Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 663 Huazi Mountain

After seeing off Gongsun Sheng and Qiao Daoqing, Zhao Zhen still had some free time.

The Yizhou bandits had been wiped out, and the mine supervisors no longer had to worry about a shortage of staff. Even the Chengxian Coal Supervisory Office had expanded its staff from 300 to 800. Even with more people, the prison camps were not enough.

If the Qingyun Mountain silver mine and chalk mining had not required 1,200 people, these people could only be sent to the gold mines in the more distant Laizhou and Dengzhou.

Now, Qingyunshan Mine Supervisor Li Wang and Kiln Supervisor Chen Jin have begun collecting mineral materials with the cooperation of Yizhou Magistrate Xu He.

Except for Yizhou, there are no bandits or pirates in other places.

However, the newly occupied Qizhou and Xuzhou were not included in the list.

Let’s talk about Qizhou first. Like Zhang Xian, Wu Hu and Xu Jin of Zibo Prefecture, they were also dissatisfied with the heavy taxes imposed by the court. Sun Lie, Prince Li and Liu Dalang occupied Huazi Mountain.

The three of them had a greater momentum, gathering about 140,000 or 150,000 men, women, young and old.

【Big Knife】After Guan Sheng took over Qizhou, in addition to intimidating the county officials, he focused more on the bandits in Huazi Mountain. Even when Zhao Zhen ascended the throne, only Cheng Wanli, Shi Wenbin, and Yu Cheng came from Qizhou.
[Divine Fire General] Wei Dingguo, [Holy Water General] Shan Tinggui, [Mountain Wolf] Gou Ying, [Iron Face] Ren Sen, and Xing Zheng are still intensifying the siege of Huazi Mountain.

Recently, Guan Sheng devised a plan to use Xing Zheng to transport grain and grass, in order to lure Liu Dalang on the mountain to come down the mountain to rob the grain.

When Xing Zheng saw Liu Dalang blocking the road, he did not fight, but rode away as planned. When the soldiers escorting the grain and grass saw this, they threw away their armor and helmets, and the young men fled in all directions.

When Liu Dalang saw this, he laughed out loud: "Everyone says that Liangshan is so powerful, but if they see me, Liu Dalang, they will also flee in fear."

A close follower shouted, "My lord, this Guan Sheng has been surrounding the mountain for many days, scaring Chief Sun and Chief Li so much that they dare not come down the mountain. Now it seems that he is not as good as that [Mountain-moving Strongman] Gao Chonghan."

Another person laughed and said, "Who cares whether we can beat Gao Chonghan or not? Leaders Sun and Li are both cowards. Now that the king has robbed this batch of food and grass, the people in the mountain should push the king as the leader. Only in this way can we repel the government troops."

Liu Dalang smiled and said, "Hey, I share the same values ​​with the two leaders Sun and Li. The position of leader should naturally go to Brother Sun Lie."

The confidant said, "Captain Sun only has the advantage of the terrain and many men under his command. Now the people in the mountain are living frugally. If it weren't for the king coming down the mountain to rob food, I don't know how many people in the mountain would have frozen to death in a few days. Now we have found out that the government troops at the foot of the mountain are just for show. We can fight our way out of the mountain again."

Sun Lie and Prince Li on the mountain saw that Liu Dalang had robbed more than a thousand stones of grain and that his followers who had come down the mountain were not harmed at all, so they came to ask what happened.

Although the three of them were all in Huazi Mountain and were united externally, they still each led their own subordinates internally.

Watching the minions escorting the grain and grass up the mountain, Sun Lie asked in disbelief: "Brother Liu, are the government troops down the mountain so incompetent?"

Liu Dalang said, "Brother, we are just frightened by the reputation of Liangshan. If we really fight, we will be nothing but a bunch of drunkards."

Prince Li shook his head and said, "Brother Liu, Liangshan was able to compete with the imperial court in the past, and now it has established its own country. If you say that the soldiers of Liangshan are not strong enough to fight, I'm afraid they are just trying to lure us down the mountain to fight."

Liu Dalang said, "Not entirely. I heard that Zhao Zhen was just a village headman, but now he has become the ruler of a country. I think he is also ignorant. Looking at the soldiers at the foot of the mountain today, I am afraid that they are expanding too quickly and recruiting randomly."

"I have also heard of this Guan Sheng. He is only surrounding us but not attacking us. I am afraid that it is because all his soldiers are new recruits and are not good at fighting. That is why he is doing this."

"It's not summer now. If we don't get some rice and cloth, we won't have to fight. We will die of hunger and cold. Although Guan Sheng is brave, his soldiers are new recruits. We won't fight him. We will lead the soldiers to charge into his battle formation. As long as we break through his formation, without soldiers, why would we be afraid of Guan Sheng?"

After hearing this, Sun Lie and Prince Li both nodded.

No matter what Guan Sheng's soldiers were like, this fight was inevitable. Just as Liu Dalang said, there was a lack of food and clothing on the mountain, so they had to go down the mountain. Even if Liu Dalang didn't go, the two of them would go down the mountain to explore. Now that Liu Dalang was exploring the way, it could boost morale.

Prince Li said: "This matter should be dealt with as soon as possible. Why not let the brothers have a good meal today, and then we can go down the mountain to fight tomorrow. If we can win, we don't have to hide in Huazi Mountain. If we can't break the blockade..."

Having said this, Prince Li stopped talking.

Sun Lie and Liu Dalang naturally understood what Prince Li meant. Either surrender or die on Huazi Mountain.

At first, Guan Sheng did not try to persuade the three men to surrender, but the three men did not take it seriously because they saw that Guan Sheng only had 5,000 soldiers. They also thought that Guan Sheng was just like Gao Chonghan, who was only willing to defend the city.

Unexpectedly, just a few days after refusing to recruit, Guan Sheng actually gathered young men, and now there are more than 30,000 of them.

Although the three occupied Huazi Mountain and had a large population under their command, the number of men who could fight was no more than 30,000. Seeing that Guan Sheng was leading so many soldiers, the three chose to give way and retreated back to the mountains.

Unfortunately, due to insufficient preparation, the troops of Sun Lie and Prince Li were given limited rice porridge, which could support them until the New Year. However, Liu Dalang's troops were not given any restrictions, and many of them had already gone without food. This was also the reason why Liu Dalang had to go down the mountain.

Sun Lie and Prince Li looked down on Liu Dalang. They both boasted of their intelligence and courage, but Liu Dalang was just a stupid and illiterate countryman who relied entirely on brute force.

Early the next morning, Sun Lie and his two companions gathered all the minions on the mountain and drove them down the mountain.

Guan Sheng had already discovered such a big commotion.

They also beat the gongs and drums and went out of the camp to deploy their troops. The elite troops were all in the front, and the civilians who were filling in the numbers were in the rear. They also sent Gou Ying and Xing Zheng, the "wolves from the mountains", to lead 500 swordsmen and axemen to suppress the rebellion.

But when Sun Lie and his two companions came down the mountain, they soon saw that Guan Sheng had already arranged his army.

The three men saw him but didn't say anything. They told their trusted minions to beat the drums as hard as they could and drove their minions to attack Guan Sheng's formation.

Guan Sheng saw this and also sounded a drum. As the battle array opened, Shan Tinggui, the Holy Water General, flew out from the left, leading a thousand infantrymen, all wearing black flags and black armor, holding regimental shields, spears, steel forks and sharp blades. Wei Dingguo, the Divine Fire General, flew out from the right, leading a thousand fire soldiers, wearing crimson clothes and holding firearms. A hundred trains appeared in front and behind, all loaded with reeds to start fires. Each soldier had an iron gourd tied to his back, which contained sulfur, saltpeter, and five-color smoke powder, all of which were lit together.

The two armies, with dark clouds rolling on the left and raging fire on the right, rushed over together.

The train led the way, and javelins were fired. The minions in front were all unarmored, and had not seen much fighting in battle. Now, before the two armies even collided, they were killed in droves. Such a scene had already frightened them to death.

The people in the front tried desperately to run back, but the people in the back were driven away by Sun Lie and his trusted followers. There was not a single person who could recognize the command among the tens of thousands of people, and when Shan Tinggui and Wei Dingguo led their troops to attack the bandits in Huazi Mountain, they were already in chaos.

Guan Sheng, who was behind, saw this and was stunned. He ordered the cannon to fire and one shot rushed over.

It was more like chasing after bandits who would collapse at the first blow than saying it was a fight.

Afterwards, when the results of the battle were counted, only 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed or wounded, but more than 10,000 people were injured or killed in the battle. Sun encountered Wei Dingguo in the battle line and was shot dead by Wei Dingguo with one arrow.

Liu Dalang met Shan Tinggui, and after only ten rounds, he was stabbed to death by Shan Tinggui.

Although Prince Li saw the opportunity early, he was captured alive by the Iron-Faced Ren Sen on his way to escape.

(End of this chapter)