A few boats came ashore. Old Yu stood up and said, "I'm leaving now and will return tomorrow evening. Mr. Moqi, an opportunity like this is rare. You must think it over carefully."
Watching his swift departure, Moqi Feng shook his head. "That man can't be trusted."
Moqi Song remained silent, using a small knife to pry open the cloth bundle on the ground.
Several large silver ingots were revealed, reflecting the thin moonlight from above.
The heavy, solid silver was particularly persuasive.
Beneath the silver lay two stacks of banknotes. The face value was more than all six hundred of them could earn working for a month or two.
Laboring? How could one ever strike it rich by working for others?
"Uncle?" Moqi Feng asked in shock. "You haven't actually been swayed by him, have you?"
Moqi Song put away the silver, tilted his head back, and took a swig of liquor.
Moqi Feng hurriedly said, "The Lu family signed an agreement with Island Master He, yet they turned right around wanting to go back on their word! With credit like that, what good could possibly come from making a deal with them?"
"We kill the man and seize the islands—then the islands are ours! What does that have to do with that man Lu?" Moqi Song rasped roughly. "A deal? Sign a fucking contract with him? If he wants them back, not a chance in hell!
"Ah Feng, our clansmen must have a fertile, bountiful foothold. How fitting this place is, and it's not far from the Ya Kingdom! We can recruit troops and buy horses here, then rally back the rest of the Bailong people. Sooner or later... sooner or later, we can fight our way back!" By the end, Moqi Song's steel-like teeth ground with an audible crunch.
The Yangshan Archipelago's geographical location was simply too ideal for them.
"That rich brat has only been here for a little over a month; nothing is fully established yet. There's no better time to strike than now." Moqi Song slammed a fist into the log. "If we wait any longer, he'll have more men around him and greater power—it'll be even harder for us to take him down!"
"I heard the island master has real skill. What if..."
"What if, my foot!" Moqi Song glared. "As long as we catch him by surprise, could our six hundred hardy fighters fail to take him? No need to exchange words with him, no chance for him to turn the tables—just a single blade to end him! Then this place becomes masterless islands, and the people on them masterless subjects, perfectly suited to serve us!
"To accomplish great things, one cannot constantly look forward and backward in fear. If you wait around like this, you'll let golden opportunities slip away!" He instructed his nephew, "For the next few days, act as if nothing is amiss and go about your business as usual. If our brothers get assigned to other islands, make sure to find ways to keep in touch. We cannot let that man He divide us."
"..."
"Think about why we came here!" Moqi Song turned and hooked an arm around his nephew's neck, meeting him eye-to-eye. "The Bailong people have reached the end of the road. Only by seizing the Yangshan Archipelago, only by taking this stronghold, will we have hope to turn things around—will we have a future!
"Look at us, look at us!" Moqi Song thumped his chest with dull thuds. "We're nothing but six hundred worthless lives! Rather than dragging out an ignoble existence working like beasts of burden on these islands, why not take one vicious gamble? Win the gamble, and we turn the tables!"
The fierce light in his eyes flared, keeping his roar stifled low in his throat: "Can a person stay down on their luck forever? The Bailong have suffered so terribly, fate has been so unfair—isn't it time our fortunes turned? Ah Feng, tell me, tell me—aren't we due for things to go our way for once?"
Moqi Feng gritted his teeth.
"We might not know He Lingchuan's situation, but He Lingchuan doesn't know ours either. Our footing isn't steady yet, but neither is his. We are iron-blooded warriors, and He Lingchuan appears to have some skill. Ah Feng, we aren't bullying him. Win or lose, let both sides test their mettle—cards on the table, winner takes all." Moqi Song's eyes widened larger than brass bells. "Tell me, isn't that fair?"
Moqi Feng finally nodded.
His uncle's approach was indeed reckless and arbitrary, but to achieve great things, one had to be fierce and fearless, willing to risk everything. Only then could one seize the chance to soar to great heights.
The Bailong had already been driven from their homeland. Under heaven, where was there any masterless land left for them to settle? Were they to spend the rest of their lives depending on the charity of others? Was that to be the reward for the clansmen who had followed him through thick and thin?
In this world—heh—if you didn't fight and seize, how could the God of Fate ever smile upon you of his own accord?
"Time is He Lingchuan's friend, but it's our enemy." Moqi Song stared into his eyes. "If we're going to strike, it must be swift!"
The other laborers had long since moved away and could not hear their conversation.
Moqi Feng slowly uttered a single word: "Fine."
The two drank on the beach, from sundown until the moon sank toward the west.
Only then did Moqi Song let out a few alcohol-fueled burps, sway to his feet, and turn to head inland.
The gathered Bailong men looked to Moqi Feng. Seeing him nod, they hurried forward to support Moqi Song and escort him back to rest.
Someone else asked, "Young Master Feng, when do we strike?"
Moqi Feng lowered his voice. "First, go ask the pirates and find out exactly how Island Master He brought them to heel. Surely he didn't subdue several hundred men single-handedly?"
Since they were going to do this, gathering intelligence came first.
"Rumor has it Island Master He has monsters beside him, plus a few capable subordinates."
"A handful against several hundred?" Moqi Feng glanced at them. "You truly believe that?"
"Uh..."
"If he holds another army in reserve, making a rash move would be extremely dangerous." A faint glint flickered in Moqi Feng's eyes. "Also, we must get to the bottom of what's going on with the yin hui."
His uncle Moqi Song had brought everyone here the moment he heard the islands were hiring. On the surface, the new island master was young and wealthy, resembling a plump, tender sheep ripe for slaughter. Having just purchased the islands, his defensive forces were severely lacking; the so-called defense force was merely a motley rabble with hardly anyone capable of fighting.
Yet upon arriving, Moqi Feng realized his uncle might have been too optimistic. Strange things abounded here. For example, camp rumors claimed the island master concealed a man-eating monster army deep within the islands, but when pressed for details, no one had actually seen it with their own eyes.
Rumors about the island master controlling the yin hui were just as endless, circulating in several different versions.
Most peculiar of all, the island master's background was an enigma. No one could explain where he had come from, knowing only that it was somewhere far to the west.
Moqi Song's reasoning held some truth: eliminate the island master, and none of those questions would matter anymore.
Yet the crux of the matter was: was the island master really that easy to chop down?
After all, their few hundred men were newcomers, entirely unfamiliar with the area. Even thieves cased the joint before acting. To be used as a cat's-paw by the Lu family of Bailie without knowing the first thing about their target—just how great was the risk?
***
Meanwhile, before the yin hui made their first strike and scuttled the Baoji, He Lingchuan had received a letter sent from the east.
On the envelope was a blue-green seal impression, accompanied by elegant, delicate calligraphy:
"To Yangshan Archipelago, for the personal perusal of He Xiao, He Lingchuan."
He Lingchuan tapped his fingertips lightly against the envelope, lost in thought, before saying to Wang Fubao behind him:
"Bring Min Tianxi here."
Min Tianxi was summoned away from a gaming table.
His luck had just been running hot, and he was on the verge of betting all of his reward from the previous treasure hunt in Shipwreck Bay in one go, when He Lingchuan's order arrived.
Chapter 950