Dai Zong quickly brought back all the leaders and his men.
"Brother, this is Cai Jing's son Cai Jiu, who was captured by us."
Zhang Shun threw an embarrassed middle-aged man in front of Wang Lun and proudly explained his identity.
It turns out that Zhang Shun, a white stripe in the waves, and Zhang Heng, a boatman, disguised themselves as fishermen to deliver fish to Cai Jiu's mansion, and infiltrated into Cai Jiu's mansion while the servants were not paying attention.
Ruan Xiaoer and Ruan Xiaoqi led a few people to set fire from the main entrance, pretending to attack Cai Mansion, and attracted the attention of everyone in the mansion.
Zhang Shun and Zhang Heng took advantage of the chaos and tied up Cai Jiu in the back house and rushed out through the back door.
Of course, everything did not go so smoothly. The Wuwei Army eventually caught up with them. Fortunately, Lin Chong led a hundred cavalry to charge over, disrupting the Wuwei Army's position, and they were able to rescue Zhang Shun and the others.
Things went smoothly on Han Qinhu's side. Fifty fine cavalry charged back and forth, blocking the rear for Wu Song and others, and returned to the Xunyang River.
"Great, all the brothers are back. Be optimistic about Cai Jiu and Huang Wenbing and return to Liangshan immediately!"
"sail!"
Wang Lun glanced at Huang Wenbing and Cai Jiu. They were all in good order and had gained a lot. Brothers are here, let's go home.
This time it was Cai Jiu and Huang Wenbing who planned to trick Wang Lun. Now that both of them have been arrested by Wang Lun, Jiangzhou people are leaderless and can only report to their superiors.
The news traveled eight hundred miles and reached the capital quickly.
In the main hall of the palace, the emperor summoned all civil and military officials.
"Who is this Wang Lun?"
"How dare you be so rampant!"
"Where is the king's law!"
Emperor Zhao Ji of the Song Dynasty was very angry. After reading the report, he asked all the officials angrily.
Although Liangshan had some reputation in the world in the past, to the emperor, it was just a small group of grass bandits. The scale was too small and would never reach the emperor.
But things are different now. Jiangzhou was a prosperous state in the Song Dynasty. Wang Lun dared to make trouble in Jiangzhou. He also kidnapped Cai Jiu, the son of Grand Master Cai Jing and the prefect of Jiangzhou. This was a slap in the face of the imperial court.
Already.
"Your Majesty, Wang Lun, the leader of the Liangshan bandits, had a grudge against the imperial court because he failed in the scientific examination, so he went to Liangshan and built a mountain stronghold. There was a leader on the mountain named Lin Chong, who was once the instructor of the 800,000 forbidden army. He was imprisoned by the Kaifeng Mansion for forcing his way into the White Tiger Hall.
He served as an assassin in Cangzhou, and later went to Liangshan. There was also a group of leaders on the mountain, Chao Gai, and others who once robbed Liang Zhongshu of his birth date."
"He defeated the Jeju Tuanlian in front of Liangshan, and now he has defeated the Wuwei Army. Wang Lun first made a big fuss in Yanggu County, and now he makes a big fuss in Jiangzhou."
"From this point of view, this group of grass bandits must be eliminated, and we ask the Holy Spirit to send troops to exterminate the Liangshan bandits!"
The Taiwei Gao Qiu in front of the palace immediately went out to report what had happened in Liangshan to the emperor, and asked for an order to suppress the bandits.
When the emperor and the civil and military officials heard this, they thought, "Hey, little Liangshan has actually done so many things."
At first, they started to riot in Yanggu County and arrest the county magistrate, but now they have escalated to rioting in Jiangzhou and arrest the prefect. So the next step is to riot in Tokyo and arrest the prime minister?
If this happens again, will there be a riot in the palace and arrest the emperor?
"What a shame, why aren't these grassroots bandits wiped out as soon as possible?"
"Who does the Privy Council plan to send to lead the expedition?"
The emperor was very angry and the consequences were very serious. Liangshan was destroyed!
Privy Councilor Tong Guan secretly glanced at Grand Master Cai Jing before slowly leaving: "Your Majesty, I don't think there is any need to mobilize troops. Send troops to conquer, which consumes the court's money and food. It is better to send people to bring peace to Wang Lun."
"Zhao'an?"
"If we don't wipe out Liangshan, the rest of the world will follow my example, so where will my power be?"
Emperor Zhao Ji shook his head repeatedly. A mountain stronghold with one or two thousand troops still did not need an imperial edict. The imperial court could just send an army to destroy it.
Gao Qiu glanced at Tong Guan in surprise, "When did you become the Zhao'an sect?" Suddenly he felt someone looking at him. He took a look and saw that it was Grand Master Cai Jing.
Oh, Master Cai's son is still in the hands of the Liangshan bandits. If we send troops to conquer him, wouldn't it cost Cai Jiu his life?
"Your Majesty, I agree with Privy Tong's suggestion. Now there are Tian Hu in the north, Fangla in the south, Wang Qing in the west, and Wang Lun in the east. If we send troops to conquer, there will be more bandits in the world. If we issue an imperial edict, we can reduce the number of bandits.
, and you can also use this group of thieves to deal with another group of thieves."
"This is called using bandits to defeat bandits!"
Gao Qiu was so shameless that he immediately changed his attitude and supported Tong Guan's proposal.
"Your Majesty, I think that the imperial court can send a general to lead troops to Jeju to take charge, and at the same time send an imperial envoy to Liangshan to Zhao'an. If the Liangshan bandits are unwilling to Zhao'an, the imperial army can attack them immediately!"
Grand Master Cai Jing finally came forward and suggested that both hands should be seized. He had already secretly planned in his heart that once the Liangshan bandits were willing to come down to accept the imperial edict, he would immediately let the leading generals kill all these hateful bandits.
I robbed my son-in-law of the birth certificate he gave to me, causing me to lose all face. Now I’m arresting my son. This problem is getting bigger.
If you don’t destroy Liangshan, I won’t call you Cai Jing!
"The Grand Master is mature and prudent, so just follow the Grand Master's wishes. Who can lead the army?"
At this time, the emperor also realized that the grand master's son was still in Liangshan.
"I recommend one person who will definitely be able to wipe out the Liangshan bandits!"
"Who?"
"Iron Whip King Hu Yanzan is a direct descendant of Hu Yanzhuo, the capital of Runing County! This man is highly skilled in martial arts and has a bravery that no man can match. He is good at using double whips and is known as Hu Yanzhuo with Double Whips."
As a Taiwei of the Palace Commander's Palace, Gao Qiu had some understanding of those in the army who were idiots and those who had real abilities.
"Summon Yanzhuo to the capital!"
After the emperor heard about the generals, he felt a lot more relieved. Many generals in the Song Dynasty had always been brave and good at fighting.
When Hu Yanzhuo came to Beijing to meet the emperor, the emperor was so happy that he rewarded him with a horse and a black horse, and ordered him to lead troops to conquer Liangshan.
Hu Yanzhuo also recommended Han Tao, the Baisheng general who was trained by the Chenzhou regiment, and Peng Qi, the Tianmu general who was trained by the Yingzhou regiment, and appointed them as the first and second vanguards to lead five thousand troops to Liangshan.
Of course, it also takes a lot of time to make decisions from the court and conquer troops.
On top of Liangshan Mountain, Wang Lun led everyone back to the village, and the big white fish Yi Xiao reentered the Hualong Pond.
"Brothers, when you go to Liangshan, you must change your mind. You can no longer behave as recklessly as before. All actions must be obeyed!"
"But when we go to Liangshan, they are all our brothers, eating meat in big mouths, drinking wine in big bowls, and dividing gold and silver on big scales!"
The leaders of Wang Lun's banquet will first make an opening statement and describe the future.
"drink!"
"Dry!"
Everyone drank happily and deepened their feelings. The next day, Wang Lun re-drawn the seating ranking of Liangshan.
Wang Lun, Lin Chong, Huang Gai, Gongsun Sheng, Wu Yong, Wu Song, Han Qinhu, Zhu Gui, Liu Tang, Chao Gai, Ruan Xiaoer, Li Jun, Ruan Xiaowu, Zhang Shun, Ruan Xiaoqi, Zhang Heng,
Du Qian, Song Wan, Dai Zong, Li Kui, Mu Hong, Xue Yong, Mu Chun, Tong Wei, Li Li, Tong Meng, Huang Wenbing, a total of 27 leaders.
Wang Lun is not a man of his word. In order to increase the credibility of the ranking, in addition to merit, a competition and a display of talent were also added. Wang Lun made the final fine-tuning decision in the results.
The length of time spent on Liangshan will not be an important basis for ranking, it still depends on talent and merit.
Li Jun's water combat ability was far better than that of the three Ruan heroes, so he was ranked ahead of Ruan Xiaowu. However, after all, the three Ruan heroes also performed well after they returned to Wang Lun, so it was decided that Ruan Xiaoer would be ranked as the leader of the water army.
Ranked first.
Zhang Shunshui was an excellent fighter. He claimed to be able to lurk in the water for seven days and seven nights. He defeated the others and ranked ahead of Ruan Xiaoqi.
Needless to say, Han Qinhu, whoever is dissatisfied should give it a try!
Although Du Qian and Song Wan were disappointed, they were very tolerant and were quite comfortable guarding the stronghold.
In fact, every ranking gave Wang Lun a headache. When there were more people, conflicts would easily arise, so he had to promote brotherly loyalty to make up for everyone's differences.
Fortunately, these rankings are only useful in "official matters" such as leading troops in battles and managing the village on a daily basis. In private, everyone treats each other like brothers. At the wine table, rankings are not important, only the amount of alcohol.