Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

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"How about we ride one horse together?" Zhao Yuan asked tentatively.

Hu Sanniang stood there for a while before nodding slightly.

Zhao Yuan first mounted his horse, then reached out and pulled Hu Sanniang up as well, so that she sat right in his lap.

Compared to Li Shishi and Qiongying, Hu Sanniang was much taller.

The first two sat in Zhao Yuan's laps, both looking like little birds nestled against each other.

This Hu Sanniang, however, evoked a completely different feeling.

She was quite tall, about 050cm, and even sitting in front of Zhao Yuan, she was only slightly shorter than him.

The two leaned close together, feeling her slender waist and long legs.

If Zhao Yuan didn't react at all, he clearly wouldn't be a man.

This was also the first time that Hu Sanniang had been in such close contact with a man.

Embarrassed, she could only make small talk.

"You're carrying a short stick for self-defense? It's getting a bit uncomfortable!"

"This...that's my personal belongings. It's hard to pack them now. We'll deal with it when we get to the town ahead!"

Zhao Yuan gave an awkward smile, not daring to think of anything else.

He quickly spurred his horse and spurred it to chase after Shi Qian ahead!

......

A new restaurant called Liangji recently opened on the east side of Xucheng.

Compared to other restaurants in the city,

The only difference between Liang's Restaurant and others is that its lobby is more spacious and its food and drinks are cleaner.

Therefore, except for the first few days after opening,

Some hooligans came to cause trouble, but the shopkeeper and several of his employees gave them a sound beating, which sparked a lot of discussion among the people of Xucheng.

In the days that followed, the hotel fell into silence and did not cause any further stir.

Every day, it's just a matter of welcoming and seeing off customers, exactly the same as other taverns in Sugisaki...

Chapter 133 Dong Ping, Rejected in Marriage

On this day, three men of different builds entered Liang's Hotel.

The shopkeeper who was originally behind the counter doing the accounting

Upon seeing the three, he hurriedly came out and ushered them into the back hall.

Some of the regular customers in the lobby, seeing this, curiously inquired with the waiter.

"Who were those three people just now? Why did Manager Zhu greet them so warmly?"

"That's our master, of course the manager has to personally greet him!" the waiter replied casually.

"So there's a host here. I thought this hotel belonged to Manager Zhu!" a guest exclaimed in surprise.

"You've got it wrong,"

The waiter explained, "This is Liang's Inn. The owner's surname is naturally Liang, so how could it be Zhu!"

The customer slapped his head, exclaiming that he hadn't been paying attention.

The other guests nearby also laughed good-naturedly.

Back room,

Hu Sanniang lifted the curtain and looked at the few scattered guests in the hall. She asked in confusion, "Brother Zhu Gui, with so few guests, how much information can you possibly gather?"

The three who just entered were Zhao Yuan, Shi Qian, and Hu Sanniang, who was disguised as a man.

Zhao Yuan had already given Zhu Gui a brief introduction earlier.

Hearing Hu Sanniang's question, Zhu Gui smiled and explained, "My inn is the intelligence center of Xucheng. Many spies are distributed throughout the city. If there is any disturbance, they will come to me first to report. After I verify the information, they will be sent to the mountain stronghold."

"Therefore, the hotel business should not be too good. If it is too good, it will attract attention and the jealousy of the competitors. If these people cause trouble for you every few days, it will never end."

"Business shouldn't be too bad either; if it's a business that's clearly losing money, people will be suspicious."

Zhu Gui laughed and said, "Even in this state of being neither alive nor dead, barely breaking even is just right. It won't attract attention and will ensure our safety."

"So that's how it is," Hu Sanniang suddenly realized.

Zhao Yuan, who was standing to the side, recalled what he had seen when he entered the city earlier and asked, "Brother Zhu Gui, when the three of us entered the city just now, why did we see that the area outside Xucheng was crowded with disaster victims?"

"This matter is also because of my brother,"

Zhu Gui raised the wine pot and filled Zhao Yuan's wine cup.

"Previously, my brother sent Xiaoqi and his brothers back to the mountain with a message, asking the leaders on the mountain to find a way to lure the disaster victims from Hebei to Liangshan."

"The brothers then decided to use grain as a guide, which was quite effective at first, and as many as seven or eight thousand disaster victims were led to Liangshan!"

Upon hearing that Liangshan had suddenly gained so many more people, Zhao Yuan couldn't help but laugh heartily, raising his wine cup and drinking it all in one gulp. Only then did he notice Zhu Gui's choice of words.

"It was quite effective at first? But then something went wrong? Did the prefect of Yunzhou get involved?"

"Brother guessed correctly,"

Zhu Gui said helplessly, "Prefect Cheng, who came to Yunzhou last year, is a capable official. Seeing the endless stream of disaster victims being led to Liangshan Marsh, he was worried that we would take advantage of the situation and become powerful. So he opened the granaries in Xucheng to distribute grain. With government relief, the disaster victims naturally did not want to go to Liangshan anymore, so they slowly gathered outside Xucheng. However, I heard that Prefect Cheng will not last much longer."

"Why is that?" Shi Qian asked in surprise.

"This Xucheng is a newly built city. The original city was submerged by the Ji River due to flooding, so Xucheng was moved here."

Zhu Gui explained, "The construction of the new city has depleted Yunzhou's savings accumulated over the years. It was only last year that it recovered somewhat. Naturally, the state's funds and grain reserves are not very sufficient. There are currently 30,000 to 40,000 disaster victims outside the city. Even cooking thin porridge requires more than 20 shi of grain per day!"

"Prefect Cheng had already issued a proclamation, hoping that the gentry of Yunzhou would donate money and grain. However, those in Yunzhou who had grain were hoarding it, waiting for the price of grain to rise so they could make a profit. Naturally, they were unwilling to donate it to the government for nothing. Prefect Cheng urged them to pay several times, but the gentry from various places only donated less than two hundred shi of grain."

"I heard that Prefect Cheng has reported to the court, explaining the situation and hoping that the court will order all prefectures to send grain to Yunzhou for emergency relief, but so far there has been no response."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yuan immediately let out a cold laugh.

"Most of the officials in Bianliang (Kaifeng) are hoarding grain, waiting for prices to rise so they can make a fortune. If these disaster victims are given relief, grain prices won't rise. How could they possibly agree to Prefect Cheng's report?"

"So what does my brother mean?"

"For the next two days, ignore those disaster victims. Since the government wants to provide relief, let them spend their money and resources."

Zhao Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "When the grain in Yunzhou is almost used up and the famine victims outside the city are starving, you can send people to infiltrate the refugees and spread the news that there is grain in Liangshan. At that time, you will not have to worry about these famine victims not going to Liangshan!"

"Brother, I'm afraid that Prefect Cheng will mobilize troops to obstruct us,"

Zhu Gui cautioned, "Most of the generals in Yunzhou are mediocre and incompetent. Only one military commander, nicknamed 'Double-Gun General' Dong Ping, is extremely brave and we need to be wary of him."

"I have heard of Dong Ping before,"

Hu Sanniang, who was standing nearby, interjected: "It is said that this man is skilled with double guns and has the courage of ten thousand men. However, he loves to show off and is narrow-minded. If you offend him in the slightest, you will be retaliated against."

"Brother Hu is right, this person..."

Just as Zhu Gui was about to say something, he heard a faint commotion coming from the main hall. A waiter then entered and reported...

"Shopkeeper, that double-gun general Dong Ping has suddenly led a group of men into the city for some reason! All the customers in the lobby have gone to the streets to join in the fun."

"Shall we go and see what this dual-wielding general looks like?"

Zhao Yuan got up, led the others out of the back hall, and came to the street (Li's place).

Then a group of people were seen walking in the middle of the street.

The leader was tall and imposing, with a handsome and dashing appearance.

For some reason, his face looked rather unpleasant, and his expression was filled with anger.

Two short guns were hung on either side of his horse.

A small flag was stuck in the quiver beside it.

The inscription reads: "Heroic general with two spears, a dashing nobleman."

"Judging from this man's gloomy face, has something happened?" Zhao Yuan asked curiously.

"It is said that during the Lantern Festival in Xucheng, this pair of guns will meet the youngest daughter of Prefect Cheng. Upon seeing her beauty, he will be immediately captivated and, after preparing for many days, will finally send a matchmaker to Prefect Cheng's residence yesterday to propose marriage."

Zhu Gui laughed and said, "Unexpectedly, Prefect Cheng directly refused him. Judging from his angry appearance just now, he obviously wanted to go to Prefect Cheng's residence to demand an explanation."

Chapter 134 The Unlucky Han Bolong

"How dare Dong Ping, a military officer, cause trouble for a civil official?" Hu Sanniang asked in surprise.

It is a well-known fact that the Song Dynasty valued civil officials over military ones, and that military generals held low social status.

Even when military officers and civil officials of the same rank meet, the military officer bows and pays respects, not to mention that Dong Ping's rank was already lower than that of Prefect Cheng.

Arriving at the door in such a furious manner, it was clear that he would inevitably be accused of offending his superior.

"He probably acted impulsively out of anger," Zhao Yuan said casually.

But to his surprise, his prediction came true.

Dong Ping led his soldiers to the front of the prefect's residence and stopped in his tracks.

Instead of sending someone to knock on the door, he stood there for a moment.

Afterwards, Dong Ping seemed to have sobered up considerably and hurriedly turned around to lead his soldiers back.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, the gates of the prefect's mansion suddenly opened.

A handsome middle-aged civil official stepped forward. Upon seeing the large number of soldiers in front of the mansion gate, he immediately put on a stern face and asked,

"Supervisor Dong, what do you mean by this?"

"Master Taishou, I..."

Dong Ping panicked and quickly dismounted and knelt down, saying, "This humble general saw that there were too many refugees outside the city and was worried that they would rush into the city and cause harm. That's why I brought a team of men into the city to patrol and deter them."

"Hehe, is that so?" 050

Prefect Cheng gave a cold laugh.

Dong Ping stormed into Xucheng in a rage, and he knew perfectly well why.

The thought that this wicked and uncouth man dared to covet his precious daughter filled Magistrate Cheng with increasing displeasure.

However, he also knew that in Yunzhou right now, the only capable military general was Dong Ping, who was standing right in front of him.

In addition, some time ago,

The bandits of Liangshan Marsh dared to openly lure disaster victims up the mountain with grain, clearly intending to take advantage of the situation and use the people to expand their power.

Prefect Cheng naturally had to be on guard.

If Dong Ping is dismissed now, there will probably be no military general in the entire Yunzhou who can withstand the Liangshan Marsh.

Thinking of this, Prefect Cheng could only sigh inwardly.

He waved his hand and began to scold.

"Since you meant well, I will pretend I didn't see it this time! But if you dare to bring troops into the city without permission next time, don't blame me for holding you accountable!"

"Yes! This subordinate will never dare to do it again!"

After Dong Ping finished answering, seeing that Prefect Cheng was about to turn back, he hurriedly asked, "Prefect, what was the reason for my request yesterday...?"

"My youngest daughter is not yet of marriageable age; how can we discuss marriage with her?"

Prefect Cheng suppressed his disgust and said without turning his head, "Let's talk about everything after she comes of age."

"Yes, it was all my recklessness."

Dong Ping knew perfectly well that Prefect Cheng was merely giving him empty words.

He could only clench his fists in frustration, not daring to say anything more, and could only respectfully watch Prefect Cheng return to his residence.

After Prefect Cheng went inside and the gates of the Prefect's residence closed again, Dong Ping, with a gloomy expression, called for his soldiers to leave the city.

Zhao Yuan and the others stood by the roadside and witnessed everything that happened.

After returning to the hotel lobby,

Zhao Yuan reminded him, "Prefect Cheng and Dong Ping are at odds. If you can make good use of this, Brother Zhu Gui, our Liangshan will no longer have to worry about the threat from Yunzhou."

"Don't worry, brother, I understand,"