Once Jiang Li finished talking, someone knocked at the door. Yu Shulan and the others looked over curiously. They wanted to know who else in Yongan City Jiang Li would invite, other than them.
"Come in," Jiang Li said.
"Chief Jiang."
Creak! The door opened and an old man with white hair entered. He was muscular, energetic and his loose grey robe couldn't cover his fierceness.
"Instructor Hong," Hua Tian exclaimed.
"Why are you here?" Long Chongzhen was startled.
"Hi, Instructor Hong." Yu Shulan got up and bowed.
"Haha…" Hong Tianqi chuckled, "You're all heavy hitters now. Chief Jiang sent someone to invite me, so I should certainly respect him, shouldn't I?"
"You gotta be kidding, Instructor Hong," Hua Tian said humbly.
"You kid." Hong Tianqi shook his head.
In fact. Hua Tian used to be a City Guard and he was once taught by Hong Tianqi. And yet, he left the City Guards for some reason and became the leader of the Tianmen Gang.
"Please take a seat, Instructor Hong," Jiang Li said.
"Hm." Hong Tianqi sat down expressionlessly.
"Chief Jiang, everybody should be here now, right?" Hua Tian turned around and asked Jiang Li.
"Chief Jiang, you can tell us why you invited us here now," Long Chongzhen said.
"Hm, everyone's arrived." Jiang Li nodded and glanced over all of them. He took out a few pieces of paper and put them on the table. "Chiefs, Instructor Hong. We'll continue after you read this."
"What do you mean?" Hong Tianqi frowned.
"Don't be so mysterious," Hua Tian said.
"Jiang Li, if you want to take over our gangs, you can just tell us. I know you have many strong fighters in your gang, but I'm not scared of you." Long Chongzhen grunted.
Yu Shulan didn't say anything. She took the papers and started reading them. Her face then gradually turned pale.
"This… This… This is impossible…" Yu Shulan was almost speechless. She didn't even know she dropped the papers.
"What's wrong?" Long Chongzhen was also shocked. He picked up the papers and started reading.
"!!!"
He was extremely stunned.
"Give me that." Hua Tian took the papers and read it carefully.
Boom! In a blink. Hua Tian banged on the table and stood up. He stared at Jiang Li and asked, "Jiang Li, is everything true?"
"Of course," Jiang Li nodded and said. "I sent my men to Stone Village not long before to investigate the cause of my father's death. I got lucky. They caught a monster at the peak stage of level one and brought it back. As for her identity, you already know after reading this. There's no need for me to explain."
"What happened?" Hong Tianqi frowned and asked.
"Instructor Hong, read it." Hua Tian gave him the paper.
"…"
Hong Tianqi remained silent and he started reading it. He said after a while, "The City Lord and State Lord colluded with the Monsters and Barbarians? The Red Eyebrow Empire is working with the Black Snake Empire? How is that possible?"
It was hard to believe. Hong Tianqi couldn't believe it was true.
"I don't believe it. I don't think the City Lord would do this." Hong Tianqi yelled.
"Instructor Hong, I sent someone to the government office and it was empty. Dugu Huangcheng has taken all of the official soldiers and elites," Jiang Li said slowly. "What's going to happen if the Monsters attack us now? Aren't these things enough proof?"
"We can only save ourselves right now," Jiang Li yelled with a deep voice.
Hua Tian and Long Chongzhen lowered their heads and remained silent. In fact, they had started to panic. All the signs proved that what Jiang Li said was probably right. And this, this was the most terrifying.
The City Lord and State Lord both betrayed the Qian Dynasty and colluded with the Monsters and Barbarians. Yongan City was like a naked beauty in the eyes of the enemies. They could do whatever they wanted.
"Chief Jiang, just tell us what we should do. We'll do whatever we can to help," Yu Shulan suddenly got up and bowed to Jiang Li as she said firmly.
"Okay." Jiang Li nodded and glanced at Hua Tian and Long Chongzhen. He grunted and said, "You two aren't even as decisive as a woman. Why? Are you going to abandon the city and run?"
"Fuck!" Hua Tian got up and shouted, "How would I be such a coward? It's just the Monsters and Barbarians. I've killed them before. What do I have to be afraid of?"
"Chief Jiang, tell us your plan first," Long Chongzhen said.
"Qingshan Valley," Jiang Li said. "The plan is simple. Since the Monsters and Barbarians are planning to ambush the army of Pingding City in Qingshan Valley, we'll take the opportunity to attack the Monsters and Barbarians. We'll work with the army from Pingding City to annihilate them. Dugu Huangcheng doesn't know that we've already found out their plan, so they'll be caught off guard."
"Haha, nice plan." Hua Tian laughed. "Chief Jiang, I didn't know you're so resourceful."
"This plan seems pretty good," Long Chongzhen mumbled. "but can we beat the Monsters and Barbarians? We don't even know how many soldiers they have. We have too little information."
"The White Dragon Gang has almost two thousand members, the Tianmen Gang also has two thousand, and we also have those from Tingyu Tower and the Sirius Gang." Yu Shulan slowly said, "If Instructor Hong also agrees to join us, we'll have almost six thousand reserve soldiers. That means we can gather more than ten thousand soldiers."
"If we can ask those second-rate gangs to join us as well, we'll have more." Hua Tian said.
"No." Jiang Li shook his head. "We can't be sure if there are people who work for Dugu Huangcheng or Yang Zike in the second-rate gangs. To be honest, I'm taking a huge risk to tell you about it."
"Jiang Li, stop talking already." Hong Tianqi got up with his fists clenched. "I'll return to the base of the City Guards right away and gather all the reserve soldiers. Then, I'll go to Qingshan Valley with you. If what you said is true, I must kill Dugu Huangcheng and Yang Zike, even if I have to risk my life."
"Chief Jiang, when will we start moving?" Hua Tian asked.
Long Chongzhen, Hong Tianqi and Yu Shulan also looked at Jiang Li.
"Go and gather all of your members first, and wait for my notice," Jiang Li said.
"Alright." Hua Tian nodded.
"Chief Jiang, the sooner, the better. I'm worried that the army from Pingding City can't hold on for long," Hong Tianqi said.
"Don't worry. I won't risk my life as well." Jiang Li nodded seriously.
"Right, Chiefs and Instructor Hong, do you have any spare herbs? Ordinary ones will do. If you do, please sell them to me," Jiang Li suddenly said. "I can buy them from you with the same price as in the market. Of course, I don't have much money right now, but I can write a receipt stating the amount I owe you. We're now on the same boat. It'll be nice if we can help each other out."
Jiang Li gave a friendly smile.
"Well…" Hua Tian and the others looked at one another. Yu Shulan then said, "I'll go back to Yu Shulan and see how many we've got."
"Thank you, thank you," Jiang Li said.
"Chief Jiang, why do you want so many herbs?" Long Chongzhen asked.
"I need them," Jiang Li replied.
"Why are you so mysterious?" Hua Tian said.
"…"
Jiang Li shrugged and didn't say a word.
"I'll do whatever I can, as long as it helps to deal with the Monsters and Barbarians," Hong Tianqi said.
"I promise I won't disappoint you," Jiang Li smiled and said.