Chapter 56: Instructor Wang is in Danger!

"Brother, we've really made a fortune this time!"

After leaving East Creek Village, everyone was exceptionally happy as they looked at the fully laden spoils of war. The generals of the infantry, in particular, were all beaming with smiles. There was no help for it—the Liangshan infantry had truly performed brilliantly today and stolen the spotlight!

"This really fulfills what Brother said last time: the village head falls, and Liangshan gets fed. Those two village heads of East and West Creek have truly made great contributions to Liangshan." Yuan Lang was also full of emotion, recalling when they took West Creek Village a few months ago.

"East Creek is somewhat better than West Creek. Although that fellow Chao Gai is somewhat full of grand ambitions but lacking in real talent, at least he didn't oppress the common people the way West Creek did." Ren Yuan felt a trace of emotion as well.

"Brother, after this battle, I'm afraid we'll be targeted by the local officials of Jizhou. The pressure will likely be quite heavy." Sun An possessed a clearer head. Although they had wiped out a command of Jizhou troops today, to Jizhou as a whole, this single command was hardly a crippling blow. On the contrary, the next time they sent forces, things probably wouldn't be so simple.

"That's normal. Zhang Shuye over in Jizhou is a rare, virtuous official with quite a few means. It's not appropriate for us to stand out too much right now. Once we develop a bit further, we won't need to fear them anymore." Ren Yuan still held a rather positive impression of Zhang Shuye.

"Brother, who is this Zhang Shuye you speak of?" Sun An asked, somewhat puzzled. His brother seemed to hold this person named Zhang Shuye in high regard, yet during today's battle with the Jizhou army, he had never heard of such a man.

"Ah? Wasn't it him? This... Oh, I understand!" Ren Yuan was startled at first, then instantly reacted.

Zhang Shuye was indeed the major figure in history who defeated Song Jiang.

The problem, however, was that his timing was wrong!

According to official history, when Zhang Shuye defeated Song Jiang, he was the Prefect of Haizhou. According to the timeline of The Water Margin, it wasn't until the seventy-fifth chapter that Zhang Shuye became the Prefect of Jizhou.

In other words, the person currently in charge of Jizhou was not this heavyweight.

"I remembered incorrectly. No wonder... Zhang Shuye's subordinate troops didn't look like the kind that would fall so easily for tricks." Ren Yuan waved his hand. His memory had gotten a bit jumbled, and he had almost conjured up a formidable opponent for himself out of thin air.

"How many troops does Jizhou currently have?" Ren Yuan asked.

"According to the confessions of those imperial soldiers, around five thousand men." Sun An seemed to understand. His brother must have mistaken the person; no wonder he had given such solemn and prolonged instructions before coming down the mountain today—he had thought a fierce battle was in store!

It seemed this Zhang Shuye was an extraordinary figure, and they would definitely have to be careful of him in the future.

"Five thousand men... Then we don't need to worry too much. With today's harvest, the stronghold can keep a low profile for a while. Once we develop our military strength further, we can go deal with Jizhou."

Having cleared up that there was no heavyweight in Jizhou, Ren Yuan relaxed a great deal. If Zhang Shuye had truly been in Jizhou right now, Liangshan's development would certainly have been restricted to a certain extent, and that was not what Ren Yuan wanted to see.

"We understand."

"Brother, what about Yuncheng? I feel the combat effectiveness of the Yuncheng garrison is mediocre. Should we deal with Yuncheng first?" Although Yuan Lang had also won the battle at Yuncheng today, he had fought them head-on, and his battalion had suffered some losses.

Still, the combat process gave Yuan Lang great confidence. Given enough men, he was truly certain he could take Yuncheng directly.

"The two garrison inspectors of Yuncheng were sent packing in disgrace by us today, and they lost so many soldiers. I imagine the Magistrate of Yuncheng won't dare to come again anytime soon. We don't need to attack the city for the time being. Even if we took it, we couldn't hold it, and it would only draw the imperial court's attention. We should just develop steadily within the stronghold."

Ren Yuan did not agree to attacking the city. He remained crystal clear in his mind: small-scale skirmishes were fine for now, but if they truly went to attack a walled city, even if it were just a county town, they would immediately face the grand army of the Great Song. That was something Liangshan, with only three combat battalions at present, could not withstand.

Stepping too wide makes it easy to tear something; it was better to remain steady.

"Alright then. But Brother, I need to pick men from these prisoners of war to replenish my first battalion first." Yuan Lang had set his sights on the prisoners, especially the Jizhou captives. They felt like veteran soldiers, and their combat effectiveness would definitely surpass that of new recruits!

"As long as you can make them willing to go to you of their own accord, and sincerely so, I don't mind. Sun An, you too—speak up if you need reinforcements. The remaining people will be uniformly organized into the labor reform camp to do manual labor for the stronghold."

Regarding the recruitment of prisoners, Ren Yuan indicated he was indifferent, as long as they could suppress the men themselves. As long as no mishaps occurred later and nobody came crying to him, it was fine.

"Brother, what does this labor reform camp mean?" Mi Sheng did not quite understand.

"Labor reform means labor through reform. Since they came to attack my Liangshan, how can they not do hard labor to redeem themselves?"

"Hahahahaha! So that's what it means! Brilliant!"

Ren Yuan's words caused everyone to burst into happy laughter, as if Ren Yuan had told an exceptionally funny joke.

Yet what Ren Yuan was thinking inside was:

"This won't do. I need to quickly open remedial classes for the stronghold's chieftains. They don't even understand labor reform; the average cultural level of our chieftains is truly limited!"

Could it be that they were going to turn into the Liangshan Limited Cultural Corporation in the future?

No, no, no, Ren Yuan did not want that!

Laughing and chatting, the group returned to the mountain. At Jinshatan, they happened to run into the naval forces escorting prisoners of war. Everyone laughed and frolicked for a while longer before joyfully returning to the great stronghold.

It was worth mentioning that after returning to the stronghold, among the more than four hundred prisoners, half were children of impoverished families. They immediately expressed their willingness to join Liangshan, which naturally thrilled the infantry generals. After this battle, the strength of Liangshan's infantry not only did not decline, but grew even stronger!

As for the others who were temporarily unwilling to surrender, they were organized into the prisoner-of-war camp, currently overseen by military law officer Guanghui, and were responsible for all kinds of physical labor in the stronghold.

Naturally, rewards and banquets were indispensable after such a great victory. Meanwhile, following Ren Yuan's policy of "developing with a low profile," Liangshan's various departments faded into the background somewhat after this battle, causing both Jizhou and Yuncheng to temporarily set aside their ambitions regarding Liangshan.

The reason was simple: although they had suffered a defeat, Liangshan had not threatened the safety of the cities, nor had it threatened the safety of the local chief magistrates, which showed that they understood the rules.

If they understood the rules, everything was negotiable. As long as they didn't report the defeat upward, the imperial court wouldn't blame them either.

As for the missing troops, it didn't matter. The imperial court hardly checked such numbers anyway (the verification of troop counts in the late Northern Song was truly abysmal...). The headcount would be reported as usual, and the military pay would be issued as usual. As local chief officials, collecting the pay for these missing troops and pocketing it themselves was quite reasonable!

Especially the current Prefect of Jizhou—although he had suffered a defeat, the thought that he could pocket a battalion's military pay for free every month made him quite happy!

Therefore, for the time being, he simply ignored Liangshan.

This could not but make Ren Yuan sigh that the corruption of the Great Song court was nearing the point of being beyond redemption.

Of course, viewed from the perspective of a stronghold master, Ren Yuan only wanted to say: Magistrate of Yuncheng, Prefect of Jizhou, you truly are the Great Song's finest neighbors!

Just like that, two months flashed by. Relying on the fame of that battle, Liangshan attracted even more people to the mountain. Coupled with the surrendered men from the prisoner camp, Liangshan now possessed the establishment of four infantry battalions!

Infantry Battalion 1: Full strength of 500 men, Commander: Red-Faced Tiger Yuan Lang.
Infantry Battalion 2: Full strength of 500 men, Commander: Dragon-Slaying Saber Sun An.
Infantry Battalion 3: Full strength of 500 men, Commander: Tiger-Obsessed Mi Sheng.
Infantry Battalion 4: Full strength of 380 men, Deputy Commanders: Leaping Tiger Chen Da, White-Flower Snake Yang Chun.

The other naval forces, scout battalion, and prisoner camp also performed their respective duties and continued to develop!

On this day, just as Ren Yuan was planning his next steps in the great stronghold, a small lackey suddenly hurried over from outside holding a small roll of letter paper:

"Report! Stronghold Master! A carrier pigeon urgent dispatch from the Shijiazhuang scouts! Instructor Wang is in danger!"

"Bang!"

Ren Yuan slammed his hand on the table and stood up, his face a mask of utter disbelief.

"What did you say? Instructor Wang is in danger?"

That's not right!

Wang Jin, how could something possibly happen to you??

It wasn't written like that in The Water Margin!