Chapter 179: The Enclosure Movement of River Heart Island
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“What is he going to do?”
Wu Family, Yunzhou
Wu Yansheng sat calmly in front of his desk, looking at the stationery before him while holding some stationery on the hand. At the same time, the muscles in his face uncontrollably writhed and a faint expression of alarm shone in his eyes. This was caused by the pattern drawn on the stationery.
This was a letter of reply from Junior Leopard to him. In the reply letter, Junior Leopard first thanked the Wu Family for the foster and assistance that he had received and expressed profound gratitude towards being an Outer Core Elder of the Wu Family. Furthermore he promised to be a part of the Wu Family whether he was alive or dead, he would continue to try his best to work for the Wu Family. Those words were like a work summary that he used to write in the previous life as a civil servant. Though he hadn’t written one for a dozen years, he could write it as fluently as riding bicycles, which could never be forgotten once one had learnt. Those words were not only touching, but also sincere, which made Wu Yansheng, the cunning man, also feel moved. But at the end of the letter, he talked about one more thing. It was about his weapon which was destroyed during the martial arts competition with Li Xiu, the descendant of Li Clan in Pingzhou. He had no handy weapon now so he wanted to ask for the family’s help, that was, to make a new hammer for him!
Making weapons was the duty of Wu Family, and by rights, it wouldn’t be a problem. However, seeing the blueprint, Wu Yansheng turned his face immediately.
“What is he going to do? Can it just be a weapon? It might as well be called as lethal weapon! Moreover, you should ask for two?! How can I find so much Wrought Gold and Fine Iron for you?”
On the second piece of stationery, Junior Leopard drew a pattern of a big hammer which had nothing special. It was an ordinary appearance of a single handed hammer. It was the notice which was added beside the pattern that made Wu Yansheng tremble with fear.
“It is better to be more than 1.8 kg, 2 kg is also fine. At least it can’t weigh less than 1.3kg!”
These few sentences shocked Wu Yansheng for a while, he couldn’t even look away.
Being the Family Head of Wu Family, he could be said to have experienced a lot in the world and seen many heavy weapons. He had also forged some heavy weapons on his own. But those so-called heavy weapons weighed at most zero points kilograms. If one weighed over 0.5 kg then it must be the maximum. There was no one else asking for one weapon that weighed 1.8kg, let alone 2kg! Didn’t he know how much the Wrought Gold and Fine Iron would cost for such heavy weapons?
Could he hold this heavy weapon for long? Even if he could hold it, could he wave it?
Even if he could wave it, wouldn’t he feel tired?
“What if he doesn’t feel tired?” Suddenly this question came into Wu Yansheng’s mind. He couldn’t help shuddering again. An expression of hesitation was revealed from his eyes. At last, he gritted his teeth, slapped on the stationery with a grisly look and then shouted loudly, “Wu Fu, invite Master Wang for me now!”
Again he picked that stationery up and read it carefully; finally he couldn’t help but cursing, “What a pervert!”
…
…
“Your Excellency, we’ve got news from Multiple Chain Dock!”
Another morning, Junior Leopard sat in the courtyard after practicing his martial arts, feeling bored. Zhu Ba rushed in again, full of excitement, “Your Excellency, some people from Multiple Chain Dock want to talk with us!”
“We talk with them but not they talk with us!” Junior Leopard corrected him. He looked up at Wang Cheng and Jiang Xiao, who came in soon afterwards, laughed, “I guess the conditions are all clear!”
“Yes, they are almost confirmed,” Jiang Xiao nodded his head and said before putting a pile of money in front of Junior Leopard, “but people from Multiple Chain Dock insist on meeting you and confirming it finally.”
Junior Leopard turned over the paper casually, with a satisfied expression in his eyes. He said then, “There’s no need to meet. I mean both me and you guys, don’t meet them randomly. If it is confirmed, let it be. Don’t be brazen; let’s just follow the established rules.”
“But what if they violate the rules?” Zhu Ba asked, “I think we’d better sit down and…”
“If they do want to violate the rules, can a meeting solve all of the problems?” Junior Leopard glared at Zhu Ba coldly and forced Zhu Ba retracted his head. “If they dare to violate the rules, then I’d like to teach them a lesson. We need to guarantee the safety of the ships which go to and fro along Luo River and the smooth of the water channel. We do not need to act evilly, in collusion with water bandits. By the way, have you dealt with your own business well? I remember you are in charge of the goods yard, what are you doing here?”
“Hum, it’s uh… I’m not making troubles, Your Excellency. I have some fellowship with people in Multiple Chain Dock, so I…”
“Damn you!” Junior Leopard threw a cup towards Zhu Ba as soon as he heard those words, “Whatever fellowship you talk of is rubbish. Remember you are a solider and he is only a bandit. What rubbish fellowship can you have!”
“No, no, no, we don’t have any fellowship. I just… I just have made some contact with them. That’s it!” Zhu Ba said with great caution.
Junior Leopard glared at Wang Cheng and Jiang Xiao and said, “You two are really imprudent. Is there no one else in the navy? How can you deliver such a thing to him? From morning to night, nothing can prevent him from speaking. No matter how small the thing is, he will let it all out to the whole world!”
They both became ablush and cursed Zhu Ba fiercely in their hearts, bending their heads without saying any words.
“All right, forget it. This thing is done now. You just need to ask other people to do specific affairs. Don’t do things in person! Your Excellency Wang, would you please pay more attention to goods yard and ensure they don’t give rise to any accidents?”
“Yes!”
“Your Excellency Jiang, I’ve already seen some people there measuring the land of River Heart Island. How is everything going?”
“They behave themselves and are pretty polite to our brothers.” Said Jiang Xiao, “However, it seems that the Garrison Camp also wants to build a drill ground on the island besides just measuring land.”
“The Garrison Camp?!” Junior Leopard raised his eyebrows, “Guard Ding?”
“Yes!” Lowering his head, Jiang Xiao cast a glimpse at Junior Leopard with split vision, as if he were trying to find something unusual upon Junior Leopard’s face.
But Junior Leopard didn’t change his expression, he just answered with slight voice. “This way, all right! Ho ho… River Heart Island belongs to Jiang City but not us. If Jiang City agrees, there’s nothing we can do, even if he brings the Garrison barracks here. Just let it be!”
“Yes!”
Jiang Xiao answered, but he still felt a bit hesitatant, “Your Excellency, I’m afraid that once the soldiers of the Garrison Camp come ashore, they may clash with us. Then what can we do?”
“Clash? What Clash?” Junior Leopard was surprised, “There is nothing more than ports, goods yards and two drill grounds on River Heart Island, even birds don’t want to defecate here. What clash can there be?”
“I mean, what if people of the Garrison Camp provoke us?”
“How dare he!” Junior Leopard sneered, “That Guard Ding won’t be so brave. As for the common soldiers of the Garrison Camp, I’m not afraid of them actively provoking us, but you can instigate your subordinates to provoke them and drive them away!”
“Hum…” Wang Cheng, Jiang Xiao and Zhu Ba were all in cold sweat now and had no words to say.
They did have such plan in the beginning.
Though River Heart Island was big, it was occupied by many influences of Jiang City. There were two camps in a small area, so naturally they would feel uneasy. Especially it was well-known that the Garrison Camp didn’t get along well with the navy. When they built drill grounds here suddenly, they must be aimed at monitoring the navy. Therefore, they were thinking of whether there would be any methods to drive the Garrison Camp away. This time they were here to ask for some information from Junior Leopard. Little did they think that Junior Leopard would prevent them as soon as their words came out.
“Don’t wake any sleeping dogs. It is good for us to have the Garrison Camp on the island. Since neither of you want to rise in rebellion, why are you so scared? By the way, double the salary and food standard of our brothers from next month.”
“What? Double again? Your Excellency, we have already doubled it these few months.” Cried Zhu Ba.
“Do we lack money?” Junior Leopard glared at Zhu Ba, “With so much money in our barracks, if we don’t dispense it to our brothers, what can we do with it?”
“Your Excellency, once your behaviors are spread to someone with high aspirations and determination, you will be accused of hatching a sinister plot or drawing others over to your side!” Said Jiang Xiao.
“What rubbish! In all, there are less than 1000 people in these barracks. How can I hatch a sinister plot with so few people?” Junior Leopard laughed and said, “Those words may cause people to laugh their heads off!”
“Hey hey. Yes, yes, you are right!” Jiang Xiao laughed.
“Moreover, last time, due to the affair of Yellow Dragon Gang, we had some conflicts with the Garrison Camp’s people. Go back and tell our brothers that we must be polite when we come across the Garrison Camp’s people. Remember that we are not enemies! Just drink wine and eat meat together, it won’t cost us much!” As he came to this point, Junior Leopard paused and had a look at Jiang Xiao, “Your Excellency Jiang, find some clever brothers and let them build relationships with the Garrison Camp. If money is lacking, come to me. We are all soldiers in Jiang City and must be as dear to each other as members of one family. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir. I get it!” A thought flickered through Jiang Xiao’s mind and he figured out what Junior Leopard was planning, he became excited at once. But as he looked up at Junior Leopard’s young face, he shook with fear. “How young you are and you should be so scheming. Still saying that you don’t want to hatch any sinister plot. In my opinion, you are trying to draw all the Garrison Camp over to your side! Well, that’s fine. Following such a captain, my future will be very promising! At least things like salaries couldn’t be given out on time won’t happen again.”
“OK, since everything is done, you can leave now. Zhu Ba stays here.”
“Yes!” The three answered in unison. Wang Cheng and Jiang Xiao left at the same time, but an envious expression was revealed from their eyes when they looked at Zhu Ba.
After all, it was Wang Cheng and Jiang Xiao that shared the highest authority of the leaders in the Navy of Jiang City. Because one was the Vice Commander and the other was famous for his resourcefulness.
But Zhu Ba was well-known for his bad temper. Few would like to build relationships with him. Even the little Captains who were in his charge only had fear towards him rather than awe.
However, when Junior Leopard came here, the conditions were changed. Junior Leopard seemed to have great interest in this rude guy. Though he often beat him and cursed him without saving him any face, he got more and more close to him. More importantly, Junior Leopard would personally guide his feat.
