Tang Dynasty Mingyue Song Dynasty Pass

Chapter 455 Controlling Military Power
Two days later, Meng Xuanyu, Su Chen and others arrived at Jiameng Pass with [-] imperial guards.

Xiongguan is close at hand, and the cliffs on both sides of the strait look majestic, majestic and majestic.

When Zhao Chongtao, the governor of the capital, got the news, he took the generals and lieutenants who were staying behind, and went out of the city gate in person, and lined up to meet him.

This is the post of supervisor, which is no longer the meaning of "supervising the army" in the Han and Jin Dynasties.

At the end of the Five Dynasties and the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, Dujian was the abbreviation of "Dujian of battalion soldiers and horses", and was the deputy commander of the first army.The Bingma Dujian of the local state capital is one of the local military officials.

Zhao Chongtao served as the capital supervisor of Wang Zhaoyuan's first army, which was the position of deputy commander.

However, as the deputy commander in chief, he doesn't have much power.Because Wang Zhaoyuan likes to centralize power, all kinds of power are concentrated in his own hands.

Zhao Chongtao also knew in his heart that this Wang Zhaoyuan was not only the commander in chief, but also the most favored official in the court, so he did not dare to offend.

"Meet Your Highness the Second Prince!"

Zhao Chongtao bowed his hands and saluted, and the generals behind him also saluted respectfully.

These two princes are quite powerful, and they are also imperial envoys, who have the power to inspect and supervise the three armies. They brought Shang Fang's sword, which can be cut first and played later, so all the soldiers were in awe from the bottom of their hearts.

"You generals have worked so hard to guard the border. Let's talk about it when we enter the city."

Meng Xuanyu was neither happy nor worried, so he spoke a few words of comfort first.

"Second Prince, please enter the city!"

Zhao Chongtao stretched out his hand to signal, and made way for him.

Meng Xuanyu nodded, ordered to go out, and the imperial army entered the city.

From the beginning to the end, Su Chen didn't get out of the car, sat in the car, opened the curtain and looked at Xiongguan Mandao, Zhao Chongtao and other generals, without expressing his opinion.

On the contrary, Peng Qingqing was very curious and looked around.

"There are so many great passes in their Great Shu. The roads are rugged and inconvenient for marching. The Song army has to drive straight in. It is not easy, but it is more advantageous than my Tang Dynasty. As long as it is well guarded, it will be as solid as chicken soup. Why is the second prince still worried? "Peng Qingqing expressed her thoughts.

"That word is: solid as gold!" A vein appeared on Su Chen's forehead.

After he corrected it, he said: "There is a saying that the land is not as good as the people. The mountains and rivers are dead, but the people are alive. If the Song army did not attack Xiongguan by force, but made detours and sneak attacks, then these The role of Xiongguan will be greatly reduced."

"Moreover, the fighting power of the Song army is several times that of the Shu army. Coupled with the incompetence of the commanders of the Shu kingdom, they kept making stupid moves, and were beaten back by the Song army. Now the Shu army has already feared. Many times, As long as the Song army charged aggressively, the Shu army would abandon the city and flee, rout all the way."

Peng Qingqing curled her lips: "Huh, it's worse than my Tang Jun in Jiangbei."

"There has been no war in the Kingdom of Shu for decades. The armor is outdated. It has not fought for many years. It is loose and stretched. It has long lost its combat power..."

Following Su Chen's explanation, the car entered Xiongguan City. The ground was paved with bluestone slabs, clean and tidy, surrounded by stone houses, stone houses, military buildings, garrison courtyards, etc.

In the city gate, when there is no war, there are 2 to 5 troops stationed, and when there is a war, the garrison reaches [-] at most.

There are less than [-] households in the city, most of whom are people from nearby villages, who gradually moved in, and some veterans settled here, or took their families to live here, and within a few generations became the household registration of Jiamengguan.

General's House.

Meng Xuanyu sat in the coach's seat, which was Wang Zhaoyuan's seat before yesterday.

"General Zhao, how many troops are there in the city?"

Zhao Chongtao cupped his hands and said, "Go back to Second Highness, there are still 3 horses."

Meng Xuanyu nodded slightly, looked around, and said: "Since the Song army attacked Shu, the border gates have been in a hurry, and they have been defeated. Seeing that the Song army has penetrated into the hinterland and attacked Sanquan Mountain, there are only Jiameng Pass and Jianmen Pass away from the capital of Shu. An important hurdle.”

"This place will become very important and will involve the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Shu. Therefore, the imperial court and my father attach great importance to it. I specially appointed His Highness as an imperial envoy to supervise the Northern Route Army's defense against the Song Army. He can directly exercise the power of the commander-in-chief at any time."

"My Highness has decided that from today onwards, all the defense and garrison of Jiameng Pass will be handed over to my Highness to take over the power of the commander here. Do you have any objections?"

Zhao Chongtao and the others were taken aback when they heard the words, thinking that the Second Highness is planning to seize military power?
However, the state of Shu was indeed at a critical moment, and the Second Highness's seizure of power was not necessarily to rebel and force the palace, maybe it was the emperor's order.

But a general stood up and stopped him: "Second Highness, you are a prince and an imperial envoy. If there is no imperial edict to appoint a commander in chief, it is inconvenient for me to follow the military order directly. Otherwise, it will be no different from a mutiny. Second Highness, please think twice." .”

This man's surname is Gao, and he is a confidant general of Wang Zhaoyuan who stayed in Jiamengguan, and he stood up to prevent this from happening.

Meng Xuanyu's eyes were as sharp as a sword, he glanced at General Gao, and said: "His Royal Highness has a secret order from the government, so naturally he is allowed to do things according to the order, and anyone who dares to disobey will violate the holy will."

"This is inconsistent with reason. It needs an imperial decree to appoint and remove the commander of the imperial court. Only then can we obey the order..." General Gao was still arguing with reason, refuting the prince's words.

"Come here, take down this person who violated the imperial order, dismiss him from his post and investigate, and investigate after the Song army is repelled!"

Meng Xuanyu didn't wait for him to finish, and directly ordered the arrest, with a cold face.

General Gao's face changed slightly, unexpectedly the second prince did not follow common sense, and directly ordered him to be dismissed and investigated.

But he was born as a military general, so he was naturally arrogant, he shouted loudly: "The last general refuses to accept, now go to Sanquan Mountain, appeal to Master Wang, and leave!"

"Did you leave?" Meng Xuanyu snorted coldly and winked.

The guard at the gate directly stretched out his hand and drew his knife, blocking General Gao from going out.

That General Gao was furious and wanted to use force to break out, Wei Ying shot directly, subdued General Gao with three moves, and asked the guards to escort him down.

Meng Xuanyu frightened the audience with iron-blooded wrists, took the opportunity to give the generals who stayed behind a blow, and said with a cold snort: "Is there anyone else who intends to disobey the holy will?"

Zhao Chongtao stood up, cupped his hands and said, "As long as the Second Highness has a letter of appointment and dismissal from the court or His Majesty's secret order, we will have no objections, and we are willing to listen to the Second Highness."

"I am willing to listen to His Royal Highness' orders!"

The rest of the generals who stayed at Jiameng Pass also expressed their opinions one after another.

Meng Xuanyu nodded in satisfaction, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, with a confident feeling of mastering the overall situation.

(End of this chapter)