Chapter 215 The Enemy in Tianzi Hall

"Chen Liqing, if I save your father, what will you do?"

"I will bring you a gift of grass and a ring!"

"Your father killed officials and rebelled, corrupting Yizhou and shocking the whole country. It's hard to save him!"

"With my brother's ability and Liangshan's strength, it's just a piece of cake."

"What kind of person is Zong Ze? He easily conquered Yuanbi Village. I heard that he has a man called 'Sick Wei Chi' Sun Li under his command, who is more courageous than ten thousand men. It's hard to save him! It's really hard to save him!"

Chen Liqing was secretly annoyed when she saw this lecherous scoundrel not getting the chance to do anything, but she didn't dare to show him a bad face because she had something to ask of him. She could only play the emotional card, appealing to his emotions and explaining things to him:

"Hui Niang and I are sisters from the same mother, and Liangshan and Yuanbi Village are also brothers. Brother, don't listen to the principle of lips and teeth being cold. If Yizhou is pacified, it will be Liangshan's turn!"

"We Liangshan didn't kill any officials to rebel, so how could we attract Zong Ze? Besides, Chen Xi really sees us as his enemies. If I go to save him, how will my brothers see me?"

"..."

Chen Liqing gritted her teeth. Now the only place in Shandong that could save Yuanbi Village was Liangshan. This was the last straw.

"Cao Jie, how exactly can you make a move?"

"I have no official reason to do this!" Cao Jie spread his hands.

"You want to take me as your concubine?"

"If your father is willing to call me brother and join me at Liangshan, I will save him unconditionally."

Chen Liqing knew her father's stubborn temper, so she gritted her teeth and said, "From now on, I am your woman."

Cao Jie licked his lips and waved his hand quickly, saying, "I am not a villain who takes advantage of others' misfortune."

"You are a mean person who is only interested in beauty."

"So this is what I am in your eyes! Otherwise, I'd better be your uncle!" Cao Jie took a step back to advance.

On the way back to Liangshan from Qingzhou, Cao Jie flirted with Chen Liqing all the way.

He was not in a hurry because Liu Hui Niang would take care of his rear quarters.

In the Liangshan Gathering Hall, Wu Yong and Huang Wenbing had been waiting for a long time.

"Is the matter settled?"

Cao Jie didn't even have time to drink a sip of hot water before he met the two men.

Wu Yong nodded and said, "It was absolutely safe. Unfortunately, Chen Xizhen didn't hold out for a few more days. His stronghold was breached and his strength was greatly reduced. He became a bandit."

"The Master said: If you take the best, you will get the middle; if you take the middle, you will get the bottom; if you take the bottom, you will get nothing. If we can bring down Zong Ze, we have already made our plan. The rest cannot be forced."

At this time, Huang Wenbing's eyes turned, and he clasped his fists and said, "Brother, Zong Ze's dismissal is only a temporary fall. If something unexpected happens in Shandong, he will be reinstated soon based on his achievements. What are your plans, brother?"

"Brother Wen Bing, what do you think?" Cao Jie asked.

Huang Wenbing's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he said, "I have a plan. Zong Tongpan is almost sixty years old. Now that he has been demoted, he must be depressed and frustrated. Whether it is to cut the grass and root it out, or arrange for him to fake his death and lure him back to the mountain, this is the best time. The court will definitely not pay too much attention to him..."

"President Zong Tong is a man of great talent, and his life must not be harmed." Cao Jie set the tone.

Wu Yong pondered for a moment and said, "It's probably useless to coerce or bribe him. It's difficult to get him to come up the mountain and work for us!"

"It all depends on man!"

Huang Wenbing narrowed his eyes and said, "No matter who he is, he has weaknesses. Even if he is a great Confucian sage, he will have weaknesses. It's just that we haven't found them yet."

Zong Ze does have great weaknesses. The common people and the rise and fall of his country are his biggest weaknesses.

Cao Jie's eyes lit up with a strange light. Yizhou, the bandit suppression camp.

Zong Ze looked at the angel in astonishment, and then a feeling of powerlessness surged in his heart.

After the eunuch read out the decree, he sat in Zong Ze's position as the commander and shouted to Sun Li and others standing under the tent:
"Why hasn't Chen Xizhen been captured yet? I'll give you half a month. You must capture Chen Xizhen alive and completely wipe out Yuanbi Village."

"Destroy the bandits as soon as possible, so that we can claim credit for you. If you fail to do so within the deadline, you will be charged with dereliction of duty."

It had become the norm for eunuchs to become military commanders during the reign of Emperor Huizong.

Now, the eunuch Tong Guan is the supreme military commander of the Song Dynasty.

In the first year of Zhenghe, the Song army entered Hengshan, Xixia. The court ordered him to serve as the envoy to Shaanxi, Hedong and Hebei as the Grand Commandant. Soon after, he was promoted to the rank of Grand Commandant and signed the books of the Hexi and Bei rooms of the Privy Council.

In less than three years, he was in charge of the Privy Council, and also commanded nine towns including Wuxin, Wuning, Huguo, Hedong, Shannan East Road, Jiannan East Sichuan, and served as Taifu and Duke of Jing.

People at that time called Cai Jing "the prime minister" and Tong Guan "the old prime minister".

Zong Ze was dismissed from office because of a minor issue in the construction of the Shenxiao Palace, but the bandit suppression campaign had to continue, so this eunuch reaped the fruits of victory.

Upon receiving the order, the generals immediately sent troops to encircle and suppress the bandits.

"Ugh!"

Zong Ze walked out of the tent numbly, grabbed Sun Li, and said, "Wait a minute, Chief Sun."

"Sir." Sun Li smiled bitterly.

Zong Ze was distracted for a short time, but soon calmed down and said, "The roving bandits are different from the stationed bandits. It will take more than half a month to wipe them out."

"The main force of the Yuanbi Village has been wiped out by you, and there are only a thousand people left..."

"Sun Tixia, you are seconded from Dengzhou. I have something to tell you. Are you willing to listen?"

"Please give your orders, sir." Sun Li bowed.

"That Chen Xizhen is very skilled in Taoism. Although I broke into his stronghold, his main force was not lost. I had already blocked the main roads in various places and tied him up in Linyi, making it impossible for him to escape. As long as we fight, we can achieve our goal in one battle. But since I was dismissed, all the generals have returned to the camp, wasting so much time. He must have escaped."

Zong Ze looked up to the sky and sighed: "Bandits are bandits. They are only bandits if they flow like running water. Chen Xi is really alive! Now that natural disasters have occurred in various parts of Shandong, he will surely drag the victims to various places. Sun Tixia, the future battles will be fierce. I hope you can escape unscathed."

Sun Li was a qualified general, but he was not a qualified commander.

Zong Ze said just a few words, and Sun Li found it difficult to understand for a moment.

But when he meets Chen Xizhen again, he will understand the meaning of Zong Ze's words at this moment.

By then, what he would encounter would not be a thousand-strong banditry, but tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of disaster victims...

Zong Ze walked out of the camp and looked around. Although he could see some grass, indicating that spring was about to arrive, his whole body was cold and he felt that the world was dark, as if it was winter.

"If I had known this would happen, I would have let Chen Xizhen take over the Kouyuanbi Village, but he would only cause chaos in the area."

"Now that they have become bandits and the imperial court is unable to provide disaster relief, it will surely be a disaster!"

'Shandong is in complete chaos!'

"The enemy is not on the mountain, the enemy is in the emperor's hall!"

Zong Ze's scalp tingled. Even if the court reacted quickly and made him the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression again, what would be the use?

By then, it won’t just be about suppressing bandits.

Instead, they have to face hundreds of thousands of disaster victims.

(End of this chapter)