In the blink of an eye, it was mid-December, and there was a heavy snowfall in Lin'an. The West Lake also froze, and the entire Lin'an Prefecture became a world covered with snow.
At noon that day, two horse-riding sergeants entered Lin'an City. They were the soldiers sent by Chen Qing to deliver letters to Lin'an. Chen Qing's letter was more important and it was inconvenient to pass through the government post station, so he decided to let the soldiers travel thousands of miles.
One trip.
Two cavalrymen and four horses traveled for more than a month before arriving in Lin'an. This was relatively fast. For ordinary traders, it would have taken at least two months.
The streets are full of soldiers and ordinary people sweeping snow. If the snow is not swept away in time, it will turn into mud if the wheels run over it.
Groups of children ran happily on the streets, making snowmen and having snowball fights. The city was filled with New Year's joy. The previous tragic defeat of the Song Army in Huaibei had been diluted by the New Year's atmosphere.
Two sergeants led their horses to the gate of the Lu Mansion. The second housekeeper of the Lu Mansion was instructing several servants to clear the snow at the door. A sergeant stepped forward and clasped his fists and said, "Is this the residence of Mr. Lu?"
The housekeeper glanced at them and nodded, "This is Prime Minister Lu's Mansion. What do you two want?"
The sergeant took out the military badge and handed it over and said: "We came from Qinzhou to deliver a message to Xianggong Lu on the orders of my family's capital commander!"
It turned out that my uncle had sent someone to deliver a message. The housekeeper said quickly: "You two, please follow me into the house. Just leave the horses to the servants."
The two sergeants took off their leather bags, handed the four horses to the servants, and followed the steward into the gate.
The housekeeper took them to a room in the outer house to warm themselves by the fire and rest, and arranged for the maid to prepare meals and hot tea. He took Chen Qing's token and walked quickly to the inner house.
Coincidentally, today is a holiday and the heavy snow has stopped for the first time. It is rare for Lu Yihao to rest at home.
Lu Yihao was wearing a soft cotton robe and was sitting comfortably in front of the fire pot, drinking tea and reading a book. Two little maids stood behind him, gently beating his shoulders.
At this time, the second housekeeper reported at the door, "Master, Aunt Sun has sent someone from Qinzhou to deliver a letter."
Lu Yihao became energetic and asked quickly: "Where is the letter?"
"They said they had to get the letter into your hands."
The butler came in and handed over the token, "This is their proof of identity!"
Lu Yihao quickly waved his hand and said: "Please invite them in quickly!"
In the past two days, Lu Yihao was planning to send someone to Qinzhou, firstly to see his granddaughter, and secondly to understand the situation in Qinzhou. Just a few days ago, the Chengdu Prefecture sent someone to send a letter to the court, saying that Chen Qing was recruiting in Bashu.
Ten thousand strong men and thousands of common people.
Qin Hui and Zhu Shengfei immediately made a fuss about this matter, and the officials also asked themselves, Lu Yihao really didn't know what was going on?
However, Li Jiong, the general magistrate of Chengdu, was his relative. With him around, the memorial written by the Chengdu government must have concealed a lot. Lu Yihao vaguely guessed that Chen Qing should be recruiting troops in Bashu, rather than simply recruiting strong men.
He believed that Chen Qing was a rational man and would not go to Bashu to recruit soldiers unless he had to, thereby attracting the attention of the court. It was estimated that the recruiting potential of the states along Xihe Road had been exhausted.
At this time, two messengers were led into the study. They bowed and saluted, "See Mr. Lu!"
"No need to be polite, where is your letter from Tutong?"
A soldier took out a leather bag from his arms and took out two documents from it, one was a letter to Lu Yihao and the other was Chen Qing's memorial to the Privy Council, and they were presented to Lu Yihao.
Lu Yihao hurriedly read the letter, and he probably understood the meaning. Chen Qing was recruiting militiamen from the northwest in Bashu. They were soldiers, but not regular troops. He also made it very clear in the letter for the reason that Xixia's 100,000-strong army was pressing on the border. He
The army was seriously short of troops and had to recruit 40,000 troops before the beginning of spring. The Han population in Xihe Road was too small and the supply of soldiers was exhausted. They could only look for soldiers among the northwest immigrants from Bashu.
Lu Yihao nodded. He knew about Chen Qing's military strength. Initially, 18,000 troops rushed to the northwest. After several battles, there must have been a lot of casualties. They then recruited 30,000 troops again, and at least nearly 20,000 troops were recruited.
This requires at least a population of 300,000 to have a troop source of about 20,000.
The population in the northwest is too small, which has reached its limit. No wonder Chen Qing wants to go to Bashu to recruit troops.
Lu Yihao looked at the memorial written by Chen Qing to the imperial court again, and found out that it was interesting. Chen Qing did not mention recruiting soldiers at all, but only said that he was recruiting strong men to reclaim wasteland and place them in the Tao River Valley.
"This kid is really good at making excuses!"
Lu Yihao put away the memorial and asked again: "How is Mrs. Dutong's condition? Why was she born?"
The soldier bowed and said: "Madam is in good condition. She walks slowly around the house twice every day. She looks very good. I heard that she is going to give birth in the next few days. We set off a month ago, and the recent situation is not the same.
understood."
"I understand. You go down and have a good rest for two days. I will write a letter later and you can take it back to Qinzhou."
The housekeeper took the two soldiers down to rest.
Lu Yihao paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his hands. In fact, Chen Qing's problem was not big. He was a military envoy with an army of 30,000. It was normal to have 10,000 more logistics soldiers. There was no problem at all in recruiting militia groups from each state.
The army is not the problem. Chen Qing's problem is the appointment of local officials. He has been back to the northwest for a year, but up to now, no appointment record of local officials has been sent to the Ministry of Personnel. This is a bit unreasonable. Lu Yihao is really worried about the officials.
A supervisory army will be sent there. At that time, many of Chen Qing's powers will be restricted.
After all, he is his grandson-in-law! Who will help him if he doesn’t help him?
Lu Yihao pondered for a long time. He had to ask Zhang Jun for help in this matter. If Zhang Jun supported it, and Privy Councilor Xu Xiantu would give him another favor, then the proposal to send supervisory troops would fail in the Zhizheng Hall first, and then he would find a way to persuade the emperor.
Even if Qin Hui is the Right Prime Minister, there is nothing he can do.
Thinking of this, Lu Yihao immediately ordered: "Prepare the carriage, I'm going to Mr. Zhang's house!"
...........
Early the next morning, Chen Qing's memorial was transferred to the emperor's imperial case by the Privy Council. Chen Qing was the governor, so he could directly submit the memorial to the emperor, or he could discuss it through the Zhizheng Hall and then submit it to the emperor. After all, Chen Qing also
He is in charge of government affairs on Xihe Road. Since he is in charge of government affairs, he cannot escape the interference of Zhi Zheng Tang.
However, with Lu Yihao's operation, the Privy Council directly forwarded the memorial to the emperor.
As Lu Yihao expected, in the morning, the official Zhao Gou summoned him to the Ziwei Side Hall for an audience.
Lu Yihao hurried to the Ziwei side hall and found that several ministers had arrived. He bowed to the emperor Zhao Gou and sat down in his seat next to him. Soon, the main officials from the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household arrived.
This is a small-scale court meeting!
Zhao Gou picked up Chen Qing's memorial and asked Lu Yihao: "Did Xianggong Lu transfer Chen Qing's memorial to the Privy Council?"
According to the normal process, each state and local government should have a memorial hall in Lin'an, which is equivalent to the office in Beijing. Memorials from all localities are first sent to the local memorial hall, and then sent to the relevant departments by the Jinzou Palace. This originally
It was made in the Tang Dynasty and was inherited by the Song Dynasty.
However, Xihe Road did not have a memorial hall in the capital, so Chen Qing's memorial had to be handed over to Xianggong Lu Yihao. There was no problem in public or private matters.
Lu Yihao said calmly, "Xihe Road did not go to the memorial hall in Lin'an. Yesterday happened to be the imperial court's break, so the soldiers who delivered the message had to deliver it to Wei Chen's house first."
Zhao Gou accused Lu Yihao of saying that he just wanted to get Xihe Road back on track as soon as possible.
"Then we have to solve the first problem. Jinzou Yuan must be established on Xihe Road. Do you think it should be established separately, or should it be merged into the Jinzou Yuan of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Department in Lin'an?"
Zhu Shengfei stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I think it is more appropriate to merge it into the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Division. After all, Xihe Road was originally under the jurisdiction of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Division."
This is giving Chen Qing eye drops! Find a boss for Chen Qing, and the appointment of officials in the future must be decided by the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Department.
Zhang Jun sneered and said: "Xiangong Zhu is talking nonsense! Can the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Department take care of Xihe Road when it is very busy? When I was appointed as the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Department, I could not take care of Xihe Road. How could it be that Zhu
When Xianggong became the father-in-law, the power of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Division was expanded?"
Qin Hui stood up and cupped his hands to Zhao Gou and said: "Your Majesty, Xianggong Zhu's suggestion is not unreasonable. The reason why the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Division cannot control Xihe Road is not because it has no authority, but because Xihe Road is not in the hands of the Song Army. Once Xihe Road is not in the hands of the Song Army,
The road was captured by the Song Army and naturally came under the jurisdiction of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Division. If I remember correctly, the Sixth Road of Shaanxi included Xihe Road."