Xianxia version of Water Margin

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In March of the sixth year of Zhenghe.

Jiang Hongfei and his group of more than 20 people meandered to Qingfeng Town.

Shi Xiu caught a kind-faced man and asked, "May I ask where Huazhizhai lives?"

The man replied: "The yamen of Qingfeng Village is in the middle of the town. There is a small village in the south, which is the residence of civil servant Huang Zhizhai; and the small village in the north is the residence of military officer Hua Zhizhai."

After hearing this, Shi Xiu thanked the man, and then led Jiang Hongfei and his party to look at Beizhai.

When I arrived at Hua Rong's residence, I saw several military men guarding the door.

I asked for my name and someone came in to inform me.

Soon, Hua Rong walked out of his residence as fast as the wind.

When Hua Rong saw Jiang Hongfei, he bowed and greeted Ruan Xiaoqi and others. Then he invited Jiang Hongfei and his party to the main hall, and arranged for Jiang Hongfei to sit on the bed in the middle, with him and others sitting on both sides.

At this time, Hua Rong bowed his head four more times and stood up and said: "It has been four or five months since I said goodbye to my brother. I think about it often. I heard from the leaders of Erlong Mountain that these brothers Yue Jiang conquered everything around Shuibo Liangshan?"

The information Hua Rong received was not comprehensive, and it could also be said that what he said was not rigorous.

Strictly speaking, so far, except for a few large villages such as Zhujiazhuang, Hujiazhuang, and Lijiazhuang, almost all the villages around Shuibo Liangshan have been defeated by Jiang Hongfei and sent people to manage them. However, the surrounding cities County Jiang Hongfei did not move a single person.

It is not difficult for people with insight to see that Jiang Hongfei is taking the exact route of surrounding the city from the countryside.

Zhujiazhuang, Hujiazhuang, Lijiazhuang and other few large villages that have not yet been conquered by Shuibo Liangshan probably guessed that Jiang Hongfei's next target would be them.

Therefore, these villages, headed by Zhujiazhuang, Hujiazhuang, and Lijiazhuang, formed an alliance to refine a large number of armor, purchase spirit horses, train private soldiers, and fight against Shuibo Liangshan.

Two brothers, Zhu Gui and Zhu Fu, found out that Zhujiazhuang, Hujiazhuang, and Lijiazhuang alone had 10 to 20 powerful Qi practitioners, 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers and horses, sufficient food and supplies, and several other dependents. In the villages below Sanzhuang, they have a total of nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses, and their total strength is still higher than that of Shuibo Liangshan, especially now that the soldiers and horses of Shuibo Liangshan have been divided into several states.

Out of careful consideration and on the advice of Sun Jing, Zhu Wu and others, Jiang Hongfei decided to tolerate the unyielding villages such as Zhujiazhuang, Hujiazhuang, and Lijiazhuang for a period of time, and wait until Shuibo Liangshan became stronger before moving on to them.

At this time, Hua Rong wrote dozens of letters to Jiang Hongfei, asking Jiang Hongfei to come to Qingfeng Village for a few days when he was not busy, so that he could fulfill his loyalty as a landlord.

Why did Hua Rong invite Jiang Hongfei to his home so diligently?

The main reason for this is that at the beginning of the year, Huang Rang really took office and went to Qingfeng Village to become Wenzhi Village.

Moreover, Hua Rong's military exploits in repelling the Erlong Mountain bandits who occupied Qingfeng Village also declined, allowing Hua Rong, who had not been upgraded for several years, to be promoted to three levels in a row.

Although Hua Rong's current position has not changed, with Hua Rong's current level, if he works well, he can make a qualitative leap.

Hua Rong found out through his father's old relationship that originally his military exploits might have been enough to advance him to the next level, but the final result was probably that his merits and demerits would balance out and he would not be punished if he was not promoted. Later, Honshu After the prefect Murong Yanda had some kind words from several trusted officials and people close to him, Murong Yanda remembered that he was a meritorious official and promoted him to three levels.

Hua Rong asked again and found out that Huang Rang also left these relationships.

How could Hua Rong not understand that Jiang Hongfei must have helped him?

When Huang Rang came to take office, Hua Rong immediately went to ask Huang Rang the whole story?

Huang Rang didn't hide anything. He said to Hua Rong: "The leader of the village didn't want to make the decision without permission, but the leader felt that this opportunity was quite rare for Zhizhai. In the end, he was afraid of delaying Zhizhai, so he used some tricks. With money, Zhizhai can be promoted to several levels without affecting Zhizhai's current position."

Huang Rang added: "The bishop of the former village, Xiaosheng, told him that he didn't spend much spiritual money, so he didn't need to take this matter to heart."

How could Hua Rong not take this matter to heart? If it weren't for Jiang Hongfei, he wouldn't have been promoted, and it would have been better if he hadn't been killed on the spot.

Hua Rong burst into tears of gratitude and felt that Jiang Hongfei really had nothing to say to him.

In addition, after Huang Rang became the Wenzhi Village of Qingfeng Village, he discussed everything with Hua Rong. If the two people had different opinions, Huang Rang would patiently explain to Hua Rong. If they still could not reach a consensus in the end, Just listen to Jiang Hongfei's main idea of ​​Hua Rong.

Hua Rong has worked in the position of Zhizhai of Qingfeng Village for many years, and this is the first time that he feels so comfortable doing it.

Hua Rong knew very well that all this was because he was Jiang Hongfei's friend and Jiang Hongfei's brother.

After experiencing these things, Hua Rong, who did not want to live a mediocre life, made up his mind to join Jiang Hongfei.

It is precisely because of this that Hua Rong wrote to Jiang Hongfei repeatedly, hoping to ask Jiang Hongfei to come over or to go to Shuibo Liangshan to finalize this important matter.

Hua Rong was ready to surrender to him, allowing Jiang Hongfei to see the hope of turning Qingzhou into the second Liangshan.

In other words, Jiang Hongfei is planning to build Qingzhou into Shuibo Liangshan's second base.

In this way, if Shuibo Liangshan is unfortunately wiped out by the Zhao and Song Dynasties in the future, Jiang Hongfei and the Liangshan heroes will have a way out.

Of course, the main reason why Jiang Hongfei is preparing to develop Qingzhou into a second base is that Qingzhou has the right location and people.

Let’s talk about the location first.

There are not only developed land routes between Qingzhou and Shuibo Liangshan, but also more developed water routes.

——Jishui is one of the best waterways in this era. Through Jishui, Liangshan and Qingzhou can be closely connected. It is very convenient to transport soldiers, horses, grain, grass and luggage to each other between the two places.

Moreover, another huge advantage of Qingzhou is that it is adjacent to the Bohai Sea and has a good port.

——In this way, if the war is unfavorable in the future, Jiang Hongfei can lead the Liangshan heroes to retreat from Shuibo Liangshan to Qingzhou, and then retreat from Qingzhou to the sea, without being forced into a dead end by the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

Let’s talk about people and people.

With Hua Rong, Jiang Hongfei can concentrate on sending Huang Rang and Hua Rong to climb up the civil and military ranks. When Hua Rong gets all the military power in Qingzhou, and Huang Rang mediates it, Qingzhou will be Shuibo Liangshan. .

In addition, the evil mountains such as Erlong Mountain, Qingfeng Mountain, Taohua Mountain, Qingzhen Mountain, and Baihu Mountain in Qingzhou are enough for Shuibo Liangshan to hide its 20,000 to 30,000 troops here. When Shuibo Liangshan separates, the 20,000 to 30,000 troops will It was enough to capture the Jiaodong Peninsula to the east.

In short, Qingzhou is very important, and Huarong, which is related to the overall strategy of Shuibo Liangshan, is also very important.

Therefore, Jiang Hongfei personally came to Qingzhou again, preparing to lead Hua Rong and the Liangshan heroes to "annihilate" Erlong Mountain, Qingfeng Mountain and Taohua Mountain. He would first send Huang Rang and Hua Rong into the upper echelons of Qingzhou's officialdom, and then wait for an opportunity to destroy the largest mountain Muslim in Qingzhou. Shan, pushed Huang Rang and Hua Rong to the decision-making level of Qingzhou, then killed Murong Yanda and promoted Huang Rang to take over, overthrew Qin Ming and let Hua Rong take over...

When Hua Rong asked about the current situation in Shuibo Liangshan, Jiang Hongfei briefly introduced it to Hua Rong. Except for a few Zhujiazhuang, Hujiazhuang, and Lijiazhuang, all the other villages near Shuibo Liangshan had fallen into the water. With Bo Liangshan's hand, if Shui Bo Liangshan is willing, he can capture all of Jeju, as well as part of Yunzhou, part of Yanzhou, and part of Yizhou in a very short period of time, and can barely connect with Qingzhou.

In fact, Jiang Hongfei was overthinking it. Hua Rong just casually exchanged greetings with Jiang Hongfei and had no intention of asking about Shuibo Liangshan's strength.

In fact, Hua Rong had already made up his mind to follow Jiang Hongfei as early as when Hua Rong wrote his first letter to Jiang Hongfei.

——Hua Rong is not a timid person. Since he has made up his mind to follow Jiang Hongfei, he will not change his mind just because the momentum of Shui Bo Liangshan is good or bad.

Now that Jiang Hongfei has brought up this issue, Hua Rong simply pushed the gold mountain, toppled the jade pillar, and bowed down in the tunnel: "Brother is as kind as a mountain to my younger brother, and I can't repay him. If my elder brother doesn't give up, I am willing to follow my brother's example." It’s hard work!”

Jiang Hongfei liked people like Hua Rong who were quick to talk. He quickly stepped forward, helped Hua Rong up, and laughed heartily and said: "As a brother, I have a good brother, so why worry about the big thing failing!"

Then, Hua Rong invited Jiang Hongfei and others to sit in the back hall, and summoned his wife Cui to pay homage to Jiang Hongfei.

After saying goodbye, Hua Rong asked his sister Hua Baoyan to come out to meet Jiang Hongfei.

Jiang Hongfei looked at Hua Baoyan. But see:

There is a dark cloud across her bun, and the crescent moon is half-curved across her eyebrows. She is well dressed and has a tall figure. He is neither fat nor thin, and his handsome figure is hard to lose and hard to gain. The rhyme is like a begonia flower in the wind, and the pattern is like a plum tree in the snow.

Looking closer, she has eyes like apricots, eyebrows like willow leaves, gentle manner, taciturn, she is a virtuous and gentle natural beauty.

Seeing Hua Baoyan, Jiang Hongfei couldn't help but think of a question someone had asked when he was at the Water Science Research Association: Who is the unluckiest woman in the Water Margin?

At that time, many people thought it was Hu Sanniang, but only Jiang Hongfei thought it was Hua Baoyan.

Although he was also forced by Song Jiang.

But Hu Sanniang's family was also killed by Li Kui, and Hu Sanniang had to marry Wang Ying, a guy with poor looks, poor abilities, and a lot of lust.

Hua Baoyan’s family is not dead, right?

Why doesn't Qin Ming look better than Wang Ying?

Looking at it this way, it seems that Hu Sanniang is really more unfortunate.

But if you think about it carefully, although many people are unwilling to admit it, the fact is that Hu Sanniang and Wang Ying actually had feelings in the end.

In "Water Margin", when Hu Sanniang was rescuing Wang Ying, Zheng Biao hit her face with a gold and copper brick and fell to death.

You say that Hu Sanniang was scared out of her wits by Li Kui and accepted her fate; you say that Wang Ying's sincerity led to the creation of gold and stone; you say that Hu Sanniang was too ignorant to take revenge and even considered the thief as his father.

In short, no matter what, Hu Sanniang died fighting for Wang Ying in the end. Although she died in a confused manner, it was Hu Sanniang's own choice after all.

And based on Hu Sanniang’s choice, Wang Ying should be pretty good against Hu Sanniang.

On the other hand, Hua Baoyan.

It was just a bargaining chip used by Song Jiang to compensate Qin Ming. He had no choice and was just a sad political tool.

Brother Hua Rong didn't know why he was "charmed" by Song Jiang, but Song Jiang followed suit and didn't care whether her sister was happy or not, making Hua Baoyan worse off than having no relatives at all.

The key point is that Qin Ming's human nature is like a raging fire, which can be ignited. How can it be good to live with such a person?

Forget it, the more important thing is that Qin Ming is still a ruthless and unrighteous person. Before the bones of his wife and son are cold, he forgets the pain and fights for his enemy with his life.

Just looking at his attitude towards his own woman, Qin Ming is really far inferior to Wang Ying.

By comparison, is Hua Baoyan worse?

Of course, Hu Sanniang was also miserable.

——Her misfortune was that in the end she even lost her personality and became a walking zombie.

Jiang Hongfei felt sorry for Hua Baoyan, a poor girl. Of course, Jiang Hongfei had to say that he was greedy for Hua Baoyan's body.

Anyway, Jiang Hongfei is the same now. He doesn’t itch when he has too many lice, and he doesn’t worry when he has too many love debts:

Why did Jiang Hongfei become such a "broken jar"?

There is certainly a reason for this.

A few months ago, Jiang Hongfei received a letter from Wu Song. The content of the letter made Jiang Hongfei unhappy.

Wu Song said in the letter that in order to cut off Wu Dalang's unrealistic fantasy about Liu Gao's wife, he told Wu Dalang that Jiang Hongfei had taken Liu Gao's wife.

Although Wu Song didn't say it clearly in the letter, Jiang Hongfei still saw it. Wu Song meant that Jiang Hongfei was known to be a womanizer anyway, so he was not short of this love debt.

Jiang Hongfei thought to himself at that time: "I don't care about this kind of thing, but I can't do something like this that makes me look sexy instead of eating a fox."

So Jiang Hongfei simply confirmed the matter.

Of course, it is absolutely impossible to harvest concubines.

But seeing that she did serve Jiang Hongfei very comfortably and was extremely obedient in front of Jiang Hongfei, Jiang Hongfei did not really marry her to a man with a bad temper, but let her manage those sinful women. .

Not to mention, she is ruthless and scheming, so she is quite suitable for this job - under her management, all those criminal women obediently obeyed the orders of Li Cao of Shuibo Liangshan.

Moreover, occasionally if there was a stunning beauty, she would send it to Jiang Hongfei as soon as possible.

That's fine too.

"I'm such a womanizer, what's wrong?!"

That's too far.

After looking Hua Baoyan up and down for a while, Jiang Hongfei asked, "Is my little sister a Qi practitioner?"

Without waiting for Hua Baoyan to answer, Hua Rong helped her answer: "She is a girl. What is she doing in cultivation? She only needs to be able to support her husband and raise her children."

After hearing Hua Rong's words, Cui and Hua Baoyan's faces were as calm as ever, while Gao Liang and Chen Liqing's faces behind Jiang Hongfei were as dark as water.

Jiang Hongfei looked at Hua Rong and said with a smile, "Why don't you, dear brother, ask for me?"

Hua Rong was so embarrassed that he immediately covered his mouth with his hands, indicating that he would not interrupt anymore.

Perhaps because she saw that Hua Rong was afraid of Jiang Hongfei, Hua Baoyan hesitated for a moment and replied: "The slave family has five external spiritual roots, five materialized spiritual roots, and four transformed spiritual roots. I haven't practiced much."

Jiang Hongfei said with slight surprise: "Your talent is not bad, it would be a pity if you don't practice, right?"

If this is really Hua Baoyan's initial spiritual root, then as long as Hua Baoyan works hard enough and has the cultivation resources to keep up, she will definitely be able to cultivate to the seventh spiritual root of externalization attribute, the seventh spiritual root of materialization attribute, and the sixth spiritual root of transformation attribute.

Although this strength is not too strong, it can barely enter the door of a second-rate Qi practitioner.

Hearing what Jiang Hongfei said, Hua Baoyan glanced at Hua Rong secretly.

When Jiang Hongfei saw this, how could he know that it was Hua Rong or the entire Hua family that prevented her from practicing?

Afraid that Jiang Hongfei would misunderstand, Hua Rong quickly explained: "My sister-in-law's talent is pretty good compared to most people, but it's not that much better. If she wants to achieve something in a small way, she will have to spend more than tens of thousands, and her daughter's family , even if you can become a powerful Qi practitioner, what else can you do, other than marrying someone, raising a husband and raising children?"

Jiang Hongfei did not expect that Hua Rong was so chauvinistic and full of the idea that "a woman's lack of talent is a virtue".

However, this is also in line with the current mainstream thinking and what Hua Rong advocates: "Brothers are like siblings, women are like clothes."

Jiang Hongfei thought further: "Maybe it's because he is poor in literature and rich in martial arts."

Although the Hua Rong family belongs to the military, soldiers are not a high-income group.

In addition, Hua Rong is still very aloof and can't do anything such as free wages.

Therefore, the little money the Hua family has is enough to support Hua Rong for his own cultivation.

Fortunately, Jiang Hongfei saw through the essence of the matter, at least he didn't have any objection to Hua Rong's ideas.

However, Hua Rong's words and Hua Rong's ideas made Gao Liang and Chen Liqing behind Jiang Hongfei unhappy, especially the latter.

Chen Liqing endured it for a long time, but she still couldn't hold it back and said: "I heard that General Hua's archery skills are close to the gods, and the slave family also has the nickname of female flying guard. How about you and I comparing our archery skills?"

Jiang Hongfei turned to look at Chen Liqing.

Chen Liqing then remembered that Jiang Hongfei had not allowed her to compete with Hua Rong and Pang Wanchun, and then quickly added: "Let's just compete in shooting geese. There is no need to compete with each other, which will hurt the harmony..."

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