Chapter 1863
The Late Northern Song Dynasty
After drinking with the two men, Shi Qian had to go on another business trip.
This time, he will head south.
Since it wasn't a secret, Shi Qian didn't hide his purpose.
"My lord has ordered me to go to Lingnan to find a few people, one of whom is called Li Jun, the River Dragon. Have you two brothers heard of him?"
Lu Zhishen shook his head, but he had heard of Wu Song.
“I heard Brother Song Jiang say that Li Jun found out that he once saved Brother Song Jiang and is a hero.”
Lu Zhishen sighed, "Now I can't even be sure who the heroes in the rumors are really."
Wu Song: "Since you, sir, are so willing to recruit him, then this Li Jun must be a true hero, right?"
Lu Zhishen: "That's right. Your Excellency has always been very good at judging people. He treats true heroes very well. Take Song Jiang, for example. He had a life on his hands, but Your Excellency didn't arrest him."
Wu Song nodded vigorously in agreement: "Sir, you have a strong sense of brotherhood."
If Liu Dong heard what they were saying, she would definitely laugh.
His decision to let Song Jiang go was not out of chivalry, but rather a scheme to build up Liangshan.
Just like in the original story, Song Jiang fooled Yan Poxi and fled to Qingfeng Village to seek refuge with Hua Rong.
Hua Rong and Wu Song had both been sent out by Liu Tong. Song Jiang couldn't find them and was about to leave when he encountered Liu Tong, who was on patrol at Qingfeng Village.
Liu Dong released Song Jiang, which made Hua Rong and Wu Song very grateful when they returned and learned what had happened, and they became even more loyal to him.
Little did the two know that this was nothing more than Liu Dong's scheme.
Liu Tong had calculated the time when Song Jiang would come to Qingfeng Village to find Hua Rong. He sent away two people who were related to Song Jiang in advance, then arranged for a "chance encounter" with Song Jiang before letting him go, all so that Song Jiang would be indebted to him.
In the future, if Liangshan wants to attack the government, they should not choose Qingzhou.
If Song Jiang wanted to be granted amnesty in the future, Liu Dong would be his first choice.
Shi Qian successfully found Li Jun and the others, and with his charming words, he persuaded them to come to Qingzhou to seek refuge with Liu Tong.
Liu Tong: "I intend to build a fleet, and I need your capabilities."
While calling it a fleet, Liu Dong actually wanted to establish a navy.
When Li Jun was at Liangshan, he served as the commander of the navy, and he was very good at swimming and leading troops.
This man was very capable. After Song Jiang and others died, Li Jun led the remaining brothers of Liangshan to sea, where he established a kingdom and became the king of Siam.
This shows how capable this person is.
Liu Tong would not let such a talent slip by.
It's important to understand that he wasn't building an ordinary navy, but a navy capable of crossing the sea.
If Li Jun can become the king of Siam, why can't he bring Siam under his control?
Moreover, Liu Dong was also thinking about the vast lands of the Americas and the crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Although these crops have not yet been domesticated, do not have such high yields, and may even be toxic, as long as they can be found and allowed to grow in the Central Plains, those problems will be solved sooner or later.
Li Jun and the others readily agreed. They had seen the sea chart drawn by Liu Dong, and were deeply moved by the vast land beyond the sea where no emperor existed.
Li Jun is the best at planning ahead.
He thought to himself that if he could no longer stay in the Central Plains, he would go to that new continent and become king there.
Three years later, the shipyard in Lijiazhuang built ten large ships according to the blueprints provided by Liu Dong.
Li Jun led his men on a voyage, not to search for new continents or to fight, but to follow the shipping routes provided by Liu Dong to Ryukyu, Japan, and other countries in Southeast Asia to conduct overseas trade.
In the past three years, Liangshan has grown and developed.
More than half of the 108 heroes had already joined Liangshan.
However, some were snatched away by Ryuu.
In fact, many of the Liangshan heroes were forced to join Liangshan by Wu Yong and Song Jiang through underhanded tactics. Lu Junyi is one such example.
This Jade Kirin actually wanted to live a quiet, wealthy life and refused Liangshan's offer to recruit him.
Wu Yong used underhanded tactics, having Lu Junyi's steward Li Gu accuse Lu Junyi of treason, forcing Lu Junyi and Yan Qing to join Liangshan.
Qin Ming, Zhu Tong, An Daoquan, Xu Ning, Li Ying, Du Xing, and others were all tricked into joining Liangshan.
However, now Qin Ming, Li Ying, and Du Xing are all Liu Tong's men. With Liu Tong protecting them, the Liangshan people can't do anything to them.
An Daoquan and Xu Ning did not join Liangshan because of Liu Dong's butterfly effect.
Without Shi Qian, a master thief, Liangshan could not steal Xu Ning's ancestral treasure, thus preventing Xu Ning from coming to the mountain to retrieve it.
An Daoquan, upon hearing that Liu Dong had come up with a method to prevent and control the plague, became very interested and came to Qingzhou to learn it. He then stayed in the Qingzhou camp and became a military doctor, thus escaping Zhang Shun's wrath.
Liu Tong personally went to Zhu Tong's place.
It wasn't for Zhu Tong, but for that little magistrate's son who was only four years old.
Among the Liangshan heroes, Liu Dong disliked Zhang Qing and his wife, as well as Wu Yong, the most.
The Zhang couple, who sell human flesh buns, can no longer be considered human.
Wu Yong has no bottom line; he doesn't even spare children.
Although Li Kui was the one who killed the man, he was just a mindless wielder; the one who gave the order was Wu Yong.
Liu Dong had the young magistrate rescued, while Li Kui, relying on his strength, escaped.
Liu Tong secretly killed Wu Yong and Lei Heng.
Wu Yong needs no introduction; he deserves to die.
Lei Heng is an ungrateful wretch. Zhu Tong let him go out of brotherhood, but Lei Heng forced Zhu Tong to join Liangshan.
Such a person has no reason to live.
Actually, Liu Dong didn't initially intend to kill him.
But what could he do? He was unlucky. When Liu Dong went to find Wu Yong, he was whispering with Wu Yong, plotting to harm people.
Liu Tong despised people with no moral compass and simply killed them.
Song Jiang was so frightened that he fled back to Liangshan and lost all interest in plotting against Zhu Tong.
Zhu Tong remained in Cangzhou, serving as a trusted subordinate of the Cangzhou prefect.
As for Lu Junyi...
Liu Tong sent someone to warn Lu Junyi, but unfortunately, the man didn't believe Liu Tong and thought that Liu Tong's people were instigating a conflict between him and the steward Li Gu.
Finally, Lu Junyi, who "did not heed the advice of his elders," had no choice but to join the Liangshan bandits.
He stayed on Liangshan Mountain, sighing and lamenting, filled with regret.
Song Jiang was truly lucky. Even without much help, he still managed to secure the top position at Liangshan and maintain control over the mountain.
Without Wu Yong as their strategist, Liangshan's development fell far short of what it was in the original story.
At least, Liangshan lacked the confidence to attack the three families of Dulonggang.
The three families in Dulonggang are growing stronger and stronger. On the surface, they are doing business, but in secret they are helping Liu Dong recruit and train private soldiers.
The army at Dulonggang numbered at least 30,000.
Liangshan originally had the idea of attacking the Zhu Family Village and annexing the three families.
However, after sending spies to gather intelligence on Dulonggang, they abandoned the plan.
These three are not to be trifled with! (End of Chapter)