Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Chapter 1045: Northwest Protectorate, Winter of the Third Year of Jianwu
The winter snow covered the entire northern border, and the area around Dading Prefecture was all silver-white. In the past, there were people visiting in such weather, but this year was a little different. I don’t know if it was because the snow was too heavy or the weather was too cold this year, so many people chose to stay at home.

Only the wind and snow whistled through the fields and roads, making a humming sound.

Snow and wind were falling in the courtyard of the imperial palace. Several eunuchs were breathing out white air, stamping their feet and waving the big brooms in their hands vigorously. In the distance, the palace maids were running quickly with their heads down and necks shrunk. When they came to the eaves of the corridor, they stamped their feet vigorously to remove the snow on the soles of their shoes. Then they straightened their backs and walked into the house carrying the ginseng soup in a hot plate below.

Pushing open the door, several copper stoves were burning with small fires, and the warm air made the people coming in from outside feel warm. There were figures walking around, and several ministers in the court were standing in front of the feng shui map and whispering, saying things that these palace maids were not interested in.

"The Northwest Route Recruiting Office should also establish a Protectorate to coordinate with the Northern Frontier Protectorate."

"There aren't many people left. The army killed nearly half of them this time, and moved many tribes to the wild people in the west and north."

"We can move some people there. If there are people who have made military achievements but are seriously injured and can no longer fight on the battlefield, we can give them some land and give them some captives and slaves to serve them. In the future, their descendants can inherit it."

"That's a stupid idea. Not to mention that it will be difficult to get rid of it in the future, who would be willing to leave here and go to the north to suffer? What if those bandit chieftains rebel and kill people? Then you will have to pay with your life?"

Qiao Lie, Liu Min, Fang Xuedu and others were arguing with each other. They were all having a headache about the places they had won in this war. They felt that it was not right to take them, and it was not right not to take them.

Lu Bu listened quietly, glanced at the palace maid who put down the ginseng soup and left, and said, "Don't argue for now, come and sit down and drink something to warm yourself up."

Several figures over there turned around after hearing this, tugged at their clothes and sat down. Lü Bu looked thoughtfully at the feng shui map hanging over there, glanced at Wang Zheng's sleepy face, then looked at Li Zhu's smiling face, and knocked on the table hard. The figures over there perked up and looked over: "Everyone, take a breath. The northern grasslands have always been difficult to govern. It is common for them to submit today and rebel tomorrow. I have not said that I will make them submit like the rest of the people. As long as the court remains strong, these people will naturally follow behind and act docile."

Liu Min and Qiao Lie sat down with a smack of their lips. They were both most concerned about the land in the north. One was thinking about how to increase taxes in the future, and the other was thinking about how to assign officials to go out for training. Fang Xuedu, on the other hand, was worried about the lack of troops and did not want to include them immediately.

The three of them silently took a sip of the soup. Lu Bu then replied, "There were a lot of things to do today and my mouth was a little dry."

Lu Bu picked up the soup and took a sip: "Don't hold it in, both of you. Tell us what you think."

Wang Zheng blinked and turned his eyes to look at Li Zhu without saying a word. Mr. Jin Jian pretended not to see him at first, but after not hearing him speak for a long time, he could no longer resist and glared at him fiercely: "Your Majesty, I heard from Wang Zheng that you have sent someone west?"

Qiao Lie, Fang Xuedu and others looked at him in confusion. Lü Bu did not speak, but nodded. Li Zhu stroked his beard and said, "If that is the case, I think it can have some effect. I think that since no one will come to seize the pasture for a while, it is better to leave the place here and migrate some people there in the future. By then, there will be a mixture of good and bad people, and the people's hearts will be adjusted slowly. Sooner or later, they will come over."

Fang Xuedu's face darkened. He looked at Qiao Lie and Liu Min. Even though they didn't know what Li Zhu was talking about with Lu Bu, they knew it was probably some vicious strategy. They suppressed their curiosity and put down the ginseng soup they had just taken a sip of. "That's easy for Li Guanglu to say. The Zhaotao Division is hundreds of miles long from north to south and across several rivers from east to west. Now that the people who have surrendered are not attached to it, how many troops are needed to guard it?"

He spread his hands and said, "Anyway, there aren't that many soldiers in the Ministry of War's book."

"Zheng thinks it doesn't need too much." Wang Zheng suddenly said, and he tilted his body to change his posture: "Originally, the Liao Kingdom also fought for decades before suppressing the tribes over there. Now, thanks to Xiao Yixue, we have achieved something that the Liao court envied at that time."

He touched the handrail beside him and said, "Zheng thinks that as long as we occupy the Zhenzhou and Fangzhou lines and rely on the Northern Frontier Protectorate in the east, it is not a bad idea to slowly nibble away at the rest of the places when we have enough manpower."

The three people over there looked at each other. Fang Xuedu's expression relaxed and he thought: "If we deploy defenses in Zhenzhou and Fangzhou, the military force required will be small and we can still provide it..."

"Are there any candidates for the garrison?"

Lu Bu turned his eyes to the faces of several people, and while he was scanning them, Wang Zheng closed his mouth. Qiao Lie and Fang Xuedu looked at each other, and the former stood up first: "I recommend Lou Minzhong to be the governor of civil affairs. He has a gentle temperament and great patience. He can worry about the people and be friendly with his colleagues. Now the north is a mess. I think we can give him a try."

Lü Bu did not say anything, but looked at Fang Xuedu. The man on the other side stroked his short beard and said, "Right Lieutenant General Niu Wenzhong has applied for a transfer to a local post. I think he can be appointed as the Protector General and transferred there."

"Niu Wenzhong..." Lu Bu repeated in a low voice, pondered in his mind, and nodded slowly: "Okay, transfer Wanyan Shitumen and his troops to go, Niu Wenzhong as the Protector General of Northwest Protectorate, Wanyan Shitumen as the deputy, and Lou Minzhong as the chief secretary."

He raised the bowl and drank a mouthful of soup to moisten his throat: "Send an order to Tao Zongwang, let him take the Ministry of Works to the northwest, first build the Protectorate for me, and then build a line of defense along Zhenzhou and Fangzhou, don't let anyone break through easily.

in addition……"

His tiger eyes narrowed, "List the people who have made contributions in this battle and submit them immediately. Wanyan Chanchun, Wanyan Zongbi and that..." He rolled his eyes, "Wen Huanzhang? Transfer the three of them to the southern front. Qiao Lie, keep a close eye on them."

The calloused hand patted the armrest: "I want to see what else they will do at this time."

Qiao Lie and Fang Xuedu on the opposite side were stunned for a moment, then bowed and accepted the order.

"Your Majesty, why not separate them?" Li Zhu suddenly spoke, attracting the attention of several people. "Gathering them together will attract too much attention. It would be better to stagger them in Bei'an Prefecture and Run Prefecture. In this way, even if they have doubts in their hearts, they will just think it is a normal transfer." He raised his eyes and looked at Lu Bu. "I always think about people's hearts. I think I would feel uneasy if the order was given by the Lord to place me with the conspirators. I think Wen Huanzhang is the same. Besides, we are allied with the Song Kingdom. If the Song people go north this time, we might as well see what choice he will make."

Lu Bu's heart moved and he frowned: "You mean..."

"Your Majesty." Li Zhu smiled very friendly: "Song State is different from us. You can also look at the choices made by ordinary scholars under such circumstances."

Lu Bu seemed to be thinking about something.

The wind and snow outside the house gradually died down, and the sound of cleaning the courtyard did not affect the conversation between the emperor and his ministers. Looking out from here, overlooking from the distant clouds, people came out of every household to clean the snow in front of the house. The frosty white color stretched to the end of the sky and the earth. Teams of cavalry returning from the northern border turned into ant-like black dots and marched southward.

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye it was the third year of Jianwu, the last month of winter.

The snow on the ground gradually solidified, and the snow pits created by stepping on the ground were much shallower than those when the snow and wind first fell.

A figure wearing thick fur coat was riding on a horse, aiming the bow and arrow at the head of a musk deer walking in the snow. He shot it to the ground with one arrow, then ran over happily to pick it up, and was stunned for a moment when his eyes turned.

In the distant river, a fleet of more than a dozen ships flying the flag of Qi State slowly passed by the frozen river. The flag with the words "Huyan" on the large ship in the middle was fluttering in the wind. Pieces of floating ice were knocked aside or broken into small pieces when the ships passed by. After a while, they changed direction, raised their sails, and sped up to the distance.

The fleet passed through the river all the way. Naturally, officials in the cities on both sides of the river received the news of the fleet's passing and provided supplies. It was not until they arrived near Wendi that the people and cargo on the ship were unloaded.

Han Tao, the commander of the capital, who was wearing iron armor and wool lining, walked forward and watched the large wooden boxes being carried off the ship and thrown onto the carts by the sailors. He exhaled softly and said, "Is this how the Liao people collect the annual tribute?"

"...Is that so?" Hu Yanqing tightened his cloak, his expression somewhat complicated: "I heard that it is only half of the offering to the Liao people."

“That’s dozens of cars…”

Han Tao watched as another fully loaded vehicle slowly moved forward under the whip of the young and strong man, and the trucks loading goods behind it still formed a long dragon.

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Hu Yanqing felt his heart was choked up, and two streams of white air rushed out of his nose. He looked at Han Tao and said, "I never thought you were transferred to Zhongjing. I wonder how General Peng Qi is doing. I remember that you two had a good relationship with my grandson."

Han Tao's face changed, and he said stiffly, "Brother Peng was transferred here as well. The area around Dading Prefecture is large, and we are both busy on weekdays. We just hang out here, so we see each other more often than usual."

"So that's the case..." Hu Yanqing looked at him thoughtfully, patted his shoulder, lowered his head and shook it: "If you think about it, you must have had a hard time."

"...Brother Huyan."

Feeling the vibration coming from his shoulder armor, Han Tao looked at him blankly: "Please put away that smile on your face. I'm watching you."

“Hahaha——” Hu Yanqing raised his head and laughed happily, then shook his hand: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not laughing at you, I just suddenly remembered something happy.”

Han Tao's mouth twitched, and in the end he just rolled his eyes at him. The two of them stayed in the cold wind for a long time, watching his soldiers load up the carriages and horses. Hu Yanqing exhaled: "Next year... it should be time to attack Nanjing Road."

"...Ah, it's time." The faint white mist dissipated in front of Han Tao, and he turned around and rode on his warhorse: "If I make a contribution, I will bring Brother Peng to have a drink with you." He shook the reins: "Gee--"

The warhorse rolled up the snow and ran forward.

Hu Yanqing nodded subconsciously, then realized what the figure in front of him said, his face changed, and he quickly put his hands to his mouth: "General Han, this is unnecessary."

Han Tao in front of him didn't respond at all, but turned his head and shouted something at his soldiers. From afar, he heard the words "...set off". Hu Yanqing hurriedly ran two steps and shouted even louder: "General Han! Han Tao! Damn it, you don't have to come to me!"

The cold wind was howling, and the convoy, escorted by soldiers in black armor, was moving farther and farther away, leaving only a jumping figure shouting in the distance.

I’m quite busy today and have no chance to slack off, so this is all I can write for now. . . . . .

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(End of this chapter)