lovenovelstory Chapter 30 Setting the Stage and Boosting Prestige
Chapter 30 Setting the Stage and Boosting Prestige
Sanjiangshui slightly embellished the stories he had accumulated from listening to storytelling, vividly depicting how Lu Xingzhou, unarmed, fought his way in and out of dozens of armed men with beards.
Even though he knew he was bragging, Cheng Daoyuan was still stunned.
One person single-handedly killed 69 bearded men with guns? What utter nonsense!
Do you really think you're Zhao Zilong reincarnated?
He casually replied, "Young Master Lu is truly a once-in-a-century hero, so what is there for us to do?"
"Hehe~ Wiping out the Bearded Men of Dayanggou isn't the end of it. My young master wants the entire 200 li from the source of the Liao River to the north and south, so that no Bearded Men will dare to cross Liangzi. Therefore, I would like to ask Lord Cheng to help spread the word and deter other gangs."
Cheng Daoyuan thought to himself, "This young upstart is getting cocky after achieving a little success."
They might have come from overseas and were unaware of the power of the Kanto beard.
To deter other gangs?
Let's lure other gangs to smash the kiln!
But he said aloud, "Good! Truly a young hero, full of ambition!!"
"It just so happens that there's a major market day today. I'll have a stage set up there so you can tell everyone about Young Master Lu's exploits in eliminating the bearded man! This will both appease the people and deter any villains!"
Even if you're not optimistic, you can earn 1000 yuan with just a small favor, so why not help out?
If it actually works out, it will be a political achievement for him!
The young heroes who returned from abroad, with the full support of this government, wiped out bandits for 400 miles. Isn't that a wonderful story?
"Thank you so much, Prefect!" Sanjiang Shui's face lit up with a smile.
He led over a hundred onlookers who were still reluctant to leave to the market.
The permanent population of Changtu is several times that of Zhengjiatun.
Unlike Zhengjiatun, which was only a trading center for bulk commodities such as furs and grains, Changtu was also an important purchasing base for the surrounding people.
At this time, there were at least three thousand people gathered in the market.
These days, entertainment is scarce. When you see the government setting up a stage, you know there's a good show to watch.
The word spread like wildfire, and by the time Sanjiangshui stood on the stage, half the market's population had completely surrounded it.
Glug~
Sanjiangshui swallowed hard.
Even the most outgoing and showy person would feel nervous in such a big setting.
Fortunately, he was prepared and had practiced it beforehand in front of Cheng Daoyuan. When he explained it again, he was able to innovate and elevate it to a higher level.
"Gentlemen, young and old, please listen to me, Sanjiangshui, tell you about the heroic deeds of my young master in wiping out the Dayanggou gang!"
"My young master's surname is Lu, given name Xingzhou, he is twenty-nine years old, tall, handsome, and has an extraordinary bearing!"
"That night, on the dark and windy banks of the Liao River, more than 100 bearded men carrying long guns and short cannons came to smash my family's fortified village under the cover of darkness! But my young master was a shrewd strategist who had foreseen this calamity and turned the tables on us, so he ambushed us outside the fortified village beforehand."
"When dozens of fierce-looking bearded men fired cannons at the fortified enclosure, my young master laughed three times in the darkness and charged into the midst of them with his bare hands."
"His movements were like a dragon soaring through the clouds; with his left hand, he snapped off a gun barrel, then plunged it into the bearded man's throat, killing him instantly!"
"His steps were as swift as a shooting star, as powerful as thunder; with a sweep of his right leg, oh dear~ five bearded men rolled on the ground, instantly turning into rolling gourds!"
"His fists were like steel needles, his palms like knives; with a few punches and kicks, he smashed through a dozen men, breaking bones and snapping tendons, leaving them lifeless!"
"The elbow strikes and knee strikes were like a landslide; in the midst of their twists and turns, the air was filled with the flying figures of the bearded man! We, on the perimeter, only heard a series of crackling sounds, and then the bearded man was wiped out, leaving only one alive!"
"You think my young master forgot one? Of course not!"
"My young master shouted, 'I'll spare your life, but go and spread the word throughout the bandit world that from now on, Lu Xingzhou will protect the Liao River. No bandit will be allowed to set up roadblocks here!'"
"After letting that man go, the young master, who had killed the bald-bearded man, walked back to the enclosure in the night. Guess what happened?"
"We all looked closely, and hey~~ not even a speck of dust on their clothes!"
His boasting was even more exaggerated than when he told Cheng Daoyuan.
But ordinary people don't care about this or that.
It's true that Cheng Daoyuan had officials set up a stage to endorse him, and that the man with the beard was killed, right?
Just cheer!
"Young Master Lu is something else!!"
"Well done, Young Master Lu!"
Amidst the cheers, the discordant voice of the "reasonable person" suddenly broke out.
"Like a toad yawning, what a big mouth! He won't even let a bearded man do business in Liaohe? Does he own Liaohe or think he's the Dragon King? Does he think he can control the whole of Fengtian?!"
The speaker was an old man with gray hair; he didn't seem to sympathize with the beard.
It's just that I'm getting old, and over the years I've only seen more bandits being eliminated, never any improvement in the banditry. Hearing Sanjiangshui brag like this just makes me angry.
A young man in his early twenties who hasn't yet lost hope after being hit hard by reality.
He frowned: "Hey, brother, I don't agree with that!"
"What's wrong?"
"If he could truly prevent any evil deeds by the bearded man along the Liao River, what makes him unsuitable to be the Dragon King?!"
Since ancient times, the gods in China have all been appointed by people.
Lu Xingzhou has this ability, but Feng Longwang is not quite there yet. There would definitely be people along the coast willing to erect longevity tablets for him.
To reinforce his point of view, the young man looked around and spotted a burly man with a distinctive appearance.
"Hey one-eyed guy, isn't that right?!"
One-Eyed Wolf: ? ? !!
You're asking me?!
A flash of hatred crossed his eyes.
I fucking want to rip out that little brat's heart and liver and feed it to turtles in the river, the Dragon King, no less!
He glanced at the three rivers on the stage, then lowered his head again, looking guilty.
Others may not know, but he, the person involved, knows it all perfectly well.
The beast on stage wasn't bragging!
That nouveau riche named Lu Xingzhou really killed dozens of our men all by himself without a scratch!
The arrogant one-eyed wolf, who considered himself a strongman, was so overwhelmed by Lu Xingzhou's ghostly skills that he didn't even have the courage to show his face and fled in a sorry state.
He had been having nightmares for several days, and he knew that he would not be recognized that night because of the darkness.
Even with his head down, he was still worried and pulled his dog-skin hat down to cover half of his face.
The youth expressed their agreement with the statement in a very 'sincere' manner.
"Yeah, right~ The Liaohe region hasn't produced such an amazing person in decades! If he can do it, I'll be the first to elect him as the Dragon King!"
"Hehe~~" The young man looked at the old man smugly.
The old man, with a pipe between his teeth, took a deep drag, slowly exhaled the smoke, and said disdainfully:
"Hmph~~ Want to be the Dragon King? You'd better survive this winter first!"
The one-eyed man, head bowed, left, secretly agreeing.
There are at least twenty or thirty strong ravines on both sides of the Liao River, stronger than the winds over the mountains, and this is just the beginning.
Not far away, a pair of bodyguards listening intently.
The young bodyguard with thick eyebrows and big eyes, carrying two swords, asked with great interest to the baby-faced bodyguard holding a long spear:
"Senior brother, can you single-handedly kill sixty or seventy bearded men?"
The baby-faced man smiled faintly and shook his head.
"I can do it with my bare hands, but facing dozens of gun-wielding bearded men, not only can I not do it, but among living grandmasters, I'm afraid only Li Yunfei could barely manage it."
The junior brother with thick eyebrows and big eyes knew that Sanjiangshui was bragging, but he was curious about his senior brother's answer.
"Even Baguazhang masters like Gong Yutian and Tiger-Headed Junior Guardian Sun Lutang couldn't do that?"
The baby-faced senior brother said in a low voice:
"Sun Lutang was not known for his agility, and his body was long past its prime. Although Baguazhang is known for its unpredictable agility, the Gong family's Sixty-Four Hands focuses more on the variations in hand techniques."
"Li Yunfei's strength is inferior to the two of them, but his movement techniques from the Swallow Sect are superior. Perhaps he can manage."
The times have changed.
Apart from Li Yunfei of the Swallow Sect, who was skilled in high-flying maneuvers, most of the other grandmasters would not escape being shot to death when faced with a group of 20 bearded men who were not skilled in martial arts but carried rifles.
It is precisely in these chaotic times that heroes should find their place.
After twenty years of arduous training, he had developed exceptional skills, but had lost their original power. The baby-faced senior brother, who roamed the land like a drifting duckweed, had a look of desolation in his eyes.