Ever since Fang Kong, the governor of Huguang, was moved to Xiangyang by Yang Sichang's decree, he had been in an extremely bad mood. Logically speaking, he was a family friend of Yang Sichang's family, and he was Yang Sichang's elder, so Yang Wenruo should have called him "uncle".
But Yang Sichang relied on the holy family and was extremely domineering, and no one took him seriously.
Yang Sichang was completely unfaithful to his words, and the old uncle who kept saying one thing after another actually treated Fang Kong like a slave. Fang Kong was the governor of Huguang with the title of Yushi of Youqiandu, although his official position was not that of Yang Sichang's Supervisor Pavilion.
Although he is a high-ranking official in the imperial court, he is also Yang Wenruo’s domestic servant!
He was extremely dissatisfied with Yang Sichang's reliance on the holy family members and the suppression of dissidents in the court. He took advantage of Cao Cao's rise and went on a rampage in Guijian. Feng Shangbin, who was acting in charge of Jingzhou Road, took the initiative to ask for war. He left Xiangyang and moved his headquarters to
Jingmen is closer to the front line.
Fang Kong was busy staying away from Yang Sichang and getting rid of the control of Governor Yang. He was in a hurry, taking only about twenty family members and his nephew Fang Yiren, and went straight to Jingmen to command the military.
Fang Yiren is the son of Fang Kong's younger brother. He also founded Zeshe with other outstanding disciples of the Fang family in Tongcheng, such as Fang Wen and Fang Yizhi, and also participated in the party and society movement of restoring the society. After becoming a scholar in the early years of Chongzhen, he became a scholar.
In the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, he experienced the Tongcheng civil uprising that year in his hometown of Tongcheng. As a result, he felt painfully that the country's affairs were deteriorating day by day. He abandoned his career and traveled around the world. He learned a lot of military strategies and was diligent in military affairs.
In the 11th year of Chongzhen's reign, when the Manchus broke through and attacked Jinan, Fang Yiren was a guest at the home of his uncle Zhang Bingwen in Jinan. He personally participated in the battle and defense, and survived by crawling among the dead after the city of Jinan was broken, so he had rich practical experience.
Fang Kong took him with him to participate in the Chu soldiers' praise painting.
Fang Yiren fled back to the south after the Jinan disaster in the eleventh year of Chongzhen's reign. He found that the people in the party and society, whom he had high hopes for, were unaware of the threat of Manchuria's iron hoof, and were unaware that the Ming Dynasty was about to collapse. They were still intoxicated and dreaming.
, and even had time to plan to use money to persuade the mediocre Zhou Yanru to return to the prime minister.
Fang Yiren was greatly disappointed, so he traveled west to Wuchang to praise his uncle Fang Kong in the army, and actively made suggestions for the Chu army's battles. He originally admired and respected Yang Sichang, who was rumored to be favored by the Holy Spirit, but after spending just a few days in Xiangyang, he
It also made Fang Yiren feel that Yang Sichang had an extreme personality and was really difficult to work with.
Before Fang Kong, he first went to Jingmen to decorate the Yamen Office. He took several family members brought by Fang Kong from his hometown in Tongcheng to decorate the hall with Jiangnan charm.
After Fang Kong arrived at Jingmen, he was accompanied by Feng Shangbin of Jingzhou Road, and drove directly to the office to work. After passing the gate and walking into the Yamen hall, he felt the fresh and comfortable atmosphere of his hometown. Fang Yiren only took a few days.
During the day, he transplanted bamboo trees and plum blossoms of various colors in the courtyard of Xingyuan. He wanted to get together all the plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums, but unfortunately the weather was not suitable and he could only get half of them.
Next to the courtyard, next to the originally frozen pond, Fang Yiren also mobilized the Chu soldiers stationed near Jingmen and Yidu, and asked them to hurry up at night and build a thatched pavilion. Although it was winter, the thatched pavilion
There are still prosperous bamboo trees around, many potted flowers are arranged beside the pavilion, and a plaque with the word "Thatched Cottage" is hung on the pavilion.
On both sides of the pavilion, there are two couplets of poems, which are the "Poetry on Grape Splashing Pictures" written by Ivy Old Man Xu Wei and Xu Wenchang. These two couplets of poems are written in a vertical and horizontal style, very unrestrained, dripping with ink, and the square holes can be seen at a glance that they are from
The handwriting of Fang Yiren.
Standing next to the square hole, Feng Shangbin, who was in charge of Jingzhou Road, read slowly: "Having spent half his life, he has become an old man, and his independent study is whistling in the evening breeze. There is nowhere to sell the pearls in his pen, so he throws them into the wild vines."
"Wen Changgong studied and studied in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and took from the Southern Dynasties. His poems are really spiritual. He is wild and winding, and he is passionate about the mountains and rivers. When he lets his mind go, he travels thousands of miles; occasionally it is secluded and ghosts speak in anger in autumn. These two couplets are in perfect harmony with the potential.
Weng Zhizhi, Leshan is really a master of picking sentences."
Feng Shangbin of Jingzhou Road did not call Fang Kong's official position Futai, but used Fang Kong's cousin Qianfu and respectfully called him Qianweng, which showed the very close relationship between the two. The Leshan he mentioned refers to Fang Kong.
Yiren, Fang Yiren's epithet is Leshan, and his nickname is Yugong. A pair of uncles and nephews of the Fang family in Tongcheng, one named Qianfu, and the other named Yugong, both of whom are somewhat ashamed of being confused with the world.
Fang Kong was extremely satisfied with the arrangements made by his nephew Fang Yiren in just a few days. He stroked his beard and smiled and said: "Leshan is strong and self-sufficient. He treats blue and purple as dung and pays attention to the official scriptures. It has a profound and profound meaning."
The family education of the Fang family in Tongcheng is different from that of other late Ming scholar families, which places more emphasis on practical learning. Fang Yiren has experienced the difficulties in Jinan, and usually pays more attention to military affairs and miscellaneous studies. He just arranges the business, which is natural for him.
It's as easy as picking up mustard.
"My uncle's words are serious. The city of Jingmen is small, the administrative offices are dilapidated, and we live in a ruined hut with cracked grass utensils. How can we calmly and calmly destroy the thieves with troops?"
"Well done, Leshan, you are very interested in studying abroad. After my uncle is defeated and returns, I will try to find a suitable position for you so that you can put your talents into full use."
Jingzhou Dao Feng Shangbin held Fang Kong's left hand, accompanied him into the Yamen hall, and said: "Come to Leshan to counsel the military. Cao Cao's thieves are extremely rampant, and I need you to make more suggestions."
In the hall, three Qinhuai singers who had been arranged by Fang Yiren were playing the harp, and there were also two cooks who were also family members of Fang Kong's hometown in Tongcheng. In order to avoid Yang Sichang this time, Fang Kong traveled in a hurry, and only drove lightly.
He brought three Qinhuai servants and two Suzhou cooks with him, and Feng Shangbin was greatly impressed by his frugality and his indifference to state affairs.
The cook has laid out the dishes:
The first dish is fresh saury, which is stuffed with honey wine, put on a plate with clear sauce, and steamed in the same way as anchovies. The cook does not add water, but only uses a very fast knife to scrape the fish fillets and remove the spine with tongs. Then he uses ham soup.
, chicken soup, bamboo shoot soup simmered, delicious and delicious.
The second course was fake crab, because good crabs are not available in this season, and square holes have the best crab flavor. Fang Yiren specially asked the cook to make a fake crab dish, boil two yellow croakers, remove the bones from the meat, and add raw salt eggs
Four, mince it without mixing in the fish; heat the oil in a pot, add chicken soup and bring to a boil, mix the salt and eggs, add mushrooms, green onions, ginger juice, wine, and use vinegar when eating.
The third course is pig's trotters. Use one hoof bone, boil it in white water, remove the soup, add one pound of good wine, half a cup of clear soy sauce, one penny of tangerine peel, four or five red dates, simmer until tender. When cooking, use onions and peppers.
, pour the wine in, remove the tangerine peel and red dates, and call it "fairy meat".
The fourth course is Yangzhou's Thousand Layer Steamed Buns and Apricot Cheese. It's as white as snow, and when you peel it off, it's like having a thousand layers of steamed buns and pounding almonds to make pulp, and it's just as sweet.
Fang Kong was responsible for military affairs, and his style was no better than that of the domineering Yang Sichang. He tried his best to encourage his subordinates with frugality. Fang Yiren knew that his uncle valued fame over profit and did not enjoy it, so he simply asked two Suzhou cooks to prepare four dishes.
Feng Shangbin was even more impressed. Fang Kong was the governor of Huguang. As a frontier official of the imperial court, he was frugal and self-reliant. His food was far inferior to that of a Taoist priest. He was really a role model for the ministers. If all the ministers of the Ming Dynasty were like Fang Kong
In general, what worries does the world have?
"Alas..." Fang Kong sighed. He didn't have much appetite for the food on the table. But he felt that this was Fang Yiren's filial piety, so he couldn't let the servants throw away the food, so he sat down and ate with two chopsticks.
, "At my age, I have long been fed up with pork. Leshan should not bother with it in the future."
Fang Yiren stepped in to say hello and replied: "My uncle is frugal and self-reliant, which is known to the world. But since he is diligent in the king's affairs, he can't forget about tea and food. What's more, the food prepared by Yiren is so crude, so uncle can eat some."
Guo Shangbin also tried to persuade Fang Kong to eat a few more chopsticks. After swallowing the fish, he asked Fang Yiren to hang the map in the hall, pointed at the map and said: "The traitor Cao set up his old camp in Xingshan
In the county area, Yang Wenruo is urging us to send troops every day, so I will just take Xingshan."
The governor of Huguang was named Governor Huguang, but the post of governor in the Ming Dynasty was not a permanent official position, and it did not completely overlap with the scope of Huguang Province. The post of governor of Huguang in Fang Kong was actually responsible for the central area of Huguang Province from Dongting Lake to
Part of the northern part is only equivalent to a part of Hubei. For example, the Yunyang area is under the jurisdiction of Yunyang Governor, while Kuidong in Sichuan, Shizhou in Hubei, western and northern Hunan, and eastern Guizhou are under the jurisdiction of Governor Pianyuan, and are not subject to
Jurisdiction of the Governor of Huguang.
Fang Kong knew that the bandits were very powerful in fighting in the mountains, so he was reluctant to go into the mountains to search and kill the bandits. Instead, he deliberately exploited the loopholes in Yang Sichang's military orders to limit the Chu soldiers' combat scope to the Xingshan County area, and was unwilling to go deeper.
"I think the Three Gorges area should be handed over to Sichuan and Yuanfu. Yang Wenruo's document also said that Sichuan soldiers should go down the gorge and Yuan soldiers go up. We Chu soldiers don't need to compete with others for credit."
Fang Yiren also nodded in agreement. He pointed his finger to the south of Yichang and said: "The Supervisor and Assistant Minister have ordered the two battalions of Yuan soldiers, Min Yiqi and Yin Xianmin, to quickly move up to Yuan'an County to suppress the bandits. Sichuan Fu also sent Tan Wenji
Camp Sichuan troops and go down to the gorge to intercept the bandits in the Nanzhang area. In addition, Wang Zhilun, Tan Yi and several battalions of Sichuan troops search and kill the bandits in Yiling. As long as the Chu soldiers clear out the bandits in Xingshan, they can answer to Governor Yang.
"
At this time, Chen Ruimo, the governor of Pianyuan, was Fang Kong's political enemy. Governor Pianyuan governed the Hunan area, and the Yuan soldiers under his command included some very capable Xiangxi Zhenhuang soldiers. Fang Kong was worried that the Yuan soldiers would compete with the Chu soldiers for credit, so he thought about it and said
: "If not, let Yang Shien send three thousand troops, first from Jingguan to Dangyang, join Luo Anbang's troops, and then march to Xingshan. The rest of Yang Shien's troops will go to Yicheng to join forces with Yuan troops."
The Yang Shien and Luo Anbang mentioned by Fang Kong were the two deputy commander-in-chiefs of the Chu army. Yang Shien's troops had about 5,000 troops, and Luo Anbang's troops had about 3,000 troops. He planned to have Yang Shien and Luo Anbang gather 6,000 troops and horses in Dangyang.
Go to Xingshan County to search and kill Cao's traitor Luo Rucai. Yang Shien's remaining troops will go to Yicheng to join the Yuan soldiers. Depending on the changes in the situation, they will either delay the Yuan soldiers' advance or compete with the Yuan soldiers for credit.
Fang Yiren felt that this plan overly underestimated Cao Ying's strength. But he also knew that Fang Kong and Pianyuan Governor Chen Ruimo were political enemies, and his uncle would definitely boycott Yuan Bing's actions, so he had no choice but to nod. However, Fang Yiren was worried.
The thieves' army was too strong, and the officers and soldiers might not be able to do their best in searching and killing them. He added: "Since Zuo Liangyu disobeyed military orders, the generals among the Chu soldiers have followed suit. Yang Shi'en and Luo Anbang also often disobeyed.
To disobey military orders, uncle, can I bring some servants to suppress military discipline?"
"That's fine, Leshan. You can choose 300 people from Fubiao to Yang Shien's camp to prevent these old soldiers from being domineering and lawless."