Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The wind and snow whimpered as they blew through the corridor, becoming smaller and smaller as they approached the doors and windows, eventually turning into tiny drops of water that fell into the gaps between the wooden boards in the corridor.

The young eunuch lit the oil lamp, then bowed and retreated.

Tong Guan walked to the chair behind the desk in the room and sat down, rubbing his brows with a tired look. This eunuch with a heroic figure felt tired. Since he returned to the capital in the golden autumn, he thought he would be able to conquer Yanyun immediately and seize the greatest glory of his life.

pity……

There were those who were making progress and those who were making gains in the court, but what puzzled him was that there were still those who were trying to persuade them to surrender. What a bunch of bastards! Did these scholars have their brains ruined by studying? The Liao Kingdom had already been swallowed up by half, and they were still advocating surrender...

The emperor is really good-tempered to tolerate such an incompetent person in the court. If it were him, he would have ordered his people to beat him out of the Song Dynasty long ago.

Now the government is once again in the mood to watch a play, so...

Tsk, I really don’t want to look for that bastard!

"Somebody come!"

Outside, a young eunuch gently opened the door and walked in, bowing with his hands down as if listening.

"You go to Liang's mansion secretly to meet that bastard Liang Shicheng and tell him..." Tong Guan gritted his teeth fiercely, "After the matter is done, he can choose any place in Yanyun except Xijin Mansion, and I will give him half of the city as a gift."

"Also, send someone to the southeast to tell Wang Bing that I want to see the war in the southeast end by the beginning of next spring."

"Send someone to Wang Fu's shameless Wang Ba's house and tell him that I have already asked the Prime Minister to help me. If he still makes trouble for me, I can reinstate the Prime Minister once and let him return to the court twice."

"Go."

The young eunuch was slightly shocked, responded in a low voice respectfully, walked out backwards, and gently closed the door. He walked away without making a sound, as if his feet were not touching the ground.

Tong Guan closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the chair. The brazier in the room occasionally glowed red, and the scent of sandalwood from the incense burner filled the room. After a long time, the sleeping figure moved slightly, and a faint sound rang out in the room.

"You like to sit back and watch the officials fighting each other because of your preferences, but I can't wait..."

That night, snow and wind covered the streets and alleys of Bianliang City. Countless night owls were staying in taverns and brothels, living a life of drunkenness and dreams. Some people were running in the streets and alleys braving the wind and snow with lunch boxes in order to make a living. In the houses that only a few people could enter, conditions that ordinary people could not imagine were being exchanged in secret.

When the sky brightened, Wang Fu, who was omnipotent in the court, ran to the palace, and a new round of game began with the collusion of Tong Guan.

……

Zhongjing.

The sky cast a not-so-warm light.

The gray hare scratched at the snow in front of it, lowered its head and took a few bites of the hard-to-find moss. Its three-petal lips kept moving, and then it suddenly stopped, stood up, moved its ears in the air, and then suddenly jumped forward, leaving a trail of footprints on the snow and ran away.

Boom boom boom——

Horse hooves kicked up the snow on the ground. Dozens of war horses were galloping around the two carriages. Liu Yun, who was running in front, exhaled white air from his mouth and nose. He turned his head and asked loudly, "Where is this place? How long will it take to get there?"

The soldier leading the way looked at the undulating mountains around him and said, "General, Wending City is ahead. At our current speed, we can enter the city by the end of the Zhamoshen hour when it is getting dark."

The north wind blew snow across the frozen ground. Liu Yun rose and fell on his warhorse as the horses' hooves rang out. The bronze ornaments on the saddle bridge made a slight sound. The frost on his eyebrows fell off. He raised his eyebrows when he heard the words: "So, it's only thirty miles away from Dading Prefecture?"

The tone of his voice suddenly became high-pitched, and white air came out of his mouth, merging with the breath of his mount in the cold mist.

"Yes, we will reach Dading Prefecture in one day at the fastest and two days at the slowest."

The sound was faintly heard behind, making the listeners very excited. They galloped all the way to the north. At first, they felt the excitement of riding horses in the vast wilderness and the joy of finally leaving the boundless ocean. However, after riding for more than a month, the men from the south of the Yangtze River in the team suddenly found that they were not only unaccustomed to long-term sea voyages, but also could not stand running on the ground.

"take a break."

The voice of the military commander who was serving as a guide made Lou Minzhong and Pang Qiuxia in the carriage behind sigh with joy. Compared with the people riding horses outside, they were not as comfortable sitting in the carriage as they had imagined at first.

The warhorse stopped after a few shouts. Pang Wanchun reined in the horse and dismounted swiftly. The snow made a squeaking sound under his feet. Before he reached the carriage, the young woman inside could not help but walk out and jump off.

He took a deep breath, exhaled a large puff of white air, and stood on the snow, stamping his feet: "I am dying of shock."

"I told you to walk slowly. We have to go back to the court to report on our work, so we are in a hurry. Why are you here so hard?"

Xie Ning came forward from the back, and several soldiers beside him dismounted and began to clear a piece of open space. They took the iron pots from their horses and began to boil snow water. These people often ran in the wild and were familiar with this.

Pang Wanchun turned to look at Xie Ning, then looked at the soldier who was starting to light a fire with a tinder, and smiled bitterly: "After all, you are here to serve as an official. You can't really think of yourself as a traveler who comes to see the scenery."

"You guys are overthinking it." Xie Ning shook his head: "With Ruan Xiaoqi here, he will definitely not let you suffer any loss."

After saying this, Xie Ning tied his horse to a tree trunk, and his own soldiers came forward to feed him bean cakes. On both sides, Bai Yanshou, Wang Yin, Shi Bao, Li Tianrun and other generals also came over, turning back from time to time to look at the soldiers who had already started the fire: "Damn it, I was thinking about helping, but I didn't expect these soldiers to act so quickly."

"Brother Xie, where did these soldiers come from? They are much better at surviving in the wild than I am." Li Tianrun was a little jealous and bumped his shoulder against Xie Ning: "Can I have a few soldiers like this later?"

"You have to train yourself." Liu Yun came over, nodded at Lou Minzhong who was slowly getting off the car, and joked to Li Tianrun, "These are all scouts who are out on a mission. You'd better not think too much about it, or the general will come and fight you."

"Let him come." Li Tianrun patted his chest and said, "I'm a dying man now, and the last thing I'm afraid of is fighting this."

"You scoundrel." Lou Minzhong came over and smiled bitterly and shook his head, then looked at the two Qi generals: "Are we almost there?"

Liu Yun nodded: "We will arrive at Dading Prefecture within three days."

"I wonder if Brother Xiaoqi has arrived in Dading Prefecture." Shi Bao put his hands on his waist, looking a little tired. Even a strong man could not hold on after traveling for more than three months. "They arrived in Wending earlier than us by sea. They must have been eating and drinking in Dading Prefecture for a few days."

……

Under the same sky.

In the side hall, several figures walked in, carrying clay pots with layers of food inside and charcoal filled for heat preservation. The eunuchs who came in put the things on the dining table carefully, then bowed and stepped aside, ready to be called at any time.

A fragrant aroma wafted from the wine jar on the brazier. A eunuch came forward, grasped the wooden handle with a thick cloth, and lifted it up, pouring warm wine for the figure at the table.

"After such a long absence, I'm finally back. Let me try the cooking of the imperial chef." Lu Bu reached out with his chopsticks and picked up the juicy meat from the pottery pot. "You said we can ignore the Song territory? What? Are the rebels going to be defeated?"

The living devil who was remembered by many people was holding a leg of lamb in one hand, gnawing on it until his mouth was full of oil. He nodded frantically at Lu Bu and washed the meat down with warm wine. "Your Majesty is right. The remnants of Fang La are about to be defeated. Besides, they don't have much food and herbs left. I don't know if the remaining food is enough for them to eat. So I took everything I could this time."

"What a pity..." Lu Bu shook his head, waved away the eunuch who wanted to serve him, and poured wine into his golden copper cup: "Forget it, that was just an idle move. Whether it succeeds or fails, the 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers and armor seized from the Liao army have trapped Zhao Song in the quagmire of the southeast for two years, and have also exchanged for a lot of food, grass and raw medicine. It is already worth it."

Ruan Xiaoqi swallowed the mutton and grinned: "Your Majesty thinks it's worth it, so our trips here are not in vain."

Lu Bu laughed and said, "You are still so good at talking. This time when you come back, you, Li Bao, and Hu Yanqing should prepare in this inland sea and familiarize yourself with the waterway. If you encounter warships from the Liao Kingdom, don't be polite. If they don't surrender, sink them all into the sea. Next year..."

The hand holding the wine glass exerted force, and the tone of his voice hesitated. Ruan Xiaoqi tilted his head and looked at him in confusion. Lu Bu shook his head: "It's hard to say now, we'll see when the time comes. These two days are close to the end of the year, you should stay at home and accompany your mother more."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ruan Xiaoqi bowed, with a smile on his ugly face: "If Your Majesty moves to the south next year, I will lead a fleet to transport people over by sea. If you still sit and wait in Zhongjing, I will go to the sea to cause trouble for the Liao people."

"You should give birth to a fat boy as soon as possible." Lü Bu smiled at the young man who had followed him all the way from Shijie Village. "Your three brothers, the second brother, already has a son, and the fifth brother is either in the army or in the casino all day long. You are also away from home all day long. When you got married, you didn't know how to take good care of your wife? Do you know how many times your mother has complained about it?"

"Cough-cough-"

Ruan Xiaoqi's face flushed, but it was not very clear on his ugly face. He put down the half-eaten leg of lamb, pounded his chest hard, and took a sip of wine: "Fifth brother's wife hasn't given birth yet, I'm not in a hurry."

bang——

Lu Bu slammed the table and said, "There are three unfilial acts, and having no descendants is the worst. I don't want to wait until we are old and find that the future crown prince has no trusted generals around him."

Ruan Xiaoqi's pupils slightly dilated, his face showed surprise, and he gritted his teeth fiercely: "I know."

Lu Bu looked at him, nodded slightly, and signaled the eunuch standing by to pour him some wine: "I heard that your two sworn brothers are here too."

"Here they are." Ruan Xiaoqi calmed his heartbeat and started eating and drinking again. "It's just that they have been on the water for long and insisted on following Liu Yun on horseback, so I didn't force them."

Lu Bu blinked his eyes and said, "Aren't they all southerners? They should be good at boats. Why are they tired of riding boats?"

Ruan Xiaoqi blinked and rolled his eyes: "Maybe they are the outliers among the southerners?" Then he muttered: "I also think they are not southerners. Just like Liu Yun, they are not close to water at all."

It had been a while since the king and his minister had such a chat, so they ate and drank until it was getting dark before they finished their meal.

When the night covered the sky, the general who came back by water ran briskly back home, greeted his mother, and then ran to his room and pulled his wife to do something shameless. Although the woman was happy, she looked embarrassed. It was not until this living devil saw his wife's period that he looked up to the sky and sighed.

It's the wrong time!

After rubbing his crotch, he had to wait until her period was over before he could do anything else.

……

On the starry night road, hundreds of kilometers away from here, a military camp composed of several camps of different sizes is also brightly lit. As a temporary camp for marching and fighting, several generals are jointly attacking here. The generals' tents appear more luxurious and grand than those of local troops. Some like to display weapons, some like to keep the tent tidy, but now they are all gathered in the tent of the central army.

The soldiers of the Western Army guarded the surrounding areas, and further out were the local archers and soldiers.

Several huge braziers were burning in the central military tent. The heat from the charcoal fire slightly dispelled the coldness of the people in the tent. A figure was standing under the candlelight.

"…It is almost the end of the year. Last month, the old minister sent someone to inquire about the war situation. I reported back that only Mingzhou was left. Now it is halfway through the twelfth lunar month, and there is still only Mingzhou left."

Wang Bing held a long stick in his hand, tapping the feng shui map hanging in front of him, and glanced at the generals beside him, such as Wang Huan, Wang Yuan, and Xin Xingzong: "I have inquired with the envoy last month, and the court is discussing the northern expedition. It doesn't matter if we waste time here, but it is important to delay the prime minister's important business. If the prime minister blames us, none of us will be able to escape."

"The main force has already returned with the Prime Minister. We..."

In the low voice, Xin Xingzong was silent for a moment, and gestured to himself and his people: "It's not that I look down on myself. If we have to go north, it doesn't have to be us."

Wang Bing, whose expression was hard to tell whether he was happy or angry, shook his head and said, "That's wrong. If the old lady didn't need us, she wouldn't have sent anyone to inquire. So the old lady must have a deep meaning behind this action."

Several generals looked at each other, and the hands holding the hilts of their swords suddenly exerted force. Wang Huan clapped his hands fiercely and said, "Then let's try another fierce attack tomorrow. I think the enemy troops are also very tired. Let's do our best to kill them."

"I think it's OK."

"Seconded."

Different voices echoed, and Wang Bing took a deep breath: "Okay! Let's attack again tomorrow and tell the soldiers below that if they are under the city, they can freely take the reward money."

The night wind was howling, and figures with determination walked out of the tent one after another.

In the last month of the fourth year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty, Fang Qifo, Qiu Daoren, Zu Shiyuan and others from the southeast righteous army defended Mingzhou.

In the last ten days of the twelfth lunar month, the Western Army launched a fierce offensive, with the generals of each army leading the way and taking the first city of Mingzhou.
Cixi,

Fall. (End of this chapter)