Chapter 72: Recruiting Zhao Yun

  Liu Ze only then understood that Zhao Yun's skills were not bad, but every day he went hunting and the gains all went to his older brother to buy medicine to eat, while he himself could only eat some wild vegetable congee and the like. No wonder his body was weak, it would be strange if he wasn't thin just relying on the nutrition of wild vegetable congee. Zhao Yun ate very quickly, a bowl of wild vegetable congee was swept into his belly in an instant, but Liu Ze was like a thorn stuck in his throat, damn, is this something people eat?

  But in order to win Zhao Yun's favor, no matter how hard it was to swallow, Liu Ze clenched his teeth and stuffed the bowl of wild vegetable porridge into his throat. During dinner, Zhao Yun remained silent, only revealing a hint of surprise and gratitude in his eyes.

  Liu Ze wiped his mouth and said, "It's been a long time since I've had such delicious food, it smells so good."

  Wang saw Liu Ze finish eating and came over to serve him another bowl. At this moment, Liu Ze really wanted to die of embarrassment, and he hastily stopped her, saying: "Sister-in-law, don't serve anymore, I have a limited appetite, one bowl is enough, one bowl is enough."

  Zhao Yun stood up and said: "In that case, General Liu, let's go to my room for a chat."

  Liu Ze wiped the sweat from his forehead, finally able to escape Zhao Yun's sister-in-law's enthusiasm. But before he left, he glanced at the remaining food in the pot and felt a pang of guilt. The food that was hard for him to swallow was probably what others had leftover, and Wang must have gone hungry today. Thinking of this, Liu Ze felt a wave of shame.

  Zhao Yun's room was smaller and more humble, without even a bed, only a worn-out straw mat, nothing else, on the wall hung a bow and a quiver of arrows, Liu Ze sat on the straw mat.

  Before he could speak, Zhao Yun said: "Yun's parents died when he was young, and he relied on his elder brother for survival. His older brother is like a father to him, and his older sister-in-law is like a mother. Without them, Yun would have probably starved to death on the streets already. His older brother was once appointed as a filial official and served as the magistrate of Qinghe County, but he resigned due to illness. To treat his brother's illness, Yun visited famous doctors all over Hebei Province and spent all of their family savings. Every day, he could only hunt for some wild animals to exchange for food, grass, and medicine, barely enough to get by. Seeing General Liu's extraordinary demeanor, humility, and elegance, Yun truly believes that he is a hero among heroes in the world. It's not that General Liu needs to recruit him, but Yun also has the intention of serving under him. However, due to family matters, Yun is tied down. If he were to abandon his brother and sister-in-law to leave, it would be unfilial. Today, General Liu's kindness will be repaid by Yun in the future."

  Liu Ze smiled slightly, and dealing with intelligent people is simple and direct. Zhao Yun's words had already laid out Liu Ze's thoughts, his own ideas, and the difficulties at home, all of which were reasonable and to the point. However, since Liu Ze had come to the Zhao residence, he absolutely did not give up on the plan to recruit Zhao Yun, no matter how unattainable it seemed.

  "Zi Long brother is extremely filial, I admire him greatly. Despite poverty and lowliness, he remains unchanged in his aspirations, a true man indeed. Speaking frankly to you, Zhao big brother's illness has reached a critical stage, if not treated promptly, I fear it will be too late for him to recover. However, given Zhao brother's current condition, even the best doctors may find it difficult to save him."

  Zhao Yun's eyes were filled with sorrow, and he sighed: "Heaven's will is thus, and I can do nothing about it. As long as my elder brother lives for a day, I shall be filial to him for that one day; even in death, I would not refuse."

  Liu Zedan said lightly: "Although I am not very familiar with medicine, I know that the disease suffered by Brother Zhao is not an incurable disease."

  At this moment, Zhao Yun's eyes shone brightly and he exclaimed: "Could it be that General Liu has a way to cure this illness?"

  Liu Ze smiled slightly and said: "Although I dare not say that I have a 100% grasp of it, I still have a 70-80% grasp of it."

  Zhao Yun was greatly shocked. In the past few years, he had run all over the north and south of the Yellow River to seek medical treatment, but none of the doctors could cure Zhao Feng's pulmonary tuberculosis. Today, Liu Ze actually said that he had a way to treat pulmonary tuberculosis, how could it not make him extremely surprised and delighted? However, after the surprise, there was also a slight doubt: "If this is true, I would be grateful if General Liu would lend a hand to save him."

  Liu Ze jokingly said: "If I really can cure your brother's illness, can you think of how to repay me?"

  Zhoa Yun was taken aback for a moment, then immediately knelt down on one knee, clasped his hands together and bowed, saying: "If the General can save my brother's family, Zhao Yun is willing to follow the General for life, to repay him with the loyalty of a dog or horse!"

  Liu Ze hastily reached out his hand to help him up, saying: "Zi Long, quickly get up, I was just joking earlier."

  Zhao Yun felt deeply embarrassed and slightly disappointed, sighing: "Is it true that my elder brother is really beyond cure?"

  Liu Ze saw that he had misunderstood, and smiled: "Don't worry, Zilong. When I said there was a 70-80% chance of hope, it meant there was a 70-80% possibility of recovery. It's just that Zhaojia Village might not be able to accommodate us anymore..."

  Zhoa Yun was taken aback and said: "Why does General Liu say this?"

  Within two years, the Taiping Dao will surely rise again. Most of Hebei Province will fall into chaos, and the state of Changshan will be plagued by disaster, with nine out of ten homes left empty. Although Zi Long's skills may allow him to escape unscathed, his brother and sister-in-law are powerless to avoid this calamity.

  Zhao Yun was stunned. Although he had lived in the mountain village for a long time, he often traveled outside and was well-versed in worldly affairs. He had also heard about the Taiping Dao before. At this moment, Liu Ze's words were convincing, and he couldn't help but believe him, muttering to himself: "Taiping Dao... can it really be overthrown?"

  Liu Ze continued, "The rebellion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can be verified a year later, but your brother's illness cannot be delayed. Your brother is now weak and frail, his illness has reached its critical stage, even if there were divine medicine, it would be difficult to revive him. To cure his illness, we must first strengthen his body, once his physical condition improves, then we can treat the symptoms with medication. In my opinion, your brother's diet needs improvement, he also needs to take supplements such as ginseng, deer antler, and cordyceps to nourish his body."

  Zhao Yun's face turned slightly red, now he couldn't even afford ginseng and deer antler, let alone two meals a day, otherwise he wouldn't have used wild vegetable congee to entertain Liu Ze.

  Liu Ze saw Zhao Yun's predicament and quickly said: "So, Subdragon, you should pack up tomorrow and bring your brother and sister-in-law with me to Fenghuang Mountain. The conditions there are a hundred times better than here, and I believe your brother will recover. Don't worry, I don't have any intention of keeping Subdragon either. If he can't get used to living in Fenghuang Mountain, he can leave at any time."

  Zhoa Yun's gaze slowly swept over the broken tiles and cold kiln of his own home, a hint of reluctance in his eyes. After a brief moment, he nodded with difficulty and said, "Alright, thank you General Liu, but I still need to ask my brother and sister-in-law tomorrow."

  Liu Ze was overjoyed, Zhao Yun agreed to leave, so he had already succeeded halfway. As for Zhao Feng's tuberculosis, Liu Ze didn't worry too much about it. After all, tuberculosis wasn't a difficult disease in modern times. Although there were no Western medicines to treat it, the thousands of years of traditional Chinese medicine was vast and profound. He could look into it carefully and might be able to find a prescription. This was an urgent matter, so as soon as he returned to Feng Huang Valley, he would have to take care of this. As long as he could cure Zhao Feng, Zhao Yun would never be able to escape again.

  Then Liu Ze and Zhao Yun chatted about something else. After a day of fierce battle, they were both exhausted and fell asleep with their feet on the same couch.

  The next morning, Zhao Yun discussed with his brother and sister-in-law. Originally, Zhao Feng's couple had no hope of survival, but now they were overjoyed and naturally agreed to leave immediately. They packed their luggage and prepared to set off. In fact, their family was already extremely poor and had nothing worth packing, so they just put a few old clothes into a bundle. Liu Ze ordered his men to find a horse carriage, invited Zhao Feng's couple onto the carriage, and had four guards escort them to Phoenix Mountain.

  Liu Ze saw Zhao Yun bring out the small, thin horse-like creature that he had ridden yesterday, and couldn't help but burst out laughing. He took one of the superior Xuebing horses from his guards and handed it over to Zhao Yun, saying: "Zilong, you should ride this White Dragon Horse instead. Your other horse is too embarrassing to ride out."

  Zhao Yun looked at the horse, which was as white as snow all over its body. Although it couldn't compare to Liu Ze's Zhaoye Jade Lion, it was still a rare and excellent horse. Moreover, among the sweat-blood horses, there wasn't one that was originally like this. Even the lowest-ranking inferior sweat-blood horse was hundreds of times stronger than an ordinary warhorse. Zhao Yun was overjoyed, took the reins, and repeatedly expressed his gratitude. Liu Ze laughed, "What kind of world is this? One horse can exchange for the loyalty of a generation's greatest general?" Although this horse was indeed extraordinary.

  Liu Ze took a look at the iron spear in Zhao Yun's hand, which was somewhat pitiful. It seemed that once they returned to Fenghuang Valley, he would have to forge a good spear for Zhao Yun. Only with excellent equipment could Zhao Yun's abilities be fully utilized.

  "Zi Long, let your brother and sister-in-law return to Feng Huang Shan by my escort, they can't stand the hardship of traveling. You and I still need to go to Wo Hu Shan first."

  Yesterday, Zhao Yun had seen the skills of Liu Ze's guards and nodded in agreement with his arrangement. Liu Ze instructed the guards a few words and rushed to Wohu Mountain with Zhao Yun on horseback. The two horses were indeed swift, and within an hour, Liu Ze and Zhao Yun entered the assembly hall of Wohu Mountain.

  Guan Yu had already taken control of the situation on Sleeping Tiger Mountain, although there were still some scattered resistance, but it was not enough to worry about. The problem was how to settle these thousands of people who had laid down their weapons, which made him headache. After all, these thousands of people had surrendered, but if they were not handled properly, it would be easy to cause chaos. Later, Guan Yu returned to the mountain stronghold, and Zhou Cang's surrender made the surrender go smoothly. The more than 3,000 people who had laid down their weapons in the mountain stronghold saw that their leader had surrendered, so they naturally didn't say anything else and all surrendered quickly. When Liu Ze and Zhao Yun returned to the mountain stronghold, Guan Yu had already sent over the roster of the surrendered personnel and the account book of the mountain stronghold's grain.

  Liu Ze was delighted to see that there were more than 3,000 soldiers who had surrendered, and they had a lot of money and food. It seemed that Zhou Cang and his men had been doing a good business in the mountains for several years, robbing and plundering. Looking at all these people and resources, Liu Ze thought it was quite like hitting the jackpot. He ordered that the old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers who had surrendered be given some money to settle down and be dismissed, while the remaining 2,000 or so men were taken back to Fenghuang Mountain. Of course, they couldn't leave behind all the money, food, and equipment. In the end, Liu Ze set fire to Wohu Mountain, burning it clean.

  Zhou Cang's face turned black as he watched Wutu Mountain being reduced to ashes, and he couldn't help but sigh repeatedly.

  Guan Yu said coldly: "Zhou Cang, are you still reluctant?"

  Zhou Cang was startled and said, "How dare I? Zhou Cang has made a solemn oath to change his former ways. For the rest of my life, I will follow Master Zhou at the front and back of his horse, and serve him with my life."

  Guan Yu's face revealed a rare smile, saying: "Zhou Cang, what achievement can be gained by being a mountain bandit? Following the lord to conquer the world is the way of kings. In the future, your merits and wealth will naturally not be lacking."

  Zhou Cang couldn't help but be delighted and nodded in agreement.