After all, Zou Run did not stay in the mountain stronghold as Yang Lin and Deng Fei said. He left this job to Zou Yuan on the grounds of respecting his elders, while he insisted on leading the troops down the mountain.
The minions who had been trained hard for more than a month were all in excellent condition. With the support of fast horses and armor, the capabilities of the Dengyun Mountain minions were greatly enhanced. Three villages were destroyed, one of which was a night battle.
After the news spread, the surrounding wealthy households were so frightened that they hurriedly packed up their belongings and ran into the county and state cities. Perhaps only the thick city walls could give them a sense of security.
Zou Run must do two things every time he breaks down a big business that is rich and unkind. The first is to hold public trials and punish them on the spot depending on the severity of the crime. All landlords and wealthy people with lives on their hands will be killed with a single knife after the trial. The second was to scrape the land ruthlessly. Every time Zou Run organized a large number of ox-carts and horse-drawn carriages to transport the spoils, and moved all the items that could be used. At the same time, he did not forget to distribute grain and money to the villagers, and the people all praised him.
Right now, the nickname of One-horned Dragon is no longer called by anyone, but his new nickname has caused serious polarization. The people nearby said that he was the little Qin King who punished evil and promoted good, robbed the rich and gave to the poor, and was generous in giving away wealth. However, the local wealthy people called him Zou Guipi, who was nosy. When the Yamashita Hotel reported the news, Zou Run couldn't laugh or cry for a moment.
In short, Zou Run is now famous in Dengzhou. Even outside the gate of Dengzhou, there is a notice to arrest the pirate leader Xiao Qin Wang Zou Run. However, the notice depicts General Zou Run in a positive and abstract way. He looked like a man with a big bag on his head and a fierce look. This can also be seen that the government was completely false and had no intention of really apprehending him.
As this reputation grew, more and more people came to seek refuge. In addition, the three hotels had already sold out that Dengyun Mountain would provide them with accommodation allowance. For more than half a month, there was an endless stream of people coming to the mountain to join the family. Three to four hundred people. Most of the three to four hundred people were fishermen from Yanhu on the seaside. Because Zou Run promised to take in all of them, regardless of age or sex, there were many who came with their families to seek refuge.
Zou Run naturally kept his promise, and all the people who came up the mountain were given resettlement allowance on a per capita basis, ranging from five to twenty guan depending on the ability of the people who defected. You must know that this price is really not low. The Forbidden Army of the Song Dynasty also paid settlement fees when recruiting people. It was called recruiting examples. The so-called recruitment meant tattooing the corresponding military titles on the soldiers, and the examples were generally That’s the standard of ten guan per person.
Although this expenditure alone cost nearly 4,000 guan, the money was well spent. Among the three to four hundred people, Zou Run selected many elders with special skills. There are young men in their early 200s who can carry swords into battle, more than thirty skilled craftsmen who can operate boats, four or five people who can blacksmith, and seven or eight other miscellaneous craftsmen, one of whom is actually proficient in medical skills. This made Zou Runle very happy, and he immediately decided to set up a copycat iron workshop and hospital.
With so many people on the mountain, the top priority was to expand the house. Fortunately, Dengyun Mountain was very big, enough to station two or three thousand people, and there were a lot of trees in the mountain. With everyone working together, the problem of the house was quickly solved. . After everyone settled down, Zou Run began to reorganize the team without stopping.
At present, the number of people on Dengyun Mountain has exceeded 500, of which the elderly, children and women account for less than one-fifth. After discussions with the three leaders, the number of infantrymen was determined to be 300, including 200 spearmen. , fifty sword and shield bearers, fifty archers; fifty horse army minions; fifty naval minions; the rest are used in hotels and logistics systems.
Of course, except for the spearmen's equipment, which is barely complete, everything else is very lacking. With no choice, Zou Run could only shamelessly ask Yang Lin and Deng Fei to make another trip, and each stuffed 5,000 guan of special funds. The task Zou Run gave Deng Fei was to take a boat from Dengzhou back to the Liao Kingdom. The first task was to buy war horses, the more the better. The second task was to buy weapons and equipment, mainly bows, arrows and armor, followed by swords and guns, and the last three were If you can't buy it, just buy iron. Anyway, now that the village has its own blacksmith, you can just buy the iron and build it yourself.
The task given to Yang Lin was to pretend to be a merchant and go to Dengzhou Shipyard to buy a boat. After all, the village was empty and had a navy, but there was not even a decent sea-going boat, only seven or eight fishermen on the seaside. A small fishing boat that goes out to sea for fishing is okay near the coastline, but if you expect to take this boat to go to Tuoji Island, it is a fantasy, and it will lead to death.
The reason why Yang Lin was asked to go was that he had rich experience in the world of martial arts and that he had sneaked over from the Liao Kingdom by boat. He had some knowledge of the market and some connections. Therefore, Zou Run also emphasized two points. One is to buy a boat when it is larger, and the other is that it is best to buy a current boat. Even if you cannot buy a current boat, you still have to spend money to be in the front. In short, the sooner the better.
It's not unreasonable for Zou Run to be so anxious. Before, he was anxious because he was afraid of being suppressed by the government, but now he's anxious because the village's finances are tight. Zou Run had secretly had a headache about this matter more than once. Dengyun Mountain had a weak foundation to begin with. Although this three-pronged attack was a complete victory, the money he received was only less than thirteen thousand guan. Excluding various rewards, Only less than 8,000 guan was paid into the public account, but the current necessary expenses were as high as 14,000 guan, which immediately wiped out the old foundation of the village. In the end, Zou Run pulled Zou Yuan to talk it over. The two of them spent their savings together for emergencies, which was barely enough.
You don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are, so Zou Run is always looking forward to the rapid formation of combat power among his men, especially the navy. They must have a certain combat effectiveness as soon as possible, otherwise they will not be able to capture Tuoji Island. If they cannot capture Tuoji Island, they will not be able to win. He couldn't start drying salt. Failure to dry salt meant that he had no fixed and long-term financial resources. Then he could only keep going down the mountain to borrow food. However, this would inevitably lead to conflicts with the armed forces of the imperial court in the short term.
And this is what Zou Run has been trying to avoid. Now his power is still very weak. If he wins, it will only lead to more and greater revenge from the court. If he loses, not to mention, everything will be lost. It's a mirror, a mirror, a dream.
Fortunately, Huangtian paid off. Under Yang Lin's silver bullet offensive, the Dengzhou Shipyard quickly vacated the ships. A total of six boats were bought with a boat payment of 5,000 guan.
There are two flat-bottomed sea-going ships made of eight hundred materials, each eight feet three feet long and two feet wide. The asking price is one thousand eight hundred guanwen. There are four sharp-bottomed swordfish boats made of 200 materials, each of which is one or two feet wide and five feet long. The asking price is 350 guanwen each.
The so-called material probably refers to the cargo capacity of the ship, which corresponds to the depth from the deck to the bottom of the ship, excluding the cabin above the deck. Eight hundred materials is converted into cargo capacity, which is approximately equivalent to about 1,200 shi (about 35 tons in today's weight). A flat-bottomed sea ship with eight hundred materials can be used as a cargo ship or a warship. It can be used as a warship. With a crew of 200 sailors and soldiers, this vessel can travel to all the deep seas of the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea.
