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

Chapter 92 The Lawless Zhu Long

Shi Qian, the Flea on the Drum, possessed extraordinary lightness skills.

After blowing up the granary, he squatted on the wall in the distance to watch. Seeing Luan Tingyu, Zhu Long and others in chaos, he then fled.

Since he already knew how to navigate the winding path through Zhujiazhuang, escaping was effortless for him.

On his escape, he set more fires, plunging the Zhu Family Village into chaos.

He didn't dare to be reckless. After setting the fire, he fled Zhu Family Village, leaping between tree branches without needing to step on the ground.

He ran all the way back to the Liangshan Flying Tiger Army camp, and was already drenched in sweat.

Wang Lun and the others had already heard the commotion. The leaders watched from the hillside and saw the fire in Zhujiazhuang start from nothing, gradually grow larger, and then be gradually extinguished by the people of Zhujiazhuang.

"Shi Qian's contribution alone is worth ten thousand soldiers," Wang Lun laughed heartily, praising Shi Qian.

Shi Qian was very proud. He originally thought he could only be a thief for the rest of his life, but he did not expect to make such a contribution as soon as he joined Liangshan. This made him realize his value and he was very excited.

By the time the fire was completely extinguished, it was already daylight.

Zhu Chaofeng's face was gloomy. Although no one had reported to him, he had guessed the general situation. He wished he could immediately muster his troops and charge out, but he also knew that Zhu Family Village would not gain any advantage in open field battles, so he could only force himself to endure it.

Zhu Long finally arrived to report, his body completely blackened, with multiple burns on his body.

He gasped for breath and said, "Father, it's that monkey..."

Zhu Chaofeng frowned: "A monkey?"

Zhu Long quickly changed his tune: "Pah, not monkey, it's Shi Qian, that little scoundrel. I told you we should kill him, but you insisted on keeping him alive and even let him go down the mountain. Now look what's happened, he turned around and blew up our grain and set it on fire."

Zhu Chaofeng was extremely annoyed with his eldest son, who only knew how to shirk responsibility, and said impatiently, "I told you to increase patrols, and what have you done now?"

Zhu Long choked, then hesitated and said, "I... Teacher Luan arrived at the granary before me, but he didn't catch Shi Qian either."

Zhu Chaofeng was immediately enraged and shouted, "You are my son, this estate will be yours sooner or later. What will you do if you don't work hard? So what if Luan Tingyu arrived first? Am I supposed to arrest him and punish him?"

Zhu Long then lowered his head and said, "That's true."

Zhu Chaofeng was so angry that he blew his beard and glared: "Quickly send people to purchase grain from the people so we can stay for a few days until Erlang's men return with the grain."

The granary of Zhujiazhuang was bombed, and the villagers and their servants were filled with fear and unease.

At this time of year, there is a severe food shortage. The new year's crops have just been planted, and last year's crops have been almost entirely consumed. Every household has very little food left.

Zhu Long led his men to purchase goods from the people, but the money they offered was very little, several times lower than the market price.

This isn't purchasing; it's outright robbery.

The people dared not speak out against their anger, after all, they all depended on the Zhu Family Village for their livelihood.

The three brothers, Longhu and Biao, were usually arrogant and domineering, and the common people dared not provoke them.

Aside from keeping a small amount of grain to feed the elderly in the family for a while, the rest of the grain was "bought" by Zhu Long.

The grain purchase went smoothly, and Zhu Long was overjoyed, especially seeing the obedient appearance of the people, which made him laugh heartily. In Zhu Family Village, he was the crown prince, and these were all his subjects; he could do whatever he wanted with them.

I passed by a family's home. There was only an elderly man in his sixties with difficulty walking, and his widowed daughter.

The woman had originally married a farmhand. As a farmhand in the Zhu Family Village, she received a regular salary and lived a comfortable life.

Last year, during a robbery led by Zhu Long, her husband was killed in battle, leaving the father and daughter to live a very difficult life.

Seeing that the widow was beautiful and had a full figure, Zhu Long stopped and asked, "Do you have any food left?"

Seeing the unfriendly look in Zhu Long's eyes as he stared at his daughter, the old man immediately stepped in front of her and bowed, saying, "Young Master, it's just my daughter and me in my family. The land we cultivate doesn't yield much. After paying the security grain, it's barely enough for us to feed ourselves."

The so-called "security grain" was, of course, the grain that these people paid to the Zhu family village every year as protection fees, in accordance with the village's regulations, because they were dependent on the village and protected by it.

Zhu Long glanced past the old man and looked at the woman behind him, saying, "Now that Zhu Family Village is under attack by foreign enemies, each household only keeps enough food for four or five days. The rest will be sold to us. After I defeat the bandits, I will buy grain from outside and resell it back to you."

The old man hurriedly said, "Young master, my family really has no food left. I beg you to have pity on us. My son-in-law was also a farmhand who worked for you. Unfortunately, he died in battle last year."

"Oh? Since he worked under me, then you and your daughter are one of my own. I should take good care of you."

"I wouldn't dare."

Zhu Long strode forward and said, "Since we have no food, how about having your daughter keep me company and have a chat?"

The old man was shocked and quickly reached out to stop them, pleading, "Young master, please have mercy on us!"

Zhu Long shoved the old man aside, grabbed the terrified woman, and laughed, "We'll just chat, we won't do anything."

They grabbed the woman and dragged her into the room.

The old man rushed forward, crying, "Young master, please! I have food, I'll give it all to you, please let her go!"

Zhu Long turned around fiercely and cursed, "If you had grain, why did you hide it earlier? Are you a spy planted by the Liangshan bandits?"

The old man was so frightened that he gasped for breath. After a pause, he knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "No, no, no, I have lived in Dulonggang for decades. How could I be a spy from Liangshan? Please, young master, have mercy."

Seeing him kowtowing and begging for mercy, Zhu Long cursed, "You're so annoying, you're getting on my nerves."

With a kick, he sent the old man flying, lying on the ground groaning and unable to get up for a long time.

Zhu Long slammed the door shut, and the woman's voice pleading for mercy could be heard from inside.

Zhu Long's henchmen stood guard at the door, grinning, and paid no attention to the old man on the ground.

The local people stood at a distance, not daring to come up.

One of the villagers finally couldn't bear it any longer and came forward to help the old man up. Seeing that his face was flushed and he was having difficulty breathing, he quickly reached out and pinched the philtrum.

She pinched him for a while, then gently patted his chest.

After a while, the old man finally caught his breath, let out a "ho" sound, and his complexion slowly returned to normal.

But then he heard the girl crying and begging for mercy inside the house. The old man was furious and was about to pounce on her, but he was held back by the people next to him.

"Old man, we can't go. We can't defeat him. We can't just throw our lives away in vain."

The old man turned around and saw a seemingly honest and upright man next to him. He recognized the man as Zhang Cheng, who had moved to Zhujiazhuang a year ago.

"Can……"

In his panic, the old man fainted again.

Zhang Cheng picked up the old man and placed him aside. He glanced back at Zhu Long's men, said nothing, and squeezed into the crowd without looking back.

Zhu Long finally finished his business, tied his belt, and walked out of the house, laughing loudly, "What are you looking at? Haven't you seen this before? Now get back and wait for Grandpa to come and collect the grain."

The surrounding people dispersed in a commotion.

Zhu Long looked back at the small house and said, "Remember this house, I'll come back tomorrow."

The servants under his command burst into laughter.