Licheng County in Qizhou is the capital of King Li Na of Qi. Ever since he returned from the disastrous defeat in Hebei the year before last, King Li Na of Qi has kept a very low profile and secretly deployed troops in an attempt to regain his strength as soon as possible.
His 80,000-strong army was completely destroyed in Hebei, but most of them became prisoners of war and worked in the mines of Hebei. Letters from their families soon arrived, which calmed the anxious family members in time and allowed Li Na to avoid death.
A governance crisis.
According to the prisoners' letters home, they will serve in the mines for three years, have enough food and clothing, and earn two taels of silver every month. They will be released next year. This also makes Li Na feel a little relieved.
You must know that among the team that followed him on the northern expedition, there was a Xunwei camp with about a thousand people, all sons of officials and aristocratic families. They were also captured. If they cannot come back, I am afraid that all the aristocratic families and officials in the entire Shandong region will be killed.
To rebel against him.
In the past two years, Li Na has continued to expand his army and prepare for war, and his strength has slowly returned to 100,000. Although the economy has been deteriorating, Li Na has more or less a sense of security.
However, these days, another big stone stuck in Li Na's heart. He got news that there were hundreds of large ships moored at Cangzhou Hekou Port. Each ship weighed about 5,000 stone and could carry hundreds of soldiers. If these large ships were fully loaded,
Soldiers are sent to Dengzhou, Laizhou and Qingzhou. How can I resist them?
These hundreds of large ships undoubtedly reduced his natural danger of the Yellow River to mere decoration.
That morning, just as Li Na was about to go out to the military camp, the guard outside the door rushed to report, "To inform the prince, there is a person outside the prince's palace. He said he came from Chang'an."
Li Na was startled, "Here from Chang'an?"
He asked again: "Does the visitor have a greeting card?"
The guard took out the greeting card and handed it to Li Na. This is not to blame for the guard's inactivity. Generally, Li Na did not see guests. If the guard took the initiative to take out the greeting card, he would be scolded, "You also accept the posts from dogs and cats?"
Only when Li Na takes the initiative to ask will the guard take out the post.
Li Na took the post and looked at it carefully. It read, "Secretary Supervisor Zhang Que of the Tang Dynasty." Li Na was shocked to find that he was actually someone sent from Chang'an. He quickly said: "Please go to your guest room and wait a moment."
He immediately ordered: "Please invite Mr. Fang to receive the guests from Chang'an."
The Mr. Fang mentioned by Li Na is called Fang Ning. It is said that he is a descendant of Fang Xuanling, the prime minister of the early Tang Dynasty. He may be a descendant of his clan, but in fact he has little relationship with Fang Xuanling.
Fang Ning is about thirty years old, a native of Zizhou, with a background in Ming Dynasty. He is currently serving as Li Na's reporter and joining the army, and he has won Li Na's trust.
Since the visitor was just an ordinary Chang'an official, not a high-ranking official like the Prime Minister, nor a special envoy of the King of Jin, there was no need to condescend to Li Na to receive him. However, Li Na did not go to the military camp, but waited for Fang Ning in the inner courtyard.
information.
In the guest hall, Fang Ning invited his visitor Zhang Que to sit down, and the maid served tea to the two of them. Zhang Que is the head of the Qizhou Intelligence Point and the intelligence chief of the entire Ziqing area. His public identity is the proprietor of a restaurant.
, doesn’t show much publicity, Zhang Que doesn’t know him, but he knows Zhang Que.
"Excuse me, what is the specific official position of Ambassador Zhang?" Fang Ning glanced at the invitation and asked.
Fang Ning is still more cautious. Before talking about business, he needs to confirm the true identity of the person in front of him.
Zhang Que took out an eagle letter tube and put it on the table, "This is the eagle letter from His Highness King Jin to King Qi. Everything King Jin wants to say is in the letter. As for my identity, I am the Secretary of the Tang Dynasty Special Investigation Department
Chief of the Third Department of the Department, I don’t have any identification for the time being. In addition, I want to bring a message. His Highness the King of Jin wants to see his sincerity. Will the tens of thousands of prisoners of war be willing to return to their hometown next year, or take their wives and children to Hebei to settle down?
, it depends on the sincerity of His Highness King Qi."
Fang Ning snorted, "Is this a threat?"
Zhang Que shook his head, "This is not a threat, this is a choice. Everyone is making a choice. His Highness the King of Jin is also choosing whether to stay or leave the prisoners of war. I also hope that His Highness the King of Qi will make a wise choice."
After saying that, Zhang Que stood up and cupped his hands, "I'll take my leave!"
...........
Fang Ning hurried to the back hall and found Li Na, the king of Qi, who was waiting for him. Li Na asked anxiously: "What is he here for?"
Fang Ning took out the mailbox and handed it to Li Na, "This is a letter written by the King of Jin. It is an eagle letter. Please read it!"
Li Na took Ying Xin, took out a roll of silk from it, slowly unfolded it, and wrote a few sentences in very small handwriting. Li Na read it carefully, and his face became a little ugly.
Guo Song actually asked him to station heavy troops in Jeju and Yunzhou, and also designated the number of troops to be more than 50,000. Why?
Li Na felt deeply humiliated. He felt that Guo Song was using the tone of a winner to order the losers.
After a long while, Li Na asked again: "What else did the person say?"
"He mentioned our prisoners of war in the mines in Hebei. He said that whether these prisoners of war will return to their hometowns next year or take their families to settle in Hebei depends on your sincerity!"
"Son of a bitch!"
Li Na was furious and tore Guo Song's letter to pieces. He cursed with a livid face: "I have never seen such a despicable and shameless person. He threatened me with prisoners of war. Why didn't he order the arrest of my whole family?"
"My lord, please calm down. This may not be a threat."
Li Na said angrily: "What is this if it's not a threat?"
"Your Majesty, maybe this is Guo Song's idea. There are 60,000 young and strong men, plus their families, a population of two to three hundred thousand. Maybe he really wants to keep these people and their families to settle in Hebei. This possibility is very high.
"
Li Na's anger gradually subsided. He sat down slowly and asked after a while: "What is the purpose of Guo Song asking me to station troops in Jizhou and Yunzhou?"
"His intention is obvious. He hopes that the Qi army will put pressure on Zhu Si. It is very likely that the Jin army will also put pressure on the west and north."
"Why do this?"
"The humble position is inferred to be related to the Battle of Xiangzhou. Zhu Si may have sent troops to recapture Xiangzhou, but Guo Song did not want to fight him, so he used diversionary means and three-line suppression. Zhu Si really did not dare to act rashly."
Li Na took a few steps with his hands behind his back and said to himself: "This is strange. Why doesn't Guo Song want to fight Zhu Si? What is his intention?"
Fang Ning remembered what Zhang Que said. Everyone is making a choice. The King of Jin has to choose, and the King of Qi also has to choose. It doesn't matter what Guo Song's intentions are, but the choice of King Qi is important.
"Who is that Zhang Que?" Li Na suddenly asked.
Fang Ning sneered and said: "He is not from Chang'an. I think he is the head of Guo Song's intelligence station in Qi."
"ah!"
Li Na exclaimed. He was about to say that this person should be captured and tortured, but suddenly he remembered the 60,000 prisoners of war in Hebei. He had to sigh. That was really his weakness, and he was caught by Guo Song.
.........
Li Na finally made a choice. He mobilized 50,000 troops to Yunzhou and Jezhou, including 20,000 troops to Jezhou and 30,000 troops to Yunzhou. At the same time, Guo Song also mobilized 50,000 troops to Xiangzhou and Huaizhou in Hebei Province.
The state mobilized troops on a large scale, and 500 large transport ships gathered in Huaizhou. In addition, 50,000 troops also fought out from Tongguan, entered Shaanzhou, and came to Xiaoguan. The Zhuhan Dynasty was surrounded on three sides, and urgent letters from various places came like snowflakes.
Fly to Luoyang.
Yang Mi also had to make a choice. After he spent a few days restlessly, in the afternoon, Prime Minister Liu Feng anxiously called him to his study.
"What emergency has happened to the Prime Minister?" Yang Mi asked.
Liu Feng sighed and said: "The emperor called me to the palace. Now Li Na and Guo Song have an attempt to jointly attack the Central Plains, but the military adviser thinks that Guo Song is just to contain us, just to make us give up attacking Jingzhou. He advised the emperor
Ignore the restraints of the Qi and Jin armies and continue to attack Jingzhou with all our strength. The emperor asked me to come up with a plan, but I am at a loss, so I can only ask sir for advice."
Yang Mi smiled bitterly in his heart. He had already been plotted by others. He had been thinking about this issue for three days, so of course he was confident.
"The emperor thought that the emperor already wanted to retreat, so he asked the prime minister to come up with a plan. Otherwise, there was no need for him to ask the prime minister, and he could just follow the deployment of Military Advisor Liu and continue to attack Jingzhou in a large scale."
"What do you mean, sir? Should we continue to fight or not?"
Yang Mi pretended to think for a moment and said: "Liu Junshi still thought of the problem simply. Why didn't the Qi and Jin armies attack the Central Plains in a large scale? Since our energy is all in the south, Li Na captured Puzhou and Caozhou, and Guo and Song armies captured
Huazhou, Zhengzhou, and Weiguan will also face large-scale attacks from the other side. How can we resist? Do we have to wait until the city falls and the territory is captured before we rush back to the army? "
"You mean to say that the military advisor is deceiving himself?"
"That's what I mean, Xiangguo, this is actually an opportunity."
"What opportunity?" Liu Feng asked quickly.
Yang Mi lowered his voice and said: "On this matter, the Prime Minister must be firm. This is an important step to win the trust of the Emperor. As long as the Emperor obeys the Prime Minister's advice and withdraws his troops, then in the future, the Prime Minister's military influence will be no less than
Military Advisor Yu, if the emperor does not listen to the advice of the Prime Minister and insists on sending troops, once the Qi and Jin coalition forces launch an attack, it will prove that the Prime Minister is correct."
Liu Feng nodded slowly, Yang Mi's suggestion touched his heart.