"Ferocity? What good is raw ferocity? Brawling requires brains!" He Lingchuan crossed his arms. "First you let Bailie use you as their cat's-paw, then you acted as cannon fodder for the Beijia people. You actually thought you could win like that? Your so-called plan was riddled with holes in my eyes! If you keep going like this, what you should be hoisting onto your shoulders isn't blades and spears, but hoes. Spend the rest of your lives facing the yellow earth with your backs to the sky, and go farm like good little boys!"
Below him, deathly silence reigned, save for the splashing roar of the rain.
Every icy droplet soaked through them to the bone, seemingly washing away the very last traces of resentment and indignation lingering among these defeated troops.
"Lock them in the warehouses separately. We will deal with them tomorrow morning." Seeing even the most obstinate Bailong men hanging their heads in defeat, He Lingchuan finally gave orders to Min Tianxi and the others. "Moqi Feng, come with me to the southwest beach to drag out whoever is hiding there."
Moqi Feng felt flushed with shame. Had he known Island Master He had already cut off their retreat, why would they have ever tried to seize the island?
Fools truly know no fear.
This disturbance during the hurricane had arrived like a torrential storm, but ended like drifting dust.
...
Inside the carriage headed for the southwest beach, He Lingchuan asked Moqi Feng, "How could you be stupid enough to cooperate with the Lu family? If the takeover failed, you'd bear the consequences yourselves; if it succeeded, Bailie would have an excuse to attack you and reclaim the Yangshan Archipelago."
The Lu father and son had signed a transfer agreement with He Lingchuan. Until both sides dropped all pretenses, they couldn't openly take it back.
But if the Moqi uncle and nephew seized the Yangshan Archipelago, what scruples would the Lu father and son have left? They had signed no public agreement with the Moqi pair; they could treat them as wild savages occupying the islands, and Bailie would have every right to take back ancestral property.
Moqi Feng sighed repeatedly. "I told him several times, but my uncle was stubborn and wouldn't listen. He believed that once we took the archipelago, we wouldn't fear Bailie attacking anyway, regardless of agreements."
He was far too pigheaded.
And when one was pigheaded, the whole lot became pigheaded.
He Lingchuan shook his head. "What was your route onto the island?"
With so many Bailong people coming ashore, could the boat skippers and the docks really fail to notice anything amiss? Highly unlikely.
Moqi Feng confessed, "We didn't take the scheduled ferries. Old Yu rounded up dozens of boats and smuggled us ashore in batches along the southern part of Suoding Island. Compared to the northern docks, it's sparsely populated here, so we only had to avoid the guards' occasional patrols."
"You got your hands on the guards' patrol schedule too?"
"Old Yu obtained it. He said the guards only strolled down to the shore three times a day."
Old Yu was the spy sent into the Yangshan Archipelago by the Bailie Lus. He Lingchuan knew that as long as the archipelago kept recruiting people, such things were inevitable.
"Three times?" He chuckled coldly. "You scouted thoroughly enough."
This patrol frequency was clearly lower than the required schedule; it seemed the guards had slacked off.
Usually, there was nothing out here except reefs and sea, so they couldn't be bothered to come.
Guards were only human, after all; where the island master couldn't see, they weren't inclined to put in the effort.
"There are a few old fishermen on Heiye Island who looked at the sky this morning and said the hurricane would definitely make landfall tonight." With rain beating against his face, Moqi Feng licked his lips. "My uncle said Heaven was helping us, so he moved the operation forward."
He Lingchuan gave a faint, chilling smile. "You certainly know how to pick a time." It had almost caused him real grief.
Moqi Feng hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually, I wanted to find somewhere else to settle down, but..."
He simply couldn't turn his back on Moqi Song's kindness in raising him.
"He used his past kindness to demand repayment, so you're willing to forfeit the lives of the six hundred men under you?" He Lingchuan asked. "Oh, add the several hundred dependents, and that's over a thousand lives. Which weighs heavier? Don't you know how to weigh them?"
Moqi Feng bowed his head in silence.
Defeated, he had nothing left to say; all he could do was take the scolding.
He was even a few years older than Island Master He, yet had all those years of his life gone completely to waste?
"Moqi Song has more drive than you and knows what he wants," He Lingchuan said calmly. "It's just that he picked the wrong target and had poor luck."
"...Yes."
He Lingchuan looked at him and sighed, deciding to enlighten him:
"What your uncle wanted to exploit was an information asymmetry. Going all-in while neither of us knew anything about the other was indeed a viable approach. In my view, when the potential payout is immense, a desperate gambler like him staking everything on a single roll might seem reckless, but it actually has its own logic."
To He Lingchuan, Moqi Song's method actually had an internal logic backing it.
"If you were going to use that kind of tactic, your best opportunity was the moment you were first recruited into the Yangshan Archipelago. With a bit of luck, striking immediately to catch me off guard—whether people called you reckless brutes or valiant warriors—you might have actually stood a chance." He Lingchuan glanced at Moqi Feng. "Regrettably, you didn't do that. I imagine the reason lies with you. Am I right?"
Moqi Feng swallowed hard. It was indeed so; Island Master He had hit the mark yet again.
Why was Island Master He always right?
He Lingchuan poured him a cup of wine. Parched with thirst, Moqi Feng threw his head back and drained it.
"You always felt Moqi Song's approach was unsafe, worrying the risk was too great. You wanted a low-risk, steady plan—perhaps one with no risk at all," He Lingchuan analyzed his psychology. "Yet you couldn't come up with any strategy at all; your head was filled with nothing but doubts! Before the battle even started, having too many qualms made you pull back your troops right before battle. Heh, changing generals at the front is a fatal taboo, let alone shrinking back before engagement. Moqi Song's defeat was half your doing."
Moqi Feng was rebuked so thoroughly he couldn't lift his head. Water trickled from his forehead down into his collar; he couldn't tell if it was rainwater or cold sweat.
Yes, all the plans had been proposed by his uncle. He himself had only offered objections and disagreement, without ever putting forward a fresh idea or an improvement.
"I'm not saying you would have won had you joined the ambush. Rather, even if the forces were evenly matched, a man like you could hardly win any battle at all." He Lingchuan shook his head with regret. "You have martial prowess for nothing, knowing nothing of warfare. Pity those hundreds of brave men who risked their lives to follow you."
Sitting to one side acting as a silent bodyguard, Lü Qiuwei genuinely felt pity for Moqi Feng upon hearing this.
His Lord's sharp tongue could talk a man into dying of shame. Looking at Moqi Feng's utterly despondent expression, brimming with mortification, he feared that if his Lord continued speaking, the poor man might take that final step.
He Lingchuan kept on pressing: "Before, you lost to the Ya Kingdom, and now you lost to me. Escaping with your lives is already a stroke of extraordinary luck. Looking at your performance in this battle, I don't think you will ever have another chance. Even if you went somewhere else, it would only be a different way to die. It'd truly be better if I ended you with my own hands to spare anyone else from your blunders."
The soul-snatching mirror in his breast pocket squawked weirdly, "Good, good! Slaying the man and crushing his spirit—truly typical of you!"
Moqi Feng jerked his head up in shock. "Island Master He, while playing chess, you said..." That he would give him a chance to redeem himself through merit.
He Lingchuan raised a hand to cut him off. "I remember what I said. Therefore—"
Chapter 1005