan hurriedly left.

His hind leg had just left, Chen Changlin’s front leg already stepped over the Mansion’s gate. Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong went out to meet him.

Right now, what he craved the most was talent.

※ ※ ※

Under the setting sun, a fishing boat was slowly docking on the pier outside the city of Baling.

Bu Tianzhi, disguised as a fisherman, leaned over on Xu Ziling, who was gazing at the city gate, and whispered in his ear, “Ziling must be very careful. In recent years Xiao Xian’s prestige is flourishing greatly, plus he has ample financial resources, and has attracted countless martial art masters from both the south and the north of the river. Xiang Yushan is his favored minister, plus he has been Yang Xuyan’s target of assassination; therefore, he always have martial art masters around to protect him.”

Wearing the Scarface Hero mask, Xu Ziling was dejected, but his blazing eyes did not change the least bit; remaining tranquil and calm, he said, “Based on what Zhi Shu [uncle] knows, is there any formidable character that I have to pay special attention to?”

Bu Tianzhi replied, “There are five who can be considered first class martial art masters. First, there is ‘Da Li Shen’ [lit. deity with great strength, Hercules, Titan] Bao Rang. This man’s ‘Heng Lian Gang’[1] is extremely well-known in the Great River Basin area; he trains hard skill from lower quality external school like to Tie Bu Shan [lit. iron cloth garment], but his current mastery is no different than Bi Xijing’s first-class internal true qi, that he has become a wonder whom the southern Wulin people discuss enthusiastically. This man is ruthless; he has enemies everywhere. This time he is willing to take refuge in Xiao Xian, the main reason must be to avoid misfortune.”

Xu Ziling quietly memorized the name Bao Rang, but he did not say anything.

Bu Tianzhi continued, “The second one is ‘E quan’ [Vicious Dog] Qu Wuju [his given name means ‘no fear’]. This man originally belonged to a group of horse-mounted bandits that wreaked havoc in Ao Dong, but since he provoked a martial art master of Song Clan, who hunted him for a thousand li, he ran away alone. Somehow he ended up as Xiao Xian’s dog. His vicious name is a close runner-up to the ‘Da Li Shen’ Bao Rang. His expertise is in a pair of big iron hammers called the ‘Mysterious Thunder’; extremely difficult to deal with. Ay! If you can avoid him, better not fight against him.”

Xu Ziling coldly said, “Anybody who tries to stop me from taking back Su Jie and her child will die!” The tone of his voice carried