Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

As dusk fell, dark clouds rolled in, making the air feel stuffy. Some people looked up at the sky and then quickly walked forward.

On a street with few people, soldiers in black armor carrying swords and spears walked across the middle of the road. Pedestrians on both sides unconsciously lowered their heads and hunched their shoulders, avoiding them as they passed by.

Bai Sheng, standing beside him, subconsciously lowered the straw hat on his head, hurriedly turned around a corner, pressed himself against the wall, and peeked out. Seeing that the soldiers were still walking forward, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He turned around and hurried into the alley, but he didn't see that two figures, one tall and one short, flashed out from the corner of the wall behind him.

Tread-tap-

Bai Sheng stopped abruptly as he hurried through the streets and alleys, tilting his head slightly to the side. The sound of his shoes walking on the dirt surface could still be heard.

Bai Sheng frowned, not daring to look back, and quickly walked away, the footsteps behind him seeming to quicken considerably.

Before he could even start running, a hand suddenly reached out from behind and grabbed his shoulder: "Brother Bai, why are you running?"

"what?!"

Bai Sheng cried out in surprise, his face drained of all color. He turned around and saw Liu Tong's familiar face. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "Damn it, you walk so quietly, don't you know you can scare people to death?"

"You're still alive, aren't you?" Another familiar voice came from behind Liu Tong. Bai Sheng was startled and quickly turned his head to look. When he saw that it was Mu Hong, his expression changed immediately. He turned around to see that there was no one behind him and quickly waved his hand: "This is not the place to talk. Come with me, you two."

Liu Tong and Mu Hong, who were looking for him anyway, naturally followed along. They walked through the alley and entered another street. The three of them turned and twisted until they arrived at a simple house. Bai Sheng opened the door and let the two of them in. He then looked around furtively to make sure no one was there before going in and closing the door behind him.

Turning around and removing his straw hat, Bai Sheng looked at the two men and asked, "Why are you two still here?"

Mu Hong glanced at him and snorted irritably, "If you're alive, why can't the two of us?"

Bai Sheng glanced at Mu Hong but didn't say anything. The man on the other side, who was completely uninhibited, suddenly changed his expression, blushing. He slammed his hand on the table and stood up, shouting, "What do you mean, Bai?!"

Bai Sheng shrank back and didn't say anything. Liu Tong quickly came over to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, the city's curfew hasn't been lifted yet, and there are always Qi soldiers patrolling outside. If you two aren't afraid of dying, then speak louder."

"Hmph—" Mu Hong snorted and sat down: "If you hadn't knocked me into the house, I should have lived and died with the steward."

Bai Sheng muttered to himself, "...I'm afraid the only option is to die together."

"You!" Mu Hong was about to get angry again.

"Alright, alright, alright, let's all keep quiet." Liu Tong couldn't help but sized up Bai Sheng. He used to be a subservient person, but after Song Jiang's death, this guy had become much bolder and dared to talk back to Mu Hong.

He looked at Bai Sheng curiously: "How did you survive?"

"How do you think I survived?" Bai Sheng rolled his eyes and sat down to the side in annoyance. "Those Qi soldiers outside fought like they had a wife to marry. They were all scrambling to come up and kill me. I had just retreated from the city wall to rest and regroup when the city fell. If I didn't run, would I have been chopped into a bag of water dumplings?"

Mu Hong snorted again, wanting to call him a coward, but then realized he had no right to say that to him and turned away. Liu Tong, on the other hand, laughed: "Then you're lucky to have escaped their attack. Brother Mu and I also escaped with our lives by sheer luck."

Snap—

Raindrops pounded against the window, making a monotonous sound that gradually became a continuous patter. For a moment, none of the three people in the room spoke. After a while, Liu Tong finally spoke up: "Why don't the three of us get together? It's better than being separated and causing others to worry."

Mu Hong and Bai Sheng exchanged a glance. They both disliked each other and were reluctant to let anyone out of their sight, so they agreed with Liu Tong.

Liu Tong was also happy. He had wanted to change places for a long time, since the stench of the corpses was quite unbearable. Now that there was a clean place, he was already very fortunate.

That night, the three of them went to sleep.

……

The lamplight flickered in the rainy night, and the shadow of a person inside the house moved slightly on the wall.

Li Ying looked tired, but his eyes were filled with excitement as he presented the records he had made to Lü Bu, gesturing wildly as he said, "Your Majesty, this place is indeed much more prosperous. This Hejian Prefecture is only a mid-to-upper-level prefecture, but its reserves of money, grain, cloth, and other goods are equivalent to two and a half Zhuozhou! A great victory, a great victory!"

Lu Bu opened the booklet that was presented to him, his face also beaming with joy. He quickly glanced through it and asked, "Have the provisions already been transported to the outer military camp?"

"We'll send out a batch of grain this evening, and tomorrow we'll send some more south out of the city, and then we'll be all ready."

"Good!" Lü Bu closed the booklet and raised his voice: "Send the order down to Li Bao to prepare ships to transport the grain and the army across the river."

The sound of Wu Wei responding could be heard from outside.

"You've had a hard day too." Lu Bu patted the ledger filled with records: "Starting tomorrow, you and Li Zhu will investigate the wealthy households in the city and find out the hidden population and money."

After thinking for a moment, his eyes lit up: "That's right, let's see how many families in the city are struggling to survive. Bring out that old work-for-relief program and use it to win over the hearts of the people here."

Li Ying bowed and clasped his hands in greeting: "Yes, sir."

"Go then." With a flick of his sleeve, Lü Bu dismissed Li Ying and left.

After reviewing the military affairs once more, Lü Bu stretched and stood up. When he came out, Xu Wen and Su Yi were holding long weapons and leading eighteen guards outside. When they saw him come out, they quickly led their men over to hold an umbrella for him, and the sound of raindrops falling reached everyone's ears.

As they walked, Lü Bu slightly turned his head to look at the two men: "I've been stuck with documents all day. How is the city now? Has the area around the north gate been cleared? Have the fallen soldiers been cremated?"

“There’s fresh yellow soil scattered over the north gate.” Xu Wen’s smile was strange. “But nine out of ten prisoners who went to clean it up vomited. They’re really useless.”

"After so much peace, we can't bear to see bloodshed." Lü Bu shook his head, then suddenly laughed: "But this is beneficial to our dynasty."

"Your Majesty is right." Xu Wen and Su Yi nodded in unison. The latter said, "The generals and soldiers who have made great contributions in the army have been put in coffins with ice inside to prevent them from decaying. The procession that sent the coffins has already set off overnight. The rest of the people have had their hair cut off and have been burned for the afterlife. They will be sent back to Jizhou early tomorrow morning."

“…Hmm.” Lu Bu nodded softly and walked in the rain to the back room to rest, where he soon lay down to rest.

Silent all night.

……

The rain at night was neither heavy nor light, but it lasted a long time. When it stopped, the east was already showing signs of dawn.

Liu Tong, Bai Sheng, and Mu Hong were woken up by hunger. They stared at each other, none of them daring to let the other go out alone to buy breakfast.

After a while, Liu Tong couldn't stand the hunger in his stomach, so he left the two bastards staring at each other in the house and went out alone to buy some food to satisfy his hunger.

There were many more people out and about this morning than yesterday. Liu Tong took a quick look and realized that the place Bai Sheng had chosen was near the west of the city, which was where most of the goods were sold. After thinking for a moment, he headed in that direction.

The north of the city had been badly damaged by Qi's army and Song Jiang, and many of his colleagues had been trampled to death there by the armored cavalry. He didn't want to go there; it wouldn't be good if he stepped on someone's skin. The pedestrians on the road looked much more relaxed than yesterday, but even so, there were fewer people out doing business than usual. Liu Tong walked for a while, looking around, before finally finding a stall selling vegetarian porridge and fried dough sticks among a row of closed shops. He quickly went over and ordered three servings.

The familiar aroma filled his nostrils, and even though the price was three or four times higher than usual, Liu Tong paid without a second thought. Having almost died yesterday, he didn't care about anything else except life and death.

Liu Tong took the breakfast from the vendor and turned around with a smile. Behind him, he saw a group of Qi soldiers walking over under the guidance of constables. A constable carrying flour paste came over and pasted the paper on the wall.

"Listen up, people of the city! The new court understands that life is hard for everyone and is willing to pay people to work. If you want to earn money, go to the neighborhood headman to register at 9:00 AM."

They would shout and move to another place. Before long, many official documents were posted on the street, and people from the houses came out to take a look.

Seeing this, Liu Tong became curious. He rolled his eyes and saw people gathering around. He found a group of people and went over to mingle in the crowd, listening to their discussions.

"Go repair the city walls, eighty-five coins a day..."

“There are carpenters here, they make 140 coins a day, and meals are included.”

"That's not much."

"Giving you money is already a favor, what more do you want?"

Liu Tong looked at the person who was speaking, his face thoughtful. He wasn't interested in the job posting on the notice; on the contrary, he felt that the city gates were about to open.

He was overjoyed, and then he heard a woman's voice: "It seems the city gates will open soon, and we can leave the city."

“Isn’t that right?” Liu Tong chuckled and chimed in, “Finally, I don’t have to be stuck in the city every day… huh?”

The grasshopper suddenly turned around. Behind him, the shrew was looking him up and down with a fierce look in her eyes. Seeing that no one else had noticed them, he quickly gestured for her to go to the side. Once they were in an open space, he lowered his voice and asked, "What are you doing here, Second Sister?"

"This isn't the place to talk about this." Sun Erniang looked at the breakfast in her hand, raising her short eyebrows. "It seems there are two other people here. Aren't you going to take me to see them?"

"Of course I will." Liu Tong looked at her expression, unsure of what was wrong with her. He glanced at the Qi army walking away, thought for a moment, and then said, "Come with me."

The arrival of Sun Erniang surprised Mu Hong and Bai Sheng, who were then filled with mixed emotions of sorrow and joy.

The joy was naturally due to seeing an old friend again, but the sorrow was also due to seeing a familiar face from the past.

"Brother Wu Song is dead..."

Sun Erniang's eyes were red as she watched the three men finish their breakfast. She wiped her wet cheeks and looked at the three men in the room with her already unfriendly eyes: "What are your plans, brothers?"

Mu Hong, Bai Sheng, and Liu Tong exchanged glances. Before they could speak, Sun Erniang spoke up: "I want to wait until the city gates open to avenge Brother Wu Song and do him a favor!"

Mu Hong's eyes lit up, and his lifeless face gradually came to life.

Liu Tong and Bai Sheng stared wide-eyed at Sun Erniang, their expressions filled with terror. Bai Rishu suddenly stood up: "Erniang, are you crazy?! The entire city is patrolled by Qi soldiers, and there are their camps outside. If we make a move, we'll be torn to pieces!"

"What? Scared?!" Sun Erniang glanced at him sideways.

"I'm scared!" Bai Sheng jumped, nodding through gritted teeth. "I almost died on the city wall, how can I not be scared?!"

Liu Tong shook his head repeatedly: "Second Madam, please calm down. It's not a matter of being afraid or not. Let's reconsider this matter..."

bang——

Mu Hong slammed his hand on the table, causing the somewhat dilapidated wooden table to creak and wobble a few times: "I think Second Aunt is right, we can't let these Qi people get away with this!"

"Uh……"

"what?"

Liu Tong and Bai Sheng stared at Mu Hong, speechless, their eyes conveying the message, "Don't go crazy, you bastard."

"Hmph, I never said I was going to my death."

Sun Erniang looked at the two thin people and curled her lips: "I'm not good at fighting on the battlefield, but when it comes to assassination, we may not be any worse than them."

Liu Tongbai raised an eyebrow at the shrew, while Mu Hong looked at her thoughtfully: "Second Aunt, please explain in detail."

Sun Erniang got up first and went to the door. She looked out through the crack in the window, then lifted the wooden window to check. Only after confirming that no one was there did she return and speak: "Most of the people of Qi are skilled warriors. Although some of them used to roam the martial world, more than ten years have passed, and they have probably forgotten their martial arts skills. Besides, not all of them are still involved in the martial world. Especially the civil officials, most of them are bookworms. Find an opportunity to kill one or two of them, which can be considered revenge for our fallen brothers!"

Liu Tong and Bai Sheng stared at Sun Erniang with distorted expressions, while Mu Hong nodded vigorously in agreement: "What Erniang said really resonates with me. I also want to avenge Brother Song Jiang. Let's do it this way, find an opportunity to kill those two, and give our dead brothers an explanation."

Then, with a burning gaze, he looked at Grasshopper and White Rat, who both looked defiant and unconvinced: "What do you two think?"

"I think..." Liu Tong and Bai Sheng felt a bitter taste in their mouths, especially Bai Sheng. He didn't get along well with these people to begin with, but now that Mu Hong was staring at him, he felt that if he refused now, it would be thoughtless... no, it would be like he was about to be stabbed to death.

Swoosh, thud—

Sun Erniang pulled out a sharp knife, held it upside down, and slammed it hard on the table. Her slanted eyes glared fiercely at the two men: "If you don't do it, Brother Mu and I can do it on our own."

"Yes! I'll live and die with Brother Mu, of course I'll do it." Liu Tong nodded hurriedly, then stood up and looked at Bai Sheng: "Brother Bai, are you in or not?"

"I will do it." Bai Sheng stood up with a resolute voice, his face serious. "In the world of martial arts, loyalty is paramount, so naturally I will do it."

Sun Erniang and Mu Hong nodded in satisfaction: "Say what you think, let's discuss how to make a move."

Liu Tong and Bai Sheng sat down with blank faces, inwardly groaning.

The four of them discussed things here, while things in the city outside were still proceeding in an orderly manner. Carts loaded with money, grain, and cloth drove out of the city and into the military camp.

The soldiers who had rested for a day returned to camp, while another group of men went out to enjoy themselves. At the same time, messengers mounted fast horses and galloped towards the river to the south.

Lü Bu, Wang Zheng, and others continued to handle military affairs and messages from the rear in the government office.

On the morning of the third day, the city gates, which had been closed for two days, were opened. Villagers who had been stranded in the city hurriedly left the city and ran home under the inspection of Qi Jun. Peddlers who had hesitated for a long time outside the city for a living also came in and began to struggle for their daily meals.

On the official road, Zhu Wu, who had shaved his beard and was carrying a leather bag, glanced at the city of Hejian Prefecture before striding northwest. (End of Chapter)