Chapter 63

After everyone had taken their seats, they were all delighted.

Xun Ning and the others had initially felt a bit like guests when they first arrived on the mountain, but only after the seating arrangements were made and they had a hearty drink with their good brothers did they feel a strange sense of being the masters.

Perhaps this was what everyone often referred to as a sense of belonging?

Once the fourteen leaders were all seated, Lin Chong stood up and reported to Wang Lun, "Brother, during the two months you were in Tokyo to fetch my family, our stronghold sent out troops eight times. The first few times went relatively smoothly, but later, because those people were wary, they strengthened their defenses, and our troops began to suffer casualties. In total, twenty-one brothers fell in battle!"

Hearing this, Wang Lun hurriedly asked, "How did these twenty-one brothers die? Have the consolation money been sent to their families?"

Lin Chong replied with a bow, "Three of them died from severe injuries on the spot, while the rest died after being injured and returning to the stronghold!" After saying this, he glanced at Du Qian, as the matter of consolation money was not under his jurisdiction, and it was best for Du Qian to follow up.

Du Qian, seeing this, stood up and said, "One hundred strings of cash in consolation money have been delivered to the relatives of each of them, and all the property left by these brothers has been inventoried and sent to their families!"

Wang Lun, hearing this, felt a bit heavy-hearted and said, "In the future, all the brothers should wear armor when going down the mountain, and we should hire skilled doctors with a high salary to reduce casualties!" Although the stronghold was not short of medicine, it was extremely short of doctors, especially skilled ones. If there were good doctors, it would certainly reduce the casualties each time they went down the mountain. At this moment, he thought of the divine doctor An Daoquan far away in Jiankang, wondering how many more times he would have to go down the mountain to gather all these heroes.

At this point, Du Qian continued, "Every time we go down the mountain, we still follow Brother's instructions to distribute ten stones of grain to each household. The villagers are all eager to join the stronghold. In these eight battles, we brought back 1,733 able-bodied men, not counting their families!"

Wang Lun nodded, thinking that the decision to distribute ten stones of grain to each household seemed to be correct. As the saying goes, giving one stone of grain makes people speak well of you, giving five stones makes people think well of you, and giving ten stones, which can support a family of seven or eight for a year, makes people willing to risk their lives for you!

Hearing this, Xun Ning, Lu Zhishen, and the other new leaders on the mountain exchanged glances. Although they did not speak, they were all deeply impressed. They never expected that their stronghold, besides robbing the rich, would also distribute grain to the villagers, and in such large quantities. They had all eaten military rations before and knew how difficult it was to provide such an amount. They all began to reassess this scholarly and ambitious leader of the stronghold.

At this moment, Zhu Gui continued, "In the past two months, 412 able-bodied men have come up the mountain from the seven taverns I manage!"

Wang Lun nodded and said, "With a larger reputation, naturally, more people will come to join. Brother Zhu Gui, do not be too tired, and continue to do a good job in reception and screening!"

Zhu Gui responded with a bow. Then the three Ruan brothers also stood up. Ruan Xiaoer said, "In recent days, I have also been recruiting people in the village. Besides the fishermen from our village, many heroes from nearby fishing villages have also come to join. Now, our stronghold's navy has 523 combat soldiers, not counting the elderly fishermen skilled in water, who can also help with transportation and fishing for the stronghold!"

Wang Lun praised the three brothers, saying they were indeed the bold and generous men of the fishing village. After the incident of the birthday tribute, it was these three men who raised their arms and led the fishermen to defeat the pursuing troops.

Seeing that everyone had finished speaking, Du Qian, who managed the treasury, said, "In these eight battles, we have seized a total of 227,860 strings and 700 cash of gold, silver, and jewels. After giving one-third as rewards to the brothers and special rewards to those who stood out during the grain borrowing, 157,302 strings were actually stored in the treasury. After deducting the remaining balance from the medicine bought in Tokyo and other expenses of the stronghold, and adding the inventory before Brother went down the mountain, the treasury now has 200,718 strings of cash! As for grain, after distributing to the villagers, 24,100 stones have been stored in the past two months, plus the 5,500 stones (from Xixi Village and Li Family Village), and after deducting daily consumption, there are now 22,000 stones left!"

Two months of consuming 7,000 to 8,000 stones of grain? Wang Lun was slightly surprised, thinking that if one person consumes one stone of grain per month, which is about four catties of staple food plus meat and vegetables per day, and two months have consumed so much main grain, there must be a large number of people on the mountain. He asked, "How many brothers are there on the mountain now?"

Song Wan, seeing the question, stood up and answered, "The kitchen now prepares meals for about 5,500 people, of which about 3,700 to 3,800 are combat soldiers!"

Wang Lun was pleased to hear this and joked, "It seems that the stronghold is thriving even more in my absence. I must go down the mountain more often in the future!"

Everyone laughed at this, and they started to make witty remarks. After a while, Wang Lun stood up and said, "Excluding the navy, the stronghold's combat soldiers should be 3,300. Here's what I propose: I have bought 280 horses through Xu Jiaoshi's connections in Tokyo. Thirty horses will be used by the leaders, and the rest will be allocated to form a cavalry of 1,000 men, with Xu Jiaoshi as the leader of the cavalry!"

Xun Ning responded with a bow, and Wang Lun nodded at him, then said to Lu Zhishen and Mi Fei, "Another 1,000 men will be allocated to the infantry, with Lu Zhishen and Mi Fei as the leaders of the infantry! Jiang Zhipeng will be the head of the infantry!" Both of them also stood up and responded with a bow.

"The navy needs to be strengthened. Please, the three Ruan brothers, select another 300 men to join the navy, to serve as a shield for our stronghold!" Wang Lun added.

The three Ruan brothers stood up and responded. Ruan Xiaqi then asked, "Brother, do the navy get a share of the armor you brought back from Tokyo?"

Wang Lun chuckled and said, "I brought back 1,100 paper armors, 500 leather armors, and 100 iron armors from Tokyo. Five hundred paper armors will be allocated to the navy, 300 leather armors to the cavalry, and the remaining 500 paper armors, 100 leather armors, and 100 iron armors will be allocated to the infantry!"

Du Qian, who had been managing the treasury, was very sensitive to numbers. He calculated that the numbers Wang Lun mentioned did not add up and asked, "Brother, what about the remaining 100 leather armors and 100 paper armors?"

"The remaining 1,000 combat soldiers will be formed into the stronghold's garrison, led by Du Qian and Song Wan. Your existing duties remain unchanged. I will allocate the remaining armor to you. In the future, any new recruits will be unified into the garrison, and when the cavalry, infantry, and navy need to expand, they will be selected from the garrison! Lin Jiaoshi will still be the chief trainer of the stronghold, training the three armies!" Wang Lun said. He knew that Xun Ning's hook and sickle spear technique was good, but he was currently responsible for forming the cavalry, and there was no immediate threat of heavy cavalry, so he only asked Lin Chong to train the troops.

Lin Chong, Du Qian, Song Wan, and others all stood up and accepted the orders. Wang Lun nodded at them and continued, "Jiao Ting, select forty men from the garrison to form my personal guard, along with the ten men led by Zhang San (Overstreet Rat) and Li Si (Green Grass Snake). Jiao Ting, you are good at boxing but dislike weapons. I will introduce you to a master. Lin Jiaoshi's father-in-law, Old Zhang, is a skilled expert in weapons, having studied them for over thirty years. If you can persuade him to come out of retirement, you will have a lot to learn!"

Jiao Ting looked at Wang Lun and smiled foolishly, nodding and accepting the order. At this moment, Lin Chong stood up and said, "I believe my father-in-law will be happy to spar with Brother Jiao Ting and the other personal guards!"

Wang Lun nodded at Lin Chong and continued, "Tang Long will be the leader of the armory, taking over the supervision of the construction from Song Wan. I will give you 100 positions to select and train talents from the garrison. If there are talented people among your families, you can also select them, with no limit on the number. Mo Shisan will be promoted to head and assist you, aiming to establish the stronghold's workshops as soon as possible!" Tang Long was delighted and stood up to accept the order.

Wang Lun then said, "Brother Tang Long, starting tomorrow, build a study for Mr. Wen on the back mountain for his lectures. All the families and soldiers on the mountain can attend, and the brothers can also sit in to absorb some scholarly atmosphere!"

Lu Zhishen laughed and said, "I don't care if you go or not, but I will definitely go!"

Everyone laughed at this, and Wang Lun gestured for them to quiet down, saying, "Brothers Zhu Gui and Zhu Fu will continue their old duties, managing the taverns!" The two brothers stood up and accepted the order.

"Brothers, if you have any promising talents, please submit a list. With more people in the stronghold, the existing minor leaders are not enough. I will appoint them uniformly when the lists are submitted!"

Everyone agreed, and Wang Lun asked if anyone had anything else to say. Everyone said that Brother's instructions were detailed, and they had nothing more to add. Wang Lun then asked who would be on night duty that evening, and Du Qian and Song Wan smiled and came forward. Wang Lun joked with the two old brothers for a while and then dismissed everyone, telling them to rest.

At this moment, Zhu Gui stopped outside the Hall of Heroes, looking as if he had something on his mind. Wang Lun, coming out with Jiao Ting, saw him and asked what was wrong. Zhu Gui said, "A few days ago, some villagers came to Li Family Village Tavern, crying and complaining about a large, dark-skinned man who had been robbing people on the road near the lake. They asked us to do something about it!"

Wang Lun laughed and said, "Why didn't the villagers go to the county office to complain? Has anyone been killed?"

Zhu Gui laughed and said, "No one has been killed, just robbed. It seems that Brother's reputation for righteousness has spread to the people, making them feel that Brother is more reliable than the government!"

Wang Lun waved his hand and laughed, "Since the villagers have come to us, we cannot ignore it! I wonder which scoundrel has the nerve to rob at the foot of Liangshan! Brother, send someone to investigate and report back!"

Zhu Gui nodded and agreed. They talked for a while longer, but Zhu Gui did not seem to want to leave, looking troubled. Wang Lun, seeing this, knew something was amiss and said, "Brother, if you have something to say, just say it. Why are you hesitating?"

Zhu Gui bit his lip and finally told the whole story.

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