At the current stage, when Wu Yingxiong wants to annex Liaodong Town, the most difficult thing is not the small number of troops on his side, nor the away battle, but the lack and lag in intelligence.
Since He Yu disappeared, Ximen Sheng immediately issued military orders decisively and adopted the strictest confidentiality measures for internal information in Liaodong Town.
From the garrison camp in Liaodong Town, to the Hujiazhuang area, to the entire West Road Defense Zone, and then to the entire Liaodong region, it can be said that there are blockades everywhere and blockades at every level.
Under such circumstances, even if the Wu family of Shanhaiguan has been secretly infiltrating Liaodong Town for many years, it is difficult to obtain detailed information about Liaodong Town. As for the changes in the situation within Liaodong Town and the stance of the senior generals in Liaodong Town,
We can only rely on speculation.
Therefore, Wu Yingxiong still doesn't know the true thoughts of the generals in Liaodong Town. He still fantasizes that he can persuade Liaodong Town to voluntarily submit to him through political pressure and win-win interests, and is unwilling to engage in direct military conflict with Liaodong Town.
The reason why Wu Yingxiong threatened Liaodong Town and declared that he would lead his army to attack the camp was actually a helpless choice - he was the commander-in-chief of the entire army, and the Guan Ning cavalry under his command were all proud and powerful generals, so in order to maintain his prestige, he
He must show a tough image and cannot tolerate Liaodong Town just ignoring him and ignoring him, otherwise the soldiers under his command will doubt his ability.
Since ancient times, unless they are in troubled times, military generals have always been unable to defeat civilian officials. This is because in order to maintain their prestige in the military, military generals have to maintain a tough stance most of the time, with almost no room for concession, while civilian officials
The body is much more flexible, it can be moved forward or backward, hard or soft, and there is more space for you to use it when doing things, which naturally gives you a huge advantage.
At this time, Wu Yingxiong, who was about to lead his army to attack the camp, secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the top generals of Liaodong Town finally appeared together to greet him.
At the same time, while Wu Yingxiong glanced around, he was also secretly assessing the background of these high-level generals in Liaodong Town.
"Li Zehe, the counselor of the middle route... is certainly a smart man, but he is just a little smart, so there is nothing to be afraid of; Gan Cheng, the counselor of the east route... is not lacking in strength, means, and scheming, but he is just not lacking.
There is nothing outstanding; Xu He, the general of the South Road... is experienced and has deep qualifications, but overall he is a mediocre person; Huang Shenming, the general of the West Road... is a tough-looking person who is begging for mercy, and is even more insignificant; Li
Li Shijie, a young man in the family, is just a dandy who is eager for quick success..."
After making such secret comments, Wu Yingxiong couldn't help but feel confident. He just felt that these high-ranking military attachés in Liaodong Town were just local chickens and dogs, and they were no match for him at all.
When He Yu was still around, he could still suppress the shortcomings of these people and give full play to their advantages. But after He Yu was killed and died, the situation completely reversed. These people all had difficulty in taking advantage of their own strengths and had their own shortcomings.
It is completely exposed,
But soon, Wu Yingxiong discovered something unusual and couldn't help but frown.
This was because Wu Yingxiong suddenly realized that two key figures did not show up to greet him.
Of these two key figures, one is Zhao Junchen and the other is He Bandit.
Because the internal situation in Liaodong Town changed too quickly and his own intelligence was insufficient and lagging behind, Wu Yingxiong did not know the current situation of Zhao Junchen and He Bandit, and his judgment in his mind was biased. He could not help but secretly speculate: "Zhao Junchen and He Gang are not the same."
He has not shown up, and it seems that he is still under house arrest and control in Liaodong Town... Liaodong Town is also cowardly, and dares to put a court minister under house arrest... The governor's next top priority is to remove Zhao cabinet minister from Liaodong Town's house arrest.
He was rescued from the enemy and took the opportunity to gain Zhao Gechen's gratitude and support...
I also heard that He Bandit was the actual person in power in Liaodong Town by virtue of his own strength. However, he did not show up to greet the governor at this moment. He must be wary of the governor, so he stayed in the camp to take charge of the situation.
Organize an army and be ready to meet the governor at any time... Under such circumstances, we cannot force Liaodong Town to be too tight, and we need to adopt more flexible methods..."
While Wu Yingxiong was thinking like this, all the generals from Liaodong Town came to Wu Yingxiong in unison.
Because Wu Yingxiong has not yet directly expressed his attitude towards annexation, the generals in Liaodong Town did not dare to be rude when they came to see him. They dismounted their horses to pay their respects, and they were still polite and respectful on the surface.
Wu Yingxiong's face was serious, his brows were furrowed, his expression was full of anger and dissatisfaction, and he immediately gave the Liaodong town generals a warning.
Wu Yingxiong took a deep breath and asked in a cold voice: "The governor received news that Commander He was killed. Is this true or false? If it is a rumor, where is Commander He now?"
The generals of Liaodong Town also knew that they could no longer hide the truth. After looking at each other, Li Zehe bowed his head and replied: "Yes, it is true! When Mr. He and Zhao Gechen went out hunting a few days ago,
Accidentally kidnapped by gangsters, Zhao Gechen quickly waited for an opportunity to escape, but Mr. He... died tragically at the hands of the gangsters!"
Wu Yingxiong immediately became furious and reprimanded sternly: "You are trying to hide the news about something as big as Mr. He's murder! How brave you are!"
Later, Wu Yingxiong asked sharply again: "More! I heard that Zhao Gechen has been under house arrest in Liaodong Town these days. Is it true?"
This time, Xu He shook his head and denied it: "This matter is definitely a rumor! What kind of identity is Zhao Gechen? Since the old man came to Liaodong, he was afraid of being a little neglectful when entertaining others in his humble position, and he has been serving him carefully.
How dare you put him under house arrest?
I also hope Governor Wu Mingjian, the reason why Zhao Gechen has been stranded in the camp in Liaodong Town recently is just because he wants to take the overall situation into consideration, believes that the death of Mr. He is not suitable to be leaked, and he also wants to assist Liaodong Town in rescuing Mr. He.
To say that Liaodong Town put him under house arrest is pure nonsense!"
Xu He's words not only directly denied that Zhao Junchen was under house arrest in Liaodong Town, calling the accusation "nonsense", but also implicitly refuted Wu Yingxiong's last accusation, saying that even Zhao Junchen
He also believed that Liaodong Town should not easily leak the news about He Yu's accident.
Hearing Xu He's cryptic response, Wu Yingxiong was furious at the same time and secretly strange at the same time.
Wu Yingxiong was not surprised that someone in Liaodong Town would come out to contradict him at this time, but he never expected that the person who would come out to contradict him would be Xu He.
According to Wu Yingxiong's understanding, Xu He has always been low-key and does not have many opinions. Logically speaking, it is not his turn to confront him.
However, too many things have happened in Liaodong Town recently, and Wu Yingxiong also has too many things that need to be questioned, so he is not willing to continue to entangle with Xu He. Instead, he snorted coldly and asked again: "Then the governor will ask again.
Why did you, Liaodong Town, lead the army to attack Fang Tongzhi and General Wu yesterday? Do you want to rebel?"
Xu He replied again: "Your Majesty, the Governor, the responsibility for this conflict lies solely with Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin. Not only are they unwilling to abide by the rules set by Liaodong Town, but they have repeatedly provoked them. If Liaodong Town does not teach them a lesson,
So, how can we control the situation in a state of emergency?"
"Nonsense!" Before Xu He could finish speaking, Wu Yingxiong interrupted angrily: "Your Liaodong Town is just a border town, so what qualifications do you have to make rules? Even if Wu Shilin is the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, for your Liaodong Town
They are guest troops and need to abide by the rules, but Fang Zhenshan is Tongzhi, the governor of Liaodong, and has the endorsement of Wang Shizhen, the governor of Liaodong. Liaodong is also their jurisdiction. Why does your Liaodong town restrict Fang Tongzhi's actions? You even sent troops to attack Fang Tongzhi? This
You, Liaodong Town, cannot be justified in this matter, and I will never sit idly by and do nothing, and I will definitely hold you accountable!"
Hearing Wu Yingxiong's reprimand, Xu He couldn't help but be speechless.
But the next moment, Gan Cheng responded in a neither soft nor hard tone: "Your Majesty Governor, our Liaodong Town is actually the backbone of the entire Liaodong region. All actions are taken out of public interest, and some extreme actions are just urgent.
Quan, I hope you can understand!
I also want to report to the Governor that all the actions in Liaodong Town yesterday were the unauthorized actions of three thousand households of the Liaodong Iron Cavalry - He Bandit, He Rensheng, and Liu Xiong, and Liaodong Town has now taken them away.
The military power also imprisoned and punished them, so it should be forgotten."
Gan Cheng's response was even more tough. Not only did he directly express that Liaodong Town had the right to do anything within Liaodong territory, but he also casually exposed the guilt of He Bandit and others for sending troops to attack friendly forces without permission.
He simply didn't take the imperial decrees seriously, let alone Wu Yingxiong, the governor of Jiliao.
Therefore, Wu Yingxiong became even more furious and shouted angrily: "Yesterday's conflict, under the command of Fang Tongzhi and Wu Shilin alone, caused nearly a hundred people to die and thousands of people to be injured! How serious is its nature? How can it be random?
Exposed? How can the relevant criminals just be punished by Liaodong Town and let it go?"
Seeing that Liaodong Town did not take Wu Yingxiong seriously, Wu Shilin behind Wu Yingxiong also had an angry look on his face, and he immediately raised his hand and waved!
Following Wu Shilin's movements, the more than 5,000 Guan Ning cavalry at the rear immediately took action, formed a charging formation again, and slowly pushed forward.
Seeing this situation, Li Shijie, who had been silent all this time, narrowed his eyes and also raised his hand.
Soon, the Liaodong Town border troops who had left camp began to assemble quickly, seemingly ready to fight at any time.
Seeing that a war was inevitable, Li Zehe spoke up again and hurriedly advised: "Governor Wu, calm down! My colleagues, please calm down too! The current situation is chaotic enough. We are all loyal to the imperial court and we should be united as one."
, the only way to stabilize the chaotic situation is to avoid internal strife due to temporary anger! Otherwise, not only will it be impossible to explain to the court afterwards, but the Northeast border defense will also be completely out of control!"
After hearing Li Zehe's persuasion, everyone from the Shanhaiguan Wu family and the Liaodong town, both of whom seemed tough on the surface, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
For everyone in Liaodong Town, although they are not afraid of Wu Yingxiong in terms of strength, they still need more time to restore morale and stabilize the morale of the army. Moreover, the plans proposed by Zhao Junchen are more beneficial to them and are not
Willing to quickly lead to conflict between the two armies.
For Wu Yingxiong, he still hoped that he could regain Liaodong Town by peaceful means. Even if he had to fight a war, he should wait until the artillery rear army arrived to have a higher chance of winning.
So, seeing that Li Zehe used the court's justice to leave steps for everyone, Wu Yingxiong snorted coldly again, and finally stopped blaming Liaodong Town, but went straight to the point, saying: "This governor is the governor of Jiliao of the imperial court.
He has the authority to control Liaodong Town! Now that Liaodong Town’s general guard, He Yu, has died unexpectedly, Liaodong Town is already leaderless, and this governor is bound to shoulder the responsibility. Before the court appoints a new commander-in-chief for Liaodong Town, this governor decided to personally take charge of Liaodong Town to stabilize the situation!
"
Xu He smiled half-heartedly and replied: "I hope Governor Wu will know that Ji Zhi was elected by all his colleagues yesterday and became the acting commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, so our leaderless chaos in Liaodong Town has ended.
"
Wu Yingxiong was stunned again, but finally understood why Xu He had a positive and tough attitude after seeing him.
Xu He's statement meant that he did not want Wu Yingxiong to interfere in the internal affairs of Liaodong Town.
Wu Yingxiong hesitated for a moment. He thought that he still had many ways to gradually annex Liaodong Town, so he did not continue to force it. Instead, he gave in slightly and said slowly: "Oh? Liaodong Town is currently led by General Xu Shen as the acting commander-in-chief.
Position? Regardless, until there is a formal appointment by the court, the affairs of Liaodong Town will be handled by you and several other generals for the time being!
However, the murder of Mr. He is of great importance. The governor must give an explanation to the court and personally investigate. Your Liaodong Town must also fully cooperate! At the same time, yesterday, Liaodong Town and Fang Tongzhi, Mr. Wu
The conflict between them is not your family's affair in Liaodong Town. The governor also has full authority to investigate and deal with it!
Furthermore, where is Zhao Gechen now? I want to meet with Zhao Gechen as soon as possible to discuss how to deal with various matters in Liaodong Town! You said that Liaodong Town has never placed Zhao Gechen under house arrest, so then we will welcome Zhao Gechen to this office.
Among the governors, I am responsible for entertaining, isn’t it too much?”
After hearing Wu Yingxiong's proposals, Xu He and the Liaodong town generals looked at each other and also gave in slightly. Although they did not directly agree to Wu Yingxiong's proposals, they did not directly refuse them. Instead, they proposed to Wu Yingxiong.
solved a difficult problem.
Xu He relaxed his posture slightly, saluted Wu Yingxiong again, and asked: "Whether it is investigating the murder of General He or investigating yesterday's conflict, it is a complicated matter that cannot be judged easily.
I also hope that Governor Wu can come to my camp in Liaodong Town to discuss it in detail!"
Xu He's suggestion can be described as uneasy and well-intentioned.
If Wu Yingxiong directly enters the camp of Liaodong Town, it is equivalent to entering the tiger's den of his own initiative, and he may be controlled by Liaodong Town. But if Wu Yingxiong is unwilling to directly enter the camp of Liaodong Town, it is equivalent to showing that he
If you are afraid of Liaodong Town, you also want to lose face and show weakness.
For such a situation, Wu Yingxiong was well prepared and said coldly: "Okay! I order you to immediately vacate half of the camp in Liaodong Town and hand it over to the Guan Ning Cavalry under my command. I will lead the Guan Ning Cavalry together.
Move in!”
Under the protection of Guan Ning's cavalry, Wu Yingxiong was not afraid of Liaodong Town flipping the table after entering the camp.
In fact, intersecting with the guerrilla tactics that the Liaodong Town border troops, especially the Liaodong Cavalry, are good at, the Guanning Cavalry's armored cavalry central army and formation-breaking arrows are better at frontal assaults, and are better at fighting in smaller camps.
.
Xu He frowned, as if he was looking for a reason to refuse.
But at this time, Li Zehe suddenly expressed his position, saying: "Liaodong Town really shouldn't neglect the friendly forces... Well, I will soon transfer all the soldiers under my command out of the camp, and the empty tents will be
All of them were handed over to the friendly troops of Guan Ning's cavalry for temporary accommodation! In order to seal off the dense forest where General He was kidnapped, the camp area set up by Liaodong Town was originally very large. After the troops were transferred out of the camp, the remaining area was enough to accommodate the governor.
The Guan Ning cavalry is under your command."
What Li Zehe said directly broke the difficult problem Xu He had set for Wu Yingxiong, and was a naked betrayal of the collective interests of Liaodong Town.
As a result, Xu He, Gan Cheng, Huang Shenming, Li Shijie and others all looked at Li Zehe angrily.
Under the glare of the Liaodong Town generals, Li Zehe seemed a little afraid, but showed no regrets.
Seeing this situation, and then thinking about Li Zehe's series of behaviors after seeing him, Wu Yingxiong couldn't help but feel a move in his heart, and secretly thought: "Could it be that Li Zehe has wavered in his stance and wants to take advantage of the opportunity to join the Wu family in Shanhaiguan?"
Thinking of this, Wu Yingxiong's attitude towards Li Zehe suddenly became much gentler, and he decided to go with the flow: "In this case, the governor and the officers under him will temporarily stay at General Li's residence! ... Many thanks to General Li.
!”
For Wu Yingxiong, his current top priority is to do everything possible to intervene in the affairs of Liaodong Town, and then he can use various soft and hard means to gradually control Liaodong Town. Entering the camp in Liaodong Town is the first step, so naturally he will not let go
Take this chance!
*
In this way, with the help of Li Zehe, Wu Yingxiong led his Guan Ning cavalry and finally entered the camp in Liaodong Town.
After entering the camp, the Guan Ning cavalry under Wu Yingxiong quickly drove away the border troops of Liaodong Town near the camp, and also forcibly took over part of the camp's defense affairs to prevent a sudden attack in Liaodong Town.
When Wu Yingxiong took over Li Zehe's station, as an experienced military general, he quickly discovered the strangeness of this station.
It seems that there was a fire in this place not long ago.
When he took over the station, Wu Yingxiong asked Li Zehe about the cause of the fire.
Li Zehe took the opportunity to say that because he had different stances from the generals in Liaodong Town, he had suffered an assassination not long ago and almost died. However, most of his soldiers were burned to death, and a few of them were summoned.
The personal guards who luckily escaped from the fire allowed Wu Yingxiong to witness the burns on these soldiers to confirm that his statement was true.
At the same time, Li Zehe also hinted that the reason why he suffered this assassination was because his attitude towards the Wu family in Shanhaiguan was too "friendly".
After hearing this situation, Wu Yingxiong gained more trust in Li Zehe.
Wu Yingxiong had always been cautious and did not completely trust Li Zehe. He just took the opportunity to express a few words to Li Zehe, saying that he would definitely uphold justice for Li Zehe, and also hinted that the Wu family in Shanhaiguan would repay Li Zehe generously for his "friendliness."
But that was all. Wu Yingxiong did not have in-depth contact with Li Zehe. Instead, after placing his soldiers, he immediately went to the Forbidden Army station to meet Zhao Junchen. On the one hand, he wanted to confirm whether Zhao Junchen had been under house arrest.
, on the other hand, I also want to take the opportunity to win Zhao Junchen's support, and also want to gain more information from Zhao Junchen.
In terms of self-interest, during Zhao Junchen's inspection of Liaodong, he was not happy with Liaodong Town. On the contrary, the Wu family in Shanhaiguan treated Zhao Junchen with respect and courtesy. Therefore, Zhao Junchen had no reason to fully support Liaodong Town, let alone for Liaodong Town.
And offended the Wu family in Shanhaiguan.
In terms of justice, after the accidental death of He Yu, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, Wu Yingxiong, as the governor of Jiliao, also had the right to take over all matters of Liaodong Town.
Therefore, in Wu Yingxiong's view, Zhao Junchen is an ally that he can win over!
But Wu Yingxiong didn't know that Zhao Junchen had been wary of the Shanhaiguan Wu family from the beginning to the end, and even strongly rejected it. He was never willing to allow the Shanhaiguan Wu family to take the opportunity to annex Liaodong Town and further strengthen their strength!
For Zhao Junchen, one of the important prerequisites for his series of plans is to maintain the Liaodong pattern shaped by Emperor Deqing as much as possible, so that the Shanhaiguan Wu family and Liaodong Town can restrain each other and maintain the balance of power between the two sides.
There is no other reason than that what happened in another historical time and space made Zhao Junchen full of prejudice against the Wu family.
If the Wu family were allowed to annex Liaodong Town, Zhao Junchen would not be able to help but worry that Wu Sangui or Wu Yingxiong would do something similar to "turning the crown into a beauty in anger" again and betray the Ming Dynasty to Jianzhou Jurchen again.
Zhao Junchen also knows very well that with different historical circumstances and actual situations, everyone's position and ideas will be different. A historical sinner in another historical time and space may be just an ordinary careerist in this historical time and space.
That's all, he is no more despicable than Zhao Junchen himself, nor is he more noble than Zhao Junchen himself.
But Zhao Junchen was still affected by this prejudice.
However, when Zhao Junchen heard that Wu Yingxiong asked to see him, he naturally did not show his prejudice, but instead greeted Wu Yingxiong with great enthusiasm.
After all, Zhao Junchen was not willing to completely offend the Shanhaiguan Wu family.
Zhao Junchen hoped that he could make the Shanhaiguan Wu family willingly give up their ambition to annex Liaodong Town, and continue to share the defense pressure of Liaodong Town as before.
In this way, with each having his own agenda, a conversation started between Zhao Junchen and Wu Yingxiong.