Fu Song

Chapter 586 Unsatisfactory, last resort

Tracing back to the source, the Black Khanate was first established by the Uighurs who moved westward.

A few years ago, the Western Army set up the Xiping Military Division. After defeating the Xizhou Uyghur tribe, Zheng Jihua and Lei Dejin started their march to the west with all their might, but what they encountered was an attack from the Black Khanate.

Compared with the chaotic Xizhou at the beginning, the Black Khanate is a more difficult opponent.

Over the years, the Black Khanate has stood on the road of the Western Army and has become an obstacle for the caravans in the Northwest to continue to move forward.

Merchants can no longer move forward when they reach the Black Khanate. They can only trade with the Black Khanate here, and then buy goods from the West here and traffic them back.

The middleman of the Black Khanate naturally made a lot of money, but the Western Army was naturally extremely dissatisfied.

In the past few years, everyone has fought and talked about it. The Xiping Army Commander has written several times to ask the Western Army to increase its strength and defeat the Black Khanate. Not to mention destroying him, at least they must fight until they allow the merchants in the Northwest to continue to move forward. just work.

However, due to the entanglement of the Central Plains incident, the General Manager's Office did not agree after all.

Compared with commercial interests, Song and Liao are two sharp swords hanging over the Western Army.

Once it falls, it will be fatal.

Next came the Xizhou Uyghur rebellion.

After being controlled by the Western Army, some tribes of the Xizhou Uighurs who were dismantled to pieces suddenly became connected before. Among them were the instigation of the Liao Kingdom, but naturally there was also the blessing of the Black Khanate.

The Western Army wants to continue going west, so why doesn't the Black Khanate want to come east?

"Is the Liao Kingdom also planning to expand westward?" Xiao Jing asked.

"It's very possible!" Xu Shen said, "Song State was the biggest enemy of Liao State, but now, Song State is gone. Of course, in the south, a new Song State has been established, but how powerful is it? It is still time to test, the Liao Kingdom is preparing to find a new opponent for itself!"

"First, it was a war against the Song Dynasty, and then experienced the rebellion of the Wugu enemy Lietong, Yeluxi Yelusheng and others in the country. The Liao Kingdom did not rest well, but instead started a war. Why? Go west , not to mention anything else, just a Black Khanate is not easy to deal with!" Xiao Jing was puzzled.

"How do I know the big man's thoughts!" Xu Shen said with a smile: "Let the manager and Chang Shi have a headache about these things."

"In this way, Yelu Xianshi's deployment of additional troops to the border of Xizhou is well-targeted!"

Xu Shen nodded: "That's right. The situation in the Western Regions will be complicated next time. We, Liao people, Pu Gujun, and Heihan people, hehe, it's really a big game."

"I'm afraid we don't have the upper hand!"

"Yes, after all, the giant of the Liao Kingdom has officially joined in. They are indeed stronger than us, but the Liao Kingdom is also bound by him, and it is impossible to advance westward with the strength of the whole country. There is still some competition." Xu Shen smiled: "We have the first-mover advantage. We have experienced many years in the Western Regions, and our achievements lie here."

"So General Zheng Jihua said, since we can't swallow Pu Gujun in one gulp, we can't force him too much. Otherwise, it won't be a good thing for us if he falls to the Liao people or the Heihan people."

"You seem a little dissatisfied with Zheng Jihua and Lei Dejin?" Xu Shen looked at Xiao Jing and asked in surprise.

Xiao Jing looked at Xu Shen with some embarrassment, and said, "I'm sixteen years old, and I'm an adult. I'm in Xingqing Mansion. The manager may be involved in the affairs, but these two still treat me like a child, trying to cover it up by doing these things. , is it an insult to my IQ?"

After listening to Xiao Jing's narration, Xu Shen laughed: "My lord, you are worrying too much. They are not trying to cover up, they just want you to know that this matter was presided over by them behind the scenes."

"What do you mean?"

"It's very simple. Once you succeed in persuading such a thing, the contribution of the initiator is unparalleled." Xu Shen said: "The two of Zheng and Lei have made this matter very popular, and there are naturally many people who know about it. It’s not good, other military commanders, even local officials, and tribal chiefs will follow suit one after another. In such a thing, you can lag behind by one step, but you must not lag behind by every step!”

"I'm afraid this matter will fail, Father's attitude is very firm." Xiao Jing sighed: "Zheng Jihua and Lei Dejin are both core members of the Western Army, they should know Father's intentions, why do you want to do this? "

"My lord, in fact, this is not only the attitude of Zheng Jihua and Lei Dejin, I am afraid that many people in the Western Army have the same meaning." Xu Shen said: "If the general manager does not go further, everyone has to stay where they are. Not satisfied!"

"What do you mean?"

"Young master, from the very beginning, the people under the general manager's command naturally seek to survive. After surviving, they naturally want to live better, want more territory, more population, and more wealth. When these Once you have achieved it, you want to be famous in the annals of history and leave a fragrance forever, so this person's desire will never be satisfied."

"That's true!" Xiao Jing laughed: "The teacher's heart is to be famous in history and to last forever. Although he doesn't say it clearly, sometimes he can understand the meaning behind the words."

"So, if Zhang Changshi is just a long history, can his name go down in the annals of history?" Xu Shen asked.

Xiao Jing said: "So, in fact, everyone wants to be promoted, but my father is still in front of the manager, so everyone can't be promoted."

Xu Shen nodded: "That's right. Let's take Zheng Jihua as an example. He is the general of the Xiping Army Division. He has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. Even if there are not many people in Xizhou, there are hundreds of thousands in total, and the area is even bigger. That's right, a proper feudal official, guarding one side. If it was the Song Dynasty in the past, who would need to guard such a place? It needs a pacifier at the level of a minister, and a system envoy. But Zheng Jihua's official position is just a mere commander Make."

Speaking of this, Xu Shen nodded to Yang Fugui, and said: "Our General Yang is the commander, commanding five hundred people, and Zheng Jihua is the commander, two ranks higher than him."

"The Seventh Battalion is different!" Yang Fugui pouted.

Xu Shen ignored him, "Zheng Jihua is like this, Lei Dejin is like this, and the officers below are naturally like this. It is not uncommon for a general to command thousands of people."

"But on top of the salary and money, the Governor's Mansion has never treated them badly!"

"Are they still short of money?" Xu Shen asked back.

Xiao Jing was silent for a while, and said after a while: "Uncle Xu, speaking of this, I have something I want to discuss with you. After arriving in Gaochang, my subordinates still received some submissions. These things are related to General Zheng, Lei General."

"You mean their corruption?" Xu Shen asked with a relaxed look.

Xiao Jing nodded: "I have seen the mansions of the two great generals, they are extremely luxurious, and all the things used in the mansion are extremely exquisite and luxurious, compared to the general manager's mansion, it is really much more than that. I'm afraid that what those people said in the letter is not false. I have been hesitating what to do about this matter?"

"The governor's office knows all these things!" Xu Shen said: "But these two didn't touch the bottom line of the governor's office. There are several sources of their huge wealth. One is to organize a caravan to go west. Merchants who conflict with their caravan goods have only two choices, either sell the goods to them at a fair price, or die."

"Don't you care?" Xiao Jing's eyes widened.

"Why bother?" Xu Shen chuckled, "At least they gave a choice, and they didn't let those people lose money. It's clear at a glance which is more important for some ordinary businessmen and two generals with heavy troops in their hands."

"Then what about their empty pay?"

"The Xiping Army Division can be regarded as a standing army, a regiment training army, and a local volunteer army. There are tens of thousands of troops in total, and thousands of local officials, but they only ate up the vacancies of a thousand people."

"But this has already violated the laws of the Western Army." Xiao Jing resentfully said.

"If they touch the red line of the Western Army, they will naturally take it away without hesitation, but these things alone are irrelevant to officials of their rank. It is better for you to be in front of them and not even mention it. There is no need to even hint about these things," Xu Shen said.

"I see!" Xiao Jing was a little annoyed.

"The young master has traveled a lot along the way. You should be able to see that Zheng Jihua Leide is still very attentive to his official business. This place in Xizhou is not Xingqing Prefecture Xingping Prefecture, it is almost a place. It is a place where people drink blood, tribes and stars, and there are many clusters. If you are not careful, you will step into a mud pit. If the two of them can do this, they are already considered capable officials." Xu Shen smiled and said: "The Western Army has always paid attention to people. talent."

"Don't you value virtue?"

"Having both ability and political integrity, we naturally want it. But how many people are there in the world? If you want everything, you will get nothing in the end. For us at this stage, having is the most important thing. Light People who are virtuous but not talented, we can put them up high for people to look up to, but we will never let them do things, because these people are very likely to do bad things."

"With talent but no virtue, is it possible that success will not cause bad things?"

"Such people should be properly restrained." Xu Shen said seriously: "Just make them fearful."

"Like Lei and Zheng? They are bullying male overlords, and have done everything from taking people's property." Xiao Jing said dissatisfiedly: "This is too irritating."

"There are many unsatisfactory and unavoidable things in life!" Xu Shen sighed, "My lord, if we really follow the law, all of us in the Jing'an Division will be wiped out, and there will be no one left."

"How do you say that?"

Xu Shen looked at Xiao Jing, this young master was well protected, maybe it was because both the manager and Chang Shi felt that at his age, he didn't need to be exposed to too many dark things, right?
"Let me tell you a story! It just happened not long ago. One of our spies lurking inside the Liao army was caught by mistake. This person is not low-status. He knows about a dozen of our spies lurking in Liao. If he is recruited, our loss will be too great."

"The people who go out from Jing'an Division are all made of steel!" Xiao Jing said.

Xu Shen shook his head: "If it falls into the hands of the enemy, even fine steel can be turned into soft fingers. Therefore, once someone in our business is found out, they will basically kill themselves immediately, but this one didn't have time. He was arrested after committing suicide, and was tortured for more than ten days to extract a confession."

"He recruited?"

"No, it's just that it's only a matter of time, so we activated another sleeper to kill him."

"The sleeper fled back after completing this task." Xu Shen said, "Crying loudly in front of me, because he knew the captured spy. It's just that we don't know each other. It’s just a spy. He told the spy that the one who sent him away was his companion, please don’t hold grudges against him.”

Xiao Jing fell silent.

"In the last war, in order to fight against Xiao Siwen of Xuanlei Village with all our strength, we gave up thousands of defenders and tens of thousands of people in the East and West Surrendered Cities. You have to accept all the good and bad and cannot escape, because you are not an ordinary person, you are destined to lead everyone forward." Xu Shen said.

"Thank you Uncle Xu for your teaching!" Xiao Jing stood up and bowed his hands.

Xu Shen turned sideways and said with a smile: "Ordinary people can be weak, but you can't. Young Master, I think it's time for Zheng Jihua and Lei Dejin to come?"

"Huh?" Xiao Jing didn't react for a while, and finally realized after humming: "Uncle Xu said that the two of them sent people to watch me?"

"It's not surveillance, because it should be said to be a peripheral guard. I have been here for a long time. If they haven't figured out who is here, how can they easily enter the gate of the Seventh Battalion, then these two are really a little different. Let me be the commander of the Xiping Army Division!"

As soon as Xu Shen finished speaking, there was already a report from outside that Zheng Jihua and Lei Dejin had come to visit.

Although Xu Shen was only the chief inspector of the Jing'an Division, just like Zheng Jihua was only the commander of the capital, both of them held terrifying powers.

And it was even different for a spy chief like Xu Shen.

Zheng Jihua may not be afraid of Zhang Yuan, but he is afraid of Xu Shen.

"My lord, forgive me!" The two came in, bowing to the ground without saying a word.

"You two uncles, please don't kill me." Xiao Jing smiled and quickly pulled the two of them up together, and said: "Don't talk about seniority, it is an official position. The deputy commander, and I'm just a small general, how dare I accept the gift from you two, wouldn't I want my father to be beaten to death when I go back!"

Zheng Jihua and Lei Dejin looked at each other, knowing that the young manager was still angry, but it didn't matter, their meaning had been conveyed.

The two turned their heads and greeted Xu Shen with a smile.

Compared to the young manager who is the future, this one in front of him is the current manager, but wherever he appears, there must be nothing good. Hearing that this person has arrived in their own land, the two of them are naturally disturbed.

Sure enough, as soon as the ceremony was over, Xu Shen's first words made the faces of the two of them change drastically.

"Yelumin is coming!"

(End of this chapter)