Reborn in Liangshan: I built the strongest lineup

Ren Yuan later fought Shan Shiqi with the Kanglong Mace.

Shan Shiqi is good at wielding an iron rod, but he's not very good with other weapons, so Ren Yuan had him use a short stick.

However, Shan Shiqi, who wielded two short sticks, could not gain the upper hand against Ren Yuan, who was wielding the Kanglong Mace.

Ren Yuan is strong and fast, and his fighting style is similar to Shan Shiqi's, but Ren Yuan is stronger than Shan Shiqi in every aspect! The natural style of restraint, coupled with the fact that the weapon is not the best option, makes Ren Yuan's fight with Shan Shiqi look much easier than Lin Chong's fight with Shan Shiqi!

Therefore, Shan Shiqi could only parry and defend, and after enduring forty or fifty rounds, he decisively conceded defeat.

Losing to the chieftain is not an unacceptable thing; Shan Shiqi felt that losing was perfectly fine.

"Lao Shan, your thinking is wrong. You lost this time, but you have to win it back next time!"

Mi Sheng put his arm around Shan Shiqi's shoulder and then imparted his experience to him.

"You need to spar more to understand, right? Let me tell you, there are many heroes in this stronghold, and there's an art to sparring. I've summarized it here..."

One of them dared to speak, and the other dared to listen. No one knew exactly what Mi Sheng said, but everyone saw that Shan Shiqi's eyes were getting brighter and brighter!

Well, Mi Sheng won't be lonely anymore; Shan Shiqi will keep him company and cause trouble.

After Shan Shiqi went up the mountain, Ren Yuan arranged for him to go to the infantry to form the Eighth Infantry Battalion, with Shan Shiqi as the battalion commander. Cao Zheng and his wife went to Zhu Gui's place to become innkeepers, which happened to be his old profession as an innkeeper.

It has to be said that as Liangshanbo became more and more popular, the responsibilities of the innkeepers also increased. They had to manage too many things, including reception, intelligence gathering, and business operations.

Zhu Gui and Zhu Fu were under a lot of pressure before, but fortunately Yang Lin and Cao Zheng and their wife joined them, which made things much easier for them.

The total number of people on Liangshan Mountain is close to 40,000, and almost every day some people bring their families up the mountain.

In Yuncheng County, the closest county to Liangshan, the locals have even developed the habit of coming to Liangshan when they have problems.

If you have no money for medical treatment, come to Liangshan; if you are bullied by landlords, come to Liangshan; if the government levies exorbitant taxes, come to Liangshan!

Liangshan did not attack Yuncheng County, but whenever the people came up the mountain, Liangshan's cavalry and infantry would come to the vicinity of Yuncheng County to conduct "military exercises".

Every time they held a military exercise, the deafening shouts of battle made the magistrate of Yuncheng County tremble with fear, terrified that the Liangshan army would invade! In the end, he had no choice but to comply with Liangshan's demands and solve the problems for the people.

As a result, over time, the happiness index of the people of Yuncheng County increased dramatically! In addition, since Song Jiang and others were no longer in Yuncheng, Yuncheng County was now practically an affiliated county of Liangshan.

Even their county magistrate knows that whether Yuncheng is in chaos or not is up to Liangshan. If all the officials just do their jobs properly, everyone will be safe. Landlords, please don't mess with the common people, or else you can go talk to Liangshan yourselves, don't come to our county office.

As for Jeju Island, it's a bit far away, and He Tao is getting a little too carried away with doing business with Liangshan.

There was no other way; Liangshan really did pay on time and never withheld anything. Sometimes, if they bought more, they would even pay more. How could He Tao offend such a big customer?

He Tao has even started businesses other than armor now, such as buying horses and grain.

Liangshan also gave He Tao face. "You're the arresting officer of the Three Capitals, right? Fine. If there are any wanted criminals, bandits, or evil mountain strongholds near Liangshan territory, He Tao, you don't need to fight them. You just need to pay, and Liangshan will take care of them for you. After the fight, both the people and the heads belong to you, He Tao. You can use them to claim credit. But from now on, He Tao, you must act according to Liangshan rules. You can't make money off the common people through dishonest means."

He Tao was naturally willing. He wouldn't have to fight, yet he would still get just as much credit and earn even more money. Only a fool would refuse such a good deal. Therefore, He Tao continued to stabilize the situation in Jeju.

According to Ren Yuan, he wished He Tao had a higher official position, because He Tao was quite qualified as a business partner.

Moreover, thanks to him, the Liangshan bandits no longer lack armor. With Tang Long leading the forging, Liangshan's armory is no longer in a state of being scrambling for weapons.

The Liangshan cavalry, with its six battalions, now boasts over three thousand warhorses. It's fortunate there's a large basin behind Liangshan; otherwise, they couldn't support so many horses. Therefore, Ren Yuan is determined to conquer Jeju Island in the future, as it's a perfect natural horse ranch.

Currently, the Liangshan cavalry, with a battalion of 500 men and 400 horses, still doesn't achieve one horse per man. However, the horse leader, Duan Jingzhu, recently had good news: he reached an agreement with some wealthy and powerful merchants in the north to purchase 300 horses every quarter. It seems that before long, the Liangshan cavalry will be able to achieve one horse per man, forming a relatively well-equipped cavalry force.

Of course, the outside world has no idea how many horses Liangshan actually has, and given Liangshan's financial resources, there is no way to expand its scale again for the time being.

After all, Liangshan needs money everywhere right now. Although there are no economic problems at the moment, Ma Jun's investment is limited for the time being.

On this day, three prison carts were transported out of Yuncheng County, escorted by more than a dozen yamen runners.

These three people are Bai Sheng, Jin Dajian, and Xiao Rang, who were part of the previous group of nine people who levied the birthday gifts.

The three of them were to be escorted to Liang Zhongshu in Daming Prefecture to be brought to justice as criminals involved in the birthday tribute.

We didn't catch anyone else, but these three can make up the numbers.

When the prison van first set off, the constables were very nervous, fearing that someone would try to intercept it.

But when they arrived in Liangshan territory, they immediately relaxed.

As everyone knows, the roads within Liangshan are currently the safest.

"Are any of the Liangshan brothers here? I'm a constable from Yuncheng. I'm escorting three prisoners through the area, and I hope the Liangshan brothers can do me a favor!"

The leading constable, as soon as he entered the mountain road, started shouting to the surroundings, regardless of whether there were people or not, he just shouted first.

Basically, as long as you shout that, everything will be fine. At most, some ordinary soldiers from Liangshan will come to escort you.

"It's easy to talk about."

But today seemed different, because after he shouted, the person who came out of the woods was actually Ren Yuan himself!

He, along with Yang Zhi and some personal guards, had been waiting here for a while.

"Imperial Envoy, are you still brooding over the birthday gifts?"

Ren Yuan asked Yang Zhi.

“Brother, I thought it was my chance to start anew, which is why I valued it so much. Now I realize it was just a job of being someone’s dog. I’m angry, but I shouldn’t be so upset about a job of being a dog for so long.”

Yang Zhi gave a wry smile. After recovering from his injuries, he had been busy with the affairs of his Sixth Cavalry Battalion. So much time had passed since the birthday tribute, and he was slowly letting go of the past.

After all, that's not a good thing.

But to my surprise, the chieftain brought me here today, specifically to stop the prison carts carrying the birthday tribute prisoners.

Yang Zhi could recognize that one of the three men was the man who sold wine back then. This guy had cheated him out of a lot of trouble.

As for the remaining two... they were probably the date sellers standing at the very back. In the end, they were just bluffing and putting on a show, and did not actually participate in the attack on him, so Yang Zhi would not hold a grudge against them.

"Hey, brothers from Yuncheng, who are you escorting?"

Ren Yuan was asking a question he already knew the answer to.

"Reporting to Chief Ren, these are prisoners from the birthday tribute shipment. We are responsible for escorting them to Daming Prefecture. Please do us a favor, Chief Ren."

People from other places may not know what Ren Yuan looks like, but the yamen runners in Yuncheng all know what Ren Yuan looks like, so of course they dare not offend him.

"Oh, it's nothing. I came here today for just one thing, it shouldn't be difficult for you."

"what?"

What do the yamen runners want? The chief of Liangshan Mountain wants them to do something for him.

"Yeah, I was thinking of borrowing your prison van for a bit. You wouldn't object, would you?"