Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

"madness!"

He Zhongbao glared at his younger brother: "If we go north back to China now, we'll be courting death!"

"This time, during the southward campaign, the entire army of the King of Wei was wiped out, and even General Qiong Yao is dead!"

“If we return to the country like this, Princess, being a member of the royal family and favored by His Majesty and Prince Wei, will naturally be safe. But what about you and me? We'll probably be beheaded right now!”

"this......"

He Chai also realized what was happening, and felt a chill run down his spine.

"What do you mean, brother?"

"I'll stay with Your Highness a little longer. If there's an opportunity to atone for my sins, that would be best. But if not..."

He Zhongbao's gaze gradually turned cold: "For the sake of my brother's life, I can only apologize to Her Highness the Princess."

The two brothers exchanged information, and after Princess Tianshou, Dalibo, changed into her Song Dynasty attire,

The three first found an inn to stay in, then He Zhongbao and He Chai went out to gather information.

When the two returned in the evening, they both looked rather unwell.

"What, did you find out nothing?" Princess Tianshou asked, frowning.

He hesitated, glancing at his elder brother, unsure whether he should tell the truth.

He Zhongbao, however, had few concerns and reported the matter directly.

"Your Highness, we have already ascertained the origins of those soldiers from last night."

He Zhongbao gritted his teeth and said, "In Shandong during the Song Dynasty, there was a vast expanse of water, covering eight hundred li, within which was a mountain range called Liangshan!"

"Now, a band of bandits has gathered on Liangshan Mountain. They are strong and well-equipped, and even the Song Dynasty government in Shandong cannot do anything to them!"

"You mean the soldiers who surrounded us last night were just a band of bandits?"

Princess Tianshou stood up angrily: "He Zhongbao, you are insulting the Liao warriors who sacrificed their lives last night!"

"Your Highness, this band of bandits is no ordinary group,"

He Zhongbao explained with a wry smile, "According to the information I've gathered, there are now over 20,000 civilians and 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers on Liangshan Mountain. Besides that, there's also the plague outbreak in Shandong..."

He Zhongbao recounted all the information he had gathered, leaving Princess Tianshou speechless with astonishment.

"Was this Song Dynasty emperor really as stupid as a pig?" 2.0

Dalibo exclaimed in astonishment, "How dare they let such bandits grow so powerful!"

Upon hearing this, the two He brothers, standing nearby, inwardly scoffed in unison.

Isn't Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Dynasty the same now?

He allowed the Jurchens to grow stronger step by step, which led to them gradually transforming from a remote little tribe into a major threat to the Liao Dynasty!

"This humble general has also learned that the current master of Liangshan is named Zhao Dalang,"

He Zhongbao continued, "Last winter, when he was passing through a place called Jingyanggang, he killed a tiger that attacked him with a single punch."

"Kill a tiger with one punch?"

Dalibo's face was full of disbelief.

"Even our Liao Kingdom's top general, General Wuyan Guang, probably couldn't accomplish such a thing, let alone the cowardly Song people!"

Chapter 212 The Liao Kingdom Wants to Offer Amnesty?

"Your Highness, the Song man who fought General Qiongyao last night was exceptionally skilled in martial arts, a skill rarely seen in the world."

He Chai said cautiously, "If General Qiong Yao hadn't been unable to defeat him, he wouldn't have chosen to sacrifice himself in the end."

Upon hearing him mention the events of the previous night, Princess Tianshou's face immediately darkened.

She suppressed her anger and said, "That bandit leader last night was indeed formidable. Could he be the master of Liangshan?"

"This humble general also thinks it's possible,"

He Zhongbao nodded and said, "General Qiong Yao is one of the most powerful generals in our Liao Kingdom. There are not many people in this world who can easily defeat him."

After saying this, He Zhongbao glanced at Princess Tianshou's expression, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Your Highness, this humble general has a suggestion."

"Then hurry up and tell me!" Dalibo urged impatiently.

"Your Highness, the Liangshan bandits are no ordinary force. How can the three of us possibly avenge last night's humiliation?"

He Zhongbao said slowly, "Instead of thinking about revenge, we should try to make them... work for us."

"Are you trying to persuade the Liao Dynasty to grant amnesty to this band of bandits?"

Princess Tianshou's brows furrowed immediately, but to the surprise of the He brothers,

Dalibo's face didn't show much anger; on the contrary, it showed a lot of agreement.

"Now the Jurchens in the northeast of our Great Liao Kingdom are causing more and more trouble. If we could win over this group of Liangshan bandits and send them to fight against the Jurchens, that would be a good idea. But I don't know if this can be accomplished?"

"Your Highness, whether we succeed or not, we must try. Besides, what these bandits are after is gold, silver, and high-ranking positions,"

He Zhongbao volunteered, saying, "This humble general is willing to go to Liangshan and personally persuade the Liangshan bandits to surrender."

"Alright, you go to Liangshan first and inquire about the intentions of those bandits,"

Princess Tianshou pondered for a moment and said, "If they are truly willing to submit to the Great Liao Kingdom, we will immediately head north and return to our country to report this matter."

......

Princess Tianshou went to rest.

Only the two He brothers remained in the room.

He Chai could no longer hold back and questioned, "Brother, have you forgotten that your third brother died at the hands of those Liangshan bandits? And yet you still suggest offering them amnesty!"

"Do you think I wanted this?"

He Zhongbao glared at his brother: "If we don't make some contributions, we'll only face death if we return to Liao!"

"Furthermore, if those Liangshan bandits really agree to surrender, once they arrive in the Liao Dynasty, they'll be completely at our mercy. Then you can take your revenge however you want!"

"So that's how Big Brother planned it," He Chai's eyes lit up.

"What I'm worried about now is that these bandits won't accept amnesty,"

He Zhongbao sighed.

"If we cannot find an opportunity to make contributions, we will have no choice but to abandon our Liao Kingdom's legacy."

Although the two He brothers are Han Chinese, their ancestors had been serving the Liao people for over a hundred years.

All his family property, wealth, relatives, and friends were in the Liao Kingdom.

Unless they are truly desperate, they are naturally unwilling to give up these things.

“Brother, you’re taking such a risk. What if those bandits are unreasonable…” He Chai said worriedly.

"Do not worry,"

He Zhongbao patted his younger brother on the shoulder: "I've inquired about it. This group of Liangshan bandits has an excellent reputation in Shandong. In war, envoys are not killed. They won't kill me casually. For the future of our He family, it's worth taking this risk."

......

North bank of Liangshan Marsh

Zhao Yuan had just finished handling the affairs of the soldiers who died in the Battle of Yingshan.

According to the previously agreed-upon terms and conditions

The families of fallen soldiers receive a one-time compensation of one hundred strings of cash. Subsequently, when Liangshan needs manpower, the families of fallen soldiers are given priority in being hired.

Soldiers who are wounded or disabled in battle and are unable to serve in the army in the future can receive a one-time payment of fifty strings of cash and be assigned some light work by the mountain stronghold.

Once the matter concerning the soldiers is resolved,

Zhao Yuan then settled the two new brothers who had come up the mountain, Lü Fang and Duan Jingzhu.

The former went to the cavalry to serve as Lin Chong's deputy.

As for the latter, Zhao Yuan specifically designated a piece of land on Liangshan Mountain as a horse-breeding camp, and put Duan Jingzhu in charge of training and taming the military horses.

Once these two matters are resolved,

Shi Qian, who went to Daming Prefecture to inquire, also had Han Bolong send back a message.

"Brother, the birthday tribute for Daming Prefecture this year has been arranged to be escorted by Yang Zhi, the Blue-Faced Beast, a descendant of the Yang family of Tianbo Prefecture!"

"Brother, I've met this Yang Zhi once before,"

Lin Chong recalled: "At that time, I had just arrived at Liangshan with Chai Jin's letter to seek refuge, but Wang Lun made things difficult for me and insisted that I go down the mountain and bring a human head as a pledge of allegiance."

"It was the dead of winter, and there were very few people around. I waited in the woods at the foot of the mountain for two days without seeing a single person. It wasn't until the third day that I encountered Yang Zhi and his family carrying their valuables passing by."

"I went up to fight him, and we fought for forty or fifty rounds without a clear winner. At this time, that scoundrel Wang Lun jumped out and pretended to be a good guy, inviting Yang Zhi up the mountain and even wanting to sit in a chair with him!"

Lin Chong snorted coldly at this point, clearly still quite resentful of Wang Lun's actions.

"Unfortunately, Yang Zhi refused and went down the mountain to Tokyo the next day. But how did he get to Daming Prefecture?"

"The instructor is unaware of this,"

Han Bolong briefly recounted Yang Zhi's experiences to the leaders in the camp.

127

It turns out that after leaving Liangshan, Yang Zhi traveled all the way to Tokyo.

He intended to bribe Grand Commandant Gao Qiu in order to regain his original position.

But by then, Gao Qiu had already been killed by Zhao Yuan.

The newly appointed Grand Commandant, Gao Kan, is Gao Qiu's adopted son.

In terms of ability, he wasn't much better than Gao Qiu.

In terms of shamelessness, the student surpasses the teacher.

After accepting Yang Zhi's bribe, Gao Kan heard from somewhere that the Yang family of Tianbo Mansion had a family heirloom sword, which was in Yang Zhi's possession.

This fellow had already obtained Xu Ning's soft armor from Tang Long.

He then wanted to obtain the Yang family's treasured sword again.

He paired the precious sword with the soft armor and presented them to Emperor Huizong of Song!

If he had directly asked for the precious sword...

Given Yang Zhi's strong desire to regain his official position and restore the Yang family's prestige at the time, he might have simply handed the precious sword to Gao Kan.

But Gao Kan, after what happened with Xu Ning, worried that Yang Zhi might also be unwilling to hand over his family heirloom.

Not wanting to cause any further trouble, he directly used the charge of embezzling the birthday tribute to imprison Yang Zhi.

While in prison, Yang Zhi sought help from old friends and relatives, exhausting his wealth to bribe officials in the Grand Commandant's office, thus managing to save his life.

However, because he had offended Gao Kan, the officials of the Grand Commandant's office dared not keep Yang Zhi in Dongjing, so they found an excuse to exile him to Daming Prefecture...

Chapter 213 Who Will Be the Scapegoat for Liangshan?

Yang Zhi's fate thereafter was the same as in the original Water Margin world.

In Daming Prefecture, this descendant of the Yang family of Tianbo Mansion was appreciated by Liang Zhongshu.

After their battle with Suo Chao, the two were promoted to military commanders.

"By the way, have you found out when the birthday tribute will depart and the route it will take?" Zhao Yuan asked.

Although Yang Zhi was still escorting the birthday gifts this year.

But now that Shandong is hit by an epidemic, no one knows whether he will follow the same path again.

"Cai Jing's birthday is June 15th. Yang Zhi and his men should have set off in late May and passed through Shandong in early June."

Han Bolong replied, "The escort route is the same as in previous years, all overland. After starting from Daming Prefecture, it passes through Zijin Mountain, Erlong Mountain, Taohua Mountain, Sangai Mountain, Huangnigang, Baishawu, Yeyundu, Chisonglin, and finally arrives at Bianliang, the capital of Tokyo."

"And what about the method of escort?"

Chixulong Feibao asked, "Is it the same as last year, using about ten Taiping carts to transport the goods, with thirty to fifty Imperial Guards following along?"

When it comes to robbing the birthday gifts, no one in Liangshan has as much experience as the four Fei brothers.

So when Han Bolong returned to report the news, Zhao Yuan also called over the four of them—Longhu, Xiongjiao, and others—wanting to hear their opinions.