After sitting in the government office lobby for a long time, Yu Desheng leaned back in his chair and shook his head.
"Li Xia's response is not very clever."
Ma Qian nodded and agreed: "Indeed, it is not smart to go to Kuizhou Road to show off the envoy's prestige."
After saying that, he still felt angry, so he added: "It's not clever, but I didn't expect that he took advantage of the loophole."
Yu Desheng murmured: "I thought about it, but I thought he didn't dare to come."
"How dare he?"
"He calculated the time. Cheng Yuanfeng sent someone to kill him. The court would not declare him a traitor until he learned that he was alive. We did it on the tenth day of the first lunar month. The news came and went for nearly two months, so at least in early March
Before, he was still Sichuan Commander."
Ma Qiandao: "Kuizhou Road is under my rule, and there are soldiers and horses under my command everywhere. How dare he come?"
Yu Desheng said that, but others would not have the courage to come even if they knew that he was still the Commander-in-Chief of Shu before the beginning of March.
How can you be sure?
Thinking of this, Ma Qian spat on the ground with thick phlegm, and sighed again: "This traitor is so damn courageous. He dares to come here to kill his son."
Yu Desheng said: "I mean, he plans to seize Chongqing Prefecture before March."
"It's impossible. As for Hezhou, only the soldiers and civilians of Hezhou moved from Diaoyu City and had colluded with Li Xia and Zhang Jue for a long time, so that Li Xia could deceive Hezhou away so quickly."
"Is it really okay for the other states and counties?"
Ma Qiandao: "Since I took office as the pacifier of Kuizhou Road, I have already replaced the generals stationed in various places with my old troops. It is impossible for them to rebel with Li Xia."
Yu Desheng asked: "But what if there is another incident of Zhang Shichang killing Cao Qi?"
"Zhang Shichang was just a general when he was under Wang Jian. In the past two years, I promoted him to the deputy capital of Hezhou. He is ungrateful." Ma Qian cursed and then said: "Li Xia is in Hezhou, how can he still be there?"
Who else can we connect with?"
"That's good, you have to be careful. As long as we can hold on until mid-March, the Sichuan military will naturally separate from Li Xia."
"There are still twenty or thirty days, how should we deal with it now?"
Yu Desheng said: "General Ma, does he have any good ideas?"
"I am good at defending the city. But Li Xia did not send troops to attack. This is an official matter. Please sir, come and solve it."
Yu Desheng frowned and thought.
He found that local officials were completely different from court officials. Of course, local officials also had party disputes, but they were still far behind the imperial court where thousands of officials crowded into a city to fight for power.
What's the official business now?
"May I ask how many troops Hezhou has?"
"Diaoyu City originally had more than 3,000 troops and more than 10,000 Xiangyong. After Hanzhong was recovered, the Xiangyong were returned to their fields, and a large number of soldiers were taken away by Zhang Jue, leaving only more than a thousand. This time I will send 4,000 troops for reinforcements.
"
Ma Qian thought for a while and thought it would be better to tell the truth about the situation in front of her.
"These four thousand troops are included in the military registration. After deducting the customary practice, the number is two thousand."
Yu Desheng understood that this "custom" was nothing but empty wages.
It's okay here in Sichuan and Sichuan, but the situation in Jinghu is extremely serious.
When the Mongolian Communists guarded Jinghu, they had a quota of 300,000 troops. When Jia Sidao was in Jinghu, there were still 200,000 troops. After Lu Wende took office, he reduced the number of troops in Jinghu to 70,000. Most of the resources for raising troops in Jinghu were seized by him.
own.
In comparison, Ma Qian is much better, and he may not be eating all the free wages.
If we say two thousand, it's probably only one thousand seventy-eight. Adding in the original garrison in Hezhou, there should be less than three thousand.
It is impossible for Li Xia to grasp everything now. Most people are just waiting to see what happens.
Yu Desheng said: "The simplest way is to ask General Ma to lead the Chongqing army and encircle and suppress it personally."
Ma Qian shook his head and said slowly: "The strategy of moving the tiger away from the mountain is to leave the station lightly. This is a taboo in defending the city."
"Since Li Xia dares to come to Hezhou, get rid of him and the rebellion will be put down, and all the troubles will be eliminated."
Ma Qian still shook his head.
He knows everything.
Just like the year before last, many people knew that the Mongolian army would withdraw once Brother Meng died, but the only ones who dared to fight to Hanzhong were Li Xia and Zhang Jue;
As mentioned just now, Li Xia clearly knows that he still holds the title of Commander-in-Chief of Shu for the time being, so there is not much danger in going to Hezhou.
However, Li Xia dared to go, but Ma Qian did not dare to go.
In defending the city, the most important thing is the state of mind. This may be because Li Xia is luring the enemy to come forward, and he does not dare to be careless.
"Let's do this. I will send my second brother to lead 3,000 troops to the north. We will first garrison Sancao Mountain to prevent the rebels and observe the situation in Hezhou. We will wait for the opportunity to move, advance to attack, and retreat to defend."
When Yu Desheng heard what Ma Qian said, he also felt that it made sense.
"Okay, then I will send a message back to Lin'an to repay General Ma's merits."
"We must ask the court to issue an edict as soon as possible to declare Li Xia a traitor, so that I can calmly respond to the challenge."
The two of them did not discuss at all whether Ma Qian wanted to tie himself up and go to plead guilty to Li Xia. It was impossible for him to go. They discussed it some more and thought that someone should be sent to the camp to publicize that Li Xia had actually rebelled, but the news from the court had not yet been delivered.
.
In short, although Hezhou was caught off guard and lost, it is not difficult to defend it, but we still only need to hold Chongqing Mansion before the imperial edict is announced and Lu Wende's reinforcements arrive...
It was already late at night after arranging these arrangements.
When Yu Desheng left the lobby, seeing the darkness in Sichuan and Sichuan, he missed even more the Hangcheng Street in Lin'an City that stayed up all night and was brightly lit.
"I don't know how long it will take before I can put down the rebellion and return to Qiantang this time... I also want to go to the West Lake. How many times will I see Lan Ruo off?"
Although the state affairs were heavy, the scholar's figure still showed a bit of coolness.
Ma Qian was still sitting in the hall, burying his face in his hands as big as cattail leaf fans, with tears rolling out from between his fingers, and he couldn't extricate himself from the grief of his son being beheaded in public.
"Son, you died on the battlefield of the resistance against the Japanese, but died at the hands of the rebels before you fought... As a father, I will avenge you."
At first, he was just unconvinced by Li Xia and Zhang Jue, but now he has a personal hatred.
The next day.
Ma Yinglin led three thousand elite Ningjiang troops to Sancao Mountain.
Ma Qianze personally adjusted the defense of Chongqing Fucheng.
As a veteran general in Shu, his qualifications are higher than Zhang Jue's. He is well versed in the art of defending the city. Even though he is short of 3,000 soldiers and horses, he can still adjust the defense line properly.
However, there are indeed some generals who have been removed from Diaoyu City in the city.
For example, Cheng Cong, Shi Jin, Li Cong and others all made great achievements in the battle of Diaoyu City. The imperial court made an exception and promoted them to deputy capital commanders, commanders, commanders...
Ma Qian thought of Hezhou Zhang Shichang's defection to Li Xia, so he ordered the removal of these men's military power and replaced them with his trusted generals.
He even wanted to imprison these people, but when he saw that these generals were angry, he felt that it was not appropriate to bring the matter to such an acute level, so he comforted them and sent them home.
The city gate has already been cordoned off for a long time. It was cordoned off when Yu Desheng arrived ten days ago. It is impossible for anyone to enter.
With such a good arrangement, Ma Qian inspected the Chongqing mansion again and could no longer think of the possibility of Li Xia conquering Chongqing.
Surrounded by rivers on three sides, there is no navy and the city cannot be touched.
The west wall is guarded by his subordinate Ningjiang Army, who has absolute trust in him.
You must know that in the battle of Diaoyu City, these soldiers were guarding here with him, and each of them made military exploits without even seeing the Mongolian people.
If Li Xia wants to attack, he must first break through the Sancao Mountain defense line, cross the narrow path of the Jialing River, detour to the West City, and build siege weapons... which is simply impossible.
"I lost a son, but I only have the credit for guarding Chongqing. I guarded Chongqing for a lifetime..."
That night.
"Really?! Even Guanzhong was recovered?!"
"Silence."
Zhang Jue gave a low drink and said: "If any mother or disciple hears this and spreads the word, you will kill me."
Cheng Cong is as stout as a barrel and ten years older than Zhang Jue. His tone is respectful but rude, and he looks old and irritable.
"General, can't you just rest assured? In my broken courtyard, there are just two damn men doing menial work, and they sleep harder than a pig."
"Call me deputy commander."
"Deputy Marshal, your dispatch is higher than General Wang's."
"General Wang has no more people to dispatch." Zhang Jue sighed: "Since he has been granted the title of uncle, let's call him 'Prince'."
"How troublesome, I'm used to it. By the way, have you really regained Guanzhong?"
"When Li Shuai arrived in Xuzhou, news of Dali's recovery had also arrived."
Cheng Cong was filled with emotion. Thinking back to the past of Diaoyu City, he got up and started kicking people everywhere.
"I know the purpose of your coming, Deputy Commander. Ma Qian relieved me of my military power today. Ordinarily, if I hadn't killed the enemy with him more than ten years ago, and he recently had a baby dead, I would beat his mother so hard that she wouldn't even recognize him."
"There's no point trying to make amends afterwards. Where is your son?"
Cheng Cong said directly: "In Dazhou."
"As long as we move fast enough, Ma Qian can't get to him. Do you want to do it?"
"General, let me think about it. Ma Qian said that the court will soon convict Li Jieshuai. Damn it, everyone who can fight will be killed."
"Let me tell you this, the power of recovery will not work in the court. But I have to ask, in the eyes of our Pao Ze brothers, if it does not work in the eyes of us brothers, if you also say that you are willing to be trapped every year like in previous years,
Needless to say, I have been trapped for many years. You can chop off my head to repay me."
"As you said, who the hell wants to live in Diaoyu City for the rest of his life? Why can't he come down from the top of the mountain to live his life? Who has no idea?"
Zhang Jue said: "Then stop talking nonsense and follow me to find Shi Jin."
Cheng Cong was a little embarrassed, so he walked a few steps and said, "It's not easy to get promoted to the capital. General Wang always says he is loyal..."
"It's done, let's ask General Wang to take control of Longxi. He is also a general. If you hesitate any longer, his old bones will be infected with rheumatism in that bird's land in the south of the Yangtze River. And your general is nothing, where are the soldiers?
"
Cheng Cong glared, blew his beard, picked up the knife and left.
"The general has said so, why not do it?! Let's go!"
Shi enters the home.
Two figures were lying on the wall looking out.
"Will you really come?"
"He should be here. I saw him there in the evening. Seeing that there were many people here, he left...he's here."
"It's really here."
"Shh, keep your voice down."
…
Over there, Cheng Cong whispered: "I'll take the general up, and you can pull me back."
Zhang Jue glanced around, kicked Cheng Cong's thigh, and climbed up the courtyard wall.
Pulling Cheng Cong up, he jumped into Shi Jin's courtyard.
My heart feels happier and happier.
This time when I came to Chongqing and summoned the generals, I felt like I was back to the days in Diaoyu City, but I didn't just have to lead them to defend, as Li Xia said.
Be enterprising, enterprising...
Suddenly, he felt a cold sensation on his neck, and someone pressed his neck and fell on him.
Zhang Jue was startled and pushed the opponent down with his backhand.
"Ouch!"
"I, I, I...General Zhang, I."
Under the dim light of the stars and the moon, Zhang Jue squinted his eyes.
"Shi Zheng?"
"And I."
Another figure emerged from the debris.
"Wang Li?"
Zhang Jue breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems that Shi Zheng is Shi Jin's cousin and lives here temporarily, and Wang Li probably followed him.
One of these two children is fifteen and the other is eleven years old, but they are very courageous.
"Do you know that I almost killed you?! Where is your uncle?"
"Inside the house, he was relieved of his military power today, drank a lot of wine, and was having a thunderstorm." Shi Zheng led them into the house.
Wang Li, who was four years younger than Shi Zheng, appeared to be extremely smart. He caught up with Zhang Jue and said, "I saw General Zhang outside the door in the evening. You were pretending to be a salesman. Others couldn't recognize him, but I did...
…”
"Shut up, you're still young and get out of here."
"General Zhang, I can tell you, I am useful, very useful. None of you are familiar with this city of Chongqing."
"How come you seem to know everything?"
"Notices have been posted in the city. Ma Qian said General Zhang that you are a traitor, so Ma Qian must be a bad person."
"You're a bad guy, you should follow the example of an adult and say 'it must be'. Go, get a basin of water, and wake this Shi Da Lei up for me."
…
Throughout the night, in the city of Chongqing, which Ma Qian had defended impeccably, the number of people gathering in Chongqing changed from two to five, ten, or twenty people...