Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Prince Qi's Mansion.

Eighteen guards wearing iron armor and swords on their waists stood in a row on both sides of the side door. The two rows of people wore clean but old clothes. They lined up quietly in an untidy queue at the door, waiting for the opportunity to enter the palace. They were waiting for an opportunity to change their own destiny.

Abandoned.

Not only government affairs, the mansion is also selecting eunuchs at the strong request of Zhang Lin. From now on, servants in the Prince of Qi's mansion will be replaced by eunuchs, while the maids are not so urgent and do not need to be replaced immediately.

In the slightly opened door of the main hall, there were lights in the shape of bronze sparrows or coiled dragons burning. The figure sitting behind the desk put down the cup in his hand, looked at Zhang Lin below and breathed a sigh of relief.

A screen was placed on the left side of the hall, with a huge feng shui map unfolded and hung on it. Lu Bu seemed to be in a good mood.

"The Jin Dynasty is in civil strife, and the tribes are fighting each other again. This is something I never expected. I thought retreating would only cause civil strife in the Jin Dynasty, but I didn't expect the other tribes to be in chaos as well."

At the first seat below, Zhang Lin sat at the table, a smile on his elegant face, drinking the hot wine.

"These ministers your Highness mentioned are not surprising at all."

"Oh? Did the doctor predict this?" Lu Bu squinted his eyes and looked over. Recently, this man had begun to integrate into his team. This was a good thing. It meant that there was something here that attracted him, or...

Are the problems of the Liao Kingdom more serious than I thought?

A thoughtful look flashed across Lu Bu's face, with a playful look in his eyes.

"The Jurchen tribal alliance, the Wanyan tribe had three generations of Ren Bojilie, the elder brother succeeded the younger brother, the father died and the son succeeded the son, until the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, the embryonic form of a family country appeared, but it was still too short. If Aguda could live a few more years, allowing Wanyan Sheng to accumulate some prestige, even if the king killed him, the current Jin Dynasty would not have civil strife."

Zhang Lin chuckled, took the wine pot on the table and poured himself some wine. "As for the rebellion of the other Jurchen tribes, it was inevitable. Although the Jin Kingdom was an extension of the Jurchen tribal alliance, the tribes were not peaceful with each other. Even when Wanyan Aguda was alive, he had to fight with various tribes, not to mention that he is dead."

"Ah--"

Lu Bu poured himself some wine and drank it all in one gulp, his fair face showing no change: "I remember the military advisor also said before, since the Jurchen tribes are in chaos..." He paused, and looked at the geomancy map for a few breaths, with an expectant look on his face: "Doctor think... next year is a good time to march north?"

Zhang Lin held the wine glass in silence. As the former prime minister of Southern Palace of Liao Dynasty, he had his own way of survival in officialdom and slowly integrated into the society. This was the way of doing things he set for himself. Now it seemed that he should have some trust. According to what he knew, within the sphere of influence of Qi State, although money and grain were not in short supply, they could not support a major war. In his eyes, Liaodong was a vast land with few people. Its taxes and farmland were not comparable to those of the Song Dynasty in the south, and were far inferior to those of Nanjing Road and Zhongjing Road of Liao Dynasty.

He took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty... I think that destroying Jin and Liao is not something that can be done overnight. Your Majesty also said before that you should first develop people's livelihood and open up trading markets to earn commercial taxes. Why are you thinking of attacking the north next year? You should know that changing your mind every day is a big taboo."

"I am just impatient." Lu Bu twitched his lips, "I want to take Liaodong as soon as possible so that I can move westward."

"I understand your Majesty's anxiety."

Behind the table, Zhang Lin laughed: "But your Majesty, don't worry. After this year, the two Wanyan brothers will fight more fiercely. By then, the Jurchen tribes will be even more tired of this endless war. That will be a good time for us to contact and persuade the other tribes to side with us. As for the Liao Kingdom..."

Zhang Lin paused for a moment and smiled slyly: "The current Liao emperor is a hopeless person... No, to say he is a hopeless person is to flatter him. Let him mess around for two years. It will only make the government more corrupt. Your Majesty, just wait and see. Yelu Yanxi and the Xiao brothers will find more allies for us."

Lu Bu laughed: "Doctor-in-Chief seems very confident. Are you so sure that things will go as you expected?"

Zhang Lin did not explain, but just smiled and said: "I remember that the king gave Doctor Yang a letter to pass on to Li Ziqian, but did you expect that the matter of Goryeo would be as the king expected?"

This time it was Lu Bu's turn to smile without saying anything, thinking to himself, "I am not relying on conjecture to infer. What you said before about the situation in Goryeo is very consistent with my memory. It may not be clear now, but when the King of Goryeo is old or the princes grow up..." "The King seems to be very confident..."

As the two were talking, a guard suddenly came in to report that the Wanyan family had been brought in from the north, and only two of them survived. Another son of Wanyan Zonghan was also captured. The team leader Shi Qian was waiting outside.

"Wanyan Zonghan?" After thinking for a while, Lu Bu suddenly realized: "Is it the general leading the army of Wanyan Sheng? They all have the surname Wanyan, which is troublesome... How did he get his son back as well?"

It is normal for a general to disobey the king's orders when he is away from home. Lu Bu thought about it and didn't think there was anything wrong. He glanced at Zhang Lin, who was squinting his eyes and twirling his beard, thinking about something. Then he didn't say anything and asked someone to call Shi Qian over.

Soon, the guard came over with a group of people, and the short and thin figure following behind hurriedly stepped forward and bowed: "I am Shi Qian, the captain of the scout camp, and I pay my respects to His Majesty the King of Qi."

The four figures following behind him hurried forward and followed suit: "Greetings, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi."

"Stand up and talk." Lu Bu raised one hand and looked at the shorter man below him: "Shi Qian... I seem to have an impression of you. By the way, you were brought back by Yang Lin. It was said that you sent a letter to the Lu family. You are quite capable."

The flea on the drum below stood up, overjoyed at the words, and straightened his thin chest: "Your Majesty, you are too kind. Shi Qian only has some insignificant abilities. It is a blessing for you to be able to use him."

Hearing the noise behind him, he turned his head quickly. The boy nicknamed Danzi was kicking his legs impatiently. He then turned his head and said, "Your Majesty, these two are Wanyan Zongbing's brothers, Wanyan Zongjun and Wanyan Zongmin. This little guy nicknamed Danzi is the son of Wanyan Zonghan."

The two Jurchen men behind heard this and hurried forward to bow and salute: "Wanyan Zongjun (Zongmin) thanks the King of Qi for saving his life."

Only the boy lowered his head and muttered: "I don't need you to save me, I'm just here to play."

But he didn't know what the Wanyan brothers had instilled in him on the way, making him think that they came here for fun.

"This is what I promised Wanyan Zongbing." Lu Bu had a strange smile on his face. The two people below lowered their heads and didn't see it, and the boy who saw it couldn't understand it yet.

"The three of you can go to Wanyan Zongbi's place later."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The two men who had been bowing quickly straightened up and let out a breath. No matter what, they had already accepted the favor from the King of Qi this time. They would have to live under someone else's roof in the future, so it would be better to be respectful.

Tiger's eyes turned to the last person, and saw that he had yellow curly hair and a curly beard. He didn't look like a Central Plains person, and he was a little curious: "Who is this..."

Shi Qian immediately glanced at him with a look of disdain, and said as if he had eaten a fly: "This guy is called Duan Jingzhu, he is a horse thief..."

"Nonsense!" Duan Jingzhu hurriedly interrupted Shi Qian and knelt down, "I am Duan Jingzhu, the humble man, to meet His Royal Highness the King of Qi. I am not a horse thief, but I just couldn't bear to see a good horse follow a mediocre person, so I rescued it and presented it to a hero like the King of Qi."

Shi Qian glared at him from the side, with the corners of his mouth almost twisted to his ears.

"Oh?" Lu Bu became interested. "So you want to offer a horse? Or a thousand-mile horse?"

"Yes." Duan Jingzhu did not dare to raise his head: "It is a thousand-mile horse named Zhaoye Jade Lion. I showed it to General Du in Tongzhou." He reached out and pulled out a letter from behind his waist. He knelt on the ground, lowered his head and raised his hand to present it: "This is a letter written by General Du, asking me to give it to the king."

Yu Cheng came over from the side, picked it up, checked it and handed it to Lu Bu. Lu Bu opened it and took a look. His eyes lit up and he looked a little surprised: "You... also know how to judge and raise horses?" (End of this chapter)