RPAGF Chapter 24 Arrogance is the biggest weakness
Chapter 24 Arrogance is the biggest weakness
Li Wei placed the lead bullet on the map, right on the spot representing the South Wharf. His gaze then fell on the face of the impatient Seamus.
"The Bloody Hands smashed up Parker's store and beat up our men. Now the entire Boston underworld is laughing at us, waiting for us to rush out and fight the Bloody Hands to the death."
"This shows that 'Butcher' Jack doesn't take us seriously at all. Those Bloodhands think we only have anger and fists."
"That is their biggest weakness, a weakness called arrogance."
Finn, Seamus, and the others exchanged bewildered glances, their anger still burning, but now tinged with confusion.
They don't understand these complicated principles; all they know is that if their compatriots are bullied, they must fight back with blood.
The Irish in Boston never doubt their own fists!
"Jack the Butcher, like you, believes that violence can solve everything, so he must be in some bar in the South District right now, all set up and waiting for us to crash in."
"So we have to act according to our own script!"
Li Wei turned around and began issuing a series of orders that left everyone baffled.
Finn.
"Yes, sir."
"Immediately find a few brothers who can't keep their mouths shut and like to drink, and spread the word in all the taverns in the North District."
"I told them I was terrified by the 'Butcher's' show of force and was prepared to sell all my Eastern Awakening Tea and Eastern Divine Medicine, and then, with the money and Fiona, flee by sea overnight."
Upon hearing this, Finn's one eye widened in surprise. "Sir, isn't this boosting the enemy's morale while diminishing our own? What will the brothers think?"
"That's exactly what I want them to think, especially the 'Bloody Hand Gang's' informants."
"The news needs to be so convincing that it can even fool your own family!" Li Wei continued, ignoring his astonishment.
"They even went so far as to fabricate a story that we had already bought tickets to Philadelphia, for the 'Seagull' at the dock, which is scheduled to depart tomorrow night."
"Remember, make it sound like you've overheard a secret."
Finn opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his question and nodded heavily.
Then, Levi turned to Seamus.
"Seamus".
"Here!" Seamus and the four Declans behind him immediately straightened their chests; they had been eager to make a big splash for a long time.
"Seamus, you and your men, we have a new mission tonight, but it's not in the South District."
"Not going to the South District? Then where to go?" Seamus was taken aback.
"Go to the north of the city, to the wealthy area behind the Governor's Mansion."
Seamus was even more stunned.
"Sir, what are we going there for?"
"Performance."
Li Wei's answer plunged the warehouse into a brief silence.
"You're to pretend to be five drunk dockworkers who've lost all their money."
"Find the mansions of some of the loudest pro-British MPs, cause trouble outside their beautiful white walls, vomit, and draw ugly turtles on them with charcoal."
"Remember, make a big fuss, act arrogantly, but absolutely do not hurt anyone, do not barge into the yard to look, and do not leave any marks related to 'Sons of Liberty.' When the sheriff arrives, immediately split up and run, the more disheveled the better."
This command is even more absurd than the previous one. It sounds like utter nonsense.
They are trained warriors, not street clowns.
Sending them to do graffiti in wealthy neighborhoods is more painful than sending them into battle.
Seamus frowned, and his four brothers wore expressions of utter incomprehension.
"Sir, I don't understand," Seamus finally couldn't help but ask.
"You don't need to understand, these are my rules, Li Wei's rules."
Seamus pressed his lips together, glanced at Levi's expressionless face, and finally lowered his head, uttering only, "Yes, sir."
Finally, Levi's gaze fell on Fiona.
"Fiona".
"I am here."
"You still have a lot of the sulfur and saltpeter that Boyle sent. Take the money and have Finn send you two men."
Fiona thought she was about to receive a crucial task to manufacture gunpowder, and her expression became tense and focused. However, Levi put his arm around her waist and patted her gently.
"Relax, Fiona. I'm not asking you to buy charcoal, but to find one of the smelliest leather tanning factories in town."
"A leather factory?" Fiona, who completely trusted Levi, couldn't help but wonder if she had misheard.
"Yes! Buy their unwanted scraps at high prices, especially those hides that have been soaked in chemicals and are already rotten and smelly. Take as many as you can. Also buy a few barrels of the fish oil and waste they use to process leather, the smellier the better."
This command is even more bizarre than the previous two.
A hint of confusion flashed across Fiona's face, but she was more composed than Finn and Seamus, and simply nodded.
Everyone in the warehouse was bewildered by these three consecutive orders.
Rumors, riots, and now stinking leather waste.
These three things seem completely unrelated.
But no one asked anymore.
In the past few days, Li Wei has established absolute authority within this small team.
……
That night, under the Boston night sky, three silent dramas unfolded simultaneously.
In a filthy pub on the North Wharf, Finn chugs down glass after glass of cheap rum, the occasional sound of a glass shattering on the floor audible.
His one eye was bloodshot, and he would tell everyone he met that the Oriental man was a coward who had run off with the money, abandoning his Irish brothers.
The same applies to other taverns in the North District.
An Irish laborer, his face flushed from drinking, was slurring his words and complaining while clinging to his companion's neck.
"Did you hear... that Eastern guy... chickened out! I heard Boss Finn cursing him with my own ears! He said he's going to take a boat and run away tomorrow..."
The news spread like wildfire throughout the entire dock area.
Several "Bloody Hands" spies, who were drinking in a corner, slipped out quietly with smug smiles on their faces.
Meanwhile, in the brightly lit up affluent area in the north of the city.
The five men, including Seamus, took off their clean clothes, put on their most tattered work clothes, poured alcohol on themselves, and staggered to the mansion of Trade Councilor Harrington.
They sang vulgar Irish tunes and vomited on the pristine white walls.
Declan even used a piece of charcoal to draw a crooked, urinating dog on the front door of the senator's house.
A few drunken Irish folk songs, accompanied by sounds of vomiting and arrogant shouts, echoed outside the mansions of several members of parliament.
Soon, angry shouts and the whistles of patrolling police officers filled the air.
The five men screamed and scattered like birds, disappearing into the dark alley.
Not long after, the city's patrol teams received an emergency order to send half their manpower to protect the residential areas of those important figures.
When the sleepy sheriff arrived, he only saw a few walls covered in graffiti and several figures disappearing into the darkness.
The Governor's Office immediately ordered double the number of patrols to patrol the wealthy area day and night to prevent these "Irish scoundrels" from causing trouble again.
Nobody cared about the petty gang squabbles in the dock area anymore.
Inside the warehouse, an indescribable stench permeated the air.
Fiona brought back three large barrels of leather scraps that reeked of rot and the pungent smell of chemicals.
The smell was so strong it made people dizzy and lightheaded. Even the hardest-working dockworkers couldn't help but vomit repeatedly, and even a tough guy like Seamus almost suffocated.
Li Wei, however, didn't seem to care at all, as if he had long been used to these smells.
He instructed Fiona to direct the group to mix the disgusting substance with some sulfur powder, then carefully divide it into dozens of small sacks and tie the sacks tightly with rope.
After doing all this, he gathered everyone in front of the map.
On the map, next to the South Wharf, he drew a circle with charcoal on a narrow alley marked as a dead end.
One is Parker's grocery store, and the other is the warehouse where they are located.
Finally, he pointed heavily at a dead-end alley next to the South Wharf.
"At the end of 'Stinky Fish Alley' lies 'Butcher' Jack's' largest smuggling warehouse."
"He smuggled rum from the Caribbean, and he stole fabric and tobacco from the British, all of which were hidden here. This was his money bag, and the foundation for him to support so many thugs."