Late Tang

Holding on to the battlements above the west city gate, the noon sun of the empire flooded the ground, bringing a rare warmth to the biting first month.The city wall built of mountains and rocks used to tower high on one side, but now the west city wall is only left with a short chest-high wall temporarily piled up with sandbags and wood.The ground was still deformed by puddles of eye-catching dark red blood stains that had not been washed away, indicating the brutal battle that took place here not long ago.

Accompanied by Li Jing, Song Wen looked forward to Duo Zhan. In his eyes, he still couldn't believe the result of the battle that had just ended.

He stood tall on the west city wall where only the city gate tower remains now. This was once a majestic city gate tower. The walls all show that this is a tower full of stories.It is said that this castle was built by the navy commander Rong Guogong Lai Huer when Yang Guang conquered Goguryeo, and it was used as a base for the navy's eastward expedition.What I like is that Shamen Town is located in the center of Tangwan, which is calm and calm. Later, when Taizong Li Shimin personally conquered Goguryeo, it is said that he once landed on Shamen Island.When Zhongzong conquered Baekje and Goguryeo, it was also used as a place to hoard grain and grass.

However, when Emperor Xuanzong came across the sea to attack Dengzhou, the Bohai Kingdom crossed the sea and attacked all the way, breaking down all the island castles on the coastal road one by one, and the castle of Shamen Island was destroyed at that time.Since then, although there has always been a garrison in Salmonburg, no one has repaired the castle.Song Wen heaved a sigh in his heart. The generals stationed in Shamen Town, like the emperors and prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty, had no sense of vigilance.

"Are you sure that Wang Jin secretly colluded with the pirates to attack?" Song Wen, who was standing in front of the battlements and watching the city, asked softly without looking back.Beside him is Biejia of Dengzhou, Zhao Wang Li Rui, who is half bent over, carefully watching the few lines of writing left by someone on the city wall.Feng Xun, Wang Song and several other generals didn't know where they went at this time, and none of them was seen.

On the city tower, apart from Li Jing, there were also Lin Wei, the deputy town general, and Wang Zhong, the Duke of Yu.The three of them are all town-level officers in Shamen Town, and the others are all high enough to accompany Song Wen.Lin Wu, Zhang Hong, Zhang Chengzong and other officers could only stand fifty paces away with Song Wei's team of mighty servants in silk cloaks.

Li Jing didn't answer Song Wen's question immediately. In fact, if Lin Wei hadn't insisted on telling Song Wen about this, Li Jing wouldn't have said it.From Li Jing's point of view, Song Wen originally transferred him to Shamen Town to stir up the muddy water.This time the pirates are attacking, people with a discerning eye can actually know without guessing, the matter is not so simple.Salmon Island is half surrounded by the three big islands of Daxie Village, and it is close to Dengzhou. It is impossible for them not to know about the attack of such large-scale pirates.The pirate went all the way to Shamen Town, from Liaodong to Dengzhou, passing through three large island groups in Daxie Village, more than 30 islands.There are more than 30 islands, big forts, small garrisons, and beacon shops on uninhabited islands. More than 1000 pirates made it so grandly, and went all the way to Shamen Town smoothly. If it wasn't for the cooperation of Daxie village, how could it be so smooth.In addition to Daxie Village, the warships of the Dengzhou Navy are also patrolling the nearby waters. Daxie Village did not find it, so did the Dengzhou Navy not notice any movement?

The matter is clearly there. Although the pirates invaded this time, they did not rob the other islands and came straight to Salmonella Island.Moreover, after going to the island, instead of grabbing the four piers and two villages on the island, they went straight to Shamen Town, which was just moved to the island less than ten days ago. Isn't this obvious?This was directly aimed at Li Jing, and Li Jing had no grievances with the pirate One-Eyed Jiao. Thinking about the performance of Daxie Village and Dengzhou Navy, the truth of the matter is ready to come out.

Either Feng Zhang wants to deal with Li Jing, or Wang Jin wants to deal with Li Jing. It can even be said that it is possible that Feng Zhang and Wang Jin want to deal with Li Jing together.

Such an obvious thing, but Song Wen didn't mention it when he went to the island. This attitude is already very strange.

"Yes, the pirate Cyclops has actually been Wang Jin's lackey all along, and their attack was completely ordered by Wang Jin." Wang Zhong said angrily.He didn't understand what Li Jing was thinking. He felt that as long as he told Song Wen the truth, then Song Wen and Song Wei could use this to eradicate the Wang family.This naive idea made Li Jing feel disappointed. Wang Zhong was more than brave, but sometimes he seemed to have no fighting mind at all.

Now the relationship between Qingzhou Yajiang Wang Jinwu and Ziqingpinglu Jiedu Envoy Song Wei is exactly like that of the current emperor and the great eunuch Tian Lingzi.On the surface, the emperor is of course more powerful than the eunuch Tian Lingzi.But in fact, although Tian Lingzi was only an eunuch, he also served as a privy envoy, a lieutenant of the Zuo Shence Army, a general of the Zuo Jianmen Guard, and completely controlled the imperial guards of the capital.

The eunuchs are only the emperor's domestic slaves in name, but in fact, this family slave now completely controls the fate of the family master, and all the waste and establishment are in his hands.Song Wei's situation was not much better than that of the emperor. Although he was a Jiedu envoy on the surface, he actually didn't have any military power in his hands. He stayed in Qingzhou, but Qingzhou was under the control of Yajiang Wang Jingwu.If it weren't for the alliance with the Cui family and the Han family, Song Wei would not be able to fight the Wang family.But even in today's situation, if Song Wei really wants to eradicate the Wang family, he can't do it with just a few words.

In today's situation, the imperial court is basically unable to govern the affairs of the local vassals and towns, and they are basically resolved by the localities themselves.Not to mention that Wang Jin's collusion with the pirates against Li Jing is extremely secretive, even if the evidence is more convincing, so what?

Based on Li Jing's understanding of Song Wei's research, he knew that Song Wei was very strategic.Before Wang Jingwu can really be brought down, even if this matter is reported to Song Wei, he will keep silent.Instead, he would only be used as a pawn crossing the river by Song Wei.But Lin Wei and Wang Zhong didn't give up until they touched the south wall, so he didn't want to change their minds, so he asked them to touch it by themselves, so they would be reconciled.

"Is there any evidence?" Song Wen frowned and asked.

He felt that the atmosphere was a bit dignified. In fact, since he received the news of the pirates attacking Shamen Town last night, he had speculated that Feng Zhang or Wang Jin was behind the incident.Later, he sent someone to adjust the Dengzhou Navy, but the Dengzhou Navy turned a deaf ear, and he basically understood in his heart.It's just that he originally thought that it was Feng Zhang who was operating behind the scenes, but he didn't expect it to be Wang Jin.

But although he didn't need to look at the evidence to believe that this matter should be Wang Jin colluding with the pirates, Song Wen had to consider another thing in his heart.At present, Song Wei, the commander-in-chief of the festival, has the help of the Cui family, and it seems that the Han family is about to win him over.At this time, it is not suitable to move the Wang family. If you move the Wang family now, you may startle the snake and intensify the conflict in advance.But now Jieshuai is not sure that he can deal with the Wang family.

With sadness and pain on his face, Lin Wei pointed to the blood-stained land below the city and said: "Emissary Song, in the battle yesterday, more than [-] young and strong people were killed in the battle in Shamen Town, and more than a thousand people were injured. The four people outside the castle The entire camp was reduced to ashes, and thousands of residents will live in their homes. Even the walls of the castle were destroyed, and overnight, there were hundreds of widows and countless orphans who lost their fathers in Shamen Town."

Li Jing handed over to Song Wen the letters and ledgers obtained from Cyclops Jiao's collusion with the pirates, as well as the confession written by Cyclops Jiao before his death.Song Wen took it, opened it and looked at it one by one, looking very carefully.But after reading it, he let out a long sigh, his eyes full of embarrassment.Li Jing immediately understood that things were indeed moving in the direction he expected, but he was not disappointed at all, after all, he had never had hope in the first place.

"These things are very important, but this matter is very important and involves a lot, even I can't deal with it immediately. I will immediately explain all the cause and effect to Jieshuai, and wait for Jieshuai's disposal." Song Wen pondered for a while He said after the meeting, paused, he seemed to feel that if he didn't take some action, it would inevitably make Li Jing and the others feel cold, so he said again: "Ji Yu, if you want to transfer back to Shamen Town now, then I will immediately Promise."

Li Jing shook his head. How could he give up such a piece of land after so much difficulty?

"You can take your brother away together, and I will arrange it for you."

"The decision to come to Shamen Town was my own choice. Now, I am still willing to stick to my original choice!"

Song Wen sighed, "Why don't I leave 100 troops for you to strengthen your defense?"

"Thank you for your love, but the one-eyed dragon and nearly a thousand pirates have just been wiped out here. I can't think of anyone who would dare to come back so boldly. If you really see me as pitiful, why don't you give me some money and food."

Song Wen smiled bitterly and said: "Dengzhou is also an empty shell, how can I spend money, so I will find a way to pull out a batch of lime, bricks and stones for you to help you repair this castle again. .As long as the castle is repaired, even if there are pirates coming again, they won’t be at a disadvantage.”

Li Jing hit the snake with the stick, and immediately said: "In this situation, how can I still spend money to repair the city? I don't know when it will happen. I have a request from my job. This time we have to eat so much. Unfortunately, part of the reason is lack of vigilance. There are four docks in Shamen Town, and there are also three subsidiary islands, but unfortunately none of them are under our control at the moment."

In addition to the four piers in Shamen Town, there is Niutuozi Island at the southern end of the island, Yangtuozi Island in the west, and Shaobing Island in the north.These three islands are not very big, they only have an area of ​​more than [-] mu, but they are close to Shamen Town. Among them, Niutuozi Island is just opposite to Taishan Wharf, and Yangtuozi Island is on the sea opposite Shimen Wharf. The two piers are guarded like two forts.However, Shaobing Island is a round uninhabited island, but its location is even more important. It happens to be stuck on the west side of the embankment between the northern tip of Shamen Island and Daxiezhai South Island and North Island.

To the west of Shaobing Island is the Beishan Wharf of Shamen Town, and to the east is the strait between the two islands, which is the only way for ships to go from south to north.

Li Jing's request was to take back the control of the four piers and the three important subsidiary islands.Especially Shaobing Island, who controlled the island, and half of the control of the Pearl Waterway was in his hands.

Take back the four piers and take back the three islands. In the future, Shamen Town will be able to retreat and defend, and advance and attack.That is to say, it can protect the main island of Salmonella and be on alert at any time, and it can also make the town of Salmonella ready to attack the two islands in the north and south of Daxie Village at any time.

(To be continued)