Chapter 570: Jealous person!

Seeing Zhao Jianan speak first, Liang Hao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The money and food he mentioned just now was just a cover. Now Luoan has concentrated as many resources as possible in Sichuan and Shu, and there is simply not enough money and food to supply Zhao Jianan...
In addition, the Luoan side did not actually need Zhao Jianan to change its flag. Their real purpose was to erect a solid shield between them and the Fengwu Army to help them resist the sharp edge from the Fengwu Army.

So from this perspective, Zhao Jianan's public announcement of the change of flag and banner is not in their interests. After all, once Zhao Jianan makes the news public, the Yan army will inevitably fall into turmoil, exacerbating the internal friction of the Yan army. As for why Liang Hao made this request, it was mainly because the Luoan side believed that Zhao Jianan would not agree to this request, so they deliberately made it to prevent Zhao Jianan from asking for too much.

If Zhao Jianan had really agreed just now, and now the news of his change of heart was made public, Liang Hao would be in a difficult position. However, Zhao Jianan's reaction now was exactly what he wanted. Liang Hao pondered for a moment and comforted Zhao Jianan:

"Master Zhao, please rest assured. I will definitely explain the situation to the Prime Minister and try my best to help you get more money and food. However, since you cannot change your flag right now, the money and food will definitely be very limited. Please be mentally prepared, Master Zhao!"

Hearing Liang Hao say this, Zhao Jianan's mood became even darker, but he could only bow to Liang Hao again and said:

"Then we have to rely on Mr. Liang. Jianan is also a reasonable person. He will not forget you after the success!"

Liang Hao’s eyes lit up at Zhao Jianan’s hint and he nodded slightly. After the discussion, Zhao Jianan personally sent Liang Hao to the door and watched Shangguan Hongyuan’s brother-in-law leave. Only when Liang Hao walked a long way did Zhao Jianan turn around and go back home...

After returning to the mansion, Zhao Jianan had not even waited to rest when the guards beside him came to report.

"Your Excellency, Master Huang Wen Ze is here to see you!"

Upon hearing this news, Zhao Jianan's eyes flashed with a cold light, and he said coldly:
"Let him come here!"

"Yes!"

Under Zhao Jianan's order, Huang Wen Ze was brought in front of Zhao Jianan. As soon as he saw Zhao Jianan, Huang Wen Ze bowed and said:
"Sir, my son's fault is all due to my negligence. I am willing to atone for his sin!"

Listening to Huang Wen Ze's words, Zhao Jianan's expression flashed with a hint of impatience and he said in a deep voice:

"Mr. Huang, you are a smart man. You know very well that this is not what I want. You are a veteran of the Yan army and an important official left by my father to assist me. I respect you very much, but my patience is limited!

"As long as you hand over what I want, your son Huang Zhiyong can return home safely, and I will allow you to retire and return home. You can live a peaceful and wealthy life at home, enjoying the rest of your life with your grandchildren. Isn't that wonderful?"

After Zhao Jianan finished speaking, Huang Wen Ze lowered his head and fell silent. He knew what Zhao Jianan wanted, but he thought that with his reputation in the Yan army, for the sake of internal stability, Zhao Jianan would at most sideline him, but would not do it himself.

The fact was the same as he imagined, Zhao Jianan did not do anything to him. However, what Huang Wen Ze did not expect was that Zhao Jianan targeted his son Huang Zhiyong, framed Huang Zhiyong and arrested him on a random pretext in order to force and threaten him...

Seeing that Huang Wen Ze didn't say anything and was resisting him with silence, Zhao Jianan's expression also showed a hint of murderous intent. If he hadn't taken into account that Huang Wen Ze had a very high reputation in the Yan Army and killing him rashly would cause violent turmoil in the Yan Army, he would have killed this old man long ago!

However, this old guy is still holding on here. He is really shameless and doesn't want to accept the toast.
Thinking of this, Zhao Jianan snorted coldly and said:
"Since you insist on doing this, Mr. Huang, there is nothing to say. Please go back! When my father was alive, he always taught me to be selfless and impartial in enforcing the law, and not to give anyone the opportunity to bend the law for personal gain. I will definitely investigate your case thoroughly to see how many accomplices he has!"

Hearing Zhao Jianan openly using his son and other relatives as threats, Huang Wen Ze was suddenly filled with grief. He never thought that he had risked his life for the Yan army all his life, but in the end he would end up like this!
Zhao Jianan's guess was correct, he did know the whereabouts of Zhao Jianwen. Not long after he arrived in Jinzhong, Zhao Fuqu, who felt that the situation was not good, secretly sent someone to inform him of Zhao Jianwen's situation, hoping that Huang Wen Ze would be able to intervene on Zhao Jianwen's behalf and prevent the Zhao family from killing each other in the future when Zhao Jianan wanted to kill him!

At that time, Huang Wen Ze was still full of confidence that he could fulfill Zhao Fuqu's last wish and protect Zhao Jianwen, but the current situation is that he himself can't even protect himself!

On one hand, there are his relatives and friends, on the other hand, there is the last wish of his lord who has helped him. Huang Wen Ze is caught in a dilemma. In his constant painful choice, he gradually made up his mind after a while. He must protect the safety of his wife, children and the elderly...

However, by doing so he would be going against Zhao Fuqu's last wish and betraying Zhao Fuqu's kindness in recognizing his talent, so he could only atone for his sin by dying!

After making this decision, Huang Wen Ze raised his head. However, just when Zhao Jianan was about to get an answer from Huang Wen Ze with a smug look on his face, he heard hurried footsteps outside the door. The next second, a guard hurriedly walked into the room and reported to Zhao Jianan in fear:

"Report to the Lord, the Fengwu Army is coming!" As soon as these words came out, the smug look on Zhao Jianan's face froze instantly, and he asked in a panic:
"Aren't the Fengwu Army resting? Why did they attack us so suddenly? How many people are there?"

"Your Excellency, judging by their flags, they should be the troops of Lin Huaiwu, the Second Division of the Fengwu Army. There are at least tens of thousands of them. Our garrison at Xiaoyin Mountain can't hold on. It is said that the garrison commander Liu Hong has surrendered to the Fengwu Army, and the Fengwu Army is heading towards Jinzhong City!"

Hearing this news, Zhao Jianan was so frightened by the Fengwu Army that he felt his limbs go limp and his mind went blank. He had no idea what to do. At this critical moment, Huang Wenzhe, an old official, quickly said:

"Sir, impose a curfew and martial law in the entire city at this time. Organize all soldiers and horses to defend the city. The Fengwu Army is already weak, and now they have fought a big battle with the old commander and the Luobei people. The army needs some time to rest, so the troops attacking Jinzhong this time will definitely not be many. We can defeat them!"

Huang Wen Ze's decisive words immediately gave Zhao Jianan a backbone and confidence. He quickly ordered the guards:

"What are you still standing there for? Do as Mr. Huang says!"

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Jiyu, Dayashan Village
A well-mannered scholar came to a sturdy man with an account book and said worriedly:

"Boss, look, we only have less than 5,000 dan of grain left in Daya Mountain, and there are more than 100,000 refugees on the mountain, and thousands more are coming to Daya Mountain every day. If things continue like this, the food we have won't last long!"

"Hello, Sanshan." Zhu Sanshan glanced at the account book in the hands of his master Sun He, nodded confidently and said:
"This is not something you should worry about. Just calculate the account books for me and use the abacus for me. I know the food situation well. We will have new food in a few days!"

Seeing Zhu Sanshan so confident, Sun He was also infected by his confidence and nodded and complimented him:

"Master, you are so wise and brave. I am just worrying about nothing!"

After pacifying his advisor Sun He and sending him away, Zhu Sanshan gathered his confidence and focused his gaze on a point on the map in front of him. That place was located in the middle of Hebei and Henan and was called Yingcheng. Although this city was nothing in the Central Plains of Hebei and Henan, and it was not even in the top ten in terms of scale and population, but because it was surrounded by plains and the water of Luo River flowed through it, it was a natural granary, providing a large amount of food and fodder to Yujing every year...
Yingcheng is Zhu Sanshan’s hometown. His family originally lived in the city and ran a small blacksmith shop. Although their life was not very wealthy, it was acceptable. It was from here that Zhu Sanshan joined the army when he was young!
At that time, Zhu Sanshan, who dreamed of making great achievements, becoming a noble and a prime minister to bring honor to his family, and winning fame during his lifetime and after his death, would never have thought that one day he would become a bandit and a despicable gangster!

And now, Yingcheng, his hometown, has become Zhu Sanshan’s next target!

As early as a few months ago, when the impact of natural disasters such as droughts and floods had not yet fully unfolded, Zhu Sanshan was keenly aware of the changes in the situation. He could feel that the dissatisfaction of the lower-class people with the ruling class such as the gentry and bureaucrats was about to reach a critical point.

Zhu Sanshan knew that this was an opportunity to change his life, so he began to consciously stockpile food so that he could quickly expand his strength and accumulate power when public anger broke out!
Zhu Sanshan, who abandoned all the pride of the imperial guards and became a bandit, understood very well that in today's chaotic world, things like gold, silver, jewelry and land deeds are all useless. Only food and weapons are the real hard currency. As long as you have these two things, you can quickly pull out an army!

The development of the situation was just as Zhu Sanshan had expected. The natural disaster was like a spark, which completely ignited the dissatisfaction of the lower-class people with the bureaucratic gentry. For a time, the spark of the uprising burned the vast land of the Central Plains. Zhu Sanshan relied on the reputation and food he had accumulated in the green forest before. The army under his command expanded rapidly from more than a thousand people before to more than ten thousand people today...

While the strength was expanding rapidly, food was also consumed in large quantities. Besides, how to manage these manpower and the shortage of weapons became important issues restricting Zhu Sanshan's rapid development. Zhu Sanshan, who had been a captain of the Imperial Guards and had seen the world, naturally would not let his men grow up in a barbaric and unorganized manner like bandits. He was eager to train his soldiers to be as elite as the Imperial Guards!

In Zhu Sanshan's eyes, he has a very good template for development, that is Ye Mingsheng and Fengwu Army!

Maybe Ye Mingsheng didn't know about this at all, but Zhu Sanshan would never forget the summer of the sixth year of Anhe. Because he was serving under Fang Jing, the commander of the Huwei Imperial Guards, Zhu Sanshan knew that Fang Jing had a fellow villager named Ye Mingsheng who was also from Fengshan County, Liaoyang, and he also knew about Ye Mingsheng's reputation for being good at scheming.

In the sixth year of Anhe, Ye Mingsheng was not yet the commander of the imperial guards, but only a captain of the imperial guards. However, many lower-level soldiers were dissatisfied with Ye Mingsheng, who was appointed as a captain right after coming out of Zhaowu Camp.

Especially for people like Zhu Sanshan, who had fought in the army for years, rolled among the dead countless times, and accumulated countless military merits, just to get such a position as a captain, they were even more indignant. On the surface, they were very contemptuous of Ye Mingsheng, but in their hearts they were full of envy and desire.

However, what made Zhu Sanshan even more indignant was that in that summer, with Ye Mingsheng's hard work, Ye Mingsheng successfully became the sentry chief of the imperial guards...

When he heard the news, Zhu Sanshan was filled with indignation beyond words. He felt that the world was too unfair and that his efforts and hard work had not received the respect and rewards he deserved!
In order to vent his dissatisfaction, he drank a lot of alcohol that night, until he lost his mind. This was not a big deal, but the key point was that night, in order to get drunk to relieve his sorrow and depression, he did not choose to go to the usual tavern, but went to Luoan's high-end tavern Qianyunju to indulge himself!
Under the psychological influence of envy and resentment, Zhu Sanshan, who had a poor alcohol tolerance, started to act crazy when drunk, which led to him bumping into a nobleman who was also drinking in Qianyunju. When Zhu Sanshan sobered up, the situation was already irreversible.

Zhu Sanshan knew very well that to those high and mighty nobles in Luoan, he, the head of the imperial guards, was just a bug that could be crushed to death with just a finger. Even if he came to their door to plead guilty, he would not be forgiven. So, in frustration and regret, Zhu Sanshan could only choose to run away, and from then on he lived in exile...
(End of this chapter)