Magical Water Margin: They all call me brother

Page 55

"No, no, although this Dragon Staff is incredibly powerful, it only has one form and cannot change its weight or appearance. In terms of unpredictability and practicality, your Scale Shadow weapon is much better."

Liu Hong spoke the truth.

"Hmph, you're smart enough to know what's good for you. I'll tell you the other ways to use my Reverse Scale."

Ao Ying waved his hand, and the reverse scale he had given him transformed into a wisp of shadow that directly wrapped around Zhao Kuangyin's dragon-carved staff, coating the magnificent dragon-carved staff with a layer of ink-wash style shadow thunder pattern.

【Demon Messenger - Shadow Scale】: If you attach this Reverse Scale to another weapon, it will grant an additional +5 accuracy, +5 magic damage, +1~12 lightning damage, and +2~12 armor penetration damage on top of the other weapon's base damage. However, it will not trigger the Shapeshifting effect.

After slightly modifying his blessing, Ao Ying arrogantly raised his head, looked around at the temple that the Liangshan people had built for him, and nodded with some satisfaction.

“Not bad, not bad. Since you’ve renovated my temple so beautifully, I can tell you two big secrets.”

Ao Ying strode forward with her two long, slender legs and arrived in front of the Liangshan topographic map drawn by Li Cunxiao. With her delicate fingers, she pointed to a few points on the map.

"Within the seven peaks of Liangshan, there are a total of five mining sites: two coal mines, one iron mine, one limestone mine, and one clay mine. Compared with other mountains, the reserves are not large. The five mineral veins are not big mines, but they are enough for you to develop. You need limestone to make that rubble, don't you?"

The defensive depth of this 800-li-long waterway and the rich mineral resources within these seven mountains are, in a sense, my first gift to you.

Ao Ying nodded proudly, and only after everyone had repaired the Dragon King Temple for her did she reveal all the secrets of Liangshan, and then she revealed the second secret.

"Secondly, I know where to get sulfur."

"Where? Are there any sulfur mines nearby?"

Liu Hong's eyes lit up with joy.

"What are you thinking? There are certainly no sulfur mines around here."

Ao Ying rolled her eyes at Liu Hong.

"But three days later, a very strange-looking ship will enter the Ji River, pass Liangshan Marsh, and head towards Kaifeng. As long as you can intercept this ship and reach a normal agreement with the people inside, you will naturally be able to obtain a continuous supply of sulfur reserves."

After saying these two things, Ao Ying transformed from human form into a giant ink-wash dragon, merging with the eight-hundred-mile-long Liangshan Marsh. In the final moment before disappearing, she uttered her last words with a touch of pride.

"Don't put a cow's head as an offering; I don't eat beef."

Liu Hong was somewhat speechless, so he led his brothers to disperse and prepare boats, planning to intercept the strange boat Ao Ying had mentioned at the confluence of the Ji River and Liangshan Marsh three days later.

Today, Liangshan Marsh's naval forces are also very strong, with twenty medium-sized ships of twenty meters in length, hundreds of ships of ten meters in length, and countless smaller boats.

However, none of these ships were warships; they were all fishing boats, or makeshift merchant ships.

But it doesn't matter. With firearms, these civilian ships can still unleash tremendous fighting power!

Liu Hong specially brought out some oversized fire lances that had been forged in recent days. These things were three meters long and could not be used by a single soldier, but they could be used to mount ten giant fire lances on a vehicle and line them up in a row to form an organ-like cannon. They would fire all at once using oil-soaked hemp ropes as fuses, and then pull the ship's hulls on, forcibly turning a merchant ship into a warship.

At this moment, in order to successfully rob the ship, Liu Hong brought out two 20-meter medium-sized warships equipped with organ cannons, ten 10-meter-class small boats, and urgently recalled Zhu Gui, the only naval expert among his brothers and sisters, from the Southern Hotel to meet the challenge.

Three days later, as expected, the Yellow River surged again, forcing many ships that originally intended to take the Yellow River route to instead take the Ji River route, since they could reach Kaifeng anyway.

Liu Hong and his men mingled among the boats, idly watching the similar-looking vessels. After passing through the eight-hundred-mile Liangshan Marsh, they finally spotted a unique boat.

The ship's exterior was no different from other ships of the Song Dynasty, but its flag was extremely strange. The flags of most merchant ships usually displayed the surname of the head of the ship.

The flag was entirely black, with a white totem drawn on it, containing a cross emblem within a circle. There was nothing else on it.

In the Song Dynasty, which family's flags only displayed designs and no text?!

Chapter 122: The Sulfur Trade of the Kingdom of Samo

"Stop that ship! The one with the black flag and the white circle and cross! Quickly!"

At Liu Hong's command, a large number of ships set sail, some pulling sails and others rowing, forming a "C"-shaped pocket formation on the water, pressing towards the ship in a mighty manner, attempting to surround it from three sides. A series of apricot-yellow "Liangshan" flags were instantly raised under the control of the sailors, surrounding the "Acting on Behalf of Heaven" flag of Liu Hong's flagship, which blotted out the sky and fluttered in the wind, giving the opponent a strong sense of oppression.

During this time, Liu Hong kept thinking, "This pattern looks familiar. I'm sure I've seen it somewhere before. What does it represent?"

Azure waves surged and rushed between the wooden sailboats, hundreds of oars of all sizes were raised high and then slammed down, stirring up thousands of blue waves, propelling dozens of ships of all sizes to tear through the waves and speed forward. The muzzles of a pair of organ cannons on two warships pressed down simultaneously, and several gunners' thumbs, covered in gunpowder stains, moved back and forth along the aiming line, finally stopping at the position three waves in front of the enemy ship's keel.

"Don't actually fight, just use it as a deterrent to keep the other side from running away."

Liu Hong gave another order, telling everyone to keep their guard down.

At that moment, the crew on the strange ship also spotted the pirate ship flying the "Liangshan" flag, and chaos ensued. Many strangely dressed people ran and screamed on the ship, while some sailors lowered the sails to slow down and maneuvered the rudder to make a 180-degree turn on the moored surface, trying to turn around and run away.

But at that moment, the clanging of metal snapping shut on the breechblocks filled the air, and the fuses flickered in the wind. As the first wave of fire and the first wisp of white smoke burst from the organ cannon muzzle, the sea surface suddenly caved in as if struck by the hand of a giant, then blasted out a terrifying wall of water as high as a mast!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"

The deafening sound arrived late, after the iron balls shattered the blue waves. Almost instantly, the two organ cannons fired twenty iron balls, which simultaneously pierced the waves, creating a sky full of water spray. The splashing water refracted a dazzling rainbow in the sunlight, but in the next second, it turned into a torrential downpour that pounded on the strange ship, making the crew on the deck run for their lives!

Liu Hong clung tightly to the stern railing. Through the dissipating mist, he saw that the flag on the other ship's bow was soaked through, and the sails were covered with struggling sailors. The ripples and waves caused by cannonballs hitting the water were making the ship tilt and sway. The sailors on the deck were also swaying left and right as if they were drunk, and many of them even fell into the river with a "plop" like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

When the water calmed down, the strange ship was terrified. The sailors saw that the two gunboats and more than a dozen small boats had formed a preliminary encirclement. They were so scared that they ran away in panic, raising their hands in a French salute and shouting some incomprehensible words. Liu Hong listened for a long time but still couldn't understand them.

"What are these people saying in their gibberish? Is it some kind of dialect?"

Liu Hong asked the other crew members, puzzled.

"I don't know, I've never heard of this tune before. Leader, shall we rush over and take a look?"

The sailors were also bewildered, but they sped up and rushed over, getting close and blocking the strange ship.

"Speak! Where did you come from? What's on your ship? Why did the Dragon God of Jidu order us to intercept your ship?!"

Two sailors, looking menacing, were the first to board the ship. However, the other party was still speaking in a language that no one could understand. Upon closer inspection, Liu Hong discovered that their clothes were also very strange. They were not Song Dynasty clothing at all, but rather much older, somewhat like a modified version of Tang Dynasty clothing.

As for their faces, the difference from the Han Chinese in the Central Plains is even greater. Although they are also human, they are generally shorter in stature.

Just then, a Song man rushed out of the cabin and begged for mercy.

"Your Majesty, spare us! Your Majesty, spare us! These short, barbarian bastards are all Japanese from Satsuma! They're on their way to Kaifeng to do business! Your Majesty... Your Majesty, whatever toll you want, they'll pay it all, just please spare my life!"

The translator was terrified, trembling like a leaf. He knelt before Liu Hong, kowtowing repeatedly until Liu Hong suddenly understood.

I was wondering why this symbol looked so familiar. Isn't this the crest of the Shimazu clan, the Satsuma branch?

"So what will you sell in Kaifeng?"

Liu Hong's mind started working. He knew some Japanese history, and Satsuma Province was the area around present-day Kyushu, with its capital in Kagoshima.

Kagoshima is home to a massive active volcano. Its long-lasting eruptions even created Iwo Jima in the nearby sea, where sulfur reserves are exceptionally high.

How exaggerated was it? After the Southern Song Dynasty lost half of its territory and developed firearms technology, a significant proportion of its sulfur was imported from Japan.

Most of the sulfur imported from Japan comes from Satsuma. After all, sulfur is a mineral that is only found in large quantities in volcanic and earthquake zones and at plate boundaries, such as in Japan.

"You're here to sell sulfur?"

Liu Hong smiled and looked at the translator.

"How did you know, Your Majesty?"

The translator's body stiffened.

"Don't worry about this. Just tell these people that I'm not here to rob them. Tell their captain to come out. I want to talk to them about a deal."

The translator was stunned for a moment, then felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He immediately rushed into the cabin and brought out a well-dressed man who was only 1.5 meters tall. Although he was a little nervous and scared, and his legs were shaking, his expression was still quite proper.

Upon seeing Liu Hong, who was 2.4 meters tall and had wings growing from his ribs, the man immediately began to bow repeatedly and apologize, lowering his waist to a ninety-degree angle while muttering a string of words.

"He said they just wanted to do business properly, and he would agree to whatever the king wanted to do with the buying and selling."

Liu Hong looked at the Japanese businessman with amusement. What he wanted was a long-term cooperation and a continuous supply of large-scale sulfur imports. If he bought sulfur at an extremely low price this time, the Satsuma people from Kagoshima would run away next time and wouldn't pay any attention to him at all.

That's how business works; you have to ensure that others can also make a profit in order to achieve sustainable development.

"Kagoshima must be very far from Kaifeng."

"It's alright, about four thousand li."

The translator, who was fluent in Japanese, helped translate on the spot.

"Oh, so Kagoshima is only 3,500 li from my Ryozan. Wouldn't it be more convenient for you to travel back and forth here if you dumped sulfur here?"

"Yes, yes, of course it's more convenient."

The translator continued to help translate for the Japanese businessman who was kowtowing and sweating.

"Then, how much can you sell this sulfur for in Kaifeng? I want to hear the truth."

Liu Hong continued to ask questions.

“One jin…one jin costs three hundred copper coins, Your Majesty. We are in a terrible situation too! We can only sell to two regular big merchants in Kaifeng. We can’t sell to anyone else, let alone sell to them privately! Otherwise, at best, they will overturn our stalls and confiscate our goods. At worst, they will smash our ships and arrest us all. I myself spent a month in the Kaifeng Prefecture prison. I was only released after I gave in to those two merchant bosses.”

The Japanese businessman also complained bitterly.

"But I have no choice. Only Kaifeng can take our big orders, so the sulfur can only be transported to Kaifeng to be sold."

"What? So cheap?"

Liu Hong was shocked. Sulfur was priced at 1,350 wen per jin in Kaifeng. These Kaifeng merchants were something else. They imported it wholesale from Japan and then resold it for four times that price.

"Don't go to Kaifeng anymore, it's far and a rip-off. I won't bully you, how about 400 coins a pound of sulfur? From now on, Liangshan will buy all your sulfur, however much you sell it for, I'll buy it all."

Liu Hong was testing the businessman's bottom line, and what he heard left the businessman stunned, and the way he looked at Liu Hong changed.

Good heavens, have I encountered a living Buddha? Someone actually dares to cut off the financial lifeline of those big businessmen?! Offend those incredibly powerful merchants?!

"No problem, of course no problem! But we have another reason for going to Kaifeng, which is that Kagoshima is short of supplies and barren, and we need to buy some daily necessities in Kaifeng to take back."

"Tea, porcelain, silk, cloth—whatever Kaifeng has, Liangshan has it all."

Liu Hong said confidently, "Liangshan gets its goods from the underground ghost restaurant in Daming Prefecture and Kaifeng. What's the difference? If all else fails, I'll be a middleman. Whatever these people want, I'll just go to Daming Prefecture and Kaifeng and get it."

At this moment, the trade envoy from the Kingdom of Sammo was dumbfounded. Had he struck it lucky? He had thought he had encountered pirates, but it turned out to be a group of merchants! From now on, he could sell sulfur for a good price, save nearly a thousand miles of travel time, and even stop being bullied to death by the merchant leaders of Kaifeng!

Now, it's not Liu Hong begging these people to sell him sulfur anymore; it's them begging Liu Hong to keep buying our sulfur from now on.

Chapter 123: Liangshan's Expansion on the Autumn Equinox

The two hit it off immediately and finalized the deal. Liu Hong readily accepted the entire ship's worth of sulfur at a price of 400 coins per pound. He then led the group to Liangshan for a three-day feast. At the same time, he instructed Du Qian and Song Wan from Daming Prefecture to bring back all the supplies the group needed and sell them to the Japanese, making a profit from the price difference.

From then on, Liangshan's gunpowder technology no longer lacked raw materials.

With the aid of firearms, the Liangshan soldiers became increasingly daring. Normally, when they went to kill local tyrants and bullies, they needed leaders like Liu Hong, Wu Song, Lin Chong, Suo Chao, Lü Fang, and Guo Sheng to lead them. But now, these men dared to act on their own.

The reason is simple: the fire lance is too easy to use. First of all, the manufacturing cost and craftsmanship are too low. The requirements for the crossbow arm and bowstring are very demanding, often requiring a bunch of troublesome things such as high-quality bamboo, wood, cow horn, animal sinew, etc.

The fire lance only requires that you have enough iron, that it is pure enough, and that the barrel is cast strong enough.

Moreover, this thing is as easy to train with as a crossbow. A normal person can pick it up and play with it for a day, shoot it a few times, and then they can operate it easily.

The fire lance was even more powerful than the crossbow.

Lin Chong was alright; he was the type with high agility, high evasion, and high burst damage, so he wasn't too afraid of the spear.

Suo Chao had already started complaining: "I've painstakingly studied martial arts for decades, honing my skills to perfection. Once I'm in armor, I can rout a hundred unarmored soldiers. As for a hundred armored imperial guards, if I just mount a horse and charge, the outcome is uncertain."

However, if I were facing a hundred militiamen armed with live ammunition and muskets, aiming at me, and the distance between us was more than a hundred meters, then I could only run. I couldn't fight back at all; getting hit by one of those things is no joke!

Thus, the expansion of Liangshan continued. Liu Hong thought it over carefully and realized that the 800-li Liangshan Marsh bordered two prefecture-level units, Jizhou and Dongping Prefecture.

I remember there was a very strong double-spear general named Dong Ping in Dongping Prefecture, at the level of the Five Tigers. He was a tough opponent, so it's best to avoid him if possible. In particular, you should avoid Xucheng, the capital of Dongping Prefecture.

Jeju is very weak. The commander of the Jeju garrison is a complete idiot. I had already crushed all the local troops in Jeju. Zhu Tong and Lei Heng are somewhat capable, but their authority is too small. Zhang Shuye has just been parachuted into Jeju and is completely clueless. He is expanding in Jeju first!

The specific targets, as Liu Hong defined them, were Yuncheng to the west and Rencheng to the east, both under the jurisdiction of Jizhou; Zhongdu to the east, under the jurisdiction of Dongping Prefecture; and Shouzhang to the west. As for Juye, the capital of Jizhou, he advised against touching it for the time being, suggesting that these prefects be given some leeway.

The goal of the first phase is to take over all the rural areas in these four counties!

After a period of large-scale training, when the autumn was ripe and the horses were fat, and people began to enjoy the harvest, Liangshan launched its second major expansion. Liu Hong slightly modified the basic structure of his army, creating a team of thirty men as the most basic combat squad.

A 100-man unit was divided into three squads, totaling 90 soldiers. In addition, there was a captain and two deputy captains as the commanders, a flag bearer responsible for holding up the captain's flag to guide the direction of the entire army, and a military musician responsible for the war drum communication to inspire morale.

Each of these five men was protected by a shield bearer wielding a mace and a shield, making a total of one hundred men.

This unit of one hundred men was the most basic combat unit of Liangshan on the battlefield.

However, for rural battles, this organization can be further reduced. Nowadays, as long as there is a captain or deputy captain with a team of thirty soldiers, they dare to directly attack local wealthy families!

Knowing that Liangshan was rampant, a wealthy man in desperation gathered thirty or forty local bullies and a hundred or so village lads to forcibly harvest the crops, hoping to quickly reap the harvest and hide back in the safety of his mansion to rest. But what awaited them was utter despair.

On an autumn day when the city was shrouded in heavy clouds, a large apricot-yellow flag could be seen swaying in the sky like a cloud. As it drew closer, the locals discovered that it bore the two large characters "Liangshan," which immediately caused a stir among the crowd!

"Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid! Men, young and old, form ranks and fight back! If we can't defeat the Liangshan bandits here, these bandits will steal all our food for the whole year!"

The leader, Master Shi, let out a desperate cry, urging everyone to unite and face the common enemy together.

After a while, the wealthy man saw that there were only twenty-five Liangshan men, and that notorious bandits like Liu Hong and Li Cunxiao had appeared. He then let out an excited scream.

"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven hasn't come! Little Protector isn't here either! The enemy only has twenty-five men. Hold on, we can win! As long as we defeat Liangshan, we can protect our food and our property!"

When Master Shi gave the order, he thought that hundreds of men would charge and attack under his command, wiping out the twenty men from Liangshan in one fell swoop.