At the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Eight Kings Rebellion broke out, and the Central Plains were devastated. A large number of nobles moved their families south, and a large number of Central Plains nobles also came to Quanzhou. Coupled with Quanzhou's warm and humid climate, Quanzhou's agriculture developed rapidly.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Quanzhou's overseas trade also gradually flourished, and Quanzhou Port became the third largest overseas trade port in the Tang Dynasty after Guangzhou and Mingzhou.
At this time, vassal towns were flourishing all over the Tang Dynasty, and Quanzhou, which was located in a remote area, gradually became a place where vassal towns were separatist.
Yao Guangping was the commander-in-chief of the Quanzhou navy and later served as the governor of Quanzhou. He held military and political power and accumulated a lot of wealth, which gave him the capital to expand the army.
Soon, Yao Guangping controlled the five states of Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Jianzhou, Zhangzhou and Tingzhou. All the governors and military envoys were either his sons or his sons-in-law. The chief governors and county magistrates were also appointed by him.
, the army and other major powers were in his hands. Although he still paid tribute every year and was not recognized as a vassal town by the Southern Tang Dynasty, in fact, he was already an out-and-out independent kingdom.
Thanks to the huge overseas trade profits, Yao Guangping had a source of military expenditure. He exploited the local people less, but he also allowed the people to live and work in peace and contentment, and the market was prosperous.
The state capital of Quanzhou is in Jinjiang County, which is also the center of Yao Guangping's rule. It has a large population and developed commerce. Due to the developed overseas trade, people from all over the world live in Jinjiang County, and the personnel structure is very complex.
That morning, an ox cart stopped in front of Changshun Inn in Jinjiang County. A young Taoist nun got out of the cart. Someone in the cart gave her a few words, and the young Taoist nun walked into the inn.
A waiter came up to him and said, "Hey! Does Fairy Lady live in the hotel?"
"Your shopkeeper's surname is Yue?"
"Does Fairy know my shopkeeper?" the waiter asked doubtfully.
The young Taoist nun continued to ask: "Is his name Yue Jing?"
At this time, the shopkeeper walked out of the courtyard, cupped his hands and said, "This is Yue Jing. Have we met this Taoist nun?"
The young Taoist nun turned back to the bullock cart and raised her hand to indicate that the place was right. She saw another Taoist nun walking out of the bullock cart. She was wearing a curtain hat and couldn't see her appearance clearly, but she was very tall, with a slim waist and plump hips, and she had an outstanding appearance.
, she carried a sword on her waist and walked into the courtyard.
The Taoist nun approached Yue Jing, and a gold medal appeared in her slender white palm. Yue Jing was immediately in awe. The Taoist nun's hand turned out to be the gold medal from the Jinwei Mansion Enshrinement Hall. There were only five gold medals in total, and Yue Jing had only seen two gold medals so far.
He quickly said: "Xiangu, please come in!"
He then told his assistant, "Go and clean up the small yard at the back."
The two Taoist nuns were Ying Caihe and her disciple Jingyue. They set out from Chang'an, passed through Shangzhou and arrived in Xiangyang, then took a boat to Hangzhou, then rode mules from Hangzhou to Wenzhou, then crossed the mountains to Fuzhou, and finally arrived in Quanzhou.
, which took a full month.
Changshun Inn is naturally the intelligence point of the Jin Wei Mansion in Quanzhou. The shopkeeper Yue Jing and a group of his staff were transferred from Yuezhou, and it has only been less than half a year.
Ying Caihe moved into the private courtyard at the back. In the back hall, she received the shopkeeper Yue Jing. She needed to know some information.
Yue Jing sighed and said: "The Jinwei Mansion sent five people to Quanzhou last year to set up an intelligence point, but all five people disappeared. There is no clue at all. I wonder if they were robbed and killed by bandits on the way? Or were they captured by Yao Guangping?
Then he was executed secretly? In short, he just disappeared."
Ying Caihe was not interested in this topic and waved his hands: "I don't want to know this. I only care about Yao Guangping's situation. Tell me about him!"
Yue Jing nodded, "We don't have much information about Yao Guangping. We only know that this person almost never shows up and is heavily guarded. We have been in Jinjiang for more than five months and have only seen him travel three times. He was sitting in a carriage.
Inside, surrounded by hundreds of cavalry."
"What does he look like? How old is he?" Ying Caihe asked quietly.
Yue Jing suddenly understood the purpose of the Taoist nun in front of him coming to Quanzhou, and he suddenly became a little nervous. This was a big deal, and he had to prepare an escape route for emergency evacuation.
"I don't know what he looks like, but he should be around fifty years old and relatively short."
"How short is your stature?" Ying Caihe immediately grasped the key point,
"People in Quanzhou say he is as short as a child. I guess he is about the same size as a child of about ten years old."
"Then he must have a substitute!"
Yue Jing said respectfully, "Bizhi feels that it is not easy to find a substitute for him. It may be possible to find a man of similar stature, but it would be too difficult to find a man who looks exactly like him."
Ying Caihe also knew that she couldn't ask anything more from Yue Jing, so she said to Yue Jing: "Find me a pair of bows and arrows, a badou riding bow, and a pot of arrows, as soon as possible!"
"I know, it will be delivered later!"
.........
At night, Yao Guangping's carriage drove into the Taiwei Mansion. Taiwei was a title given to Yao Guangping by the Southern Tang Dynasty. He was also named the Prince of Nan'an County, but Yao Guangping himself preferred the title Taiwei. He liked others to call him Mrs. Yao.
Lieutenant.
The carriage slowly stopped in front of the screen wall. A guard came forward to open the door and helped Yao Guangping out of the carriage. Yao Guangping was about fifty years old, with gray hair and a dark and thin appearance. He was indeed short in stature. He looked like a ten-year-old boy. He looked like a ten-year-old boy now.
The standard is only about 1.5 meters, but his eyes are very sharp and he looks at people like knives. The guards are more afraid of him.
Yao Guangping came from a well-known family, and it was through the influence of his father and ancestors that he was able to enter the officialdom. He joined the army from the Quanzhou Navy Commander's Office, then joined the army to record affairs, and then became the governor of the Governor's Office. Finally, he was promoted to the Navy Commander, and soon he also served as the Quanzhou Commander.
The governor laid the foundation for him to eventually become a vassal town.
Although Yao Guangping was short in stature, he had many wives and concubines, who gave him more than a dozen children. The two sons born to him by his first wife both died in infancy. His current six sons were all born to several concubines. He also
He had seven daughters and seven sons-in-law, all of whom became his right-hand men.
Yao Guangping was very organized. He put his son in charge of the army and his son-in-law in charge of the government, so he could firmly control the military and political power of the five states in his own hands.
However, Yao Guangping has been under great pressure recently. Guo Song went against the practice of distant relations and close attacks, and actually attacked Jiangnan and Lingnan in advance. He had just received news that the Jin army had destroyed Liu Shining, and the army had entered Fuzhou and Qianzhou. These two states were at odds with their own.
Jianzhou and Tingzhou were adjacent to each other with mountains and rivers, but before that, two thousand Jin troops entered Wenzhou.
Lingnan in the south was also captured by the Jin army. It was obvious that they were surrounded on three sides.
Yao Guangping paced back and forth in his study worriedly, thinking about his countermeasures.
He believed that as long as he surrendered, Guo Song would definitely reuse him and even become a minister in the court, but would he be willing? How could Qiongzhi Manna, who was accustomed to power, drink poor water and wine?
Yao Guangping sighed, no matter what, he would not choose to surrender.
But how should I deal with the Jin army's upcoming offensive?
Yao Guangping knew very well that it would not be easy for the Jin army to kill him. He did not worry about the mountains blocking the way from the west and the south, and the various rugged mountain roads, making it difficult for supplies. As for the north, as long as he defended the key mountain passes, it would be difficult for the opponent to enter Jianzhou.
The key is the sea route. The opponent's advance requires huge supplies, which can only be achieved by sea route.
This is why Yao Guangping is worried but not afraid. Yao Guangping has the advantage of his navy. He has the most powerful navy in the Tang Dynasty, a navy composed of a thousand warships and 15,000 soldiers.
There are only 500 warships of more than 1,000 pieces of stone. Runzhou's Yangtze River navy is far from its opponent.
Yao Guangping's only worry is the Guangzhou Navy. He knows the Guangzhou Navy very well and is only slightly smaller than himself. If the Runzhou Navy and the Guangzhou Navy unite, he will be in some trouble.
At this time, a strong murderous intention came to his mind. He should destroy the warships in Guangzhou first.
Since Guo Song will not let him go no matter what, what's the harm in attacking first? The key is to destroy the warships in Guangzhou, and he will have no worries on the sea route.
Thinking of this, Yao Guangping finally made up his mind...
There was a dark figure hidden on a large tree with thick leaves outside the wall of the back courtyard of the Yao Mansion. She quietly observed various details in the Yao Mansion. She discovered at least three Yao Guangpings, all of whom were about fifty years old and tall in stature.
Short man.
Yao Guangping was having dinner with his family. He seemed a little restrained. He ate in silence without saying a word and never raised his head.
The other Yao Guangping was walking in the garden, admiring the carp in the river from time to time. But if he saw the female family members approaching, he quickly turned around, and the female family members ignored him and walked past him, treating this person as if he was nothing.
There was another Yao Guangping who was pacing back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back, looking at the map on the wall from time to time. The man in black fixed his eyes on the third Yao Guangping. She found that there were at least two personal guards around this Yao Guangping, who were well hidden.
Well, there are also hidden whistles all around the study.
In addition, she also captured from the subtle movements of the third Yao Guangping's movements that he was still wearing inner armor under his robe, while the other two Yao Guangping did not wear inner armor.
The man in black stretched his bow and nocked an arrow, and drew the bowstring, but in the end the arrow was not shot. She felt that the time was not yet ripe and she needed to observe for another day.