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Because of the huge amount of food and grass consumed during the war, after the armistice agreement was reached, the Jianzhou Jurchens did not hesitate and immediately began to make arrangements to withdraw their troops. The Jianzhou Jurchen troops near Qinghe Fort were completely withdrawn overnight. net.
In this way, Zhao Junchen naturally did not have to worry too much about his own safety when he left Qinghe Fort.
In addition, Zhao Junchen was eager to end his trip to Liaodong and return to the center of the capital as soon as possible, so when he left Qinghe Fort, he no longer forced Gao Dejie's artillery officers to accompany him, and even sent all the baggage troops with him. Leaving behind him, he just led a group of cavalry troops to take the lead in the direction of Fushun.
During the short-distance march, there was no longer the burden of artillery and baggage, so Zhao Junchen's journey speed naturally accelerated a lot.
In less than two days, Zhao Junchen had already arrived in Fushun.
At this time, the Jianzhou Jurchen army in Fushun also showed signs of retreating. The battlefield pressure faced by Wu Yingxiong and the Liaodong generals also dropped sharply, so when they received the news, they also showed up collectively to lead their troops to greet them.
However, when the two parties met, the atmosphere was not particularly pleasant.
*
During this era, the two cities of Fushun and Benxi still belonged to the sphere of influence of the Ming Dynasty, but most of the area east of the two cities was occupied by the Jurchens of Jianzhou.
Therefore, when the war started, there was no strategic buffer space in the defense area under the Fushun Pass. Townships and villages were frequently plundered by Jianzhou Jurchens. It could be said that it was a mess, and human tragedies could be seen everywhere.
Among them, Jiubing Town, located in the south of Fushun, suffered particularly heavy losses. The Jurchens from Jianzhou broke into the town. The people in the town suffered heavy casualties, and all their money, food and property were looted.
Because the Jianzhou Jurchens still needed to concentrate their forces to attack Fushun Pass, they did not occupy the relief town. They looted and killed and then left directly, leaving only corpses on the ground and the desperate cries of the surviving people.
When Wu Yingxiong led his army to welcome Zhao Junchen, he chose Jiubing Town as the welcoming place.
When Wu Yingxiong led the military generals to the rescue town, they couldn't help but nod with satisfaction after looking at the unbearable tragedy in front of them.
Xu He didn't know what Wu Yingxiong was thinking. After seeing the messy scene in Jiubing Town, he immediately suggested: "General Wu, we made a special trip to Jiubing Town to meet Zhao Gechen. Now that Zhao Gechen has not arrived yet, should we clean up the place first? ? This town is full of blood-stained wreckage, and the people are either crying incessantly, or are numb and indifferent. If Zhao Gechen sees such a scene... I am afraid it will make him unhappy. "
Wu Yingxiong smiled coldly and said: "Why do you want to clean up? Just to make Zhao Gechen feel happy and have a clean eyesight? General Xu, do you think, why did the governor choose to welcome Zhao Gechen in the rescue town? It is because this town allows Jianzhou Jurchen If it is breached, the people will suffer heavy losses and be extremely miserable!
General Xu, you are a smart man, and you should have figured it out by now. To a large extent, Zhao Gechen secretly fueled the flames and deliberately started this war for his own personal gain! All the tragedies in Jiubing Town were largely caused by him, so the governor just wanted Zhao Gechen to see with his own eyes the disaster he had caused with his own hands! "
Speaking of this, Wu Yingxiong's expression became more gloomy and his tone became more solemn: "In recent times, our Zhao Gechen has been turning his hands into clouds and rain, scheming to take advantage of all parties, and now it is even more so. He rebuked thousands of troops and single-handedly brought about the armistice. The bloody battles of us frontline soldiers were all made for him. We could only watch helplessly as he stole all the credit but could do nothing...
But since Zhao Gechen chooses to live alone, why should we care about his mood? As the saying goes, one general's achievements lead to thousands of withered bones. Is it possible that Zhao Gechen is so rich and valuable that he can monopolize great achievements but can't even see the withered bones under his feet? "
Hearing Wu Yingxiong's comments, all the generals around him felt the same and nodded repeatedly.
Not only Wu Shilin and Wu Yinglin from the Wu family in Shanhaiguan expressed their support, but even senior military attaches in Liaodong Town such as Gancheng and Li Shijie also agreed with Wu Yingxiong's statement.
At this moment, the Wu family in Shanhaiguan was full of resentment towards Zhao Junchen.
After all, if this war can continue for a while, Wu Yingxiong's military prestige will become higher and higher, and his chances of forcibly annexing Liaodong Town will become greater and greater. The ambition that the Wu family in Shanhaiguan has been brewing for many years will soon be realized. .
However, without even saying hello, Zhao Junchen reached an armistice agreement with the Jianzhou Jurchens without permission. This approach not only directly interrupted Wu Yingxiong's trend of further improving his military prestige, but also completely extinguished the ambitions of the Wu family in Shanhaiguan.
At the same time, the generals of Liaodong Town were also extremely dissatisfied with Zhao Junchen's unauthorized actions. Although Zhao Junchen's actions were largely to help Liaodong Town resist the annexation of the Wu family in Shanhaiguan, the generals of Liaodong Town were all dissatisfied at this time. Selectively ignored this.
Most of the generals in Liaodong Town are selfish villains, and the biggest characteristics of villains are to have both wants and needs, and to be ungrateful and ungrateful.
What's more, he sacrificed his life on the battlefield and originally expected to be rewarded by the court, but then turned around and found that all his bloody efforts were used to make a wedding dress for others. No one can accept this kind of thing.
Coupled with Wu Yingxiong's repeated provocations, always talking about "our frontline soldiers", the generals in Liaodong Town all believed that Zhao Junchen should not steal his frontline military exploits under any circumstances, even if he wanted to assist Liaodong Town's resistance. Can't the Wu family in Shanhaiguan change to a way where everyone is happy and everyone benefits?
The generals in Liaodong Town did not dare to express their dissatisfaction directly to Zhao Junchen, but after seeing Wu Yingxiong taking the initiative and deliberately embarrassing Zhao Junchen, they were happy to see the results and went along with the situation.
Seeing the performance of the generals in Liaodong Town, Xu He shook his head helplessly, but said nothing more.
Xu He is not a shrewd person, but he has a somewhat kinder personality, which is why he is often taken advantage of. He still remembers Zhao Junchen's help to Liaodong Town, but after all, he is just an acting commander-in-chief. In recent times, He repeatedly failed to compete with Wu Yingxiong for the prestige of the entire army, making his leadership position increasingly unstable, so he did not dare to go against the will of the public.
In this way, under Wu Yingxiong's efforts to alienate and win over, all the generals are now powerful and courageous, sharing the same hatred.
But after Wu Yingxiong saw that Xu He no longer raised any objections, he was still not satisfied. He raised his voice again and issued an order: "Pass this order to the military governor to select some of the surviving people from the rescue town who are bitter and grudged and who cry the loudest. After Zhao Gechen showed up, we sent these people to Zhao Gechen. The governor wanted to take a look. Our Zhao Gechen has always claimed to be impartial and dedicated to the country, and always preached that he was considerate of the people. How will the reaction be? "
After hearing this military order, all the generals present smiled, as if they had seen Zhao Junchen's helpless and livid face in front of a crowd of crying and complaining people.
After Wu Yingxiong saw the reactions of the generals, a hint of helplessness flashed deep in his eyes.
*
Wu Yingxiong knows very well that when the situation in Liaodong has developed to this point, most things have been finalized. The chances of the Shanhaiguan Wu family to annex Liaodong Town are extremely slim, and the war with the Jianzhou Jurchens is also difficult to continue. The next few details need to be negotiated and resolved, which is the distribution of post-war benefits to all parties.
It is not difficult to instigate the frontline soldiers to temporarily hate Zhao Junchen. After all, the frontline soldiers value the military exploits they have fought so hard for, and they cannot accept Zhao Junchen's theft of military exploits. However, it is difficult to reverse the established situation created by Zhao Junchen. It is absolutely impossible, and it is not easy to get an extra piece of the pie during the post-war profit distribution.
Wu Yingxiong is a very practical person. When he found out that he could not successfully annex Liaodong Town, he immediately retreated to the next best thing. Now he only wants to fight for more benefits for the Wu family in Shanhaiguan.
For example, let Zhao Junchen mention a few more words about the contributions of the Wu family in Shanhaiguan in his post-war memorial, so that the Wu family in Shanhaiguan can receive more rewards from the court;
Another example is the tacit agreement reached with Zhao Junchen, which will allow the Wu family in Shanhaiguan to steadily obtain a larger amount of food and salary quotas after the Liao's salary reform is implemented;
Another example is Zhao Junchen’s plan to join forces with the Jianzhou Jurchens to send troops to Japan to collect grain. The Wu family in Shanhaiguan also hopes to play a greater role and receive more benefits;
All in all, in Wu Yingxiong's eyes, the Wu family in Shanhaiguan still has many interests to strive for.
Having paid so much effort and price, Wu Yingxiong is absolutely unwilling to return without success.
What Wu Yingxiong is doing now seems to be a strong attitude and deliberately embarrassing Zhao Junchen, but in fact it is a strategy of advancing while retreating, whether it is deliberately provoking the same hatred of the frontline soldiers, or deliberately arranging to victimize the common people. Speaking from his own experience and condemning Zhao Junchen morally are just a bargaining method.
As long as Zhao Junchen is willing to give more benefits to the Wu family, Wu Yingxiong will quickly change his stance and fully help Zhao Junchen quell various troubles between the army and the people;
On the contrary, if Zhao Junchen is unwilling to give more benefits to the Wu family, then Wu Yingxiong will try to intensify and expand these troubles, detonating various conflicts, making it impossible for Zhao Junchen to escape smoothly!
Wu Yingxiong also knew about the recent civil unrest in Xingzhou, and he also knew that the source of this civil unrest was the agricultural reform that Zhao Junchen was promoting with all his strength, so Zhao Junchen must be eager to return to the center of the capital to stabilize the situation. And the troubles caused by Wu Yingxiong, even if they cannot damage Zhao Junchen's core interests, will definitely delay Zhao Junchen from leaving Liaodong, and then make Zhao Junchen worry about one thing and lose another, and make a small loss for a big gain!
*
While Wu Yingxiong was thinking deeply, his soldiers had already selected more than ten surviving civilians from the reinforcement town.
According to Wu Yingxiong's request, these surviving people were all suffering and crying constantly.
After these surviving people saw Wu Yingxiong, their cries became even louder, and they all shouted loudly, hoping that Wu Yingxiong would make the decision for them.
"Lao Chan's wife and three children all died tragically. Lao Chan is now lonely and helpless, and he doesn't want to live anymore..."
"Sir Governor, all the money, food and savings of the grassroots' families have been robbed by the Tatars. You must uphold justice for the grassroots!"
"The villain's life is miserable. His hands were cut off by Tatars. He can no longer handle farm work. He will inevitably die next! The villain is not afraid of death. He only hopes that the generals will kill more Tatars on the battlefield and avenge the villain. …”
Some were crying, some were venting their grievances, some were complaining, and the scene was chaotic.
But Wu Yingxiong didn't feel upset at all. Instead, he put on a pro-people attitude and personally stepped out to appease the people. By the way, he "pointed out" the people and said that a big shot would arrive in the rescue town soon to remind them. Save a little energy now, it won't be too late to cry and complain when the big man shows up.
At the same time, Wu Yingxiong gave a subtle hint, saying that the officers and soldiers of the army originally wanted to stay on the battlefield to fight bravely and avenge the people, but because this big shot reached an armistice agreement with the Jianzhou Jurchens without authorization, they only wanted to Can helplessly withdraw troops and so on.
In this way, Wu Yingxiong quickly diverted the attention of these surviving people and allowed them to find a new goal to vent their emotions.
And just when Wu Yingxiong was personally briefing the people on the matter, a fast horse hurriedly arrived and reported loudly: "To inform the Governor, Zhao Gechen has led his army to arrive five miles south of the rescue town!"
After hearing the report, Wu Yingxiong sneered again, and immediately ignored the surviving people. He got on his horse and said loudly: "The whole army obeys the order and goes with the governor to 'greet' Zhao Gechen!"
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