Two days after Qiao Wu was beaten, the Western Army in Quanzhou received a pigeon message from Min County.
In the big tent, Liu Qiong handed the copy of the pigeon letter to Hu Yantong. Hu Yantong looked at it and said with a smile: "Wang Jiancheng is too impatient. Liu Ziyu started to take action just one day after he left, and his seizure of power was too obvious. This will make the following people
The general is disgusted."
"Why are you disgusted?"
Tang Qian was a little puzzled and said: "There is nothing wrong with Wang Jian's behavior! Usually he has to replace his own people as deputy generals, and the same is true in other places. Not killing Qiao Wu is already being generous."
Hu Yantong shook his head, "The situation in each place is different. The generals on Fujian Road have a strong sense of locality. To put it simply, they are xenophobic. You may not realize it when you first come here. I have a deeper understanding. These generals all use local
Conversations in local dialects and everything is spread within the local circle and will never be spread out.
Moreover, these people are very united. As long as a family is in trouble, almost all the generals from the same town will provide money to help. They say it is easy to manage, and they say it is troublesome. The key is that you have to surrender their leader, and then everyone else will be obedient.
Yes, but on the other hand, if you offend their leader, it will be difficult to control the others."
Liu Qiong smiled and said: "So it would be a mistake for Wang Jian to deal with Qiao Wu."
"right!"
Hu Yantong nodded, "If he uses the Central Plains method to deal with the Fujian generals, it won't work, and something will happen."
Tang Qian said to Liu Qiong: "This is an opportunity. We must take the opportunity to win over Qiao Wu. As long as Qiao Wu surrenders to us, then other generals will not be a problem."
Liu Qiong took out a letter and said with a slight smile: "This is His Highness's personal letter to Qiao Wu!"
Hu Yantong and Tang Qian looked at each other, with incredible expressions on their faces. Hu Yantong asked anxiously: "How could His Highness know in advance?"
Liu Qiong said calmly: "Actually, these are all part of His Highness's strategy to seize Fujian Road. Why do you think Liu Ziyu resigned? It was His Highness who used a divisive strategy in Lin'an to transfer Liu Ziyu away. The next step was to bribe Qiao Wu. Twenty thousand people from Fuzhou
The army is the disciples of Fujian Road. Killing them will affect His Highness' reputation in Fujian Road. It is best to focus on surrendering. Your Highness asked me to wait for the opportunity, but I didn't expect the opportunity to come so soon."
Because of the existence of Quanzhou, it was extremely easy for the Western Army to establish an intelligence point on Fujian Road. Almost all the Western Army's intelligence points in Min County were locals, and their penetration into Fuzhou officials and the military was pervasive. For example, after Liu Ziyu returned to Beijing to report on his work,
, the general magistrate Lin Huan was in charge of Fuzhou's government affairs. Lin Huan's family was a wealthy family in Quanzhou, so Lin Huan was naturally loyal to King Yong secretly.
This is the highest-ranking official. There are many other ordinary officials, big landowners, and big businessmen, not to mention these.
In addition, there were many people who had infiltrated the army, one of whom was Commander Li Hongdeng, who secretly reported the news to Quanzhou. It was Li Hongdeng who asked his subordinates to spread the news while eating soup cakes.
Li Hongdeng was from Tong'an County, Quanzhou, and had a very close relationship with Qiao Wu. At this time, he was in Qiao Wu's tent.
Qiao Wu almost died, but was finally rescued by a military doctor. He lay on the bed, depressed, and kept silent. In the past two days, senior generals kept visiting him. Everyone was angry and scolded Wang Jian for his despicable methods and for seizing power.
Such despicable means.
There were only Li Hongdeng and Qiao Wu in the big tent. Li Hongden whispered: "The new deputy general Wu Yao is harsh. He scolds and beats the brothers at will. The brothers are very dissatisfied with him."
Qiao Wu sighed and said: "They are outsiders and their ideas are different from ours. They always want to find opportunities to establish their power. Let everyone be careful and don't be taken advantage of."
"Brother, do you think we are opponents of the Western Army?"
Qiao Wu smiled bitterly and said: "We are all not fools. Isn't it obvious? If the Western Army wants to deal with us, it will be as easy as squeezing an ant to death. What's more, now everyone has seen the changes in Quanzhou. The taxes are only 30% of those in other states, and the prices are also low."
It’s cheap, and it’s easy to make money. You’re from Quanzhou, so you should feel it too!”
Li Hongdeng was silent for a moment and said: "Brother, after he recovers from his injury, do you plan to continue working for them?"
Qiao Wu looked at Li Hongdeng with a half-smile but said, "Have you secretly surrendered to the Western Army?"
Li Hongdeng sighed: "My parents, brothers, wife and children are all subjects of King Yong. Can I become an enemy of the Western Army again?"
Qiao Wu nodded lightly, "That's true. In fact, if Liu Dutong hadn't treated me so well, I might have gone to Quanzhou long ago."
"Actually, brother now has a rare opportunity, an enviable opportunity!"
Qiao Wu was startled, "What chance?"
Li Hongdeng took out the emperor's letter from his arms and placed it in front of Qiao Wu. When Qiao Wu saw the words on the letter clearly, his eyes widened and he said in a voiceless voice: "His Royal Highness King Yong!"
"His Royal Highness King Yong wrote to you personally, which is enviable!"
At this time, footsteps were heard outside. It was the military doctor who had arrived. Qiao Wu quickly hid the letter and gave Li Hongdeng a wink. Li Hongdeng stood up and walked outside the tent.
At nightfall, Qiao Wu asked his soldiers to invite Li Hongdeng, and asked the soldiers to retreat. They were the only two people left in the tent. Qiao Wu was silent for a moment and asked, "Do you have any contact with them?"
Li Hongdeng nodded, and Qiao Wu sighed and said: "Now I understand why the Western Army has not attacked for so long. His Highness King Yong sympathized with the soldiers of the three armies and could not bear to kill them. How can we not accept this kindness?"
After a pause, he slowly said to Li Hongdeng: "You can tell the other party for me that thanks to His Highness King Yong for looking up to me, I, Qiao Wu, have decided to do my best for His Highness King Yong!"
Time flew by and another half a month passed. That afternoon, the alarm bell suddenly sounded loudly above the town of Min County, "Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The whole city was shocked, and soldiers rushed to the top of the city. Wang Jian also went to the top of the south city and asked urgently: "What happened?"
"Reporting to the capital, a large number of warships were spotted on the river in the distance!"
Wang Jian was startled and quickly took a few steps forward, holding on to the city wall and looking to the southeast. He saw black spots on the river dozens of miles away, which were clearly large ships with thousands of stones.
Sure enough, they came from the waterway. Although Liu Ziyu told Wang Jian before that he did not advocate half-crossing to ambush the Western Army, Wang Jian was not so easily convinced.
He looked at the sky. It was already past noon, and the Western Army ships were still dozens of miles away. By the time the Western Army ships began to dock and unload their troops, it would probably already be night.
He immediately ordered: "Go and find the deputy general Wu!"
Not long after, Wu Yao hurried over, clasped his fists and saluted, "Please give me your orders!"
Wang Jian slowly said to him: "Tonight I will lead an army of 10,000 to attack the Western fleet and prevent them from landing. You can lead an army of 10,000 to defend the city. No one else is allowed to open the city gate except me.
!”
"I humbly obey orders!"
Wang Jian immediately ordered, 'The entire army has entered a wartime state, all vendors outside the camp will be driven away, and anyone who approaches the camp gate will be killed!'