Ma Jiamen: I was forced to fight for supremacy

Liangshui County is named after its proximity to Liangshan and Dongpo.

To the east of Liangshui County lies a vast expanse of hilly and mountainous land, with water systems and lakes.

The people here live near the mountains and by the water.

The so-called people rely on mountains to eat mountains, and rely on water to eat water.

The people here do not work. They are destined to be hunters and fishermen from birth.

For generations, the people have relied on mountains and rivers for food, and the genes of toughness are engraved in their bones.

Therefore, this large area has a local specialty, that is, bandits.

The summer harvest had just ended, and this was also the busiest time for these bandits.

The bandits here are the most law-abiding. As long as the people don't cause trouble, they will only take their food and not kill them.

The bandits would take away a large portion of it, and then leave some for the people to hand over to the court and to support themselves.

As long as the people do not starve to death, there will be new grain to harvest next year.

There are hundreds of bandit strongholds of all sizes here, among which the several mountain strongholds in Liangshan and the several water strongholds in Dongbo are the most powerful.

They have government officials behind them, backing them up and providing cover.

Even the top figures in some bandit camps are government officials.

On the Xiaohei Mountain where Ma Zhan wanted to rush to, there were several insignificant bandit groups, which could even be called thieves.

Their existence is to be cannon fodder.

Whenever the imperial court issued an order to suppress bandits, the government would suppress them.

Before midnight, Ma Zhan arrived at the foot of Xiaohei Mountain.

After tying up the horse, he went to the small palace to call out Guoshanfeng, gave Mengyao a few words, and then disappeared into the night with Guoshanfeng.

The two men climbed up the mountain in the dark, and with the help of their Qinggong skills, it was effortless.

After Ma Zhan briefly explained to Shanfeng what to do, the two of them separated halfway up the mountain.

On an unknown hilltop, Ma Zhan saw a dilapidated stronghold.

It would be a stretch to call it a mountain village, as it is just a few adobe houses surrounded by several circles of fences.

There was a thief standing guard at the door, sleeping against the fence, and Ma Zhan walked up to him.

"Pa" means a slap.

"Call your boss over."

It was obvious that the young thief had just started working there. Ma Zhan's slap almost scared him to death.

He held the spear in trembling hands and pointed at Ma Zhan and asked.

"You, you, you... who are you?"

Ma Zhan tilted his head, took a step forward and slapped him again.

"Call your boss over, or I'll beat you to death."

The little thief ran and shouted.

"Boss, it's bad, someone is trying to break into the mountain gate."

After a while, a dozen men, sleepy and staggering, gathered at the gate of the village. These were probably all the people in the village.

A burly man holding a machete said.

"What little kid is coming here to die?"

Ma Zhan ignored him and spoke directly.

"I am the eldest son of the Marquis of Shuibo, and Wang Yulei's servant.

My son’s grandfather was a military officer in Liang State, his uncle was the governor of Shuibo County, and his uncle was the prefect of Xuzhou.

I am here today to recruit you on the orders of my young master.

Follow my young master, and you will have food, drinks, and women.

But my master doesn’t want useless people, he only wants people who have killed people.”

Ma Zhan took out a small bag and opened it, revealing a dozen small night pearls.

In the moonlight, it emits an alluring glow.

Looking at the greedy eyes of the bandits, he continued.

“If you follow my young master, each of you can receive one of these beads every month.

Now, except for the boss, everyone else line up and I will interview them.

Mainly talk about how many people you have killed, who they killed, and why you killed them.

Those who passed the interview came down the mountain three days later and waited on the official road.

My son will pass by there and take you back to Liangshui."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ma Zhan threw a bead to the boss and said.

"The boss didn't need an interview and passed directly."

The big boss excitedly bowed immediately.

"Thank you, thank you, young sir."

The first interview was with the little thief who was guarding the door, he said nervously.

"I, I, I killed people, killed many people..."

Ma Zhan waved his hand: "Shut up! I don't think you'd even dare to kill a chicken, let alone a human. Go away."

The bandits behind laughed and mocked.

"Goudan, stop bragging. You wouldn't dare to get on the little girl from Suantai Village even if she was stripped naked. Go play with your balls somewhere else... Hahaha..."

The second one, a bearded man, spoke up.

"Young sir, I am the second in command here. Before going up the mountain, I slept with the daughter-in-law of our village chief.

Unfortunately, the village chief saw me, so I killed his entire family of six."

"What did you use to kill him?"

"The dagger I carry with me."

"They were all stabbed everywhere. Some were in the stomach, some were in the neck."

"The blood either flows or spurts out."

. . . .

The bandits didn't expect the young gentleman to ask so many detailed questions, so the lies they had just made up were useless.

After a while, the bandits who had killed people and those who had not were separated.

Unexpectedly, in such a simple bandit nest, there were only four people who had never killed anyone.

And except for the little thief who is guarding the gate, the other three are guaranteed to be able to go down the mountain and kill people right now.

Ma Zhan learned from other bandits that the little thief who stole chickens and dogs was not a good person, he was just timid.

Ma Zhan didn't waste any more words and took out his bow and arrow.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz~" Three arrows randomly pierced the throats of three people from the group of bandits who had killed people.

Looking at the terrified bandits, Ma Zhan sneered.

“Haha, our young master said that he doesn’t want trash.

You can't even catch one of my arrows, and you losers still want to follow my young master? Don't even think about it."

The boss held the machete and glared at Ma Zhan. He wanted to go up and chop him to death.

But he was afraid of the bow and arrow in Ma Zhan's hand, so he could only watch Ma Zhan helplessly as he disappeared into the night.

The boss was quite loyal and let his three brothers close their eyes even though they died with their eyes open.

He took out the night pearl from his arms and said to the little thief.

"Go down the mountain tomorrow, exchange this for silver, and buy three more coffins."

The little thief took the beads and said tremblingly.

"Boss, this is a stone."

"Ah~Fuck Dong Yulei..."

Ma Zhan continued to run towards the next hill and found the bandit camp.

"Pah~ Call your boss out."

Ma Zhan and Guoshan Feng did the same thing, galloping between the various hills of Xiaohei Mountain.

At dawn, the two met at the foot of the mountain.

Ma Zhan took a few sips of water and asked.

"How many have you built?"

Guoshanfeng replied.

"About seven or eight. One is a little more than that. I'm using them as cover. There are about a hundred of them."

"You're still faster. I only took five, and I also left a cover."

Ma Zhan did a quick calculation and continued.

"Less than two hundred people. Excluding those who dare not seek revenge, there are about a hundred people left. That's enough.

We'll rest in the morning, set off for Dahei Mountain in the afternoon, and continue our operation in the evening."