Light illuminated the darkness. A simple wooden platform was being erected in the western mountain hollow. The search party's torches stretched out to the sides, and soldiers jogged through the camp. Song Jiang, his hands and feet bound, lay on his side on the ground with the other prisoners, watching the scholar by the wooden table in the center of the camp. The scholar had his hands clasped, giving his final words before the platform was completed.

"Actually, the whole thing started like this," he said. "You're probably wondering why your actions were anticipated. It's not because you didn't think enough, but because you thought too much."

"After Liangshan was broken, your strategic retreat, the escape of approximately four thousand people, reset my previous arrangements to zero. That was the right move. Afterward, you took many steps: burning villages, fleeing into the mountains, dragging ten to twenty thousand people around in circles. When you realized burning villages wasn't working, you took Fengping County, then threatened Raoping, followed by a sudden counterattack. Plus, you exploited the situation in Yun Prefecture, spread rumors, and led everyone by the nose... Ah, Zhu Wu, it seems only you are interested in what I have to say..."

"You did very well. Each step was admirable." Standing by the wooden table, Ning Yi's gaze swept over the crowd, his tone calm and slightly fast. Then he nodded towards Zhu Wu, acknowledging him. "Being able to use the local situation to accomplish so much, the fact that over three thousand of you ran around in the mountains for nearly a month without being caught, is already quite remarkable. And you began to rectify military discipline, suppressing the effects of spies to the greatest extent possible, only allowing it to erupt at the very end. I'll be frank with you, I didn't anticipate any of your tactical maneuvers... Oh..."

Zhu Wu raised his head in the cage, his eyes filled with deep confusion. A soldier came up to Ning Yi and reported something. Ning Yi listened and nodded, then picked up a glass of water from the table.

"He says things are getting a little volatile in the mountain hollow. Ignore them. Back to what you're interested in, Zhu Wu... And perhaps, Brother Song Gongming also wants to know. I didn't anticipate you. Although, frankly, I wish they had surrounded you sooner, preventing you from doing so many chaotic things, I must admit that the situation hadn't reached that point. I... I only determined one thing from beginning to end. From the moment you left Liangshan, I was certain of it."

"You want to kill me!" The voice echoed in the small square. Ning Yi nodded. "You must kill me! I was certain of this from the moment you left Liangshan. It seems you were a little late in figuring it out. The whole thing is that simple."

The words drifted on the wind. Ning Yi lowered his head to drink, allowing a moment of silence to linger. After a while, he put down the cup and shook his head.

"People move forward, and there are many paths... Most of the time, everyone thinks that way. When you left Liangshan, you hadn't ruled out killing me. But there were many things you could do. You could join Tian Hu, although it was a long way, and once you left Yun Prefecture, you wouldn't be so familiar with the terrain, but it wasn't impossible. You could keep wandering, dragging it out until the Wu Rui Camp lost interest in catching you, because they already had the credit for annihilating the fifty thousand from Liangshan. You could keep burning and looting villages, forcing the officials in Yun Prefecture or elsewhere to offer you amnesty to avoid trouble. You could also kill me, but that seemed quite troublesome, only one of many options... But I only fixed on that last one. No matter how many paths there were in front of you, you could only end up here..."

"You attacked Jiangning, suffered a small setback, and retreated in disgrace. I made you suffer on the canal. You operated for years, at the height of your power. I defeated you at the Lonely Dragon Stronghold. In the favorable terrain of Liangshan, I caused infighting. I ran around threatening the surrounding officials, forbidding them from accepting your surrender! I urged the Wu Rui Camp, forbidding them from withdrawing! You had paths to take, but I blocked them all. You burned villages, and I used the remaining people to fill the gaps in the Lonely Dragon Stronghold. As you stumbled step by step, you would have seen me more and more clearly. But by then, it was too late..."

"You thought you had suddenly awakened? Thought you had... suddenly found the key in the complex clues? Thought you had finally made a decision, burned your boats? Thought that after making the decision, you had tried your best to use tactics, tricked the officers, and then decisively launched a counterattack? You've been thinking too much these days, and even deceived yourselves, getting the order wrong..."

"You only finally made the decision on the fifth or sixth of this month. And on the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of June, we had already talked to the Wu Rui Camp. If you hadn't been caught by then, the only thing I needed to defend against was this last step. I don't have much tactical experience. I can only see this one step. I told them, and... obtained their understanding..."

His voice paused. "After you stirred up the water, I couldn't keep up with all your movements. I'm not omniscient, nor did I get your action plans from any spies. You had already prepared. The news was bound to be inaccurate, and the intelligence was prone to errors. After Liangshan, all the spies' responsibilities were completed. I ordered them all to remain silent. Even if they actively sent out information, I chose to be skeptical... Yan Qing left a note in Fengping. I haven't opened it to this day. But the more intense your actions were, the clearer it was to me what you wanted to do... The direction of the overall situation was getting narrower and narrower. What else could you do besides that? The Wu Rui Camp is a little slow because of various rules and regulations, but they’d be able to lay an ambush still after preparing for a month..."

A soldier came over again, reporting the news. Ning Yi nodded again.

"Of course, you could have chosen not to attack, but if that were the case, at most, in another half-month or month, I guarantee that external pressure would cause your entire force to collapse. By then, the mountains and fields of Yun Prefecture would no longer be a place where you could run and escape as you pleased. It makes no difference when the final battle is fought..." He smiled, his voice lowering. "Alright, I've said... almost everything I need to say. Everyone, let's go. The two thousand inside are probably already getting impatient. Come, Song Jiang, let's go together..."

Soldiers surrounded them. Someone untied the ropes on Song Jiang's feet and helped him up. Song Jiang struggled. "What are you going to do..." But the soldiers dragged up the captured heroes one by one. Zhu Wu, Wu Song, Dai Zong, Xi Junyu, Chai Jin, Zhang Qing... one by one, pushing them forward. Wu Song struggled desperately and kicked a soldier away. With a loud bang, blood bloomed on his chest. Almost at the same time as Ning Yi fired his gun, a soldier next to him slashed at him, then was startled. Ning Yi put down the musket, watched Wu Song's body fall, and then smiled and nodded at the soldier: "Well done."

He patted Song Jiang's shoulder: "Although this is our first meeting, I like you. Don't ask anymore. Let's go."

The group walked out. Song Jiang stumbled, showing some trembling, then gritted his teeth and took a breath: "There are still two thousand people, they are the most powerful brothers of my Liangshan..."

"Hmm?" Ning Yi, walking beside him, looked at him kindly.

"You can't push people to the point of desperation. People forced into a dead end will fight to the death. I... I can surrender, I can accept amnesty. You don't have to kill so many people. You... let my brothers go. Don't push them to extermination. Song Jiang... you can kill me whenever you want..."

"Righteous and brave, a true brother." Ning Yi nodded with a smile, listening carefully. They passed through the ranks of soldiers, and in the distance, they could already see a small wooden platform. Ning Yi didn't answer his words, thought for a moment, and said with a smile, "Actually, I can understand you. I understand what you've done."

"Uh..." Song Jiang was stunned. But Ning Yi patted his shoulder, urging him to hurry. His tone was not loud, like a whisper between two friends walking side by side.

"No one is born wanting to be a bandit. Sometimes, it's fate. We can't stop it. Like a fierce tiger lying in a desolate stream, hiding its claws and enduring. Look, I really like your poem. Ill-fated, we can only go up the mountain and become bandits. There are many like that. For example... Lin Chong. He was framed by Gao Qiu, his wife was insulted by scum like Gao Yanei and died. He was exiled to the army and still had to be framed by his superiors, assassinated by villains. In the end, he had no choice but to go up the mountain. He suffered all the insults a man could suffer."

As he spoke, they walked on. Ning Yi shook his head, his eyes full of emotion: "He couldn't seek revenge. What could a drill instructor do? With a tattoo on his face, even if he assassinated Gao Qiu in the capital, he definitely wouldn't be able to escape. To put it another way, even if he could kill Gao Qiu by chance, he definitely wouldn't be able to leave. Some people say cool things, criticizing him for not having the heart to risk his life. I don't think so. Risking your life, it's easier said than done... It's completely immoral to use that standard to demand it of others. So I understand him very well. Don't you think so... Look, your brothers and friends..."

The group had now reached the vicinity of the wooden platform. In the valley further away, the figures of the besieged Liangshan crowd could already be seen. They were also looking over here, causing a small-scale commotion. The Liangshan leaders and soldiers were filled with righteous indignation.

Song Jiang was brought onto the wooden platform. The fire illuminated him, allowing the crowd in the mountain hollow to see him more clearly. Xi Junyu stood next to him. The others were lined up below the platform. The soldiers initially wanted them to kneel. Some knelt, some struggled. Ning Yi waved his hand downwards: "Don't bother too much. Kneel if you want to kneel, stand if you want to stand. It doesn't matter."

The wind blew the torches, the light swayed, the sound howled. The soldiers and the crowd on both sides faced each other across a hundred meters. In the mountain hollow over there, there were figures. Wu Yong, Li Kui, Song Qing, Hua Rong, Sun Erniang, Song Wan... Li Kui shouted loudly, almost charging over, but he didn't act impulsively after all. Ning Yi looked to both sides, making sure that they could roughly see their faces, before returning. Song Jiang had actually been looking at him the whole time. He also walked to Song Jiang's side.

"Actually, I also understand you. For example... acting on behalf of heaven or something. Of course, you have to have a slogan for rebellion! Why can't you have one? If it were me, I would too, and I'd shout it loudly! Also, look next to you, Xi Junyu... The matter is very simple. A younger brother causes trouble outside, or he's not a good person. Of course, the elder brother has to take the blame. To go up the mountain, of course, you have to kill, set fires, and do bad things. If he were so good, the government wouldn't force him up here. Sometimes, the younger brother goes too far. An apology will suffice. The *jianghu* is all about fighting, killing, and accidental injuries..."

The night was silent, with only the sound of the wind. The people on both sides watched Ning Yi talking to Song Jiang on the wooden platform like a friend, even occasionally pointing at Xi Junyu, but he didn't say a word to the people on this side or that side. No one knew what was going to happen. Even Song Jiang felt a little strange at this time. He had hoped that Ning Yi would talk to him about amnesty or surrender, but the other party was rambling, and only strange and cold emotions accumulated in his heart.

"And Qin Ming, Xu Ning and them, such powerful people, it's better to use them than to kill them. If it were me, I would probably want to force them to rebel. Forced to go up the mountain with no way out, the greater the reputation of Liangshan, the more chips I have to save my life, right? In the future, talk to the government about amnesty and become an official. Really, if it were me, that's all I could do. Look, I understand you, I really understand you."

Ning Yi looked at him with a smile, repeating this sentence. When Song Jiang nodded subconsciously after a moment, Ning Yi remembered something: "Um... back to the apology, although this matter was started by your younger brother, but more than a hundred people died in the Su family, some children, only this tall, this little bit tall, I saw... they were cut in half. It wasn't their fault. I'm sure it wasn't their fault. Since you did something wrong, an apology is in order, right? Such small children... What do you say? I really hope you can apologize to them, just say you're sorry..."

Song Jiang looked at Ning Yi. Ning Yi also looked at Song Jiang, his gaze gentle but persistent, smiling, and a little sad. Song Jiang gritted his teeth: "I'm sorry." His voice seemed to come from between his teeth. After saying it, he probably felt that his voice was too small and wanted to say it louder, but Ning Yi had already nodded, reaching out to touch the top and back of his head: "That's enough, that's enough, they're already in heaven now, they should be able to hear it whether you say it loud or soft. It's already enough..."

Song Jiang was over forty years old at this time. Although he wasn't the most burly on Liangshan, he was still a man like an iron tower. But Ning Yi touching his head like this was like touching a child. There was still fresh blood on the back of his head, but Ning Yi didn't care at all. After saying these words, he raised his right hand and waved it, going to the side with a little excitement.

"I said, I understand you, like... Lin Chong, like the one I just killed, is it Wu Song? Is it Wu Song? He killed a tiger with his bare hands. If I usually heard of such a powerful person, I would have to say, he's a hero. You drink in big bowls and eat big pieces of meat, how happy, right, it sounds so longing. If it's said in a book, it will definitely be very popular. Over there, the wise strategist Wu Yong, sounds very powerful. Your brother Li Kui, kills whoever he wants, how great. Not to mention Li Kui, let's talk about Lu Zhishen, everyone says he has great wisdom, you see, he has great wisdom, and he can always be unrestrained and happy, everyone will be very longing, ordinary people like such heroes, because they also hope that they can live so freely..."

"What are you going to do..." Song Jiang finally interrupted him again in Ning Yi's incessant speech. Because Ning Yi, while speaking, was picking and choosing in the box next to him, and took out a sharp, shiny boning knife, which looked like it was used to slaughter pigs. When Song Jiang asked this question, Ning Yi stopped waving the knife and glanced at the boning knife.

"Oh, this... a knife, of course it's a knife. Where did I get to? Uh... freedom, living freely, everyone is longing for it, but, but what if you kill into our house..." Ning Yi held the knife and blew on the side, shaking his head and walking over, looking at Song Jiang, then he paused, lowered his head to look at the knife in his hand, and touched the tip of the knife with his hand, "You... you will kill into our house, it's not just something to hear in a story, you will kill over, kill the whole family. What do I do at this time?"

Ning Yi stood there: "Do I always have to say that you have difficulties and I can understand you? Wu Song, I also want to be so powerful that I can kill tigers, Lin Chong, I'm also indignant for him, really indignant, Lu Zhishen, everyone wants to be like him, free and unrestrained, with great wisdom, although he doesn't accumulate good karma, kills people and sets fires, maybe one day he can have a great enlightenment and become a Buddha, but before he becomes a Buddha, he will protect you, what about the people who are killed by him, killed by you? What if he kills me before he becomes a Buddha? Such a Buddha? What do I want it for!? I also want to drink in big bowls and eat big pieces of meat like you, everyone wants to, but what if the wine you drink is mine? Look, you came to my house, killed people..."

Ning Yi looked at him, his gaze earnest, the blade turning in his hand: "So, I say these things, can you understand?"

Song Jiang's teeth trembled, wanting to say something, the expression on his face changing rapidly. The wind blew over, and in Ning Yi's hand, the blade turned upwards, stopping. His eyes stopped at that moment.

"Thank you for understanding."

As the plain voice fell, Ning Yi took a step forward, and stabbed the knife into Song Jiang's stomach, then grabbed the handle and pulled it up. Under everyone's gaze, in the firelight, blood sprayed into the sky.

In the air, there seemed to be a surge of shouts. Next to Song Jiang, Xi Junyu, who had listened to the entire process, screamed "Ah," and retreated violently, urine leaking from his pants. Ning Yi shook his head, ignoring the blood splattered on his body, glanced at Xi Junyu, and made a slashing gesture with his hand, this was his final disposal of Xi Junyu. Then, amidst the huge commotion, Ning Yi turned around, and in the flickering firelight, raised a hand.

"Kill—"

The huge roar, erupted by the *Po Liu Dao* Qi strength, expanded in all directions. On the side of the wooden platform, the lined-up soldiers raised their steel knives and slashed at the row of Liangshan heroes who were being held in front of the formation. Zhu Wu, Dai Zong, Chai Jin, Zhang Qing... rows of blood bloomed, gushing out. Killing intent surged, flames tore through the night sky. Song Jiang was cut open, knelt down, and fell. Blood flowed, on the wooden platform, at Ning Yi's feet, spreading out...

After the rain of arrows, the battle began. The true slaughter of this night began...

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Knowing that everyone is waiting, I'll code it out and send it out as soon as possible, asking for monthly votes. ^_^