Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The days in the first year of Tianshun passed quickly and smoothly.

At the end of the first month of winter, the two-month-long war came to an end in the east of Liaodong. The Jurchens of the Pulumao tribe surrendered and submitted to the rule of Qi. The territory of Qi extended eastward to Shubin Prefecture.

Wang Zheng and Gao Zhen petitioned to open a trading post in the northeast of Lubin Prefecture. The supplies needed by the Jurchens in the East China Sea and the aboriginals in the north were huge, and there were many raw medicinal herbs, pearls and seafood in the east. They could make more money by selling them to Liao and Song.

Lu Bu then listened to the advice of the two and set up a trade market in the northeast. The Jurchen tribes in the northeast still followed the law of the jungle and were naturally admiring of the strong. The Qi army was strong and forced the tribes in the west to surrender in exchange for a chance to survive, which naturally made them look at them differently.

Some tribes bravely went to the market to try, only to find that the prices there were much higher than those of the Khitans, and they could buy a lot of things to keep warm in the winter. Naturally, they were very happy. No one wanted to fight with others for the sake of survival, and the threat from the Jurchens in the East China Sea was temporarily pacified.

In mid-winter, heavy snow fell. The war between Wanyan Sheng and Wanyan Gao, which had lasted for a year, was decided to be suspended for various reasons. Both sides suffered heavy losses. They returned with their remaining troops and licked their wounds in secret. While worrying that Qi would send troops to the north at this time, they unexpectedly sent envoys to Liaoyang Prefecture at the same time to present gifts, BMWs, wild ginseng and other items.

In mid-winter, a ship set out from Dengzhou. The warships of the Pinghai Navy passed through the sea with the wind. The tiny sea flowers were smashed by the bow and turned into white foam.

The figure standing on the side of the ship rubbed his palms, and the ferocious-looking Pharmacist Gao turned around and said, "Everyone...General, are we really going to Liaoyang Prefecture?"

The long journey makes people feel stuffy. Even though it is winter now, people still can't help but come out to get some fresh air.

"What are you talking about?" Zhang Ping was wrapped in thick military uniform, shivering, and raised his hand to his mouth and blew a breath: "The prefect asked us to come here to deliver the horse market decree. If you dare to say go back again, believe it or not, I will chop you with a knife."

Then he shuddered again: "Damn it's so cold, this ocean is really not a place for people to stay. If it weren't for the promotion I could get from this mission, I wouldn't have come here even if I was beaten to death."

In mid-autumn, Wang Shizhong received the imperial edict from Zhao Ji and did not dare to neglect it. He hurriedly selected generals and officers, and after much deliberation, he chose seven people headed by Zhang Ping. Each of them took a temporary official position, carried the imperial edict of Shi Ma, and sailed west to Liaodong on a warship commanded by Ping Hai, together with Gao Yaoshi and others who had drifted to the Song Dynasty due to the wrong wind direction.

"Don't say any more." A fellow officer said, "Let's get across this damn sea quickly and see that Grass King as soon as possible."

Pharmacist Gao's face suddenly changed: "My fellow soldiers, please don't say this loudly, especially in crowded places in Liaodong. If the Qi soldiers hear it, I'm afraid your life will be in danger. They..."

"Shut up!" Zhang Ping glared at him fiercely and cursed, "You are such a spoilsport. If you keep talking nonsense in my ears, I will give you a slap in the face."

A trace of cowardice flashed across Pharmacist Gao's ferocious face, and he involuntarily hid behind the scenes. His whole family was in Dengzhou, and he had no choice but to obey the orders of these Song people.

Dangdangdang——

As they were talking, a soldier with a far-sighted view raised a warning. Zhang Ping and the other seven were not from the navy, so they were startled and quickly pulled the running sailor over: "What's wrong? What happened?"

"We have spotted a ship ahead." The sailor said, "Maybe it's the navy of Qi."

Qi navy?

Zhang Ping and others looked at each other and were a little curious. They were still carrying the secret decree for Hu Yanqing, and they were waiting to meet the so-called "Grassroots Queen" and then go to find the former commander of the Pinghai Navy. However, these seven officers were full of disdain in their hearts, and privately believed that Hu Yanqing was fooled, otherwise he would never make such a choice.

"It's a good opportunity to see what the Qi navy looks like." Zhang Ping curled his lips.

"He can't be much stronger than Ping Haijun. I heard that he used a trick to defeat Hu Yanqing."

"Don't underestimate him. That grass-roots king wreaked havoc in Shandong and Hebei back then, and his subordinates were quite capable. Even Sun Li was defeated by him."

"Things are different now, and the current Pinghai Navy is also different from before. Don't encourage others and destroy your own prestige."

The seven officers on land were talking as they saw the ship with the word "Ruan" on it appear in their sight. The strange appearance of the sea eel ship made them open their eyes wide. They stretched their necks to watch the ship in the distance rushing towards them at lightning speed with its outer wheels. Pharmacist Gao uttered a groaning sound from his throat, squatted down with his head in his hands, and shivered.

"That's a ship too?"

Someone murmured, and there were footsteps behind them, followed by a deep voice: "That's Qi's sea loach boat, it's very convenient on the sea, much faster than our warships. If it wasn't for Hu Yanzhi... Hu Yanqing, we would have suffered losses even if we could have returned."

Several people turned their heads and saw that it was the commander of the ship, Liu Liang. He stroked his beard and said with a breath: "Send an order, send a signal, tell the other party we have no ill intentions." After the signal was sent, the few people who came to deliver the order watched the ship still coming over, perhaps to test whether it was indeed non-hostile.

When the two ships met, Zhang Ping and seven other men saw the crossbowmen standing on the parapet of the building ship pointing their powerful crossbows at them. Their muscles tensed immediately. When the navy looked over, some had scars on their faces and ferocious smiles, while others stared at them with cold eyes. However, none of them had the same sense of respect as the soldiers on the Pinghai navy's ship did when they saw their superiors.

"Gudu..."

Zhang Ping heard a sound coming from his throat and lowered his head uncontrollably. After the boat sailed out, he was silent for a while, then turned to look at Liu Liang: "Is this... is the Qi army like this?"

What he meant to ask was whether all the soldiers of the Qi army were like those on the boat. The expressions of the other few people changed and they also looked over.

Liu Liang was looking at the passing sea eel boat with envy, thinking about when he could sail one of these boats. He paid no attention to the expressions of the seven people and said casually, "Almost the same. The last time I saw him and the other three ships were all like this. Tsk - when can I sail a ship like this?" He stroked his beard and muttered, "The bunch of rubbish in the shipbuilding company only know how to imitate the warships of the previous dynasty. When can they make something new?"

Zhang Ping and his companions' faces changed, and they looked at each other, their eyes randomly darting to each other. After standing in the wind for a while, they turned around and returned to the cabin. Pharmacist Gao, who was squatting in the back, saw everything clearly, and immediately lowered his head and muttered softly: "Damn... these cowardly Song people, aren't they roasting me over the fire?"

Liu Liang stood there without leaving. He didn't hear the voice clearly, so he turned to look at him: "What did you say?"

"It's okay." Pharmacist Gao laughed and stood up, lowered his head and walked quickly past Liu Liang: "I'm going into the cabin. I haven't used the toilet today. Don't worry about me."

Liu Liang took a step to the side and looked at him with disgust on his face: "...barbarian."

The Pinghai navy ship continued to move northwest along the sea line. As it got closer to the Liaodong Bay, it could see patrolling ships from time to time. One sea eel ship after another, or a tower ship, or a Fu ship came into view. On the approaching ships, the officers of the Qi army were holding knives, guns, bows and crossbows, which made Zhang Ping and his companions' hearts beat faster and faster.

When they saw several teams riding war horses and training along the coast, the seven people who were ordered to come to Liaodong could no longer hold their nerves. They found Liu Liang and clamored to return to the Song Dynasty, which gave the commander of the ship a headache. However, they did not dare to offend these seven people too much, so they had to appease them in a gentle voice, saying that they would soon enter the Liaohe River from the sea and would arrive in Liaoyang Prefecture soon.

In the winter, the Ping Navy's ships entered the Yaozhou area. It was the time when the navy was about to change guard. Ruan Xiaowu and Ruan Xiaoqi took the fleet south to replace Hu Yanqing and Ruan Xiaoer who returned to the bay to guard. Seeing the ships coming and surrounding them, the seven people headed by Zhang Ping were a little overwhelmed.

When they arrived at Yaozhou, the Qi soldiers guarding the harbor saw that it was a warship of the Pinghai Navy. In order to be on guard, they sent a team of 500 soldiers to the shore to deploy defenses.

Looking at the faces eager for a fight, Zhang Ping dared not get off the boat no matter what and kept urging them to go back, which made Liu Liang helpless. He tried to persuade them kindly, but these seven people actually wanted to throw the imperial edict into the sea. Liu Liang didn't dare to let them do it, so he had to compromise.

The ship left Yaozhou port in the afternoon, leaving the Qi army on the shore puzzled. They didn't know what these Song people were doing, but the ship had already left and there was no one to guard against it, so they had to withdraw their troops and return to the camp. At the same time, the prefect of Yaozhou wrote a memorial on the matter and sent it to the Liaoyang Prefecture.

In the last quarter of winter, many hungry people who fled from Liaodong to the Liao Kingdom were placed in Zhongjing and Shangjing. King Yelu Chun of Yan recruited hungry people as soldiers. A Han Chinese from Liaodong named Guo Yaoshi volunteered and was assigned to the Qianxian camp as a commander to guard against the westward advance of the Qi army. Guo Yaoshi proposed to capture Liaoxi Prefecture, but was rejected.

The eighth year of Zhenghe in Song Dynasty, the eighth year of Tianqing in Liao Dynasty, the second year of Tianshun in Qi Dynasty, the first month of spring.

The Pinghai Navy warship carrying Gao Yaoshi and others entered Qingzhou and stopped at the government office Yidu. Cui Zhigong, the appeaser of Qingzhou, was furious when he heard about this, and hurriedly wrote a memorial to the capital. Zhao Ji felt ashamed after reading the memorial. He first issued an oral order to scold Wang Shizhong, who selected the officers, and then with a stroke of his pen, he exiled these seven people to Lingnan and Northwest respectively.

Tong Guan, who had not left the capital, was suddenly moved when he heard this. He quickly changed into court clothes and rushed into the palace to ask for an audience despite the cold weather.

Zhao Ji was painting in the imperial study at this time. When he heard that Tong Guan was coming, he became curious and quickly called him in. The eunuch bowed and spoke directly.

"Your Majesty, I heard that the mission to Liaodong failed, and I secretly thought that there must be something wrong with the envoy." He glanced at Zhao Ji's uneasy face and bowed his head and said, "I have a candidate. This person is courageous and resourceful, eloquent, and knows the people of Khitan and Liaodong. He can definitely persuade Qi to attack and destroy Liao together and recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun."

"Oh?" Zhao Ji's expression brightened up. "Who would you like to recommend, Daofu?"

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten?" Tong Guan stood up and smiled, "I was sent as an envoy to the Liao Kingdom a few years ago and brought back a person."

Zhao Ji looked suddenly enlightened: "It's that guy... um...", but he frowned as he couldn't remember the name.

"Li Liangsi."

Tong Guan reminded. (End of this chapter)