Chapter 196 Talking and Laughing
"Your Majesty...I, your servant..."
Faced with the sudden visit of Emperor Zhao, even though Chief Zhang was a descendant of fishermen and had firm revolutionary beliefs, the limitations of the times still made him a little at a loss for a moment. He didn't know whether to salute, how to salute, or even what to address.
"It's my fault," Zhao Jiu immediately pulled the other party's hands and changed his words. "Today I came here for a private visit. I don't mention me, and Chief Zhang doesn't have to call me a vassal, let alone perform a ceremony. These empty gestures can be done tomorrow when we arrive at the palace."
Zhang Rong then gave up.
In this way, both parties sat down together with Scholar Xiaolin. Emperor Zhao first signaled Qu Duan to take away the smelly head, and then asked the chefs of Xiangguo Temple to bring some iced sour soup, and then he continued:
"How big is Liangshan Lake?"
"Is there an island in the water called Liangshan?"
"North or south, or right in the middle?"
"Have you ever interacted with Song Jiang back then?"
"Is there a gathering hall?"
"Have the leaders ever arranged their seats?"
"It's a pity that the leader didn't come when we were in Heyin that day. Otherwise, I would have brought the Central Army, the Rear Army, and the Western Army with me. I would have gathered 72 heroes no matter what..."
It was a hot summer day, and in the afternoon, cicadas were chirping non-stop. Emperor Zhao was talking with great joy, letting himself go for a moment. He didn't notice that Chief Zhang was fidgeting, nor did he notice that Qu Duan was indignant behind him.
There is no way. As a time traveler, how can I not be interested in the real master of Liangshanpo?
Moreover, Emperor Zhao had actually been traveling through time for almost two years, and he had inquired about this Chief Zhang in detail. He knew that he was different from Song Jiang, who briefly flashed by and then disappeared on the real historical stage. This Chief Zhang was a real local hero. There were tens of thousands of fishermen in the water, and it was difficult for the government soldiers to encircle and suppress them during the Fengheng and Yuda periods. After Jianyan, he fought hard against the Jin people and remained undefeated. He was a real uprising leader and anti-Jin hero.
Not to mention, in the past battle of Shoutoutan and the recent victory in Dongping Prefecture, this man cooperated well with Yue Fei and achieved outstanding results.
To be honest, this man's contribution in the victory of Shoutoutan, which almost saved the lives of Emperor Zhao of Huaishang and his small court, was even greater than that of Yue Fei!
Of course, the most important thing is that Emperor Zhao was determined to fight against the Jin Dynasty. He was an official for two years and had an ideological struggle with the traditional Zhao Song central government for two years. An important manifestation of this struggle was to break the previous military thinking of defending the interior and weakening the exterior... He really had no discomfort with the rebellious experience of this leader Zhang.
On the contrary, for some reason, based on the other party's background and experience, Zhao Jiu had an inexplicable expectation and respect for this leader Zhang.
Moreover, even if he had to consider the broken chair under his butt, it seemed unnecessary to make a fuss about it now... In any case, didn't they come anyway? And they came with Kong Yanzhou's head and Liu Lin, a living person.
The achievements made so far and today's meeting are enough to prove the reliability, practicality and most basic position of this military organization and this person.
Therefore, both sides can certainly put aside those political issues for the time being and shake hands and talk peaceably.
After talking for a long time, Zhang Rong saw that this long-famous official acted freely and did not seem to be hypocritical. In addition, after all, he was not an ordinary and unruly person. He gradually realized that even if the official wanted to win him over, there was no need to do so. So he gradually relaxed and his words became smoother... He followed the other party's words and told many anecdotes about the world.
Moreover, the official also told him many stories about heroes in the martial arts world that he didn't know and even found surprising... How Wu Song, a monk among Song Jiang's followers, killed a tiger alive in Yanggu, and how Lu Tingjie from Guanxi was beaten up and forced to become a monk... It was not until Lu Tingjie came to Xiangguo Temple and actually uprooted a weeping willow tree that Zhang Rong realized that when the official boasted, he was no different from ordinary people.
However, the more this happened, the more relaxed the two of them became… But once one person relaxed, he started talking more, and inevitably made mistakes.
"By the way, is Chief Zhang a native of Liangshan?" Emperor Zhao was as curious as usual.
"No." Zhang Rong answered immediately. "I was born in Jeju, southwest of Liangshan Lake, which is quite far from Liangshan, the northernmost part of the lake..."
"Then why did you go to Liangshan and become the leader of the stronghold?" Emperor Zhao asked almost without thinking, and it seemed like an unintentional mistake, but it caused Scholar Xiaolin standing beside him to be slightly startled, but he remained speechless.
Zhang Rong also remained silent.
"Is there anything to be shy about?" Emperor Zhao didn't care.
"It's because of the mountain on the Flower and Stone Gang." Zhang Rongqing knew he couldn't shirk his responsibility, and he had been on guard in his heart, so he simply gritted his teeth and answered to see how the official would react. "It was such a big stone that the canal couldn't carry it, so we used the Sishui River to transport it, but it was still slow. Many bridges were demolished and many houses were destroyed along the way. The local fishing tyrants took advantage of the situation and didn't allow us to ferry and fish. Because I have always been the fisherman on the southwest side of the water, and because our Yuncheng County Magistrate Shi Wenbin had a good reputation at the time, I was elected to look for him... As a result, before Shi Zhizhi was seen, those fishing tyrants found the county's head, and they arrested me directly in the city, beat me with a stick and sent me to jail. I don't need to tell you what happened later, but the official should know roughly what happened."
Zhao Jiu nodded slightly and seemed to be thinking about something: "Shi Wenbin died in the battle of Xiacai that day. Does Chief Zhang know about this?"
Zhang Rong was stunned for a rare moment, thinking that Shi Wenbin had died for his country. He couldn't help but sigh, "Actually, I know that County Magistrate Shi is a good man, but the world is like this, and he can't control many people."
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