Ten days later, Huan Shiqian and Huan Dan, their father and son, escaped death and returned to Jiangling to regroup. They also gathered 20,000 troops to defend the city and prepare to face the imperial court's crusade.
Zhao Tong, the prefect of Jingling, who had previously attacked Zhuque Camp with Huan Zhen who was fighting for his father, pretended to be dead and escaped back to Jingzhou by chance. Huan Shiqian learned that Huan Zhen was dead and Zhao Tong was still alive, so he secretly hated Zhao Tong and demoted him for defeat. He is the prison guard of Jiangling.
It happened that Jiangling Chief Shi Yang Quanqi and others had planned to defect to the imperial court because of Huan's failed attack on Jiankang, but Huan Shiqian's confidants found out that they were all imprisoned. Huan Shiqian ordered his soldiers to join the army and Yan Qian was the presiding judge, hoping to take this opportunity to clear out all the people in the city who wanted to surrender. power.
Yan Qian found a prophecy book in Yang Mansion, Jiangling.
It said: "After the Ming Dynasty, there were two emperors who suppressed evil and replaced them."
Huan Shi Qian's word "Suppresses Evil" is clearly a rebellion!
"Eating dog excrement, I was deceived by this bastard Huan Shiqian. He is the one who wants to rebel!" Zhao Tong was already suffering from unfair treatment, but now he started to curse when he learned the truth.
Yan Qian, who joined the army, almost fainted. Zhao Tong stared at the prophecy for a moment and said to Huan Shiqian, "I want to interrogate Yang Quanqi."
Yan Qian waved his hand with complicated thoughts.
In fact, he already knew it from the day Huan Shiqian raised his army. Huan Shiqian was different from Huan Shimin and Huan Chong. He had Huan Wen's ambition but not Huan Wen's ability. The defeat of Jiankang was expected.
Therefore, he recommended himself to stay in Jiangling instead of marching eastward to Yangzhou with the army.
In Jiangling Prison, Zhao Tong saw the dying Yang Quanqi in the prison. He was tortured miserably by the jailers and only had half his life left.
"Yang Changshi, I am Zhao Tong. I have been ordered to assist Yan Shenjun in investigating this case. I ask you why you rebelled against the envoy?" Zhao Tong set a trap for Yang Quanqi. Yang Quanqi had already been tortured to a state of disgrace by Huan Shiqian. , there was no reaction when he saw Zhao Tong.
"I, the Yang family, have lived in Han Dynasty for generations, and have never had second thoughts since the founding of the Jin Dynasty. Now Huan Shiqian and his wolfish ambition want to support the soldiers of Jingzhou and lead the river down the river to usurp the country. How can I, Yang Quanqi, let him get what he wants?"
Yang Quanqi's father was Yang Liang, the former governor of Liangzhou (Qiaozhou). At that time, Zhao Tong was still serving as a county lieutenant in a Qiao County under Yang Liang. He had several encounters with Yang Quanqi, the former envoy prince.
Zhao Tong's brows widened. Judging from his many years of experience in commanding troops and his understanding of Yang Quanqi, these must be the truth.
Yang Quanqi has always been brave, courageous and open-minded.
"I see..." Zhao Tong murmured.
"Then this prophecy was found in your house. How do you explain it?"
Yang Quanqi glanced at the prophecy book, and his eyes turned black!
"Master Zhao, I am wronged! I have never seen this prophecy book, and it should not have appeared in my house!" Yang Quanqi loudly claimed that he was wronged, but Zhao Tong shook his head slightly, "This is irrefutable proof, you should know that there will be What consequences."
"Okay! I'll tell you, I'll tell you! That's what Thief Huan is threatening me with my father. He wants my whole family to be loyal to the Huan Family and follow him as thieves!"
Yang Quanqi knew that he was destined to die anyway, so he shouted loudly: "The Huan family is plotting rebellion, and Huan Shiqian is going to commit treason!"
Only halfway through the sentence, the warder outside the execution room heard the commotion and ran in and kicked Yang Quanqi away. He also cursed and said: "You dog, don't bite randomly and dare to frame the lord. Watch me pick out your tongue." !”
Zhao Tong couldn't help but frown.
The laws of the Jin Dynasty stipulated that no abuse of punishment should be imposed on court officials.
Yang Quanqi's current punishment must have exceeded the legal provisions. Now that a small jailer was lynching him in front of him, he thought it was necessary to stop it.
Unexpectedly, Yan Qian suddenly appeared in the execution room and said one step ahead of him: "Warden Zhao, my lord, please discuss the details of the case with you."
"please."
Zhao Tong glanced at the night. What case would this dark Huan Shiqian summon to discuss?
"I have seen Yan join the army!"
The jailer was also shocked and confused, but as the night was about to end, it was reasonable to speed up the interrogation.
Yan Qian ordered the jailers not to abuse the punishment, and he took Zhao Tong to the execution room to discuss how to finalize the case.
When they arrived at Yan Qian's private residence, Zhao Tong did not give him a chance to speak and said: "The case has been found out. It is true that someone falsely accused the Yang family. The person who wants to rebel is also the lord. But you also know the situation in Jiangling City now. No one can stop what Huan has done."
Yan Qian raised his eyebrows, "You and I should have thought when Huan Shiqian raised his troops to attack Jiankang. Now we can only falsely claim that the prophecy is false, and then accuse the Yang family of treason."
Zhao Tong sneered, "Really?"
Yang Quanqi openly gathered troops to fight against Huan Shiqian and wanted to surrender to the court. Huan Shiqian must have been extremely angry. The defeat in the attack on Jiankang was not going well. Now that there are flaws in the plan, he will definitely take this opportunity to go on a killing spree to frighten the army. The forces opposing him in China also gave a warning to those in Jingzhou who were sitting on the fence.
"Are you going to disobey Huan Shiqian?" Yan Qian felt that he could not confront Huan Shiqian head-on right now.
"The imperial court will not sit back and watch Jingzhou plot rebellion, and Xu Xiao will not easily let Huan Shi Qiandong attack Jiankang. He will definitely send troops to attack Jingzhou!" Zhao Tong reminded.
Zhao Tong was able to achieve what he is today by following Huan Shiqian. A stubborn villain like Huan Shiqian was not to be feared in his eyes!
If the imperial troops came to the city at this moment, he would definitely capture Huan Shiqian and leave the city to surrender!
"If we fail to achieve a dead end before Mao Shi, I'm afraid you and I will be punished by the Huan clan." It's not that Yan Qian didn't know that following the Huan clan would lead to being accused of being a traitor, and there would be no good fruits to be gained.
After thinking about it, Zhao Tongsi felt that what Yan Qian said was not unreasonable. After all, the imperial army had not yet reached Jingzhou, and their life and death were still in the hands of Huan Shiqian.
"Why don't we make this case more public and involve all the participants? When everyone understands that they can no longer protect themselves wisely, we can then spread the word that the Huan thief is going to kill everyone!"
Yan Qian's eyes rolled and he felt that this was the only way to get more people's support to fight against Huan Shiqian. As long as the Huan family's control over Jingzhou was not so tight, and as long as the people who supported the Huan family turned against each other, they would no longer have to be afraid!
Zhao Tong also felt that this plan was feasible. He said: "At that time, we will come forward to summon everyone's troops, and then contact those in the army who are dissatisfied with the Huan family to jointly rise up. We may not be able to achieve great things!"
Yan Qian praised: "That's right! The Huan thieves were defeated in Jiankang. He suffered heavy losses of troops and his prestige. The army has long been dissatisfied with him. We can find those veteran generals in the army and promise him huge profits..."
"We still have to send someone to contact the court. As long as we get the court's promise, the matter will be half done."
"Things are kept secret. You and I only need to know about it! Don't let it out for now!" Yan Qian asked Zhao Tong again and again.
The two planned for a long time until the middle of the night, before Zhao Tong reluctantly left Yan's house...
