The Second Volume of Water Margin

  Ximen Qing stopped in his tracks and pulled up Liu Daizi who was still kowtowing: "Speak quickly, we haven't finished the main business yet!"

  Liu Renzhong is no longer the oily and arrogant Wang who Ximen Qing had just met, after this afternoon's battle, Liu's waist straightened up, his breath also smoothed out, and every move he made had a sense of stability.

  "Head, if you hadn't repeatedly reminded us, I don't know how many brothers would have lost their lives at Fahua Temple today." Liu Renzhong's eyes were filled with gratitude: "I thought it was just a errand, but this time even the other heads looked at us with different eyes. We are no longer the unwanted Thorn Head Army, but the head's personal guard!"

  "Ah, yes, all right." Ximen Qing's mind was full of the scene of watching the stars and didn't notice what Liu Daizi was saying: "Let's walk and talk..."

  It's a waste of time just standing there talking! Xue Er and Pan Jinlian are still waiting for you to watch the moon together!

  "Brothers, everyone has said it, from now on we will follow the leader to the death!" Liu Renzhong followed Ximen Qing and said: "We'll go through water and fire, absolutely no hesitation!"

  "Hmm, it's all up to you guys, you're all great fighters." Ximen Qing casually replied: "There will be another fierce battle with Zeng Tou City tomorrow, let the brothers get some rest early. You should also get some rest early."

  Liu Daizi did not notice Ximen Qing's perfunctoriness, but instead felt that Ximen Qing's concern for his well-being was heartfelt. He was moved to say: "Don't worry about what others think, I've been a soldier for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen a leader care about his subordinates like this."

  "It's all up to you." Ximen Qing still said the same words, and not far ahead was the tent where Snowy and Pan Jinlian lived, so he hurriedly quickened his pace.

  Liu Maozi also quickened his pace and said, "Boss, our elite troops still don't have a resounding name. In two days when we go into battle, it would be great to make a big show of it and intimidate the city of Zeng."

  "Hmm... a loud name?" Ximen Qing stopped in his tracks, thought for a moment: "Then use my character, Chui Xue, yes, you can call it the Blowing Snow Elite Troop."

  "Blood Blower? What a great name!" Liu Baozi's eyes lit up: "I'll go find someone to make a banner, and when the time comes, let Zhang Big Mouth carry it. That guy looks sturdy."

  Ximen Qing didn't suspect at all whether Liu Daizi, who couldn't recognize a single character, had figured out whether it was "blowing snow" or "blowing blood". He hastily let Liu Daizi retreat and himself took three steps in two strides, walking towards the tent.

  The lamp had been lit inside the tent for some time, and two figures were faintly visible moving about. Ximen Qing knew that it was Snowy and Pan Jinlian inside, and thinking of their shared good fortune made his heart itch with desire. He hastily reached out to push open the door of the tent, only to find that someone had tied it shut from the inside.

  Ximen Qing coughed and said: "Xue'er, open the door for your master."

  "I and Sister Jinlian are going to sleep, whatever it is can be said tomorrow." The response was from Xue'er that little demon, still with a hint of laughter, two figures entwined together, don't know if it's Pan Jinlian wanting to open the door for Ximen Qing or being held back by Xue'er.

  Ximen Qing was just about to say a few words, coaxing Xue'er and Pan Jinlian to come out and look at the stars and moon when someone suddenly emerged from behind the curtain, scaring Ximen Qing with their dark appearance.

  Take a closer look at those shiny eyes and that short stature. If it's not Drumming Up a Storm, then who is it?

  Shi Qian held a burlap sack in his hand, which seemed to be quite heavy, and dragged it on the ground: "Brother, I have a bag of good stuff here, specially left for you. Just now, I couldn't find you anywhere in the camp, so I thought you must come here, so I'll just wait."

  Looking at Shi Xiangyun who became more energetic as the night wore on, Xi Menqing was speechless. What's going on tonight? Isn't it just about looking at some stars? You say a sentence, he says two sentences, can't even let people pass?

  At that time, Ximen Qing had a belly full of grievances and quietly said: "All the gold and silver treasures in here were robbed by those sons from Zengtou City. If I hadn't discovered them with my keen eyesight, someone else would have picked them up."

  "What?" Ximen Qing suddenly became interested: "Third brother, how much money is there roughly?"

  "Alas, the gang from Zengtou City must have killed someone and taken all their money. Who would have thought that a lucky chance came along and it was all recovered? Ximen Qing thought back to the number of people who attended the Peach Blossom Festival, and estimated that this sum wouldn't be lacking. Although he still had several thousand taels on hand, which flowed out like water as he spent them, they wouldn't last long. The more money, the better!"

  Building one's own strength on Mount Liang, doesn't it cost money? Take the Snow Blowing Army for example, each person comes with standard equipment, what leather armor, flower guns, are all silver!

  Opening a bar in Tokyo and wanting to make it big, isn't that going to cost money? What about rent, labor costs, greasing palms, and hosting events, doesn't all that require spending money?

  It's not just the wine industry subsidiary, Ximen Qing's plan also includes other subsidiaries that need to be vigorously developed, investing a large amount of silver in order to get back even more silver.

  "I just took a quick look and memorized it." Drums shook his head and said, "But there seems to be quite a number of them."

  "Brother also knows that I don't have the habit of taking money, if there's not enough money to spend, then just find someone rich and steal some. Heard from Second Brother that brother spent money to hire a personal army, this money can be used just in time."

  "Right, right! Let's go find a place to count the money!" Ximen Qing picked up the money and his mind became more agile, putting aside the matter of gazing at the stars with the beauty for now. After all, there were stars to gaze at every night, no need to rush.

  Counting money is also a beneficial activity for one's physical and mental well-being! As the saying goes: Count it once, ten years younger!

  "Xue Er, Liu Niang, I and Third Brother have something to attend to, can you open the door for me in a bit?"

  "I told you, old man, don't come over here." Suddenly, someone inside made a "puff" sound and blew out the lamp. The speaker was undoubtedly Xue'er, that little demon: "I'm really tired today. In this desolate wilderness, men and women should be separate. This tent belongs to us, go sleep with Wu Song and the others!"

  Ximen Qing heard this and was so angry that his teeth itched. What wilderness, what distinction between men and women? This Xue'er is getting more and more out of tune, this is to make oneself keep "widowhood"!

  "Brother, let's go, our tent is just over there, not far away." Drums on the ants moved quietly and pointed to the tent for Ximen Qing to see.

  "Let's go! Let's go!" Ximen Qing stomped his foot in some annoyance and headed towards the tent with Shi Yan.

  Inside the tent, the lights were shining brightly. Wu Song was sharpening his knife under the light, while Yan Qing stood beside him, staring blankly, unsure if he was still thinking about the mistake he made during the day.

  Ximen Qing tossed the bag onto a nearby case and said to Wu Song, "Second brother, sharpening knives is something that can be done by servants, why do it yourself?"

  Wu Song stretched out his hand to test the blade, shook his head and sharpened it again with some water: "These two knives have been with me through a whole afternoon of fierce battle, how can I casually hand them over to someone else to sharpen, and yet expect us to communicate with each other?"

  Ximen Qing saw that the knife had been chopped to have several notches, and sighed: "I know my second brother is good at double knives, but now there is no precious knife. This kind of ordinary iron, even if my second brother has great skills, he can only use six or seven points out of ten. When I have a chance, I will definitely find a pair of precious knives for my second brother!"

  If Ximen Qing had said that he had prepared a pair of snowflake-patterned iron cuffs for Wu Song at the house of Aunt Wang, it would have been too astonishing and unconventional, so he just nodded silently.

  Next to the drum, it was early and the bag mouth had already been loosened. He poured it onto the case and called over Ruanzi Yanqing to help count the goods. Ximen Qing took a look and indeed there were not a few!

  The yellow ones are gold hairpins, gold earrings and gold rings; the white ones are silver pendants, silver plaques and silver necklaces. They were probably all from those suffering women's heads. There were many strings of copper coins, and quite a few scattered about here and there. There were also some jade rings and jade bracelets, but many had been smashed to pieces, making Ximen Qing feel heartbroken.

  That would be worth the most if it were taken back to its own era!

  "A million curses in Ximen Qing's heart: 'This bunch of good-for-nothings from Zhenzhou!'"

  At the time of dividing up the spoils, Wu Song didn't understand the value of various ornaments, he just divided the copper coins into piles and handed them over to Xiezi. Yan Qing, who had grown up in Lu Junyi's mansion, hadn't seen any beautiful ornaments? He immediately sorted out the ornaments by price, from high to low, putting the lowest-grade ones into a pile, waiting for the time to melt them into gold and silver ingots; the better ones were taken out and carefully explained to Ximen Qing.

  Ximen Qing saw that the rogue Yan Qing was quite skilled, and he couldn't even get a word in edgewise. After listening to Yan Qing for a while, he got a bit annoyed, so he had Yan Qing make a booklet, recording it down, to be kept for later use or as a gift for someone.

  Ximen Qing would not be so foolish as to take the jewelry to those suffering women and ask, anyway, Zeng had already snatched it from them, and it was all mixed up together and couldn't be distinguished; Drumming up a lie, Shi Xiu had also taken it from Zeng's hands, and it had long since lost its connection with the original owner.

  "Why not leave the money with those who need it most?" Ximen Qing thought shamelessly, and then he and Shi Yan together counted the silver and copper coins again, feeling really great!

  The spoils of war were approximately 3,600 strings of cash and over 60-70 strings of copper coins. There weren't many scattered around, probably because the soldiers from Zeng's army were in a rush and hadn't thoroughly cleaned up the battlefield yet.

  "Hmm, not a small gain." Ximen Qing was somewhat disappointed, but thinking again, who can carry several thousand taels of silver on their person like himself to see the peach blossoms, and even tens of taels are more than enough.

  Yan Qing's hands and feet moved quickly as she continuously recorded in the book: "Ximen brother, this head ornament hasn't been completely cleared up yet, but it looks like there are at least 7,000 to 8,000 guans."

  "Seven or eight thousand strings of cash!" Ximen Qing almost burst out laughing, this was indeed a great tonic, adding to the copper coins and exchange notes, it was almost breaking through ten thousand strings, soon it would be more than what he had embezzled from his father-in-law Wu Tian's family property!

  Ximen Qing suddenly had a feeling of having made a profit, and this battle could also make money! With an additional 10,000 taels, Ximen Qing can properly cultivate his own Blowing Snow Elite Troops! He can even show off his skills in the Eastern Capital!

  Although he felt that his idea of looking forward to fighting was wrong, Ximen Qing was full of interest in the upcoming battle with Zeng Tou City!