Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Chapter 1036 You Black Guy
When dusk permeated the Imperial Street, Su Yuanjing just came out of the palace, holding the newly received warm imperial edict in his arms, with a pensive look on his face.

He was summoned to the palace by the Emperor today, and he thought it was some important matter, but he did not expect that he was asked to go to the west of Beijing and Jingzhao Prefecture in order to recruit a group of bandits.

In his opinion, this was a good thing. The court could spend some money to convert tens of thousands of bandits into soldiers and increase the number of troops. For the local areas, there would be fewer bandits wreaking havoc and the people could live and work in peace. It was the best thing ever, so he agreed to it.

only……

It is said that this offer of amnesty was proposed by Tong Guan. Does this eunuch really have such kind intentions?
Isn't he always looking for opportunities to perform meritorious service?
Why do you want to recruit...

He stroked his beard somewhat helplessly and refused his driver's request to get in the car. He liked to walk when thinking about problems, which gave him more time to focus on the problems.

Su Yuanjing, who didn't know how far he had walked, felt his eyes brighten. He turned around and saw that the glazed lamps in Fan Tower had been lit up one after another, and the pleasure boats on the Jinshui River not far away were also brightly lit, and the sounds of sheng and pipes were echoing in the cracks between the stones of Rainbow Bridge.

The general in front of the palace stood there, listening to the sweet voices coming from both sides and shook his head.

It’s a pity that I haven’t been able to come here for a while.

Sighing, Su Yuanjing walked towards home with his hands behind his back.

His house was not far away. After turning two corners, the old locust tree in front of the door still casts a shadow like a canopy.

All the lights in the house were on. The doorman opened the door and welcomed him in, and quickly called out, "My dear, you are back."

Immediately, a servant came over and asked Su Yuanjing if he wanted to eat. After hearing yes, they hurried to the back to make preparations.

Su Yuanjing walked in with his hands behind his back. His house was quite large, with five courtyards surrounded by green tiles and white walls. There was a plain linen curtain hanging in the main hall with a plaque inscribed with "Jingyuan Hall". Below it was an ebony table with a raised head, on which were placed bronze goose and fish lamps and a celadon gall-bladder vase.

Walking through the secluded path along the west corridor and entering the living room at the back, the door of the house opened in sight, and the maid of my wife whispered, "My dear, how are you? My dear, I have been waiting for a long time."

Su Yuanjing paused as he entered the room: "Haven't you had your meal yet?"

"He said he would wait for you to come back and eat."

"What a joke." Shaking his head and walking in, Su Yuanjing looked at his old wife and smiled: "If I come back late, will you not eat?"

The woman of the Su family was sitting in the room. She smiled when she saw him come in and said, "I'm not very hungry either." Then she paused and asked cautiously, "What did the government want you to do today?"

Su Yuanjing was stunned for a moment, then he realized that his wife was worried about him, he came over and took out the imperial edict and put it on the table: "Don't worry about it, the emperor asked me to recruit a group of bandits."

The woman on the other side looked much better and asked softly, "When are we leaving?"

"The sooner the better. It is said that this group of bandits is causing quite a stir in the west, and many military states have suffered."

"Then be careful on the road, my dear. I'll have someone pack your bags in a moment."

"Well, not too much. There are carriages along the way."

"Just prepare more dishes for the carriage."

The couple was talking when a servant brought them dinner soon. They ate and went to bed to rest that night.

In just three to five days, the imperial guards who had gone with him to seek amnesty were properly deployed. They were escorted by two generals, Dang Shixiong and Dang Shiying, and set off westward with 500 imperial guards.

Su Yuanjing had been preparing for several days. Upon hearing the news, he hurriedly packed his bags, reunited with the Dang brothers, and headed to the west of Beijing in a mighty manner.

……

The setting sun hid behind the clouds, lighting them up with its own light, making the sky and the earth dim.

The fire was curled up under the cliff, and a few sparks burst out, burning half of the faded silk curtain - it was the red silk of the dowry looted from the caravan, now wrapped around the broken iron pot. Groups of men with bare arms used knives to stir the pot paste, and the aroma of meat mixed with the smell of rust spread over the crooked hitching posts, making a few inferior horses neigh.

A piece of torn leather armor was propped up on a dead branch on the cliff top. The setting sun filtered down through the gaps in the armor and shone on the back of a scarred man who was talking dirty beside the grindstone.

The gilded wine bag on his waist swayed with his laughter, and the turquoise inlaid on the bag reflected the firelight, which was more shiny and smooth than the knuckles boiled in the pot.

The cowhide water bag hanging from the branch of the old elm tree suddenly shook. The one-eyed thief who was on guard at night propped up his mulberry wood bow, looked out, and saw that it was just the wind blowing through the dry vines.

"Pfft..." He spat out the grass stem in his mouth, retracted his head, waved his hand towards the distance to indicate that everything was fine, and then pulled out a new grass stem and held it in his mouth.

Song Jiang sat in the innermost seat, holding a chipped rough porcelain bowl in his hand, quietly drinking the water in it, looking up at the sky, and chuckled: "It seems that we have to camp here tonight."

Wu Yong and Tang Long sat opposite him. The wise man twirled his beard with his hands and looked at him: "Brother, the government troops have been making a lot of noise but not much action recently. I think they are probably hindered by other things. Why don't we be bolder and gather all our strength to break through a few cities and let loose."

Song Jiang calmly put down the bowl. Wu Yong was puzzled by his reaction and continued, "The brothers below have been making a fuss recently, saying that just robbing villages and farms is not enough to show our ability. Now that we have escaped the constraints of Fangshan Stronghold, we must make some achievements to let the world know us again."

"Professor, do you think so?" Song Jiang looked at Wu Yong with a smile, the complexion of his face was a little darker than when he was in Fangshan.

Wu Yong hesitated for a moment, nodded, and said softly: "It's better than spreading everywhere like this. Since leaving Fangshan, our number has increased, but the number of your men has never exceeded 5,000. I think this is not very good for you."

Tang Long looked around nervously and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one was looking at him.

"Professor, you have considered Song Jiang. Song Jiang is very grateful." The short dark figure looked at Wu Yong sincerely, "However, Song Jiang does not care about the number of his subordinates. The most important thing is the hearts of the brothers. As long as we brothers are united, it doesn't matter if Song Jiang has no followers."

Wu Yong took a breath and opened his mouth slightly.

Snapped--

"well said!"

Tang Long slapped his thigh beside him, his pockmarked face flushed with excitement, every pit was swollen and red, holding his coarse porcelain bowl: "This is what a loyal man looks like, I salute you, brother."

After drinking it all, Song Jiang smiled and picked up the bowl in front of him and drank it.

Wu Yong glanced at Tang Long, then looked up at the sky, and then looked at Song Jiang. Song Jiang wiped his mouth and spoke before he could speak: "Professor, don't forget that most of us went to Yongxingjun Road, and we are standing at the gate of the Western Army. It's okay to enforce justice in the villages and counties, but if we break the city and attract the attention of the Western Army, it will not be good."

He stretched himself lazily and said, "Let Liu Tong run a little tomorrow and inform everyone to fight back to Jingxi. It's safer there than here."

Tang Long frowned, "Brother, why? Zhai Jin was chasing us a few days ago. Wouldn't it be a good opportunity to run into him if we go back now?"

Wu Yong's face showed an expression of approval. He turned to look at Tang Long and said, "That's not the case. We are now on Yongxingjun Road and have been away from Jingxi for some time. Zhai Jin does not have the power to pursue across states, so he must have returned by now."

"Yes, the military states in the west of Beijing must be less vigilant at this time." Song Jiang said coldly, "If we turn around and go back, we will definitely be able to kill him by surprise, and even destroy the county under the city." "Great!" Tang Long laughed and slapped his thigh, "I have been annoyed with Zhai Jin for a long time, and this time I will definitely kill him and scare him away."

"Who do you want to kill, brother? I, Tie Niu, will help you kill him!"

A rough voice sounded beside the few people, and Li Kui walked in with his chest open, revealing his black chest hair. He rubbed his chest with his fingers covered with black mud, and with a flick of his hand, a ball of black mud flew out.

Song Jiang watched him move, pursed his lips and said, "Nonsense, stop fighting all day long." He pointed to the side and said, "Go wash your face. Look at your beard stuck together. You look like a nobody."

Li Kui listened to him the most. Upon hearing this, he turned around and ran to the side, got some water from the water container, washed his face hastily, looked at the black and white cloth, and curled his lips: "A bunch of grown men still care about this, who here is not dirty."

I threw it away, put on a smile and ran back: "Brother, I'm done."

Song Jiang ignored him and just pushed the wine jar to him while he discussed the details of returning to the army with Wu Yong.

Li Kui didn't care either. He took the wine jar and started drinking with Tang Long.

What my brother and the military advisor said was too profound and I couldn’t understand them.

It's better to drink alcohol.

In the fifth year of Xuanhe Period of the Song Dynasty, in the middle of summer.

The bandits Song Jiang's troops who had scattered on the Yongxingjun Road turned eastward, looting villages and taking civilians hostage, causing the Song army in Jingzhao Prefecture that was preparing to suppress the bandits to lose their target.

However, when he heard that this group of thieves were heading east, he felt relieved. As long as they didn't cause trouble here, these thieves could go wherever they liked.

In late summer, Song Jiang's bandit army, which had joined forces with 17 other bandit leaders, expanded to more than 23,000 people, and then re-entered Jingxi West Road from Yongxingjun Road.

Song Jiang ordered Liu Tang, Bai Sheng, Jie Zhen and Jie Bao to lead their capable men to infiltrate Yiyang City, with Shi Jin, Sun Li and Lei Yingchun as the vanguard. He himself led the main army behind and captured this county town located south of Henan Prefecture at three quarters after noon.

At that time, the civil and military officials guarding Yiyang wanted to close the city gates and hold out, but Jie Zhen and Jie Bao led the bandits who were good at running and shooting to shoot the soldiers on the top of the city wall. Liu Tang and Bai Sheng killed the soldiers at the city gate and opened the gate.

The thieves who swarmed in were like beggars who had entered a world of pleasure. They wanted to take a handful of everything they saw, even the wooden cart carrying night fragrance that passed by them, they would open it and smell the scent before letting it go.

Li Kui, Wenren Shichong, Lei Yingchun, Zhang Yue'e and others who were more murderous killed people from the streets to the ends of the alleys.

By the time Song Jiang heard the news and ordered a ban on the massacre of civilians, thousands of people had already been killed under the leadership of these bandits. The four of them were even more unhappy with the order and killed dozens of people before stopping.

Song Jiang hurriedly gathered everyone in the government office, pointed at the blood-stained Li Kui and cursed in front of everyone: "You black bastard! We are heroes who uphold justice, not murderers who kill innocent people indiscriminately. Why did you kill so many people? Why didn't you follow orders?!"

His eyes swept over all the people below, quickly passing over the nonchalant faces of Wen Renshi Chong, Lei Yingchun, and Zhang Yue'e, and he swung his hand fiercely: "Leaders, take this bastard who doesn't obey orders and only knows how to kill people away, chop off his head in the street to appease the public anger."

"This……"

The leaders below were stunned and looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

Li Kui straightened his neck and said, "Everyone has his own responsibility. I disobeyed orders and killed people at random. If you want to chop off my head, you don't need to escort me. I will go on my own!"

Wen Ren Shi Chong, the Lei couple and the other two all looked gloomy and felt vaguely uneasy.

Seeing the black tower-like man step forward and kneel down on the ground, he said, "Brother, Tie Niu will go first. You have to be careful when no one is around you from now on."

After saying that, he kowtowed three times, "bang bang bang", stood up and was about to walk out.

Lei Yingchun and Zhang Yue'e were not happy to hear this. The delicate female bandit looked at her man and then glanced at Li Kui with her slender eyes. Lei Yingchun immediately understood what his wife meant and quickly stood up and shouted, "Wait a minute!"

Seeing Li Kui stop, Lei Yingchun clasped his fists and said, "Brother, Tie Niu is a pure-hearted person who does things without thinking too much. Now he knows he is wrong, please forgive him."

Wen Renshi Chong also came out with a frown on his face: "Brother, we are used to being at ease in the past, so it is inevitable that we might be confused for a while. If you forgive him this time, he will definitely not violate your military order next time."

Wu Yong, Dai Zong, Shi Jin, Sun Li, Jie Zhen, Jie Bao and others also came out one after another to persuade them.

"Brother, Tieniu has realized his mistake, please spare his life."

"Brother, please think twice. Tieniu is just a naughty boy and it is inevitable that he will make mistakes. From his words and actions, you can tell what is right and what is wrong. Please be merciful!"

Song Jiang then relaxed his expression and glared at Li Kui who was standing there: "You fool, I will just put your dog's head on your neck for the time being, why don't you go forward and thank the leaders."

Li Kui grinned, said nothing, walked forward and bowed to everyone to express his gratitude.

Song Jiang looked at him, and saw from the corner of his eye that the three people over there looked relieved, and snorted: "Although the death penalty can be avoided, the living punishment cannot be escaped. Come, beat him with forty boards to make him remember it."

At that moment, a thug came over with a long bench. Li Kui smiled and said, "As long as my brother calms down, Tie Niu can do anything."

He ran over and lay down, then turned his head and shouted to the back: "Come on, fight me! If I hum a single note, I'm not a hero!"

Several minions present looked at Song Jiang, and only stepped forward when they saw him nod, raising their sticks high and smashing them down with a crackling sound.

Looking at Li Kui again, he had a bearded face and was grinning. He didn't cry out in pain and didn't take it seriously at all.

After the fight was over, Li Kui stood up, stretched his legs, rubbed his butt twice, walked to the side with a smile, looked at the gaze coming over and grinned: "I'm fine."

Song Jiang then looked at Wenren Shichong and the Lei family and their spouses and said, "Tie Niu has already been punished. You three are the ones who disobeyed the general's orders. Do you plead guilty?"

Wen Renshichong and Lei Yingchun frowned, and Zhang Yue'e rushed out and clasped her fists: "We plead guilty, please punish us, brother."

She looked up at everyone with a pitiful and helpless look: "It's just that I am weak and can't take a beating like Brother Tie Niu. I'm afraid I'll be beaten to death on the spot after forty blows. I am willing to hand over the proceeds this time and not participate in the dividends next time to atone for my sin. Is that okay?"

Lei Yingchun and Wen Renshichong's brows relaxed when they heard this, and they quickly stepped forward and bowed: "No matter how many mistakes we made, they are all my fault. We are willing to do so, and we hope that brother will forgive us."

"Okay." Song Jiang knew that these people were not as good as Tie Niu, so he had to save face. Now that they had surrendered, there was no point in forcing them to death. He nodded and said, "Since you are willing to accept the punishment, let's do it. If you do it again, you will be executed without mercy."

At that moment, all the leaders, big and small, responded in unison.

At that moment, Song Jiang took everyone here to rest for three days, and then left the city.

(End of this chapter)