Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

"drive--"

The whips made crisp sounds in the air. On both sides of the winding road, the people who wanted to avoid the horses hid behind the trees. They didn't look out until the sound of horse hooves faded away. In the dim sky, a dozen cavalrymen were whipping their horses desperately and running forward like the wind.

"Hurry, hurry, go back this way."

Occasionally, the leader would shout and lead the team to a fork in the road.

There was the sound of horse hooves, and the setting sun hung stubbornly in a corner of the sky. I stretched my head to look at the white moonlight that was revealing its shape, but it was still sinking a little bit, and the dark blue began to color the sky.

As the light fell, a figure appeared on the road ahead, waving his hands and shouting, "The one in front, if you don't want to die, get out of the way!"

The figure moving forward suddenly stopped, and then a voice of "Stop them!" came into the ears, and the soldiers on the horses suddenly felt the hairs on their bodies stand up.

On the opposite side, someone put something on his arm.

Amid the turbulence, the soldier could still clearly see the outlines of the movements on the opposite side, and an instinctive flash of inspiration came to his mind.

Damn it!
Crossbow!

"enemy……"

Whoosh whoosh—

The crossbow arrow suddenly shot into the man's throat, and the screaming figure fell from the warhorse into the sky. Some of the remaining soldiers instinctively reined in their horses, while others tried to use the speed of their horses to rush forward.

The figure in front who had just finished shooting a round suddenly squatted down, and the man holding the crossbow at the back pulled the trigger, and another row of crossbow arrows flew out. A horse was startled and neighed, and stood up, but the figure on its back had already been shot by an arrow and fell to the ground.

"Run! They are the enemy troops!"

choke--

The sword was unsheathed, and several figures ran over from the side when the crossbow shot arrows. They jumped up and chopped people off their horses with a single sword.

The figure standing up on the opposite side grabbed the horse that had lost its owner, and then the person who checked the horse cursed: "Damn it, it's a mule horse, it can't go to the battlefield, it's all useless."

The comrade next to him was also helpless and consoled him by saying, "It's better to have a means of transportation than to have none."

The screams gradually faded, and the place where the killing had taken place smelled bloody. The crowd parted, and Zhang Shun came out with a knife in his hand: "Did anyone of you leave anyone alive?"

The sailors around looked at each other, then looked down at the motionless corpse. Someone scratched his head and said, "This... General, you were just thinking about killing people, and you were aiming at the vital parts."

"Yes, General. The ground here is not as rocky as the sea. Shooting these people riding mules and horses is like shooting at a target. It's not difficult."

"Stop talking nonsense like that. There's no one alive, right?" Zhang Shun glared at them with a dark face, then stepped forward and asked loudly, "Are there any alive over there?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Yang Lin's voice rang out from the side in front of him. Just before dark, his face looked blurry, and he was dragging a figure towards him: "I didn't hit this guy hard enough, so he didn't die."

A groan came from the mouth of the person behind Yang Lin.

Then, not far away, voices came one after another: "This guy is also alive." "This guy is still breathing."

"Bring it here quickly."

Zhang Shun was overjoyed and looked back. Li Zhu walked over with a long sword hanging from his waist and twirling his beard. He bent down to look at the soldiers dragged over by Yang Lin.

"You...what are you going to do!?"

The Song army soldier who was stabbed in the arm couldn't help but kick the ground to get away.

Li Zu suddenly smiled, drew his sword with a "puff", and stabbed it into the man's thigh.

"Ah--" the soldier screamed and reached out to cover the wound from the sword, wanting to do so but not daring to.

"I ask, you answer." Li Zu squatted down, tilted his head to look at him, and pointed to the side with his free index finger bent: "There are two survivors over there, understand?"

"Ming...understand."

Assistant Li nodded with satisfaction: "Good boy."

Stand up and raise your hands.

"Ah——" Another scream, and blood gushed out from the place where the sword was pulled out.

The soldier wanted to cry but had no tears. He wanted to say that he had kept his mouth shut and didn't need to strike the man with a sword. However, when he saw the smiling face of the middle-aged man, he felt a chill down his spine and his bladder felt a little swollen.

Li Zhu didn't care what he was thinking. He waved his hand to signal the two sailors with the survivors to stop in the distance. He held up the bloody sword and said calmly, "Which army are you from and where are you going?"

"I am a soldier from Huanqing, serving as the vanguard under Commander Wang." The soldier was sweating from the pain. One of his arms was injured by Yang Lin. He held the bleeding spot with one hand and dared not move. He just said quickly, "The vanguard saw the enemy - there are many volunteers, so we dare not fight. Let's return quickly to report to the commander and lead the army south."

"Um……"

Not paying attention to the abrupt turn, Li Zhu twisted his beard and looked up at the sky, which had changed color. He wondered what he was thinking, then lowered his head and asked, "Where did Fang La fight in Xiuzhou?"

The soldier kept saying, "Jiaxing, they have reached Jiaxing! I saw it from the hill at dinner time yesterday, but they didn't take it down."

Then he figured out something: "The hero...isn't he a member of the Rebel Army?"

Assistant Li glanced at him and said nothing. He just walked to the side and separated the other two captives and questioned them separately. Then he waved his hand and said, "Tell them to shut up."

When a sailor drew his sword and stepped forward, the soldiers shouted, "I've already said it myself, why are you still trying to kill me?", and were stabbed to death on the spot by the other side, and then dragged aside and buried.

The naval soldiers found torches and lit them with tinder. The flames jumped a few times in the air, and the dim light added a touch of brilliance to the rising moonlight.

"Brother Li." Zhang Shun stepped forward and asked, "What should we do next?"

Li Zhu stroked his chin and said, "Let's go to Jiaxing at night to have a look."

Turning his head to look towards Suzhou, he said, "If nothing unexpected happens, the Song army will come here via the Grand Canal. They should appear in Xiuzhou at any time. If Fang La's army fails to take Jiaxing by then, they will probably retreat in defeat."

"Brother Li, you mean Fang La couldn't defeat the Song army?" Zhang Shun looked at him and raised his eyebrows: "Back then, Your Majesty slaughtered them like slaughtering dogs."

"The soldiers from Huanqing are from the Western Army." Li Zhu squinted at him and said, "When did you start to think that the Song army was weak?"

Zhang Shun scratched his head and looked at Yang Lin, Ma Lin and Shi Qian who were silent. "When we were in Liangshan, weren't they very weak? The Western Army was also defeated by us."

Yang Lin and Ma Lin nodded. Shi Qian was shocked and slapped his thigh: "I was not in Liangshan at that time... Damn it, I missed so many good things."

"It was because of Your Majesty that we won. We spent so much effort to get those weapons and armors. If it weren't for the help of the officials from Jingdong..."

Li Zhu shook his head and paused: "However, looking at the territory of Song, Zhu has never seen the Song army lose any battle to quell rebellions, let alone mobilizing the Western Army to march south."

Zhang Shun opened his mouth, thought about it, and nodded depressedly, admitting that he was right, and then spread his hands: "Then what should I do?"

"We have to go take a look first. I am also curious about what the Fang La army that is crisscrossing the southeast looks like."

Assistant Li twisted his beard with a smile on his face: "But we still don't have enough manpower. We need more people to be safe."

Then he turned to Yang Lin: "Yang Lin, take five people back to the port, and then bring a hundred people out. Only a few sailors will be left on the ship to watch over the ship." "I'll go now." Yang Lin nodded. Knowing that time was running out, he quickly ordered five sailors to run back with torches.

"Shi Qian."

The drummer who was named straightened his back and said, "You are alert. Take five people on horseback to explore the way ahead. If you see Fang La's army in Jiaxing, find a way to find out their whereabouts."

"Leave it to me."

Shi Qian patted his chest, called five people, brought the captured mules and horses over, picked out six strong ones, mounted the horses and left.

Li Zhu then waved his hand and said, "Let's go, we'll follow behind. I just hope the Western Army won't arrive tomorrow, otherwise we won't be able to watch this excitement."

The casual words came out of Mr. Jin Jian's mouth, and the other people all laughed strangely, "Hehe——", they didn't take the upcoming war seriously at all, they just wanted to fight and kill, and this little scene was not enough to scare them.

Xiuzhou is just an inconspicuous corner of land in the southeast.

Ever since Fang La captured Hangzhou, the entire southeast region has been in turmoil. Ambitious and powerful people were inspired by the raging fire and immediately put their lives aside and joined the rebel army with knives in hand.

After paying a visit to Fang La in Hangzhou, Shi Sheng of Suzhou, Lu Xing'er of Huzhou, and Chen Shisi of Yongkang County changed their flags to the unified Yongle style, and then spread them in all directions, hoping to capture Guangdejun and other places.

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The first person to report the victory was Fang Jie, who was ordered to attack Shezhou last month. Relying on Wang Yin's strategy and Si Xingfang's bravery, he opened up the road directly to the west.

It was at this time that Fang La began to establish the imperial court. He first appointed his brother Fang Mao as the governor of Muzhou to guard his own old nest, Qingxi County. He also appointed Fang Qifo as the general and ordered him to quickly capture Xiuzhou.

Fang La was also selfish at this time. Although Fang Jie was not promoted to the court by him, he gave him the position of governor of Shezhou. His eldest son Fang Tianjie was appointed as governor of Wuzhou, and his second son Fang Bo was appointed as governor of Quzhou. In this way, he now had half of the Jiangnan region in his hands.

He then appointed Fang Fei as prime minister, and two famous scholars from the southeast, Lou Minzhong and Zu Shiyuan, as left and right chancellors, and Lu Shinang, Qiu Daoren, Chen Koutong, and Wang Yin as generals or secretaries, to continue commanding the army to attack the surrounding counties.

Unfortunately, he now has too many people and cannot assign all the official positions at once. The army still uses the title of Qu Shuai from the time of the uprising, which is also within his expectations.

But there were always things that were beyond the expectations of Emperor Yongle.

……

The cloak was handed to the young eunuch.

Tong Guan, wearing a brocade robe, walked into the room and sat down. A large number of guards, wearing armor and scarlet battle robes, stood outside the room with their swords hilt pressed down. Several officials from the southeast, wearing official uniforms, looked at each other, walked into the room cautiously, and bowed to Tong Guan: "This subordinate greets the Grand Tutor."

"Don't do these rituals."

Tong Guan sat in the main seat with his horse and sword puffed out his broad chest. As he spoke, the short beard on his chin made several officials look up. They had heard that although the Duke of Jing was a eunuch, he had a beard. It turned out that he really did have one. It was really an eye-opener.

These people did not doubt it. After all, Tong Guan was a favorite of the emperor. If he had lied, the emperor would have discovered it long ago given his playful nature and would never have allowed him to flaunt himself for such a long time.

"I came here to solve the chaos in Jiangnan. You should know that the imperial court has always wanted to conquer the north. Jiangnan is also a tax-intensive area. The government will not tolerate any loss here."

A young eunuch bent over, put the hot tea on the table, and then retreated quietly.

Tong Guanyi stretched out his hand to hold the tea boat and lifted the lid. He didn't like to drink tea, but was more fond of flower and fruit tea with Chinese herbal medicine. He fiddled with the lid, blew on it, and brought it close to his lips.

He looked up at the officials who seemed a little embarrassed, frowned, took a sip, covered the cup and put it aside, then put on a smiling face: "Everyone, this time the government has given me full authority to deal with the matter. If there is any way to reduce public grievances and quickly settle the situation, please feel free to tell me."

Seeing them exchange glances, he added, "You all know what kind of person I am. As long as we can quickly conquer the southeast, it will be easy for me to share some of the credit with you. Otherwise..."

He glanced at them and said, "If the government holds me accountable, I will take the blame on you guys."

The figures standing there moved slightly, and finally someone stepped forward: "Grandmaster, the reason why the people in the southeast rebelled is because the Yingfeng Bureau made excessive demands..."

He stole a glance at Tong Guan and saw that he frowned. He changed the subject and said, "Zhu Jie and his son bullied the superiors and oppressed the subordinates. They used the name of Yingfeng Bureau to rob people of their property. If there is a rare item, they would ruin their family to get it. That's why the thieves used 'Kill Zhu' as a slogan to incite many people to revolt.

If the Grand Tutor wants to quell the people's grievances and disintegrate the rebel army, he should start with the Zhu family father and son. This way, the rebels and the people will know that it is not the government's fault, but Zhu Jie's excessive greed that caused it. "

Tong Guan listened thoughtfully, stroking his beard with his hand: "I've made note of this matter, is there any other way?"

"Taifu, why don't you just execute the main culprit and pardon the rest, then the chaos in the southeast can be stopped..."

"Taifu, please reduce taxes in Xiaguan. If the people have money, who would want to do business that will cost them their lives?"

"Master..."

"Master..."

When the officials saw that their colleagues had spoken out, they also relaxed and offered suggestions one after another. Tong Guan did not express his opinion either, but asked someone to take notes. After a while, he watched them finish speaking and waved his hand to let them leave.

"My Lord." The aide named Dong Yun came over and sat down at the bottom. "What these people just said is not a good idea. You must not listen to them."

Tong Guan turned his head and looked at him: "What do you mean?"

"The southeast has always been the government's money bag. If these rebels are not severely punished this time, there will be more imitators in the future. The government dispatched the Western Army here because the court was hesitating whether to march north and transfer troops to Beijing.

However, more people hope to take advantage of the Western Army's good fighting skills to kill all these villains like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, so as to show the determination of the court and the thunderous means of the government. "

Tong Guan took another sip of tea, and with the sound of the porcelain bowl colliding, he put it on the table beside him: "In that case, I must win quickly this time to please Your Majesty..."

Dong Yun said nothing, just nodded.

The eunuch pointed at the table with his finger, looking somewhat hesitant.

Seeing this, the staff knew that he had an idea, but was just hesitating whether to use it. He quickly asked softly, "Does the old lady have an idea?"

"A little bit." Tong Guan nodded slightly, then shook his head: "But I don't know whether I should use it."

He glanced at the staff opposite him and said, "I don't care about the nonsense those people said just now. I think the first one makes some sense."

He stood up, put his hands behind his back and took two steps: "With the chaos in the southeast at this level, the Zhu man must be involved. If we let him go, I'm afraid those rebels will never stop.

But if we want to punish him, the government must first admit its mistakes, this..."

The burly eunuch paused and stood there hesitantly.

"Old lady." Dong Yun laughed, stood up and walked to his side: "The emperor told you this when he came here, just for this."

"Hmm?" Tong Guan raised his eyebrows and looked at him.

"You are the one in charge who is confused." The man moved closer and lowered his voice: "Besides the imperial edict of repentance, is there anything else that needs to be implemented in the name of the imperial edict?"

Tong Guan suddenly turned around and narrowed his eyes slightly: "...There is some truth in this."

The eunuch walked slowly, stroking his beard with one hand and putting the other hand behind his back. The eunuchs and guards serving in the hall did not dare to make a sound.

Dong Yun stood with his hands hanging down, his eyes fixed on his toes, listening to the footsteps from slow to fast. Tong Guan turned back and sat down: "You are right, you draft a confession of guilt, and abolish the Yingfeng Bureau and dismiss the Zhu family father and son."

boom--

He placed his palm on the table: "I want to see how many rebels are left after this." (End of this chapter)