Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 405: Hu Yanzhuo Sends Troops to Qingzhou

By the time Zhao Zhen had sorted out Liangshan Prefecture, it was already mid-October.

During this period, although there were some twists and turns in the handover work, it was completed smoothly.

Taking Yuncheng County, where Zhao Zhen went, as an example, after receiving the imperial edict, the county magistrate prepared various documents and household registration and tax accounts in preparation for handover.

The handover was naturally carried out by Zhu Wu and Liu Hui Niang with their clerks. Under the introduction of Lei Heng, Zhao Zhen took Hu Sanniang to meet many people in Yuncheng County.

Zhao Zhen dismissed two captains, Zhao Neng and Zhao De, who had gained office by currying favor with the county magistrate. Others with bad records were also deposed.

Seeing that Lei Heng was in power, many people in the county came to curry favor with him and speak in his favor. These days, Lei Heng could finally be considered proud.

Fortunately, after experiencing the fickleness of human nature, I dare not make excuses for others on major issues.

Zhao Zhen discussed Yuncheng County with Wu Yong and others. After all, this place is Song Jiang's hometown, and he might be afraid that the court also wants to divert the disaster to other places.

After all, Lei Heng said that the magistrate dug up the ancestral tomb of Song Jiang's family in order to please Cai Jing, and the Song family ancestral hall also moved the tablets of Song Jiang's ancestors out under the magistrate's strict order.

Wu Yong was quite critical of this, saying that the imperial court had never dug up the ancestral graves of rebels. Although some officials had suggested digging up the graves and disposing of the bodies before, it was never implemented.

Because of this incident, Wu Yong told a story that happened during the reign of Emperor Renzong: At that time, someone slandered Shi Jie and said he had rebellious intentions. Xia Song reported to Emperor Renzong of Song and proposed to dig up Shi Jie's grave to verify whether he was really dead.

Song Renzong eventually gave up the idea of ​​digging up the graves and breaking the coffins. After that, the court never took such extreme measures as digging up ancestral graves when dealing with traitors.

I'm afraid Song Jiang has already found out about this.

Zhao Zhen was helpless about this, so he took the female cavalry led by Lei Heng and Hu Sanniang to Songjia Village, Shuibao Township.

Song Jiang's family's land and house had long been out of the hands of the government. Before coming, Zhu Tong had said to Zhao Zhen, "Sir, there is a Buddhist temple in Songjiazhuang, and there is a cellar underneath. If you have time, you can go and have a look. Song Taigong and Song Qing left in a hurry. If there were any valuables that they couldn't take away, they were probably hidden here."

Everyone in Songjia Village is surnamed Song, so they are probably related. Upon hearing that the new governor was coming, the village head Song Ping hurriedly brought people out to receive him.

Zhao Zhen saw that Song Ping and his fellow farmers were all in a state of panic, so he said, "Don't worry, old man. Song Jiang's thief is none of your business. We are not here to arrest the thief today."

Lei Heng said, "Mr. Song, this gentleman is not someone else, but the famous Little Mengchang Zhao Zhen, the great official Zhao in Shandong and Hebei. You must have heard of the great official's reputation. The great official is not the one mentioned above, who regarded the people as grass and was cunning and cruel. Zhu Tongdutou and I are now working under the great official."

The farmers heard this and began to discuss it in a low voice. Song Ping listened and said, "Captain Lei, before Song Jiang rebelled, he was on the best terms with you and Captain Zhu. He treated the villagers of Songjia Village the same as the people of the county. He would do his best to help anyone in trouble. Now that he has become a bandit, the county officials come to harass him every now and then, and every farmer in the village has lost a few chickens and ducks. Please help us, sir."

"Don't worry, old man. The county officials are now rectifying the situation. No one will regard the villagers of Songjia Village as thieves in the future. Of course, once it is confirmed that they are in collusion with the thieves, they will not be forgiven easily."

"When I came here, I heard that Song Jiang's ancestral tomb was dug up. There has never been such a case in the history of the country. I wonder what his ancestral tomb looks like now?" Zhao Zhen asked.

Song Ping said, "Sir, the ancestral tomb of Song Jiang's family has indeed been dug up, and the bones are scattered all over the grave. Farmers are afraid of being implicated, so no one dares to collect them. Now I'm afraid that wild dogs have taken away many bones."

Lei Heng said, "Sir, you are here for this matter. Although Song Jiang committed an unforgivable crime, it is not necessary to disturb our ancestors. We can just remove his family from the family tree. We will allow the remains of our ancestors to be buried. Let's send two people to collect them today."

Song Ping did not dare to agree after hearing this. He looked at Zhao Zhen and said, "Sir, this..."

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "Captain Lei is right. Just send someone to do it."

Zhao Zhen continued, "We are here today in Songjia Village to search the residence of Song Taigong again. It has nothing to do with you. You can go about your business."

After that, Zhao Zhen went to Songjiazhuang under the guidance of Lei Heng.

The gate of Songjiazhuang was closed and sealed. Lei Heng stepped forward, peeled off the seal, took out the key and opened the door.

When they pushed the door open, they saw that the courtyard was overgrown with weeds, but the house was in good condition. Zhao Zhen said, "After searching, we should use the house. If we can sell it, that would be great. If not, we can use it as a place for the local soldiers to station, which is better than letting it be eaten by insects and rats."

Lei Heng nodded and took note.

The female riders also dismounted and walked in, gathering in groups of three or five, and began searching everywhere in Songjiazhuang.

After a thorough search, they found that except for some crude household items, all the other light household items had long been taken away by the officials, and the worthless small items were also taken away by the searching clerks.

Lei Heng led Zhao Zhen to the Buddhist temple, and just as Zhu Tong said, the temple enshrined the Three Buddhas. Zhao Zhen asked them to move the altar bed away, and knocked on the floor. Sure enough, there was a piece of floor that was alive. Lei Heng moved it away, and saw a rope under the board. He pulled the rope head, and a hole appeared.

Lei Heng saw this and said, "Sir, I'll go down and take a look."

As he spoke, Lei Heng looked around, took a few pieces of paper money from the altar, rolled them into a ball, lit them, and threw them down. Seeing that the paper money was burning smoothly, he made a torch and pulled the rope down.

Hearing a cry of alarm, Zhao Zhen hurriedly called out, "Brother Lei Heng, are you in danger?"

Lei Heng said: "Sir, there is indeed something down there."

Mrs. Gu on the side said, "Sir, I'll go down and take a look too." As she said that, she dropped the two swords in her hands, and also went down to the cellar along the rope with a torch.

As soon as she got down, Gu Dasao also screamed. Then Gu Dasao climbed up and said to Zhao Zhen: "Master, there is a lot of gold and silver down there."

Lei Heng also climbed up and said to Zhao Zhen, "Sir, there are seven or eight wooden boxes down there, all filled with copper coins. There are also seven silver winter melons and one gold winter melon. Yes, there is also a stone mill."

Zhao Zhen said: "It seems that Song Taigong really did not take the family property away."

As he said this, he asked someone to go to the village to borrow a rope and a basket. Lei Heng went down and put the money into the basket one by one, and Gu Dasao lifted them up from the top.

The heaviest item turned out to be the last stone mill that was pulled up. The two millstones weighed no less than 500 kilograms each. In the cellar, Lei Heng tied a hemp rope to the top, and Zhao Zhen, Gu Dasao, and Hu Sanniang pulled together before they were finally pulled up.

Zhao Zhen had seen the two millstones, which were made of ordinary bluestone. However, since Song Taigong could put them in the cellar, they must have something extraordinary.

Although he didn't understand it clearly, Zhao Zhen still had it loaded onto a truck and transported away, and then restored the Buddhist temple to its original state.

During this period, Song Jiang of Qingzhou also took advantage of the autumn harvest to allow his troops to plunder, and most of Yanzhou fell.

In the city of Bianjing, Hu Yanzhuo recommended Han Tao, the commander of the Chenzhou militia [General of a Hundred Victories], as the main vanguard, and Peng Qi, the commander of the Yingzhou militia [General of Tianmu], as the deputy vanguard.

Han Tao was a military candidate and used a jujube wood spear. Peng Qi was the son of a military family and used a three-pointed double-edged sword. Both were from Tokyo and were excellent in martial arts.

The three men reported to Gao Qiu and went to the state to select 3,000 elite cavalry and 5,000 infantry. These three routes of cavalry and infantry were all well-trained and strong.

Gao Qiu also opened the armory of the capital and ordered Hu Yanzhuo and the other two to select 3,000 sets of iron armor, 5,000 sets of leather horse armor, 3,000 copper and iron helmets, 2,000 long spears, 1,000 sabers, countless bows and arrows, and more than 500 artillery cannons, all loaded onto the carts. On the day of his departure, General Gao also allocated 3,000 war horses.

Hu Yanzhuo divided the clothes, armor, helmets, swords, flags, spears, saddles and horses he had brought from Guan into the three armies, and also forged linked iron armor, military weapons and other items.

Eight thousand cavalry and infantry, all dressed neatly, were rewarded, and everyone held their heads high, with high morale. The spears and swords were swift and the horses and men moved forward like the wind.

After Gao Qiu's inspection, he was secretly delighted. After returning to the city, he went to Cai Jing's house to praise him.

After rewarding the troops, Hu Yanzhuo urged the troops to march out of the city. Han Tao led the way in the front, Hu Yanzhuo led the central army, Peng Qi led the rear army, and 8,000 cavalry and infantry soldiers marched towards Qingzhou.

(End of this chapter)