Fire Attack Plan Countered: Yao Shun's Black Whirlwind Encounters Ling Kun

Chapter 99 Fire Attack Plan Countered: Yao Shun's Black Whirlwind Encounters Ling Kun

Seeing the indifference of the government officials above Yuncheng County, Yao Shun did not breathe a sigh of relief. Instead, he became more vigilant. The fact that they did not react meant they were either fools or they were trying to scheme against him!

Clearly, Qingyun Mountain had suffered too many losses in the several encounters. Song Jiang couldn't be a fool, so he could only be trying to outmaneuver them!

However, what's most troubling is not knowing what kind of wicked scheme Song Jiang is plotting!

Knowing full well that the other person is plotting against you, but not knowing how to do so, is a kind of mental torment!

The siege team rammed the city gate more than ten times, but it remained unmoved. This was also due to the two hundred local militiamen inside the gate holding it up. Each ramming caused them great pain and stress.

Seeing that Song Jiang still had no reaction, Yao Shun wondered what was going on. Looking at the city gate that remained unresponsive despite repeated ramming, a sense of discouragement flashed through his mind!

Did Song Jiang know they couldn't break down the city gate, and deliberately let them do so?

If that's the case, it's a blatant insult!

Yao Shun glared angrily at Song Jiang and shouted, "Keep ramming! You must break down the city gate!"

The siege team dared not be negligent and charged forward again with ferocity!

After several more collisions, Song Jiang suddenly shouted from the city wall, "Let's move!"

Yao Shun's heart tightened. Before he could react, many people on the city wall were holding large pots and splashing some liquid down. Some even smashed jars down!

The jar smashed on the ground and shattered, spilling out a lot of liquid!

Yao Shun chuckled. This old trick of boiling water won't work!

The shield bearers reacted quickly, raising their shields in time to block a lot of the liquid. However, the amount splashed this time was too large, and the liquid flowed down the shields!

Many people were caught off guard and got splashed with the liquid, but it didn't feel hot as they expected; instead, it felt cool!

Yao Shun's arms were also soaked, but he only felt that the wet areas were a bit sticky and slippery.

It wasn't boiling water, which puzzled Yao Shun. He raised his arm and smelled it.

"Oh no!" Yao Shun thought with a start, and shouted, "Quickly, retreat! This is kerosene!" Yao Shun finally realized what the rags, straw, and wood were for—they were going to leave them all outside the city walls, not letting a single one of them leave!

Unfortunately, Yao Shun was too late; many torches were thrown down from the city walls! The torches instantly ignited into a raging fire upon hitting the ground!

Those who were below the city wall immediately turned and ran upon hearing Yao Shun's words. Of course, some were not quick enough to react and immediately burst into flames, rolling back and forth on the ground, howling and crying out in a heart-wrenching manner.

Yao Shun was quite skilled and managed to remove all his clothes in time, avoiding being burned. However, he and fifty or sixty others were trapped under the city gate, surrounded by raging flames, with no way to advance or retreat. They were truly trapped with nowhere to go.

Yao Shun sighed. He was afraid that this was how he was going to end his life. Looking back on his life, he had experienced both poverty and glory. In any case, he had died for Di Lei, and his life had been worthwhile. If it weren't for Di Lei, he probably wouldn't be alive today.

The people around them were also ashen-faced, awaiting the arrival of death.

Suddenly, the city gate opened, and Song Jiang, with his fully armed soldiers, stood at the city gate, staring at the people from Qingyun Mountain. When the people from Qingyun Mountain saw that the city gate had opened, they rushed in. Yao Shun also followed. He was not afraid of death, but that did not mean he would choose to die if he could live.

The city gates closed again. Yao Shun looked at the hundreds of people from Yuncheng County in front of him and was overwhelmed with mixed feelings. He didn't know what to say. It was clear that Song Jiang could have burned them to death. The Qingyun Mountain people had also survived a great calamity and their faces no longer showed that dejection. However, the number of people on the other side far exceeded their own, and the people who had just escaped death could not muster the will to fight back.

Yao Shun looked at Song Jiang, sighed, and said, "Thank you for your mercy, Clerk."

Yao Shun knew that if Song Jiang hadn't ordered the city gates to be opened, they would all have been burned to death.

He turned to the crowd and said, "Put down your weapons."

The people of Qingyun Mountain had long lost the will to resist. Initially, they were hesitant because of Yao Shun's presence, but now that they heard Yao Shun say this, they all dropped their weapons.

Yao Shun had no choice. His side was demoralized and outnumbered the city's soldiers by less than half. If they continued fighting, they could only send everyone to their deaths. Since the enemy didn't want to wipe them out, he would be a fool to be ungrateful.

Song Jiang waved his hand and said, "Take him down."

Song Jiang did initially intend to annihilate the entire Qingyun Mountain siege team. However, he was not a cold-blooded machine capable of killing, and ultimately felt a pang of compassion, especially since being burned to death was too cruel for a human being.

In the end, Song Jiang still intended to capture them, which could be seen as preserving some of his compassion.

Inside the commander's camp, Di Lei's face was ashen. This was the third time. As the saying goes, things don't happen more than three times, and yet he had failed in Yuncheng three times.

Seeing the dejected leaders, he slammed his fist on the command table in front of him and shouted, "Gather everyone! I'm going to take Yuncheng now, right now!"

A junior leader mustered his courage and said, "Brother, our morale is low, and the brothers are no longer able to fight."

Di Lei knew that this fire attack had brought morale, which was already low, to its lowest point. After all, he was just a bandit, not a regular army. He could fight well when things were going well, but if he kept losing, his underlings would definitely not fight to the death, since they also valued their own lives.

At this moment, another person entered the command camp and said, "Brother, in the two battles, we lost a total of 187 brothers, 62 brothers are missing, and 400 brothers were injured, of whom 200 are temporarily unable to fight."

Di Lei took a deep breath and looked at his former three leaders, Di Yun, Yao Shun and Cui Hao, none of whom were there. Except for Di Yun, who was stationed at Qingyun Mountain, he wondered how Yao Shun and Cui Hao were doing. He felt a little regretful. Why did he have to listen to that bastard Ximen Qing?

He had only spent some money and then lured himself into this mess, but now he hadn't gotten much money and had suffered heavy losses. Di Lei wanted to just retreat, but he was too proud to admit defeat. He called over a small leader and said, "Take a thousand brothers to escort the wounded brothers back to Qingyun Mountain, and then bring another thousand men back. I am determined to raze Yuncheng to the ground."

The young leader wanted to persuade Dire to retreat, but knowing Dire's personality, he feared he would behead him on the spot, so he nodded and withdrew.

Inside Song Family Village, Jiuwan was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, resting. Bian Xiang had already left, but Li Kui, that dark-skinned fellow, hadn't returned yet. No one knew where that rough man had gone off to.

Suddenly, Jiuwan opened his eyes, looked towards the door, then got out of bed, quickly went to the basement, and hid at the basement entrance to listen to the sounds outside.

The gate wasn't locked, but it was still kicked open. Judging from the footsteps, it seemed that many people were entering the manor. It didn't seem to be Li Kui, but rather people from Qingyun Mountain.

Jiuwan truly admired Song Jiang, who could even clearly foresee Qingyun Mountain's plan to plunder the surrounding villages and made arrangements for the entire group to retreat in advance.

Inside the village, Ling Kun sat on a chair as a henchman came up to report: "The entire Songjia Village is deserted, with no livestock and nothing of value. We've searched the place thoroughly, and there's nothing there. It seems they knew we were coming and made preparations to leave in advance."

Ling Kun's face was extremely ugly. He hadn't expected to arrive full of expectations only to find nothing. It seemed that the other party was always one step ahead of him in everything. It was infuriating. He figured that the other villages would also be deserted. Ling Kun didn't plan to waste any more time and prepared to return to the city directly to help Di Lei.

Just then, the door opened, and a burly, dark-skinned man walked in carrying two broad axes.

The burly man saw that Songjiazhuang was full of people, but he didn't recognize a single one of them. He charged forward, carrying two axes upside down, and shouted, "You bunch of bastards don't look like good people. Who are you?"

Ling Kun burst into laughter upon hearing this, wondering where this brute had come from. With two hundred men on his side, and this black-clad fellow still charging out regardless of the danger, wasn't he just asking for death?

Ling Kun was seething with anger and, seeing the burly man courting death, picked up a steel knife and said to the people around him, "Don't interfere. I want him to know how powerful I am."

The burly man sneered and swung his double axes at Ling Kun. Chen Qi was slightly startled; the burly man's attack was fierce and he might not be easy to deal with.

Concentrating his mind, Ling Kun swung his twin swords at the burly man's axe. As the swords and axe clashed, Ling Kun felt a powerful force strike him, his hand went numb, and he nearly dropped his steel sword. However, he managed to block the axe blow.

Unexpectedly, the burly man swung his other axe at Ling Kun's head. Chen Qi panicked and rolled over, managing to dodge another axe blow.

Ling Kun secretly breathed a sigh of relief, realizing he was no match for this man. Seeing Chen Qi at a disadvantage, his men swarmed around him.

The burly man's eyes gleamed with cunning, showing no fear as he brandished his double axes and charged at the henchmen.

Ling Kun had never seen such a fierce fighting style before. These henchmen were no match for this man. He had come to the village to plunder without any bows and arrows. Even if he managed to kill this black-faced man, he would probably suffer heavy losses. It was a completely unprofitable deal.

Most importantly, he had no idea what kind of person this black-clad fellow was. Judging from his appearance, he didn't seem to be from Songjia Village. Moreover, this black-clad fellow was incredibly strong and skilled in martial arts. If he could come with him to the city to be an asset, it would be a good choice.

Jiuwan secretly groaned in the basement. He knew from the man's voice that it was Li Kui. It was really something. Why did he have to come at this time of year?

Ling Kun shouted, "Stop! Heroes, listen to me!"

To everyone's surprise, Li Kui did not react at all and continued to wield his double axes like a god of death.

Seeing this, Ling Kun quickly stepped forward and said, "Hero, I have something to say!"

Li Kui glared angrily and shouted, "You bastard! You were the one who wanted to fight first, and now you're the one calling for a stop! What are you going to do about it?!"

Ling Kun was secretly delighted. Judging from the man's words, he was obviously simple-minded, easily swayed by soft words, and easily fooled!

Ling Kun wasn't angry. He smiled and looked at Li Kui, saying, "May I ask this hero's name?"

Li Kui laughed heartily, then shouted, "Grandpa is none other than Li Kui, known in the martial arts world as the Black Whirlwind. Do you know who I am, man?"

Ling Kun was completely bewildered, as were the other henchmen. They had never heard of or seen the name Black Whirlwind before.

However, Ling Kun still pretended to have long admired their reputation and praised them, saying, "So you are the Black Whirlwind Li brothers. May I ask what brings you to Songjia Village?"

Li Kui said directly, "I won't lie to you, I killed someone in my hometown of Yishui. I heard that everyone in the martial arts world praises Song Jiang, the Timely Rain, so I came here to seek refuge with him. And who are you?"

Upon hearing this, Ling Kun was stunned. How could he have known that this man had come to join Song Jiang? Qingyun Mountain was currently at war with Song Jiang, and he certainly couldn't let this brute go to Song Jiang. Besides, Yishui wasn't far from Qingyun Mountain at all, and he couldn't understand why this man would go to such lengths. So he said, "To be honest, brother, I am Song Gongming!"

Li Kui laughed loudly and said, "I've long heard in the martial world that Brother Gongming isn't tall and is as dark-skinned as me. You scoundrel, you don't resemble him at all, yet you dare to impersonate him?"

Ling Kun was somewhat embarrassed, but he still forced a smile and said, "I'm indeed not Song Jiang, but I'm definitely one of our own, aren't I?"

Li Kui asked in confusion, "How come they're one of us now?"

Ling Kun hurriedly replied, "I am none other than Ling Kun, a subordinate of Chief Di Lei of Qingyun Mountain in Yizhou Prefecture."

'

Li Kui suddenly realized, "So you are the heroes of Qingyun Mountain. You are indeed not far from me, but I wonder why you have come all the way to Yuncheng?"

Ling Kun didn't hide anything and said directly, "We've come to Yuncheng to do some business. If it goes well, we can guarantee that Qingyun Mountain will be like celebrating the New Year for a whole year."

Ling Kun thought for a moment and then said, "Brother Li Kui is quite skilled. Why don't you come with me to see Chief Di Lei and become brothers who eat meat in large chunks, drink wine in large bowls, and divide gold by the scale? Wouldn't that be wonderful? It would also save you from running around aimlessly in the martial world and encountering government officials, which would be bad. I guarantee that with Brother Li Kui's abilities, you will definitely be able to hold a high position once you get to Qingyun Mountain."

Li Kui hesitated slightly, then raised his head and said, "I came here to seek refuge with Song Jiang. What reason is there for me to go to Qingyun Mountain with you now?"

Upon hearing Li Kui's words, Ling Kun thought to himself that there was hope, and quickly said, "Brother Li Kui, you are mistaken. It's not that I'm slandering him or defaming Song Jiang, but you've never met him before, yet you've come to seek refuge with him. In the end, you've only heard his name, not seen him in person! Of course, Song Jiang is famous, and if you come to seek refuge with him, he will surely treat you well. But ultimately, he's a government official. Even if he doesn't arrest you, what can you do here? You can only hide in his manor, never seeing the light of day. What's the difference between such a life and being in prison? On the other hand, my Qingyun Mountain has always opposed the government. We've even taken down two prefectures and counties in Yizhou. If you go to Qingyun Mountain, you'll surely live a carefree and happy life, like a god. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Upon hearing this, Li Kui lowered his head and thought for a long time before replying, "In that case, I'll go with you to take a look."