In May, Guo Qiong's army had passed Puzhou and entered Yunzhou. The three prefectures of Ji, Yun, and Qi were under the jurisdiction of the Tianping Army, and the administrative seat was Yunzhou City. The Jiedushi at this time was Qi King Gao Xingzhou, who had just moved from Weizhou, and the former Jiedushi Murong Yanchao was The half-brother of the late Emperor Liu Zhiyuan moved to the Taining Army in Yanzhou where Fu Yanqing was originally at the end of April not long ago, while the Fu family was moved to the Pinglu Army in Qingzhou.
Therefore, if the relocation of these three families goes smoothly, when Guo Xin's Eastern Route Army is stationed in Qingzhou, it will actually be on the Fu family's territory. By then, as long as the Tang army does not have time to cross the river and invade, Guo Xin can safely wait in Qingzhou for Tokyo or Changes occurred in Hebei, and he even had the opportunity to lead troops from the east as a partial division to help his father Guo Wei invade Tokyo! This was the plan he had thought of as soon as he received the order to go out for military expedition.
However, things never went as smoothly as expected. When passing through Yunzhou City, Tianping Jiedushi and Qi King Gao Xingzhou held a banquet at the commander's mansion in the city to receive Guo Qiong, Guo Xin and other camp generals.
The general Guo Qiong was old enough in Guo Xin's opinion, but Qi King Gao Xingzhou was even older than Guo Qiong. His hair had fallen out to the point where it was sparse and turned white. He had to rely on a small black gauze crown as a cover. There were also two black eyeballs hanging on his face, which completely drowned out the sharp eyes that a warrior should have, and his ears were obviously not very sharp. Whenever Guo Xin and others finished speaking, the attendants beside him had to focus on King Qi repeated it in his ear.
But what surprised Guo Xin was that Gao Xingzhou still remembered him.
"Three years ago, I led my troops to attack Du Chongwei of Weizhou. The city could not be captured for a long time. Was it because General Guo presented the late emperor with artillery and weapons that we were able to break through the city and kill the rebels?"
Gao Xingzhou spoke slowly, pausing twice before finishing his sentence. Guo Xin replied respectfully: "At that time, the general was just a commander. The success of breaking the city still relied on the King of Qi and his soldiers." them."
"Haha!" When the topic of war was brought up, Gao Xingzhou seemed to get more excited. His brows had a vague look of the past, and he began to tell stories about his early wars.
After all, it was the King of Qi who had a great reputation among warriors and had a legendary experience. He and the banquet guests deliberately lowered their voices and appeared to be listening attentively.
When Gao Xingzhou's expression became obviously tired, the subordinate officials of the Commander's Office changed the subject and told Guo Xin and others an important matter: Liu Zhu, the military governor of Pinglu Army who had been ordered to enter the court by the imperial court. , claimed to be ill in Qingzhou and shied away from the edict, but still controlled the affairs of the military government and refused to leave the town. Now that Gao Xingzhou and Murong Yanchao have entered the towns of Yunzhou and Yanzhou respectively, Fu Yanqing's schedule has become awkward because of Liu Zhu. Now he can only lead his troops to garrison in the Laiwu and Qianfeng areas at the junction of Pinglu Army. Yanzhou will provide grain and grass, waiting for Liu Zhu to leave the town and enter the court.
The situation of his future father-in-law was embarrassing, and Guo Xin's heart naturally favored Fu Yanqing's side. The current situation also affected his Eastern Route Army. The relationship between Liu Zhu and the court was tense, and he needed to reconsider whether he wanted to go to Qingzhou for repairs. At this time For a war, being prepared and not being prepared are completely different things.
However, Guo Xin did not express his position at the banquet. He secretly looked at Yan Jinqing and found that the latter was not surprised when he heard the news. At this time, the commander-in-chief Guo Qiong proposed that the army stay outside Yunzhou City for a few days for temporary repairs. Gao Xingzhou readily agreed and ordered the commander-in-chief, army commander and other subordinate officials on the spot to allocate grain and livestock from the treasury to reward the march.
Gao Xingzhou's attitude made the guests happy. Guo Xin returned to the camp. After breakfast the next day, Guo Qiong and Yan Jinqing sent someone to invite Guo Xin to the Chinese army headquarters to discuss matters.
The Chinese army's headquarters was temporarily located in the attached temple outside the city wall, not in the camp. Because Guo Qiong was old, he preferred to live in a house. Guo Xin was naturally invited to live in the temple, but considering Yan Jinqing's background, Guo Xin still made excuses to stay in the army. When away from home, the only ones you can trust are your brothers.
The small temple at the front and back, and the hall for enshrining the Buddha statues, were too narrow, so the three of them met in the monk's room on the side to discuss matters.
Guo Qiong first spoke about Liu Zhu's incident at yesterday's banquet: "The key is whether we should still garrison Qingzhou according to the strategy. This matter is important. Perhaps we should report it to the imperial court first and let the imperial court decide."
I don't know how long it will take to report back to the court and wait for the military order. At this time, Guo Xin remembered that when he met with Fu Yanqing earlier, his second son Fu Zhaoxin had said something about Liu Zhu, and then suggested: "I heard that Liu Zhu had colluded with the Tang Dynasty and was greedy and tyrannical during his tenure. Now it seems that there are people on the south bank of the Huaihe River. Regardless of the Tang army, Liu Zhu is an obvious hidden danger in Qingzhou. Only by stabilizing Qingzhou can our army not worry about the retreat in Yi and Mizhou.
Our army is currently too far away from Qingzhou. If Liu Zhu really had disloyal intentions, he would have been prepared since he knew our army was coming. Therefore, as our army delays here for a longer time, it will have more time to prepare! If he is just proud of staying in the town and is dissatisfied with leaving the town, but it is not because of his disobedience, the memorial will come and go again and again, and I don’t know how many people will handle it during this period. If someone informs Liu Zhu, making him suspicious, he will not let him go. When our troops enter the country, there will be no room for change, and we will probably meet with swords by then. The Duke of Wei did not station troops and did not forcibly enter the town. He must have had this consideration.
Therefore, it is better for us to march forward according to the military order, and ask the governor of Yan to send a secret letter to the court to ask Prime Minister Yang and others. When our army reaches Linzi, Linqu and other places, if we advance, we can force Liu Zhu to leave the city and move to the town, and if we retreat, we can lead the garrison. Duke Wei of Laiwu provides our army with backup, and our army is at least in an invincible position. "
Guo Qiong was old, but his mind was clear. He nodded and agreed: "This is a very good idea."
But Yan Jinqing laughed, "I have always heard that Guo Erlang is brave, and today I also know that Guo Erlang is very resourceful! However, although General Guo considers Zhou Xiang, we don't need to go to such trouble."
After saying that, Yan Jinqing reached out and took out a roll of Huang Chou from his arms. He cupped his hands and said to the two of them: "To be honest, this trip is just an edict. This is a secret edict issued by the official family after a public discussion with Yang and Shi. Because the time had not come before, I did not inform you two. Now that they have seen Liu Zhuo's disobedience, and the two generals thought that Liu Zhuo must be guarded against, they asked the two generals Guo to lead the army to Qingzhou in accordance with the imperial edict. , depending on the reality, if Liu Zhuo has a disobedient heart, we will capture and kill him!"
After hearing this, Guo Xin cursed in his heart: He had been talking for a long time and tried to persuade the two of them to go to Qingzhou to help Fu Yanqing make room. It turned out that his efforts were in vain. Dealing with Liu Biao had already been decided!
But at least the result was as he wished. Soon Guo Qiong asked the military commanders to come to the camp to obey orders. The monk's room was too small, so the three of them moved to the backyard to announce the edict.
When all the generals gathered, Yan Jinqing walked up the steps under the east eaves, took out the yellow silk edict from his arms, bowed in the direction of the capital in the west, then unfolded the edict in public and read out its contents.
As camp commanders, Guo Qiong, the camp commander, and Guo Xin, the infantry commander, stepped forward to verify the content and seal of the edict, and then led the generals to accept the order with clasped fists, and determined the direction of the continued march to Qingzhou.
Guo Qiong said in public: "In this case, our army cannot stay here any longer. Please pass on the order and our army will march eastward in two days."
There was a sound of order in the courtyard.
After returning to the camp, Guo Xin thought for a moment and quickly wrote a secret letter. He then summoned Guo Pu and asked him to choose his own soldiers and send them to Fu Yanqing, Duke of Wei, who was in Laiwu at that time.
