Horse on the World

Chapter 164
Xiang Xianhe, who was anxious to rush to Dingzhou to ask for help, was turned away by Li Qing. Li Qing was not in Dingzhou City at all, but went to Shanglin. He was greeted by Shang Haibo, a member of the Dingzhou Army, who was full of enthusiasm and a smile on his face, and Lu Yiming, a fellow acquaintance of Dingzhou.

"Marshal Xiang, alas, you are such a rare visitor. Why don't you say hello in advance when you come to Dingzhou? We are also ready to prepare. Look, Marshal Li went to Shanglinli to inspect the autumn season that Lu Dalin's department is preparing for. The offensive has already left Dingzhou City in Lintian." Shang Haibo warmly greeted Xiang Xianhe and invited him into the hall.

"Marshal Li isn't in Dingzhou City?" Fatty Xiang, who rushed to Dingzhou enthusiastically, felt a chill, "Then, when will he come back?"

"Commander Xiang?" Lu Yiming asked with a smile: "The commander-in-chief handed over the task of guarding Dingzhou City to Shang Canjun before leaving. If the matter is not serious, Shang Canjun can solve it."

Xiang Xianhe complained bitterly, "Is Dingzhou ready to launch an autumn offensive against the barbarians? Has it been decided?"

Shang Haibo nodded and said: "Yes, yes, the autumn offensive has been prepared for a long time. They will go into the grassland, kill the manzi's livestock, and burn the fodder they have stored for the winter. In short, Li Shuai wants to make the manzi's life difficult this winter, hehe , They used to beat us all the time, now it's time for us to beat them, so that these savages can also experience the feeling of being frightened and restless in the dormitory."

Xiang Xianhe was fidgeting. If Li Qing was really allowed to launch the autumn offensive against the barbarians on time, how could he spare troops to support Fuzhou? If Dingzhou couldn't send troops, how could Fuzhou be protected?No, I have to see Li Qing immediately, and no matter what, I have to make him suspend the offensive against the Manzi. The Manzi can fight anytime, but his Fuzhou can't wait.

Huo Di stood up, and a ball of meat rolled towards the outside of the hall, which surprised Shang Haibo and Lu Yiming. What's the matter with Fatty Xiang? Could it be that the information was wrong?

"Marshal, Marshal, where are you going?" Shang Haibo quickly chased after him.

"I'm going to Shanglinli, I want to see Marshal Li immediately." Fatty Xiang gasped and said loudly.

The two of Shang Lu looked at each other. It seemed that Guo Shanfeng was going to be very anxious to Fatty in Fuzhou, "Marshal, what's the matter? Marshal Li won't stay in Shanglin for a few days, so it's rare for you to come When we go to Dingzhou, a place like Dingzhou, we have to stay for a few days. Although Dingzhou is not as beautiful as Fuzhou, some places are also quite spectacular. how?"

Xiang Xianhe stopped in his tracks, and said loudly: "If you delay for a few more days, maybe Xiang Xing's good head will be cut off by those bandits. Why do you still have the desire to travel around the mountains and rivers? I still want to join the army. I must see you right away." To Marshal Li."

"What!" Both Shang Lu and Shang Lu looked shocked, "Why did Commander Xiang say such a thing? We have heard about bandits in Fuzhou, but what kind of situation can a mere bandit become? How can it make the Commander panic?" So?"

Xiang Xianhe let out a long sigh, his face was sad, he hesitated to speak, Shang Haibo took the opportunity to invite him back to the hall, Xiang Xianhe looked at the two officials in Dingzhou, the civil and the military, and knew that these two were Li Qing If you can persuade them, the matter of sending troops to Dingzhou will be a matter of chance. Immediately cheered up, he said: "To tell you the truth, I have reached the time of life and death in Fuzhou." Described the situation again, in his mouth, the army of Guo Shanfeng is simply a heinous villain. , Burning down towns, "My Fuzhou is full of blood, and there is no one in ten. Poor those people, who have no power to resist, can only let that villain wreak havoc!"

Shang Haibo pretended to be surprised, "How could such a thing happen? Marshal Xiang, how could your Fuzhou Army allow him to behave like this? I heard that the two generals, Xiang Feng and Xiang Hui, are both good at fighting. Ah, tens of thousands of Fuzhou troops, why can't they deal with a single bandit?"

Xiang Xianhe blushed fatly, and the muscles on his face kept beating. He wanted to say a few words for his Fuzhou Army, but when he thought about whether the effect might be right at this time, he was embarrassed for a long time, and then said with difficulty: " To tell you the truth, my lords, the elite of the Fuzhou army fought against the bandits a few days ago, and returned in a big defeat. Almost all of them were killed. Seeing that the front of the rebel army was already pointing directly at Huai'an, the capital of Fuzhou, this time I I came here to ask for help from Marshal Li, and I hope that Marshal Li will send troops to help and wipe out the bandits because the people of our Fuzhou are suffering, and because our two states are connected with each other, and our hearts are dead and our teeth are cold!"

"This!" The two of Shang Lu were silent at the same time. "You want me to send troops to Dingzhou?"

"What do you two say?" Xiang Xianhe looked at the two eagerly, for fear that the two would say no, both of them are important ministers of Dingzhou, and they had a great influence on Li Qing.

"Tell me to the commander-in-chief." Shang Haibo seemed to be scrambling his words, and said slowly: "If there is no autumn offensive this time, it is not impossible for us to send troops to Dingzhou to help the commander-in-chief. The commander-in-chief is with us. Li Shuai is a member of the royal family, it can be said that the bones are broken, but now it is very difficult. Master Lu's autumn offensive is already on the line, and we in Dingzhou will go all out to fight against the barbarians, and our own troops are a little insufficient. , how can we spare troops to go to Fuzhou to suppress the bandits?"

"Stop the autumn offensive against the barbarians!" Xiang Fatty yelled anxiously, "Wouldn't we have troops in this way!"

"How is this possible?" The two of Shang Lu shouted at the same time.

"Marshal Xiang, for this autumn offensive, we have been planning for several months. Not to mention the effort, we have spent a lot of money and materials, and the mobilization of troops is huge. Under the general mobilization of the whole prefecture, the strategic center of gravity of the entire Dingzhou has been fully It leaned into the upper forest, and General Lu was ready to go, how could he stop? In this way, our huge investment in Dingzhou in the early stage will be in vain, this is definitely not possible, and Li Shuai will definitely not allow it." Shang Haibo's head shook like a rattle.

"Money, money doesn't matter!" Xiang Xianhe said loudly: "We will pay for the expenses you invested in Dingzhou in the early stage. In short, we will never let Dingzhou suffer."

Shang Haibo and Lu Yiming glanced at each other, and the joy in their eyes flashed across, "Commander, that's millions of taels of silver, you are willing to pay such a huge amount?"

"Isn't it just 100 million taels of silver? We're going out, I'm going out, as long as you can send troops to Fuzhou." Xiang Xianhe couldn't wait, he was not short of money now, if Fuzhou was lost, no matter how much money he had Use, as long as there is nothing wrong with Fuzhou, no matter how much money is used, it is just a little more private salt every year.

"It's not just about money!" Shang Haibo continued Lu Yiming's words, "As Commander Xiang knows, General Lu is a veteran of Dingzhou and the oldest in the army. He has spent a lot of money on this autumn offensive." I tried my best, just stopped like this, I'm afraid he won't quit with the commander in chief, you don't know, for General Lu, our commander in law is three points of courtesy!"

"I know, I know!" Xiang Xianhe knew well that the other party was definitely going to take the opportunity to blackmail him, but at this moment he couldn't care less about anything, didn't he just want more money, I'll give it. "For Dingzhou to give up the long-prepared combat operation, of course we in Fuzhou will compensate. Well, I will pay another 50 taels to let Li Shuai work for the army. General Lu has complaints. Li Shuai might as well give a little more money, presumably. General Lu will not say anything more."

In the blink of an eye, 150 million taels of silver was obtained, and Lu Yiming, who was suffering sleepless nights because of the silver, was already very happy. This could greatly alleviate the financial crisis in Dingzhou. However, this money cannot be obtained immediately, and it takes time to promote it, but the money in Fuzhou can be obtained immediately.

"Since Commander Xiang is so forthright and willing to compensate us for the loss in Dingzhou, we can speak for you in front of Commander Xiang, but we are not in control of Commander Xiang's decision in the end, so let's do it, Commander Xiang Shuai, you stay in the post house first, how about we send him to Shanglinli to invite the handsome back?"

"Okay, okay, the sooner the better, the sooner the better!" Xiang Xianhe agreed repeatedly.

At this time, Li Qing, who claimed to have inspected Shanglinli, was lying leisurely in the garden of the Marshal's Mansion, smelling the fragrance of flowers and drinking fine wine. Feed it into his mouth.

"I've been running around for the past few days, thank you for your hard work." Li Qing cherished Qingfeng's face, "Look, it's all tanned."

Qingfeng smiled and said: "General, this is Qingfeng's duty, so why bother to talk about it, besides, you said that my face was too pale before, and it would be better to be tanned."

Li Qing laughed, "It's better to be white, it's better to be white."

Qingfeng filled the wine glass for Li Qing, "Fatty Xiang must be getting angry at this moment, and I don't know how Mr. Shang and Mr. Lu are doing with each other?"

"Don't worry, I've always been at ease when Mr. Shang is doing things. How can he give up if he doesn't squeeze a few barrels of oil out of the fat man this time?" Li Qing laughed.

Hearing that Li Qing trusted Shang Haibo so much, Qingfeng's eyes flickered, and he smiled slightly, but remained silent.

Zhong Jing suddenly walked over quickly, bowed to the two of them, followed Qingfeng for a long time, she had turned a blind eye to the intimacy between the commander and the young lady, looked at Qingfeng and said: "Miss, Dingzhou Commander Xiang Xianhe has arrived Statistical Investigation Department Yamen, I want to see you, Miss."

Qingfeng said in surprise: "He went to see me? What's the matter?"

Li Qing laughed loudly: "What else can I do? I'm asking you to hit the wooden clock. I want you to give me a pillow breeze, a breeze. Here's your chance to cheat!"

Qingfeng smiled sweetly, "I'm short of funds for operations, and Mingyan sent back news that a large amount of money is needed there, and Mr. Lu is so stubborn. When he saw me, he ran away without a trace. I went to his yamen to block it." He didn't get a penny a few times, and he sent the fat man to the door, it's really someone who is dozing off and someone sends a pillow, general, take a good rest, I'm going to squeeze the fat man's oil." Stand up and float away .

(End of this chapter)