Chapter 136 Humanity and Sophistication
Chang Yanheng showed these two tricks in the training ground, which won the recognition of the tough guys under Li Yuanhui.

Li Yuanhui also guessed that this person must be the extraordinary man in the world, Chang Shiwan.

This is a genius who is both intelligent and brave. He can charge into battle and command large armies. His upper limit is extremely high.

Afterwards, Li Yuanhui struck while the iron was hot and appointed Chang Yanheng as the commander. After seeing his performance just now, no one was dissatisfied.

Chang Yanheng made another request to Li Yuanhui: "General, when I was a bandit, I worked for the great bandit Liu Ju and made many friends. Since you have appointed me as a captain, I would like to help you recruit Liu Ju and the heroes in Jianghuai. But I hope you can give me fifty pieces of silk cloth to lobby for me."

Li Yuanhui generously ordered his men to give Chang Yanheng 100 rolls of silk cloth and said, "Go ahead."

It has been more than ten days since Chang Yanheng left. During this period, many people came to Li Yuanhui and said that this man must have run away with the silk cloth you gave him, and that you should send someone to capture him immediately.

All those who offered advice were driven out by Li Yuanhui without exception.

Li Yuanhui had no time to listen to these slanders. Is this extraordinary man in the world only worth these one hundred pieces of silk?

You have to know that cloth was very valuable these days. It could be used as currency and it was very valuable. It was a hard currency just like food.

A piece of silk cost about five hundred coins, and one hundred pieces cost five hundred thousand coins, or five hundred strings of cash, which was already a huge fortune.

But for Li Yuanhui, money is completely external to his body. Problems that can be solved with these things are not problems at all.

The spring plowing was over, and Li Yuanhui was quite satisfied with the reports on the military farming in Hefei, Zhongli, Shouchun and other places.

Among them, Zheng Shandao and Lujiang prefect Lu Xiang made great contributions.

So Li Yuanhui took advantage of this time to visit Lujiang prefect Lu Xiang in Shu County, the seat of Lujiang.

Lu Xiang was born into the Fanyang Lu family, an aristocratic family comparable to the Li family.

The Longxi Li family rose to prominence through military affairs, which is somewhat different from the Fanyang Lu family’s inheritance of Confucian classics.

However, as they are all aristocratic families that have been passed down for hundreds of years, the ties between them are also intricate.

During the meeting with Lu Xiang, Li Yuanhui never mentioned any official business, but always called him "uncle", and his words were full of admiration for the Lu family's inheritance of Confucian classics.
In short, enough face was given.

Lu Xiang, a traditional Confucian scholar who valued his family's reputation and etiquette, naturally felt that he was highly respected, so before Li Yuanhui left, he specifically told him to go directly to the county magistrate Han Fang if he had any questions, and to obey his orders on military affairs in Lujiang County.
After he returned to Hefei, Chang Yanheng brought the Jianghuai bandit Liu Ju and more than a thousand troops.

Among them, more than 600 were Liu Ju's subordinates, the remaining 500 to 600 admired Chang Yanheng's ability and character and were persuaded by him to join the army, and more than a hundred followed Chang Yanheng's troops.

Li Yuanhui appointed Liu Ju as a colonel, after all, he came with more than 600 people. Although Chang Yanheng was still a captain, he let him lead his original troops and recruited people, totaling more than 700 people.

Liu Ju's surrender was a heavy blow to Tianzhu Mountain.

Because the salt used in Tianzhu Mountain in the past was all private salt sold to them by Liu Ju.

After Li Yuanhui found out, he laughed and teased, "Liu Ju, you do everything? It's ok to rob houses and live in the mountains, but you even dabble in smuggling salt?"

After hearing this, Liu Ju broke out in a cold sweat and knelt on the ground with a plop. He said, "General, although I am a thief, I dare not kill people at will, nor do I bully the elderly, the weak, women and children. I really do this because of the pressure of life."

Li Yuanhui then said solemnly: "Captain Liu, you are now my lieutenant. I will forgive you for what happened in the past, but you must abide by military discipline under my command. Otherwise, I can forgive you, but military law will not forgive you."

"Thank you, General. Thank you, General." After Liu Ju left the main hall, the famous thief on Huai River was sweating profusely. He said to Chang Yanheng who came out with him, "Brother Chang, although General Li is not very old, his aura is really terrifying. When I entered the hall just now, I was so nervous that I was sweating profusely when he glanced at me casually."

Chang Yanheng comforted him, "Brother Liu, don't worry. Our General Li is not a bloodthirsty person. But I heard that his military laws are strict. Don't fall into his hands in the future."

Liu Ju nodded repeatedly and said: "This is natural, this is natural"

The news that the big thief Liu Ju had been recruited was soon revealed to the people in Tianzhu Mountain at the suggestion of Li Yuanhui.

In the meeting hall of the old camp, Guo Fenghe sat together with leaders including Xia Yuanhong and Chen Chongren. On the table was a letter sent by Li Yuanhui.

"Since everyone is here, let's discuss it. It seems that the General Pingnan's Mansion wants to recruit us to surrender. What do you think?"

A sturdy man said, "What is there to discuss? We are enjoying ourselves in the mountains, why should we go down and look at other people's faces? In my opinion, there is nothing to discuss. Just reject him directly. I heard that General Pingnan is a young man under 20 years old. He was promoted to a high position because he became Murong Ying's son-in-law. Why should we be afraid of him? Let him attack the mountain. Tianzhu Mountain is dangerous and strong. As long as Murong Ying does not come personally with the central army, we don't have to worry."

"That's right, Mr. Guo, what else is there to discuss? Just let him come."

Almost in unison, everyone rejected the Yan Dynasty's offer of amnesty. They found Guo Fenghe who was mentally prepared and continued, "Don't think it's too simple. The news just came in that Liu Ju, who transported salt for us, has surrendered, and now the two grandsons of the Zhang family in Jiangdu are serving under Li Yuanhui. Do you understand what I mean? We may not be able to buy salt in the entire Jianghuai area."

"This is just one of the reasons. Li Yuanhui said in the letter that if we don't surrender, he will have people relocate all the people in Lu'an and Shuxian to Shouchun, and will build forts all the way to the foot of our mountain. All the fields will be burned, and we will be exhausted to death."

When the people who were shouting just now heard this, they were all dumbfounded, as if a snake was pinched by its vital points.

If the food and salt were cut off, these tens of thousands of troops would sooner or later starve to death in the mountains. Chen Chongren wanted to say something but was stopped by Xia Yuanhong's eye signal.

"I don't know what Mr. Guo means? We all listen to Mr. Guo."

"Yes, Mr. Guo is the boss. Please make the decision."

Guo Fenghe waved his hand, "Guo doesn't know how to solve the current dilemma, but the day after tomorrow is the day Li Yuanhui asked me to meet outside Lu'an County. I will communicate with General Xia at that time. If I can't come back, you can only wish you the best. Okay, let's all go."

The meeting ended and everyone dispersed.

Only Xia Yuanhong and a few others followed Guo Feng and his father into the study room behind the conference room.

"The government troops' plan to seal off the mountain may not be able to trap us to death. I wonder why you said that just now, Mr. Guo?"

Chen Chongren was very puzzled. He could see the way to break the impasse, so he didn't believe that Guo Fenghe couldn't think of it.

"Do you really want to die in the mountains?" Guo Fenghe didn't say anything, but Xia Yuanhong spoke.

Chen Chongren was obviously stunned for a moment, then shook his head to express his confusion.

Guo Fenghe said: "On the day when Dalang just came back, we planned that if there was chaos in the world, we could join forces with this young general Li and sign an alliance. Now it seems that it is just a foolish dream. We are trapped in the mountains, and all we can rely on are these tens of thousands of troops and the dangerous terrain of Tianzhu Mountain. In the three counties of Jianghuai, we are just in a remote corner. Even if we can find a way to break the mountain seal, we can only survive."

"So what do you mean, Mr. Guo?"

Guo Fenghe shook his head and said, "Let's go down the mountain the day after tomorrow and discuss it when we meet."

(End of this chapter)