Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The howling wind blew across the eaves and roof, blowing away some dust.

The lights were bright, and dim light squeezed out from the window lattices and shone on the ground. The towering rocks and flower beds were all in deep tones. Lu Bu walked into the courtyard and stopped in front of the door, signaling the eunuchs waiting outside not to make a sound, and walked over quietly.

A woman's sweet laughter was heard from inside the house. He turned around to look at the moon hanging on the tree branch, shook his head, pushed open the door, and strode in. The voices of the women talking and chatting immediately buzzed into his ears.

In the fragrant room, four women were sitting at the table playing horse racing. They were throwing dice with their delicate hands to move the "horse" forward. Su Jinniang and Yelu Daribo, who were usually quite lively, were smiling with their faces flushed. Wu Qing was also in a good mood today and was looking at them with a faint smile.

Hu Sanniang was the only one with the most chess pieces left. She was sitting there feeling a little depressed. The moment she saw Lu Bu come in, a look of surprise appeared on her face.

Wearing a cape and a black robe, Lu Bu walked to the table and sat down on the cushioned chair. "Why are you so interested in playing games today?"

"Staying in the palace with the children all day, I have nothing to do so I have no choice but to play games." Hu Sanniang stopped smiling and rolled her eyes at him.

The other three girls laughed out loud.

"You are already mothers..." Lu Bu shook his head and smiled bitterly at Hu Sanniang: "Just calm down. Isn't it enough to have three children to bother you?"

Hu Sanniang rolled her eyes at him again. Su Jinniang and Yelu Daribo just laughed beside them. But Wu Qing agreed: "That's right. You three have taught my Wen'er to be naughty and hard to discipline. What else are you dissatisfied with?"

"Nonsense..." Su Jinniang and Yelu Dalibo saw the flames of war coming to them, and they instinctively stood up: "How can you blame us for teaching her martial arts? It was clearly..."

Her almond-shaped eyes rolled around, and she pointed at Lu Bu: "It's obvious that it's because of my husband that he's so active. If it's because of you, my sister, you'd be very quiet."

Wu Qing turned to look at her man with a thoughtful expression.

Lu Bu's eyes widened, thinking to himself, why did you guys drag me into this argument? Even if I came back a little late, there's no need to insult me ​​in front of you like this...

But he never participated in such arguments. He always listened to whatever the woman said. Even though he knew he couldn't listen to everything after living his life again, still...

Isn't this irrelevant to military and national affairs? Just let them talk.

The women in the room chuckled at his patient attitude. Wu Qing looked at the table and said, "Alright, it's getting late. Let's go back to bed. Otherwise, we won't be able to sleep if those naughty monkeys wake up and make a lot of noise tomorrow."

"It's time to go to bed." Hu Sanniang was about to lose the game of chess, so when she heard Wu Qing asking her to leave, she naturally wanted to get up and leave. Anyway, the four of them took turns to sleep with him, and today was Wu Qing's turn. She would save herself from having to see the two of them being so affectionate if she left early.

The three women packed up and left with their maids. Wu Qing watched Lu Bu stand up and quickly took off his robe and placed it on a wooden chair beside him.

"Today, Wen'er went to deliver ginseng chicken soup but unfortunately she broke the bowl."

"Yes, it's pitiful to see the little girl crying but not crying."

"Fortunately, my husband didn't blame her. She came back and felt upset for a long time."

"It's just a broken bowl, why blame me for anything..."

As they talked, they had already walked into the bedroom. A maid brought hot soup. Wu Qing waved them away and squatted to wash Lu Bu's feet. The man who was sitting leaned on the square table beside him, looking at the squatting woman with a dazed look in his eyes. After a long while, he said, "It's not like there are no maids. Why do you have to do it yourself?"

wow-

A pair of jade hands stirred the water surface, and after a while, she lifted her legs and feet. Wu Qing held Lu Bu's big feet and wiped them with a dry cloth without any disgust: "It's not that I can't do it, why bother asking someone else to do it for you."

Putting the dried foot aside, he patted the man's other leg: "Lift your foot."

Lu Bu on the other side smiled, looked at the woman's gentle appearance and suddenly said: "Recently, I have been thinking about whether to have a few more children."

Wu Qing looked up in surprise. The man had already stood up in his clogs and picked Wu Qing up. He said, "Wait for a few imperial doctors to come and take a look tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I always feel that there are not enough people in my family."

"slave……"

Wu Qing said something in a low voice, but was then blocked by Lu Bu's mouth. The light in the room reflected the two shadows that merged into one, and the shadow swayed as the figure moved.

"call--"

The light and shadow disappeared, and a sound like a cat's meow echoed in the room.

Few people know about the spring breeze that lasted one night, and the maidservant was too weak to lean on the brocade.

……

The next day.

There was no court business, and Lü Bu, who had not rested well recently, was about to lie down with his woman for a while before getting up again. He heard hurried footsteps outside, followed by a voice: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. We will rush you eight hundred miles."

call--

The man opened his eyes and sat up suddenly.

"Lang Jun?"

"You sleep a little longer..." Lu Bu turned over and got out of bed, reached out to pick up the clothes beside him and put them on.

Seeing this, Wu Qing didn't care about her weakness and quickly turned over and sat up: "It won't matter if she waits a little longer." She helped him put on his clothes and watched her man walk out. She breathed a sigh of relief, fell back with a tired look on her face, and fell asleep soon after.

It is already a bit chilly in the morning in late autumn. The cool air entering the lungs instantly wakes up those who are still feeling a bit lazy.

Looking at the eunuch standing there with his head bowed, Lu Bu asked as he walked over, "Who brought this urgent message?"

"Li Guanglu came here in person and is already waiting in the imperial study."

"Ok?"

Lu Bu did not stop, but just raised his eyebrows, moved his eyes, and then quickened his pace. Soon he passed several palaces and entered a familiar place.

The door of the imperial study was closed. Li Zhu was standing outside the door talking with Su Yi and two Wuwei guards. Seeing Lu Bu coming over, he hurried forward to salute.

"His Majesty……"

"Go in and talk."

Lu Bu waved his hand and led Li Zhu inside. Li Zhu closed the door and turned around: "Your Majesty, there are locusts in the north."

"Really?"

Lu Bu raised his eyebrows and asked, "How is the disaster situation?"

"It hasn't become a major disaster yet, but this year we've suffered heavy losses, and a lot of grassland has been eaten up." Assistant Li shook his head, took out a document from his bosom and handed it over: "General Wang Jun sent a message saying that the ranches that have taken refuge with us have also suffered losses, and we hope that the court can provide disaster relief."

"This is as it should be. Now they are all citizens of the court, so naturally they must be taken care of."

The burly figure took it, opened it and read it, frowning: "If there is such a disaster next year..."

"It will definitely expand next year." Li Zhu narrowed his eyes and stroked his beard. "An Daoquan and I have cultivated a lot of Cordyceps sinensis. We will send it to various counties in winter to prevent disasters." Lu Bu nodded and tapped the table thoughtfully. "You said that the grassland was severely damaged... Is it the same for the other territories of Liao?"

"I'm not sure, but I've already sent a letter to General Wang, asking him to explore the northwest. There should be news coming back soon."

Tuk-tuk-tuk——

The sound of fingers tapping on the desktop rang out monotonously. Lu Bu looked thoughtful. "When there is a disaster on the grassland, they usually go south to plunder and pass their disaster on to others. Although the insect infestation is not serious this year, there is no guarantee that these plundering guys will come to provoke us..."

There was a brief pause, but the sound of fingers tapping the table continued.

Li Zhu did not say anything. He had contributed a lot to this disaster, so it would be better for him not to say anything at this moment.

Benedict——

His fingers stopped, and Lu Bu took a breath: "Someone come!"

bang——

The door opened on both sides, revealing Su Yi's young face: "I am here!"

"Send a message to Niu Gao, asking him to lead his army back to the Protectorate. Send a message to Xiao Haili, Du Fu, Yuan Lang, Wang De, and Wanyan Loushi, asking them to put down their current tasks and return north to Shangjing Road."

"Send someone to call Jiang Jing, Li Ying, Qiao Lie, and Wang Zheng. Since there is a disaster this time, it is time for them to take some action."

"Prepare some breakfast for me. I'm hungry."

After a series of orders were given, the young man outside nodded quickly and then turned around and ran out.

"Sit down." Lu Bu looked at Li Zhu and smiled. "You came so early, you probably didn't have breakfast, eat with me."

The figure who was speaking did not sit down behind the desk, but walked to the side instead.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Li Zhu breathed a sigh of relief and followed the tall figure over there. Seeing Lu Bu calling for someone to hang up the geomancy map, he took the initiative to pick up the flag with nails and stretched out his hand to insert it into the geomancy map: "Your Majesty, according to what Wang Jun wrote, these places have been severely affected by the disaster. In my opinion, it may last until next month."

The flags formed a strange shape, and Mr. Jin Jian continued, "Fortunately, there were not many herdsmen in our territory after last year's battle. However, the small number of people will be a problem for next year."

"Yeah..." Lu Bu sighed and watched him mark the geomancy map. "No one is fighting against the disaster. This is not a good thing for the counties in the south."

After thinking for a while, he still couldn't come up with any idea. He had never experienced such a thing, and he had always fought on the battlefield in the past. Even though he had read about the professor's methods of fighting disasters in the book, it was still a little hard to imagine.

"Let's discuss it after everyone is gathered." Lu Bu rubbed his forehead and put his finger on the map. "We need to prepare more warm clothes this year. We need some for the soldiers in the Protectorate and the tribes. In short, we need to stabilize them. Next year..."

He crossed his arms with a headache: "Where can I get money and food..."

Li Zhu frowned and was also thinking, but this kind of thing would not be accomplished overnight, so when the palace maids and eunuchs brought breakfast, the two of them put their minds at ease and ate first.

Not long after, Wang Zheng, Qiao Lie, Jiang Jing and others dressed in court robes received the message and rushed over. They looked at the document sent by Wang Jun and looked at Li Zhu together. Qiao Lie glared and said, "Li Guanglu is really good at finding things to do."

Li Zhu narrowed his eyes.

Wang Zheng shook his head and spoke before him: "This is a good thing. If we can weaken those grassland people with this, and have a few decades of peace, then it will be a win."

Li Zhu glanced at him, his expression normal.

The eunuch came in with small steps, carefully placed the wine and glasses on the charcoal brazier to heat them, then bent his body and quietly retreated.

Wang Zheng glanced at the wine and his eyes lit up. He walked over naturally, poured a glass for Lu Bu first, then poured himself a glass and said, "In my humble opinion, Your Majesty should send cavalry north and station them in the area of ​​Yuanhe Dongcheng. If there are any blind invaders, they can be quickly defeated."

Lu Bu nodded with a smile on his face: "I have already ordered the army to return north."

"Then I have nothing to say." Wang Zheng shook his head: "I am not good at dealing with locusts. I just heard that the Song people are suffering from disasters. If..."

He stopped talking suddenly as if he had thought of something. When Lu Bu looked at him eagerly, the lazy fellow seemed to be thinking: "Come to think of it, there are officials from the south in the court. I wonder if Minister Yang understands this kind of thing."

"Su Yi!"

Lu Bu raised his head and called out. The door split open, revealing the figure of a young man on duty: "What's the matter, Your Majesty?"

"Go and tell Minister Yang."

"Here."

The young man who responded closed the door again.

"Okay, we'll just wait for Minister Yang to come and deal with the insect plague." Lu Bu breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Jiang Jing and Li Ying: "The Protectorate has been hit hard by the disaster. Wang Jun has written a letter requesting disaster relief. You..."

Jiang Jing and Li Ying looked at each other, and the former stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that I don't know what's going on, but the national treasury is short of money now."

Li Ying nodded: "This time, the battle in Zhongjing ended faster than expected thanks to your majesty's divine power, but the cost of conquering various places was not small."

Lu Bu raised his eyebrows: "I remember that we gained a lot when we took over Dading Prefecture..."

"Yes, 1,200 horses, 500 cows, 170 camels, and 47,000 sheep." Jiang Jing had a good memory and spoke without hesitation. He paused and said, "But the troops also consumed a lot in capturing other cities, so they are no longer complete."

Li Ying took over the conversation: "If Your Majesty wants to provide disaster relief, I will naturally agree. However, if there are any more disturbances later, we will inevitably be stretched to the limit."

"... Is there no other way to make money?" Lü Bu said with a headache, looking at this and that. Li Ying and others all lowered their heads and said, "We are ashamed."

The muscles between Lu Bu's eyebrows tightened three points.

"Your Majesty, I do have an idea." Qiao Lie looked thoughtful.

"What's the method? Tell me quickly." Lu Bu was overjoyed and urged him quickly.

"I wonder what your majesty thinks of the monks' property?"

"Monk?" Lu Bu was stunned for a moment, thought about it, and shook his head: "I have never paid attention to it."

Qiao Lie licked his lips excitedly: "Then I will have to explain it to you."

He stood up and saluted: "Your Majesty, although there are not as many monks in our country today as in the Northern Qi Dynasty, there are still quite a few. Because of the law that monks and Taoists are not taxed, temples can usually buy a lot of land. In addition, those who hold certificates can be exempted from taxes, military service and corvée labor, so there are many fake monks in many temples."

"Through land leasing, incense money, and donations from believers, these temples have accumulated unimaginable wealth and grain. I have checked and found that there are often several temples in a county, and the richest ones own as much as 20% to 30% of the land in the county. Your Majesty can imagine how rich they are."

"Is there such a thing?" Lü Bu's hand holding the wine glass suddenly turned pale. (End of this chapter)