Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 557: People from Huaixi
Five days had passed since Zhao Zhen married Tong Jiaoxiu. On this day, Zhao Zhen was practicing martial arts with Chen Liqing, Hu Sanniang, and Tu Qiao. Zhao Yuanli came up to him and said, "Sir, there is a fortune teller outside the door. He claims to have a fortune to give to you."

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen thought to himself: I have never heard of any birthday gift this year, or any wealth that can be given to me.

He then said to the crowd, "I have nothing to do, so I was just looking for someone to show off his eloquence and actually wanted to give me a set of wealth."

As he said this, he asked Zhao Yuanli to invite the person into the village.

Zhao Zhen, Chen Liqing and others also changed their clothes.

After a while, Zhao Zhen met the fortune teller in a newly built high platform on the side of the parade ground.

The man was seen wearing a single-gauze turban to wipe his eyebrows, a hemp cloth to stand upright, and holding an umbrella to provide shade. Under the umbrella hung a paper sign with the words [Innate Divine Numbers] written in large characters, and sixteen small characters on both sides, which read: Jingnan Golden Sword, one ten-liang piece, every word is accurate, and his skills are better than Guan Lu's.

After entering the room, the gentleman also looked at Zhao Zhen.

It is obvious at first glance that the furnishings in the room do not seem to be those of a country rich man. Not only are the beams and painted buildings magnificent, but the furniture is also extraordinary. There are rosewood carved couches, nanmu screens inlaid with jade, black lacquer screens inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and square tables with mother-of-pearl flower and bird patterns. On the wall between the doors and windows hangs a large bone carving of a peony.

In such hot weather, there is no ice in the house, but there is a hint of coolness.

On the table were gold cups, silver pots, and gilded silver cup holders, as well as wine vessels made of jade vases inlaid with gold, silver and gemstones. It was obvious at first glance that they were items used by the royal court.

At the door stood two men as strong as iron towers, one holding a broadsword and the other holding a broadsword, like door gods.

There were two girls sitting on either side of the top, each of them graceful and elegant, each with their own specialty. They wore peony-shaped gold hairpins and gem-studded bracelets, and it was obvious that they were from wealthy families.

There were also four maids standing by, each wearing a jade bi, a jade chicken, a jade gui, and a jade cong. At first glance, they were not ordinary objects.

After greeting, the gentleman cupped his hands and said, "Sir, you are so polite. I am Li Zu, and I have come here to give you a set of wealth and honor."

Zhao Zhen sighed and asked, "How rich and powerful is it that the military advisor and prime minister would travel thousands of miles and risk their lives to come here?"

Li Zhu smiled and waved his broken bamboo oil-paper fan, saying, "Since you know my origin, I won't beat around the bush. I came here for no other reason than to ask you to release the young lady. My king is willing to give me 100,000 strings of gold and pearls."

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Huiniang beside him burst out laughing: "One hundred thousand strings of cash? How can you say that?"

Li Zhu heard this and said angrily: "Young lady, you are so arrogant. One hundred thousand strings of cash can support ten thousand imperial guards for a year."

Liu Hui Niang said, "You are so unreasonable. Do you know how much Tong Niang's dowry is? It's over a million strings of cash. You want my husband to let Tong Niang go with you to Huaixi with just 100,000 strings of cash. Isn't that just a fantasy?"

Li Zhu blushed and said, "Of course I won't take the dowry with me. My king only wants Miss Tong." "Besides, Miss Tong and my king are in love with each other. If Tong Guan hadn't interfered, my king would be the son-in-law of the Tong family."

"My lord, you should know that Miss Tong has already given herself to our king." Li Zhu sneered.

It turned out that when Cheng Wan'er heard that Tong Jiaoxiu was going to marry into Liangshan, she had told Zhao Zhen about this ill-fated relationship.

Tong Jiaoxiu wanted to ruin her reputation, so she chose Wang Qing, a famous playboy in Tokyo. Wang Qing was no pushover, and she eventually got what she wanted. The fake play became real, and that's when all the things that happened later happened.

Wu Yong and others had already considered this matter. Whether it was to eliminate the court's vigilance or to win over Tong Guan, this marriage could not be refused. After all, Zhao Zhen's reputation for lust spread all over the world. Now he would not want such a beauty, and there was a lot of dowry. Isn't it a big deal? Fortunately, it was Jingdong Road, not as noisy as Bianjing. That's why Cheng Wan'er said that before, just to cover up Tong Jiaoxiu's reputation.

Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "Even though she was interested in your prince before, it was just to get rid of that fool from the Cai family. Now that she is marrying me, even though it is a little unfair, after all, she and my wife were once sisters in the boudoir. Now that we are together every day, I don't know how much fun we have. I don't care about the past anymore."

"Besides, I heard that your king's success was entirely due to his wife's family, but his wife is a tolerant person. People nicknamed her "Big Worm Nest". If a young girl like Tong Niang falls into her hands, I'm afraid she won't survive more than a month."

Li Zhu said, "Sir, my king loves Miss Tong very much. If 100,000 strings of money is not enough, even 200,000 strings can be given. Please help me. If you help me, I will swear an oath with you from now on to share the Song court."

Zhao Zhen was not angry after hearing this, but said: "I heard that the court is sending troops to attack you. In less than a month, you have lost Wanzhou. This is just the vanguard Song Jiang's troops. If it were the court's full-scale troops, I'm afraid they would have reached Fangzhou long ago. I am the pacification envoy of Jingdong Road appointed by the court. How can I be in collusion with you?"

"Sir, why do you have to deceive yourself? Nowadays, the world says that the four great bandits are Song Jiang from Shandong, Tian Hu from Hebei, Wang Qing from Huaixi, and Fang La from Jiangnan. In fact, Shandong should be the one for you, Sir."

"Song Jiang and his gang made you famous and sent you to be the master of eight states. If you were a loyal minister of the court, no matter how brave I was, I would not dare to come. Although I have only been here for two days, I heard that you have occupied Puzhou and Guangjijun. From this, it can be seen that you have ambitions. Nowadays, most of the court's troops are on the march outside, and Bianliang is empty. If you raise an army of rebels and attack Bianliang to respond to us, the world will be turned upside down. By then, we will divide the country and rule it, which will be better than now." Li Zhu spoke impassionedly.

Zhao Zhen heard this and said to Li Zhu, "Although the court is full of corrupt officials, treacherous officials, and corrupt officials who frame the people, they have never treated me unfairly. How can I rebel against the court? Moreover, I am now in charge of ten states, with abundant financial resources, and I am already very satisfied. Why should I start a war again?"

"I don't want to rebel against the court, nor do I want to be an enemy of the King of Chu. But I can't give away my beautiful wife and concubines. Please go back, sir. Huaixi needs you to go back and repel the enemy."

Li Zhu said, "Sir, why do you have to make enemies with my king for a little girl?"

Zhao Zhen heard this and said angrily, "Why, isn't your king afraid of making enemies with me? If your king is capable, just ask him to lead the army to take it."

Seeing that Zhao Zhen was angry, Li Zhu dared not mention it again.

I could only say: "Sir, calm down, I was just joking. Since you like the girl, you naturally don't dare to ask for her again. Besides, I came here today for a big deal."

Seeing that Zhao Zhen was still angry, Li Zhu continued, "I heard that you have the [Flying Thunder], and we want to spend 50,000 strings of cash to buy the blueprint."

(End of this chapter)