Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 284: Out of Control
After the old lady came, three or five days passed, and Cheng Wan'er accompanied the old lady to visit the peaks every day. After Zhao Zhen accompanied her for two days, an official document made Zhao Zhen return to Baishi Manor in advance.

It was said to be an official document, but in fact it was a family letter, sent from Cheng Wanli of Dongping Prefecture at Lao Taishan.

In addition to inquiring about the whereabouts of his mother-in-law, he also talked about one thing: Yun Tianbiao followed the Tong Guan of Bian Jing, and because Qingzhou was mountainous and full of bandits, he was transferred to Qingzhou Maxing Town to serve as the general manager.

After reading it, Zhao Zhen immediately called Wu Yong and Zhu Wu to read the letter. Zhao Zhen asked, "Two military advisors, what do you think about this?"

Zhu Wu pondered for a moment and said, "Sir, I was chatting with [Swordsman] Cao Zheng a few days ago, and I heard him say that the Qingzhou prefect Murong Yanda is a relative of the current official. He relies on the power of the girl in the palace to run rampant in Qingzhou, killing innocent people, deceiving colleagues, and doing whatever he wants."

"There are many mountains in Qingzhou, which forces many good farmers to go up the mountain and become bandits. There are many who occupy the mountains and become kings, and who cut people in the forests. Now there are [Tiger-fighting General] Li Zhong and [Little Tyrant] Zhou Tong in Taohua Mountain. There is [Golden-haired Tiger] Yan Shun in Qingfeng Mountain. There are [Maotou Star] Kong Ming and [Unique Fire Star] Kong Liang in Baihu Mountain, who have gathered five to seven hundred people."

"These three places are nothing. The most dangerous one is Qingzhen Mountain. There are six heroes occupying this place: [Golden Scaled Python] Ma Yuan, [Iron Wall] Zhou Xing, [Fei Lian] Huangfu Xiong, [Black God Killer] Wang Bochao, [Ghost Seer] Lai Yonger, and [Lie Jue Da Lang] Helian Jinming. They rob houses on a daily basis. There are countless other small gangs of insignificant bandits."

"Now that Yun Tianbiao has gone here, he must be going to wipe out the bandits everywhere in order to seek promotion. I am afraid that he will come back to be hostile to us in the future."

Zhao Zhen heard this and frowned, "What should we do?"

Wu Yong said, "Sir, since these people have been on the mountain for many years and Murong Yanda has not yet wiped them out, I think they must have some skills. Taohua Mountain has some contacts with us, so why not send someone to report the news to the two men? Let the two men also spread the news to the other mountains, and ask them to be careful and guard against it. I think it will not be so easy to capture it if they defend it on the mountain."

Zhao Zhen heard this and saw that Wu Yong was still frowning, so he asked, "What do you think, scholar?"

Wu Yong heard this and said, "I wanted to transfer him far away, but I didn't expect him to jump out of Dongping Prefecture. It will be hard to control him in the future. The prefect of Qingzhou Prefecture is corrupt, and it is all thanks to the military commander Qin Ming [Thunderbolt] and Huang Xin [Three Mountains] that the bandits here dare not disturb the prefecture."

"Especially [Thunderbolt] Qin Ming, who has a fiery temper and is more courageous than any other man. I have heard from Song Gongming that there is a commander in Qingfeng Village called [Little Li Guang] Hua Rong, who is on good terms with him. This man is an excellent archer, and I am afraid he will get involved with Yun Tianbiao."

"I want to go to Qingzhou in person to communicate with Taohua Mountain and other places. On the one hand, I want to pay a visit to some officials in Qingzhou and make some good friends with them."

Zhao Zhen asked, "How long will it take for the scholar to leave?"

"I will take a few people with me and rush to Qingfeng Village before Yun Tianbiao. As for Qin Ming and Huang Xin, we will meet them if we can. If we can't, there is no need to delay. We will be back in ten days at most."

As he was speaking, Zhao Yuanli came closer and said, "Sir, the salt caravan has returned. As ordered, it has docked at the Xixi Village Pier. Hu Cheng and others are urging the farmhands to transport the salt to the warehouse. The fish jerky and other items they brought back have also been delivered to the farm."

Zhao Zhen said, "Go and invite the three brothers to come to the farm for a gathering." Zhao Yuanli responded and left.

Zhao Zhen continued, "It would be best if you could go there, and it would be best if you could convince a few people to surrender. It just so happens that Wang Ding and his six brothers have returned, and with Shi Qian, if you take these two brothers with you, you will have someone to look after you along the way."

Wu Yong listened, nodded, and said: "Although Taohuashan didn't come to seek refuge with you last time, he did send gifts. You can allocate some weapons to send them, and it's a gift in return." Zhao Zhen said: "Jiazhou County can still spare some leather armor, and you can give more weapons."

Wu Yong said: "We don't need too much, just ten sets of leather armor and some weapons. It would be inconvenient to send more. Pick some horses to carry them. We will pack them today and leave immediately."

Zhao Zhen listened and nodded in agreement. He asked Zhao Yuanli to go to the armor workshop to select ten sets of newly made leather armor, and then go to the blacksmith workshop to select fifty forged broadswords. He also asked Zhao Ji to go and call Shi Qian.

Soon, Hu Cheng, Du Xing, and Wang Dingliu arrived first. Talking about going to Binzhou Salt Field, Hu Cheng was excited: "Brother-in-law, the scenery on the sea is really different from that on the road. This trip has broadened my horizons."

Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "I'm glad you like it, brother. Did you have a smooth journey?"

Hu Cheng replied, "The sailors on the ship are all experienced and have done this many times. There were no problems along the way. You Dalang was still the one who contacted the salt field. After seeing the token, he asked about the Liu Tang and Yan Liu brothers' situations and then the deal was done. We had accumulated a winter's worth of sea salt and loaded it directly onto the ship without waiting. Before we left, we bought some fish jerky to bring back as usual."

Hu Cheng took a sip of tea and then said, "Brother-in-law, when is the next trip?"

Zhao Zhen said, "We'll rest for three to five days, and then we'll have to trouble you to lead the team to go again. The county's population is increasing, and there's a big shortage of salt. We'll have to go back and forth a few more times. From now on, we'll have to make two trips a month before winter, either to store or sell."

"This time, I will ask Brother Wang Dingliu to accompany the military advisor to Qingzhou, and only you and Brother Du Xing will lead the team."

Hu Cheng and Du Xing heard this and said quickly: "We both know a little bit about water, so we can handle it in a short time."

Wang Dingliu asked, "Sir, I wonder what I am going to do?"

Just as Zhao Zhen was about to speak, Shi Qian walked in. After greeting him, Zhao Zhen said, "Xuejiu, pack up and go. I won't see you off. You can choose the soldiers and horses for the trip."

Wu Yong said, "Don't worry, sir. I'll take care of it." After that, he called Wang Dingliu and Shi Qian out of the conference room.

Seeing the three men leave, Zhao Zhen turned to Hu Cheng and Du Xing and said, "Xuejiu and the other two, go to Qingzhou and see if you can recruit some heroes. Liangshan is still in need of capable brothers to help. If you two have heroes who are suitable, you can recommend them."

Hu Cheng shook his head: "Brother-in-law, I grew up in Dulonggang and stayed around Dulonggang every day. I have never been to other places and I don't know any heroes."

Du Xing said, "Sir, I once did business in the north, but I killed a customer of my business partner in a fit of rage, and was imprisoned in Jizhou Prefecture. I was once saved by Yang Xiong, the jailer of the two courts of Jizhou and the executioner of the city. He was a man of great martial arts skills, but unfortunately he is only a minor official in the prefecture and cannot be promoted."

(End of this chapter)