"Pengju and Yizhong, what do you two think of the Liangshan Army's combat effectiveness?" Zhao Gou returned to the Tai'an military camp and sat on a chair, with Yue Fei, Yang Yizhong, Zeng Xiaoyun and others sitting below. After everyone sat down, Zhao Gou went straight to the point: "Compared with the combat effectiveness of our army, what is the gap?" ”

Yang Yizhong was born in Jiangmen, and followed his grandfather and father, and he had seen the importance of military discipline, but only he knew how to do it, and Yue Fei could only judge by feeling. I saw Yang Yizhong say in a deep voice: "When the two of us went to Qingzhou City, the equipment of the Liangshan army we saw was different, I am afraid that it was the equipment captured by the capture of the city, some soldiers did not wear armor at all, and even the spears in their hands looked like they were used by peasants. ”

After careful inspection, the subordinates found that they were not as disorganized as grass cowards, but were disciplined, presumably someone in the Liangshan army was a general, except for the equipment, the spirit of the others was different, three steps, one post, five steps and one sentry. It can be seen that the man has a good way of governing the army. ”

"If the combat effectiveness of the generals of the single-wheel Liangshan Army, Song Jiang is just a Wenchen, and he is powerless, but his courage, courage, and foresight are rare to see. According to the speculation of his subordinates, it is understandable that these people are willing to submit to his command. As for the military Wu Yong standing beside him, he never spoke from beginning to end, and he seemed mysterious, and the others were all well-known heroes in the rivers and lakes, and their martial arts were naturally not bad. If there is no one in our army who can resist Lu Junyi and the others, even if it is a confrontation, it must be a tough battle, and it needs to be considered in the long run. ”

Zhao Gou nodded, looked at Yue Fei again, and continued: "Although I don't have Brother Yang's background, it is the same in my opinion. These people value love and righteousness and keep their promises. At that time, both of us thought we were going to die there, but we were released again, presumably deliberately to bring us out of the military, and they were still not afraid. If it is one-on-one, there are too few generals available in our army, and if we encounter a few of them, we will not be able to resist them. ”

Zhao Gou said in a deep voice: "In this way, in a few months, they captured Jinan Mansion and Daimyo's Mansion, and attacked the armies of Heshuo and Jingdong East Road, which is not luck, but also has some ability. If what you said is true, then there are fewer people in our army who can really fight, there are thirty-six of them, and in addition to Song Jiang and Wu Yong, there are thirty-four people. ”

"Even if there is a high or low level of martial arts, it is a big hazard, and you must find a way to deal with it. There is a certain reason why their troops attacked in several ways. Now, they already know that I am in the Tai'an army, and they will inevitably withdraw their scattered forces, and all those they can withdraw will be transferred back to Qingzhou City, and then our army and the Liangshan army will be a real confrontation. However, the generals in our hands are not enough to compete with them, and the only way to do this is to mobilize the army again. ”

Zhao Gou turned around and looked at Zeng Xiaoyun and said, "Lord Zeng, you immediately repair a letter and send it to General Zhang Shuye, ordering him to mobilize the vanguard of the Huainan Army, take a boat from Shuyang to Haizhou, and then go all the way north to Qingzhou City. General Zhang must be told to act carefully, not to leak the news, and when he reaches Haizhou, he will gather the Huainan army and flank the Liangshan army in one fell swoop, and must not let them go south to continue the invasion. ”

Zeng Xiaoyun bowed and said, "No! ”

Zhao Gou looked at Wu Lan and said; "You go with Lord Zeng, be sure to protect Lord Zeng, and deliver the letter to General Zhang. Your brother is also a general, and General Zhang must know each other, so there must be no problems. If General Zhang does not obey my orders, he can fight with you on the spot, and be sure to hold Haizhou City, and then act according to orders. ”

Wu Lan replied: "No! ”

Zhao Gou let the two of them leave first, and then looked at Hou Mengdao, the head of the household department: "Lord Hou, please go to Dongping Mansion and inform the generals of the West Road Army, and pass on my military order to let them gather their troops and horses at three o'clock tomorrow and encircle and suppress the Liangshan rebels with me, I wonder if Lord Hou is willing to go?" ”

Hou Meng replied: "The lower official must complete the task!" ”

Zhao Gou nodded and said, "Lord Hou is loyal to the country, and he is really a loyal minister!" In addition, I will send Niu Gao with you so that he can protect your lordship thoroughly. There is no room for delay, and you and he will set off immediately. ”

Niu Gao and Hou Meng left happily, Zhao Gou looked at Hou Meng's sick body, and sighed: "Take care of your body, I hope it's okay!" ”

Originally, Zhao conceived that Hou Meng would go to the Huainan Army camp, but the journey was long and long, and Hou Meng's body was afraid that he would not be able to bear it, so he had to let Zeng Xiaoyun go. When Hou Meng came, his body was already weak, and he had been coughing continuously in recent days, and it was not easy for him to get better. If it weren't for the last resort, Zhao Gou would not want to let Hou Meng, who was already old and nearly seventy years old, go. Only Niu Gao and Wu Lan were not enough to convince the public, and their injuries did not allow them to fight against the generals of Liangshan, even if they were unwilling, they could only obey orders and go to convey military orders.

Zhao Gou also ordered Yue Fei, Liu Qi, Yang Yi and others to be the vanguard, and all the soldiers of the Tai'an Army also received Zhao Gou's order to work and rest in a unified manner, eat and drink enough. The next day, Zhao Gou led a large army to Qingzhou City, with a total of more than 10,000 people in Taizhou and 100,000 troops in the West Road, and the two armies were combined.

That night, an important person came to Zhao Gou's tent, who was his senior brother, or his master. Lin Chong, who had disappeared for many years, appeared in front of Zhao Gou again, which surprised him very much, and said, "Sect Leader Lin, why are you here?" Sit down! ”

Lin Chong also looked at Zhao Gou with a smile and said, "How have you been doing with your junior brother over the years?" ”

Zhao Gou nodded and said with a smile: "If it weren't for the teachings of Sect Leader Lin, I, Zhao Gouyan, would be where I am today!" Sect Leader Lin, where have you been all these years, it is really easy for me to find. At this time, it is the time to employ people, and your coming is really a big help to our army. I wonder if your marksmanship can be compared to Senior Brother Lu? ”

Lin Chong said in a deep voice: "Can't! At the beginning, my brother and I were classmates, and his marksmanship was slightly better. If you want to entangle him for a moment, there must be no problem. Over the years, I have been hiding incognito in the mountains and forests, and I have never come forward. However, I knew that my brother must have written to me and asked me to go to Yangshan. If you hadn't reminded me, we would have been enemies when we met. ”

"I was in the mountains and forests, and I learned that you had returned from your studies, and you had become the envoy of the Privy Council of the current dynasty, and you came to conquer the Liangshan army. I came alone, but luckily I caught up. Also, I have something to tell you. I just don't know if Master has mentioned it to you? ”

Zhao Gou was puzzled: "What's the matter?" ”

Lin Chong replied: "In addition to the senior brother in the Liangshan army, there are several people who are also disciples of the master, and the master must have told you about it." The talent of the senior brother is the highest among us, his marksmanship has no fixed moves, it is easy to come by, it is the master's sketched marksmanship, which was learned by the senior brother and carried forward, so that his marksmanship is really unique in the world, even the master is much inferior to him, the senior brother in addition to marksmanship, but also stick skills, but also get the master's true inheritance. It's just that the senior brother was born in a wealthy family and had a lot of wealth, so he disdained to be an official in the court, so he returned to his hometown, and later suffered a lawsuit because of some things, and finally became an army and was almost beheaded. ”

In the end, he was rescued by Shi Xiu and others, and in a fit of anger, he fell into the grass and went to Liangshan and became an important general in the Liangshan army. In addition to the senior brother, there are also nine-pattern dragon Shi Jin and walker Wu Song are also disciples of the master. The two of them were disciples accepted by the master later, Wu Song had a violent personality, was a good drinker, caused a lawsuit, and broke the master's regulations, and made a living by performing arts, and the master expelled him from the master in a fit of anger, even if he was a registered disciple. ”

"Wu Song has learned the master's skills, and he is naturally arrogant, so he has never gone back to see the master. After that, it was also a lawsuit that forced Liangshan. As for the nine-pattern dragon Shi Jin, he also angered the master, and changed from a personal disciple to a registered disciple. Moreover, the master strictly stated that the two of them were not allowed to call him a teacher to the outside world, nor were they allowed to say that they were the master of the two of them. ”

"Shi Jin, the nine-patterned dragon, has nine green dragons tattooed on his body, and he is so uneven. He used to be a disciple of Wang Jin, the head of the forbidden army, but he only studied art for half a year, and later the master saw that he was talented and intelligent, so he accepted him as a disciple and taught him the stick method. Unexpectedly, Shi Jin was bold, not only worshipping the bandit leader as a brother in Shijiazhuang, but also killing officers and soldiers with them, and the master was so angry that he almost killed him with his own hands. If it weren't for the senior brother's obstruction, Shi Jin would have died a long time ago, and because of this incident, the master was implicated and excluded from the court, and finally simply returned to his hometown! ”

Zhao Gou suddenly realized, he remembered that Zhou Tong had mentioned some things, and those words were that there were fellow disciples on Liangshan, Lu Junyi, as well as Wu Song and Shi Jin. It's just that the reason that they didn't mention it was that the two of them lived up to Zhou Tong's expectations, and they also understood why only Lu Junyi wrote a letter to come, and the other two were disciples, so why they didn't dare to write a letter, just because they knew that they had done something wrong.

As a result, Lin Chong unexpectedly appeared in the barracks, and Zhao Gou also asked him to accompany the army and officially declare war with the Liangshan army.