Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 97

...

Seeing Li Jun watching Shi Bao and his soldiers playing polo with relish, Tong Meng couldn't help but said: "My good brother, why are you still in the mood to watch the polo!"

Li Jun said: "What's wrong?"

Tong Meng said: "What's the matter, brother, don't you ask the question knowingly? All the people who came with us to join the gang have made arrangements, even the man with low martial arts named Han Bolong went to Zhenrong with Zhu Fu to do business. The three of us don't have any arrangements!"

Li Jundao: "Brother is too busy these days, even the matter of taking a concubine has been pushed back and forth, so there is no time to arrange for me to wait."

Tong Meng said: "Otherwise, I don't think the two should be confused. Taking a concubine is a private matter, and arranging for us is a business matter. Private matters can be pushed, but business matters can be pushed. Besides, it's fine if everyone doesn't arrange it, but it's just me. What's the point of waiting for no arrangement?"

Li Jundao: "My brother has his own reasons."

Tong Wei said: "I think what Erlang said is right. Although brother Li Yan treats me to wait with good wine and meat every day, he still doesn't arrange for me to wait. It's really unreasonable."

Tong Meng said: "Damn, Brother Shi Bao, Ou Peng, Jiang Jing, Ma Lin, and Tao Zongwang were all able to come to Liangshanbo under the guidance of my brother. It makes no sense for them to be reused, but my brother was left idle!"

Li Jun smiled and said: "You two are just impatient, let me ask you, what is your impression of brother?"

"This... outstanding person." Tong Wei said.

Tong Meng hesitated for a moment, and said: "It's not just a man who is outstanding, he has created such a big family business in less than two years, and he can convince so many heroes, even brother Shi Bao is full of praise for him. To use the description of Jie Lian, it is somewhat insufficient."

Li Jun smiled and said, "That's it. How can a person like my brother not think thoroughly?"

Tong Meng said: "But I have been waiting for more than three months..."

Li Jun looked at Baiyun in the distance and said, "Maybe it's because my brother is not ready yet..."

At this moment, a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes walked hurriedly in the distance.

Seeing Li Jun and the three of them, the young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes said, "Why are the three elder brothers here, let the younger brother find it easily!"

Li Jun hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "What are you waiting for, brother Dingliu?"

Wang Dingliu said: "It's not that I'm looking for the three brothers, but my brother is looking for you."

Hearing that Li Yan was looking for them, the two brothers Tong Wei and Tong Meng were overjoyed, and Li Jun said: "I can't keep my brother waiting, let's go quickly."

When Wang Dingliu heard the words, he led the way for Li Jun and the other three.

While walking, Li Jun asked, "Where is brother?"

Wang Dingliu said: "The boat yard."

Upon hearing what Wang Dingliu said, Li Jun secretly said: "I'm afraid the errand I'm waiting for is coming soon."

……

Before arriving at the shipyard, the three of Li Jun saw four large ships.

These four large ships are all three-masted galleons, which are nearly a bow larger than the largest ship now.

Li Jun was born as a boatman and knew very well about ships. When he saw this big ship, he knew it was an ocean-going ship, not a river boat. A river boat could not be so big, nor could it have so many sails.

"How did my brother build such a big ship?"

With this question in mind, Li Jun came to Li Yan and the others, and then bowed to Li Yan: "Brother!"

Seeing Li Jun, Tong Wei and Tong Meng coming, Li Yan said, "How about this boat?"

Li Jun said: "It's a good ship...but it seems to be a sea ship..."

Li Yan said: "That's right, it is indeed a sea-going ship, the most advanced sea-going ship currently jointly built by Brothers Meng Kang and Brother Ye Chun."

Meng Kang said: "Brother, don't try to push it. Without brother and sister-in-law, Brother Ye Chun and I couldn't make it!"

Ye Chun also said: "Master Li and his wife are both gods and men, let me feel ashamed and feel relieved!"

Meng Kang and Ye Chun were not flattering Li Yan and Liu Huiniang. In fact, after Meng Kang and Ye Chun worked together to make the ship pattern, Liu Huiniang gave a lot of reasonable suggestions based on her profound knowledge, while Li Yan based on My own experience also gave many advanced suggestions, so that Meng Kang and Ye Chun could build these four sea-going ships.

Of course, even so, these four sea-going ships are only experimental products. In the future, Meng Kang and Ye Chun will adjust and upgrade according to the usage situation.

Li Jun couldn't help but ask, "Why do you build ships?"

Li Yan said leisurely: "I plan to use them to find a way out for my brothers, and open up two ways of making money for me in Liangshan."

in fact--

Originally, Li Yan did not think about going to sea in the near future.

He originally planned to solve the crisis from the imperial court first, and then gradually figure it out.

But not long ago, two major events happened suddenly, which made Li Yan make this decision temporarily.

The first major event, Song Huizong Zhao Ji's original decision to make King Zhao Huan the crown prince in the first month, was postponed for some reason. Not long after, rumors spread that Zhao Ji didn't like Zhao Huan in Bianliang, Tokyo, which made the originally optimistic The factions of other princes saw hope again, which led to the flames of war ignited again in the court that had just been quiet for a long time, and even many officials with real power were resigned because of this incident. Pay attention to the changes in the court to prevent being out of the game, and don't care about other things.

In this way, Shuibo Liangshan is estimated to be safe for a period of time.

The second major event was that Emperor Tianzuo of Liao Dynasty began to sense the threat of Jurchen and ordered his own conquest, but the Liao army was defeated by Jurchen everywhere. , the name of the founding of the country is "Jin", the name of the year is "Shou Guo", the capital of the country is located in Shangjing, and it is called Huining Mansion, that is to say, the most powerful enemy of this era has already stepped onto the stage.

In addition, Meng Kang and Ye Chun built sea ships again, and there were still four ships.

Therefore, Li Yan decided to go to sea to find the mythical island, that is, Jeju Island, located in Zhengdong, Jiangsu, between Koryo and Japan.

If they can successfully find Jeju Island and occupy it, then Li Yan and the brothers of Shuibo Liangshan will have a way out. If they are defeated in the future, they can spend the rest of their lives hiding in the beautiful Jeju Island.

However, this is just incidental, Li Yan is not so unambitious, and now he is racking his brains to find a way out for himself.

There is another very important reason why Li Yan wants to win Jeju Island: if he owns Jeju Island, Li Yan can use it as a springboard to trade with Korea and Japan, and open up a large source of income for Shuibo Liangshan. You know, the Great Song Dynasty Silk, tea, porcelain, etc. are expensive luxury goods in these two countries, while horses from Korea and silver from Japan are all good things that Li Yan wants very much!
Moreover, Li Yan, who has traveled to Jeju Island, knows some of the history of Jeju Island. At this time, there should be only a small country called Tamna on Jeju Island. The population of that small country is at most ten to twenty thousand, and its weapons are extremely backward. It shouldn't be too difficult to get down.

……

(End of this chapter)