Chapter 163: Brother Hu's Distress

On the mountain.

While Yao Doudou and others were clearing the scene and rescuing Wei Xiangzuo's group, Su Tianyu had already called Yu Mingyuan.

"Hello?!"

"Old Wei is rescued. Don't worry about anything else now, immediately notify Kong Zhenghui to take the association core members and the families of all three houses to Zone One together, quickly!" Su Tianyu paused before adding urgently: "Oh no, go to Xinaluo first, to Chi Jun's place, then take the route from there to fly to Zone One, that will be safer."

Yu Mingyuan was stunned: "Is it necessary to be so urgent?"

"It's like this - if we hadn't rescued Old Wei, Xu Hu wouldn't rush to move against us, he would definitely stabilize Zha'nan's internal situation first, taking dock gang power before anything else. But Old Wei being intercepted by us has completely cornered Xu Hu. He now only has two choices: either move against our people to exchange for Old Wei, or he'll push Gu Tongshan's death onto us and Wei Xiangzuo, saying we conspired together to do this, turning internal conflict into external conflict so the Dock Workers Association will continue supporting him," Su Tianyu explained with very clear logic. "Without Wei Xiangzuo in hand, we wouldn't need to hurry to withdraw, but with him, we must run immediately."

Yu Mingyuan roughly understood Su Tianyu's meaning: "...You mean leave first, then when Wei Xiangzuo stabilizes, we exert force and come back?"

"Exactly!" Su Tianyu immediately nodded. "Changqing Company plus Longkou and Zha'nan, three forces together making trouble - with our current level we definitely can't handle it. Leave first, wait for Wei Xiangzuo to stabilize and let him infiltrate the dock gang internally, then we'll have a chance to turn things around."

"The question is, how many people do we take and for how long?!"

"Take all our Mutual Aid Association core members, don't worry about the people below, because the other side doesn't know exactly how many members we've recruited now or who they are, understand my meaning?" Su Tianyu replied.

Yu Mingyuan pondered for a while before answering decisively: "Good, I'll call Kong Zhenghui now."

"That's it then."

After ending their call, Su Tianyu also contacted his eldest brother Su Tiannan: "Quickly take the family members and company core members, leave immediately! Right now, don't worry about anything else!"

"Alright." When Dog Six left the city earlier, he had already discussed this with Su Tiannan, so the latter wasn't surprised and didn't ask for details, just agreed straightforwardly.

This "Mutual Aid Association" family escape was truly a desperate move, because Xu Hu losing Wei Xiangzuo was equivalent to leaving himself a hidden danger. If this person didn't die, he would definitely continue causing trouble in the shadows, so Xu Hu, seeing red now, would very likely use the Su, Bai, and Kong families' people as leverage, forcibly moving against them in the city to achieve the goal of exchanging for Old Wei.

Besides this, since the Yu family's people had rescued Wei Xiangzuo, Xu Hu could also take the opportunity to pin Gu Tongshan's death on Old Wei, saying he had allied with the Yu family to kill Old Gu in order to take power. This reason was logical and reasonable, and Old Wei currently had no way to defend against it.

For all these reasons, once Old Wei was lost, Xu Hu's next step would definitely be to forcefully move against the Su, Bai, and Kong families. These three families hadn't prepared to run before because Su Tianyu wasn't certain whether Wei Xiangzuo would contact him and choose to cooperate with him, much less certain whether he could successfully rescue Old Wei.

If not, the three families had no need to run yet, because after killing Wei Xiangzuo, Xu Hu would definitely stabilize the dock gang internally first.

......

In the villa in Longkou District.

Xu Hu stood in the living room, his inner emotions very suppressed.

"Damn it, are the Xue family's people made of paper?! Over forty people going to catch four or five people, and they all got wiped out, letting them escape?!" the Longkou District hall master cursed. "And they call themselves a private armed force? Give me a fucking break."

"Wei Xiangzuo running off with the Yu family's people isn't good for us," Li Hongze said with furrowed brows. "If you don't kill the thief, you have to guard against theft every night."

Xu Hu stood by the window with his hands on his hips, forcing himself to calm down and think about his next move. His wanting to kill Wei Xiangzuo was actually also a desperate move.

Gu Tongshan's sudden death was, for Xu Hu who had endured for many years, a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity - an opportunity to completely control Zha'nan.

Previously with Gu Tongshan around, although Xu Hu was nominally Zha'nan's number one, the gang leader, he actually had no say in any major matters. Supply channels, distribution methods, and goods pricing were all decided by Gu Tongshan. Even if he only mixed in a small amount of his own private goods among the large shipments, he would still be secretly disciplined by Gu Tongshan.

This feeling wasn't good, but Xu Hu had no choice. Because Old Gu was his master and had very strong connections and prestige in the Dock Workers General Association, plus Zha'nan's number two Wei Xiangzuo also always greatly respected this master, if Xu Hu rebelled and fought with Gu Tongshan, he would definitely die miserably in the end.

Having no choice, Xu Hu could only endure and obey Gu Tongshan's every word.

But what Xu Hu hadn't expected was that Gu Tongshan was suddenly shot dead, and the opportunity he had been waiting for appeared!

With Old Gu gone, the huge rock pressing down on Xu Hu's head no longer existed, so he took advantage of his master's passing to start rearranging the cards, wanting to completely secure power in Zha'nan.

At this point, Xu Hu began contacting Li Hongze, the Longkou District hall master, council of elders members, and Gu Tongshan's wife and children to support him, wanting to declare his position in Zha'nan by changing to new channels, stabilize internally first, then deal with the Yu family to avenge his master. This way, he would gain reputation, money, and power.

But Xu Hu hadn't expected that Wei Xiangzuo, who had seemed unambitious in Zha'nan, would also become mentally active at this time. He not only suspected Xu Hu had killed Gu Tongshan, but also in attitude didn't support him, and even opposed the gold brick business.

That day at the dock workers association elders council meeting, Xu Hu had originally gained most people's support and was about to get power and change to new supply channels, but in the end was disrupted by Wei Xiangzuo.

Wei Xiangzuo's move touched Xu Hu's most sensitive nerve, leading to the conversation between Xu Hu and Wei Xiangzuo at the food stall that night.

That was Xu Hu's last probe of Wei Xiangzuo. His meaning was clear - if Old Wei could support him and let him secure the number one position in Zha'nan, they could coexist peacefully like before. But during the negotiations, Wei Xiangzuo's emotions were clearly resistant and disgusted.

Old Wei wasn't stupid either - Xu Hu needed him now so naturally his attitude was good, but after everything settled, with Xu Hu's domineering personality, he definitely wouldn't tolerate a second voice in Zha'nan. By then it would be too late for Wei Xiangzuo to resist.

Xu Hu didn't know Old Wei's mental activities, but the resistance the other showed made him completely decide to kill.

Xu Hu truly had no choice! For this orchestration, he had promised huge benefits to Li Hongze, the Longkou District hall master, and council of elders members - he had been completely positioned there. If he couldn't smoothly secure the number one position in Zha'nan District, the credit he had overdrawn with everyone would face backlash. His ship sailing in Zha'nan would definitely sink.

To repel external threats one must first pacify internal affairs, so Xu Hu had to kill Wei Xiangzuo who was acting as a stumbling block, leading to his action at Bei'an Street trying to lure and kill Wei Xiangzuo.

Wei Xiangzuo's investigation of Gu Tongshan's killing had used many Zha'nan dock gang connections and many dock people - this point naturally couldn't escape Xu Hu who also had extensive connections in Zha'nan, so he used this opportunity to dig a trap for Wei Xiangzuo.

But Xu Hu hadn't expected Wei Xiangzuo to also have cards to play. After two failed assassination attempts, Wei Xiangzuo not only escaped but also ran off with the Yu family's people.

This was definitely a hidden danger!

Standing by the window, after careful consideration, Xu Hu immediately turned and said: "Move against the Su, Bai, and Kong families! No matter what, we can't fucking let Wei Xiangzuo disappear so easily."

Dog Six's insight into Xu Hu's psychological activities was almost pathological level.

Sure enough, unable to catch Wei Xiangzuo, Xu Hu could only choose to strike at the Su, Bai, and Kong families.