C62 Zhang Yan from Montenegro

Creak * The door of the cell slowly opened. A large amount of dust poured out.

Gongsun Yi frowned in disgust. He stretched out his hand in front of his nose and fanned himself a few times before slowly walking into the prison. This was not Ji County County Yamen's prison, but the underground dungeon located in the southwest corner of the Hou Mansion.

The stairs were cold and narrow. Every three feet or so, an oil lamp would light up on both sides of the wall. The light was too dim, making the stairs look very eerie and terrifying. Gongsun Yi walked down the stairs and arrived at the end after about thirty steps. Suddenly, his eyes lit up as a large hall with a radius of about thirty feet appeared in front of him. In the middle of the room, there was a large square table with a jar of wine, a few wine bowls and a few dishes that served wine. Hei Yihanzi, who had big ears, was drinking with three guards in gray clothes, and when he heard the footsteps, he raised his head.

"Greetings, Guard Gongsun!" The four of them quickly stood up and saluted.

Gongsun Yi nodded his head in greeting and waved towards Hei Yihanzi, "Tao Dayong, the Young Master wants to see you."

Hei Yihanzi was Tao Sheng's nephew, Tao Dayong. At that time, Gongsun Xu had coerced him to join them and even promised to do it for a County Lieutenant. However, Gongsun Xu didn't want to make a move on the equipment that Tao Sheng hid in the mountains, and also couldn't allow Tao Dayong to appear in front of others, so he gave Tao Dayong two choices: first, to be placed under house arrest as a rich man; second, to become the prison head of Hou Mansion's dungeon after the death of the prison head. Tao Dayong chose the latter without any hesitation. These days, when there was nothing to do, he just drank wine, scolded the prisoners, and occasionally played with the girls in the brothels. His life was very comfortable.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Tao Dayong tidied up his clothes in a hurry with fear in his eyes. Ever since he joined Gongsun Xu, he had always been worried that he would end up like a roasted dog. Therefore, he couldn't wait for Gongsun Xu to keep calling him.

Gongsun Yi's eyes flashed a trace of contempt. He then smiled and said, "Tao Dayong, Young Master has something to say to you."

"Please advise me, Guard Gongsun." Tao Dayong was stunned and quickly bowed to listen.

"The Young Master said, 'Tao Dayong, I really don't like people like you. However, the previous promise is still valid. You don't have to worry about me hiding everything'."

"Thank you, young duke!" This little one is grateful to you so much that I shall do my best in the future! " Tao Dayong was stunned and quickly kowtowed to express his thanks. Since Gongsun Xu said he didn't like him, then the promise he made must not be a lie. His heart finally stopped beating.

"Alright, get up." Gongsun Xu told Tao Dayong to stand up and then pointed at the whip hanging on the wall, "Someone wants to see you later, so you have to suffer a little grievance."

"Someone from the Army of Heishan has arrived?" Tao Dayong immediately reacted.

"Hehe, you are really clever!" "That's right, your uncle came personally." Gongsun Yi paused and realized Tao Dayong's eyes lit up, so he sneered, "General Yang Feng is also here. Tao Dayong, it's better if you don't think too much about it, since your men are still alive and well, if they tell you what happened that day, Tao Sheng probably won't let you off, right?"

There were many generals in Army of Heishan, but Zhang Yan only trusted three people the most: Yang Feng, Yu Du, and Du Chang. After being killed by Yuan Shao earlier this summer, Yang Feng had become Zhang Yan's strongest general in one fell swoop. In terms of strength, she was second only to Tao Sheng.

Tao Dayong's heart trembled. He immediately shook his head and said, "I don't dare. I will definitely listen to the young marquis' orders and act without hesitation!"

"Hehe, I hope that's the case!" Gongsun Yi sneered and glared at Tao Dayong. He waved his hand and said, "Come on, serve Brother Tao well!"

Tao Dayong knew this fight was inevitable, so he picked up a bone and bit down on it without any hesitation.

Although the three jailers already had some ties with Tao Dayong, they did not dare to disobey Gongsun Yi's orders. Thus, two of them picked up their whips and began lashing them. After finishing the blow to his back, he smacked his chest. Not long later, Tao Dayong's entire body was drenched in blood, and the bones in his mouth had been bitten so hard that deep teeth marks were left on them.

Gongsun Yi saw that it was about time, so he waved his hand and said: "Alright! Help him up and rest while we wait for the summons. " After which, he turned around and left.

At this moment, in the living room of Liu Steel Manor, Gongsun Zanfuzi and Guan Jing had just invited a guest from afar to take a seat.

Sitting on the left was a lean man with three short whiskers. He had a narrow and long face and his eyes flickered with uncertainty. It was Tao Sheng.

The one on the right had a thick beard, a flat face, and thick, unruly eyebrows. It was Yang Feng.

As Gongsun Zan expected, the two of them came this time to ask for food. Originally, there was no need for the two Army of Heishan Generals to come out together, but the two of them did not trust each other, and Wu Tie also wanted to play Balanced Arts, so he let them come out to Ji County together.

"Master Hou!" Yang Feng clasped her fists and said, "Now that there is a lack of food in the mountain and our sons are starving and the dead are unknown, I would like to request Master Hou to allocate some food. Otherwise, before Yuan Shao attacks, our morale will be in chaos!"

"Is the situation that critical now?" Gongsun Zan frowned and asked.

"Indeed, it is even more serious than what General Yang said! Every day, there are no less than three to four hundred people who die from cold starvation! " Although Tao Sheng and Yang Fengli were like fire and water, when facing the common interest, they would still try their best to support each other.

"Great Marshal Zhang Yan is my most trustworthy ally, I should do my best to help." Before Tao Sheng and Yang Feng could recover from their joy, he said, "But …"

"Please speak clearly, Master Hou!" Yang Feng and Tao Sheng clasped their hands at the same time.

Gongsun Zan sighed, "But my Youzhou also lacks food. Even if we tighten our belt, we can only give Great Marshal Zhang Yan eight thousand stone worth of food. If there's too much, we really won't be able to take it out!"

Eight thousand stones was about a hundred thousand jin. It sounded like a lot, but Zhang Yan had hundreds of thousands of people under his command waiting to be fed. This little bit of food could only be maintained for at most two months.

"Master Hou!" Tao Sheng asked tentatively, "Can we add a little more to this?"

"Sigh, this old man has the heart but not the strength!" Gongsun Zan shook his head and sighed. He pointed at Gongsun Xu and pretended to be angry, "The two generals might have heard that my son and old man Liu Yu had made a bet, and now that the citizens of Youzhou are all in Liu Yu's hands, it would be difficult for me to allocate the rations to him.

Guan Jing sighed, "Master Hou is indeed speaking the truth. Lord Prefecture Overseer has always valued the commoners most, more than seventy percent of the treasury in Youzhou has been taken by him to provide assistance to the commoners. The two generals should have heard of this, right?"

Yang Feng and Tao Sheng nodded helplessly in agreement. They had long heard of Liu Yu's reputation of loving his people like children.

Guan Jing then continued, "Thank you for your trust, master Hou. I will manage the family treasury without hiding anything from you two generals. Currently, the treasury only has eighty thousand yuan, and the rations are less than sixty thousand stones! Once the situation changed, the household's money could only maintain itself for a month at most! "Please understand the marquis' difficulties!"

Yang Feng cupped her hands and said, "Of course I believe what Guardian Guan has said, but there's really no other way. Master Hou and Guardian Guan, please think of a way!"

At this time, Gongsun Xu, who was listening quietly, suddenly said, "Father, the two generals, this kid has something to say, do you want to say it?"

Yang Feng extended her hand and invited him, "Please speak, young duke. I am all ears."

Gongsun Xu said solemnly: "I dare to say this, the reason why Great Marshal Zhang Yan is in such a difficult situation is because he is trapped in the Yanshan and does not have a stable territory to support him!"

Yang Feng nodded in agreement, "This is the truth. What ingenious plan does the young duke have?"

Tao Sheng sneered in his heart. If not for Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao firmly sealing all the exits of Yanshan, how could the Army of Heishan, which had hundreds of thousands of elites, fall to such a state? If Zhang Yan wanted to occupy a territory, other than fighting Gongsun Zan or Yuan Shao, how could there be any other way out?

"Jizhou!" "The two generals both know that my father still occupies less than half of the Jizhou and that Liu Iron Wolf's Ambition is always thinking of taking down the entire Jizhou before heading north! If our Youzhou fully supports Great Marshal Zhang Yan to occupy our Jizhou, what do the two generals think? "

"Heh heh." Tao Sheng sneered, "Isn't the young duke's plan to drive a tiger and devour a wolf a little too obvious?"

Yang Feng didn't say anything, but her brows were knitted tightly.

"That's right!" really needs Army of Heishan to block Yuan Shao's northward advance! " Gongsun Xu admitted frankly, and then asked, "May I ask two generals, have you ever seen the matter of the loss of copper coins in the sky? Without paying, where would the reward come from? Furthermore, my father and Master Guan have clearly said that even if our Youzhou fully supports Great Marshal Zhang Yan, I'm afraid it will be very difficult for him to survive past three months! Since that was the case, why not give it a try? If I win, Army of Heishan will have a large stable territory, and even if I lose, will the situation get worse? "

Tao Sheng sneered as he stroked his beard. Apparently, he did not care about Ye Zichen's words.

Yang Feng thought for a moment and shook her head, "Since the young duke is honest with me, I'll speak the truth! That's right, the Great Marshal does have the intention to take over Jizhou, but first, he is worried about offending the Marquis, and secondly, he is worried that the citizens of Jizhou will not buy it! "

"Haha." Gongsun Zan laughed, "Great Marshal Zhang Yan, don't worry, as long as Great Marshal Zhang Yan intends to take over the Jizhou, I will immediately withdraw all of the remaining troops from the Jizhou. I can swear to the heavens that as long as the Army of Heishan does not betray the Alliance, I will definitely not become enemies with Great Marshal Zhang Yan! As for the reason why his teacher left without a name, Great Marshal Zhang Yan did not need to care about it, because this old man had already expressed his gratitude to Jizhou! If nothing unexpected happens, the imperial government will soon issue a decree of appointment. "

"What?!"

Yang Feng and Tao Sheng were shocked. The former had a happy expression, while the latter had an expressionless face, but a trace of greed flashed in their eyes. This was the personal Jizhou's Patriarch, a legitimate duke! If there is the imperial edict, the Army of Heishan is not worried about being attacked by Gongsun Zan and the other marquis after taking down the Jizhou, and being able to live a stable life for a period of time. They have rebelled for so many years, just so that they can live a life of luxury and luxury. For the sake of all the people in this world, we have rebelled against the imperial court. Other than the virtuous and virtuous teacher (Zhang Jiao) of that day who truly took this sentence to heart, how many generals of the yellow-robed army would care about the lives of all the people in this world?

"Master Hou!" Yang Feng quickly regained her senses and asked, "Master Hou, if you want the imperial government to bestow the title of marshal to the Jizhou, it might not be easy, right?"

"Haha" Gongsun Zan waved his hand boldly: "General Zhang and I are true friends, and we also have the same enemy, Yuan Shao, so why should we bother hanging our teeth over a little obstruction?"

"Sigh." Guan Jing sighed, "Master Hou is generous, three hundred thousand copper coins! He actually gave it to Li Que, Guo Si, without even blinking! "

Three hundred thousand slashes! Yang Feng and Tao Sheng did some mental calculations, and they felt that if they could use three hundred thousand to buy a legitimate Jizhou Mu, the great marshal would not reject them! Army of Heishan did not need money after looting for many years, but they did lack food. Youzhou was originally a bitter land, even if they took the money, they would not be able to buy enough food.

Gongsun Xun lowered his head and tried to hold back his laughter. Gongsun Zeng had clearly said that he would give a hundred thousand to Gongsun Zeng and Zhang Jifan, and Guan Jing's mouth had turned three times over.

"Rise!" Gongsun Zan shouted with a sullen face.

Guan Jing quickly stood up, bowed and said, "This subordinate spoke too much, please forgive me, Master Hou!"

"Forget it!" Gongsun Zan waved his hands and sternly warned, "Sisi, remember, Great Marshal Zhang Yan and I are like brothers. Don't bring up such small matters again!"

"On behalf of the marshal, I thank the marquis for his deep friendship!" Tao Sheng and Yang Feng cupped their hands in thanks at the same time.

"You and I are as close as two families. Don't speak any more words of gratitude!"

"Master Hou is straightforward and righteous, I'm extremely impressed!" Yang Feng thanked him again and promised, "Master Hou treats me with sincerity. How can the marshal let you suffer a loss? If the imperial government were to truly appoint the marshal as Jizhou's master, the marshal would definitely pay him back double! "

"Haha!" Gongsun Zan laughed, "General Yang, don't ever bring up this matter again! Am I a scumbag? The two generals have come far to toil, and I have already prepared a banquet. How about we have a meal first? "

Yang Feng smiled and said, "I've long heard that the Hou Mansion's dishes are exquisite and delicious. I can't wait to start!"

Tao Sheng cupped his hands and said, "Since that's the case, sorry to trouble you!"

"Please!" Gongsun Zan stood up and extended his hand.

"Master Hou, please!"

When they walked out of the living room, Tao Sheng asked casually, "Master Hou, I have a request."

"General Tao, please speak frankly. If I can do it, I will not decline."

"My nephew's name is Tao Dayong. He brought people down the mountain to gather grain a month ago. I didn't expect that he would have a misunderstanding with the soldiers under the marquis' command." It is rumored that the brat was captured and taken to Ji County, has Master Hou heard of this matter? "

"I haven't heard about this." Gongsun Zan thought for a while, then looked at Gongsun Xu and asked, "Zi Min, do you know about this?"

"That's true, but I didn't know that person was actually General Tao's nephew. I had always thought that he was just an ordinary chief robber!" Gongsun Xu nodded and admitted it, then said with a face full of admiration: "That Tao Dayong has a firm and unswerving personality. Although he suffered a lot, he never revealed his identity! This is my fault, I apologize to General Tao! "

"I don't dare! I don't dare to accept it! " Tao Sheng quickly helped Gongsun Xu up and said with a smile, "Young Marquis, you don't know your identity as a hero, what's wrong with that? Young duke, I wonder where that kid is now? "

"This …" Gongsun Xu looked hesitant.

"What's wrong?" Tao Sheng was surprised, did they kill that kid?

"General Tao, your nephew has suffered a lot. How about you invite him over later?" Gongsun Xu's words were very tactful, but the meaning within them was clear.

"I appreciate the young duke's good intentions, but my nephew has always been filial and filial. I quite love him, and since I know that his life is not in danger, how about I ask the young duke to bring him here now?"

"Since that's the case, we shall listen to General Tao. "Someone, please invite Tao Dayong over."

"Here!" Gongsun Yi appeared at the door and asked curiously, "Young Master, who is Tao Da?"

Gongsun Xu slapped his forehead and said, "Tao Dayong is the loyal man who claims to be Tao Da [1]. Go and invite him over."

"Here!" Gongsun Yi turned around and left.

The few of them entered the kitchen and sat down. While the maidservants were serving the dishes and wine, Gongsun Yi walked in with Tao Dayong, whose body was covered in wounds.

"Brave one!" Tao Sheng suddenly stood up and walked over.

"Uncle!" I've been looking forward to seeing you here! " Tao Dayong was stunned for a moment, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. After coming back to his senses, he threw himself forward, hugged Tao Sheng and started bawling.

Tao Sheng consoled Tao Dayong as he observed Tao Dayong's miserable state. He thought to himself, 'Even after going through so much torture, he still hasn't said his real name. It seems like this kid didn't betray me!' 'I must heavily reward them when I return! '