Chapter 317: Can't Hit a Flying Bird
Of course, the Dashing General from Mizhi County was Li Zicheng. He and his nephew, Li Guo, had recently joined Wang Zuogua's forces. Being literate, exceptionally skilled, and worldly, he was quickly promoted to a management role, allowed to participate in strategic meetings.
However, with just him and Li Guo, they had no subordinates, couldn't form their own unit, and thus couldn't be assigned a command. When Li Zicheng finally spoke, Wang Zuogua, along with Miao Mei, Fan Shan Yao, and Big Red Wolf, all turned to look at him. "Oh? It's the Dashing General!" Wang Zuogua said. "What do you have to say?"
Li Zicheng responded, "I've been under Brother Wang's command for a while now, and I often hear the soldiers talking about Bai Family Fortress. Some of the old veterans say we've lost battles there several times, haven't we? One time, it was due to strange catapults, giant crossbow vehicles, and huge, bizarre stones that flew incredibly far. Another time, we were defeated by peculiar bombs and several flintlock rifles." Wang Zuogua's expression soured. "Such old news isn't worth mentioning."
Li Zicheng thought to himself: *He loses face just by mentioning a lost battle? His temperament is quite limited, it seems. A true formidable leader should learn from failures, not be ashamed to speak of them.*
Li Zicheng continued, "I bring this up only to remind you, leaders, that Bai Family Fortress is very peculiar. I doubt it's just an ordinary local gentry. There must be some strange power supporting it from behind, providing it with bizarre and exotic weapons."
Wang Zuogua scoffed, "What other strange power could it be? The government?"
Li Zicheng shook his head. "Clearly not the government! While the government might provide armor and firearms to local militias, the power behind Bai Family Fortress... I fear it might be even more lawless and heaven-defying than us. If we rashly engage without a clear understanding, I'm afraid..."
"Hmph! Pure rubbish!" Big Red Wolf retorted. "We allowed you to speak in our ranks because you've seen something of the world, but are you here just to spread nonsense and disrupt our morale?"
The two men quietly slipped away from Wang Zuogua's army, burrowing into the mountain paths. Traveling day and night, they headed back to their hometown in Mizhi County...
Soon, a large train carried them away, whistling towards Gao Family Village. Meanwhile, Li Zicheng chuckled. "Precisely! Without our own loyal unit, we lack the capital to truly contend for power. With your nephew's and my combined abilities, why should we fear failure in grand endeavors?"
The man moved slowly, carrying a small basket of shrimp as he rushed toward the train station. Just as he arrived, the train pulled in, and he clambered aboard, using his hands and feet.
Li Daoxuan offered a satisfied, doting smile. What he loved most to see were glimpses of the villagers' lives returning to normal and thriving.
He quickly followed the sound with his gaze and saw Bai Yuan standing in a nearby patch of woods next to Wang Zuogua. In his hand, he held a bird-gun that had been modified into a flintlock rifle. He watched a startled bird take flight into the sky, a look of profound disappointment etched on his face.
Li Guo blinked.
Li Zicheng declared, "If we simply send out more scouts, conduct thorough reconnaissance, and then lure them into our ambush, we can decide the victory in a single strike!"
With Gao Family Village's current purchasing power, their shrimp, once they reached the commercial hub, would be snapped up instantly. After all, it was meat...
The fishermen's nets had a wide mesh, catching only the large shrimp and letting the smaller ones slip through. Li Zicheng said to Li Guo, "Pack our things, we're leaving."
Li Daoxuan could only silently wish them well. Meanwhile, Li Zicheng continued, "Let's head back to Mizhi first, gather the elders and townsfolk from our homeland, and raise a fighting force. Then, we'll take our own unit to join Bu Zhan Ni in Luochuan. That way, we won't just be advisors, all talk and no action. We'll at least be able to command our own forces."
"Wait, wait, wait, the next train is coming." A fisherman dipped his shrimp basket in water and handed it to his wife. "Take this shrimp, get on the next train to the Gao Family commercial hub, and sell them quickly while they're still fresh."
And it wasn't just him; several other men were carrying shrimp. Li Zicheng said, "That Wang Zuogua is useless, not worth our allegiance. And he's not long for this world; staying here will only drag us down with him."
Li Zicheng mused, "No, that's not what I meant. It's just that, when it comes to war, being casual about it always proves worse."
Horse Hoof Lake, a body of water that had seemingly appeared from nowhere, as if Li Daoxuan himself had poured it into existence, initially held no fish or shrimp. Yet, inexplicably, aquatic life had begun to thrive there on its own. Meanwhile, Big Red Wolf sneered, "What's the point? Do I need to investigate fourteen generations of Bai Yuan's ancestors to see which one is secretly blessing him?"
In the early days of the militia's mountain retreat, Li Daoxuan could still observe them, though his field of vision was limited. Meanwhile, Li Guo asked, "Where are we going to get our core group of followers?"
Li Zicheng cupped his hands in a salute and said no more. He then made an excuse to relieve himself, slipped out of the small camp, grabbed his nephew Li Guo, and dragged him into the nearby woods. Li Guo suddenly understood. "If we become commanders, we'll have much more say!"
Li Guo asked curiously, "Uncle, what's wrong?" Meanwhile, Wang Zuogua waved a hand, silencing Big Red Wolf. "Seventh Brother, stop your quarreling! Dashing General, you can also stop your baseless worries. What talk of some power behind Bai Family Fortress being more lawless and heaven-defying than us? That's pure nonsense! In this vast world, is there any other outlaw bolder than me?"
"Sigh! No matter how much I practice, I still can't hit a flying bird."
Just then, a "bang" echoed in his ears.
Li Guo asked, "So where do we go now?"
He could only watch as the militia marched to the very edge of his field of vision. Cheng Xu then raised his head and bowed deeply towards the low-hanging clouds that had followed them all the way. Following his lead, the entire militia then marched out of the box, disappearing from Li Daoxuan's sight.
Bai Yuan's face was etched with a mournful expression. "Among a gentleman's eight arts, the art of archery... perhaps I should just cross that one off my list!" Meanwhile, Li Zicheng's current sphere of influence covered only a small area in the southern Huanglong Mountain region.
"Alright, Uncle. Let's head back to Mizhi."
His own field of view had actually expanded several li towards the Huanglong Mountain range, but Huanglong Mountain was simply too vast. The combined area of Chengcheng County, Heyang County, and Tongguan Circuit still couldn't match its size.
Li Zicheng thought for a moment. "With just the two of us, nephew and I, it will ultimately be difficult to achieve great things. Even if we joined Wang Zuogua's faction, he wouldn't truly value us. I've considered it repeatedly, and we must establish our own core group of followers."
It was already autumn. Farmers across the land were busy harvesting their crops, and for the fishermen by the lake, this was also the prime season for harvesting shrimp and crabs. Every year at this time, the shrimp and crabs grew plump and abundant. By Horse Hoof Lake, a group of fishermen were actively pulling in their nets.
Li Daoxuan observed many fishermen's boats filled with several large baskets of live shrimp, leaping lively inside their containers.
After observing their departure, Li Daoxuan shifted his field of vision back, quickly returning his focus to Wang Zuogua's location.
He saw Wang Zuogua's camp, a scene of quiet stillness. After a year, the fish population remained sparse and not particularly plump, but the shrimp, however, had grown quite large.
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