Liver in Water Margin, outlaw madman

As darkness fell, Zhang Shan returned home.

Or a place that can barely be called home.

Outside Suanzao Gate, at the foot of the city wall, there is a large area of ​​houses made of thatched huts, wooden planks, and adobe bricks.

Based on his memories, Zhang Shan found his home.

There was only one straight-ahead room with no yard. The bed was right inside the door, made of a few broken wooden planks, and Zhang Shan was worried that it would fall apart at any moment.

There was a tattered mat on the bed, and straw underneath it.

Poor, really poor!

Compared to the prosperity of the city, this place is simply unbearable to look at.

It's like heaven on one side and hell on the other.

Zhang Shan lay in bed, and through the gaps in the thatched roof, he could see only twinkling stars.

People today do not see the moon of old, yet the moon of today once shone on people of old.

Today was so exciting! After the excitement, all that's left is endless exhaustion.

In a daze, Zhang Shan fell asleep.

The next morning, Zhang Shan got up early and went to the vegetable garden.

No wonder they make a living this way; it's so close, just around the corner.

Zhang Shan had originally planned to practice in his own house, but it was too cramped and he couldn't move around much. The vegetable garden was much larger.

When Zhang Shan arrived, the others had not yet arrived, not even Lu Zhishen had gotten up.

How delightful it is to enjoy this huge vegetable garden all by yourself!

Even in the cage, one can return to nature.

Practice horse stance and Taizu Changquan (Emperor Taizu's Long Fist), which inherently includes stance training.

Zhang Shan slumped off his horse, bent his arms slightly, and began to cultivate.

Proficiency +1

After each practice session, new insights emerge, leading to adjustments in the body's power generation techniques.

Zhang Shan became engrossed in the story once again.

It wasn't until he smelled a delicious aroma that he realized he was starving again.

"Third Brother, eat it while it's hot, it's a freshly bought flatbread." Seeing that Zhang Shan had stopped practicing martial arts, Li Si quickly handed him the newly bought flatbread.

Zhang Shan took it casually and was about to eat when he saw Li Si swallowing hard. He paused for a moment and asked, "You haven't eaten?"

Yesterday, Zhang Shan was in a state of tension and excitement and had no energy to observe Li Si.

It was only then that he realized that Li Si was also quite thin, even thinner than himself. Both of them were skin and bones, with two rows of ribs.

The other scoundrels were no better.

Li Si swallowed hard and said with a smile, "Brother, eat first. You've been expending a lot of energy practicing martial arts."

Zhang Shan put down the flatbread, his expression grave: "How much silver do we have left?"

Li Si gave a wry smile: "Brother, how much do we have? We only have ten taels of silver on hand right now, which is all for the winter."

During the Song Dynasty, high-ranking officials and wealthy landlords were already able to afford three meals a day.

However, ordinary people at the bottom of society, especially impoverished urban dwellers like Li Si, still only have two meals a day and cannot afford three meals a day at all.

Although they rely on vegetable gardens for their livelihood, there are too many of them.

With twenty or thirty people, they could barely keep from starving.

Furthermore, the vegetable garden does not produce anything in winter, so they used to have to consider winter and prepare for it.

"Third Brother, eat quickly, it won't taste good if it gets cold," Li Si urged. He was a few years younger than Zhang San, and Zhang San had always taken him to play when they were young, and they had relied on each other for survival as they grew up.

Zhang Shan took the flatbread and said with a smile, "Si Lang, go and buy some flatbread too, buy a lot so that the brothers can all eat, and buy some for the commander as well."

Seeing that Li Si hesitated.

Zhang Shan continued, "Don't worry about the money, I'll figure something out."

If it were the old Zhang San, he would definitely have followed the established procedures, made do, and just endured one year at a time.

But Zhang Shan is not.

Winter is not currently on his agenda. If he can get through the first half of the year without incident and still not make any money, then Zhang Shan is simply incompetent.

I'd turn around and crash into something to my death, no regrets!

Putting everything else aside, he can still find some creative ways to make money in the winter thanks to his vegetable garden, though the costs are a bit high.

"The best course of action now is for everyone to practice martial arts as soon as possible and seize this opportunity," Zhang Shan said slowly while eating a flatbread.

Li Si was his closest and most trusted person, so he talked more about him.

"Many people don't have this opportunity. We are lucky to have the chance to learn martial arts. If we seize it, we won't be idle hooligans for the rest of our lives!" Zhang Shan said with bright eyes.

"Yes, I'll listen to my brother," Li Si nodded solemnly.

In their original small team, Zhang San was the leader, a generous and authoritative figure.

Li Si is the second son, in charge of the money. He is shrewd, ruthless, and vicious.

After a few bites, Zhang Shan ate a few more and finally felt full. Practicing martial arts really does make you hungry.

No time was wasted.

Zhang Shan threw himself back into martial arts practice, but he had a persistent, unsettling feeling that he was being chased.

I don't know if it's because I've lived in modern society for so long that I feel uneasy if I don't work hard!

Time passed, and the sun rose high in the sky.

Lu Zhishen finally got up. Hearing the noise in the vegetable garden, he frowned.

Who's making a fuss outside?

Bare-chested, I stepped out of the room and saw Zhang Shan practicing martial arts there.

The displeasure on his face immediately turned into a smile; Zhang Shan and his brother are truly diligent.

"what?"

Lu Zhishen's expression turned serious. How could Zhang Shan's boxing skills have improved so much in just one night?

It's important to know that there are no shortcuts to learning martial arts; besides talent, you also need to practice diligently.

Standing there without saying a word, he just quietly watched Zhang Shan. Even when Li Si came forward to offer him food, Lu Zhishen stopped him.

Suddenly, Zhang Shan's boxing style changed. He no longer strictly followed the training sequence, but instead moved up and down, left and right, and back and forth.

Lu Zhishen couldn't hold back any longer. He quickly took a few steps forward and burst into laughter: "Brother, have you broken through to a higher level?"

Zhang Shan also burst into laughter: "I've gained some insights."

I couldn't help but blink.

Taizu Changquan (Long Fist of Emperor Taizu), proficient (1/100).

"Haha, in the army, the fastest I've seen is around ten days, and most take a month to barely see any change. You actually did it overnight, it's truly the first time I've ever seen anything like it," Lu Zhishen said in amazement.

"Brother, the beginning is easy, but it's hard to improve later on," Zhang Shan said with a smile. It turns out that each playthrough can increase proficiency by at least 1, or even 2.

However, after upgrading, you might not even get +1 even after practicing once.

"No rush, take your time. Martial arts training requires perseverance," Lu Zhishen comforted him. "I spent decades in the army honing my skills to this level."

Lu Zhishen was genuinely happy. Seeing that Zhang Shan was talented and self-disciplined filled him with immense satisfaction, unlike when he was in the army and teaching the soldiers, which always made him furious.

Stupid, clumsy, and lazy!

"The Taizu Long Fist is the foundation; today I'll teach you how to use a spear." Lu Zhishen became interested. For him, besides drinking and eating meat, he also needed to find something to do in life.

It is a fortunate thing for him to meet a genius like Zhang San.

"Okay, thank you very much, brother," Zhang Shan said excitedly.

With weapons, who goes empty-handed?

As the saying goes, even the best martial arts master is afraid of a kitchen knife.

Having weapons and not having weapons are completely different things.

"The spear is the king of all weapons. In the army, the spear is the most important weapon. Every inch longer, every inch stronger."

"There are three types of guns: infantry guns are twelve feet long, cavalry guns are one zhang long, and city defense guns are more than two zhang long."

"In addition, there are short guns, six to eight feet long."

Lu Zhishen said simply.

Zhang San quickly calculated in his mind: one foot is 31 centimeters, and one zhang is 3.1 meters.

"However, we'll practice with short spears first. Long spears are for forming spear formations; that's where the power is greatest." Lu Zhishen couldn't help but get excited when talking about military matters.

Zhang Shan turned his head and said, "Brother, you eat something first, I'll go buy a few guns."

After saying that, he led Li Si and quickly headed towards the armory. This time, he not only wanted to buy guns, but also bows and arrows.

In ancient times, this was a truly deadly weapon!