A grand celebration banquet was held in Xuzhou City.
Wang Datou has now been promoted to the rank of Dutou, and has received a reward of 30 guan. He is so happy that he forgets about his injuries.
But after having a drink with Liu Jinsuo, Wang Datou began to envy Qing Fujun again, and the reward in his arms was no longer so exciting.
"Brother, are you saying that every time Qingfu Army gives out pay, it's real money?"
"As I said, don't call me 'brother'. I'm only twenty-six, two years younger than you."
Wang Datou looked at Liu Jinsuo blankly and said, "Brother, are you lying to me?"
"Lied to you?" Liu Jinsuo glared and said, "Why did you lie to me? Go and ask my brothers, Yang Ben, Song He, Yu Tian and others, when did they not receive the full amount?"
Wang Datou didn't have time to explain that what he was actually asking was that Liu Jinsuo was lying about his age. He came closer and asked: "Lizhi County has made a lot of military exploits, right? How can he still be the county magistrate?"
"Otherwise? My county magistrate has made meritorious service too quickly! The news was sent to the industry, and it took several months to come back and forth... The officials had just decided on a position for the county magistrate, and when they looked at it again, hey, he had made meritorious service again, and he had to change it again.
An official position...it's not easy to be an official."
After Wang Datou heard this, he felt that it made sense.
For a moment I didn't know what to say.
During the entire celebration banquet, he sat there stupidly and listened to Liu Jinsuo talking about being a spy from the north, meeting officials, and killing Wu Lianghetai.
"Speaking of it, during the years of fighting against the Mongols, there were many dead on our side and on the Mongolian side. There were too many generals. The Uliang Hetai was really nothing. That Mongolian king was called a radish.
The magistrate of my family also killed me..."
"It would be great if Li Zhixian could take charge of Tongchuanfu Road." Wang Datou responded subconsciously.
He himself realized that something was wrong, so he changed his mind and thought that if General Yi was the commander-in-chief and Li Zhixian was the deputy commander-in-chief, he would be able to win this battle and life would be easier.
Thinking of this, Wang Datou did not realize that a group of soldiers were sitting around him, all listening to Liu Jinsuo's story.
These soldiers drank some wine and all of them were a little drunk.
In addition, there was still a reward in his arms, so he became more motivated and shouted: "Yes! We should recommend Li Zhixian as the main town of Xulu!"
"After Zhang Dutong, it is time for Li Zhixian to succeed him!"
"It doesn't matter what we rough guys say, it should be appointed by the imperial court..."
"What if someone comes here who doesn't know how to fight?"
"Ask the court, why hasn't Li Zhixian been promoted?! Are so many Mongolian Tatars dead in vain?!"
"..."
Wang Datou was smelling of alcohol. He thought that it would be bad if he was transferred back to Divine Arm City to fight in a bitter war. He shouted: "Brothers! Go to the state office to ask Li Zhixian for an explanation!"
"good!"
If no one stopped him, these impulsive men might actually go and surround Jiang Chun to find out what happened.
Fortunately, a Luzhou Army commander came over there and shouted: "What are you doing?! You're going against the grain! Wang Datou, your fucking head is shaking so hard that it's about to fall off. Hold on! Sit down!"
…
A little farce ended in vain, as if the wishes of the soldiers were not important.
But more than ten days later, the reward for Li Xia actually arrived.
This was a reward for meritorious service in the Battle of Chengdu at the end of last year. The imperial court's messenger arrived in Chongqing at the end of March. Due to the war, they did not dare to go west. It was not until the battle report of the Battle of Laojun Mountain was rushed to Chongqing that the messenger continued to come to Chongqing.
state.
Li Xia's pursuit of an official position went smoothly under Ding Dang's arrangements. He was promoted to Cheng Yilang and was informed about the affairs of Junlian Prefecture.
Junlian refers to it as a "state", but it actually falls under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou. According to Li Xia's understanding, it is a "county-level state", unlike Xuzhou which is a "prefecture-level state".
Anyway, I got promoted.
In Li Xia's plan, Qingfu is a small county town, and Fang Yankai is in charge. If he takes office in Junlian Prefecture himself, he can connect with Zhaotong.
But the current war still slightly disrupted his arrangements.
So he wrote several letters in his own hand to Gao Mingyue, Han Chengxu, and Li Yong respectively, making arrangements for the rear affairs.
In addition, in addition to the messenger from Chongqing Prefecture, there was also a cousin of Pu Zezhi named "Pu Wei".
Pu Wei's father's name is "Pu Yuangui", he is Pu Zezhi's cousin, and he is now the guard of Daliang City.
Pu Wei did not stay in the mountain city with his father, but had been studying in the clan school, and later stayed with Pu Zezhi.
"I've heard about Li Zhizhou's name for a long time, and today I finally got to see him. He's really a majestic person..."
Pu Wei had a worried look on his eyebrows, and after some scribbled greetings, he quickly got down to business with Li Xia.
"My uncle is very kind to Li Zhizhou and asked me to bring him a message."
"Brother Pu, please speak."
"The situation in Sichuan and Sichuan will be very difficult this year. My uncle does not approve of your transfer to Junlian. It is enough for the Changning Army to guard southern Shu."
Li Xia asked: "Shuai Pu wants me to be transferred to Chongqing Mansion."
"No, uncle said that if Fei Yu is capable, he can try to transfer to Jiading Prefecture to contain the Mongolian troops in Chengdu."
"Is this the only thing Pu Shuai has to say?"
"Yes." Pu Wei hesitated a little. After hesitating for a while, he still told the truth and said: "In fact, my uncle is no longer able to command the troops in Sichuan."
Li Xia couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this.
It was not that he did not expect it. When he was in Ezhou, Jia Sidao said that the imperial court would move Pu Zezhi.
After Li Xia returned to Qingfu, he also sent this news to Pu Zezhi on the occasion of sending invitations to the wedding.
But he really didn't expect that he would take action at such a critical moment of the war.
Pu Wei thought about it and thought that although Pu Zezhi didn't say it directly, he still had something to tell Li Xia by sending him here. So he didn't hide it and continued to talk.
"The situation is not good. After reading the letter you sent to my uncle last time, he found out that the imperial court no longer trusts him. However, it is not appropriate to demote the commander before a war, so he has not been dismissed for the time being. However, the imperial court has ordered Lu Wende to serve as the commander of the Baokang Army.
As an envoy, a deputy envoy was established in Sichuan to inform Chongqing Prefecture."
"Lu Wende?" Li Xia was surprised again and asked, "How can we defend Bozhou? Ah Shu led his troops from the southwest to the north."
Pu Wei smiled bitterly and said: "There is only one Lu Wende in the entire Song Dynasty. He will be transferred wherever he is in need."
Li Xia felt that after returning to Xuzhou from Laojun Mountain, every news he heard made him feel uncomfortable.
He suddenly realized that this was probably related to what he told Jia Sidao, "Kublai Khan wants to kill Brother Meng."
Send Lu Wende to take credit?
Pu Wei was obviously aggrieved by Pu Zezhi, and said: "Although Lu Wende has not arrived yet, after this appointment, which soldier in Sichuan and Shu does not know that my uncle has lost power? How can he still be willing to obey his orders?"
This is a reflection of the fact that as an official in the Song Dynasty, patronage was more important than merit.
After the same battle in Chengdu, Pu Zezhi was under suspicion; Li Xia acted without permission and was promoted in the end.
"Did the court know that Brother Meng was on his own expedition?" Li Xia asked.
"Uncle is not sure whether the officials know about it, but important officials in the central government, such as Jia Sidao and Ding Daquan, must have known about it for a long time."
Li Xia felt a little guilty.
But he also understood that the reason why Pu Zezhi was not trusted was that Shu people were not allowed to be Shu commanders.
Except for the defeat in the Chengdu battle. On the other hand, whether Pu Zezhi wins or loses in the battle with Meng Ge, the court will be even more worried. It is better to change the commander earlier...but he can't.
Rather than saying that Jia Sidao and Ding Daquan were dealing with Pu Zezhi, it would be better to say that they were removing hidden dangers for the officials.
This operation makes people's scalp numb, but if you think about it carefully, it is reasonable and well-founded?
"This situation." Li Xia shook his head.
"The situation?" Pu Wei said: "The Mongolian army has broken through Kuzhu Pass, Changning Mountain, and Dahuo City... My uncle is heartbroken, but he is unable to reverse it. He is already sick with anger."
"Dahuo City..."
Li Xia couldn't care less about the surprise and quickly pulled out the map.
Cangxi Dahuo City is located in the middle section of Jialing River.
If Brother Meng’s first strategic destination was Hezhou and Chongqing, is he already halfway there?
I am still here methodically preparing to counterattack Chengdu, but Brother Meng is already overwhelming.
If the Mongol Khan had not died, all the plans so far would have been lost in an instant.
"I know how Kuzhu Pass was broken. After defeating Niulin, I captured some Mongolian troops. But Changning Mountain and Dahuo City..."
Pu Wei first pointed at Changning Mountain.
"After the Mongolian army captured Kuzhu Pass, they immediately marched to Edingbao on Changning Mountain. The defenders here were General Wang Zuo and General Xu Xin. At that time, there were only 200 troops left. They defended the mountain and fought hard to defeat the Mongolian army.
There were many losses. Unexpectedly, Wang Zhong, the magistrate of Cangxi County, offered Edingbao to surrender. Seeing that the mountain city was lost, General Wang Zuo committed suicide and died for his country. General Xu Xin and other 46 people were captured and died unyieldingly."
This is the case for almost every lost mountain city in central Sichuan.
There are many heroes with great ambitions to defend the city, but there are always some who surrender.
Pu Wei pointed at Dahuo City again and said: "Afterwards, the Mongolian army attacked Dahuo City, and Wang Zhong went to persuade Yang Dayuan, the defender of Dahuo City, to surrender. Yang Dayuan was angry and killed Wang Zhong."
Li Xia heard him call Wang Zuo "general" but addressed Yang Dayuan by name, and he had vaguely guessed what would happen next.
"But Dahuo City is still lost?"
"Yes, although Yang Dayuan killed Wang Zhong, he was unable to withstand the Mongolian attack and still surrendered..."
Li Xia couldn't look away from the map for a long time.
Brother Meng's momentum was overwhelming, as if he was urging him, forcing him not to continue resting in Xuzhou and to move faster...