Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The ship that was chasing them stopped. The waving flags on the opposite side were already visible. The messenger on the ship lowered his head and did not dare to look at the commander who had a sullen face.

"You want us to stop? What do these Qi soldiers want to do?"

On the surging sea, warships of the Song army were floating. Several generals at the lookout watched the small boats being lowered from the ships in the distance.

"What are you doing?"

Wang Mei narrowed her eyes, and then a flag signal was raised on the approaching boat, and someone shouted: "Invite the leader of the Song army to come forward for a chat!"

"What...is this plan?" Wang Mei stood at the lookout with an uncertain expression.

The voice from the sea kept coming. After a while, it seemed that no one answered, so it shouted again: "There is no man with a penis in such a big land of Song? I don't even dare to come forward to answer you."

Snapped--

"The villain succeeds." Wang Mei patted the wooden wall next to the window.

Liu Liang stepped forward and said, "Commander, let me go!"

Wang Mei nodded: "Be careful."

Soon, a small boat came to the other side and brought back a message that stunned Wang Mei -

Hu Yanqing, the former commander of the Ping Navy and current General Jinghai of the Qi Army, invited him to the boat for a chat. They rescued the young men and ladies who were kidnapped by pirates.

Someone went down to the boat using the ladder.

……

"The noise outside seems to have stopped..."

"Is the fighting over? The boat isn't shaking anymore."

"Did we win?"

The young men and women in the dining hall were talking in low voices with expectant looks on their faces. The buzzing sound made Zong Ying, who had been a little irritated, glance at these officials' children and frowned. The fathers of these people were all prominent figures in the state, but their descendants were like this, which was really a pity.

Then he laughed at himself, thinking that as a fellow abducted by pirates, others might see him in the same way.

"What happened, brother? Did you find anything?"

The two young men who had just gone out with him came over. Zong Ying looked at them, pursed his lips, and said nothing.

"Brother Zong, we are all in the same boat. You can't run away, and neither can we. Tell us what you have discovered. Maybe we can help you."

The other person nodded repeatedly.

After a moment of silence, Zong Ying approached them and whispered, "The fighting should be over, but..." He hesitated for a moment, looked at the excited people around him, and murmured, "The imperial navy is probably defeated."

The two boys looked at each other and said hesitantly: "...Isn't it possible?"

Zong Ying shook his head and glanced at the suspicious expressions on the two people's faces. He opened his mouth and said, "Uh..." Then he said, "Don't worry too much. It shouldn't be a bad thing."

As they were talking, a soldier outside opened the door and walked in: "Hey, come out, I'll take you home."

The noise in the hall suddenly fell silent, and several young ladies immediately hugged each other, screaming "Ahhhhhhhhh" and trembling together.

"Don't kill me. My father is an envoy of the Mizhou Maritime Customs. If you let me go, I can give you a lot of money."

"Don't kill me either. My father is the inspector of the Maritime Customs. He can also give you money and rare treasures from overseas."

"My father is the magistrate of Laizhou..."

"My Father is..."

The screams seemed to ignite the atmosphere in the dining hall. The elegantly dressed yamen rushed to report their families. Zong Ying looked at the soldiers with doubtful expressions, then at his companions with terrified expressions. He pinched his nose and felt that the other party didn't mean that...

"shut up!"

choke--

Amidst the shouts, the sword was unsheathed, and the people who were talking suddenly shut up. "You're all dead!" The soldier pressed his lips and put the sword back into the sheath with a clang: "Who said I was going to kill you? Come with me, the people who will take you home are here."

He turned around and left. Zong Ying, with sharp eyes, saw that his shoulders were shaking, and it was obvious that he was trying not to laugh.

Being looked down upon...

With this thought in mind, the son of the Tongpan stood up and said, "Let's go out and see what's going on. The other party will probably not harm us."

"How do you know?" Someone stood up and pointed at him: "What if it's not true?"

"That's right. What if they trick us into going out and killing us? Even if they just use us to threaten the imperial army and make the imperial soldiers surrender, wouldn't that be worse?"

Zong Ying opened his mouth, wanting to say that judging from the behavior of the Qi army, they would not do so. However, the fatigue of the past few days really made him have no energy to deal with these yamen. He just shrugged and said, "It's up to you," and walked out on his own.

The two young men at the back looked at him, then stood up and walked out. The rest of the people in the dining hall looked at each other, muttering, "This guy went out to commit suicide." "We know the bandit leader." and so on. They just sat there motionless, not daring to think that if they wanted to kill someone, they could do it in this hall.

……

The wind made the flags flutter, waves rose near the hull, and there was a faint smell of burning wood among the fishy smell of the sea.

The rope ladder swayed, and a burly figure stepped onto the deck. Then he saw the generals coming over there, and the man in the middle looked very familiar.

"It really is……"

Muttering something, Wang Mei looked at Hu Yanqing who was walking towards her with a complicated expression and sighed: "I didn't expect to see you in this situation. I thought you had already..."

He smacked his lips and stopped talking.

"Dead?" Hu Yanqing chuckled and stopped. The soldiers who were surrounding him dispersed and stood on both sides. He looked at the dark-faced general opposite him and said, "Maybe, maybe I was already dead when I fell into the trap."

Wang Mei lowered her head: "Before I take over, I want to go to your house to pay a visit to my mother. She..."

"My king took me to the mountain." Hu Yanqing knew what he wanted to ask, and walked up to him and patted the scarlet robe on his armor: "I was reluctant at first, but you saw it." He spread his hands and said, "The King of Qi has been very kind to me. Even though I have not made any achievements, he has appointed me a general and assigned me an army. This kind of appreciation..." He shook his head: "I have never felt this before in the army."

Wang Mei hesitated for a moment: "Are you really not going back to the Song Dynasty? Your ancestors were founding heroes."

Hu Yanqing hesitated and shook his head: "The court no longer needs the Hu Yan family."

"But who told you anything? You can't listen to those bandits."

Turning his head to look at the cabin, Hu Yanqing walked back: "No, the King of Qi was busy at the time and had no time to take care of me. I was thrown on Liangshan and watched them fight the government army and destroy the state government. The ugly state soldiers fled and the officials did nothing. Then I figured out one thing." He glanced at the Song general who followed him with a complicated expression: "The court's army is no longer sustainable. If you want to have soldiers who can fight, you should select a new army, train more, and provide enough food and wages."

Wang Mei's face turned red and she shook her head: "So you surrendered to the bandits?"

At the hatch, the soldier who was going to call for help came out.

Hu Yanqing said without even turning his head: "Of course not." He smiled and turned to look at him: "If the king was still in Song territory, I would never join the bandits even if I died. But it's different now that I'm in Liaodong." His eyes lit up: "This is the merit of following the dragon. If I can make a contribution, I can't say I can match my ancestors, but at least I won't disgrace the Huyan family name."

Wang Mei opened her mouth but couldn't say a word.

In the sight, Zong Ying and others walked out, and the following naval commander hurriedly looked around and said, "Why are there so few people? Where are the other yamen?"

Hu Yanqing was startled, and glanced at the sailor who had informed him. The sailor laughed loudly, and quickly straightened his face: "My dear officials, they thought we were going to harm them, so they didn't dare to come out."

Zong Ying followed behind and sounded a little embarrassed.

Wang Mei exhaled, lowered her head and pinched her forehead: "Forget it, I will go in and ask them to come out."

Hu Yanqing remained silent, but nodded, watching his former comrade walk into the cabin, and then watched him walk out with a group of relieved yamen officials, and arranged for a boat to take them back to the warship.

Wang Mei stood at the disembarkation point in silence for a long while, then turned around and clasped her fists: "Take care, Commander. I hope you can get what you want."

"what……"

Hu Yanqing responded and wanted to clasp his fists, but he saw the figure over there quickly turn around and get off the boat.

call--

Putting down his hand and exhaling a breath of white air, Hu Yanqing suddenly turned around, his cloak rustling in the air, and shouted loudly: "Pass the order, set sail——" (End of this chapter)