Water Margin: From a White-Robed Scholar to Donning the Yellow Robe

Chapter 107 The White-Robed Scholar Saves Song Jiang

Wang Lun led Zhao Si out of the council hall, through several corridors of the government office, and arrived at a workshop.

This place was originally an empty courtyard, which Wang Lun transformed into a weapons workshop, and moved Tang Long, who was in charge of weapons manufacturing, from Liangshan to Jizhou.

Many blacksmiths had already been recruited when they were in Liangshan. Some time ago, this workshop was built, and blacksmiths and apprentices were recruited in Jeju.

Currently, under Tang Long's leadership, the place is bustling with the clanging sounds of blacksmithing.

Upon seeing Wang Lun arrive, Tang Long immediately came to pay his respects.

Wang Lun helped Tang Long up and asked, "How's my swordplay going?"

Tang Long smiled and said, "It's all better now. I just haven't been able to come see you these past few days because the chieftain has been so busy."

He then trotted over and fetched three boxes, which he respectfully placed in front of Wang Lun.

Wang Lun opened the first box, inside which was a long sword. The blade was about three feet long, longer than an ordinary sword, and the end of the blade was slightly upturned, making it a straight-bladed sword. The blade had a blood groove to reduce its weight.

He drew his sword and immediately felt its cold gleam against his face, exclaiming, "What a fine sword!"

The handle is designed to fit comfortably in the palm of the hand, providing a great grip. The knife weighs about five pounds, which is also suitable for Wang Lun.

Song dynasty swords were not very lethal, while Tang dynasty swords were very expensive to make.

Wang Lun had tried many different kinds of knives before, but none of them felt quite right in his hand. So he recalled the Qi Family Knife designed by Qi Jiguang, which he had seen before.

The Qi Family Sword incorporated features from both Japanese and Tang swords, resulting in a simple blade design, high lethality, and low production cost, making it more practical for military use.

He then roughly sketched out a design, and after discussing it with Tang Long, he asked Tang Long to forge two handles using the best iron and steel.

His own knife weighed five jin (approximately 2.5 kg), while the knife in the second box weighed thirty-six jin (approximately 36 catties), was thicker and wider, and had a longer handle that could be gripped with both hands. It was specially made for Wu Song.

"Chief, I've tested this knife. It's very sharp, yet it combines flexibility and hardness, making it difficult to break. It can be promoted within the Flying Tiger Army. Since it was designed by you, Chief, please give it a name."

Tang Long was toying with Wu Song's 36-pound knife on the side.

Wang Lun thought for a moment and said, "We can't call it the Wang Family Knife, it's too vulgar. Let's just use Flying Tiger as the name and call it the Flying Tiger Military Knife."

Tang Long immediately clasped his hands in agreement.

Wang Lun tucked his knife into his waistband and then opened the third box.

Inside lay two iron rods, each about a foot long. They were neither rods nor knives, but rather triangular in shape.

Its entire body is prismatic, with three blood grooves, and the blade is slightly dark black, looking like an iron rod from a distance.

Zhao Si frowned and asked, "Chief, what is this?"

Wang Lun held it in his left and right hands and said, "This is a triangular military dagger that I asked Chief Tang to make. You can think of it as a dagger. It is very lethal and suitable for close combat."

A triangular bayonet, due to its angular shape, can cause a larger wound when it pierces the human body, easily leading to uncontrollable bleeding and making suturing very difficult. It is an extremely dangerous cold weapon.

These were the weapons Wang Lun had prepared for himself: two triangular bayonets hidden inside, and a Flying Tiger saber.

After more than a year of training, his martial arts skills were considered average. Although he couldn't compare to Wu Song and others, he was still far superior to Wang Lun back then.

As martial arts skills improve, one should naturally prepare a suitable weapon for oneself.

With weapons in hand, Wang Lun felt much more energetic. He led Zhao Si back to his quarters and carefully cleaned the knife and dagger.

Zhao Si then went to deliver the knife he had prepared for Wu Song to Wu Song.

The next day, the leaders of the three routes to rescue Song Jiang left the city one after another.

Among Wang Lun and his group, since Gongsun Sheng was a Taoist priest and Lu Zhishen was a Buddhist monk, Wang Lun and the others also disguised themselves as monks.

They were both dressed as Taoist priests. Wang Lun and Zhao Si had dressed as Taoist priests before, so they were quite adept at it.

Wu Song, however, found the Taoist robe extremely awkward and felt uncomfortable even when walking.

Along the way, they became four Taoist priests and one Buddhist monk. Although walking together seemed abrupt, it wasn't too conspicuous.

Now, because Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty is a Taoist emperor who has devoted himself to Taoism and often dresses as a Taoist priest, the status of Taoist priests throughout the world has been elevated.

Taoist practice became mainstream, and the thresholds of many Taoist temples were worn down by the constant flow of visitors. In order to curry favor with the Taoist emperor, many court officials also sought refuge in a Taoist temple.

Many martial arts practitioners would often dress as Taoist priests to avoid a lot of trouble when traveling the martial arts world.

The five traveled south. Wang Lun knew that Song Jiang would not be beheaded for another month, so he was not in a hurry and traveled slowly.

When they came across scenic mountains and rivers, he would take a few people to enjoy the scenery.

He would draw his sword to help those in need whenever he saw injustice, just like a chivalrous knight-errant.

Half a month later, the group arrived in Luzhou.

Luzhou was an important city in Huainan West Circuit. Compared with Jizhou, which suffered from banditry for many years, Luzhou was more prosperous.

The group wandered around Luzhou for two days, and on this day they were preparing to leave the city after lunch and continue south.

Inside the restaurant, Wang Lun and his companions were enjoying Luzhou cuisine. The Luzhou roast duck was delicious and flavorful, and the group ate with great relish.

But then they heard a soft, mournful sound; it was an old man leading a girl of about thirteen or fourteen, playing the erhu and singing for a living.

The old man's erhu playing was not very good, but the girl's voice was extremely beautiful, as melodious as a lark.

The song being sung was not any other than the one written by Wang Lun: "The moon in the sky is the most pitiful, one night it is like a ring, every night it becomes a jade pendant."

As she sang, the girl's voice became hoarse.

Wang Lun overheard this and said, "Zhao Si, these two look like grandfather and grandson. They must be pitiful people. Give them a string of cash as a reward."

Zhao Si frowned and said, "Isn't 'always' a bit too much?"

One string of cash was worth one thousand coins, which was indeed a huge sum of money for ordinary people.

Wu Song laughed and said, "You scoundrel, what's the big deal about a string of cash? Besides, it's not like I'm asking you to pay for it yourself."

Zhao Si had no choice but to take out a string of cash from his bag and give it to the grandfather and grandson.

The grandfather and grandson stepped forward and knelt down to express their gratitude. When they looked up, the woman was already in tears.

Lu Zhishen was quite displeased and said, "What are you crying for? You're always crying and wailing."

Wang Lun's eyes lit up. Why did this scene seem so familiar?

After thinking about it, I suddenly remembered that Lu Zhishen punched Zhen Guanxi because he saw the grandfather and grandson crying while they were singing and acted out of righteousness.

What a coincidence that Lu Da encountered this kind of thing again?

He then asked gently, "Old men, please get up. Why don't you tell us why you're crying?"

The old man said, "Fellow Daoists, uh, monks, I've lived here for generations. We have a few acres of meager land, and life was alright. But a few days ago, two leaders of the local salt gang took a fancy to my granddaughter and insisted on taking her as a concubine. We weren't willing, so we sold our land and scraped together some money to bribe the salt gang. But the money didn't do any good; they... still want... sob sob..."

Lu Zhishen slammed his wine bowl on the table and cursed, "Damn it all! I always seem to run into trouble like this. It was the same thing back then, which is why I killed Zhen Guanxi. What kind of people are these Salt Gang leaders? I killed them with two punches too, just to get justice for you."