Orioles are singing and butterflies are dancing, vegetation is flourishing, and white clouds are rising into the distance, swaying into the clear sky.
The scenery in Chengdu in early summer and April is really charming. Zheng Pu, who has been accustomed to the color of grass and clouds in Longyou for a long time, and the cattle and sheep tailing each other, suddenly felt the leisurely feeling of the flute playing on his lips while riding his horse slowly at the western foot of Longquan Mountain.
However, when he turned sideways and reached out to pull out the bamboo flute on the side of the saddle, he caught a glimpse of Fu Qian and the meritorious disciples following him, winding the bow, out of the corner of his eye, so he gave up.
It has been nearly ten days since Zheng Pu returned to Chengdu, and Zheng Pu clearly feels that both the government and the public are in an atmosphere of high morale.
It can even be said to be exciting.
The reason is that the counter-wei army mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to attack without success, Jiangdong secretly attacked Hefei, but the counter-wei Cao Rui was unable to recapture it, which made everyone in the court and the public feel that the counter-wei was already in decline!
Nothing to be afraid of!
Therefore, everyone is racing to seek the opportunity to join the expedition to Guanzhong in the future.
It is in sharp contrast to the situation in the past when the wealthy families rebelled in Nanzhong after the Battle of Yiling and the aristocratic families were unwilling to serve the Han Dynasty.
In the past, this kind of unity and unity was what the prime minister expected.
But now Zheng Pu feels that there is a hidden danger.
Without him, going too far would be worse than going too far.
These people in Chengdu have only seen more victories than fewer defeats since the Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty, and countless lands recovered, but they do not know that the Prime Minister always walks on thin ice every time he uses troops, fearing that he will make a wrong move and lose all his previous achievements.
Gein, with the Han's war background, would not allow defeat.
Yes, the strength of Han and Wei is still not comparable.
Not to mention the extravagant hope that "Guanzhong can be decided in one battle" as imagined by the officials and civilians.
After Zheng Pu returned to Chengdu, due to the unavoidable human nature, he was busy for a while welcoming and sending off people. When talking with them, I saw from their words and demeanor that confidence gradually led to underestimating the enemy.
Perhaps, it was because they rarely had the opportunity to face battlefields littered with corpses that they dared to speak lightly about military matters and show off their heroic demeanor to Fang Qiu.
Only the central leader, Xiang Chong, did not have that impatience.
During the banquet with Zheng Pu, he asked about many matters of the Northern Expedition in detail, and also asserted that the battle to "restore the old capital" would probably last a long time and would definitely not be achieved in one battle.
I have never left Shu to reach Longyou before I have such knowledge, and I have defeated countless people.
As for why he was the first to submit a request for orders to accompany the expedition, it was because Xiang Lang returned from the post of general and returned to Chengdu to guard the chancellery.
His uncle was at the center of the government, while his son and nephew supervised the military garrison inside and outside the capital. Even though the emperor, prime minister, and other officials never doubted the loyalty of the Xiang family, he himself wanted to avoid being suspected of being a man in the melon fields.
From his mouth, Zheng Pu also learned why Zhang Bao thought he would be transferred back to Chengdu~
Today's Central Guard Army, Xiang Chong's deputy Zhao Tong, can no longer take over the responsibility of guarding the capital and inside and outside the capital - he was transferred by the emperor to be the commander of the new army.
right!
After the Prime Minister promoted the government to the public, Emperor Liu Chan began to make preparations to form a new army.
It is not that the emperor followed the example of Emperor Wu of the former Han Dynasty, who "feared that the power of the lieutenant would be too heavy, so he placed Yulin and Qimen in Guangluxun, and then the power of the northern and southern armies began to be equalized." Jiang Wan, who had been promoted to the governor of Yizhou, asked the emperor to select the best among the orphans of soldiers who had died in the Northern Expedition in the past few years and raise them as Yulin Langguan and teach the five soldiers.
On the one hand, this move can reflect the virtue of the court and reassure the officers and soldiers.
On the other hand, it is a favor from above, preparing for the emperor to control military power in the future.
In the future, these orphans of soldiers will be assigned by the imperial court to guard various places according to their personal talents and learning, or serve in the army, which is equivalent to the reserve force of low-level officers in the ranks of the Han Dynasty.
In this way, it is not surprising that Zhao Tong, who was already responsible for selecting generals, was transferred by the emperor to the position of commander of Yulin's new army.
But this also disrupted Zheng Pu's plan.
When he responded to Zhang Bao's request, he planned to recommend Zhao Tong to guard the capital and outside.
Because from the perspectives of loyalty, father's meritorious service, and personal talents, the most suitable person to receive this responsibility is the nephew of the late Emperor Yuan Cong, Guan Zhang, and Zhao San.
Now, Guan Xing is in charge of Hanzhong, and he will be relied on as a vassal to supervise the war in the future, and will not be able to return to serve. However, Zhang Shaoshao, the second son of the Zhang family, has weak muscles and bones, and has no ability to fight, so it is difficult to serve the masses in the army; previously,
Zhao Tong, who had taken the official position of Tiger Ben Zhonglang, was naturally the most suitable candidate to take over Xiang Chong's responsibilities.
If these three families are not promoted from now on, others such as Ma Zhong, Mi Wei, Huo Yi and Pang Hong will all have their own disadvantages.
Among them, it goes without saying that Mi Wei and Pang Hong have little military experience and lack of prestige, and their fathers, Mi Fang and Pang Lin, are currently serving in Wei and Wu respectively... Some quarrels can be avoided if they can be avoided.
.
Ma Zhong and Huo Yi, on the other hand, cannot be easily transferred from Nanzhong.
Although the current Nanzhong area is generally stable, after the former governor Li Hui died of illness and the clan moved to Hanzhong to settle, there were incidents of rebellion by native barbarian chiefs in both Xinggu County and Yongchang County.
The scale was not large, Ma Zhong and Huo Yi only recruited county soldiers and went to conquer them all.
However, who can say that removing them and replacing them with others to guard Nanzhong will not trigger a new rebellion among the native barbarian tribes? Considering that the stability of the rear is more conducive to the Northern Expedition, the imperial court will not
Prioritize them both.
Li Yan's son Li Feng, who was transferred to Longyou to garrison, was not a good choice either.
Li Feng's qualifications are not worrying, but Li Yan is now responsible for supervising the examination of hundreds of officials in the central government, so how can he ask his son to guard the capital and outside!
Therefore, after much calculation, the best arrangement was to transfer Zhang Bao back to Chengdu.
Thinking of this, Zheng Pu, who was relaxing with Hengdi, turned his mind to the words of his upcoming meeting with Emperor Liu Chan.
In the past few days after returning to Chengdu, Zheng Pu had not had any private banquets with the Emperor except for meeting the Emperor during the imperial meeting. In three days, Zheng Pu would tour the north, and the two of them would have many opportunities to chat on the road, so the Emperor was very considerate.
It will not take up the time for Zheng Pu to greet and send him off.
And now Fu Qian is sent to lead Zheng Pu to the Yulin Army camp at the western foot of Longshou Mountain...
Before leaving, the emperor also ordered the meritorious disciples in Chengdu to use their riding and archery skills to select candidates for the Northern Patrol.
It can be regarded as a means of encouragement.
It is natural for the emperor and his ministers to be summoned for this matter.
Especially since he was sent back by the Prime Minister to welcome him to the north, he must also shoulder the responsibility of arranging the guards and soldiers from various places along the way. He also had to discuss and finalize some details with the emperor and Xiang Chong before leaving.
However, Zheng Pu, who felt that the emperor's honest and kind temperament would definitely not have any thoughts of causing trouble temporarily, put all his thoughts on how to use the emperor to reverse the overly optimistic atmosphere in Chengdu about the Northern Expedition, and how to establish a relationship between the emperor and the prime minister.
How can I remove Zhang Bao from his duties of guarding the capital before meeting him?
But what he didn't expect was that the emperor summoned him to attend the meeting, also for other reasons.
