The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 24: One More Battle

The battle is over.

The ruffians fled or died, and the entire Guanhai Salt Field fell silent.

All the salt workers hid back in their homes, closed their doors tightly, and did not dare to get involved in this brutal battle, but interestingly, they did not run away either.

In those days, the world was in turmoil, with soldiers, Jin soldiers, and bandits everywhere, killing people. Escaping wasn't necessarily safe. The saltworks' current owner, Mr. Wang, had a good relationship with the Jin people. The last time the Jin soldiers swept through Jimo County, they didn't come to the saltworks to kill people. Mr. Wang had simply come over and given a few instructions, asking them to increase the offering of refined salt and give more good salt to the Jin people.

It is impossible to escape, not in this lifetime. The only way to make salt here is to barely maintain a semblance of life.

The burden on the salt workers was heavier than before, but at least they were still alive.

The rebels slowly entered Yan Village, and all the doors were closed. Everyone could feel someone was secretly watching them through the cracks in the door, but no one opened the door and came out.

Madam Gong Er shouted at the dilapidated houses: "Fellow villagers, don't be afraid! We are the Jimo Uprising Army. I am Gong Yi's second daughter. We are not bandits or scoundrels. We are the righteous army fighting against the Jin Dynasty."

No one responded...

Madam Gong Er frowned: "It's really strange. I'm not a bully. Why are they doing this?"

Yue Wenxuan spoke up: "They are not sure you can defeat Mr. Wang. Although you won a battle, you only defeated a group of ruffians, not Mr. Wang's elite men."

Madam Gong Er understood instantly: the Jimo righteous army was defeated twice by Mr. Wang, which had long been a laughing stock in Jimo County. I'm afraid that everyone in the village is saying that the Jimo righteous army is a bunch of trash and is no match for Mr. Wang.

How dare the salt officials here come out to greet us?

Aren’t you afraid that after the rebel army loses, Mr. Wang will come to settle the score?

Yue Wenxuan: "To liberate them, we can't rely on empty slogans of justice, but we must give Official Wang a good beating."

Madam Gong Er: "We still have to fight a battle."

Yue Wenxuan: "Yes, we still have to fight."

At this time, Qi Jiguang also spoke. His current order was to "help the righteous army defeat Mr. Wang." Under the premise of this order, his military talents would be fully utilized. He carefully analyzed the battle situation: "How far away is the enemy stronghold?"

Madam Gong Er: "Wangjiazhuang Fort in Dongmiaozi is only two miles away from here."

Qi Jiguang: "That is to say, the main force of the enemy army will arrive in half an hour at the earliest."

He glanced around and pointed at a rooftop, saying, "There's a scout on that rooftop who can use a bow and arrow. He's looking far ahead, watching for any approaching enemy troops."

"There's an archer on the roof over there."

"Put up a few rows of wooden fences here, and a few stones over here."

The rebel soldiers had just won a victory and their morale was high. They were very motivated and acted as fast as they received orders.
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Dongmiaozi, Wangjiazhuang Fort.

Mr. Wang was a big landlord and a private salt dealer.

The Northern Song Dynasty court implemented a salt monopoly system for the salt industry, which was simply a state-level monopoly. In order to make more profits, the court over-exploited salt-making workers and reduced costs. It also raised the price of salt to seven to eight times the cost price, desperately trying to make a profit from the difference. This resulted in high prices and low quality of official salt.

Private salt came into being, and in coastal areas, there were many people who made and sold private salt.

Mr. Wang is the most powerful private salt dealer in Jimo.

He ran a large-scale illegal salt business with sufficient quantity, and sold it to several counties in the south. He could do illegal salt business on a small scale and do it secretly.

But it is impossible to engage in smuggling salt on a large scale without maintaining good relations with the government.

For a long time, Mr. Wang has been a dog raised by the Salt Commissioner of the Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty is useless and was beaten away by the Jin people in a few moves. The situation in Jimo County is about to change.

Mr. Wang didn't want to lose his backing, so he made up his mind to change from a dog of the Song Dynasty to a dog of the Jin Dynasty. Anyway, he was used to being a dog, his back couldn't be straightened anymore, and he couldn't turn back into a biped walking upright.

With the tacit consent of the Jin people, Mr. Wang took advantage of the chaos in the world and the lack of people in charge to occupy the Guanhai Salt Field and started collecting salt taxes in an open and aboveboard manner. He was simply the salt commissioner of the new era.

"Master, something serious has happened!"

A servant ran into the house and shouted at Master Wang, "That Gong guy has come again and attacked our salt works. The steward Wang you sent to guard the salt works has been killed, and many of the brothers who stayed behind have also died. The remaining fifty or sixty have just escaped and are crying in the front yard."

Mr. Wang was slightly taken aback when he heard this. "Gong? Wasn't he killed by the Jin people? And his son Gong Dalang also died in Jimo County."

The servant said quickly: "The one coming this time is Gong Yi's second daughter."

"Huh?" Mr. Wang laughed. "I'll go out and take a look."

When he arrived at the front yard, he saw a large group of ruffians lying in the yard, sitting or lying in all directions. All of them had injuries on their bodies and tears streaming down their faces. It was obvious that they had suffered a defeat.

Mr. Wang kicked the scoundrel beside him with a look of disgust on his face and said, "What happened? Tell me about it."

A group of ruffians started talking hurriedly.

They couldn't explain where Madam Gong Er came from. They only knew that she suddenly appeared outside the salt field with her soldiers. They couldn't explain Madam Gong Er's methods either. They were defeated in a daze and didn't even know how they lost.

Mr. Wang frowned as he listened to the battle. A trusted servant leaned over and whispered, "Master, these bastards, just because they were defeated, are boasting about their bravery. They're just a hundred or so ragtag bunch armed with door panels, pot lids, pitchforks, and brooms. How could they be so formidable?"

Mr. Wang thought the same. Just by listening to the enemy's weapons, he knew they were not that powerful. But these guys were bragging more and more fiercely. Anyway, the more fiercely they boasted about the enemy, the less responsibility they would have for losing the battle, right?

"Hmph!" Senior Master Wang began. "Back when Gong Yi was alive, she brought several thousand men to attack our Wang Family Fortress, but I easily repelled them twice. Now Second Madam Gong has only a hundred or so men under her command, and their weapons are even inferior. They're not even one-tenth as strong as Gong Yi's, so what's there to be afraid of? Come on, gather all the guards, and the salt escorts, and let's go take back the Guanhai Salt Field."

At the command, Wangjiazhuang Fort began to move.

More than fifty servants guarding the house and more than forty desperate salt smugglers were quickly assembled.

It's okay to be a servant guarding the house, but he is only slightly better than a scoundrel.

The forty or so private salt dealers are Mr. Wang’s real reliance. This group of people are all desperate criminals, fierce and ruthless.

Don't think that forty or so are too few. A few years ago, the famous rebel Song Jiang had only thirty-six core fighters. They raged for hundreds of miles, causing great distress to the imperial court, until the fierce Zhang Shuye intervened and finally defeated Song Jiang.

The names of these thirty-six people were recorded in "The Remaining Stories of the Xuanhe Period of the Great Song Dynasty", and were later written into "Water Margin" by Shi Nai'an.

Thirty-six desperadoes are so cool, and now Mr. Wang has more than forty of them under his command.

At that time, Gong Yi's army of several thousand was defeated twice by these forty or so people.

"Let's go, let's go and deal with the palace thieves, capture that second lady Gong, and have some fun."

"Hahahaha!"

(End of this chapter)