My lord, spare his life!

Zhang Yang: "You call this sacrificing your fellow Daoists to save yourself?"

"So what? It's their honor to have these people's lives at my disposal." The situation was beyond their control, and his sister was seriously injured and on the verge of death. Faced with Zhang Yang's serious mockery, as a prisoner of the river pirates, he could only choose to endure it no matter how angry he was.

Fan You was quite displeased upon hearing this.

"One who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black." Fan You hoped his lord would associate more with virtuous and kind people, rather than dealing with treacherous bandits all day long. The bandits' thoughts might not be problematic in the present day; their straightforward and frank nature was even appreciated by some warlords. But a lord is a lord, and he is different from those who are solely driven by profit. Fan You disliked these bandits.

Zhang Yang said, "Have you ever heard of the saying 'The rabbit dies, the fox grieves'?"

The pirate suppressed his urge to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"What are you spouting all this highbrow nonsense about?"

"When the rabbit dies, the fox grieves; when animals grieve for their own kind," Zhang Yang said calmly, looking at the pirates. "You so readily betrayed the pirates who were in the same predicament as you, just to protect yourself. Then one day you will betray me just as readily for the same reason."

The pirate's pupils constricted, and his expression turned strange.

"You actually expect your subordinates to remain chaste for you?"

Faced with danger, one should naturally prioritize their own safety. To abandon one's own safety to serve a superior who bosses them around is despicable. The pirate always considered himself superior to everyone in the world except his sister; was there anything wrong with betraying others to protect himself?

Zhang Yang: "..."

The pirate said, "These days, even if the head of a fishing family dies, no outsider can expect the surviving member to remain celibate for life or commit suicide for love. You actually expect a subject to remain chaste and loyal to his lord? You're simply insane!"

Zhang Yang: "...That makes some sense."

The bandit said, "I've always been right."

Guan Si disagreed, and with a slight smirk, he said sarcastically, "No wonder you're still just a small-time water pirate who relies on your swimming skills to show off. When you run into someone stronger, you get beaten up and run away with your tail between your legs."

He's clearly a two-faced scoundrel, spouting nothing but fallacies.

Even if he doesn't antagonize Bo Yuan today, he will eventually be betrayed by his own people: "Using power to bully others only leads to self-humiliation."

The river pirates also realized that Guan Si was insulting them.

He sneered, "I won't wait until I'm completely out of power. Didn't I just let you, a landlubber, suffer today because of my 'little swimming skills'?"

His future was still uncertain, but the landlubber's current predicament was undeniable. He kept saying that being a good swimmer wasn't all that great, but deep down he was furious. The water bandits understood this kind of person perfectly; he was just being stubborn.

Guan Si pursed his lips tightly, his killing intent surging.

The bandit secretly berated himself for his impulsiveness; why had he engaged in such a verbal sparring match? What if this landlubber whispered something in his ear and persuaded the short man to change his mind? He would have ended up harming his sister. Despite his regret, the bandit didn't show it on his face.

Zhang Yang asked, "How much intelligence do you know about the water fortress?"

"I know at least three hundred, if not five hundred."

The pirates deliberately exaggerated the numbers.

Unlike mountain bandits, whose strongholds are fixed in one or a few locations, river bandits' strongholds are mobile. Many river bandits are actually large, sturdy ships! Combined with their fixed shore dwellings, rumors circulated that there were eight hundred river bandits in this area.

"If you release me, I'll make sure you suffer. Go and capture the other pirates; they won't know as much information as I do." This pirate was basically convinced that Zhang Yang was the vanguard sent by some warlord to organize the water forces.

Zhang Yang's gaze swept over the group of pirates.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Okay, I'll use you this once."

She had the bandits untied.

The bandit, now free, paid no heed to his own plight. Instead, he looked down at the heavily injured woman in his arms and asked, "Do you have anyone here who knows medicine? If not, could one of my brothers go back and bring a physician from the stronghold to treat my sister's injuries?"

He didn't even mention sending his sister back.

Zhang Yang said, "I brought it."

The accompanying team included two medics, both quite skilled, both seasoned military doctors who had experienced numerous battles and accumulated rich experience treating a large number of battlefield wounded. Their principle was to prioritize survival, and as for the methods, they were willing to be somewhat brutal.

The pirate's facial muscles twitched, his heart aching and his nerves on as he watched the two healers manually put his sister's dislocated and broken spine back into place, and also set the broken bones in both legs. Such injuries would not have been fatal for an ordinary person, but for a woman, they weren't considered too serious.

As long as all the bones can be put back in their correct and timely positions, her powerful recovery ability will allow her to fully recover within a few days.

The water bandit pursed his lips, suppressing the hatred he felt for Ge Zhou.

He clearly saw that Ge Zhou had used his sister as a "rope," twisting her twice, but judging from Ge Zhou's position, he must have been one of the short man's trusted guards. He harbored hatred but couldn't do anything to him, let alone seek revenge. Zhang Yang then sent the doctor to examine the other pirates' injuries, and during this time, he brought back two boatmen: "I'm going to Dog Kingdom County; you two must come with me."

The river pirates hesitated at this moment.

"My sister's injuries are serious, and she needs to go ashore to rest."

Zhang Yang did not grant the pirates' request, but instead said, "That iron-tipped ship you just sailed out is quite impressive. Your water fortress can't be this small, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to protect even this ship. Are the rest of your water fortress now under my command?"

Water pirate: "...Yes."

"Then they can't continue being river pirates." Robbing passing merchant ships or fishermen every day, barely surviving, is an unacceptable way to make a living. Now that they've surrendered to the regular army, they should act like one. If Zhang Yang hadn't taken them in in the first place, he could have simply stormed the river fortress and slaughtered them all. Now that he's taken them in, he can't let them continue to wreak havoc on the water.

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The river pirate said, "As long as you can afford the military pay, that's fine."

To stop them from becoming pirates, their food problem needs to be solved. Not paying them and not letting them find their own food is tantamount to starving them to death, isn't it? The other brothers and sisters under his command disagreed.

Zhang Yang said, "That's for sure."

She answered without hesitation.

The pirate suddenly paused, remembering the intelligence reported by his informant. The reason this group of shorty was considered easy prey was because of the large amount of cargo on board, making it worthwhile for him and his sister to personally oversee the robbery. Now, all that cargo had sunk with the ship.

"...Should we send someone into the water to retrieve it?"

"What salvage?"

"goods."

"Oh, no need."

The pirates' anger intensified, and they wanted to kill their informant.

The goods were actually fake?

This eyeliner was definitely bribed by that despicable, shameless shorty!

Zhang Yang: "The cargo did not sink to the bottom, so there is no need to salvage it."

I won't go into more detail.

Zhang Yang deliberately carried her double maces to the bottom of the ship's hold, one of her purposes being to take advantage of the chaos to retrieve the goods into her game backpack. If this batch of goods was lost, Zhang Yang would need to go ashore to repurchase them and maintain her image as a businesswoman. Although she wasn't short of money, she couldn't afford to waste it recklessly.

Zhang Yang: "I am interested in the forces in the nearby waters, but not now. You and your sister should come with me, and the other pirates under my command should move to my territory. This will prevent our defenses from being weakened by your departure, which could allow other pirate strongholds to take advantage of the situation."

She was genuinely concerned for these river pirates.

However, other people didn't hear it that way.

It's more like Zhang Yang, a hypocrite with a sanctimonious facade, openly using the guise of "considering the interests of the river pirates" to secretly suppress and divide their inner circle. The river pirates thought they understood Zhang Yang's insidious scheme. They knew what was going on but couldn't resist.

He swallowed his anger and said, "Fine."

"Tell your men to do their job well. When I clear out the chaos in this area, I'll definitely give you priority. All eight hundred water strongholds in this area are thanks to your military achievements." Zhang Yang patted the water bandit on the shoulder, but his eyes were fixed on the bright red name above the bandit's head.

Zhang Yang's attitude towards those with red names has subtly changed.

From attacking red-named players at the beginning, to restraining himself and observing the situation first, and now watching red-named players forcefully suppress their grief and anger while forcing a friendly smile at him, Zhang Yang gradually tasted a different kind of feeling, and felt a little excited!

Which player wouldn't want a red-named BOSS as a pet?

The pirate smirked, "Yes."

Just as Zhang Yang had predicted, the bandits' stronghold, Jiaolong Village, was quite large, with over three hundred able-bodied bandits and more than four hundred elderly, weak, and disabled men, making it a stronghold of nearly a thousand men. Although called a stronghold, it actually encompassed several normal fishing villages.

No wonder this pirate was so arrogant.

With a large army under his command, he certainly had the confidence to act arrogantly.

The leader was a comatose woman named Yu Qiu, courtesy name Jiaolong. The second-in-command was the bandit who called himself "Young Master" and disguised himself as a fisherwoman, Bi Gong, courtesy name Jingzhi. However, he scoffed at this courtesy name and preferred the word "disrespectful." Besides these two, there was another senior figure in the stronghold who was said to have raised and taught the two, and was also the head martial arts instructor of the stronghold, and was highly respected.

Upon learning that the two leaders had been arrested, this man could not sit still.

They immediately mustered their forces, intending to come and rescue the people.

Upon hearing of Bi Gong's surrender, he was filled with mixed emotions. He didn't continue his calls for war, but wanted to know how Zhang Yang would settle them after accepting their amnesty. When he heard Zhang Yang say that they should move to a different place, he said, "Have you heard of Mencius' mother moving three times? It shows that the environment influences a child's character. If you continue to live here, you'll eventually go back to your old ways and become river pirates again."

Bi Gong said, "If you give them military pay, then it won't happen."

"If we give them military pay, they'll be robbed by river pirates on the way."

Bi Gong coldly exposed Zhang Yang's hypocritical excuse.

"Who dares to rob the Jiaolong Stronghold's military pay?"

Zhang Yang: "I don't know that, but you guys are really audacious enough to rob my goods. I've only been in business for two days. Even without your Jiaolong Village, other villages would have come knocking. The area along the way isn't within my sphere of influence, so transporting the goods here isn't safe."

It would be better to move Jiaolong Village there.

The martial arts masters of Jiaolong Village are much more composed than Bi Gong.

He listened for a while, still unsure which faction Zhang Yang belonged to. Judging from her words, she was an independent warlord leader, not a follower of any particular faction. The two factions that had previously come to recruit Jiaolong Village, Qin Huang and Zhao Chai, both appeared as adult men to the outside world; there was no word of either of them being transgender.

The age and gender don't match.

Then I thought about the leaders of other smaller factions, and none of them matched.

If Zhang Yang only managed to humiliate Bi Gong with his current elite forces, and his actual strength is still smaller than Jiaolong Village, then Zhang Yang's forces are not worth siding with. It would be better for us to feign compliance and then secretly escape later, rather than putting all our eggs in one basket.

He hinted indirectly.

Zhang Yang knew that these things couldn't be kept secret.

Once you accept someone's gift, you should at least tell them your real name.

She said, "My name is Zhang Yang, and my influence is in the Tianyue, Tianjiang, and Dongxian areas. There are no other places where we can train a navy, but Fangjiang near Dongxian is suitable. It would be perfect to settle your people there, so that you can live and work in peace without affecting your naval training."

When I went to Dongxian, Wang Ba was keeping an eye on me.

What kind of trouble can a gang of pirates stir up?

They can be assimilated by the local navy in no time.

As for the counties in the mountains, Zhang Yang did not reveal them for the time being.

However, the three places she mentioned were enough to excite the martial artists of Jiaolong Village, and they couldn't help but suspect that Zhang Yang was exaggerating: "I don't know much about the others, but I heard that Dong Xian is under the command of Wang Ba, who is quite prestigious in the pirate circle."

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Zhang Yang: "Wang Hongtu actually has that much prestige?"

Fan You said, "I'm not very clear about it."

Dongham was not captured by fighting.

Listening to the conversation, the martial arts master felt even more uncertain.

He and Bi Gong exchanged a glance, their eyes meeting. Their biggest concern right now was that Yu Qiu would be captured. As long as Yu Qiu was safe, they could turn around and escape later.

They planned to follow Zhang Yang's lead first.

Let the little brat boast whatever she wants.

Bi Gong will protect Yu Qiu and wait for his injuries to heal before finding an opportunity to escape. Wu Shi will lead the other brothers and sisters of the water village to escape on the road. Everyone in the water village is a good swimmer; once they are in the water, it's like returning home, and they can easily hold their breath for a quarter of an hour or two without needing to breathe.

Zhang Yang watched with interest as the yellow name above the martial artist's head turned red in an instant, knowing that the two were plotting something bad.

"I'm sending Da Gu to deliver a message to the rear. You go back and tell the bandits in the water village to pack their belongings and get going. In a day or two, someone will meet you on the water." Zhang Yang sent Zhang Da Gu, who was pedaling the pedals with great effort, back to Tianyue with his handwritten letter to report the news.

The martial arts master naturally didn't believe it.

On the surface, it was just a simple tidying up.

They deployed their two most fortified, prized ships from the water fortress, ready to launch a surprise attack should a turn of events occur. Instead of taking the elderly and infirm with them, they hid a portion of the able-bodied in fishing villages within the fortress's territory. Zhang Yang's forces were limited, making it impossible to keep track of exact numbers, which allowed the martial arts masters to secretly employ a backup plan.

Less than two days later, they encountered a well-organized navy on the misty waters, complete with battleships, warships, and large ships. The navy's flag even had the character "Zhang" embroidered on it.

A small boat appeared on the other side: "Who goes there?"

In a flash, the martial arts master chose to avoid direct confrontation: "Reporting to the general, we have been ordered to come and join the lord's personal guard."

"Join their ranks? Join whose ranks?"

"Zhang Boyuan, under Zhang Jun's command."

The martial arts master had some doubts.

Is this ridiculous title even usable?

"It was you guys!" The soldiers on the small boat rushed back to report, and they could vaguely hear something like "successfully picked up the person."

Martial artist: "..."

He looked up at the navy's brand-new equipment, then at the iron-tipped boats beneath his feet that had been modified countless times, and fell silent.

Cai Hang's favorability towards you has increased by 30.

Zhang Yang, upon arriving in Dog Kingdom County: "???"

? ?|??w?`)

A reader pointed out an error today: the female bed is not in Ziwei Yuan. _(:3」∠)_ I misread it when looking at the map; the one in Ziwei Yuan should be the Heavenly Bed.

The beginning needs to be modified.

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