The First Great Ancestor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 119 A letter stirs up the situation in Guanzhong

At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, the back door of the Taishi Mansion opened, and a dozen warriors in black robes and swords filed in. No lanterns or torches were lit. Everything was done in the night, with only the thin moonlight barely illuminating the room.

A tall man in a cloak stepped into the mansion.

He lifted up his cloak, and under the moonlight, a calm and dignified face of an elderly man was revealed.

I saw that he had white temples, a gray beard, a dragon eyebrow and a leopard neck, a majestic posture, and a serious air in his movements.

This person is none other than Tongping Zhangshi, Grand Master, and Hezhong Jiedushi Li Shouzhen!
"My son meets his father!" Li Chongxun, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly stepped forward and saluted.

"Hmm~" Li Shouzhen nodded and was about to speak when he saw another person walking out from behind Li Chongxun, it was his daughter-in-law Fu Jinzhan.

"Greetings to the Grand Master." Fu Jinzhan bowed his head and bowed.

"Jinzhan?" Li Shouzhen was stunned, Yuanshan's heavy eyebrows immediately tightened, he glared at Li Chongxun, and shouted: "Who asked you to tell her?"

"I" Li Chongxun lowered his head timidly and did not dare to speak.

Fu Jinzhan said: "Don't blame the grand master, I forced him to say it. I have something important to report to the grand master."

Li Shouzhen glared at his son and flicked his sleeves: "You arrange for them to rest, and Jinzhan follows me to the inner study."

Li Chongxun, as if he had been pardoned, bowed gratefully to Fu Jinzhan and led more than a dozen of his father's personal guards to rest.

Fu Jinzhan followed Li Shouzhen to the inner study. Li Shouzhen felt tired after traveling for days, so Fu Jinzhan served him hot tea.

Not long after we sat down, a monk in his 30s wearing gray robes came uninvited and pushed in the door. After saluting Li Shouzhen and Fu Jinzhan, he sat aside and held a string of Buddhist beads. , his eyelids are slightly closed, his lips are moving slightly and he is mumbling something.

Fu Jinzhan frowned. This monk was named Zonglun, and he was trusted by Li Shouzhen. Before that, he had been living in the Grand Master's Mansion in Chang'an, chanting scriptures and chanting Buddha every day, without leaving his room.

As soon as Li Shouzhen arrived, he rushed to meet him.

It seemed that she was the only one in the house who didn't know that Li Shouzhen would arrive in Chang'an secretly tonight.

Fu Jinzhan didn't like Zong Lun. He always felt that the monk was feminine in appearance, full of evil spirits, and not like a kind person.

"What's the matter with you? Tell me!" Li Shouzhen said.

Fu Jinzhan glanced at Zong Lun: "The matter is hidden, please ask the Grand Master to keep away others."

Li Shouzhen didn't take it seriously: "Master Zonglun is my confidant. There is no need to hide anything from him. Just tell him."

Zong Lun opened his eyes, smiled and bowed slightly towards Fu Jinzhan, then closed his eyes and chanted silently.

Fu Jinzhan had no choice but to tell the story of the day and put the secret letter of fire paint on the desk in front of Li Shouzhen.

"Shi Kuangwei actually found my head, it's interesting~" Li Shouzhen was quite surprised, laughing jokingly, but didn't seem surprised.

Fu Jinzhan asked tentatively: "Does the Grand Master know about the unrest in Zhangyi's army?"

Li Shouzhen opened the secret letter and said with a smile: "I've heard some. When the new emperor ascended the throne, Wang Jun returned to the capital to attend the grand ceremony, and made a special trip to the palace to secretly report to the young emperor. Hehe~ The originally quiet Jingyuan land turned out to be When salt production started, I specially sent someone to inquire about it, saying that Jingzhou white salt is large in quantity and of high quality, no less than Jiezhou official salt."

Fu Jinzhan had a smile on his face, but he was extremely shocked in his heart.

Li Shouzhen's words were unclear, but the information revealed was quite astonishing.

Li Shouzhen was able to find out what Wang Jun secretly reported to the officials in the Kaifeng palace?
Moreover, it can be accurately stated that the civil strife of the Changyi Army is related to the rise of salt power.

Li Shouzhen called the official family "little emperor". There was no respect in his words, and his unruly spirit was clearly revealed.

This time he secretly left Hezhong and came to Chang'an. What on earth did he want to do?
For a while, Fu Jinzhan was in a state of confusion.

"Haha~ Skuangwei, the damn black savage from Shatuo, would actually succumb to me and ask for help? Interesting! Really interesting!~"

Li Shouzhen read the letter carefully and suddenly slapped the table and laughed.

He met Shi Kuangwei several times. Shi Kuangwei had a cold and stubborn temper, and they clashed with him. The two sides disliked each other.

Unexpectedly, Shi Kuangwei would write a letter asking for help to this day. In the letter, he devalued himself as useless, praised Li Shouzhen all over the sea, begged for help in a lowly manner, and asked the Hezhong Army to support the Changyi Army.

The more Li Shouzhen watched, the more proud he became, stroking his beard and laughing loudly.

Fu Jinzhan asked for permission and took the letter to read.

With just one glance, Fu Jinzhan knew that although this letter was written in Shi Kuangwei's tone, the content was definitely not Shi Kuangwei's original intention.The two of them had dealt with each other when they were in Cangzhou. Fu Jinzhan knew Shi Kuangwei well, and with his temperament, he would never write such groveling and flattering words.

The shameless and shameless atmosphere between the lines is a bit like Mr. Zhu.

The letter paper was stamped with Shi Converse's personal seal, so it couldn't be fake.

But the handwriting of the secret letter was not Zhu Xiu's, which puzzled Fu Jinzhan.

When Zhu Xiu wrote a letter, why did he need someone to write it for him?
What I have to say is that Li Shouzhen has an arrogant temperament, and this letter for help, which is full of flattery, really scratched his itch.

What shocked Fu Jinzhan even more was that the secret letter actually revealed a vague intention to surrender, and also promised to transport [-] kilograms of refined salt to the river within six months!

From now on, 30 kilograms of salt will be supplied to the river for free every year!
What a great handwriting!
How much salt is there in Jingzhou, and how dare you boast about such a mouth?
Fu Jinzhan was stunned, and the letter in his hand was snatched away by Li Shouzhen.

Li Shouzhen looked at her and said, "Your old friend in the Zhangyi Army is the Haozhou scholar named Zhu Xiu?"

Fu Jinzhan nodded and said: "Zhu Xiu's ancestral home is Haozhou. He was kidnapped by the Khitans when he was young. He met a hermit from Tanzhou and learned many miscellaneous subjects."

Li Shouzhen waved his hand: "I don't care where he comes from or where he learned from. Let me ask you, in the battle of Cangzhou last year, there was a firearm called 'Black Fire Thunder'. When it exploded, it was like thunder falling from the sky, and it was very powerful. Is it related to Zhu Xiuke?"

Li Shouzhen's two powerful eyes were fixed on Fu Jinzhan, making her feel heavy pressure.

Fu Jinzhan hesitated for a while, then said honestly: "The black fire thunder was made by Zhu Xiu!"

"Sure enough!" Li Shouzhen's eyes suddenly brightened.

"Okay, it's already late, please step aside for now. I have something to discuss with Master Zonglun and will give you an answer tomorrow morning." Li Shouzhen waved his hand without any doubt.

Fu Jinzhan had no choice but to bow and leave, leaving the inner study.

"What does Master think?" Li Shouzhen asked impatiently.

Monk Zong Lun opened his eyes, took the letter and glanced at it, smiled and shook his head: "This letter is too flattering to be true!"

Li Shouzhen was anxious and asked quickly: "Is the letter fake?"

Zong Lun smiled and said: "No, the letter is true, and the intention of Zhang Yijun to ask for help is also true. However, the intention of surrender revealed in it is also the condition of handing over 30 kilograms of salt every year in the future, haha. I'm afraid. It’s hard to deliver!”

Li Shouzhen thought for a while and said: "The salt factory in the hands of the Zhangyi Army must have huge profits, otherwise it would be impossible to attract Wang Jun and Jiao Jixun to spy on it. Jiao Jixun did not hesitate to send out three thousand Fengxiang troops, he must have smelled the smell of meat."

Zong Lun said: "Actually, regardless of whether we can get the salt profit or not, the Grand Master has to help Zhang Yijun with this task!"

"Oh? What does the mage mean?"

Zong Lun said calmly: "Although the two Jingyuan states are exhausted and poor, with few soldiers and generals, their positions are extremely important, especially for the Grand Master!"

Li Shouzhen suddenly said: "Master is saying that the Zhangyi Army will be used to contain Fengxiang and Jiao Jixun?"

Zong Lun smiled: "Yes! If Jiao Jixun gains salt, his position in the Fengxiang Army will become more and more stable. The strength of the Fengxiang Army will increase greatly, and there will be no threat from the two Jingyuan Prefectures behind him. When the time comes, he will march eastward with all his strength, echoing the imperial army from east to west. Isn’t it troublesome?”

Li Shouzhen stood up angrily, put her hands behind her hands and paced with a gloomy face.

"That's right! We can't let Wang Jun and Jiao Jixun easily get the Jingzhou salt and control the Zhangyi Army! The Zhangyi Army is usually inconspicuous, but when I get into trouble, it will become a nail wedged behind the Fengxiang Army!"

Li Shouzhen punched the table with a bang.

"Mage, what should I do?"

Zong Lun thought for a moment and said with a smile: "The Grand Master can respond to Zhang Yijun's request and send someone to the court to intercede for Shi Kuangwei, and then send someone to write to Jiao Jixun and Wang Jun respectively, acknowledging that the Jingzhou Salt Factory is related to you. The Changyi Army is currently short of food, so the Grand Master might as well send an army to deliver some food and raise a flag across the river to show the close relationship between the two families."

Li Shouzhen laughed loudly and said: "In this way, Wang Jun and Jiao Jixun will think that there are really members of our Hezhong Army in the Jingzhou Salt Factory. In the future, the Zhangyi Army will be regarded by the court as an accomplice of our Hezhong Army. Shi Even if Converse doesn’t want to rebel, I’m afraid it will be forced to rebel!~~”

"In order to avoid any changes and break the siege of Zhangyi as soon as possible, the grand master might as well send someone to summon Wang Jingchong, the inspection envoy of Fengxiang, and order him to lead Chencang troops to Sanguan, saying that there are signs of the Hanzhong Shu army knocking on the pass!"

Zong Lun made another suggestion calmly.

Li Shouzhen stroked his palms and praised: "Master, I'm going to send someone to summon you immediately! There's a fire in the backyard, and Jiao Jixun has to withdraw his troops and return without stopping! Haha~~~"

Zong Lun raised one palm in front of his heart, chanted the Buddha's name, continued to turn the rosary, and silently recited the scriptures.

Li Shouzhen clapped his hands, and someone immediately knelt down at the door of the inner study: "Here comes! Immediately order Fei Yao to summon Wang Jingchong, and then send someone to contact Zhao Siwan, the military governor of Yongxing Army, and tell him that I have arrived in Chang'an and ask him to come as soon as possible. I!"

　Thanks to Mr. Shui Deshang Hei for the reward! ~~Thank you! ~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)