Chapter 237: Little Mengde's Second Trip to Jiangnan

"The righteousness of heaven and earth is unique in history. He is upright in life and unyielding in death."

Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty climbed the city wall and looked out at the evening. He asked about the anecdotes of loyal ministers in Jinling in previous dynasties. The attendant Liu Ji told him respectfully that the deeds of Yang Bangyi in the Southern Song Dynasty were the most heroic. Emperor Taizu was deeply moved after hearing this and spontaneously chanted the "Poem in Praise of Loyalty".

People only know that Yang Zaixing, Yue Fei's sworn brother, rode into the battle alone and almost killed Wuzhu. He was wounded dozens of times but still killed dozens of people and returned. He was worthy of the name of Yang Family Generals and the descendant of Yang Linggong with the Golden Sword.

Little did he know that his father Yang Bangyi cut out his heart for the country. A thousand years later, the Donggang of Yuhuatai and the back mountain of "the second spring in Jiangnan" are the places where he died heroically, surrounded by green pines and cypresses and bamboos.

Cao Jie took the letter written by Zong Ze, called a group of brothers, and began to prepare for his second trip to the south of the Yangtze River.

Jiangnan is the territory of "Saint Lord" Fang La, who has under his command four great marshals, five great generals, eight cavalrymen, and the twelve gods of Jiangnan...

Abundant talents and strong strength.

This trip south is different from the trip to Jiangzhou.

The heroes of Jiangzhou are destined to go to Liangshan. Since their lives and souls are united, there won't be much danger.

But these local tyrants in Jiangnan will not allow a fierce dragon to cross the river, so they need to be extremely careful in dealing with them.

So, he selected three teams and marched south in three waves.

The first wave of vanguards was led by "Vajra Master" Lu Zhishen, who was still in Yizhou. He had under his command "Xu Ri Shu" Zhang San and "Winged Fire Snake" Li Si, together with "White Shark in the Waves" Zhang Shun and "Desperate Sanlang" Shi Xiu. They led nearly a hundred elite soldiers disguised as a herbal medicine merchant team from Yanggu County and went to Jiankang Prefecture to earn the money from the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan and gain a foothold in Jiangnan Road.

The second wave of central troops, led by Cao Jie, including "Dragon in the Clouds" Gongsun Sheng, "Red-haired Ghost" Liu Tang, "Heavenly King Holding the Pagoda" Chao Gai, "Living Yama" Ruan Xiaoqi, "Flea on the Drum" Shi Qian and others, arrived at Jiankang Prefecture later, and then traveled light to Wuyuan County, Shezhou, where Yang Bangyi served as a county lieutenant.

The third wave of rear troops, with "The Speedy Walker" Dai Zong as the liaison officer, and "Dragon of the River" Li Jun, "Devil of the World" Fan Rui, "Golden Wings of Moyun" Ou Peng, who had served as the top leader, each led their own heroes to subdue the bandits in the small hills and annex the south.

As soon as the action plan came out, the "master calculator" Jiang Jing roughly calculated the data on the consumption of money and grain, and all departments of Liangshan began to operate at high speed.

In just three days, the first wave of vanguards had already headed south.

Such efficiency indirectly reflects Liangshan’s current strength and foundation.

Among them, Zong Ze made great contributions. After he took charge of Liangshan, all departments were optimized and operated more efficiently. Not to mention the army, the tens of thousands of households in the settlements were almost united into a rope.

And for Zong Ze, this is just a trial run.

Under the iron hoof of the Jin army, Zong Ze, at the age of nearly seventy, was the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture and the governor of Tokyo. Overnight, he stabilized the chaotic Tokyo City, persuaded various rebel armies to surrender, and resisted the Jin army's offensive.

This kind of ability is the only one that Wu Hou possesses while he is still alive.

It can be said that without Zong Ze blocking the Jin people in Kaifeng Prefecture, Wanyan Gou would not have been able to establish the small Southern Song Dynasty court in Jiangnan.

Once the army's rout is formed, it will be a situation of rapid collapse. Just a few hundred cavalrymen can chase and kill tens of thousands of horses, and those who are driven are no different from dogs and chickens, and the destruction of the country is imminent.

Cao Jie's admiration for Grandpa Zong is like the surging river, endless, or like the flooding of the Yellow River, unstoppable.

Not to mention the daily scolding of me, even if he wants to hit me, I should stretch out my hand and let him hit my palm.

It is absolutely unacceptable to slap someone in the face.

Cao Jie accepts small sticks and walks away with big sticks. As his elder, Grandpa Zong, he respects him from the bottom of his heart.

In the early winter of the seventh year of Zhenghe, Cao Jie went to the south of the Yangtze River for the second time.

There is a poem that goes: "The south of the Yangtze River is beautiful, the scenery is familiar to me. At sunrise, the flowers on the river are redder than fire, and in spring, the river water is as green as blue." Cao Jie and his entourage galloped on the official road, and the trees beside them flashed by quickly.

Along the way, people's livelihood has been impoverished. This once abundant land of fish and rice has been turned into a land of misery, with people having no food to eat.

"Looking at the whole world, only Liangshan can be considered a paradise!"

"The coast of Taihu Lake has suffered even more because of the Flower and Stone Gang. In my opinion, it will only take two to three years for Jiangnan to rebel."

Everyone stopped on a hill, and Gongsun Yiqing sighed and said.

"Not only Jiangnan will rebel, Hebei will rebel, Huaixi will rebel, and Shandong will rebel even more. We cannot let those corrupt officials cause chaos in our great country, and the common people cannot live in such dire straits."

"I will make this world as brilliant as our Liangshan..."

"The world is dark, and we must be that light! Shining in the underworld!"

Cao Jie pointed the whip in his hand towards the stone city in the distance.

"Brother is mighty!"

"We wish to follow our brother and illuminate the nine states! Let the world be bright again!"

The City of Jinling is also known as Jiankang and Stone City. Six dynasties, namely Sun Wu, Eastern Jin, Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, established their capitals here successively. It is known in history as the "Ancient Capital of Six Dynasties". Although these dynasties have been destroyed for hundreds of years, it is still prosperous. The ten-mile Qinhuai River is home to countless romantic songs and countless ups and downs.

Ten miles west of Jinling City there is a bamboo forest. Next to the bamboo forest is the official road. Between the bamboo forest and the official road there is a thatched inn. It is more like a teahouse than an inn. Although it is simple, it is clean and spacious.

Not every teahouse only serves tea. Some teahouses also serve wine. Tea is free, but wine has to be purchased. This thatched house has wine, but it is cheap and inferior wine, and most of it is strong wine. In addition to wine, there are of course cheap food, such as dried tofu, braised eggs, steamed buns, and peanuts.

It is already midwinter in the north, but the south is still lush and green all year round.

The mountain wind is biting, but the sunshine is shining brightly, making people feel warm.

The leaves rustled, and the sky was clear, like a blue wall hanging all around. Where the southern mountains met the sky, a lonely white cloud rested there, and its whiteness made the blue of the sky stand out even more.

Cao Jie and his party stopped their horses in front of the teahouse. The waiter threw a dirty rag over his shoulder, rolled his eyes, and greeted them warmly: "Sir, we have good wine and good meat..."

There was a big word "Wine" written on the yellowish-black wine sign outside the store, and above the front door hung a plaque with the four characters "Jinling Old Store" written in official script. It was obviously quite old.

After a quick look, the group saw several marks that indicated their identities. They couldn't help but smile and approached the guy to exchange secret signals.

Lu Zhishen and his party have been here for some time and have established an intelligence network.

This tea pavilion is obviously one of them.

Looking at the official road not far from the tea pavilion, there were several cargo carts and several mules and horses parked there.

Most of the people who stop here are coolies who don't have much fun in life, and having a bowl of wine is a great enjoyment for them.

"Please wait a moment, my third brother will be here soon."

The waiter whispered a word and quickly set up the blue and white wine bowls.

(End of this chapter)