Qingzhou Prefecture was originally Yidu Road in the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. It was changed to Qingzhou Prefecture in the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. It governed the three prefectures of Weizhou, Juzhou and Jiaozhou, as well as Yidu, Linzi, Boxing, Shouguang, Changle, Linqu, Anqiu, Zhucheng, Mengyin, Yishui, Rizhao, Changyi, Gaomi, Jimo, Gaoyuan and Le'an sixteen counties.
Later, the imperial court placed Weizhou, Jiaozhou, Gaomi, Changyi, and Jimo under Laizhou Prefecture. Qingzhou Prefecture still governed 13 counties and one state.
The chief executive of Qingzhou Prefecture is the magistrate, and there are also officials such as Tongzhi and Prefectural Magistrate. The prefect is in charge of "the administration of a government, promoting good morals, pacifying prisons and litigation, and allocating taxes and servitude." Tongzhi is the deputy position of the prefect, and the tongpan is only responsible for grain transportation and farmland water conservancy.
Qingzhou Prefecture also has Qingzhou Left Guard, Qingzhou Zhongwei, and Qingzhou Right Guard. The headquarters of Qingzhou Prefecture is Yidu County. At this time, it is customary to call it Qingzhou Fucheng. These three guards are all located in Qingzhou Fucheng.
At the same time, there is also the guard of Prince Heng Zhu Youyi in Qingzhou Prefecture City. Prince Heng's Mansion occupies a large area of streets in the city, and its prosperity is no less than that of Prince De's Mansion in Jinan Prefecture City.
Liu Yan led the new army's left camp, right camp, guard camp, cavalry camp, middle camp and artillery camp all the way to Qingzhou Fucheng. More than 20,000 new army officers and soldiers marched eighty miles a day along the official road without committing any crimes along the way. , after leaving Laizhou Prefecture, they passed through Anqiu County and Linqu County and turned north. After walking for two more days, the army arrived at Yiyang County, which is outside the south gate of Qingzhou Prefecture.
Liu Yan waved his hand to stop the army, and more than 20,000 soldiers stopped uniformly. Under the scorching sun, they stood motionless on the official road, like statues, majestic and killing.
"Sir, the prefect of Qingzhou and the civil and military officials in the city are waiting to greet us."
Liu Yan nodded, and then ordered each battalion to stand by. He led Miao Shao and a sentry of more than 280 guards and soldiers and rode forward. They stopped in front of a group of civilian and military generals, and a large group of armored knights roared towards them. Come, these officials were shocked. Then they looked at the meandering armored army not far away. They were motionless even in armor under the hot sun. This kind of shock made all the officials fearful.
"Haha, Wang Congyi, the magistrate of Qingzhou, has met the Lord of the town!"
Liu Yan was riding on a war horse and saw a man in his forties, wearing a crimson official uniform with Yunyan patches on it. He was a fourth-grade civil servant.
Wang Congyi has a thin figure and three long beards on his face. He looks like a typical civil servant. He speaks slowly and leisurely, giving people a very elegant feeling.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty was rich in civil servants and military officials, and the fourth-ranked civil servants were rude to the commanders and commanders of the second-ranked officers. However, Liu Yan was the powerful military officer of the town, with an elite army of 20,000 to 30,000 in his hands. The military attache is obviously not something a fourth-grade civil servant can afford to offend.
Liu Yan looked at the respectful Wang Congyi, smiled, turned over and dismounted, looked at the officials behind Wang Congyi, and said, "It's Mr. Wang. These are colleagues from Qingzhou Fucheng. I'd like to ask Mr. Wang to introduce them."
"Haha, this is natural."
Wang Congyi introduced them one by one. Liu Yan looked over and saw that everyone was a civil servant and military general in Qingzhou City. Several of them impressed Liu Yan deeply.
One person is named Guo Minqin, who is currently the magistrate of Qingzhou Prefecture. He has small eyes and a mustache. He looks like a master, not the No. 2 civil servant of Qingzhou Prefecture.
One person is named Han Jinchu, who is currently the magistrate of Qingzhou Prefecture. He is fair and fat, and the official uniform he wears seems a bit too small. The bulges wrapped around his body make people feel uncomfortable.
These two people didn't seem to welcome Liu Yan's arrival very much. When Wang Congyi introduced him, they just clasped their fists in a gesture without saying a word.
In addition, Qingzhou left guard commander Zhao Wei, Qingzhou center guard commander Cai Yingwen, and Qingzhou right guard Pan Tu also attracted Liu Yan's attention. These three people are all in their thirties, and it's hard to tell who is older and who is younger, but it is obvious that the three of them are very close, always standing in the same place, and whispering something from time to time.
The scale of the Qingzhou Three Guards was not large, and there were not many hundreds of households under their rule. By the Chongzhen period, these three guards were only in charge of a few forts outside the city, and they did not have many soldiers.
When Wang Congyi was introducing him, Zhao Wei, Cai Yingwen, and Pan Tu all saluted Liu Yan without smiling and exchanged a few words with each other. It looked like he didn't take himself as a superior official seriously, but there was some vague hostility in him.
There was another person, Chen Tong, the commander of the guards of Prince Heng's Mansion. This man was tall and powerful, with a pair of sharp sword eyebrows. After seeing Liu Yan, he looked at him curiously for a while, and then when Wang Congyi introduced him, he said cheerfully He said with a smile: "I have long heard that the Lord of the Town is a fierce general in the world. Today, when I see him, he is indeed a dragon and a phoenix among men!"
Although Chen Tong is also the commander of the First Guard, he is a bit special. He is only responsible for guarding Prince Heng's Mansion. According to the economic system, he is not under the command of Liu Yan for the time being. He is only subordinate in name, but in fact he takes orders from Heng. King's.
Of course, the orders that King Heng Zhu Youji can issue are only within the Qingzhou Fucheng and cannot leave the city.
Liu Yan said with a smile: "This town has settled in Qingzhou Mansion. After settling in, we will go to see His Highness King De and ask Commander Chen to pass on the report on his behalf."
"Haha, of course that's no problem."
After Wang Congyi made an introduction, he smiled and said to Liu Yan: "Master of the town, the sun is scorching right now, so you'd better enter the city quickly."
"Okay, let's enter the city!"
On that day, Liu Yan entered the General Military Mansion in Qinglai Town, which was originally a mansion of a wealthy businessman. Later, Wang Congyi bought it at a low price and gave it to Liu Yan as a general military manor.
Liu Yan ordered the soldiers of each battalion to garrison the military camp in the city and directly took over the defense of Qingzhou Fucheng. Then he took Miao Shao and the Yishao soldiers into the General Military Mansion and looked around.
There are three entrances to the General Military Mansion, with courtyards on both sides. It is much more luxurious than the General's Mansion in Jimo Yingcheng.
"Go back and ask someone how much money Wang Congyi spent on buying it. Send him the money."
"yes."
Liu Yan didn't want to owe others such a big favor as soon as he got here, so he went to the backyard and saw dozens of maids and servants waiting here. They all saluted after seeing Liu Yan.
One of the men who looked like a butler came forward with a smile, clasped his fists and said, "I have met the Lord of the Town. We are all servants recruited by Wangfutai to serve the Lord of the Town and his family."
Liu Yan frowned slightly and said to himself: "To show courtesy for nothing is to be either an adulterer or a thief! This Wang Congyi is so kind-hearted. He first gave away the house and then the servants. What is he going to do?"
Although Wang Congyi looked harmless, as if he were a Confucian scholar, Liu Yan did not believe that an official who had reached the position of prefect would have such good intentions!
So Liu Yan said with a smile: "This town has brought old people to serve with us, so I won't bother you all. You can go home today. Someone will give you one month's salary before leaving."
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, but looking at Liu Yan and the large group of armored soldiers behind him, they didn't dare to say anything. They thanked each other and left in a hurry.
"I'm going to hire some maids and servants in the city these two days, and I'm looking for honest and reliable farmers."
Miao Shao nodded and said, "Don't worry, sir. I will handle this matter personally."
Liu Yan and Miao Shao took a look inside and outside, and then assigned more than 280 guards to the post, either guarding the gate, patrolling, or standing guard in various courtyards and corridors.
After everything was arranged, Liu Yancai settled Wang Yunhe, mother and son, Shang Shan and Ruoshui in the backyard.
"Husband, I see that you look cautious. Is there something wrong?"
Liu Yan said: "Today the prefect Wang Congyi introduced the officials. I saw that most of them were dissatisfied, and a few of them were even hostile. It is probably because they heard about the various decrees I implemented in Jimo Yingcheng, so they were resistant."
"This is not Jimo Camp City, nor is it Laizhou Prefecture. Although I brought an army here, after all, I have no foundation here. It's better to be careful in everything."
"My husband is worried."
"Well, during this period, you don't go out, just stay in the mansion. I want to find out the situation in Qingzhou Mansion first."
At the same time, Shen Tuo, the commander of the central camp and guerrilla general, led a large group of new army soldiers to climb the north wall of Qingzhou Fucheng. Xu Mingde, the commander of the night guard, and Xiao Dongzi, the flag commander, were also in the queue.
Shen Tuo looked at the listless and unwary Ming soldiers on the city wall, and his expression suddenly turned grim.
"All defenders immediately withdraw to the barracks and stand by, and the city defense is handed over to the left side of the New Army's middle camp!"
When the Ming soldiers saw this, they looked at each other. A Qianhu came over, clasped his fists and said, "I have seen the general. I would like to ask the general, does the commander of the Qingzhou Central Guard, Mr. Cai, know about the change of defense at this time? We need Mr. Cai's help. Dare to evacuate only if ordered."
Shen Tuo had no intention of paying attention to that Qianhu. Guo Rong, the commander of the left wing next to him, said loudly: "Are the general orders of the new Qinglai Town Chief Military Officer not as effective as the orders of a Qingzhou Central Guard commander? How brave are you? !”
The Qianhu man was suddenly frightened and sweating profusely, and said hurriedly: "You made a mistake, you deserve to die, you deserve to die!"
"If you don't want to retreat, we should all go to the military camp and wait for the headquarters to reorganize!"
"Ah, reorganize us?"
The thousand households did not dare to say any more and hurriedly called on their soldiers to withdraw from the city wall.
Seeing everyone evacuate, Shen Tuo said to Guo Rong: "The walls and gates of Qingzhou City are handed over to you. They must be strictly guarded. No soldiers, horses or materials can enter or leave the city at will without the order of the mayor. !”
"yes!"
In just an hour, the officers and soldiers of the New Army's middle camp took over the defense of the entire city, and transferred the Qingzhou left guard, middle guard, and right guard soldiers and horses originally stationed at the city walls, city gates, arsenals, and treasuries to the military camp to stand by.
When the news came, Zhao Wei, Cai Yingwen, and Pan Tu couldn't sit still. Cai Yingwen and Pan Tu hurried to Zhao Wei's house, and the three of them closed the door to thank the guests and started discussing.
Zhao Wei said angrily: "Every time Liu Yan was promoted to a certain place, he would abolish the local military generals and take all the military power in that place. Now he is going to do it again!"
Cai Yingwen said worriedly: "Our soldiers, horses, and servants will probably be eliminated soon. We must think of countermeasures now."
"What countermeasures can be taken?"
Pan Tu said: "Liu Yan is our Shangguan, and he has tens of thousands of strong troops. Do you still want to fight with him?"
Cai Yingwen thought for a while and said: "It's definitely not possible to fight head-on. I don't want to be treated as a rebel and killed. But we can use a soft knife to express our attitude. As long as he does not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, what else can Liu Yan do?"
"Soft knife?"
Zhao Wei and Pan Tu asked one after another: "What kind of soft knife is it?"
Some people died, but not completely...
