Chapter 145

"To avoid long delays, let's set off now!"

Zhang Jie, knowing that delay would lead to changes, gave the order directly.

The group immediately packed their luggage and headed toward the Liang Shan water expanse.

On the way, they also met the Liang Shan second-in-command, "Touching the Sky" Du Qian, who was leading people to meet Wang Lun.

Under the personal explanation of the former leader and head, Wang Lun,

Du Qian also quickly bowed down to Zhang Jie's kingly aura and acknowledged his position as the new master of Liang Shan.

Well, Zhang Jie admitted that Wu Song and Lu Zhishen, who looked very capable of fighting, played a big role in this.

After all, one could tell from Du Qian's nickname "Touching the Sky" that he was a big, foolish guy with well-developed limbs and a simple mind.

One could not expect him to be as shrewd and sensible as Wang Lun.

"This is truly a good place!"

Arriving near Liang Shan, looking at the high mountains surrounding it on all sides, with three passes guarding it,

the flat ground in the middle was about three hundred to five hundred zhang wide, the mountain terrain was dangerous,

one man could guard the pass and ten thousand could not get through; Zhang Jie was very satisfied with Liang Shan, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In the early stages of the uprising, under the general trend of the enemy being strong and us being weak, a good base could be worth tens of thousands of troops,

winning crucial time for secret development.

And this eight-hundred-li Liang Shan water expanse was just such a good place.

After accepting the surrender of the former third-in-command of Liang Shan, "Cloud-Piercing Vajra" Song Wan,

Zhang Jie was officially debuted, becoming a rising star in the greenwood of the Great Song.

The fourth-in-command, "Dry-Land Crocodile" Zhu Gui, was still out of town gathering information for Liang Shan and was not in the stronghold.

However, Wang Lun had already sent people to notify him to return to the mountain and pay respects to Zhang Jie, the new boss.

With Wang Lun, Du Qian, and Song Wan as examples,

presumably Zhu Gui would also not be able to escape Zhang Jie's palm.

"This Wang Lun is also truly a talent."

At night, Zhang Jie, who had already moved into the small courtyard behind the Loyalty Hall, which symbolized the position of the Liang Shan leader, sighed repeatedly.

Originally, according to Zhang Jie's plan, he would temporarily live in the side courtyard, giving Wang Lun a few days to move slowly.

After all, Wang Lun had quite a few things, and moving immediately was very troublesome.

But Wang Lun was unwilling no matter what, saying, "How can a minister overstep his bounds?"

Then he immediately gathered a group of underlings and moved all his things from the main courtyard in a flash.

In Zhang Jie's view, he was fully substituting himself into the role of an ancient loyal minister,

such as Zhuge Kongming, who knew the ruler-minister relationship with Liu Huangshu.

And for Zhang Jie, Wang Lun being so loyal

was very useful for his current control of the Liang Shan troops, so he tacitly consented.

And besides showing extreme loyalty,

Zhang Jie, who had carefully toured Liang Shan, also saw Wang Lun's ability, which could not be underestimated:

The reason why the Liang Shan water expanse in *The Water Margin* could become the Liang Shan water expanse,

and not some other Mount Erlong, Mount Taohua, or Wild Boar Stronghold, was largely due to Wang Lun.

The place he chose first occupied favorable timing and geographical advantage;

surrounded by eight hundred li of water expanse, the government's method of encirclement simply wouldn't work;

if they wanted to send a large army to attack, because of the geographical environment of the water expanse, it was difficult to build large ships to form a large-scale fleet.

Few people were hard to fight, and many people were hard to transport by boat; this was also the reason why local official suppression attempts had repeatedly failed.

And when he first arrived at Liang Shan to become a bandit, even with the support of "Little Whirlwind" Chai Jin,

it was not a complete start from scratch, but it was not easy for him to gradually gather hundreds of people on Liang Shan.

Moreover, he kept the team well-equipped, the formation neat, and the orders clear;

with scouts in front and a large camp in the back, the yamen's thief-catchers dared not get too close or look directly at them.

Even if the government officials were ordered to bite the bullet and come to arrest them, they were scared until "feces and urine flowed together."

Under Wang Lun's leadership, Liang Shan could be said to be formidable, occupying the top spot among the many strongholds in the eight-hundred-li water expanse.

This shows that Wang Lun was relatively capable and not someone who relied solely on old qualifications to eat.

As for Wang Lun's shortcomings, they were also very obvious, which was that he was narrow-minded and difficult to tolerate people with greater ability than him.

For example, in the original work, he repeatedly made things difficult for Lin Chong, who came to join him,

and was unwilling to accept the powerful group of Chao Gai.

However, this part could be said to be narrow-minded,

but on the other hand, it could also be said that he had a strong sense of crisis.

After all, in his eyes, Liang Shan was something he had built with his own fists and feet,

it was his foundation; how could he just give it to Lin Chong, Chao Gai, and others?

Only someone like Zhang Jie, who completely crushed him in the identity of a scholar he was proud of, could make him sincerely convinced.

After all, envy, jealousy, and hatred only exist when the gap is not large;

and when the gap becomes like the difference between clouds and mud, envy, jealousy, and hatred will go away,

replaced by worship and yearning.

"Brother Wu Er, please deliver these two letters to my home and to Brother Chen's home in Yuncheng County."

Early the next morning, Zhang Jie summoned Wu Song and handed him two wax-sealed letters.

"Understood."

Wu Song solemnly took the two letters and then left the Liang Shan water expanse by boat.

As for what to do about Zhang Jie's safety after his personal guard left?

Not to mention that Lu Zhishen and Lin Chong, whose martial arts were no less than his, were guarding Zhang Jie on Liang Shan,

and according to Wang Lun's actions, he had truly surrendered,

just speaking of Zhang Jie's martial arts, which defeated Lin Chong in one move, he was not in the slightest danger on Liang Shan.

"Zhengdao, gather the troops; I want to give a speech."

After sending Wu Song away, Zhang Jie ordered Wang Lun.

Well, quite black-humorously, the courtesy name of Wang Lun, who became a bandit, was Zhengdao (Righteous Path).

Or perhaps, in the eyes of the old master Shi Nai'an, Liang Shan, which acts on behalf of heaven, represents the "Righteous Path."

"Subordinate obeys orders!"

Wang Lun, who did not know where he found a feather fan and silk scarf identical to Zhuge Kongming's, went to beat the drum and gather the troops in high spirits.

It seems he intended to play the cosplay to the end.

"Hmm, not bad."

An incense stick later, Zhang Jie, who came to the drill ground, looked at the hundreds of people who were not very neat,

and had nothing to compare with the army of the 21st-century Eastern Great Power,

but were much better than most of the Imperial Guards in Bianliang, nodded with satisfaction.

He had also gone to see the Imperial Guards in Bianliang; after all, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated!

The result made him overjoyed—no, it was a great disappointment:

The Imperial Guards of the dignified Great Song Empire, which relied on suppressing the world and resisting Western Xia and Great Liao, had rotted to the bone.

Those Imperial Guards, let alone the stipulated one drill per day,

could not even do one drill every three days, or even every five days.

Except for a very small number of Imperial Guards who were there for show, it was good enough that most of the others could drill once every ten days.

Lacking such training, the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Guards had seriously declined;

let alone field battles, they probably couldn't even defend the city well.

Of course, not drilling on weekdays did not mean the Imperial Guards were very idle;

on the contrary, they were very busy, very busy, busier than when they were drilling.

So what were they busy with on weekdays?

Oh, it turns out they were busy repairing houses, digging ditches, and doing private work for their superior officers!

According to Zhang Jie's understanding, the people standing guard in front of the warlord families in Bianliang City were all Imperial Guards.

As for whether they were paid for doing private work?

You have already been given military pay; how are you embarrassed to ask for money?

Anyway, the attitude of those officers was: being able to work for the lords,

that is a blessing you have cultivated for eight lifetimes; you should just be happy!

Even more absurdly, there was a god-man with a wide-open brain who had a wide-open brain,

and he directly moved the loom into the military camp, letting the Imperial Guards help them weave cloth.

It used to be Mulan weaving at the door, but now it's good, it's the sound of the loom in the Imperial Guard camp.

As for the Imperial Guards being a group of big men who don't know how to weave like a daughter, what should they do?

The person who gave the order didn't care about this.

If you don't know, go learn!

Is it possible that a daughter is born knowing how to do it?

If you really can't learn, don't worry; the lords have long been prepared,

only if you pay some money, the lord will be merciful and exempt you from labor.

Of course, this money was not split 30/70 between the officers and the lords,

but was used to hire women who could weave to replace you in labor...

As for where the woven cloth went?

The water in this is very deep; I advise you not to investigate it...

When Zhang Jie knew the news that seemed to be an absurd joke, he only had one thought:

This Great Song is probably finished!

Anyway, except for scraping the bone to remove the poison, pulling it out by the roots, and rebuilding it,

he couldn't think of any way to save the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Guards.

After all, the collapse of the Imperial Guard's combat effectiveness was no longer caused by one treacherous official or one bad person;

it was a systemic rot from top to bottom.

And according to normal historical development, the Great Song, or Northern Song, really wouldn't last a few more years...

Withdrawing his thoughts on the Great Song Imperial Guards, Zhang Jie looked at the Liang Shan underlings with different expressions on the drill ground and said loudly:

"I know you are very curious about who I am and why I was able to become your leader overnight."

Sure enough, as soon as Zhang Jie's words fell, many underlings immediately whispered to each other and discussed it.

"Who is this sacred person? To be able to make Leader Wang abdicate and yield the position?"

This was curiosity about Zhang Jie's background.

"A new leader has changed; will the rules set by the old leader be repeated?"

This was worry that Zhang Jie would change the rules at will, affecting his interests.

After all, a new leader taking office, changing the rules left by the previous leader,

establishing his own authority, etc., is too common.

"Probably not, after all, the old leader is still here!"

An underling nudged Wang Lun, who was standing beside Zhang Jie.

"The new leader taking office will inevitably promote his confidants; this is our opportunity!"

There were also those with great ambition, or rather, those with lofty aspirations, who looked at Zhang Jie and Du Qian,

and the eyes of several leaders like Song Wan contained heat.

They didn't dare to think about the position of leader, but leaders like Du Qian

and Song Wan, they might not be able to replace!

"Silence!"

Seeing that the underlings were so chaotic, Du Qian, who wanted to show off his skills in front of Zhang Jie and show his face,

but accidentally exposed his butt, blushed and shouted.

Du Qian, as the former second-in-command of Liang Shan, had quite a bit of prestige.

Under his shout, the underlings immediately calmed down,

looked straight ahead, and their eyes were focused on Zhang Jie standing in front.