blogombal Page 35
Page 35
"Can't you get anything out of a guilty person through interrogation? I'll help my sister pry open his brain and get all his secrets."
Another woman asked curiously. She held a Nine Dragons Revolving Blade and carried nine swords on her back. Although she was born in human form, her head resembled a giant octopus from the deep sea. Her dark red skin gleamed with the light of hellish blood, and her silver eyes seemed to be able to see through people's thoughts.
Four red tentacles, each over a meter long, droop down to its waist, growing from beneath its nose, resembling a dark red beard.
As she spoke, four enormous tentacles, each over a meter long, seemed to have a life of their own, dancing in the wind on her chest. Each tentacle was covered with tiny suckers on its dark side, and its color gradually changed from a deep maroon to a dark, jet-black red.
The Mind-Stealing Demon, Zhu Tong, the Bearded Gentleman.
"It's nothing. A group of bandits from Liangshan have arrived. Huang An, the military commander of Yuncheng, has been captured alive and his fate is unknown. I'm currently writing a report for the county magistrate to pass on to his superiors."
"Huh? Those Liangshan bandits are that terrifying? The militia commander took five hundred men out; could they all have been wiped out?!"
Zhu Tong was secretly alarmed.
"It would have been better if the entire army had been wiped out!"
Song Jiang scratched his head in frustration.
"That Great Sage Liu Hong captured everyone alive, and then released them all! Now, the news of Liu Hong's defeat of the Song army has been spread throughout Jizhou with these people adding fuel to the fire! It has caused unrest throughout Jizhou, especially in Yuncheng! Everyone is terrified of Liu Hong!"
Song Jiang took a deep breath, and his beautiful, youthful, dark face returned to normal as he thought to himself.
These heroes are indeed worth befriending. If I can turn them into my henchmen, it will make future missions much easier.
Meanwhile, in the capital of Jizhou, the governor was completely stunned. The collapse of the government troops was not the most troublesome thing; the most troublesome thing was that the entire Jizhou was in chaos! Liu Hong's release of the 2,500 civilians was a stroke of genius. At present, rumors were circulating throughout Jizhou, and no one dared to provoke Liangshan again.
What use would it be if I gathered another 1,500 men? We simply couldn't win. Even if I gathered 3,000 or 5,000 men, they might not be a match for Liangshan. And even if I gathered 10,000 men, would they have the courage to fight?
There was nothing he could do, so the prefect of Jizhou simply removed his official hat and went to Kaifeng to apologize to Cai Jing—"As for retrieving the birthday tribute, you'd better find someone else; I can't handle this."
Given the extremely bloated bureaucracy and administrative inefficiency of the Song Dynasty, it would be at least several months before the new prefect arrived.
Cai Jing was furious and embarrassed. At this moment, Liangshan was in an awkward situation. With the resources she could mobilize, she simply couldn't take it down.
Of course, Cai Jing could also petition the emperor to mobilize a large army to suppress the bandits, but this would require too much political resources, and her political enemies, such as that old bastard Su Taiwei, would definitely stop her. She could even predict how Su Taiwei would refute her.
You're sending a large army to a mere band of two hundred bandits? Are you trying to settle a personal score? Just because these people robbed your birthday tribute? Are you really going to waste such a vast amount of national resources? Wouldn't it be better to invest those resources in the Western Xia battlefield?
All the difficulties, obstacles, and huge costs he had to face were for a mere 100,000 strings of cash for birthday gifts!
Is it really worth going through all that trouble for a meal?
Cai Jing scratched his head in frustration, feeling that Liangshan was like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away. So he changed his mind, increased the bounty on Liu Hong from 30,000 strings of cash to 100,000 strings of cash, and then became too lazy to manage it, leaving it to his subordinates to handle.
Meanwhile, the people in Qilin Village were dumbfounded when they saw Liu Hong's wanted poster skyrocket from 300 strings of cash to 100,000 strings. Yue Fei and the others looked at each other in disbelief. Robbing the birthday gifts and killing Song soldiers—had our junior brother gone too far?!
Chapter 73: The People Cheer After the Beating of the Rich Man (Bonus Chapter at 1600)
At this moment, the entire Jeju Island was in chaos due to the Battle of Liangshan, and Liu Hong began his next expansion strategy. First, he made full use of Song Wan's intelligence on the fifty villages surrounding Liangshan.
Subsequently, Liu Hong began to use his knowledge, which was ahead of its time, to give the Song Dynasty a small shock to the future!
"Brother, are we going to rob the people?"
Song Wan was eager to get started.
"Ordinary people don't have much money. If they're going to rob someone, they'll rob the rich man."
Liu Hong glanced at Song Wan with surprise.
"But the wealthy man has his own private army, which is difficult to fight... Never mind, never mind what I said."
Song Wan swallowed his words halfway through his sentence—when his older brother only had three people, he dared to rob a wealthy man in a megacity like Daming Prefecture. Now that he had hundreds of men, robbing a small wealthy man in a small village didn't seem like a difficult thing.
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In Xixi Village, a wedding procession, adorned with lanterns and colorful decorations, was making a lively and bustling scene with gongs and drums. The groom was none other than the village's wealthy man, Master Qian. He wore a red robe embroidered with Shu brocade, a crimson hat embroidered with a hundred flowers, and a large, multicolored brocade ornament slung across his chest. He rode a chestnut horse, beaming with joy, along the village's dirt road.
The six lackeys, dressed in red and green, carrying wooden sticks, followed their master with great pride.
The gloomy atmosphere at the bride's home contrasted sharply with the jubilation of the wedding procession. The only two men in the house kept the gate tightly shut, secured it with bolts, and braced it with several wooden sticks, fiercely protecting the women in the house.
"Old Li! Open the door! Don't be ungrateful! I want to marry your daughter!"
Seeing that the Li family's gate was tightly closed, Master Qian angrily cursed that his plan had taken a slight turn for the worse. He had originally paid the soldiers under Suo Chao to take away a fifty-year-old man and a twenty-year-old strong man from the Li family to be conscripted, leaving only an old woman who was powerless and a sixteen-year-old girl.
That way, he could force himself to marry her.
However, who knew that the Song army under Suo Chao's command would be completely wiped out as soon as they went out, and Liu Hong even let everyone go. These two men went out for two days and then came back?! This caused his marriage plan to go slightly astray.
Forget it, let's just fight! They're just two men, what can they do? Six against two, the advantage is in our hands!
At Master Qian's command, six lackeys, armed with wooden sticks, began ramming the door, determined to seize the bride!
"Old Li! I've brought a dowry of three thousand strings of cash this time. Marrying into my Qian family is a blessing your daughter has earned in her past life! Don't be ungrateful!"
"fart!"
The old man blocking the door started cursing loudly.
"The bride price is always given before the wedding. How can it not be given on the wedding day? Don't think I don't know! You used this method to harm the Zhou family's daughter before!"
"You first promised the Zhou family girl a dowry of three thousand strings of cash to take her as a concubine. Old Zhou fell for your trick, married off his daughter, and ended up not receiving a single penny."
"Half a month later, you got tired of Zhou's daughter and broke off the engagement. Not only did you get to have her body for nothing, but you also made Old Zhou pay back three thousand strings of cash for a dowry he had never received. He couldn't win the lawsuit or fight back, so he was forced to sell his land and children. His whole family became your slaves and were wantonly humiliated. He died of anger because of this!"
His body is barely cold, the whole village still remembers him, and you're going to use this old trick to cheat me? You...you...you'll be punished by heaven!!!
The old man trembled with rage. The young man was also filled with righteous indignation.
"Come on! You surnamed Qian! Let's fight to the death!"
"Fine, fine, you two, you won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences! Break down the gate! Divine retribution? I'd like to see where this divine retribution is! Let me tell you, in Xixi Village, I am divine retribution!"
Enraged that his plan had been exposed, Master Qian ordered six henchmen to force their way through the door. Despite their desperate efforts to hold the door open, the two henchmen were no match for him, and the door was quickly riddled with cracks, on the verge of being breached!
At this critical moment, a terrifying shadow loomed over Master Qian's head, blocking out the sun.
"What the hell?"
Master Qian looked up in confusion and was horrified to find a roc, a golden roc, circling above his head.
Suddenly, the sound of tearing silk was heard in the sky. The Scale Shadow Spear, which Liu Hong had increased to a hundred catties, was wrapped in Ao Ying's pale, dark lightning and pierced down from the sky!
The molten silver arcs wrapped around the gun barrel condensed into the head of the Yazi beast in mid-air. Amidst the dragon's roar, the first lackey to be attacked shattered from head to anus like a glass cup, the red and white matter not even splattering before being evaporated into crimson mist by the lightning.
The Scale Shadow Spear, after piercing through one person, plunged straight into the ground, the shockwave creating a crater several feet deep. The bluestone slabs turned into dust, flying everywhere and condensing into a ring of smoke in the air.
Before anyone could react, Liu Hong instantly cast [Mind Control], and the inverted weapon suddenly trembled and flew into the sky. Spinning wildly like a thunderstorm tornado, it precisely sliced through the necks of the other lackeys. One throw, one control—two moves to instantly kill six!
"call--"
Liu Hong flapped his gilded wings, descending from the sky like a demon god. The sunlight stretched his shadow long, covering the wealthy man's body. The solid and heavy Scale Shadow Spear also transformed into a long, ethereal river of shadows, drifting leisurely across the sky, and growing back into the Reverse Scale Totem of the Ji River in Liu Hong's palm.
"The Great Sage Evil?!"
Upon seeing the gilded wings, Master Qian immediately recognized Liu Hong. He was so frightened that he wet himself, his body trembled, he fell off his horse, his legs were too weak to stand, and he screamed as he crawled on the ground! He threw all thoughts of marriage to the wind, only thinking about saving his life.
"It's the Great Sage Evil from Liangshan! The demon is here! Run!!!"
At this moment, not to mention Master Qian, even some of the villagers watching were terrified by Liu Hong and turned pale. Everyone knew about the battle at Liangshan a few days ago, and that some of the people had been captured and then released. They knew how ruthless this gang of bandits was. In addition, with the storytellers adding fuel to the fire, everyone had already equated Liu Hong with a demon in their hearts!
However, the fleeing villagers were horrified to find that they had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Several boats had somehow docked at the shore, and about a hundred Liangshan bandits, armed with spears and bows and arrows, were divided into twenty groups of five and surrounded the entire village!
"Don't kill me! I surrender!"
"Heroes! Didn't you release me at Liangshan Marsh a few days ago? Why are you still torturing me today?!"
For a moment, the entire village was terrified, but Liu Hong did not say anything. He simply gathered everyone in the village square, then dragged out several wealthy men dressed in fine silks and satins who were completely out of place among the ordinary people and placed them on a high platform.
"How well do these wealthy men treat you normally? Tell me the truth."
Liu Hong gently inquired about the people's situation.
The wealthy men trembled, while the common people looked at each other, wondering what tricks these bandits were up to, and no one dared to speak.
Meanwhile, the four members of the Li family were gathered in the square. They gritted their teeth and thought, "We're already being driven to the brink of death by the landlord, so let's just die together!" They immediately jumped out.
"That rich man surnamed Qian is a scoundrel! He forcibly took a respectable woman as his concubine, and after breaking off the engagement, he even drove his father-in-law's entire family to their deaths! He is wicked and commits all sorts of evil deeds!"
Is what this person said true?
Liu Hong patiently questioned the other people, and seeing that Old Li had said everything was fine, and that the other people also remembered Qian Yuanwai's many misdeeds in recent years, they all joined in the cursing after someone had spoken up for him! Qian Yuanwai, who had wet his pants, looked ashen-faced.
Liu Hong kept glancing sideways as he listened—you're just a village magistrate, the smallest landlord, yet you've committed such heinous crimes.
After listening to the last person's furious accusation, Liu Hong nodded, and the Scale Shadow Spear appeared in its fifty-two-pound form. In front of all the crowd, he stabbed the man through the heart, blood splattering everywhere, leaving the Li family of four dumbfounded.
Has divine retribution truly arrived?!
“Master Qian has committed numerous crimes and deserves to die! Brothers and sisters, these masters rely on their connections with the county and the extra money they have squeezed from you to run rampant in the countryside, preying on the people and making everyone suffer. Even if we go to the authorities to sue, these masters will use money to suppress us, and justice will be nowhere to be served.”
But starting today! This kind of thing will never happen again! I'm here for only three things: fairness, fairness, and fucking fairness!
The villages surrounding Liangshan Marsh, spanning eight hundred li, and even the entire Jizhou region. What the government can manage, I will manage; what the government cannot manage, I will manage even more! To uphold justice and punish the wicked, to act on behalf of Heaven—this is Liangshan Marsh! This is me, the Great Sage Evil: Liu Hong!
Liu Hong pulled out a large flag and stabbed it into the chest of the wealthy man, Qian. The apricot-yellow silk banner unfurled, and the four characters "Acting on Behalf of Heaven" fluttered in the wind above the corpses and pools of blood.
Looking at the people of Xixi Village with high spirits, Liu Hong chose the most extravagant method to promote his Liangshan brand.
At this moment, the villagers of Xixi Village were all dumbfounded. Then Liu Hong interrogated the other two wealthy men in public, letting the local people tell him his crimes and decide for himself whether he should be punished for them or simply atone with his death.
These people usually colluded with the government, oppressed the people, and exploited the locals. The people were powerless against these wealthy landowners. But now, Liu Hong had killed them all, which vented the people's anger and made them respect Liu Hong even more than fear him.
Immediately afterwards, he confiscated the property of the three wealthy men, transported two-thirds of their supplies back to Liangshan Marsh, and distributed one-third of the supplies to the poor people in the area, which made the people of Xixi Village extremely excited!
Finally, the Liangshan heroes announced that all the land owned by the three wealthy landowners would be distributed to the people of Xixi Village, so that they would look at Liu Hong with extreme worship and respect, as if he were a god.
Chapter 74: Land Distribution Makes Officials Tremble
"Great Sage!"
Just as Liu Hong was about to leave after killing all the wealthy landowners and dividing the money, an elderly man, trembling, grabbed Liu Hong's arm. His eyes held a mixture of joy, respect, and worry.
“While we may all feel good about what you’re doing, Master Qian is responsible for paying the taxes for our entire village to the imperial court. Autumn is almost here, and if the county doesn’t collect the taxes, they will come and hold us accountable. What will happen to our whole village then?”
"Don't worry, old man. After we leave, go and report to the authorities immediately. Just say that the Liangshan bandits came, killed you, and ran away with all the money. Don't tell the authorities that you ate half the money, so they won't treat you as accomplices."
Liu Hong remained calm and told the old man how to handle the situation.
“In that case, Yuncheng County will naturally find a way to solve the tax problem in Xixi Village. At that time, another wealthy man will be sent to be in charge of collecting taxes. If this new wealthy man also commits many evils, then you should come to Liangshan and let me know, and I will naturally reappear.”
"No problem, no problem, have a safe journey, Great Sage!"
Liu Hong nodded, and surrounded by the villagers of Xixi Village, he returned to Liangshan with his money. As usual, half of it would be used as public property to build Liangshan Home, and the other half would be divided among everyone.
The hundred men Liu Hong led this time were all from the Daming Prefecture River Guard of Suo Chao. Their loyalty was not high to begin with, but after robbing several wealthy people and feeding these soldiers with gold and silver, their enthusiasm and loyalty were greatly improved.
This boss is great; he's really generous with money! He's a hundred times better than those stingy officers in Daming Prefecture. Following him means you'll have plenty to eat.
Moreover, Liu Hong was not the only one acting in Liangshan. Wu Song, Suo Chao, Lü Fang, and Guo Sheng were also leading a hundred men each, sweeping through all the nearby villages.
Following Liu Hong's instructions, the four women did not disturb the villagers, but instead robbed the wealthy man. At the same time, they established a village court on the spot to discuss whether the local wealthy man should be killed.
Regardless of whether they kill or not, Liangshan will rob the wealthy man of all his wealth, taking two-thirds of it to the mountain. The remaining third will be distributed to the local people, and the wealthy man's land will be divided among them. Only the surviving good wealthy men will be given land so that one family can live a normal life.
Of course, with Chao Gai, the two villages of the three Ruan brothers, and the tough nut of Zhujiazhuang, Liu Hong gave the order not to touch them for now, as they were troublesome.
In a short time, the villagers surrounding the 800-li Liangshan Marsh changed their perception of the Liangshan heroes from fear to respect.
While leading the Liangshan troops to complete the mission, Suo Chao was also astonished—when I attacked Liangshan, I only ordered my soldiers to conscript some laborers and boats from the surrounding area. In the Northern Song Dynasty, corvée laborers were paid, so this was nothing unusual.
But how could you guys do something so outrageous?!
Suo Chao only went to two villages, and there were as many as twenty laborers who had been forcibly conscripted. They had wives and daughters, farmland, and fishing boats.
After the men in these twenty families were forcibly conscripted, they were all subjected to varying degrees of attacks and harassment by the local landlord! Everyone was furiously cursing the landlord at the denunciation meeting.
"It's him! That damned Master Zheng! The government troops are going to attack Liangshan Marsh, so he forcibly dragged my husband out to work as a laborer during this busy farming season!"
A woman wept as she nestled in her husband's arms. The man, a survivor of the battlefield, also glared at the wealthy man on the stage while comforting his wife.
“These past few days, I’ve been working tirelessly to support my child, farming during the day, weaving at night, and taking care of my newborn baby. I’m so exhausted I’m vomiting blood. He took advantage of my husband’s absence, smashing my doors and windows and destroying my crops, all to force me to sell my land. If he won’t let me live, I’ll make him die too!”
"Me too!"
A woman in the crowd sobbed, but she was unlucky; her husband had died in battle at Liangshan and had not returned. Now she was all alone, her face gaunt and her eyes blazing with boundless rage, as if she wanted to devour the rich man who had been captured alive by Suo Chao on the stage.
“Not only did he forcibly take my husband away, but he also sank our fishing boat while the family was without a leader, cutting off my source of income! After starving me for two days, he introduced me to a job in Yuncheng County.”