Chapter 197

Over the next few days, Zhang Jie integrated Li Family Manor and Hu Family Manor,

while having people transport most of the spoils from the three manors back to Liang Shan.

Lin Chong, the commander of the horse army who was still a commander without an army, was moved to tears when he saw the hundreds of captured horses;

the horse army he led would finally look a bit like cavalry, instead of just being used as messengers.

Of course, even with horses, Liang Shan's horse army still didn't have much combat power:

First, these cavalrymen were just new recruits that Lin Chong had trained for a few months,

not herdsmen who grew up on horseback on the grasslands,

so it was fine to let them ride horses to travel or deliver messages.

Expecting them to ride, shoot arrows, and fight in battle would require much more training.

On the other hand, the full equipment for the horse army—horse armor, saddles, stirrups, and cavalry spears—had not been fully forged,

and Zhang Jie couldn't bear to let these precious babies go out and fight for their lives; he would feel heartache for a long time if even one died.

Although it is said that one should love soldiers like children in peacetime and use them like mud in wartime,

Zhang Jie was not yet at the point where he needed large-scale cavalry warfare.

And this would be the case for some time to come,

because the Great Song did not have a single cavalry force of scale capable of executing long-range raids.

The 700,000 imperial guards guarding Bianliang had long since become a facade with only numbers,

and only the Western Army that guarded against and attacked Western Xia still had some combat power.

As for the border troops guarding against the Great Liao in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?

Sigh, don't say it, really don't say it; the Great Liao had many bad points,

but at least they truly kept their promises; if they said they wouldn't attack you after taking the money, they wouldn't attack you.

Since the signing of the Chanyuan Alliance, the Great Song had been paying the annual tribute on time, which was called a reward,

but was actually protection money, and the Great Liao had also followed the alliance and not attacked the Great Song,

and the two sides had been at peace for nearly a hundred years.

It had been nearly a hundred years without war, so what combat power could one expect from those border troops?

Not to mention anything else, the fact that the military families who were used to drinking soldiers' blood hadn't sold off all the military horses

and kept some to put on a show was already a sign that they had a conscience.

And while the border troops of the Great Song were degenerating, the army of the Great Liao was degenerating just the same,

leading to the Battle of Hubudagang, where Emperor Tianzuo exhausted the power of the entire country

with his 700,000-strong army, only to be defeated by the 20,000-strong army of Emperor Taizu of Jin, Wanyan Aguda.

This in turn led to both the Liao and Northern Song perishing at the hands of the Jin people.

So the Liao and Northern Song actually perished because of Emperor Shengzong of Liao and Emperor Zhenzong of Song~

It was the Chanyuan Alliance they signed.

However, it must be said that Emperor Zhenzong of Song, under the strong persuasion of Prime Minister Kou Zhun, personally led the army to supervise the battle, which was not bad.

Although he held a Fengshan ceremony at Taishan after the Chanyuan Alliance, which ruined Taishan,

and from then on no monarch with great talent and bold vision went to Taishan for Fengshan,

his courage was second only to Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin and Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi in the Great Song.

As for Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji and Emperor Qinzong Zhao Huan of Song?

Why talk about those two shameful things that were directly nailed to the pillar of historical shame?

At the same time, Zhang Jie did not relax his vigilance against the county government, or more accurately, the imperial court;

he dispatched scouts to all major roads to investigate when the army from the prefecture would arrive.

But after waiting for quite a while, there was no movement at all!

Let alone the army, he didn't even catch a single scout.

The county government turned a blind eye to the Liang Shan soldiers transporting supplies,

acting as if they would turn a blind eye to Liang Shan's actions as long as Liang Shan didn't attack the county town.

Zhang Jie initially thought that the county government was deliberately deceiving them,

letting them relax their vigilance so they could trick and ambush him, a young man in his early twenties,

and because of this, he, who was accustomed to being careful, sent several more undercover agents and scouts into the county government.

As a result, everything in the county government was as usual, as if the incident of Liang Shan's thousand-man army attacking Zhu Family Manor had never happened!

Finally, by throwing money around, he got the news from the drunken County Commandant:

The magistrate, for the sake of the official hat on his head, had made up his mind to be an ostrich with its head buried in the sand.

Zhang Jie could only sigh that the skill of covering up seems to be

an essential skill for bureaucrats in every feudal dynasty throughout history.

In their eyes, nothing—not the people, not the imperial court—

was as important as the official hat on their heads.

Then Zhang Jie specially instructed the Liang Shan soldiers to be more low-key,

and not to approach the county town without his orders: since the magistrate intended to cover up the matter,

Zhang Jie was happy to be low-key and strive for more development time.

In this way, with the tacit understanding of both sides, the matter of Zhu Family Manor being broken through passed just like that.

However, although there was no news in official circles,

the news of Liang Shan breaking through Zhu Family Manor spread widely in the Shandong greenwood.

From then on, Liang Shan stood out from a crowd of mountain strongholds like Erlong Mountain, Peach Blossom Mountain, and Shaohua Mountain,

becoming the most powerful greenwood force in Shandong, attracting countless greenwood heroes to join.

Zhang Jie, this master of Liang Shan, was now famous in the Shandong greenwood, becoming a big name among big names.

However, because Zhang Jie had always deliberately blocked information about himself,

these greenwood forces only knew that the new Liang Shan chieftain's surname was Zhang, but not his name.

Zhang Jie did not want to expose his true identity yet,

as a Tan Hua scholar turning into a bandit and robbing houses was still too eye-catching.

And because this was an ancient world where ordinary people found it difficult to leave a hundred miles away in their lifetime,

the spread of information was very slow and very easy to distort,

often resulting in ridiculous things where one thing was said here and another was passed on there;

so Zhang Jie's plan to hide his identity was executed perfectly,

and almost no one connected the giant Liang Shan bandit Chieftain Zhang, who broke Zhu Family Manor, with the young Tan Hua scholar who had graduated top of his class,

but was not liked by the Emperor and was demoted to the deputy commander of Qingzhou,

and then disappeared without a trace.

In the eyes of those high officials, Zhang Jie, this new Tan Hua scholar, probably couldn't bear the blow,

and went to find an unknown place to lick his wounds.

In the Liang Shan stronghold at night, torches burned brightly, and the place was brightly lit.

"Being able to break Zhu Family Manor this time is all thanks to the efforts of all the brothers,

and I, Zhang Jie, would like to toast everyone here!"

Zhang Jie, sitting in the main seat, raised a cup of wine and invited them.

"The Lord is too modest. If not for you, Lord, inventing weapons like muskets

and cannons, and planning strategies, and sending Chieftain Zhu Gui to inquire about the news,

how could we have taken Zhu Family Manor without any effort,

and made Li Family Manor and Hu Family Manor submit?

This cup should be us toasting you, Lord!"

Wang Lun, sitting below Zhang Jie, stood up and passionately listed Zhang Jie's merits.

"The military advisor is right; it is we who should toast you, Lord!

Toast to the Lord!"

Du Qian and the other generals stood up in unison and raised their wine cups.

"Haha!"

Zhang Jie laughed and also stood up:

"We are all brothers; breaking Zhu Family Manor is truly the merit of our concerted efforts!

Brothers, drink this cup to the full!"

After speaking, he drank the wine in his cup in one gulp.

"Drink this cup to the full!"

Lin Chong, Wu Song, and the other generals also drank the wine in their cups in one gulp one after another.

After a cup of wine, everyone present was glowing and in high spirits.

Next, Zhang Jie rewarded them according to their merits, from the various chieftains down to the soldiers and

civilian laborers, all of whom received rewards commensurate with their merits.

"Long live the Chieftain! Long live the Chieftain!"

The soldiers who received the rewards cheered one after another.

Zhang Jie's prestige grew several points more in Liang Shan,

and he thoroughly became the core of Liang Shan, with no one able to shake his position.