Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

As dawn breaks and night falls, darkness descends upon the sky.

The waterway reflected the stars in the sky, gleaming with a cool light, and the sound of oars cutting through the water could be clearly heard in the pool.

At one point, the ship stopped.

puff-

The boats with torches lit made a few noises as their wooden wheels turned, and the large stone anchors broke through the river and sank into it.

"I was terrified, Rong-ge'er! He touched the boat right under our noses!"

"Those idiots, their eyes were wide open when the boat started moving, damn it, they were really amusing."

“We’ve already got about twenty boats. If any more tax collectors come to collect taxes, we might as well tie them up, drown them in the lake, and then go live happily ever after on Liangshan Mountain.”

"That's right. I've heard that the current emperor in the north, Lü Bu, was originally the master of Liangshan. Let's go and pay our respects to the place he once lived. Who knows, Rong-ge'er might become successful in the future."

A dozen or so young people gathered together, chatting animatedly, the torchlight illuminating their faces in the middle of the deck.

Although the light was dim, one could still make out the face of a fisherman, with long, slender arms and a well-proportioned physique. He chuckled as he listened to their words: "Stop daydreaming. Liangshan has already been targeted by the government. Every year, officials would occasionally go there to check on it. If we really went, we'd probably be wiped out by the government before we even had a chance to make a move."

The others chuckled: "That's a pity. But we've heard that the Qi army has marched south. We wonder how the battle is going."

"Why are you making such a fuss?" The young man smiled and walked over, patting the boat. "Now that the government has finally loosened some restrictions, we can fish in the water. With more boats, the people in the surrounding villages can live a better life."

The other young men exchanged glances and gave each other a thumbs up: "Brother Rong is truly loyal. Otherwise, we brothers wouldn't respect you."

Several people came up from the cabin, and a burly young man in the lead said, "Then this ship needs to be remodeled quickly, otherwise it may not be able to sail out."

"What do you mean, Brother Wei?" The man on deck turned to look at him. "Usually, they just hide for two or three months and then nothing happens. Why does it sound like there's something wrong with what you're saying this time?"

“This is a big problem.” Another young man with well-defined arms spoke up from behind, struggling to put a sack on the ground.

bang-

The clanging of metal rang out, and the young man holding the sack let go, opening the sack wide: "Brother Rong, take a look inside. I, Wang Qing, have never seen so much gold in my life."

"Gold?!"

The people on deck were taken aback and rushed forward to look up. The unique color of the precious metal shone in the firelight. The group of young men looked at each other in surprise, and then all looked at Rong Ge'er.

In the firelight, Rong Ge'er's face had lost its initial composure. His brows furrowed as he stepped forward, forcefully grabbing a gold brick to examine it, then checking several others in succession, muttering, "This is troublesome..."

“It’s really troublesome.” Wang Qing sighed. “There are two more sacks down there, piled up among a bunch of dried river fish and dried meat. If Meng Wei hadn’t suddenly decided to see what was in the cargo hold so he could sell it tomorrow, we probably wouldn’t even know what it was about when someone came knocking on our door.”

"What are you afraid of!" someone shouted, standing up. "In my opinion, the gold and silver are buried in the dry goods. It's just a rich man's trick to transport money. What are they going to do with it and report it to the authorities?"

“If that’s the case, then it’s fine.” Rong-ge’er stood up: “It’s all full weight gold, and the quality is good. Such deliberate concealment is not the method of those wealthy gentlemen, but more like that of江湖人 (jianghu people, people from the martial arts world). They would never easily let go of so much gold and silver…”

The group of young people hesitated, and the timid one asked, "Shall we go back?"

"Bullshit! Once it's in our hands, it's ours." Wang Qing spat. "There's no reason to spit out meat that's already in your mouth, right, Rong-ge'er?"

“That’s right.” Rong Ge’er nodded, then pondered for a moment: “Go back first and tell the brothers in the village to be vigilant. If anyone comes to inquire about information, remember what to say and what not to say.”

The others looked at each other and nodded in unison. Rong Ge walked to the side of the boat: "Take all the valuables with you. The boat..." He looked at it with some regret, gritted his teeth, and said: "Cut it out."

"Pity……"

"That's all we can do. We can't go wrong by listening to Rong-ge'er."

The group of young people split into two groups. Wang Qing and his group jumped into the water and soon came out with several fishing boats. When they reached the boats, Rong Ge'er, Meng Wei, and the others lowered the valuables from the boats with ropes before jumping off the boats and climbing onto smaller boats.

"go!"

Several small boats immediately evacuated the vicinity of the ship amidst shouts. Several young men who were good swimmers jumped off the boats, swam a short distance towards the sandbar, and then plunged in.

After a short while, the boat rocked slightly, then gradually tilted and disappeared into the water.

The lake was quiet and still, just like always.

……

The east began to lighten with the first light of dawn.

A tree fell in Liangshan, and a dozen or so men who were good swimmers made it into a raft. They rowed out of this familiar place and, after some struggle, finally landed near Yuncheng.

Several days have passed in the blink of an eye.

The waves of the lake rolled, and the rising sun gradually rose higher, once again bathing the world in its light. The nearby villages were bustling with life again. A government official, yawning listlessly, walked into the fishing village and, as usual, called out to collect fishing fees, boat entry and exit fees, and so on.

The fishermen, dressed in shorts, gritted their teeth and slapped the copper coins into the hands of the officials before rowing their boats into the water.

There were many miscellaneous taxes, but they still had to go fishing, as their families depended on it for survival.

However, there were a few unfamiliar faces in the village today. The man who came in seemed to be familiar with the village as well. He went straight into the village, found a few women who were sewing fishing nets together, took out some copper coins, and asked in the local accent: "Ladies, our master wants to buy some river delicacies for our grandfather's birthday banquet. I wonder where in the surrounding area we can buy more fish and shrimp?"

"That must be our village."

"How much do you want?"

"At least 300 jin!"

Upon hearing this, several women's eyes lit up at the sight of the copper coins. They stood up, wiping their hands on their aprons: "Who around here doesn't know that Zhang Lang from our village is the best fisherman? His brothers are also very clever, always catching the biggest fish. If it weren't for the officials..."

A woman next to her tugged at her, and she quickly shut up, giving an awkward smile: "Well, if you need a large quantity, you can't go wrong with Zhang Lang from our village."

"Oh..." the man nodded. "May I ask where Zhang Lang is? What is his name?"

"Zhang Lang lives by the water. His name is Rong, but he's probably out fishing in the water now."

"Thank you, I'll go take a look." The man smiled, put down the copper coins, and left.

Several women looked at the dozen or so copper coins with smiles on their faces. They picked them up, argued for a few words, and then divided them. One of the women clapped her hands and said, "I forgot to ask which high-ranking official is hosting a banquet."

"Never mind him, he'll tell Zhang Lang when he sees him."

The group of women chatted and laughed, not taking the matter too seriously.

The man, accompanied by his companion, went to the edge of the marshland and asked several people. When Zhang Rong was mentioned, the men appeared calm on the surface but were wary in their eyes. They asked him where his master's house was. The man had some ideas in mind. After asking several fishermen who had not yet set sail, he could not get any information from them except that the man had indeed sailed into the marshland. So he hurriedly returned home.

As dusk fell, the fishing boats that had gone into the marshland returned. An official came forward, collected another sum of money, and left. Only then did the men who had gone out to fish grumble and pack up to get off the boat.

"Damn it, these leeches are asking for more and more. What do you mean by 'pay for live fish out of water'? Why don't they charge people for breathing?"

"Don't jinx it. If these bastards hear this, they might actually start charging you for breathing and taking a dump tomorrow."

A group of young and middle-aged fishermen came down, carrying bamboo baskets that were still dripping wet, their faces full of dejection. Nearby, a few people who hadn't gone fishing that day approached, ignored the fishermen's complaints, jumped onto fishing boats, changed boats several times, and got closer to the back.

Under the setting sun, the man known as Rong Ge'er was shirtless, straightening and folding up the fishing nets.

"Rong-ge'er".

The young man who ran up shouted and jumped onto his boat, squatting down: "Just as you expected, there are indeed outsiders here today. As soon as they arrived, they asked who could catch the most fish, saying they wanted to collect river delicacies for a banquet. I don't know where they heard your name."

Zhang Rong paused in his work, turned to look at him, and asked, "What did you say to him?"

“We didn’t say anything.” The young man chuckled sheepishly, then looked back at the other young men: “Brother Rong, you instructed us, so of course we didn’t say anything. We just said you went fishing at the marsh.”

Zhang Rong's expression changed: "...Oh no!"

"Wha...what happened?"

“He came under the pretense of buying river delicacies, but you didn’t tell him anything. That’s the biggest problem.” Zhang Rong frowned, saw the anxious look on the man’s face, smiled, and patted him on the shoulder: “Don’t worry, he might really be here to buy fish.”

The man looked at him, hesitated, and asked, "Really?"

"It's something I can't talk about." Zhang Rong put down the net and stood up: "Go and call Jia Hu, Meng Wei, Zheng Wo, and Wang Qing over."

The man breathed a sigh of relief after being given instructions and nodded quickly, "I'll go right away."

……

Yuncheng.

This city, the closest to Liangshan, seems to have changed, yet it also seems unchanged. There are many more pedestrians coming and going in the city, but the shops on both sides of the street look rather dilapidated.

The waiter leaned against the door frame, calling out weakly. Some government officials and yamen runners were going in and out of the restaurant. Every time, the shopkeeper would come out crying and begging for forgiveness and for not to take the money. His cries could be faintly heard in the restaurant.

Slurp—

Swallowing the wine in his mouth, Dong Kai got up and closed the window. He sighed inwardly, thinking that the scene on the street was not as good as it was when they were together more than ten years ago.

It's puzzling how the biggest bandits and pirates left this place, yet the city dwellers are living worse than before.

Shaking his head, Dong Kai sat down again. He had just eaten half a roasted chicken when he heard footsteps outside. The person who came in looked at him and sat down at the table.

In no time at all, all six chairs in the room were occupied.

"how was it?"

Dong Kai wiped his hands with a damp cloth: "Any news?"

"Yes." The group members looked at each other and nodded. "We checked, and there are quite a few men with a reputation in the water around here. The most suspicious one is Zhang Rong."

Dong Kai raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"

"But we must explain the cause and effect. The western city of Jingdong was established the year after His Majesty left. We won't talk about the land inside and outside the city."

The story goes that boats in nearby fishing villages were seized, forcing fishermen to pay rent for their boats. Later, it was stipulated that anyone entering the lake to fish, harvest lotus roots, or cut reeds would be heavily taxed based on the size of their boat. Many people rose in rebellion, becoming thieves on the waterways, specifically targeting officials and constables from the western city. Eventually, the government couldn't withstand the pressure, and the regulations were relaxed somewhat.

The scout picked up his wine bowl, took a sip, and continued, "But as a result, the government has sent many tax collectors into the village to collect exorbitant taxes every day. Although the taxes are heavy, the people can still make a living. However, the more fish they catch, the more money they have to pay."

"Under these circumstances, almost no one is willing to go fishing in the water. After all, the money they get is not as good as just catching some fish and shrimp. Only Zhang Rong is different. He dares to sell large quantities of fish and shrimp to people, and the government can never find evidence to arrest him."

A scout chimed in, “Today I took my brothers to a village, which happened to be the village where Zhang Rong lives. I asked for 300 catties of fish and shrimp, but none of the women in the village agreed. When I went to look for him, he wasn’t home. When he talked to others, his eyes were darting around. If anyone stole our boat, it must have been him.”

Dong Kai pondered, "What's this fellow's reputation like? How many men does he have under his command?"

"It is said that many young people from fishing villages along the lake were led by him, but the exact number was too small to be determined in a short period of time."

“…We don’t have time to waste here. We need to get the gold and silver back and transfer it elsewhere.” Dong Kai was silent for a moment, then reached out and took out a token and handed it to someone: “He was probably the one who did this. Even if he wasn’t, we can ask him to help investigate. Go find Zhang Rong and arrange to meet him at 7:00 PM on the tenth of the 11th of the 12th of the 13th of the 14th of the 15th of the 16th of the 17th of the 18 ...

The man took it, nodded, and listened as Dong Kai continued, "This mission is fraught with danger. If he intends to kill you, even if we are there, we might not be able to support you."

"Don't worry," the spy grinned. "Isn't this exactly what we do?"

"Go and get some handy weapons," Dong Kai said, glancing at the others. "If a fight breaks out, we should at least kill a few of them, right?"

The other spies chuckled.

……

Zhang Rong's heart had been racing these past few days, as he had a feeling something was about to happen. However, the surrounding area remained calm, so he could only tell his men to be careful and did nothing else.

As evening approached and the light began to dim, Zhang Rong was sharpening his broadsword in his room when he heard footsteps outside. Zheng Wo, a man of well-proportioned build, pushed open his door and said, "Brother Rong, someone is looking for you."

"Let him come over."

Zhang Rong suddenly stood up, watched Zheng Wo run away in response, first attaching the long handle to the broadsword, then finding two sharpened daggers and tucking them into his waistband.

A few days ago, the man who wanted 300 catties of fish and shrimp came once and then disappeared. He knew that the man was not sincerely there to buy river delicacies. He was probably after the gold and silver on the boat. He would like to see what kind of hero he was. However, it would not be easy to get the gold and silver back from him.

Before long, several footsteps of varying weights approached. Zhang Rong opened the door and looked out, only to see Zheng Wo and others escorting a plain-looking man.

The man approached him, sized up Zhang Rong for a moment, and then smiled: "Zhang Rong?"

“Exactly.” Zhang Rong looked directly at him: “May I ask who is at the top and bottom? What do they want to do?”

"Who it is...it doesn't matter." The scout shook his head, then smiled at Zhang Rong again: "Don't you know what we're up to? Where's our ship?"

"What are you talking about?" Zhang Rong frowned, his face full of doubt. "What ship?"

The scout looked him up and down, and seeing that his expression didn't seem fake, he hesitated for a moment, but ultimately trusted his men's judgment. He reached into his robe, pulled out an iron token, and handed it over: "You took something you shouldn't have."

Zhang Rong frowned as he took the sign. Looking down, he recognized the image on it immediately; it was a picture of Liangshan Marsh, their own area. He quickly flipped it over and saw a picture of a boatman.

"At exactly 7 PM tonight, ten miles east of Yuncheng, we'll be waiting for you there."

After saying that, he turned to leave, but Zheng Wo and the other young men stepped forward to block him. Zhang Rong heard the voice, looked up, and waved his hand: "Let him go."

Zheng Wo and the others exchanged glances, then stepped back, and the scout left expressionlessly.

"Rong-ge, what's that thing?" Zheng Wo watched the person walk away, then noticed Zhang Rong staring at the iron plaque in his hand. He leaned over, peeked at it, and frowned. "What's so interesting about a broken plaque?"

"A broken sign?"

Zhang Rong glanced at him, flipped his hand, and Zheng wo exclaimed "Huh?" The former said, "If this thing is really as I think, it's probably a deadly thing."

"What do you mean?" Zheng Wo looked up at him, and based on his understanding of his companion, suddenly grabbed him: "Rong-ge'er, you're not going to keep your appointment, are you?"

Zhang Rong looked up at the sky, pondered for a moment, and slowly nodded: "We'll go." (End of Chapter)