Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 140: The Boss Celebrates Victory in a High Building, Liangshan Marsh Takes Revenge in the Da

The chirping of insects on a summer night was quite noisy, turning the area beneath the blue brick walls of the West Street Restaurant in Qinyuan County into a symphony.

Wang Ergou, a worker at Hongxiang Dyehouse, was hunched over in the stables in the backyard, tending to the horses. The owners of the three major dyehouses had all come here for a banquet, bringing dozens of farmhands and bodyguards with them, but he was the only one taking care of the mules and horses. Those who were more capable had been provided with food and drink by the three owners, but who told him to be "a useless snack made from sixty catties of flour into a large longevity peach"? If you're not capable, you can just stay here and smell the horse manure.

Suddenly, Wang Ergou heard a soft clattering sound from above. Bored, he looked up and saw a dark shadow hanging upside down like a hook. A thick iron rod, gleaming coldly in the moonlight, came crashing down on his head. He felt a chill in his throat and could no longer make a sound; his brains had already splattered out!

The group that arrived was none other than "Iron-Backed Wolf" Shan Shiqi and Li Hanxiao. After Li Hanxiao agreed to help Shan Shiqi take revenge, he discussed a plan with Shan Shiqi to attack the restaurant today and kill the owners of the three dye houses.

At this moment, "Iron-backed Wolf" Shan Shiqi was preparing to storm into the restaurant from the back. With the help of more than a dozen skilled fighters from Liangshan Marsh, he was certain that he could avenge himself today.

Just then, the drumbeat outside the window sounded three times. The three owners upstairs had been drinking and toasting for quite some time, and even the guards drinking downstairs were probably quite drunk.

Reaching the backyard, Li Hanxiao ran his fingertips across the walls of the tavern. These were all made of blue bricks, so it shouldn't be possible for the entire building to collapse from a firearm.

In two rooms not far away, next to the kitchen, the servants and guards brought by the three owners were drinking and chatting. Apart from the guards who had served them, there were at least twenty or thirty people drinking in those two rooms.

Since they've all gathered together, using some explosive firearms would be just the right thing to do.

"Are the firearms of Brother Ling Zhen ready?"

Li Han smiled and said.

Ling Zhen, nicknamed "Thunderbolt," emerged from the shadows. The faint scent of gunpowder emanated from the bamboo box on his back. He chuckled as he answered Li Han, "Twelve Thunderbolts. If we threw them all in, this restaurant would surely turn into a fiery mountain."

"Very well, when 'Iron Whistle' Yue He plays 'Ambush from Ten Sides,' it will be time for revenge."

Li Hanxiao set the signal to "Iron Whistle" Yue He to play the tune of "Ambush from Ten Sides". He had previously placed "Iron Whistle" Yue He disguised as a musician in the restaurant to gather information.

As long as those three get completely drunk, Yuehe will play music, and that will be the time to make his move!

Perhaps even the insects sensed the overwhelming murderous aura emanating from these people, or perhaps they were providing accompaniment, for at this moment the chirping of insects suddenly intensified, rustling against the oil paper covering the windows.

Today's protagonist of revenge, "Iron-Backed Wolf" Shan Shiqi, silently wiped the iron ring staff in his hand. The "mountain" character pattern secretly engraved on the blade was already soaked with blood.

In his daze, he saw again the fire that night, the indigo seeds in the house burned to ashes, and his father's body swollen like a drum, soaking in water...

Thinking of this, he tightened his grip on the iron ring staff and said in a low voice, "The others don't matter, but I want to personally kill those three bastards!"

Li Han smiled and nodded, indicating that he would take revenge himself and no one would compete with him for it.

At this moment, in the restaurant, although they had already drunk several rounds of wine and eaten several dishes, different kinds of dishes were still being brought to the table. Even the candles in the room had been changed several times. In order to make it bright, twelve glass lamps were lit in the room, which made the faces of the three owners glow with an eerie red light.

Uncle Zhao picked up a piece of cold braised beef and put it in his mouth. Normally, at his age, his teeth might not be strong enough to chew beef, but he still chewed it with great effort, even smacking his lips to savor the taste of the beef, as if he were eating some kind of delicacy.

"Hey, Brother Zhao, if your teeth aren't up to par, eat something soft. There are three or four kinds of tofu on this table alone, aren't you going to have enough?"

Blackie played with the iron gall bladder, and the knife at his waist was inlaid with seven emeralds. This guy was the youngest of the three bosses. Everyone said he was a "living bandit" who was rich and powerful and did things unreasonably. But who knew that this kid used to be a bandit?

This Black Seventh Brother was a restless fellow since childhood. He learned some martial arts and ran rampant in the countryside. Later, he became a bodyguard, but he was greedy and killed his employer, robbed the goods, and that's how he got his first pot of gold. Later, he fled from his hometown in Hunan to Shanxi, changed his appearance, and no one recognized him. He then opened this dye shop.

This kid is a former bandit, he knows a lot of shady tricks, and he often uses illegitimate means to do business. This time, it was he who came up with the idea to harm the Shan Shiqi family, and then he found people to carry it out. It was a secret operation, a conspiracy, and the worst one is this kid!

After finally chewing the beef thoroughly, Zhao Baye took a sip of wine to wash it down and replied, "Brother, you don't know me. My family were originally Han Chinese from Yunzhou in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. We couldn't stay in the Liao Kingdom, so my grandfather and father carried me through Yanmen Pass to our Great Song Dynasty when I was eight years old. Do you know what I wanted to eat most back then?"

"what?"

Chen Liuzi and Hei Laoqi both asked out of curiosity.

"Braised beef, especially the chewy, juicy braised beef from their mountain village!"

As Zhao Baye spoke, he sneered, the meaning of which was self-evident.

Zhao Baye's family had been traveling west for three generations, and by his generation, they were the second generation to open a dye shop. Although they were from out of town, they had already established a strong foothold in the business.

"At your age, brother, you're not worried about tough, chewy bits of meat. Meat that's soft and smooth is easier to chew and swallow!"

Chen Liuzi is the youngest, shrewd and capable, and the best at running a dye shop. He was originally a worker in the dye shop, but he stole his master's skills and gradually built up his reputation and business.

"Only chewy, flaky braised beef has real flavor; if the meat is like tofu, it's just not satisfying!"

Zhao Baye sneered and spoke.

Meanwhile, "Iron Whistle" Yue He was mixed in with these musicians. He clearly understood that these three people weren't talking about "braised beef" at all. They were discussing how to divide the spoils after they had succeeded!

Zhao Baye invested more money. Although it was Hei Laoqi who found the way to hire someone to kill, it was Zhao Baye who paid for it. The two young people didn't want the old man to take the lion's share of Qingdai's profits, so their words were barbed, both overt and covert. It wasn't as simple as just talking about whether or not to eat beef.

Chen Liuzi sensed the tension in their conversation and knew that continuing the fight would only lead to trouble. So he stood up, looked down through the crack in the window of the third-floor private room, and said, "Let's not talk about that. To each their own. I, Chen Liuzi, prefer to eat tofu. By the way, we still haven't found that Shan Shiqi kid. He's quite skilled in martial arts. If he's not dead, he'll definitely come for revenge. He's a threat to both of us!"

The saying goes, "A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years." They didn't believe that "Iron-backed Wolf" Shan Shiqi wouldn't come to seek revenge, so as long as he existed, he was a threat to their lives and a restless presence.

"That's right, we need to find a way to find him and kill him before we can feel at ease!"

Zhao Baye placed his arms on the table, leaned forward, and was about to discuss the specific details with the two men.

At this moment, Ling Zhen squatted down below the restaurant, burying the tinder into the "thunderbolts".

This "Thunderbolt" was originally a bomb created by Ling Zhen after receiving guidance from Li Hanxiao. The sub-bombs were hidden inside the mother bomb, and they would explode in a chain reaction when exposed to fire.

Suddenly, a soft clattering sound was heard from the roof tiles. "Two-Headed Snake" Xie Zhen poked half his body in and smiled at Li Han, saying, "Commander Yang has already sealed off the west entrance of the street; we guarantee no one can get in."

At that moment, in the back kitchen of the restaurant, several cooks had been knocked unconscious and tied up. Shi Xiu, the "Desperate Saburo," shoved his double swords back into his waistband and stuffed the three corpses into a sauce vat.

Just now, these three guards came in to urge the food, but he used the knife technique he used to butcher an ox to cut off their joints, and the blood didn't even splatter onto the steamer. After all, this "daredevil" Shi Xiu has been eating butcher's food since he was a child, so it's not surprising that he knows how to cut tendons and bones.

Suddenly, the sound of a pipa came from the front hall. The blind musician, "Iron Whistle" Yue He, was playing "Ambush from Ten Sides," and the strings were filled with the desolation of the frontier.

"Alright, the time has come for their funeral."

Li Hanxiao swung the three-pointed double-edged sword in his hand, and the cloth that was originally covering the sword instantly shattered.

Almost simultaneously, Ling Zhen lit the fuse with his tinderbox and threw several "heaven-shattering thunderbolts" into the window where the twenty-odd guards were. After three loud bangs, three fire dragons shot out of the window, followed by complete silence.

"kill!"

"Little Marquis Wen" Lü Fang and "Surpassing Ren Gui" Guo Sheng covered their mouths and noses, then brandished their halberds, kicked open the already shattered wooden door, and charged in.

Thick smoke billowed from inside, and none of the more than twenty guards survived; they were all blown to bits!

"Good! Brother Ling Zhen, your Thunderclap has been a success. Brothers, charge in! Don't kill the people in the restaurant, don't spare the guards, and as for those three bastards, leave them to Brother Shan Shiqi!"

With Li Hanxiao pointing his three-pointed sword and giving an order, apart from Wang Yin, Si Xingfang, and Duan Jingzhu, who were blocking the two street corners with "Blue-Faced Beast" Yang Zhi to prevent others from disturbing them, the rest of the group rushed into the restaurant to search for the three.

The three owners also felt a tremendous shock, as if the sky were collapsing and the earth were splitting, the moment the explosion occurred. They immediately realized something was wrong and called in the guards waiting outside to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, "Iron Whistle" Yue He took advantage of the chaos to slip out of the private room and go to report to his brothers at Liangshan.

In the shadows of the second-floor corridor, Shi Xiu gripped his twin swords in reverse and moved swiftly along the wall. The blades gleamed with a bloody light in the lantern's glow. He was the first to sneak from the first floor into the second. Along the way, he had already killed two armed guards at each of the two corners.

"There was an ambush! It was Sanders who did it!"

Suddenly, cries of alarm came from the third floor where the three owners were located, which basically pointed the way for everyone. Almost simultaneously, Ling Zhen lit two more "Heaven-Shattering Thunderbolts" and threw them at the guards who had rushed over from the side. The earth-shaking explosion caused all the lanterns in the restaurant to go out at the same time.

Li Hanxiao's three-pointed double-edged sword flashed with a crescent-shaped light in the darkness. Blood gushed from the throats of the three guards who were about to draw their swords. Xu Guanzhong's sword, like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, instantly severed the tendons of two guards in their hands and feet.

Due to the previous violent explosion, the entire floor of the second floor of the restaurant collapsed, and more than a dozen guards screamed as they either fell into the sea of ​​fire or were buried alive inside.

Meanwhile, on the third floor, "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu had successfully met with "Iron-Called" Le He. Thanks to Le He's directions, "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu was the first to rush to the private rooms of the three owners.

But at this moment, the guards rushed out to check the situation and bumped right into Shi Xiu, the "Desperate Saburo," and both of them were stunned.

However, when the guards saw Shi Xiu holding two swords and covered in blood, they immediately understood what was going on and all attacked the "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu with their weapons.

The space inside the staircase was narrow, making it absolutely impossible to swing weapons easily and widely. "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu retreated while raising a steel knife to block the incoming weapon. At the same time, he thrust out another steel knife, piercing directly through a person's abdomen.

Shi Xiu's blade sparked as it struck the enemy's weapon. He leaned against the floorboards on either side, his two goose-feather sabers crossed to hold off three iron spears.

The guards varied greatly in skill level; some were just ordinary servants with some strength, while others were more formidable, such as professional assassins, whose skills with iron spears were exceptional.

Of course, in such a narrow space, long spears couldn't be swung freely, so they were all carrying "carriage spears".

What is a "sedan gun"? Simply put, it's a short-handled gun, mostly used by women in ancient times to protect themselves by hiding it inside a sedan chair. The longest one is only about 1.2 or 1.3 meters, so it can be used in this situation!

The spear tip pressed against the hilt of "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu's knife, pressing towards his throat. Blood from the floorboards was flowing down the soles of his boots, causing Shi Xiu's feet to slip. The spear thrust forward at his neck, but Shi Xiu's strength was hindered, and he could not delay any longer.

"Here you go!"

With a roar, the two swords separated in an instant. The left sword slashed up along the spear shaft, and the four fingers, along with the iron spear, crashed to the ground. The right sword then cleaved into the gap in the heavy armor. The guard's throat gurgled, and the hot blood he spat out drew a scarlet arc on the wall.

Just as the remaining two were about to retreat, Shi Xiu's knife tip had already caught their waistbands—a technique used by butchers to hook chunks of meat when slaughtering pigs. Shi Xiu, a "daredevil" who had eaten butcher's food since childhood, had incorporated it into his knife skills. Whenever he pulled back forcefully, the two strong men would fall onto the pile of corpses like a human pyramid.