The "Lin Zhengjun" slowly sailed into the berth of the pier on the west coast of Jinwei Island. Sun Shangwang stood on the pier. He had been notified early that the "Lin Zhengjun" was going to trial sail to the Tianjin Sea. After waiting for a long time, he saw it for the first time.
I saw the majestic appearance of this super giant ship. I heard that Chongzhou started building two new ships before the Chinese New Year. Sun Shangwang couldn't wait to get on board to take a look.
After finally waiting for the "Lin Zhengjun" to be safely anchored and the shipyard set up, Sun Shangwang was the first to board the ship. He cupped his hands toward Hu Qiaozhong and asked with a smile: "How does it feel to command a ship like this to sail on the sea? How can you keep up with the agreed time?
You're ten days late and you want me to wait here to watch the autumn?"
According to the sea trial plan, the "Lin Zhengjun" had to cross the Blackwater Ocean to the Tianjin Sea before the Chinese New Year, but there was a reason for being late. Hu Qiaozhong said: "When crossing the Blackwater Ocean, the wind and waves were strong, and the ship's hull veered severely, so it was forced to
Stayed in Jeju for ten days..."
Sun Shangwang was confused: the current in Heishuiyang was very strong. If the "Lin Zhengjun" was not suitable for traveling on Heishuiyang, it would have to go back to Chongzhou. He should not take a big risk and force it over. When he saw Hu Qiaozhong's eyes squeezing to the side, Sun Shangwang followed
Looking over, there was a man wearing a green jacket and a melon hat standing on the side of the ship. When the man in the green jacket turned around, Sun Shangwang was startled and asked, "Why is Mr. Gao on the ship? I still thought he was there."
Mr. Gao is in western Liaoning!"
"Your Majesty has ordered that Mr. Gao's whereabouts must not be leaked to anyone. Mr. Sun is required to secretly arrange for someone to escort Mr. Gao to Changli!" Hu Qiaozhong said.
Lin Fu didn't want Gao Zongting to return to Liaoxi at this time, but he couldn't do it too obviously. Hu Qiaozhong took advantage of the current problem to stay in Jeju for ten more days, but before the New Year's Day, a fleet came to Jinhai from Jeju, and Hu Qiaozhong couldn't stop it.
After dragging it down, they formed a fleet with shipping ships and came over together. Hu Qiaozhong hoped that Sun Shangwang could find an excuse to drag it, but he couldn't explain it in front of Gao Zongting. According to Lin Fu, it would be best if he could drag it.
After the war in western Liaoning came to an end.
"Mr. Sun," Gao Zongting cupped his hands towards Sun Shangwang and asked, "Is there any latest news coming from western Liaoning?"
"There is no new news from western Liaoning." Sun Shangwang couldn't figure out what Gao Zongting was doing in Huaidong at this critical moment. Since it was top secret, he suppressed his curiosity and answered Gao Zongting's questions, but he didn't know what to choose.
, said with a slight hesitation, "The imperial court appointed Zhou Zongxian as Minister of War. Some time ago, Mr. Wu, the commander-in-chief of the Military Intelligence Department, came to Jinhai in person, and went to Beijing in person two days ago..."
"Pah!" Gao Zongting punched the side of the ship with hatred, bowed to Sun Shangwang and said, "I am going to Changli today. Please make arrangements for Mr. Sun..."
"Is it too hasty to leave today?" Sun Shangwang asked.
"Please!" President Gaozong bowed his head.
Sun Shangwang looked at Hu Qiaozhong hesitantly. Sun Shangwang was Huaidong's contact person in Jinhai and knew the secrets. Therefore, he could know that the appointment of Zhou Zongxian by the imperial court was a sign of the removal of General Li Zhuo. At this time, he did not know what excuse the imperial court would use to remove him.
Li Zhuo's general position was somewhat inappropriate for Gao Zongting when he went to Liaoxi at this time.
Hu Qiaozhong smiled bitterly. Gao Zongting insisted on leaving, and they could not forcefully detain him.
At this moment, a ship was sailing from the direction of Jinhai Port. Sun Shangwang looked over and saw a man wearing a sheepskin coat standing on the bow of the ship in the distance. He said, "Maybe Lord Wu is back..."
The person who came back was Wu Qi, the crow. Wu Qi had just returned from Beijing and stopped Lin Xuwen in Jinhai to tell him something. At this time, he saw the "Lin Zhengjun" docked at Jinwei Island from a distance in the port, and he knew that Gao Zongting was also coming.
He quickly found an excuse to say goodbye to Lin Xuwen and took a boat to Jinwei Island.
Wu Qi hurried ashore and met Gao Zongting, Sun Shangwang, Hu Qiaozhong and others. Knowing that Gao Zongting insisted on going to Changli today, he thought for a moment: "Okay, I will accompany Mr. Gao..."
"I don't dare to take it. I don't dare to put General Wu into danger." Gao Zongting declined. Wu Qi is a senior general at the command level of Huaidong. If something goes wrong when he goes north to Liaoxi, it will be a heavy loss for Huaidong. He can't do it for Huaidong.
Personal persistence dragged Huaidong's generals into it.
"It's not that I made a special trip to see Mr. Gao there; if I didn't see Mr. Gao off, I would have to go to the north," Wu Qi said.
When Wu Qi said this, Gao Zongting stopped insisting and asked: "General Wu, tell me the truth, where has the situation in western Liaoning gone?"
"There are some bad news circulating in Beijing. For example, Li Bingbu has been bribed by the Donghu people and is occupying Songshan to negotiate terms with the Donghu people. Such rumors are nonsense, but Li Bingbu has been in Songshan City for a long time.
If they refuse to march, it is difficult to guarantee what the palace and the various guilds in the DPRK will think. The spread of rumors should be secretly operated by Donghu Xizuo. On the other hand, there is also news that the condition for Donghu to withdraw from Datong is from a compensation of fifty silver to
The ten thousand taels dropped to two hundred thousand taels, and news came from Datong that the captive cavalry there were showing signs of gathering and withdrawing their troops. At the same time, Liaoyang kept sending people to Songshan for peace talks... In fact, at this time, the captive cavalry in the direction of Datong,
Regardless of whether the troops are withdrawing or not, this kind of news is confusing, and mixed with falsehoods and truths, which will make the capital full of suspicion. Of course, it is not easy for the news from the market to reach the palace, and there may already be officials from the imperial court.
Some officials or palace figures were bribed by the Donghu people. In addition, when Mr. Gao was in Huaidong, the Metropolitan Procuratorate continuously impeached Li Bingbu. Although they did not directly impeach Li Bingbu for collaborating with the enemy, it was definitely not much better! There were accusations.
Some of those who delayed the march of Li Bing accused Li Bingbu of allowing his sons to roam the countryside, and also impeached Li Bingbu for secretly deducting food and salary and transporting it to Beijing to buy privately. In particular, the impeachment case for deducting food and salary was from Zhang Xie's protégé in the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Huang Cheng's advance will be very detrimental to Li Bingbu..."
"..." Gao Zongting looked depressed and said nothing.
It is naturally nonsense to deduct grain and pay. He did secretly take grain from Huaidong for Li Zhuo and transport it to Beijing for private sale, but everything was used to subsidize the military. Not even a tael of silver fell into his personal pocket, but who believes it?
The Grain Market in Beijing was naturally under the control of the grain dealers who were backed by Zhang Xie and officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs. It was impossible for them to completely conceal the private sale of rice grains in Beijing from Zhang Xie.
Normally, this would be nothing; how many people with good hands and eyes, such as Liang, Hao Zongcheng, Zhang Xie and officials from the Ministry of Revenue, are not doing this?
It's just that Zhang Xie brought this matter up at this time and directly falsely accused Li Zhuo of deducting food and wages, which was extremely damaging. They couldn't explain it yet. How many people in the world would believe that Li Zhuo was so selfless? What if Li Zhuo was right?
The man in the palace obeyed his advice, so this matter was nothing, but combined with the rumors of liaison with the Eastern captives and Li Zhuo's insistence on not sending troops, it would only intensify the suspicion of the man in the palace.
It is not difficult to understand that Zhang Xie wanted to unseat Li Zhuo at this time.
At the beginning, the situation in Yanbei was critical, and it was not Li Zhuo who could turn the tide. At that time, Zhang Xie could only count on Li Zhuo to come out and rescue him.
At this time, Zhang Xie and the princes in the court were all very enthusiastic, thinking that there was a chance of pacifying the captives, and did not want this "great achievement" to fall on Li Zhuo.
Li Zhuo commanded Bianzhen with the title of Minister of War, and won the great victory at Songshan, which brought him one step closer to the throne. Zhang Xie may not believe that Li Zhuo had an affair with the Donghu people, but he would not prevent Li Zhuo from competing for his throne.
Zhang Xie knew Emperor Chongguan's thoughts very well. He would not openly oppose the march to Liaoyang, but after Li Zhuo occupied Songshan and refused to march again, how could he not throw dirty water on Li Zhuo?
For Zhang Xie, it would be far better to give the achievement of defeating Liaoyang to Hao Zongcheng than to Li Zhuode.
Hao Zongcheng was a minister, and no matter how great his achievements were, there were precedents for him to be granted titles, marquises, and kings, but it was impossible to compete with him for position.
To put it bluntly, even if Li Zhuo could not be dismounted, Zhang Xie still hoped that Li Zhuo would lose the battle in Liaoyang and offset the achievements of the Songshan victory.
"What is the attitude of the Liang family? Liang Xi and his son have been guarding the border for a long time. They should have a clearer understanding of the Donglu. They should not want the Yanbei defense line to collapse..." Sun Shangwang asked. The figure behind the Liang family is the Queen Mother Liang.
Liang Xi was also the Duke of Lu, occupying Hezhong and most of Shandong. He had a deep foundation in the court and had a great influence.
"The Liang family does not want the Yanbei defense line to collapse completely," Wu Qi said, "but the Liang family does not believe that Donglu has the ability to attack the capital in one fell swoop. At this time, the Liang family hopes that Li's military department will hastily send troops to Liaoyang to suffer defeat!"
Sun Shangwang glanced at Gao Zongting and saw that his expression was gloomy, thinking that he should have an accurate understanding of the Liang family's thoughts.
Even in Huaidong, especially when they saw that Huaidong had the potential to conquer the world, not many people hoped that the Yuan family would resume the rule of ZTE - it is not surprising that the Liang family has such a mentality.
As for Hao Zongcheng - Hao Zongcheng could just sit back and watch the Jinzhong Army be destroyed, and expecting Hao Zongcheng to take care of the overall situation was worse than counting on a pig - but the person in the palace had surprising trust in Hao Zongcheng.
"When I left the capital, another edict was sent from the palace urging Li's military department to march to Liaoyang and go to western Liaoning," Wu Qi continued in a heavy voice, "According to the news from the palace, those who followed this edict to western Liaoning,
There is also a secret edict. As for what is written in the secret edict and whose hand it is entrusted to, I can’t find any information..."
"We've come this far!" Gao Zongting sighed, turned around, looked at the vast sea, and two lines of tears fell down his cheeks.
Coach change? Sun Shangwang and Hu Qiaozhong looked at each other.
Everyone knows that changing generals before the battle is a taboo for military strategists, but the emperor and his ministers believed that changing generals before the battle has always been documented - Li Zhuo personally led the Ji Zhen troops to attack Liaoyang, which was a very dangerous thing; at this time
If someone else had led the Jizhen troops to attack Liaoyang, one can easily imagine what the outcome would have been.
Wu Qi and others saw Gao Zongting's despair and said nothing.
No matter what, no matter what the Donghu people's next move is, what kind of layout they have, Jinhai must prepare on the premise that the Yanbei defense line is about to completely collapse.
Wu Qi ordered Sun Shangwang, and Hu Qiaozhong said: "Mr. Gao and I will go to Changli and wait for the latest instructions from Huaidong. It may take a while, but we can't delay it any longer - from today on, all grain coming to Jinhai will be delayed."
The ships, rice and grain will not be put into the official warehouse, but will be unloaded to Jinwei Island. The ship will be moved as far south as possible to prepare for the possibility of severe cold weather. I have just discussed with the eldest son that we will evacuate people to the south at this time.
Large-scale evacuation can only be carried out by land to Yangxin; all reserve soldiers will be integrated into active service, and all ironworks will be converted to military use..."g