The Legend of Song Jiang in Water Margin

Chapter 109 The Darkness of the World Reveals People's True Character; The Wedding Night in Progress

They didn't quite understand the meaning either, but today they followed suit, looking at the stars in the sky and reflecting on the past. However, it seemed that their lives had nothing to be praised or worth reminiscing about.

Not long after I lay down, a medium-sized boat slowly approached from afar!

Zhang Shun threw a stone into the water. The stone hit the surface of the river with a soft sound, breaking the calm surface before sinking to the bottom. The Liangshan army received the signal and prepared to attack!

"Get ready," Zhang Shun said in a low voice.

People's boats temporarily left the area to avoid being discovered. Then, a Liangshan soldier lit a torch and threw it onto a boat. The boat was soaked in oil and instantly caught fire, the flames illuminating the dark night.

With no one in control of the ship, such a huge fire is no joke!

With the help of the wind, the fire ship quickly rammed into the ship that was neither too big nor too small, neither too fast nor too slow!

The people on the ship realized what was happening and hurriedly ordered their crew to change course, but it was too late!

The wind was already blowing from the right, and the fire, fueled by the wind, crackled and popped as it burned!

The fire ship crashed into the other ship with a loud bang, instantly creating a crack in the other ship, which then burst into flames!

Chaos erupted on the ship. Many people took out firefighting tools, but it was all in vain. The fire grew bigger and bigger, and the cracks were further widened by the constant impact of the water!

Seeing that the situation was bad, the people on the boat knew that if they didn't leave soon, they would either be burned to death or the boat would sink, and they might suffocate. So they jumped into the canal and swam towards the shore!

As for the birthday gifts, as long as the fire doesn't destroy them, the ship will inevitably sink. We can find someone to salvage them the next day!

The shore is just too far away; people who are not good swimmers may drown before they can reach it!

Once the escorts on the ship had swum away one by one, the Liangshan naval forces jumped into the water, armed with tools such as iron spikes. Before long, the ship was breached and sank!

Holding some wine sachets made of sheepskin, Zhang Shun said, "Come with me to retrieve the birthday tribute!" He then jumped into the water first. Zhang Heng and Ruan Xiaowu were not to be outdone and jumped into the water one after the other. Only Liu Tang was not good at swimming and sat at the bow of the boat watching the others churn the water.

Fortunately, Song Jiang knew about these people's abilities in advance and found Zhang Shun and his group ahead of time. What would be an impossible task for others was accomplished by these few in a relatively short time!

This time, there were many naval troops, so Song Jiang had them bring many sheepskin bags to increase buoyancy and prevent the birthday gifts from being too heavy when they were salvaged!

The night passed quickly, and just before dawn, all twenty boxes of birthday gifts were retrieved!

Liu Tang was overjoyed. Although he hadn't been able to help, the matter had been accomplished. As a member of Liangshan, how could he not be happy!

"Let's set sail and get out of here!" Zhang Shun said quickly as he boarded the boat.

Soon, a fleet of ships sped forward on the Grand Canal!

After leaving the Grand Canal and going ashore, Yang Lin and his men loaded the birthday gifts onto a carriage and headed towards Liangshan, while Zhang Shun and his men continued to travel by boat by water!

A few days later, the entire Grand Canal was completely blocked off, and Zhang Shun and his group were naturally questioned. However, the boat was already empty, so they passed by quickly!

Of course, Cai Jing's power was only temporarily weakened, and the news had not yet reached the capital. Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji was naturally unaware that all the birthday tributes had been robbed, and Prefect Cai Jiu had mobilized too many people to intercept them on the shore!

After all, your father is now past his prime, so it's difficult for him to expect others to respect him!

However, the officials did not know that Cai Jing would repay the cold shoulder and disdain he showed to the Cai family today tenfold in the future!

This time, all those who went out to rob the birthday tribute returned to Liangshan safely, carrying 400,000 coins, not a single penny missing!

In the defense of Dancheng, the Liangshan army suffered no losses and even made Di Lei owe Song Jiang a lot of money. In the end, Liangshan made a huge profit.

With 400,000 taels of birthday tribute, Liangshan can finally develop properly. With so much money, Song Jiang can finally unleash his full potential!

Three days later, Liangshan ushered in its first grand celebration.

The four great joys in life since ancient times are: rain after a long drought, meeting an old friend in a foreign land, the wedding night, and passing the imperial examination!

Today, three beautiful women are getting married to three heroes. Early in the morning, Ruan Xiaoer, An Daoquan and Wang Lun began to prepare for the upcoming wedding procession!

Although the wedding procession involves going from Liangshan to Liangshan, the proper ceremonies and etiquette must still be observed!

The three grooms were already dressed in their newest attire, wearing red wedding robes and groom hats, and riding tall horses!

The three brides, adorned in phoenix coronet and embroidered robes, their fiery red wedding gowns creating a vibrant and festive atmosphere.

On their first wedding day, the three brides had shy eyes, eyebrows like emerald feathers, skin like snow, faces like peach petals, and hair like willow branches.

Rose had thorn marks on her face, but An Daoquan's medical skills were superb. He developed a skin cream, and with long-term application, the marks gradually faded and eventually disappeared. Rose was extremely grateful to An Daoquan. After all, who doesn't love their appearance!

After performing the rites of marriage to Heaven and Earth, thanking the matchmaker, and drinking the nuptial wine, everyone started making a ruckus in the bridal chamber!

After the wedding night festivities were over, it was already late. Song Jiang knew that today was one of the most important days in the lives of the three of them, so he dismissed everyone and left the time for the newlyweds!

The crowd burst into laughter, which made the three newlywed couples feel embarrassed. Amidst the laughter, the three finally entered the bridal chamber!

A few days later, on the banks of the Xunyang River, a group of soldiers were searching for salt in a fishing boat. The amount of salt was considerable; the small boat was filled to the brim with salt, worth at least several hundred strings of cash!

The three young men were heartbroken; all the salt belonged to them, and they were smuggling it!

A tall, burly man, somewhat indignant, went up to argue, but was stopped by a young man with thick eyebrows and large eyes. The young man shook his head almost imperceptibly, signaling him not to act rashly!

Before long, all the salt had been taken by the soldiers. A junior officer stepped forward and said, "Li Jun, we've always turned a blind eye to your smuggling of salt, treating it as nothing! But recently, Prefect Cai ordered all the brothers in Jiangzhou to investigate the whereabouts of the birthday tribute shipment, and to strictly investigate anyone involved in smuggling salt, without any favoritism or abuse of power. So, it's not unjust that your smuggled salt was confiscated!"

Li Jun replied with a smile, "No, no, I've relied on your care in the past. This salt is my way of thanking you for your kindness!"

The minor leader laughed and said, "I like that you're so sensible! I won't take you today; you'd better watch yourselves!"

After the soldiers left, the burly man, Tong Meng, who had started speaking, angrily cursed, "They're a bunch of wolves who eat people without spitting out the bones! They already squeezed most of the money from selling smuggled salt, and now they've even taken the salt! What are we going to do if we lose everything!"

Li Jun laughed and said, "Brother Tong Wei, I really don't care that much about a little money. It's just that these people have really gone too far!"

Tong Wei stood up and asked, "Brother, what do you think?"

Li Jun pulled out a letter from his pocket. It was the letter that Song Jiang had written to him before. Li Jun had not made a clear statement after receiving the letter, but now he had no choice but to go to Liangshan!

Li Jun began, "Brother Song Jiang initially invited me to Liangshan to join him in accomplishing great things, but I hesitated at first. After all, I'm not very familiar with Liangshan, and I don't know if I can enjoy myself there as much as I did on the Xunyang River. Besides, Liangshan isn't really my territory, and I might feel a bit uncomfortable there!"

Tong Wei thought for a moment and then said, "Wherever brother goes, we'll go!"

Tong Meng also spoke up, "Brother Song Jiang has a great reputation; everyone speaks highly of him. Liangshan might not be a bad place for him!"

Sensing that the Tong brothers, Wei and Meng, were optimistic about going to Liangshan, Li Jun stood up and said, "In that case, let's go to Liangshan tomorrow and find Brother Song Jiang!"

Tong Meng hesitated for a moment and said, "We're penniless now. If we go to see Brother Song Jiang empty-handed, won't others look down on us?"

Tong Wei sighed and said with a wry smile, "We don't have a single penny on us right now, what are we going to do?"

Li Jun lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "Since Brother Song Jiang is called 'Timely Rain,' he must not lack money. More importantly, he must be eager to make friends with heroes. Why don't we go find some heroes first and head to Liangshan together? Brother Song Jiang will surely think highly of us, and we'll be better able to establish ourselves on Liangshan!"

Tong Wei asked in confusion, "Where are we going to find heroes?"

Li Jun laughed and said, "Don't be afraid of hardship. I think Brother Gongming is destined for great things. He certainly wouldn't look down on ordinary mediocre people. Let's go and find some talented people to join us on Liangshan. Then no one will look down on us."

Before leaving Liangshan, Song Jiang did two things. The first was that Meng Kang found Ye Chun, a shipbuilding expert from the Ye family, and Song Jiang spent a lot of money to buy a fine sea keel from Ye Chun in preparation for building a seagoing ship!

Ye Chun was never short of business, but customers like Song Jiang who were willing to spend a lot of money were rare. So he immediately handed over other tasks to his apprentices and personally led dozens of craftsmen to Liangshan to build seaships!

The second thing is that Song Jiang has newly established a vanguard battalion of three hundred men, with Ou Peng as the commander and Ma Lin as the deputy commander!

Jiang Jing was responsible for managing money and supplies by Wu Yong's side. Jiang Jing was an expert at using the abacus. Wu Yong was already extremely busy with multiple positions. With Jiang Jing around, things became much easier. Once Jiang Jing fully understood the affairs of Liangshan, Song Jiang planned to entrust him with the entire responsibility of managing money and supplies!

Tao Zongwang, the Nine-Tailed Turtle, also had special skills. Although Tao Zongwang's martial arts skills were not high, he was good at building city walls. Song Jiang asked him to dig harbors, build waterways, open canals, repair the walls of Wanzi City, build the main road in front of Bishan Mountain, and develop cement!

That's right, it's cement. It's indeed a bit difficult for Tao Zongwang to develop cement, but Liangshan also has Liu Huiniang, who is good at all kinds of inventions. With her around, Song Jiang believes that they can make both cement and glass!

The importance of cement goes without saying. Even today, cement is an indispensable part of life. In ancient times, it was an even greater weapon. Song Jiang believed that with cement, Liangshan's defenses could be raised several stories!

However, cement production is not so easy in this day and age, especially since it involves scientific knowledge. Song Jiang needs to think it over carefully before he can experiment.

As for glass, it was the second gift from the foolish Emperor Huizong of Song. At the same time, Song Jiang believed that glass handicrafts could make him a fortune. However, the difficulty lay in the fact that glassmaking was extremely difficult. In modern times, glass is nothing, but in ancient times, glass was more valuable than gold. It was simply a matter of craftsmanship, skill, and the difficulty of refining it!

Although Song Jiang wasn't a science student, he still knew a bit about the chemical composition of glass. He could only find craftsmen to come to Liangshan, with Liu Huiniang and himself providing guidance!

Thinking of Liu Huiniang, Song Jiang didn't know what to say. Ever since he returned to Liangshan, Liu Huiniang hadn't said a word to him. Song Jiang didn't consider himself a shy person, but when he saw Liu Huiniang, he really didn't know what to say!

Upon arriving in Yuncheng, Song Jiang headed towards the home of the wealthy Chen.

When they arrived at Chen's house, Shi Wenbin was already there, along with Zhu Tong, Lei Heng, some people from Dancheng County Government, and some wealthy people!

Song Jiang was the last to arrive, not to show off, but because the journey was indeed that long!

Upon seeing Song Jiang's arrival, the people inside who were chatting stopped talking and all looked at Song Jiang with smiles!

Song Jiang was slightly surprised, but he still walked in without making a sound!

The wealthy Chen, beaming with joy, rushed forward and exclaimed, "Clerk, you've arrived!"

Song Jiang replied with a smile, "I'm late! I'm truly sorry!"

Master Chen waved his hand and said, "No need for formalities, please take a seat."

Song Jiang quickly declined, saying, "What virtue or ability does Song Jiang possess to deserve the seat of honor!"

Master Chen grabbed Song Jiang's sleeve and pulled him up, saying, "Don't belittle yourself, Clerk!"

Magistrate Shi Wenbin, standing nearby, laughed and said, "Gongming, don't be so modest!"

Song Jiang guessed that Shi Wenbin must have said something as well, but he still said, "I'll sit next to Master Shi!"

Master Chen hurriedly replied, "Master Shi is also a guest of honor, so please rest assured, Clerk!"

After thinking for a moment, Song Jiang stopped refusing and sat down.

Shi Wenbin was seated at the head of the table, followed by military officer Liu Xiaowei and Huang An, the militia leader of Jizhou Prefecture. Chen Dahu was also seated there, and other prominent figures from Yuncheng County followed suit and sat down.

As for the three head constables, the county magistrate, the county lieutenant, the clerk, and the others, they sat at another table!

Master Chen beckoned, and a servant quickly came forward!

Master Chen said, "Give the order that the wine and dishes can be served!"

Soon, fine wine and delicacies were served! Master Chen poured a full glass, stood up and toasted Shi Wenbin, saying, "This time, my whole family survived, and Yuncheng was able to be defended entirely thanks to Lord Shi. Your command at the meeting was excellent. I, Chen, toast you!" He then drank it all in one gulp!

Shi Wenbin smiled and finished his drink.

Chen, the wealthy man, toasted Liu, the captain, with his second cup of wine, expressing his gratitude. He then finished his drink.

Master Chen poured another full cup and offered it to Song Jiang, saying, "Clerk, I won't say much more; it's all in this wine. I also want to thank you for saving my daughter!"

In fact, everyone knows that the defense of Yuncheng was basically won by Song Jiang, while Shi Wenbin played a more significant role in stabilizing the morale of the troops.

Especially since Song Jiang saved Miss Chen this time; otherwise, his daughter would definitely have been sold by that beast Zhang Wenyuan.

The thought of Zhang Wenyuan made Chen Dahu's teeth itch with hatred.

This bastard took his daughter out and encountered a thief. Instead of trying to rescue her, he actually thought about selling his daughter to save his worthless life. It's an act that's worse than an animal!