After Jia Sidao read the letters from Li Xia and Zhao Jin, he burned them without showing them to anyone.
After the paper in his hand was ashes, he took up a pen and wrote a reply to Zhao Jin and handed it to Deng Yan. Then he pretended to be generous and said: "I won't kill you, let's go."
"I hope there will be a day when I can see Mr. Jia again." Deng Yan returned the greeting politely, said nothing more, and turned to leave.
"You will personally escort him until he leaves the Song Dynasty." Jia Sidao then ordered people to follow Deng Yan.
After the people left, Liao Yingzhong hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Mr. Ping Zhang, why don't we arrest Deng Yan, torture him to extract a confession, and ask him how he arrived in Jiangling?"
Jia Sidao said casually: "How else could we come? Jiangling is the place where the Department of Public Opinion has the most activities, and there are many spies from Li Xia in the city."
"Do I need to screen it again?"
"You do it..."
Liao Yingzhong received the order, and the method was very simple. He changed all the officials and soldiers in all important places such as the city gates, docks, warehouses, etc. to ensure the distribution of Jiangling's baggage, so that the Public Opinion Department could not make too much noise.
For several days, there was indeed no sign of any further activity.
A few days later, Jia Sidao continued to lead his troops to march westward, and Jiangling City became an important distribution center for the rear. However, the lives of some dignitaries in the city have returned to their original state.
December 18th.
Surrounded by long corridors and looming towers, there is a painting hall in the depths of the garden, in which someone is having a banquet.
The surrounding furnaces were filled with warm spring smoke. The dancers were only wearing tulle, showing off their snow-white skin. There was a singer holding a pipa and singing gracefully.
"Two emeralds join the peaks of the eyebrows. The tears make the face blush. There is no need to rush before the Lord. It is the separation that makes love so painful. Don't ask, it is dull and thick."
After finishing the song, Wang Xin put his hands on his hands and laughed loudly, praising: "Good words, good words, brother Qu Fei, these words are deep, fresh and beautiful, you should drink a glass of them."
Zhang Lin hurriedly said: "I have given you too much praise. I have given you too much praise. It is just written in a letter. It is not worthy of it. It is not worthy of it."
Wang Xun was still laughing, and turned to Jia Yuqing, who was sitting beside him, and said: "Brother Shanfu, you see, Brother Qufei is so humble. Anyway, if it were me, I wouldn't be able to write such words. So, it's still the Great Song Dynasty."
Gentle and elegant. Unlike the Central Plains, which is rude, too rude."
Jia Yuqing said: "It is even more rare to have a king with both civil and military skills."
"That's right, that's what Mr. Jia said." Zhang Lin quickly helped.
The three of them had a drink together, and the host and guest had a great time, and seemed to have a deep friendship.
After finishing a glass of wine, Wang Xun smacked his big mouth twice and said, "Jia Sidao has left Jiangling and headed west, right?"
"yes."
Wang Xingdao: "All the people we originally arranged to be at the dock were replaced by him."
Zhang Lin became a little wary and reminded carefully: "Let's forget about this kind of thing. It just burned a few ships and has little impact on the war situation. Now Jia Pingzhang's people are investigating very strictly. If they find us,
Not good."
Wang Xun smiled and played with the wine glass in his hand.
Zhang Lin added: "Before, Zhao Maofa kept watching me, but now Jia Pingzhang has arranged for many officials to be in Jiangling. It is really difficult for me to arrange them."
"Don't worry, I won't make it difficult for Brother Fei to do this kind of thing." Wang Xun thought for a moment and said, "I heard that Wang Yinglin, Zhou Mi and others are still being detained in Jiangling Mansion?"
Zhang Lin waved his hand again and said: "Although I intend to help the envoy, I have no right to let them go. Moreover, Jia Pingzhang has already ordered them to be escorted back to Lin'an."
Wang Xin smiled and thought that he had spent a lot of money to bribe Zhang Lin, but there was not much he could really do.
However, he still had a free and easy look on his face and said: "Be escorted back to Lin'an? I happen to be going to Lin'an as well. How about doing Brother Fei a favor and letting me go with them?"
"this……"
Zhang Lin was in trouble again.
The reason why he was willing to contact Wang Xun was just to hedge his bets. No matter how the world situation changed in the future, he could at least protect his official status.
But if he really wants to do something, he wants to find excuses to shirk it.
"You also know that this matter is not something I can decide."
Instead, Jia Yuqing stroked his beard and pondered for a while, then said: "How about I come up with a way to see if I can go south on the same boat as the team escorting the prince and others?"
At this point, Wang Xin asked back: "Brother Shanfu, aren't you afraid that I might harm you by rescuing people on the road?"
"I have also received advice from the prince on articles, and I can be regarded as half of his student." Jia Yuqing replied.
Wang Xin was overjoyed and raised his glass to toast again.
He came from Xiangyang together with Jia Yuqing.
But it was not because Jia Yuqing surrendered to New Tang Dynasty, the relationship between the two parties was more like cooperation.
What happened at that time was that after Lv Wenhuan talked with Wang Xun, he had a private talk with Jia Yuqing.
Although Wang Xun didn't know the content of their conversation, he could guess a thing or two... The Lu family army must have someone who can speak in the court, and this time Lu Wenhuan violated Jia Sidao's wishes, which will inevitably lead to a rift with Jia Sidao.
Although the rift will not be broken immediately, we can start to support new important ministers.
And Jia Yuqing also saw opportunities in this series of changes in the situation. If Jia Sidao lost power in the future, he could use the power of Li Xia and Lu Wenhuan to seek to become prime minister.
Wang Xun was also willing to follow Jia Yuqing to Lin'an.
I believe that by then, they will be able to easily find more partners for cooperation.
It can only be said that before Jia Sidao arrived at Kuimen, the various forces behind him were already ready to take advantage of the power he left behind.
~~
Qutang Pass.
Qutang Pass, also known as Kuimen, is located at the westernmost end of Qutang Gorge among the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River.
Its terrain is like two huge gates standing majestically on the river.
The mountain is upright and perpendicular to the river.
It was like a giant ax splitting the mountain apart, leaving only a narrow canyon in the middle for the Yangtze River to flow eastward.
Even this canyon is full of twists and turns.
Therefore, it is difficult for ships going upstream from the east to conquer Qutang Pass because there is no place to stay; but how to continue to attack Baidi City and Kuizhou after conquering Qutang Pass is still a headache.
There is only a small river gorge ferry where boats can berth, and the majestic mountain standing directly on the river has only a beacon tower, a city gate, and a red armored tower.
Most of the soldiers of the Song Army still lived on boats.
They tied the boats together with iron chains to prevent them from being swept away by the turbulent waters of the Yangtze River.
The entire river was densely blocked by iron chains and boats.
They were afraid of fire attacks and collisions, so they had to be cautious when attacking, which slowed down the progress of the war.
On December 25, Su Liuyi, the commander-in-chief of the Song Army, looked westward on the deck.
"The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and I want to celebrate the New Year in Kuizhou City."
"We were lucky enough to capture Baidi City years ago. Do you still want to enter Kuizhou City?"
"Jia Pingzhang led an army of 200,000 to Shuojiang. If he still cannot capture Kuizhou, all aspects will be very passive." Su Liuyi's face became more and more sad, and he added: "I was ecstatic when we captured Kuimen, because
That battle was not easy, it was like walking away from death, but you see, every subsequent battle will only be harder."
"That's right. Tang Jun was attacked once, and we won't let us attack a second time."
The person talking to Su Liuyi at this time was Yang Yingkui, the transshipment envoy. He suddenly looked around, lowered his voice and said, "I have another thing to tell you."
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"What? Is there a way to appease General Tang?"
"No." Yang Yingkui said, "Isn't Ping Zhanggong coming soon? Someone hopes to add a few names to the battle report of the conquest of Kuimen."
Su Liuyi couldn't help frowning and said: "Isn't the addition enough?"
"As you know, it's not easy to achieve success. It's rare to achieve results. There are many people who want to share the profits..."