Chapter 205

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it had been more than two months since the Liang Shan broke the Zhu Family Manor in the Shui Hu world,

and because Zhang Jie and the magistrate of Yuncheng County reached an unspeakable tacit understanding,

Liang Shan was very peaceful during this period.

Crackle, crackle.

In the Liang Shan Political Affairs Hall, Wang Lun, who was appointed by Zhang Jie as the Liang Shan financial manager, was calculating with an abacus,

calculating the material and money consumption of various departments of Liang Shan during this period, such as the infantry, cavalry,

navy, as well as the ordnance department, logistics support department, etc.

As he calculated, a look of worry could not help but appear on his face:

"Lord, although our Liang Shan has obtained a lot of materials from various manors such as Zhu Family Manor, Li Family Manor,

and Hu Family Manor,

this large-scale recruitment of troops and casting of various war weapons also consumes a lot.

If we continue to sit and eat the mountain like this, I'm afraid we won't be able to support it for much longer."

Zhang Jie, who was leisurely drinking tea on the side, nodded:

"Zhengdao, what you said makes sense."

This training of troops and development of power is a bottomless pit,

plus he has always held the idea that "only the money spent is money,

those not spent are just a pile of waste paper,"

launching various projects, whether scientific research, training troops, or recruiting refugees.

Liang Shan once again encountered a cliché problem—a financial crisis, in short, no money.

Wang Lun saw that Zhang Jie could still leisurely drink tea, not panicked at all,

how could he not know that his Lord already had an idea, and said pleasantly:

"Lord, are you already prepared?"

"Exactly."

Zhang Jie put down the blue and white porcelain teacup in his hand:

"If you want to maintain it for a long time, it is nothing more than opening sources and throttling.

It's just that our Liang Shan is developing vigorously now, and throttling is not advisable."

Wang Lun agreed with this very much:

"Lord, you are right, although our biggest enemy at present is the Great Song,

we cannot rule out the possibility that the Great Liao and Western Xia will take advantage of the fire when we are at war with the Great Song.

No, with the virtues of the Great Liao and Western Xia, once we start an uprising, they will definitely take advantage of the fire.

So our enemies are not only the corrupt Great Song,

but also the Great Liao and Western Xia who will turn into robbers at any time.

Therefore, we must accumulate enough power before officially starting the uprising,

enough power to simultaneously contend with, or even defeat, the Great Song, Great Liao, and Western Xia!"

Zhang Jie cast a look of "a child can be taught" at Wang Lun:

The reason he was still enduring was because Liang Shan's current strength was not enough to suppress the whole world.

Even if he could break an army alone, and defeat the armies of various countries alone, he ultimately had limited energy,

and would not have the cloning technique of "pulling out a hair and turning into ten thousand monkeys" like Monkey King,

so what this would cause is nothing more than huge chaos.

Even if he had full confidence in ending such chaos slowly later,

he didn't know how many people would die in such chaos.

The three views cultivated in the 21st century made it difficult for Zhang Jie to accept such a result.

At the same time, there was some relief in his heart: although Wang Lun was a bit jealous,

unable to tolerate people who might threaten his position, such as Lin Chong or Lin Chong;

but there was no problem with his ability, and under his guidance during these days,

he had already broken away from the limitations of ordinary green forest bandits who only looked at the present and immediate matters,

getting drunk today and worrying about tomorrow,

and began to consider problems from the perspective of the overall situation and the whole world.

Chen Danran of the Qing Dynasty said: "Those who do not plan for ten thousand generations since ancient times,

are not enough to plan for a moment; those who do not plan for the overall situation are not enough to plan for a region."

Wang Lun, who received Zhang Jie's affirmation, closed the account book and said excitedly:

"Lord, since throttling is not advisable, then there is only opening sources.

Where do you want to attack next, Lord?

Your subordinate thinks, why not first capture Zengtou City, which was founded by Zeng Nong of the Great Jin Kingdom.

This Zeng Nong came to the Central Plains to do ginseng business when he was young, and gathered tens of thousands of strings of family wealth,

occupied the village because of his strength, and renamed the original village Zengtou City.

Because Zeng Nong is a Jin Kingdom immigrant, the government dared not offend him,

so Zengtou City's power grew bigger and bigger, but they became more and more wary of this Jin Kingdom person's power.

If our Liang Shan attacks them, it would be dogs biting dogs in the eyes of the government,

it would not attract their full attention, and we should be able to win another period of development time.

And this Zengtou City is several times richer than manors like Zhu Family Manor,

if we break it and take its wealth and money and grain, we will definitely be able to continue to maintain the development of our Liang Shan."

Zhang Jie nodded slightly: according to Zhu Gui's intelligence and the plot of "Shui Hu Zhuan" he recalled.

This Zengtou City has more than three thousand households, occupying hundreds of miles, with a large population.

Its military power is far stronger than Zhu Family Manor and others, gathering five or seven thousand people, and there are even claims that its army exceeds ten thousand,

and it has also set up five large camps along the dangerous terrain, with strong soldiers and horses, running rampant in the state and county, and no one dares to provoke them.

Looking at it this way, Zengtou City is not only a commercial market for trading horses, ginseng, and other commodities,

but also a local armed organization with a high degree of militarization.

For Liang Shan, which has already digested the spoils of Zhu Family Manor, it is indeed a suitable opponent,

neither too strong to break their teeth, nor too weak to fail to achieve the effect of training troops.

And because of Zeng Nong's identity, the Song Dynasty was increasingly dissatisfied with Zengtou City's growing strength,

but the Great Song had always been incompetent in foreign wars, fearing the reaction of the Jin Kingdom and not daring to exterminate Zengtou City,

if Liang Shan is willing to do it for them, I think those old men in the imperial court are very willing to borrow a knife to kill someone.

And if Liang Shan and Zengtou City both suffer, that would be even better,

they definitely wouldn't mind being the oriole that comes after the mantis catches the cicada.

"Lord, then I will go and prepare?"

Wang Lun, thinking Zhang Jie was moved, tried to test the waters.

Zengtou City, this is a big force he could only look up to before.

Thinking that he could lead troops to break it, he felt his blood boiling.

I think those generals who have been stifled on Liang Shan for several months will definitely be howling.

"No rush."

Zhang Jie smiled and stopped Wang Lun: "Zhengdao,

besides directly attacking Zengtou City, I have a better way to gather wealth."

As he spoke, he took out a palm-sized object from his pocket and handed it to Wang Lun.

Wang Lun took the thing, and as soon as he shone it, a middle-aged man dressed in white,

wearing a scholar's hat, and holding a feather fan, appeared inside.

He asked uncertainly: "Lord, is this a mirror?"

As the former Liang Shan leader and now the second-in-command of Liang Shan, he naturally didn't lack bronze mirrors,

so he saw the general function of this thing Zhang Jie took out at a glance.

"It is indeed a mirror."

Zhang Jie gave a positive answer.

What he handed to Wang Lun was the important derivative of the three ancient transmigration artifacts—glass,

soap, and white sugar—the glass mirror.

Before he had power and title, he didn't start the mirror-making plan to avoid being coveted by others,

but now that he had the Liang Shan foundation, it was time to take out this wealth-gathering tool, the mirror.