novelSusiti Chapter 116 Wang Lun Seeks Refuge in Mu Family Village
Chapter 116 Wang Lun Seeks Refuge in Mu Family Village
Upon seeing Xue Yong, Wang Lun recalled Xue Yong's few appearances in the original novel.
Most importantly, Xue Yong used his apprentice to work together from within and without to defeat the Wuwu Army and kill Huang Wenbing.
Now that he's here, we can take advantage of him.
At this moment, Song Jiang was supporting Xue Yong, tears streaming down his face, saying, "My good brother!"
Wang Lun smiled and said, "Brother Xue, do you have a disciple named Hou Jian?"
Song Jiang immediately introduced him to Xue Yong.
Xue Yong was a traveling performer who had been all over the country and had been to many places. Naturally, he knew the name of Wang Lun of Liangshan.
Upon hearing that it was Wang Lun, Xue Yong immediately knelt down.
Song Jiang introduced, "Chief Wang, brothers, this is Xue Yong, the Sick Tiger, who is my sworn brother."
Upon hearing his nickname "Sick Tiger," everyone looked at Wu Song.
Wu Song nodded slightly to Xue Yong and continued wiping the knife in his hand. The so-called "sick tiger" actually meant that he was better than a tiger. He had easily killed the tiger on Jingyang Ridge with his fists and sticks. No matter who called themselves "tiger", they were no match for Wu Song.
Upon hearing Wang Lun's question, Xue Yong quickly replied, "Reporting to the chieftain, I do indeed have a disciple named Hou Jian, but I haven't seen him for many years, and I don't know where he is at the moment."
Wang Lun laughed and said, "If we want to avenge Song Jiang, we still need to rely on you, my disciple."
Everyone was puzzled and looked at Wang Lun.
He didn't keep them in suspense and said, "As far as I know, your apprentice is currently working at Huang Wenbing's residence. You should sneak into Wuwei Army to find your apprentice, and then I will send Shi Qian and others in to meet up with you."
Xue Yong was quite surprised and asked, "Hou Jian is actually at Huang Wenbing's residence. How did the chieftain know about this?"
Wang Lun smiled and said, "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed."
Song Jiang's heart sank. He really couldn't figure out Wang Lun. Before, when Chao Gai and others went to Liangshan, Liu Tang had brought gold and silver to thank Song Jiang. At that time, Song Jiang carefully inquired about Wang Lun's situation from Liu Tang.
When they learned that Wang Lun was a very mediocre person, they thought that Chao Gai and Wu Yong would definitely be able to kill Wang Lun and take over Liangshan. However, when Chao Gai and his group arrived, they not only failed to kill Wang Lun, but also took the third seat.
After this incident, Song Jiang thought it was because Chao Gai and the others were mediocre, but he never expected that he would only now realize that Wang Lun was a person who was not easy to mess with.
Just then, one of Li Jun's men came to report: "Several thousand government troops from Jiangzhou are pursuing us and are not far from Bailong Temple."
Wang Lun knew that Huang Wenbing was the leader, but the other side had a large number of people and was no match for him.
To escape Huang Wenbing's pursuit, they could only rely on Li Jun, Zhang Heng, and Zhang Shun, as these were the local bullies.
He then looked at Li Jun and asked, "Brother Li Jun, what's your plan?"
Li Jun said, "Reporting to my brother, the river is not far away. We just need to cross the river. The government troops are numerous and cannot find so many boats in a short time. We only need two or three boats, so this matter is not difficult to accomplish."
Wang Lun nodded and said, "Alright, I'll leave this matter to Brother Li Jun. Find three boats as soon as possible so we can cross the river."
Mu Hong stepped forward and said, "Brother, now that we've crossed the river, why don't we take refuge at my manor for a while?"
Wang Lun frowned and said, "It would be great to take refuge at your manor temporarily, but once the government troops find out, you might come with me to Liangshan, but what will happen to your dozens of people in Mu Family Manor?"
Mu Hong said, "Brother Li Jun has already sold off all his property, so what do I, Mu Hong, have to be reluctant to part with? When the time comes, I will sell the estate, dismiss the servants, and take only my family north."
Wang Lun said happily, "Brother Mu Hong is very righteous, but it doesn't matter. If you come with me to Liangshan, I will give you a house in Jizhou. It may not be as good as your Mu Family Manor, but it won't be too bad either."
Mu Hong immediately bowed down and thanked him.
Li Jun and his men went out to find a boat. After they finished packing, they came out of the temple and saw thousands of soldiers and horses galloping in the distance, with banners flying everywhere and armor and weapons like a forest. This was not something that ordinary Song soldiers could compare to.
This also shows that Cai Jiu, as Cai Jing's son, greatly benefited the Jiangzhou soldiers.
The group rode their horses to the riverbank, where Li Jun and his men found several boats, and they boarded them.
Li Jun said, "There were several ships on both sides of the strait, but I destroyed them all. The officers and soldiers could only look on helplessly at the vast ocean."
When the boat reached the middle of the river, Huang Wenbing had already led his troops to the shore. Sure enough, they couldn't find a boat to cross the river, so they could only fire two volleys of arrows at the group. However, the distance was too great, and the arrows couldn't hit Wang Lun and the others at all, so it was a waste of effort.
Wang Lun and the others reached the shore and, led by Mu Hong, headed to Mu Family Village. Although Mu Taigong was old, he greatly admired the heroes of Liangshan and had already come out to greet them.
This flattered Wang Lun, who dismounted from his horse and went to greet him from afar.
Song Jiang, protected by Li Kui behind him, had an unfriendly expression. Although he was a clerk with a low-ranking position, he was always respected wherever he went because of his reputation as "Timely Rain".
But when he encountered Wang Lun, he had no choice but to hang out with Li Kui and his gang.
Upon entering the estate, Mu Taigong arranged a banquet, and everyone sat down as host and guest, with Wang Lun once again taking the head seat among the guests.
That was bad enough, but the second seat was occupied by Gongsun Sheng, and the third by Lu Zhishen. The brothers Mu Hong and Mu Chun only invited Song Jiang to the fourth seat, so Song Jiang could only sit there. Following them were Wu Song, Hua Rong, Shi Xiu, Yang Xiong, and others.
Besides the Mu family, Li Jun and other leaders of Jieyang Ridge were also seated at the host's table. After all, they were old acquaintances of Mu Hong and were also locals, so they could be considered as half hosts.
After Mu Taigong offered three cups of wine, everyone began to drink, but two different situations arose.
Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, and other Liangshan leaders were all fond of drinking, but at this moment they drank very steadily, not drinking from large bowls, and only taking small sips when others toasted them. They were persuaded several times before finishing a cup.
On the other hand, the leaders on the Jieyang Ridge side didn't control themselves from the start, drinking from large bowls and eating large chunks of meat.
Tong Meng exclaimed, "Wu Erlang, you weren't drinking like this a few days ago!"
Wu Song smiled and raised the small wine cup with his large hand.
Feeling bored, Tong Meng went to toast Hua Rong again. Today he had witnessed what a sharpshooter was. Hua Rong could shoot arrows without even aiming, and every arrow hit its mark. He had never seen such a skill before.
However, Hua Rong was more refined than Wu Song, and he only took a sip from his small wine cup.
Mu Hongdao asked, "Chieftain, is it that our food and wine are not to your liking?"
Wang Lun laughed and said, "The meat smells delicious, and the wine is excellent too."
Mu Hong asked, "Then why aren't any of you brothers drinking?"
When Wang Lun looked back, he realized that even someone as lively as Shi Qian was only taking small sips of wine and wasn't drinking freely.
He smiled and said, "You all don't know this, but our Liangshan Flying Tiger Army has only been formed for two years and has experienced several major battles. Everyone here has developed a very cautious nature. Now, the Jiangzhou army could cross the river at any time. If they find our way here, and we're all drunk, how can we defend ourselves?"
Lu Zhishen shouted, "Of course we should drink, but we can't get drunk, because drunkenness will lead to trouble!"
Wang Lun was very pleased that someone who loved drinking so much could now control himself under Wang Lun's subtle influence.
Lu Zhishen's words, "Drunkenness leads to mistakes," were like a knife stabbing into Song Jiang's heart.