Chapter 432: Development

How Song Jiang thought, Wang Yan didn't know, and didn't want to know. What he knew was that in the current Great Song, even if the Heavenly King came, he wouldn't dare to move his father-in-law. A group of grass bandits on Liang Shan, fighting the garrison troops was enough. At most, they could fight the Imperial Guards five-to-five. If it was the Western Army with the strongest combat power, then it would be a wave of pushing.

The reason why the government didn't move them all these years was because Chao Gai and others were just making small troubles, at most robbing wealthy households in the township, and couldn't become a climate. Now Song Jiang raised the banner to gather heroes, which was considered to have increased the speed of development. Now he even brought six thousand people down the mountain to attack Zhu Family Manor. It was also at this time that people discovered that Liang Shan had grown to such a degree, neither up nor down, making the local government difficult to deal with, and negligence became a disease.

The Imperial Guard was the main army for local stability. Now it was using troops against Western Xia and was highly alert to the Liao Kingdom. The number of local troops was insufficient, and more couldn't be drawn out, and less might not be able to beat them. It was like Gao Qiu taking ten section commissioners to conquer Liang Shan and being beaten up, and he was even captured.

However, although the situation against the outside was different now, it was very difficult for Liang Shan to develop better in Shandong than before, because there was Great Official Wang in Yanggu County. People who couldn't live before might grit their teeth and go up to Liang Shan. Now it was different. If they couldn't live, they just had to leave their hometowns and go to Yanggu County to have work to do and have a meal, which was a blow to the replenishment of Liang Shan's grassroots soldiers. If they could be obedient subjects and live, not many people wanted to rebel. Those who rebelled were all related to interests.

"General, I heard a few days ago that Song Jiang of Liang Shan brought troops to attack Zhu Family Manor three times, killing everyone. Liang Shan is so rampant, General, have you been affected?"

Lu Junyi sat steadily in the lower seat, drinking tea and caring about General Wang.

Over the past few years, he would occasionally come to visit Wang Yan to maintain the relationship, and also to go out and wander around to see the outside world. He couldn't always stay in his one-third of an acre of land.

Zhu Family Manor still relied on those traps and mazes, Luan Tingyu's martial arts, and the alliance with the nearby Li Family Manor to survive twice. Finally, with Sun Li coming to surrender, they broke Zhu Family Manor from inside and outside. The entire Zhu family was killed, and many other manor households were killed, which was not much different from the original. As for Hu Family Manor, it was also because Hu San Niang was captured by Lin Chong, and the Hu family did not participate in the war, so the impact was not great. If there was any impact, it was that Li Kui didn't kill the entire Hu family. This battle made Liang Shan's name famous and brought out the wealth of Zhu Family Manor, and a group of heroes were having fun on Liang Shan.

"No problem. Liang Shan grass bandits are just earthen chickens and tile dogs. If it weren't for Wang Mou not wanting to be ostentatious, wiping out those grass bandits would be just a thought, and it could be decided in the morning and evening. Just let them jump around, which also saves Wang Mou from being suspected." Wang Yan shook his head and smiled, saying: "Don't talk about them, let's talk about you, member."

Lu Junyi raised his eyebrows in confusion: "I don't know what advice the General has?"

"I don't dare to give advice, just talk about it. You have lived a comfortable life these years, practicing martial arts and hunting for fun all day, ignoring the world, which can be considered carefree and happy. But now our Great Song is using troops against Western Xia, which is the time to use people. Your superb martial arts have reached the realm of perfection. It is difficult to make progress by entertaining yourself at home all day. In the past, you served in the Northern Army. I wonder if you have any thoughts of going to the Western Army to seek a future?"

"The General wants me to go to the Western Army?"

"No, no, no." The Great Official shook his head with a smile: "It's not that I want it, it's my suggestion. Whether you go or not is entirely up to you. I just think that you are in your prime now, and it is a waste of time to entertain yourself at home all day. If you are a few years older, your body will not be as good as it is now, and even if you have the heart, you will be powerless..."

"I will not hide it from the General, I also want to make contributions and serve the country. But the General also knows my previous encounter, being secretly harmed by Tong Guan and having my merits taken away. Now the war against Western Xia is led by that fellow Tong Guan. If I go under his command again, I am afraid that life and death will be unpredictable."

"You don't know, this time His Majesty intends to destroy Western Xia in one battle, and has repeatedly transferred troops to reinforce. The team of civilian laborers transporting grain and military equipment stretches for I don't know how many miles. That fellow Tong Guan is under great pressure. This time he is in charge. If this battle is not fought well, no matter how he shirks responsibility, his head will fall. So you can rest assured about Tong Guan. He will not seek his own death. And in that Western Army, I have some dealings with the Zhong and Zhe families, and can speak. They will also take care of you. If you go, just focus on fighting and killing enemies to make contributions, no need to pay attention to those flies and dogs."

Lu Junyi pondered for a moment and nodded: "The General considers it comprehensively. My comfortable life these past few years is all thanks to the General. Since the General has already prepared, and can ensure my safety, then I will follow the General's words and go to the Western Army to serve. I don't know what other instructions the General has?"

He knew that the moment Wang Yan opened his mouth, his going to the Western Army to sell his life became a predetermined fact.

Since things had reached this point, he couldn't go if he didn't want to. First, his family's business was climbing the Wang family's business and earned a lot. Second, the matter of his previous steward having an affair with his wife was pointed out by Wang Yan, which could be considered saving his life. Third, with Wang Yan's status today, since he had already opened his mouth, did he still have room to refuse?

"As long as you serve the country, where are there many instructions? Rest assured, member. When you go, just bring a few of my people to your subordinates and arrange for them to be squad leaders. You know that the brothers under my command are all good hands and can help you a lot." Wang Yan shook his head and stood up: "Alright, member, this matter is settled. I will write to His Majesty later to recommend you, this Jade Qilin of Hebei. Now, let's go drink, and I will see you off."

Lu Junyi bowed and stood up: "I dare not disobey."

Wang Yan treated Lu Junyi and his entourage with great hospitality, and after staying for one night, Lu Junyi and his party rode fast horses back to Great Ming Prefecture. At the same time, his letter to Zhao Ji was also sent to Bianjing by someone.

The reason why he let Lu Junyi go was also because this kid's strength was still enough, and he was stronger than Dong Ping. Now the war against Western Xia, although it was fought quite hard, was overall moving in a good direction. Even if it was not easy to destroy Western Xia, it was no problem to win. After all, it had already been beaten to surrender, so there was no reason why it was not as good as that now. So no matter what, as long as Lu Junyi participated in this war, he could have merits. Moreover, he was brave and martial, and his merits would not be small.

Of course, Lu Junyi was secondary. The main thing was those people he arranged under Lu Junyi's command, who could also have merits in this battle. He helped them, and they could be promoted to middle and lower-level military officers, thereby controlling more grassroots soldiers.

After all, the Great Song's precautions against high-ranking military generals were there. If the position was high, it would attract attention. The numerous middle and lower-level military officers were the main force in the army. So controlling these people was the main thing.

However, compared to high-ranking generals, the number of middle and lower-level military officers was too large, and the confidentiality work was naturally the top priority. Those sent out were all specially trained. After entering the army, they would develop and make friends. He certainly wouldn't manage so many people directly, and he couldn't manage them. And these people didn't know what they were doing. After all, it seemed now that the Great Song still had the atmosphere of a dynasty, so why would they think of rebelling? It was just expanding influence.

Fighting a war was a huge burden on the country. The transportation of grain and materials, pulling a cart over, half a cart would be gone. This was the result of the consumption of people eating and horses chewing, and the result of the logistics supply officials and military officials taking advantage of the situation. If the road was good, it was pulling a cart, and if it was not good, it was people carrying it. The transport capacity was not large. And those grain and materials were the accumulation of the country. If it was Zhao Ji who was in power now, it was the people's fat and people's cream that were plundered. But even so, the lives of the soldiers at the front were not good, very difficult.

The Great Song indeed had money, but the problem of the three redundancies was there, and not much money was used in the right place.

Now that troops were used externally, the intensity of plunder internally had to be increased, forcing the common people to have no way to live. To say that Zhao Ji spent less, or didn't spend, and stopped the garden he had built for so many years, it could actually alleviate a lot. But Zhao Ji was a holy monarch of the generation, rich in the world, so how could he be poor to the emperor? So, the people were miserable.

Originally, Wang Yan thought that Liang Shan's development would be difficult because of his existence. But he had never lived in this era after all. Even if he could have work in Yanggu County, his absorption capacity was limited, and there were too many people who couldn't live. He organized people to send them north by boat, but he couldn't send them over. So Liang Shan's development didn't seem to be much worse, and every day there were people dragging their families to go up the mountain.

Speaking of which, this also had his relationship. Now the intensity of using troops against Western Xia was stronger than in history, so the intensity of plunder was naturally even worse. To say it was still a leadership problem, Zhao Ji was fond of great achievements, felt that his idea was not bad, and might not be able to succeed, but he didn't want twenty years. He wanted to compress the time and complete such a great cause as soon as possible. After all, once Western Xia, Liao Kingdom, and Jin Kingdom were destroyed, the south's Dali was not a problem. Such a great achievement of opening up territory could really be an emperor through the ages, so how could he hold back.

However, no matter how Liang Shan developed, without changing the route and without operating the territory, it was rootless wood and waterless source, and could not become a great climate. They were still developing according to the established trajectory, experiencing one event after another, saving Chai Jin, breaking the chain horse, the three mountains gathering to attack Qingzhou, Chao Gai being shot by an arrow in Zengtou City, etc.

Although Lu Junyi, Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, Yang Zhi, Hu San Niang, and Dong Ping were gone, it had no impact on those events. Erlong Mountain originally had a master, and later someone went up. Chao Gai was bound to die, and they didn't have to find Lu Junyi. In fact, even if they didn't find him, that Zengtou City could be broken. Where was the non-Lu Junyi impossible that Wu Yong said? As for the subsequent other events, naturally there was no problem. Song Jiang was naturally ranked first. At the time of the great gathering, there were enough one hundred and eight. After all, there were so many people, and it was not just the original people who had names. It was not that it wouldn't work without Lu Junyi and others.

They were growing, and ultimately, as Song Jiang wished, they developed to a certain degree, entered the eyes of the court, and were closer to death.

Wang Yan naturally didn't care about their tossing. After all, the Liang Shan people were going to conquer Liao originally. Now because of the change in foreign policy, they didn't fight with the Liao Kingdom, but Tian Hu, Wang Qing, and Fang La still had to continue to conquer. The so-called using thieves to control thieves, they didn't live long anyway. Moreover, the tossing of the Liang Shan people was beneficial to him, so why attack them?

Although Shandong was harmed enough by Liang Shan, in this process, he took action in secret, leading Liang Shan to destroy many wealthy households that were not easy to move before, and his influence in various places went further. And he also got many people across the sea to Lu Zhishen, strengthening his influence.

When the Liao and Jin countries were fighting to the death, he did business with both sides. Of course, in Zhao Ji's eyes, he was doing business with three parties, including Lu Zhishen. His influence map in Liaodong also expanded little by little, and the number of soldiers also increased little by little. By the first year of Xuanhe, which was 1119 AD, the eighth year he came here, he had already captured the Tokyo Prefecture of the Liao Kingdom, west to Jinzhou, north to Yinzhou (Tieling), and east to the Changbai Mountain area, which was almost half of the territory of Liaoning Province.

This was purely picked up cheaply, because just as expected at the beginning, for Lu Zhishen who had only one island, no one cared about them. The Liao Kingdom tested it once and was beaten down. The Jin Kingdom also tested it once and was beaten back. After that, neither side paid attention to it, and started doing business with Lu Zhishen, and they even accepted Lu Zhishen's money, because it had credibility, and they recognized it, and they didn't feel anything wrong. Just like this, bit by bit, Lu Zhishen led people to slowly grind out.

Until the Jin Kingdom gathered a large army to attack Tokyo Prefecture, and was ambushed by Lu Zhishen who suddenly appeared behind, and at the same time, with the help of the internal response in Tokyo Prefecture, the city gate was opened. One battle hurt the Jin Kingdom, and he captured the Tokyo Prefecture of the Liao Kingdom, and then quickly sent troops to attack in all directions, which led to this situation.

And then Lu Zhishen issued a statement that the three of them should continue to fight, but it didn't delay doing business, and their money was still valid, which avoided being beaten by a group.

After that, it was simple, just like Wang Yan said, whoever was weak would help whoever. So more often, they were fighting against the Jin Kingdom's cavalry with the Liao Kingdom. There was no way, the combat effectiveness of the Jin Kingdom's soldiers was indeed strong. The Liao Kingdom was simply unable to beat them, and Lu Zhishen's side had no cavalry, so they could only fight blocking battles, not Mobile Corps Commander battles.

The three parties were grinding each other under Wang Yan's control.

If possible, Wang Yan also wanted to directly destroy the Liao and Jin countries, and then hurry up to rebel and get on the throne, starting to reform according to his ideas. But the hard strength didn't allow it. The Jin and Liao countries were not white-giving, and wanting to destroy these two countries still had to be done slowly.

It was also such a comfortable environment that gave the Great Song monarchs and ministers the confidence to destroy Western Xia, and they fought hard. Finally, Western Xia was defeated and begged for surrender. Facing Western Xia's request for surrender, they were very tough and wanted horse farms and many other conditions.

The main goal of the Great Song was actually to want horse farms, to raise high-quality warhorses, and to train cavalry troops. Destroying Western Xia, if possible, would naturally not be soft. It was just that they thought it shouldn't be difficult,

It was this comfortable environment that gave the Song monarch and his officials the confidence to destroy Western Xia, and they went at it with a vengeance. Finally, Western Xia could not hold out and begged for peace. Facing Western Xia's request for peace, they were very firm in demanding horse pastures and many other conditions.

The Great Song's main goal was actually to obtain horse pastures to raise high-quality warhorses and train cavalry units. If possible, they would certainly not be soft-hearted about destroying Western Xia. They just thought it shouldn't be difficult, but after fighting for more than four years, Western Xia still had fighting strength, and the Song monarch and his officials did not want to drag it out, as that meant countless money and grain. If they could obtain what they wanted through negotiation, withdrawing troops to recuperate was the right path. After all, if they had warhorses and had trained their cavalry well, it would be even easier to fight Western Xia when the time came.

Western Xia, of course, also knew that if the Great Song obtained warhorses, they would be finished sooner or later. But now they had already been severely weakened and could not hold on, and the Liao had no spare energy to intervene. Not agreeing to the Great Song's demands might mean being finished right now; this, of course, was not a very difficult choice.

Therefore, the Great Song got their warhorses...