[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-simultaneously-transmigrated-my-cheat-skill-is-m":3,"chapter-simultaneously-transmigrated-my-cheat-skill-is-m-simultaneously-transmigrated-my-cheat-skill-is-m-chapter-14":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Simultaneously Transmigrated: My Cheat Skill Is Myself",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2315269,4528,"Chapter 14: Zhang Jie: My Money!","simultaneously-transmigrated-my-cheat-skill-is-m-chapter-14",14,"\u003Cp>Zhang Jie did not know that both of his rare nighttime outings had nearly been discovered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, he would have sighed, “I, Zhang Jie, am truly a man of upright virtue, [3] unsuited for sneaking around and doing things in the dark.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not suited for sneaky, shadowy deeds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie was now galloping across the open wilderness, heading toward the bandit lair he had already learned of.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In less than half an hour, he arrived at the foot of Wild Boar Mountain, over twenty li from Yanggu County’s town.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though its name was unappealing and its height modest, [7] the mountain’s terrain was treacherous, with steep cliffs and dense forests, teeming with snakes, insects, rats, and vermin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the terrain is treacherous, with high mountains and dense forests, teeming with snakes, insects, rats, and ants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From afar, the mountain’s peak resembled a wild boar’s head with bared tusks—hence the name Wild Boar Mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The main peak’s terrain was perilous, accessible only by a narrow goat path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In terms of topography, it was a case of one man holding the pass, ten thousand unable to advance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as the entrance was guarded, even a hundred or a thousand men could not scale it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the mountain’s base was small and covered in jagged rocks, unsuitable for farming, [13] and it had only one small water source capable of serving a hundred or so people—this prevented it from becoming a large bandit stronghold like Erlong Mountain, [14] Shaohua Mountain, or Qingfeng Mountain, which housed hundreds or even thousands of bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there was only one small water source capable of serving a hundred or so people, which is why it never grew into a large bandit stronghold like Erlong Mountain,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shaohua Mountain, or Qingfeng Mountain, which gathered hundreds or even thousands of outlaws.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The authorities had tried to suppress Wild Boar Mountain before, but too few troops could not take it; [16] too many, and the bandits fled into cliffs, deep forests, and hidden paths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When too many came, the bandits fled into the cliffs, deep mountains, and thick forests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several failed crackdowns and subsequent resurgences, the authorities turned a blind eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as the bandits did not commit major crimes, they let them be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why then did the authorities remain unmoved by the deaths of several members of Zhang Jie’s caravan?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What nonsense!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In my Great Sǒng, where the Emperor and the scholar-officials rule the realm, [22] if you have no imperial degree, are you even considered a person in the eyes of the government?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without official merit, are you even considered a person in the eyes of the government?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You’re merely a tool for paying taxes, delivering grain, performing corvée labor, or being conscripted as a convict soldier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as the Wild Boar Mountain bandits don’t target officials or their families, and don’t commit atrocities like massacring dozens or [25] wiping out entire villages, the government won’t lift a finger!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The government won’t lift a finger over horrific cases of village massacres and stronghold destruction!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Officials like County Magistrate Wen typically think: [27] Has the common folk become too hard to oppress, or is it no longer profitable to collude with gentry?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is it that the common folk are no longer easy to bully, or that the gentry are no longer easy to collude with for profit?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why provoke a bunch of desperate outlaws?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What is the point of being an official?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Obviously, to rise in rank and grow rich!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie easily passed the checkpoint guarded by two lowly bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, calling it a checkpoint was already an exaggeration on Zhang Jie’s part.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were no boulders, rolling logs, or other defensive equipment, nor bows or crossbows for attack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the guard post itself was a haphazardly built thatched shed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their weapons were merely two broadswords, chipped and clearly poorly maintained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, these two bandits were utterly drunk, fast asleep, snoring with snot bubbles!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bandits: I never thought anyone would come to our bird-shit little hideout in the middle of the night!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These bandits are terribly unprofessional.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie expressed concern over the average competence of Great Sǒng’s bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With such low standards, how could they withstand government suppression? How could they grow strong?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie couldn’t help but ponder: if he himself became a bandit, [43] how would he train his men, how would he arrange defenses, how would he respond to government crackdowns…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How to train his underlings, how to set up defenses, how to respond to government crackdowns…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Damn it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’m here to kill them—the worse their competence, the better!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie slapped his forehead, banishing those useless thoughts from his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wasn’t a video game dungeon—you don’t need high difficulty to feel thrilling or show off skills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a real-life, bloody, heart-piercing, friendly exchange of life and death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No respawns—so the simpler, the better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Becoming a bandit, resisting the government, overthrowing Great Sǒng—those things can wait.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arriving before the two bandits, fast asleep with suspicious drool at the corners of their mouths, [52] Zhang Jie gave each one a palm strike worthy of Master Ximen, sending them painlessly to paradise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie gave each of them a palm strike in the style of Master Ximen, sending them painlessly to paradise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Zhang Jie ascended the goat path toward the bandit stronghold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon entering the stronghold’s perimeter, a large thatched hut, still brightly lit at midnight, caught Zhang Jie’s eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm, Wild Boar Stronghold was merely a small gang of dozens of bandits; [57] one couldn’t expect them to build a grand hall like the Righteous Gathering Hall on Liangshan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm, Wild Boar Stronghold was ultimately just a small bandit outpost with only dozens of outlaws,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They spent all their energy just worrying about survival—where would they find the strength for construction?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They spent all their energy just worrying about making a living; where would they find the strength for construction?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Eat! Eat!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he neared the hall, the sounds of clinking cups and goblets reached Zhang Jie’s ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Damn! These guys live well!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie, peering through a crack, watched over twenty bandits gorging on meat, guzzling wine, and occasionally dancing like demons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When did bandits start living so luxuriously?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These landless rogues, surviving only by plunder, should be barely clinging to life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, with this gang’s size, they couldn’t even dare rob wealthy households like Master Ximen, [67] let alone larger villages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These fellows, with no land and forced to survive by plundering, should be struggling on the brink of death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The common folk today aren’t lambs to be slaughtered—they often kill several strong laborers in water fights or tax revolts!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Zhang Jie wondered, a bandit, drunk and flushed, stood up and shouted:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If not for the Grand Boss’s keen eyes spotting the Zhang family’s fat lamb, [71] how could we be drinking and feasting here tonight?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During tax resistance, it was common to lose several able-bodied men at once!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Come, let’s toast the Grand Boss!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He raised a clay bowl brimming with wine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Third Brother speaks truly—we toast the Grand Boss!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other bandits echoed in unison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brothers, drink!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>his body powerfully built, his face grotesque as if reborn from a black bear,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other bandits quickly echoed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brothers, drink!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seated on a tiger-skin armchair, chest bared, revealing a palm-sized patch of jet-black chest hair,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bandits downed their wine in one go.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Delicious! So delicious!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bandits cheered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tom, these are all my money!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside, eavesdropping, Zhang Jie felt his heart bleed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything these bandits ate, drank, and enjoyed—they had bought with goods from his caravan!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie: My money! My money!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They squander my money on wine, meat, and brothels—do I owe them thanks?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Grand Boss, when do we strike again?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bandit called Third Brother suddenly asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the other bandits fixed their gazes on Wang Chuang on the tiger-skin chair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After tasting the Zhang family caravan’s rich bounty, they dreamed of striking again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What heavenly days had they lived these past two months?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wine and meat in abundance, and if they wanted women, they could go to Yanggu County’s brothels and find willing girls— [95] even the Emperor of Bianliang couldn’t live better than this!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After tasting the rich bounty of the Zhang family’s caravan, they dreamed of striking again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet even the most ignorant bandit knew such lavish drinking, feasting, and whoring required vast silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plenty of wine and meat, and if they wanted women, they could go to the brothels and entertainment quarters of Yanggu County to find willing girls,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Isn’t this even better than the life of the emperor in Bianliang?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet even the most ignorant bandits knew that such a life of heavy drinking,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>gorging on meat, and chasing women required vast amounts of silver to sustain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silver seized from the Zhang family’s caravan wouldn’t last much longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you force them back to eating bran and chaff, starving and freezing, it’d be better to kill them!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Wang Chuang, seated high upon a tiger-skin armchair and flattered by the bandits, felt a pang of melancholy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the spy he’d planted in Yanggu County’s town,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>his longtime ally, Lord Ximen,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>had suddenly been killed by some unknown strongman who appeared out of nowhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wasn’t just cutting off one of his arms anymore,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>it was gouging out his very eyes in Yanggu County!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without news from Ximen Qing, where would he find another such easy, fat lamb like the Zhang family’s caravan?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Wang Chuang knew he couldn’t admit he was helpless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These men below may bow and obey him now,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but if he failed to let these blood-hungry wolves, who’d already tasted flesh, feast again,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>they’d have no qualms about using the flesh of their wolf king\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>to fill their ever-hungry, bloodthirsty maws.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brothers, I’ve found a new fat lamb—I’ll lead you down the mountain soon!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Chuang’s only plan now was to stall—he couldn’t show weakness, and he truly had a good idea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Great Boss, ten thousand years!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Great Boss, ten thousand years!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bandits below erupted in cheers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t ask questions; to them, who the lamb was or where it was didn’t matter—so long as there was a lamb!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the cost—might it be terrible?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were all death-defying outlaws with their lives tied to their belts—what did they care?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Live one day of joy, drink today’s wine, worry about tomorrow’s troubles tomorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Live one day at a time; drink today’s wine, drown today’s sorrows; tomorrow’s troubles will come tomorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jie outside the window couldn’t help but chuckle softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With his powerful spiritual sense and exceptional eyesight, he saw at once that Wang Chuang was insincere,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>clearly just placating these bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who’s there?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bandits instantly went on alert, drawing their swords and knives,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>forming a simple circle around Wang Chuang to protect their Great Boss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They still relied on him to lead them to fat lambs and great fortune!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Chuang, however, seemed calm—he spoke coldly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Which friend visits so late at night?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Please reveal yourself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Please reveal yourself.\u003C\u002Fp>",1855,"2026-06-20T14:22:35.989Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","5e35935ee4eaae28f29c7602254869aa5353aa7c2b56fbc51b368e7d8580b625","simultaneously-transmigrated-my-cheat-skill-is-m-chapter-15","simultaneously-transmigrated-my-cheat-skill-is-m-chapter-13",601,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsimultaneously-transmigrated-my-cheat-skill-is-m-cover.jpg"]