Liver in Water Margin, outlaw madman

Wangjia Village, located next to Liangshan Marsh, is the most bustling of the surrounding villages.

The most eye-catching thing in the village is a large courtyard with blue bricks and gray tiles.

Compared to the mud-brick houses with thatched roofs next door, this courtyard was four or five times larger. The gatehouse was built in a grand style, and two farmhands with knives at their waists stood at the entrance. People came and went in an endless stream, their steps revealing their hurried pace.

Fishermen carrying baskets full of fresh fish, farmhands carrying sacks of grain, and well-dressed fishmongers all crowded into the courtyard.

A burly man in short clothes, sweating profusely, rushed in from outside. Before he could even stop, he shouted towards the main house, "Boss! News has come from Liangshan! They've changed leaders!"

Sitting on the armchair in the main house was a fat, pale-faced man, none other than Wang Heng, the local tyrant of Wangjia Village.

He didn't even lift his eyelids, his expression remained unchanged, and his tone was full of certainty: "It doesn't matter who becomes the chieftain, it's none of our business. No matter who comes, the fish in this lake will still be mine!"

The subordinate quickly stepped forward, praising the offering and saying, "Of course! We have powerful backers in Jeju Prefecture; no one dares to touch us!"

Wang Heng suddenly burst into laughter, slapping the armrest and saying, "Haha! My brother Wang Jin has been a clerk in Jizhou Prefecture for so many years, which official, from top to bottom, doesn't give him some face?"

He paused, his tone growing increasingly arrogant: "It's only because I'm too lazy to bother with those bandits from Liangshan. If they really angered me, I could just send a letter to Commander Huang and have them wiped out in one fell swoop. Would they still be able to run rampant on the mountain now?"

Upon hearing this, everyone below smiled and echoed, showering him with flattery.

"That's right! No matter who becomes the official, they'll all have to rely on Magistrate Wang. With our boss having such a powerful backer, what's there to fear from Liangshan?"

"The imperial court needs our leader to collect taxes from the lake! Besides him, who else has the ability to collect taxes from all the fishermen in the surrounding area?"

Among those speaking were fishermen forced to hand over their fish, farmhands who depended on Wang Heng for their livelihood, and merchants who wanted to buy fish at low prices.

There was no other way. Within a radius of hundreds of miles, only Liangshan Marsh had big fish. It was fine if ordinary people didn't eat them, but the landlords, officials and nobles in the city couldn't live without fresh fish for every meal.

Wang Heng monopolized the fish market, and they could only fawn over him with smiles.

On the other side, in the mountain stronghold square of Liangshan Marsh, a completely different scene unfolded.

Lu Zhishen, carrying his monk's staff, stood on the steps, his gaze sweeping over the henchmen standing below, and said loudly to Zhang Shan, "Third brother, in war, quality is more important than quantity! No matter how many rabble there are, they can't beat a few hundred tough men who can fight."

Lin Chong stood to the side and nodded in agreement, his tone tinged with emotion: "Yes, don't be fooled by the fact that the Song Dynasty boasts 800,000 Imperial Guards. When it comes to the battlefield, very few of them are actually capable of fighting and daring to take risks."

Zhang Shan stood between the two men, looking at the crowd below, fully aware of the situation.

A motley crew can only fight when things are going well; when faced with tough battles, they simply can't hold their own.

The path he will take in the future is one of elite troops.

In order to prevent military rebellions, the Song Dynasty went from one extreme to another, emphasizing civil affairs over military matters to the core. It was practically self-castration, no wonder the army was weak, the people were poor, and they were bullied everywhere.

The total number of brothers on Liangshan Mountain was less than seven hundred.

Fortunately, Wang Lun was frugal and didn't support idlers, so there were few elderly, weak, women, and children in the village; most of them were able-bodied men.

Even so, these seven hundred men were hardly presentable. Some were thin, some were weak, and they stood there crookedly. Many of them were still clutching rusty broadswords, and they couldn't even stand in a proper line.

Lu Zhishen and Lin Chong personally went to select men. From morning until noon, they only managed to pick out about two hundred sturdy men with strong eyes.

Zhang Shan frowned, turned to Li Si and shouted, "Si Lang, go and move all the grain and weapons out of the warehouse so that all the brothers can have a good meal. Only with strength can they practice their skills."

He thought to himself, "Wang Lun's brain really can't keep up."

For ordinary people living a simple life, being frugal is one thing, but these are outlaws who make a living by robbing and pillaging, yet they still think about saving money. What's the difference between that and slow suicide?

Upon hearing this, Li Si did not hesitate for a moment. He clasped his hands in response, turned around, and led his two brothers hurriedly toward the warehouse.

After arranging this matter, Zhang Shan looked at Ruan Xiaoer and instructed, "Second Brother, take a few brothers down the mountain and recruit some fishermen from the surrounding villages. We will give those who are willing to come up the mountain a settlement allowance and pay them monthly. Also, we need to find a way to get some fishing boats. We need to build up our navy as soon as possible."

Ruan Xiao'er was stunned, his eyes widening in disbelief: "Huh? They're giving us a resettlement allowance, and even paying it monthly? Chieftain, aren't we being a bit too formal?"

Lu Zhishen, standing to the side, was also stunned. He scratched his head and looked at Zhang Shan with a hint of surprise in his eyes. It seemed that his third brother had bigger ambitions than he thought; he didn't just want to stay at Liangshan and make a living.

Zhang Shan smiled, his tone matter-of-fact: "Of course we'll pay them. They've risked their lives for us, working tirelessly; how can we not pay them?"

This principle remains unchanged regardless of the times.

Trying to get something for nothing, making someone work for free, will ultimately lead to a bad end.

He paused, then looked at Lu Zhishen and Lin Chong, and asked, "Eldest brother, second brother, how much salary did you receive each month when you were in the army?"

Lu Zhishen grinned and patted his chest, saying, "When I was a military officer in Yan'an Prefecture, I received five strings of cash and two shi of grain every month."

Lin Chong also laughed and said, "My salary in the Imperial Guard in Tokyo is the same as my elder brother's, five strings of cash and two shi of grain. However, in addition to that, the court will also provide some silk and cotton to supplement the family income."

Zhang Shan was taken aback: "Second Brother, that's strange. The expenses in Tokyo are much greater than in Yan'an Prefecture, so how come your salaries are the same?"

"Alas, Third Brother, you don't know this," Lu Zhishen sighed, his tone tinged with helplessness. "They say it's five strings of cash a month, but the court often delays payment. If they can get 30% or 50%, that's already good. Most of the time, it's owed. Whether you get it or not depends entirely on luck."

The intricacies and complexities involved are all part of the shady dealings within officialdom; those who haven't personally experienced them simply cannot understand the difficulties involved.

Seeing that Zhang Shan genuinely wanted to formalize the stronghold, Lin Chong continued, "Third brother, the Imperial Guards are divided into three ranks: upper, middle, and lower. Each rank has different treatment, so let me explain in detail."

Zhang Shan nodded quickly, leaned forward, and listened attentively: "Second Brother, please speak."

He knew that many policies were originally well-intentioned, but over time, they were either exploited or taken advantage of by corrupt officials. In the end, they could only be patched up, becoming more and more bloated and complicated, and thus losing their original purpose.

Lin Chong cleared his throat and slowly said, "The top-ranking Imperial Guards are mainly the Ban Zhi and the Upper Four Armies, who are all the emperor's confidants or elites. They receive one Guan a month and two Shi a month in grain. The middle-ranking ones are mostly infantry and cavalry, who receive seven hundred Wen a month and one Shi a month in grain. The lower-ranking ones are basically miscellaneous laborers, doing rough work, who receive three hundred Wen a month and half a Shi a month in grain."

Lu Zhishen added from the side, "The Xiang Army I used to serve in was one rank lower than the Imperial Guards. The monthly salary was only five hundred coins, and the monthly ration was one shi (a unit of dry measure), which was even worse than the average treatment of the Imperial Guards."

He paused, then curled his lip: "And those prisoners who were sent to serve in the army didn't even get paid, they were just given a meal. To put it bluntly, they were free laborers, what others call 'thief convicts'."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shan couldn't help but laugh: "Haha, so this is what a convict is like!"

Lin Chong laughed along, his tone tinged with self-deprecation: "That's right. If I hadn't met my third brother back then, and had been framed by Gao Qiu, I might have been exiled to the army and become a bandit convict."

Zhang Shan suppressed his smile, pondered for a moment, and said to the two men, "Eldest brother, second brother, our stronghold is just starting out and resources are limited. Let's start with the standard for a mid-level Imperial Guard: seven hundred cash and one shi of grain per month. We can gradually increase the pay as the stronghold prospers."

You can't get fat in one bite; everything takes time.

He knew that the current treatment wasn't high, but compared to the imperial guards who were owed wages by the court, and compared to the displaced people who couldn't even get enough to eat, it was already quite good, enough to keep people and stabilize morale.

Once we figure out the fishing tyrant's situation, and give the Liangshan brothers a little training, we'll have money!