The Ranks

Lu Shan gathered his men, bringing more than forty members of the Mighty Gang, and hurriedly set off under cover of night.

An operation on this scale was rare even once in four or five years, and for it to be started by the lowest-ranked Boatman Gang was rarer still.

Yet these forty-odd men somehow carried the faint air of a military unit.

They all kept their mouths shut, crowding close together as they lurked through narrow alleys. They avoided the main roads and carefully made their way out.

They made almost no sound. Among more than forty people, there were only the occasional breaths and the noises of someone accidentally kicking something.

They were boatmen, after all, not true soldiers. Their discipline was still worlds apart.

But the Mighty Gang's discipline was far better than that of the Wave-Pushing Gang and the Water-Horse Gang. One look was enough to tell that effort had gone into it.

The Mighty Gang took a detour through the alleys.

The banks of the Li River were covered in small docks. Though each was modest in scale, there were many of them, handling vast numbers of cargo ships and travelers. Fish and dragons mingled here, gangs gathered in clusters, and boatmen, sailors, laborers, and travelers filled every corner.

In the layout around the Li River, side paths and alleys were hidden behind buildings, far from the main streets, so that rubbish and beggars would not inconvenience the merchants. After all, merchants were the lifeblood of this place.

Because of limited wealth, most houses here were low, square structures, some with sloping roofs. Stone was expensive and difficult to obtain in bulk, so most buildings near the docks were built from wooden planks, with only a few made of stone. More refined residences simply did not exist here.

The streets and alleys beside the docks were cramped and filthy, with rubbish strewn all over the ground. Taken together, these little paths resembled a casually twisted knot. Unless one had lived here year after year, one would surely be unable to tell the roads apart.

Such roads bred deep shadows within them, making public safety here rather poor. Thus, they also became excellent places to hide.

By passing through these twisted alleys, they could reach the Wave-Pushing Gang's base directly without using the main roads.

Concealed, safe, and unlikely to alarm the authorities.

He had considered this plan to launch a surprise attack on the Wave-Pushing Gang and the Water-Horse Gang more than once, and had even made the brothers in the gang practice it.

All for the day when they could successfully strike by surprise.

Lu Shan had always been a man of towering ambition. Like Li Qi, he had never been content to remain a boatman. He wanted to climb higher, and he had made many efforts toward that end.

Thus, tempted by the arts, he agreed without the slightest hesitation, not caring whether this was truly a fishhook.

Even if it was a fishhook, he would swallow the bait first and talk later.

The Mighty Gang moved silently... no, there was still the faintest bit of noise as they walked through the alleys.

No one spoke. They all knew what they were going to do tonight.

Now and then, tiny sounds drifted over, but they did not affect them in the slightest.

They continued until they had covered two-thirds of the journey and reached an open area.

This open area was used by dock laborers to pile up goods. When large quantities of cargo could not be moved away in time, they were temporarily left here. But they were never kept overnight; usually, they would all be carried away during the day. Thus, the place stood empty at night.

People could gather here. Lu Shan had arranged for it to be a temporary assembly point where they could take roll.

According to his plan, once they arrived here, the boatmen were to gather, exchange a few words, raise their spirits, rest for a while, then strike while the iron was hot and, under the cover of darkness, smash through the Wave-Pushing Gang in one wave!

"Everyone, do you know what we came here to do today?" Lu Shan stood in the middle of the open ground and spoke to the people around him.

It was pitch-black all around, and he could not see clearly. He could only make out several dozen shadows, so he began speaking.

"Kill Li Qi, because he stole our arts!" one boatman answered.

"That's right. This time, Li Qi stole the arts that belong to us. He has to die," Lu Shan said.

The way of sending troops lay in mighty spirit.

The saying about striking while the iron was hot was, at its core, about the soldiers' spirits being high.

And if one wanted high spirits, one had to stand on solid ground.

To stand on solid ground, there had to be a reason to send troops and a shared objective. Only then could their spirits rise.

Therefore, what could currently unite the Mighty Gang's boatmen was their common interest, along with the righteous cause of "taking back the cultivation method that was stolen."

With this righteous cause that occupied the moral high ground, coupled with the pull of shared interests, the boatmen's strength could be twisted into a single rope. Only then could they change from a rabble into a group with fighting power.

"Do you remember what I usually taught you?" Lu Shan asked again.

"We remember it all!" The boatmen immediately nodded.

"Good. Then use those things tonight. Make sure they can't react in time, and take them down in one stroke! The Wave-Pushing Gang carried out a River Opening today. They've been tired all day, and there was wine and meat tonight. They must be full and satisfied, already resting early. It's deep into the night now—they must all be asleep." Lu Shan instructed the Mighty Gang's boatmen.

"So be quick, be ruthless! But don't use weapons. Only wooden clubs. We can't let the authorities seize any leverage against us. Try to kill only Li Qi. Don't cause too many deaths."

"Don't blame me for not warning you. This time, we're risking our lives. Whoever holds us back, don't ever call himself a member of the Mighty Gang again. Otherwise, I'll break his legs!"

He continued giving instructions to the boatmen.

As he watched the boatmen nod one after another, he could not make out the faces of those farther back, but they should all have been able to hear him.

Having explained what they needed to do and given them a warning, he softened his tone.

"Kill Li Qi, then we'll train in the arts for a year. By then, ours will be the only Boatman Gang left in the city. We'll be able to raise our prices, eat meat every day, and every one of us will be able to marry a wife! We can even build new houses!"

"If Li Qi survives, it means the Wave-Pushing Gang will have arts too. They'll compete with us, and we won't have any good days ahead! You all know how badly customers will force down our prices when both sides are bidding, right? What we earn is blood and sweat money. Who wants others pushing down our prices?"

"If we succeed tonight, good days will come afterward!"

As Lu Shan spoke, he looked over the boatmen, carefully sweeping his gaze across those he could see clearly and observing their expressions.

Only by threatening them with power and luring them with profit could he stir their drive and make them fight while forgetting death.

After saying all that, he finally clenched his fist. "Now, is everyone here? I'll count heads. Don't let anyone get lost."

With that, he went to count heads.

Such things had happened before.

In the pitch-black alleys, the boatmen could not see at night. Their night blindness was severe, and they often got separated while moving through the narrow lanes.

The Mighty Gang members stood clustered together. Taking roll was something they did often.

Mountain Boss seemed to enjoy counting heads, so they had become used to it.

Lu Shan began counting.

But the more he counted, the stranger his expression became.

When he reached the last person, he drew a deep breath.

"Why are there only twenty-six?! Where are the other dozen or so?! Did they all get lost?!" he roared in fury, so angry that he stamped his feet!