Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Late summer, Taizhou, Ninghai City.

The flames that tore through the darkness enveloped the city walls and the streets. Densely packed armored figures were pouring into the dark city with the light of torches around them. From time to time, they would shout when they discovered the enemy. After the whistling sound of bows and crossbows, there was the sound of quickly moving footsteps.

Since obtaining weapons and armor from Yuezhou, Lu Shinang's troops have been advancing smoothly. He captured the most difficult administrative center of Taizhou after several days of continuous attacks, and obtained more than a thousand leather-armored soldiers with swords. He chased Taizhou's Sihu Canjun Teng Ying all the way to Ninghai.

Even though the Song army in the city took every precaution, the city gates were breached due to defections from some people inside the city, and the city fell into street fighting. However, compared with the Taizhou uprising army outside the city, the number of officers and soldiers in the city was too small, making it difficult to resist.

The sounds of fighting and shouting were boiling all around, and rows of armored soldiers fighting with weapons fought desperately to resist the oncoming attack.

"General Teng, hurry up and leave——"

The guards roared one after another. A thin figure lay on the horse's back in a mess, looking back with a serious face.

The light of the burning torches in the distance cast an outline of the city behind him. His lips trembled, and the sound of fighting faded into the darkness.

In the darkness, soldiers holding torches and wearing khaki armor spread through the streets, blood and corpses were spread on the ground, and flags with the name of Song fluttered down from the top of the city wall.

Ninghai fell.

Countless footsteps stepped on the sticky blood to pick the fruits of victory.

A hint of pale sky appeared in the east, and a slightly chilly wind blew through the crowd with high morale. Lu Shinang, wearing iron armor and a green cloak, walked into the county government office in the city with a look of joy on his ruddy face. This was the last big city in Taizhou, and the remaining small counties were not a concern.

In other words, from today on, the name of Taizhou will be Lu.

The Yongle Dynasty was also basically certain that they had a piece of land that could serve as a rear base. Next, as long as Shi Bao went back and waited for the message from Qiu Daoren from Yuezhou, they could attack Mingzhou above their heads. By then, the three states of Yue, Ming and Tai would be connected, and they would have nothing to worry about.

Oh, by the way, I also need to contact Chen Kutong and Huo Chengfu in Chuzhou. They are not far from Taizhou. I am now able to support others...

Although his mind was full of thoughts, the figure who had been supervising the battle all night did not show the slightest sign of sleepiness.

"Mr. Lu, there are no more Song troops in the city."

There were chaotic footsteps, and Shi Bao came in holding a bloody wind-splashing sword. After taking off his helmet, his face was covered in sweat and blood, looking dirty. "Since the war here is over, I plan to return to Yuezhou. Can you give me 500 sets of armor?"

At the back, Li Tianrun entered with his sword hilt pressed down: "Secretary Lu, the brothers have opened the storehouse. There is a lot of money and grain inside. I'm afraid it's the taxes collected that haven't been transported out of the city yet. By the way, next time if the Qi army comes, can we exchange more bows and crossbows? They are really good stuff, much better than the bows we made ourselves."

"Oh, that depends on whether the people of Qi are willing to give it." Lu Shinang stroked his beard and joked to the two bloody generals: "Or you can ask your eldest brother, he is a loyal minister of the Emperor of Qi, maybe he can say something good for you."

"...If you hadn't mentioned this, we could have continued our conversation." Shi Bao and Li Tianrun's faces darkened, and they spoke at the same time: "It's obvious that I'm older, how could he have taken advantage of me?"

They turned and glared at each other again.

"I don't care about that. That's your three business." Lu Shinang laughed, looking like he was enjoying a good show.

Shi Bao and Li Tianrun on the opposite side looked at him unhappily.

"Let's get down to business."

Lu Shinang waved his hand and slowly put away his smile. A soldier came over with clean water and asked the two men to wash their faces. The two men immediately let the man holding the basin wash their exposed skin. The clear liquid quickly became turbid.

"When you two came over just now, I thought that Taizhou had been taken by our army. The next step should be Mingzhou, which is sandwiched in the middle. As for Wenzhou..."

When Shi Bao heard that he was talking about his hometown, his ears moved and he looked up at Lu Shinang. The voice from the other side continued to come.

"We need to contact the two commanders Chen and Huo in Chuzhou before we can make a decision."

"The government troops won't wait for us. I'm afraid they won't let us achieve our goal so easily." Li Tianrun wiped his face with a white towel, his expression a little complicated: "The Holy Lord also needs our support, why not go there first..."

"Report——"

A loud and hoarse voice interrupted their conversation. They turned around and saw that Shi Bao had not had time to wipe off the water stains. He immediately shook off a few drops of liquid and quickly reached out to wipe his face.

The soldier covered in dust ran in and fell to the ground with a thud. Without time to get up, he quickly raised the bamboo tube in his hand and said, "Emergency military information, emergency military information!"

The expressions of the three leaders in the field suddenly became gloomy. Li Tianrun stepped forward, took it, looked at the wax seal, opened it, took out the papers inside and handed them to Lu Shinang. He and Shi Bao stood behind him, stretched their heads to look at the letter with words on it, and their eyes gradually widened.

This was written by Fang Qifo, and the seal of General Yongle is also stamped on the left side of the signature:
"In the year of Ren Zi, I rushed to Muzhou to help, and fought with the Western Army near Yanling Mountain, defeating 30,000 soldiers from the southeast, and fighting with Yang Weizhong and Wang Huan of the Western Army in the wild. There were many casualties in the bloody battle. Now, after more than ten days of bloody fighting, there is no result, and I retreat with grief and anger.

Upon hearing that Qingxi had fallen, the Holy Lord retreated to Bangyuandong and offered a reward to anyone who could behead an enemy. Regardless of right or wrong, they would hunt and kill for the reward. Many of them broke into residents' homes and killed countless innocent people. Muzhou was already a place of bones for thousands of miles.

In addition, the troops of Wuzhou and Quzhou were also defeated, and only the Great Saint Son escaped with serious injuries.

舊舰
General Yongle - Fang Qifo"

bang——

Slamming his palm heavily on the table beside him, Lu Shinang stood up suddenly, with a sullen face, and stood for a few breaths before taking a deep breath: "Muzhou is finished, the Song army is so cruel."

Shi Bao and Li Tianrun also had solemn expressions. They turned their heads and looked at each other, then sighed "Tsk..." and "Ah..."

Lu Shinang closed his eyes, opened them after a few breaths, turned around and looked at Shi Bao and Li Tianrun: "Shi Bao, don't go back to Yuezhou. I plan to attack Mingzhou immediately to use him as a retreat. Otherwise, we will probably be unable to cope with the Song army in the west and Mingzhou at the same time.

I am now writing to General Fang and Taoist Qiu. Now is not the time to be sad and lament. Please cooperate with us to seize Mingzhou immediately."

"Everything is up to Lu Shumi." Shi Bao nodded without refusing.

"Then I'll go gather the troops." Li Tianrun took a breath and said with a bitter smile: "Look at the bright side. We are in Ninghai now, and Mingzhou is above us, so it's close."

The other two smiled bitterly at the same time.

In the late summer of the third year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty, the Western Army besieged Bangyuandong for several days without success. They found someone familiar with the geography and attacked from a small path. Fang La retreated into a cave and hid, making it impossible for Wang Bing and others to find him. In mid-summer, Liu Zhen led his troops to arrive. At that time, Wu Jie, who was in the army, was young and energetic. Hearing that the army had besieged this place for several days without success, the young and energetic low-ranking general and his brother Wu Lin led people to sneak into the valley and captured a woman who went out to pick wild fruits. After interrogating her, they learned where Fang La was hiding. Relying on their high martial arts skills, they immediately rushed into the cave, killed dozens of people in a row, captured Fang La who thought he was safe, and retired after completing their mission.

Soon after, they learned that the Western Army at the entrance had launched a massive attack. A large number of rebels in the cave were killed or captured. Bei Yingkui and Mi Quan, two powerful generals of Fang La's army, died in the chaos. National teacher Deng Yuanjue and Vice Minister Gao Yu were killed by the brothers Wu Jie and Wu Lin who fought back. Fierce general Si Xingfang was seriously injured and had not yet recovered. He was killed by Liu Yanqing and Liu Guangshi in the conflict.

Wang Yin relied on the powerful warhorse under his crotch and the help of three generals, Pang Wanchun, Ji Ji and Lei Jiong, to escape. Unfortunately, during the breakout, Ji Ji and Lei Jiong were shot and killed by He Guan, the governor of Huaixi, and only Pang Wanchun, who was good at forest warfare, escaped.

And people far away in the north are still unaware of these things.

……

In Linhuang Prefecture, the fields outside the city are lush and green.

After two consecutive days of rain, the crops in the fields have grown taller. The herdsmen drove the cattle and sheep onto the grassland, letting them lower their heads to eat the green grass and tender leaves washed clean by the rain, with smiles on their faces.

Puddles of water and mud could be seen occasionally on the slightly moist land, and the wheels of the car rolled over them with a rumble. Along the road, we headed towards the city with interest. Groups of cavalrymen would patrol by from time to time, and the coachmen would glance over from time to time, with envious expressions visible to the naked eye.

Some herdsmen and farmers also stood up on the hills and in the fields, looking at the marching team with curiosity in their eyes. Although they were ordinary people, they had seen more armies in the past two years and had their own judgment. This was a convoy escorted by the army. Just by looking at the dozens of bulging and covered cargoes on the vehicles, they knew that they were things that were afraid of being wet by the rain.

As for what it is, everyone has a guess in their mind, but they don't dare to discuss it casually.

These lower-class people who make a living near the capital city all live very cautiously. They can comment and discuss things freely behind closed doors, but it is better to keep their mouths shut outside. Who knows if the soldiers will come and cause trouble for them if they hear them? Even if they don't blame them, they can't afford to ride their horses around in the fields.

Fortunately, the military discipline of the Qi army was not as bad as it was during the Liao period. Those foreign soldiers and generals hardly treated them as human beings, and it was common for them to ride past on horseback.

"It looks like we'll have a good harvest this year." Li Zu was also looking at the fields and farmland he passed by, and at the figures on the hills with four hooves on the ground. He smiled with some sincerity on his face, "Although I'm a little late this time, I've brought so many things with me, so I can at least give an explanation."

He turned to look at An Daoquan who was in some pain on his horse: "Is Doctor An okay? This place is very close to Linhuang Prefecture. After entering the city, I will arrange for you to rest first. We can talk about it tomorrow if there is anything."

"Thank you, Li Guanglu." An Daoquan couldn't help but spread his legs a little wider: "I just don't ride horses very often, so I'm not used to it."

"Then you should just ride in a carriage from now on." Yang Lin chuckled beside him, "This place is not comparable to the Song Dynasty. We have all kinds of war horses. Even if you want to use four horses to pull the carriage, it's fine."

An Daoquan smiled bitterly and shook his head, then turned sideways and bowed to him: "Please spare me. Xiaoke still wants to live two more years."

After a pause, the doctor's eyes moved, and he quickly pulled the warhorse under his crotch and jumped off the saddle: "But you did remind me, Xiaoke, why do you have to ride on a horse when there are so many carriages around?"

After saying this, the figure quickly climbed onto a vehicle nearby, and sounds of laughter came from the team.

……

"Linhuang Prefecture is just ahead."

The woman standing on the shaft of the carriage shouted excitedly, then lowered her head and ran back to the carriage, pulling the figure who was reading: "My dear, please stop reading, we are about to arrive at Linhuang Mansion."

"I understand. Don't hesitate." Lu Siyan raised his head helplessly and closed the book in his hand: "Madam, you should calm down. If you come to Linhuang Mansion so excitedly, you will easily speak without restraint and offend others."

"How could I be so outspoken!" The middle-aged woman's face suddenly changed. She stretched out her hand to her man's arm, grabbed it and twisted it.

"Ahhh, hiss——, Madam, be gentle."

"Hmph, my dear, if you don't explain clearly today why I spoke so recklessly, I will not forgive you." The woman said this, but the strength in her hands weakened.

"Wait...oh-hiss..."

The head of the family who said the wrong thing rolled his eyes, but he couldn't think of any perfunctory words, so he could only pretend to cry out in pain.

The carriage was suddenly filled with the sound of fighting.

……

Linhuang Mansion.

There were more police officers patrolling the streets. Since the end of last month, the superiors had issued orders to maintain security in the streets and ensure the safety of the scholars coming to take the imperial examinations. They had also summoned several captains in charge of street security to give them some instructions.

These officials who were paid by the government naturally knew that the higher-ups took this very seriously. After all, their boss had received a warning from the prefect of Linhuang Prefecture, "If anything goes wrong during this imperial examination, I will be held accountable and stripped of my official hat. Before that, I will skin you alive!"

As the message was passed down layer by layer, the police officers dared not be perfunctory. They found the idle people on the street one by one and warned them, and patrolled the streets regardless of rain or shine. As a result, the public security in the neighborhood has improved a lot in the past two months, and the common people have praised the officials above them.

However, this peaceful situation still causes troubles in the eyes of some people.

"Those distinguished guests have not been found yet?" The figure behind the desk leaned back, and Lu Bu frowned: "It's not easy to hide it from your eyes."

Qiao Lie scratched his messy beard and said, "I suspect someone is helping these people hide, but I can't find out who it is at the moment."

"This point is certain..."

As they were talking, the door suddenly opened, and Yu Cheng's figure blocked the sunlight that entered the room, casting a large shadow. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Someone outside the imperial city reported that Li Guanglu brought back dozens of carts of grain and tea..."

"Oh?" Lu Bu stood up and walked around the table, a look of joy on his face: "This is the best news I have heard recently."

Qiao Lie lowered his head in shame.

Lu Bu looked at him out of the corner of his eye, patted his shoulder, and looked at Yu Cheng who had not stood up: "If you have anything else, tell me all at once."

Yu Cheng hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "A convoy claiming to be from your majesty's clan has also arrived near the city gate, and the Minister of Agriculture Lu Yan has gone to identify them."

The joy on his face faded, and Lu Bu took two steps forward, muttering "Finally they are here...", and then waved his hand: "Let them in later."

The big man outside the door bowed and left. (End of this chapter)