Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 337 Yang Zhi is trapped
When Yang Zhi saw Kuang Li leading his troops back, he asked, "Where is Hou Geng?"

Kuang Li said: "This guy said he wanted to go explore far away. I followed the wheel tracks out of Huangnigang and the official road to the east. I saw many wheel tracks and horse hoof prints. It looks like he was heading east."

Yang Zhi was thinking about the food he would have to eat later, so he didn't want to say anything more and just waved his hand.

Seeing Yang Zhi's expression, everyone did not dare to say anything. They all sat down under the shade of the trees outside the courtyard, muttering to each other.

Yang Zhi said, "Should we send someone to inform Zhou Jin? We may need him to hunt down the thieves later."

Kuang Li listened, his eyes turned and he said: "He is 40 to 50 miles ahead. I don't know when I can catch up with him. It is better to wait for Xie Duguan to come back and have the county send out fast horses to chase him."

After hearing this, Yang Zhi stopped talking and waited under the shade of the trees outside the hotel.

As for Hou Geng, he ran all the way and caught up with Xie Duguan halfway.

When Xie Duguan saw him, he was surprised: "Why are you here?"

Hou Geng said, "Master, can you please spare me a moment to talk?"

The two walked aside, and Hou whispered, "Guan Guan, will we have a good harvest this time when we return?"

Xie Duguan hesitated and said, "This... I'm afraid I can't avoid punishment."

"If it's just a punishment, it's fine. But at the very least, I'm afraid you'll lose your position and be forced to flee to a distant state. At the worst, you'll lose your life. How big of a shoulder can I bear these two hundred thousand strings of gold and pearls?"

Seeing that Xie Duguan was in a panic, Hou Geng said, "Yang Zhi is a thief who has no foundation in Daming Prefecture. He was promoted by the Prime Minister. He wanted to take credit for it, so he signed a receipt. Why don't you put all the blame on him?"

"this···"

"Captain, there is an old saying: 'When a fire burns your body, you should sweep it away; when a bee or scorpion enters your bosom, you should immediately take off your clothes.' In the current situation, if Yang Zhi is not the only one who should bear the responsibility, none of us will be in a good situation."

The two of them whispered to each other for a while, and then Manager Xie nodded and led his men to Nanluo County again. Hou Geng turned around and left with a happy look on his face. He deliberately stayed for a long time on the way before returning.

We will not talk about how Xie Duguan went to make the first report. Let's just say that Hou Geng returned to the hotel and greeted Yang Zhi first, saying that he had no new discoveries. Seeing that Yang Zhi ignored him, Hou Geng went inside to get some water to drink and sat down under the shade of a tree.

Kuang Li glanced at Hou Geng, who pointed at Yang Zhi with his chin. No one said anything.

After a while, Hou Geng looked at Kuang Li, and the two of them walked aside and whispered.

Later, they found an opportunity to work on the soldiers who were sitting in the shade of the trees. The soldiers all had families and had lived in Daming Prefecture for generations. After hearing the threats from the two men, they naturally followed their lead.

Yang Zhi didn't notice it at first, but when he saw the two guards standing up one after another, he realized something and said, "I'll go and have a look from a distance. If they come back, they can send smoke signals and I'll come over myself."

The two captains wished that Yang Zhi was not around, and nodded in agreement quickly.

Yang Zhi stood up, put on a waist knife, held up a broadsword, put on a cold hat, and stood up to leave. When everyone saw Yang Zhi walking away, Hou Geng stood up and repeated the sentence of exile. Although a few soldiers argued, they saw that most people were standing behind Hou Geng, so they dared not say much and all listened to the orders of the two Yu Hous.

As they were talking, Yang Zhi had already come back and stood behind a tree, listening to most of what they were saying. Yang Zhi jumped out with his broadsword and shouted, "You bastard, how dare you slander me?"

Kuang Li and Hou Geng saw that they had failed, so they quickly drew their broadswords. Hou Geng shouted, "Don't blame me, Captain. We have had a smooth journey so far. Why are you forcing us here? We have traveled a long way while the heat is hot. We are thirsty and hot, so we drank the knockout wine. Although these people killed many soldiers, they did not touch the captain at all. The captain also said that we must have leaked our whereabouts. We are all guards of the Daming Prefecture, and we dare not leak any information. We don't know any heroes in the world. Only the captain knows the way, and he has a great reputation in the world. Naturally, we suspect you."

Kuang Li also said: "Why don't you surrender, Captain? Come with us to see the lord and have a clear argument."

After hearing this, Yang Zhi became furious and rushed towards Kuang Li and Hou Geng with his broadsword in hand.

Kuang Li and Hou Geng also shouted loudly and rushed to meet him with their swords. Kuang Li did not forget to shout, "If you don't want to die, come and help."

After hearing this, the soldiers hesitated for a moment, then each of them found a carrying pole and surrounded Yang Zhi to fight. Yang Zhi was furious and started to brandish his broadsword, injuring several people in a short time. Everyone tried their best to resist, but they were more defensive than offensive. At the critical moment, someone shouted from a distance: "Don't let Yang Zhi go."

After hearing this, Yang Zhi stole a glance and saw that it was Xie Duguan who was riding on a horse, leading many officials, all holding steel forks, broadswords, halberds, and hook sickles. Yang Zhi knew that he had become a scapegoat. At that moment, he became even more angry and used all his martial arts skills. He swung his sword twice, one of which knocked Kuang Li's right arm away, and the other chopped Hou Geng's chest and abdomen, shouting: "Whoever blocks me will die, and whoever avoids me will live."

Seeing Yang Zhi's bravery, the soldiers did not dare to stop him and retreated. Yang Zhi glanced at Xie Duguan and his men running towards him from a distance, turned his machete around, and went into the woods.

A group of people came forward, and Xie Duguan had people bandage Kuang Li and Hou Geng. Kuang Li was fine, although his face was pale, the bleeding had stopped, and his life was not in danger. Looking at Hou Geng again, his intestines were exposed, and he was breathing less than he was breathing out, so he was probably not going to make it.

Xie Duguan said to Wang Dutou who was standing beside him, "Dutou, you have also seen that Yang Zhi ran away after seeing us. This must have been done by him in collusion with outsiders. Please investigate and try to find the desperado who robbed the money. We will naturally say a few good words for you to the lord."

Wang Dutou nodded and told his men to disperse. In addition to summoning the heads of each village, they also went to the official road to visit the place where Shi Wei and Lai Yonger's gang had clashed.

In just one day, I found out that the people who opened the shop did have Shandong accents, and the rice wine left in the hotel was also a famous wine from Qingzhou.

After identification of the figures in the painting, it was determined that it was done by Song Jiang and his gang from Qingzhou.

After staying for three days, Hou Geng still couldn't make it and died. It was a pity that this guy came up with an idea but ended up losing himself.

Xie Duguan left Kuang Li and several guards behind, one to recover from injuries and the other to wait in the court to identify the thieves. He also ordered people to ride fast horses to chase Zhou Jin and his gang southward. He took the rest of the soldiers and rode back to Daming Prefecture to report to Liang Zhongshu. When Shen Fu Taishi learned about it, he went to Qingzhou Prefecture to hunt down the gang.

But Xie Duguan and the other imperial guards hurried back to BJ, traveling day and night. Without caring about anything else, they all went to Liang Zhongshu's mansion, and when they arrived in front of the hall, they all knelt down on the ground and confessed their crimes.

Without waiting for Liang Shijie to ask, Xie Du said, "Master, Yang Zhi is a bold and ungrateful thief. He colluded with Song Jiang and a gang of bandits in Qingzhou and set a trap in advance at Huangnigang in Nanluo County. We drank his wine by mistake and were knocked unconscious by him. The Qingzhou thieves took the birthday gift treasures and luggage and loaded them onto the car and took them away. Afterwards, Yang Zhi pretended to be a victim and stayed there with us to report to Nanluo County. Later, the matter was exposed, and in front of all the officials, he killed Hou Geng and Yu Hou and chopped Yu Hou Kuang Li. Now Kuang Li is staying there to wait for the arrest of the thieves. I will rush back overnight to inform you."

Liang Zhongshu was shocked when he heard this and cursed: "This thief is a soldier. I promoted him to be the commander of the army. How dare he do such an ungrateful thing? If I catch him, I will cut him into pieces."

After saying this, he immediately called a clerk to write a document, which he sent to Qingzhou overnight. He also wrote a letter home and sent someone to Tokyo overnight to report it to the Grand Tutor.

It is said that the messenger who was delivering the letter to Tokyo met the Grand Tutor and presented the letter. Grand Tutor Cai read it and was furious: "These thieves are very bold. Two years ago, my son-in-law planned to kill many people, and this year he was robbed again. Since we have the news of the robbers, we cannot let such a bold thief go."

Then he attached an official document and asked a government official to bring it personally to Qingzhou at night and ask the prefect to catch the thieves and report back immediately.

Let's talk about Qingzhou Prefecture Governor Murong. Since he received the letter from Liang Zhongshu, the governor of Daming Prefecture, he has discussed with the commander-in-chief of the prefecture, Qin Ming, the commander of the army [Thunderbolt], Huang Xin, the commander of the army [Zhen Sanshan], and Yun Tianbiao, the new chief of Maying Town.

After hearing what Murong Yanda said, Yun Tianbiao said, "Although I and Huang Dujian killed the two leaders of the Qingzhen Mountain stronghold, we didn't gain any advantage afterwards. Now we hear that there is a man named Song Jiang who has united the bandits from various mountains and robbed a lot of money. I'm afraid he will definitely recruit soldiers and horses, and it will be even more difficult to control them in the future."

Huang Xin also said: "There are many leaders on the mountain. Last time, when our troops attacked the mountain, they broke into Qingfeng Village. The village chief Liu Gao was killed, and Liu Gao's wife was also taken to the mountain. If we divide our troops to defend it, it will be difficult to break into the mountain."

Qin Ming was an impatient man, and he got impatient after hearing this. He shouted, "This is not okay, and that is not okay. Are we not going to suppress them?"

Just as I was feeling depressed, I heard the doorman report: "The official from the Tokyo Grand Tutor's Mansion has arrived at the hall with an urgent document, and wants to see you, sir."

Murong Yanda heard this and said, "It's probably about the birthday gift."

Zhao Fugan met him and said, "I already know about this matter. I am discussing with the commander of the army to attack Song Jiang's stronghold. I will write a letter and you can take it back to the Grand Tutor."

Having said that, he asked someone to lead the man to rest.

Murong Yanda turned back and said, "Now the Grand Tutor has sent a letter asking us to catch the thief who robbed the birthday gift. How dare we delay this matter? If I fail to do my job well, I can still escape unscathed. At worst, I can be promoted to another position. You are all generals in command of troops in this state. If you fail to catch the thief, you will be dismissed from the Grand Tutor's position. What do you think?"

Qin Ming said: "Tomorrow I will select 3000 men to attack Qingfeng Mountain. Huang Dujian will mobilize the troops of Qingfeng Village to attack Taohua Mountain. Yun Zongguan will still attack Qingzhen Mountain. The three troops will agree on a date and attack together to make it impossible for the front and rear to take care of each other."

Yun Tianbiao said: "Although this plan is good, I am afraid that he will defeat them one by one. There are at least 7,000 to 8,000 people on the mountain now, and more than ten brave leaders. I am afraid that I cannot wipe them out in this prefecture."

(End of this chapter)