When he emerged from the alley, it wasn't too late, but it was time to return. Su Tan'er saw him off to the intersection.

Far away on the rooftop, Lu Hongti stood in the darkness, watching the figure disappear into the distance.

If the other party was already enjoying a comfortable life in Jiangning, it would be quite unethical to abduct him to suffer in Lüliang. But survival is the first principle. Seeing someone with talent, coercing or luring them, or setting traps to bring them into the fold to strengthen oneself, is a common occurrence among the rebellious or bandit forces these days. Whether it's Fang La here, or Song Jiang of Liangshan, Tian Hu of Hebei, or Wang Qing of Huaixi, they have all done such things. The Lüliang Mountain stronghold was originally too small, but at this point, it has reached a stage where expansion can be considered.

Even so, when Lu Hongti left Lüliang, she still hadn't seriously considered the feasibility of this matter. In her nature, she was mostly straightforward when it came to those who treated her with kindness. Lüliang was doing better than before, but compared to Jiangning, it was still just a small mountain village eating chaff and swallowing vegetables. Abducting someone here would be harming them, which was too much. However, when she went down the mountain, Grandpa Liang had said some things to her, either directly or indirectly. She understood the meaning of those words, and then... although she didn't admit it on the surface, at certain times, in the dead of night, she would consciously or unconsciously think about it.

"...Everyone in Lüliang is not doing well. Your master passed away early, you have no relatives by your side, and you're taking care of this stronghold, so many things are always delayed..."

"...You've been smart since you were a child, and you've seen the world with your master, so your horizons are high. In the past few years, there haven't been any good families nearby. Grandpa also knows that you don't look up to them. You've also turned down marriage proposals from nearby strongholds... They're indeed not good matches, but a woman always needs a man to protect her in her life, even if your martial arts are high..."

"...Originally, I wanted to say that you're getting old, so just find someone to settle down with. But this time when you go down the mountain, Grandpa wants to ask you about your thoughts, and you should also consider it yourself... In the past few years, there haven't been many men who you praised on the mountain, only that scholar named Ning that you mentioned. It can be seen that although he seems unreliable in many ways, you still admire him quite a bit. You... could it be..."

"...Well, Grandpa is also thinking, if we just go directly and ask him to join our stronghold, it might be impossible. But I heard that he is a son-in-law from a merchant family. Grandpa can't understand why someone with such talent would become a *Son-in-Law*. But a real man should always make contributions and establish a career. You can persuade him in this way. If he really has the ability and is willing to come, what's wrong with our stronghold following his lead? Also, if you have feelings for him... uh, these things..."

Grandpa Liang always stuttered a bit when he talked about these things, but the meaning was naturally clear. You're getting old and you have to find a man to marry. Although he's already married over there, he's still a *Son-in-Law*. If he's also willing to come to Lüliang, leave his family and become an outlaw, why shouldn't you marry him? When she heard these words at the time, she just blushed and didn't refute them, but she might not have really taken them to heart. On the way, she thought they were a bit absurd and hurriedly put her thoughts back into the depths of her mind. But as she traveled south, with the passage of time, what embarrassed her the most was that these thoughts were like seeds of weeds, falling down and even starting to take root and sprout. Every time she thought about them, she felt her face flush, and she hurriedly tidied them up again.

Or... maybe it's not impossible. Her age is actually one or two years older than Ning Yi's. Generally, when women reach this age, people will basically say that they can't get married anymore. It's indeed difficult for women in the *jianghu* to find a home. When they were young girls, they were already going back and forth in swords and spears, in piles of corpses and seas of blood. In the blink of an eye, they were already delayed. Her master was also single when she died, and she might have learned her ways. But honestly, as a woman in her heart, she also has a side that longs for a husband. Now that she thinks about it, her master might have been like this too, just forced to breathe by life, and never met someone who moved her heart, so her thoughts were buried.

On Lüliang Mountain, nearby strongholds had also proposed marriage several times. People in her own stronghold didn't dare to propose, but they had also asked indirectly. She had refused them all. She was a female mountain king, and she might not want to find another mountain king. Someone from her own stronghold, or someone who might make her feel that she could settle down with, but in the end, she still didn't agree. If Ning Liheng left his family and became an outlaw in Lüliang, she thought she could marry him. Anyway, she was old, wasn't she? Fortunately, she hadn't been injured or disfigured in these years of walking among swords, and she still looked presentable. If he was willing, she could give him her body.

The idea was a bit abrupt and made her blush, but for her on the road, it was more of a sense of calm. However, after seeing Su Tan'er's situation in Huzhou, some of her thoughts began to change. Now that she had come to Hangzhou, she knew in her heart that some of her thoughts had no possibility.

In any case, she had thought about these ideas in her heart. At this time, watching Ning Yi disappear into the distance from the rooftop, as she slowly let go, the aftershocks of those ideas were like leaves falling on the water, creating ripples of tenderness on the new lake. Forget it, don't think about it, she wasn't unwanted, and she didn't have to get married. She would protect him in Hangzhou for a while, and try to discuss everything with him in detail, write down his opinions, and after returning to Lüliang, she would focus on doing well with that five-year plan. As long as the people in the stronghold were doing well, she would be... happy, right...

********************

In the following two days, Ning Yi began to get busy.

How to establish, promote, and form a system of democratic thought such as equality for all is still in the incubation period. It is only necessary to constantly answer questions for Liu Xigua who is thinking about it. But regarding more practical work, Liu Xigua threw the preliminary work of dealing with Bao Daoyi on him. For this, Chen Fan and Liu Tiannan and others all believed that Ning Yi would have the talent in this regard, and for Ning Yi, at this time, he was also very willing to let the *Badao* Camp really face off against Bao Daoyi.

Now established in Hangzhou, both the *Badao* Camp and Bao Daoyi's side can be regarded as a powerful figure in the rebel army. The rebel army is not like the imperial court. At this point, they are all familiar with each other, and human feelings are greater than reason. Many people will come out to dissuade this kind of thing that destroys the internal balance. If you want to do it, you have to be prepared in two aspects.

First, you have to let everyone know that I have really broken up with Bao Daoyi, and there is no room for arguing and reconciliation. Either he kills me or I kill him. When this atmosphere is laid out to a certain extent, everyone will truly accept this matter. If you directly go and chop people on the day you fall out, the upper-level people will definitely not be able to bear it. Without distinguishing right from wrong and without discussing with everyone, killing a high-ranking official like Bao Daoyi without tacit understanding is not a private grievance, it is simply an aura of rebelling and seizing power.

To do this, all you have to do is find fault, and leave it to Liu Tiannan, Du Sha, and others. The second point is the most important: you have to kill Bao Daoyi, I may be able to accept it, but the city can't be in chaos after Bao Daoyi is killed. Someone has to take over his business, someone has to make up for his power, and someone has to appease his subordinates. Only by satisfying the second point, Liu Xigua can kill Bao Daoyi without causing too much backlash, and only by satisfying this point can Liu Xigua be able to make up his mind to take action. Therefore, this matter is the most practical one.

Investigate the situation of Bao Daoyi's subordinates, investigate the various businesses he is in charge of, the various powers in his hands, large and small, and consider arranging people to take over. Investigate how many people under him can be divided and won over, how many hardcore and loyalists there are, how many people can be persuaded, and how many people need to be controlled. Each item must have a plan. These plans do not need to be completely effective, but the effective part must be above a certain percentage to ensure that the situation will not collapse in the future, and to make people feel that the *Badao* Camp will not cause too much disturbance after killing Bao Daoyi. In this way, the various forces weighing the situation around only need to consider their own likes and dislikes of Bao Daoyi.

In the past, if you wanted to do such things, from top to bottom, it would be at most a series of general orders, and what it would become in the end would basically be uncontrollable. But this time, the situation that appeared in the *Badao* Camp was really different. After receiving the commission from Liu Xigua, in just half a day, Ning Yi gathered various people in the *Badao* Camp to form a strategic team, and began to organize how to do each item, how to divide it, how much information needed to be gathered, and so on.

These kinds of things don't need experts like Liu Tiannan and Du Sha to do, just let the newsmongers and well-informed people inside the *Badao* Camp collect them. Regarding the situation on Bao Daoyi's side, the *Badao* Camp originally had a lot of understanding. Even if they didn't understand, they would send people out to inquire that day, and there would be results that day, after all, it wasn't a big secret. For example, who manages the salt, who manages the weapons, who is responsible for collecting protection fees and managing a group of thugs, all news related to stability began to be collected, archived, and then consider the people who are related nearby, who can be a substitute afterwards and suppress the situation. Make plans for those who have ideas, and immediately bring up problems for discussion.

The group of women rescued from the Gutong Temple are only from the bottom of society, and it is not of great significance to make a fuss about them. It is also limited to incite public opinion. However, the group of children in the academy are in control of a great help. Their families are all middle-level members of Fang La's camp. Some of them are pro-*Badao* Camp, while others are relatively alienated. But only on the first day, Ning Yi made a classification and wrote letters to contact these parents. What he said was simple: Your child has a festival with Bao Daoyi, and we don't want you to do too much, just if one day there is a falling out between the two sides, I hope you can stand on our side and take over Bao Daoyi's territory in a certain aspect...

Small things, organized and archived, when the quantity reaches a certain level, the entire scale will become terrible.

The flowing model, the mechanized process, this is the first time since Ning Yi came to the Wu Dynasty that he has truly contributed to the practical example of strategizing. Especially after coming to Hangzhou, the situation is stronger than people, and there is no place to use his strength. At this time, he can finally find an opportunity to press the huge lever in his hand and start stirring up wind and rain.

In this Wu Dynasty, there is no lack of secretaries who can manage many accounts in an orderly manner, and there is no lack of pragmatic officials who manage countless things at hand. However, to subdivide an organic problem about "seizing power" to this extent, to organize a dozen or dozens or even expand to hundreds of people to let each of them find what they want to do, and to let them have such high efficiency, and to handle multiple lines in parallel, I am afraid that there will be no second person. In this regard, no matter Liu Xigua or Liu Tiannan, or even the pragmatic Qin Siwon who is far away in the capital, I am afraid that they can only handle one line or several lines as the focus for a while, and the rest can only be ignored.

Like a spider, it spit out silk in the *Badao* Camp, and quickly expanded with the connection between one person and another. Within a few days, a giant net was formed in the entire city of Hangzhou, and it continued to spread... (To be continued. Vote for recommendations, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)

Support (Complete Book God Station) to share this site with those little friends who need it! Can't find a book, please leave a message!