Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Song Jiang started to live a very comfortable life in Jiangzhou.

Of course, this was before he wrote the poem on the wall. When he wrote this, everyone in the Wuwei Army was very happy.

Huang Wenbing, nicknamed Flying Brand and Hornet Sting, was unlucky. After Lu Bu left, he was immediately reported by the new governor. Fortunately, he was able to protect himself and was not exiled to a remote and evil military state. However, it was impossible for him to stay in his official position, so he ended up being unemployed at home.

However, Huang Wenbing was not one to surrender easily. After making inquiries from various sources, he learned that the new prefect of Jiangzhou, Cai Dezhang, was the ninth son of the current Grand Tutor Cai Jing. He then flew over like a fly smelling blood, and spent the entire day hanging around this young master Cai.

The poems written by Song Jiang happened to be seen by him, so he simply used all his skills to send Song Jiang to the "throne" of the bandit leader, so that Cai Jiu and Cai Dezhang could not only make contributions but also get some benefits. With Cai Jing's ability, just saying his name would be enough to let him return to officialdom. With such a promising future, how could Song Jiang escape?
Therefore, this timely rain of Shandong, the owner of Dengyun Mountain, the distinguished guest of Jieyang Ridge, and the new favorite of Jiangzhou Prison Camp was sent to the state prison.

"My brother, you've suffered so much. I never expected that Huang Wenbing was so vicious that he couldn't get away even if he pretended to be crazy." Dai Zong sighed as he looked at Song Jiang's bloody buttocks. "I've accepted an assignment from the prefect Cai and will be away from Jiangzhou for a while to go to the prime minister's residence. I will find a way to rescue you then." He paused and said, "Li Kui will take care of your meals every day. You won't have to worry about him watching over you."

Song Jiang gritted his teeth, sweat dripping from his forehead and temples: "I hope my dear brother can save my life." He crawled to the prison door twice and grabbed the wooden fence: "My brothers are in Dengyun Mountain. Please ask someone to take a message to them, saying that I am in trouble and may not be able to return, and ask them not to wait for me."

Dai Zong nodded silently, listening to Song Jiang's directions, and continued: "There is also Chao Baozheng, he lives in Fangshan, west of Beijing. If he knew that something happened to me, he would be extremely anxious..." Dai Zong was about to refuse when he heard: "Professor Wu is with him."

"...Okay." After thinking for a moment, Dai Zong nodded: "It only takes about 20 days to go from Bianliang to Jingxi. Brother, I will just say that I accidentally got sick on the way."

Song Jiang exhaled: "Thank you, brother."

"Take care, brother." Dai Zong bowed to Song Jiang and said to Li Kui, "You black fellow, be alert. Don't let the bad guys take his life in prison. Don't go out to drink and starve your brother."

"Don't worry, brother." Li Kui patted his black-haired chest with great force, making a dull thud. "Brother, I will stop drinking from today. If you drink again, you will be a damned dog!"

Dai Zong laughed: "You bastard...", shook his head, and bowed to Song Jiang: "Brother, I'm leaving first, take care!"

"Have a safe journey, brother." Song Jiang said, and watched Dai Zong leave. Then he stared at Li Kui for a while. The black man stared at him without blinking, which made Song Jiang uncomfortably lean forward: "Why is Tie Niu looking at me like this?"

"I have to look after my brother and make sure he doesn't get hurt. Don't worry about me. I'm fine if I don't sleep for a few days."

"..." Song Jiang's expression was somewhat interesting, but he didn't know what to say.

In late summer, the weather started to get hot. Not to mention that Dai Zong was traveling quickly on foot, but ever since Zong Ze's son Zong Ying came back from Dengzhou, he told his father Zong Ze and the prefect Wang Shizhong about what he had seen and heard at sea. The two important officials of Dengzhou looked solemn, and they immediately inquired about the situation in Liaodong from all sides.

It took several months to collect all the information about what Lu Bu had done in Liaodong.

When the two men were preparing to write a joint letter, a Liao refugee ship sailed south to Dengzhou and was intercepted by the Dengzhou navy. After a conversation, they learned that it was a man named Gao Yaoshi, Cao Xiaocai and Seng Langrong who led 200 of their relatives, young and old, to Goryeo to escape the war. Due to a sudden change in wind direction at sea, they drifted to Dengzhou. Upon hearing the news, the two men hurriedly wrote a letter to explain the matter.

"Such a big thing actually happened in Liaodong..."

Zhao Ji laughed and threw the memorial written by Wang and Zong to Tong Guan: "Daofu and Cai Xiang can take a look. The entire west of Liaodong is no longer owned by the Khitans. I am so happy."

Leaning against the gilded chair behind him, Zhao Ji opened his folding fan and fanned it twice before snapping it away. He leaned forward and said with great interest: "I never thought that a bandit from the Song Dynasty could occupy one-third of the land. What do you think? If I send troops to Liao at this time, can I take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?"

The eunuchs who were serving stood by and watched his nose with their eyes and their heart with their noses, thinking themselves to be deaf and blind.

Tong Guan handed the memorial to Cai Jing after reading it. He thought to himself that if the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were so easy to take back, he would have done it long ago. However, he said calmly, "Your Majesty, this is not a good time to send troops. The main force of the army has been on the side of Western Xia. If we want to take back Yanyun in one fell swoop, we have to beat them hard once and for all and make them hide in their rat holes. Otherwise, if our army withdraws, the Western Xia people will definitely move upon hearing the news. If we lose the land because of this, it will be bad." He stroked his beard, which should never be seen by a man like him. "Moreover, the art of war is to know yourself and the enemy, so that you can fight a hundred battles without danger. Now that our dynasty has not fought a war with Liao for many years, we don't know much about its internal situation. I hope Your Majesty will allow us to collect domestic intelligence before fighting it."

Zhao Ji's face froze for a moment, and his happy smile disappeared.

Cai Jing also put down his memorial and said, "Your Majesty, the national treasury cannot provide so much money and grain for the war with Liao at once."

Seeing Zhao Ji's uneasy expression, this evergreen official still said slowly: "Of course, if the emperor must fight, I support it. I just hope that the treasury can lend some money. Then I guarantee that I can immediately promote the Northern Expedition." After a pause, he continued: "But after all, our dynasty has an alliance with Liao, so I hope the emperor can ask someone to write a manifesto to seize the righteousness before sending troops."

"My dear minister, you don't have to take it seriously. I also know that this is not a good time to launch a northern expedition, so I was just joking." Zhao Ji laughed and never mentioned the matter of sending troops again.

Tong Guan thought over and over again, and then he saluted and said, "Your Majesty, I have an idea." Seeing Zhao Ji looking at him, he deliberately straightened his burly body and said, "In the early days of the country, the Jurchens often came to pay tribute, and Emperor Taizong repeatedly issued edicts to buy horses from the Jurchens, but this was stopped after Emperor Taizong. Now that Lu Bu from Qi State came from my Great Song Dynasty, isn't he better than the Jurchens? If Your Majesty can issue an edict to enfeoff a small state with a big country, and then follow Emperor Taizong's old practice, in the name of buying goods, we can send people to investigate the truth of the matter." He licked his lips and said, "If they can really stop the Liao attack, we should let them contain the Khitans, and we can take the opportunity to recover Yanyun. If they can't, our dynasty can buy more of their horses, and we won't have to worry about military horses from then on."

bang——

Zhao Ji slapped the table and laughed: "Daofu, what you said is good, it is exactly what I want." He turned to look at Cai Jing: "What do you think, Prime Minister Cai?"

Cai Jing bowed slightly and said, "I have no objection."

"Then do it this way." Zhao Ji made the decision on the spot: "Come here, pass on my order. Select officers from the royal army of Dengzhou, and send them to Liaodong to buy horses with the Pinghai Army as their escort, following the Pharmacist Gao."

"Yes."

A eunuch hurriedly took note and was about to leave, but Zhao Ji suddenly stretched out his hand to beckon him, "Come back, and pass another secret decree to Hu Yanqing. If he is willing to bring the ship blueprint back to the Song Dynasty, I will forgive his past and promote him to the position of Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard."

"Yes."

The eunuch who took note of the situation hurried out, and soon, cavalrymen came out of Bianliang.

……

At the end of summer, Dai Zong rode at full speed all the way to Dengyun Mountain in Dengzhou. At this time, the mountain had a different atmosphere. After being trained by Song Jiang, these minions sent out scouts twenty miles away, in groups of five miles each. Ordinary merchants and pedestrians passing by could be detected clearly from afar, and then the information could be sent to the mountain at an extremely fast speed.

Unfortunately, Dai Zong was three times faster than these scouts. Often, when someone saw him coming, before they could report him up the mountain, this speedster had already run far away, leaving the people behind him cursing in anger.

When Dai Zong came to the outside of the stronghold as Song Jiang said and knocked on the door at the top of his lungs, some of the followers knew that someone was coming to pay a visit to the mountain, and they hurried in to inform the uncle and nephew of the Zou family.

Today, Sun Xin happened to be here. The three of them were drinking and chatting. When they heard someone coming to pay respect to the mountain below, the two men who were bragging about how well their mountain strongholds were under Song Jiang's command blushed. Zou Yuan stood up suddenly and said, "Damn it, it must be the spies outside who were lazy. They didn't know until they got to the door. I'll skin them alive later."

With his broadsword in hand, he ran out of the gate with his nephew. Sun Xin was afraid that the two of them might get drunk and cause trouble, so he covered his face with a black cloth, took up his gun and went out. As soon as they opened the gate, Zou Yuan pointed his finger and shouted, "Hey! Where did you come from..."

"Are the ones coming here the Lin Long and Zou Yuan brothers?" Dai Zong was anxious and took a step forward, clasped his fists and bowed.

“Ah…” His words were interrupted, and the index finger that was pointing at someone bent unconsciously. Zou Yuan let out a breath with an awkward expression: “It’s me.”

"My name is Dai Zong. I came from Jiangzhou. Brother Gongming asked me to come and tell you the news. He is now trapped in the Jiangzhou prison. I hope Brother Zou can help me?"

"What did you say?" The three people who walked out of the village gate widened their eyes. Sun Xin pulled off the black scarf covering his face and said, "Brother, come into the village and we will talk in detail."

"Yes, yes, yes." Zou Yuan also held the broadsword upside down: "Come with me."

Dai Zong had no choice but to refuse. The three of them crowded into the mountain stronghold and asked someone to put it away. After hearing the whole story, Zou Yuan threw the wine bowl to the ground with a bang: "How dare the shameless dog official An frame my brother! He will not be spared."

Then he clasped his fists towards Dai Zongyi and said, "Thank you, Brother Dai, for coming to tell me. Otherwise, the situation would be urgent."

Dai Zong nodded and said, "Song Gongming is also my brother. How can I bear to watch him die? There is still some time before autumn. I still have to go to Jingxi to inform the Heavenly King Chao Gai. Maybe he will be willing to help me. Wait until I return to Jiangzhou from the Prime Minister's Mansion in two months. Then I can wait for another month at most. If something happens, please make a decision quickly."

The three of them clasped their fists and said, "That's a relief."

"Then I will go to the west of Beijing to look for that person first." Dai Zong said as he stood up and walked out.

The three of them knew that time was running out, so they didn't dare to keep him. They got up and sent him down the mountain. Sun Xin then said, "I'll go home and discuss it with my wife first. We'll get together again in the evening."

Having said that, she left in a flash. When she got home, she told the matter to Mrs. Gu. The tiger slammed her hand on the table and said, "Brother Gongming must be rescued. Call Jie Zhen and Jie Bao, and we will go up the mountain to talk to the uncle and nephew of the Zou family in detail." (End of this chapter)