Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 321: Fighting Trade Temptation
After greeting, Song Gongming said, "When I was in Yuncheng County, I often heard Brother Chao Gai mention my brother Xuejiu. I didn't expect to meet him here."

Wu Yong said, "Although we live close to each other, we are rarely lucky enough to meet. I have only heard of the great name of Ya Shi Song, but I have never had the chance to meet him. I have often heard Brother Chao Gai talk about the good things about Ya Shi. When we passed by Dulonggang, Brother Chao Gai hurriedly wrote a letter and it is here." As he spoke, Wu Yong took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Song Jiang.

Song Jiang took the letter and saw that it was not sealed, so he took it out and read it. The letter expressed his concern about Song Jiang's becoming a bandit, and also revealed that it was impossible to do so, and he wanted to introduce Zhao Zhen to him.

After seeing this, Song Jiang asked, "How is Brother Chao Gai now?"

"Brother Chao Gai is deeply trusted by the great official. He is now stationed in Dulonggang and has five or seven good men and three to two thousand soldiers under him." Wu Yong replied.

After hearing this, Song Jiang laughed and said, "Brother Chao Gai has become successful. Congratulations."

"I heard from Brother Li Zhong that the scholar brought the promised armor and weapons. Why don't we go take a look first?"

Wu Yong nodded and led the other men outside to look at the swords, spears, leather armor, and iron armor. Song Jiang asked, "Scholar, give me an offer."

Wu Yong said, "The Pudao and spearheads are all forged by blacksmiths repeatedly. A good sword or spear is forged after thirty forgings. The Pudao costs one tael of silver, and the spearhead costs 500 coins. The leather armor is all captured, and it costs ten strings of silver each. I also brought thirty sets of iron armor, and each set costs thirty strings of silver. If you want this armor in the future, you won't need so many. After all, it's not easy to make armor, and there are still many soldiers in Liangshan County who can't wear armor."

As soon as he finished speaking, [Ghost Seer] Lai Yong'er screamed: "You are selling this armor too expensively. These leather armors are all replacements. How dare you ask for ten strings of coins?"

Wu Yong sighed and said, "Brother, you don't know that making armor is not like making swords. It is very complicated. We can allocate this batch of armor because of the appearance of the guards, and we have brothers Li Zhong and Zhou Tong to recommend us. Otherwise, why would we take this risk to come here?"

Lai Yong'er said, "A new set of armor only costs ten strings of cash. The ones you brought are all old ones, and many of them have been repaired."

[Optimus Prime] Ren Yuan also shouted: "That's right, many of the Imperial Guards also sell it privately."

Lai Yonger said: "These tattered leather armors, plus these swords and spears, 6900 strings of cash is too much."

The two men shouted for a while, and Song Jiang finally spoke up: "It's always a timely help. Although it's more expensive, it's also Mr. Zhao's consideration for the moral principles of the martial world."

Lai Yonger said, "Brother Gongming, we can certainly take out these gold and silver, but now we are fighting with the government troops, and we cannot lack the rewards for the brothers. How about using something else instead? I heard that Mr. Zhao is very rich, and he doesn't lack these gold and silver."

[Optimus Prime] Ren Yuan also said: "Taishan fought, and Mr. Zhao also snatched my benefits. It would be better to use these armors and weapons to counterattack."

As soon as he finished speaking, the two brave men beside him were annoyed and shouted: "What bullshit. You yourself have no skills, how dare you slander the great official for robbing you of your red envelopes? Instead, it was your apprentice who pulled down the mountain shed and robbed the red envelopes. The master didn't ask you for the red envelopes, how dare you confuse right and wrong. If you know what's going on, pay me three thousand taels and I will spare you!" Liu Tang shouted.

After hearing this, Ren Yuan pointed his stick at Liu Tang and shouted, "You liar who brought disgrace upon our family, the sharp object on the shed must not have been taken by me. Today I will see who wins. If I win, you will get off the mountain empty-handed."

After hearing this, Song Jiang and Wu Yong hurriedly separated the two and comforted them respectively.

This quarrel was a plan that Lai Yonger had come up with after listening to Ren Yuan scolding Zhao Zhen last night. He wanted to test the quality of the heroes in Liangshan County. As the most sinister and cunning leader of Qingzhen Mountain, he had already approached Song Jiang early on when he saw the situation in Qingzhou, and now he has gained Song Jiang's trust.

Song Jiang had no intention of causing trouble, but after hearing this and thinking about it, the conflict occurred.

Although they were separated, Ren Yuan and Liu Tang continued to scold and curse. Lai Yonger said to Wu Yong, "Brother Wu Yong, this is not a big deal. Why don't we let the two of you fight? It can also be regarded as making friends through martial arts."

Wu Yong declined: "This..."

Li Zhong and Zhou Tong also said: "Swords and spears have no eyes, I am afraid there will be injuries."

Lai Yonger said, "We are fighting men in the rivers and lakes, so why should we fear life and death? Now that the two families are interacting, we must untie the knot in our hearts before we can accept each other sincerely. Although the mountain stronghold has been fighting for days and gold and silver are in short supply, fortunately there are iron mines in the mountains. Qingzhen Mountain has been operating for many years and has smelted a lot of iron ingots. Let the two brothers fight. If brother Liu Tang wins, the iron will be priced at 10 coins per catty. But if brother Ren Yuan wins, how about 30 coins per catty?"

Wu Yong pretended to hesitate and thought: You've fallen into my trap.

Liu Tang heard this and shouted, "Come on, come on, I'm not afraid of you." [Golden Scale Python] Ma Yuan said, "Just a competition is too much of a joke, why don't I fight with Brother Shi Xiu as well?"

Shi Xiu couldn't hold back any longer, and after hearing this, he shouted, "That's great, Master is itching to do it, too."

Wu Yong sighed and said to Song Jiang, "Yashi, what should we do?"

Song Jiang scolded Ma Yuan and Ren Yuan, but they still wanted to fight. Song Jiang said to Wu Yong, "Scholar, why don't you let them stop talking?"

Wu Yong pretended to be reluctant and agreed.

Everyone made way, leaving Liu Tang and Ren Yuan in the middle. Liu Tang held a broadsword and went straight to Ren Yuan without saying anything. Ren Yuan saw Liu Tang running towards him, and he let out a strange cry and raised his iron stick to meet him. The two fought in the yard. But then:
Back and forth, the broadsword never rests; back and forth, the iron rod has a thousand ways to deal with it. The stick hits the head, only a fraction of a second away from the top of the door; the thick-backed knife pierces hard, aiming at the heart and barely struggling for half a finger.

Liu Tang and Ren Yuan fought for forty or fifty rounds, but neither won. Liu Tang fought for many rounds, pretending to be vulnerable and letting Yuan's iron stick chop him down. Liu Tang turned around, looked at him kindly, and chopped Ren Yuan's arm with his knife. Ren Yuan had no choice but to drop the stick in his hand and jump back to avoid the knife.

Liu Tang was about to step forward, but Song Jiang saw him and hurriedly stopped him, saying, "Brother Liu Tang wins this round."

After hearing this, Liu Tang stopped and said, "Thank you." Then he walked back to the team.

Ma Yuan saw this and shook the nine-section whip in his hand, and shouted to Shi Xiu: "Come, let's see who wins."

Upon hearing this, Shi Xiu raised the silver-inlaid and black-gold goose-wing knife in his hand and fought back and forth. The knife flashed with a cold light and the whip emitted a chilling aura.

They fought for a long time, just like a flying phoenix welcoming a phoenix. After a short fight, it was like a horned eagle catching a rabbit. The two fought for more than thirty rounds, and Ma Yuan was exhausted and could only block and block. Seeing that he was about to lose, Song Jiang hurriedly ordered someone to sound the gong, and Li Zhong shouted with his spear, "Take a break, both of you." Then he hit them with his spear, and the two put away their weapons, jumped out of the circle, and stood on their feet.

You wonder why Shi Xiu didn't take the opportunity to kill Ma Yuan, but last night, Wu Yong had already ordered that if there was a fight, no one should be killed. Firstly, it would not offend Song Jiang. Secondly, it was also to keep these people to fight against Yun Tianbiao and others, so as not to let the government win easily.

Song Jiang laughed and said, "This second match, Liangshan County won again. So we'll follow the agreement and the iron ingots will be priced at 10 coins per pound."

As he said this, he invited everyone to go to the hall for a drink. Liu Tang and Shi Xiu suppressed their anger, and Ren Yuan and Ma Yuan put aside their prejudices, and they all sat down in the hall.

Song Jiang was depressed because he had lost both battles. He drank more and said to everyone, "The court is not clear and the corrupt officials are closed. Ambitious people cannot be promoted. I can go up to the mountain now, weigh the gold and silver, and change my clothes. It is better than being bullied by these incompetent and corrupt officials. I can become an official sooner or later when the court recruits me. It's a pity that the mountain stronghold lacks soldiers and food, so I can't realize my ambitions."

Li Zhong was moved when he heard this and said, "Brother, have you ever heard of the birthday gift?"

Song Jiang asked: "What birthday gift?"

Li Zhong said, "On June 15th, it is Grand Tutor Cai's birthday. Liang Zhongshu of Daming Prefecture bought gifts and toys and selected people to go to the capital to celebrate Grand Tutor Cai's birthday. No gifts have been sent for two years. I heard that this year, no less than 200,000 strings of gold and silver treasures will be sent."

Lai Yonger asked, "Is it possible?"

Wu Yong said, "I have heard a lot in Liangshan County. Someone has already said that this year we will split up into two teams to escort the money. In the past two years, we have killed many robbers in the green forest. I think this year we can escort this ill-gotten wealth to Bianjing."

After hearing this, Lai Yong'er naturally asked Wu Yong carefully. Song Jiang listened from the side with his eyes shining.

On the second day, the transaction was completed, and Wu Yong and others escorted the carriages back to Liangshan County.

Gongsun Sheng had disguised himself as a wandering Taoist priest and entered Qingzhou early, spreading the news about the birthday gift. This was a plan that Gongsun Sheng and Wu Yong had discussed on the way, and they had deliberately spread the news in order to lure Song Jiang and his gang to rob the birthday gift. The truth and falsehood matched what Wu Yong said.

After hearing what Wu Yong and the other two said, Zhao Zhen quickly said, "Thank you for your hard work, my three brothers. Let Zhao Yuanli count the carriages and put them into the warehouse. You guys should rest early. We will have a drink tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)