Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Mid-Autumn in the seventh year of Zhenghe in Song Dynasty, the seventh year of Tianqing in Liao Dynasty, and the first year of Tianshun in Qi Dynasty.

Mu Hong's home was in chaos. The outlaws from Jingdong and Dongxi were partying with the local criminals. The brothers Mu Hong and Mu Chun had bought up almost all the liquor in Jieyang County. No one dared to provoke them at this time. Even the Ma Xiong brothers went out to hide, temporarily avoiding the attack, for fear that this group of lunatics would go crazy and kill them.

During the banquet, many people were drunk and staggered forward to drink with Song Jiang and Chao Gai. The two men accepted everyone who came. After drinking for a while, Chao Gai looked at Song Jiang and said, "My dear brother, you have no home to return to now. How about coming back to Fangshan with me? Together, you and I can make a name for ourselves in the west of Beijing."

Wu Yong, who was sitting at the next table, suddenly stopped drinking, narrowed his eyes, and then continued drinking.

Song Jiang thought for a while and said, "Brother Chao Gai's kindness is good, Song Jiang should not refuse it. But I also have brothers in Dengyun Mountain, and we will return together later."

Chao Gai sighed: "For all these days, what I want most is to go up the mountain with my brother and have fun..."

"Brother Chao Gai, why do you have to do this?" Song Jiang was somewhat moved and raised his wine bowl: "As long as you and I stay in this green forest for one day, won't we be happy?"

Chao Gai raised his wine bowl and bumped into him: "If you have any problem, come to me, brother, and I will do my best to help you."

The two drank the wine in one gulp. Song Jiang wiped his mouth and said, "Come to think of it, there is something I need Brother Chao Gai's help with."

Chao Gai waved his hand with heroic spirit: "You can say whatever you want."

Song Jiang looked at Zou Yuan, Sun Xin and others who were drinking with Mu Hong and Li Jun, and smiled bitterly: "I never thought that so many brothers would be willing to follow me, so I was a little confused for a while." He looked at Wu Yong and said, "Mr. Jialiang is good at making plans and planning the stronghold. I would like to ask Mr. Jialiang for help for a few days." He looked back at Chao Gai and said, "Of course, Mr. Jialiang will not waste his efforts. I am willing to give him three thousand taels of silver."

Song Jiang looked serious. As for whether the stronghold had three thousand taels of silver...

Being a bandit, could that be a problem?
bang——

Chao Gai slammed the table, startling everyone who was eating and drinking. When they looked over, the tall Heavenly King with the Pagoda-Bearing Body stood up, his eyes bulging like bells, facing Song Jiang's surprised face, with both hands spread out and a loud voice: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

Song Jiang opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. He didn't expect Chao Gai to react so strongly. Zou Yuan and Sun Xin quietly held the sharp knives in their arms. Li Kui blinked and looked at Chao Gai, his eyes staring straight at his neck. Dai Zong tried his best to shrink his body, silently saying "Can't see me, can't see me". The heroes on Chao Gai's side all opened their mouths in surprise. Only Wu Yong had flickering eyes, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"When you risked your life to come and inform me that day, I already regarded you as my brother for life and death." Chao Gai said as he patted Song Jiang's shoulder and pinched his shoulder with five fingers, making Song Jiang's face twitch. He heard Chao Gai laugh loudly: "Don't even mention asking Mr. Jialiang to help with the mountain stronghold. Even if you want to be the master of Fangshan, it's just a matter of a word. What's the money? You're just slapping me, Chao Gai!"

It turns out to be this...

Song Jiang breathed a sigh of relief, a smile on his face: "Brother, you scared me to death. I thought I had made you unhappy."

Chao Gai laughed and patted Song Jiang on the back: "How could I be angry with you? Don't say such nonsense."

The young Qiu Xiang next to him jumped up suddenly and said, "In that case, why don't we go to Dengyun Mountain with Brother Song Jiang to have a look? We can also help out a little." He whispered, "It's a good opportunity to see the sea. I haven't seen it yet."

Duan Sanniang glared at him and slapped him on the lower back, causing the boy to scream "Ah!" and say, "What nonsense are you talking about? There are so many things to do in western Beijing, why would I have the time to go to Shandong to hang out?"

Qiu Xiang bared his teeth and shouted, "Third Lady, you guys can go back to Jingxi. I'll go to Dengyun Mountain to take a look and then come back."

Duan Sanniang slammed the table and glared: "What are you talking about?"

Chao Gai came over to smooth things over: "Hey, Third Lady, don't be upset. There is nothing important in the mountain stronghold recently. You can still let Brother Qiu Xiang go to Dengyun Mountain to have a look." He turned his head and looked at Song Jiang: "Besides, given my relationship with Brother Song Jiang, it won't be a problem if he goes."

Duan Sanniang frowned and looked at Chao Gai, then turned around and snorted coldly. Duan Er hurriedly said, "Sanniang is homesick."

"Bullshit! I don't even want a home! It was these bastards who destroyed Duanjiabao, and now you are so happy about the ghost house mountain, you have no ambition!"

Duan Sanniang looked back at Duan Er, pointed at Chao Gai and cursed. Duan Er and Duan Wu changed their expressions at the same time, smiled awkwardly and looked at Chao Gai with an embarrassed expression, and then wanted Duan Sanniang to stop talking. The plump white woman stood up, her skin as white as snow trembled with the fat on her body: "Damn it, it's boring to follow you."

Looking at Qiu Xiang, "I'll go to Jingdong with you. Since Mr. Lu is not here, I'm not afraid of him."

Duan Er and Duan Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

Chao Gai laughed, and he would not take this matter to heart. Qiu Xiang was overjoyed, and he kept shouting that he wanted to go to Dengzhou to see the sea, which made several men on the water beside him laugh. Tong Meng turned his head and saw Li Jun holding the wine glass without laughing, and couldn't help but move closer: "What's wrong, Jun? Why are you so serious?"

"It's okay." Li Jun shook his head: "I just feel uneasy when I think about going to Shandong."

"Then let's go to Jingxi." Tong Meng said without hesitation: "It's the same whether we go to Jingdong or Jingxi. Besides, I think Chao Tianwang is a good man, so we can follow him."

"No, let's go to Jingdong and Jingxi. If we go there, we will be no different from fish on the shore." Li Jun looked at the Tong brothers with a strange look in his eyes: "Dengzhou is close to the sea, so we can still be useful."

Looking at the two brothers who were stunned, he didn't say anything and just drank his wine silently.

The happy days lasted for a few days. Mu Hong and Mu Chun burned down the farm. Li Jun took all his belongings and formed a convoy of fifty or sixty carts with the two brothers. There were more than four hundred people accompanying them. Together with the people from Deng Yunshan, there were more than five hundred people in total. A dozen leaders set out on the road to the north.

Chao Gai parted with Song Jiang in tears, and set out on the road back to the west of Beijing with his subordinates Liu Tang, Wang Dashou, Liu Tong, Qian Bin, and Qian Yi. Wu Yong and Duan's gang naturally followed Song Jiang.

The sun was high in the sky, cutting the shadows of the two teams of people onto the ground, moving them further and further away.

……

Liaodong.

After the cold winter, Lu Bu's market was set up on the border of Liaoxi Prefecture and Jinzhou. Just as Wang Zheng expected, the Liao Kingdom did not take any drastic actions. It was only the Zhongjing Road that ordered that trade with the Qi Kingdom was prohibited. Only merchants from the surrounding areas came to the huge market, and then the number gradually decreased and it became deserted.

In mid-spring, Yang Pu returned to Liaoyang Prefecture and discussed the affairs of Goryeo with Lu Bu. At this time, the pirates had retreated to the Oki Islands in the north of Japan, and the differences between Qi and Goryeo temporarily ceased to exist, so all the navy was withdrawn and only Hu Yanqing and Ruan Xiaoer were left to patrol south of the Changshan Islands.

The number of disaster victims heading south was not as many as expected, and more than half of them froze to death on the way. The rest were resettled in various state capitals. Li Ying and Jiang Jing gritted their teeth and distributed food, rice, and clothing. Although they could not ensure that the women and children would have no worries about food and clothing, they could at least allow the living people to survive the winter.

In mid-spring, Wang Zheng, Li Zhu and Qiao Lie wrote a letter to the emperor, suggesting that homeless women be given to unmarried soldiers in the army.

At the end of mid-spring, with the strong recommendation of Wang Zheng and Yang Pu, Qi State opened a trading post in Dingzhou. For a time, merchants on both sides of Goryeo and Qi were very happy and organized horse teams to travel between the two countries. Gradually, the news of the trading post became known to tribes in all directions, and more and more people came to trade with each other.

In early spring, Lu Guan, Hu Cheng, Du Xing, Su Liang and others who were heading to Nanjing Road formed a large caravan and traveled along Nanjing Road all the way to the northeast. The people in charge of Zhongjing Road who heard the news didn't know whether anyone had traded with them or whether the Han officials on the Nanjing Road had made connections and turned a blind eye to the caravan passing through. For a time, the Liaoxi market was overcrowded, and the Liaodong merchants who received the news went there one after another.

In early summer, Lu Bu, who had recovered from his weakness, bought grain from Liao and Song and began to stockpile it. At the same time, he distributed the women, children, and the elderly who came from the north and south to various places, and gave priority to the women of soldiers with titles to move into their houses.

Some generals like Du Fu and Lin Chong wanted to decline politely, but Wang Ling refused again and again, so he had to accept the two women who were no more than 20 years old and had pretty faces.

At the end of the first lunar month, Yi Dian's army was fighting with the army of King Hue in the wild. The Jin army of Xinzhou suddenly attacked the tent of King Yi Dian. Du Fu and Yuan Lang led 4,000 cavalrymen to intercept and kill the Jin army halfway and repelled the Jin army. Yi Dian's army then sent people to communicate with the State of Qi.

In mid-summer, the transactions between the Yalu River Tribe and the Changbai Mountain Tribe of the Eastern Jurchens and Dingzhou City in the market gradually increased. The person in charge of the market reported it, and Lu Bu sent Yang Pu, a doctor of the Ministry of Rites, to communicate with the two tribes.

In mid-summer, the Huiba tribe saw that the Yidian tribe had frequent exchanges with the State of Qi, and was also concerned about the strength of the Qi army, so they gradually became restless. In the second half of the month, the son of the Huiba tribe leader entered Liaoyang Prefecture and took the initiative to discuss the matter of joining the State of Qi.

At the end of summer, the two Jurchen tribes sent the sons of their clan leaders to follow Yang Pu back to Liaoyang Prefecture, and both said that they were willing to join Qi State, and only asked Qi State to send troops to repel the Jurchens of the Pulumaoduo tribe. Lu Bu then ordered Ma Ling, Han Shizhong, and Niu Wenzhong to march north.

In mid-autumn, Wanyan Zongbing and Wanyan Zongfu were ordered to go north to Tongzhou. The former was appointed as the Changshui Cavalry Captain, and the latter was the Sima of the Jurchen Lieutenant General, and was under the control of Du Fu and Xi Sheng.

The areas of Tongzhou and Hanzhou, which served as a barrier, gradually became lively. First, the Huiba tribe sent a cavalry of 500 people to join the Changshui Schoolmaster Tribe. Wanyan Zongbing, Zeng Tu, and Wanyan Zongfu continued to send troops to capture the lone people from Xinzhou, and then released them back. They said that the Qi army was willing to recruit Jurchen, Bohai, and Han people from the Jin Kingdom into the army, regardless of their identity or origin, and would treat them like Qi people. For a time, the morale of the Jin army was greatly shaken.

In mid-autumn, Ma Ling, Han Shizhong, and Niu Wenzhong fought with the Pulumaoduo tribe on the side of Changbai Mountain. In one battle, they defeated 5,000 Eastern Jurchen troops. The news spread to other Jurchen tribes, causing a stir.

……

In late autumn, Liaoyang Prefecture.

"It's going to get cold again." Lü Bu exhaled white air and looked at Deng Fei who was sitting opposite him. (End of this chapter)