Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Li Jun has been having a headache recently. Since last year, Li Fu has gradually faded out of the sight of the gangsters in Jieyangling. All the "work" in the private salt, fish market, dock, etc. has been handed over to this gangster. He himself occasionally drifts on the river by boat, and often sleeps wherever he goes. If he drifts too far, he will row back.

But in such an easy life, Li Jun was responsible for all matters on the water, including the private salt business in cooperation with the Chai family, the boss of all the fishermen in Xunyang River, and even the coolies at the dock had to rely on his opinion whether they could get a job. But after a while, what made Li Jun uncomfortable was that his career had reached its peak.

He could not get into the eyes of the big men in the officialdom, nor could he bow down to the brothers Mu Hong and Mu Chun. Even in the city, there was a man named Ma Xiong who, relying on his elder brother being in the army, found a job as a yamen runner, and gathered a group of idlers to collect money. While fighting with the two brothers of the Mu family, he also made Li Jun outside the city hate him. There was no other reason, but people who came to the city to sell fish and deliver goods would be skinned by him. Over time, some people blamed him for being useless.

Unfortunately, Ma Xiong had the government behind him, so it was not easy to kill him rashly. He was not ready to turn against the government. After all, becoming a bandit required the right time, place, and people.

Squatting on the bow, Li Jun looked at his reflection on the river and touched his messy beard helplessly. He had been so busy in the past two days that he had no time to take care of his beard.

The sound of rowing came to his ears. Li Jun turned his head and saw the Tong brothers rowing towards him. Seeing him, Tong Meng jumped over from the boat and said, "Brother Jun, it's a big deal."

"What's the big deal?" Li Jun was confused seeing his excitement. The contraband salt had just been sold, and they had just started fishing when the weather got warmer. The dock was also calm. How could there be any big deal?
Just as the thought was about to start, Tong Meng said beside him, "The brother rowing the boat down below said that he had just taken three guests across the river, one of whom was Song Jiang, the timely rain from Shandong, a very famous person in the martial arts world. I heard about it and came to tell you."

"Song Jiang? What is he doing here?" Li Jun stood up and frowned: "Shandong is so far away..."

Tong Meng didn't care: "Even though they were far away, Lu Bu came just the same, and brought so many people with him."

Li Jun opened his mouth to say something was different, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that there was no difference, so he simply shut up and listened to him saying, "Besides, Song Jiang should have been exiled here. There are golden words tattooed on his face, and he said he was going to Jiangzhou."

"Exile?" Li Jun said in surprise. He looked at his partner nodding, and thought for a while while stroking his chin. "Then he must have gone to Jiangzhou. Ha, I heard that he worked for the government. If he hadn't done anything wrong, we wouldn't have gotten to know him rashly. Now that he's been exiled, we might as well go over and get to know him and make some friends."

"How do we get to know him?" Tong Wei stopped the boat and jumped over, just in time to hear him say, "We can't just go up there and tell people you're a good man and we want to get to know him, wouldn't that be too embarrassing for you, Jun Ge'er?"

Li Jun thought about it and clapped his hands: "Got it, if he wants to go to Jiangzhou, he must pass through Jieyangling. The hotel over there has been opened and Shi Quan is managing it. Hmm..." He turned to look at Tong Meng: "When did he get ashore?"

"It just came up, not even a cup of tea."

"Okay, you two take a shortcut over there, and ask Shi Quan to find a way to keep him for a while. I'll be there soon."

The two responded and ran away shaking their whips. At this time, Song Jiang had no idea that some local bullies wanted to "get to know" him, so he continued to walk slowly. He even took a rest on the side of the road when he was tired. However, he was overtaken by the Tong brothers who took a shortcut and set out later.

When he arrived at the Jieyang Ridge Tavern, he was tired and thirsty. He saw the wine sign hanging high up and was overjoyed. The three of them went forward to eat and drink. However, Shi Quan, the Golden Carp, was a man of the world who was not very polite. He felt that he was not good at talking and could not keep Song Jiang with his lips and tongue. He simply took a packet of knockout drug and knocked the three people down. He moved a recliner and sat beside the three people, rocking and singing a little song he heard in the brothel while waiting for Li Jun to come.

Tong Meng came out and saw the situation and was helpless. He simply turned a blind eye and went to sit at another table to drink, while looking through the packages of Song Jiang and the other two. After reading the official documents and confirming that it was the person, he breathed a sigh of relief. He kicked Shi Quan and asked him to come over to drink with him. For a while, the two of them chatted and played fist-fighting happily. However, there were three people who were fast asleep at the table next to them, which looked uncoordinated.

It was almost dark, and Li Junhe was waiting for his Tong Wei to come along. At this time, this Hunjianglong had changed into a set of brocade clothes, and his messy beard had been shaved clean, leaving only a well-groomed short beard. He was also a bully on the banks of the Xunyang River and Jieyang Ridge, so naturally he had some momentum, and looked a little more majestic.

Tong Meng and Shi Quan received the food and drinks, and Li Jun went forward to wake up Song Jiang. After a conversation, they all felt that they had the same sense of righteousness and talked happily. Li Jun immediately changed his mind and asked them to stay overnight.

That night, despite the strong persuasion of Hunjianglong, Zhang Qian and Li Wan trembling in a room, listening to Song Jiang chatting with these heroes outside from time to time. They wished they could grow wings and fly to Jiangzhou. However, when the next day dawned, looking at the gold and silver treasures presented by Li Jun, they wished Song Jiang could stay for two more days. But their words did not count, and they finally followed Song Jiang and left Jieyang Ridge.

The two messengers thought they could have a smooth journey to Jiangzhou, but they were surprised again in Jieyang Town at the foot of the mountain. Fortunately, Song Jiang was also famous enough, and he became the host when he met Mu Hong, Mu Chun and Xue Yong. It was not until Li Jun and the Tong brothers received the news and came to the county town to stay with him for nearly a month that he took the big bag of gold and silver, bid farewell to everyone with tears, and left this small county town.

But on the way, I was full of emotion. We have known each other for such a long time and I have heard a lot of things from the past. It turned out that Lu Bu was active in this area and defeated the Vegetable-eating Demon Cult in the south so that they dared not cross the border again. Thinking of the grand occasion of Liangshan Marsh in the past, I always felt uncomfortable, but I couldn't tell what was wrong. I thought I had pink eye disease.

At the end of midsummer, the three finally stepped into the territory of Jiangzhou Prefecture. Zhang Qian and Li Wan were reluctant to leave their jobs. The more than 200 taels of silver in their backpacks were their own money. Although they could not compare with Song Jiang, the money was enough for them to find a place to live and become rich. After leaving the hall where they handed in their jobs, the two looked at Song Jiang for a long time without saying anything. Song Jiang was also surprised. He looked at the two of them and asked, "But there are some problems with the delivery? Do you need money to arrange it?"

The two looked at each other and shook their heads. Li Wan said, "No, I just feel a little reluctant when I think about parting with Brother Gongming."

Zhang Qian also sighed: "To be honest, we two didn't help at all along the way. Instead, it was Brother Gongming who ran around all the time. It's really..."

"What do I think?" Song Jiang laughed. "It's nothing. The three of us have come here together through hardships. It doesn't matter who contributed more or less."

The two looked at each other again, with some hesitation on their faces. Song Jiang was a shrewd man, so he could see that they were in trouble. He took the initiative to ask: "Brothers, do you need anything? If Song Jiang can help, please ask, and I will definitely help you."

Zhang Qian rubbed his hands: "It's not a big deal...", and laughed: "Brother Gongming, can you give me a certificate or something, so that we can go back... Yeah, that... right?"

Song Jiang was puzzled.

Li Wan smacked his lips and stamped his feet: "Why not just tell you straight out? Thanks to your care, we have earned some money to settle down. On the way back, if some mountain warrior doesn't like us and robs us, then... this..."

"Oh..." Song Jiang understood, laughed, thought for a moment and said: "Don't worry, two brothers. The heroes along the way will definitely not do this. If you need anything, just tell me your name and say that you drove me all the way south. This is my hard work fee for you two. No one dares to ask for it casually."

"This..." The two blinked: "Is it okay?"

"I will definitely do it." Song Jiang said firmly: "Song Jiang still has some face in the martial arts world, so you two brothers can rest assured."

"Thank you so much, Brother Gongming." The two men then left with many thanks.

Song Jiang breathed a sigh of relief and then entered the prison camp. As luck would have it, Dai Zong was on duty that day. He was surprised to see two officers bowing to a prisoner, so he called Song Jiang over. After a conversation, he found out that he was a well-known hero in the world. He also liked making friends, so he took Song Jiang out for a drink. While eating and drinking, he got to know Wu Yong and was even more delighted.

It was also Song Jiang's good luck. Today, a jailer played a trick on a group of gamblers. They robbed people's money and came to this restaurant to drink. They were drinking and making trouble. Dai Zong saw them and came up to scold them.

Song Jiang found it interesting to see a tall and burly man like him being scolded by Dai Zong, so he couldn't help but say a few nice words to him, but the jailer looked down on him instead. Dai Zong laughed and scolded him, "You fool, do you know who this is?"

The dark-faced man yelled, "I don't care who it is! Even the king of heaven can't control me!"

Dai Zong was not annoyed, and pointed at Song Jiang and said: "This is the timely rain of Shandong, Song Jiang, Song Gongming, whom you nag about every day."

The big black man's eyes widened: "Oh! My brother! Don't you dare lie to me!"

"Why would I lie to you? This is really Song Jiang."

"I am Li Kui, the humble servant, and I am here to meet Brother Gongming!"

The tall figure knelt on the ground and knocked his head to the ground. (End of this chapter)