Reborn in Liangshan: I built the strongest lineup

"I stabbed him!"

"But he forced me to!"

Song Jiang's powerful words caused everyone to frown.

"Nonsense! Who forced you? How could the village head force you?"

Wu Yong stepped forward, revealing the chain in his hand.

"You've already ruined the village head, and you still want to slander him!"

That's how it was; if Song Jiang said another bad word, he was ready to take action!

"Wu Yong, wait a moment before making a move. Let's hear what this guy has to say. Although Chao Tianwang had some unpleasant experiences with Liangshan in the past, as far as I remember, he wouldn't do something like this."

"Ren Yuan, stop pretending to be a good guy! Putting aside our past grievances, let me tell you, Chao Gai's death was all thanks to you!"

Ren Yuan was taken aback. What? My role is involved in your Qingfeng Mountain internal problems?

Do you know why I'm at Qingfeng Mountain?

Song Jiang started speaking directly, pouring out his story from the beginning.

"It's all because of you, that Little Li Guang Hua Rong from Liangshan! He shot and killed my apprentice's brother!"

"Do you know how much money and connections I spent to build up White Tiger Mountain? But it was that arrow from you Liangshan people that caused my master and disciple to turn against each other!"

"Do you know how terrible it is to be tied up and left to starve in a corner for days? I almost starved to death on White Tiger Mountain! Do you know that?!"

Song Jiang roared at Ren Yuan, who frowned and thought for a moment. "Oh, so you were in such a miserable state before Hua Rong came up the mountain, Song Jiang."

I'm sorry, although it sounds terrible, I really want to laugh.

"Then Yan Shun captured me and took me to Qingfeng Mountain. Yan Shun! He actually made me a servant! I had to clean the latrines every day!"

"I, Song Jiang, may not have any official rank, but I am still an official. How can I be insulted like this by bandits!"

"Wait a minute, Song Jiang, aren't you a clerk? If I remember correctly, a clerk is a minor official, right? How come you're an official?"

Ren Yuan delivered a gentle blow to Song Jiang.

"Besides, if you value your legitimate status, why did you support the Kong brothers' White Tiger Mountain? In the end, you just want to have your cake and eat it too, but unfortunately, you can't get through the legitimate world."

"You're talking nonsense! If I had succeeded in attacking Liangshan back then, I would have been promoted ahead of schedule! It's all your fault, you ruined my path in the officialdom!"

Song Jiang harbored deep resentment towards Ren Yuan, not only because Ren Yuan had cut off his path to advancement, but also because Ren Yuan's arrow had struck Song Jiang in the anus, causing him discomfort for several months.

"You actually believed what your old magistrate was saying? Fine, fine, go on. And then what? Wu Yong said that Chao Gai almost gave you the position of leader of Qingfeng Mountain. How good Chao Gai has been to you? How come he forced you?"

"That's right! Song Jiang! When he was the head of the village, he was even willing to give up his position as the chief of the gang to you. He trusted you so much, how could you bring yourself to do it..."

Liu Tang found it hard to believe that Song Jiang would actually turn against Chao Gai.

The two of them usually hang out in the mountain village, aren't they very close?

"Give way? Do you really think he genuinely gave way to me?"

When the topic of abdicating the throne came up, Song Jiang became even angrier.

"Back then, Qingfeng Mountain was in such a state that he hadn't even warmed his seat as the leader himself. How could he possibly give it up to me? It was just a polite remark!"

"Even if he conceded, would you agree? Especially you, Wu Yong, didn't you vehemently oppose it back then? And you, Liu Tang, you didn't agree to let me become the leader either!"

"Of course I object, because I've seen through you long ago that you're an ingrate."

Wu Yong stared fiercely at Song Jiang.

"Besides, don't tell me we disagreed; didn't you refuse yourself back then? Are you playing hard to get?"

"Could I agree to that? Of all those people back then, which one of them listened to me? If I agreed, wouldn't I just be asking for trouble!"

"He, on the other hand, puts on a humble act, letting everyone praise him, while I'm left in the lurch!"

Song Jiang stared wide-eyed, his hands gesturing wildly in the air.

"I never intended to be a bandit! Don't you understand? You have legal troubles, I don't!"

"Is he a good brother? Who would drag their good brother up the mountain to become a bandit? He's ruining my future!"

As Song Jiang spoke, he looked at Ren Yuan.

"And you, Ren Yuan, you bastard! It's all because of you that I had such a hard time getting up the mountain!"

"What does this have to do with me?"

Ren Yuan shrugged. Well, I've been sitting here watching the drama unfold, and I've already been blamed twice for no reason.

"Do you know how much pressure your Liangshan has put on Chao Gai?"

"Do you know that he's started imitating you at Qingfeng Mountain! Not killing people indiscriminately, not harming passersby—is that still a strongman?"

"If I can't hurt people at will before I go up the mountain, and I still can't hurt people at will after I go up the mountain, then what's the point of me going up the mountain!"

Song Jiang became increasingly angry as he spoke, and he even tore down and shredded the paintings on the prison cell wall.

"It's because of your actions at Liangshan that Chao Gai thought he could learn from you! That's why you made Qingfeng Mountain such a mess! Do you know that many people at Qingfeng Mountain are dissatisfied with him? It was I who secretly maintained the balance at Qingfeng Mountain! Without me, Qingfeng Mountain would have already staged a mutiny!"

Song Jiang's words implied that everyone on Qingfeng Mountain, except for himself, was utterly useless.

"Wu Yong, is your Qingfeng Mountain really that badly damaged?"

Ren Yuan turned to Wu Yong and asked.

"Song Jiang, you're talking nonsense! Qingfeng Mountain is perfectly harmonious. It's you who keeps leading people down the mountain, and you don't even get much out of them. That's why everyone is getting tired! Don't try to shift the blame onto the village head!"

Wu Yong was truly impressed by Song Jiang's ability to distort the truth. According to Song Jiang, he was a great hero of Qingfeng Mountain!

"If I hadn't led my men down the mountain to rob and plunder, what would you have eaten and drunk every day? I came down the mountain to replenish Qingfeng Mountain's warehouses! So that Qingfeng Mountain wouldn't have become so poor!"

"Besides, I brought several people up the mountain. Without them, Qingfeng Mountain would be even weaker!"

"With my performance, do you think I'm not qualified to be the chief of the stronghold?"

Song Jiang was aggressive, focusing solely on listing his own achievements while remaining completely silent about anything else.

"I understand, Song Jiang, you're just not reconciled!"

Wu Yong glared at Song Jiang, gritting his teeth.

"You're really blaming the village head for not firmly handing you the position of chief. All your excuses were just for show! You actually really wanted the village head to pull you into the chief's chair, didn't you!"

"That's why you're unwilling to be the eighth-ranking member, right? But you don't have the courage to become the top leader directly, so you can only force yourself to do the things that the top leader should be doing after becoming the eighth-ranking member!"

“In this way, over time, people will only remember you, Song Jiang, and not the village head, Song Jiang! Am I right?”

Wu Yong, you have to admit, he really has a talent for understanding people's hearts.

These words essentially touched on Song Jiang's sore spot, but he would never admit it.

"No! I was just thinking about our brothers' future! We can't be bandits forever, can we? We'll have to be recruited by the government eventually! After that, we can all become high-ranking officials!"

"If you want to be an official, commit murder and arson and then accept amnesty!"

Song Jiang continued, “As long as our Qingfeng Mountain is powerful enough, the higher the official positions we can hold! Of course, I want my brothers to be able to bring glory to our ancestors again!”

"Pah! Thank you, but we're not taking this official position!"

Clearly, Song Jiang's idea of ​​accepting amnesty did not gain much approval from his brothers; in fact, many of them disagreed with it altogether.

However, Song Jiang gained Chao Gai's absolute trust. Before each trip down the mountain, he would secretly write down the names of those who were unwilling to surrender and bring them along. When he went down the mountain, he would specifically choose those people to go with him, and then those people would die in battle.

After this happened several times, the opposition to accepting the imperial pardon diminished considerably. Song Jiang's prestige gradually rose in Qingfeng Mountain, rivaling that of Chao Gai!

Moreover, Song Jiang was particularly cunning. He not only wanted the ordinary soldiers to agree to the amnesty, but also the leaders. That's why he specially brought Wang Daoren and others up the mountain to cheer him on!

"Excuse me, I'll interrupt for a moment. You've said a lot, but you still haven't said how you stabbed Chao Gai. Can you get to the point?"

Ren Yuan wasn't interested in these petty squabbles at Qingfeng Mountain. What he really wanted to know was, Song Jiang, did you betray your elder brother?

Hurry up, Huang Wenbing said you're poisoned. If you don't say it now, you won't have another chance.

"I stabbed him! Right in the cell in front of us, I stabbed him!"

Song Jiang made a gesture as if he were drawing a dagger, and then poked someone in the air.

"The dagger Huang Wenbing gave me is exceptionally useful. You wouldn't believe it. Just one simple stab into his chest, and the feeling of watching the blood flow out was so exhilarating!"

"It really is you!"

Wu Yong couldn't resist any longer, and the chain in his hand flew out and wrapped around Song Jiang's neck!

Do you know what the crime of insubordination is?

Wu used his arm to tighten the chain, and even though Song Jiang was holding on tightly with his hands, his face began to turn red!

"Yes, it was Chao Gai who made me stab him. He said he would go to great lengths for his brothers! Huang Wenbing also said that as long as I stabbed him, he would let me go!"

"But Chao Gai pretended to ask me to stab him, but he actually didn't want to at all. If he wanted to, couldn't he just stab himself a couple of times? Why did he have to make someone else do it? He's going to become my inner demon! My inner demon!"

"Of course I don't have any inner demons, because I really did it! I was fulfilling his request! I did nothing wrong!"

"Hey, hey, Wu Yong, you have no idea what it feels like to stab someone. It's so satisfying, so incredibly satisfying!"

Song Jiang tried his best to speak, since he felt he was about to die anyway, so he could say whatever he wanted.

"So, Cui Daocheng saw you stabbing someone? And you cut off his tendons and tongue?"

"Well, he deserved it! Who, who let him see that?"

"What about Mu Hong? Wasn't he someone you particularly admired? You actually cut out his tongue too?!"

"Hmph, blame Huang Wenbing. He's the one who locked us up in a prison. Otherwise, Mu Hong wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Wow...that's really amazing."

Ren Yuan scratched his head. He really hadn't expected this today; he'd eaten way too much gossip. He didn't understand, but he was utterly shocked!

"Song Jiang, you murderer of your own brother, your crimes are heinous! The entire bandit world cannot forgive you! I ask you, where is the village head's body!"

Wu Yong questioned Song Jiang.

"Hey, hey, I, I don't know! If you're so capable, you find it yourself!"

Song Jiang did not answer Wu Yong's question.

"Wu Yong, don't strangle him yet."

Ren Yuan gestured to Wu Yong to release Song Jiang first, then walked to Huang Wenbing's seat and reached under the table.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

"Huang Wenbing just said that he has a secret room here. I'd like to open it now. You can continue."

Ren Yuan said he'd had his fill of gossip and now he needed to get some exercise.

You should handle the matters concerning Qingfeng Mountain yourselves.

Sure enough, he found a mechanism under Huang Wenbing's seat. After forcefully turning the mechanism, only a "click-clack" sound could be heard in the cell. Then, the wall behind Huang Wenbing's seat slowly opened, revealing a small dark room!

"Cough cough cough..."

When the darkroom was opened, some dust was kicked up, accompanied by coughing. Everyone saw two people sitting inside, leaning on each other.

Both men were surrounded by blood. One was leaning on the other's shoulder, head bowed, breathing weakly, with a thick white bandage wrapped around his chest. The other man was also wearing prison clothes and had several wounds, but they appeared to be less severe.

"Lei Heng?! What are you doing here?!"

Liu Tang, with his sharp eyes, recognized that the one with the lighter injuries was Lei Heng.

Then he quickly went forward to check.

"Strategist, it's Brother Lei Heng and the village head! They're all still alive!"

Liu Tang recognized the two people's faces and immediately shouted loudly!

"Guarantee?!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yong immediately abandoned Song Jiang and rushed over, and the others from Qingfeng Mountain also immediately surrounded him.

"Bao Zheng, Bao Zheng?"

"Cough, strategist, it's alright, everyone's alive. It's just that this dark room was so stuffy, I almost suffocated. Get some water, and I'm sure it won't be a big problem."

Lei Heng was in slightly better condition, but Chao Gai was not so lucky. Because his injuries were more severe, he almost fainted again.

Fortunately, Ren Yuan found the organization.

"Baozheng? You, you're not dead?!"

Song Jiang also saw the two people. He was very surprised. Something was wrong. His knife had clearly gone into his chest!

"You...you've forgotten that after you stabbed me, I was dragged away by the jailers?"

After taking a deep breath and drinking some water, Chao Gai regained some of his strength. He looked at Song Jiang with a puzzled expression.

"Gongming, have you forgotten that my heart is in a different place than others? It's on the right. You stabbed it on the left."

"And I really didn't expect that you would have such a big problem with me."

After saying a few words, Chao Gai didn't know what else to say. He and Lei Heng had both heard Song Jiang's words in the secret room.

So he was not only physically injured, but also emotionally wounded.

"It's good that you're not dead, but I never expected... Huang Wenbing, that guy tricked me!"

When Song Jiang saw that Chao Gai was not dead, his anger vanished instantly.

"Song Jiang, the fact that the village head is alive is a matter for Qingfeng Mountain, and has nothing to do with you. You injured the village head and should be punished! Today, I represent Qingfeng Mountain..."

"Scholar, forget it."

Wu Yong was about to say something when Chao Gai interrupted him.

"Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together; let him go."

"Keep it straight!"

"Let him go."

Chao Gai's chest wound was only simply bandaged and was still bleeding, so Wu Yong, who originally wanted to say more, decided to let it go after seeing Chao Gai's condition.

Save your boss first.

"You...you're not going to kill me?"

Song Jiang was a little dumbfounded.

"Song Jiang, you're poisoned, why would I kill you?"

Ren Yuan, who had been watching the show for a while, chuckled.

"Song Jiang, this is the medicine left by Huang Wenbing, who said it was the antidote."

Chao Gai raised his hand, in which he held a small bottle.

"Here's the medicine, get out! From now on, we're sworn enemies! We're no longer brothers! Scholar, tell him to get out!"

After saying this, he used his last bit of strength to throw the bottle at Song Jiang, and then collapsed into Wu Yong's arms.

Song Jiang caught the bottle, immediately opened it, and drank the medicine inside.

However, after finishing the drink, he looked at the unconscious Chao Gai with a complicated expression on his face.

"Chief Ren..."

"Song Jiang, don't call me. Go do what you're supposed to do."

Ren Yuan shrugged, indicating that he was just an observer and that the two of you should handle the problem yourselves.

"Song Jiang, get out! If you show up again, I'll take your life! Chief Ren, please save the village head!"

Because of Chao Gai's instructions, Wu Yong no longer wanted to deal with Song Jiang; now he only hoped to save Chao Gai.

Song Jiang didn't hesitate. He glanced at Chao Gai one last time, then turned and left. "Since you don't care about me and we've already broken up, we'll be strangers from now on."

I don't want to keep being a strongman!

"Brother, are we just going to let him go like this?"

Lu Fang and Guo Sheng had just finished watching the farce, and they felt that Song Jiang was truly disgusting.

Ren Yuan watched Song Jiang's departing figure and shook his head.

"Do you think Huang Wenbing's words can be trusted?"