Chapter 146: Zhang Jie

Zhang Jie, stared at by everyone, was not the least bit nervous; instead, he spoke with ease:

"My name is Zhang Jie. I have been favored by your Zhang Zhaizhu Wang Lun, who has ceded the position of Zhang Zhaizhu to me.

I have summoned you all today for the first reason: to let you get to know me.

The second reason is... to distribute money!"

He clapped his hands, and Zhang San, Li Si, and several other petty hoodlums who had followed him from Bianliang

to Mount Shuipoliang carried two chests into the drill ground.

"Heave-ho, heave-ho!"

Zhang San and Li Si's steps were heavy, and they were panting with exhaustion,

clearly indicating that the contents of these two chests were extremely heavy.

"Huff, huff!"

Many of the low-ranking lackeys saw what was inside through the chests' open lids,

and their breathing could not help but grow heavy:

They saw that the two chests were filled to the brim with bright, yellow copper coins strung together!

Clang!

Zhang San, Li Si, and the others laboriously placed the two chests in front of Zhang Jie.

Zhang Jie casually picked up a string of copper coins from the chest, held it high, and asked in a clear voice:

"Do you all want this money?"

"We want it, of course we want it!"

The eyes of the gathered lackeys were filled with longing.

Money—who doesn't love it?

If it weren't for money, for the sake of survival, who would risk decapitation to become a bandit?

"Now, line up one by one to receive it. Two guan per person!

From now on, your monthly pay will be two guan!"

Zhang Jie directly announced an explosive piece of news.

"What?

This isn't a one-time reward, but two guan every month from now on?"

Several soldiers and minor leaders who had some worldly experience were in an uproar.

Outside of Mount Shuipoliang, they had once been moderately well-off farmers or traveling merchants.

They had some understanding of the various systems of the Great Song.

One must know that the monthly pay for a regular soldier of the Great Song Imperial Guard was only two guan;

other garrison troops, local militias, and the like received barely over one guan a month.

And that still depended on whether the officers above them were ruthless in skimming off the soldiers' blood money;

if they were ruthless, getting sixty percent of it was considered good!

As for them, being bandits, aside from having a meal to eat, their pay was pitifully small.

It was only after pulling off a big job that the masters would give out a little reward.

The others didn't have the insight of the minor leaders, but they knew that two guan was a significant sum of money.

Don't look at those storybooks where the heroes of the greenwood drink from large bowls,

eat large chunks of meat, and divide gold by the scale—how happy they seem;

but those were treatments only the masters enjoyed,

and had nothing to do with them, the small lackeys, not even by half a copper coin.

Yet, it was precisely this surprise, so great it was almost frightening, that made the people of Liang Shan hesitate.

Was this money something they could actually hold onto?

Although they were called Liang Shan bandits,

most were commoners who had been forced to the brink of survival by harsh taxes and levies outside,

and coming to this Liang Shan was just to seek shelter, to avoid those harsh taxes, and to survive.

Zhang Jie smiled and said, "What, do you not even have the courage to take the money?"

Facing Zhang Jie's gaze, although everyone in Liang Shan was moved,

not a single person stood out first.

The scene, which had just been bustling with excitement, suddenly became somewhat cold.

Just as Wang Lun and Du Qian were wondering whether to find a confidant to act as a plant to ease Zhang Jie's embarrassment,

a youth wearing tattered gray clothes, not very tall,

and extremely thin, tremblingly raised his hand.

"I, I want this money!"

His words were somewhat stuttered, but his tone was exceptionally firm.

Zhang Jie's eyes lit up: thin, frail, lacking combat ability—none of that mattered;

he had plenty of ways to improve that later.

What he needed was this courage to be the first to act!

Courage is something that, once one's worldview is formed, either exists or it doesn't.

He said in an encouraging voice, "Step forward!"

The crowd parted a path, letting the youth walk up to Zhang Jie.

Zhang Jie asked gently, "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Replying to the Zhang Zhaizhu, my name is Wang Er."

Feeling Zhang Jie's gentle gaze, Wang Er replied with great excitement.

"Good, Wang Er, this Zhang Zhaizhu will remember you."

Zhang Jie patted Wang Er on the shoulder.

Wang Er had never seen such an approachable Zhang Zhaizhu, and his face instantly flushed red.

"Come, this is what you deserve."

Zhang Jie picked up two guan of copper coins from the chest and handed them to Wang Er.

"Many thanks, Zhang Zhaizhu!"

Feeling the heavy, cold touch of the copper coins in his hand, Wang Er thanked him loudly with excitement.

After sending Wang Er back into the ranks, Zhang Jie scanned the others:

"Who else wants this money?"

"I, I do!"

"I want it!"

With Wang Er as an example, the others suddenly became eager.

Seeing this, Zhang Jie smiled with satisfaction: "One by one."

The sun gradually rose in the east, and the temperature on the drill ground gradually increased,

but the people there didn't feel hot at all,

only because they were all holding two guan of heavy, cold copper coins in their hands.

After finishing the distribution, Zhang Jie stood with his hands behind his back and asked in a clear voice:

"Whose money are you holding?"

The people who had received the money shouted in unison:

"We are holding the Zhang Zhaizhu's money!"

Zhang Jie asked again: "Then whose orders should you obey?"

The excited crowd shouted in unison again: "Obey the Zhang Zhaizhu's orders!"

"The morale of the army is temporarily usable."

Having achieved one of his goals, Zhang Jie nodded slightly.

"Once this strategy of yours is out, my lord, the Liang Shan troops will all submit. Your subordinate admires you."

Wang Lun, cosplaying as Zhuge Kongming, waved his goose-feather fan and complimented him with great admiration.

"This is but a minor trick."

Zhang Jie was not the least bit proud.

This was not some brilliant strategy; to put it bluntly, it was just throwing money at the problem.

If you want the army's morale to be usable, you must feed these soldiers; this is an unchanging truth through the ages.

He understood it, Wang Lun understood it, and those high-ranking officials in the Great Song court understood it too,

but just like the famous Great Ming joke: "The Ming army is not satisfied with their pay;

if they were satisfied, they would be invincible; where can they be satisfied? Manchuria's Huang Taiji."

To those masters who were accustomed to being high and mighty,

giving bright, shiny silver to these "bandit-consigned soldiers"—wasn't that a sin?

Zhang Jie took a step forward, looked directly at the crowd, and said:

"The copper coins for every month from now on will be distributed by me personally, and you must all come to receive them personally!"

"Long live the Zhang Zhaizhu, long live the Zhang Zhaizhu!"

Upon hearing this news, the crowd couldn't help but cheer:

The thing they feared most about receiving money was having too many hands in the pot;

after passing through many hands, a thousand coins would likely shrink by several tenths.

And with Zhang Jie, the highest-ranking Zhang Zhaizhu of Liang Shan, distributing it personally,

it could guarantee their interests to the greatest extent—how could they not be excited?

'Yuan Gongbao's Xiaozhan training method still seems pretty good for now.'

Zhang Jie nodded inwardly.

That's right, this set of his was actually learned from Yuan Gongbao's Xiaozhan training method.

Everyone might not be very familiar with the name Yuan Gongbao; he had another name that was even more famous,

a name recorded in 21st-century history textbooks—Yuan Shikai!

That's right, the very one who minted silver dollars with his own portrait, earning the nickname "Yuan Datou,"

who first forced the Qing Emperor to abdicate, ending the rule of the Manchu Qing,

then stole the fruits of the revolution, ignored public opinion, and insisted on declaring himself emperor,

only to step down in disgrace after being emperor for just 83 days, and then dying—the "Hongxian Emperor" Yuan Shikai.

Zhang Jie knew that under the current circumstances, implementing the military-building methods of the 21st-century Eastern Great Power in the Great Song was too arduous,

so he settled for the next best thing and learned the training methods of Old Yuan from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

And judging by the fact that even after Old Yuan stepped down, he could still remotely control the army,

preventing the Qing court from bypassing him to command the Beiyang soldiers, forcing them to invite him to come out of retirement again;

plus the fact that before he died, the Beiyang officers, aside from some who betrayed him during the War of Protection,

remained relatively loyal at other times, Old Yuan's method was still very useful.

And the reason those officers betrayed him was because Old Yuan's actions went too much against the tide of history:

It was already the 20th century, and he actually still wanted to engage in the feudal autocratic emperor system.

Aside from a few vested interest holders, like his son Yuan Keding who was crazy about wanting to be Crown Prince,

who among the others was willing to have an old master appear above their heads

who could decide their life and death at will?

Zhang Jie, having won the first battle: Yuan Gongbao is truly my mentor and friend~

'Having given them a carrot, it is also time to let them see my big stick.'

Zhang Jie looked at the soldiers who were still extremely excited,

still immersed in the joy of receiving two guan of copper coins, and thought to himself.

Combining kindness with severity is the way to use people.

After all, most people fear power but do not cherish virtue.

"Swish!"

Zhang Jie pulled out the precious sword at his waist and shouted loudly:

"Since you have taken my money, you must obey my orders!

From now on, anyone who dares to disobey orders will end up like this wood!"

After speaking, he raised his sword and slashed at a wooden stake on the drill ground that was as thick as a grown man's thigh.

Crack!

The crowd only saw a flash of silver light, and the wooden stake was split in two!

"Hiss!"

Looking at the exceptionally smooth cross-section of the stake, without a single wood splinter, the crowd gasped in unison:

If this were slashed on a person, wouldn't they be cut in half directly?

This money, it seems, is not so easy to take!

The crowd couldn't help but realize this truth.

Even Du Qian and Song Wan couldn't help but widen their eyes, looking at Wang Lun in unison, as if asking:

'Zhang Zhaizhu, did you know the new Zhang Zhaizhu's martial arts were this terrifying, which is why you surrendered so easily?'

At the same time, their hearts were even more convinced by Zhang Jie:

In the greenwood, one talks about seniority and background, but even more about ability!

A person with great ability should occupy a high position!

After all, the imperial court doesn't care who your Zhang Zhaizhu is; they are all targets for them to wipe out.

Wang Lun, being questioned by the eyes of Du Qian and the other, was also completely bewildered,

Looking at the wooden post, which was so smooth it could serve as a mirror, he even forgot to fan the goose-feather fan in his hand:

He only knew Zhang Jie was a top scholar of the current imperial examination, a hundred times better than him in literary attainments

and military strategy, but he hadn't expected Zhang Jie to be a hundred times better than him in martial prowess as well.

With the sword technique Zhang Jie just displayed, he was afraid he could kill dozens of him without even catching his breath!

While shocked by Zhang Jie's extraordinary personal martial prowess, he sighed inwardly:

'To force such a figure to become a bandit, this Great Song is truly finished!'

But in an instant, he cast this thought to the back of his mind,

and looking at the cold, flashing precious sword in Zhang Jie's hand, his eyes shone:

It is rumored that that Uncle of the Emperor Liu from the Shu Han was also a master of sword technique,

and with his dual swords, he could fight against fierce generals like Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, who were invincible against ten thousand!

If Zhang Jie is Liu Bang, then isn't he, Wang Lun, Zhuge Kongming?

Thinking of Zhuge Kongming, Wang Lun couldn't help but become infatuated for a moment...

Lu Zhishen, Lin Chong, and the others, however, remained as calm as ever, looking as if they were unsurprised.

Lin Chong: You all should understand the significance of defeating me, the drill instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards, in one move...

"The Zhang Zhaizhu's martial arts are peerless, invincible in the world!"

"The Zhang Zhaizhu's martial arts are peerless, invincible in the world!"

And at this moment, the lackeys also recovered from their stupor and loudly praised Zhang Jie.

The more formidable Zhang Jie was, the more the rules he set could be implemented,

and the more their interests could be guaranteed.

Otherwise, if Zhang Jie were just a weakling who could only talk on paper and lacked the strength to truss a chicken,

even if he spoke eloquently here, it would be nothing but flowers in the water and a moon in the mirror, a dream bubble,

under the attacks of other bandit villages and the encirclement of the government. ===== CHAPTER 147 =====