"Brother Hezhou, seeing how reluctant you are to leave, do you want to accompany your brother back to Runing? That's too polite!" Wu Shigong joked to Liu Zeqing.
Just after leaving Dezhou, Liu Zeqing led his entourage to catch up with Wu Shigong. Wu Shigong was quite surprised by this, because Liu Zeqing had decided to stay in Dezhou for a while and not go back with the Runing army.
The purpose of Liu Zeqing's stay was quite simple, which was to establish a relationship with Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong. After Qiu Lei's death, the position of Shandong General Soldier became vacant, and Liu Zeqing was eyeing this position.
For this reason, Liu Zeqing invited Wu Shigong and Yan Jizu to a banquet a few days ago. At the banquet, he tried his best to bring Wu Shigong and Yan Jizu into a better relationship.
In fact, Liu Zeqing's matchmaking also came from Yan Jizu's instruction. In Yan Jizu's view: Although he was frightened at the time, Wu Shigong did not rebel after all, and killing Qiu Lei was just a brainless act of a reckless soldier, so Wu Shigong is not a threat now.
, on the contrary, there are places that can be used.
So at the banquet, Yan Jizu made a condition that he would play with the Spring and Autumn Period style of writing on Wu Shigong's killing of Qiu Lei and say a few nice words for Wu Shigong. Correspondingly, Yan Jizu also hoped that Wu Shigong would give up some troops who defeated the Qing army.
The military merits were given to him, and the merits were discounted to offset the guilt of Yan Jizu's loss of the feudal vassal and the loss of Jinan City. As the middleman, Liu Zeqing, Yan Jizu will fully support him to take over the Shandong Army.
For this political exchange, Wu Shigong was indispensable. To be honest, when Wu Shigong killed Qiu Lei, he was not afraid of what the court would do to him. Wouldn't the court send another imperial envoy and a team of royal guards to Runing?
That's really a joke. Ever since the assassination incident, Wu Shigong will never leave the protection of the Runing Army.
So the only punishment the court could give Wu Shigong was to be dismissed from his post. But did Wu Shigong care about the rank of the commander-in-chief and the salary of a mere two or two military attachés? It happened that he was once again without an official and was light-weight, and the Runing army was free to run wild again. But the court also
I won't do such a stupid thing again.
Therefore, Wu Shigong didn't pay attention to Yan Jizu's condition, which he thought was very important. However, Wu Shigong would not let Yan Jizu and Liu Zeqing do a favor, so Wu Shigong agreed to Yan Jizu's exchange during the banquet.
However, after the banquet, after Wu Shigong discussed with Zhang Zhiheng and Zhou Junwu, he felt that Yan Jizu and Liu Zeqing's ideas were basically nothing. After all, the crime of losing the domain this time was too big, and Yan Jizu might not be able to protect himself. Liu Zeqing, on the other hand,
Placing the hope of promotion on Yan Jizu, a ship that is about to sink, seems unreliable no matter how you look at it. But this has nothing to do with Wu Shigong. He will not go to the crow's mouth to awaken the dreams of Yan Jizu and Liu Zeqing.
After that, there was nothing wrong with staying in Dezhou, so Wu Shigong was ready to go home as soon as possible. Unexpectedly, as soon as Wu Shigong said goodbye to Yan Jizu and Liu Zeqing, broke camp and set off out of the city, Liu Zeqing caught up with him in the city. This made Wu Shigong secretly feel strange.
"Bear respect, brother! Stop teasing, things have changed!" Liu Zeqing said with a wry smile.
"What's the matter?" Wu Shigong asked, frowning.
"The governor has received news from the court. Tiqi will come with an imperial edict to arrest the governor." Looking at the two people's cronies surrounding them, Liu Zeqing said to Wu Shigong in a low voice.
Yan Jizu always thought that he and Yang Sichang were from the same faction, and that when he was stationed in Dezhou, he followed the orders of the Ministry of War, that is, Yang Sichang. Therefore, he and Yang Sichang were a grasshopper on the same rope, and Yang Sichang would exonerate himself no matter what.
. Unexpectedly, Yang Sichang was so ruthless. Li Daitao stiffly asked Yan Jizu to take the blame. This time, Yan Jizu was completely confused.
Liu Zeqing, who had no connections among the court officials, managed to get along with Yan Jizu. Unexpectedly, not only was Yan Jizu unable to help, but he was also unable to protect himself. So he came to look for Wu Shigong like an ant on a hot pot.
.
"Then let Governor Yan send people to clear the court as soon as possible. I can't help you much?" After hearing Liu Zeqing's words, Wu Shigong was even more surprised.
"It's just to clear things up!" Liu Zeqing explained quickly, "In addition to the governor seeking a trust relationship, he also hopes that we can help him to escape the crime."
"Oh? What about Brother Hezhou?"
Then, Liu Zeqing introduced Wu Shigong to the method that Yan Jizu came up with. Needless to say, Yan Jizu was a veteran in officialdom, and he was able to come up with a glimmer of hope in this dead situation. But this method required the use of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing.
Yan Jizu asked Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing to jointly submit a memorial to him to plead guilty and exonerate him. He just wanted to add some weight and let the court let him go.
In the final analysis, it was relying on the army of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing to force the imperial court to go to the palace. It was to make the imperial court feel that if Yan Jizu was not let go, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing would have trouble.
Of course, Yan Jizu's method requires the cooperation of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing. There is absolutely no problem with Liu Zeqing. Now he is already obsessed with officials, but Wu Shigong, who is more important, needs Liu Zeqing to persuade.
But when Wu Shigong heard this, he immediately refused flatly: "Brother Hezhou! This time, King Qin, you have already made military exploits, and you have been rewarded by the court, so why go to this muddy water?"
Wu Shigong thought that Liu Zeqing was obsessed. You must know that Yang Sichang had already used this deadly trick, and he must have become a mortal enemy with Yan Jizu. One of them was a favorite of Emperor Chongzhen and a bachelor in the cabinet; the other
He is a local governor and a minister who is about to be convicted. Do we still need to consider this choice?
Besides, giving military merit and jointly submitting the memorial are completely different concepts. If only giving military merit is done, it can be said that it takes into account the friendship between colleagues, and it can be easily explained later. But jointly submitting the memorial proves that Wu Shigong, Liu Zeqing and Yan Jizu are on the same side.
The front line will immediately become a thorn in Yang Sichang's side and a thorn in his flesh. In other words, Wu Shigong and Yang Sichang have also become mortal enemies. Do Yan Jizu and Wu Shigong have such a big friendship?
So Wu Shigong bowed his hands again and said goodbye to Liu Zeqing. Liu Zeqing had no choice but to do so. But at this moment, Yan Jizu also arrived on horseback, and he finally put down his pretense as a governor and came to ask for Wu Shigong's help.
After that, Runing's army stayed again, and Wu Shigong also discussed secretly with Yan Jizu and Liu Zeqing for a whole day. After that, Yan Jizu got his wish, and Wu Shigong alone made a memorial to intercede for Yan Jizu. Yan Jizu also immediately sent out his cronies, taking Wu Shigong, Liu Zeqing and him
He wrote a self-defense memorial and a large amount of money to carry out activities in the capital. This activity was so powerful that the court order to arrest Yan Jizu was miraculously cancelled.