Although Princess Qingyang was in Jinling when the Marquis of Changxiang requested a marriage, as a wedding envoy she could not say that she had just welcomed Princess Qingyang from Jinling to Tanzhou and the matter was settled.
If this is the case, wouldn’t Shu become a big joke in the world?
The daughter of a dignified lord of the country is worried about not being able to get married. Not to mention being a concubine to the son of the Chu lord, why should his mother have sent her to her door so early?
Therefore, to welcome the bride, it is natural to go to the capital of Shu to welcome her.
It was normal for Guo Rong to be appointed as an envoy to Shu to welcome his bride.
At the beginning of preparations for the war to reduce the vassal vassal, Guo Rong was left in Jinling. In name, he was also the former prince of the county. At this time, he was an important official of Prince Tan's palace and was familiar with palace affairs.
Guo Rong's mission to Shu is considered a waste. After all, he needs someone who knows the court etiquette to come forward. But even if he is marrying the concubine of King Tan, Guo Rong is deeply involved with Anning Palace, and the matter of welcoming the bride cannot be left to him.
to take the lead, so you need to choose another envoy.
Han Qian thought that even if the Marquis of Changxiang proposed a marriage in the near future, Emperor Tianyou would choose a minister with enough weight like Yang En from the clan to send him as an envoy to welcome the bride. However, he did not expect that this time Yang En did not even send out, so the mission would actually fall to him.
On his head?
"As a close minister of His Highness, Your Highness has been appointed by His Highness to be envoy to Shu to preside over the wedding ceremony. After His Highness gets married, he will probably have to abolish the direct line and establish a new one, right?" Xi Xunqiao was about to send Han Qian out.
Linjiang went to Longya City, and after learning the purpose of the messenger's visit, he said quite excitedly.
Han Qian also felt very bitter.
In the eyes of outsiders, when a bride-welcoming envoy goes to Shu, in addition to welcoming the bride, it will inevitably involve negotiations on the further deepening of the Chu-Shu peace talks.
Emperor Tianyou did not select people from the clan and court ministers, but selected trusted ministers from the third prince to envoy Chu. This made it clear that the third prince would lead the subsequent peace talks.
This will also make most of the benefits of the Chu-Shu peace talks, with marriage as the core, fall on the heads of the third prince.
In the eyes of the world, this is undoubtedly a further pavement for the abolition of the direct descendants and the establishment of new ones.
It's just that Han Qian is suffering in his heart. Emperor Tianyou has only a few months to live. Regardless of whether Emperor Tianyou issues an edict or not, the third prince will not be able to ascend the throne in a step-by-step manner. Does he still need to pave the way?
After saying goodbye to Xi Xunqiao and others, Han Qian and Zhao Ting'er, surrounded by everyone, drove along the official road on the east bank of the Shah River. Zhao Ting'er couldn't help but ask, "Are you really going to Shu?"
"God Bless the Emperor has issued an edict. Unless there are extremely special circumstances, there is no way to disobey the edict." Although Han Qian was unwilling to accept this assignment, there were some things that he could not decide.
"Then let's create some special circumstances." Zhao Ting'er is no longer a maid. It would be fine if Han Qian has something serious to do. As Han Qian's only "wife", it is inconvenient for her to follow Han Qian to Shu. Of course she doesn't feel comfortable in her heart.
I am willing to separate from Han Qian.
It is naturally impossible to disobey the decree without any reason, but if something unexpected happens, the decree cannot be unreasonable.
Han Qian pondered for a while and said: "This time, we will definitely need someone close to His Highness as an envoy. This will make it easier to negotiate some conditions with the Lord of Shu, and maybe even bribe the civil and military ministers of Shu!"
Zhao Ting'er asked: "Are you considering what will happen after the chaos in Jinling?"
"Yes!" Han Qian nodded and said, "If His Highness can get the support of Wang Jian, the Lord of Shu, once a chaos breaks out in Jinling, with the support of the Shu army, His Highness can even directly order Zhang Wei and Du Chongtao who are guarding Jingxiang.
If you obey orders, no matter how bad things happen, you can still make Du Chongtao and Zhang Wei hold Deng Xiang's defense line, so that the elite Longque Army can advance eastward without any worries!"
Zhao Ting'er nodded melancholy. In this sense, choosing the right person to be Shu is also very important, so the choices are quite limited.
Since Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong and Guo Rong should be arriving in Yueyang in the next few days, Han Qian has to rush to Tanzhou first to meet the third prince, and then go to Yueyang to meet Wang Yong and Guo Rong, and there is no time to return to Qianyang.
See my father again.
There are few horses in Xuzhou, especially few fast horses that can gallop on the battlefield.
There were not enough fast horses for so many soldiers to ride on, so Han Qian immediately took the 100 troops led by Kong Xirong to go to Shu with him, boarded the ship directly from Linjiang County, and circled back to Wufeng Mountain to exchange for two ships.
The latest war sailing ship will go northward along the river; he will first go to Longya City to stay for a day and sort out the affairs there. Then the two parties will meet in Chenyang City and then rush to Tanzhou to meet the third prince.
He and Zhao Ting'er had only been married for three days, and they didn't want to separate directly in Linjiang County.
Although Longya City is currently regarded as Han Qian's private property, the state government has also set up an inspection department here, with three hundred elites stationed there.
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In addition to fighting bandits and catching thieves, there are also tax collectors affiliated with the prefecture and city Bosi who are responsible for collecting taxes from the business travelers passing through the post roads.
Dragon Tooth City was extremely critical, and the inspector appointed was Dong Cheng, a direct descendant of Han Qian who had followed Han Qian for several years.
Chen Jitang is responsible for the internal affairs of Longya City, while Dong Cheng is responsible for the control of the surrounding areas and the spying and surveillance of Chenzhou.
Han Qian took Zhao Ting'er and called Dong Cheng over immediately.
Jiming Village in the north of Longya City controls Chenshui, which is the most important tributary in the middle reaches of the Yuanjiang River. Going west along the Chenshui is Mayang County in Chenzhou, and further to the southwest is completely controlled by large native households.
From the north of Sizhou, over the mountains at the southern foot of Wuling Mountain for more than a hundred miles, you can enter the Wujiang River Basin, and go down along the Wujiang River to Yuzhou, an important town in the southeast of Shu.
This road was extremely rugged, even worse than the Xuefeng Mountain Post Road that had not been repaired at that time, but it was the most important smuggling channel for Sichuan salt to enter the eight states of Hunan, and was also called the Wuling Trail by private salt dealers.
Hundreds of private salt dealers use this trail to secretly carry bags of dried salt into Chenzhou in the southwest of Hunan and sell it in various states. The large and small villages along the route are more or less related to private salt dealers.
Due to the close relationship, Sizhou was also a Jisuzhou that was not under the control of the imperial court, so since the previous dynasty, it had been unable to cut off the private salt traders who followed this route.
Almost one-third of the original criminal soldiers were illegal salt dealers who were captured and imprisoned in state prisons. Therefore, Han Qian was more familiar with the conditions of this trail than other officials in Dachu. Jinyunlou sneaked into
Some of the scouts and spies from Shu would be more covert by taking this path.
Of course, Han Qian initially attached great importance to this trail. On the one hand, he wanted to obtain the well salt produced in southern Sichuan, and on the other hand, he wanted to import the tea medicine, cloth and iron produced in Xuzhou into Shu. However, he did not expect that he would be sent as an envoy to Shu.
Chance.
Although seven or eight scouts had been dispatched to the Shu Kingdom to spy on intelligence, Han Qian thought that he would go there this time to bribe Shu officials. Only seven or eight people lurking in the dark to cooperate with his actions was already seriously insufficient. Dong Cheng
He called over to inquire about the situation, and ordered Guo Queer to lead a group of people pretending to be cloth sellers and private salt dealers, and sneaked into Shu first...
After arranging these people, Han Qian called Chen Jitang and others over.
In addition to being the key land route from Xuzhou to Chenzhou and Sizhou, Longya City is also the center for Xuzhou's iron smelting, armor and war equipment casting.
In comparison, the counties in Xuzhou have successively developed five coal mines near waterways. The coal in Longya City mainly meets internal needs and no longer wastes manpower to transport it out of the mountains.
The iron smelting yard currently has an annual output of 100,000 kilograms of crude iron and 100,000 kilograms of refined iron. However, in addition to the current two small iron smelting yards in other parts of Xuzhou, there are also five iron smelting yards under construction.
After construction begins, Han Qian will subsequently reduce the output of crude iron in Longya City and increase the production capacity of refined iron. At the same time, more craftsmen and craftsmen will be able to focus on the casting of precision castings.
Of course, the so-called precision castings are only relative to the current world.
The compass car and drum car built during the Han and Wei dynasties already used very complex gear transmission, but even at this time, they even included gears and other components used in hydraulic machinery such as drainage basins, water mills, and sail-type wind mills, as well as lifting heavy objects.
The pulleys and so on used are mainly made of hardwood.
An important reason is that fine steel is hard to come by and the cost is too high, and precision castings are even more rare.
During the Han and Wei dynasties, the manual techniques for making gold and copper wires had matured, but drawn iron wires had never appeared.
On the one hand, the ductility of iron wire is poor, the melting point is higher, and the drawing process is not mature enough. On the other hand, it is high-quality fine iron, and fine steel is too expensive.
These are all problems that Longya City needs to overcome step by step.
At present, Han Qian is mainly responsible for the affairs of the shipbuilding yard and weaving institute, and is mainly in charge of Ji Xiyao, while the iron smelting yard and armor workshop in Longya City are mainly in charge of Chen Jitang.
Han Qian had to rush to Tanzhou to meet the third prince before going to Shu as an envoy, so the time he stayed in Longya City was very short, and the time for communication with Chen Jitang and the main craftsmen was very limited.
Chen Jitang and the others still haven't figured out the special steel required for the Scorpion Crossbow and Scorpion Cannon bow arms, and Han Qian is not in a hurry. In short, they must not skimp on costs in cultivating and exploring internal engineers.
Every bit of progress here, not to mention the development of machinery and tools required for various industries and engineering construction, can also continuously widen the gap with the enemy in the manufacturing of armor and war equipment.
Han Qian only stayed in Longya City for one day before leaving for Chenyang to join Kong Xirong and Yang Qin.
Zhao Ting'er has now married Han Qian as his concubine. Before Han Qian officially married, she was "
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"Young Madam", however, she wanted to lead Zhao Qi, Du Yijun, Du Yiming, Du Jiuniang and others to stay in Longya City to take charge of the family business and consolidate the foundation.
And even if she went to Tanzhou with Han Qian, she would not be able to follow Chu Chu, so she would have nothing to do if she stayed in Tanzhou city.
Zhao Ting'er was naturally full of reluctance to break up after only a few days of marriage, but she could only seize the limited time together and linger together until death.
Of the 300 soldiers, Han Qian finally brought only 120 elite soldiers with him. When he arrived in Chenyang, he would meet up with two newly built warships, as well as navy generals and boatmen, totaling 120 people.
, Yang Qin will personally lead the entourage.
The other troops will either stay with his father in Qianyang and wait for orders, or stay with Zhao Ting'er in Longya City. Some troops will also be sent to Huaxi Village to participate in the renovation of Xuefeng Mountain Post Road.
After completing this circle, Han Qian returned to Tanzhou City to meet the third prince Yang Yuanpu. It was already October.
At this moment, no one knows when Jinling will suddenly undergo great changes. Of course, Yang Yuanpu does not want Han Qian to leave his side, but there is no way to explain the reason.
Han Qian rushed back to Tanzhou City and entered the palace to see the third prince, Marquis Xinchang, Shen Yang, Zhang Ping, Wen Ruilin, Wang Lin and others who were naturally there.
They all thought that Shen He was poisoned and died. They had secretly informed His Majesty through Yuan Guowei and Jiang Huo that the situation in Jinling should be under His Majesty's control. The third prince married the Princess of Qingyang, which deepened the Chu-Shu peace talks. , will be a very important step for Your Majesty to abolish the direct line and establish the throne. If Han Qian serves as the emissary to welcome the bride and leads the direct troops to the capital of Shu to welcome Princess Qingyang back to Tanzhou, this can ensure that this matter is foolproof.
Yang Yuanpu soon lost his temper and signaled that the banquet was over. Everyone dispersed, leaving Han Qian alone to speak:
"We will go to Jinling for only three to five days, so we can find an excuse to send Mr. Shen as an envoy to Shu on behalf of Han Shi."
Han Qian pondered for a long time and said:
"If there is a huge change in Jinling, His Highness will definitely need the support of the Lord of Shu, Wang Jian, to have a better chance of winning. However, Mr. Shen Yang does not know the whole picture and is too upright. Most of them are unwilling to privately bribe the Shu generals to find a throne for His Highness. It seems that this time This is the only way Wei Chen can go."
Emperor Tianyou wanted the direct ministers from Prince Tan's Palace to serve as envoys to welcome the bride. They really had no excuse to shirk it, so they believed that Changhou Li Pu and Shen Yang could replace Han Qian as envoys, but neither of them was suitable.
Shen Yang is stubborn and upright. Even if he supports the third prince's ascension to the throne, he will not be willing to use underhanded tactics. Apart from Shen Yang and Han Qian, it is impossible to ask the third prince's father-in-law Li Pu to help him marry and take concubines, right?
"If Master Han is in Chu, Jinling has changed. How should I respond?" Yang Yuanpu asked.
Go upstream from Yueyang, go west through Jingzhou, Yiling, and Yuzhou, go north from Luzhou, pass through Zizhou, Jianzhou, and enter the capital of Shu. Although they are all connected by waterways, they are winding and winding for 27,800 miles. Moreover, after the winter comes, the winds calm down, the water is shallow, and the shoals are dangerous and winding. Not counting the time spent in the capital of Shu, the trip takes two months.
While Han Qian was staying in Shu, drastic changes occurred in Jinling. No matter how capable Han Qian was, he would still be beyond his reach.
Yang Yuanpu had no time to send people to Shu to ask Han Qian for advice.
"His Royal Highness is in Tanzhou, and with Shen Yang and Li Hou Ye assisting him, there will be no serious problems. However, please remember that no matter what the circumstances, even if His Majesty is summoned, you must not enter Jinling lightly!" Han Qian said.
"If my father dies, even if the soldiers and horses of Chuzhou cross the river and move south, I won't be able to move?" Yang Yuanpu asked hesitantly, not expecting that Han Qian had left him an immovable strategy.
"At most, we must gather troops and horses to Ezhou, and we cannot advance even half an inch eastward." Han Qian said seriously.
Shen Yang, Xinchang Hou Li Pu and the generals all have different demands, not to mention that many people have ulterior motives, which will make the situation of Longque Army's eastward march extremely complicated. Han Qian thought that the third prince would just send Longque Army to the east. The army was mobilized to Ezhou, and he should have enough time to rush back to Ezhou to meet the third prince.
"In addition to Gao Shao and Lin Haizheng, although Du Qiniang is a criminal queen, she is good at distinguishing between medicine and poison. I will also keep her by His Highness's side to serve meals. Among Tanzhou's surrendered generals, Zhang Hanbi, Miao Yong, Wen Rui Lindu is trustworthy. If the situation becomes critical, His Highness will recall Zheng Hui and Li Zhigao to ask for advice. If their opinions are consistent, they can be used. For the rebels who have retreated to Yongzhou, they can send people to appease them! "
Han Qian analyzed the situation that Tanzhou might face one by one for the third prince, as well as who could be trusted under what circumstances. He wanted his father, and he also gave special instructions,
"Besides, Wei Chen's father is the same type of person as Mr. Shen Yang. Your Highness can ask about the country and the people's livelihood, but not about seeking the throne!"