Before the Battle of Diaoyu City, Ma Qian was already the commander-in-chief of Chongqing Prefecture, and his status was slightly higher than that of Wang Jian, the commander-in-chief of Xingyuan Prefecture.
At that time, Zhang Jue was still the deputy governor of the capital, and Li Xia was only the governor of Qingfu County.
To be able to achieve this position, Ma Qian is also good at fighting.
Before the battle of Meng Ge's attack on Shu in the sixth year of Xingchang, on the Sichuan-Sichuan battlefield, Ma Qian, Wang Jian, Yang Dayuan, Zhang Shi and others were generals with similar military exploits.
At that time, he was guarding the Chongqing Mansion and knew better about the situation. He saw early that Pu Zezhi had lost power and refused to be ordered to support Diaoyu City, thus losing the opportunity to make great achievements.
The one who stole this opportunity was Li Xia.
Ma Qian looked back and saw that Li Xia's battles were not difficult to fight. The terrain of Diaoyu City was already invincible. Wang Jian was lucky and killed Meng Ge.
It was Wang Jian who really had prestige and qualifications in Sichuan and Shu, so the imperial court quickly transferred him elsewhere.
As for Li Xia's subsequent recovery of Hanzhong, it was because the Mongolian army wanted to retreat.
Just like when the tide of the Yangtze River receded, Li Xia ran to the shore to pick up fish and shrimps. After picking up a lot of fish and shrimps, he went to Sichuan to appease the system and appointed envoys. Zhang Jue also got a big deal and was appointed deputy envoy.
Ma Qian saw that Li Xia was very good at seeking official positions and was relying on Ding's party to rise to prominence, so he also sent generous gifts to Ding Daquan. He also recruited Ding Daquan as the appeasement envoy on Zhouzhou Road, and he also knew the location of Chongqing Prefecture.
He deserves it.
During the Battle of Diaoyu City, although Meng Ge did not reach Chongqing, Ma Qianju made great contributions to the early defense of Chongqing Mansion, but he had to pay bribes to get the rewards he deserved.
Of course, Ma Qian was also dissatisfied with letting two juniors climb on top.
But a little emotion is nothing. He is already an important minister and is practical in his work.
He knew that in the past two years, the Chongqing government had indeed never given any stumbling blocks to Li Xia and Zhang Jue. Official affairs were handled normally.
Until, I received a secret letter from Cheng Yuanfeng.
Li Xia had different intentions. Ma Qian had vague suspicions before this incident. After reading the letter, and looking back on what he had done in recent years, it was confirmed.
Although the imperial court has not yet issued an edict, it does not mean that there is no evidence of guilt. In fact, there is a lot of evidence of Li Xia's crimes. It is just that it cannot be dealt with openly, so as not to push the situation into a hurry.
Since ancient times, the way to deal with this kind of rebellion has been to capture and kill them first and then punish them.
Ma Qian is willing to put down the rebellion. If Li Xia is not eliminated as soon as possible, Li Xia will seize Chongqing Mansion sooner or later.
The question is... I was given a secret order by the Right Prime Minister to quell the rebellion, and after the rebellion was quelled, is the Right Prime Minister reliable?
Just at this time, someone came to visit and said something.
"The general serves the country of the Song Dynasty. After he has performed meritorious service, even if the right prime minister is not in court, the left prime minister can still discuss his merits for the general."
Ma Qian suddenly realized.
The Right Prime Minister issued an order to get rid of Li Xia. If he is guilty of the consequences, the Right Prime Minister will bear the consequences. The Left Prime Minister will ensure that he is innocent and meritorious.
…
The remaining question is how to quell the rebellion.
Between Lin'an and Sichuan, a trip takes half a month to a month, and a conversation takes basically two months. Cheng Yuanfeng can only leave everything to Ma Qian.
Ma Qian thought about it and decided that beheading Li Xia would be the best option.
However, the troops could not be sent to Hanzhong. When marching from Chongqing to Hanzhong, the only options were Litchi Road and Micang Road. If there was any disturbance, Li Xia would be alert immediately.
It is true that he is not good at running and fighting.
If you can't behead, then you can only behead.
If Li Xia's power is divided into three sections, the first is Hanzhong, the middle is western Sichuan, and the last is Shunan and Dali south of the Yangtze River.
Looking at it this way, the battle is in Chengdu.
If the imperial court can control Chengdu and separate Hanzhong from southern Shu, Li Xia's power will be reduced to two out of three, and there will be no big storm.
Then, whether Zhang Jue is rebellious or submissive becomes the key.
Cheng Yuanfeng wrote to test Zhang Jue's attitude, but received no reply.
This alone can be regarded as a conspiracy with Li Xia.
Whether it is true or not is not important.
The important thing is that Zhang Jue must not be allowed to completely fall to Li Xia, otherwise it will be difficult for the court to control Sichuan and Shu.
It can be eliminated, but it must be eliminated decisively.
Ma Qian plans to take action during the Chinese New Year, which is when Zhang Jue's defenses are at their most relaxed.
He first sent his son Ma Jing before the New Year's Day to disguise 300 elite Ningjiang troops from Chongqing Prefecture as civilians and went to Chengdu in the name of transporting military supplies.
Just wait for Ma Jing to find an opportunity to get rid of Zhang Jue, and then move forward with subsequent troops to take control of the troops in western Sichuan...
Chengdu is very different from Hanzhong, and the officials and people still yearn for the Song Dynasty.
In terms of terrain, Hanzhong is surrounded by barriers and is difficult to capture; Chengdu, on the other hand, is a vast plain and a metropolis in the west.
In terms of public sentiment, Hanzhong has been away from the Song Dynasty for more than 20 years, and the gentry and common people have long forgotten the Song Dynasty; the people in Chengdu were massacred, and now they are all Song people who have moved there from various places.
In terms of governance, Li Xia personally controlled Hanzhong and was admired by both the army and the people. His methods were powerful and difficult to penetrate, and he almost became a country of his own. During the two years that Zhang Jue was in Chengdu, he always regarded himself as a minister of the Song Dynasty and never refused people from the southeast.
Population, business travel, everything should be restored first.
In terms of military strength, Li Xia transferred a large number of troops to Hanzhong last year, leaving Chengdu empty of troops...
All in all, in more than two years, it is impossible for Chengdu to be managed into Li Xia's sphere of influence.
Li Xia himself is still a minister of Song Dynasty, and all he can do in the short term is to let the Shu people eat and have a good impression of him, which is already extremely difficult.
Chengdu was still under the control of the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, after Ma Jing led his troops to Chengdu, he was not wary of Zhang Jue.
He even had an intelligence channel immediately...
There were five gold and silver guanzi shops opened by a big businessman surnamed Yu in Chengdu, with many fine works from Lin'an mixed in.
These people came from the Imperial City Division or retired veterans from Jinghu. They were all capable and had money to open the way. In just a few days, they had bribed several servants in Zhang Jue's mansion.
The person responsible for this matter was not the businessman surnamed Yu, he just used this businessman as a cover. Behind him was a member of the Zuoxiang's Mansion named Yu Desheng.
Yu Desheng is short in stature and looks quite ordinary.
He was very efficient in his work. On the ninth day of the first lunar month, he found out that Zhang Jue had actually left Chengdu with only about 20 people and was stationed in a posthouse by the Mianyuan River.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, he helped Ma Jing surround the post house...
The post house is located more than fifty miles north of Chengdu, at the intersection of Qingbai River and Mianyuan River, and further east is Jintang County.
Because there were business travelers who usually passed through Jintang Gorge, a posthouse was set up.
In the woods beside the official road, Ma Jing commanded three hundred elite Ningjiang troops to approach quietly.
The terrain has been observed. Mianyuan River is in the northeast, with an official road in front and Qingbai River in the south.
Send people around to the west and north to encircle Zhang Jue, and then prevent Zhang Jue from jumping into the river and escaping, so that he can be surrounded and killed.
The opportunity is good.
Yu Desheng followed Ma Jing, silently watching his instructions and rarely making suggestions.
Because he is not as good as Ma Jing in military affairs, so he will interfere less.
Yu Desheng just looked at the big flag erected in front of the post house through the trees, and murmured: "Zhang Jue traveled incognito, why did he put up the flag?"
Afterwards, a sentry came over and reported to Ma Jing: "General, there should be dozens of horses in the post house, and nearly fifty people, more than twenty, as guards."
Ma Jing was a little surprised, turned to Yu Desheng, and asked: "Is the information wrong?"
Yu Desheng shook his head and muttered: "The information is correct, Zhang Jue only brought more than 20 people out of the city... The reason why there are 50 people must be because he came to pick up people... It seems that Li Xia
Right in this post house."
Ma Jing's eyes suddenly changed and he became excited.
"Is Li Xia really in this post house?"
"It's not difficult to guess." Yu Desheng said: "Li Xia is the only one who can make Zhang Jue go out of the city fifty miles to greet him in person on this New Year's Day. He has realized that there are too many informants in Chengdu, so he deliberately chooses to meet and talk secretly outside the city.
"
"It really took no effort at all!" Ma Jing was overjoyed.
"But I feel that Li Xia's actions are too powerful." Yu Desheng said: "He has noticed that the court wants to take action against him, and has judged that the key to the matter lies in Zhang Jue, so he arrived in Chengdu on the tenth day of the first lunar month. His actions were too great.
Soon."
"Three hundred elite men, armed with crossbows, surrounded and killed them all in one battle."
Ma Jing felt that he was very lucky.
Yu Desheng only felt scared.
If he had arrived a month or two too late and let Li Xia convince Zhang Jue first, it would have been too late to do anything.
…
Ma Jing made new arrangements and blocked the escape paths of Li Xia and Zhang Jue first.
Now or never.
He kept telling himself in his heart, "Be careful, be careful."
Like catching a chicken that was pecking at rice, he tiptoed and quietly approached it from behind step by step. Then, he suddenly pounced.
"Do it!"
Following this order, Ningjiang's soldiers sprang out from the woods, holding crossbows and heading towards the post house.
"Who are you?! You are not allowed to come forward..."
"kill!"
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."
There were only eight people standing guard outside the post house. When they saw soldiers coming out of the woods, they immediately hid in the post house and closed the door to defend themselves.
Only the first round of arrows missed. Three of the first three were hit by arrows and died, and two of the remaining five were also hit by arrows.
"Enemy attack!"
"puff……"
There were too many enemies, and there were too many arrows. Immediately, the second round of crossbow arrows came, and the five people who were closing the door were hit by arrows and two more were knocked down.
"Protect the commander!"
"Protect the deputy commander..."
There were screams of surprise, and the guards on both sides of the posthouse drew their swords one after another, but enemies had already rushed into the posthouse...
Lu Xiaoyou was talking to Li Zeyi near the stables.
Recently, he relied heavily on Li Zeyi, a general who had surrendered from Longxi.
He is good at horsemanship and knows the art of war, so he has a lot to learn.
As for Li Zeyi, although he didn't think highly of Lu Xiaoyou, he already felt that he was going to be reused.
Apart from anything else, Li Xia only took twenty personal guards with him this time, including him, and he only surrendered last year...
"Do you know why the marshal brought me here?" Li Zeyi fed the horse, smiled, and said: "I am a surrendered general from Longxi. This time, the marshal must be afraid of the generals of the Song Dynasty."
Lu Xiaoyou shook his head and said, "It's not that complicated. I ordered you to escort me."
"That's because the commander-in-chief also trusts you..."
Suddenly, there was a killing cry in the post house, and the two of them looked at each other.
"Zhang Jue wants to kill the commander?"
"What?!"
With a "crack" sound, Lu Xiaoyou drew his sword and rushed straight into the lobby.
"Protect the commander!"
Opposite, Zhang Mao was standing in the courtyard with his people, when he heard the sound of broken cups and plates in the hall, and immediately heard murderous shouts.
Turning around, he saw Lu Xiaoyou charging towards him with murderous intent.
There is a vague feeling... that Li Jieshuai throws a cup as a signal to get rid of Zhang Shuai.
"Protect the deputy commander!"
Zhang Mao pulled out the ax on his back and immediately faced Lu Xiaoyou...