Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Thinking of this, the villager quickly stopped in his tracks.

"Young master has good taste,"

He smiled ingratiatingly as he lifted the lid of the wine barrel, but then he was stumped.

"Young master, I don't have a bowl or ladle for scooping wine, so I can't serve you any."

As soon as the lid of the wine barrel was lifted, the aroma of wine wafted out, making the date seller and the many soldiers swallow hard, their mouths watering.

Even Yang Zhi's Adam's apple bobbed, clearly indicating that he was also somewhat thirsty.

Seeing that the business deal with the scholar was about to fall through, the villager couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

　"One, three, seven," a customer selling dates nearby saw this and quickly said.

"Brother, we have a ladle. If you sell us a bucket, we'll lend it to you. How about it?"

"this......"

The villager hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Fine, I'll sell it to you, and that way I'll save myself some trouble!"

Two of the men selling dates returned to their cart in the pine forest and retrieved two ladles, while the other brought out a large handful of dates.

The villager brought a bucket of rice wine to them.

The men who sold dates stood by the buckets, taking turns scooping up wine with a ladle while eating the dates.

Then the villager picked up another ladle, scooped up the rice wine from the bucket, and poured it into the gourd.

Once the gourd was full, the scholar eagerly took it and quickly gulped down most of it.

The servant watched with envy as the scholar drank his fill before handing him the gourd.

The servant took it, shook it, and then said with a bitter face, "Young master, it's all gone!"

"Gone?"

The scholar waved his hand dismissively: "Why don't you give him two strings of cash and buy another gourd?"

A bucket of rice wine next to me only sold for five strings of cash, while two gourds here can sell for two strings.

The man selling the wine was overjoyed and quickly took the gourd, then used a ladle to pour the wine into it.

The soldiers, smelling the aroma of the rice wine and seeing how readily the others drank it, became even more craving it.

Seeing that Yang Zhi wouldn't budge, one of the soldiers suddenly had an idea and shouted loudly,

“Grandpa, although you have been infected with this plague for more than half a month, as long as you go to Liangshan Marsh and find that divine doctor, you will surely be cured!”

Upon seeing this, the other soldiers immediately understood his meaning.

They all began to talk about how terrible the plague was.

The scholar over there received the wine gourd from his attendant, pulled down his mask, and was about to drink.

Upon hearing voices from this side, his expression immediately changed.

"Young master, how could we have forgotten? Some of these people are infected with the plague. We were wearing masks just now, but we took them off to drink. Could we have caught it too...?"

"Then what are you standing there for? Run! Are you waiting to catch the plague?!"

The scholar panicked and rushed to his mount, leaping onto it and galloping into the depths of the forest.

Seeing this, the servant forgot about drinking and quickly covered the gourd before hurriedly riding off after them.

The group of date sellers initially didn't believe what the soldiers said, but after seeing the scholar and his servant's panicked appearance,

They immediately became anxious and, grumbling, walked towards the truck loaded with dates.

"Damn it! We're selling these dates, taking this back road to avoid these plagues, but we never expected to run into them here!"

The villager selling the wine was also startled; he quickly tried to pick up the wine barrels from the ground.

Unexpectedly, two soldiers had already walked up to him, and they began to speak in unison.

"Oh dear, why is my head suddenly burning so hot? Could it be that I've caught the plague too...?"

"Me too! We must have caught the plague while traveling with the old man to seek medical treatment!"

As the two soldiers were talking, they staggered and fell towards the villager who was selling wine.

The villager was instantly terrified, his face turning pale. He didn't even bother to pack his things.

He hurriedly and frantically ran down the hill.

The villager who was supposed to sell the wine had run off into the distance.

The two soldiers then stood up and burst into laughter.

"Steward Xie, those two barrels of rice wine, the one from the date seller, are almost finished. Luckily, there's still one barrel left..." a soldier hurriedly reported.

"Officer Yang, everyone is really thirsty, why don't you let everyone have a drink?"

Supervisor Xie and the two officers all tried to persuade him.

Yang Zhi couldn't resist their pleas, and he also remembered that the people selling dates had eaten a whole bucket of them without any problems.

Even the slender scholar drank a whole gourdful, and when he mounted his horse and fled, he was still full of energy.

It seems the drinks really are fine...

Thinking of this, Yang Zhi nodded.

The soldiers cheered, grabbed the wine barrels, and hurriedly picked up ladles to take turns drinking.

Those with quick wits also scooped up a ladleful to flatter Yang Zhi.

Yang Zhi's mouth was already dry, and after smelling the aroma of wine for so long,

Having already been tempted by the idea of ​​drinking, I took the ladle and drank it down in a few gulps. I immediately felt refreshed and much cooler.

The scholar had already been given two gourdfuls of rice wine earlier.

The remaining drink was quickly shared and consumed by everyone.

"This rice wine is truly refreshing; after drinking it, my whole body feels..."

One of the soldiers started to joke, but before he could finish speaking, he felt a sudden heaviness on his head and collapsed to the ground.

The others followed suit, falling down one after another.

Although Yang Zhi was gripping his broadsword and managing to stay upright, he was dizzy, his limbs felt weak and powerless.

He knew he had fallen for the thieves' trick and was filled with regret.

Suddenly, seven or eight people emerged from the woods.

It turned out to be that group of date sellers, the scholar and his servants, and the village man who sold wine!

"You, you guys..."

Yang Zhi's hands trembled as he raised his broadsword to kill the bandits!

But before he could even take a step,

He collapsed to the ground.

"Yes, yes!"

The date vendors and wine sellers all clapped and laughed, and even the scholar couldn't help but laugh smugly.

Yang Zhi felt a bitter taste in his mouth, knowing that the birthday tribute was definitely doomed to fail.

His long-cherished wish to restore the prestige of the Yang family of Tianbo Mansion will never be realized!

In despair, Yang Zhi's mind gradually became hazy, and his vision slowly went black...

Chapter 227 The Cicada Awaits

"It's done!"

Seeing that Yang Zhi, the blue-faced beast, had also fallen to the ground unconscious,

Chao Gai and the others all burst into laughter.

"Heavenly King, all of these 100,000 strings of cash are ours!"

Liu Tang was excited and was about to open the carrying pole to check the goods when Bai Sheng also came over.

"Your Majesty, brothers, we'd better hurry up and load the birthday gifts onto the carts and get them back as soon as possible!"

Wu Yong suggested, "Although Huangni Ridge is sparsely populated, it's not entirely deserted. If we delay for a while, someone might pass by, which would be bad."

"Wu Xuejiu is right, everyone hurry up and harness the horses and load everything onto the carriage!" Chao Gai called out.

They brought their large carts for selling dates, which were originally horse-drawn carriages.

The horses that pulled the carriage were the same ones Princess Tianshou and He Chai rode to Huangnigang.

Liu Tang and Gongsun Sheng quickly emptied all the dates from the cart.

Chao Gai, Wu Yong, and Bai Sheng were busy moving the valuables.

Princess Tianshou and the two He brothers helped harness the horses to the 18 large carts.

By the time everything was finished, an incense stick had already burned.

After a flurry of activity, everyone was covered in sweat, including Princess Tianshou.

In addition, the weather was extremely hot and the forest was stuffy.

The group inevitably became thirsty.

"This damn weather is just too hot!"

Liu Tang licked his dry lips: "I should have saved some rice wine to drink now."

As soon as he finished speaking, He Zhongbao took the gourd hanging from his waist and handed it to him.

"This is the wine that Brother Bai Sheng just filled up; I haven't had a chance to drink it yet!"

"Haha, brother, give it to me! Let me quench my thirst!"

Liu Tang reached for the wine gourd, but Wu Yong suddenly stopped him.

"Brother Liu Tang, don't be anxious. Look, Brother Tian Shou is also very thirsty. Let him drink first."

"I?"

Princess Tianshou paused for a moment, glanced at Wu Yong, and then understood what he meant.

This scholar clearly doesn't trust the three of them.

Since the wine gourd had already passed through He Zhongbao's hands, in order to be on the safe side and to prevent anything from being added to it, Princess Tianshou was to drink it first.

Chao Gai, Liu Tang, and Bai Sheng were all somewhat bewildered.

But based on their trust in Wu Yong, they didn't say much.

Gongsun Sheng smiled slightly, understanding Wu Yong's plan.

As for Princess Tianshou, when she set off, she was at Chao Gai's manor.

She then conspired with the He brothers to seize the birthday gifts when Chao Gai and the others returned to the manor, when they were most relaxed and least vigilant.

At this moment, she naturally has a clear conscience.

He then took the gourd of wine and took a big gulp.

Seeing Princess Tianshou swallow the wine, Wu Yong breathed a sigh of relief.

When Liu Tang saw him nod, he quickly grabbed the gourd and poured the contents into his mouth from a distance!

"Brother, leave some for us too!" Bai Sheng reminded him.

The gourd of wine spun around, and only the two He brothers remained untouched.

He Chai took the wine gourd and was about to drink it.