Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 107 The strategist proposes to raid the village; Prefect Zhang wishes to see Song Gongming.

"My lord, as you can see, within a 60-mile radius of the villages on the east and south sides of Liangshan Marsh, there are fifteen or sixteen villages, including Dongxi Village, Xixi Village, Huandao Village, Shijie Village, Dingyang Village, Baicao Village, Mujiazhai, and Lidao Village, with a total population of over ten thousand. If we don't forcibly relocate them, I'm afraid they will become Liangshan Marsh's supply depots when they descend the mountain. Moreover, some villages in these areas have already colluded with the Liangshan Marsh bandits, working together in wicked ways."

The strategist Wu Yong was gradually persuading Zhang Shuye, and Zhang Shuye's attitude became increasingly agreeable after listening to Wu Yong's words. At this moment, he asked, "Are there already villagers who have joined forces with the Liangshan bandits? Which village are you talking about?"

Zhang Shuye found it incredible that a village could collude with bandits, because since ancient times these bandits have made a living by harming and exploiting the people. The people hate them too much to even think about colluding with them!

"The villages most closely aligned with Liangshan Marsh are Shijie Village and Dongxi Village. Shijie Village was originally a small fishing village on the edge of Liangshan Marsh. Shijie Lake and Liangshan Marsh are connected by the same water. As far as I know, there are many people from Shijie Village on Liangshan Marsh. The entire village is under the protection of Liangshan Marsh. The people in this village also act as eyes and ears for Liangshan Marsh."

Wu Yong, the "wise strategist," knew about the affairs of the three Ruan brothers from Shijie Village on Liangshan Marsh. Since the three Ruan brothers could not be used by him, selling out Shijie Village and the three Ruan brothers was something he could easily do.

"And then there's Dongxi Village. Dongxi Village is a large town. The town's headman, 'Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King' Chao Gai, has colluded with the Liangshan bandits and seized land in the village, presumably to plant crops for those bandits. If they don't produce crops soon, and Dongxi Village ends up providing Liangshan with a mountain stronghold, it will be too late!"

As for "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" Chao Gai, "Strategist" Wu Yong betrayed him without hesitation. For a long time, ever since "Strategist" Wu Yong abandoned "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" Chao Gai and fled on Huangni Ridge, he had been closely concerned about Chao Gai's situation.

Originally, Wu Yong felt somewhat guilty towards Chao Gai, but later he discovered that Li Hanxiao and Chao Gai had formed a cooperative relationship, and that "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" Chao Gai had actually joined Liangshan Marsh, which made Wu Yong uneasy.

Wu Yong thought to himself, "You, Chao Gai, can do whatever you want, but how could you collude with Li Hanxiao? Without Li Hanxiao, how could I, Wu Yong, have ended up in this situation?"

However, he couldn't recall at all that Chao Gai hadn't wanted any conflict with Liangshan Marsh in the first place. It was Wu Yong, the "wise strategist," who had used every means to persuade Chao Gai, the "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King," to plot against Liangshan Marsh. In the end, it was Wu Yong who betrayed Chao Gai, losing the "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" on Huangni Ridge and deserting to save his own life.

It can be said that "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" Chao Gai did not owe Wu Yong anything at all. On the contrary, it was "Strategist" Wu Yong who owed Chao Gai, but he did not think so.

Logically speaking, Wu Yong's idea should be very wrong and wrong, but unfortunately he did not think so. Since he was called "the wise man", he should be a very smart person. He should be able to see through this principle, right?

This brings us to human nature. When people don't know what to do, they always find some incredibly absurd yet seemingly plausible, specious reasons to act. Whether they understand the absurdity of these reasons or not is debatable. Moreover, some people often force themselves to believe the absurd things they say. Wu Yong was like that...

"You mean to say that Chao Gai, the head of Dongxi Village, colluded with the bandits of Liangshan Marsh and cultivated land in Dongxi Village for the Liangshan Marsh?"

Zhang Shuye thought to himself that this was no small matter. If this continued, and Liangshan Marsh established some large-scale military settlements outside of Liangshan Marsh, similar to the "military farms" of the Later Han and Three Kingdoms periods, to solve the food problem, then things would become very difficult!

Wu Yong, the "wise strategist," had just said so much, intending to have Zhang Shuye cut off Liangshan Marsh from the food supply issue first, and Zhang Shuye had taken his advice to heart.

Now, the Liangshan Marsh is starting to address this issue, and this cannot be tolerated!

It must be nipped in the bud!

"As for what you're talking about, I think it's better to do it sooner rather than later, but I'm afraid it's difficult to do it in a short time... We don't have enough manpower right now, we lack talented generals, and our military strength is also insufficient. I'm new here, and I can't do all the things at once. But the matter of Dongxi Village that you mentioned can be done now. Have my two sons lead a team of soldiers to capture that village head and interrogate him."

Zhang Shuye was thinking that they still had too little intelligence about Liangshan Marsh. Since Chao Gai, the head of Dongxi Village known as "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King," was a member of Liangshan Marsh, and he was still outside Liangshan Marsh but in a village or town currently controlled by the imperial court, they should capture him first.

After all, Chao Gai was outside of Liangshan Marsh. Even if the bandits of Liangshan Marsh knew about this and wanted to rescue him, it would take them quite a while. By the time they arrived at Dongxi Village, the man would have already been captured by Zhang Bofen and Zhang Zhongxiong, so there wouldn't be any problems.

As for why Zhang Bao wasn't used, it was because Zhang Shuye believed that while Zhang Bao's martial arts skills were good, he didn't seem to be a smart person. He had previously been a minor official, Chengxin Lang, and had no experience in leading troops. In his opinion, Zhang Bao was only suitable as a general to charge into battle, not as someone who could lead an army on his own.

In addition, he wanted to train his two sons, Zhang Bofen and Zhang Zhongxiong. Zhang Shuye had high hopes for them. In Zhang Shuye's opinion, his two sons were much better at martial arts than himself. He hoped that he could train them to become talented people and serve the country on the battlefield in the future, and be able to break through the northern desert and seal the wolf's lair!

However, Zhang Shuye's two sons were relatively young before, and had only helped Zhang Shuye fight off a small number of bandits while in office. They had never seen a big scene before and needed to gain more experience.

Therefore, Zhang Shuye hoped to use this opportunity to train his two sons in military affairs.

“My lord, this… ‘Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King’ Chao Gai is also a well-known figure in the martial arts world. He has some martial arts skills, and there are quite a few servants in the manor…”

Seeing that Zhang Shuye seemed to be looking down on him, Wu Yong, the "wise strategist," couldn't help but speak up.

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Shuye interrupted him, "There's nothing to be afraid of in this matter. Don't you know that my two sons have been practicing martial arts since childhood and are highly skilled? Send them with two hundred men, and you're sure they can capture a mere village headman?"

Although Zhang Shuye was skilled in both literature and martial arts, he certainly considered himself a civil official. After all, the Northern Song Dynasty valued literature over martial arts. Although he was familiar with military affairs, he might not have held warriors in high regard. Even when he trained his two sons, he made them focus on studying and only practice martial arts. He often told them the classic quote from Han Qi, the Duke of Wei, "Only those who are called out at the Donghua Gate are true men!"

He looked down on "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" Chao Gai. He thought that a village headman and his servants were just a group of villagers, so what could they possibly do?

Upon hearing this, Wu Yong, the "wise strategist," fell silent. He knew that Zhang Shuye didn't particularly trust him right now, so there was no point in him saying anything more. It would be better to let them lead their troops to run into a wall, hit a brick wall, and bleed. Then they would know the pain and know that what he said was true. At that time, Zhang Shuye would realize his importance and value him more.

This was what the "wise strategist" Wu Yong was thinking. As for the life or death of these two hundred government soldiers, he really didn't care. It wasn't within his consideration. In his view, as long as it was beneficial to him, two hundred men were fine. He, Zhang Shuye, didn't need two hundred men. If they died, they died.

After Zhang Shuye finished speaking, he didn't forget "Strategist" Wu Yong and said to him, "Mr. Wu Yong, you are quite insightful. Do you want to stay in my staff in Jizhou City and work for me? If you serve the country and make contributions to the court in the future, I will naturally promote you."

Zhang Shuye was extremely eager to find talented people. In any case, Wu Yong's words were quite insightful, showing that he was quite learned. Such a person was exactly the kind of talent that Zhang Shuye urgently needed.

"I am naturally willing to contribute to the country!"

"The Wise One," Wu Yong said, bowing.

"By the way, I've heard there's a guy in Yuncheng County under our jurisdiction named 'Hu Baoyi' Song Jiang. He's a minor official in the yamen. Do you know him?"

Zhang Shuye's sudden question startled Wu Yong, the "wise strategist."

Sure enough, Song Jiang was too famous; even Zhang Shuye had heard of him!

Song Jiang was talented, but not exceptionally so. However, he was very famous. In ancient times, the greater a person's fame, the more respected and valued they were.

Take, for example, the "Four Lords of the Warring States" from the Warring States period. These four were arguably the most famous people of their time.

But what real talent or ability did they possess? Apart from Lord Xinling, Wei Wuji, whose abilities were indeed superior to the others and whose "stealing the tally to rescue Zhao" was a stroke of genius, the other three were all exaggerations.

The eldest was Lord Mengchang, whose power reached the pinnacle of the so-called high-ranking officials. He was not a feudal lord, but he had more prestige than feudal lords. He had his own private army and fiefdom, and was a minor feudal lord in name only. In his later years, he had become independent beyond the jurisdiction of feudal states. However, to be honest, this person was not of high moral character, his talent was very average, he was not good-looking, and he had a kind of aristocratic arrogance and cruelty. When he was ridiculed, he destroyed a county and killed many people, which shows that he was not a good person.

The person most similar to Lord Mengchang was Lord Pingyuan, Zhao Sheng. In fact, he was even more mediocre, but his greatest strength was his ability to "do whatever he wanted." He did not have the power and influence of Lord Mengchang, and he never surpassed the other states. He served the state of Zhao his entire life. He experienced ups and downs, but there were not many major ups and downs. There are no stories of him having any famous words or deeds that have gone down in history. His stories are all about not paying rent, killing his concubine, Mao Sui recommending himself, Li Tong advising him, etc. It was all because he made mistakes and his retainers scolded him. In the Battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao, he couldn't contribute any effort. With his influence, he couldn't even get any reinforcements from any other state.

As for Lord Chunshen, whether he can be included among the Four Lords is debatable, but his act of offering a woman pregnant with his child to the ruler is practically a predecessor of Lü Buwei, hardly worthy of praise...

Song Jiang was similar to the other four, but he didn't have their illustrious background. Song Jiang was not good-looking, but he had a great reputation. Whenever he encountered someone in trouble, he would give them a silver ingot.

This was also Song Jiang's skill; he was generous to a wide range of people, regardless of their social status, and he used different methods to help those with different needs. These people were the main force behind the spread of Song Jiang's reputation. Officials who received Song Jiang's help naturally spread his good name among themselves. Of course, such spread wouldn't be very far, limited to the prefectures and counties. For example, the singing women, Granny Yan and her daughter, received his kindness but later became his murderous enemies; Tang Niu'er, who sold pickled vegetables, often received help from Song Jiang, but Song Jiang caused him to be unjustly exiled; and Wang Gong, who sold soup, promised him enough money for a coffin but never fulfilled his promise when Song Jiang committed a crime and fled.

As for the chivalrous heroes he helped, it was a different story. Due to the nature of their work, they were mobile; today they might be in Jizhou, and tomorrow they might be in Cangzhou. Having received Song Jiang's favor, they naturally carried his good reputation to other prefectures and counties. In particular, these outlaw heroes were all connected, making their word-of-mouth recommendations even more effective.

Moreover, Yuncheng County was a hub for frequent exchanges between merchants from the north and south, and people from all walks of life frequented the area, so Song Jiang's deeds naturally spread widely.

To be honest, Wu Yong was unconvinced, because he knew that the clerks in the Song Dynasty were indeed very powerful, as they deceived their superiors and bullied their subordinates, oppressed the people, and formed cliques and factions.

They are more capable than officials, but their pay is low, they have no legitimate income, and they have no chance of being promoted to official positions; they understand and are familiar with the situation in their own office and the local area, but they have no decision-making power in their own office.

Therefore, they straddle both the legal and illegal worlds, maximizing their personal gain within the legal and illegal framework. Because they have not been influenced by Confucian classics, they do not have many psychological barriers when engaging in illegal activities and associating with underworld figures.

Therefore, Song Jiang's reputation was not as clean or powerful as it seemed. In reality, it was built by walking the line between right and wrong. There is no insurmountable boundary between clerks and the underworld, and the bolder and more adventurous a person is, the more prestigious they become in the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world).

Song Jiang was that kind of person. Apart from the people of Yuncheng County, who was his biggest audience? They were all outlaws in the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world), those who walked the line between the legitimate and criminal worlds.

If that's the case, how can Song Jiang himself be completely innocent?