Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 565 Food and Grass
Without mentioning that Liang Heng and his son each brought their families to take up their posts, let’s just say that here in Daming Prefecture, something unexpected happened because they were going to wipe out Zengtou City in Lingzhou.

Since receiving the letter from Grand Tutor Cai, Liang Zhongshu of Daming Prefecture has known that Zengtou City in Lingzhou is a spy of the Jin people, and he has been particularly concerned. Hebei Road is exactly the territory under his jurisdiction. Now that he has found out that Zengtou City in Lingzhou is run by a spy of the Jin country, he cannot let go of this credit.

Therefore, Liang Zhongshu invited his two most capable military commanders to the palace to discuss matters. These two commanders were none other than two famous generals from Daming Prefecture, one was Wen Da, the "Big Knife", and the other was Li Cheng, the "Heavenly King".

After greeting, Wen Da was the first to speak: "Sir, why do you want to see me?"

Liang Zhongshu said, "There is a meritorious service, who of you two is willing to do it?"

Upon hearing this, [Heavenly King] Li Cheng hurriedly said, "Sir, to annihilate the [Golden Haired Hound] in Yanshan, even Brother Wenda went there to show his power. Now it's my turn."

Wen Da said, "Li Dujian, why not listen to what the master has to say?"

Liang Zhongshu said, "This is the news sent by Lord Taishan in Bianjing. There is a man named Zeng Toushi in Lingzhou. He is a brave man with five brothers. They made great contributions in the expedition against Song Jiang in Qingzhou. Because of this, his family was actually granted the post of Lingzhou Tuanlianshi. Later, his father and son who visited were both from the Great Jin Kingdom. The court did not dare to allow them to stay, so they wanted to eliminate Zeng Toushi's gang."

"The leader of Zengtou City, Zeng Tu, is dead, but the remaining four cannot be underestimated. Each of them is skilled in martial arts, and they have gathered more than 10,000 soldiers to help them. Therefore, the two of you will each lead 10,000 soldiers and split into two groups, one to Lingzhou City and the other to Zengtou City. I will write another letter and have someone deliver it to the governor of Lingzhou to cooperate. You must capture and kill the father and son of the head of Zengtou City. As for the people from the Jin Kingdom, feel free to kill them."

Li Da heard this and stood up and said, "Don't worry, sir. Just think about how capable a group of spies can be. I am a humble general, but I am willing to do my best to lead the soldiers to destroy Zengtou City and capture the Zeng family father and son and report my achievements to you."

Wen Da was a step slower and said quickly, "Yes, it would be fine if we didn't know about this group of Jin people. Since we know about this group of Jin people, why don't we kill them? They dare to step into Hebei and never come back."

Liang Zhongshu heard this and said with a smile: "There is no time to lose. You two muster your troops and march quickly. We should take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and defeat them in one fell swoop."

After saying this, Li Cheng and Wen Da bowed and took their leave, then went to gather troops.

Liang Zhongshu sent someone to invite the prefect Huang Zhensheng to come and tell him that he was going to send troops to destroy Zengtou City in Lingzhou. Then he said, "Prefect Huang, you have to prepare all the food and fodder and deliver them to the army the day after tomorrow."

After hearing this, Huang Zhensheng quickly said goodbye and went down to prepare.

After leaving Liang Zhongshu's residence, the guards and yamen runners saw him and hurriedly welcomed him into the sedan chair. Huang Zhensheng ordered the summoners to go to the granary and count the grain and grass.

A man beside the sedan heard this and rode his horse to the sedan and asked softly, "Father, at this time of year, why do we need to count the food and fodder? Do we need father to personally check it?"

This man was Huang Zhensheng's youngest son Huang Wen. Ever since he was beaten up by Tu Qiao, Huang Zhensheng kept him by his side and taught him every day.

Huang Zhensheng said: "If the Secretary wants to wipe out the bandits, he must prepare food and grass. This matter is indeed urgent and must be completed the day after tomorrow. We must not delay this matter, otherwise others will not be at ease."

Huang Wen heard this, but his eyes turned and he said to Huang Zhensheng: "Father, why don't you collect some money and food from the rich families in the city?"

Huang Zhensheng said: "Master Zhongshu's instructions are urgent, how can we raise the funds slowly?"

"Father, why don't you go to the granary and pasture to collect the grain and grass yourself, and ask me to go to the city to collect some? Sending some to the army will also show the people in the city's care. My family can also get some."

Huang Zhensheng listened and said, "Sanlang has been smart since he was young, and now he has some skills to be an official. However, I am not the only one who can make decisions in the city. Do you know who to ask for money and food?"

Huang Wen heard this and said, "Father, we don't need to look for anyone else in this city. We can raise millions of taels of money just by going to Mr. Lu's family."

Huang Zhensheng laughed after hearing this and said, "I just praised you, why are you so wishful thinking?"

"Father doesn't believe it?"

"Lu Junyi has lived in Daming Prefecture for generations, and his family is also very complicated. How can you easily squeeze out a fortune from him?"

Huang Wen said: "Father, there is no need to ask more questions. Just look at my ability." "If you really take millions of gold and silver from Lu Junyi's house, I will no longer keep you by my side every day." Huang Zhensheng said.

Huang Wen heard this and said happily, "Father, let's see what I can do."

After saying this, Huang Wen turned his horse around and went to collect money and food.

It turned out that this [Flower-faced Fox] Huang Wen was used to roaming the streets, and he knew exactly which families he could mess with and which he could not.

This Lu Junyi lived in Daming Prefecture for generations and built up a vast family business. By the time of Lu Junyi's generation, he had forty or fifty financial managers to manage the business. He was also a martial arts expert, unrivaled in the world with a stick. He had an outstanding appearance, bright eyes, splayed eyebrows, a nine-foot-tall body as white as silver, majestic and awe-inspiring, like a god. He was nicknamed "Jade Unicorn" and was one of the three best in Hebei.

Therefore, Lu Junyi's family is not someone that can be provoked. This is also the reason why Huang Zhensheng laughed at Huang Wen for overestimating his own abilities.

However, others may not know, but Huang Wen knows that there are hidden worries in Lu Junyi's family.

You know why, others don’t know, only Huang Wen knows.

It turned out that Huang Wen was a lecher and had his hangers-on talking to him about the beauty and ugliness of women in the city. Jia Yujiao, the wife of Lu Junyi, was naturally among them.

After hearing this, Huang Wen had naturally seen her on the street before. She was indeed a beauty. Although he wanted to get close to her, he didn't dare to do it because of Lu Junyi. Moreover, there was a prodigal son Yan Qing in Lu Junyi's family, who was also a troublemaker. No matter what news he had, he could not hide it from him, so he didn't dare to disturb him.

But it was destined to happen. Once, Huang Wen went to a brothel to drink, and met Li Gu, the housekeeper of Lu Junyi's family. The two of them had similar interests and were compatible with women.

When one is drunk, it is inevitable that the wine will be lost. Once, Li Gu even laughed at his master in front of Huang Wen, saying that he left his wife at home and only cared about building up his strength instead of being close to women.

Huang Wen couldn't help asking a few more questions after hearing this, which made Huang Wen realize that there are actually such men in the world. Huang Wen listened to Li Gu's sour words, but he had bad thoughts.

She just teased Li Gu with words, "What a good piece of mutton, but she was left alone at home. What a pity, what a pity. If I were Li Duguan, I would have enjoyed myself for once by taking advantage of this opportunity."

Li Gu scolded him, "What do you know? Although the official often has to inspect the property, there are many maids and servants at home. The lady is in the back house, who can get close to her?"

Huang Wen said, "How difficult is that? You are in charge of the household and have been to all the places. You also know the movements of the official. Just mix a little knockout drug in the food, and the pig will fall asleep. Jia is a woman after all. If you succeed, she will cover up for you."

Li Gu was indeed so bold and presumptuous that he actually asked Huang Wen for the knockout drug.

Afterwards, this guy boasted to Huang Wen in the brothel that he was now half the owner of the Lu Mansion.

Huang Wen knew from this that Li Gu was a calculating and daring person who actually did such a dishonest act. Therefore, Huang Wen often squeezed some money from Li Gu for his expenses.

These days, I was kept by my father and had no time to rest every day. When I heard about raising money and food to reward the soldiers, I became interested.

He patted his chest and assured Huang Zhensheng that he would squeeze millions of taels of money and grain from Lu Junyi to show off his ability.

Others may not be able to succeed, but Huang Wen has the leverage over Li Gu, so he has no fear of failure.

After all, this Li Gu is in charge of all the big and small businesses of the Lu Mansion's treasury, so it would be easy for him to embezzle some money.

Huang Wen was not in a hurry. He went to the restaurant and asked someone to find the four hangers-on who were always around him: dung on the fence, maggots in the shit, bugs in the rice, and farts in the rice.

Soon, the four of them hurried to the restaurant. Seeing Huang Wen pouring himself a drink, Bashangfen hurried forward, picked up the wine pot and poured Huang Wen a glass, saying, "Young Master, how come you have time to come out today? You must have missed us so much."

(End of this chapter)