Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Ji Xia.

Someone from the Ministry of Rites of Qi State, which no one paid attention to in the past, now visited on a regular basis every day. Some people reported that there was a quarrel in the Ministry of Rites, and some said that they heard the sound of bowls and tables being smashed, but no one had time to guard outside the government office, and in the end no one knew who was making trouble inside.

However, what no one noticed was that knights on fast horses kept rushing out of the Ministry of Rites and heading for the palace. A few days later, a knight ran out of Liaoyang Prefecture and ran along the official road to an unknown destination.

In mid-summer, some soldiers entered the residence of the Song Dynasty envoys and politely asked half of them, led by Gao Yaoshi, to leave. Then an official named Li Shanqing led his men and horses and the somewhat unhappy Song Dynasty envoy Ma Zheng southward to Yaozhou Port.

"Hope everything goes well."

Yang Pu, who was seeing them off, stood on the top of the city wall and scratched his beard as he watched the troops going away. Several days of fighting had made this doctor from the Ministry of Rites a little tired, but his spirit was extremely excited.

The city gate captain Duo La, who was standing nearby and also looking into the distance, had an indescribable expression on his face. After a while, he said, "I never thought that Qi would be so prosperous today. Even the big country in the south would come to form an alliance with us."

“This is not something that can be discussed lightly.”

Yang Pu turned around and looked at him, then walked towards the city. Duo La's face changed and he was just frowning when he heard a voice from afar: "Qi will become even stronger in the future. Let's encourage each other."

"Hmm? Hmm..." Duo La grinned.

……

cuckoo-

Seagulls flapped their wings and flew high into the sky. A ship with the flag bearing the character "Li" was moored at the pier. Three sea eel boats clamped the Pinghai navy's ship. The Qi navy, wearing black water jackets, walked onto the deck with their neatly arranged spears pointing to the sky. Someone in the front row was holding a bow and looking over here.

The Song army on the ship became nervous, and many sailors could not help but put down their weapons. "Put them down! Put them down!" "Don't cause misunderstanding!" "Don't be impulsive!" The soldiers were at a loss for a few breaths, and had to put down their hands and stand there, with gossip passing back and forth on the ship.

"What are these barbarians going to do?"

"Don't look over there. It is said that if you look at it for too long you will be pulled out and eaten."

"...Where did you hear this rumor?"

"Ah? Aren't all the people in Liaodong cannibalistic?"

Liu Liang and Wang Mei walked out of the cabin and headed towards the side of the ship. The voices gradually stopped as they passed by. When he stood still, the sailors on the ship all stopped talking and looked at the two naval commanders quietly.

Liu Liang looked around while leaning on the wooden railing and took a breath: "Everyone go back to the cabin."

Several generals outside looked at each other, said "yes", and walked slowly towards the cabin with the soldiers on the deck, fearing that arrows would be shot at them if they walked a little faster.

Liu Liang stood there quietly, not caring about the thoughts of the sailors behind him. Wang Mei came over and stood aside: "What do these Qi people want to do? They are neither attacking nor retreating. What's the meaning of surrounding them like this?"

"You ask me, how would I know?" Liu Liang leaned back slightly and said, "It's good that they don't attack. After all, it's their territory. Let's wait and see what happens."

Wang Mei had no idea and could only watch here with Liu Liang. However, they found that these Qi soldiers seemed to be just trying to scare them. Half an hour later, as the flag signals were sent over there, the Qi sailors on the deck began to withdraw, leaving only a few people on duty, leaning on spears and iron spears and watching over here.

The two men then breathed a sigh of relief and did not dare to ask what the Qi army was doing. They just instructed their sailors not to cause trouble, arranged the sentry posts, and then returned to the cabin.

So at noon the next day, a group of people and horses ran towards the port from outside. The sentry on the ship ran in and knocked on the cabin door: "Commander, Ma Qinxia is back with his men." Liu Liang was overjoyed and hurriedly called Wang Mei and the other man to go up to the deck to greet them. However, when the two of them reached the side of the ship, they all stopped. Below them, hundreds of Qi soldiers in black military uniforms were surrounding Ma Zheng. Among the crowd, a young general riding a white horse and wearing silver armor looked very handsome. Next to Ma Zheng, there was a man in black official uniform.

"Is this... a successful mission?" Wang Mei blinked and spoke softly behind Liu Liang.

"...How would I know?" Liu Liang replied softly, and ordered someone to put down the wooden ladder. He replied softly: "But Pharmacist Gao is not here... What's the situation?"

In sight, officials and runners from the Shipping Department began to disperse the civilians and merchants who were blocking the road, and the black soldiers walked towards the ferry with roaring footsteps.

"Emissary Ma." Li Shanqing smiled slightly as he looked at the Song ship sandwiched between the two sea eel boats, and bowed to Ma Zheng: "The next journey still needs your guidance. General Hua and I will follow in our ship."

"That's as it should be." Ma Zheng nodded, then looked at Hua Rong, and then said to Li Shanqing: "In fact, our Song Dynasty came with 120,000 sincerity this time, so there is no need for your country to detain half of the people."

Li Shanqing smiled: "Your Majesty, of course, believes in your country's sincerity, but we, as your subjects, have to be careful. We can't help but judge others by our own standards. Please forgive us." Then he looked at the ship over there and said: "It's getting late today. Please ask the envoy to come on board and ask if there is a shortage of fruits and vegetables. I can send someone to deliver them immediately. If not, we can set off for Bianliang earlier."

"That's what Li Langguan said."

Ma Zheng was so angry that he had to nod his head. He dismounted with the remaining ten guards, walked to the Pinghai Navy warship, and climbed up the wooden ladder.

Li Shanqing looked up, turned to the side and bowed to Hua Rong: "I'm sorry to trouble General Hua to escort you this time."

"No need to be like this, it's all for the sake of state affairs." Hua Rong reached out his hand to support him, and said in a gentle voice: "You are so polite, don't you want to thank General Li Bao after you get on the boat? You must be the main envoy to Song this time, why are you so polite?"

"The more courtesy, the less blame." Li Shanqing replied with a smile. After hearing someone on the Song ship shouting, "Everything is ready, we can leave at any time," he said to Hua Rong, "General, let's get on board too."

Hua Rong nodded, dismounted his horse, gave a call, and led his 200 guards to the eel boat in batches.

……

On board the Navy ship.

"Ma Qinxia, ​​are these Qi people going to follow us too?" Liu Liang's eyes flickered as he looked at the black figure that started to move.

Ma Zheng nodded helplessly: "Most of the things we discussed with Qi this time can be agreed to, but there are some things that I cannot decide, so Qi sent an envoy to return with you and me."

"Humph, the elementary school students are making trouble and have detained Pharmacist Gao and others." Wang Mei frowned, "They only have three ships. If we really want to attack them, even if we have ten ships, it won't be of much use."

"Okay, stop talking." Liu Liang saw that Ma Zheng was frowning and knew that he was in a bad mood. He persuaded his old friend and said to Ma Zheng, "Qian Xia, is it okay to leave Pharmacist Gao in Qi like this?"

"Nothing serious." Ma Zheng shook his head and looked into the distance. "At most, he will be worried for a while. I can feel that Qi also wants to fight Liao, so there is not much resistance to the alliance, and he and others will not lose their lives."

He retracted his gaze and looked at Liu Liang: "When these Qi soldiers get on the boat, you will send a flag signal. We are in the front and they are behind. Let's go back to Dengzhou first."

"Yes."

Soon, the four ships formed a T-shape and headed south. (End of this chapter)