142. Encountering Two Generals in the Misty Dream Marsh

Lake Yunmeng.

Jiang Shangxing was a young man in his early twenties, of medium build with a fair complexion and no facial hair. With his thick eyebrows and narrow eyes, he looked less like a martial artist and more like a scholar. He stood in stark contrast to Shen Qingyun, who was younger yet resolute and fierce.

"My lady, master!"

"Please come in, Generals," Lu Jin said, gesturing with one hand.

Once inside the cabin, they each took their seats. Lu Jin and Shen Yanxi sat at the main seats at the head of the cabin, while Shen Qingyun and Jiang Shangxing sat opposite them in the traditional kneeling posture. The maid Shuqing quickly brewed and served tea.

"The weather is quite cold now, and you both have had a hard journey. I offer this tea in place of wine to toast you both!" Lu Jin said, raising his teacup.

"Master, please don't say that. We are merely retainers of the Shen family; how could we dare speak of hardship? And we are certainly not worthy of being called generals. Please, just call us by our names, master. Rather, as a scholar, you have had to endure this rough life of exposure to the wind and rain, and I hold you in the highest admiration. Shangxing toasts the master and the my lady!" Jiang Shangxing was truly a smooth-spoken man, his face wreathed in smiles as he spoke.

Shen Qingyun, however, kept his head slightly lowered, his expression solemn and silent.

"Very well, since you insist, I won't stand on ceremony. Shangxing, Qingyun, let us drink together!" Lu Jin and Shen Yanxi raised their cups. Jiang Shangxing naturally followed suit, while Shen Qingyun raised his cup in acknowledgment before taking a solitary sip.

After finishing their tea, Lu Jin asked, "Might I trouble the two of you to brief me on the current situation? Where are the troops deployed, and what is the plan?"

"Master, we have a total of two thousand men between the two of us. Half of them are newly recruited family soldiers who have only trained for a little over a month. Aside from the three hundred veterans stationed on these ships, all the other family soldiers are concealed in the surrounding area, waiting for your orders."

"How many warships do we have?"

"Twelve large vessels and a hundred small boats."

Lu Jin’s heart leaped. This was a genuine military force. He, an utterly penniless transmigrator, was now in a position to command such a formidable power. When they were all truly gathered together, wouldn't it be a grand spectacle of a hundred boats racing and a thousand sails unfurling?

"Do the two of you know the purpose of this expedition?" Lu Jin asked.

"We only know we were to change into these disguises and await the master and my lady here. Everything is at the master's disposal, but we know nothing else. Please give your instructions, master," Jiang Shangxing replied. He truly had no idea what a delicate young scholar intended to do with two thousand troops, but as a retainer, his duty was simply to obey orders.

Lu Jin glanced at Shen Yanxi, who shook her head slightly.

"In that case, let me explain the background and the plan for this operation," Lu Jin said, taking a sip of tea.

"Let us first discuss the national situation. Over the past six months, the imperial throne has changed hands three times, and such frequent successions inevitably lead to unsettled public sentiment. In the provinces, natural disasters in the north have caused refugees to blanket the land and rebels to rise up everywhere. Here in the south, water bandits run completely rampant—they even directly participated in the military grain robbery, and the Governor of Haidong died violently in his own official residence. Recently, the Bairong have even bought off insiders to break straight through the passes, marching directly on the capital. Today's Great Liang can truly be said to be beset by troubles both internal and external; a troubled era is about to arrive." Lu Jin began by outlining the grand strategic background.

Shen Qingyun looked up at Lu Jin with a hint of strangeness. What did all of this have to do with you, a mere son-in-law of the Shen family? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were the Chief Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

Jiang Shangxing, on the other hand, was deeply shocked. He was aware of most of these conditions, but he had never connected the dots and thought them through so thoroughly. Yet, in just a few short words, the master had made everything crystal clear. He had never imagined that the Great Liang had decayed to such a miserable state.

"Under these circumstances, as the leader of the gentry factions in Jiangnan, the Shen family must consider one crucial question: how to survive and protect ourselves in the coming troubled times!"

Listening to Lu Jin's words, the two men grew solemn. The situation was indeed grave, but it also stirred a deep, latent desire within them. Normally, family soldiers were mere ornaments, but if chaotic times were truly upon them, their martial skills would finally find a true purpose.

"Let us return to the present. As you both know, ever since I was kidnapped by water bandits, the authorities have launched a concentrated campaign to suppress the bandits within Jiangzhou. Right now, those water bandits are gasping for breath, hanging on by a thread. Yet, over the past few days, the imperial court has pulled together troops from all over the country to guard the capital. With your intelligence, it is not hard to guess what will happen next: the water bandits will inevitably rise from the ashes and make a comeback."

Jiang Shangxing was suddenly startled. Wasn't that the truth? With all the troops drawn away to the capital, not only would domestic disturbances increase across the country, but these water bandits, who had been suppressed with such difficulty, would surely cheat death and return! That would spell major trouble.

"The Shen family wishes to protect itself in these troubled times, while the water bandits intend to seize the moment and stage a comeback. In your view, what should be done?" Lu Jin asked calmly, looking at them both.

Lu Jin did not immediately spell out his plan; he wanted to leave them time to think. A plan is only truly valued when others realize they have no solutions of their own; otherwise, they would take it for granted, assuming they could have thought of it themselves.

Jiang Shangxing furrowed his brows deeply, while Shen Qingyun lowered his head in deep thought. What should be done? Why must these two matters be linked together? Would the water bandits dare to touch the Shen family? Not right now, but what about in the future? Therefore, to prevent the water bandits from growing too powerful and endangering the Shen family, they ought to completely annihilate the water bandits right now!

"So the master means for us to completely wipe out the water bandits to prevent them from rising from the ashes?" Jiang Shangxing asked excitedly. This was the most logical answer; given the current deployment, he could not conceive of any other possibility for this operation.

Shen Qingyun, who excelled in martial prowess, heard Jiang Shangxing's answer and pondered it briefly. It seemed to have no flaws.

Lu Jin and Shen Yanxi exchanged a smile. Shen Yanxi, in particular, wished she could melt into her husband's gaze right then and there.

When her husband was originally abducted as a hostage, he not only managed to free himself but also casually planted a chess piece. With such far-sighted vision, such adaptability, and the strategic cunning to seize opportunities in the midst of chaos and snatch chestnuts from the fire, she wondered how many people in the entire realm of Great Liang could achieve such a feat.

"Yes and no," Lu Jin said, raising his teacup again for a sip. It was not mere posturing; in conversation, one had to master the pacing and rhythm. Right now, he needed to whet their appetites.

"Master, what do you mean by 'yes and no'?" Jiang Shangxing asked with a puzzled look.

"Anihilating the water bandits can certainly prevent them from posing a threat to the Shen family in the short term. But the real question is: can water bandits ever truly be wiped out? As long as this world leaves people with no way to survive, new water bandits will inevitably appear. Furthermore, the Lan River spans thousands of miles—can we possibly kill them all?"

"Even if we truly exterminated the water bandits, the help it would provide for our survival in the coming troubled times would be extremely limited. Because we might not only face water bandits; we might face the Bairong, or the rebels of Qingzhou, or entirely new factions," Lu Jin continued.

"Please enlighten us, master!" Jiang Shangxing cupped his hands, genuinely at a loss.

"You both know about my kidnapping by the water bandits, and you should also know that I returned on my own accord. That was because I made the acquaintance of a hero of the greenwoods among the bandits—Lu Wei, who is also my good elder brother. He is the leader of one of the bandit factions, the Lan River Water Gang, which suffered heavy losses during the government's encirclement and suppression..."

Jiang Shangxing was speechless. Was this something a proper son-in-law of the Shen family should be doing? Shen Qingyun, meanwhile, sneered inwardly. After all, this was beneath contempt. No matter how much praise he had heard of Lu Jin's literary talent, in the eyes of a martial man, Lu Jin was nothing more than an embroidered pillow who played with ink.

"As I mentioned earlier, with the withdrawal of government troops, the water bandits will inevitably begin fighting among themselves once more to seize territory, build up their strength, and stage a comeback. Therefore, our plan this time is to cross the sea under camouflage and substitute the beams with rotten pillars," Lu Jin said, ignoring their inner thoughts.

Cross the sea under camouflage? Substitute beams with rotten pillars? He had no idea if the plan was any good, but he certainly had a flair for dramatic names!

"We are going to find my elder brother Lu Wei, join forces with him, and disguise ourselves entirely as water bandits. Taking advantage of the government troops being redeployed and before the other water bandits have time to react, we will strike in the name of the Lan River Water Gang, crush the other bandit factions in one fell swoop, and completely absorb the forces around Lake Yunmeng. We will establish absolute dominance for the Lan River Water Gang, and continue to reorganize other water bandits along the upper and lower reaches of the Lan River, forging an outwardly hostile force that poses as an enemy of the Shen family. In this way, this step will become a hidden move planted outside by our Shen family. Even when the troubled times arrive and we are surrounded by enemies on all sides, we will have an extra margin of safety..."

As Lu Jin spoke, he noticed Shen Qingyun staring intently at him. Lu Jin smiled faintly and raised his cup in acknowledgment. Shen Qingyun felt a blush of embarrassment and quickly lowered his head. After all, he was still a youth under twenty.

By the time Lu Jin finished outlining the plan, Jiang Shangxing was struck dumb with shock. What a brilliant stroke of crossing the sea under camouflage and substituting beams with rotten pillars! Who could have imagined such a game could be played? No wonder the head of the family hadn't hesitated for a second before sending half of the family soldiers to this son-in-law. It was truly heaven-defying!

"The master possesses boundless talent!" Jiang Shangxing fell to his knees in prostration. It wasn't complete submission, but he was truly awed by this peerless intellect.

Shen Qingyun also hurriedly dropped to his knees. He finally began to understand why the young lady favored him so deeply. He himself was fierce and brave, but how many people would he have to kill to achieve an effect like this? Even so, it only made him feel a twinge of bitter complexity.

Lu Jin felt a wave of relief wash over him. This was the first hurdle of the day; if he couldn't awe these two, things would be extremely difficult to manage in the future. Today's goal was precisely to conquer them with strategy and establish his authority through intellect.

"Get up, both of you. We are like brothers in our own family; there is no need for such formalities," Lu Jin said, reaching out to gesture them up. The two men smoothly straightened back into their seats.

The initial draft of this plan had been Lu Jin's own, but its perfection into a grand strategy was due to the guidance of his wife, Shen Yanxi. Yet Lu Jin did not deflect the credit, because he needed this authority, whereas Shen Yanxi did not—her status as the eldest legitimate daughter was more than enough.

"If I may say so without making you laugh, I am merely a scholar, lacking both the valor to kill and the capacity for military command. Therefore, I must entrust the specific tactical command of battle to the two of you. I have merely put forth some of my humble thoughts for your deliberation," Lu Jin said.

He could determine strategy from a high vantage point, but he could not execute battlefield tactics. He refused to pretend to understand what he did not and issue blind commands that would squander the Shen family's strength and send hundreds or thousands of young men to their deaths in vain.

"Please go on, master." At least for now, Jiang Shangxing's perception of the young master had radically changed; full of brilliant strategies yet completely free of greed for personal glory, Lu Jin had granted them absolute freedom and trust. Shen Qingyun's heart, however, remained a churning mix of complex emotions.

"The most urgent task right now is to make contact with my elder brother Lu Wei first; otherwise, everything else is just empty talk. I have two or three trusted brothers here. My thought is that each of them can take a few men and go out to find my elder brother. Meanwhile, the two of you can also dispatch a portion of your men to familiarize yourselves with the waterways of Lake Yunmeng, so that when a battle actually breaks out, you won't suffer defeats due to unfamiliar terrain. I suggest keeping the rest of the troops concealed for now."

"You are too modest, master. Every aspect has been considered with utmost thoroughness."

"What about the provisions for these two thousand men?" Lu Jin asked with some lingering concern.

"Rest assured, master, the family soldiers have brought five days' rations with them. Subsequent supplies will be delivered by grain boats, and we will arrange to meet and receive them."

"Very well. Furthermore, remember this for all future battles: kill as few people as possible. Execute only the ringleaders and leave the rest alone. What we want is manpower. If we have no men to rally under our banner, even if we slaughter every last water bandit in existence, it will do us no good," Lu Jin emphasized.

"Rest assured, master."

"Shuqing, go and call Huang Sang and the others in," Lu Jin instructed.

Before long, Huang Sang and the other two arrived in the room. Huang Sang had come to the Shen residence alone, but in reality, two others were waiting outside the city to meet them. This time, they were all brought along.

"Second Master!" Huang Sang had been terrified all the way here. Was this formidable deployment meant to wipe them out?

"Huang Sang, the few of you take some men each and board the boats to find the chief. Once you find him... remember, stop talking nonsense everywhere, and only tell the chief." Ma Su was currently in Jianglin, and Lu Jin only truly trusted Lu Wei and Xu Chong.

"I understand, Second Master. Do we set out right now?"

"Set out immediately, go and make your preparations at once," Lu Jin said, dismissing the men.

"Then I leave this in your hands, Shangxing, Qingyun. Send word to us once you have a reply. Also, remember that only the few of us must know of this plan; there is no need to tell anyone else. The rest are simply to follow orders."

"Understood, my lady, master. We take our leave!"

"Shangxing, Qingyun, once you find Elder Brother Lu, come to the Qingfeng Courtyard to notify us," Shen Yanxi said softly just as the two men reached the doorway.

The two quickly acknowledged the order and backed out of the room.

"Must we still go to Qingfeng Courtyard?" Lu Jin asked in confusion.

"Who knows how long it will take to find Elder Brother Lu? Besides, we can't stay on the boat indefinitely, and Qingfeng Courtyard is not far away. We need to keep up appearances so people don't find fault or start rumors," Shen Yanxi smiled and said.

Lu Jin said nothing. He gently stroked his wife's shoulder and naturally pulled her into his arms.

"It was an oversight on my part."

"It doesn't matter, your wife is here."

Shen Yanxi's radiant face bloomed like a white orchid, a faint smile resting softly upon her lips.