Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 593: Lushan Bandit

Since he had obtained Xingren Prefecture, Zhao Zhen's reputation in the east and west became even better. Wu Chang, the governor of Jizhou, even sent his confidant to present him with a pair of gold and silver ruyi. The military camps in Qizhou and Zibo in the north, which were in a stalemate with Liangshan, were also taken back.

As a result, the people of the two states fled from the border to Liangshan with their families.

Of course, the two states' reduction of military forces was not entirely due to the fact that Liangshan was powerful enough to subdue Gao Shide, the son of General Gao of Xingren Prefecture. Another reason was that the two places were also unable to take care of themselves, and the soldiers had to guard the city and resist the bandits in the territory.

This is not the fault of others, but the two governors selected by the court are flatterers, mediocre in ability and greedy for money. In order to get a job, they gave a lot of gold and silver. Now that they are in charge of a region, how can they not seek personal gain, abuse their power, take bribes and abuse the people, causing injustice and suffering to every family.

Besides, the two new military commanders were ordered to lead the troops to defend Liangshan. They were both highly skilled and wanted to make contributions. When they first arrived, they dismissed the old and weak soldiers and recruited young and strong soldiers for training. They trained every three days and every five days, but the military pay was not enough. The soldiers complained bitterly.

The food and fodder and military pay allocated by the provincial government were all fixed amounts. At the beginning, there were many old and weak soldiers, and the number of soldiers was not enough. Now there are more soldiers, so the food and fodder are naturally not enough. The court does not allocate food and fodder to support them, and only asks the province to raise them locally.

The two prefects followed orders and took advantage of the opportunity of military training to exploit the people. As the clerks took advantage of the situation, the exploitation was so severe that trouble naturally arose.

Let's talk about Zibo first. Because the government exploited them severely, they could no longer bear it. The leader was a man named Zhang Xian, nicknamed "Gan Chi", who killed the officials who went to the countryside and rebelled against Zibo. In less than a month, men, women, old and young gathered to 70,000 people, claiming to be 100,000 people, and did not respect the government.

Zhang Xian was originally from Qingzhou. His family was a wealthy family with some experience. In order to avoid the war in Qingzhou, he fled to Zibo. Although his family was saved, he did not expect to escape from the tiger's mouth and fall into the wolf's den. Because his family was not from the local area, the officials oppressed him even more. Therefore, he relied on his bravery to kill the officials.

At first, the prefect Wen Yan did not take it seriously and ordered the envoys from the three cities to join the patrol to capture Zhang Xian. Zhang Xian ambushed in advance and killed the officials and public servants. Because the commotion got too big, Zhang Xian was afraid of being surrounded and suppressed by the government troops, so he led the people to the south of the Zibo River, at the junction of Zibo, Qing, Yi and Yan states, and occupied Lushan.

Because the southern foot of Lushan Mountain extends deep into Yizhou with abundant grass and water, Liangshan has opened up a pasture here. Recently, it has been disturbed by this group of people. Yizhou's military commander Hu Yanzhuo had to send brothers Jie Zhen, the "Two-headed Snake", and Jie Bao, the "Double-tailed Scorpion", to lead an army to garrison here. In addition, the Ugulun and Tuoergu tribes were also skilled in archery and horse riding, and they managed to beat Zhang Xian and his gang so that they dared not move south.

In addition to Zhang Xian's group in Lushan, there are two other groups in Zibo Prefecture, occupying the mountains and becoming bandits. The leaders of the two groups are both from Yizhou, one is Wu Hu and the other is Xu Jin. Both of them were recently in Yizhou to eliminate mountain bandits, and they could not stand on their own feet, and they were unwilling to submit, so they ran to Zibo Prefecture. Now the three of them jointly occupied Lushan, and their momentum was unmatched.

Cheng Ziming, the military commander of Zibo Prefecture [Golden Hair Iron Lion], heard about it and reported it to the prefect Wen Yan, who organized the troops to go out. It happened that there was a battle in Xingren Prefecture in the south, and Liangshan was not at fault, but occupied another prefecture. Wen Yan was afraid that a large number of troops would be sent to Lushan, which would lead to hostility from Liangshan. Therefore, after discussing with Cheng Ziming, he only asked Yun Tianbiao, the militia commander, to lead 5,000 people across the river. Wen Yan and Cheng Ziming secretly sent people to rush to Bianjing to report to the Grand Tutor and the Grand Commandant respectively, asking for advice.

When General Gao received the letter asking for help, he discussed it with Grand Tutor Cai. Grand Tutor Cai scolded him, "Wen Yan and Cheng Ziming are both useless. It has only been a short time, but they have managed to raise such a large group of rebels."

Gao Qiu said, "Sir, we have found out that Zhang Xian is from Qingzhou, Wu Hu and Xu Jin are from Yizhou. This makes us think a lot."

"Does the commander-in-chief mean that these three people are under the command of Liangshan?" Cai Jing asked.

Gao Qiu said, "Sir, it's hard to say. Three people from Zibo took the lead and occupied Lushan, and three people from Qizhou also occupied Huazishan. Apart from Sun Lie, Prince Li and Liu Dalang were both evasive. I only heard that one of them was from Dongping Prefecture and the other was from Mizhou. If you look at it this way, they have nothing to do with Liangshan, but I don't believe it."

Cai Jing heard this and asked, "What does the Grand Commandant mean?"

Gao Qiu said, "Sir, I have a plan. Why not use it against them? Lushan is adjacent to four states and is separated from Zibo by the Zibo River. It would be better to include the area south of the Zibo River into Qingzhou and ask Liangshan Zhao Ze to lead his troops to wipe them out. The bandit leaders Zhang Xian, Wu Hu and Xu Jin must not surrender and must be killed. Send a message to Zibo as a warning to others."

"In this case, even if the three men are not generals under Liangshan, it would be a good idea to use him to get rid of them. If they are generals under Liangshan, let's see how he will deal with them." After listening to this, Cai Jing nodded and said, "What the general said makes sense."

Immediately, the two of them went to the palace to meet the emperor and report to him.

The emperor had no interest in state affairs, but when he heard the two men's words were so convincing, he nodded in agreement.

At that moment, an imperial decree was issued to send him to Zibo and Liangshan.

When Wen Yan, the governor of Zibo Prefecture, received the imperial edict, he was ecstatic.

Originally, the Lushan area south of the Zibo River was weak in Zibo Prefecture, and many people fled to the nearby Liangshan area. Now that they don't have to suppress the bandits, they are naturally very happy.

Only the military commander Cheng Ziming looked embarrassed.

Wen Yan saw this and said in a consoling tone, "Why is the governor acting like this? The Grand Commandant's move is also a strategy to weaken Liangshan. Now that Secretary Tong has led his troops south to suppress Fang La, Zhao Ze of Liangshan is his son-in-law, so who wouldn't give him some respect? If the Grand Commandant is acting like this, what else can we do? Besides, the governor's troops are not well-trained yet, so why rush into it?"

Cheng Ziming nodded his head and agreed. Then he sent someone to tell Yun Tianbiao, the commander of the militia, to return to the north of the Zibo River.

At about the same time, Zhao Zhen also received the imperial edict in Liangshan Prefecture. After sending the angel away, he discussed it with Wu Yong and others.

Zhao Zhen was the first to speak: "I didn't expect that there would be such a good thing in the world. Although the Lushan group dared not fight with us, they were disturbing the ranch. I have long wanted to get rid of them."

Wu Yong and the others congratulated him after hearing this, and then Zhu Wu said, "This imperial edict is weird. It actually demands the heads of Zhang Xian, Wu Hu, and Xu Jin, and also orders that the three not to surrender."

Wu Yong heard this and said, "I'm afraid the court didn't expect us to surrender these three people and strengthen our power, which is why this is so strange."

Zhao Zhen heard this and said, "It's not easy to kill these three people. Lushan is the source of the four rivers, Zibo, Wen, Mi, and Yi. The main peak, Guanyun Peak, is steep, with towering mountains and ravines. Which army should be sent to wipe them out?"

Wu Yong heard this and said, "Sir, although Lushan claims to have 100,000 soldiers, most of them are old and weak, and only 10,000 soldiers can fight. It doesn't take many soldiers to suppress this place. Just call Guan Sheng, the Great Sword of Qingzhou, to lead the Qingzhou soldiers, and call on the brothers Jie Zhen and Jie Bao who are currently stationed at the horse farm, and Li Ying, the Sky-throwing Eagle of Yanzhou who is stationed at Laiwu, to support them. We can chase and intercept them. If we pacify them properly, we may be able to make them rebel on their own."

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "I have also heard that most of the bandits in Lushan were forced to fight back. Many of these people are innocent. If we can recruit them and settle them down, we can save a lot of taxes in one or two years."

Liu Hui Niang said, "If that's the case, Qingzhou alone doesn't have enough people. A large army should be on the border to create a powerful momentum, so that the people on Mount Lu will be frightened and cause chaos."

Wu Yong said: "Let Jie Zhen, Jie Bao, and Li Ying's troops bring more drums, gongs and flags, surround them from all sides, and bluff them."

(End of this chapter)