Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

Chapter 5 Seventeen: The Plan of the Liangshan Bandits

For Liang Shanbo's current nominal leader, the village lord Chao Gai, Chai Jin's plan to raise the flag for rebellion is obviously beyond his control.

Chao Gai is just a local rich man in Yuncheng County who can take risks for one hundred thousand birthdays, and his lifelong pursuit is nothing more than a happy and reckless life of drinking with his brothers, eating a lot of meat, and sharing money.Where does he have Chai Jin's ambition to overthrow the imperial court?

After all, Chai Jin is a descendant of the former royal family, and he has an aristocratic air about him.His ancestors also played top-level politics, so attacking the state and occupying the government and slaughtering the world are nothing but ordinary things to him.But for Chao Gai, he really hadn't thought about how to rebel.Therefore, Chao Gai instinctively objected to Chai Jin's proposal out of inner fear and doubt about the unknown.

In today's Juyi Hall, there are nine leaders from Chao Gai's faction, and ten leaders from Song Jiang's faction. The goals of the two factions are very different, and the number of leaders is almost the same.

At this time, how to determine the future of the cottage, the key lies in the third faction in the hall.

This third faction is headed by Liangshan's nominal third figure, Wu Yong, the military advisor of the Liangshan bandits, "Zhi Duoxing".But Wu Yong's lead is his two friends, Xiao Rang, the "Sage Scholar" and Jin Dajian, the "Jade Arm Craftsman".

Although Wu Yong's small faction is small in number, at this delicate moment, it is a key person who can break the balance and determine the future future of the brothers in Liangshan Village.Furthermore, as Liang Shanbo's military adviser, Wu Yong has influence over many people in the two factions of Chao Gai and Song Jiang.Whether it is Chao Gai or Song Jiang, Wu Yong's support is very important to them.

It stands to reason that Wu Yong and Chao Gai are old brothers, and they robbed the birthday card together, and Liangshan, who went up together, should be regarded as Chao Gai's confidant and the soul of Chao Gai's faction.But this time, during the discussion about the future of the Shanzhai, Wu Yong felt that Chao Gai was short-sighted, so he couldn't think of going with him.

Now with 2 horses in hand, and the surrounding area of ​​Liangshanbo is unstable due to the tyranny of the imperial court, Wu Yong, a small literati who was born as a teacher in the village, also has ambitions in his heart.Hearing the words of Chai Jin and Song Jiang, Wu Yong deeply felt that he was in harmony with them.

"Brother Chao Gai, brothers of the family, please listen to Xiaosheng's words. Brothers, don't you hear the truth that those who steal the hook will be punished, and those who steal the country will be martyred? Brothers like me have all the skills, so why are we willing to hide in this Liangshan for the rest of our lives, doing the same thing? A robber wanted by the government? From Xiaosheng’s point of view, why not take advantage of what Chai Daguan said, rise up at the right time, lead the brothers in the world, and make my brothers famous all over the world! After entering Bianliang City in Tokyo in the future, I I will also support Brother Chao Gai to sit on the throne of the emperor, and the big furniture is the hero who founded the country." Wu Yong pretended to be fanning the goose feather fan in the winter, imitating the military adviser Zhuge Liang, and said to the leaders in the Juyi Hall My own opinion.

Wu Yong is not guilty on both sides. He not only supported the factions of Song Jiang and Chai Jin, who are more prestigious and powerful, but also pointed out that he would continue to support Chao Gai as the main one, assisting Chao Gai to conquer the world and become the emperor, and successfully appease the leader of the veteran faction .

After all, Chao Gai is still the lord of the Liangshan village in name. Song Jiang, Chai Jin and others couldn't find fault with Wu Yong's words.As for whether they really think so in their hearts, Wu Yong thinks there is no need to delve into it.Who can tell what will happen in the future?

As far as Chao Gai is concerned, his old brother and military advisor Wu Yong all support pulling the flag to rebel, and all the brothers have confessed their hearts to help him. How can he refuse such kindness?

As the boss of the underworld, Chao Gai is not an idiot either. Now that the general trend is the general trend, most leaders are ambitious to rebel and make trouble. If he insists on staying in this cottage and becoming the king of the mountain behind closed doors, he is afraid that he will be abandoned by his subordinates.

After exchanging glances with Gongsun Sheng, Chao Gai raised his wine bowl and said to the leaders, "How can Chao Gai be so loved by all the brothers? Since all the brothers want to leave a name in history and do a great cause , then my Shanzhai brothers will unite sincerely and fight against the dog emperor together! I, Chao Gai, swear to the heavens that in the future, if we succeed in great things, we will share the glory and wealth with our brothers! Brothers, we have finished this bowl of wine!"

"We are all willing to do our best to assist Brother Chao Gai!" Song Jiang said with all the leaders raising their wine bowls.

Song Jiang's confidant brothers in Qingzhou and Jiangzhou were all eliminated by Ximenqing one by one, and their power was greatly reduced.After a lot of painstaking efforts, although he was able to fight against Chao Gai on Liangshan at this time, he still failed to gain any advantage.

Therefore, when Wu Yong and Gongsun Sheng both expressed their support for Chao Gai, Song Jiang could only restrain his ambitions, quickly expressed his respect for Chao Gai, and maintained the superficial unity of the Liangshan bandits.

The robbers decided to rely on Liangshanbo to recruit rebels. After gathering the crowd to revolt, they immediately began to perform their duties and prepare for the uprising.

For the Liangshan army, Jeju and Yunzhou, which are close to Liangshanbo, are the state capitals that need to be captured first.The next step is to capture Puzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou and other places, so as to coerce civilians and strengthen their momentum.

Chao Gai and Song Jiang agreed to lead an army each. Chao Gai led the army to attack Dongping Mansion in Yunzhou, and Song Jiang led the army to attack Jeju City.

After determining the target, Wu Yong advised Chao Gai, and sent Li Xiaoer, the "child of wine", to infiltrate Dongping Mansion to buy and contact Yu Baosi, the "God of Dangerous Dao", and asked him to inform Liangshan of the latest information on the imperial army of Dongping Mansion.

The "God of Dangerous Way" Yu Baosi joined Dong Ping's Forbidden Army. After gaining prestige for a while, he realized that there were too many restrictions in the army, and the salary was not generous enough.Compared with the old days of murder and arson to steal money, life is really dull.Therefore, Yu Bao's four thieves are still heartbroken, and they miss the joy of being a robber again.

When Li Xiaoer, the "child of wine", found Yu Baosi and gave him a bag of gold, Yu Baosi made a choice without hesitation and joined the bandits in Liangshanpo.

When Dongping Mansion received the imperial court's decree that Yunzhou Forbidden Army go to conquer the grass bandits in Liangshanbo, Yu Baosi immediately passed the news to Li Xiaoer.

After Chao Gai, Song Jiang, Wu Yong and others knew that the imperial court intended to encircle and suppress the cottage, they strengthened their belief in rebellion.Liangshan raised troops up and down to build armored soldiers and equipment, and at the same time sent many spies to the surrounding states and counties.

Yu Baosi got a lot of gold and silver after he boarded the pirate ship of the Liangshan bandits, and took his Qingzhou bandit cronies with him every day to enjoy himself in Dongping Mansion, and at the same time secretly kept in mind the location of the rich and noble families in the city.This fellow planned in his heart that when the Liangshan Army broke through the Dongping Mansion, he could lead his men to rob a few more wealthy merchants.

The gold, silver and jewelry store opened by Ximen Qing in Dongping Mansion also fell into the eyes of the evil-minded Yunbao Si, and became his priority target for robbery.

How did Yu Baosi know that he, a capricious villain, has long been included in Ximen Qing's secret surveillance.

Chapter 5: How to Sit on the Mountain and Watch the Tigers Fight

The largest gold, silver and jewelry store in Dongping Prefecture was opened by the official Ximen Qing, who entrusted Yao Erlang and Yao Wenqing, an old neighbor in Zishi Street, to take care of it.Yao Wenqing got a share in this business, so he worked hard to run the gold, silver and jewelry shop, earning a lot of money for himself and Ximen Qing.

Yao Wenqing took shelter under Ximenqing's wing, and now he has also become a nouveau riche, and has become the respected Yao Yuanwai.Yao Wenqing, who is grateful to Ximenqing, like Zhao Zhongming, Hu Zhengqing, Zhang Gong and his wife in Zishi Street, has become a confidant of Ximenqing's various business affairs.The gold, silver and jewelry store in Dongping Mansion also became Ximen Qingbu's intelligence base in Dongping Mansion.

Yao Erlang, Yao Wenqing, and Brother Qiao Yun were having tea and discussing matters on the second floor of the gold and silver jewelry store, when they saw a strong man with a height of one foot and a width of several circumferences on the street, who was drunk from drinking and took a few people to stealthily. Looking in from the outside of the store.

"Isn't this Yu Baosi? Judging by his appearance, he probably has no good intentions! Hehe, this idiot dares to covet this shop without asking who owns it." Brother Qiao Yun admitted When he got out of the downstairs, it was Yu Baosi, his surveillance target in the Forbidden Army.

"Oh, Brother Yun is talking about that guy! That guy has been wandering around this street with some soldiers these days, looking at the shops on the street with sly eyebrows. By the way, that guy was in the street yesterday. Ximen senior officials and senior officials Lu Junyi opened Xieku and looked around for a long time." Yao Wenqing said to Brother Qiao Yun.

"Yu Baosi has colluded with the robbers on Liangshanbo recently, so we have to beware of him causing chaos in this city. Brother Yao, I will send more people to this shop to protect you. I will leave now, younger brother, and rush back to Yanggu County. Report to Brother Ximen." Seeing Yu Baosi leaving on the street, Brother Qiao Yun also got up to leave.

"Do Liangshan thieves dare to attack Dongping Mansion? Brother Yun, ask the high officials if you want to transfer the property of the shops in the city back to Yanggu County for the time being." Yao Wenqing urged Brother Qiao Yun.

Brother Qiao Yun left Yao Wenqing's gold, silver and jewelry shop, and transferred more than ten people from the city to hide around Yao Wenqing's shop to protect Yao Wenqing's safety.Immediately afterwards, Brother Qiao Yun went to a secret meeting with the internal staff of the Forbidden Army, and ordered them to keep an eye on Yu Baosi's every move and report the news to him in time.

After arranging all the affairs in Dongping Mansion, Brother Qiao Yun rode out of Dongping Mansion and rushed back to Yanggu County day and night.

When Brother Qiao Yun returned to Ximen Fort and reported to Ximenqing the abnormality he saw in Dongping Mansion, Ximenqing had already obtained the latest information about the Liangshan robbers from Lu Xiaoyi.

After learning that the bandits in Liangshanbo were going to capture Dongping Mansion and Jeju City this time and formally raised their troops to rebel, Ximen Qing fell into deep thought.

Since traveling to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Ximenqing has repeatedly defeated the Liangshan bandits in Qingzhou, Jiangzhou, Dulonggang and other places, killing many bandit leaders who did evil, and greatly reduced the strength of the Liangshan bandits.Because of this, the people in Qingfengzhai, Zhujiazhuang, Zengtou City, Gaotang Prefecture, Qingzhou, Damingfu and other places that were once ravaged by Liangshan robbers in history were saved from the slaughter of Liangshan robbers.In terms of merit, Ximen Qing has countless living people, and he could build a forest-like pagoda.

However, in order to support the bandits' self-respect and take the opportunity to develop their own armed forces, Ximen Qing did not drive out the bandits in Liangshanbo, but left them some room for survival and development.Now, Liang Shanbo's group of bandits have regained their strength, and they are ambitious to harm the world.Facing this bandit army that was about to attract the world's attention, Ximen Qing had to make corresponding adjustments to deal with the new situation.

It's all a good thing that Song Huizong's bird emperor and Yang Jian's dead eunuch did!It wasn't that they extorted money on the East and West Roads of Beijing and the North Huaihe Road, forcing the people to have no way out. How could the bandits in Liangshan have the courage to raise their flags to rebel?Now that it is about to cause a catastrophe, and I, Ximenbao, are also involved, it is really hateful and annoying!

Ximenqing knew that the robbers in Liangshanpo would be able to coerce many rioters this time and form a considerable force.But I couldn't put all the hard-built army into the battle to eliminate the bandits in Liangshan.

Because these combat forces were prepared by Ximenqing for the future when the Jin army went south, he didn't want to waste it with the Liangshan bandit army in vain, but went to protect the country of Song Huizong, the emperor of the bird.

What's more, if Ximenqing showed too much strength in the process of exterminating the Liangshan bandits and attracted the attention of those traitors in the court, then when the Liangshan bandits were destroyed, the court would attack him.Therefore, Ximen Qing should not reveal too much strength this time, causing trouble for himself.

"Building high walls, accumulating food widely, and becoming king slowly" is still Ximenqing's established policy at this stage. In the words of later generations, Ximenqing still needs a few years to develop and accumulate strength.

Therefore, this time, it is better to protect the environment and the people, guard your own territory, and let the officials and soldiers of the imperial court suppress the bandits!

Ximen Qing made up his mind to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, as long as the Liangshan bandits didn't hit his sphere of influence, he would ignore them.After the Liangshan bandit army and the official army are both defeated, we will wait for the opportunity to attack the Liangshan bandit army, and let Chao Gai and Song Jiang know how powerful I, Ximen Qing, are.

Ximenqing's only concern is that the officers and soldiers around Liangshanbo are too useless. They were defeated by Liangshan bandits as in history, lost too many cities, and prematurely attracted the attention of Song Huizong's monarchs and officials in Bianliang City, Tokyo.

Ximenqing has already known through intelligence that Song Huizong's monarchs and ministers have negotiated peace with Xixia in order to mobilize troops to join forces with Jin and Liao.At this time Taiwei Tong Guan was rectifying the Western Army and preparing for the Northern Expedition.

Historically, in October next year, the Fangla Uprising will sweep across half of the south of the Yangtze River, attracting Taiwei Tong Guan's Western Army to the southern Jiangnan area, temporarily interrupting Tong Guan's plan to go north to Hedong and Hebei.

But at this time, there are still ten months before the Fangla Uprising. If the Liangshan Army's momentum is too strong, wouldn't Tong Guan's Western Army be led to the east and west roads of Beijing first?

How can you allow others to sleep soundly on the side of the couch.Before the Song and Jin wars, Ximenqing didn't want many Western troops with strong combat effectiveness to be stationed on the East and West Roads of Beijing.Otherwise, if there is any accident, these Western troops will bring themselves a lot of trouble.

How can we avoid meeting the Western Army led by Tong Guan prematurely?Ximen Qing frowned, closed his eyes, and fell into deep thought.

Lu Xiaoyi and Brother Qiao Yun looked at each other, not understanding what Brother Ximen was worrying about.After defeating [-] Liangshan bandits in Dulonggang last time, Ximen Qing's brothers all looked down on the gang of bandits on Liangshan Po.

Don't look at those robbers who can play prestige in front of the officers and soldiers, if they run into my army horse from Ximenbao, they will never return!

When Lu Xiaoyi and Qiao Yun were guessing why Ximen Qing was troubled, Ximen Qing suddenly opened his eyes and had a clever plan in his mind.