Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

As the twilight shone over the city, casting long shadows, the flag representing the State of Song had already fallen, while the black and red five-clawed golden dragon flag of the State of Qi fluttered on the city walls.

The battle at the four gates had ended. The surrendered Song soldiers were driven to clean up the battlefield, and corpses were carried out and placed on the street, waiting for carriages to come and take them away.

On the streets trampled by armored cavalry, Qi soldiers drove prisoners with iron shovels, shoveling up the minced meat mixed with the mud and piling it aside. Some dragged the mangled corpses trampled by the force of the cavalry to the side, the rotten flesh, exposed intestines, and blackish-red bloodstains trailing in a winding line on the ground.

The sounds of vomiting echoed along the street, and the smell in the air became increasingly nauseating.

A fast horse galloped by, shouting: "The army is entering the city! Civilians, close your doors and windows tightly, lest you bring trouble upon yourselves!"

"Anyone who opens a door or window will be considered to be committing treason, and their entire family will be executed! The whole street will be implicated!"

"The entire family of anyone whose doors and windows were damaged must be brought out to the street and placed under local control!"

"The army enters..."

The sounds of horses' hooves faded into the distance, while repeated shouts echoed from afar once more.

The warhorse moved slowly, its crisp hoofbeats echoing across the empty street. A large banner with the character "吕" (Lü) came into view through the window frame. A person peering out of the window reached out and grabbed a knife on the ground. Just as his muscles tensed, someone grabbed his arm.

The face that had turned away appeared in the dim light—Mu Hong.

"Are you crazy?!"

The man, speaking in a low voice, grabbed Liu Tong's collar and yanked it down, revealing Liu Tong's physique in the light: "I saved you, and you want to assassinate the emperor? You're repaying kindness with enmity?!"

Seeing Mu Hong's mouth slightly open, he reached out and covered his mouth: "Although the armor of those people down there is not as good as the previous armored cavalry, it is still rare and excellent equipment, and their warhorses are even more magnificent. If you go down now, what can you do but expose us and send us to our deaths?"

Mu Hong gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, his chest heaving violently a few times before slowly releasing his grip.

"That's more like it." Liu Tong saw that he had relaxed his grip, but instead of letting go immediately, he reminded him again, "Don't move! Hmm?"

With his eyes fixed on Mu Hong, Liu Tong silently nodded. Only then did he let go of Mu Hong's hand, plop down, and sweat profusely. He glanced at the figure opposite him with his head down, cursed the bastard in his heart, and sulked alone.

The sound of horses' hooves outside subsided somewhat. After a long pause, Mu Hong spoke softly, "Lord Yu shouldn't have saved me..."

"You think I want to?"

Liu Tong rolled his eyes in annoyance, pursed his lips, and said in a low voice, "I finally managed to run to the back before those armored cavalrymen charged at us, and you damned thing charged forward and almost sent me back to the horse's hooves. If I hadn't pushed you into this house, we would both be wronged ghosts under those hooves!"

Taking two quick breaths, Liu Tong forcefully moved forward with his arm: "What were you thinking? Hearing the powerful sound of warhorses charging, you still wanted to move forward. I felt like I was running too slowly!"

Mu Hong kept his head down and remained silent. After a while, he turned his gaze to the two corpses that had been hacked to death in the room, stared at them for a long time, and then asked, "How did you find this place?"

Liu Tong followed his gaze to the direction of the corpse: "They had their eyes on this place when they were setting up those roadblocks. It's on a street corner, so it goes unnoticed, and there are few neighbors around. Now that Qi Junfang has entered the city, few people will notice..."

There were footsteps outside.

Liu Tong put his index finger to his lips, squatted down and walked to the window. He knelt down and looked out through the crack in the window. He saw soldiers in black armor patrolling outside, and no one was looking in his direction. Then he turned around and said, "Brother Mu, let's clean this place up and change our clothes. If the Qi army wants to search every house in a while, that will be troublesome."

Mu Hong was feeling rather down and had no interest in thinking about why the Qi army was going door-to-door to search for people. After hearing what he said, he followed him and the two of them hid the body, then took off their armor and hid it as well. They changed into ordinary clothes and stayed in the house.

As darkness fell, the night enveloped the area, and soldiers carrying torches patrolled the streets.

Under the same sky.

In a house in the west of the city, Sun Erniang leaned against the window, her brows furrowed as she looked out at the street. Her eyes flickered with worry as she anxiously waited for the night to pass.

In two other unnamed dwellings, two figures, not particularly robust, awaited the dawn.

……

The prefectural government office.

Fully armed figures gleamed with metallic light under the campfire. Generals entered the area from time to time, and people would loudly recount the day's battles. When someone entered, they would smile, pull the person over, pat them on the shoulder, and clink wine bowls together.

Having successfully captured Hejian Prefecture, the territory to the north from there is now firmly in our hands. If we can also take Zhending, the generals in the hall believe that this ancient Jizhou territory will never be able to slip away again.

The atmosphere in the main hall was lively, while the courtyard behind was relatively quiet. More than ten figures carrying triangular red flags were walking out and, led by Wu Wei, were going to rest in the rooms next door.

The firelight illuminated the shadows of the people inside the house. Lü Bu put down the newly acquired military intelligence in his hand: "Li Bao and his men have already captured Qingzhou. Now they are leading their navy ahead of us and are clearing out the Song army along the river."

At this moment, Wang Zheng, Li Zhu, and Fang Xuedu were all in the room. Seeing that he was in a good mood, Fang Xuedu smiled and said, "In that case, there is only one city left north of the Yellow River, Leshou. Why not send the newly surrendered Song generals to persuade them to surrender? That way, we can see what they are capable of."

"Very well." Lu Bu thought for a moment and nodded: "Let Shi Bao be the commander and lead them south to capture Leshou."

Li Zhu stroked his beard and looked at the people in the room: "His Majesty ordered Generals Dong Xian, Zhao Li, and Wang Bolong to attack Zhen Ding. If we continue south, we will encounter Daming Prefecture. The Song Dynasty will not sit idly by and let it fall so easily, but the Song army's fighting strength is limited, and even if they want to defend against it, their strength may not be very strong."

Inside the house, Lü Bu paced to the candlelight and adjusted the wick with a copper needle: "I have been to Daming Prefecture in the past. It is indeed a large city with many soldiers. If a great general is defending it, it will not be easy to take it. However, I have confidence in our army."

Outside, soldiers lit braziers and placed them on wooden frames, the flames seemingly brightening the room a little.

Lu Bu turned around: "I don't know where Du Xue and the others are now. With so many people scattered across the country, the speed of transmitting messages is indeed a bit slow."

Wang Zheng looked outside and scratched his face: "The west is sparsely populated and has relatively few cities, but the people there are fierce and there are many fortified villages. There must have been many battles along the way. If we follow General Du's usual marching speed, we should still be in Lanzhou, and we are still some distance from Taiyuan Prefecture."

The people inside nodded slowly, clearly agreeing with his words. On the other side, Li Zhu interjected: "Your Majesty, I don't think there's a big problem with the marching speed of the various armies at this time. On the contrary, we are conquering Song at a fast pace. How can we control the counties we have occupied?"
While some officials have been vacant in the past two years, most of them are mid- to lower-level officials. Furthermore, if Hebei and Shandong were to surrender, the Ministry of Personnel might not have enough officials to fill the vacancies immediately.

Having all experienced a war that annexed a country, they could naturally see the problems that lay before them. The most serious issue was that, apart from a few officials from the north who could be directly mobilized, there were not many talented people who could fill the gaps.

After all, compared to the Song Dynasty's claims of "sharing the world with scholars and officials" and "all other professions are inferior except for studying," the Qi state's long-held principle of "becoming a marquis and prime minister based on military merit" did not have much advantage in attracting scholars.

"It's a pity the time was too short," Fang Xuedu sighed from the side.

Lu Bu frowned, naturally knowing what he meant. Occupying this place for a long time would naturally allow the local talents to be used for his own purposes, but what was lacking now was time. He rubbed his chin and said, "For now, we can proceed as before. There's no rush to replace the officials. After the city is captured, we won't rush to replace them. Instead, we can send some capable people over, and once they are competent, we can replace them one by one. Qiao Lie did a good job in this regard before. When he comes over, let him take charge of this matter."

He paused for a moment, then slowly moved his eyes around: "Also, look for any scholars who are close to my Great Qi, preferably those with some reputation. Promote a few of them and spread their fame."

"Yes, sir." The three men clasped their hands in a fist salute. Lü Bu took a few steps and then stopped: "By the way, keep a close eye on whether anyone is disrupting the current stability. If the mastermind is killed, send the rest of their relatives and relatives away as well. Send the servants and hangers-on back to Youzhou. The land needs people to cultivate it, and by the way..."

He turned his gaze to Li Zhu: "Let's begin investigating the population of wealthy and powerful families in each city, and eliminate these problems as well."

"Yes, sir." Assistant Li accepted the order with a cupped hand.

Lü Bu then continued forward, saying, "Let's go, those drunkards ahead are still waiting."

The three men behind him exchanged a smile and followed him out. Before they even entered the main hall, bursts of laughter echoed from afar. Lu Bu turned and pointed ahead, laughing and cursing, "These bastards forget everyone else as soon as they see the wine. I'm not waiting for them anymore."

Fang Xuedu stroked his beard and said, "This also proves that His Majesty is magnanimous, which is why the generals dare to be so presumptuous."

Lu Bu laughed and strode over. The hall fell silent for a moment when he entered, before erupting into even greater noise.

"Your Majesty is here!"

"Your Majesty, Old Yao has some rare and fine wines here."

"Hey Yao, your wine's weak. His Majesty should drink mine!"

Amidst the chaotic noise, Lü Bu walked in cheerfully, a blurry face flashing through his mind before he quickly dismissed it.

At the main seat in the hall, guards served steaming dinner, and warm wine was poured into golden bronze goblets.

Reaching out, Lü Bu picked up the slightly warm wine cup, raised it high towards the crowd, and silenced the howling below. His booming voice reached everyone's ears: "Today's battle went smoothly. Whether it was the success of the artillery battalion's cannons or the valiant fighting of the soldiers, it has greatly pleased me."

The generals below, holding their wine glasses, chuckled. Many people turned their gazes to Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui, while others turned to Ling Zhen and Kou Yi.

Upon seeing that only Kou Xi was standing among the two officials from the Imperial Workshop, he was taken aback. Looking down, he saw that Hong Tian Lei had been drunk by someone in a short time and was now asleep on the table with his face flushed, his head resting on his arm.

Lu Bu glanced down and naturally noticed Ling Zhen's appearance. He couldn't help but click his tongue, thinking, "His alcohol tolerance is terrible..." He said, "Today is not a banquet to celebrate a great victory, so I cannot let you all drink to your hearts' content. When we conquer Bianliang and occupy the Zhao Song capital, I will host a banquet for all heroes in the palace."

Many people below lit up, and some even straightened up unconsciously.

"I hereby declare that the army will rest in Hejian Prefecture for three days. After three days, we will continue south, first attacking Daming Prefecture, and then capturing Bianliang City!"

"May Your Majesty be victorious!"

Lin Chong, who had been holding a wine bowl with a cold expression, suddenly raised it above his head, causing the wine to slosh around and some liquid to splash out.

"May Your Majesty be victorious!"

"Victory!"

The sound traveled out of the prefectural government office and gradually faded into the distance within the city.

……

As night fell and the sky brightened, the Qi army built a military camp outside the city, and a large number of soldiers entered it. Li Ying, who was with the army, led his officials and a group of soldiers to the warehouse to take stock of the spoils of Hejian Prefecture.

More soldiers went into the streets, and the Song soldiers guarding the prisoners continued to clear the streets. The houses that had been pushed down and damaged were cleared away, and the ruins appeared in the market, which looked quite eye-catching.

Officials who had fled home were summoned out of the city. After a selection process, enough people were left to maintain order within the city. On the streets, the people avoided the passing patrolling soldiers of the Qi army, and the somewhat desolate and dilapidated city gradually regained its vitality.

Fast horses constantly traveled back and forth outside the city, delivering Lü Bu's military and political orders to the civil and military officials at the rear and the front.

After noon, Shi Bao led his cavalry, along with surrendered generals such as Lu Junyi, Xu Ning, and Sun Li, to bid farewell to Lü Bu, who was in the state government office. He then mustered three thousand troops and set off for Leshou in the south.

That evening, Li Ying, whose eyes were bloodshot, calculated how much grain should be kept in Hejian Prefecture and walked out of the warehouse, directing the soldiers to begin moving grain and money out.

Everything in the city seemed to be returning to normal. The common people gradually lowered their guard. Some heavy drinkers walked into open restaurants without a care in the world and found that no one came to question or question them.

Apart from……

"When will this hell end? We can't even get out..."

Liu Tong had short, messy hair covering his eyes and wore a linen shirt, looking like an ordinary commoner, which made him appear somewhat rustic.

Across from him, Mu Hong was dressed even more rustically than him, with a patch on his arm. Hearing this, he looked up at him and said, "Given the current situation, we definitely can't get out. At the earliest, we'll have to wait for the Qi army to march south."

Liu Tong took a breath, but couldn't say anything. He exhaled, picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and muttered something under his breath.

Mu Hong ignored him, gripped the wine glass with his five fingers, brought it to his lips, tilted his head back and drank it down, then turned to stare blankly at the street.

There weren't many people in the tavern, and the diners seemed to have become more civilized, their voices were much lower than usual. When they gathered around the table to say a few words, the buzzing sound wasn't noisy at all.

Liu Tong drank a few cups by himself. Seeing Mu Hong staring out the window, he curiously peeked out, looked around, and then pulled back in, asking, "What are you looking at, Da Lang?"

"...Just looking around." Mu Hong turned his gaze away with a blank expression, poured himself a drink, and then said in a low voice, "We should move to another place; the smell in this room is too strong."

"Um……"

Liu Tong nodded, knowing he was referring to the stench of a corpse. The room was warm, and the body had been sitting in the house, producing a foul smell. Fortunately, both of them had crawled through piles of dead bodies, so they weren't too bothered by it, but it certainly wouldn't do in the long run.

Liu Tong looked outside: "Let's search around these next couple of days. So many people have died in the city, there must be... hey?"

Seeing that he didn't speak and looked up at the person opposite him staring blankly outside, Mu Hong couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's wrong?"

"Look at that person." Liu Tong gestured outwards, looked around, and quickly pointed. Mu Hong followed his gaze, listening to his words: "Doesn't he look like Bai Sheng?"

"Hmm?" Mu Hong raised an eyebrow and looked over. He saw a man walking hurriedly outside with his head down and chest hunched over. The figure looked very familiar.

The two exchanged a glance, then took out a handful of copper coins and placed them on the table.

"Let's go!" (End of Chapter)