Empress Dowager Xiao quickly walked into the tent, and the general on duty, Xiao Feng, immediately came forward to pay homage: "Your Highness." Empress Dowager Xiao frowned and asked, "Why has it been so many days and there is still no reply from the court?" Xiao Feng said, "I just received it from the court. The reply letter is about to be presented to the Queen Mother." Then he quickly walked behind the desk, took the letter he had just received, and presented it to Queen Mother Xiao with both hands.
Queen Mother Xiao took the letter, opened it, took out the letter paper, and read it again. He frowned slightly. When the generals around him saw this, they couldn't help but be a little anxious. Xiao Duoli couldn't help but ask: "Your Highness, what does the letter say?" Empress Dowager Xiao said: "Your Majesty and the Three Courts believe that it is not appropriate to use troops southward at this time. I think the main thing at present is The threat was Gao Yongchang, the rebel general in Tokyo. His Majesty and the ministers judged that although the Song people had attacked Nanjing, they were unable and unwilling to continue their march north, so there was no need to rush to use troops against the south. However, Gao Yongchang was different. The two were already a close enemy. If it cannot be extinguished as soon as possible, the consequences will be disastrous. Your Majesty has appointed Yelu Chun as the commander-in-chief and Zhang Lin as the deputy commander-in-chief. He has raised 400,000 troops to attack Gao Yongchang. This battle is extremely critical!" The generals couldn't help but worry. Also, Brother Ye Qianlang also failed at Yanmen Pass, and the loss of 60,000 was also caused by the Cangzhou Army.
Empress Dowager Xiao glanced at the generals and said, "Your Majesty is unable to look south for the time being and has given us the important task of guarding against the Southern Dynasty. The generals must be more vigilant and not to allow the Southern Dynasty to take advantage of it!" The generals clasped their fists in agreement. Empress Dowager Xiao walked to the chief seat and sat down, picked up a command arrow, and said to Maha Wolf: "Maha Wolf, you lead your light cavalry team to camp thirty miles south, and send war cavalry to patrol the south day and night. , once an abnormality is discovered, immediately sound the alarm!" Then he threw the command arrow over. Maha Wolf took the order arrow and made a promise. Yelutri warned: "Remember, you must not take the initiative to provoke! The current situation is tense, and you must not start another war in the south unless you have to!" Maha Wolf responded.
Empress Dowager Xiao looked at Xiao Duoli and said, "General Xiao, Your Majesty has agreed to my request. I will record your sins and not punish you for the time being. You will be allowed to make meritorious service for your crimes." Xiao Duoli bowed gratefully: "Thank you, Empress Dowager, for interceding for me. !" Empress Dowager Xiao said: "This is Your Majesty's grace, you don't have to thank me." "Yes."
Empress Dowager Xiao said: "Our army only has 40,000 people, and I'm afraid it won't be enough for us. General Xiao, since you have been a defender in Nanjing for a long time, it is up to you to recruit people to strengthen the defense." Xiao Duoli agreed. . …
Yang Peng was sitting in the study of Liushou Mansion, looking at the letter he had just received. There are two letters, one is a letter home from Yang Tong, and the other is a letter from Zhang Xiang. Yang Tong said in his heart that the situation at home was fine, but because of the change of Yang Peng's official position, they could no longer live in the magistrate's office and had moved back to the villa in Tianjing New City; Zhang Xiang said in the letter that the new The prefect has arrived and is very annoying, but he will remember his elder brother's instructions and try his best to manage the soldiers of the fifth division with patience.
The current magistrate of Cangzhou is a close associate of Taishi Pang, named Pang Zhi, and is related to Taishi Pang. After Yang Peng was promoted to the general of Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture East Left Guard and Yulinwei, at the request of Taishi Pang, the emperor dismissed Yang Peng from the official positions of Cangzhou Magistrate and Jingdong East Road Dudu, and the post of Cangzhou Magistrate was recommended by Pang Taishi. Succession. Not long ago, Pang Zhi arrived in Cangzhou to take office.
Most of Cangzhou's armed forces were brought to Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture by Yang Peng. Only Zhang Xiang sent Chen Jie's fifth division to stay, and Yang Xiong also stayed. The troops brought by Yang Peng to the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture naturally transformed into the left-behind troops of the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture, while the fifth division that stayed in Cangzhou was still the left-behind imperial army in Cangzhou and was under the jurisdiction of the Qingzhou Prefecture. After Yang Peng learned that he had been dismissed from his position as the prefect of Qingzhou, he sent someone to inform Zhang Xiang and Chen Jie, asking them to stay in Cangzhou with peace of mind and obey the orders of the new prefect. He also told them that their stay in Cangzhou would be useful to him. .
Yang Peng put down the letter, stood up, walked out of the study, and stared at the turbulent sky in the distance in trance. Zhan Jinguo, who was dressed in armor, ran in, clasped his fists and said, "Brother, Bi Shi'an is here." Yang Peng frowned and walked towards the front hall. When I came to the hall, I saw Bi Shi'an in official robes sitting on the main seat with a golden sword. On both sides stood several lieutenants with helmets and armor and swords in their hands. sex.
Yang Peng clasped his fists and said, "Bi Liushou." Bi Shi'an glanced at Yang Peng and said in a commanding tone: "I'm here to receive Shang Jing today. You should leave as soon as possible." Bi Shi'an's so-called Shang Jing refers to the former Liao Dynasty. Nanjing City, not long ago, the imperial court had issued a document naming this place Shangjing City.
Zhan Jinguo was furious, but it was inconvenient to get angry; Yang Peng asked with a smile: "Does Bi Liushou have an order from the imperial court?" Bi Shi'an's eyes widened, "Why do I need an order from the imperial court? If I want you to leave, you have to Leave!" "Who are you? I can't obey the order. The imperial court ordered me to guard Shangjing, Xin'an Army and Bazhou. The five states under Bi Liu's jurisdiction do not include Shangjing."
Bi Shi'an stood up suddenly, glared at Yang Peng, and said threateningly: "You dare to go against me?" Yang Peng said calmly: "It's not about doing the right thing or not, I'm just executing the order of the court!" He glanced at Bi Shi'an. With a glance, "There is one thing that Bi Liushou had better understand. You and I are both Liushou, and I have the title of General Habayashi Wei. Your rank is lower than mine. You'd better be polite when talking to me!" You!..." Bi Shi'an was so angry that he couldn't refute.
Yang Peng said to Zhan Jinguo: "Send off the guests!" Zhan Jinguo immediately stepped forward and made a gesture of invitation to Bi Shi'an: "Please!" Bi Shi'an said fiercely: "You are toasting and you will be punished with wine! Come on, Get him!" Several captains around him immediately stepped forward to take action.
Zhan Jinguo immediately protected Yang Peng, unsheathed his sword, and shouted: "Here comes!" The secret guards immediately rushed into the hall, unsheathed their swords, and surrounded Bi Shi'an and his men. Bi Shi'an and others couldn't help but show panic. Bi Shi'an shouted sternly and restrainedly: "Yang Peng, what do you want to do?"
Yang Peng looked at Bi Shi'an and said coldly: "I should ask you this! What do you Bi Shi'an want to do? How dare you come to me to show off your power! Understand, the elite of the Liao army are not worth mentioning in my eyes, let alone you Bi Shi'an! You are really a fucking idiot."
"You, you dare to kill me?" Yang Peng smiled coldly, "You can try." Bi Shi'an glared at Yang Peng, but he did not dare to try after all. He said to Yang Peng with a gloomy face: "You will regret your words and deeds today!" Then he walked away with a puff of sleeves. Several of his lackeys quickly followed him and left. Yang Peng looked at Bi Shi'an's back and sneered.
Zhan Jinguo said to Yang Peng with some worry: "Brother, Bi Shi'an is a narrow-minded person who will definitely retaliate. I'm afraid he won't let it go!" Yang Peng said: "I will pay attention to this matter." Thinking of one thing, "By the way, I heard Did Sun Tong go to the military camp outside the city this morning?" Sun Tong, the supervisor assigned to Yang Peng by the imperial court, had just taken office a few days ago.
Zhan Jinguo showed an annoyed look, "This guy is really annoying. He interrupted our training this morning and asked questions among the soldiers! Yesterday, he also went to various recruitment offices to ask about our army's recruitment. Scale and other things! Brother, this guy is too restrictive to us!" When Yang Peng said this, Yang Peng kept looking thoughtful.
There was a sudden quarrel at the gate. Yang Peng looked towards the gate and saw Sun Tong arguing with the secret guard who stopped him at the gate, "As a supervisor, there is no place I can't go! Get out of the way!" But the secret guard refused to get out of the way.
Yang Peng said to Zhan Jinguo: "Bring him in." Zhan Jinguo responded, ran over, and then brought in the frustrated Sun Tong. When Sun Tongtong saw Yang Peng, he did not salute and shouted: "Mr. Yang, what on earth do you mean? Why are all the warehouses not letting me in?"
Yang Peng smiled and said: "Master Sun, please be patient and sit down to talk." "No need! Master Yang, as a supervisor appointed by the imperial court, is there anything I can't go to? Why do you have to cover it up? Is there anything you can do about it? Hidden things?" Sun Tong was so angry that he didn't seem to be talking to a superior at all, but rather as if he was reprimanding his subordinates.
Yang Peng said: "The warehouse is an important place, and the guards naturally dare not let people in without my order. Since Mr. Sun wants to see it, I just ordered them to let them go. Why should Mr. Sun be so angry?" "Hmph! Since I came here, I I feel like you are hiding a lot of things from me, and you'd better tell me clearly, otherwise once the official document is announced, I'm afraid Master Yang will be left with nothing to eat!"
Yang Peng smiled and said: "I really don't know what Mr. Sun wants to know. Just tell me what Mr. Sun wants to know, and I will definitely cooperate." "Very good, first of all, I want to check all the warehouses. Please pass the order to Mr. Yang." Open the warehouse." Yang Peng said: "It's already late today, why not take a look tomorrow."
"No, you must watch it today!" Yang Peng nodded, "In that case," he looked at Zhan Jinguo, "Jinguo, please take Master Sun to visit various warehouses. No matter what Master Sun asks, Everyone will cooperate with him." Zhan Jinguo promised with clasped fists. Sun Tong turned around and left the hall, and Zhan Jinguo followed. Yang Peng looked at Sun Tong's back and smiled coldly, murmuring: "Master Pang, Master Pang, you are so impatient to bring me down!"
Later that day, Zhan Jinguo came back alone. He smiled and clasped his fist at Yang Peng and said, "Brother, the supervisor has already seen it." Yang Peng asked with a smile, "He must be very disappointed, right?" No! When he saw that the warehouse was indeed as empty as the official document said, he was stunned." Yang Peng smiled and then warned: "Send someone to tell the people left behind in Yuhe County to be careful and don't Leak the news. If there is anything unusual, report it immediately." Zhan Jinguo responded and ran down. The Yuhe County Yang Peng was talking about was a small county in the mountains more than 20 miles south of Shangjing City. Yang Peng gave such instructions to occupy the Kingdom of Jin. Did he already transfer the seized money, grain, ordnance and supplies there?
Yang Peng came to the backyard and strolled along a corridor. On the left side of the corridor is a sparkling lake, and on the right side of the corridor are rockeries and bushes. The scenery is quiet and beautiful, but these scenery cannot attract Chen Xiao's attention at all.
A wisp of sweet fragrance floated towards him, and Chen Xiao couldn't help but raise his head and saw Chai Yonghui standing a few steps ahead. Chai Yonghui was wearing a moon-white waist-length dress. Her hair was tied with a fairy cloud ring on her head, and then hung down behind her head like a waterfall. Her beautiful face was lightly covered with powder, which made her look radiant. Her beautiful eyes were staring at Chen Xiao. , a slight smile hung on the corner of his mouth.
Yang Peng stopped and couldn't help but admired: "Miss Chai is so beautiful today!" Chai Yonghui blushed, turned her head, and smoothed her hair at the temples. "I heard that Bi Shi'an came to trouble you just now, and that supervisor named Sun?" Yang Peng nodded.
Chai Yonghui frowned slightly, "Look, you have made great contributions to Zhao Song. Not only are they not grateful, but they are guarding you like a thief!" Yang Peng said with a smile: "Actually, the emperor is not bad to me. Not only did they appoint me as a guard in the capital, but they also made me the general of the Yulin Guards." Chai Yonghui was very angry, and said as if he hated iron, "Did such a little kindness buy you off?"
Yang Peng said with a smile: "It's not about bribery or bribery, but people must be grateful! Since the emperor treats me so well, how can I let him down!" "Hmph! If you continue like this, you will die sooner or later. Damn it!" Yang Peng smiled and said nothing. Chai Yonghui stomped his lotus feet, "You are talking!" Yang Peng shrugged, "What is there to say?"
"Don't you make plans for the future? The emperor seems to be treating you well now, but no one can predict what he will do to you in the future! Based on my understanding of the Zhao family, sooner or later a military general with outstanding achievements like you will be poisoned. !" Chai Yonghui looked anxious.
Yang Peng glanced at Chai Yonghui and asked with a smile: "Why are you so nervous? Are you nervous about me?" Chai Yonghui was stunned, her face suddenly turned red, and she said angrily: "Who are you nervous about?"
Yang Peng sighed, looked at the sparkling green lake, and said with regret: "I thought sister Yonghui had a secret love for me! After a long time of trouble, it turned out that I was so passionate!" Chai Yonghui was embarrassed, "You Why do you always say these things! I'm ignoring you!" Then he turned around and ran away.
Yang Peng looked at Chai Yonghui's graceful figure and felt particularly comfortable. He couldn't help but whistled and shouted: "Sister Yonghui, why did you run away?" Chai Yonghui ran faster.
Yang Peng turned around and faced the lake, and said with a smile: "Teasing girls when you have nothing to do is such a refreshing sport!" Then he thought of what Chai Yonghui just said, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly to reveal an enigmatic smile. …
That evening, Liu Zhiliang and Duan Zhixian came to report to Yang Peng the day's conscription status. Duan Zhixian said: "Today we have recruited more than 7,000 people, and they have been placed in three recruit camps outside the city. So far, we have recruited more than 30,000 people, most of whom are Han Chinese from the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun. A small number of them are Khitans." Yang Peng thought and nodded.
Duan Zhixian said: "But there is one thing that is very troublesome. That Sun Tong always comes to the recruitment office to inquire about the situation and to look at the roster. I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to expand our troops to the 100,000 people we planned before." After Yang Peng defeated Shangjing , he sent a document to the imperial court requesting to expand his troops to 100,000 to guard Shangjing and Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures. The emperor originally wanted to agree to this request, but due to the obstruction of Taishi Pang and others, there was a change. The emperor agreed to Yang Peng's army expansion plan, but reduced the scale of the army expansion from 100,000 to 60,000. In other words, the total strength of Yang Peng's command was allowed to be expanded to 60,000. According to this order, Yang Peng's current number of conscripts has reached the upper limit. Yang Peng originally wanted to secretly expand his troops to 100,000, but looking at the current situation, it seems difficult to do so.
Yang Peng frowned and said, "In that case, let's suspend the recruitment." "Yes." In addition, Zhang Xiang was asked to recruit 10,000 soldiers in Tianjing New City. We are going to move all the Tianjing New City teams to Youzhou, Duan Zhixian said "Brother, now is not the time. We can wait until we drive Bi Shi'an away, because we don't have a minister anywhere," Yang Peng thought about it.
Yang Peng thought for a while, "The new recruits will not be trained specifically. They will be distributed to each division according to the size of 15,000 people per division, and the new recruits and veterans will be trained together." "Yes."
After Duan Zhixian and Zhan Jinguo left, Yang Peng still didn't rest. He sat behind the desk and read a book of suggestions and thought about it. This proposal was not sent by his brother, but by a Han official from Nanjing, Liao Dynasty. This person's name is Qian Letian. He once served as a general judge in the left-behind mansion in Nanjing, Liao Dynasty. He is a native Han Chinese. After Chen Xiao captured Nanjing, he left behind a group of former Liao officials, one of whom was Qian Letian.
A secret guard came in, cupped his fists and said, "Master, Qian Letian wants to see you." Yang Peng looked at the sky outside and said with a smile, "This man is very impatient! Let him in." The secret guard responded and left. , and after a moment he led a middle-aged man in. The middle-aged man was tall and thin, wearing a black scribe's robe. He had three strands of long beard under his chin. He had a good temperament and a pair of bright eyes, the eyes of a very intelligent person. This person is Qian Letian, the former judge of Nanjing's left-behind mansion in Liao Dynasty.
"General." Qian Letian cupped his fists and bowed. Yang Peng picked up the proposal he was reading just now and said, "I have read your proposal. The suggestions on agriculture, commerce, handicrafts and other domestic affairs are very good." Qian Letian revealed With a joyful expression, he hurriedly asked: "Has the general decided to implement it?"
Yang Peng shook his head, walked to the desk, sat down on the edge of the desk, and said with a smile: "There is one thing you may not understand. As a stay-at-home person, I don't have such great rights! All aspects of policy are not up to me. The imperial court has to have the final say!”
Qian Letian cupped his fists and bowed: "I'm sure that the general will one day carry out his intentions!" Yang Peng squinted his eyes and looked at him, and said with a smile: "Why don't I think there will be such a day? "
Qian Letian glanced at Chen Xiao quickly, lowered his head and said: "The general is a dragon and a phoenix among men, how can he stay below others for a long time. A barbarian like Ye Qi can rise in Changbai Mountain, let alone the general! The general is just here now Just bide your time.”
Yang Peng stood up, walked to Qian Letian, and asked calmly: "What opportunity am I waiting for?" "The general is waiting for the opportunity for the complete collapse of the Liao Kingdom. As long as the Liao Kingdom suffers another major defeat, the opportunity will come Yes. The general can send his troops north to take advantage of the opportunity to expand his territory. But at this moment, we must not become enemies with Xixia."
Yang Peng smiled and said: "In this way, after Xixia destroyed Daliao, I will bear the brunt." Qian Letian said: "As long as the general can withstand several waves of Xixia attacks, Xixia will definitely give up attacking the general temporarily and go south. Central Plains. At this time, the general can sit back and watch the success or failure and wait for the opportunity. Jin Sheng will take advantage of the trend and go south to capture the roads in Hebei and Jingdong. Song Sheng will take the opportunity to expand northward and sweep the Zhongjing Road and Tokyo Road in one fell swoop. No matter which way he takes Road, the generals will have the capital to compete in the world. At that time, when competing with Song and Liao, with the ability of the generals, they will not be at a disadvantage. "
Yang Peng smiled and said, "What you said is very exciting." Qian Letian suddenly knelt down towards Yang Peng, clasped his fists and said, "I am willing to be loyal to the general and go through fire and water without hesitation!" Yang Peng glanced at him lightly, "You are very good. You have talent and ambition, but where is your loyalty?”
Qian Letian clasped his fists and said, "I will let the general see his loyalty!" Yang Peng said, "Take this letter and go to Tianjing New City to study for a while. I will arrange things for you. How about it," "Ah , Tianjing New City is yours, I didn’t expect it, okay, I will set off today to learn from the general’s trust.”…
A few days later, the secret guard outside said, "One of your brothers is outside and wants to come in to see you." Yang Peng said, "My brother, that's impossible, right?" Yang Peng said, "Tell him to come in." After a while, a young man came to Yang Peng. In front of Peng. Who is such a handsome, graceful, graceful and graceful young man?
The young man looked at Yang Peng and said, "You are Yang Peng. You seem to be about the same age as me. My name is Yang Dezheng. I attacked the Liao army's grain and grass at Yanmen Pass. After I succeeded, I was chased by the Khitan army. I evaded the Khitan army along the way. When I got near Youzhou, I heard that Youzhou had been captured by you, so I came to find you because I was hungry."
Yang Peng immediately called the secret guards to prepare food for Yang Dezheng. He also asked another secret guard to go immediately to Daizhou to inform Yang Yanzhao and Yang Bamei. This guy really is, even if he doesn't think about it, his family would go crazy looking for him. Alas, you should ask someone to inform Mrs. She, otherwise the old woman would think that her grandson would get sick. Now, this guy actually came to Youzhou, which is good.
If you want to know what happens next, let’s look at the breakdown in the next chapter.
