Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 603 Three Conditions
Back at the Liangshan camp outside the city, Zhao Zhen followed Wu Yong's plan, gathered the bodies of the Gaotangzhou soldiers, stripped off their clothes and armor, dug a large pit on the spot, and threw all the bodies into it.

The Liangshan stronghold advanced forward and set up camp again two miles outside the city.

When the soldiers and civilians in the city saw this, they became even more terrified.

Gao Lian forced himself to be stronger, patrolled the city every day, and opened the Liaocheng treasury to reward the soldiers. For two days in a row, the Liangshan army did not come to attack the city, and the city finally became stable.

Although he did not attack the city, Wu Yong sent people along the city wall to shout every day: only kill Gao Lian, Yin Tianxi and others who killed Liangshan official Chai Huangcheng, and do not pursue the rest.

On this day, just as Wu Yong expected, an angel came on horseback at full speed. He was intercepted by the cavalry around Zhao Zhen's camp, and the angels and their followers were sent to Zhao Zhen's camp.

After the greeting, the angel read out the imperial edict, ordering Zhao Zhen to lead his troops back to Liangshan.

The deputy envoy also spoke up, "The emperor ordered us to come and ask why Anfu Xianggong is looking for trouble and harassing Gaotang Prefecture?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he angered a brave man behind Zhao Zhen. He heard [Baoguang Tathagata] Deng Yuanjue shouting, "You thief, didn't you see that Gao Tangzhou killed our Liangshan officials first? How dare you lie with your eyes open? You are all Gao Lian's gang."

As he said this, he was about to go forward and beat the angel.

Zhao Zhen rebuked, "Just listen to what the angel has to say."

At that moment, the angel said, "I am Luo Jian, the martial arts instructor. He is the emperor's disciple, not someone's personal friend. I will definitely handle matters impartially."

After that, he said to the deputy envoy Sun Jing: "Sun Yuhou, we are here on a mission under the order of the emperor. We must understand the cause and effect before we go back and report."

After hearing this, Sun Jing dared not say anything.

At that moment, Wu Yong stepped forward and told the angel everything that had happened. He then took the angel to see the remains of the old camp of Gaotang Prefecture.

After reading it, Luo Ji whispered to Sun Jing, "Deputy Envoy Sun, it seems that Liangshan is right now. When the general comes, there will be an explanation. You can let me know to avoid a bad ending in the future."

[Sun Hedgehog] Sun Jing naturally knew the cause. Now that the two sides had already fought, Gaotang Prefecture had suffered a great loss. For a moment, he did not know how to end it. He could only quietly tell Luo Ji about the arrangements made by the Grand Commandant.

After returning to Liangshan, Luo Ji said to Zhao Zhen, "Sir, we are here under orders. We cannot just listen to your one-sided words. We have to go to the prefect to announce the order. How about we talk to you after we have met with the prefect Gao?"

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "The angels can go ahead. I have been working hard to build siege equipment these days. I wanted to attack the city, but the angels came. Gao Lian has gone too far, and I have to give an explanation to my subordinates. Please ask the angels to leave the city tomorrow."

After hearing this, Luo Ji quickly comforted him, saying, "Sir, we will go see Gao Lian right away. If it is really as you said, we will ask Gao Zhizhou to apologize and send the murderer. This city must not be attacked."

Zhao Zhen sneered and said, "Angel, just go and ask. Find out the reason, and we will come back to discuss it."

After that, he sent someone to escort the angels to Liaocheng.

After receiving the order, Gao Lian invited the angels to sit down.

Sun Jing winked at Gao Lian, and the two of them found their own excuses to leave the hall. When Sun Jing saw Gao Lian, he spoke first, "Sir, the prefect, why did you start a fight?"

Gao Lian frowned when he heard this, and looked at Sun Jing and asked, "What do you think, brother?"

Sun Jing said, "The commander naturally doesn't want to provoke this big beast, but now that the battle has begun, I'm afraid Liangshan won't give up easily." Gao Lian said angrily, "Does my Gao family still fear this Liangshan kid?"

Sun Jing said, "The governor is not afraid of him. His father-in-law, Tong Shumishi, is leading a large army to attack Jiangnan. The situation is good and the emperor is favoring him. The general has always been on good terms with Tong Shumishi. Now he heard that there was a conflict with Liangshan, so he reported it to the emperor and asked me to come to mediate. We rode at full speed all the way to Liangshan first, and heard that Zhao Ze had already led an army to Gaotang Prefecture, so we rushed here without stopping, but we were still a step late."

"You also know that we are not in the right regarding the matter of Chaihuang City. Now Zhao Ze is using your sending troops to attack his camp as an excuse. What should we do?"

Gao Lian said angrily: "Tie me up and send me to Liangshan, and the situation will be settled peacefully."

"What are you saying, sir? You are the brother of the Grand Marshal, how can you allow Liangshan to humiliate you?" Sun Jing hurriedly comforted him.

The two discussed it further and then returned to the government office one after another.

After Luo Ji asked around, although Gao Lian's words were vague, Luo Ji understood that this was most likely what Zhao Ze of Liangshan said. Therefore, Luo Ji said to Sun Jing: "Deputy Envoy Sun, do you have any ideas?"

Sun Jing said, "Lord Luo, the matter is clear. This is just Yin Tianxi and his people who took advantage of their power to bully others and commit murder. Just send Yin Tianxi and his people to Zhao Anfu for punishment. Gao Zhizhou was just not strict with his subordinates. Report this to the emperor, and the emperor will issue an order to reprimand him."

After hearing this, Luo Ji was stunned and thought to himself: I don’t know what these two said to each other while avoiding me, and they compromised when they came back. Could it be that they replaced Yin Tianxi?
At that moment, Luo Ji said, "What the deputy envoy said is true. I just don't know what Mr. Zhao Anfu will say. After all, the two sides fought and suffered losses on both sides."

Sun Jing said, "We are here to mediate the fight between the two parties, so we naturally have to ask Mr. Zhao Anfu again."

The two men left the city and went to the Liangshan camp.

After the greetings, Luo Ji spoke and told Gao Lian about his conditions.

Wu Yong stepped forward and said, "Yin Tianxi and his men are nothing but useless people. How dare they kill the descendants of the previous dynasty? They must have been ordered by Gao Lian to be so rampant. Handing over Yin Tianxi and his men and compensating us for the losses in the fight is not enough. We must also ask Gao Lian to pay with his life."

Sun Jing heard this and without waiting for Luo Ji to speak, he said quickly, "Gao Lian is an official of the imperial court. He is just not strict with his subordinates. The emperor will naturally punish him. How can he leave it to you?"

Zhao Zhen heard this and said, "Although what the deputy envoy said is true, it also makes me feel awkward. I have already recruited Chai Huangcheng as an official. Now his life is in danger and I cannot avenge him. How can I govern Liangshan? If I want to settle this matter, unless, unless..."

Seeing that Zhao Zhen was hesitant and unwilling to speak, Sun Jing said, "Please speak up, sir. If it can be done, the envoy and I will definitely do our best to facilitate it."

Zhao Zhen pretended to sigh and said, "The Grand Commandant and my father-in-law have always been on good terms, so I can't push him too far. If you don't care about Chai Huangcheng's death, I can't explain it. If you agree to these three things, it'll be fine. Otherwise, I'll start the attack tomorrow."

Luo Ji and Sun Jing looked at each other, and it was Sun Jing who spoke first: "Sir, please tell us, we will do our best."

"Send Yin Tianxi and his companions out first, and ask me to offer sacrifices to Chai Huangcheng. This is one of the reasons." Zhao Zhen said.

Luo Ji said: "Killing someone means paying for his life. This is only natural. I will take responsibility for this matter on behalf of Gao Zhizhou."

"Second, I sent troops to fight him and suffered heavy losses. But I asked him to send gold, silver and food to reward the army."

"That makes sense." Luo Ji said.

"With these two rules, call Gao Lian out to fight me. If he beats me, this matter will be over. What do you two angels think?" Zhao Zhen said.

(End of this chapter)