After the New Year, it is already the Year of Renxu, the Year of the Dog. This year is the third year of Xianding in the Song Dynasty and the third year of the Central Unification of Mongolia.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Wang Xun finally returned to Hantai and met Li Xia again.
He originally thought that Li Xia would detain him in Hanzhong for a long time, but he didn't expect that Li Xia would still be willing to see him before the Lantern Festival, and he was actually a little grateful.
As a man of eloquent words, Wang Xiyuan prepared a lot of speeches. Unfortunately, he had talked too much with Zhang Hongdao in the past month, and even he felt tired.
At this time, seeing Li Xia again and bowing, Wang Xun seemed a little silent for the rare occasion.
Li Xia spoke first and said, "You were not sent here by Li Fen, so what is your purpose?"
Wang Xun was startled, and when he raised his head again, he was already stunned.
Li Xia glanced at him and said, "Now that I have obtained the evidence, do you dare to deny it? Just drag it on."
"Prince Li, of course I was sent by King Qi. What do you mean by this? Are you afraid of Kublai Khan?"
Zhang Hongdao watched Wang Xun being dragged down and asked: "The reply from Shandong has arrived? Is Wang Xun really deceitful?"
"No, the reply is too slow." Li Xia said, "I happen to be free today, so I'll trick him."
"Wang Xun is a very thick-skinned person, I'm afraid he won't reveal the truth easily..."
Before he finished speaking, Wang Xun, who was dragged off Hantai, shouted loudly.
"Prince Li, please spare your life. I will do it. I will do it!"
This is the reason why Li Xia asked Zhang Hongdao to deal with Wang Xun. It is really time-consuming to deal with such a cunning and slippery person.
After a while, Wang Xun was dragged up again, but the move was very fast.
"Please spare my life, Prince Li. It is indeed not the Prince of Qi who sent me here. I made my own decision..."
Li Xia interrupted: "Did you make your own decision instead of being instigated by others?"
"Actually, my brother-in-law and I have a deep relationship. I often do things independently without his orders. I am never ordered by others." Wang Xun said: "My brother-in-law raised the flag this time with the intention of pointing directly at Yanjing. However, I thought Shi Tianze was unreliable, so I
He took the initiative without permission and wanted to ally with Prince Li to contain the Mongolian army, which also prevented Shi Tianze from taking the opportunity to attack Shandong."
"You see that Shi Tianze is unreliable?"
"Yes. It's a pity that my brother-in-law has deep faith in Shi Tianze. I tried to persuade him many times to no avail, so I had to take this step."
Wang Xun responded smoothly without much embarrassment.
But Li Xia asked again: "Is it possible that Kublai Khan asked you to come to deceive me? Or to deceive me to cross the Yellow River to attack Shanxi, he attacked my ship from the upper reaches and cut off my retreat? Or to deceive me to leave Tongguan, he came from
The Yellow River bypasses Tongguan and blocks my return?"
Wang Xuan looked at Li Xia blankly for a while, then suddenly smiled and shook his head.
"I thought that Prince Li was a hero in the world, but he was so afraid of Kublai Khan? How could Kublai Khan, who is still in Hara and Forest, scare Prince Li from even taking a step out of the pass?"
"Is it really in Harala and Forest?" Li Xia said: "In November of the first year of Xianning, the battle of Ximu Tunao'er ended. Kublai Khan took a short rest and then went to the north. Today is the first month of the third year of Xianning. Counting the time,
It’s enough for Kublai Khan to make a round trip.”
Wang Xun shook his head with a mocking look on his face.
"I think I think too highly of Kublai Khan. Do you really think that he can defeat Brother Ali as soon as he arrives at Harahalin? The Mongolian kings all support Brother Ali."
Li Xia observed Wang Xun for a while.
Wang Xin laughed for a while, then calmly met Li Xia's gaze, and said with cupped hands: "Everything I have done is to restore the Han family. Prince Li can trust me."
Zhang Hongdao whispered to Li Xia: "This man never turns his back on lies. Yesterday he swore to me that Li Fen sent him here."
Li Xia nodded and said, "Let's go back and tell Li Fen. There's no need to rush into trouble."
Wang Xing said: "If King Qi has taken action, will King Li be willing to respond?"
"If Shi Tianze can join forces with him to attack Yanjing, I will try my best to send troops to Shanxi; but if Shi Tianze cannot be trusted, we may attack Shi Tianze together... We will make contact then."
"Okay!" Wang Xun bowed his hands again and said, "Please write a handwritten letter from Prince Li. I will bring it back to Prince Qi and I will reply after we have agreed on the strategy..."
~~
Two days later, Wang Xun, who had been stranded in Hanzhong for the whole New Year, was finally allowed to leave.
He seemed to be going to Shandong, but after leaving Shu Road and leaving Tongguan, he crossed the Yellow River and headed for Shanxi.
He was detained for too long and it was too late to go to Shandong again.
Wang Xun went to Jiezhou first and met Yi Shuan.
"Li Xia is very alert and has not been fooled, but there is still a chance..."
After a private conversation, Wang Xun immediately left Jiezhou and rushed to Yanjing.
~~
In the first month of this month, Li Fen formally declared himself king in various places in Shandong east and south of Yidu.
Because Li Fen has never forgotten the legacy of his father Li Quan.
"The rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty were ignorant and could not be relied upon, nor could the fierce Mongolian barbarians be relied upon. Fortunately, my father and son lived in the land of Shandong and Huainan in the troubled times, with hundreds of thousands of people. If we manage our business carefully, wait for opportunities to make progress, and compete in the Central Plains, it is still unclear who will belong to the world.
also!"
Since he inherited this legacy, he has been planning it painstakingly for more than thirty years.
He had two wives. In addition to Wang Wentong's daughter, he also married the sister of Tachar, the king of Eastern Mongolia.
Not only did he marry the Mongolian Golden Family, he also continued to expand his territory and consolidate his rule. He established the official system of Shandong, repaired the Confucian Temple, and recruited Confucian scholars and scholars to the undercover.
He bought horses everywhere, raised a large amount of military rations, and trained an army of 100,000.
Finally, he came to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Meng Ge died, and Kublai Khan and Ali Bu Ge were fighting...
Li Fen has circulated the message to all the princes, inviting them to respond with troops according to the previous agreement to build momentum.
He dispersed all the treasures in his treasury to reward the soldiers and prepared to send troops to Jinan.
At the same time, orders were given to kill all the Mongolian garrison troops within the territory.
"Light the cannon! Sacrifice the flag!"
"cut!"
On the school grounds, the sound of cannons was heard, the sword was slashed, and the heads with braided hair rolled down...
~~
Yanjing.
In the hall, Liu Bingzhong and Wang Wentong were sitting opposite each other and talking.
Wang Wentong was over sixty years old at the time, with thin and long eyes, making him look like a cunning old fox.
"Now that I think about it, His Majesty asked me to take charge of the Zhongshu Province as soon as he saw me. I'm afraid he wanted to transfer me away from Shandong."
"This is natural. As soon as you leave, Li Fen will no longer have any decent advisers around him."
This "Yidao" is the name of Wang Wentong. Occasionally, some people joke that the name of Pingzhang Zhengshi in Mongolia is less "person" than the name of Jia Sidao, Pingzhang's military affairs in Song Dynasty, but Wang Wentong did a much better job.
.
But when they talked about Li Fen, Wang Wentong let out a long sigh.
Of course he understood that once he left, there would be no one around Li Fen who could make decisions.
But two years ago, Kublai Khan directly promoted him, a commoner, to a political position, and he could no longer tolerate rejection...
"In the past two years, we have done a lot with Tao." Liu Bingzhong added: "Although I have advocated the restoration of Hanfa for many years, it has been truly realized in your hands."
Wang Wentong said: "It is Liu Gong and other princes who have explained Confucianism to Your Majesty for many years. I just happened to meet them. The house is built and I just put in the tiles."
"You can't say that." Liu Bingzhong waved his hands and said, "Everything you do is offensive to others, and I know it in my heart."
Wang Wentong smiled, his slender eyes narrowed slightly, with a faint sarcastic look, but he didn't know who he was sarcastic about.
Liu Bingzhong added: "Li Fen's rebellion is inevitable, and your relationship with him cannot be cleared..."
"I understand. I would like to thank Mr. Liu for interceding for me this time and giving me an opportunity to draw a clear line with Li Fen."
"It's not for you." Liu Bingzhong said: "It's for the sake of Han Law. Since Han Law is implemented in your hands, no matter why you entered Zhongshu Province in the first place, you must not commit this serious crime of treason again."
Wang Wentong swept his knees with his sleeves, sighed leisurely, and said slowly: "Yes, for Hanfa."
"Go." Liu Bingzhong said, "Go and see His Majesty."
"Mr. Liu, please retire."
Wang Wentong stood up and bowed, which was indeed a sign of gratitude.
He was grateful to Liu Bingzhong for speaking kindly to Kublai Khan and saving his father and son.
But it was Liu Bingzhong who forced him to give up Li Fen because of the survival of Han Dynasty...
In fact, since two years ago, he has no choice.
He could only hand over all the letters between himself and Li Fen to Kublai Khan, prompting Li Fen to rebel at a time when Kublai Khan had returned to Yanjing, and lure Li Xia to lead his army out of the pass...
~~
After Wang Wentong left, Liu Bingzhong still sat in the hall, thinking about his thoughts.
He knew Kublai Khan's thoughts best.
It was he who suggested to Kublai Khan that Wang Wentong be re-employed at the beginning, in order to transfer him away from Li Fen.
But I didn't expect that Wang Wentong was really talented. In the past two years, in addition to implementing Han law and establishing systems at the beginning of the country, during the battle with Ali Buge for the throne, it was he who was in charge of finances and collected money from the Central Plains in a short period of time.
and transported a large amount of supplies northward.
"He is a hero."
Wang Wentong was a hero in the implementation of Han law and a hero in the struggle for the throne.
Liu Bingzhong then hoped that he could be removed from the serious crime of Li Fen's rebellion, so as to prevent the Mongolian nobles from using Wang Wentong's crime to attack Han Dynasty.
Therefore, he privately persuaded Kublai Khan to give Wang Wentong a chance to redeem himself and make meritorious deeds.
It's hard, it's hard for everyone.
Wang Wentong wanted to give up his son-in-law and benefactor; Kublai Khan wanted to eliminate the grudge in his heart.
But fortunately, both the monarch and his ministers did this...
~~
At the same time, in the Renzheng Palace.
Several secret letters were thrown to the ground, and as the Mongolian words in Kublai Khan's mouth rang out, someone translated them for Wang Wentong.
"Everyone knows that you have rebelled against your virtuous son-in-law. Now I ask you how you should respond to this."
Where Wang Wentong looked, he saw that the secret letter was the one he had handed over to Kublai Khan.
How could he, who was such a great talent at that time, be unable to hide even a few secret letters when he was plotting rebellion?
Therefore, Wang Wentong felt quite calm, thinking that His Majesty wanted to blame him once and then show mercy again.
As soon as he saluted, he immediately responded: "I am afraid, but I am just asking for an ant's fate. I hope to survive, and I will take over the Zhao family in the south of the Yangtze River for your majesty."
"..."
Kublai Khan suddenly laughed, and then heard the translator say: "You are so shameless!"
Wang Wentong was stunned, unable to react for a while.
"From the beginning to the end, you never even said, 'I am punished by death.' How can I spare your life?! Come on, take it!"
Wang Wentong's eyes widened and he suddenly realized something.
However, before he could react, the powerful men in the palace pounced on him and knocked him to the ground...