Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 488 Turmoil
[Flower Knife] As soon as Meng Futong finished speaking, Zhou Tong heard it and shouted, "Surrender."

Following the shouts, the young men who had been conscripted threw down their weapons. The rest of the bandits saw this and threw down their weapons one after another.

Under the leadership of Zhou Tong and his two companions, the Qingzhou bandits in the city surrendered one after another. The other three gates were also dug open, and Li Zhong and his companions welcomed Zhao Zhen and his companions into the city.

The Qingzhou bandits removed their armor and weapons and were escorted by soldiers into the camp for custody.

Amid the noise, Zhao Zhen and a group of people arrived at the government office.

Zeng Sheng was the first to speak: "Sir, you are wise and brave. I just arrived and I happened to see the city being broken." Then Zeng Sheng pointed to the big man standing beside him and said: "This is my fourth brother Zeng Kui. He will also be here to fight against the Qingzhou bandits in the future."

Zeng Kui stepped forward and greeted him.

Zhao Zhen took a closer look and saw that Zeng Kui was about twenty years old, with a slightly yellow complexion, eight feet tall, and holding a steel spear in his hand.

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "This is the best. You brothers can be together and take care of each other."

Zeng Sheng said, "Sir, the Qingzhou bandit leader has captured three people. Please give them to my brother and I to kill them as a memorial to my deceased brother."

Li Zhong heard this and shouted, "Killing prisoners is not a good idea. Besides, these three people have already surrendered to you, sir. How can you kill them?"

Tang Bin also said: "Yes, this [Little Overlord] Zhou Tong is an old acquaintance of your husband."

Liu Hui Niang said, "Sir, we can forgive others, but we cannot let Ruan Qixiang live. First of all, he is an official who harms the people, embezzles the law, and commits numerous evils. Now that he has been captured, I ask you to order him to be taken to Yizhou Prefecture for a proper execution to appease the people's resentment."

Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment, then said to the three Zeng Sheng brothers, "The Qingzhou bandits who harmed your brother were not these three. I have had people find out clearly that it was the Qingzhou bandits' military strategist [Ghost Seer] Lai Yong'er who plotted, [Fei Lian] Huangfu Xiong, [Iron Arhat] Fa Tong, and [Mountain Bear] Zhao Fu who ambushed and plotted against General Zeng Tu."

"Now that Laiwu has been taken down, the next step is to unite our forces to besiege Laiwu. I'll leave Ruan Qixiang to you three brothers, and behead him under the city of Laiwu. First, it will boost morale, and second, this head will also be counted as your brothers' merit. This [Flower Knife] Meng Futong has done nothing serious, and he was the first to order surrender. Since we didn't suffer any casualties, how about forgiving him?"

The three brothers of the Zeng family were reluctant to object. After all, it was Zhao Zhen who came up with the plan. Li Zhong and Zhen Xianglin were the first to enter the city, and Tang Bin and Yang Tengjiao were the ones who cut the iron chains with axes. The two brothers were just pretending to be soldiers in pursuit, so they were not in much danger. Zhao Zhen generously gave up one of the bandit leaders and reported it to Hu Yanzhuo. The court would reward the three brothers.

Therefore, the three Zeng Sheng brothers agreed at once.

Unfortunately, there were no civilians in Laiwu except the soldiers and able-bodied men who guarded the city. The granaries were full of food, wine and meat, but not a single drop of gold or silver.

After Zeng Sheng and the other two met, they only took thirty to fifty carts of wine and meat. The three brothers were going to Laizhou City. The food and fodder were all dispatched by the court, and these food and fodder could not be sent back to Zengtou City, so they were all given to Zhao Zhen.

On that day, everyone drank and celebrated in Laiwu Prison.

On the second day, Zhao Zhen was planning to send the captured Qingzhou bandits to Liangshan Prefecture when he saw Li Ying, who was stationed in Xintai City, riding into the city on horseback.

Without waiting for Zhao Zhen to ask, Li Ying said, "Sir, the magistrate sent a letter via carrier pigeon saying that Liang Heng of Xingren Prefecture has raised an army to attack Fan County."

Zhao Zhen was shocked. How dare Xingren Prefecture invade Liangshan’s territory at this time?

Zhao Zhen took the pigeon letter and looked at it. As expected, it said that Liang Heng of Xingren Prefecture led 5000 troops to invade Fan County, and Chao Gai and Sun An led troops to confront them, so Zhao Zhen was asked to return quickly.

Zhao Zhen saw this and asked someone to invite the three brothers of the Zeng family. He showed the pigeon letter to the three brothers and said, "Xingren Prefecture has rebelled and invaded the state border. I have to go back to Liangshan to take charge of the situation. You three should go to Laiwu today. I will leave someone to guard Laiwu."

Zeng Sheng and the other two looked at each other in bewilderment. After sending off the troops from Zengtou City, Zhao Zhen beat the drum and summoned all the generals to discuss matters.

After reading the pigeon letter, all the generals clamored to return to Liangshan Prefecture and kill the soldiers from Xingren Prefecture who had invaded the border.

Zhao Zhen shook his head: "Laiwu Prison is in a strategic location and is also an iron-producing area. If it weren't for a trick, I don't know how many soldiers would have to be consumed to capture this area. This place must not be lost. Please call Brother Xin to lead the troops to garrison."

"Most of the men who stayed in the city were miners. These two thousand men will also stay. In addition to repairing the city walls and guarding the city, we will also have to watch over the miners. Brother Li Ying will still be stationed in Xintai for rescue. Brothers Jie Zhen and Jie Bao will go to Mengyin to guard against small groups of bandits in the mountains. I will also dispatch the two naval forces of Ouyang Shoutong and Zhang Heng to enter the Mouwen River for support."

"You just need to guard Laiwu Prison. Don't worry about Laiwu City. Wait until I defeat the invasion of Xingren Prefecture, and then we can talk about other things."

"Brothers Wang Tianba and Tang Bin, lead the left and right brave cavalry battalions and follow me back to Liangshan."

After Zhao Zhen finished speaking, everyone responded and began to mobilize their troops.

Zhao Zhen had already made preparations for the invasion of Xingren Prefecture. In Zhao Zhen's opinion, the troops of Chao Gai and Sun An were enough to resist the troops of Xingren Prefecture.

He behaved so badly in front of the three brothers of the Zeng family today. The mobilization of troops in the camp was just to show them so that he could withdraw and return to Liangshan. In this way, Hu Yanzhuo and others had nothing to say.

Zhao Zhen left Wang Tianba and Tang Bin to lead the cavalry to escort more than 3,000 Qingzhou bandits. Under the leadership of Li Zhong, Zhou Tong and Meng Futong, these surrendered Qingzhou bandits were relatively safe.

Originally thinking of sending all these people to Liangshan to mine, Zhou Tong said to Zhao Zhen: "Most of these people are government troops from Qingzhou and Weizhou, and they have some experience in fighting. It is better to recruit them as wing troops. They are much more useful than civilians in escorting food and grass on the battlefield."

Zhao Zhen thought about it and agreed.

Zhao Zhen, with the female riders and the flag guards, rode back to Liangshan at full speed.

There was no further conversation on the way. After returning to Baishi Manor, Zhao Zhen sent someone to invite Xiao Rang.

After greeting, Zhao Zhen asked, "Brother, how is Fan County?"

Xiao Rang said, "Sir, we have been prepared. As soon as Liang Heng led his troops to the border, Chao Gai and Sun An's troops blocked them and are now facing each other."

As he said this, Xiao Rang handed the document to Zhao Zhen. After reading it, Zhao Zhen felt relieved.

The letter stated that Liang Heng seemed to have some reservations. After seeing the Liangshan soldiers, he did not fight, but set up a large camp and sent people to ask if they had seen a monk named Puhong.

Chao Gai just said he had never seen it and told Liang Heng to leave immediately. Liang Heng just shouted at Chao Gai to hand over Tang Meng, who killed Pu Hong, and the corpse of the leopard.

Xiao Rang said, "Sir, judging from the situation, I'm afraid Pu Hong's body has been found."

Zhao Zhen nodded, frowned and said, "I'm afraid so. I wonder if Gao Yanei has informed Gao Qiu."

"Sir, are you worried about Brother Dai Zong?" Xiao Rang asked.

(End of this chapter)