Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 342 Turtle in the urn
The sky was covered with leaden clouds, and the snow was falling heavily.

In the newly built Daming Palace, the court officials were in a hurry and were at a loss what to do.

At the court meeting a few days ago, the emperor was still able to walk, and it seemed that the situation was not bad.But recently, I can only recuperate, no one supports me, and I can't get off the ground at all.

Of course, this is not the worst.

According to reliable sources, the Son of Heaven suddenly fell down while sitting on the bed today.Later, although it was proved to be a false alarm and the emperor did not die, the deterioration of the body was obvious.

From being able to walk, to needing help to walk, to being difficult to even sit on the bed.Today's saints are basically lingering on their last days, relying on the best efforts of the imperial physicians to hang their lives for them.

Ximen Sigong had just passed away a few months ago, and Ximen Chong then took full power. Now court officials are not allowed to see saints. This is the legendary "isolation of China and foreign countries".

No way, who will let others control the military power?Since the beginning of this year, the Shence Army has dispatched generals to Hebei, Henan, Hedong, and Hetao to recruit 3 troops, including [-] old Shu soldiers. Now the total strength has recovered to just over [-].

People in Chang'an really have no chance to mix with the military pay.

Back then Yang Fugong and Ximen Sigong were at odds, but they agreed on this matter surprisingly.The citizens of the capital are unbearable to fight. They are good at mixing military pay and receiving rewards, and their relationships are complicated and glib. They are the worst source of soldiers.

Before going to Kanto to recruit 2 people, after training, Wei Zhaodu took them to Shu, and their performance was much better than that of the old Shence Army.This time, [-] soldiers were recruited and reorganized as the core of the new Shence Army.

The other [-] veterans recruited by Tian Lingzi in Shu were sent out slowly. When Jiedu envoys, observation envoys, and military supervising envoys from Dazhen went to their posts, they brought a few hundred to two thousand at a time, and they were slowly consumed.

Zhang Jun walked around the Daming Palace for a while, seeing that he had no chance to meet the saint, he quietly left and returned home.

"Master." Jing Zhaoyin and Sun Kui have been waiting in the mansion for a long time.

"Emissary Sun, is there any news from the mansion?" Zhang Jun asked softly after dismissing the servants.

The mansion he was referring to was the residence of King Shou.Normally, Beisi is in charge, and the Zhongguanli has envoys for the residences of the princes, who not only take care of their daily lives, but also have the responsibility of monitoring them.

Therefore, Zhang Jun could not meet the kings directly, nor could Sun Kui.

But Sun Kui is Jingzhaoyin, who is in charge of more than [-] counties in Jingzhaofu, and has a lot of power.If you want to contact the kings indirectly, there is still a way.

"King Shou hates eunuchs deeply, but he hides them very well. He only hates Tian Lingzi in words, but he praises Ximen." Sun Kui said, "King Shou asked me to bring a message, 'Your master has a strategy and can draw big plans. , if you can... you should obey your words.'”

Sun Kui spoke very vaguely, but Zhang Jun already understood.

All the court officials in Nanya preferred King Ji, who was "long and virtuous" because of King Ji.In all fairness, Zhang Jun also felt that King Shou was not as good as King Ji, just that he was impatient, impulsive, and irritable, and was frightened to death after the accident.

The court officials also planned to make an effort to help their favorite person to be the new king, but Zhang Jun was very pessimistic about it.

The Beisi eunuch obviously wouldn't let King Ji go up.Sage's younger brother Shou Wang is not very old, and on the surface he is close to eunuchs, so he is an excellent candidate for Bei Si.

Others, either have a little distant blood, or are old and have their own opinions, or don't like eunuchs, in short, they are not suitable.

Zhang Jun put the treasure on King Shou.

Just a little bit, the younger brother of the saint's mother and compatriot already gave him a lot of advantages.

Jing Zhaoyin and Sun Kui have a close relationship with him, which is also a common view, and he contacted King Shou in private and got his promise.

"Emissary Sun, the middle-ranking officials are domineering, and the only ones who rely on them are God's tactics. We also need to master force, otherwise, once there is chaos in Beijing, we will have little power to fight back." Zhang Jun said suddenly.

"Master, you also know that Jingzhao Mansion is the territory of the Shence Army, how to train the new army?" Sun Kui smiled wryly.

Before Yang Fugong fell from power, he appointed his fake son Yang Shouliang as the envoy of the Gyeonggi system and the defense of the Jinshangdu.

Before Jinshang set up the town, the Gyeonggi system envoy could manage Jingzhaofu, Tongzhou, Huazhou, and Shangzhou, three prefectures and forty counties, with more than three million people—before Zhu Wen made his fortune, In theory, it is the most powerful "local government" in the country, but unfortunately, it is a centrally administered area.

After flattening Huang Chao, Li Xiang served as the defense envoy of Jinshang Capital.The imperial court drew Shangzhou from Gyeonggi-do, and Jinzhou from the prefectures controlled by itself in Shannanxi Province, and gave Li Xiang a small territory.

Today's Gyeonggi system envoy is controlled by Ximen himself, and his fake son Ximenxun is appointed to take up this position.

Ximenxun, originally surnamed Song, is also the younger brother of Song Wentong.The two brothers both cling to the powerful eunuch Ximen Chongsui, and were awarded high officials.

But Ximenxun can only manage Jingzhao Mansion, Tong, Hua Erzhou and Wang Bian and Hao Zhenwei.Both of them were from the army leaders of the Northland. After taking office with their own soldiers and generals, they recruited troops in Tongzhou and Huazhou, two densely populated places, to specialize in Weifu.

Of course, what they do is different from that of foreign towns.More obedient, the money and food that should be paid are quite a lot, and only the remaining part is used to train thousands of state soldiers. There are veterans of Fengzhou or Zhenwu Army as the backbone, and their combat effectiveness is not bad.

The Tongzhou soldiers and Huazhou soldiers were of course as frightened as quails when they met the Shuofang Army who was going on an expedition, but those trash from the Shence Army might not be able to take them down.Especially the 2 people who can fight have gone to Sichuan. When the recruits have not finished training, if you send 2 people over, it is hard to say how the outcome will be.

These two people, how should I put it, although they were local emperors in Tongzhou and Huazhou, they still had some loyalty to the imperial court.Zhang Jun felt that he could win them over to counter the influence of the Shence Army.

Especially Hao Zhenwei.Zhang Jun had contact with him once, and he was very ambitious, vaguely revealing that he wanted to serve as the military governor of Tonghua and annex Huazhou.

The Jiedu Envoy of Tonghua, also known as the Jiedu Envoy of the Zhen Guojun, appeared after the Anshi Rebellion.

After Zhu Quanzhong went to Xuanwu, the imperial court abolished Tonghua Town, and the two prefectures were returned to the Gyeonggi system and directly controlled by envoys.

If Hao Zhenwei wants to get this job, he will have to fight with Wang Bian, or there will be trouble.Zhang Jun was also a little hesitant, fearing that the central and eastern half of the Guandong would be destroyed, so he kept ambiguous.However, if the political struggle reaches a critical moment, you can't control so much, and your wealth and life are gone, so you still care about the life and death of the people in Guanzhong?
"It's a bit troublesome to organize and train the new army." Zhang Jun said: "If you don't organize and train, you will always be under the control of others. You can contact more with the governors of Tong and Huazhou. In addition, Li Xiang, a gold merchant, donates wood every year to help the court repair the palace. , is more submissive, and you can also get along well with him. By the way, Dr. Jingyuan Cheng, who has been sick for a long time, can Sun Erlang have a suitable candidate?"

Sun Kui's heart skipped a beat when he heard this.

Of course he is loyal to the imperial court, but if he can become the Jiedu envoy of Jingyuan, he will definitely be better than Jing Zhaoyin who is subject to all parties.Zhang Xiang asked, could it be...

Sun Kui was a little uncertain, and said in a low voice: "Master, Master Jingyuan Cheng is loyal to the country..."

"Erlang, why don't you say anything in front of someone?" Zhang Jun said with a smile, "The four towns in the northwest of Beijing, Fengxiang, Binning, Baosai, and Baoda, were all ordered by Xiazhou. Today, Hexi Town is also owned by Shao Shude. He actually went to the imperial court to ask for the post of Hexi Jiedu envoy. This is a rebellious minister and traitor! The three prefectures of Jingyuan must not be able to gain anything for him. If Erlang is diligent in the affairs of the king, he may not be able to serve as the commander of Jingyuan Jiedu."

For some reason, Sun Kui's heart suddenly turned cold.Jingyuan Jiedushi's throne was suddenly no longer wanted.

"Teacher, I don't know whether to say something or not." Sun Kui muttered.

Zhang Jun frowned, and said, "But it's okay to talk about it."

"Shao Shude, the king of Lingwu County, donated [-] carts of salt, [-] horses, [-] skins, and [-] sheep this year. There are occasional minor mistakes, but they are also for the elimination of power officials. Most of the orders in the towns are in their hands, and the army can reach Chang'an in a short time, so why bother to anger these people?" Sun Kui persuaded: "Jingyuan Town, he must have wanted to occupy it a long time ago. If there is a fight, the army will attack again. Que, you must not look good."

"Confused, Erlang!" Zhang Jun reprimanded: "Through counting Guanzhong, the two towns of Jingyuan and Jinshang are not in the hands of the Shao bandits now. If they let them seize them, and then snatch the two states of Tong and Hua, we will all be turtles in the urn. carry on."

Sun Kui thought so too.

He is not a person who is afraid of death, what he is afraid of is that Shuofang's army will go south to Guanzhong again and turn Chang'an upside down.So where is the majesty of the court?
But if Ren Shao Shude surrounded the Jingzhao Mansion, he would be a turtle in a urn, and he would have nowhere to run if he wanted to.

"It doesn't have to be a confrontation with Shao Shude." Seeing Sun Kui's silence, Zhang Jun softened his tone and said, "Xia Bing is too close to Chang'an. If this person has rebellion, the court will not be able to react. Jing Yuan Town, it’s not impossible to give it to him, but he can do his best.”

Sun Kui was a little surprised, and asked, "What's the effort?"

"The time has not come yet, so it's hard to say." Zhang Jun said vaguely, "In a few days, someone will send an envoy to Xiazhou to have a secret talk with Shao Shude."

For the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty, the most terrifying thing about Shuofang Town is not its strength, but its location.

Even if it only has 3 or [-] horses, it can be forced to the city of Chang'an in a short while, which is the worst.

If the imperial court wanted to deal with Shuofang Town, Xia Bing would have killed the city before mobilizing quickly. By then, let alone the ministers, the emperor would not be able to protect himself, so why bother?

Therefore, the imperial court can deal with any of the feudal towns such as Hedong, Xuanwu, and Hezhong, but it is absolutely impossible to deal with Shuofang.

Zhang Jun is not stupid, he knows that Jingyuan Town is very important to the imperial court.If possible, it should be in your own hands.But if there is really no way, it is not impossible to trade it out in exchange for other benefits.

Shao Shude, who has been making offerings year after year, has great ambitions, but he has not turned his back on him, so don't mess with this Buddha for the time being.

But there was a person who had a very poisonous mouth and once ridiculed himself. This tone was really hard to swallow.

But wait for the opportunity.

(End of this chapter)