A funeral was being held at the Princess Mansion not far away, and a lot of paper money was burned.
Jiang Fan took the telescope and looked around, observing that no strangers were approaching, and then ordered his men to imitate a few bird calls.
After a while, there was a sound of opening the door at the front, and several figures in commoner clothes and jingchai came out.
"Let's go."
Yan Rong's face was smeared with charcoal ash, and his eyes were red. He had obviously just cried, and his tears had washed away the charcoal ash, leaving two white tear marks.
Although she was dressed ordinary, she still looked graceful when she waved her hand.
Jiang Fan did not leave immediately, but was surprised and asked: "Something happened?"
"When you crawled out of the coffin, you were bumped into by that little girl?"
"Which girl?"
"Did you call me girl? Di Ji."
Jiang Fan was shocked again.
Yan Rong wiped her tears and said: "What are you afraid of? I am so deeply in love with her, but she will not harm me... Well, I have made it clear to her. When she chooses a consort in the future, how can I end up well?
She let me go."
"That's good." Jiang Fan changed his eyes and said, "We agreed to only bring four maids, so why is there one more?"
"Sent to protect me."
"I'm just afraid it's inappropriate..."
"Don't worry. Di Ji and I have been with each other for fifteen years as our confidant. Besides, if I don't have a guard by my side, what if someone has evil intentions on the road?"
"This will definitely not happen. We are all married people..."
When Jiang Fan said this, he thought that even if he had no evil intentions, the journey would be long and mountainous, and there was no guarantee that no one would take advantage of the many guards on the ship.
The person in front of me is indeed so beautiful that it's disturbing.
"Okay, let's go."
After glancing at the female guard with the knife again, Jiang Fan did not dare to stop any longer. He asked Yan Rong and others to get on the carriage and hurried out of the city.
After arriving at Wuzhen overnight and boarding a large merchant ship on the canal, Jiang Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
"Madam, please don't leave the cabin to avoid being seen. By the way, this is the best cabin..."
"I know, let's set off quickly."
"This...it will take a few days."
"Wait a moment longer? Since I'm here, why don't you set off immediately?"
"There are two more groups of people to pick up, and Jiang Shaoqing hasn't arrived yet."
Jiang Fan arranged for such a large merchant ship to pick up only Yan Rong. He did not have the financial resources.
No matter how anxious this person is, he can only wait.
He was too lazy to be scolded, so he arranged for a guard and hurried to Huzhou...
"I can't sail yet, I can't sail yet..."
Yan Rong was so angry and depressed that he stayed in the cabin and waited for another three or four days. He scolded Li Xia countless times in his heart before the ship set off.
She got the explanation, but she really didn't leave the cabin. Occasionally she opened the window and looked at the deck, feeling a little curious.
"Who are those people?"
"The tall and square-faced one is the wife of Jiang Shaoqing's family. The one who is talking to her is Mrs. Wu, who is the wife of the famous Confucian Wu Ding."
"Wu Ding? Who?"
The maid next to Yan Rong was also a female official in the palace. She contacted Ding Dang for her. She had heard a little bit about the deeds of the foreign ministers and asked about them again. She was able to tell a few things.
"This is the third son of the late Xianggong Wu Qian. He never became an official and made a living teaching in the countryside."
Yan Rong couldn't bear to hear this, and asked again: "Who is that little lady supporting Mrs. Sun? She is quite beautiful, Mrs. Sun's daughter-in-law?"
"Niece-in-law, she should be Wu Ze's wife, Wu Ze is Wu Shi's second son."
"Who is Wu Shi?"
"Wu Qian's fourth son abandoned literature and joined martial arts in his early years. He fought against the Mongols in Jinghu and died fighting hard. He left three sons behind... The one who is talking to Jiang Shaoqing is the one who is talking to Jiang Shaoqing. Next to him is Wu Ding's son. The seven children over there are separated.
yes……"
"Stop talking." Yan Rong was already impatient and said: "There are more than 20 people, but they don't recognize them all. Let them take care of those little kids. They are making a lot of noise."
"yes……"
After traveling for several days, the boat arrived in Changzhou, but stopped again.
Yan Rong couldn't help but feel annoyed and sent his maid to scold Jiang Fan.
But that's all she can do, and she really can't control the ship's itinerary.
During this time, the good news of Li Xia's recovery of Guanzhong had arrived in Lin'an. He asked Liu Heima to be granted the title of Duke of Kaiguo, and asked Wang Jian to be transferred to guard Longxi and dispatch Longxi officials.
The whole court was displeased and revolted, shouting that Li Fan's power could not be contained.
However, Jia Sidao had already made preparations and moved Li Zengbo to Longxi instead of Wang Jian.
"What's the difference? Not only is Wang Jian and Li Xia old, but Wang Jian is a military general. Once he enters Longxi, Li Ni will surround him with his confidants and civilian officials. The money and food are in Li Ni's hands. Wang Jian can only command the troops.
He has the ability but does not have the power to mobilize troops; Li Zengbo is different. Although he has the same background as a Jinshi, he is actually capable of governing the world. Given time, he may not be able to constrain Li Ni..."
When Jia Sidao said this, he knew that this was extremely difficult to do.
If Li Zengbo went to Chengdu and Chongqing, it would be easy to say, but it was impossible for Li Xia to release these two places. The reason why he asked the imperial court to dispatch people to guard Longxi was simply to attract talents.
This is a hook.
There is no other way but to hang up an important minister. After that, you can do as much as you can, do your best, and obey the destiny.
Dealing with Li Ni, the feeling of helplessness became stronger and stronger.
"Ping Zhanggong, after hearing the news, the demon concubine has indeed left. We also found out that Li Xia's people went to Huzhou and picked up the three and four brothers of the Wu family who have not yet served as officials."
"What are you doing picking up these people?"
"I think Li Yong was a disciple of Wu Qian back then and had a close friendship with Wu Ding, so Wu Ding also joined Li Xia... Even though Wu Qian is dead, his reputation is still there, and it is not easy to stop him locally."
At this point, Liao Yingzhong said, "In addition, I got vague news that Li Xia's people seem to be secretly instigating Wang Jian to go to Shu."
"Sure enough." Jia Sidao sneered and said: "Wang Jouji has indeed colluded with Li Ni... Wang Jian dares to leave Lin'an without permission?"
"No, fortunately, Ping Zhanggong had already predicted it and promoted Wang Jian's five sons to the southeast armies. He got the news that not long ago, Li Ni's subordinate from Changzhou persuaded Wang Anjie to go to Hanzhong. Wang Anjie refused sternly, which was not a disservice to his 'an.
Festival's name."
"Oh, it's not because I'm clever."
Jia Sidao finally defeated Li Xia and regained some momentum.
"Are you talking about integrity? The Wang family and his son are just reluctant to give up these official positions."
"Yes, thanks to Pingzhang Gong's cleverness, he stopped the domineering generals like Wang Jian. Those who are going to Hanzhong now may be like Li Zengbo who is loyal to the country and is an enemy of Li Ni; or like Concubine Yan's beauty who brings disaster and secretly carries assassins; or like
Incompetent members of the Wu family who have not yet served as officials..."
The merchant ship departed from Changzhou.
Jiang Chun looked back at the dock and asked Jiang Fan, "Major General Wang really doesn't want to leave?"
"I have no other choice. I originally wanted to take Old General Wang away secretly, but the five major generals are stationed in various places and we really can't take him away."
"With Old General Wang's contribution to Diaoyucheng, and with Young General Wang's contribution to guarding Hezhou from his father, it's just a mere deputy governor of the district. What's the pity?"
"It's not that he cherishes this small official position. He said, one day he leads the Song Dynasty? That is, one day he is a minister of the Song Dynasty. How can he leave without permission without an imperial edict?" Jiang Fan shook his head in distress and said in annoyance: "The prince said,
There is no need to force others to make things difficult, I still failed to complete my errand."
At the same time, another official ship was passing through the canal.
Jiang Fan turned his head and saw that the other party was flying a government flag. He quickly called the boatman to get out of the way and let the other party go first.
"Then which important minister came to take the post? It's so majestic."
"Longxi Zhizhi envoy Li Zengbo..."
In early June, although the ships of Li Zengbo and Jiang Fan had not yet arrived in Hanzhong, the news from the imperial court had already been delivered to the Prince of Pingling County in Hanzhong by fast horse.
In the meeting hall, Li Xia handed the edict to Han Chengxu.
"It seems that with the Song court's deep suspicion of General Wang, it is impossible for him to be released as a military commander. It's a pity that we have been planning for so long."
"After all, I killed Brother Meng, and my great achievement shocked the Lord." Han Chengxu said: "Even the king of the county can't change the Song Dynasty's guard against generals."
"Whether Li Zengbo has fought on three sides or served as commander-in-chief seven times, his talents will be even higher."
"But if Jia Sidao can send him here, is he still targeting the prince?"
"It doesn't matter. In recent years, the main thing is to resist the Mongolians. As long as Li Zengbo can distinguish the priorities. If the employer only cares about suspicion, how will I be different from the Song Dynasty?"
Regarding the news from Lin'an, Li Xia only discussed it.
He became more and more lazy to pay attention to the southeast.
In addition to managing people's livelihood, another important matter recently is the exchange of officials and generals between Guanzhong and Chengdu. Liu Heima took office in Chengdu, and Zhang Jue transferred to Guanzhong.
This is of course also a check and balance.
Li Xia resented the Song Dynasty's excessive checks and balances on military generals, but he would not imitate Mongolia and let the princes control one side for a long time.
The purpose of transferring Liu Heima to Chengdu was to weaken the Liu family's power in the army, and it was decided before the surrender.
When Zhang Jue went north, he was reused.
It is foreseeable that once the war resumes, Guanlong will be the place where the war with Mongolia begins. Li Xia needs a resolute general to take charge, and does not dare to use the old princes who have surrendered as commander.
In addition, Li Xia really has no more suspicions about these generals. After all, he himself has a very high prestige in the army and has never relaxed his power to control the army...
After chatting about political affairs for a while, he stood up and said, "Then I will ask Mr. Han to arrange these matters. I will go to the prisoner camp and return in a few days."
Now most of the prisoners taken by Li Xia after the Battle of Guanlong have been digested.
For example, brothers Liu Yuanzhen and Liu Yuanli have been reorganizing the prisoners of the Han army. The old, weak and disabled carefully registered their hometowns, and released them to return to their fields, while the rest were incorporated into the army.
As for the Mongolian prisoners, their reorganization was much slower and they have been dispersed to prisoner camps in various places in Sichuan and Sichuan, such as building cities in western and eastern Sichuan, expanding roads to Shu, and water conservancy.
If these prisoners wanted to join the army, Li Xia had many requirements. They first had to learn to speak Chinese, which was quite difficult.
Fortunately, although the work in the prison camps was hard, they all organized Chinese classes...
"The son of Changsheng Heaven not only descended on the Mongolian grassland, but the Khan of Heaven loves the tribes of all the barbarians as one, and all living beings under Changsheng Heaven depend on him as their parents. Suiyun said that after six hundred years, a son of Changsheng Heaven descended..."
That night, south of Hanzhong, in the Hongmiao Town Prisoner's Camp on Micang Road, a group of Mongolian prisoners were staring at the Quanzhen Taoist priests who were talking in front of them, with confusion in their eyes.
But a small man came forward, stared, and said loudly: "Do you understand? Learn this sentence from me first, Tengri Khan... Tian Khan..."
"Khan of Heaven."
Then a prisoner asked in Chinese: "General Hulegen, was it just the thunder from the sky that defeated the 60,000-strong army in the mountain road?"
Hu Legen laughed loudly and said: "Yes, that's what I mean. You are very smart and can already speak Chinese?"
"Yes, I can speak Chinese."
"Then you don't have to work tomorrow, just work with me. Okay, don't interrupt, continue to learn from the Taoist priests..."
However, there were also a few prisoners who lowered their heads and cursed secretly in their hearts.
"Traitor, betrayed the great Genghis Khan, cursed your descendants to be slaves forever..."
And just outside the prisoner camp, more than ten horsemen had already galloped towards them.
The guards guarding the prisoners rushed to meet them.
"Prince!"
"Prince!"
"Lead the way." Li Xia got off his horse and walked straight to the prisoner camp...
The seventh day of June.
A ship came up from Hanzhong, and Li Zengbo stood on the bow, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
Since the recovery of Hanzhong, he has been the most important official in Hanzhong with the highest official position and the highest prestige.
This time it can be said that he was ordered to do so at the critical moment, and it was up to him to curb Li Ni's trend.
Of course it is difficult. Longxi has not been under the rule of the Song Dynasty for more than a hundred years. It is obviously not easy to control an army under Li Ni's nose in such a place.
Fortunately, Li Ni was still a Song minister in name, and there were still many Song ministers in Hanzhong. The only thing to do was to win the hearts of these people first.
Just do your best based on your official position, prestige, and means.
But I wonder what Li Xia's prestige is in Hanzhong and what his abilities are?
"Jie Shuai, it looks like Li Ni..."
"Prince of Pingling County." Li Zengbo said, "There is no harm in talking about some things in private. When you enter Hanzhong, you must call him 'Prince of Pingling County'."
"Yes, it seems that Prince Pingling did not come out of the city to greet him."
Li Zengbo nodded and looked at Hanzhong City in the distance, only to see that there was no guard of honor for the King of Pingling County on Wangjiangmen Pier.
I guess Li Xia didn't welcome this handsome guy like him.
"Commander Jie, I heard that after the Prince of Pingling County was granted the title, he only requested the title of the concubine and his concubine. Apart from that, he had no other state affairs or court affairs. It is unknown whether he is addicted to women..."
"Maybe."
Just as Li Zengbo finished speaking, he suddenly saw smoke and dust billowing south of the Han River.
With just one look, he could see that the formation consisted of at least two thousand horses.
The speed was so fast and the momentum was so great... The Song Dynasty did not have such a cavalry that was as fast as lightning and as agile as an eagle or falcon.
"Too much like the Mongolian army."
Li Zengbo murmured, and there was a strange color in his eyes.
When he got closer, he saw the banner of "Prince of Pingling County" and he felt relieved, knowing that there were not Mongolian cavalry attacking Hanzhong.
However, a moment later, the cavalry lined up on the bank of the river, raising flags and cheering, and Li Zengbo's expression changed again.
He squinted his eyes and suddenly discovered that the knights stationed on the shore and shouting were all Mongolians with broad foreheads and high noses!
Many officials who came with Li Zengbo were shocked and fell to the ground.