Chapter 258: The Change of Feng Xiang (Part 2)

In the early morning, nearly a hundred cavalry guarded Li Mo out of the military camp and galloped towards his mansion. He had just received the news that someone set fire to his mansion last night, burning more than 20 houses, and many people were killed or injured. Li Mo immediately ordered the city gate to close and no one was allowed to enter and exit.

If you use one word to describe Li Mo's mood at this time, it is "sadness". His anger had long passed. When he learned that Han Qing impeached him, his anger almost overturned the tent, and the roar could be heard for miles. At that moment, anger that was betrayed by the trusted person almost burned his whole body and mind.

But now the anger has been extinguished, and time has blown away the fog, revealing the truth he could not see before. From beginning to end, when will Han Qing be loyal to him? Cui Yu is weak and powerless, Pei Jun is showing ferociousness, Cui Xiaofu is taking advantage of the situation, and when will he know the scenes of the power scene?

Reality made Li Mo so cold, and in the end he was left with endless sadness. Could it be that he had cast a wrong master?

"General, it has arrived." Seeing that he looked a little dull, a personal soldier seemed to have not realized that he had arrived at home, he quietly reminded him.

Li Mo immediately slowed down his horse and then turned over and got off the horse. There was no one around the mansion. Hundreds of soldiers who arrived earlier were sorting out the burned buildings, with piles of burnt wood, scattered furniture and blackened bricks and stones everywhere.

Li Mo walked into the mansion with a blue face. The mansion was also in chaos. The open space covered with water stains was piled with all kinds of debris. The servants all had panic on their faces.

"Where is the madam?" Li Mo asked in a hoarse voice.

The housekeeper hurriedly came up to report, "Mrs. I went to the temple early in the morning."

"Please be a waste of money for those mud-tied bodies!" Li Mo was furious all of a sudden. He kicked open a copper basin that blocked the road, and said angrily: "Put it all away, who dares to take something privately? I'll peel it."

The housekeeper was so scared that his heart was almost stopped beating, and he hurriedly led the servants to carry the items. In the chaos, no one noticed that an extremely majestic soldier quietly crept into the sergeant who had cleared the ruins.

Li Mo was depressed. He walked into the lobby and sat down. While drinking tea, he thought about his strategies for dealing with the censor. Fortunately, the incident happened two years ago. It was a long time ago and there was no evidence to prove that he was not in the camp at that time. He could completely blame the subordinates for concealing the truth. He was waiting for everything at that time, so how could he be cloned to pursue deserters personally? Several officers could also hide it for him. See who dared to help Han Qing, "Damn it!" Thinking of Han Qing, Li Mo couldn't help but curse.

At this moment, a sudden sound of running came from outside the door, and someone shouted, "General, the imperial censor has arrived!"

"It's coming so fast!" Li Mo was shocked. When he looked up, he saw a strong soldier running in quickly with a letter. "This is a secret letter from the censor to the general, and he has something to tell the general."

Several personal soldiers next to him were about to stop him, but they heard the censor say something to tell him, and they stopped and stared at him vigilantly. The soldier knelt down on his left knee, gave a standard military salute, held the letter above his head, and said in a muffled voice: "This is the letter of Censor Liao."

A personal soldier handed the letter to Li Mo. Li Mo asked while tearing open the letter skin, "What else do he have?"

"He said he hoped to interview the general, and......."

When he said the words "there are still", Li Mo had already opened the letter, and there were only four bright red characters in the letter, "Be careful!"

Li Mo subconsciously raised his head, and at this moment, a cold light flew out of the soldier's mouth and shot into Li Mo's throat. The soldier raised his eyes and a gloomy sneer flashed.

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"General, the censor has arrived, please open the city gate!" A late report echoed over Li Mo's mansion for a long time.

In Chang'an, the strong aroma of porridge permeates the streets and alleys of the Laba Festival. After the Laba Festival, the New Year's pace can be vaguely heard. This year's situation is a relatively bleak year in Chang'an. In December, a piece of news quietly spread in Chang'an. Cui Qinggong, Huaibei, has completely cut off the grain transportation, and the government's grain storage has been less than a month.

The price of grain suddenly rose sharply, and the rice price was worth 500 yuan. It is said that it would rise to a thousand yuan of rice in the New Year. Many people's rice jars have bottomed out, and Laba Festival has really become a fig cloth.

In this way, the word "rice" became a burden that the people of Chang'an could not bear. A trace of food could arouse a commotion among millions of people.

In the early morning of December 8, a grain carriage consisting of nearly a thousand horse-drawn carriages drove into the Golden Light Gate west of Chang'an. Each grain carriage had a pennant flag with the words "Longyou" written on it.

The news was like long wings, and it spread throughout the city in an instant. Hundreds of thousands of Chang'an people flocked out. They helped the elderly and the young, and stumbled from all directions. Two thousand cavalry guarded the grain trucks on both sides of the street and slowly moved forward on Chunming Street. From time to time, bursts of fierce applause broke out, "Dear villagers, my governor will send millions of stones of grain to Beijing before the New Year."

Every time the ration officer announced loudly, it would arouse a tsunami response. Countless people shed tears of excitement, and some even raised their arms and shouted, "Long live the envoy Zhang!"

When the pressure of life has far exceeded the dignity of life, at this moment, it is no longer important for Zhu Li to rebel. Cui Qinggong's separatist rule has been thrown behind, and the recovery of the former land of Anxi has become very far away. In the face of the food that maintains life, Zhang Huan's reputation has never been as high as it is today.

When the convoy arrived at the Zhuque Gate, Pei Jun led hundreds of officials to personally welcome the arrival of the grain truck. Du Mei, who was in front of the team, turned over and dismounted and quickly stepped forward to salute Pei Junshen, "Report to the Prime Minister, the first batch of 50,000 stones of grain in Longyou have been delivered."

Pei Jun met Du Mei, and he quickly smiled and bowed, "Mr. Du has worked hard all the way."

Pei Jun walked to the grain truck, slapped the thick grain bags heavily, and sighed secretly. It was just for their arrival that he had made countless concessions.

"Prime Minister, we originally planned to take the water route, but the Wei River has frozen and can only be transported by grain trucks. The governor means that if the court can provide a transport carriage, we will strive to send millions of stones to Beijing before the New Year."

"It's hard for Mr. Zhang to think so thoughtfully. I will go to Taifu Temple to handle this matter." Pei Jun nodded with a smile, and turned around and ordered Fang Zongyan, the minister of Taifu Temple, and said, "Transfer the grain directly to Changping Warehouse and calm the grain prices in Chang'an first."

Fang Zongyan agreed and immediately went up to go through the handover procedures with Du Mei. Pei Jun briefly explained a few more words, then boarded the carriage and returned to the Daming Palace. Soon, the rice price in Chang'an had quietly dropped to 200 ciders per dou.

"Prime Minister, have you heard that someone is shouting long live?" Pei Jun was in the room. Wang Ang, Minister of Works, looked angry. His eyes could no longer hide his jealousy. He slapped the table hard and said, "This person is clearly buying the hearts of the people. We must not tolerate him being so presumptuous!"

If Wang Ang thinks that he is the luckiest thing in his life, it is that his son did not marry Cui Ning. Although his daughter eventually married Cui Xiong, it has nothing to do with Cui Yuan after all.

Three years ago, since Cui Yuan fell, Wang Ang resolutely surrendered to Pei Jun and became his loyal dog. Wang Ang was fickle, but one thing he always insisted on was his jealousy of Zhang Huan. As early as when Zhang Huan first entered the court, he had a deep hatred towards Zhang Huan. This hatred first originated from the change of the heirs of the Zhang family head. It was a bit like wine. As time went by, it became more mellow.

Although he hated Zhang Huan to the core, Wang Ang knew it himself. Zhang Huan was already powerful and he could not provoke him. He buried this hatred in his heart and rarely showed it. Until twenty days ago, a mysterious fleet attacked the garrison in Yidu. Wang Ang immediately guessed that this could only be the army sent by Zhang Huan from Shu.

It was like a spark was thrown into a tank filled with tinder oil, and the anger that had been accumulated for too long suddenly erupted.

The explosion of tincture cannot hurt Pei Jun a little bit. Pei Jun seemed to have an invisible wall beside him, which bounced all of Wang Ang's anger back.

He was reviewing the memorials with a calm attitude and a calm expression, not affected by Wang Ang's anger at all. He also pondered the words in the memorials from time to time. Did he really not take Wang Ang's words to heart?

No! Of course not. When the Hedong Secret Letter was sent from Changhua County, Pei Jun fully understood Zhang Huan's true intention and the truth of the so-called assassination incident. The stupid Zhu Li became a stepping stone for others to move upward.

Zhang Huan wanted to seize Feng Xiang legally, and the ultimate goal was the third of the three conditions he proposed: "Ministry of War"

Immediately afterwards, the memorial of Han Qing's impeachment of Li Mo also arrived. A complete and thorough plan was clearly placed in front of Pei Jun. He was assassinated - Hanzhong turmoil - Longyou sent troops - Huaibei - Pei's army went east - Changhua County immigrants - Li Mo was impeached. The careful plan made Pei Jun amazed, as if it was an extremely exquisite piece of porcelain that he couldn't bear to break.

In fact, a grain problem and a Hanzhong problem are like two ropes that have tied his left and right hands firmly, and then, Zhang Huan calmly made this exquisite porcelain in front of him.

Wang Ang in front of him was just a fly buzzing in his ear.

After writing the last sentence, Pei Jun put down his pen, smiled at Wang Ang and said, "Has Wang Shangshu received Zhang Potian's invitation?"

Wang Ang was stunned by the incorrect sentence. He immediately realized that Pei Jun didn't want to talk about Zhang Huan's affairs, 'Do you want to ride a horse for a little food?' Wang Ang cursed in his heart, but his face was filled with smiles: "Of course I received it, it seems......"

Wang Ang was trying hard to recall the invitation letter he threw in the toilet. How many days was it?

"December 17th." Pei Jun said lightly: "It is the day of the five-year burial of Zhang Ruohao."

Wang Ang walked out of the gate of the Secretariat in despair. The bright sunlight outside made his eyes unable to open. He stood on the steps and was stunned for a while before walking listlessly towards the sedan chair parked under the steps.

'The Zhang family and the Wang family are family friends. Wang Shangshu will go and see that day!' Pei Jun's cold words seemed to echo in his ears, 'Bah! Hypocrisy', Wang Ang couldn't help but spat fiercely. Didn't he support a Zhang family in Taiyuan?

"Get up the sedan chair and go back to the house!" Wang Ang got into the sedan chair and had no intention of going back to the convention room.

The four sedan chairmen lifted the sedan chair and just walked two steps. Wang Ang saw several soldiers running towards him from a distance from the sedan window. The leader was holding a red message tube in his hand. He was stunned. It was the Eight Hundred Miles Emergency Military Newspaper.

"Stop!"

Wang Ang quickly walked out of the sedan chair and stopped the informant soldiers, "What's wrong?"

The head of the newsman said panting: "There was a big deal in Fengxiang, and the governor Li Mo committed suicide due to crime. His confidant launched a riot in the city, and even Liao Zhongcheng was killed by them."

"What!" Wang Ang was shocked. How could a military chaos occur in Guanzhong? He hurriedly shouted: "What's the situation now?"

"Zhangshu Zhang, who is in Fengxiang, has led his army to quell the riots, and all the generals participating in the riots have been suppressed."

The fear on Wang Ang's face suddenly turned into a dumbfounded moment. He stood there for a while, suddenly jumped up suddenly, grabbed the message tube, turned around and ran up the steps.

"The prime minister, Fengxiang has something big happens!"

On the sixth day of the 12th month of the sixth year of Xuanren, Li Mo, the governor of Fengxiang, committed suicide due to crime, triggering riots in the Fengxiang army. Liao Hui, the chief censor who was investigating the Li Mo deception case in Fengxiang, was unfortunately killed. Zhang Huan, the governor of Longyou, who was confronting Zhu Li in Hanzhong, immediately led an army of 20,000 from Chencang County to quell the rebellion, quelling the rebellion, and publicly killed more than 300 officers and soldiers involved in the rebellion, burning, killing and looting.

When the news reached Chang'an, the court commended Zhang Huan and Longyou Army who quelled the rebellion in a timely manner, and appointed him as General of the Cavalry with a fief of 5,000 households, and appointed Han Qing as the new governor of Fengxiang Army.

Soon, the situation in Hanzhong finally calmed down due to Zhu Li's apology. Cui Qinggong from Huaibei finally did not attack Huainan. With a heavy snowfall, he fell on the land of Guanzhong. The 50,000 Longyou army officially left Guanzhong and returned to Kaiyang County and Longxi County. In mid-December, Zhang Huan came to Chang'an again.

Just as the situation in Hanzhong gradually subsided, Cui Qinggong from Huaibei was forced to give up the idea of ​​seizing Huainan. On the one hand, although he was afraid of Pei Jun's 80,000 army pointing his sword to his back, and on the other hand, because Zhang Huan actually sent 30,000 expeditionary troops from Bashu to assist in the war, Cui Qinggong realized that Zhang Huan was most likely to join forces with Pei Jun. He immediately dispersed the gathering army to various places and wrote to the court, willing to go to Beijing to report his duties. A war that was about to break out disappeared.

After the Huainan crisis was resolved, Lin Jiuhan led the fleet back according to the original plan. On that day, the fleet arrived in Baling County (now Yueyang) and began to slowly dock towards Baling County.

Three hundred large ships gathered on the river, with white sails like clouds and a spectacular and vast momentum, attracting thousands of people in Baling County to watch the fun. When they saw that it was not cargo that was coming off the ship, but teams of fully armed soldiers, some people began to be afraid to retreat. The yamen runners who managed the dock had already rushed into the county town and reported to the county magistrate and the governor, and dozens of soldiers responsible for collecting taxes also quietly ran to the military camp stationed in Baling County.

Like Yidu, due to its important strategic position, Baling County also has a thousand garrisons of the Wang family. In a small town about five miles away from the riverside, except for these thousand garrisons, there is no more power from the Wang family in the surrounding counties. Changsha County and Wuling County west of Dongting Lake are all ordinary regiment training troops, led by the governor and responsible for local security.

For a whole morning, three hundred large ships were connecting and sending soldiers ashore and unloading various military supplies. It was not until noon that all 30,000 soldiers arrived ashore and began to build temporary military camps in the wide area.

At this moment, the dock was full of black soldiers. They rectified their queues and carried supplies, busy in a nervous and orderly manner, but silent. Most of the onlookers were frightened and fled back to the city. It was no wonder that since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has never been a war here. The Anshi Rebellion mainly occurred in the Yellow River Basin. Not to mention young people in the city, even the oldest people had never seen such a huge army. Only a dozen brave young people hid in the trees and secretly observed the movements of the army behind the stone, but their eyes were filled with envy.

Lin Jiuhan's boat was the last batch of docks. His feet finally stepped onto the solid land, but his body was still light, as if he was still floating on the water. After a long time, he gradually got used to the feeling on land.

"General, the governor of Baling County and the county magistrate are here." A soldier pointed his hand and saw that two miles away, several local officials were walking towards this side, accompanied by dozens of followers. It had just rained here last night, and the ground was very muddy. After a long time, several officials were led to Lin Jiuhan with the hem of their official robes.

Baling County is a Xiajun county with a population of more than 50,000. The governor’s surname is Liu, who was over 30 years old. He was a Jinshi in the tenth year of Qingzhi. Strictly speaking, he was not an outsider. He was the fifth son-in-law of Changsun Nanfang. Not long ago, he returned to Chang'an to celebrate his father-in-law's birthday. He only returned to the county with his wife two days ago.

Changsun Nanfang was Cui Yuan's brother-in-law, so the governor Liu claimed to be Cui Dang. In the past two years, Cui Dang fell and the Pei Dang rose. He kept thinking about how to incorporate himself into Pei Dang. However, the genealogy has nothing to do with the word "Pei".

Governor Liu went to the front to give a deep greeting, "Liu Yuan, the governor of Baling County, welcome the general to rest in our county." He spoke a verbal speech in the capital, hoping to arouse the homesickness of this big general.

The capital of governor Liu did arouse Lin Jiuhan's homesickness. He stretched out his big hand and pressed the thin shoulders heavily, stared at his eyes, and said in a straightforward Beijing dialect: "Don't worry, in the days to come, yours will be indispensable if you have a mouthful of your brother."

Governor Liu was almost so scared that he fainted. After a long time, he stuttered: "General, what does the general mean?" In a hurry, the Beijing language turned into obscure Baling dialect again.

Lin Jiuhan smiled cheerfully, "It's nothing. We heard that there are many bandits here, so we were ordered to suppress the bandits and returned three to five years later."

It will take three to five years to return, and governor Liu's eyes turned green. He hurriedly explained: "But, there are no mountains here, let alone bandits, generals, have the general come to the wrong place?"

"Who said no, isn't it here?" Lin Jiuhan pointed to the official road in the distance, and saw dozens of war horses appearing on the official road, and immediately there were officers and soldiers in full armor.

The governor Liu and the county magistrate looked at each other. After a while, the county magistrate stepped forward and bowed and said, "General, that's not a bandit, that's the Shannan Army. We have a thousand Shannan troops here."

Lin Jiuhan laughed to the sky, "The bandits I'm talking about are them."

He waved his hand and shouted: "Brothers, search the guys, and follow me to drive these bandits across the river."

In Jincheng County, Zhang Huan's mansion was busy in front of Zhang Huan's mansion. More than a dozen carriages lined up in a long row. Nearly a hundred soldiers were carrying cages to the carriage. On the steps, Pei Ying was commanding several soldiers to carry out a large bamboo box.
To be continued...