A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 447: Green-Faced Beast Yang Zhi

"I, Yang Zhi, pay my respects to the official."

"Get up and sit down."

Lu Cheng looked up and down at Yang Zhi in front of him. The man was of sturdy build with strong features. If it weren't for the dark blue birthmark on his face, he would be considered handsome.

Speaking of which, Yang Zhi was unlucky enough. In terms of origin, Yang Zhi was a descendant of the Yang family, a legitimate descendant of a general family. In terms of ability, Yang Zhi had once passed the military examination and served as a commander of the Palace Marshal's Office, which was equivalent to a battalion-level officer.

But this officer, who had both a good background and great abilities, had extremely bad luck.

Back then, Yang Zhi was ordered to escort the flower and stone gang. There was a group of people, 10 ships, and 10 emissaries each escorting the flower and stone gang. Everyone else was safe, but the ship escorted by Yang Zhi capsized in the river. The escorted rare stones and manpower fell into the river, and only Yang Zhi escaped.

Since the mission failed, Yang Zhi naturally could not go back to report. In order to keep his official position, Yang Zhi sold his property and bought two pieces of fine jade, which he carved into a pair of top-quality white jade vases. He then gave them to the Grand Commandant Gao Qiu, hoping that Gao Qiu would spare him.

However, Gao Qiu was very dissatisfied with Yang Zhi's attitude of evading responsibility, so he directly smashed the jade bottle that Yang Zhi gave him and arrested Yang Zhi.

Yang Zhi spent all his family fortune, but ended up dismissed from his official position. In desperation, he wanted to sell his ancestral sword, but was harassed by the ruffian Niu Er and was forced to kill him.

Afterwards, Yang Zhi was exiled to Daming Prefecture. With his martial arts, he was valued by Cai Jing's son-in-law Liang Zhongshu and was arranged to transport the birthday gift.

Later, Wu Yong, Chao Gai and others cleverly stole the birthday gift, and once again forced Yang Zhi into a desperate situation. He almost committed suicide, but finally he became a bandit under the persuasion of a shop owner.

"Yang Zhi, I heard that you are a descendant of a general, a descendant of the Yang family generals, and you are also a martial arts candidate?"

"Indeed, I am the descendant of Lord Yang Ling. But...but I am now in such a state. I feel so ashamed of my ancestors that I cannot even mention their names."

"Then do you still want to restore the glory of your ancestors?"

"Of course I am willing. If you can give me a chance, I will serve you wholeheartedly and even die for you."

"I can give you this opportunity, but it depends on whether you can seize it. Come on, let me test your martial arts first."

The two men arrived at the martial arts arena in the mansion, and with just three moves, Lu Cheng figured out Yang Zhi's background.

Yang Zhi's martial arts skills are indeed good. He is skilled in archery and horse riding, and has both strength and reaction ability.

In the original work, Yang Zhi fought with Lin Chong for 50 rounds without a clear winner, fought with Lu Zhishen for forty or fifty rounds without a clear winner, and fought with Double Whip Hu Yanzhuo, Vanguard Suo Chao and others without a clear winner or a slight advantage, which can be said to be a model of a - fight.

Moreover, Yang Zhi is good at swords, spears, bows, horses, cavalry and foot combat, and has no weaknesses.

Afterwards, Lu Cheng asked some questions about military strategies. Yang Zhi's performance was pretty good. Although not outstanding, it was above the passing line.

After examining Yang Zhi's strength, Lu Cheng said, "Yang Zhi, your ability is pretty good and I recognize you. However, if you want to return to the army, it will not be easy. After all, you have offended Taiwei Gao and Taishi Tong successively, and even I cannot arrange for you to join the army. I have prepared another way for you, it depends on whether you are willing to go."

"I have already become a bandit. As long as there is a way out, it will be much better than now."

"Very good. Now take this letter with you, return to Yuncheng County, and follow the Yongchang Escort Agency's convoy northward."

"I am willing to follow your instructions."

The next morning, Yang Zhi returned to Yuncheng County with a letter from his journey, and together with Lu Zhishen, he headed north with a team of bodyguards.

The group traveled all the way to the northern Yanshan Road in the north, came to a hidden valley somewhere on the border between Song and Liao, and entered a mountain village.

After arriving at the mountain stronghold, Yang Zhi was shocked to see the soldiers and horses training inside and the two or three hundred war horses in the stable.

"Brother Lu, are these all the people from our Yongchang Escort Agency?"

"You can say that. They are all the officials' men anyway. How do they compare to the Imperial Guards?"

"Looking at their drills, they know how to advance and retreat, they are well-trained, and they are full of energy and spirit. They must be a good group of soldiers. What is the purpose of placing a group of soldiers here?"

"We have a wide range of business in Lujiazhuang. Even the Liao Kingdom in the north buys a large number of our products every month. But there are always some people who covet our great official's property. What we need to do is to eliminate those guys who dare to covet our great official's money and goods."

Yang Zhi looked at the two or three hundred war horses and knew in his heart that this might not be that simple. But he didn't think too much about it. It was better to be here than in the village.

In fact, Yang Zhi didn't know at this time that there were far more than one or two strongholds like this on the Song-Liao border. They were all continuously built up in the past two years by Lu Zhishen, Shi Jin, and some people who later defected to Lujiazhuang.

In the beginning, these strongholds were established by the escorts and porters of the Yongchang Escort Agency, who then recruited some refugees who could not make a living from nearby to join them. They continued to grow, and they recruited and trained soldiers.

As for those war horses, they were received by Lu Cheng when he was fighting on the grassland. He ordered Lu Zhishen and Shi Jin to take people to receive them.

Lu Cheng killed so many people on the grassland, and he didn't receive many war horses in total. Most of them were lost. In the end, there were only more than 1000 horses left, scattered in several different mountain villages.

Now, when the training of these mountain strongholds is almost complete, Lu Zhishen and others will lead their troops to the grassland to plunder, fight to support the war, and continue to grow stronger.

With the financial and material support from Lujiazhuang and the transportation provided by Yongchang Escort Agency, it is enough to train an elite force.

In fact, local landlords and tyrants now also have their own servants and private soldiers. As long as they establish good relations with the government in advance, the government will turn a blind eye.

Just like the Li, Zhu and Hu families on Dulonggang near Liangshan, they took advantage of the favorable terrain of Dulonggang to form an alliance of three villages and became the local bullies.

Even in the present-day Lujiazhuang, there are hundreds of servants stationed there all year round, practicing stick fighting, and the county magistrate of Yuncheng County has to curry favor with them.

In the city of Bianjing, after Lu Cheng became familiar with the affairs of the Ministry of War, he happened to hear that the wing troops of the East and West Roads of Beijing were preparing to hold a competition to select talents, so he took the initiative to volunteer to go to Jeju Prefecture to inspect the place and select talents.

Of course, on the way to the business trip, I can also go back to Lujiazhuang to comfort the ladies at home...