Chapter 14: Zhang Jie: My money!

Zhang Jie did not know that both of his only two night excursions had almost been discovered.

Otherwise, he would surely have sighed, "I, Zhang Jie, am still an upright gentleman after all,

not suited for such sneaky, shady business."

Zhang Jie was currently galloping through the wilderness, heading toward the bandit den he had long since inquired about.

In less than an hour, he had already arrived at the foot of Wild Boar Mountain, more than twenty *li* away from the Yanggu County seat.

Although Wild Boar Mountain had an unpleasant name and was not very tall,

its terrain was steep, the mountains were high and the forests dense, and it was infested with countless snakes, insects, rats, and ants.

Looking from afar, the mountain peak resembled the head of a wild boar with its fangs bared, hence the name Wild Boar Mountain.

The main peak of Wild Boar Mountain had steep terrain, with only a single sheep-gut path leading up the mountain.

In terms of topography, it could be described as "one man guarding the pass, ten thousand unable to open it."

As long as the entrance was guarded, even a hundred or a thousand men would find it difficult to attack.

Fortunately, the base on the mountain was narrow and filled with jagged rocks, making it difficult to cultivate farmland.

At the same time, there was only one small water source sufficient for a hundred or so people to drink from, which was why it had not formed a large bandit stronghold gathering hundreds or thousands of people like Mount Erlong,

Mount Shaohua, or Mount Qingfeng.

It was not that the government had never thought of suppressing Wild Boar Mountain, but if few government troops came, they could not attack;

if many came, those bandits would use the cliffs and deep forests to escape.

After several failed attempts at suppression, the government simply turned a blind eye.

As long as the bandits of Wild Boar Mountain did not commit major crimes, they were left alone.

As for why the government was indifferent to the death and injury of several people from Zhang Jie's merchant caravan?

Are you kidding?

In this Great Song where the Emperor and the scholar-officials share the world,

if you don't have a scholarly rank, do you even count as a person in the eyes of the government?

You are merely a tool for paying taxes, delivering grain, performing corvée labor, and serving as a convict soldier.

As long as the Wild Boar stronghold didn't touch officials and their families, or cause shocking cases involving dozens of deaths,

or slaughtering villages and destroying strongholds, the government couldn't be bothered to care about you!

The thoughts of officials like County Magistrate Wen were generally:

Is it that the commoners are no longer easy to bully, or is it that it's hard to cooperate with the gentry to rake in money?

Why go and provoke a group of desperate outlaws?

What is being an official for?

Of course, it's to get promoted and get rich!

……

Zhang Jie easily passed the sentry post guarded by two small lackeys.

Well, calling it a sentry post was already giving them too much credit.

There were no defensive equipment like rolling stones or battering logs, nor were there offensive weapons like bows and crossbows.

Even the sentry shed where the guards stayed was just a shack built casually with thatch.

The weapons were merely two *pu* sabers with many notches, which clearly hadn't been well cared for.

Even so, the two small lackeys were dead drunk, sleeping soundly, and blowing snot bubbles!

Bandit: I, too, never expected that anyone would come to our bird-won't-lay-eggs little mountain stronghold in the middle of the night!

"These bandits are too unprofessional."

Zhang Jie expressed his concern about the average quality of bandits in our Great Song.

With such quality, how could they stand firm under government suppression? How could they develop and grow?

Zhang Jie couldn't help but think about if he were to become a bandit,

how he would train his lackeys, how he would set up defenses, and how he would deal with government suppression...

"Damn!

I'm here to finish them off; the worse their quality, the better!"

Zhang Jie slapped his forehead and drove those random thoughts out of his mind.

This bandit suppression wasn't like playing a game or running a dungeon, where high difficulty was exciting and good for showing off operations.

This was an activity of playing "white blade in, red blade out" and friendly "heart-to-heart" with the bandits.

And since there were no respawns, naturally, the simpler, the better.

Becoming a bandit, resisting the government, overthrowing the Great Song, and so on—that could wait for later.

Arriving in front of the two sleeping lackeys who still had suspicious liquid at the corners of their mouths,

Zhang Jie rewarded each of them with a slap of the same style as Ximen Daguanren, sending them painlessly to the Pure Land.

Then Zhang Jie followed the sheep-gut path up the mountain toward the bandit stronghold.

……

Once he reached the vicinity of the stronghold, a thatch house that was still brightly lit in the middle of the night

and occupied a considerable area caught Zhang Jie's attention.

Well, Wild Boar stronghold was, after all, just a small mountain stronghold with only a few dozen bandits.

One couldn't expect them to build a magnificent hall like the Assembly Hall on Liang Shan.

They spent all their energy worrying about their livelihood every day; where would they have the spare capacity for construction?

"Drink, drink!"

"Eat, eat!"

As soon as he approached the hall, the sound of clinking cups reached Zhang Jie's ears.

"Damn! These guys are living quite comfortably!"

Zhang Jie, peeking through a gap, looked at the twenty-plus bandits inside who were eating meat in large mouthfuls,

drinking wine in large gulps, and occasionally dancing like demons, and complained in his heart.

Since when did the life of a bandit become so comfortable?

These guys who had no land and had to rely on robbing houses and plundering should be struggling on the death line.

After all, with the scale of this group of bandits, let alone robbing a big family like Ximen Daguanren,

they shouldn't even dare to go to a slightly larger village.

The current populace were not sheep to be slaughtered; when they were fighting for water

or resisting taxes, they often lost several strong laborers in a single death!

Just as Zhang Jie was puzzled, a bandit who was drunk and red-faced stood up and said loudly:

"If it weren't for the Great Chief's sharp eyes finding this big fat sheep, the Zhang family,

how could we be drinking wine and eating meat here today?

Come, let's toast the Great Chief!"

Saying this, he raised a ceramic bowl filled with wine.

"Third Brother is right; let's toast the Great Chief!"

The other bandits responded one after another.

"Brothers, drink!"

Sitting on a tiger-skin chair, chest bared, revealing a palm-sized patch of black chest hair,

with a rather sturdy physique and a ferocious face, looking like a black bear reincarnated,

the Great Chief of Wild Boar Mountain, Wang Chuang, heroically raised the porcelain bowl filled with wine in front of him.

"Gulp, gulp!"

The group of bandits drank the wine in their bowls in one go.

"Satisfying, so satisfying!"

The bandits shouted that it was satisfying.

"Tom, this is all my money!"

Zhang Jie, eavesdropping outside the door, felt his heart dripping blood.

These bandits, what they were eating, drinking, and playing with, were all exchanged using the goods from his merchant caravan!

Zhang Jie: My money! My money!

They were squandering my money, drinking, eating meat, and visiting brothels; did they expect me to thank them?

"Great Chief, when shall we do another job?"

The bandit called Third Brother by the others suddenly asked.

The other bandits also stared intently at Wang Chuang on the tiger-skin chair.

After tasting the flavor of the Zhang family's merchant caravan, this big fat sheep, they dreamed of doing another job.

Think about the fairy-like life they had lived for these two months?

Wine and meat were plentiful, and if they wanted women, they could go to the brothels in Yanggu County to find open-minded girls.

Even the life of the old Emperor in Bianliang City couldn't be better than this, right?

However, even the most ignorant bandit knew that such a life of heavy drinking,

eating heavy meat, and playing with girls required a large amount of silver to support.

And the silver robbed from the Zhang family's merchant caravan wouldn't last long.

If they were to go back to the days of eating chaff and swallowing vegetables, enduring hunger and cold, it would be better to kill them!

However, Wang Chuang, sitting high on the tiger-skin chair and being complimented by the group of bandits, felt a bit melancholy in his heart.

According to news from the mole he had planted in Yanggu County,

Ximen Daguanren, who had always cooperated with him very happily,

had suddenly been killed by a strong man who popped out of nowhere.

This was no longer a matter of breaking one of his arms,

but directly gouging out his eyes in Yanggu County!

Without the news from Ximen Qing, where could he find a big fat sheep as easy to chew and as fat as the Zhang family's merchant caravan?

However, Wang Chuang knew he couldn't say he couldn't do it.

Don't look at these guys below who were now respectful and obedient to him,

but as long as he couldn't let these hungry wolves who had tasted the flavor of blood eat flesh again,

then these hungry wolves surely wouldn't mind using the flesh and blood of him, this wolf king,

to fill their increasingly hungry and bloodthirsty stomachs.

"Brothers, I have already scouted a new fat sheep; I will take you down the mountain another day!"

Now the only way Wang Chuang could think of was to stall; in any case, he couldn't show weakness, and he did indeed think of a good way.

"Long live the Great Chief!"

"Long live the Great Chief!"

The bandits below were boiling with excitement.

They didn't ask further; to them, who the fat sheep was

and where it was didn't matter, as long as there was a fat sheep, that was enough!

As for what the price would be, and that it might be very heavy?

In any case, they were all desperate outlaws who tied their heads to their waistbands; screw it!

Live happily for one day, drink today's wine today, and worry about tomorrow's worries tomorrow.

"Hehe~"

Zhang Jie outside the window couldn't help but chuckle.

With his powerful mental strength and extraordinary eyesight, he could see at a glance that Wang Chuang's words were insincere;

he was clearly stalling these bandits.

"Who?"

The bandits became vigilant at once, pulling out their swords and sabers one after another,

forming a simple circle with Wang Chuang as the center, protecting their Great Chief.

They were still counting on Wang Chuang to take them to find a big fat sheep and make a fortune!

Wang Chuang, however, seemed very calm; he shouted coldly:

"Which friend is visiting in the middle of the night?

Please show yourself." ===== CHAPTER 15 =====