Fenghou

Chapter 1112 ask for advice
Just after two sticks of incense had passed, hundreds of soldiers came rushing from the official road in the distance, yelling, "The Western Army is here, close the city gate!"

A mile away behind them, a western army was chasing after them.

More than a hundred people rushed to the bottom of the city, only to find that the city gate was closed, the drawbridge was pulled up, and the leading general cursed, "Idiot, wait until we go in before closing the city gate!"

He was answered with a mighty arrow, 'Whoosh! ’ An arrow hit the throat, and the leading general fell to the ground and died immediately, and the other hundred soldiers scattered and fled in fright.

At this time, [-] soldiers from the Western Army rushed over, the city gate was reopened, the suspension bridge was lowered, and [-] soldiers rushed into the city.

With the internal and external cooperation of the Western Army's scouts, the Western Army captured Hengyang County without bloodshed. Two thousand soldiers of the Song Army surrendered. Zhizhou Ma Wenfu and Tongjuan Liu Ji were captured alive. Famous state officials were also arrested and escorted to Jiangling Mansion together with their family members.

Of course, Chen Qing will not kill these officials. All his current military actions will eventually come back to the negotiating table, breaking the tradition of not killing civil officials in the Song Dynasty. A bargaining chip.

Chen Qing is indeed in Jiangling Mansion. Occupying South Jing South Road is not a matter of meeting some officials to solve the problem. What is more important is military deployment. Chen Qing is very clear that he has broken through the boundary set by the emperor Zhao Gou and even the court: he cannot break through the area of ​​Sichuan and Shaanxi. , if you want to break through, you can only break through in the area occupied by the Jin Kingdom in the north.

The occupation of South Jing South Road this time is also the inevitable result of gradually encroaching on South Jing South Road in the past few years. It can be said that it is the last step. Regardless of whether the court has any opinions, he must take this step and continue to push the border eastward.

In the big tent, Chen Qing said to Zheng Ping: "Jiangxia, Jiangling and Xiazhou echoed each other. We have an absolute advantage in the water surface, which can ensure that Jingnan South Road and Sichuan Road are not lost. Among them, Jiangling Mansion is the key, supporting both ends, and the court wants to plot Sichuan Road and Jinghu South Road can only attack Jiangling Mansion by land, in this case, we must strengthen intelligence collection and keep abreast of the movements of the imperial army."

"Remember the humble job!"

Zheng Ping nodded and said: "Mr. Pang reminded Beizhi yesterday, and Beizhi felt that it was necessary to tell His Highness."

Mr. Pang is Pang Hua, Zheng Ping's aide. Just by looking at his name, he knows that he is from the north. He is from the Hejian Prefecture in the place where birch trees grow, and he is Zheng Ping's fellow villager.

"Tell me! What's the matter?"

"Mr. Pang told Beizhi that once the imperial court loses the Jingnan South Road, they will realize the importance of the navy. The imperial court will definitely confiscate the large ships of the sea merchants and quickly form a huge navy team. Beizhi has written a letter to inform It is recommended that he hand over all the ships to the Western Army to avoid being forcibly confiscated by the imperial court, but His Highness should also pay attention to other seaports and try to prevent the sea ships from being confiscated by the imperial court."

Zheng Ping's reminder was very timely. Chen Qing really didn't think of this. Warships have high requirements on the robustness of ships. It is difficult for inland river ships to meet the standard of warships, but the sturdiness of sea-going ships can be compared with warships. If The imperial court forcibly confiscated seagoing ships, and hundreds of large ships could be conscripted in a short period of time.

Chen Qing nodded, "I will notify Hu Yun immediately and let him deal with it with all his strength!"

At this time, a personal soldier said at the door of the big tent: "His Royal Highness, the son of Zhang Jun, the Xuanfu envoy of Huaixi, asked to see him outside the barracks, saying that he has something important to do!"

As soon as Chen Qing changed his mind, he immediately understood that the court must have asked Zhang Jun to take action, and he immediately ordered: "Please come in!"

Not long after, Zhang Ziqi was brought into the big tent by his own soldiers, he bowed and saluted and said, "See His Royal Highness King Yong!"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Master Zhang, we haven't seen each other for a long time, how is your father?"

"My father is in good health, thank you Your Highness for your concern."

Chen Qing laughed again: "Did your father receive the imperial order?"

"Your Highness guessed right, that's exactly it!"

Zhang Ziqi took out a letter and handed it to Chen Qing, "This is a handwritten letter from my father to His Highness. I just asked the staff to copy it. I signed it with a seal. Please forgive me, Your Highness!"

Of course, Chen Qing could understand how it was possible for an old man like Zhang Jun to let the handle of the letter fall into his own hands. He could avoid the risk by copying it with his staff and adding a seal.

Chen Qing opened the letter and read it, nodded and said, "I understand what your father means, where is his army now?"

"The juniors don't know where they are now, but I know that the army must be moving slowly."

"Alright! Mr. Zhang, go down to rest first, and I will write a letter for you to take back later."

Several soldiers took Zhang Ziqi down to rest, Chen Qing asked Zheng Ping to step back temporarily, he pondered for a long time, and said to the soldiers: "Go to the city and invite Counselor Zhou and Counselor Jiang!"

Half an hour later, both Zhou Kuan and Jiang Yanxian were invited. Zhou Kuan and Jiang Yanxian happened to participate in the establishment of Shangshuxingtai in Jiangling Mansion. Officials are appointed by the Neizhengtang, and they are all sent from Jingzhao to ensure the control of the Neizhengtang over the various ministers,

"Is there anything important, Your Highness?" Zhou Kuan asked.

"Please sit down, let's sit down and talk!"

Chen Qing asked the two to sit down and handed Zhang Jun's letter to them, "This is from Zhang Jun's son, please take a look!"

Zhou Kuan read the letter first, and then handed the letter to Jiang Yanxian. Zhou Kuan frowned and said, "Does Your Highness think Zhang Jun is sincere? Or is he deliberately showing weakness to make us slack off, and then suddenly attacked Jiangling aggressively."

"There is such a possibility!"

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said: "But I don't think it is very likely. This is not a decisive battle. The sudden seizure of Jiangling Mansion will end the matter. It is not like this. Zhang Jun will definitely face my full counterattack. This is something Zhang Jun can't afford. From what I know about Zhang Jun, he definitely doesn’t want to fight us, but it’s in his best interest to maintain a confrontation, so that he won’t be deprived of his feudal domain. Confrontation."

Jiang Yan first asked: "Then why did His Highness come to me?"

Chen Qing nodded and said: "Because I found that this is an opportunity to seize Jinghu North Road. Although Zhang Jun wants to confront me, I can take the initiative because the war was caused by the other party. I can send [-] cavalry to march south. In a battle between Jingxiang and Zhang Jun's armies, they seized the opportunity to seize Jingbei Road in one fell swoop, so that the imperial court could not steal chickens and lose a handful of rice, but this matter is of great importance, and I would like to hear the opinions of the two of you."

Zhou Kuan shook his head and said: "If the problem can be solved by war, then His Highness can completely attack the Jiangnan East Road and seize the north of the Yangtze River. These are all easy to achieve, even destroying the Song Dynasty is easy to do, but this is what His Highness wants. Is it true? Your Highness wants kingship and justice, not domineering, so I would like to advise His Highness not to take Longwangshu, just got the Jingnan South Road, and the name is not right, and it is too eager and too reckless to want to seize the Jingbei North Road."

Jiang Yanxian asked with a smile: "Why is Your Highness so eager for Jingbei Road?"

Chen Qing said lightly: "What I really want is Xiangyang. If Xiangyang is taken, the Han River will be opened up. The materials from Jiangling Mansion will be transported directly to Shangzhou through the Han River, and then transferred from Shangzhou to Guanzhong. It will be closer than taking the Shu Road." It’s much, much more convenient.”

Jiang Yanxian calmly said: "There are two ways to take Xiangyang, one is to seize it by force, and the other is to let it take the initiative to embrace it. The first way is immoral and too passive. In the second way, the court has nothing to do if it gets angry again, at most it is at the negotiating table, using other methods to appease the court."

Jiang Yanxian's suggestion convinced Chen Qing that there was really no need to use force to seize Xiangyang. The Xiangyang defenders could voluntarily surrender themselves, leaving the court speechless, and finally handed over the Bianliang Palace, altar, ancestral temple, and imperial mausoleum to the court. , It can be regarded as appeasement to the court.

At present, Xiangyang is guarded by the commanding Wang Gui leading an army of [-]. To make Wang Gui surrender, he must not only win over him, but also drive him into a desperate situation. Make a deal.

(End of this chapter)