Chapter 1123: The failure of the "Zhaoan" campaign, Ximen Qing's own death

"Tixia!"

After Su Mingzhe finished his admonition, he looked at Lu Zhishen, who had a serious expression, and bowed, saying:
"From now on, the Ministry of Justice will be under your charge. Please treat everyone equally. If you see any illegal or unfair behavior, you must punish them severely to ensure that the banner of Liangshan will not fall!"

"Zhi Shen obeys the order!"

Lu Zhishen had no interest in being a steward.

However, he was very happy to be asked to punish evil and promote good, and he immediately accepted the task happily.

Afterwards, Su Mingzhe gave instructions to the others one by one, showing his intention to become close friends with them.

The leaders naturally quickly promised that they would definitely fulfill their mission.

The speech ended.

It was almost noon.

Su Mingzhe could already smell the fragrance coming from the kitchen, so he talked about the last thing:

"Given that Wang Qing and Tian Hu are too incompetent, they will probably be destroyed next year. By then, the imperial court will only have to deal with us and Fang La. We are very close to Bianliang, so I guess that after the imperial court destroys Wang Qing and Tian Hu, they will definitely go all out to deal with us, Liangshan."

"I want to send someone to Bianliang to temporarily reconcile with the imperial court and buy some time to delay the war! I wonder which brother is willing to go?"

Most of the leaders of Liangshan were stubborn. When they heard that Su Mingzhe actually wanted to reconcile with the court, they all looked puzzled.

Only a few people such as Qiao Lie, Gongsun Sheng, and Song Jiang had political acumen. A hint of surprise flashed in their eyes. They quickly stood up and expressed their willingness to go on a diplomatic mission to Bianliang.

Su Mingzhe thought for a moment and decided to have Song Jiang as the chief envoy and Zhu Gui as the deputy envoy.

Because they were worried that the two of them had little experience and were afraid that they would mess things up.

Su Mingzhe also specifically imparted secrets to the two and told them how to work and who to look for in order to get things done after they arrived in Bianliang.

late October.

As the "envoys", Song Jiang and Zhu Gui had just arrived in Bianliang. Following Su Mingzhe's instructions, they sent some gifts and handed in a letter "asking for amnesty". Then they were placed under house arrest by the court in the inn in the southern city of Bianliang.

In the Zhao Song court, a heated discussion broke out regarding the sudden arrival of people from Liangshan to "ask for amnesty".

Treacherous ministers like Gao Qiu and Cai Jing, who had grudges against the Liangshan leaders, naturally strongly opposed the amnesty.

However, treacherous ministers and eunuchs like Yang Jian, Liang Shicheng, Wang Fu, and Zhu Zhen accepted huge bribes from Liangshan and said a few good words for them.

The discussion and argument lasted for a long time.

It was the words from the Minister of Revenue that made Zhao Jiji make up his mind.

"Your Majesty, General Tong and the ten military governors have been constantly demanding food and wages, and now the Ministry of Revenue can no longer provide money..."

The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers!

Zhao Jiji knew that Fang La, Tian Hu and Wang Qing had rebelled one after another and had already destroyed half of the country. If he did not accept Liangshan's reconciliation and issued an imperial edict to amnesty Liangshan, he would only be opening another front!
The problem is that the imperial court really has no money to pay the soldiers!
Cai Jing saw that the calls for "imperial peace" in the court were getting louder and louder, so he could only change the topic and say:

"Your Majesty, Liangshan has spread across the east and west of Beijing, and their troops are strong and powerful. If we directly issue an imperial decree of amnesty, there will be nowhere to put them."

"I think it would be better to send them to fight Tian Hu, Wang Qing, and Fang La..."

"If they don't agree, then this so-called 'request for amnesty' is just a delaying tactic. We must not agree to it."

"If they agree, that would be even better..."

When Cai Jing's confidants heard the prime minister's plan to "drive the tiger to devour the wolf", they all stood up and said:

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

……

Late November.

Song Jiang and Zhu Gui finally returned to Liangshan and brought back the results of the negotiations.

"Let us attack Tian Hu?"

Su Mingzhe's brows lit up with joy when he heard this.

When I really feel sleepy, someone will give me a pillow.

In Su Mingzhe's opinion, Liangshan is still in the stage of accumulating strength, so it is best to keep a low profile.

However, Liangshan has already occupied two routes in Jingdong, and its geographical location is particularly "awkward".

If they want to continue expanding, they will threaten the security of Bianliang.

In this case, it would almost certainly anger the Zhao Song court.

By then, even if the Zhao Song court was stupid, it would let go of the three bandits Fang La, Tian Hu and Wang Qing and concentrate on dealing with Liangshan.

Now, the imperial court is not only willing to accept Liangshan, but also allows Liangshan to attack Tian Hu. This is equivalent to removing the shackles on Liangshan's outward expansion.

It was absolutely amazing. Qiao Lie, Gongsun Sheng and others also showed their delight.

After everyone was happy, Su Mingzhe saw that Song Jiang looked a little embarrassed. After a little thought, he understood and asked:
"Does the court have any other conditions?"

"Not bad!"

Song Jiang cupped his hands and explained:

"The court said that we must mobilize all our troops to head to the eastern route of Hebei and hand over the two routes of Jingdong. They will also send military supervisors..."

Su Mingzhe's face turned cold when he heard this, knowing that the court had seen through Liangshan's plan of "seeking amnesty".

After a while, Su Mingzhe finally smiled and said:
"Yashi, you have done a great job in getting the court to agree to a settlement this time, but I still have to trouble you to make another trip! After all, the court's conditions are too harsh..."

The imperial court is not foolish and will not allow Liangshan to grow too powerful.

However, it is impossible for Liangshan to dig its own grave and abandon its current foundation.

Therefore, at this time, Liangshan and the imperial court both had the idea of ​​​​negotiation, and they also knew that this negotiation would definitely not succeed.

After receiving Su Mingzhe's instructions, Song Jiang had no choice but to take Zhu Gui back to Bianliang to continue negotiations with the court.

Repeat this process twice.

It's the end of the year.

The imperial court gradually lost its patience and gave Song Jiang an ultimatum: either agree to the imperial court's demands or continue fighting.

Song Jiang wanted to accept the terms of the amnesty, but since Su Mingzhe did not agree, there was nothing he could do.

Finally the negotiations broke down.

The imperial court felt insulted, and after the New Year, it planned to mobilize the Western Army to suppress Liangshan.

At this moment, a lively event was happening on Liangshan Mountain.

Su Mingzhe brought Zhuo's second sister and her siblings to Yanggu County to visit Mrs. Zhuo.

As soon as she showed up, Mrs. Zhuo burst into tears and asked Su Mingzhe to make the decision for her.

Su Mingzhe was speechless, and quickly asked Zhuo Erjie and Zhuo Sanjie to help their mother up:
"Madam, let's talk it over nicely. Liangshan is a place where reason prevails, and no one can bully others!"

When Mrs. Zhuo heard Su Mingzhe trying to reason, she remembered that her family seemed to be the ones who were unreasonable, and she immediately collapsed to the ground and burst into tears.

Zhuo's second and third sisters were too weak to support their mother, so they could only look helplessly at the man.

If Su Mingzhe had known that Mrs. Zhuo was going to make a scene today, he would not have accompanied Zhuo's second and third sisters to visit her.

Now, Su Mingzhe could only use the "Soul Capture Technique" and asked:

"Madam, please tell me what grievances you have and I will take care of them for you!"

After hearing what Su Mingzhe said, Mrs. Zhuo tactfully explained the whole matter.

More than two months ago.

Su Mingzhe sent Song Jiang to Bianliang for negotiations. Grand Tutor Cai Jing had made enemies with Liangshan because of the birthday gift incident, so he was naturally unwilling to let the people of Liangshan "clear their identities."

So, when Cai Jing returned home, he ordered his confidants to mobilize their forces to find loopholes and flaws in Liangshan.

At this time, Zhai Guanjia reminded Cai Jing that he had adopted a son on his birthday last June, and this adopted son happened to be the richest man in Yanggu County.

Yanggu County is only sixty miles away from Liangshan, making it very convenient for doing things.

When Cai Jing heard this, he handed the matter over to his adopted son.

Cai Jing's adopted son was none other than Ximen Daguanren, the richest man in Yanggu.

After receiving instructions from his adoptive father, Ximen Qing immediately used his connections to find out details about Liangshan.

The person Ximen Qing was looking for was his brother-in-law, Captain Wu.

In August, Captain Wu followed Zhang Shuye to Qingzhou for support and later surrendered. However, because he was Madam Zhuo's cousin, Liangshan chose to give him a favor and eventually transferred him back to Yanggu County, appointing him as the captain of Yanggu County.

Ximen Qing found Captain Wu and told him what the Grand Tutor meant.

When Captain Wu heard that "the leader of Liangshan wanted to accept the imperial edict", and the Grand Tutor wanted to know some information about Liangshan, he immediately started to ask around foolishly.

Zhu Gui, the leader of the reconnaissance department, had already made sure that no one could get in or out of Liangshan.

The person sent by Captain Wu to gather information was captured as soon as he arrived at Liangshan.

After some questioning, Zhu Gui first secretly arrested Ximen Qing and Captain Wu. Later, when he found conclusive evidence, he put the entire Wu and Ximen families in prison.

When Mrs. Zhuo heard that her family had suffered a disaster, she sent someone to Liangshan to ask her daughter and son-in-law to visit her.

Su Mingzhe heard the whole story and sighed:
"Ximen Qing is so unlucky. Without Wu Song, he would have lived longer. Who would have thought that he would think his life was too long and dare to get involved in anything!"

"Speaking of which, there should be beauties like Wu Yueniang, Li Jiao'er, Meng Yulou, Sun Xue'e, Li Ping'er, etc. in Ximen Mansion now. I don't know if these beauties are suffering in the prison cell..."

(End of this chapter)