The crowd of beggars saw these two would rather commit suicide than to be insulted; their hearts were tumultuous, but the Beggar Clan’s regulation was extremely strict, without the Clan Leader’s command, nobody dared to move.
Qiu Qianren smiled wryly, he said, “Let this matter be settled this way then. Now I want to give your precious Clan a gift.” His left hand waved; a dozen or so men dressed in black behind him opened a chest they brought along. Each one held out a tray and respectfully presented the tray to Yang Kang. The trays glittered brightly, they were full of gold, silver, jewels and pearls. The crowds of beggars were astonished to see them suddenly present these jewels.
Qiu Qianren said, “Although the Iron Palm Clan has enough food to eat, we cannot afford to present you with any appropriate gift. This gift is from Zhao Wangye [Prince Zhao, lit. King Zhao] of the Great Jin who asked the Old Man to pass along to you.”
Yang Kang was pleasantly surprised; he asked quickly, “Where is Zhao Wangye? I must see him.”
Qiu Qianren replied, “Several months ago Zhao Wangye sent his people to deliver this gift along with his message for the Old Man to pass them along to your precious Clan.”
Yang Kang uttered an ‘Hmm’, he thought, “It was before father even made a plan to go south. I wonder what he had in mind with these beggars.”
He heard Qiu Qianren continued, “Zhao Wangye admires the heroes of your precious Clan; he asked the Old Man to come over personally and deliver this gift.”
Yang Kang happily said, “How can we be worthy to receive Lao Bangzhu’s precious effort?”
Qiu Qianren said with a smile, “Yang Bangzhu is young, but you are very broadminded; you far surpass Hong Bangzhu.”
When he was still at Yanjing Yang Kang had not heard Wanyan Honglie mention anything about the Beggar Clan; he was anxious to hear his intention. “I wonder what does Zhao Wangye want with my Clan? Would Lao Bangzhu give us directions?” he asked.
“Giving you direction, that I cannot do,” Qiu Qianren smiled, “Zhao Wangye told the Old Man, that the land of the north is barren and its people are poor, it is difficult to set your feet on …”
Yang Kang caught fast, “So Zhao Wangye wants us to move to the south?”
Qiu Qianren laughed, “Yang Bangzhu is very smart, the Old Man is impressed. Zhao Wangye said: in Jiangnan the lakes are wide, the land is warm, the people rich; why don’t the brothers from the Beggar Clan move to south? It far surpasses the cold northern land.
Yang Kang smiled, “Thank you for Zhao Wangye’s and Lao Bangzhu’s kind direction. I will certainly comply.”
Qiu Qianren did not expect that the Beggar Clan would readily accept his proposal; his face showed doubt. He had not anticipated this response. His mind churning, he thought this man was young and weak; and when he had just squeezed his hand with Iron Palm, he fainted from the pain. It was obvious that this man was afraid of him; so it was not strange that no matter what he said this man did not dare to defy. However, the Beggar Clan had a deep root in the north, how could he easily agree to move to the south? When the Beggar Clan talked about it later, they were bound to regret this decision. Therefore, he decided to put the last nail on the coffin by saying, “A real man cannot breach his own word. Today Yang Bangzhu gave your word; once the Beggar Clan brothers cross the great river, you will not return to the north, correct?”
Yang Kang was about to comply, but Lu Youjiao suddenly said, “Reporting to Bangzhu: we beg for a living, what use we have for gold and silver? Besides, our Clan has hundreds of thousands of members spreading all over the world, how can we limit their movements? I beg Bangzhu to reconsider.”
By now Yang Kang had understood clearly Wanyan Honglie’s intention. He knew that at the north of the river the Beggar Clan had always fought the Jins. Each time the Jins attacked to the south the Beggar Clan would disturb the rear of the army’s movement; either by assassinating the high ranking military officers or burning their provisions down.
If the Beggar Clan moved to the south, naturally it would tremendously help the Jin’s effort in attacking the south. Thereupon he said, “This is Qiu Lao Bangzhu’s kind intention; if we refuse, we would be disrespectful to him. I don’t want any of the gold and silver; four honorable Elders can divide it among the brethrens after the assembly is over.”
Lu Youjiao anxiously said, “Our Hong Lao Bangzhu was widely known as the Northern Beggar. Everybody in the world knows that our base is in the north. How can we move so easily? Our Clan has vowed our loyalty and patriotism to serve our country, we have been enemies with the Jins forever. We surely cannot accept their gift; and most certainly we cannot move across the Changjiang.”
Yang Kang was furious; he was about to reply when Peng Zhanglao said with a smile, “Lu Zhanglao, the important matter in our Clan is decided by our Bangzhu; it is not decided by you, is it?”
Lu Youjiao imposingly said, “I would rather die than forgetting about loyalty and patriotism to my country.”
“Jian, Peng, Liang Zhanglaos, what do you say” Yang Kang asked.
Jian and Liang Zhanglaos hesitated before answering; they also thought moving across the Changjiang was not an appropriate thing to do. But Peng Zhanglao with a loud voice replied, “We rely on Bangzhu’s decision. How can subordinates dare to disobey?”
“Good,” Yang Kang said, “We will move across the Dajiang [Great River] by the first of the eight month.”
As he said this, more than half of the crowd of beggars broke in clamor. Hearing this reaction Yang Kang was temporarily at a loss. Jian, Peng and Liang three Elders shouted their orders for the noise to stop, but most of those who were angered were from the Dirty Clothes Faction; they ignored these three Elders.
Peng Zhanglao shouted, “Lu Zhanglao, are you going to rebel against our Bangzhu?”
Lu Youjiao imposingly said, “Even if a thousand sabers chop my body to pieces, I will not dare to rebel against Bangzhu. But Lu Youjiao does not dare to abandon the wishes of our forefathers even more! The Jin kingdom is our Great Song’s archenemy. What would Hong Lao Bangzhu say to us?”
Jian and Liang two Elders hung their heads without saying anything; they started to regret their indecisiveness.
Qiu Qianren saw the situation was not good; he was afraid it would be difficult to attain success if he does not deal with Lu Youjiao. He coldly laughed and said to Yang Kang, “Yang Bangzhu, is this Lu Zhanglao always this bossy?” As his words come out, his palms ferociously struck out to grab Lu Youjiao’s shoulder.
As soon as Qiu Qianren sneered, Lu Youjiao was ready to protect himself; he knew Qiu Qianren was fierce, he did not dare to parry. He bent his waist and slipped through under Qiu Qianren’s crotch. Without straightening up his body, ‘whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!’ he already sent three kicks toward Qiu Qianren’s buttocks. He was called Lu Youjiao [Lu with a foot/kick], it was because his leg skill was really good; the kicks were very swift and fierce.