Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 481 Court Meeting
In Bianjing, Gao Qiu received three memorials in succession. He was very upset. Now Tong Guan was fighting against Tian Hu in Hebei, and most of the elite imperial guards were taken away by him. Gao Qiu dared not send the imperial guards out of the capital again.

Gao Qiu said to the two officials Wei Jing and Wang Yao who were serving beside him, "Go and invite Sun the counselor."

This military advisor Sun, whose given name is Jing, is extremely resourceful, full of schemes, and well versed in military tactics. He knows everything about military affairs. He just wants to curry favor with Gao Qiu, and has given Gao Qiu many suggestions. He is reliable and never makes mistakes, which earns Gao Qiu's trust. Relying on Gao Qiu's power, no one dares to provoke him, and they all call him "Sun the Hedgehog".

Soon, Sun Jing entered the palace and met with Gao Qiu. Gao Qiu showed Sun Jing the three memorials and asked, "Sun, what do you think?"

Sun Jing did not dare to neglect him and said, "Captain, Gao Zhizhou has lost its geographical advantage. As long as the commander dispatches a navy, it will naturally help Gao Zhizhou out of his predicament."

"As for the Liangshan envoy Zhao An and the commander Hu Yan, in my opinion, although there were some minor losses, they are generally fine. They are just taking advantage of the opportunity to gain some benefits."

After hearing this, Gao Qiu nodded repeatedly.

At five o'clock the next morning, Gao Qiu was in the waiting room, waiting for the ringing of the Jingyang bell. Emperor Daojun ascended the palace, and the whip rang three times. The civil and military officers gathered, and the emperor sat down. The head official of the palace shouted, "If you have something to say, please go out and report. If you don't have anything to say, please draw the curtain and leave the court."

Gao Qiu came out of the class and said, "Your Majesty, previously the governor of Gaotang Prefecture was appointed to fight against the Qingzhou bandits from Zibo Prefecture. Now Gaotang Prefecture has submitted a memorial stating that the Qingzhou bandits have occupied the Zibo River, and the army cannot cross the river, so there is no way to fight them. I beg Your Majesty to dispatch the navy to fight against the Qingzhou bandits."

The emperor heard the report and asked, "Who can go forward like this? Are there any good generals in the three yamen?"

Gao Qiu said: "I will protect one person and go to fight against them."

The emperor said: "If you use him, there will be no mistakes. Order him to go immediately, report his achievements quickly, and give him a higher position, reward him, and promote him to a higher position."

Gao Qiu reported, "There is a navy in Jiankang Prefecture, Nanjing, with a chief commander named Liu Menglong. When he was born, his mother dreamed of a black dragon flying into her belly, and she was born. When he grew up, he was good at swimming. He once fought against bandits in Xichuan Gorge and was promoted to the commander-in-chief, commanding 15,000 navy troops and 500 boats to defend the south of the Yangtze River. You can take this navy and the boats and go there overnight to receive orders."

"No." Chen Zongshan, the Grand Commandant in front of the palace, came out and said.

"Your Majesty, Fang La is causing a lot of trouble in Jiangnan now. The navy of Jiankang Prefecture is at the key point and must not be left lightly."

Gao Qiu heard this and said, "Right now, Privy Councilor Tong is leading the elite imperial guards in the capital to suppress Tian Hu in Hebei. Although there are four navies in the capital, including the Divine Guards, the two Tiger Wings navies of the Palace Guards and the Infantry, and a part of the Chenghai crossbowmen, they must guard the Jinming Lake. We must not move lightly. The Chenghai crossbowmen of Dengzhou and the Pinghai sea navies must guard against pirates to prevent them from colluding with the Qingzhou bandits. If we don't recruit troops from Nanjing, where can we recruit them from?"

Chen Zongshan heard the report and said, "Although this is true, it will take a long time for the Jinling navy to arrive here. Won't it delay the event?"

Gao Qiu said, "What Commandant Chen said makes sense. I will recommend another person. We can ask Lieutenant Niu Bangxi of the Infantry Army to seize and seize all the boats along the Yangtze River and in the river channels and send them to Zibo Prefecture for emergency use. The commander-in-chief of Jiankang Prefecture only needs to bring 5000 soldiers and 150 large and small boats to serve us."

Cai Jing stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Song Jiang of Qingzhou has gathered a group of thugs and villains to rob the city and loot the granaries. This is a serious threat to our country. If we don't punish them early, they will become powerful and difficult to subdue. I beg for your wise decision."

Upon hearing the report, the emperor immediately issued an imperial decree, entrusting Taiwei Gao to select men to recruit Liu Menglong and go ahead to capture him.

Gao Qiu said, "Your Majesty, Hu Yanzhuo and Zhao Ze have also submitted memorials, both of which say that Zeng Tu, the newly appointed Huaihua halberd commander from Zengtou City, led a cavalry army to sneak into Qingzhou, was ambushed by Song Jiang, and died on the spot. I pray that Your Majesty will reward them and send troops to help." The emperor said, "We have fought against the Qingzhou bandits in three places, but none of them have been successful."

Gao Qiu heard this and immediately told the previously suppressed memorial of Zhao Zhen asking for merit. "Your Majesty, the governor of Liangshan Prefecture, Zhao An, also sent troops to besiege Laiwu Prison and sneak into Qingzhou to rescue thousands of people and move them to Yizhou. The five counties of Mizhou and Ju County have been recaptured from the Qingzhou bandits."

"Emissary Zhao An wrote to me that many of the soldiers' equipment were damaged, and they had to garrison Yizhou to prevent the Qingzhou bandits from counterattacking, so they were unable to send troops. I beg Your Majesty to allocate more military equipment and horses to help in the battle."

The emperor was delighted when he heard the report and said, "Zhao Ze of Liangshan Prefecture has defeated the Qingzhou bandits several times, so he should be rewarded. Not to mention the royal wine, gold, silver and forged goods. Also, open the armory and weapons warehouse and the ranch to select weapons and horses and send them to the battlefield."

When the court was dismissed that day, Cai Jing invited Gao Qiu to go back to his house with him. Cai Jing said, "General, I sent someone to investigate. Zhao Ze of Liangshan Prefecture is not the same as before. There are many soldiers in the prefecture, but he is unwilling to send them to the front line. He only holds back the Qingzhou bandits and is unwilling to do his best to attack the city. Now the emperor has issued an edict to reward them, but he wants to select someone who can be used and give him a lesson. Previously, the emperor selected beauties to send to Liangshan Prefecture, but now he has put them together and selected a group of singers and dancers from the Jiaofang Bureau to send them there."

"The adopted daughter of the Privy Councilor..."

"Don't mention this matter anymore. Tong Shumi has gone to Hebei and has no intention of taking care of it. My family and his family have also cancelled the engagement. If Tong Shumi is interested, he will make his own arrangements and we don't need to worry about it." Cai Jing said indifferently.

Gao Qiu didn't say much after hearing this. He said, "Grandmaster, everything else is easy to deal with, except for one thing. Most of the horses in the ranch have been sent to Tong Shumi's army. How can there be any extra horses to send to Liangshan?"

Cai Jing frowned after hearing this, and was indeed somewhat dissatisfied with General Gao. No matter how few horses there were in the stable, there were always a thousand war horses. In the early spring of this year, Gao Qiu personally selected 2000 war horses and sent them to Gaolian Prefecture, and he did not seem to feel sorry for them. But now he was unwilling to send them to Liangshan Prefecture.

Cai Jing said, "The expedition against the Qingzhou bandits depends largely on Liangshan Prefecture. If the reward is not generous, I am afraid that Zhao Ze will not work hard. You and I both hate Song Jiang. If he doesn't give up some benefits, who will work hard? The imperial stables belong to the government. Why are you reluctant to give it up? Now the government is always talking about Zhao Ze's benefits. Why should you and I be the bad guys? Tong Guan wanted to win over this guy and was willing to send his adopted daughter to him as a concubine. If he hadn't been going to the war, he would have hesitated and never went. Regardless of success or failure, Zhao Ze is always one of our party members. Besides, getting rid of Song Jiang is the most urgent task."

Gao Qiu said, "Grandmaster, we are really short of horses. Why don't I ask the emperor to give us a royal horse, and also give us more gold and silver, tea permits, and certificates of ordination, so that we can buy horses from the people."

Without going into how Gao Qiu went to the palace to plead for his cause, it is only said that Zeng Sheng led more than a hundred people back to Zengtou City and told his father Zeng Nong and his two brothers about the defeat on the battlefield.

Zeng Kui was furious when he heard this: "Father, I want to lead the troops and go for revenge."

Zeng Nong dismissed his attendants and said to his three sons, "We came to the territory of Song to settle down. We were ordered by the prince of Jin to gather information. In order to get an official position, we lost Dalang."

Zeng Suo said: "Father, now that things have come to this, what else can we do except revenge?"

Seeing that his three sons were unwilling to give up, Zeng Nong had no choice but to say, "We still have 3,000 militiamen in our family, and we have to protect the village. At most, we can send 1,000 people. You brothers can't all go."

Zeng Kui said, "Third brother, stay here. Fifth brother and I will go."

Zeng Suo wanted to say something, but Zeng Nong said, "That's fine. You guys should not act too aggressively this time. This Prime Minister Zhao wants horses, right? You guys can use this as a lure and ask him to help. Among the horses sent by my family, there is a first-class yellow sand horse. You can take it with you."

(End of this chapter)