The complete statement to the outside world is that after the third prince arrived in Xiangzhou, he discovered that his food had been poisoned. A secret investigation revealed that the guard camp had been infiltrated by spies from the Liang Kingdom. However, when they captured two key figures, they tortured them too hard, resulting in The two agents were tortured to death without giving any useful information. It was impossible to completely clear out the guard camp within a short period of time. Under the current situation, the only way to replace the entire bodyguard of the third prince was to replace them.
The third prince was assassinated not long after he left the palace last year. He was poisoned by the enemy not long after he arrived in Xiangzhou City. The matter was very sensitive. Du Chongtao did not want to cause suspicion, so he acquiesced that this was a private matter around the third prince, and there was no trace of it. It means to ask.
Han Qian immediately accompanied the third prince to see Du Chongtao to report the matter. Du Chongtao saw that the third prince's personal freedom was not restricted, so he assumed that the matter had never happened, so no news was leaked from him.
After Han Qian had evacuated Scout Zuo Si and some of the troops left to him by Li Zhigao from the third prince's temporary residence, Shen Yang, with a solemn face, went to see Chen De, Guo Rong, Guo Liang, Gao Chengyuan and others in person. The third prince.
"Such a change happened suddenly. In order to avoid unnecessary panic, I didn't send anyone to inform you in advance." Although six or seven days had passed, Yang Yuanpu could not hide his excitement. He stared at everyone and said, "Shen My husband has selected a group of young generals with innocent backgrounds from the army, and I will temporarily use these young generals as my retinue - many things around me in the future will also depend on Shen Shengsheng's hard work..."
"Your Majesty has entrusted you, and Shen Yang dare not slack off." Shen Yang returned the gift, still emphasizing that his loyalty to the third prince stemmed from the will of Emperor Tianyou.
Guo Liang and Gao Chengyuan could guess that things were not as simple as imagined. After all, what the third prince's expression revealed was not fear or anger, but a trace of unconcealed excitement and a sharp temperament with a sword unsheathed. It was not difficult to scream They saw some clues.
However, Shen Yang was able to take charge of the third prince's affairs and personally select a new batch of guards, which was extremely beneficial to Guo Liang and Gao Chengyuan themselves.
Although Guo Liang and Gao Chengyuan, like Li Zhigao, Zhou Shu and others, were Du Yuhou who each led a section of the Longque Army, the middle and low-level military attachés under them were basically direct relatives of the Xinchang Hou Mansion, which made the two of them Neither of them can truly control their troops.
Even though Guo Liang is better than Gao Chengyuan, after all, he still has two to three hundred former Longque Army veterans who follow him, but he is still under the command of his battalion, and the team leadership is neglected.
At this time, Shen Yang stayed with the third prince to take charge. Although he would not be able to suppress the influence of the Xinchang Hou Mansion immediately, it was foreseeable that Guo Liang and Gao Chengyuan wanted to select brave warriors from among the grassroots generals. There will be much less resistance than before when training, promoting, or punishing generals and military attachés who are unruly and disobedient to discipline.
Chen De was not an idiot, but his temperament was much more lazy. Seeing that the third prince had nothing to do, he did not care about the subtleties behind the overall replacement of the guard camp and how serious the subsequent impact would be.
Guo Rong was surprised and suspicious.
He guessed that something terrible must have happened, but he didn't immediately follow Yang Yuanpu to Xiangzhou City by land. Even the people who served Yang Yuanpu these days, none of them were his direct descendants. There was no way to know what happened at that time, and now we can only acquiesce in the fact that it has happened.
However, the way he looked at Chen Ping was full of suspicion. It was only at this time that he learned that Chen Ping would replace him as the eunuch of the Hou Mansion, which meant that from today on, he would only serve as the supervisor of the army and would not be allowed to interfere with the three wars. Affairs around the prince.
He had not heard anything about such an appointment beforehand, and it was obviously not the will of Anning Palace; and if this was His Majesty's will, then Zhang Ping should be sent by His Majesty to assist the third prince, but the third prince, Shen Yang, Han Qian, etc. How could anyone deliberately weaken Zhang Ping's sense of existence?
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster. Guo Rong secretly speculated that Zhang Ping seemed to be worthy of scrutiny, right?
The negotiations with Chen De, Guo Rong, Guo Liang, Gao Chengyuan and others were naturally led by Shen Yang. Han Qian stood quietly behind the third prince and the others. Seeing Guo Rong sizing up Zhang Ping for several days, he also felt that The scalp is numb. The arrangement of Xinchang Hou Lipu and the black veiled woman is really too stupid. He only wanted to control the third prince and him, but he thought that Guo Rong and An Ning Palace were blind, so now they are everywhere They are all loopholes that cannot be blocked.
Han Qian didn't have the energy to take care of too much at this time. At this time, the construction of Canglang City and the ship gang's undertaking of losing salt and other matters he was planning were delayed for ten days than he expected due to this incident and were not officially launched.
At this time, the war in the north has begun. Although the war has not affected a large area of the Nanyang Basin, it cannot be delayed any longer. Everything must be put on track immediately.
After Guo Liang, Gao Chengyuan and others met the third prince, they returned to Niushou Village to wait for orders.
Yang Yuanpu invited Chen De, Guo Rong, Shen Yang and Han Qian into the inner hall to discuss matters.
Han Qian strongly recommended Shen Yang to take charge, mainly because apart from Xinchang Hou Li Pu, Shen Yang was the only senior official qualified to directly submit the memorial to Tianyou Emperor to speak before the case.
Of course, the third prince Yang Yuanpu could also submit the memorial to the palace, but the problem is that Yang Yuanpu is still a fourteen-year-old boy who has nothing to do. No matter how brilliant and correct his memorial is, it will be difficult for Emperor Tianyou to get it to the court and hand it over to the Privy Council. The ministers made a decision.
The reason why Chen De can serve as the deputy commander of the Longque Army is purely because he is the only relative of the concubine in the court. He was only a low-level military attaché before. His remarks in high places will not be taken seriously, and he will not even be discussed by the Privy Council. There is no chance.
However, Chen De, as the deputy commander of the army, and Guo Rong, as the military supervisor, have a say in the internal decisions of the Longque Army. However, Chai Jian, Chen Ping, and Li Chong, who were previously entrusted with important tasks by Xinchang Hou Li Pu, can only sit down and sit down. Listen on the sidelines.
"On the north bank of the Han River and on both sides of the Danjiang River, there are as many as 30,000 to 40,000 people who have fled into the mountains to avoid disasters due to decades of war. Most of these people are controlled by defeated armies that have been defeated in previous wars. They have relatively strong With their military equipment and will to resist, it will be difficult to conquer them in a short period of time." Han Qian stood in the lobby and talked about his plan, but he also deliberately reduced the actual number of fleeing households in Junzhou, "These cottages, Yan Iron and other materials are extremely scarce, so Your Highness lures them with salt, iron and other materials so that they can be used by Your Highness."
"Thirty to forty thousand people, and two thousand stones of salt are needed every year. If we can communicate smoothly, we can exchange for three to four thousand civilians to be used by the Longque Army to guard the left wing. But the problem is that His Highness and I are discussing matters at this time, and His Majesty supports it with all his strength. In addition, if the salt issue in the three counties of Dengxi and Dengxi is handled as a special case, it will take two or three months before the boat gang can transport the first bag of salt. I am afraid that water far away will not quench the thirst of the nearby!" Shen Yang knew the actual situation and heard Han Qian briefly say, We knew what loophole he was going to take advantage of, but the problem was that it was not easy to solve the urgent need at hand.
"The situation arises from the authority," Han Qian said, "it is common sense that the Dragon Bird Army's seven thousand generals should be accompanied by five thousand civilians, and the defense commander Du should also match the corresponding supplies for the Dragon Bird Army. Of course, this matter will only be possible if His Highness and Mr. Shen Yang go to Mr. Du to negotiate."
Han Qian's plan was for the third prince, Shen Yang, to come forward and ask Du Chongtao to report the false debts of the five thousand people and collect the corresponding supplies to offset the previous consumption.
This is also the significance of the Dragon Bird Army joining the war this time to make up for the lack of military resources.
Using salt and iron to induce the stronghold to build a city in Canglang and assist the defense of the left front, the plan must be announced and implemented. Han Qian was not afraid that Guo Rong would pass the news back to Anning Palace after learning about it. go.
As the military supervisor, Guo Rong is responsible for supervising military affairs, but Han Qian is not worried that he will arbitrarily obstruct normal military strategies. Guo Rong must also know very well in his heart that as long as he dares to arbitrarily obstruct legitimate military affairs, Emperor Tianyou will Find an excuse to kick him out.
At that time, An Ning Palace's biggest spy in the Linjiang Marquis Mansion and the Longque Army would be eliminated.
Chen De's relationship with the Xinchang Houfu has become closer recently, and he is also aware of the existence of Wanhong Tower. However, it is in line with his own interests and position that the power of the Dragon Bird Army can become stronger, and he has no objection to using the power of salt and iron to build a city and consolidate it. The principle of the left front defense line.
After discussion, it was finally decided that Shen Yang would accompany the third prince to Du Chongtao to negotiate the matter, while Han Qian would be solely responsible for the specific implementation.
Guo Rong, Chen De and the others were also tired from traveling and traveling, and with such a big event happening, no one was in the mood to stay for the banquet. After discussing the matter, they went back to the courtyard arranged for them in Jinxingfang to rest.
Shen Yang's residence in Jinxingfang was quite close to Han Qian's temporary residence, and they left the third prince's mansion together.
When there was no one around, Shen Yang couldn't help but ask: "The purpose of what you discussed today is probably to build a new Junzhou, and secretly promised to help Li Zhigao get out of Junzhou?"
"..." Regarding the new establishment of Junzhou, Han Qian only communicated with a few people such as Xinchang Hou Li Pu, Black Veiled Lady and Li Zhigao beforehand. However, they felt that he was a little too hasty, but he did not expect Shen Yang to do it so quickly. After working out so many details, I also knew that denying it would be meaningless, so I remained silent.
"Alas, you and Li Zhigao are both ambitious and colluding, but you don't want to think about what a terrible situation His Highness will face when he returns to Jinling. You have wasted His Highness's trust in you." Seeing Han Qian's silence, Shen Yang knew there were many speculations. It's all true, he said unceremoniously.
"It was Marquis Xinchang who destroyed His Highness's trust in them. Can Li Zhigao and I be blamed for this?" Han Qian asked tit for tat.
However, Han Qian also knew that his rebuttal was not very strong. After all, he could not tell the real conspiracy of Marquis Xinchang at this time. In Shen Yang's heart, the crisis around the third prince was far from being solved by military advice. the point.
Sure enough, Shen Yang followed up and asked: "Not to mention other things, to maintain the Dragon Bird Army, the Xinchang Hou Mansion still needs to supplement the money and food for 40,000 to 50,000 dan every year, and Zuo Si's loopholes are getting bigger and bigger today, can you really Can you handle this?"
"Li Zhigao can lead his troops to make achievements on the left wing, and if Junzhou is newly established, the gap can be filled," Han Qian said.
"What if it can't be done?" Shen Yang asked.
"When we are exhausted, how can we choose any other way out?" Han Qian could only say decisively.
"Alas!" Shen Yang sighed and said nothing to Han Qian. He took two family members and pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard arranged for him.