"This is the military supplies and wages shipped to Xichuan City. Why did you forcefully intercept them? These are letters signed by the Yingzhou Prefectural Government and the Deng Xiang Defense Envoy. Why did the Longque Army insist on intercepting us for inspection?
Ships? What qualifications do you have? Is it because you are from the Linjiang Marquis Mansion that you can be lawless?"
The ship escort officer in Yingzhou, a skinny middle-aged man in his forties, with a thin chin and a sparse beard, lifted up the skirt of his blue robe, ran ashore one step at a time, and shouted loudly.
He picked up a stack of letters and roared menacingly at Li Chong.
Li Chong was sprayed with saliva all over his face and felt unlucky. He regretted following Han Qian and running to the river embankment to watch the excitement.
All the systems of the Chu Dynasty were imitated by those of the previous dynasty, and the casual robes worn by officials also had strict color distinctions.
Only officials of the third rank and above are qualified to wear purple, while those of the fourth and fifth rank wear crimson. Li Chong joined the army as a Longque Army official and was an official of the sixth rank. He wore a green jacket over the cold armor to keep out the cold.
He was more imposing than Han Qian, who was only qualified to wear a green robe. It was no wonder that the Yingzhou escort officer pointed his nose at him and sprayed him in the face.
"For the military supplies and wages shipped to Xichuan City, don't you know that the waterway to Xichuan City has been blocked by Liang Jun? Or maybe you already knew about this and deliberately transported more than ten ships of supplies so that these supplies could be delivered smoothly.
In the hands of Liang Jun? Zhao Kuo, you will imprison all these suspected enemies and wait for them to be taken to Xiangzhou City for interrogation." Han Qian had a sullen face and stared at the Yingzhou escort officer without saying a word.
He politely dismissed the charge of capitalizing on the enemy, signaled to Zhao Kuo who was following him, and ordered his men to detain the Yingzhou prison officer who ran ashore and spat at him first.
Zhao Kuo has not been directly following Han Qian for a long time. In recent months, he has been with Xuzhou Han Daoxun, so he was a little unresponsive for a while.
Xi Rong winked at Xi Chang and Xi Fa'er, and the two of them, like wolves and tigers, pounced on the intruder in person.
"You are such a slanderer! Let me go to see Lord Du, the defense envoy. I don't believe that you servants from the Linjiang Marquis Mansion can fly into the sky! Withholding military rations has caused the generals of Xichuan to become disheartened and the city cannot be defended. How many of you are there?"
Even the heads are not enough to chop off!" The Yingzhou official's face turned red. Unexpectedly, the generals around Han Qian rushed over like wolves and tigers, twisting his arms and making him unable to move. He had to feel like he was trapped in a trap.
Like a beast in a cage, it roared angrily and shrilly.
Yingzhou is located in the southeast of Xiangzhou, and the two states are closely adjacent to each other.
Even though there were water bandits in the Han River in the past, now on the waterway from Yingzhou to Xiangzhou, warships and grain ships of all sizes pass through every day, and the river bandits and water bandits have also been temporarily driven out of this area.
.
The fleet that Yingzhou sent to Xiangzhou this time contained more than 5,000 stones of grain, grass and other supplies. Usually there were only thirty or forty soldiers and horses, and the others were all boatmen and boatmen. Yang Qin and Feng
Xuan gathered more than 200 elite men and led four warships to the center of the river to intercept them. They did not dare to force their way through, so they could only dock at the simple dock beside the river beach to negotiate and protest.
It's just that the Yingzhou police officer didn't expect that Han Qian had no intention of communicating with him, and he didn't want to use his power to extort money. He just labeled them as collaborators and collaborators, and just detained them all.
At this time, Yao Xishui ran out of the city and saw Yingzhou's ship escort soldiers and horses being led into the city with their hands tied like prisoners of war. He was also shocked. He couldn't guess what Han Qian was going to do and asked in a low voice: "Are you crazy?"
Aren't you afraid that the Xuzhou fleet passing through Yingzhou will suffer retaliation from the local forces in Yingzhou? Aren't you afraid that Xia Zhen, Zheng Hui and others will put the responsibility for the defeat and loss of the city on you?"
Yingzhou controls the middle reaches of the Han River, and Han Qian has always been dedicated to promoting the establishment and operation of the new Junzhou. Yao Xishui is confused as to why Han Qian would not hesitate to break up with Yingzhou at this time, not to mention that Xia Zhenzhen wants to give up Xichuan City and flee south.
It is also possible to shift the responsibility to the interception of military rations here.
"Come with me." Han Qian lowered his voice and said to Li Chong and Yao Xishui.
Yao Xishui glanced at Han Qian hesitantly.
It had been several days since she and Li Chong arrived in Canglang City. Han Qian ignored them and sent people to keep an eye on their every move. However, Han Qian would not inform them at all of his decisions, but he did not
I know what kind of burden Han Qian has buried at this time and what he wants to say to them.
However, Yao Xishui and Li Chong dared to bring two or three people to Canglang City. They were not afraid of what Han Qian would do to them, so they followed Han Qian back to the city and infiltrated his tent.
"You all go and do your work!" Han Qian sent Zhao Kuo, Xi Chang, Guo Nuer and the guards in the tent away, leaving only Xi Rong beside him. He took out a piece of rice paper from the wooden box and spread it on the desk.
Go up and ask Li Chong and Yao Xishui, "Who do you think this person is?"
Yao Xishui saw that there was a portrait on the rice paper, but compared to the traditional portrait painting method, this portrait was much more delicate and lifelike. He didn't know if it was the unique painting technique taught by Han Qian's master, as if the human model was directly printed upside down.
of.
The portrait is of a young man about thirty years old, with a short mustache on his lips, an eagle nose and deep eyes, and he looks heroic. He is just wearing ordinary robes and armor, so there is nothing special about him.
"Who is this person?" Yao Xishui asked.
"You really don't know this person?" Han Qian asked.
"Who knows where you got such a portrait? How could we know each other? Aren't you going to entertain us?" Yao Xishui has an excellent memory. She is very sure that she has never seen this person. She stared at Han Qian and asked, "I don't know."
Han Qian was thinking about something.
"Of course you are unlikely to have seen this person directly, but think about it, have you heard of anyone with this kind of facial features?" Han Qian said.
"Zhu..." Hearing what Han Qian said, Li Chong seemed to have a spark in his mind. He suddenly thought of a person whose appearance matched this portrait, but for a while he couldn't remember what his name was.
.
"The second son of Emperor Liang, King Yong Zhu Yu?" Yao Xishui blurted out in shock.
"It seems that Wan Honglou is also collecting information about Liang Guo." Han Qian said suddenly.
Only then did Yao Xishui and Li Chong realize that they had inadvertently leaked a secret about Wanhong Mansion, but Li Zhigao knew all these secrets, which confirmed that Li Zhigao had not disclosed everything to Han Qian.
"If you just want to test something, then we'll leave." Li Chong said with a stern face.
"You really don't care. Where did the spies sent by Zuo Si see Zhu Yu, King Yong of Liang?" Han Qian took the fire certificate and lit the oil lamp, put the portrait in front of the oil lamp, lit it, and threw the lit portrait into the iron bucket to burn.
into ashes.
"Where is Zhu Yu?" Li Chong asked in shock.
At this time, the Liang Army launched an offensive in winter. Han Jian, the military envoy of Xuzhou Jiedu, was the commander-in-chief to control all the troops. The vanguard general who led his troops into the Nanyang Basin was Han Jian's nephew and the general of the Liang Army, Han Yuan.
together.
If Emperor Liang's second son, the most trusted by Emperor Liang, had made great contributions to the expansion of Liang's territory in recent years, and personally commanded Liang's most elite Xuanjiadu, Yong Wang Zhu Yu's appearance in Xuzhou or Ruzhou would mean that they had previously
The judgment of this war was biased.
"Wancheng!" Han Qian said.
"How is that possible?" Yao Xishui couldn't help but exclaimed.
To be honest, she would not be surprised that the second son of Emperor Liang was in Xuzhou or directly with Liang Jun's coach Han Jian - this time the Liang Army's attack was indeed much more violent than before, but the second son of Emperor Liang
Appearing in Wancheng means that Jinling's past judgment on the strategic intentions of Liang Jun's offensive this time is very likely to be completely wrong.
Everyone previously thought that Liang Jun's intention this time was to control the entire Caizhou area at the northern foot of Tongbai Mountain and parts of Guangzhou, and control the upper reaches of the Huaihe River, thereby having a strategic advantage over Shouzhou in the middle reaches of the Huaihe River and Chuzhou in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River.
However, Wancheng is located in the heart of Nanyang Basin.
Liang Jun, a figure with a higher status and prestige than Xuzhou Jiedushi, secretly appeared in Wancheng. What does this mean?
Could it be that Liang Jun's most elite combat force, Xuan Jiadu, had also changed into the Nanyang Basin, and the Chu State was still unaware of it?
"I sent spies to infiltrate Wancheng. I saw this young man appearing next to Han Yuanqi, the vanguard general of the Liang Army. He was dressed in ordinary clothes, but some people's demeanor is formed from daily habits. Unless they have undergone special training, otherwise they are very
It's hard to hide," Han Qian said, "This man is indeed the second son of Emperor Liang, King Yong Zhu Yu. This also explains why Liang Jun's attack along the Danjiang River was so fierce in the first few days, but then slowed down after being frustrated.
Offensive. They are mainly worried that their combat intentions may be discovered by Du Chongtao!"
"What do you mean by telling us this?" Li Chong asked, staring at Han Qian.
When he saw Zhao Kuo and others being sent out by Han Qian just now, they all looked puzzled, and they obviously didn't know about it.
Yao Xishui saw that the portrait had been burned to ashes in the iron barrel, which meant that the secret seemed to be known only to a limited number of them. Han Qian did not intend to tell more people about this secret; and there was also a lot of ashes accumulated in the iron barrel.
, I don’t know how many things are rotten in Han Qian’s heart.
"I will tell you two Liang Jun's biggest secret this time. Can you guess what Liang Jun's strategic intention is this time?" Han Qian asked Li Chong calmly.
Since the previously judged strategic intentions of Liang Jun were most likely wrong, what kind of strategic intentions did the second son of Emperor Liang want to achieve when he secretly appeared in the Nanyang Basin?
Although Li Chong hated Han Qian's pretentiousness, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought at this time.
"Liang Guo intends to control the entire Deng-Xiang area, and even go further, to control Suiying, Huangjing and other states so that soldiers and horses can drink water directly from the north bank of the Yangtze River!" Yao Xishui said in shock.
"Who is outside?" Xi Rong suddenly shouted.
"It's me," Zhao Kuo pushed the door open and came in, reporting. "The escort officer in Yingzhou is making a lot of noise and clamoring to see the young master."
If Xi Stubble had not suddenly shouted, Han Qian would not have heard Zhao Kuo approaching at all. He looked at Zhao Kuo suspiciously and said, "I know. If they make trouble again, they will be tied up and stuffed with wood."
bead."
Waving Zhao Kuo out, Han Qian thought for a while, then found a letter from the desk and said to Xi Rong: "Give this letter to Zhao Kuo and ask him to send it to Xuzhou immediately and deliver it to my father.
inside; then let Zhao Wuji lead a few people to keep an eye on Zhao Kuo secretly. If Zhao Wuji turns back halfway within two days, kill him; if there is no abnormality within two days, let him go."
"It turns out that not everyone around Mr. Han can control what he wants." Yao Xishui said with a smile when he saw Xi Rong leaving.
"Miss Yao is not from my room. I don't think Miss Yao needs to worry about my affairs." Han Qian replied coldly.
Han Qian had never been at ease with Zhao Kuo, but his father was not someone who would be easily deceived by anyone. Since his father allowed Zhao Kuo to stay with him, he might have some other secrets.
So Han Qian decided to let Zhao Wuji secretly observe Zhao Kuo for two days, and if there was nothing abnormal, he would send him back to Xuzhou.
