Fenghou

Only Chen Qing and Jiang Yanxian were left in the room, and Jiang Yanxian said to Chen Qing: "There is one more important thing, this time Zhang Xiao went to Lingzhou, so the Xuanfu Envoy of the military affairs has to be arranged to take over. Increase the number of members of the Interior Hall to five, so that there will be a majority when voting.”

Chen Qing took a few steps with his hands behind his back. He had been thinking about this issue along the way. He had to have sufficient qualifications and corresponding abilities. He already had a five-person plan in his mind.

"I want Guan Shigu to take over Zhang Xiao's military affairs, what does Chang Shi think?"

Guan Shigu used to be the commander of the Jingyuan Army, regardless of his seniority, he is enough. His biggest stain is that he surrendered to the puppet Qi. It may be difficult to be recognized by the court, but it is not a problem here in Chen Qing. Jiang Yanxian and Zhang Xiao They were both officials of the puppet Qi. The most important thing is that Guan Shigu’s family members are all in Jingzhao. The eldest son Guan Xiaolin was appointed by Chen Qing as the magistrate of Qishan County, and the second son Guan Xiaowen was appointed as the shepherd of Yuanzhou. He was responsible for raising sheep. Yangguan, the youngest Guan Xiaowu has joined the army, and is now Niu Gao's subordinate, and he is the leader of the cavalry.

Jiang Yanxian is very familiar with Guan Shigu, he said happily: "Old Guan should agree, we drank together a few days ago, I persuaded him to come out to be an official, he said that he was afraid that his lack of ability would delay the important event of the Xuanfu envoy, his tone has changed gone."

"That's good, I'll talk to him later!"

Chen Qing said again: "Then I consider that Zhang Miao will continue to be in charge of monitoring and intelligence. There are too many things on your side and the pressure is too great. I consider separating the Ministry of Officials and dividing it into two parts, the Department of Government Affairs and the Department of Officials. Zhou is in charge of the Department of Officials, and you continue to be in charge of the Department of Government Affairs."

Jiang Yanxian nodded, "I'm a bit overwhelmed, this is the best, but who can be better than Lao Zhou in terms of financial support?"

"I want to use Zhao Kai!"

Jiang Yan was stunned, and said with a smile: "Zhao Kai is currently a Sichuan-Shaanxi transit envoy, with outstanding ability, everyone recognizes it, and I fully support it!"

Historically, Zhao Kai passed away three years later, but his death was mainly due to Zhang Jun’s resignation. Zhao Kai was a member of Zhang Jun. He was implicated and suppressed, and soon died of depression. Died so early.

In this way, with the addition of Guan Shigu, Zhao Kai, Jiang Yanxian, Zhou Kuan and Zhang Miao, a new five-member group of the Neizhengtang was formed.

……

Chapter 711 Persuasion

Guan Shigu was a little caught off guard by the conversation of Xuanfu envoy Chen Qing. Chen Qing actually asked him to be the military commander. He didn't immediately agree or refuse. He needed to go back and think about it. The appointment came so suddenly that he didn't have the slightest mentality Prepare.

Guan Shigu returned to the mansion with many worries. Guan Shigu's house is an official residence covering an area of ​​about eight acres, and his three-acre private residence was passed on to his eldest son.

When Guan Shigu got out of the carriage, he happened to meet his second son Guan Xiaowen coming out of the mansion. Guan Xiaowen saw his father and hurried forward to greet him.

"Second brother, when did you come back?" Guan Shigu asked in surprise.

Guan Xiaowen respectfully said: "Boy came back this morning, isn't it the Chinese New Year? Boy specially escorted 30 new year sheep to Jingzhao."

Guan Xiaowen is about 24 to [-] years old. He was born in a prefectural school in Chengdu. He is not good at reading, but he likes farming. He has raised many chickens and ducks at home since he was a child. After coming to Jingzhao, Chen Qing asked him what he likes to do?He said that he likes raising sheep, so Chen Qing appointed him as the shepherd envoy of the Yuanzhou Group, that is, the sheep officer. Guan Xiaowen did a job that no one wanted to do with gusto.

"Go to my study and ask you something for my father."

Guan Xiaowen followed his father to the study room and stood respectfully aside, Guan Shigu asked, "How are you doing in Yuanzhou?"

"Reporting to my father, the child has done a good job and has a sense of accomplishment."

"Sense of accomplishment?"

Guan Shigu shook his head and said, "Will raising sheep give me a sense of accomplishment?"

"Haier has a great sense of achievement. When Haier first took over, there were 50 sheep, and now it has increased to 130 million. Today, Haier sent the sheep. Jiang Changshi specially received Haier, and said that the envoy Xuanfu will go to Yuanzhou next spring. Inspect the sheep pasture."

Guan Shigu pondered for a moment and asked: "Do the people of Yuanzhou still remember me?"

Guan Shigu used to serve as a military envoy on the Qingyuan Road, and stayed in Yuanzhou for five years. He had a deep affection for Yuanzhou.

Guan Xiaowen said: "They all remember my father. I often hear some elders talk about my father, saying that they are still very grateful for the Linpeng official road that my father built back then."

"Did you say anything about the present?"

"Yes! Everyone says that father is on the right path, and they all look forward to seeing him again."

Guan Shigu nodded silently, lost in thought.

"What else does the father ask the child?"

Guan Shigu smiled, "It's nothing, you can go!"

Guan Xiaowen saluted and slowly retreated.

Guan Shigu stood in front of the window, looking out the window for a long time without saying a word. He is only in his fifties this year, and he can still work for at least ten years. It would be a lie to say that he does not desire to return to official career, but he just wants When he arrived at the court, he wrote to Han Shizhong, asking him to help him find out what the court meant.

At the beginning of the year, Han Shizhong wrote back to him. In the letter, he implicitly suggested that he stay in Sichuan and Shaanxi to avoid being impeached. He also mentioned that the officials did not pay enough attention to the generals of the Western Army.

This is still an official who has made great achievements, and an official who once rebelled like him is even less likely to be reused.

Moreover, Han Shizhong said it very implicitly, but his meaning was very clear. If he went to the court, he would definitely be impeached and sent to prison. It was this letter that made Guan Shigu completely desperate to return to the court.

This time, Chen Qing's Northern Expedition to Xixia actually wiped out Xixia, which was completely beyond Guan Shigu's expectation and shocked Guan Shigu. He has been fighting with Xixia for many years, and he is very familiar with the tenacity of the Xixia army, especially the Hengshan Qiang soldiers. The terrain is very familiar, and he is very good at using the terrain to fight, which caused the Song army to be defeated repeatedly.

When Guan Shigu learned about the battle situation, he realized that the Qiang people and the Xixia court had turned against each other, and the Qiang soldiers became an alliance of the Song army instead. When Xixia was at its weakest, they wiped out Xixia in one go.

But no matter what, Chen Qing destroyed Xixia, which shocked him greatly. He began to change his mentality. He was willing to serve Chen Qing loyally and lay a foundation for the descendants of the Guan family.

At this time, he became excited. Chen Qing actually appointed himself as the military secretary and entered the cabinet's internal affairs hall. This is actually the prime minister!

At this moment, Guan Shigu wished he could go to Xuanfu envoy to accept Chen Qing's appointment immediately.

……

Contrary to Guan Shigu, Lu Wei is listlessly packing his luggage in the mansion. He has been appointed as the magistrate of Xiazhou and will bring a group of officials to his post tomorrow. He will not be able to stay in Jingzhao even during the Chinese New Year.

You must know that he is the magistrate of Jingzhao, and he was actually asked to be the magistrate of the newly established Xiazhou. Next, he should be the transfer envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi, or such important orders as household deployment and official deployment, but he was relegated to Xiazhou Prefect, when he got the news, Lu Wei felt like crying.

At this time, a maid in the yard said: "Master, there are guests visiting outside!"

"Who is visiting?"

"It's Supervisor Zhang!"

"Ah! Zhang Miao is here."

Lu Wei was startled, and hurriedly got up and went out to meet him.

Lu Wei and Zhang Miao had a very good personal relationship. When Ganquanbao was established as a county, Zhang Miao served as the magistrate of the county, and Lu Wei served as the magistrate of the county. The two often quarreled and became friends.

More importantly, Zhang Miao was a subordinate or even a confidant of Lu Wei's grandfather, Lu Xihao. Lu Yihao served as the transit envoy of Hebei, and promoted Zhang Miao, who was shrewd and capable, to be the Xiangzhou support envoy. When he was transferred away, he and Zhou Kuan were entrusted to Chen Qing.

Therefore, although Zhang Miao was very low-key, Chen Qing trusted him deeply and let him take charge of two important organizations, the Supervision Department and the Intelligence Department.

Zhang Miao smiled at the door and said, "How about going out for a drink?"

"Let's go! Go to Ganquan Restaurant, the restaurant where I invested my capital."

Ganquan Restaurant is a joint venture between Zheng Ping, Yang Yuanqing and Lu Wei. Since its opening, the business has been pretty good.

The two found a seat by the window on the second floor, ordered a jug of wine and a few dishes, Zhang Miao filled a glass of wine for Lu Wei, and said with a smile: "Tomorrow we are going to leave, this glass of wine is considered to be practice for my brother!"

Lu Wei blushed for a while and said, "Mr. Zhang, can we not go to Xiazhou?"

Holding the wine glass, Zhang Miao smiled and said, "You don't want to go to a chance that others can't win?"

Lu Wei was taken aback, "Why?"

Zhang Miao pointed at him, shook her head and smiled, "You made the same mistake again. Ganquan County's lieutenant was wronged, so the magistrate of Xiazhou also lost his talent?"

Lu Wei blushed, and said a little embarrassingly: "There is no one to explain to me, how can I understand?"

"You don't understand, but you can compare it! Zhang Xiao is second only to Jiang Yanxian among the hundred officials of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Propaganda Envoy. If you want to take up the post of Lingzhou magistrate, do you also feel that he has been demoted?"

"He is special, there is no comparison!"

"He is not special, what is special is the dispatching position, the prefect of Lingzhou and the prefect of Xiazhou, they are not ordinary state capitals, they are changed after Xixia destroyed the country, your important task is to transform Xixia into Song Dynasty, you understand What a difficult thing this is, the Xuan Fu envoy chose to appoint Zhang Xiao and you, which shows the Xuan Fu envoy's affirmation of your ability. If Lao Zhou and I were ten years younger, I am afraid that we would be the magistrates of Xiazhou."

Lu Wei sighed, "The Xuan Fu envoy asked you to appease me!"

Zhang Miao said with a smile: "The envoy Xuanfu saw that you were depressed, and knew that you were slow to react, so let me wake you up."

At this moment, Lu Wei refused to admit that he had something on his mind. He said angrily, "I'm awake! I just don't have confidence."

Chapter 712

Before dawn the next day, Lu Wei led [-] officials to prepare to appear. The [-] officials were a mix of old and new. The six older officials were almost in their thirties and had five or six years of experience. They were all county magistrates Or county captains, they will serve as county magistrates, and the fourteen are all young Jinshi, they will serve as county captains and bosses, and then state government officials.

Although the conditions in Xiazhou are difficult, these twenty officials are also lucky ones. After they serve as county officials for five years, they can come back and be promoted to a higher level.

They went to Xiazhou with [-] cavalry guards and [-] camels. These camels went north, of course, to transport food supplies to the south, and a large amount of food supplies were stored in Lingzhou. They would take at least half a year. to complete the delivery.

Chen Qing personally sent a group of officials out of the city. At the city gate, Chen Qing told Lu Wei and everyone: "The key to Xiazhou's success is to get the support of the Qiang people. I signed a detailed agreement with the Qiang people. You should study it carefully." Let’s take a look, what is the official Qiang and what is the autonomous Qiang? There are clear stipulations in the agreement, but in addition to strictly abiding by the agreement, you must also respect the Qiang people and deal with them fairly. There are many Qiang people in the city, and they are also the people of Sichuan and Shaanxi. If they have a conflict with the Han people, remember, don’t favor anyone, and deal with it fairly, not only to avoid the Qiang people’s arrogance, but also to prevent the Han people from bullying the weak.”

Lu Wei and all his subordinates clasped their fists together and said: "The teachings of the envoy Xuan Fu, I will bear in mind my humble position!"

Everyone set off, and Chen Qing watched them go away.

……

After Chen Qing returned from Xixia, he has been dealing with the funeral of the Battle of Xiaxia. Besides, what Chen Qing is most concerned about is the matter of Jingxiang, especially on the Jingnan South Road. Many of his soldiers are from Yuezhou As well as people from Jiangling Mansion, during the process of exterminating Yang Yao, he got along well with the people on South Jing South Road, even when he left Yuezhou and Jiangling Mansion, the people reluctantly saw him off.

Now that the people of Jinghu are in trouble, how can he stand by and watch?Moreover, if the banditry on South Jingnan Road is not quelled as soon as possible, once the banditry becomes a climate, it will become the second Yang Yao, which will seriously affect the business exchanges between Bashu and Jiangnan.

Therefore, Chen Qing fully agreed with Zhao Qiaoyun's plan. He also felt that Zhao Qiaoyun's plan was a little more conservative. On the second day after he came back, he ordered Yang Yuanqing to lead five thousand scout cavalry to take the Shangzhou Road and go south quickly. Yang Yuanqing was in charge of commanding Jingnan Water and land suppression of bandits.

Taking the Shangzhou Road was a shortcut. Four days later, when the army arrived in Xiangyang, Yang Yuanqing sent someone to send a letter from Chen Qing to Yue Fei, hoping to use the route to cross the border.

Yue Fei felt a little embarrassed when he received Chen Qing's letter. According to the imperial court's regulations, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Army's excuse for crossing the border must be approved by the imperial court before it can be implemented.

Although Chen Qing could be so domineering and ignore the court, Yue Fei couldn't do it. If he let Chen Qing's army pass through the border, he would be held accountable by the court.

Just when he was in a dilemma, it was also a coincidence that the special envoy of the imperial court, Orihiko, who came from Lin'an, happened to pass through Xiangyang and stayed overnight in the posthouse.

"Oh? Chen Qing's 5000-strong army is going to cross the border to Jinghu South Road?"

Orihiko was very surprised, "What are they doing on Jingnan South Road?"

Yue Fei handed Chen Qing's letter to Zhe Yanzhi, "Zhe Gong will know after reading it."

Orihiko took the letter, looked at it and said with a smile: "Chen Qing respects Yue Dutong very much! He uses honorifics in his words, and he has never been so polite to the court."

Yue Fei explained with a little embarrassment: "Actually, I have nothing to do with him, nor do I have any friendship. We just met him a few times."

Orihiko smiled and said: "No need to explain, Yue Dutong is an anti-gold general, he naturally respects it, and Han Dutong is the same."

Yue Fei sighed and said, "Although I want to help him and let their troops pass through the border, but the court's law is here, how can I explain it?"

Orihiko thought for a while and said: "Let's do this! Let General Yang write a new transit document. The number of troops on it should not be 5000, but 800. In this way, I will be the guarantee, so that they can cross the border to suppress bandits. "

"Why is it enough to write 800 people?" Yue Fei asked doubtfully.

Orihiko smiled and said: "There is a reason for this. I am a special envoy of the imperial court, and I can represent the imperial court, but not the emperor. Generally, as long as the army does not enter within 5000 miles of Lin'an, the imperial court approves the number of troops below 5000." , more than [-] people must be approved by the emperor."

Yue Fei nodded, "No wonder Zhegong asked him to underreport 200 people."

"Of course, we can't cheat and let him underreport 200 people. He also has to reduce 200 people and use the real 800 people to cross the border."

Yue Fei cupped his fists and said, "I understand!"

……

Yue Fei asked Yang Yuanqing to resubmit the transit documents to reduce the number to 800. Yang Yuanqing also cooperated and reduced the cavalry by [-], just in time for them to escort Orihiko to Jingzhao.

Yang Yuanqing passed through Xiangyang, went all the way south, and arrived at Jiangling Mansion two days later.

That night the army arrived at Longshan, [-] miles away from Jiangling, and the soldiers were exhausted. Yang Yuanqing ordered the whole army to rest on the spot.

The [-] cavalry are all scouts, and they are very capable of surviving in the wild. The soldiers made soup, fed the horses and rested, and a hundred scouts scattered around.

Yang Yuanqing had just had a few sips of steamed buns in soup when he saw a scout rushing over with two old men. When the old man saw Yang Yuanqing, he immediately went 'thump! Kneeling down, kowtowed and begged: "General, help me!"

Yang Yuanqing was taken aback, and quickly said: "What happened, please tell me!"

"General Qi, we are the people of Fangcheng Town. Just half an hour ago, a group of bandits surrounded our town, intending to loot the whole town and rob women. The two of us escaped and reported to Jiangling City for help."

"How many bandits are there?"

"There are four to five hundred people. The bandit leader is Liu Gui. He is a vicious bandit in Longshan. He has looted countless villages."

Longshan is the big mountain in front of them, with a radius of tens of miles and many peaks, it is indeed a hiding place for fallen grass.

Yang Yuanqing asked again: "Where is Fang Chengcheng?"

"Just ten miles to the northwest."

"Hmph! As the saying goes, rabbits don't eat grass beside their nests, but they even eat grass beside their nests?"

"The general doesn't know, Jinghu Lake is in chaos, there are bandits everywhere, and it doesn't matter if it's grass by the nest."

Yang Yuanqing stood up and ordered: "Order the whole army to assemble!"

……

Fangcheng Town is a middle town with about [-] households. At this time, in front of a land temple on the west side of the town, hundreds of bandits held torches and illuminated the surroundings like daylight. In the middle of the open space, hundreds of people knelt on the ground. Begging bitterly, more than a dozen girls were dragged out by them, squatting aside and covering their faces, weeping.

A tall man nearly seven feet tall was standing at the millstone and was viciously lecturing the people. This man was the bandit leader Liu Gui, who was originally a deputy commander under Liu Guangshi's tent.

After Liu Guangshi's left and right Wang Meng and Li Qiong were opposed by Zhang Jun, Liu Guangshi knew that the general situation was over, so he led [-] troops to surrender to Zhang Jun, but his troops stationed in various states and counties became leaderless, and each disbanded to fend for itself. After Zhang Jun withdrew his army and left, these self-sufficient troops began to loot their homes, and gradually formed dozens of thieves, wreaking havoc on Jingnan South Road.