Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 491: Diverting trouble to the east
After Zhao Zhen met Tu Long and his daughter, he said something to Cheng Wan'er. Cheng Wan'er had never objected to Zhao Zhen taking concubines, as she had been used to it since she was a child.

I have also seen this Tu Qiao Cheng Wan'er, her eyebrows are like crescent moons, her hair is like black clouds. She is beautiful and has martial arts skills. Her appearance is just pitiful.

Zhao Zhen stayed at Cheng Wan'er's place for one night, and the next day he led his personal army camp, Wuxiang camp, and more than a thousand cavalry soldiers to Fan County. That day, Zhao Zhen and his entourage arrived at Chao Gai's camp.

After the greeting, Zhao Zhen asked, "Is Liang Heng still just asking questions every day and not engaging in battle?"

Chao Gai nodded and said, "That's right. I don't know what he is going to do."

"We will go out to fight tomorrow and ask him a question. He doesn't want to fight but keeps the troops here, which is really annoying." Zhao Zhen said.

The next morning, after the camp had cooked and eaten, Zhao Zhen and his men went out to form a battle line. Lin Chong went out and shouted, "Liang Dujian, come out to talk to me."

As if he knew that Zhao Zhen was coming, Liang Heng had already dressed in full armor and went out into the battle upon hearing the words.

He immediately sang a yes and shouted, "Please come out and talk to me, sir."

Zhao Zhen heard this and rode to Lin Chong's side and asked Liang Heng, "Why is the chief eunuch not guarding Xingren Prefecture and coming to the border of Liangshan?"

Liang Heng said, "I'd like to let you know. When the prefect took office, the Grand Commandant appointed a monk named Pu Hong to protect him. This monk was hunting in the mountains to get rid of the one-horned leopard that was causing trouble in Gaoping Mountain. Now, this man and the hunters who were with him have never left Gaoping Mountain. Pu Hong went into the mountains at the same time as you did. Some people also said that Pu Hong chased Tang Meng into the mountains. So the prefect asked me to come here to get the news. Have you seen Pu Hong?"

Lin Chong shouted, "The Gaoping Mountain is steep and there are tigers and leopards. He might have been eaten by a tiger or a wolf. Or maybe there was some strongman passing by and had a conflict with him. Who knows?"

Liang Heng said: "These days, the magistrate Gai Tianxi has been searching everywhere and has found several bodies that were eaten by tigers and leopards in the mountain stream. I just don't know if they are Pu Hong's group. Although these people's bodies were eaten by tigers and leopards, you can still see the marks of knife hacking and gunshot wounds."

Zhao Zhen said, "I heard that the Xingren Prefecture's court cases were all handled by Gai Tianxi. With his ability, I'm sure he wouldn't be wrong. But why did the chief inspector deploy troops here? Because of your deployment, I led the troops back from Laiwu Prefecture, and the Qingzhou bandits have a chance to catch their breath."

When Liang Heng heard this, his face turned red.

Zhao Zhen said: "Not to mention that Magistrate Gai cannot tell the origins of these corpses, even if it is Pu Hong's gang, I cannot say that I killed them. Others are afraid of Gao Shide, but I am not afraid."

"Since I'm here today, I can't just leave it like this. You all need to evacuate today and tell Gao Shide that he has to pay me a huge sum of money as compensation for his reckless deployment of troops. Otherwise, I will drive the Qingzhou thieves into Xingren Prefecture to cause chaos."

Liang Heng was furious when he heard this: "Sir, you have done a great job in exterminating the Qingzhou bandits. If these Qingzhou bandits dare to come, I, Liang, can also make some meritorious contributions."

Zhao Zhen said, "Don't be angry, Captain. Just take back what I said. If it weren't for you guys' nonsense, I might have led my troops to attack Qingzhou. If we don't leave today, we will see the truth on the battlefield. I don't want to fight in the front and be unstable in the back. I will wait here for three days. If Gao Shide doesn't know what's going on, I will go and take it myself."

After saying this, Zhao Zhen ignored Liang Heng and rode back to the battle formation.

Liang Heng opened his mouth to speak, but finally sighed and rode back to the battlefield.

After about an hour, Liang Heng packed up the camp and led his troops back to Xingren Prefecture. Wang Dengbang, the deputy commander, led the troops, while Liang Heng, with his personal guards, returned to the prefecture first to report the news.

Liang Heng returned to the city and headed straight for the prefecture. As expected, Gao Zhifu was not in the government office.

This government office had been in existence for more than a hundred years, and although it had been repaired from time to time, it had long been dilapidated. It was not comfortable to live in, but it was not at all. Therefore, Gao Shide had someone find a large house, and he usually lived there most of the time. The government office was presided over by the magistrate Gai Tianxi.

Speaking of Gai Tianxi, he was also a Jinshi. He was only 26 years old and 7 feet 5 inches tall. He could ride a bad horse and pull a hard bow. Needless to say, he was talented in literature, and he was also very good at deciding cases. No matter what kind of difficult case, he could always clear it up. When he was the county magistrate, he was clean and free from corruption, and all the officials and people were happy with him, so they called him "Resurrection Bao Xiaosu".

It was this ability that Gao Qiu valued him. He was promoted from the position of county magistrate to the position of prosecutor of Xingren Prefecture to assist Gao Shide. Gao Shide was also told by Gao Qiu that most of the cases in prisons during his tenure should be decided by Gai Tianxi. As a result, although Gao Shide extorted a lot of money during his tenure, Xingren Prefecture was still able to maintain itself.

After the greeting, Liang Heng told him everything about Zhao Zhen's conversation. Gai Tianxi also felt a headache after hearing it. "Liang Dujian, in your opinion, will the prefect really raise troops to attack Xingren Prefecture?"

Liang Heng said: "Driving the Qingzhou bandits is probably just a rant, and raising an army to demand compensation is probably true."

Gai Tianxi couldn't help but curse after hearing this: "Mr. Zhao is a humble man, how dare you say such things? You have also seen the martial arts of Monk Pu Hong, and there are few rivals for him in Xingren Prefecture. Most of the corpses found in the mountains are Pu Hong's and his men, and the perpetrators are probably Tang Meng and his men who fled to Liangshan Prefecture. Many villagers have seen people who went to Tang Meng's manor, so others may recognize him, but the ugly man with a broadsword must be [God of Death] Bao Xu."

After a long scolding, Gai Tianxi tapped his palm and said, "He must have seen that the court still needs him, so he is so arrogant. I'm afraid he will have to give him the 10,000 strings of money and grain."

Liang Heng said: "Where does the government have so much money and food? They are not going to extort money from the people, are they?"

Gai Tianxi said, "This matter was caused by the prefect, so it's better for the prefect to make a decision. Besides, it's not difficult for the prefect to take out the ten thousand taels of money. The chief eunuch, please go with me to the prefect's residence and explain the pros and cons clearly."

The two went to Gao Shide's house, where Gao Shide was fighting cocks in the yard with his close confidants Niu Xin, a "headless fly", and Fu Ji, a "dwarf ghost". Gao Shide was shouting and having a lot of fun.

Hearing that Gai Tianxi and Liang Heng were coming together, he was also surprised. He hurriedly asked people to put away the fighting cocks, and then called the two in.

After greeting each other, Gao Shide asked, "Why did you two come together?"

Liang Heng told Gao Shide what he had discussed with Gai Tianxi on the way, and Gao Shide was surprised.

Before he could speak, Gai Tianxi said, "Sir, this is a disaster. This prefect Zhao is a humble man, and he is used to fighting. The Qingzhou bandits are so rampant that they have been defeated by him many times. Now, because Liang Dujian has deployed troops on the border and withdrawn from Qingzhou, he threatens to attack Xingren Prefecture to eliminate the hidden dangers. Xingren Prefecture has few soldiers and generals, and even if Liang Dujian has three heads and six arms, I am afraid he can't defeat the hundreds of generals there."

[Shorty Ghost] Fu Ji frowned and said, "Yanei is the son of the current Taiwei. How dare he stroke the tiger's whiskers?"

Gai Tianxi said, "You only know one thing, but you don't know that this prefect Zhao is now favored by the emperor and has been granted four ceremonial elephants. He is also the confidant of Secretary Tong. Now that we have deployed troops, he will put the blame for not being able to wipe out the Qingzhou bandits on the prefect, and he is not afraid even in front of the emperor."

Gao Shide heard this and asked anxiously, "What should we do?"

"The only solution now is to spend money to avoid disaster. If you are reluctant, please ask Liang Du to protect you and go to argue with him." Gai Tianxi said.

"Don't worry, my lord. I will protect you even at the risk of my own life." Liang Heng said, patting his chest.

"No." Gao Shide screamed.

"Sir, how can a son of a rich family be in danger?" Niu Xin shouted. "Ten thousand strings of cash, just collect the tax again."

"Yes, give him money." Gao Shide said.

"Husband, he only gave us three days. How can we make it in time?" Gai Tianxi said.

Gao Shide said, "I'll pay for this money first, and send Zhao Ze away first, and then I'll collect it later."

Fu Ji said, "We sent troops only to force him to hand over the murderer of Master Pu Hong. What did we do wrong? Master Pu Hong is now missing, and we can't just let it go like this."

Gai Tianxi said, "Didn't my husband say that Pu Hong and his senior brother are serving in the Taiwei Mansion? Now there is no evidence, so why not tell Senior Brother Pu Hong and others. These people are all from the martial arts world, so there is no need for evidence. Just let them go and take revenge on their own."

(End of this chapter)