Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 578 Take it lightly
Zhao Zhen then took out two prepared inheritance items from Ji Minghan, Ji Mingdan and the three Black Ant sisters and left them to Ji Qingwan. Zhao Zhen nodded and asked Ji Minghan to lead everyone and the food and supplies to enter the Zhen Baoche Uprising.

A group of people appeared in the wild. Zhao Zhen was well prepared for this. Four of his personal army's brave generals, [Sweeping Dragon] Huo Wancheng, [Sky-holding Bronze Pillar] Wang Liang, [Little Marquis of Wen] Lu Fang, [Sai Rengui] Guo Sheng, each led 500 cavalry soldiers and dispersed in all directions.

After some exploration, the [Sweeping Dragon] Huo Wancheng who went to explore the east reported that a town ten miles away seemed to have just been hit by a war. Because of the fear of revealing their whereabouts, they did not dare to go deeper. They only saw from a distance that people in mourning were everywhere outside the town.

After hearing this, Liu Hui Niang said, "Sir, this town was most likely robbed by Zhen Baoche's gang. Even if it wasn't, the people in this town must hate the other gang. If we go there, we may be able to get some help. With these people, it will be much easier to search for the hiding place of Zhen Baoche's gang."

Zhao Zhen said: "What Hui Niang said is right. We will go and take a look. If it is cheap, we will camp there and then search for Zhen Baoche."

After saying this, he ordered the soldiers to march. Huo Wancheng and Wang Liang led a thousand cavalrymen in the vanguard, Zhao Zhen led the infantry, artillery battalion and Qingyuan Guards as the central army, carrying the baggage behind, and Lu Fang and Guo Sheng formed the rear.

An army of six thousand men marched towards the town in a mighty procession.

After marching for an hour, when the army arrived outside the town, the young and strong men and women in the village had already rang gongs and gathered with hoes and shovels.

After roughly arranging the battle formation, Zhao Zhen sent Huo Wancheng forward to question him and ordered the manager to come out.

After hearing this, the group of people made a commotion, and then two strong men, each holding a knife or a gun, walked out.

The man holding the knife asked first, "Where are you from, my friend? This is Huangtun Township. A group of bandits just robbed us. All the food and cloth in the township has been looted. My friend, please go somewhere else."

Huo Wancheng shouted, "We are not bandits. You two come into the barracks and meet the general. Perhaps this group of people is exactly the one we, the general, want to wipe out."

The two strong men looked at each other, then bravely followed Huo Wancheng into the battle.

After putting down their weapons, the two men went forward to see Zhao Zhen and bowed to him. The man on the left bowed and said, "General, I am Tan Xinrong, the head of this village. This is Ma Zhen, the inspector of this village. I wonder which army you are from?"

Zhao Zhen said: "Don't worry about this. Let me ask you, are you attacked by bandits here? Do you know who is the leader?"

Tan Xinrong said, "General, three days ago, a group of soldiers came from the south, about 3,000 men. Judging from the flag, they were carrying a large flag with the word Zhen on it, so they must be Zhen Baoche's men. They surrounded the town for a day, and we fought repeatedly, but we were ultimately defeated. Five to seven hundred villagers died, and they still managed to break into the town. We retreated from the north gate, and this group of people set fire to the town, destroying half of it, and looting all the food, grass, and cloth."

Zhao Zhen heard this and asked, "Do you know where these bandits went?"

Ma Zhen, who had never spoken, said, "General, I followed them secretly. After looting, these people broke into several surrounding villages. After looting, they retreated southward and entered Aishan."

"Aishan?" Zhao Zhen asked.

"If you don't believe me, General, I am willing to be your guide. I only ask that you can avenge us." Ma Zhen said.

Liu Hui Niang asked, "How far is Aishan from here?"

"More than thirty miles." Ma Zhen replied.

Liu Hui Niang then asked, "What's the terrain like?"

Ma Zhen said quickly: "This mountain is only a hundred meters high, but it is the remnant of Mount Tai. It is tightly surrounded by the Waishan on the opposite bank, forming a natural barrier of the Yellow River and the Aishan Pass, a wonder of the world. This location of the Yellow River is known as 'carp jumping through the pass, King Yu locking the dragon'. The mountain is made of stacked bluestones. Now that this group of bandits has poured into the mountain and built a camp, it may be difficult to attack. However, many acres of land have been reclaimed at the foot of the mountain. If we surround this mountain, we are afraid that these people will not come down the mountain."

Zhao Zhen listened, but did not comment. He asked, "I heard that this group of people called themselves the righteous army?"

"Bah, what kind of righteous army? Zhen Baoche is also a rich man. The government was pressuring him hard, so he killed the local officials, burned his farm and went to the mountain to avoid disaster. The government soldiers didn't kill many people, but instead killed the locals without mercy. We have to deal with the government while respecting this guy. He let his soldiers plunder if we are not satisfied." Ma Zhen said.

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen asked, "Is there a government office here?"

Ma Zhen said: "Of course there is no such thing. Although I don't know what this area is like, it is surrounded by fog and cannot be connected to other places. Dong'e County is just 20 miles away to the northwest. This area is now under the jurisdiction of Gao Pi, the commander of the city."

"Can you report the bandits to the commander in the city?" Zhao Zhen asked.

Tan Xinrong said: "I dare not do that. The officials in the city only know how to collect taxes. How dare we disturb them? If we invite this bunch of killers, we will suffer another war."

After that, he looked at Zhao Zhen and said, "Where does the general come from?"

Zhao Zhen said, "We are the generals who broke in from outside the fog. Now the world outside has changed. We will leave after we defeat this group of bandits. If anyone of you is willing to follow us, you can also leave with us."

Tan Xinrong asked: "General, what is the situation outside the fog?"

Zhao Zhen said, "It's better than this place. Go back and inform the villagers. If you want to leave, just pack your bags. It will only take three to five days. If you don't want to leave, I won't force you. Before you leave, I have another instruction. You will have to work hard for it then."

Tan Xinrong wanted to ask more questions, so Zhao Zhen sent someone to escort him out of the army.

Zhao Zhen issued an order, and Huo Wancheng and Wang Liang were still the vanguards, and under the guidance of Ma Zhen, they went all the way to Aishan.

When they arrived at Aishan, it was already time for the announcement. On Aishan, Zhen Baoche had already seen the approaching army and ordered the volunteers in the mountains to guard the stronghold and not go down the mountain to engage in battle.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhao Zhen ordered to set up camp.

Nothing happened all night.

On the second day, after breakfast and three drum beats, Zhao Zhen and his men all put on their armor and went into battle.

The troops on Mount Ai were still on high alert, but not a single soldier came down the mountain.

Huo Wancheng was the first to challenge the enemy and cursed for half an hour, but no one on Aishan responded.

When Ji Minghan and Ji Mingdan saw this, they said to Zhao Zhen, "My husband, why don't we go out and challenge them to see how they respond on the mountain."

Zhao Zhen looked up and saw that the sun was rising and the weather was getting hotter. He said to Ji Minghan and Ji Mingdan, "You two should be careful. I will let Li Qing support you two."

After hearing this, the three of them rode out on their horses. Ji Minghan and Ji Mingdan galloped on their horses, showing off their might towards the top of the mountain.

As for Zhen Baoche on the mountain, he saw a group of government troops at the foot of the mountain, fully equipped with armor, half of whom were cavalry, and they were obviously the elite troops of the imperial court. Therefore, he did not dare to go down the mountain to fight.

Yesterday, someone proposed to rob the camp, but Zhen Baoche refused. This morning, the government troops challenged him to a fight, but Zhen Baoche did not dare to accept the challenge. After all, although there were tens of thousands of young and strong men and women in his group, there were less than a thousand armored men. How could he dare to line up and fight?

Not long after, Zhen Dong, the confidant guarding the mountain in front, came to report that two women were challenging them. The people below were all filled with righteous indignation and wanted to go down the mountain to fight. They asked Zhen Baoche for advice.

As soon as he finished speaking, several military leaders in the hall on the mountain shouted that they wanted to go down and fight.

Zhen Baozhou even shouted, "Brother, if you ask a woman to challenge you now, if she doesn't respond, the morale of these people will be gone. Once the government troops attack the mountain, I'm afraid they won't be able to resist. Why don't I go down the mountain and capture these two young ladies and bring them up. First, it will boost morale, and second, it will prevent the government troops from looking down on us."

After Zhen Baozhou finished speaking, everyone below started clamoring to go down and capture the two girls. Seeing this, Zhen Baoche knew that it was hard to go against the crowd's will, so he said, "Since there are two people below, you will suffer a loss if you are alone. Call the two coaches Wang and Li to help."

After hearing this, coaches Wang and Li quickly stood up and agreed.

"I will go with my brother."

When Zhen Baoche looked over, it was his brother-in-law Han Jinxun who spoke. Zhen Baoche nodded.

At the foot of the mountain, Ji Minghan and Ji Mingdan were waiting impatiently. Then there was a sound of drums on the mountain, and more than 20 riders rushed down the mountain. The first two were in iron armor. When they saw Ji Minghan and Ji Mingdan, they didn't say a word, but rushed over with their horses and spears.

When Ji Minghan and Ji Mingdan saw this, they were not afraid. They each drew out their Sun and Moon swords, shouted delicately, and rushed forward.

The four men fought back and forth, over and over again, for more than ten rounds, but neither of them won.

Ji Minghan pretended to be vulnerable, turned his horse around, and went around the formation.

Han Jinxun, who was fighting with him, laughed loudly and chased him on his horse, swearing foul language all the time.

Ji Minghan put the knife on the ring, secretly took out the flying knife in her hand, turned her body, and shouted, "Go." The flying knife in her left hand flew towards Han Jinxun's face.

When Han Jinxun tried to dodge the flying knife, Ji Minghan turned his horse around and chopped Han Jinxun's right arm with the knife.

Han Jinxun dropped the spear in his hand and urged his horse to flee. Ji Minghan caught up with him and chopped Han Jinxun off his horse with another strike of his sword.

Ji Minghan didn't even look at him and rode his horse towards Zhen Baozhou.

When Zhen Baozhou saw that Han Jinxun was defeated and Ji Minghan was rushing towards him, he was about to leave in a panic, but Ji Minghan saw the opportunity and, with a delicate shout, swung two knives at him from left and right. Zhen Baozhou could not dodge in time and was chopped off his horse by Ji Minghan.

The two coaches on the opposite side saw this and cursed: "How dare you kill someone, bitch!"

After saying that, the two men rode their horses and rushed over.

Here, the three Black Ant sisters also rushed out when they saw Ji Minghan and Ji Mingdan win.

Before they could engage, three people threw out six flying knives.

Coach Wang was caught off guard and was hit by the flying knife. He fell off his horse. Li Yao stepped forward and beheaded him with a knife.

Another coach named Li used his spear to knock down three flying knives in succession. Before he could retract his spear, the fourth knife had already arrived and hit the horse's head. The warhorse rushed out two steps and knocked Coach Li to the ground.

Li Lin and Li Ling stepped forward and hacked Coach Li to death.

When the twenty or so bandits at the foot of the mountain saw this, they panicked and ran up the mountain.

When Zhao Zhen saw this, he ordered his men to beat the crocodile war drums violently. Li Kui, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time, picked up two axes and rushed out first.

[Eight-Armed Nezha] Xiang Chong, [Flying Great Sage] Li Gun, together with Zhang Chi, Ba Zeng, Ji Guang, and Lu Duo, each holding a weapon, followed closely behind.

Three thousand soldiers brandished their swords, flying knives, javelins, and axes. They first threw a volley of knives and javelins, and then rushed in together.

Hu Sanniang protected Liu Huiniang and led the [Flying Divine Thunder] who came with them. They set up twenty Flying Divine Thunders and fired at the mountain.

Liu Hui Niang kept giving orders, and thunder bombs rained down like raindrops. The small thunder bombs flew everywhere, blasting and cracking. In an instant, broken boards, broken wood, and corpses of people and horses were flying everywhere. The people on the mountain were already unable to resist, and now they were blown up by the thunder bombs, so they abandoned their positions and ran up the mountain. Li Kui and others rushed into the bandit camp, and the bandit soldiers were in chaos.

On the top of the mountain, Zhen Baoche led the troops to supervise the battle, killing more than ten people in a row, but failed to stop the bandits from fleeing.

Zhen Baoche shouted repeatedly, and no one stopped except his personal soldiers. Seeing that the defeat was inevitable, Zhen Baoche was terrified and told people to escape from the back mountain.

Li Kui hacked and killed again and again. When he saw Zhen Baoche screaming, he roared and rushed forward with his two axes. Zhen Baoche had no time to react. Li Kui rushed down from his horse and chopped off the horse's legs with one axe, knocking Zhen Baoche to the ground. Li Kui swung his two axes like flying and knocked Zhen Baoche to the ground.

When the guards who were protecting Zhen Baoche saw this, they all rushed over. Li Kui just kept hacking at him, while Xiang Chong and Li Gun also led their card players to attack him, and the two sides started a fierce battle.

How could the guards defeat these big beasts? Soon, they scattered and fled. Li Kui also cut down the flag of Zhen Baoche.

Zhao Zhen was at the foot of the mountain. When he saw the Zhen Baoche flag fall, he knew that the outcome had been decided.

He ordered Lu Fang and four others to go around the mountain and capture prisoners.

Then he ordered people to shout everywhere: "Those who surrender will not be killed!"

Upon hearing the order, Li Kui and others also told their soldiers to shout everywhere: "Zhen Baoche is dead, those who surrender will not be killed!"

An hour later, Zhao Zhen met Li Kui and others who were driving the captives down the mountain at the foot of the mountain. They were all covered in blood. Li Kui even hung the head of Zhen Baoche on his waist. As Li Kui walked, the head of Zhen Baoche swung back and forth.

When he saw Zhao Zhen, Li Kui quickly drew his two axes and presented Zhen Baoche's head.

When Zhao Zhen saw it, he ordered someone to pick it up with a long bamboo pole and hang it in front of the mountain.

Zhao Zhen said: "Brother Li Kui is indeed brave and conquered the enemy camp in one battle. He is credited as the first meritorious service. Brothers Xiang Chong and Li Gun provided protection and made great contributions. After they return, they will each receive a reward."

It took half a day to clean up Aishan and move all the wealth down from the mountain. Zhen Baoche's army of more than 10,000 people killed or wounded more than 3,000 people, and the remaining 7,000 people were taken prisoner.

Li Kui and the other two were ordered to lead the troops, escort the 7,000-plus people, and carry the money and food to Huangtun Township. Zhao Zhen led the cavalry and the Qingyuan Guards, and took Ma Zhen with him, and rushed back to Huangtun Township first.

When he saw Zhao Zhen's cavalry rushing back, the village chief Tan Xinrong hurried out to meet them.

Zhao Zhen said: "I want to attack Dong'e County, are you willing to help?"

Tan Xinrong looked at Ma Zhen, and Ma Zhen said, "I am willing."

After that, he said to Zhao Zhen: "General, please wait a moment. I am talking to Tan Xiangzheng."

Seeing Zhao Zhen nod, Ma Zhen pulled Tan Xinrong aside and whispered what Aishan had seen. Tan Xinrong was horrified to hear that more than 3,000 people were killed in one battle and Aishan's face was dyed red.

(End of this chapter)