Lord of the House

Vol 7 Chapter 65: The Siege of Xuzhou

Liu Tingzhou sat on a big bamboo basket and hung the head of Xuzhou city, and looked at the generals who covered the city wall with ragged clothes, yellow faces and thin skin. If they were not holding swords, swords, swords and sticks in their hands, and wearing tattered armor, they would be worse than beggars, with cloudy eyes and blurred robes. Yue Lengqiu, who was still in charge of rectification, made a long bow of apology: "Xiaguan was entrusted by the superintendent and commander, and he failed to lead the army to come to help. I am ashamed to see Xuzhou soldiers and civilians!" down.

From Tao Chun to break out of the city, Yue Lengqiu was trapped in Xuzhou for more than a month. Although he sent people to break out several times during this period, they were all intercepted by the refugee army. He had no idea how the situation outside was developing.

Since Tao Chun broke through to rescue, Yue Lengqiu has been trapped in Xuzhou for more than a month.

Seeing Liu Tingzhou sitting on the bamboo basket and hanging on the head of the city, without a word, tears were already falling down two lines, Yue Lengqiu's heart sank, only when Huai'an City was destroyed and Liu Tingzhou was captured and surrendered.

Yue Lengqiu felt desolate and sighed: It's over, it's over now, Liu Tingzhou can still be surrendered, but he has no room to surrender to the governor of Jianghuai. Even if the bandits were surrendered, they would only survive a few days and suffer a few more days of humiliation.

Liu Tingzhou wiped the tears from his cheeks and said, "Although Xiaguan failed to lead the army to come to aid, the siege of Xuzhou is not without a turnaround. At this time, there is a secret report, please superintendent to send the irrelevant people away for the time being..."

Yue Lengqiu became more and more convinced that Liu Tingzhou was coming to surrender, he drew his sword angrily, and scolded: "You old man, you have surrendered to the thief by yourself, but you have come to humiliate the governor, the governor would rather die than surrender to the thief!"

"Ah!" Liu Tingzhou was startled, and immediately understood that Yue Lengqiu had misunderstood him, but also felt that Yue Lengqiu was strong and loyal to the imperial court. I misunderstood that I was dismissed. The Zhizhi envoy, Mr. Lin, led his troops to recover Suining in the middle of the year, and the cities in Huainan were much better. If someone can decide this matter, send someone to Beijing to ask for an decree, but the request for an decree in Beijing has been delayed for a long time.

"What, it's been half a month since I regained Suining?" Yue Lengqiu turned from sadness to joy, but he didn't expect this news. He was a little bit wrong for a while, standing there not knowing what to say; Surprised and delighted.

"Indeed." Liu Tingzhou said.

Yue Lengqiu asked Liu Tingzhou to speak in the building of the Nancheng Gate. Only three or five trusted generals and Yao Sicheng, the prefect of Xuzhou, were present, but halfway through, Yuan Hancheng, the king of Chu, ran over.

Yuan Hancheng, King of Chu, and Emperor Qingyu were cousins. They were the Yuantang uncles of Emperor Delong and the current Shengshang. When Emperor Qingyu was assassinated and died, he came to Xuzhou to become a vassal and never returned to Beijing.

Liu Tingzhou immediately told everyone the latest situation in Huaisi in the past few days. In order to avoid extraneous problems, he did not say anything about Lin Bieyu's attack on the Ma family.

"This fellow is abominable, he has the situation to break the thief, but let the thief return to the mountain, make peace with the thief, and care for the thief and respect himself, what is the difference between him and the generation of Liang and Cao?" The king of Chu was in his sixtieth year. Trembling, akimbo glared angrily, "I can't wait to get what he wants..."

In the early years, the king of Chu presided over the ancestral mansion in Beijing, and among the kings, he was regarded as one of the few able-bodied people. Since Xuzhou was besieged, the King of Chu personally led the guards of the palace to mount the city head to fight against the refugee army.

Although there were only a few people in the palace guards, the King of Chu was able to lead the way, not afraid of arrows, swords and spears. Compared with Yue Lengqiu's appearance at the front of the city, he was able to boost the morale of the army and the people who defended the city.

Yue Lengqiu didn't say a word, he put his hand on the saber at his waist and thought secretly.

He didn't recognize Lin Fu until today. Between Huai Si, the elites in Lin Fu's hands were the only ones who could decide the trend of the battle. Lin Fu didn't want to fight, no matter how much dirty water was thrown on his head, it would be useless. Besides, Xuzhou has been surrounded for too long.

Before coming to Xuzhou, Liu Tingzhou also firmly believed that he wanted to fight, but when he saw the situation in Xuzhou City, he hesitated. The soldiers at the top of the city are yellow and skinny, like beggar soldiers; the top of the city has collapsed in several places, and almost all of the refugees’ siege platforms have been surrounded by the southern city; the bottom of the city has become a large lake, and the dark roofs and tile eaves floating on the water are almost invisible. It's hard to imagine how long Xuzhou can hold on to.

When the meeting called for surrender, the bandits took the opportunity to adjust their deployment, and Xuzhou took this opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief.

"It seems that the bandits are willing to accept recruiting and surrendering, which is also an expedient measure," Liu Tingzhou said, "Jiangdong County President also wants Governor Yue to stand up and preside over the overall situation..."

"Then surrender." Yue Lengqiu said.

"How to recruit the law? How can the thieves outside the city be willing to be recruited?" asked King Yuan Hancheng of Chu.

This is a problem. The bandits have not been beaten or disabled, and they even have an advantage in the situation. If there are not enough benefits, how can they be willing to accept recruiting? However, since the bandits sent Liu Tingzhou into the city, it showed that they were still willing to accept recruiting.

"Let's talk about conferring officials and titles first, let's see how much appetite they have..." Yue Lengqiu said. As the governor of Jianghuai, he has the power to handle the recruitment and security matters. He doesn't have to wait for the Beijing government to come down before talking about it. Recruit security.

"Xiaguan has no other abilities, so he can run around and be a loudspeaker, that's fine," Liu Tingzhou said.

"Don't be in a hurry, Master Liu comes over, rest for a night, and then go outside the city to recruit bandits." Yue Lengqiu said, and then said to his subordinates, "When you go out to motivate your soldiers, you will say that Master Wang has repeatedly broken the stream. Bandits, annihilated tens of thousands of enemies, defeated Suining, and will soon lead the troops to Xuzhou, so don’t divulge any other things, so as not to let the soldiers’ will to defend the city slacken.”

Since Liu Tingzhou entered Xuzhou, all his food and lodging were in the Nancheng Gate Building, and the command post was also in the Nancheng Gate Building. After the others dispersed, Liu Tingzhou asked about Tao Chun's situation: "Why didn't General Tao come with Master Liu?"

"When Siyang was besieged, General Tao was seriously wounded. At this time, he was recuperating in Shanyang. It was not good for him to travel." Folding, I can't use it after all..."

"It's good to have nothing to do, it's good to have nothing to do," Yue Lengqiu said as he took over the booklet, which had been soaked in sweat and yellowed, and checked it before placing it on the corner of the table, and said, "Following an official award, It may not be able to satisfy the appetite of the thieves. The thieves are greedy for Xuzhou, does Master Liu think that Xuzhou can be given to them?"

"I am afraid that the control agent wants to support troops in Huai'an, and I am afraid that he is also fighting the idea of ​​raising thieves in Xuzhou," Liu Tingzhou said helplessly.

"I'm afraid it's not necessarily." Yue Lengqiu opened the third secret booklet, crossed out Huaidong with a pen, and added the word "Xuzhou", "Master Liu, go and talk to the thieves about recruiting security, and see the Xuzhou envoy. Satisfy his appetite..."

"Do you really want to make their wishes come true?" Liu Tingzhou asked.

"What can I do?" Yue Lengqiu opened his eyes and asked Liu Tingzhou.

"Liu An'er is not a rebellious generation, and his strength is not damaged. The control makes him want to raise thieves, and he is afraid of causing serious trouble!" Liu Tingzhou said.

"I'm afraid not necessarily," Yue Lengqiu said with a sneer on the corner of his mouth, without elaborating, "The thief may not be willing to stop the army and sit down and talk about recruiting and surrendering. I can bear to give up Xuzhou temporarily, but the thief needs to give up the southwest passage. , to ensure that our army can safely withdraw from Xuzhou and cross Sishui. Give Xuzhou to thieves, and our army will set up a camp on the east bank, but it is not too late to sit down and talk about recruiting security..."

"Before negotiating the security arrangements, let Xuzhou be handed over to the thieves. I'm afraid the thieves won't give in easily!" Liu Tingzhou discouraged.

"I only have a plan, otherwise, it's not enough to win the trust of the thieves." Yue Lengqiu said, "I also have to send someone to Shanyang. Lin Fu does not want to lead his troops to fight. Our army crosses Sishui and ends up on the east bank. Camping, he will never be stingy to lend me a few boats!"

************

Zhang Yan is the Shanyang county seat that entered on the 27th.

Although it was Shanyang County who came forward to inspect the Ma family, it was self-evident who was behind the scenes. Zhang Yan only hoped that Lin Fu's appearance would not be too ugly.

The inspected gold and silver spot was transferred to Lin Fu in the name of military funding. It was quite polite to have a detailed account booklet left. Zhang Yan wanted to be held accountable, but he could not be held accountable. The lawsuit was also a muddled lawsuit, which could only be used to offset military expenses in the future.

Zhang Yan's face was sinking like water, sitting in the hall, looking through the file, Shanyang County has found a mountain of criminal evidence, the Ma family can't turn over, he secretly said: Chu Wangye, Zhang Yan is sorry for you? He instructed the left and right: "Chen Supervisor, the Ma family smuggled salt, the evidence is conclusive, and he cannot deny it. He violated military orders without authorization, and he is suspected of being a bandit. I order you and Shanyang County to try this case together, and it must not be taken lightly. Forgive a criminal, and don't wrong innocent people..."

Lin Bie sat beside Zhang Yan and squinted at him handling the case.

Zhang Yan was only an ordinary **** in the Jin Dynasty's residence, but he had a good relationship with Yuan Hancheng, the king of Chu who was an upright sectarian at the time.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhang Yan failed to take charge of the internal ministers after the king of Jin ascended the throne, and Weiyang came to serve as the salt and iron envoy of the two Huaihe Rivers.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yan rushed over to be neat and tidy, without arguing for the Ma family, and took the case directly on the charge of the Ma family.

Of course, the case of private swindlers should be dominated by the Salt and Iron Division. Besides, even if the Huaidong System is officially established, it is only a fourth-rank official position, which is one level lower than Zhang Yanzheng's fourth-rank salt and iron envoy. Lin Bie sat on Zhang Yan's head, of course.

Liang Wenzhan, Liu Tao, and the officials of the Yantie Division didn't even have a seat, so they just stood in front of the hall to discuss matters.

Liang Wenzhan said: "Master Zhang, when this official investigated the Majia private swindler case, we found that smuggling of smuggled salt was rampant in Shanyang, Huai'an and other counties, so that the salt and silver that should have entered the national treasury fell into the hands of the salt owl. He is extremely rich, but in the fish and meat town, he bullies the good and becomes a local evil. For the sake of the society, this official dares to ask Mr. Zhang to strengthen the manpower and crack down on the private tyrants. If there is a shortage of manpower in the Salt and Iron Division, there are two in Shanyang County. Ying County soldiers are available for Sir Zhang to dispatch."

"A good one for the Sheji, Liang Zhixian is really loyal to the court and spares no effort!" Zhang Yan squinted at Liang Wenzhan~www.wuxiaspot.com~, but his voice was sinister and cold.

Crackdown on smuggled salt is originally the responsibility of the Salt and Iron Division. The Salt and Iron Division is short-staffed and has the right to ask the local government to assist in the investigation of smuggled salt.

Liang Wenzhan jumped out and said these words, and took the initiative to request that troops be sent to investigate smuggled salt, which was mainly against customers.

Zhang Yan has been in the position of salt and iron envoy for thirteen years. How can he not know what the situation of the Lianghuai Salt District is and what kind of tricks are hidden?

It's not just the private salt merchants who share the benefits of fat and private salt. In the thirteen prisons of the Salt and Iron Division, and the officials, large and small, as long as they are involved in salt, which one is not rich in wealth?

Zhang Yan really wants to attack the smugglers thoroughly and ruthlessly, and his subordinates will first jump out to strangle his neck and rebel against him.

Liang Wenzhan pretended that he couldn't hear the irony in Zhang Yan's words, and said with a shy face: "Serving the imperial court, the lower officials dare not cherish this body."

"Lord Lin, what do you think?" Zhang Yan turned his head to look at Lin Fu.

"The imperial court has set a policy of 'salt and silver to protect food', which is good governance for the benefit of the country and the people. To protect the food of Gyeonggi, the more salt and silver, the better." Lin Fu smiled lightly and said lightly. Salt, if you can increase salt and silver, it will naturally be good governance and good policy, how can I object to it?"

Zhang Yan sighed slightly in his heart, Shen Rong was worried in Weiyang that Lin Fu would control private gangsters in Huaian to make profits from private salt, but he did not expect Lin Fu to be better. As long as the policy of "salt and silver to protect food" is not changed, the increased income of salt and silver will continue to fall into the pockets of Chongzhou, but it can also stop the mouths of the world.

This knot is really difficult to solve, Yan Tie Si didn't fight against the smugglers, Lin Bie rubbed his fists beside him, and couldn't wait to try it.

At this time, someone came in and reported that it was Yue Lengqiu who sent a messenger from Xuzhou. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter

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