Sunlight streamed in through the window. Search: \(、完、本、神、站、) to read high-quality literature for free.

He sat there, looking at his hands, closing his eyes, and seeing the blood.

Flames, blood, cries, corpses, the slaughter of tens of thousands.

Liangshan, Liangshan, Liangshan...

Lin Chong, Lu Junyi, Shi Wengong...

Zeng Family Fortress...

The events would keep coming back to him. Some things he might not be able to accomplish; Liangshan was already too strong. But the wound on his chest had, after all, healed.

He took a breath and stood up from there. Finally, he picked up the octagonal mixed copper staff leaning against the wall and placed it in the long carrying bag. He walked out the door.

May, the sky a bleak white.

***************

Southwestern Shandong, near Jizhou, eight hundred li of waterways.

As the saying goes, "A hodgepodge in Jinzhongnan." The Wu Dynasty was prosperous, but with Bianliang as the boundary, the area north of the Yellow River gradually lost the splendor of the south. From here to the weeping and wailing of Mount Lüliang, officials, merchants, bandits, and outlaws formed their own ecosystem. Compared to Mount Lüliang and Yanmen Pass, it was relatively orderly, but compared to the south, it displayed its own bold and unconstrained side. Similar situations existed in the Wu Dynasty's south, far from the center, such as in the Miao regions.

North of Bianliang, up to Yanmen Pass, due to the passage of trade routes, the government's control was quite strong. But outside these legitimate trade routes, things were different. Shandong's eastern and western routes had always been known for their rugged people. Due to insufficient government control, smuggling and robbery were rampant and repeatedly banned without success.

The prevalence of smuggling and bandits also led to the decline of people's livelihoods. From Bianliang eastward, entering Shandong territory, after leaving the Yellow River coast, one was confronted with a scene completely different from the south.

It was mid-May, the sun scorching. As far as the eye could see, there were mostly wild mountains and desolate hills. Villages and fields were sparse, and even the official roads were dilapidated and in disrepair. There were not many travelers on the road, mostly merchants,镖客 (bodyguards), and green forest figures carrying weapons. Of course, there was none of the beautiful and heroic flair of later martial arts films. Most people were dressed in rustic, tattered clothes, with messy hair and beards. Their weapons were wrapped in cloth, and their eyes were tired and lifeless as they walked, looking like they lacked sleep. When stopping to rest or eat, they would first scan everyone in sight with wary eyes, identifying who was an enemy, who was a fat sheep, and who was a poor devil.

Even in the south, with its green forest figures, such a scene wouldn't occur. After all, civilians were still the vast majority in the south. Here, the proportion of those who used knives was much higher than in the south. "Carriages, boats, inns, and yamen, even if innocent, they should be killed," applied here, and it wouldn't be wrong in too many cases.

The Wu Dynasty had a developed economy. Even here, it actually revolved around money. Smuggling of salt, iron, and tea, and all sorts of shady business projects, were done by someone as long as there was profit. Driven by various interests, large and small associations outside the government were also the mainstream in this area. Of course, these weren't famous sects, but mostly based on villages and fortresses.

Large ones included Zeng Family Fortress, which had been destroyed by Liangshan, medium-sized ones included places like Solitary Dragon Ridge and Wan Family Ridge. As for small ones, there were countless villages and bandit gangs. Villagers could only establish a foothold and farm by organizing their own forces. And if there were young people with some skills, they could often gather in one place with a shared ambition, either robbing merchants or protecting villages for money. And as long as they had their own territory, they would more or less take on business in the gray areas, connecting the large and small areas into one with such unspoken rules.

This ecosystem extended northward until the border between Wu and Liao, such as the Mount Lüliang area, where it would finally change, almost breaking up all normal commercial systems, with a few villages completely integrated with the mountain strongholds, and where one couldn't survive by following the law.

And recently, Water Margin Liangshan, which had become the number one stronghold in the area, had gained more and more momentum after raising the banner of "acting on behalf of Heaven."

Every day, every moment, many green forest figures came to join them, attracted by their reputation. Among these people were remnants of Fang La's army that had been defeated in Hangzhou, and even middle and small-sized generals, all sorts of desperate criminals. The previous rescues of Fang La's troops had truly made Liangshan famous. Even though the plan to rob the Birthday Tribute on the Grand Canal had failed, it had indeed shown Liangshan's position. When Tong Guan's army had to go north to deal with the Northern Expedition, while Fang La's side was still struggling to hold on, many smart people saw another hope and placed their expectations for rebellion on this side of Shandong.

As for the minor setbacks of the Jiangning Su Family and the Birthday Tribute incident, although they caused a shock after Lin Chong and others, and Zhu Wu and others, returned to Liangshan, especially the Grand Canal incident, in which several leaders were killed, and even Lu Junyi, who was second in command, died at that time, it could only be attributed to the enemy's cunning and bad luck. Song Jiang cried bitterly in the Hall of Righteousness and wore mourning clothes to show that he would avenge Brother Lu in the future. Although a few people at the time suggested that this person was so powerful that they could consider luring him up the mountain to take a seat of power, this proposal, which had been more mainstream before, was not approved.

A Son-in-Law who had intervened, although he had succeeded twice by luck, this kind of cleverness must be despicable, shameless, and sordid. The heroes on the mountain disdained to associate with such scum. Moreover, Second Brother Lu and several brothers had died at his hands. As long as there was a chance to capture him, they would definitely tie him in front of the Hall of Righteousness and perform the punishment of gouging out his heart. Song Jiang made this blood oath on the spot. With righteousness above all else, everyone did not doubt that they would be able to do this in the future, it was just a matter of time.

With the gathering of many heroes and the continuous growth of momentum, not many people would regard this as a big problem. Even though the few people who had defected from Fang La's army also talked about Ning Lihang, even in Fang La's army, not many people knew what Ning Yi had done. Most of their impressions remained on his bewitching of Tyrant Saber Liu Xigua. As for killing Bao Daoyi, it was only because he had succeeded in bewitching her that he had succeeded under the protection of Tyrant Saber Manor.

Tyrant Saber Manor of Tiannan was famous even among the green forests in the north. But even if these things were combined, what remained in people's mouths was nothing more than abuse and contempt for this Son-in-Law. This belonged to strategic contempt. The people at the real high levels would not ignore the existence of such an opponent, but in any case, if it weren't for someone scheming with a plan against someone unsuspecting, they believed that their side wouldn't have lost so badly. Especially after returning to Liangshan, what they had to deal with now was a major event that had truly expanded to the level of the state and rebellion. Those who had not been in contact with him wouldn't worry about such a figure far away in the capital—they believed that this guy was also crying everywhere in the capital about his family being exterminated.

As for how Lin Chong, Li Kui, Zhu Wu, Zhang Shun and others, who had confronted Ning Yi or suffered losses, thought, that was another matter altogether. Even they wouldn't think about whether the other party would come to Liangshan for revenge.

If he could bring a large army, that would be one thing. Liangshan had long been prepared to fight the government troops again. If not, if he came alone, it would not be revenge at all, but suicide. Before this general trend, they didn't need to consider such things at all. The name Ning Lihang was just a small matter in Liangshan's recent many things, which was not very urgent.

With the daily growing momentum, what Liangshan was doing now was to expand Liangshan's influence, expanding the influence around the Water Margin to an entire area, and even the entire Jizhou.

Under Liangshan's current power, many villages and fortresses in the surrounding area had actually secretly surrendered, watching the wind and following them. But a few medium and large-sized villages and fortresses such as Solitary Dragon Ridge, or many small villages and bandits with personality, were unwilling to give up their carefree days. Among them, there were even those who took the initiative to oppose Liangshan, such as the notoriously evil "Wolf Bandits," which were typical, and more or less hindering Liangshan's current development.

These were the real things that Liangshan had to do in the near future. The psychological preparations for dealing with large and small battles, large and small matters, had already been made. And it was also in this atmosphere that the small source of disturbance, which seemed far away and seemed unlikely to become a reality in a short time, after entering Bianliang for more than ten days, had smoothly transferred here and was pressing towards Liangshan, under circumstances that not many people could have imagined.

At the moment, not many people can predict the impact that this source of disturbance will have on the powerful Liangshan. Perhaps even the source of disturbance itself cannot predict everything at this time. On the evening of May 15th, in a dilapidated inn room in a small town called Yuan Family Settlement, a man named Ning Yi was eating from a large bowl while talking to people about something he had just discovered.

"That... what's going on with the one called Luan Tingyu? Why do they say he's missing?"

Ning Yi was not familiar with what had happened at Solitary Dragon Ridge, but he vaguely remembered that this person seemed to be very powerful, and should be the most powerful talent on this side of Solitary Dragon Ridge. But when he looked at a document just now, he found this name, briefly saying that he used to be a teacher at the Zhu Family Village, and is now missing, so he asked the Qi brothers and others who had also read the information.

The first to answer was Su Wenyu, who had been following along the way. He was also trying to eat his rice, but the dishes were not tasty, and he was eating with great difficulty: "Didn't they say... last year, when Liangshan attacked Zeng Family Fortress, it seemed that this person knew Shi Wengong, so he left Zhu Family Village to help. Later, Shi Wengong was captured and killed on Liangshan, and then he disappeared."

"...Oh." Ning Yi tried hard to chew the coarse rice, and then nodded indifferently. Anyway, he didn't know him, so he just asked casually.

"By the way, Lihang, we are indeed going to Solitary Dragon Ridge this time, right?" After a while, Qi Xinyong asked.

"Yes."

"I've rebelled before. There's one thing I don't know if you've thought about. This kind of village may not have few people, but most of them cherish their lives. They will guard with all their heart, but it's difficult for them to fight with all their heart, let alone fight to Liangshan. Even if we can instigate them, it will be difficult to win."

"I've thought about it." Ning Yi nodded. "Winning depends on other things. They are just the icing on the cake."

"I said, although Lihang has been talking about Solitary Dragon Ridge, he doesn't seem to be most concerned about its intelligence."

"I'm mainly a bit interested in a woman on Solitary Dragon Ridge..."

"Ah?"

Hearing him say this reason, everyone stopped their chopsticks, their eyes a little surprised. Ning Yi shook his head with a smile at their misunderstanding.

"By the way, let's make use of them. Of course, first we have to meet with Wang Shanyue, have you left a mark already?" He thought for a while, and then had some doubts. That was news he had inquired about unintentionally today, "The reputation of the Wolf Bandits is a bit strange here... they eat people..."

At the same moment, outside the Hall of Righteousness in Liangshan, Xi Junyu walked down the steps, clenched his fists with both hands, and looked at the distant sunset.

Just because of the incompetence of these people, he was actually excluded from the decision-making circle. The Su family's mistakes were obviously caused by themselves, but they were clearly excluding him.

Attacking Solitary Dragon Ridge is sure to win, of course, but if there are too many casualties, you guys wait to be held accountable...

But at least one thing is good, there are more and more people, and Liangshan will become stronger and stronger. One day, he would make Su Tan'er and that Son-in-Law kneel before him, and even if they were recruited, he would be an official, and they could only borrow his power...

He took a breath, thinking like this. On the other side, Zhu Wu came down from there. Xi Junyu saw him and turned to walk towards the other side.

Zhu Wu also saw Xi Junyu. At this moment, what they were thinking about should be the same person. Whether it was revenge or shame, perhaps it would come one day. Of course, this day may be a long time away.

In short, it shouldn't be something to consider in the short term.

...Just wait.

Zhu Wu thought in his heart, his eyes seeing the face that was coming to kill him.

"You are now less than a hundred miles away from me, and you actually think your life is safe!"

Why don't you come to Liangshan...

Of course, he knew it was impossible. After gritting his teeth and thinking about this idea, he shook his head and shook that scene out of his head. Sighing, he was actually thinking about such naive things, he should think about serious matters. Anyway, he would meet him again sooner or later and kill him...

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