Chapter 14: United As One!

While Liu Yu was still figuring out how to obtain two hundred rifles, he heard waves of cheers coming from outside.
“Share hardships and joys together!”
Only then did he realize that Ji Xinghui had already rushed out to announce to the troops in Liu Yu’s camp, “Everyone will get two rifles, one long spear, and one short six-barreled gun!”
“Share hardships and joys together…”
“Share hardships and joys together…”
The response was wave after wave of shouts.
Now panicked, Liu Yu quickly discussed the plan with a few trusted subordinates. Before any concrete arrangements could be made, he rushed to the entrance and said to the crowd, “Our target is Haiyang!”
“Haiyang—Haiyang!”
Again, the response was waves of shouts, with the crowd filled with extreme excitement: “Take Haiyang! Everyone will get two rifles!”
“It’s Haiyang!”
“Long live! Take Haiyang, take Haiyang!”
To everyone’s eyes, Haiyang seemed like a small fortress that could be taken easily with more effort. But it was actually a large city defended by tens of thousands of soldiers!
Liu Yu had to remind them again, “It’s Haiyang! The capital of Haiyang Province…”
His words were interrupted by the frenzied crowd: “Haiyang! Open Haiyang!”
He had started this storm, but now even Liu Yu seemed to have lost control over it.
Faced with such chaos, he felt powerless. Only Jiang Ningxue spoke softly, “As long as you want to go, I’ll follow you—even to the eighteen layers of hell, if it’s not Haiyang.”
“But what about them?”
“They have nothing left!” In some ways, Jiang Ningxue understood better than Liu Yu, who had lived a privileged life, “This is their last hope!”
Indeed, they had nothing left—even their camp was an abandoned old village. Living in such dangerous conditions, they worked from dawn to dusk with no guarantee of even basic sustenance. They feared falling further into despair, as that would mean the end for them and their families.
Liu Yu let out a long sigh.
In this world, in this era, apart from human hearts, there were too many things he couldn’t control.
As he pondered, the excited crowd below grew even more fervent: “Two rifles will at least ensure our descendants can live safely for a few years. Let’s fight!”
“Haiyang isn’t worth anything—even the eighteen layers of hell is worth it!”
Faced with such chaos, Liu Yu felt intense heat—not just in his emotions, but even as if he could physically feel the scorching temperature.
A fire! A separate thatched house west of the village was on fire, but these exiles clapped their hands as if celebrating.
When Liu Yu was confused, he saw Ji Xinghui, beaming with excitement, rushing over with Liu Haohao. As soon as they arrived, Ji Xinghui shouted, “Commander, I’ve brought Haohao to apologize to you!”
Liu Haohao, who had been frozen, was now a grown man. He knelt down before Liu Yu immediately, “Big brother, following Ji Ge’s orders, I burned everything to the ground. Now completely alone, I also want to show my determination! For this campaign to take Haiyang, I’m willing to be the vanguard!”

Only then did Liu Yu realize that Liu Haohao had actually set fire to his own house, cutting off his own escape route. Initially, after failing to compete with Liu Yu for leadership, Liu Haohao was completely sidelined. But even Liu Yu’s anger dissipated at that moment. The two shook hands tightly: “From now on, we’ll share hardships and prosperity together!”
“Share hardships and prosperity together!”
Ji Xinghui added fuel to the fire from the side: “Great! Brothers working together can even break metal!”
That day, the old camp was a sight to behold—people kept gathering to watch their leader set fire to his house, cutting off all his options except heading to Haiyang City. It was all thatched huts, easy to burn; the wind fanned the flames, and in no time they were gone. With nothing left above or below, the stronger the fire, the more excited everyone became—this was what true heroes looked like.
Apart from valuable possessions, even trivial items were burned inside.
The stronger the fire, the more enthusiastic everyone became.
“What about the old people and women? We can’t take them to Haiyang!”
That was Liu Yu’s decision: “Go to Shanxi! Get a boat and let them take all the contraband we seized last time!”
“Great! The leader is truly practical! I still have twenty taels of silver saved—let Yun’s mother take that too!”
There was nothing left to say. The entire Liu family camp was practically united as one.
But there were always those who held back. The Liu family camp now had ninety-four tough men and seven weaklings—who declared they didn’t want to go to Haiyang to die.
Whether they wanted to live or die, going to Haiyang meant certain death. They refused and preferred to leave the camp and wander elsewhere—of course, they would keep their friends’ plans to die a secret.
“Let’s go! Tell them to scram! We only get one chance in life!”
“That’s right. At least we haven’t brought shame to the Liu family—these are all outsiders!”
“If they try to turn back later, they won’t get a chance!”
Even if Liu Yu wanted to turn back now, the uncontrollable storm would tear him to pieces.
Moreover, the power of the clan was terrifying. Among those who left, none were surnamed Liu or from the Liu family’s main line. He even thought that even if they couldn’t take Haiyang, with these over a hundred elite fighters, they could dominate the Red River Delta.
But it wasn’t until the next day they set off that he understood what was meant by “water spilled can’t be gathered back.”
They intercepted two ships heading to the provincial capital of Shanxi and sent the old and weak who couldn’t fight aboard—those ships were under the control of the Black Flag Army, which often helped ethnic Chinese who entered Vietnam.
After sending them off, the Liu family camp had nothing left but courage. The entire camp was ready to march toward Haiyang.
“Form up in ranks!”
It should have been a large formation of ten rows and ten columns, but clearly not enough—many more people squeezed in behind. There were twelve rows in total, all ethnic Chinese who had been stranded in the area for years and rushed over at the slightest sign of movement.
By the time Liu Yu approached, they were already arguing among themselves.
“Leader Liu, we don’t need two rifles per person—just one six-shot pistol will do!”
“Leader Liu, we’ll be your bodyguards!”
“Once we take Haiyang City, there will really be rifles!”

Liu Yu was filled with enthusiasm as he turned around.
“All gather!”
“Two columns, target! Haiyang!”