Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

"presumptuous!"

The powerful voice echoed in the small cave. The leaders, both big and small, who were making a lot of noise below, suddenly fell silent. They looked at each other, and then looked at Song Jiang, whose face was filled with anger, and felt a little at a loss.

A short figure stood up, his dark face looking even gloomier under the firelight. He pointed at Li Kui and said, "You black bastard, you only want to be happy yourself, and don't care about the lives of others..." He drew a semicircle with his finger and pointed outside, "Look, there are nearly 60 leaders here, and nearly 30,000 people outside the cave. Can you feed them with just one mouth?"

Li Kui shrank his neck and muttered, "Then we can go to Tokyo and chop off the emperor's head and take his throne..."

"You still said that!"

Song Jiang took two steps forward and pretended to strike, but Li Kui dodged backwards. Wu Yong quickly stepped forward and held Song Jiang back, saying, "Brother, calm down. He is a kind-hearted man. Why are you getting angry with him?"

He glanced at Wu Song and saw that his face was red and his hands were clenched into fists. He quickly squeezed them lightly and gave him a wink.

Song Jiang stopped and looked at Wu Song with a sincere expression: "Brother, you are also a sensible person. Song Jiang advocates the amnesty. First, we want to change our evil ways and become a minister of the country. Second, we want everyone here and the boys who follow us to have food to eat. How can this make everyone feel cold?"

"I……"

Wu Song looked at Song Jiang's face, thinking of his kindness to him in the past and the hardships he had put in to lead everyone on the journey these days. In the end, he stomped his feet and said nothing.

"Brother, however, most of the civil and military officials in the court are treacherous and evil. The officials use these people and they don't seem to be reasonable. After recruiting them, I still have to be driven by them. I feel aggrieved."

The voice made Song Jiang and Wu Yong look over hurriedly. They saw a man with red hair and a face covered with spots. They breathed a sigh of relief. It was the Red-haired Ghost Liu Tang.

"Brother, you are wrong. The current emperor is smart and intelligent, and his talent is rare in the world. He is only temporarily ignorant because he is blocked by treacherous ministers. However, after the moon sets, the sun rises. When the clouds clear and the sun comes out, he will know that we are doing justice for the heavens, and he will definitely pardon our crimes and recruit us. By then, you and I will serve the country together and leave our names in history. How wonderful it is!"

Liu Tang remained silent. Song Jiang looked at everyone and saw that no one was talking. He waved his hand and said, "Brothers, go and have a rest. We will set out at noon and capture Longxing County before sunset."

"it is good!"

Mu Hong, Mu Chun, Lei Heng, He Ji and others took the lead in cheering, patting their chests and shouting, "Don't worry, brother, we will definitely take down Longxing." and so on. Their enthusiastic appearance also made others excited.

Li Jun, along with Tong Wei, Tong Meng, Shi Quan and Hu Yong, four experts in the water, stood behind them, folding their arms and watching coldly.

After a while, he and everyone else left the cave that was temporarily used for meetings, found an open space and asked his confidant to watch the surroundings. The five of them gathered together and talked in low voices while eating breakfast.

"In today's battle, we don't need to work hard to move forward. We can just stay at the back and wait."

Li Jun stuffed the rice ball in his hand into his mouth, chewed it twice and swallowed it: "Since my brother wants to recruit, if it succeeds, we will definitely promote our own people according to the merits. We are all eels swimming in the mud, so don't rush to the front and be the eye-catching big Kun."

The four of them looked at each other, and Tong Meng frowned: "Brother, if we do this, won't it make Brother Song Jiang unhappy?"

Tong Wei also nodded: "Since they want to recruit us, we should also have a share. Now the money and food in the army have a share for us navy soldiers. If it weren't for our hard work running back and forth on the water, how could there be so much wealth and goods?"

"That's right." Hu Yong said, "The army has been running back and forth, and we have always found boats to cross the river. My arms are almost broken from rowing."

Li Jun sucked his fingers and sneered: "The Wenren Shichong you mentioned did the same thing."

He scanned the faces of the four people and said, "I'm telling you this for no other reason than to be recruited as a vassal. I don't want to contribute to this matter. If you have other ideas and want to make a living, that's up to you."

The four of them were stunned and looked at each other. "Brother, what are you talking about? Your decision is our decision. We will not move forward later."

Li Jun nodded and said, "Don't blame me for blocking your financial path. It's just that Liu Tang's words just now touched my heart. If the surrender is successful, you brothers will be driven by those treacherous officials. I don't want to suffer this."

The same conversation with different contents took place in several circles, large and small. Compared with Li Jun's reluctance to act, Liu Tang and Bai Sheng were relatively speechless and helplessly said something about taking action when the situation arises, surrounded by their own minions.

The two of them have been sticking together since Chao Gai died in battle and Wang Dashou was captured. Fortunately, Song Jiang did not target them, but it was not as convenient as when Chao Gai was around.

the other side.

Duan Sanniang, her two brothers, and relatives such as Qiu Xiang, Shi Jun, and Fang Han gathered together. They were all connected by bones and tendons, and looked serious. No one knew what they were discussing. Just looking at Duan Sanniang standing there waving her white and strong arms, her face was calm, and it didn't seem like she was trying to boost morale.

The Lei couple and Wen Renshi Chong sat face to face, and their five gods, Liu Heihu, Zu Qiu and Zhu Neng formed a circle. They would quarrel from time to time, but would always compromise with each other.

Sun Li called Sun Xin, Gu Dasao, and Le He. Gu Dasao also brought Jie Zhen and Jie Bao. The former general of Dengzhou looked serious and spoke sincerely to his relatives.

Lei Heng and Zhu Tong called together the four small leaders from the Fangshan period: Gong Duan, Gong Zheng, Ji Sansi and Huang Zhongshi.

There were also Qian Bin, Qian Yi, Du Qian, and Wang Lun, chatting and laughing with He Ji and Guo Gan, two big leaders on the list.

These people, who were once local or official figures, were the most enthusiastic about the amnesty and discussed with each other how they could get a share of the pie in the next action.

However, Shi Jin, Zhu Wu, Chen Da, Yang Chun and other people from Shaohua Mountain quietly returned to the cave, said hello to Geng Wen and Xue Zan who were guarding the entrance of the cave, and then the four of them went in one after another.

The torches drove away the darkness in the cave, making the figures drinking and eating meat look a little gloomy from time to time.

"Brother is in a good mood, so he starts drinking right now."

Over there, Song Jiang was talking to his brother Song Qing. He looked over when he heard the voice.

Li Kui, Wu Yong, Tang Long, Dai Zong, Mu Hong, Mu Chun and Liu Tong, who were all very noisy, stopped eating and drinking the moment the voice was heard. Li Kui and Mu Hong stood up while chewing meat, and seemed a little wary when they saw the four of them coming in.

"Brother Shi Jinxian is here." Mu Hong waved his hand to the side, and immediately pulled the grumbling Li Kui to sit down. Song Jiang laughed and said, "Come over and have something to eat together."

"I was just about to trouble you, brother." Shi Jin smiled, strode over, sat down below Song Jiang, reached out to pick up the wine bowl and poured a cup of wine, respectfully pointing upwards: "I'll toast to you, brother."

Zhu Wu and the other two looked at each other, then strode over and sat down next to Mu Chun. Then occasional laughter could be heard from the cave.

……

In the late autumn, the bright sunlight shines on the woods. A cicada lies on a tree trunk, inserting its sharp mouthparts into the trunk to suck sap, and occasionally makes two chirps, blending in with the surrounding sounds.

Feeling that they were well prepared, Song Jiang and others led the army down the mountain and marched towards Longxing County in a mighty manner. They sent out countless spies along the way, who, under the leadership of Dai Zong and Liu Tong, kept reporting back on the surrounding situation.

However, they were not local people of Ruzhou. Most of the people they recruited were farmers from Liangcheng and Lushan. They could not fully explore the terrain here at once.

Such a large-scale march and scouts not only revealed the intelligence of others, but also exposed themselves. Twenty miles north of Longxing County, the sturdy Zhai Cong rode his warhorse and ran quickly into the forest, jumped off the warhorse and walked to hide in the middle of the army.

Brothers Zhai Jin and Zhai Xing had always arranged people to watch the important roads, and if they found anything wrong, someone would return to report.

Unfortunately, Song Jiang's subordinates had expanded too quickly at this time. The leaders with positions in positions might still be a little cautious, but the subordinates had begun to become arrogant. As soon as they came down the mountain, their identities were discovered by the scouts and secret agents of the government army.

"General, a large group of bandits are coming from the southwest. They are so densely packed that I don't know how many people there are."

Zhai Jin was silent for a moment, then raised his head to look at his nephew, frowning: "Ruzhou has many people affected by the disaster, and the thieves are the most capable of coercing them. The number of people now may be about twice as many as before."

He glanced towards the southwest and said, "Order the army to prepare for the march. Go and inform my brother that everything is going according to plan.

Come, call Longxing County and ask them to temporarily open the city gate until the thieves come into sight!"

Zhai Cong nodded immediately, ran out with the personal soldiers who delivered the message, mounted his horse and rode away.

Soon, the shadows in the woods where the government troops were hiding began to move, and gradually, Song soldiers wearing scarlet battle robes rushed out.

The light began to move westward after noon, and more and more nervous figures appeared on the top of Longxing City. A general with a long sword on his waist stood behind the parapet, wiping the sweat from his forehead and looking at the dust in the distance.

Overhead was a clear sky with occasional white clouds floating by. Far away near the Lushan Mountains, bandits dressed in colorful clothes were walking on the road with single swords and wooden hammers in their hands. The sound of their voices drowned out the chirping of cicadas in the forest.

"When we take over the city, don't rush to kill people. Find two women to relieve your anger."

"Didn't the leader say that he would not kill the county magistrate this time?"

"Are you stupid?! I was talking about finding a woman, not killing the county magistrate... Eh? Take off your sweat towel and tie a red one! Damn it, how did you survive to this day with this brain!"

Noisy sounds continued to ring out in the team. Leaders of all sizes wrapped turbans of different colors on their heads. When they were in Fangshan, they still had flags, but when they left Fangshan and wandered around in various military states, the flags had been regarded as a burden.

Except for Song Jiang's "Doing Justice on Behalf of Heaven" banner, all other leaders and minions were distinguished by the colorful scarves tied on their foreheads.

The thieves dressed in white ran quickly in the middle of the team, shouting loudly: "Pass the order from the leader, turn north, turn north!"

On the slightly higher hill in the back, the sunlight was blocked by the passing clouds and then brightened up again in an instant. Song Jiang, carrying a hand knife, stood in the front, and the breeze blew the royal blue hero scarf tied on his head.

Li Kui next to him was picking his nose out of boredom, occasionally glancing at Song Jiang. He flicked his finger and watched a black ball slide along an arc and touch his body. He smiled like a child, then glared fiercely at both sides.

Several of Song Jiang's confidants who were watching his behavior couldn't help but lower their heads with laughter, unable to bear to look directly at him. Wu Yong and Tang Long, who were a little closer to him, also saw his behavior out of the corner of their eyes, but they didn't even have the desire to say anything about such things, so they pretended not to see it.

"Let Sun Li, Shi Jin, and Duan Sanniang speed up."

Song Jiang, with his hand on the hilt of his sword, suddenly spoke up: "As the vanguard this time, the three of them have the heaviest burden. If they can't open the city gate, this army of tens of thousands will be disbanded in just three to five days."

Then he sighed and said, "There are still too few people who are good at fighting. If I had two leaders who can train soldiers, like Sun Li, and train another elite force, Song Jiang wouldn't have to worry about not being able to take the city."

Tang Long raised his eyebrows when he heard this, then opened his mouth slightly and then closed it again.

Song Jiang didn't see them in front of him, but Wu Yong next to him saw them clearly. He turned his head and looked at him: "How come, Brother Tang Long knows this person?"

"Ok?"

Song Jiang was listening in front and slowly turned his head. Behind him, Li Kui quickly put his hand behind his back, which was picking his nose, and looked up at the sky, pretending to be ignorant of what was happening.

"My dear brother Tang Long..." Song Jiang turned around and bowed: "If you know such a hero, please introduce him to me."

"This……"

Tang Long looked a little embarrassed: "I do know him, but..." He smacked his lips, looking a little embarrassed.

Song Jiang frowned: "Brother?"

"Ugh……"

Tang Long scratched his head and said, "I don't know whether I should tell you this or not. I have a cousin who is a teacher of the Golden Spear Class in Beijing. He is very skilled in using the hook-and-sickle spear. If he could come here, he could be a great help to my brother. But he is a good teacher of the Imperial Guards. Why would he come to Ruzhou to hang out with us?"

Wu stroked his beard with his hand and said, "So that's the case. What do you think it is? When I have free time, I will go to the capital with Brother Tang. Maybe I can persuade your cousin to come over for a gathering."

Song Jiang smiled and said, "That's right. If there are brothers who share the same ideals, it would be great to call them together to fight together."

Tang Long nodded when he heard this, without any intention of dissuading him: "Then let me follow your lead, brothers. Once we are out of Longxing, I will lead the way to Tokyo."

Li Kui, who was looking at the sky, brightened up when he heard this. He just lowered his head and was about to speak, but Song Jiang's words reached his ears first: "Tie Niu, shut up and just follow me."

"...Uh, ah—"

Li Kui glanced with his mouth wide open, then drooped his face, watched Song Jiang turn around and look down, and then picked his nose with his thick fingers.

Just as he rolled up a black ball and raised his hand, Song Jiang suddenly turned around and said, "Let's go, the people on the mountain are almost all down."

Hei Xuanfeng looked at him strangely and quickly stuffed his hand into his mouth: "Tie Niu, why are you sucking your hand? You are a grown man...", and walked past him quickly: "Come on, hurry up!"

Wu Yong and Tang Long turned and left with a wicked smile. From behind they could hear Li Kui bending over and spitting.

Song Jiang turned his head and looked at him in surprise, then thought he was just going crazy and ignored him.

In the distance, a large group of bandits were marching forward for who knows how far. Faintly, the sound of a horn could be heard, causing the people in the rear to frown.

Song Jiang suddenly stopped, his expression changed for a moment, and he shouted, "Not good!" He turned to look at the messenger in white and said, "Inform all the leaders, the officers and soldiers should be prepared and move forward quickly!"

The white figure ran like the wind. (End of this chapter)