Chapter 621: State-owned villain

Li Mao of Jingxiang also had a 100,000 army, of which Li Mao led 30,000 troops to guard Xiangyang, and the remaining 70,000 troops stationed in various important places in Jingxiang, Jingzhou, Jiangxia, Baling and other strategic places, with heavy troops stationed. As he expanded eastward, he gradually occupied Lu, Shu and Shou states, his troops began to be short of strength and was obviously unable to cope with the increasingly larger territory.

To this end, Li Mao began to expand his army and ordered his confidant general Zhang Weijin to recruit soldiers in Lu, Shu and Shou. However, Geshuhan did not agree with the expansion of the army. He believed that the soldiers were in the elite but no more. Although there were many soldiers but no good generals, it was equivalent to a group of mobs. Li Mao was not allowed and insisted on recruiting troops.

Geshuhan also proposed a list of 500 officers, all of whom were following him for many years. He had rich experience and could be promoted to generals and commanded the new army.

Geshuhan's kindness was suspicious of Li Mao. He did not use any of the five hundred Longyou officers, but promoted hundreds of officers from the army of his confidants Zhang Weijin, Zhao Fengzhang and others and appointed them as generals, generals and generals. Most of these officers were mixed with fish and dragons, many of them were children of wealthy families in Jingxiang. They obtained officials by bribery. The military position was determined by the amount of money. For a time, fish and dragons were mixed with fish and dragons, and a large number of middle and senior officers emerged from the Jingxiang army.

This made Geshu Han extremely dissatisfied. In anger, he gave up the defense of Jingzhou and led his 10,000 troops back to Yuezhou to station. Li Mao had no choice but to send a central official to Yuezhou to appease Geshu Han and explain to him that the reason why he used Zhang Weijin and others as generals was mainly to consider winning over the Jingxiang Township Party. There was no other intention. Li Mao begged Geshu Han to put the army first.

But Geshuhan refused to give up. He wrote another letter to point out that Zhang Weijin and Zhao Fengzhang sold their official positions and made money, corrupting military discipline, and asked Li Mao to kill these two people to thank the soldiers of the three armies, otherwise he would never return to Jingzhou.

Li Mao had no choice but to write a letter to persuade Ge Shuhan that selling official positions and making money was just a stolen evidence, and he promised to investigate the matter strictly. Once it was verified, he would never tolerate it.

Then, Li Mao appointed more than 100 of his subordinates as Generals of the Central Army. Only then did Geshuhan calm down and returned to Jingzhou.

Although the matter calmed down, Geshuhan's self-help entrusting made Li Mao deeply afraid of him. Coupled with the instigation of Zhang Weijin and Zhao Fengzhang, Li Mao gradually developed murderous intentions towards Geshuhan.

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Zhang Weijin was a native of Xiangyang. He was originally a military commander under the Grand Governor's Office in Jingzhou. When Li Mao first arrived in Xiangyang, he gathered the remaining troops of several military commanders near Xiangyang. He won nearly two thousand troops and supported Li Mao as the king. Seeing that Li Mao was single, he gave his two cousins ​​to Li Mao as concubines. He thus gained Li Mao's trust and named him the General of the Cavalry and the Marshal of Jingbei. From then on, he became Li Mao's confidant general.

Zhang Weijin's family power gradually increased. His brother-in-law, Liu Qing, the former county magistrate of Gucheng County, Xiangzhou, was promoted to the prefect of Xiangzhou. His two younger brothers, brother-in-law and three cousins ​​also entered the army and were all named generals. His other clan brother was also promoted to the county magistrate of Xiangyang County, and the Zhang Weijin family gradually became the number one powerful in Xiangyang.

Zhang Weijin is about forty years old this year. She is burly, with a big beard and a loud voice, giving people a feeling of being generous, but he has a pair of small eyes. When he laughs generously, his eyes are full of treacherous and shrewdness.

Zhang Weijin has been recruiting soldiers in Shouzhou. He heard the news that the Jiannan army sent troops to Yiling and received a secret letter from his cousin Zhang Zhong. He hurried back to Xiangyang.

Zhang Weijin's mansion is not far from the Jingwang Mansion. It is a huge house covering an area of ​​nearly 100 acres, second only to the Jingwang Mansion. Therefore, there is a folk song in Xiangyang City saying, "Jingwang Mansion, Zhangwang Mansion, and Jingzhou Geshu stands sideways."

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’This folk song points out that among the forces of Jingxiang, Geshuhan’s power is no longer as powerful as Zhang Weijin.

That afternoon, the county magistrate of Xiangyang County Zhang Zhong brought a middle-aged man to Zhang Weijin's mansion. Zhang Zhong was Zhang Weijin's cousin, over thirty years old. He was originally a gangster on the streets of Xiangyang. He left his relationship with the county government three years ago and worked as a small toll, running errands, standing guard, etc. After Zhang Weijin's power rose sharply, he transformed from a small toll and became a county magistrate of Xiangyang County.

Zhang Zhong had no ambitions and was just to make more money when he became an official. The county magistrate was a fat man. He was in charge of the criminal security in Xiangyang City. He led a group of yamen runners to rush around the streets. When he saw a beautiful woman, he found a way to get it. When he saw someone disliked, he said it was a spy. He arrested him in the yamen and tortured him. When his family took money to redeem him, he even extorted Wuji. He bought money today and would tomorrow with insurance premiums. At the end of the month, he had a lot of money. In just half a year, he had made more than 20,000 yuan in money. He was so mean. Countless people ran to the county magistrate to complain, but the county magistrate was too late to flatter the Zhang family. The prefect was Zhang Weijin's brother-in-law, and he pretended to be deaf and dumb.

Without the constraints of the law and without moral bottom line, Zhang Zhong naturally made money even more crazier, and his only ideal was to enjoy these wealth comfortably after making money. Therefore, whether it is the Southern Tang or the Northern Tang, for him, he may be the uncle he will surrender to in the future.

A few days ago, a mysterious guest came to Zhang Zhong's house. He was Yang Shenjin, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Yang Shenjin turned out to be the Minister of Rites and the Prime Minister of the Political Affairs Hall of the Tang Empire. In Zhang Zhong's eyes, he was a man of high power. Of course, Yang Shenjin did not come to him, but asked him to recommend him to Zhang Weijin. Zhang Zhong immediately wrote a letter to tell Zhang Weijin. Today, he heard that his elder brother was back, so he immediately brought Yang Shenjin to see him.

Zhang Zhong brought Yang Shenjin to Zhang Weijin's door, nodded and bowed to him, "Mr. Yang, please wait for a while, I'll report to you now."

Yang Shenjin nodded and smiled, "I'm here, go!"

He stood in front of Zhang's mansion with his hands behind his back, looking coldly at the Jing Prince's Mansion not far away. It was built with a magnificent and magnificent style than the Southern Tang Palace. Li Mao was really impatient to live.

After a moment, Zhang Zhong ran out and smiled and said, "Mr. Yang, please follow me, my elder brother, please come in."

He took Yang Shenjin and walked quickly into the mansion.

Zhang Weijin was going to see Li Mao in the afternoon to report on the recruitment of new recruits. When he heard that Yang Shenjin was coming, he immediately became a little nervous. He knew that the Southern Tang had already stationed heavily in Yiling. Yang Shenjin's arrival at this time was undoubtedly related to the current situation. He did not dare to be careless and ordered Zhang Zhong to take Yang Shenjin to his inner room to meet.

After a moment, Zhang Zhong led Yang Shenjin into the inner room. Three years ago, when Yang Shenjin was on the envoy to Jingxiang, he met Zhang Weijin. As soon as he entered the door, Yang Shenjin smiled and bowed, "General Zhang, I haven't seen him for many years, so how good is it?"

Zhang Weijin also replied with a smile: "It turns out to be Mr. Yang. I'm rude. Please sit down!"

Yang Shenjin was not polite and sat down directly opposite him. Zhang Weijin gave Zhang Zhong a wink, and Zhang Zhong withdrew and closed the door.

"How could Mr. Yang think of coming to see me at this time?"

Yang Shenjin smiled slightly and said, "I came here this time to give General Zhang a wealth and honor, and to save General Zhang's life."

"Save my life?" Zhang Weijin was stunned. He asked quickly, "How do you say this?"

"Do you still remember the letter that General Zhang wrote to Ji Guangchen?"

Yang Shenjin's words seemed to have uncovered the shell of Zhang Weijin's most secret, revealing his secrets all at once.

Zhang Weijin and Ji Guangchen had a good relationship. More than half a year ago, the Northern Tang Army attacked Henan. Ji Guangchen wanted to use the Jingxiang Army to jointly resist the Northern Tang Army. He once wrote a letter to Zhang Weijin, promising that as long as Zhang Weijin helped him, he would recommend Zhang Weijin to the Southern Tang Emperor Li Heng for Zhang Weijin.

At that time, Zhang Weijin was dizzy and actually replied to Ji Guangchen. The letter said that as long as Li Heng was willing to grant him the prince, he would not only send troops to help Ji Guangchen, but also use Li Mao's head as a birthday gift to Li Heng.

But their alliance failed. Soon, news came that Ji Guangchen's entire army was annihilated. His letter was not known whereabouts, and the sender did not know whether he was alive or dead. Zhang Weijin had always regretted this matter. As time passed, the letter had never been mentioned. He thought that the matter was gone, but he did not expect that it would be suddenly exposed at this time.

Zhang Weijin's face suddenly swelled into purple-red. He pressed the hilt of the sword with his hand and stared at Yang Shenjin and said word by word: "Mr. Yang, what do you mean?"

Zhang Weijin didn't know that before his sender arrived in Zhengzhou, Ji Guangchen's troops were wiped out. The sender secretly read the letter and thought that the strange goods were a habitable, so he turned around and went to Chengdu and presented the letter to Li Heng.

Yang Shenjin calmly took out a letter and handed it to Zhang Weijin and said, "This letter is just a copy. If General Zhang wants to kill me to silence me, the original will be delivered to Li Mao's desk immediately. Should General Zhang commit suicide or want to be rich and powerful? Which one is more important? General Zhang decides for himself!"

Zhang Weijin's hand holding the hilt of the sword slowly loosened, and he gradually regained his rationality. He realized that the person in front of him could not be killed. He took the letter and put it on the table for a while, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, God's will!

He asked in a deep voice: "What kind of wealth does the Master of Nan Tang want to send me?"

Yang Shenjin was confident. Since Zhang Weijin had the intention to kill Li Mao and defect to the Southern Tang Dynasty in his heart, he would not be afraid that he would not submit as long as he made a lot of money.

He took out another gift list and handed it to Zhang Weijin and said, "General Zhang, let's take a look first!"

Zhang Weijin glanced at it and saw that there were tens of thousands of taels of gold, a box of jewelry and jade, and fifty beauties in Bashu. He nodded secretly. He was satisfied with the beauties of money, but he didn't write the things he wanted more. He pushed the gift list back and shook his head and said, "Mr. Yang, I don't want these things."

Yang Shenjin knew it well, so he pushed the gift list back and smiled faintly, "This is just a little reward from His Majesty to the General, not a formal title."

“哦!那正式封爵是．．．．．．”

Yang Shenjin pulled out a secret decree from his sleeve and said loudly: "The imperial decree is here, Zhang Weijin accepts the decree!"
Chapter completed!