On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Hou Meng, the governor of Bozhou, arrived in Luqiao Town, Jeju, Hou Meng was about fifty years old, born as a Jinshi, with an elegant temperament, a thin face, and a pair of bright eyes showed that he was very shrewd and capable.

The reason why the imperial court elected Hou Meng to recruit the Liangshan army was because he had served as the magistrate of Yuncheng County, Jeju, and Liangsanbo straddled Jeju and Yunzhou, and half of Jeju belonged to Yuncheng County, and Song Jiang, the leader of the Liangshan Army, served as the secretary under him that year, so it can be said that the Liangshan army grew stronger little by little under his rule.

After Yang Jian was shot in Sucheng County, the responsibility was determined to be Yunzhou, and all the officials at the state and county levels in Yunzhou were dismissed, and Hou Meng escaped as an official in Jeju, and he immediately left Cai Jing's relationship, and instead of being punished, he was promoted to the governor of Bozhou by the imperial court.

A few months ago, Cai Jing was forced to return to his hometown, Hou Meng lost his backer, and the new minister Wang Huang decided that Hou Meng had an unshirkable responsibility for the Liangshan bandits, so he recommended him to recruit the Liangshan army, if he could recruit An, he could atone for his crimes, if he couldn't recruit An, then he would have to take responsibility for the past indulgence of the Liangshan bandits.

It is precisely for this reason that Hou Meng was under great pressure in his heart, and he seemed worried, and the price given to him by the imperial court was not high, and he was only given a bargaining chip of one Zhizhou, two general judgments, seven Zhixian and twenty regimental training envoys, but the condition was to completely disband the Liangshan Army.

However, there are some subtleties that he can deal with at his discretion, such as the property looted by Liangshan can not be handed over, and the killing of local officials can be blamed in the past, etc., with these conditions, he may be able to talk to Song Jiang face-to-face.

Lushan Town is located at the junction of Shanzhou and Jeju, Hou Meng with a dozen subordinates just walked into the town, only to see a team of people in front of him, led by a middle-aged man who looked like a scribe, Hou Meng felt that he was vaguely familiar.

The man turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and saluted: "Wu Yong see Hou Guanren." ”

"Are you..... Wu County Officials! ”

Hou Meng suddenly recognized this person, who was also the county official of Yuncheng County back then, in charge of the copywriting of the prison camp, and had a deep friendship with Song Jiang, I heard that this person is now the military division of the Liangshan Army and the third person in the Liangshan Army.

Wu Yong smiled and said: "The officials have not forgotten the old man. ”

He pulled Dai Zong again, "This Dai Zong also followed the officials down the mountain to inspect back then, the deputy head of Yuncheng County, do the officials still have an impression?" ”

"Of course I do!"

Hou Meng nodded again and again, after all, it was only ten years ago, and he still had the impression that this Dai Zong was the deputy catcher he personally promoted back then, and he was also on Liangshan, he smiled and said: "I remember that there is also a black and strong servant, who is very strong in martial arts, and seems to be surnamed Li." ”

"Official, I'm here!" Li Kui also stepped forward to salute.

Hou Meng was overjoyed, it turned out that they were all old officials, and Song Jiang asked them to greet him, which showed that Song Jiang was also willing to be recruited!

"I wonder where Komeito is?"

"Gongming is still in Sucheng, he has a lot of affairs and has no time to clone, so let me come to greet the Hou Guanren, and I can also talk to the Hou Guanren on his behalf."

Hou Meng knew that Wu Yong was the third person in the Liangshan Army, and he came to greet him on behalf of Song Jiang, which showed that they also knew their intentions, and since both sides were interested, it was best to hold consultations and talks as soon as possible.

"I wonder where Wu Junshi plans to negotiate with me?"

Wu Yong pointed forward and smiled: "It's not convenient here, let's go to Rencheng County to talk about it." ”

The reason why Wu Yong didn't want to take Hou Meng to Sucheng was because many generals were against accepting Zhao'an, they were in a good situation now, the army was like a bamboo, and they could completely occupy the entire territory of Shandong, and accepting Zhao'an was equivalent to surrendering to the imperial court, who could accept this kind of thing? In particular, Lu Junyi's faction strongly opposed the surrender of the imperial court, and for this matter, almost everyone forgot about the Tangyin massacre, and the Liangshan army was arguing fiercely.

Song Jiang was also afraid of provoking the army to mutiny, so he could only send Wu Yong to contact Hou Meng secretly, and if the conditions were favorable, he would find a way to persuade everyone.

Rencheng is not far from Luqiao Town, and soon, Hou Meng was welcomed into Rencheng County by Wu Yong and other henchmen sent by Song Jiang like stars holding the moon, and lived in the VIP post of Rencheng County.

This is the luxury hall specially built by Liang Shanjun in order to attract the heroes of the world, which is expanded on the original Rencheng Post Station, covering an area of nearly 100 acres, with more than 20 courtyards of all sizes, among which the main courtyard is called Qingsong Courtyard, and Hou Meng lived in this courtyard.

The entourage was still cleaning up the house, but Hou Meng and Wu Yong sat in the study and started the first negotiation, of course, the first negotiation was tentative, and everyone would not easily expose their bottom line and price.

"The imperial court is now concentrating on preparing for the Liao State, and does not want to be constrained by domestic chaos, the imperial court on Fang La's side is not without giving them a chance, they not only rebelled, but also called the emperor a sign of rebellion, the imperial court will never tolerate them, and most of the generals of Liangshan have no way out because of poverty or crimes, and they have not made a move to call the emperor rebellious, in this case, the official family thinks that they can reconcile, and the official family promises that the generals of Liangshan will not be responsible for the past crimes, and if they are willing to serve the imperial court, the imperial court can appropriately grant official positions, If the heroes of Liangshan want to put forward higher requirements, it is not impossible to talk about it, but first of all, they must show sincerity and attitude. ”

Wu Yong pondered and asked, "I don't know what the attitude and sincerity of the Hou officials mean?" ”

"The attitude is to be willing to accept the court's recruitment, not to delay time, or fool the court, sincerity means that the conditions should be realistic, don't mention the marginal, impossible conditions, as long as these two points are met, I believe the court will also try its best to give everyone a generous treatment."

Wu Yong smiled, "If there is no sincerity, my general will not send me to meet the Houguanren, sincerity must be there, although some Liangshan generals have resistance in their hearts, but General Song will slowly enlighten, this is not a problem, our requirements are not very high, now we actually control Yunzhou, Jeju and Bozhou, if necessary, our power can even quickly expand to more than a dozen state capitals, secondly, we plan to attack the Daimyo's Mansion again after the New Year, but looking at the imperial court's intention to negotiate, we promise, Until the results of the negotiation come out, we will not use troops for the time being, this is the attitude, so our requirements must be in line with the status quo and will not be overpriced. ”

"I might as well say it, if I can't be the master, I can go back to Beijing and ask for instructions."

Wu Yong thought for a while and said, "Let's not mention General Song first, let's talk about me!" I am now in my forties, and my greatest ambition in life is to be governor of any state and govern the people for the Son of Heaven. ”

Wu Yong did not mention Song Jiang, but implicitly put forward his own conditions, to be the governor of a state, to be a doctor, the lowest in the doctor's rank is from the five-rank Chaosan doctor, that is to say, Wu Yong put forward the condition of the fifth grade, then with him as the standard, Lu Junyi is at least the fifth grade, and Song Jiang, as the leader, wants the fourth or third grade, which is obviously higher than the price that the imperial court is willing to offer, but there is also room for negotiation, such as giving Song Jiang a third-grade or fourth-grade title, and the official is still the fifth-grade Zhizhou, Wu Yong can also be given an official rank from the fifth grade, but the official position is given a general judgment.

Thinking of this, Hou Meng smiled: "So be it! I reported to the imperial court overnight, asking the imperial court to relax the conditions a little, and then we continued our talks. ”

Hou Meng was also implicitly telling Wu Yong that the price offered by the imperial court was not too much, and the two sides had room for negotiation, and if Liang Shan was willing to make concessions in other aspects, then the imperial court would also make appropriate concessions in terms of official positions.

Wu Yong was overjoyed, and hurriedly got up and said, "I'll go back to Xucheng County to General Song first, and we are looking forward to the arrival of news from the imperial court as soon as possible." ”

"I'm looking forward to it too!"

Hou Meng sent Wu Yong out of the pavilion, Wu Yong instructed Li Kui to protect the safety of Hou Guanren, and he and Dai Zong returned to Xucheng.

........

Li Kui led 500 elite soldiers to live in the pavilion, and they were scattered around the main courtyard, closely protecting the safety of Hou Meng and his entourage.

Song Jiang attaches great importance to this imperial court recruitment, he still wants to accept Zhao'an in his bones and become a member of the imperial court, he constantly leads the army to attack the city and plunder the wall, defeating the officers and soldiers, that is just his bargaining chip to improve the negotiation, as for the division of one side, supporting the army and self-reliance, he sometimes has such ambitions, but when he calms down, the idea of accepting Zhao'an will still prevail.

Song Jiang was very worried that someone would sabotage the negotiations, especially people like Lu Junyi and Lin Chong who hated the imperial court to the core, they would never accept Zhao'an easily, and would definitely try to sabotage Zhao'an, Song Jiang was full of vigilance against them, so he sent his henchman Li Kui to lead 500 soldiers to strictly protect Hou Meng's safety.

At the end of the watch, a man in black appeared on the street outside the post house, holding a three-foot short copper rod in his hand, and a pair of sharp and cold eyes on the masked black scarf, and he walked towards the post house step by step.