Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 434: Jieyun Ridge

After conquering Qingyun Mountain, Gou Huan ordered Fan Chenglong to lead more than a thousand followers from Yuanbi Village to garrison together with the original followers from Qingyun Mountain.

After two days of hard work, they took inventory of the mountain stronghold's storehouses, repaired the walls on the mountain and at the foot of the mountain, and assigned troops to garrison various locations.

Instructing Gou Ying and the other two to guard the stronghold, Gou Huan packed up ten loads of property, selected thirty strong followers and a couple, and followed Chen Xizhen and the other three to leave Yuanbi Stronghold and head towards Zhuhu Mountain.

It was a coincidence that the husband of the couple was the leader of the ambush at the foot of the mountain. His name was Wang Jun. He was bold, careful, and eloquent. But it was not this man who was valued by Chen Xizhen, but Wang Jun's wife. Her surname was Yuchi. She had a dark pockmarked face, a tall body, and strong arms. She also knew some martial arts. People in the mountain stronghold called her Aunt Yuchi. Because she was from Tokyo, she was assigned to serve Chen Xizhen.

Chen Xizhen saw that Aunt Yuchi was steady and strong. Thinking that his daughter was going to join the army and needed someone to take care of her, he asked the couple about this and asked Gou Huan for it.

Everyone rested for a day at Zhuhu Mountain. The minions who went to Jieyunling had already found out that Fatong and Fahui took everything they could take away when they left, and the mountain stronghold was abandoned. Now a hundred or so people gathered on the mountain, occupied the mountain stronghold, and made a living by doing some no-cost business.

Liu Tong and the others heard this and said, "That's the best. Since there's no hero to lead the charge, I'll bring three hundred minions with me to block the mountain gate and capture them easily."

Chen Xizhen said: "Okay, I'll go with you and take a look at the terrain."

Gou Huan also said, "I'll go too. I've been traveling for two days and I'm bored."

Liu Tong called up three hundred minions and rushed towards Jieyunling without any hesitation.

Speaking of Duanyunling, after Fatong and Fahui left, the mountain stronghold was abandoned for only ten days or so, and then a group of people came from Feihu stronghold and occupied this place.

This group of people were all poor people in the village. Under the instigation of a guard who had just been expelled from the military camp, they went up the mountain together. The group was not large in number and only robbed lone merchants, so they were free and easy.

On this day, the undercover minions had already seen Liu Tong's troops and hurried up the mountain to report. The leading officer was shocked and quickly called two of his confidants to go straight to Feihu Village from the back mountain to report the strength of the village.

It turned out that this guard was He Wei's trusted soldier. When Fatong and Fahui were there, this fellow had also come to fight under Gao Feng's order. Unfortunately, he was no match for Fatong and had to retreat to Feihu Village, holding his ground.

Fa Tong and the other man did not dare to attack Feihu Village, so they lived in peace.

The two people who had inquired had already left, so He Wei thought of a way to have people disguised as mountain bandits occupy Jieyunling in advance. These people were only allowed to rob small merchants and were not allowed to invade villages. In this way, the villagers did not go to the state government to file a complaint, and he also avoided a lot of punishment.

Without the reprimand from his superiors, He Wei's life suddenly became better. Today, He Wei was riding on a horse, patrolling the village with a group of soldiers. After hearing what the little minions of Feihu Village said, he suddenly fell off the horse.

The sergeant hurried forward to help He Wei up. He Wei whispered, "Did you see clearly? Is it Zhu Hushan [Speedy Leg] Liu Tong?"

The little minions who came to report the news said: "He Zhizhai, it is absolutely true. The brothers who were in the ambush have also seen the portrait of Liu Tong, and they are definitely not mistaken."

"Three hundred men can still defeat him." He said, feeling ashamed of himself for falling off his horse.

"You return to the mountain quickly and have He Yazheng defend the stronghold. I will attack from behind. When you see my signal, rush out of the stronghold together. We must wipe out this guy today."

After saying this, he asked someone to send away the minion who brought the news.

He Wei beat the drum to gather the soldiers in the village, and the soldiers gathered slowly.

He Wei stood on the stage and shouted, "There are ignorant bandits from Zhuhu Mountain who have left their lair. I have persuaded the bandits from Jieyun Ridge to surrender and we will attack them from both sides. We must take Liu Tong's head today. Soldiers, go forward with all your strength. Anyone who captures the bandits and cuts off their heads will be rewarded with five strings of cash. Anyone who captures the bandit's head will be promoted one level and rewarded with three hundred strings of cash."

After he finished speaking, the soldiers in the audience were delighted. Under the command of the chief guard and the captain, eight hundred soldiers followed He Wei out of the camp and headed for Jieyun Ridge.

However, Liu Tong and his entourage arrived at the foot of Jieyunling Mountain with great fanfare and sent two minions with loud voices to make a message. However, He Yazheng on the mountain had already received orders from He Wei and deliberately delayed the time, just shirking the responsibility of discussing the matter with his brothers.

Liu Tong and others didn't care because it was still early.

After half an hour, there was no movement on the mountain. Gou Huan said, "Uncle, the thief on the mountain is so quiet, I'm afraid he ran away, right?"

After hearing this, Liu Tong immediately sent someone to shout, and all the minions in the mountain stronghold were dressed in armor, holding swords and guns. When everyone saw this, they knew that the people in the stronghold had no intention of surrendering.

Chen Xizhen said: "He only has a hundred or so people here, but he wants to delay the time, so reinforcements must come."

Gou Huan pointed behind him and said, "Look over there, a group of government troops are rushing towards us."

Chen Xizhen looked over, counted them briefly, and said, "There are only seven or eight hundred people."

Liu Tong looked around and said, "Look at the flag. He is the commander of Feihu Village. I have fought with him twice, but he couldn't do anything to me. That's why he never goes to Zhuhu Mountain."

Gou Huan said: "It seems that the bandits on this mountain have surrendered this man. They are holding us back so that they can report the news to Feihu Village."

Liu Tongdao: "This He Wei is not stronger than me in martial arts. I will lead my men to hold him back, and Brother Gou Huan will hold off the thieves on the mountain to prevent a pincer attack."

Gou Huan said, "Why do you have to do this? Watch me take his dog head." After that, he asked Liu Tong to form a battle line and waited for He Wei to arrive with his troops. Gou Huan did not say anything, but drew out the big knife in his hand and rode his horse straight towards He Wei.

He Wei saw him but didn't recognize him. He thought he was the leader of Zhu Hu Mountain and didn't take it seriously. He also stepped forward to meet him with the steel knife in his hand.

Gou Huan shouted loudly and killed He Wei with a single blow.

When Liu Tong saw this, he swung his knife and shouted, "Kill!"

The two hundred minions in the front team followed closely behind, shouting and charging down the mountain. The two heroes led the way, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, swinging their swords and chopping melons and vegetables. They killed dozens of them in a row.

A group of minions clamored and rushed forward to fight. Seeing this, the soldiers of Feihu Village shouted, dropped their weapons, and scattered.

On Jieyun Ridge, He Yazheng took advantage of He Wei's coming to help, had his men open the gate of the village, and led a group of minions out, intending to attack Liu Tong from both sides. Just as he rushed down halfway, he saw He Wei being beheaded, and the officers and soldiers were in chaos.

Without waiting for He Yazheng to come up with any ideas, Chen Xizhen led the hundreds of minions who stayed behind to kill upwards.

The minions who came down the mountain saw this and turned around and ran back to the village. He Yazheng couldn't stop them, so he followed the leader Wang who was beside Chen Xizhen and killed him with a knife.

Chen Xizhen took advantage of the situation and occupied the mountain stronghold.

They cleaned up the battlefield, killed more than a hundred officers and soldiers including He Wei, and intercepted more than ten minions from Yunling. They subdued more than sixty minions, and the rest fled into the mountains and forests, each of them escaping for their lives.

Liu Tong interrogated the captives and found out that the leaders of this group were all soldiers in Feihu Village in disguise. Gou Huan cursed and said, "If I had known this, I would not have killed him with a single blow. I had to torture him."

Chen Xizhen sighed, "Who would have thought that this guy would dare to pretend to be a bandit? Taking this opportunity, we can go to Feihu Village and Fu'an Village at the foot of the mountain and expose his evil deeds. We can also control these two places."

Liu Tong lost face in front of Chen Xizhen because he attracted He Wei. After hearing this, he quickly said, "I am familiar with both places. Let me handle it."

As he said this, he called up a hundred minions, took He Wei's head and a few minions from Jieyunling who knew the inside story, and sent them to two places to publicize He Wei's evil deeds, and temporarily designated a few people to maintain order.

There are only two surnames in Fuan Village, Fujia and Anjia. The village head's surname is Fu, and his given name is Yu. Liu Tong asked someone to find out about it and learned that the village head often gave alms to monks and had a good reputation. So he appointed the elder of the An family as the deputy village head to manage Fuan Village.

Feihu Village was a large village, and many of the soldiers who had fled had returned to hide. The news of He Wei's murder had already spread. Several wealthy families in the village discussed it and mobilized the young men in the clan to go up to the city wall for defense.

When Liu Tong arrived, Feihu Village was already under heavy security.

Liu Tong had someone pick up He Wei's head, and then had someone shout at him, accusing He Wei of colluding with bandits. Finally, he shouted, "We are under the command of Zhao Guanshi of Liangshan Prefecture. We have wiped out Song Jiang's gang in Qingzhou. Now we come to Yizhou to wipe out the mountain bandits. He Wei colluded with Jieyunling, and now he has been sentenced to death."

Although there were testimonies from several soldiers and bandits, the Liu, Wang and Li families in the village discussed it and did not dare to open the door, for fear of letting the people in and being slaughtered.

The head of the Li family shouted boldly: "General, do you have the official edict?"

Liu Tong scratched his head and shouted, "Master Zhu Hushan [Speedy Legs] Liu Tong, you must also ask my name. I never disturb the village at will. Now I have just surrendered to the master and led a team to sweep the surrounding area. Where is the certificate of official status?"

"The soldiers who escaped back from the village should also know that we were suppressing the bandits in Jieyunling. We encountered He Wei colluding with the bandits, so we killed him with a knife. Open the door quickly, provoke the master to get angry, and bring a large army to break into the village, leaving no one alive."

The three of them looked at each other in dismay, and the head of the Wang family asked, "What should we do?"

The head of the Liu family said, "Many of our clansmen have gone to Yizhou to sell mountain products, and have passed by Zhuhu Mountain. I have heard that he set three prohibitions: one is not to rob lone merchants, two is not to rape women, and three is not to plunder nearby villages. Now that they have come here, I am afraid that they have really surrendered to the government troops and are suppressing bandits everywhere."

The head of the Wang family said, "This is just hearsay. Who can guarantee that this fellow will not do anything wrong after entering the village? By then, I will be the fish on the chopping board and it will be too late."

The head of the Li family said, "I'm afraid that we can't protect the village. If he really attacks the village, what should we do?"

The head of the Liu family asked, "Can you give him some money and food to send him away?"

The heads of the Wang and Li families also said, "That would be great."

The three men discussed it again, and the head of the Li family shouted, "General, the village is willing to donate 100 dan of military grain and ten pigs and sheep to reward the troops. Please go to other places to suppress the bandits."

Liu Tong heard this and shouted, "I'm sending beggars away. I have things to do and I don't want to bother with you. I'll get the imperial edict in a few days and see how you deal with it. Feihu Village will be managed by you three for the time being, just like Fu'an Village. Liangshan Prefecture will appoint officials in due time. If there is any change in the village during this period, you three will be held responsible. Even if you escape to Yizhou Prefecture, you will be captured and brought back."

After saying that, Liu Tong ignored the call of the Li family head and led his troops back to Jieyunling.

Liu Tong told Chen Xizhen and Gou Huan about the situation in the two places. Chen Xizhen smiled and said, "This is the best. There will be someone to take charge of both places temporarily. We will return to Liangshan as soon as possible and ask the master to appoint officials and troops to station there. Now we just need to defend these two strongholds."

After redeploying the troops, Chen Xizhen and his party rushed to Liangshan the next day.

(End of this chapter)