Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

It was midsummer, the temperature was pleasant, and there seemed to be a sense of dryness in the air west of Beijing. Several battles broke out in Fangshan. Although they ended with the victory of the Western Army and the Western Beijing soldiers, due to the small number of people and the difficulty in transporting weapons, there was no way to immediately break through this dangerous place.

"We can't go on like this. If we keep defending, the stronghold will be breached sooner or later. Two of the three checkpoints below have already been breached."

"This group of government troops is much stronger than the useless people in the military states in western Beijing."

"Where else can we go? The worst that can happen is that we have to fight these fighters from the west."

The leaders in groups of three or five no longer had the high spirits they had before the encirclement and suppression. All kinds of anxious faces were revealed in the gathering hall. Among the complaining words, there were also some emotional people who shouted that they would fight to the death.

bang——

click-

The wooden table was smashed to pieces by a pair of white hands, and the roar of the woman who stood up shook the air.

"Damn it, we've been surrounded for a month. You usually call yourselves heroes, looking down on this and that, but why are you all eating Auntie Wang's foot bindings now, dragging your feet and talking nonsense here! It seems that apart from your little skills in talking, you can only show off your power on women's bellies, right!"

Duan Sanniang, a woman with fair skin, stood in the hall with her hands on her hips, frowning and glaring. She stretched out her hand and made a circle: "People always say that Fangshan is well built and is not afraid of an attack from a huge army. Now there are only 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers and less than 500 war horses at the foot of the mountain. It's not even as many as a huge army. Why don't you fight them back? Huh?! Why are you all talking nonsense? Why don't you make up your mind and think of a solution!"

"Sanniang, stop talking."

Duan Er and Duan Wu tried to pull their sister, but Duan Sanniang slapped their hands away and said, "Stop pulling me. You two used to be the loudest braggarts, but now you've become quails, just cowering here!"

Duan Er and Duan Wu's faces were immediately filled with excitement, but since their sister had always been arrogant and domineering, they did not dare to provoke her.

Song Jiang frowned and said softly, "Don't be impatient, Third Lady. Everyone in the stronghold is fighting to drive away the soldiers. No one is cunning or treacherous."

Duan Sanniang glanced at Song Jiang, frowned and said nothing. It was true that she had a bad temper, but that didn't mean she was stupid. She was still a little afraid of the current leader of the stronghold.

The faces of the leaders around eased a little. Many of them glared at Duan Sanniang but ignored her. Not only was she a woman, but many of the leaders on the mountain were her relatives. There was no need to offend so many people for the insults of a woman.

Song Jiang took in the expressions of the crowd, pondered for a moment, exchanged glances with Wu Yong, and stood up: "But what you brothers said is right. If we continue to hide in this Fangshan stronghold like this, it will be breached by the Western Army sooner or later. This is not the fate we deserve."

He paused for a moment, then spoke passionately: "We are gathered here to enforce justice on behalf of Heaven, to plead for the people, to punish the evildoers, and to govern the country honestly, not to fight against the imperial court."

Many of the leaders below had complicated expressions on their faces, but Mu Hong, Shi Jin, Wang Lun, Jie Zhen, Jie Bao and others had expressions of approval on their faces and nodded frequently.

Li Jun did not say anything in the crowd, but just waited quietly for the next words from the leader of the mountain village.

"So..." Song Jiang stretched out the last syllable and glanced at the leaders below: "I have discussed with the military advisor that since the court regards us as traitors, we might as well give up this Fangshan stronghold."

"Let...give up?"

"Where should we go? Is my brother going to surrender?"

"Brother, you must not surrender. The government troops will not let you go."

The people below suddenly became agitated, except for the leaders Li Jun, Zhang Yue'e, Sun Li, He Ji, and Guo Gang, whose eyes lit up and they looked at Song Jiang with some surprise.

"I don't agree!" Liu Tang stood up suddenly, with a look of worry on his tired face: "This stronghold was built with great difficulty by Brother Tianwang. If we abandon it like this, wouldn't it be an injustice to Brother Tianwang's spirit in heaven?"

"Hmph!" Lei Yingchun snorted in his seat: "What a dead man, he's still controlling him at this time. If he still has a spirit in heaven, why doesn't he drive the government troops back?"

Liu Tang glared at him angrily. The handsome young man continued, "Oh, I forgot. He died at the hands of the government troops. I'm afraid he will be repelled again if he comes."

The five leaders Ye Conglong, Zhang Yinggao, Jing Chenbao, Lu Chengneng and Su Zhuohu who had followed him since Hongtao Mountain burst into laughter.

Liu Tang's hands were shaking. He looked around and saw that no one in the Juyi Hall was carrying a weapon. He suddenly turned around and raised the chair: "I'm going to beat you to death, you bastard."

Qian Xi and Qian Yi hurried forward and pulled him back: "Brother Liu, calm down, calm down."

He was being pulled over here, and over there, the five big men next to Lei Yingchun slammed the table and stood up, pointing at him. Su Zhuohu's face was ferocious: "Come here, Liu! If you don't come over today, you're the son of a whore!"

Liu Tang was furious, the red birthmark on his face turned purple, and his eyes were bloodshot: "Fuck you, you..."

bang——

"enough!"

Song Jiang glared and retracted his hand that was slapping the table. He gently put his hands behind his back and held them with his other hand. He looked at Wutongshen who stood up and said, "We are all brothers. It is better to keep this eloquence to fight against the government troops."

Without waiting for the other party to speak, he turned to look at Liu Tang and said, "Song Jiang feels bad about giving up the mountain stronghold. After all, the government troops might burn this place down. However, compared with the casualties of more than 13,000 people on the mountain, these personal belongings are nothing. Even if Brother Tianwang were alive, he would support Song Jiang's decision. Do you think it's right, brother Liu Tang?"

The color on Liu Tang's face gradually returned to normal. He stood in silence for a while, then slowly put down the wooden chair in his hand. He glanced at Lei Yingchun over there, but didn't say anything else.

Song Jiang then took a breath, and looked at the expressions on everyone's faces from left to right, and then from right to left: "If anyone still objects, please speak up now, so that if someone disobeys the order later, Song Jiang will forgive you, but the rules of the mountain will not."

In the Juyi Hall, a group of people of different sizes were silent for a while, and Sun Li said calmly: "May I ask, brother, if we abandon the mountain stronghold, what should we do?"

Song Jiang nodded and said, "There are many mountains around Fangzhou. The leaders of the mountains will lead the minions to move in separately and reunite in Jinzhou in a month."

"What about food?" The leader named Sun Sheng couldn't help but speak.

Before Song Jiang could speak, Li Kui muttered, "Are you stupid? There are so many villages out there, how can you be without food and water?"

Everyone in the hall burst into laughter, which made Sun Sheng blush and lower his head.

Guo Gan hesitated for a while before speaking: "Then where should we go? The government troops are blocking the mountain, so we can't go out rashly."

"Don't worry, Brother Guo." Jie Zhen said casually, and smiled at his brother: "We are already familiar with this mountain. There are two hidden paths leading to the side of the mountain. Although it is a bit steep, it is passable."

The other side nodded and said no problem.

Song Jiang's lips curled up slightly, and he waited for a while. Seeing that no one spoke, he smiled and said, "Since all the brothers have no questions, let's prepare quickly. This time, we only need more food. As long as we are alive, we will have plenty of money."

"Don't worry, brother. I, Tieniu, will only bring the pancakes and the axe. I won't bring anything else."

All the commanders laughed as they watched Black Whirlwind standing up. At that moment, Song Jiang selected Sun Li, Shi Jin, Mu Hong, Lei Yingchun, Lei Heng, Zhu Tong, Wu Song, Li Jun, Wenren Shichong and other leaders to lead a thousand or so followers each. He and Wu Yong led a team of three thousand people and took advantage of the darkness when the government troops did not come to attack, ran out of the stronghold and went down along an unknown path in the mountains.

By daybreak, this famous stronghold in the southwest of Beijing was already deserted, but no one knew about it yet.

hula-

The tent curtain was opened, and the golden sun between the clouds shone its light into the tent.

"If you give me another 20,000... no, 10,000 soldiers, I will take this mountain down for him."

Xin Xingzong walked into the central army tent with his hands shaking, pulled off his helmet and threw it to the guards beside him, then sat down on the chair angrily, and the wood joints creaked several times due to the great force.

"The bandits here are different from those in the southeast." Zhe Kecun, wearing iron armor, spread his legs and rested his arms on the armrests: "The bandits over there only looked like an army in the end, but the bandits here obviously have military generals training them."

"Hmph..." Xin Xingzong was upset and rolled his eyes: "Maybe some Wenquxing is doing good things again. He doesn't take us fighters seriously anymore."

"Stop talking." Wang Yuan glared at him, then looked at Zhai Jin who was in the commander's position: "General Zhai, could you send more troops here?"

Zhai Jin stroked his messy beard and said, "It's difficult. I will try to write a letter to the Grand Tutor and see if he can mobilize some reinforcements."

"The Xiang army is no longer needed." Xin Xingzong curled his lips: "A bunch of useless trash, they can't do anything except help dig trenches and lay out camps."

Several generals in the army smiled bitterly. Wang Yuan clapped his hands and said, "General Zhai, please write the letter quickly. Our problem is not just the lack of troops."

As the words fell, Zhe Kecun and Xin Xingzong's faces darkened at the same time. The former nodded with difficulty: "The soldiers are tired of war, and they have been away for too long. They originally saw hope of returning home, but in the end..."

The latter followed with a sigh: "Now the soldiers below are all missing their hometown."

Wang Yuan closed his eyes and stroked his beard: "It was like this at the end of last month. Fortunately, we had seized enough loot before and distributed a large amount of reward money to stabilize the morale."

"Now I'm afraid that even giving money won't work."

"...You were originally returning home from Liangzhe Road." Zhai Jin was silent for a moment, a wry smile appeared on his face, and he stretched out his hand: "If you had received an order to fight here when you left the southeast, it might have been much better. The fact that these soldiers can still fight now is a testament to your leadership."

wow——

A piece of letter was spread on the table. Zhai Jin picked up the pen and kept writing under the gaze of the three people. Then he called his son Zhai Liang to pass it to him: "Eight hundred miles, hurry up. You personally lead a team of people to Bianliang and give the letter to the Grand Tutor."

"Yes."

"Take some rare items from your uncle and give them to the Master, and say that they are a gift from the generals here."

"Don't worry, father." Zhai Liang glanced at the faces of the three generals of the Western Army in the tent and nodded seriously: "I know what to say."

Not long after, more than thirty cavalrymen rushed out of the camp and headed towards the rear.

Zhai Jin stood up and put on the phoenix-wing helmet with a red tassel on his head: "It's time for me to attack. Generals and your subordinates should rest for the next two days."

The three generals in the rear nodded: "...We have no choice but to do this."

However, before Zhai Jin left, there were running footsteps outside. The first general of Jingxi at the door frowned, looked at the scouts running over quickly, and knelt on one knee: "Report - there is no smoke rising from the bandits' stronghold, and no one is seen walking around. We went to investigate and found that everyone has left."

"What?" Xin Xingzong heard it clearly in the tent, and quickly stood up and walked over, his eyes wide open: "Say it again to me!"

The scout saw his ferocious expression, swallowed his saliva, and repeated what he had discovered.

The two generals at the door looked at each other. Zhai Jin showed a bitter expression: "This group of thieves probably took advantage of their familiarity with the mountain roads and turned into the mountains. This is trouble..."

Xin Xingzong stamped his feet and said, "This bandit is cunning. He confronted us here for nearly a month before dispersing. How could he run away now? Damn it..."

Wang Yuan stood up suddenly and said, "Brother Zhai, things have changed. Call your son back first and write another letter to the Grand Tutor."

Zhai Jin nodded immediately: "Yes, but we can't do the same as before." Then he quickly ordered someone to go out and call Zhai Liang back. The four generals discussed it again. Zhai Jin wrote the second letter and waited for his son to come back. He gave him some more instructions before letting him go.

In the next half month, dozens of villages in the direction of Fangzhou to Jinzhou were looted, and tens of thousands of bandits rushed into Jinzhou from several directions, which immediately made the western area tense. Emergency documents were sent to Zhai Jin, and the army to suppress the bandits continued to rush forward without stopping.

At the same time, Song Jiang and others clearly sent out a signal.

I would like to talk to the generals of the court.

……

And in the northern land of Qi, some things were happening quietly.

In the territory of Qi, rumors that temples were rich but unkind and had angered God were spreading more and more. Many small and medium-sized temples were very worried about this, while the large and rich temples continued to make money and did not take it seriously. They just mobilized believers and pilgrims to argue for them, and at the same time gave some rice porridge to the poor and held water and land ceremonies, hoping to divert people's attention.

"These bald asses have run out of tricks."

Light shone in from the window lattice, and the paper with the detailed words was placed on the table. Lu Bu looked at Wang Zheng, Li Zhu, and Qiao Lie sitting opposite him and smiled: "But in such a situation, he still did not forget to let believers and pilgrims compete to donate money. He is really greedy."

"They are already in a state of terminal illness. Even if someone tells them that they are being targeted, it won't stop their greed." Li Zhu yawned. "The more people there are, the more lucky they are, thinking that nothing will happen to them."

Wang Zheng was also a little depressed: "Your Majesty, just take care of it. Take down these bald guys and then take down a group of wealthy officials who have jumped out. Although it may be inconvenient for a short time, it will be beneficial to the court's finances and administration."

"I am relieved that you are doing your job." Lu Bu smiled at the three of them, then waved his hand and said, "This time the design took so long, you three have worked hard, go back and have a good rest, you will be busy later."

"Then we will take our leave." Qiao Lie stood up unsteadily, bowed and said something, then walked out of the imperial study with the other two.

On the grassland, tiny green figures drilled out of the soil, climbed up the grass and ate it all. Then more and more green insects broke out of the soil, ate everything they could see, flapped their wings, and flew up with a buzzing sound.

He took the whole sky into his mouth.

There were fast horses galloping in all directions. (End of this chapter)