That night, Xu Fengwu had someone prepare a table full of good food and wine to entertain Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen in the hall.
When Shi Wengong heard that Lin Chong was the Imperial Army instructor and saw Xu Fengwu's admiration, he wanted to compete with Lin Chong, but he saw that Lin Chong was injured, so he could only give up.
The next morning, Xu Fengwu personally sent the two of them down the mountain and gave them a big bag of money. Then, he watched the two of them leave the lake.
"Big brother, that Instructor Lin is too unforgiving. His own wife was being teased by others, but he still endured it. If it were me, I would have killed that Gao Yamen long ago.”
Ruan Xiaoqi said angrily. She was obviously unhappy with Chong Lin's weakness.
Xu Fengwu smiled and said," Everyone's environment is different. Instructor Lin has a family and is in the officialdom. With the rules, he will inevitably lose some of his courage. When Gao Qiu forces him into a corner, he will naturally come to Liangshan."”
"Sigh, these officials are really harmful.”Ruan Xiaoqi shook her head.
After Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen left, Xu Fengwu placed all his attention on the village.
As they trained day by day, the minions started to complain, but they gradually got used to it. Their spirits changed day by day.
The brick kilns that Xu Fengwu had ordered were also built one by one, and the first batch of bricks was being fired.
He believed that it wouldn't be long before the people on the mountain could live in brick houses.
Naturally, he did not stop complaining. Moreover, Xu Fengwu held it very tightly and held it in the village every few days.
Xu Fengwu did not want to transform these minions into the army of the future. He only needed to strengthen their determination to resist the government.
Apart from that, Xu Fengwu also established the Xuanzheng Hall to recruit some literate minions. Every time the stronghold went down the mountain to rob a big family, he would let the Xuanzheng Hall publicize the benefits of Liangshan.
The purpose of this was naturally to attract more people.
The effect was also very obvious. In a short period of time, more than a thousand people joined Liang Mountain, which also caused the number of people in Liang Mountain to break through the 3,000 mark.
Some of the young and strong were selected by Xu Fengwu to be incorporated into the new recruit camp. There were a total of 800 people, which made the number of Liang Mountain soldiers exceed 2,000.
This number seemed like a lot, but compared to the entire Jeju, it was simply a drop in the ocean.
One had to know that ever since Song Zhenzong promoted the rice in Champa, the population of Great Song had exploded. Now, the total population had already exceeded 100 million.
The Great Song Imperial Army and prefectural armies added up to more than a million, even though most of them could not withstand a single battle.
Xu Fengwu was really grateful to the Song Dynasty for coming up with such a thing as the Land Reclamation Law. It was definitely forcing the people to the opposite side.
Time gradually entered the seventh month. The news of the birthday scroll being robbed at the border of Jeju and Puzhou gradually spread.
The commoners did not expect that someone would be so bold as to rob Cai Jing's birthday and kill all the soldiers who were escorting him.
Of course, for the common people, this was just a topic of conversation after dinner.
For the heroes of the forest, it was as if a window had been opened for them--
Therefore, the powerhouses from Hebei and Shandong were silently calculating in their hearts whether they could also rob the birthday scroll next year.
After all, that was a hundred thousand strings of gold pearls. If he did it, he wouldn't have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of his life.
It had to be said that Xu Fengwu's act of stealing the birthday scroll had brought about a very bad influence.
In the officialdom, when Cai Jing found out that the birthday scroll had been stolen, he was definitely shocked at first, but then he flew into a rage out of humiliation and asked his subordinates to investigate immediately.
How could Cai Jing not be angry? He had been in power for more than ten years. In the eyes of ordinary people, he was a heaven-like existence.
But now, someone had suddenly come out and robbed him of his birthday. Wasn't this clearly slapping him in the face?
The people below naturally did not dare to neglect Grand Preceptor Cai's anger.
However, the place where the birthday scroll was robbed happened to be at the junction of Jeju and Puzhou. The location could be said to be very subtle.
Jeju and Puzhou first pushed the blame on each other, saying that this place was not under their jurisdiction. In the end, Puzhou's Zhizhou presented the facts and reasoned with Ren Qingrong. Ren Qingrong pinched his nose and sent people to investigate the incident.
However, Xu Fengwu had done it very cleanly. With the current crime-solving skills, how could he find anything?
Gradually, this matter was left unsettled.
Of course, it was not that no one suspected Liangshan, but there was really no evidence. After all, catching a thief had to be dirty.
Liangshan Juyi Hall.
"The results of the first month's assessment are not bad. 377 people were rated as first-class soldiers. However, after the assessment, it doesn't mean that we can relax.”
Xu Fengwu, who was sitting in the head seat, looked at the results of the assessment with satisfaction.
After all, strictly speaking, the minions in the stronghold were still new recruits. It was a good result for nearly 400 of them to be rated as first-class soldiers.
" In addition," Xu Fengwu continued," we should supervise those lackeys who are ranked as third-class soldiers. If they really can't be trained, arrange for them to do odd jobs."”
" The ones who were evaluated as third-class soldiers this time were either cunning and unwilling to work hard, or they were weak and their bodies couldn't take it," said Shi Wengong.”
Xu Fengwu nodded and said," The latter is fine. You just need to strengthen your body. The former is a problem of your mind. If you don't change it, you can only do it."”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Xu Fengwu looked at the Ruan brothers and asked,""How's the formation of our village's water army going?”
Second Ruan replied," Brother, there are a total of 326 people in our village's navy. They are all men who fish nearby. They are good at swimming and are trained according to the rules.”
"In addition, there are more than two hundred ships. There are only three thousand-stone ships, and the rest are small fishing boats.”
At this point, the Ruan brothers lowered their heads. How could they rely on a few small fishing boats?
Xu Fengwu nodded and said," Our Liangshan has 800 miles of water. The navy is very important. However, it is not easy to build a navy in a day. Let everyone train well first. I will think of a way to deal with the warships."”
"In addition, since the first assessment has ended, according to the rules set, distribute the allowance to everyone. Those newly joined minions will also be incorporated into the recruit camp for training.”
"Now that the village is on the right track, I plan to make a trip to the north before the Jeju government makes any moves.”
As soon as he said this, everyone's eyes widened. Du Qian asked,"What is big brother going to the north for?"
"Firstly, it's to sell the wealth in the birthday scroll. It's not easy to find a buyer in the Great Song, so I can only go to the Liao Kingdom to take a look.”
Besides some gold and silver utensils, there were also some jade articles, pearls, agate, tortoiseshell, calligraphy, and so on.
Although Cai Jing was a treacherous official, he was still a cultured person. His calligraphy was well-known.
One of the four great calligraphers of the Northern Song Dynasty, Su, Huang, Mi, and Cai, was originally Cai Jing. However, because of his bad reputation, the later generations replaced him with Cai Xiang.
Therefore, when Chief Secretary Liang gave Cai Jing a birthday gift, he couldn't just give him boxes of gold and silver. If he really dared to do that, Cai Jing's face would be as black as charcoal.
Therefore, the gold and silver utensils in this birthday scroll could be melted directly. The rest had to be sold in order to turn into real money.
Xu Fengwu couldn't go to Song Jiang either. Although Song Jiang was a big nest owner in Jingdong and specialized in selling stolen goods for Jianghu heroes, would he dare to accept Cai Jing's birthday?
Even if Song Jiang dared, Xu Fengwu would not believe him.
Xu Fengwu thought for a moment and felt that it was not safe to sell the stolen goods in the Song Dynasty. It was better to bring them to the Liao Kingdom. There was no shortage of rich people there, and it was relatively safe.
No matter how powerful Cai Jing was, he couldn't possibly extend his defense to the Liao Kingdom.
Hearing that Xu Fengwu was going to the Liao Kingdom, everyone was shocked. Zhu Gui hurriedly said,"Big brother is the master of the mountain stronghold. How can you act rashly? Why don't you let this little brother make a trip?”
Hearing this, Xu Fengwu couldn't help but laugh. In the original novel, every time Chao Gai wanted to go down the mountain, he was stopped by Song Jiang for the same reason, so he was gradually taken over by Song Jiang.
However, Xu Fengwu believed that Zhu Gui had no other intentions and was only worried about his safety.
"Don't worry, this time we'll disguise ourselves as merchants doing business. Even though our Liangshan's reputation is growing, not everyone will recognize me.”
Xu Fengwu shook his head and said.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]