The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 461 Everything is ready, but the only thing that comes to mind is wanting to slip away.

Gusu was the capital of Pingjiang Prefecture, equivalent to a provincial capital in later times. Most of the prominent officials in Pingjiang Prefecture lived in Gusu.

The Song Dynasty's official system was complex, with overlapping powers. There were more than twenty civil officials who could govern or influence the Gusu Militia Commissioner. These people lived in close proximity to each other, which made it very convenient for Wu Chengyu to take action against them one by one.

In addition, there were many more military officers who needed to be recruited. They spent most of their time living in military camps, which were not all in one place, causing Wu Chengyu a lot of trouble.

It took Wu Chengyu a full half month to subdue all these guys. The procedure was the same as with Ma Cheng, using the Life and Death Chain and Life and Death Talisman in turn. Not to mention the civil officials of the Southern Song Dynasty who surrendered, even the military officials were willing to become dogs. Some knelt down even faster than the civil officials.

These people had all served as officials in Suzhou for many years, and Suzhou was a fertile land. In short, they had all made a fortune. After Wu Chengyu subdued them, he robbed them a little, and together they made nearly two million taels of silver.

This is far more money than the silver looted by the Beiwei Army when they slaughtered and wiped out those gangs, and it's much easier.

Wu Chengyu couldn't help but sigh. In terms of wealth, how could the local gang leaders compare to these officials? Gangs relied on robbery and collecting protection money, and so on.

Officials can not only seize wealth through trickery and force, but they also receive it from others without lifting a finger. The ancients were right: officials travel thousands of miles just for money.

Besides subduing these officials and collecting protection money along the way, Wu Chengyu made a very important discovery.

The highest-ranking military officer in Pingjiang Circuit was the Pacification Commissioner, a third-rank official. Below him were the Military Supervisors and Commanders. A Commander could command 10,000 troops. There were a total of 5 Commanders in Pingjiang Circuit, meaning that the Pacification Commissioner of Pingjiang was stationed here with 50,000 troops.

After Wu Chengyu subdued the Pacification Commissioner and several commanders, supervisors, and even several officers of the rank of captain or above, he also learned the true situation of the 50,000 troops.

These military commanders, unlike civil officials, sought to make money through various means. While they also engaged in cunning and extortion, and allowed their troops to plunder, they had another crucial source of income: receiving salaries without working and exploiting the Southern Song court.

With a full army of 50,000, the cost of maintaining the troops and supplies was enormous every day, including the casting and repair of weapons and armor.

These generals had taken the practice of embezzling salaries to the extreme; everyone was doing it and enjoying it immensely. Of the 50,000 troops, more than 20,000 were on unpaid pay, meaning that the Pingjiang Prefecture's army actually numbered only 20,000, and many of these soldiers did not receive their full pay.

The salaries of nearly 30,000 people were all embezzled over the years. This amount was enough to frighten everyone. Of course, this money also had to be paid as tribute to the corrupt officials in the court, but the rest all went into the pockets of these generals.

In the event of war, the entire Pingjiang Prefecture would only have a little over 20,000 troops scattered throughout various places, and their military preparedness would be lax, with many of them being old and weak, making it impossible for them to form an effective fighting force.

No wonder that when the Mongol army marched south, the troops within the Southern Song territory were utterly powerless to resist. If it weren't for the stubborn Guo Jing defending Xiangyang to the death, the entire Southern Song court probably wouldn't have lasted even a few months.

This situation made Wu Chengyu lose all illusions about the Southern Song court, and at the same time gave him the best opportunity. Nearly 30,000 people were receiving salaries without working, which meant that there were nearly 30,000 vacancies in Pingjiang Prefecture that needed to be filled.

This perfectly aligned with his original objective: each unit he trained could fill the vacancies, gradually replacing the troops in Pingjiang Prefecture, and using the Southern Song court's military pay to support his soldiers.

Jiangsu was originally divided into north and south, with the north belonging to the Jin Dynasty. Wu Chengyu could gradually take control of the military power in southern Jiangsu, but this was only the first step. His next target was Hangzhou.

Half a month later, he returned to Yanyun Manor. At this time, Beiwei Army had not yet returned. In the vast Taihu Lake, there were dozens of large and small water bandits. If he wanted to eliminate them all in a short period of time, he would spend most of the time on the water.

But Wu Chengyu paid no attention to this matter. How could the Beiwei Army, which he had carefully trained, have such an unexpected problem even when fighting the Taihu Lake pirates?

He currently has over 2.4 million taels of silver, which is enough to support his troops for the next few years. His priority now is to convert the silver into grain. This task should have been handled by Wu Zhengliang, but now he can directly rely on Ma Cheng's channels to collect the grain.

He spent half a month collecting nearly 30,000 shi of grain, enough for 5,000 soldiers to use for more than half a year.

At this moment, the Beiwei Army, which had been away for more than a month, finally returned. They were good swimmers, but they were still at a disadvantage when playing water battles with the water pirates on Taihu Lake. This time, nearly a hundred Beiwei Army soldiers were injured, with varying degrees of injury. Fortunately, Lin Xiao was mature and prudent, and no one died in battle.

Song Mu's face also looked rather unpleasant, but Wu Chengyu wouldn't blame him.

"Alright, I've already sent someone to fetch a doctor to treat the brothers' injuries. You guys had it too easy when you formed the army, so it's good that you're suffering a bit."

"Reporting to the Master, the Taihu Lake pirates have been completely wiped out. There were thirteen groups of these pirates, the strongest of which had nearly a thousand men and was based on Xishan Island."

All the water pirates totaled more than 3,000 people. During the war, they killed more than 800 people, and after the war, more than 200 people were seriously wounded. We all helped them get through the war.

Of the remaining two thousand, more than five hundred were those with grave sins, those who tried to escape, and those who wanted to feign surrender and resist. We made an example of them to deter others.

The remaining 1,500 or so men have completely surrendered and dare not resist. They are now imprisoned on Dongshan Island by Jiang Fei, who leads over 100 Beiwei soldiers and 200 veterans.

In addition, they seized over ten thousand taels of silver, nearly a thousand bushels of grain, almost two hundred ships of various types, and over a thousand pieces of usable weaponry.

"Very good. Now we have a total of over 800 people, including you and the veterans. News has come from the rebels in the north that 5,000 young soldiers will arrive in several batches over the next two months. So we only have two months to set up our own base."

"We don't have much time to waste. Let's at least build the barracks first. You lead the way, and we'll head to Xishan Island now to see our future base." Wu Chengyu had been to Xishan Island in his previous life, traveling by car across the Taihu Bridge without any problems. Now, however, he had to take a boat, which would take at least an hour from the dock on Taihu Lake to Xishan Island. The distance was quite far, which was why the imperial army had difficulty controlling the Taihu Lake pirates.

Xishan Island is now a scenic spot, but it was mainly developed during the Ming and Qing dynasties, with historical sites such as Tianwang Temple, Jiezhou Garden, and Linwu Cave. There were also historical sites before the Southern Song Dynasty, but at least in the world of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, it was completely occupied by water pirates.

Xishan Island is long and narrow in the northeast and wider in the southwest. It is 15 kilometers long from east to west and 11 kilometers long from north to south. There are more than a dozen smaller islands around it, but it can easily accommodate several hundred people.

There are many mountains in the center of the island, the highest of which is called Piaomiao Peak, which is the same name as the Piaomiao Peak of the Tianshan Child Granny. The mountain is only a little over 300 meters high. There are also many small mountains around it, which occupy a large part of the island's area.

These mountains are mainly composed of limestone, and Wu Chengyu considered building military camps on them. In addition, there are many lake bays and mudflats in the northeast and southwest of Xishan Island.

Later generations reclaimed land from the riverbanks, creating tens of thousands of acres of fertile land. However, at this time, these were still wastelands, with at least a thousand acres of vacant land.

Wu Chengyu envisioned this wasteland as the ideal training ground for his troops. Apart from a small portion used for growing crops, most of it would be converted into a drill ground.

In short, this was a huge project. Xishan Island was developed during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and it was only after the founding of the People's Republic of China that the people worked hard to build it up, turning it into a paradise. Now, Xishan Island is just a large, deserted island.

Wu Chengyu had no intention of developing the area; as long as the land was large enough to train troops and didn't attract attention, that was enough.

He led Song Mu and the others to the top of Misty Peak to overlook the entire island, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it.

In the days that followed, Wu Chengyu first led people to survey and draw a map of the entire island, and then found a valley in a barren mountain near the southwest.

This place is not far from the mudflats to the southwest. The mountain is only a little over 200 meters high, but the valley area is quite large, exactly 100 meters high, which is enough to build barracks.

However, the valley was quite desolate, with uneven ground and lots of broken rocks and tree roots. Just clearing and leveling the ground would be a huge project.

"Song Mu, bring all the captured water bandits here. First, clean up the valley. Then I'll find some trustworthy craftsmen. Our primary goal is to build this military camp, and then we'll establish a training ground in the southwest."

"You must also transport all the grain I bought over here, and move the entire Beiwei Army to the island to supervise the work at all times. This must be completed within two months."

With sufficient funds and supplies, protection from higher authorities, veteran instructors, a powerful private armed force like the Beiwei Army that could intimidate all sides, and a sufficiently safe and secluded base, Wu Chengyu suddenly realized that there was very little left for him to do.

The next step is simply to spend time training the troops step by step, which will take several years.

He wasn't good at farming or management games to begin with, and his street-smart personality kicked in; he would get bored if he stayed in one place for too long.

A few months later, the base was established, and five thousand new recruits from the north arrived one after another. With the help of Hong Niangzi, he could no longer contain himself.

His good disciple Guo Jing didn't need him to worry. After learning the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms from A Ku, he put him in the barracks, where he ate and lived with the other children and received the most rigorous military training.

That day, he was feeling rather bored and was always thinking about where to find some fun when Ah Ku suddenly came to find him.

"Brother, I want to go back to the Beggars' Sect."

Wu Chengyu suddenly remembered a line: Beijing, ah, who exactly is the Beggars' Sect? Why do you always want to go back to the Beggars' Sect?

Last time, A-Ku almost got into trouble because of the Beggars' Sect rebellion. Now, Wu Chengyu only wants to keep A-Ku by his side. Unfortunately, A-Ku has been in the Beggars' Sect for too long and really considers himself a member of the sect. After finishing his farewell with his brother recently, he keeps making a fuss about wanting to go back.

Before Wu Chengyu could even ask, A-Ku's little mouth started chattering non-stop.

“Yesterday I went to Suzhou to buy things and saw the Beggars’ Gang’s contact code, so I went to the Beggars’ Gang’s branch in Suzhou.”

The branch leader said, "My master spent several months purging all the traitors from the Beggars' Sect's Clean Clothes Faction, but the Beggars' Sect's strength has been reduced by more than half. Now we are in dire need of manpower, and I want to go back to help my master."

"Even without the Clean Clothes Faction, the Beggars' Sect is still the largest sect in terms of numbers. How come they're short-handed again?"

"It seems that a gang saw that the Beggars' Sect's power had been greatly weakened and sent people to seize its territory."

Wu Chengyu immediately perked up. With the Iron Palm Gang gone, what other gang in the world would dare to challenge the Beggars' Gang?

　I've realized I'm not suited to writing farming stories; this part is just a transition. I'll be back to the martial arts world soon.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)