On the canal, a large passenger ship was slowly heading north. Zhang Anqi and a group of his men followed on horseback on the shore, looking back to the south from time to time.
His deputy was Dong Shun, a warrior leader. He followed Zhang An to Lin'an with a dozen warriors.
"Uncle An, in fact, we can rescue the old lady and the young master, why do we need to ask the Western Army for help?" Dong Shun asked in confusion.
Zhang An glared at him, and seeing everyone looking at him, he slowly said: "The commander-in-chief is leaving a way out for himself, do you understand?"
It was then that everyone suddenly understood and no longer had any doubts.
At this time, the rapid sound of horse hooves came from behind, and a warrior shouted, "The pursuers are coming!"
Zhang An looked back and saw hundreds of cavalry chasing this way. Zhang An was waiting for them! He immediately ordered: "Retreat!"
He led his men to gallop on horseback, and gradually ran away. After a while, hundreds of cavalry rushed to the passenger ship. Yan Xin shouted: "Get to the shore! Get to the shore!"
The large passenger ship slowly docked, and Yan Xin shouted sharply: "Go up and search!"
Dozens of soldiers jumped on the boat to search. After a while, the soldiers reported, "To the commander-in-chief, there is no one in the boat!"
Yan Xin was furious, jumped on the boat, grabbed the boatman by the neck, and asked fiercely: "Where did the family members on the boat go?"
The boatman was so frightened that he said tremblingly: "They went ashore not long after leaving the city. There were old people, young people, and women. There were seven or eight of them."
Yan Xin suddenly realized that he had used the golden cicada's escape plan to escape a long time ago. He chased him for a long time and was fooled.
He kicked the boatman into the water hard and yelled, "Kill me with anger!"
........
There is a relatively deep alley near Sanqiao. In the innermost part is a single courtyard covering an area of two acres. It is very clean and has a small pier with a small river at its back.
Zhang An deceived Yan Xin using a trick that was difficult to distinguish between truth and fiction, making the court think that Zhang Jun's family papers had escaped from the city.
In fact, Zhang Jun's family records were still in the city, and they were placed in this single courtyard by Hu Yun. After waiting for a few days, and after the storm had passed, Hu Yun sent someone to send them to Huaixi.
At this time, Zhang An hurried back again. Of course, he could not completely hand over the lord's family records to the Western Army. He paid tribute to the old lady and his wife.
Zhang Junjiajuan and Zhang An were very familiar with each other, and she immediately felt at ease. The old lady asked, "What happened to make us escape in the middle of the night?"
Zhang An quickly said: "Reporting to the old lady, someone slandered the officials and said that I was going to rebel. The officials believed the slander and began to investigate the master. The master was afraid that they would put his family in prison, so he moved everyone overnight."
The old lady sighed and said, "I told him a long time ago that too much military power is not a good thing, but he didn't listen, and now the consequences are here."
"Don't worry, madam, I will let you go and everything will be fine."
"Zhang An, when will we leave the city?" asked Mrs. Zhang next to her.
"Reporting to Madam, in a few days, when the storm has passed, we will take an ox cart out of the city, and then take a boat outside the city to go north."
........
Two days later, Emperor Zhao Gou issued an order for Zhang Jun to come to Beijing to report on his duties, but Zhang Jun declined on the grounds that bandits were rampant.
In desperation, Zhao Gou ordered the Zhizhengtang to summon Hu Yun, the special envoy of King Yong, to discuss matters in Dangtu County.
Early in the morning, Hu Yun came to the Zhizhengtang. At present, in addition to Qin Hui and Zhu Shengfei as the right and left prime ministers, the Zhizhengtang also has two deputy prime ministers. One is Wan Qixi, who was promoted to participate in Zhizheng affairs last year, and the other was also promoted last year.
In the year of Huang Gui, who participated in the political affairs, together with Xu Xiantu, the privy affairs minister, there were a total of five prime ministers.
Qin Hui personally negotiated with Hu Yun. Qin Hui placed a stack of evidence in front of Hu Yun and said dissatisfied: "Dang Tu is actually controlled by the Western Army, and Feng Qianming, the magistrate of Tu County, is also a civilian officer of the Western Army. The evidence is conclusive. Special Envoy Hu cannot deny it!"
"
Hu Yundan smiled and said: "Dangtu County was originally a desolate small county. The Western Army invested a lot of money in its renovation. Now it is gradually prospering. The court does not thank us for our hard work, but instead accuses us. It is chilling!"
Qin Hui said angrily: "Dangtu County is the land of the imperial court. You occupied the separatist territory without the imperial court's permission and stationed troops. Do you want the imperial court to thank you?"
"The plaque of Qin Prime Minister's Palace in Jingzhao says Prince Yong's Palace of the Great Song Dynasty, and there is another sign next to it, 'The Secretary of the Xuanfu Envoy of the Great Song Dynasty, Sichuan and Shaanxi'. We are also ministers of the Song Dynasty, why can't we use the land of the Great Song Dynasty?
?If Qin Xiangguo does not allow us to use Dangtu County, then we don’t have to bear the false name of Song Dynasty."
"you....."
Qin Hui was so shocked that he couldn't say a word.
Zhu Shengfei tried to smooth things over by saying: "Envoy Hu has misunderstood. Qin Xiangguo is not saying that you will not be allowed to use it. He is just asking you to discuss it with the court first. After all, Dangtu County is not Sichuan and Shaanxi and is not under the jurisdiction of the Sichuan and Shaanxi Xuanfu Envoy.
When you go to someone else's garden to plant vegetables, you still have to say hello to the owner, isn't that right, Special Envoy Hu?"
Hu Yun laughed and said: "I can understand what Zhu Xiangguo said. What is the attitude of the emperor? Does he allow us to continue using it, or does he plan to drive us out of Dangtu?"
Qin Hui held back his anger and said: "The officials said that King Yong could rescue 20,000 soldiers and bring them back, and they did not make any excessive demands, so the officials allowed you to continue to use Dangtu County as a place to dock for supplies, but there is one problem
The condition is that no troops are allowed to be stationed or used for military purposes. If you can agree to this, you can continue to use it, which means that the three thousand troops must be withdrawn."
Hu Yun also became serious. He pondered for a moment and said: "What I need to explain is that the three thousand garrison is mainly to protect the safety of the warehouse and fleet. It has no other purpose. Without the army, our fleet and
The transit warehouse cannot guarantee safety, so appropriate troops must be available, but we can reduce the number of people."
"That can't exceed five hundred people at most!"
"Five hundred people are a little less, a thousand soldiers, and then you will be appointed magistrate of Tu County."
The bottom line for Emperor Zhao Gou was one thousand soldiers, and then he would pay a rent of ten thousand guan every year, but he did not consider the appointment of officials.
Qin Hui thought for a while and said, "I'll go ask the officials for instructions. If the officials agree, then there will be no problem."
"Okay! I'll wait for Qin Xianggong's reply."
........
Qin Hui hurried to the imperial study and reported the results of the negotiation with Hu Yun to Emperor Zhao Gou.
Zhao Gou has not yet thought clearly about what to do about Zhang Jun?
However, Zhao Gou's thinking was very clear on the issue of Dangtu County. He could not afford to offend the Western Army for the time being, so Zhao Gou could only choose to compromise and allow Chen Qing to be used for commercial purposes and large ships to dock for supplies, but it was never allowed to be used for military purposes.
Zhao Gou pondered for a moment and said, "A thousand garrison troops can be agreed, but not cavalry; secondly, the warships used by the army cannot exceed fifty, and the maximum cannot exceed one thousand stones; thirdly, we will appoint the magistrate of Tu County; fourthly,
Sign a lease agreement, and the other party will lease Dangtu Port and only need to pay the lease fee every year; fifth, they are leasing the port, and the county has nothing to do with them. These are my five requirements."
"Wei Chen knows, let's discuss it with the other party."
On behalf of King Yong, Hu Yun finally reached an agreement with the other party's Zhengshitang. This was also the power given to Hu Yun by Chen Qing. First, to keep Dangtu Port, and second, to garrison no less than 1,000 people. Beyond these two bottom lines,
All other details are decided by Hu Yun.
In addition to not allowing the imperial court to station troops in Dangtu County, Hu Yun agreed to several other conditions. As an additional condition, Zhao Gou also agreed that the passenger ships and merchant ships of the Yongwang Pavilion would be exempted from inspection and could enter and exit Lin'an City normally.
With this, Zhang Jun's family can successfully leave Lin'an on Hu Yun's boat.
The two sides signed an agreement that day. The Western Army agreed to reduce the garrison to 1,000 people and agreed to give up the county magistrate. The imperial court agreed that the Western Army would continue to use Dangtu County.
In fact, nothing has changed. One thousand troops stationed in Dangtu County are enough. If there are any special tasks, we can just increase the number of troops temporarily.
As for the county magistrate, whoever becomes the county magistrate is the same thing and will be won over by the Western Army.
The only change is that the Western Army can now legally use Dangtu County and no longer needs to give Zhang Jun 10,000 barrels of kerosene every year.
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[It will still be two chapters in a few years, and I will work hard on three chapters tomorrow.]