After Red Madame got acquainted with Yu Luocha, she invited Yu Luocha to come with her back to the county seat. Yu Luocha thought for a moment, and she agreed.
The situation in Guangyuan differed greatly from several days ago; tens of thousands famine victims were transformed into valiant troops by Li Yan. Most of them did not have any weapons, but they cut wooden branches as their weapons in other to rise in rebellion. Every single one of them was high spirited, they looked like the mighty army trained in Beijing. Seeing this kind of spectacle, Yu Luocha inwardly sighed with admiration. Looking up, she saw a white cloth banner hanging horizontally above the main street, with large characters written on it: ‘Destroy his mother, pierce his mother, open the main gate to welcome the Roaming King. The Roaming King arrives, no more taxes to pay.”(7) Unwittingly she broke into wide smile and exclaimed, “Good!” This verse was simple yet forceful, without the slightest bit flavor of pain or wishy-washiness; indeed it fits Yu Luocha’s appetite.
The barrack gate opened and Li Yan came out to welcome them. Red Madame laughed and said, "I've already welcomed the honored guest on your behalf."
Li Yan also laughed and welcomed them anyway; he turned to Yu Luocha and said, "Nowadays the patriots are rising; the Roaming King's army is about to move out from Qinling to the west. Capture Tongguan first then fight for Henan. I wonder if Lian Zhaizhu would be willing to join us?"
Yu Luocha contemplated for a moment before saying, "China belongs to you. What assistance can I possibly offer? I am asking Hong(8) Jiejie to look after my troops, I want to take my leave."
Li Yan was sure Yu Luocha would agree to join forces with them, hearing her reply, he was quite surprised. Li Yan did not know Yu Luocha had other thoughts. As she heard Li Yan's invitation to become their ally, she thought, 'Shanhu Meimei has not been avenged, how can I be stranded in the army? Besides, if I join, it will be more difficult for me to see Zhuo Yihang." It must be understood that toward Zhuo Yihang, Yu Luocha had a love-hate feeling; when she was angry, she wanted to sever all relationship with Zhuo Yihang, but as soon as her resentment dissipated, she would miss seeing him.
Li Yan was not pleased to hear Yu Luocha's rejection. Red Madame said, "Lian Jiejie, your stronghold has been destroyed by the imperial army, this enmity must be avenged!"
Yu Luocha laughed aloud and said, "With you around, why must I worry? Managing an army is not my talent; besides, my natural temperament is wild, I only wish to wander unhindered with my sword, free and without any care. Don't you think it would be better if we simply go our separate ways?"
Li Yan mused, 'No wonder she is counted among the demonesses, her love of the wild is difficult to tame. If we accepted her in the army, I am afraid she might disrupt the discipline of the troops.' Thereupon he no longer insisted.
Li Yan had just captured the county seat, he was still busy with military affairs. Several gangs of bandits in that area had come to submit to him, thereupon he sent for the bandits and negotiated the distribution of the grains and the soldiers' pay. The city was bustling with activity.
Yu Luocha sat on the side, watching him make payments to the troops, and noticed that he did not refuse anybody's request but accommodated everybody's needs; he would inquire clearly the number of troops and immediately pay and provide adequate provisions for each group. After being busy for half a day, all those people were perfectly satisfied, and each one returned to their respective places.
"Why do you deal with these gang leaders like this?" Yu Luocha wondered.
"Would Jiejie give your advice?" Li Yan replied.
"When I went to the south," Yu Luocha said, “I took over the property and army provisions of the various strongholds; where is the logic in giving everything to them instead?”
Li Yan smiled slightly, he thought, ‘You dominate others by force, how can you be successful in major affairs?’
From the side, Red Madame answered the question, “If we don’t do it this way, they would not be delighted to come and help us. The imperial court has two large armies stationed at two Sichuan provinces, they are planning on crushing us one by one. If we do not join our forces, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to survive. Not only we won’t be able to go out west to Tongguan, we will be whipped back north.”
Yu Luocha reasoned, “But there are all kinds of groups and personalities among Lulin’s bandits; aren’t you afraid someone might swindle you of your money and provisions?”
“Jiejie is right,” Li Yan said, “We will have to deal with each group differently. But that can wait till later, besides, there is a strong yi qi(9) among the Lulin world, we must not shut our door just because of a few scumbags in our community.”
“What you said is correct,” Yu Luocha admitted. She paused for a moment, and then continued, “How many provisions do you have that you can give to them? How much grain and money stored up in this town? I have a general idea, but will it be enough to feed the starving people in one month?”
With a wry smile Li Yan said, “I will have to think of a way to solve that problem later.”
Yu Luocha suddenly laughed, “I can’t join you as your ally, but I do have a tiny bit of gift I’d like to present to Hong Jiejie.”
Red Madame waved her hand and said, “Jiejie needs not be polite.”
Yu Luocha said, “You have no choice but to receive this gift. Tomorrow I want you to take a team of female troops and come with me to the Bright Moon Gorge.” Finished speaking, she stretched out her arms and yawned, “Looking at you to be very busy, I get dizzy and my eyes blurry. Ha, I want to sleep!”
Li Yan quickly ordered his people to prepare a room and invited Yu Luocha and Tie Feilong to take a rest.
Early morning the following day, as agreed Red Madame led a group of female troops following Yu Luocha to the Bright Moon Gorge. Seeing Yu Luocha acting strange, Red Madame was suspicious, so much so that just before they left, she quietly said to Li Yan, “I wonder what kind of gift she wants to give me, why does she drag these many people along, why does she look anxious?”
Li Yan simply laughed and said, “I can guess with seventy, eighty percent confidence, but you might as well come with her. Let me send you off a bit.”
After sending them off outside their town, Li Yan reined his horse, but suddenly Yu Luocha said, “I want you to come with us.”
Red Madame was not happy, she thought, “How come this Demoness is so unreasonable, he is busy with military affairs, doesn’t she know it?” Red Madame thought her husband would certainly decline, but unexpectedly Li Yan only showed a faint smile and agreed to come with them.
“Don’t you have an appointment to see couple of Lulin chieftains today?” Red Madame said.
“I will ask my vice-general to handle the matter for me,” Li Yan replied. Handing a roll of paper to his attendants, he ordered them to return to the city, while without hesitation he followed Yu Luocha along.
The stronghold on the Bright Moon Gorge had turned into ashes, Yu Luocha lingered on the scorched soil for a moment without saying anything. Li Yan said, “Jiejie, don’t be grieved, for each stronghold the imperial army destroyed, we will take ten of their provincial capitals.”
Yu Luocha suddenly said, “You have a sword hanging on your waist, I supposed you must be adept in using the sword? While we don’t have anything else to do, why don’t we exchange several moves in here?”
Red Madame’s anger shot to the roof, she thought, “Humph, this Demoness said she has a gift for us, turns out she only wants to size us up.” She was just about to open her mouth to rebuke, when suddenly she saw Li Yan threw her a meaningful glance, telling her not to say anything.
Li Yan’s initial reaction was also a surprise, but then he laughed and said, “How can my swordsmanship be compared to Jiejie’s?”
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7. In the original text, these verse rhyme: ‘chi ta niang, chuan ta niang, kai le da men ying Chuang Wang, Chuang Wang lai shi bu na liang.’
8. Hong means Red.
9. Loyalty, code of brotherhood.