Bianliang City, inside the Imperial Palace. Taiwei Su Yuanjing took a dark middle-aged man to the Vertical Arch Hall.

Seeing Zhao Ji, the son of heaven wearing an imperial robe, the black dwarf man knelt on his knees and bowed to the end: "Minister Song Jiang knocks to see my emperor, long live my emperor!" ”

Zhao Ji was condescending, looked at the man a few times, frowned, and waved his hand: "Song Aiqing is flat." ”

Song Jiang slowly stood up, lowered his eyebrows, and was silent.

Zhao Ji opened his mouth and said: "Previously, Song Aiqing and other heroes were victimized by corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and they had no choice but to go up the mountain and fall into the grass, and fought with the officials and soldiers several times, and there were mutual injuries. It is the ineffectiveness of my rule that gives the corrupt people an opportunity to oppress the good, and I hope that the Song Qing family will not blame me. ”

Song Jiang hurriedly arched his hand and said, "How dare the minister blame the saint!" Although the ministers and the brothers are called heroes, they are actually traitors who rebel against the court, and the saint does not care about the past suspicions, but loves the ministers, so that the ministers and the brothers can recruit peace and righteousness, and go to the notoriety of this traitor, and become the orthodox soldiers of the court. ”

Zhao Ji sighed and said: "Song Qing's family has such a sincere heart to serve the country, but they hate those corrupt officials, and they actually forced my loyal ministers into thieves. Alas, it is also my fault that the party in the south of the Yangtze River is causing chaos and harassing the people. ”

Song Jiang straightened his body and said loudly: "The minister is willing to lead the troops and horses of the headquarters to rush to Jiangnan immediately, sweep away Fang La and other chaotic parties, and solve problems for the saint." ”

"That Fang La has bewitched many people with the help of the demonic sect's evil words," Zhao Ji narrowed his eyes and said softly, "The thieves have been planning for a long time, and now they are coercing the people all the way, and the power is unknown, Song Aiqing is going alone, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist it, it is better to wait for some time, and when Tong Shu's western army is assembled, we will go to the conquest together." ”

Song Jiang said in a righteous voice: "No, every night and every day when the official army arrives, more people will be lured into the chaos of the party." The minister asked for the command of the vanguard army, and led my Liangshan righteous soldiers to the south of the Yangtze River first, even if they could not sweep away the rebellious party, they could still guard the prefecture and county, and prevent the rebels from burning and looting everywhere. ”

Zhao Ji shook his head and said, "It's okay." Since the Song Qing family is so well aware of the righteousness, I will appoint you as the vanguard of the southern expedition and the defense envoy of Yuezhou, and lead the army and horses of the headquarters to the south to rebel. However, I also hope that Song Aiqing will see the situation clearly, defend instead of attacking, and fight and retreat, don't be too entangled with the opposing party, if Aiqing folds in Jiangnan, I will regret it for the rest of my life. ”

Song Jiang immediately knelt on the ground: "Thank you, Your Majesty, the minister must bow and do his best, and then die." ”

Subsequently, Zhao Ji gave Song Jiang a horse and a set of saddle bridles, and at the same time sent an envoy to return to Liangshan with a thousand altars of imperial wine with him, share the food and drink with the leaders, and publicize the importance of the imperial court to them.

However, after Song Jiang and Su Yuanjing had just left from the Vertical Arch Palace, two more people walked in, one was the privy envoy Tong Guan, and the other was the Taishi Cai Jing.

"Your Majesty's trick to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf, it's really wonderful," after paying homage, Cai Jing stroked his beard and smiled, "Fighting thieves with thieves, which of the two sides wins or loses, is beneficial and harmless to my court." ”

Zhao Ji also laughed: "This Song Jiang is very interesting, and with a little bit of adjustment, he agreed to the rebellion." Then he looked at Tong Guan and said: "Tong Shumi still needs to prepare as soon as possible, the crusade against Fang La and other rebellious parties is imminent, even if Song Jiang and the others can delay for some time, the forbidden army still has to send troops as soon as possible." ”

Tong Guan bowed and said: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the order has been sent to the camps of the Western Army." It will be possible to assemble at Bianliang within a month, and as long as there are enough warships, they can quickly go to Jiangnan along the waterway. However, after January, it will be a cold winter, when the rivers will freeze, and the speed of the march will be affected by it......"

"You don't need to explain so much," Zhao Ji said impatiently, "I just need you to quell the rebellious party as quickly as possible." ”

Tong Guan frowned and thought for a while, and arched his hand: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the minister guarantees that before the summer of next year, Jiangnan will be swept away." ”

Zhao Ji nodded, his mood slowly relaxed, and then chatted with the two about Danqing calligraphy and painting.

……

A few days ago, Song Jiang led the crowd to level Zengtou City, and after "avenging" Chao Gai, when he sat on the first chair in Liangshan, he changed the Juyi Hall in the cottage to Zhongyi Hall, and put Chao Gai's spiritual position in the first place.

Most of the leaders thought that this was Song Jiang's remembrance of Chao Gai, but there were still a few delicate-minded leaders who noticed the other meanings contained in it, and after discussing it privately, they went to Song Jiang to ask for an understanding. Among them are Wu Yong, Hua Rong, Zhang Heng, Zhang Shun and others. Song Jiang didn't hide it from them, and told them about Zhao'an's thoughts.

Wu Yong was originally a delicate and clear person, and he guessed Song Jiang's idea with a casual thought, but he did not object; Before Hua Rong followed Song Jiang, he was a Qingfeng Zhai Zhizhai, and he was originally a court official, so he naturally expressed support for Song Jiang's idea of recruiting An; The two brothers, Zhang Heng and Zhang Shun, had some resistance to Zhao'an, but under Song Jiang's persuasion, they finally agreed to Zhao'an.

The day before the imperial court's envoy to Zhao'an came, Song Jiang told him what he thought. It caused an uproar in the cottage, and many leaders hated it and were extremely opposed to Zhao'an.

But after Song Jiang spoke with sincerity and tears, the leaders agreed to Zhao'an's matter in silence, even if they were dissatisfied, they would only hide it in their hearts.

Song Jiang said to them: The court is corrupt and incompetent, but the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and they can stop the officials and soldiers for a while, but they can't stop the officials and soldiers for a lifetime. Thieves, after all, are thieves, and once they are written in the annals of history, they will not be able to get rid of the reputation of thieves for the rest of their lives. Only after accepting Zhao'an, establishing meritorious service for the imperial court, and obtaining official positions, can you have a good reputation, can you speak in the court, and can you really do something practical for the suffering people......

In fact, many leaders don't care about their reputation, let alone the infamy they leave behind after death, they just want to be happy in this life. But Song Jiang's words still touched them, because they could not think about themselves, but they would silently think about the other brothers. It was this interaction of love and righteousness that made them acquiesce in the matter of Zhao'an.

From the envoy coming, to entering Beijing to meet him, and then to returning to Liangshan, the process of Zhao'an was extremely smooth, as if he was destined to return, Song Jiang only felt as relaxed and happy as a spring breeze, and secretly vowed to take his brothers to make contributions.

Zhao Ji's obvious plan to drive the tiger and devour the wolf, Song Jiang couldn't see it, he took the initiative to ask for Fang La, in order to take advantage of the fire and seek wealth in danger. What's more, the emperor also said that after his army in Liangshan went south, as long as it was not defeated, it would be meritorious.

After returning to the cottage, Song Jiang held a banquet, divided the imperial wine, and said about the south to ask for Fang La. The crowd was drinking, and when they heard that there was a fight, they all agreed happily.

It wasn't until the next day that Song Jiang asked everyone to prepare their ordnance and prepare to go south, and everyone knew that they had fallen for Song Jiang, but they still smiled and went to prepare......

This day is November 12, and the people of Liangshan are preparing weapons and armor in a hurry, and they will go south in a few days.

At the same time, the city of Shezhou, thousands of miles away from Yunzhou, was under fierce siege by the army of Fangla.

Guarding Shezhou was Guo Shizhong, the third general of the Liangzhejiang West Road, who led more than 3,000 Xiang troops to stubbornly resist the attack of Fang Layi's army.

There are nearly 10,000 people in the Fangla Yi army, and the siege tactics of encircling three and missing one are implemented, and the army in the city is negligent in practicing on weekdays, and suddenly encounters this kind of battle, even if Guo Shizhong commands properly, the three city walls are in a precarious state.

Finally, on the afternoon of this day, the east gate besieged by Wang Yin took the lead in opening the situation. After the rolling stones, gold juice and other materials in the city were exhausted, Wang Yin took the lead and led the righteous army to the city wall, first killing the officials and soldiers on the city wall, and then seizing the city gate, leading the army to drive straight in.

Fang Qifo, who besieged the north city wall, learned that the east gate had been broken, and immediately made a decision, gave up attacking the north city wall, joined forces with Wang Yin, and entered the city directly through the east gate.

Knowing that the rebels had entered the city, the Xiang army was suddenly in turmoil, and many people fled directly to the west city gate. Guo Shizhong organized a counterattack in the chaotic army, and was found by Shi Bao to find an opportunity and smashed his head with a meteor flying hammer. After Guo Shizhong's death, the officers and soldiers completely lost the ability to resist, and either struggled to escape from the city, or were slaughtered by the rebels.

After the city was broken, the rebel army led by Fang La rested in the city for a few days, and replenished thousands of troops from the people and the surrendered official army. After that, Fang La asked Fang Qifo to lead 3,000 righteous troops to capture the rest of the counties in Shezhou, and he led the army to Changhua and Fuyang, pointing directly at Hangzhou City.

At this time, the rebel army had already shocked the south of the Yangtze River, and everywhere it passed, the officials all fled in spite of the wind, and the people all lined up to greet each other.

Fang La led the army all the way to kill officials and gather people, and by November 19, when the army resisted Fuyang, the strength had expanded to more than 20,000, and Zu Shiyuan and Lou Minzhong, who were responsible for supplying grain and grass, were busy like ants on a hot pot.

Xiaoshan County, which is dozens of miles away from Fuyang County, also gathered another righteous army led by Lu Shinang and Fang Jie at this time, and after converging the righteous armies of Wu, Yue, and Ming Prefectures, the number also reached more than 10,000.

The two rebels had already corresponded and agreed to attack the city of Hangzhou two days later.

In the city of Hangzhou, Zhizhou Gu An and Chen Jianzheng, the envoy of the Liangzhejiang Road, discussed defensive matters. After ten days of dispatch, there are now about 6,000 officers and troops in Hangzhou.

Gu An and the others didn't know how many troops the rebels on both sides had now, but they guessed that it was only about 15,000, and most of them were people who had not fought in battle, so Gu An and the others thought that the 6,000 officers and troops were completely enough to hold the attack of the rebels.

The only thing to worry about is the food problem, once the rebels besiege the city and cut off the grain and grass transported from Hangzhou Bay, they may not be able to support it for a month only by relying on the granary in the city.

In the living room of the government office, Chen Jian said: "Lord Gu, why don't you borrow grain and grass from the people in the city on the grounds of war?" ”

Gu An shook his head and said: "This matter should not be rushed, forcibly requisitioning supplies, I am afraid it will provoke a civil uprising." This is not to be done until the last minute. ”

"Then does Master Gu know how long it will take for the imperial court reinforcements to arrive?" Chen Jian asked.

"It's not clear yet," Gu An shook his head, "Ever since Lord Zhu Mian was dismissed by the Holy Lord for the uprising, I haven't received a message from Bianliang again. ”

Chen Jian sighed: "Alas, I don't know how long I have to wait." But then again, Lord Gu, did you send your family out of the city? ”

"Of course, except for the wife, the rest of the wives and concubines and children were sent to Jiangning." Gu An smiled, thinking of the warm words of his wife vowing to live and die with him, his heart was much more stable.

As he was smiling, he suddenly saw a figure sneaking in from outside the door, and when he saw the person coming, his face froze.