novelSusiti Chapter 51 Wang Lun Opens a Soup Dishes
Chapter 51 Wang Lun Opens a Soup Dishes
The people ate the dry rations given to them by Wang Lun and others. Although the rations were hard and difficult to swallow, they ate them with relish.
It looks like they've been hungry for a long time.
"After you've eaten this dry ration, come with me. We are the righteous army of Liangshan, acting on behalf of Heaven to punish evil and promote good. Those of you who are strong can join us, and those who are not can farm and fish in Liangshan to make a living."
Wang Lun patiently explained, beaming from ear to ear.
There were about sixty or seventy people here, probably refugees who had fled from some village. They were all strong young men.
The leader, munching on a hard biscuit, nodded and said, "As long as we can eat our fill, we're willing to join, no matter who you are. We've already chosen to be bandits, what could be worse than this?"
Wang Lun nodded and said, "You're right. If there's no way back, then moving forward will be a smooth road."
Everyone nodded in agreement, finding this inspirational quote quite helpful.
"Where are you from?" Wang Lun asked patiently again.
"We are from the border of the Great Song Dynasty. We have heard that there is a Jurchen tribe further north who have established the Jin Dynasty and are currently fighting against the Liao Dynasty."
Wang Lun nodded secretly. He had long known that this year was the year the Jurchen state was founded, and that after its founding, it fought several major battles with the Liao state.
"After the Liao Dynasty was defeated, they conscripted able-bodied men from all over the country to fill their army. When they could no longer find Liao people, they came to capture Song people from our border. How could we risk our lives for the Liao Dynasty? When we heard that the Liao people were coming to our village, we immediately fled."
This is understandable, as the Liao Dynasty was on the verge of collapse and its national strength was extremely weak. It was common for them to conscript men from the Song Dynasty to serve in the army.
Wang Lun thought for a moment and asked, "How many people escaped?"
The man said, "Many people have been affected. The entire Song-Liao border region has been hit, and everyone is fleeing south. There are probably even more people behind us. Some probably didn't escape and were captured by the Liao people."
Wang Lun was overjoyed and exclaimed, "Zhao Si!"
Zhao Si quickly stepped forward.
Wang Lun was extremely excited and said, "Hurry back to Liangshan and tell Lin Chong and Chao Gai to do two things. First, send people to Yuncheng, Jizhou, Gaotangzhou and other places to purchase as much grain as possible, and do it quickly."
"Second, have them set up soup kitchens on the north-south main road outside Liangshan Marsh, the more the better, and send people around to shout that Liangshan Marsh is providing free relief to refugees."
Zhao Si quickly clasped his hands in acceptance and then rode away.
Wu Song said, "Brother, do you intend to recruit all the refugees from the north to Liangshan?"
Wang Lun nodded and said, "That's right. These escapees are all able-bodied young men, and they are all free soldiers. Furthermore, we buy grain from the surrounding areas because once a war breaks out, grain will naturally become expensive."
Of course, he had bigger plans in mind, which he hadn't fully considered yet, so he didn't say them aloud.
After the people had eaten and drunk their fill, Wang Lun ordered them to line up and follow the Liangshan group.
The group, which originally consisted of only a dozen or so people, suddenly became a large and imposing force. Wang Lun ordered his men to raise the banner of "Liangshan" and "Acting on Behalf of Heaven".
Wang Lun and Wu Song led the way, followed by Yang Zhi and Gongsun Sheng. The four leaders of Liangshan Marsh took the lead, and when they encountered highway robbers along the way, they were too frightened to come out when they saw this formation.
There were no more risks along the way, and no pursuers from Yanggu County.
It seems that Yanggu County completely ignored their kidnapping of Ximen Qing and did not send troops to pursue them.
That makes sense. The best fighter in Yanggu County was Wu Song. But Wu Song was kidnapped by Wang Lun. Who else could chase after him?
Who would dare to chase after them?
Wang Lun was in high spirits, having gained four things from this trip. The first was meeting Wu Song, and later generations even proclaimed the saying, "Lin Chong on horseback, Wu Song on foot."
It's not necessarily true that Lin Chong will succeed immediately, after all, Lu Junyi and Guan Sheng are also rare masters. Moreover, Wang Lun only just realized that Yang Zhi is actually a hidden master. The Water Margin really underestimated Yang Zhi, or rather, the Yang Zhi in the original work kept a low profile after joining Liangshan and did not show off his abilities.
The slogan "Wu Song on horseback" refers to Wu Song, one of Wang Lun's favorite heroes in his previous life. However, he also questioned this, as Lu Da's foot combat ability should not be underestimated.
In the original story, the pair of "Lu Da and Wu Song" were a rare pair who were able to have a good ending. When Lu Da passed away, Wu Song was by his side.
The pair have finally met, and earlier than in the original story.
Wang Lun was very satisfied with this.
The second gain was forming an alliance with the Hu Family Village and successfully getting to know Hu Cheng and Hu Sanniang. Wang Lun especially praised Hu Sanniang highly. If he hadn't intentionally tried to match her with Wu Song, he would have also wanted to pursue her intensely.
However, for the sake of Wu Song's future, Wang Lun suppressed this shameless idea.
The third gain was the nearly seventy young men behind him, and the news they brought: even more young men were coming south from the north, and these were all extremely important sources of soldiers.
The fourth gain was the least significant: Ximen Qing's wealth in the carriage. Although it amounted to tens of thousands of strings of cash, Wang Lun had already come to terms with it. He was determined to achieve great things and could not afford to concern himself with such worldly possessions.
Resources such as food, iron, ore, saltpeter, and population are the most important.
It's been almost a month since we transmigrated, and Liangshan has grown considerably stronger. It's time to do something big.
When Wang Lun led everyone back to the outside of Liangshan Marsh, they saw that several porridge stalls had indeed been set up, all of which were quite large, and there were people queuing up to receive porridge.
Upon seeing Wang Lun and his men return, Chao Gai, who was in charge of the soup kitchens, immediately stepped forward and bowed: "Brother, you're finally back. As you instructed, we have set up a total of ten soup kitchens outside the city and along the north-south main road."
Wang Lun helped Chao Gai up, feeling very gratified, and said, "King Chao, you've worked hard. Have you managed to recruit any people to join us?"
"Brother, you are very farsighted. There have indeed been many more refugees recently. The government has not yet organized any disaster relief, but we have already taken the lead. Since you left, Liangshan has recruited three hundred soldiers. In the past few days, we have set up soup kitchens, and the number of people has increased greatly. Every day, one or two hundred people come up the mountain, which adds up to nearly a thousand."
When Chao Gai reported on his work, he was full of pride, after all, this was the first major task that Wang Lun had entrusted to him, and he was doing it very well.
Wang Lun nodded in satisfaction. After all, Chao Gai had the title of "Heavenly King" and was very famous in the martial arts world. Having him recruit soldiers and horses was a good way to make the best use of his talents.
He then introduced Wu Song to Chao Gai. Chao Gai looked at the burly man before him and admired him greatly. He knew that Wu Song was the reason Wang Lun went to Yanggu.
Wang Lun's strength has greatly improved again.
Chao Gai thought with some disappointment that, following Wu Yong's idea, since they had failed to join forces with Wang Lun at Liangshan, they should temporarily agree to be subordinate to others and look for opportunities to expand their strength.
But now it seems that one of their people, Gongsun Sheng, has "defected," and Wang Lun once saved their lives, so perhaps some of them have already sided with Wang Lun.
With the balance of power shifting, he could no longer challenge Wang Lun's position.
Chao Gai took a deep look at Gongsun Sheng behind Wang Lun.
Gongsun Sheng was chatting and laughing quietly with Yang Zhi and did not see Chao Gai.
A gentle breeze blew, the sky was clear and the air was fresh, and suddenly a melodious song drifted from the lake.