Fenghou

……

At nightfall, a group of about 20 Jurchen cavalry came rushing forward. The cavalry stopped at the gate of Yuhang. A soldier stepped forward and shouted, "We are the messengers of the Kingdom of Jin. We have an urgent message for the messenger of the Kingdom of Jin. Please hurry up." Quickly open the door!"

It turned out to be a messenger from the Kingdom of Jin. The soldiers guarding the city did not dare to neglect them, so they rushed to report. It happened that Yang Yizhong, the commander of the capital, was on duty tonight.

The gate of the city opened slowly, and twenty Jurchen cavalry rushed into the city, rushing towards the Jin Kingdom Pavilion without stopping...

Wan Yanchang had already fallen asleep, but was woken up again by the soldiers because of the emergency warrant issued by the wolf lord.

When Wan Yanchang came to the living room, the messenger held up the silver wolf head order and presented a roll of sheepskin to Wan Yanchang. Wan Yanchang quickly opened the sheepskin, and there was only a line written by the wolf master himself on it, "Chen Qing is related to the morale of the three armies. Victory. '

Wanyan Chang was really helpless, of course he knew why the wolf lord wrote this letter out of nowhere, it must be Wanyan Wushu's instigation behind his back, Wanyan Wushu didn't want to defeat Chen Qing on the battlefield, it was clearly for Wanyan Wushu Drink Lisa to break the stumbling block.

He couldn't win Bashu by himself, and he didn't want Wanyan Helisa to make great achievements that surpassed him, so he used this despicable method to drag himself back, which really made Wanyanchang despise him.

But this is the silver wolf head order of the wolf lord, and Wan Yanchang has to obey it.

He paced back and forth for a while, and then asked, "What time is it now?"

"Report to the capital supervisor, about one watch."

Wan Yanchang immediately wrote a short message and handed it to his confidant Yu Hong, saying: "Go to Qin Hui's mansion and hand this letter into his hands."

At one o'clock, Qin Hui hadn't fallen asleep yet. He was still thinking about how to persuade the officials to agree to Jin Guo's conditions tomorrow. He really couldn't figure it out. He either handed the two of them over to Jin Guo, or just exchanged generals. He felt that he had treated them badly. Two people, can they be recalled to the court to be high-ranking officials?

This time Qin Hui didn't want to deal with Chen Qing, he didn't take care of his own emotions for the time being, Qin Hui felt a deep sense of crisis this time, and Jin Bing's sneak attack and Wan Yanchang's third negotiation did not notify him in advance, he had no idea It shows that Jin Guo doesn't trust him a little bit.

The fundamental reason why he was appointed as a political counselor and reused by the emperor as soon as he came back from the Kingdom of Jin is that he is a link between the Song Dynasty and the Kingdom of Jin. This is a tacit understanding. Unsteady.

Qin Hui wrote two positions on the white paper, Prince Shaobao, Kaifu Yitong and the third division and commander in front of the palace. These are the positions that are going to be given to Wu Jie.

The other job is to serve as Minister of the Ministry of War, and to promote the transfer envoy of Chengdu Fu Road and Tongchuan Fu Road. In order to appease Lu Yihao.

As long as Lu Yihao supported him, it would be meaningless even if Zhang Jun and Xu Xiantu opposed it.

Although Qin Hui was very reluctant to treat Chen Qing so favorably, his own sense of crisis forced him to let go of his hatred temporarily.

When Qin Hui was deliberating in the study, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and the housekeeper reported from outside the door: "Master, the special envoy of the Kingdom of Jin has sent someone to deliver a letter."

Qin Hui was startled, Wan Yanchang sent someone to deliver the letter at such a late hour, there must be something urgent.

He changed his mind and became happy again. He was still worried that Wan Yanchang would not notify in advance, no, there was a secret contact.

Qin Hui hurriedly said: "The messenger please come in!"

After a while, a Han man in his forties walked in, clasped his fists and saluted, "See Mr. Qin!"

Qin Hui recognized this man at a glance. It was Yu Hong, his colleague in Wanyanchang's mansion back then. He even borrowed money from this colleague back then. Qin Hui suddenly felt an indescribable sense of superiority. Already the Right Prime Minister of the Great Song Dynasty, Yu Hong was still an aide.

Complacent in his heart, Qin Hui still pretended not to know this person, he is a majestic Xiangguo, how can he be with such a small person?

"Where is the letter that Special Envoy Wanyan asked you to send?"

Yu Hong took out a letter expressionlessly and put it on the table. Qin Hui took the letter and opened it, read it hastily, and was stunned. .

I spent so much time trying to replace Chen Qing, but it was destroyed as soon as I turned around. What's going on?

"I think Chen Qing is more important than Wu Jie, so he should give up replacing Wu Jie!"

Yu Hong said coldly: "I don't know the content of the letter, and I don't know what Xiangguo is talking about, but I know that the Dujianjun has checked it twice after writing the letter. If Xiangguo thinks that the Dujianjun made a mistake, then Best to check it out tonight."

Qin Hui suddenly realized, how could Wan Yanchang make a mistake?Something must have happened urgently, Wan Yanchang notified himself overnight.

But that's okay, with one less person, things will be much easier to handle.

"I see, I will reward you ten taels of silver, let's go down!"

Yu Hong's face was a little sullen. This bastard owed him ten taels of silver and refused to pay him back. Now he rewards himself with ten taels of silver. Is this deliberately humiliating himself?

"no need!"

Yu Hong said coldly, "I'm not short of the ten taels of silver, so I'll take my leave!"

Yu Hong turned around and left, Qin Hui looked at his back with pride and almost laughed out loud.

……

The next day, Qin Hui had an audience with Emperor Zhao Gou, and put forward his own new plan. He only transferred back to Wu Jie, and then signed a one-year armistice agreement at the cost of 30 pieces of silk.

Zhao Gou was still afraid of the [-] cavalry of the Jin Bing. Although Zhang Jun and Xu Xiantu repeatedly opposed it, Zhao Gou agreed to Qin Hui's plan.

In the afternoon, Qin Hui and Jin Guo's special envoy Wan Yanchang reached an agreement. Wan Yanchang accepted the compromise plan of the Song Dynasty, transferred Wu Jie, accepted 30 bolts of silk, and signed a one-year armistice agreement with the Song Dynasty again in the eastern section.

Emperor Zhao Gou immediately accepted the recommendation of Empress Dowager Wei, and appointed Liu Guangshi as the Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Wu Jie was transferred back to the imperial court as an official. Commanders in front of the palace.

At this time, a pigeon letter flew to Hanzhong one stop after another, and brought the emperor Zhao Gou's hand letter, ordering Chen Qing to seize Ganzhou and Liangzhou.

Chapter 5 and seven have friends

After returning from Pingliang Mansion, Chen Qing began preparations for the second Eastern Expedition. He originally hoped to cooperate with the Song Army at Dasan Pass and gradually seize Shaanxi Road, but Wu Jie wrote to him and told him that Lu Fasheng firmly opposed sending troops. Monk Yuan, preferring to keep the status quo, he could not convince Lu Fasheng, he could only apologize to Chen Qing.

Since he couldn't count on the cooperation of friendly forces, Chen Qing could only rely on himself.

Changing from defensive to offensive, Chen Qing is now thinking more about siege weapons. After returning to Chengji County, he immediately summoned the officials and master craftsmen of the Military Craftsmanship Office, discussed repeatedly, and finally finalized a few weapons that can defend against fire oil. New siege weapons.

The military craftsman's department is subordinate to Kaicao, and there are three institutions under Kaicao, the first is the military craftsman's department, the second is the firearms and oil department, and the third is the military ship department.

There are currently more than [-] people in the Military Craftsmanship Department, basically all kinds of military craftsmen, and the chief craftsman is Xie Changzhi.

This morning, Chen Qing brought more than a dozen generals to the military craftsman's office. In the wide backyard of the military craftsman's office, there was a newly made sample, which was a sample of the ladder.

The ladder is a means for the attacking army to transport soldiers to the city from a long distance without being close to the city wall. It has always been a traditional siege weapon. It has high technical content and high requirements for manufacturing technology, which is difficult for the grassland people to learn.

The ladder is like a crane. First of all, there is a platform, which weighs several thousand kilograms. It is usually made of strong wood and has six huge wheels.

When Chen Qing saw this ladder, his first reaction was that it was a huge carriage, three feet long and one foot high, and the wheels were taller than a person.

"Is this the carriage?"

Liu Cui said in surprise: "I always thought it was full of wood piled up inside, weighing ten thousand catties, but it turned out to be empty inside."

Xie Changzhi quickly explained: "It can be regarded as a large cart. It itself is pulled by five strong oxen and can accommodate more than [-] soldiers. It's just that it is special and cannot be used to transport people or supplies. The inside of it is made empty to facilitate transportation and walking, but in combat, it is not empty inside. There are ladders inside and soldiers in charge of manipulation.

The cloud ladder is composed of a bed, a main ladder and an auxiliary ladder. The auxiliary ladder is a city ladder, which is locked on the main ladder. It is usually folded with a rotating shaft and unfolded when in use. The entire auxiliary ladder is about three feet long. The main ladder will constantly change the location of the upper city. "

Zheng Ping spoke bluntly, he didn't care that this was the siege weapon Chen Qing was considering, he shook his head repeatedly and said, "It's too heavy, if a powder keg blows off the wheels, it will be useless?"

As soon as Zheng Ping opened his mouth, the generals also felt that it was not very practical. They originally hoped that it could avoid the raging fire, but now they suddenly found that it was actually more difficult to avoid the fierce fire.

Yang Zaixing frowned and said, "We all made a common mistake. We always thought that the fire oil was burning under the city wall. The fact is that our soldiers are standing under the city wall. If we were standing outside the moat, the other party would use stones Just imagine, if it is filled with several large barrels of kerosene and then ignited, the entire ladder will be engulfed in thick smoke and flames."

Everyone looked at Chen Qing, and Chen Qing actually regretted it a bit. He only considered the advantages of the ladder, but did not keep pace with the times. The siege gradually developed towards miniaturization, simplification, and low cost, but he himself did the opposite.

There is a reason why ladders appeared less and less on the battlefields of the Song Dynasty, mainly because of the appearance of various firearms.

As long as this kind of bulky guy appears on the battlefield, he will definitely become the eyes of firearms. Although the firearms of the Song Dynasty are not powerful, they are more than enough to deal with this kind of ladder. It will be useless, especially its manufacturing cost is too high to support a large-scale war.

Chen Qing sighed and said: "Although it is scary to defend the city with fierce fire oil, not all cities will have such strategic materials as fierce fire oil. Like Pingliang City, we will no longer use the method of strong attack and hard attack, but replace it with other methods. way to attack the city."

Niu Gao laughed and said, "It's like taking Huangzhou City!"

To capture Huangzhou City was to buy off the Sun family. A large number of soldiers joined the team of general Sun Jian who defended the city. In the end, all the soldiers who guarded the city at night were the Song Army. Taking Huangzhou City would be a piece of cake.

Chen Qing nodded, "This is a way, or we can ambush hundreds of people and seize a section of the city at night. Unlike before, we had to seize the gate, and it is much easier to seize the city."

Xie Changzhi said with a bitter face: "Du Tong, does Yun Lai count as a veto?"

Chen Qing said with a smile: "It would be good to transform it into a transport cart, which is specially used to transport wounded soldiers, firearms and kerosene."

Everyone laughed, Xie Changzhi blushed and said, "I understand!"

Chen Qing laughed again: "However, for the siege ladder that can move horizontally, we need to carefully consider how to make it. It is simple and practical, and it is not easy to be damaged. Maybe its effect will be better than the ladder."

Several master craftsmen bowed and agreed, "Obey!"

……

Chen Qing walked out of the military craftsman's office, and a soldier rushed towards him. He rushed to Chen Qing, got off his horse and reported: "Report to Dutong, General Wu Jie is here!"

Wu Jie actually came, Chen Qing hurriedly asked, "Where is he?"

"It's in Jiedu Mansion!"

Chen Qing hastily urged his horse to run towards the Jiedu Mansion, and he arrived at the Jiedu Mansion in a short while. He saw a team of cavalry in front of the mansion gate, about a hundred of them, and the leader was Wu Jie. He was waiting for him at the gate, but did not go in.

Chen Qing hurriedly got off his horse, walked forward quickly, cupped his fists and said with a smile, "I didn't know General Wu was coming, so I'm sorry!"

Wu Jie smiled slightly: "I've always wanted to visit Qinzhou, but I never had the time. This time I finally have the opportunity to come and visit."

"Where does General Wu want to see? I will go with the general."

"Go and see the barracks first!"

The two got on their horses, and Chen Qing accompanied Wu Jie to the barracks.

"Chen Dutong, I'm sorry about the Pingliang Mansion."

Wu Jie found an opportunity to express his apology to Chen Qing.

Chen Qing smiled lightly: "This is not your problem, I believe you will definitely send troops to Monk Yuan!"

Wu Jie nodded, "This is actually because of the different defense concepts of the Xuan Fu envoys. Although Zhang Xuan Fu envoys defeated Fuping, he was not reconciled and wanted to regain Guanzhong. He had a strong sense of counterattack. According to his defense concepts, I put forward the plan of stationing troops and monk Yuan, and it was passed smoothly.

Zhu Shengfei will not mention it, he was transferred back before he was familiar with Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Lu Fasheng was the deputy envoy of Xuanfu, he was very familiar with Sichuan and Shaanxi, but he was too conservative and only hoped that war would not break out during his tenure. This kind of thinking is why he firmly opposes sending troops to Monk Yuan. He is afraid of offending Jin Bing and triggering Jin Bing's counterattack against Dasan Pass. This person is too cautious, really mediocre. "

Chen Qing couldn't help laughing and said, "This is the first time I've heard General Wu comment on his boss so frankly!"

"At the beginning of Wang Heng's Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, Fengxiang's Jin soldiers were only 5000, and the puppet Qi army in Jingzhao Mansion also had 1. You took this opportunity to regain Xihe Road, and I also wanted to use this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take back Guanzhong. I refused to agree to life and death, and I wanted to kill him at that time, you can't understand my disappointment and anger at that time."

Speaking of this, Wu Jie had tears in his eyes, and Yang Tian let out a long breath: "Anyway, I'm leaving, I don't care, I dare to say what I have held in my heart for too long."

Chen Qing was startled, "General Wu wants to leave? Why?"

Wu Jie glanced at him, "It seems that you don't care about what happened in Lin'an. That's not okay. Didn't the imperial court ask Xihe Road to build a branch hall in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Jin Zou Hall? You can arrange for a confidant to sit in Lin'an , grasp the major events in Lin'an."

Chen Qing didn't want the Sichuan-Shaanxi Propaganda and Fusi to interfere with him, so he didn't build a branch in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Jin Zong Hall for a long time, and he didn't even want to build a Jin Zou Yuan.

But Wu Jie was right, he should arrange for a confidant to sit in Lin'an and keep abreast of all the major events that happened in Lin'an, Chen Qing thought of Zheng Ping's father, he is actually the most suitable.

But now Chen Qing wants to know why Wu Jie was transferred?That's the big deal right now.

"Why did you transfer General Wu?"

"The Jurchen's request was originally to transfer you together, but for some reason they put you down and appointed me to be transferred separately, so they were willing to sign the armistice agreement. The surprise attack of three thousand Jurchen cavalry frightened the officials, so they I agreed to Jin Guo's request, but the officials treated me well, and promoted me to a higher rank than Lu Fasheng."

Speaking of this, Wu Jie laughed again: "This time Lu Fasheng was also transferred to serve as the transfer envoy of Fujian Road, and Liu Guangshi took over as Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan and Shanxi. Empress Dowager Wei recommended it, which is unexpected!"

Chen Qing was speechless for a long while, he was really being targeted by the Empress Dowager Wei, Zhu Shengfei just went, and another Liu Guangshi came, both of them were his enemies.

Chapter 5 and Eight

Coming out of the barracks, Chen Qing accompanied Wu Jie to the farmland by the Weihe River. Wu Jie looked at the endless wheat fields in the distance, and sighed softly, "Chen Dutong, do you know why I want to visit the farmland?"

Chen Qing shook his head, Wu Jie said with a sneer: "Actually, you should know that there is a kind of person in the officialdom who is incompetent himself, but he can't see the good of others, and he is incompetent in killing the enemy, but he is an expert at stumbling his colleagues and using black knives." .

That's right, I said it was Liu Guangshi, this person will definitely target you, and he will manipulate your food and military salary, so I hope you must ensure self-sufficiency in food, and then you have the opportunity to appeal to the court. "

Chen Qing smiled lightly, "Will it be useful to appeal to the court?"

"You have a supervising army, and the supervising army can directly appeal to the officials, and the effect will be better."

Chen Qing smiled and said: "If he wants to punish me, he will have a thousand and ten thousand tricks. The best way to deal with it is to have no contact with him, don't ask him, and don't pay attention to him."

"Then underestimate him, forget it, I understand your methods, and it's a bit worrying to say these things."

Wu Jie pondered for a while and asked, "There is something I've always wanted to ask you. It's something I keep in my heart. You don't have to answer me, but I must ask."

"General Wu, please speak!"

"There are rumors in Hanzhong that you have embraced the army to stand on your own. Is it true?"

Chen Qing laughed, "This is a bit serious. I violated the rules at most, such as mining copper and iron ore, casting money to subsidize the military salary, or how can I solve the problem of military salary with the extra army? Besides, there are supervising troops here. , if I stand on my own with soldiers, will he tolerate me?"

"Yes! You have a supervising army here, and the most you can do is to bribe him to help you conceal the violation, but when it comes to supporting the soldiers to stand on their own feet, no matter how much money you give him, he will not dare to accept it, but if one day, the imperial court sends you As a civil servant, can you accept being your boss?"

Chen Qing frowned, "I've already sent a supervisory army, will I send another civil servant?"

Wu Jie shook his head, "The supervising army is only a temporary arrangement, and the civil servants are the court system, and they will be sent sooner or later."

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said, "I'm different from you. I'm afraid I can't accept it. Even if the court forcefully inserts him, he won't have any power."

Wu Jie was stunned, "Isn't this... against the court?"

Wu Jie said it very implicitly, using the word "opposition", if it is more serious, it means self-reliance, and if it is more serious, it means rebellion.