Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The snow had lessened a little, but the sea breeze was still as strong as before, blowing up the sea water and hitting the hull.

Zong Ying walked shivering on the deck. Although he was wearing thick clothes, he lacked a fur coat to keep out the cold. The wind from the sea blew him, making him feel as if he was walking in the ice and snow in just a single layer of clothing.

Liquid flowed from his nose. This young man, who had very decent manners and habits, touched his body, an embarrassment appeared on his face, and he suddenly sneezed. He quickly raised his hand to cover his mouth and nose, and wiped his nose. There was a feeling of seeing through the world on his face.

I hope I don’t end up in a tiger’s den just after escaping from a wolf’s den.

Looking around at the standing sailors, Zong Ying's serious face showed a hint of uneasiness. These soldiers were well-dressed and well-equipped, slightly better than the Song Dynasty navy, and the expressions on their faces...

He looked around and frowned strangely.

Why are some people similar to the pirates on the previous ship, looking at people as if they were looking at moving silver?
Is this an illusion?
With thoughts turning in his mind, the young man took a few steps and suddenly stopped. His eyes widened a little incredulously, and a hoarse voice rushed out of his throat: "Is it Uncle Huyan? How did you get here? It turns out you are not dead!"

Hu Yanqing, who was looking at these young officials and ladies on the opposite side, frowned instantly, looked at Zong Ying in the direction of the voice, and saw that he looked familiar: "Hmm? You are..."

After a pause, the newly appointed General Jinghai quickly searched in his mind for the name corresponding to this face, but he couldn't utter a word for a long time.

Zong Ying was not stupid. He knew from his expression that he had forgotten who he was. He smiled bitterly and walked forward. He ignored the cold and bowed respectfully: "My father, Zong Ze, the magistrate of Dengzhou, visited you once in the navy before you went to war in the fifth year of Zhenghe. Maybe he was so busy that he forgot about my nephew."

"Oh……"

Hu Yanqing exclaimed at the name he hadn't heard for a long time. He had a memory of this name and face. He had seen him once before the expedition, but his memory was not very clear. He looked him up and down again and asked, "How come you...are on the pirate ship?"

“…It’s a long story.” Zong Ying smiled bitterly.

A young man came over with his arms folded, and said tremblingly: "Brother Zongshi, who is this?"

"We'll talk about it later."

Looking back at the group of men and women shivering in the cold, he sneezed again: "Can we go to a warmer place to talk? I'm afraid my nephew can't hold on any longer."

Hu Yanqing looked at the group of young men and women, then turned and walked towards the cabin: "Of course, follow me."

The man and woman behind Zong Ying immediately followed, but the young man looked up at the flag and saw a huge Chinese character "Qi" fluttering on the mast.

Then he walked towards the cabin with a gloomy look on his face.

……

Farther out on the sea, seven large ships were sailing against the wind and waves. The fluttering Song flags were shaking rapidly in the wind and snow. In the cabin, several generals in winter clothes gathered around the table, pointing at the nautical chart and arguing.

Then someone slammed his fist on the wooden table and drew a line on the sea chart: "Listen to me, and chase along this line."

The ship accelerated.

……

"That's all."

Liu Ti kicked a wooden box on the deck and said, "You are a bunch of poor people who only catch piglets and don't take the real goods. You deserve to have only a few broken ships after so long."

He glanced at the personal soldier standing beside him and said: "Take it out and share it with the brothers who went to the battle today. Even though it's not much, at least it can buy a few pots of wine."

"Thank you, Sima." Several personal soldiers lifted up the wooden box with a smile. Shangguan looked down on this little bit of wealth, but for soldiers like them it was an extra income and no one would refuse it.

Liu Ti held the handle of the knife and strode to the stern. The rope ladder had already been lowered on the flagship. He climbed up and saw Han Kai coming up from the other side. He walked over and asked, "Han Baldy, what did you get?" Han Kai rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "Just a few piglets. There's not much money left. I scraped the dead and got less than 200 taels. I just gave it all to the people below. What about you?"

Liu Ti shrugged: "Same." He looked around: "Where are the piglets?"

"Maybe he went into the cabin."

"Then don't just stand there. Drinking is the most enjoyable thing after killing someone. Let's go and have a drink with General Huyan."

"I'm afraid he'll hit you with a military stick when he sees you pick up the wine jar."

"Can't you just hope for something good?"

Arguing with each other, the two men headed towards the cabin door.

……

The brazier gave off the smell of burning charcoal. In the warm cabin dining room, candle flames were flickering. A fireman came over with hot ginger soup. The steaming porcelain bowls were held in the palms of the hands of the group of young men and women. Some of them couldn't help crying.

Hu Yanqing, who was sitting opposite him, took off his sword and placed it beside his legs. He placed one hand on the long wooden table. He couldn't help but glance at him, then retracted his gaze to look at Zong Ying: "Tell me, what happened? How did you get on that boat? If you weren't lucky, you would have sunk to the sea with the ship."

Shivering, Zong Ying drank a mouthful of hot ginger soup and felt much warmer. He put down the bowl and clasped it with both hands to warm his palms: "To put it simply, my nephew was kidnapped by pirates."

Shivering all over, the young man felt alive again.

"I can see that." Hu Yanqing frowned and looked at the other men and women: "What about them? Did this group of pirates kidnap you all?"

Zong Ying shook his head: "That will take some time to explain." He pointed to several young men in the crowd. They were kidnapped in Dengzhou like my nephew. The others were from Mizhou and Laizhou.

Hu Yanqing's brows knitted even tighter.

"It was a coincidence that we were kidnapped here." The young man paused, took a sip of soup, and breathed a sigh of relief: "My nephew is here because my father has been busy with the Dengzhou official land issue recently." He sighed: "You don't know, the royal family in the capital has hundreds of hectares of official land in Dengzhou, all of which are barren land. The annual rent is more than ten thousand strings of cash, but they don't pay it themselves, and all of it is passed on to the local poor people. My father can't stand it and has been arguing with the court to exempt these taxes and give the people peace. My nephew was ordered to go to Mouping County to check and find evidence, but as soon as he arrived... Alas!"

Hu Yanqing was sharp-eyed. He saw two pale-faced young men lowering their heads. He vaguely guessed the reason, but he didn't care. This matter had a long history in Dengzhou. When he was stationed in Dengzhou as the commander of the Pinghai Army, his eyes and ears were full of it. There were even soldiers in his army whose families were forced to flee. He also pleaded for them, but what could he do? The higher-ups sent a document directly through the Privy Council to admonish him, asking him to concentrate on military affairs and not to be distracted by other things. Until he was captured, those soldiers did not get an explanation.

It simply had nothing to do with him now. He tapped the table with his fingers and said calmly, "It is rare for your father to plead for the people. I admire you very much, but..." He looked at the others and said, "Are you all children of officials?"

All the men and women nodded immediately. Zong Ying looked a little embarrassed and said, "That's right. My nephew and the others are all sons of officials from the three states." He moved closer and said, "There is the seventh son of Liang Zimei's family. I hope my uncle can help us return to the Song Dynasty."

After saying this, he showed a stiff smile, muttering in his heart, hoping that the other party would help him because he was a Song person in the past, but...

Which country is Qi?

Hu Yanqing pinched his forehead, secretly thanking his luck that the stone bullets and bed crossbows didn't hit these young masters and ladies. However, he also felt vaguely that it wouldn't be a big deal even if they did, which really made him feel conflicted.

Zong Ying saw that he had a headache and thought he was thinking. He drank the ginger soup and heard two footsteps from behind. He turned around and saw two burly figures walking in. One of them looked like the general who rescued him in the cabin. He quickly stood up and bowed to the ground: "Thank you, generals, for saving my life."

The other young men and women followed suit, whether they were willing or not, and thanked him: "Thank you, General, for saving our lives."

Han Kai and Liu Ti looked at each other, swallowed the sarcastic words that were about to come out of their mouths, just nodded, "Hmm...", "Ah...", "You're welcome!", waved their hands, and walked towards Hu Yanqing uncomfortably.

Before he could open his mouth, a soldier came running in from behind: "General, there is a ship coming from the southwest!" (End of this chapter)