Chapter 266: Hu Yanzhuo is ordered to fight against the enemy

Back in Daming Prefecture, when they learned that the "Tongpan" Chai Jin had colluded with bandits to kill Gao Lian in Gaotang Prefecture and captured the city, they had no choice but to write a petition and send someone to report to the court.

There were also officials from Gaotang Prefecture who fled to the capital and told the "truth".

When General Gao heard this, he was furious. At five o'clock the next morning, he waited in the waiting courtyard for the ringing of the Jingyang bell. All the officials put on their official uniforms and went straight to the steps to wait for the audience.

The Daojun Emperor established a dynasty precisely because:
The rooster crows, the dawn is cold in Zimo, and the warbler sings in the spring of Huangzhou.

The morning bell from the golden palace opens thousands of doors, and thousands of officials line up on the jade steps.

The flowers welcome the sword and the stars have just fallen, and the willow flags are still wet with dew.

There is only one guest in the Phoenix Pond, and it is difficult to sing a song in spring.

At 3:00 a.m. on that day, Emperor Daojun ascended the throne. The whip was whipped three times, and the civil and military officers gathered. The emperor sat down, and the palace chief official shouted:
"If there is something to report, go out and report. If there is nothing to report, draw the curtain and leave the court."

Gao Qiu came out of the class and reported, "Now there are Shandong bandits who have colluded with the Chai family in Hebei and have committed many crimes, looting cities, plundering granaries, and gathering gangs of thugs. They have killed government troops in Yizhou, and caused trouble in Jiangzhou and Qingzhou. Now they have killed all the officials and civilians in Gaotangzhou, and looted all the granaries and treasuries. This is a serious threat. If we don't kill them early, they will become more powerful than the enemy countries in the north. I am extremely worried and I beg your Majesty to make a decision."

The emperor was greatly alarmed upon hearing the report, and immediately issued an imperial decree, entrusting General Gao with selecting generals and mobilizing troops to suppress the rebellion and kill all the bandits.

Gao Taiwei said again: "These bandits are only invading local areas, so there is no need to raise a large army. I can protect one person and go to quell the situation."

Zhao Ji asked: "If you use them, there will be no mistakes. You will be ordered to go immediately, report their achievements quickly, and give them promotions and rewards, and promote them to higher positions."

Taiwei Gao said, "This man is a descendant of Hu Yanzan, a famous general in Hedong at the beginning of the country. His name is Zhuo. He wields two copper whips and is as brave as ten thousand men. He is also the commander of Runing County and has many elite soldiers and brave generals under his command. I recommend this man to conquer Shandong. He can be appointed as the commander of the army and lead the elite cavalry and infantry to clear the mountain strongholds and return to the court as soon as possible."

The emperor approved the request and issued an imperial decree: the Privy Council should immediately send someone to Runing Prefecture to announce the imperial edict at night.

After the court session that day, General Gao ordered the Privy Council to select an officer from the Marshal's Mansion to bring the imperial edict and go and announce it.

Starting on the same day, the time was set and Hu Yanzhuo was asked to go to Beijing to obey orders.

Hu Yanzhuo was sitting in the military command office of Runing Prefecture when he heard a servant report: "An imperial decree has come to summon the general to the capital for a commission."

Hu Yanzhuo and the officials of the state went out of the city to welcome the envoy to the Military Command. After the reading was over, a banquet was set up to entertain the envoy.

As this was an extremely urgent matter, he immediately packed up his helmet, armor, saddle, horse and equipment, and took thirty or forty followers with him, left Runing Prefecture and headed for Beijing overnight.

There was no conversation on the way. He dismounted in front of the Palace Office in the capital city and went to see General Gao.

On that day, Gao Qiu was sitting in the palace commander's office when the gatekeeper reported: "Hu Yanzhuo has been summoned from Runing Prefecture and is outside the gate."

General Gao was overjoyed and called him in to see him.

Hu Yanzhuo was indeed a man of extraordinary appearance, exactly:

Descendants of the founding heroes and great-great-grandsons of the great generals of the previous dynasty. It is passed down from his family that the whip technique is the most powerful, and he is brave and accustomed to battle formations. With the sword he can explore the tiger's den, and with the bow he can shoot away the eagles. The general was born to determine the world, and Hu Yanzhuo became famous.

At that moment, General Gao finished his greetings and gave out rewards.

The next morning, he was introduced to Emperor Daojun at the court.

When Zhao Ji saw Hu Yanzhuo's extraordinary appearance, he was pleased and gave him a black horse called Kicking Snow.

The horse's body was as black as ink, and its four hooves were as white as snow, so it was named "Kicking Snow Black Horse" and could travel a thousand miles a day.

Hu Yanzhuo expressed his gratitude and followed General Gao to the Palace Marshal's Mansion to discuss raising an army to suppress the bandits in Shandong.

Hu Yanzhuo replied: "My Lord, I have observed that the Yizhou bandits have many soldiers and generals, and they are highly skilled in martial arts. We should not underestimate them. I beg you to be my two generals as the vanguard. If we lead the troops there together, we will surely achieve great success. If you make a mistake, I will be punished severely."

After hearing this, General Gao was overjoyed and asked, "Who did you recommend as the vanguard?"

Who were these two people? One was a Chenzhou militia commander, his surname was Han and his given name was Tao. He was originally from Dongjing. He had participated in the military examination and was born. He used a jujube wood spear and was called the Victorious General.

This person was appointed as the vanguard by Hu Yanzhuo.

The other man was the commander of the militia in Yingzhou. His surname was Peng and his given name was Qi. He was also from Tokyo. He was the son of a family of generals. He used a three-pointed, double-edged sword and had outstanding martial arts skills. People called him General Tianmu.

Appointed as deputy vanguard by Hu Yanzhuo.

The three men selected 3,000 elite cavalry and 5,000 infantry, and set out at an appointed time to retake Shandong.

Gao Qiu was eager for revenge, so he asked Hu Yanzhuo to randomly stir up trouble in the armory in the capital.

Hu Yanzhuo was naturally not polite. He selected 3,000 sets of iron armor, 5,000 sets of tanned leather vests, 3,000 copper and iron helmets, 2,000 spears, 1,000 daggers, countless bows and arrows, and more than 500 cannons and iron cannons, and loaded them all onto the vehicles.

On the day of his departure, General Gao allocated another 3,000 war horses to him.

The three generals were each rewarded with gold, silver, and silk, and the three armies were all given food rewards.

You see, the problem for the imperial court is not that it has no money or food, but that it is unwilling to suppress the bandits.

Gao Qiu and Cai Jing were both angry and determined to pacify Shandong, so they made arrangements in a matter of minutes.

Hu Yanzhuo, Han Tao and Peng Qi all pledged to win, then bid farewell to General Gao and other officials of the Privy Council and headed straight for Shandong.

The disaster in Shandong is not limited to Yuanbi Village in Yizhou.

The bandits in Liangshan Marsh, the big and small hilltops in Qingzhou... were all included in the crusade.

As the capital city moved, Cao Jie had already received the news before the troops set out.

The message was immediately delivered to all branches at an urgent speed of 800 miles.

As the saying goes: One arrow pierces the clouds, and thousands of troops come to meet you.

The Juyi Hall became lively again as people discussed how to resist Hu Yanzhuo.

"Hu Yanzhuo, this man can be called a general." Zong Ze praised calmly, and then said: "He has elite cavalry with linked horses. It would not be good to kill them with cannons, but we can use hook-and-sickle spears to defeat them. Then, Liangshan will be able to obtain his elite troops and greatly increase its strength."

"Brother, Mr. Zong, the teacher of the Imperial Army's Golden Spear Class, Xu Ning, nicknamed the Golden Spearman, is good at using the hook-and-sickle spear. He is my cousin. I can go and persuade him to surrender."

"Golden Leopard" Tang Long is not a general, so he was not required to attend the meeting, but today he was specially invited by Cao Jie.

Upon hearing what Zong Ze said, he immediately stepped forward and spoke.

"..."

Zong Ze looked at Tang Long, raised his eyebrows slightly, then turned his head to look at Cao Jie who was sitting in the top chair, and smiled: "So you already had a plan."

"It's just some rough sketches. I need you to polish them up."

"Let's get Xu Ning to come up the mountain first! I don't have the energy to train you..."

Zong Ze's words indicated that he also knew some hook-and-sickle spear techniques and could defeat Hu Yanzhuo.

"I have sent Shi Qian to steal the armor from Xu Ning's residence in Tokyo. This man has a golden armor with goose feathers, and he loves it like his life. Once the armor is stolen, Tang Long will pretend to have seen the armor thief on the road and trick Xu Ning out of Tokyo. Then, we can easily trick him into coming to the mountain."

Zong Ze nodded, stood up and said: "You can handle these small matters by yourselves, I will go to arrange the matters of this war..."

(End of this chapter)