Gan Ning asked, "Since your father is determined to surrender, why is he so sneaky? Is there another trick in the city?"
Pang Zhe said, "My father is ill, and Sima Pangle is overestimating his own strength and insisting on raising troops to resist. I am worried that he will counterattack Langzhong and hurt the people, so I stayed in the city and asked me to come to see you at night."
Zhang Fei said disdainfully: "Where is Pang Le now?"
Pang Zhe replied, "Sima Pang has set up an ambush on the mountain. When the general is halfway across the Langshui River, he will attack from both sides. This fact has nothing to do with my father. I hope the general will understand this."
Gan Ning gritted his teeth and chuckled: "It's that son of a bitch Pang Le again. I'm going to throw you into the river to feed the fish."
Zhang Fei asked, "Does Xingba recognize this man?"
Gan Ning nodded and said, "This Pang Le is an old subordinate of Zhao Wei. He fought with me before, but he jumped into the river and escaped."
"It's really a narrow road for enemies. I'll leave this kid to you!" Zhang Fei turned around and clasped his fists towards Pang Zhe and said, "Since you and I know how to deal with current affairs, we will be colleagues from now on. After I kill Pang Le, I hope you can help me persuade the defenders to surrender."
Pang Zhe hurriedly returned the greeting and said, "Thank you for your trust, General. I will never refuse even if I die."
Seeing that Pang Zhe dared to stay in the camp, Zhang Fei no longer had any doubts in his heart. He guessed that there might be Pang Le's scouts secretly monitoring the surroundings, so he did not dare to act rashly and secretly discussed countermeasures with Gan Ning.
On the other side of the Langshui River, Pang Le was leading his troops in ambush in the reed marsh. Under the stars and the moon, he saw the fire in Zhang Fei's camp gradually extinguished, with only a few people patrolling.
"Humph, Zhang Fei is so arrogant, he really doesn't take us seriously."
The deputy general said, "The soldiers from Jingzhou are like entering an empty land in Baxi. They think we are going to surrender. Why don't we attack their camp and kill them together with the ambush troops on the mountain?"
"Idiot!" Pang Le waved his hands and said, "Even a napping tiger should not be underestimated! Zhang Fei is a match for ten thousand men. If I cross the river and get chased by him, wouldn't that be more trouble than gain?"
"This..." The deputy general was stunned and said, "Since Sima knew this, why did he send troops to intercept them?"
Pang Le laughed and said, "If I hadn't planned this, how would Liu Qi know my ability? They only knew that I killed my old master Zhao Wei, so how could I be reused? This time, as long as I can capture Zhang Fei, I will be famous all over the world!"
"Sima is very smart!" The deputy general said worriedly, "But we are no match for Zhang Fei. We may be harmed by him. What should we do?"
"Stupid kid!" Pang Le scolded with a smile, "You can't win, so why don't you join? This is called abandoning darkness and joining the light. If you fail to stop Zhang Fei, you will surrender immediately, pretend to be defeated and retreat to Langzhong, kill Pang Xi and his son and surrender the city, and you will also be rewarded for your meritorious service!"
"My respect for Sima is like the waves of the Lang River, which are endless."
"Study hard!" Pang Le said with a proud smile, "He who knows the times is a hero. It seems like a simple sentence, but it is not easy to seize the right opportunity. There are many tricks involved!"
Seeing that the Jingzhou soldiers were no longer active, Pang Le was relieved to rest and waited for the enemy to cross the river at dawn. Then he would intercept Zhang Fei at Langshui. There was no need to kill him. As long as he captured him alive, the whole world would be shocked.
He had a dream until dawn, when he was awakened by his personal soldiers. He saw a thin layer of mist on the river and the soldiers from Jingzhou were paddling bamboo rafts slowly towards the south bank.
Pang Le was cheered up, and when a raft came ashore, he immediately gave orders to send out a signal. Soldiers had already lit a fire in the reeds at the rear, and green smoke slowly rose from several directions.
Boom boom boom—
The sound of drums rang out on the mountain, breaking the tranquility of the early morning. The ambush troops rushed out first and headed straight for the Jingzhou army camp, disrupting the rear.
The Jingzhou soldiers on the shore were in chaos, and the boats and rafts on the water hesitated. Pang Le was overjoyed when he saw this, and led his troops to charge out.
There were also responses from the south bank of the river. Suddenly, the sounds of killing shook the sky on both sides of the Langshui River. The Shu army attacked from the front and back, heading straight for the main camp and killing their way to the shore, trying to block the Jingzhou soldiers in the water.
Pang Le had already seen a black-faced general on the boat, rushing up to him with a knife in hand, not letting him get ashore, and laughed, "Zhang Yide, no matter how capable you are, you are just a landlubber now, hahahaha!"
Arrows were fired from the shore, and the soldiers of Jingzhou were caught off guard and jumped into the water to escape. The soldiers on the boat also tried their best to turn back.
"All three armies listen up, capture Zhang Fei alive and you will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins!" Pang Le waved his hand, and the guards who had been prepared jumped into the water and swam towards the raft.
Just as they were about to capture Zhang Fei alive, a group of people and horses suddenly came running from the upstream shore. The leader shouted, "Pang Le, you bastard, do you recognize Gan Ning?"
Pang Le turned his head and saw that this group of soldiers were dressed slightly differently from those in Jingzhou. They were all dressed in brocade clothes, with bright yellow silk embroidered belts around their waists. Each of them held a goose-feather knife and looked murderous.
The first one was even more flamboyant, wearing a brocade robe with an embroidered belt, and two fluttering pheasant feathers on the tassel of his helmet. He strode towards them with a sword in his hand.
"Jinjin... Jinfan thief?!" Pang Le's face changed drastically. He took several steps back and almost fell off the shore.
More than ten years have passed. Although the outfits of the Jinfan thieves have improved a lot and they are all brightly lit and neatly dressed, the appearance of the Jinfan thief Gan Ning is still fresh in people's memory, especially the jingling copper bell around his waist, which has woken him up from his dreams countless times.
Everyone knew that the Jinfan bandits were rampant in Ba County in the past. Although Gan Ning later turned to the light and became an official in Shu County, this group of people always followed him around and were extremely powerful wherever they went.
Later, because he was dissatisfied with Liu Zhang's use of people from Dongzhou, he angrily rose up in rebellion, but was defeated by Zhao Wei. Pang Le took advantage of the victory to pursue the enemy, but was counterattacked by Gan Ning. His three thousand men were killed by eight hundred people and fled in a panic, forcing Pang Le to jump into the river from a cliff hundreds of meters high, and only then did he luckily save his life.
After returning to Jiangzhou, he often dreamed of jumping off a cliff. He would kick violently on the bed and wake up in a sweat. From then on, he dared not hear the sound of the bronze bell again.
Seeing Gan Ning striding towards him, the nightmare suddenly came back to him. He was so frightened that his face turned pale. He did not have the slightest desire to resist and turned around to walk back.
The deputy general hurriedly advised: "Sima Pang, Zhang Fei has not been caught yet, so we can't leave!"
"What the hell are you catching!" Pang Le stamped his feet and cursed: "The Jinfan thief is here, he is the king of hell who wants your life!"
If he met Zhang Fei, he might have a chance to surrender and save his life. But when he met Gan Ning, Pang Le turned around and left, going back to the city to capture Pang Xi and his son first.
"Go!" Pang Le called on the deputy general to retreat.
"Hehe, Sima Pang, my chance has come!" But then he heard the deputy general sneer.
Pang Le was startled and looked back quickly. There was a cold light in the corner of his eyes. Before he could react, he saw the sky and the earth spinning, and the Langshui River seemed to be hanging upside down in the sky.
"This is what you taught me—" The deputy general's voice came faintly, as if he was trapped in a nightmare.
"Sima Pang was ignorant of the current situation and was killed by me. Brothers, put down your weapons!" The deputy general beheaded Pang Le with a knife, held up the bloody head and shouted loudly.
The Shu army was shooting arrows at full speed and dividing its forces to intercept Gan Ning. When they heard the shouting and looked back, they were all stunned.
"Son of a bitch!" Gan Ning saw it clearly from a distance, gritted his teeth and cursed, raised his sword and shouted: "Those who surrender will not be killed!"
At this time, a bamboo raft came out again and Pang Zhe stood on the bow and shouted: "Pang Taishou has ordered that we must not fight against the Jingzhou soldiers. Put down your weapons!"
When the Shu army saw Pang Zhe appear, they no longer hesitated, put down their weapons, retreated to the shore and knelt down in unison.
The deputy general came to Gan Ning with the head in his hand and said with a flattering smile, "I have heard of General Gan's great name for a long time. Today I see that he is indeed majestic. My admiration for the general is like the waves of the Lang River, which are endless."