Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 402 Liangshan Province

Cheng Wanli's urgent memorial, which had traveled 500 miles, reached Bianjing in one day and one night. Two trusted officials went to Tong Guan's residence first to deliver the letter.

Since Cheng Wanli had worked as a doorman for Tong Guan, he was naturally familiar with Tong Guan's family. He knew the doorman, the clerk, and the manager well, and the messenger had a customary way of delivering the letter, so Cheng Wanli's letter was delivered to Tong Guan on the same day.

After reading it, Tong Guan immediately called the messenger who was delivering the letter. Hearing that there was another memorial here, he wanted to send it to the memorial room. Tong Guan asked the two clerks to rest in front, and there was no rush to deliver the memorial. He took the letter and took the sedan chair to Cai Jing's house.

After the greeting, Tong Guan handed the letter written by Cheng Wanli to Cai Jing. After Cai Jing read it, Tong Guan said, "Grand Master, this Cheng Wanli was originally a teacher in my family's gatehouse. He told me about this in advance and asked me to block the memorial. This Li Datian was recommended by the Grand Master. I am afraid that the memorial office will receive the memorial and send it to the Tongjin Department. The emperor will read it and blame him. Let me inform the Grand Master so that we can make a response as soon as possible."

Cai Jing said, "This Zhao Zhen, the prefect of Jizhou Prefecture Miao Shanggao also wrote to me, saying that Zhao Zhen of Liangshan County likes to practice spears and sticks, and has gathered a group of green forest heroes to train soldiers and horses. No one dares to provoke him. He is Cheng Wanli's son-in-law, so he is one of us. Last time he killed Li Erseng, a thief from Baijue Temple under Song Jiang's command, and now he has discovered in Yanggu County that Li Datian has secretly surrendered to the Qingzhou bandits. He is a useful person."

"Well, Secretary Tong, there is no need to rush to submit the memorial. Didn't he say in the letter that there are two jade pendants as evidence? Secretary Tong will send a confidant and two capable retainers from my mansion to Dongping Prefecture overnight. Take the two jade pendants and send them to my son-in-law in Daming Prefecture. After identification, return directly to Bianjing to report and make decisions later."

Tong Guan said, "Song Jiang now controls Qingzhou and Weizhou, and urgent documents are coming in from all over. The spies have reported that Song Jiang is now returning to attack Yanzhou. This place is not like Wang Qing in Huaixi, Tian Hu in Hebei, and Fang La in Jiangnan. If he really disturbs Bianjing, the government will punish him, and I'm afraid we will all be punished."

Cai Jing said: "Yes, although this is also a way to wear down the local imperial guards, it cannot let him alarm Bian Jing. If this is true, this Zhao Zhen is quite talented."

"Dongping Prefecture is also the only way to Bianjing. Putting him there can stop Song Jiang's troops, and we can mobilize troops at ease. Although he is a county magistrate, we can recommend him to be a prefect. However, Liangshan, Shouzhang, and Yanggu are all small counties, and I am afraid they cannot stop the Qingzhou bandits. Then we can assign Yuncheng County of Jizhou, Fan County of Puzhou, and Zhongdu County of Dongping Prefecture to him, and promote Liangshan County to Liangshan Jimi Prefecture. This is also our backup plan."

Tong Guan said: "What the Grand Master said is sound. I will send someone to Dongping Prefecture right away."

Cai Jing and Tong Guan urged them to do the work, so they returned from Daming Prefecture in just five days. Together with two Yuhou from Daming Prefecture, the five of them brought back Liang Zhongshu's words. Cai Jing looked at the two jade pendants in his hand and said angrily, "Li Datian deserves to die. He actually colluded with the Qingzhou bandits."

Tong Guan comforted him, "Grandmaster, don't be angry. Now that the truth has been found out, we need to investigate and deal with it quickly."

The two of them discussed it and made preparations.

The next day, the palace chief official shouted, "If you have something to do, please report early. If you don't have anything to do, please withdraw from the court."

The Privy Councilor Tong Guan stepped out from the crowd and said, "Your Majesty, Song Jiang is currently causing chaos in the east of Jingdong Road, invading states and counties. The officers and soldiers are unable to stop him, and many soldiers and civilians have been injured. I hope Your Majesty will step down and dispatch capable people to suppress the rebellion and save the people."

The emperor listened to the report and asked all the officials, civil and military officials, "Who among you will help me to wipe out this bandit?"

Upon hearing this, Cai Jing stepped out of the ranks and said, "Your Majesty, I am an old minister who is ignorant and does not know how to judge people. Today, the magistrate of Yanggu County, Li Datian, has not appreciated the grace of Your Majesty and has colluded with the bandits of Qingzhou to cause chaos. He has now been captured by the magistrate of Liangshan County. I humbly pray that Your Majesty will punish him."

The emperor said, "Since he has been arrested, I will forgive the Grand Tutor for recommending him. Now that Song Jiang is rampant, who can suppress him?"

Cai Jing reported, "Your Majesty, the magistrate of Liangshan has made great contributions. He has fought against Li Erseng, a leader under Song Jiang. I beg Your Majesty to issue an imperial decree to allocate the three counties of Shouzhang, Yanggu, and Zhongdu in Dongping Prefecture, as well as Yuncheng County in Jizhou and Fan County in Puzhou, to form Liangshan Jimi Prefecture. In this way, Liangshan County is located between Qingzhou and Bianjing, and the court can take this opportunity to dispatch troops to suppress the bandits in Qingzhou."

At that moment, Right Censor Chen Jin stepped out to object, saying, "Your Majesty, this cannot be done. Liangshan was originally a remote county. Now that we are supervising Shouzhang, it is already a special favor from Your Majesty. How can we be in charge of six counties?"

Cai Jing retorted, "As a censor, you know that Song Jiang has now occupied Qingzhou and Weizhou and is about to attack Yanzhou. The people of Liangshan are brave and strong. Although it is a remote county, it has defeated the Qingzhou bandits twice. If you don't reward them for their merits, won't it discourage the soldiers from making progress?" He was about to ask for an imperial decree to punish Chen Jin.

Taiwei Su said: "Chen Zhengyan has always been bold in speaking out. This statement is also for the benefit of the country. What crime has he committed? Taishi's words are also for the benefit of the country. The bandits in Qingzhou are rampant and we must guard against them."

At that moment, the emperor approved the request and issued an edict: "Shouzhang, Yanggu, Zhongdu, Yuncheng, and Fanxian are combined into Liangshan Jimi Prefecture and a military town. The magistrate of Liangshan, Zhao Zhen, is promoted to the governor of Liangshan and the inspector, and the general of Ningyuan. His title is the son of the founding country, and his honor is the senior cavalry commander. His wife, Cheng, is given the title of Yiren."

Gao Qiu came out of the class and said, "Your Majesty, we fought against the bandits in Qingzhou the last time and won a great victory in the first battle. It was only because Gao Feng of Yizhou was unfamiliar with the geography that he was ambushed and had to retreat to Yizhou to rest. Now it is autumn and the weather is cool. We only need to wait until the autumn harvest, when there is sufficient food supply, to select soldiers and generals, and then we can go to fight against the bandits."

Upon hearing the report, the emperor immediately issued an imperial decree, entrusting Grand Marshal Gao to select generals and mobilize troops to suppress the rebellion and make sure to wipe out Song Jiang and his gang.

General Gao said, "Your Majesty, I heard that Song Jiang and his gang of bandits have divided their forces to occupy various places. The bandits are stupid, and the experienced fighters are scattered, which is a good opportunity to win. Considering these bandits, there is no need to raise a large army. I recommend one person, and then let the various prefectures and cities cooperate, and we will surely be able to recapture the area."

The emperor said: "If you use him, there will be no mistakes. Order him to go immediately, report his achievements quickly, and give him a higher position, reward him, and promote him to a higher position."

Gao Qiu said, "This man is a descendant of Hu Yanzan, a famous general in Hedong during the early days of the founding of the country. His name is Zhuo. He is now under the command of Runing County. He wields two copper whips and has the courage of ten thousand men. I recommend this man to be appointed as the commander of the army and horses, and he can lead the elite cavalry and infantry to suppress the Qingzhou bandits as soon as possible."

The emperor said, "Tell the Privy Council to bring the imperial edict and summon it overnight."

Instead of asking the Grand Marshal to send an officer to carry the imperial edict and go to announce it, it is said that after Tong Guan left the court, he did not return home, but returned to the Grand Tutor's Mansion with Cai Jing.

The two men sat down, and Cai Jing asked, "Did you see today that the emperor looked different when he heard the name of Zhao Zhen, the magistrate of Liangshan County?"

"Hiss..., Renzong?"

"That's right. You and I were both careless and didn't think of this. Emperor Taizong of this dynasty was originally named Zhao Kuangyi. He changed his name to Zhao Guangyi to avoid the taboo of his ancestors. After he ascended the throne, he changed his name to Jiong to show sympathy for the people because the characters Guang and Yi were common. Although the emperor didn't get angry today, this Zhen can no longer be called that. The Privy Councilor sent these two messengers back to tell him to submit a memorial of apology."

Tong Guan listened and nodded.

But five or six days after the grand court meeting, Zhao Zhen received the imperial edict. Wu Yong and his companions were delighted and congratulated Zhao Zhen on his promotion.

The six counties of Liangshan, Shouzhang, Yanggu, Zhongdu, Fanxian, and Yuncheng also received the imperial edict, and the county magistrates of Zhongdu, Fanxian, and Yuncheng looked at each other in bewilderment. Liangshan Prefecture was a Jiedu Prefecture, and it was also a Jimi Prefecture. All the officials in the prefecture were appointed by Zhao Zhen.

Everyone was just waiting for Zhao Zhen to send someone to take over. After the treasury, granaries, criminal case files, and money and grain accounts were counted and confirmed to be correct, they would return to Bian Jing to take up their posts.

Such haste cost the lives of the three county magistrates. You must know that these three relied on the official seal of a county, so how could there be no mistakes? After receiving the imperial order, they had to force the clerks, Cao Si, Shu Li, Ling Shi and other clerks to sort out various official documents and accounts and make up for the various shortages in the treasury and granary.

(End of this chapter)