Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 475: Enmity

Apart from this leopard, there was no need to worry about being attacked by wild beasts at night. Under Liu Hui Niang's arrangement, seven hydrangea lanterns were tied into the image of the Big Dipper, waiting to be hung at night to lure the ginseng fairy.

Before everyone could go to the mountain to make arrangements, a group of soldiers and horses came straight over. Zhao Zhen received the intelligence and also mobilized his troops and went out of the camp to meet them.

The two armies formed their battle formations within an arrow's reach. Hu Sanniang was the first to step out and shouted, "Who are you waiting for? How dare you invade my borders?"

The first general on the opposite side came out. When Zhao Zhen looked at him, he saw that he was a strong and majestic man. Judging from his face, he was about fifty years old, with a broad forehead and square cheeks, a face as red as a date, a long beard under his chin and fluttering behind his head. He was wearing golden armor and riding a famous Wuya horse.

The man immediately bowed and said, "I am Liang Heng, the military commander of Xingren Prefecture, and I am here on the orders of the prefect to ask for the brocade-patterned one-horned golden leopard."

Hu Sanniang said, "That's unreasonable. This brocade-patterned unicorn leopard is not yours."

Liang Heng heard this and frowned, saying, "I don't want to fight. Please let the one who can make the decision come out and talk."

Hu Sanniang said, "Old man, stop being so arrogant here. This is Liangshan Prefecture. Gao Yanei's name won't work here."

Liang Heng was in a dilemma when Wang Dengbang, the deputy commander, came out from behind him. Wang Dengbang bowed and said, "Captain, this woman is probably the wife of Zhao Ze from Liangshan. How about I capture her and exchange her for this brocade-patterned unicorn leopard?"

Liang Heng heard this and warned, "I heard that the wife of Governor Zhao is very skilled in martial arts. Judging from her stature, this person must be [One Zhang Qing] Hu Sanniang. Be careful, Captain Wang."

"I'll take care of it." After that, Wang Dengbang rode forward and shouted, "The leopard is in Gaoping Mountain, from Xingren Prefecture. Return it quickly to avoid violence."

After hearing this, Hu Sanniang did not say anything. She drew out the Sun and Moon swords, rode her horse and brandished the swords to fight Wang Dengbang.

One was skilled in double swords, the other was proficient in single sword. The two fought for more than ten rounds. Liang Heng watched from his horse and saw that Wang Dengbang's swordsmanship was unstoppable.

It turned out that Wang Dengbang saw Yizhangqing, a woman, and did not believe the rumors of her martial arts. She just relied on the fact that she was the wife of the governor, and everyone gave way to her, so she became famous. When he saw Hu Sanniang today, he wanted to catch her immediately. If he could exchange her for this brocade pattern unicorn leopard, Gao Yanei would definitely look at him with a higher regard. Promotion is a piece of cake.

Anyone who wants to fight for more than ten rounds will see his hands trembling, feet numb, and his sword skills become messed up.

Seeing that he was no match for his opponent, Wang Dengbang turned his horse around and was about to ride away, but he didn't expect that the horse was much faster than Yizhangqing. He dropped the sword in his right hand, took out a red brocade lasso from under his robe, and threw the lasso into the air. It looked very friendly. Wang Dengbang was caught off guard and was dragged off his horse.

Gu Dasao and Hua Baoyan rushed out and dragged Wang Dengbang away.

When Liang Heng saw that he had lost to Wang Dengbang, his face suddenly changed. He wanted to send troops to snatch the throne, but he was afraid that the two armies would fight and cause a disaster.

He said to Zhang Jinbiao, the defender under his command, "Restrain the troops and do not act rashly."

Without waiting for Zhang Jinbiao to speak, Liang Heng dismounted, dropped his spear, and walked to the front of the battle array. He shouted, "The military commander of Xingren Prefecture wants to speak to the governor of Liangshan Prefecture."

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen pondered for a moment and asked someone to call Liang Heng forward.

Liang Heng did not hesitate and stepped forward to greet him.

Zhao Zhen said: "The governor ordered his troops to leave the border and come to Liangshan to ask for the brocade-patterned unicorn leopard. This is very rude. What do you have to say now?"

Liang Heng said, "My lord, I have no choice but to give it to you. The prefect wants the leopard's fur to celebrate the birthday of the general. I have no choice but to come and ask for it." Zhao Zhen shook his head and said, "That being said, this leopard was hunted by Brother Tang Meng and presented to me, so I can't give it to others. Besides, I heard that Gao Yanei behaved recklessly while in office and made Xingren Mansion a mess. I can't give him this leopard. Others are afraid of him, but I am not."

Liang Heng was ashamed when he heard this: "Husband..."

Zhao Zhen interrupted, "No need to say more. I heard that you never helped the tyrant, so I came to see you. I will return the captured man to you for your sake, but I will not give you the leopard. If Gao Yanei is not resigned, just let him file a complaint."

After saying this, he ordered people to release Wang Dengbang and send the two men out of the battle.

Zhang Jinbiao followed the two of them and asked, "Captain, what do you want to do now?"

Liang Heng said, "The man across from us is none other than Lord Zhao Ze, the governor of Liangshan. What can we do? Now that we have not captured his wife, we have no choice but to return and report the truth to Lord Zhao Ze. If there is any punishment, I will bear it myself."

After saying that, he ordered the troops to withdraw.

Wang Dengbang said, "I don't know where Master Puhong has gone. I'd like to explain it to you."

Liang Heng listened and just ignored it.

It does not say how Liang Heng went back to explain, but only that Zhao Zhen drove Liang Heng away and they all returned to the camp to sit down. Zhao Zhen did not take Gao Yanei seriously. After all, he learned from Hou Meng that in addition to Song Jiang's group in Qingzhou being suppressed, the situation in Hebei Tian Hu, Jiangnan Fang La, and Huaixi Wang Qing was not very good. With these three big bandits causing chaos, no one would touch him until the Qingzhou bandits were eliminated.

Instead, I should take this opportunity to get more benefits. By the time the three major bandits are wiped out, I will have left long ago.

At night, Liu Hui Niang made seven red lanterns, hung them up high on bamboo poles, sprinkled wood incense chips under the poles, spread rabbit nets around, and everyone hid far away in the woods.

After enduring a cold night, Zhao Zhen thought there would be no harvest tonight as dawn was only half an hour away. Suddenly, the white fox lying beside him stood up and looked towards the red light, and the copper bell on the rabbit net rang.

When everyone rushed out of the forest to look, they saw that the ginseng fairy had been caught in the net. Everyone was overjoyed and rushed to get it. Tang Meng was quick and took the ginseng fairy down along with the rabbit net regardless of the ginseng fairy's struggle.

Seeing Zhao Zhen coming up, Tang Meng handed the ginseng to him. Zhao Zhen took it and looked at it in the light. He saw that the ginseng was about one foot long, naked, and porcelain white, like a doll.

Liu Hui Niang, standing by, said with some reluctance, "Sir, this ginseng fairy looks like a child, so let's not kill it."

Zhao Zhen did not answer, but said, "Shenxian, I know it's not easy for you to grow up, and you understand human language. Now that you are in my hands, I don't want your life, but I want to take you away from here and move to another place. I have a lot of ginseng planted there, how about you take care of it?"

After hearing this, Shenxian stopped struggling, babbled and gestured again. Seeing that Shenxian was willing to communicate, Zhao Zhen handed it to Liu Huiniang and also repeatedly gestured and chattered.

Zhao Zhen promised to protect the ginseng immortal in the future and not let anyone harm him. He also promised a number of costus root shavings in exchange for the ginseng immortal to take care of the ginseng seedlings and occasionally take some ginseng blood and ginseng whiskers.

Seeing that the agreement was reached, Zhao Zhen untied the rabbit net and put the Shenxian on the ground. As soon as the Shenxian landed on the ground, it sank into the ground, and then poked its head out from two meters away.

Seeing that Zhao Zhen kept his promise, Shenxian sighed and crawled out of the ground again.

(End of this chapter)