Chastity Layman

  Chapter 400 Assassination

"Lingnan has been in chaos for too long, and His Majesty is very dissatisfied. What the imperial court needs is a stable and prosperous Lingnan. Mr. Geng, you are a subject trusted by His Majesty. You are also highly respected and powerful in Lingnan. The role of the mainstay!"

Qin Lang said, "Tan Dian and others are just frogs in the well in the south of Lingnan. They don't even have the strength of Yelang, but they want to be arrogant like Yelang. Geng Gong, you are also a person who has seen the world. You are different from those frogs in the well. Look at the Central Plains today. , how powerful it is."

  The Turkic people who trapped Yang Guang in Yanmen for dozens of days and were almost captured, now Xieli Khan has already paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty.

The little Tuli Khan, the son of the Shibi Great Khan, has now accepted the canonization of the Tang Emperor, accepted the Golden Wolf banner openly, and directly pulled the eastern tribes under his command, as well as the Khitan, Xi, 蜫, Shi Wei and others called themselves the Great Khan of Tuli.

  The leader of Tie Le Xue Yantuo in Mobei, Yishi Yinan, was also granted the title of Zhenzhu Khan by the Tang Dynasty, and set up a black wolf banner in Mobei.

The Nishi Khan and Moheduo Khan of the Western Turks were still fighting among themselves. The Tang Dynasty divided the territory between the north and the south of the Tianshan Mountains and let them rule together. Dissent, although they are still attacking separately in the Western Regions, at least both of them still jointly declare that the emperor of Tang Dynasty is Tian Khan, and pay tribute to him.

  The powerful Datang, although not yet restored to the strength of the early Daye, can show its sharpness.

"I don't dare to say that I am highly respected, let alone strong. I am just defending the border for the court. The so-called one hundred thousand soldiers are all rumors from outside. Don't believe it, Duke Wei." Feng Ang replied lightly, "Before, Tan Dian and Ning Changzhen betrayed the imperial court and raised troops. After a certain party was ordered to crusade and defeated, Tan Dian did not give up. He secretly instigated a rebellion in the two prefectures of Luo Dou, attacked prefectures and counties, and plundered the Han people. This is an unforgivable crime. "

   "As an official of the imperial court, I can only do my best to gather the villagers and righteous men to fight against the bandits and barbarians. I am waiting in Lingnan, hoping for the imperial court's heavenly army to wait for the rain after a long drought."

"From the end of the Sui Dynasty to the present, Lingnan has indeed been in chaos for too long. It has been fighting intermittently for more than ten years, and the people have suffered greatly. The rewards for the righteous soldiers of the township soldiers who suppressed the rebellion last time have not yet been determined, and the casualties have not yet been compensated. Now The palace is in chaos again, Lingnan prefectures and counties have no money to recruit brave men, and no money to replace equipment and weapons."

"In fact, the imperial court wants to merge prefectures and counties in the south of the Five Ridges, naturalize the Qing people, and levy taxes. Many loyal bureaucrats who responded to the call to participate in the counter-insurgency are now complaining and expressing their incomprehension. I'm afraid there will be a bigger rebellion!"

  Qin Lang chuckled.

  This Feng An is an old man, and at this time he also knows that it is difficult to negotiate terms.

"Mr. Geng, Erlang personally commanded 50,000 troops from Feng's family, and Mr. Geng still has 50,000 horses in his hands. It is said that it is not a problem to collect another 100,000 at any time. Why can't they suppress the rebellion? There are many people in the court now. Said, this is Mr. Geng's intention to raise the thief's self-respect."

  Although the voice is soft, it can hide its edge.

  Feng An's face remained unchanged, "My Feng family is loyal and passionate, but it is really chilling to be framed like this."

  Qin Lang smiled.

   Lu Ben escorted all the way to the city of Chang'an.

   Towering Chang'an.

   "Mr. Geng, how does it compare with Daxing City in the Sui Dynasty?"

  Feng An has been to Chang'an several times, and the first time he came was in Yang Jianren's birthday, but at that time, the city was not called Chang'an, but Daxing City.

   Later, he also came here several times, and after Yang Guang succeeded to the throne, he moved the capital to Luoyang, and Feng An accompanied Luoyang, and never returned to Chang'an.

   Suddenly, it has been more than ten years.

  Sui Daxing City has been renamed Tang Chang'an City.

  Daxing Palace was also changed to Taiji Palace.

   "When I first came here, the outer city walls of Chang'an City hadn't been built yet, only the city gate was built. Unexpectedly, the outer city city is now so complete and majestic." Feng An said.

   "It's not just the Outer Guocheng that is complete. Chang'an City has now returned to its founding glory, with hundreds of thousands of houses, and the three cities are thriving."

  Feng An stood in front of the south gate, feeling the magnificence of the main gate of the Wumen Cave.

   "Mr. Geng, I just heard the news that Chang Ning is really dead!"

  Feng An was taken aback.

"died?"

  Ning Chang's death really shocked Feng An, this is the patriarch of the Ning clan. The Ning family, like the Feng family, is a family that went south from the Central Plains to Lingnan, and they have been in Lingnan for two hundred years.

  The family's ancestral home was in Jizhou, Hebei Province, and they were descendants of the famous Ning Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Song and Ming emperors of the Southern Dynasties, Linzi was occupied by the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the Ning family followed the Liu Song court to the south. When it came to Emperor Wu of Liang, Ning Changzhen's grandfather Ning Kui served as the governor of Dingzhou (Yulin), the governor of Nanding and other military forces in Kyushu.

   During the reign of Emperor Wu of Chen, the governor of Qian'an Prefecture (later changed to Qinzhou).

  The Ning family went from Ning Kui to Ning Mengli and then to Ning Changzhen, guarding the Qinzhou Bay area west of Yunkai Mountain from Liang, Chen, Sui and Tang Dynasties.

  The Ning family dominated one side, and immediately separated from the Central Plains Dynasty.

  Compared to the Feng family on the east side of Yunkai Dashan, the Ning family is more powerful and ferocious. This is also related to the more complicated and backward environment in the west at that time, and the scum and barbarians there are stronger.

  Although the imperial courts of the past dynasties often sent troops to conquer the Ning family, it was of no avail.

  The Ning family also became the hereditary governor of Qinzhou.

   While fighting against the imperial court, the Ning family actively developed Guangxi. They often fought against the surrounding scumbags, conquered or drove them away, and then established prefectures and counties.

  When Ning Changzhen arrived, the Ning family already owned several counties in Guangxi at that time, accounting for nearly half of Guangxi, and even reached the area of ​​Yongzhou (Nanning) for a time.

Ning Changzhen's father, Ning Mengli, inherited Ning Kui's position. He was very fierce and fierce. During his reign, the Ning family expanded rapidly. Although the Sui Dynasty sent troops to crusade against Ning Mengli, it was still difficult to completely defeat him. In the end, I had to compromise and recruit security.

   And Ning Changzhen also followed his father to lead the army when he was a child. He fought many battles with the Sui army, and also fought many battles with Liaoman. He was extremely fierce. In the 20th year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, he inherited the post of governor of Qinzhou. Later, in the first year of Daye, he was ordered to lead his troops to conquer Linyi.

   After that, he accompanied Yang Guang on an expedition to Liaodong, and was granted the title of Hongluqing, Lingnan appeasement envoy, promoted to Doctor You Guanglu, and prefect of Ningyue County.

   In the fifth year of Wude, he was attached to the Tang Dynasty and was granted the title of governor of Qinzhou.

  In the eighth year of Wude, he rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, joined forces with Feng Xuan, Tan Dian and others to attack the state, and was defeated by Feng An and other allied forces.

  Although the army was defeated, the Ning family still maintained their original territory.

  Afterwards, the imperial court could only appease him.

   Ning Changzhen is still the biggest force in Lingnan West.

The last time Tan Dian instigated the chaos in the two prefectures of Luodou, it was actually supported by Ning Changzhen. The Ning family not only occupied several prefectures, but also controlled the Beibu Gulf. He has always held the fishing trade of Hepu Dazhu, etc., which can be said to be rich in financial resources and sufficient in soldiers and food.

  When Feng An entered the court, Ning Changzhen was still alive and well in Qinzhou. The court had conferred the titles on him as the Sima of the Annan Metropolitan Protector, the Governor of Qinzhou, and the Duke of Kang.

  How did he die?

  Qin Lang smiled slightly.

  Feng An's heart shuddered, this smile was evil.

   "Could it be that the court took action?"

   "I just got the news that Ning Changzhen was poisoned to death in the mansion by a maidservant who was the daughter of a pearl fisher because of the Hepu pearl fisherman's riot."

  Hepu Pearl is very famous. It comes from the Sea of ​​Pearl, which is the Hepu area of ​​the North Sea in later generations. The wind and waves here are relatively small, and the water is clear, moderately salty, and the water quality is good and the water temperature is also suitable.

Therefore, it has always been the most suitable breeding place for mother-of-pearl. The Ning family has seven pearl pools in the Pearl Sea, including Bailong and Qingying. The royal nobles value and cherish.

   Therefore, it has become a tribute treasure every year. In Hepu, thousands of people make a living by fishing pearls, known as pearl people.

   It is said that in the seven pearl ponds of the Ning family, thousands of pearl divers can collect 30,000 taels of pearls a year, and the benefits are huge. However, the life of pearl fishers is extremely hard. Fishing pearls in the sea all year round, not only will be bitten by sharks and blown by storms, but also often suffer from rheumatism and other diseases, and their life span is very short.

  The most terrible thing is that the Ning family has certain tasks for the pearl people, and if they don’t pay enough pearls, they will be punished, so the Hepu pearl fishers are actually like a group of slaves. The Ning family even forbade these pearl divers to live ashore. They could only live on ships at sea for generations, and could not own any property on land.

  The preciousness and prosperity of Hepu Dazhu is the tragic history of countless pearl divers.

  But Feng An didn't believe that these pearl divers dared to riot and even killed Ning Changzhen, because Hepu pearl fishing started from the Han Dynasty, and the history of pearl people even existed before Qin.

  With a history of more than 2,000 years of pearl fishing, these pearl people have always been miserable, but they have never seen them riot, let alone kill Ning Changzhen.

  Feng An had to suspect that there must be something wrong.

  Perhaps it was the imperial court who took action secretly, first instigating the Zhu people to riot, and then taking the opportunity to send someone to poison Ning Changzhen, and then plant the dirt on Zhu Nu.

The west of Lingnan, the south bank of Yushui (Youjiang River, Yongjiang River), was previously controlled by the Ning family. Although Ning Chun, an unfilial descendant who betrayed the family and turned to Datang, Ning Chun still took the control of their father and son. The Leizhou Peninsula was dedicated to the imperial court, and finally the imperial court was assigned to the control of the arch-rival Feng An.

   But in general, the Ning family is still very united and their strength is still there. Now Ning Changzhen, the head of the family, is suddenly poisoned to death like this, which is really unexpected.

  Feng An stood blankly in front of the south gate of Chang'an City, without moving for a long time.

   Ning Changzhen, a hero of the generation in the southwestern part of Weiba Lingnan, died in the hands of a pearl girl like this? A cup of poison killed a generation of heroes?

  Feng An suddenly shivered.

  It’s already April in the world, Lingnan is already extremely hot, why is Chang’an City still so cold?

  (end of this chapter)