“Even if we release him, it won’t make a difference!” Wang Xuan spread his hands, looking helpless. “We didn’t hide the news that we captured Chao Gai. The news has already spread. If Chao Gai returns safely, the government will definitely suspect that he colluded with us. In that case, he will just end up like Song Jiang, being arrested and beheaded.”
Song Jiang: "..."
This is not my fault at all! It was Zhu Tong and Lei Heng who were supposed to be beheaded. I was only sentenced to exile in Cangzhou!
But when Song Jiang saw Wang Xuan's gaze sweep over him, his neck inexplicably turned cold, as if a knife was held to his throat. How could he dare to utter a word in rebuttal?
Thus, after being intimidated by Wang Xuan and with Wu Yong intervening, Chao Gai, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, finally gave in and accepted Wang Xuan's offer of recruitment.
Since Chao Gai has already agreed to join the group, Wang Xuan will not treat him unfairly.
After all, Chao Gai was not a traitor like Song Jiang, and his luck was far less extraordinary than Song Jiang's. If Wang Xuan wanted to win him over, it would take some time.
"Chao Gai, we still have two vacant captain positions in Liangshan. You will temporarily act as captain of one battalion. If you make meritorious contributions in the future, you can be promoted to a permanent captain." Wang Xuan directly offered a captain position. Although there was the word "acting" in front of it, it was enough to make Song Jiang envious and jealous.
After arranging things for Chao Gai, Wang Xuan looked at Wu Yong and said, "Our Liangshan Marsh is still missing a strategist, and you are the one."
"From now on, you, Wu Yong, will be our Liangshan Marsh's military advisor and military counselor."
Although Wu Yong was full of schemes and tricks and knew nothing about orthodox military tactics, making him only a cunning strategist, a cunning strategist is still a strategist.
"Until we have a better option, let's just grab Wu Yong and make do for now," Wang Xuan muttered to himself.
Wu Yong had no idea what Wang Xuan was thinking; he only felt that Wang Xuan had met a wise ruler.
Today, Liangshan is a large mountain stronghold with one or two thousand men. For Wu Yong, a country schoolteacher, to become a strategist here can be described as a meteoric rise.
"Wu Yong will certainly devote himself to the cause until his dying breath to repay the chieftain's kindness!" Wu Yong hurriedly pledged his loyalty to Wang Xuan, naturally putting aside his former benefactor, Chao Gai.
Chao Gai and Wu Yong were both men of great fortune. As for Liu Tang, the Red-Haired Devil, although he was also one of the Liangshan heroes, his fortune was too weak, and he was just an extra for Wang Xuan.
Wang Xuan arranged a captaincy for him, thus bribing him.
Chapter Twenty-Six: A Chaotic Fist Overturns Thunderbolt
With the addition of Song Jiang, Chao Gai, Wu Yong, and others, Liangshan Marsh prospered even more.
The Liangshan army, under the banner of acting on behalf of Heaven, descended the mountain daily to rob the rich and help the poor, distributing half of their looted money and grain to the surrounding people. This gradually earned Liangshan the support of the local populace, and many young men voluntarily joined them, causing their army to grow daily.
However, Wang Xuan did not focus too much on training his troops.
Having been the leader of Liangshan for so many days, he had had his fill. This life as a bandit chief, with its large chunks of meat and big bowls of wine, was, frankly, just so-so.
Moreover, the army in this Water Margin world is composed entirely of ordinary people. A few hundred troops from the main world could easily sweep away the 100,000-strong army in this world, which naturally makes it difficult for Wang Xuan to be interested in training troops.
With some free time, Wang Xuan returned to his promising job as a teacher.
He not only used sticks to urge his disciples, such as Ruan Xiaoqi, to cultivate, but also spent about a day getting newly arrived leaders like Chao Gai and Song Jiang to become his disciples.
Even more outrageous, Wang Xuan did not spare Wu Yong, a scholar who was powerless to even kill a chicken. He forced Wu Yong to become his disciple and made him practice martial arts.
The process was certainly not pleasant, but under Wang Xuan's iron fist, who would dare to complain?
In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed since Chao Gai, Song Jiang and others went to Liangshan.
Wang Xuan looked calmly ahead, seemingly checking if his disciples were slacking off, but in reality, his mind was already immersed in the light screen of the Eternal Tower of Heaven and Earth.
Name: Wang Xuan
Permissions: Level 1
Cultivation level: Tenth level of the Acquired Realm
Luck: 4251 (1 for ordinary people)
Cultivation Method: *Zi-Yang True Explanation*
Unlocked abilities: Time travel, Enlightenment
Existing world coordinates: Mythical Three Kingdoms World, Water Margin World
"Unbeknownst to me, my luck value has actually increased to over four thousand points!" Wang Xuan thought to himself, "Song Jiang, Chao Gai, Wu Yong, and the others are truly my good disciples! Why doesn't Heaven give me another group of such good disciples?"
With his previous experience in reaping good fortune, Wang Xuan's operation went smoothly once again.
He first established a master-disciple relationship with Song Jiang, Chao Gai, and others, sharing in their fortune. Then he established a master-disciple relationship with them, once again forcefully reaping another wave of good fortune.
Wang Xuan harvested over a thousand points of luck from Song Jiang alone, which is simply astonishing.
This was because Song Jiang harbored ulterior motives and did not truly regard Wang Xuan as his master; otherwise, the fortune Wang Xuan received would probably have increased several times over.
In Wang Xuan's eyes, Song Jiang is now a golden goose, and he cherishes this disciple dearly.
Wang Xuan kept his eyes fixed on his group of good disciples, making them uneasy and pushing them to train their bodies even harder. Only then did he withdraw his gaze and begin to ponder in his heart.
"The two permissions granted to me by the Eternal Tower of Heaven and Earth are the ability to travel through time, which can be described as a power to defy fate, while the ability to comprehend the Dao is somewhat useless."
While martial arts cultivation at the acquired level still requires personal comprehension, Wang Xuan's comprehension is more than sufficient. The true effectiveness of "enlightenment" will likely only come when Wang Xuan reaches the innate level.
At this moment, Zhu Gui, who was in charge of intelligence work for Liangshan, ran over quickly and reported to Wang Xuan: "Master, we have found out the news. The Song Dynasty has transferred 5,000 troops from the surrounding prefectures to attack Liangshan. They will arrive in about three days."
"Judging by the time, it's about time the government's army set off." Wang Xuan asked, "Have you found out who is leading this army?"
"The commander of the Song army this time is named Qin Ming, nicknamed Thunderbolt. He also has a deputy general named Huang Xin, the Mountain Suppressor!" Zhu Gui's intelligence work was clearly very thorough.
"As expected, even those who came to besiege us were heroes from Liangshan. Are they here to annihilate us or to offer us a helping hand?" Wang Xuan was somewhat amused and exasperated. This round was a sure thing.
During these ten days, although Wang Xuan slacked off, his disciples were not idle. Liangshan recruited a lot of new men and trained an infantry battalion.
With Liangshan's current strength, they are more than capable of protecting themselves. If we also consider the martial arts skills of their generals, there is no reason for them to be defeated.
"My disciples, we have guests coming up the mountain! Get ready to entertain them properly!" Wang Xuan shouted excitedly, and Chao Gai, Song Jiang, and the others all cheered enthusiastically.
Finally, they no longer need to train so hard they're practically dying. All they have to do is go to the battlefield and fight. With their current strength, it's like going on vacation—easy and effortless.
Liangshan was well prepared, and the imperial army arrived as scheduled.
As the two armies faced off, three drumbeats were played, and Wang Xuan led a group of his apprentices to the front lines.
On the other side stood a man clad in iron armor, draped in a red battle robe, and wielding a spiked club, looking imposing and awe-inspiring.
This man was none other than Thunderbolt Qin Ming. He was originally an official in Qingzhou. When he heard that a group of rebels in Liangshanbo Village nearby were attacking the city and capturing the stronghold, he thought it was time to make a name for himself and took the initiative to ask the prefect of Qingzhou to come and suppress the bandits.
"This Qin Ming has quite the appearance, unlike our Liangshan generals who don't even have a decent suit of armor," Wang Xuan praised Qin Ming.
In his eyes, Qin Ming was already one of his chosen disciples, so he naturally didn't hesitate to praise him.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Qin Ming pointed at him and cursed, "The Great Song army has arrived, and you bandits dare to resist instead of surrendering! You're courting death! Once I fill in your marshland, crush Liangshan, capture you traitors alive, and tear you to pieces!"
Wang Xuan was nearly bursting with rage. This Qin Ming was indeed as fiery as his nickname, Thunderbolt. But Wang Xuan also had a fiery temper. If Qin Ming dared to act tough and embarrass him, then he'd better test his fists first.
"Qin Ming, come here and face your death!" Without saying a word, Wang Xuan spurred his horse and charged towards Qin Ming.
Undeterred, Qin Ming brandished his spiked club and rode his horse toward Wang Xuan.
Seeing that the two were only about ten feet apart, Qin Ming felt his blood boil and prepared to smash Wang Xuan's head with his spiked club, so that the bandits would know how powerful he, Qin Ming, was.
But to his surprise, the person opposite him suddenly leaped off his horse, jumped several feet forward, and kicked him!
"As expected of a bunch of brutes, not only are they unarmed and unarmed, but they've even abandoned their warhorse. They're utterly pathetic!" Qin Ming snorted coldly and quickly held his spiked club in front of him to block the opponent's kick.
"Bang!"
The Liangshan bandits watching from behind all covered their faces, some with toothache.
Wang Xuan kicked the spiked club out of Qin Ming's hand with one foot, and then quickly kicked Qin Ming in the face with his other foot, leaving a footprint on his face.
Qin Ming fell off his warhorse, his eyes bloodshot, like a mad beast.
Qin Ming came from a military family and was highly skilled in martial arts. He had never suffered such a humiliation.
But before he could retaliate, Wang Xuan pounced on him and unleashed a barrage of punches, causing Qin Ming's eyes to roll back and him to completely lose consciousness.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Taoist Priest Brought by Shi Jin
Wang Xuan unleashed a flurry of punches, knocking down Thunderbolt Qin Ming. His practiced movements left Chao Gai, Song Jiang, the three Ruan brothers, and others with wry smiles.
The reason their master was able to defeat Thunderbolt Qin Ming so swiftly without causing him any real injury was simply because he was skilled enough!
With a large group of disciples for Wang Xuan to practice on, Wang Xuan naturally became able to perfectly control his own strength after fighting many times, ensuring that he would never seriously injure Qin Ming, much less kill him.
The Liangshan leaders, who were initially watching with a detached, spectator's mindset, couldn't sit still while the Song Dynasty army opposite them was on the verge of conflict.
Suddenly, a loud shout came from the other side: "You damned thief, don't hurt my master! If you've got the guts, come and fight me, Huang Xin!"
Wang Xuan looked up and saw Huang Xin, known as "Suppressor of Three Mountains," charging towards him with a Death Sword in hand.
Huang Xin was both Qin Ming's deputy general and Qin Ming's apprentice. When he saw his master being beaten to the ground by the bandits, how could he sit still?
"This is a good disciple! He is loyal to his master and is not comparable to a traitor like Song Jiang!" Without comparison, there is no harm. When Wang Xuan saw Huang Xin rushing to save his master, he thought of his own disciples and couldn't help but lose interest.
Huang Xin had already charged over on horseback, brandishing his Death Sword and aiming it directly at Wang Xuan's head.
This is a strategic point that the enemy will inevitably defend; an ordinary person would certainly dodge it. Huang Xin could then seize the opportunity to rescue Qin Ming and escape on horseback.
Clearly, Huang Xin knew that the gap between him and Wang Xuan was huge, and that he was no match for Wang Xuan at all. He never thought of going head-to-head with Wang Xuan.
Wang Xuan glanced at it and sneered, "You dare to show off your sword skills in front of me, the White-Clad Sword Saint? This is like showing off your axe skills in front of Guan Yu!"
Then, Wang Xuan casually struck out with his palm, hitting Huang Xin's sword. The force of several thousand pounds was released, directly knocking the Deathly Sword away.
Needless to say, Huang Xin was immediately captured by Wang Xuan.
The commander and deputy commander were both captured alive by the enemy. The thousands of Song soldiers were in an uproar and had no will to resist.
With just one order from Wang Xuan, the Liangshan army could conquer the city in one fell swoop.
But just at that moment, something unexpected happened to Wang Xuan.
Suddenly, a group of men dressed as local militia charged out and stormed into the Song army from behind.
Although the group that suddenly appeared was not large, only about five or six hundred people, the leaders were incredibly fierce, each capable of taking on a hundred men.
The already demoralized Song army of several thousand men was routed by just a few hundred!
"Oh ho, it's my good disciples!" Wang Xuan's cultivation had reached the tenth level of the Acquired Realm, and his eyesight was excellent. He recognized the people from afar. It turned out to be Shi Jin, Zhu Wu, and other people from Shaohua Mountain.
Shi Jin and his companions left Shaohua Mountain and traveled a long distance to seek refuge with their master. They happened to be caught in this battle and launched a surprise attack on the Song army from behind.
What followed was simple: the two groups of bandits joined forces and directly disarmed and surrendered the several thousand Song Dynasty government troops.