Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 91 Wang Jinwu Arrives

After listening to what Lu Yisheng said, Zhu Shenzhui, who had been confident, suddenly felt nervous. The changes on Zhaowuling Mountain caught him off guard. He did not expect Yiquanfeng to act so quickly. After taking over Zhaowu Village at the foot of the mountain, their strength increased greatly. Compared with the opponent, his own strength might be insufficient.

Moreover, the origin of Liang Sanlang is still unclear. If he is really from the frontier army as Lu Yisheng said, then he is not an ordinary refugee. After all, people who have served in the frontier army are different from ordinary people. Even if they are military households or white labor, they are better than mud legs.

Thinking about it again, Yifeng had the guts to attack Lingchuan. This person might not be as simple as he thought. In this case, would the previous arrangement be successful? Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help but feel a little worried.

But at this time, others could hesitate, but Zhu Shenzhui absolutely could not. Just as he and Zhou Anmin said, the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. The situation had come to this point and he could not afford to hesitate. At this time, Zhu Shenzhui had few choices. Apart from taking the initiative to kill Yifengfeng and understand the matter, he only had two other choices.

The first option was to take the people of Yangtou Mountain away, as Zhou Anmin suggested. However, this would ruin the situation that Yangtou Mountain had just started to improve after so much effort. Moreover, with so many people like Li Hu, how to avoid the government after moving down the mountain and where to resettle were all problems. It was impossible to do it in such a short time.

The second option is to pretend to be serious and join forces with Yifeng to attack Lingchuan, just to see if there is a chance to build a foundation. But the problem is that doing so is a road to death. It is only the 48th year of Wanli, and although the Ming Dynasty is in decline, it still firmly controls the world.

If he rebelled at this time, regardless of whether he had the ability to do so, the Ming army would not be a pushover. Once the riot started, by the time the government reacted, Zhu Shenzhu would not be able to resist the local garrisons alone, even without the need for border troops to be dispatched.

If the Ming Dynasty was in turmoil and it was the end of the Chongzhen period, Zhu Shenzhu would have chosen the opportunity to start a rebellion without hesitation, but only a fool would do so now.

After thinking it over, Zhu Shenzhui still felt that he should proceed with the previous plan. Even if there were some risks, it was worth it. Besides, he had other ideas at this time, but it was too early to talk about this idea now, so he would take it one step at a time.

The three of them quickly returned to the mountain. Seeing Zhu Shenzui coming, Li Hu and Hu Lin were also very happy. After asking, they found out that they happened to meet Lu Yisheng who was looking for him on the way here.

Zhou Anmin was introduced to Li Hu. After they met, Li Hu asked everyone to come into the house and sit down. Since they had something to discuss, they didn't drink any wine. Instead, they boiled a pot of tea and started chatting over the tea.

Time was running out and the situation was urgent, so Zhu Shenzhui didn't beat around the bush. He drank a sip of tea and got down to business.

He told Li Hu that he had sent a message to Wangjia Village, and if nothing unexpected happened, people from Wangjia Village would come soon. When they arrived, they would meet up with Yangtou Mountain, and then go down the mountain to Zhaowu Village, and meet up with the people from Yiquanfeng there. After the meeting, Zhu Shenzhu planned to see the situation first, and take action directly if there was an opportunity.

"Sixth Master, isn't it too risky to do this?" Li Hu was shocked. He didn't expect Zhu Shenzui to have such a plan. He already knew the situation on Yizhufeng's side. Now that Yizhufeng had so many people, it would not be easy to kill them.

"Although the risk is great, there is still a chance. If Yizhangfeng is not eliminated, the matter will never be resolved. If Yizhangfeng really takes over Lingchuan, there will be endless troubles!" Zhu Shenzhui said seriously.

"Sixth Master is right. This guy is a disaster if he is kept alive. If you had listened to me earlier, you should have let me go to Zhaowuling last time. I would have killed him with a knife when he wasn't paying attention!" Hu Lin brought up the old matter again and shouted at the side.

"Don't talk nonsense!" Li Hu glared at him, then said to Zhu Shenzhui: "Sixth Master, I'm not afraid of death. I never frowned when I fought against the Mongols at the border. But this is not a trivial matter. If I fail, I will lose my life, but it will implicate you and your brothers..."

Li Hu added: "Besides, there are so many people involved in the attack now. Even if it succeeds, the consequences will be huge. There are so many people in Zhaowu Village and the people in Zhaowu Ridge. We can't kill them all, right? There is no such thing as a wall that is impenetrable. Once the news gets out, how can the government just sit back and do nothing?"

Zhou Anmin knew about Li Hu from Yangtou Mountain before, but today was the first time he met him. After listening to what Li Hu said, Zhou Anmin felt closer to this seemingly rough man. Based on his words, Zhou Anmin felt that Zhu Shenzhui did the right thing by accepting Li Hu, and Li Hu was indeed a man of affection and righteousness.

Zhu Shenzhui smiled and said to Li Hu, "We still need to adapt to the situation. We haven't seen the gust of wind yet, and we don't know what's happening on the other side. It's too early to say something. But Tiger, you can rest assured. I won't do it rashly if I'm not sure."

"As for the government you mentioned, haha, there's no need to worry about that, brother-in-law!"

As he spoke, Zhu Shenzhui smiled at Zhou Anmin standing beside him.

Zhou Anmin naturally understood what he meant and laughed immediately. He reached into his arms, took out a waist badge and placed it on the table. This waist badge was made of bone, horn and ivory, and was slightly yellow in color. It was also called a "ivory badge". There were words engraved on it. Lu Yishen and Hu Lin were not very literate, so they naturally did not recognize them, but Li Hu was startled when he saw it and subconsciously stood up in a hurry.

"My humble servant greets you, sir..." Li Hu quickly and respectfully saluted Zhou Anmin. He had been a low-ranking military officer and recognized at a glance that this was an ivory badge of the Jinyiwei. It had the Jinyiwei logo on it, as well as the number of the Jinyiwei office (Qianhu Suo) to which Zhou Anmin belonged.

Such ivory cards cannot be faked. Moreover, in this Ming Dynasty, with the Jinyiwei having such a fierce reputation, who would dare to do such a thing?
"Brother...?" Seeing Li Hu like this, Lu Yisheng and Hu Lin didn't understand what was going on for a moment.

"What are you standing there for? Come with me to see Lord Zhou?" Li Hu glared at the two and shouted. Before Lu Yisheng and Hu Lin could react, Zhou Anmin quickly helped Li Hu up.

"Brother Li, there is no need to be like this. We are all family. I am showing you this ivory card just to show my identity. Get up, get up..."

Li Hu then stood up, but he was still nervous, but at the same time he was completely relieved.

He never thought that Zhou Anmin, who came with Zhu Shenzhui, would actually be a Jinyiwei. The moment he saw the ivory plate, Li Hu reacted in his mind and understood why Zhu Shenzhui had told him not to worry about the reaction from the government.

Since the Jinyiwei came forward, then this matter was equivalent to doing errands for the Jinyiwei. As long as the gust of wind was dealt with, the Jinyiwei would help deal with the subsequent troubles, and there was no need to worry about anything else.

At this time, Li Hu thought of Zhu Shenzhui's identity as a royal family member, and his heart was relieved. He secretly blamed himself for forgetting this. Zhu Shenzhui had already thought of what he thought of, and Zhu Shenzhui might have also arranged what he didn't think of. What was there to worry about?
When Lu Yisheng and Hu Lin learned about Zhou Anmin's identity as a Jinyiwei, their hearts were pounding with astonishment. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the reputation of the Jinyiwei has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This is the emperor's personal army, holding the power of life and death and being extremely fierce. They never thought that Zhou Anmin, who had always spoken to them in a friendly and polite manner, would actually be a Jinyiwei.

It took him a lot of effort to digest the news, and then he showed the same joy as Li Hu just now. With the participation of the Jinyiwei, this matter is almost certain. No matter how strong the wind is, can it be stronger than the Jinyiwei?

Zhu Shenzhui saw all the changes in the expressions of the three people, and felt a little proud in his heart.

He had originally planned to ask Jinyiwei to do this, and now Zhou Anmin came with him, which further proved their confidence. Li Hu and others who were a little hesitant just now were now in high spirits.

As they were talking, someone came in from outside and hurriedly reported that people from Wangjia Village had arrived.

Zhu Shenzhui was both surprised and happy to hear the news. He had originally estimated that it would take about two days for the people from Wangjia Village to arrive, but he didn't expect them to come so soon.

"What about people?"

"I'm just going up the mountain. My brother below asked me to report first."

"Good! Good!" Zhu Shenzhui laughed loudly, stood up and called Li Hu and others: "Everyone, let's go! Go and pick up the brothers from Wangjia Village."

Everyone quickly got up and followed Zhu Shenzhui out of the Laojun Temple. After walking a few steps down the mountain road, they saw a group of people coming down the mountain from afar.

The leader was very familiar, with a burly figure and agile steps. Wasn't he his cousin Wang Jinwu? The boy was dressed in shorts and looked tough, and the boy following him was Li You.

"Jinwu!"

"Sixth brother!" Hearing the voice, Wang Jinwu looked up and saw Zhu Shenzui and his men coming to meet him in front. He grinned, waved his hand in the direction of Zhu Shenzui and the others, and then quickened his pace.

In a blink of an eye, Wang Jinwu and Li You came up, and when they saw Zhu Shenzhu coming, they gave him a warm hug.

"How come you're so fast?"

"Haha, what a coincidence. When you delivered the letter to Pingyang, I happened to be in Pingyang City. After seeing your letter, I set off without delay. By the way, it was also fortunate that Xia Dong and his men had just returned from Jiezhou. After gathering the manpower, they took a carriage directly along the official road. They rushed all the way and finally arrived today. Sixth brother, did I delay you?"

"No wonder..." Zhu Shenzhui also laughed, and then asked Wang Jinwu how many people he brought. Wang Jinwu pointed to the back and told him that he had brought all the people he could, a total of more than sixty people.

Zhu Shenzhui was even happier when he heard that there were so many people. He had originally estimated that there were only thirty or forty people, but now there are a lot more people, and with the addition of Yangtou Mountain, he felt more confident.

(End of this chapter)