Chapter 1866
The Late Northern Song Dynasty
After completing his mission, Shi Qian returned, passing through the Liao Kingdom on his way. He took the opportunity to gather intelligence about the Liao Kingdom and then reported back to Liu Tong.
The Liao Kingdom was in a bad situation. The Jin Kingdom was rising and eyeing the Liao Kingdom covetously. The Liao Kingdom was also plagued by an incompetent ruler and ministers with different intentions.
The Liao court was just as chaotic and incompetent as the Song court.
Liu Tong often heard absurd stories coming from the capital, which he treated as jokes.
Liu Tong had no intention of correcting Zhao Ji, nor would she help him turn the tide like other time travelers.
Only when something is completely broken can it be rebuilt.
Given that Liu Tong would send Zhao Ji new and interesting things every year, such as glassware and skateboards, Zhao Ji never forgot Liu Tong and would occasionally mention her name in court.
Therefore, everyone in the court knew that Liu Tong was Zhao Ji's favorite minister, so no one deliberately made things difficult for him.
Those favored ministers of Emperor Huizong, such as Cai Jing and Gao Qiu, saw that Liu Tong was always serving in other places and had not entered the central government to compete with them for power. Since there was no conflict of interest, they naturally wouldn't bother Liu Tong for no reason.
Therefore, Ryu Dong's work went very smoothly.
Many outrageous things were discovered, but no one dared to report them to the central government.
Of course, those people didn't understand Liu Dong's intentions in doing those things, and they didn't think of it as a rebellion.
Liangshan was finally granted amnesty.
Because many talented individuals were snatched away by Liu Tong, the quality of the generals on Liangshan Mountain was far inferior to that in the original novel.
Although Liangshan won several confrontations with the imperial court, the victories were extremely fierce, resulting in heavy casualties.
As the commander-in-chief of Liangshan, Chao Gai was speechless at Song Jiang's words, "He should set an example and lead the troops into battle," and had no choice but to personally lead his troops into battle.
As for the result...
Chao Gai died, and almost all of his trusted confidants, except for the three Ruan brothers, also died.
Most of the people who remained at Liangshan were from Song Jiang's side.
Having secured his position as the leader of Liangshan, Song Jiang sighed to his brothers: "The imperial court is powerful, and although Liangshan has managed to withstand their attacks thanks to its geographical advantage..."
But if the imperial court spares no expense, it will eventually break through Liangshan, and then all the brothers will only face death.
Although the Liangshan heroes said, "Losing your head is just a scar the size of a bowl, and you'll be a hero again in eighteen years," none of them actually wanted to die.
Everyone panicked immediately, and someone suggested that before the government troops surrounded Liangshan, everyone should go down the mountain and hide, and then live in anonymity, which would be a way out.
Those who were drawn to Liangshan strongly agreed with the suggestion; they were law-abiding citizens who only wanted a peaceful life.
There are quite a few people like this, which makes others tempted as well.
Seeing that his words had achieved their effect, Song Jiang revealed his true intentions: "Although we can live in anonymity after leaving the mountain, there will inevitably be people who recognize us. If we are recognized, we will still be arrested by the authorities. In that case, the charges will likely be even more severe..."
Chai Jin sensed the hidden meaning in Song Jiang's words and asked, "What brilliant idea does the chief have?"
Song Jiang: "Accept amnesty!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Junyi immediately expressed his agreement, followed by Yan Qing, Lin Chong, and others.
Lin Chong always believed that he had become an outlaw because of the machinations of treacherous officials, and he still held the imperial court in awe and longing, hoping that he would have the opportunity to return to the court.
Now that the opportunity has come, we must make this happen.
Song Jiang: "I once met Prefect Liu of Qingzhou. He is a good official. I was thinking of writing a letter to Prefect Liu and asking him to help us express our willingness to submit to the imperial court."
The others nodded in agreement.
Over the years, they had all descended the mountain and visited Qingzhou, witnessing its prosperity firsthand. The people there lived truly a good life!
The Liangshan heroes couldn't bear to destroy this paradise, so when they went down the mountain to attack the government, they all bypassed Qingzhou.
Immediately, under everyone's watchful eyes, Song Jiang wrote a letter and sent Yan Qing to Qingzhou to deliver it.
When Liu saw Yan Qing, she recognized his figure; he was the one who had climbed over the wall from Li Shishi's courtyard back then.
Liu was curious and asked him directly about his relationship with Li Shishi.
Yan Qing did not hide anything and nodded in agreement.
Liu Tong: "The Emperor's interest in Miss Li Shishi has waned. If you truly love her, you can discuss with him about redeeming yourself and marrying Miss Li Shishi."
Yan Qing's eyes lit up: "Really?"
Liu Tong: "Really? Try it yourself."
Yan Qing clasped his hands and gave Liu Dong a deep bow: "Thank you for your guidance, sir."
Liu Tong wrote a memorial and sent Wu Song to deliver it to Tokyo.
Yan Qing followed Wu Song; he was going to find Li Shishi.
Just as Liu Dong had said, Zhao Ji had lost interest in Li Shishi and hadn't visited her for a long time.
Li Shishi had saved a lot of money and had already retrieved her indenture through Zhao Ji's help, so she could leave whenever she wanted.
She hadn't met a man who suited her before, but now that a handsome young man was offering to marry her as his wife, how could she not be willing? She packed her bags and left with Yan Qing.
Yan Qing settled Li Shishi in Qingzhou, saying that he would come back to marry her openly and legitimately after the imperial court granted him amnesty.
Li Shishi smiled and agreed.
As she traveled, she witnessed the peace and prosperity of the people of Qingzhou, and Li Shishi concluded that it was an excellent place to live.
She decided to live in Qingzhou from now on.
Even if Yan Qing breaks his promise to marry her, she will not leave Qingzhou.
She remembered that she had met Prefect Liu of Qingzhou before. At that time, Prefect Liu was still a young man who had not yet reached adulthood. She thought he was just a scheming boy who wanted to please Emperor Huizong. She thought that if he became an official, he would be just a favored minister like Gao Qiu. But she never expected that this Prefect Liu would be so capable, a capable minister who was better than all the civil and military officials in the court!
When Emperor Huizong received Liu Tong's memorial, he praised Liu Tong in court: "Look how capable Liu Tong is! He actually managed to get the Liangshan bandits, whom even the officials of Jizhou couldn't handle, to voluntarily submit to the imperial court! I truly have good judgment!"
Gao Qiu was filled with resentment. He had attacked Liangshan three times before, and all of them ended in failure.
The third time, he was even wounded and forced to surrender and flee back to Tokyo.
This incident happened not long ago, and Liangshan immediately turned around and joined Liu Tong's side. Doesn't this make him seem useless and inferior to Liu Tong?
Gao Qiu hated the people of Liangshan to the core, and naturally he also hated Liu Qiu.
But now Zhao Ji finds Liu Tong very pleasing to the eye, and he can't afford to harm Liu Tong, so he sets his sights on the Liangshan group.
Gao Qiu suggested that the Liangshan followers who had surrendered should attack other rebels.
The four major bandits in the original Water Margin are Song Jiang of Shandong, Wang Qing of Huaixi, Tian Hu of Hebei, and Fang La of Jiangnan.
Now that Song Jiang has been granted amnesty, there are still two major bandits left.
Aren't they the three great bandits?
That's because one of the bandits was eliminated by Liu Hun Butterfly before he could rise to prominence.
On his way to the capital, Liu Dong encountered a group of robbers who blocked his path... (End of Chapter)