Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Chapter 627: Another Recruitment Order

The atmosphere in the room was a little stagnant. Li Zhu simply closed his eyes and tried his best to reduce his presence quietly. Zhang Lin and Lu Yan were not rookies either. On the contrary, one of them had been in the Liao officialdom and became the prime minister of the Southern Palace. He was accustomed to observing people's words and expressions, while the other had been in the army for many years and was quite sensitive to the momentum of the brave generals on the battlefield.

Seeing that Lu Bu's expression was not right, the aura of a fierce general was revealed with his words. Zhang Lin, like Li Zu, stood there with his eyes lowered and pretended to be dead. Lu Yan was stimulated by the aura and instinctively wanted to draw his sword. He moved his fingers and immediately realized that he was now a prisoner, so he stood there without making a sound, his eyes watching his nose and his nose watching his heart.

I don't know which brother or cousin this is, he looks really powerful. If I could...

With all sorts of things running through his mind, the warrior from the Lu family couldn't help but start fantasizing.

"That's fine."

I don't know how long it was before the person sitting there spoke, and the three people in the room felt relieved.

"I can't remember anything from the past, and even my name is not my original one. What should I do?" Lu Bu stopped tapping and looked at Lu Yan and Zhang Lin with some amusement: "How about... I let you two go?"

"No need."

The two men felt a chill down their spines at the same time, and they quickly shook their hands and said something. Amid the clanging of iron chains, Lu Yan calmed down, shook his head vigorously, and rarely showed a fake smile: "I'm fine staying here, and I don't want to go back so early." After a pause, he continued: "Please ask the General of the Cavalry to give me paper and pen. I would like to write a letter and send it back home. Maybe I can know which branch the general is from."

"Um……"

Lu Bu narrowed his tiger eyes and looked at him for a while, then suddenly said, "Yu Cheng!"

The tall guard outside the door opened the door and clasped his fists in response, "General."

"Go get the pen, ink, paper and inkstone."

"Yes."

Yu Cheng responded and ran to find something quickly. Not long after, hurried footsteps were heard from outside again, and a figure wearing armor and a helmet reappeared in front of him. The jailer holding paper, pen, and inkstone hurried in. They all saluted, put down the things as instructed, and then bowed and retreated.

Lu Bu raised his chin towards the table with paper and pen and said, "Write."

"Yes." Lu Yan did not care about his attitude. He thought to himself that if the situation was reversed, he would be even less trustworthy to a person who was clamoring to establish a relationship with him. He straightened his sleeves and walked over amid the clattering sound of iron shackles. He ground the ink, licked the pen, and quickly wrote a letter. After blowing it dry, he held the letter in both hands and walked over to Lu Bu to present it.

"I have finished it. Please review it, General of the Cavalry."

Lu Bu did not move. Li Zu, who was standing beside him, opened his eyes, took a step forward and read it quickly. Lu Yan took a step back and stood up. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him finish reading and hand it to Lu Bu.

The sitting figure took it, flipped through it, and handed the letter back to Yu Cheng: "Find someone to deliver it to the Lu family."

He looked at Zhang Lin and Lu Yan again and said, "Okay, I have satisfied your demands. What about mine?"

The two prisoners looked at each other, and Zhang Lin felt bitter: "I am willing to surrender, but I still have..."

"Go get it."

The seated figure did not move. Li Zhu bowed slightly and then looked at the speechless Zhang Lin and smiled.

"Uh……"

Zhang Lin opened and closed his mouth twice, smacking his lips unconsciously, and then bowed to Lu Bu: "Thank you, General Hussar. I am willing to serve you till my death." Lu Bu nodded and looked at Lu Yan: "What about you?"

The young general simply bowed down and said, "Whether the general is a member of my clan or not, Lu Yan is willing to be loyal to him."

"Okay." Lu Bu nodded, looked at Yu Cheng beside him, pointed at the two people and said, "Take them to take a shower and change their clothes."

"Yes." Yu Cheng held the letter and walked over to the two of them: "Please follow me, both of you."

Zhang and Lu were of course willing to wash up and change into clean clothes. After staying outside the prison for a while, their sense of smell had recovered the ability to distinguish between fragrance and stench. The sour and stinky smell on their bodies was faintly smelt. Not to mention Zhang Lin, who loved cleanliness, even Lu Yan, who had been in the army for many years, could not stand it. He bowed to Lu Bu and left.

"General..." Li Zhu watched the two men disappear from his sight, then turned to look at Lu Bu: "If what Lu Yan said is true, do you really want to return to your roots?"

"How could that be?" Lu Bu stood up without even turning his head, straightening his sleeves. "It's just that each party takes what it needs. I know that the aristocratic families like them are used to playing both sides. The legitimate son stays in one faction, and the non-legitimate son goes to the other to pledge allegiance. In this way, no matter which side wins or loses, the family can be guaranteed to prosper."

“And I…” He put his hands behind his back after adjusting his sleeves: “I just needed the recognition of a powerful family here. Now that I have met one, how can I let him slip away like this? You…”

He turned around and glanced at Assistant Li: "Understand?"

Li Zhu opened his narrowed eyes and bowed: "I understand, and I will definitely make this happen."

Lu Bu turned around after hearing this, put his hands behind his back and walked out of the gate, looking in the direction of the prison: "Ask the people in the prison whether they will surrender or not, release those who do, and send those who don't want to go."

"Yes."

The chief clerk at the back lowered his head and accepted the order. He raised his head and watched the tall figure walking away under the protection of a group of personal soldiers. Mr. Jin Jian pondered for a moment before stepping out of the room and pacing to the prison.

That evening, an official document was presented on the table in Lu Bu's study. The Liao generals Sun Zhong, Zhang Qi, Cheng Zhunahai and Aliyi had surrendered and had been arranged to recruit captives. The Khitan Aba hanged himself in prison.

The night of joy was short-lived.

When a golden light rose in the east, Lu Bu struggled to get up from Su Jinniang's arms and legs, put on his clothes, and without disturbing the woman who was still sleeping, walked to the lobby, sat down, ate some food, and drank a cup of strong tea.

According to convention, the army should rest for three days after returning, but now he was concerned about the safety of the place and could not stop, so he could only go to the study to continue dealing with today's official business. Not long after, Li Zhu and Fang Xuedu came together. Lu Bu could not relax, and the two of them could not rest either.

"There have been several battles in Liaodong, and many soldiers have been killed or wounded. We need to count the number of soldiers as soon as possible, give titles to those who deserve them, and provide compensation to those who deserve them. Don't let outsiders say that we don't care about the soldiers. If we do these things well, anyone who is not deaf or blind will know that we treat the soldiers well."

"We are strangers in the North, so it may take some time for us to accept the new culture. But it doesn't matter. What matters is the soldiers below us. As long as they are not discouraged and have confidence in us, the people will be moved sooner or later... and there will be."

As he was speaking, someone outside continued to carry some documents and put them on the table. Lu Bu looked at the documents piled up higher and higher, and slowly clenched his hand on the armrest into a fist. After a moment of silence, he looked at the two subordinates opposite him and said, "I remember that Zhang Lin yesterday was the Han official prime minister of the Liao Kingdom. Pick some unimportant official business and throw it to him to handle it."

Li Zhu and Fang Xuedu nodded slightly. They had also read Zhang Lin's intelligence. If they still didn't trust him, it would not be a bad idea to hand over all the official duties to him.

"In addition, I don't believe that you are issuing a recruitment order to recruit talents regardless of their background..." He slapped his palm on the pile of documents, and Lu Bu's voice echoed in the study: "To this day, I still need to handle so many government affairs!"

The two people opposite smiled.

(End of this chapter)