Water Margin set the country

Chapter 24 Where there are people, there is power to fight

The defeat of Wang Tianba and the failure of Fan Chenglong's subordinates remind Chen Xizhen that someone is investigating the kidnapping of women, and the other side is strong.It's just that based on the information obtained from Wang Tianba's fight that night, it is impossible to analyze who is eyeing the Yuanbi Village.

However, when his subordinates reported that Chao Qing and Yang Lin from Liangshan and Lu Zhishen from Erlongshan had come to visit, Chen Xizhen had already guessed who was against Yuanbi Village.

"How many people are there?" Chen Xizhen asked.

"Only three."

"It's not a small amount of courage. Three people dare to come to my Yuanbi Village. Isn't this looking down on our Yuanbi Village!" Luan Tingfang, the leader of the Yuanbi Village, shouted.

Wang Tianba also looked angry, and said to Chen Xizhen: "Brother, since they came here this time, let's close the door and beat the dogs, teach them a good lesson, and never let them go down the mountain again."

Fan Chenglong reminded: "Brother, with our current strength, I'm afraid we won't be able to offend Liangshan and Erlongshan at the same time. In my opinion, let's show respect first and then fight. Let's see what plans Liangshan and Erlongshan have."

"What are you afraid of? Fan, you are too timid and timid in doing things. You don't look like a hero. Can you have some courage as a military adviser? If you really turn your back on us, then Liangshan and Erlongshan will come to us, just in time to catch them all. , give it to Prefect Murong, we can also take this opportunity to recruit security."

It was Zhu Yongqing who spoke, Chen Xizhen's son-in-law, Chen Liqing's husband, and the youngest brother of Zhu Chaofeng, the owner of Zhujiazhuang.He has always been very dissatisfied with his father-in-law for letting Fan Chenglong be the military adviser of this cottage, and he can't help but beat him up whenever he gets the chance.

"Since Brother Zhu said so, if the Liangshan soldiers come, please lead the troops to capture them. I believe that with Zhu's martial arts skills, it should be easy to level Liangshan!" Gou Heng mocked.

He was originally the owner of the Yuanbi Village when it was first established. Later, Chen Xizhen brought his daughter Chen Liqing, son-in-law Zhu Yongqing, Zhu Wannian, Luan Tingfang, Wang Tianba and other fierce men to the Yuanbi Village. Gou Heng knew that he was inferior to Chen Xizhen in all aspects. However, if he continued to sit on the position of the head of the village, he might be like Wang Lun in Liangshan. His head might move one day, so he took the initiative to abdicate to let the virtuous.But he also didn't want to quit the core leadership of Yuanbi Village. In addition to continuing to be the deputy village master, he also let his confidant Fan Chenglong serve as the military adviser of the village.Actively cultivate forces that are loyal to you.

Therefore, the Yuanbi Village was divided into the veteran faction headed by Gou Heng, Zhen Xianglin, Zhen Dayi, and Fan Chenglong, and the foreign faction headed by Chen Xizhen, Chen Liqing, Zhu Yongqing, Zhu Wannian, Luan Tingfang, and Wang Tianba.

Zhen Xianglin said: "What the military teacher said was also for the sake of the stronghold, but brother Zhu's words are not rude. This hurts the brother's loyalty too much." Zhen Xianglin and his clan brother Zhen Dayi were the first to follow Gou Heng. The oldest person.

Chen Xizhen stopped the crowd's quarrel in time: "Okay, stop arguing! The people from Liangshan and Erlongshan haven't come yet, but we started arguing ourselves. If we let them see this, we will laugh out loud."

Only then did everyone quiet down. After all, Chen Xizhen's anger is still very scary. Although this village owner claims to have studied Taoism for more than [-] years, and claims that his Taoism cultivation level is comparable to that of Master Luo, his temper is not at all like a Taoist cultivator. So reserved.

Last winter, the weather was cold, and the ink used by Village Master Chen was frozen. He rubbed it several times but it didn't melt. He was so angry that he directly lifted the table.That day, three unlucky people were beheaded by the village owner because of their neglect of duty.Everyone also felt the chill that was colder than winter.

Chen Xizhen said: "The military adviser's concern is not unreasonable, let's treat him politely first, and see what the purpose of his visit to Liangshan and Erlongshan is. If the visitors are really unkind, then we can't suffer this loss."

So the ape arm village was decorated with lanterns and festoons, gongs and drums were loud, and the highest standard of etiquette was displayed. Chen Xizhen led everyone to greet him in person in front of the mountain gate. Of course, Wang Tianba was not included. Chen Xizhen asked him to avoid meeting Chao Qing and others for the time being. .

Three soft sedan chairs carried Chao Qing, Yang Lin and Lu Zhishen into the cottage.Chao Qing and Lu Zhishen had both seen big scenes before, so they didn't think there was anything wrong with them. Only Yang Lin, who had been wandering for half his life, had never received such a grand reception, and felt a little uncomfortable for a while.However, he adapted very quickly and soon returned to normal.

Generally, the meeting place in the cottage is called Juyi Hall or Juxian Hall, but the one in Yuanbi Village is called Zhongjun Hall.There is also a couplet outside the gate, which is a poem by Han Yu, which says "If you want to eliminate evils for the sake of sages, you will be willing to spend the decay and cherish the dying years".

Chen Xizhen introduced this poem to everyone proudly, saying that he often uses this poem to encourage himself. Although his hair has grown gray early, his loyalty to the emperor and his intention to serve the country have never diminished. .

The implication is that this cottage of mine has lofty aspirations and pursuits, which is different from robbers like you who can only rob houses.

This made Chao Qing feel disgusted.He originally thought that Song Jiang, who was dedicated to recruiting security, was enough to be hated, but only after meeting Chen Xizhen did he realize that Song Jiang was nothing in front of Chen Xizhen.

These two will definitely become good friends, Chao Qing thought in his heart.

In the Zhongjun Hall, both sides had their own thoughts. At first, they could only talk about polite things like the weather is really good today. Afterwards, although the two sides also shared some situations about their own cottages, the topic always wandered around the edge and did not touch to the core issue.Although they also talked to each other, they didn't come up with any useful information.

This guy Chen Xizhen is really an old fox, too cunning.Chao Qing cursed in his heart.

This kid surnamed Chao is a ghost, he is not a good guy.Chen Xizhen also cursed in his heart.

So the meeting and talks on the first day ended in a superficially cheerful and peaceful atmosphere.In the evening, there is a big banquet as usual, and guests are entertained with good wine and good food.

When it was late at night, the cottage returned to silence.Chao Qing discussed with Yang Lin and Lu Zhishen again.

Lu Zhishen said: "Chen Xizhen is old and cunning, it is impossible to get any useful information from him."

Chao Qing said: "I didn't expect to get anything out of that guy's mouth at first. Let's proceed according to the original plan."

Both Lu Zhishen and Yang Lin nodded.

So Chao Qing and Yang Lin both wore night clothes and disappeared into the night.Although Lu Zhishen was skilled in martial arts, he took a mighty and heroic way, and his lightness skills were not good, so he went to Chen Xizhen to drink and chat with the leaders to distract them.

(End of this chapter)