"If the government is left to the Grand Sima and the sacrifices are left to Your Majesty, then the country and the family will be in peace." This is what Guo Chang, as the new crown prince Zhan Shi, taught the emperor Sima Dezong.
"I understand what you said, sir," Sima Dezong repeated it again: "The Xu family will be responsible for political affairs and sacrifices will be made by the widow."
Perhaps it was the influence of those around him, but the emperor had great trust in Xu Zongwen since he was a child, but as he grew older, his innermost imperial autocracy began to quietly grow!
An emperor is autocratic by nature, how can he be controlled by others?
Therefore, he has never forgotten the scene where hundreds of officials vassalized Xu Zongwen at the court meeting a few days ago, and Zhang Xuanzhi refuted him as the emperor.
Guo Shang didn't seem to hear the dissatisfaction hidden in the emperor's words, or he didn't care at all. He was sitting in front of the case under the emperor's throne, holding a book, and paused for a while before putting down the Tao Te Ching and continuing. He opened his mouth and said: "Governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies..."
Jingzhou, outside Jiangling City, Xu Zongwen was reviewing the army outside the city.
Because in the next few months, the places where force would need to be used were not limited to the vicinity of Jiangling. Xu Zongwen ordered Zhuge Kan to lead an army to attack Xiangyang, an important town in Jingzhou, and cut off his wings. He personally led the main force of the imperial army to besiege Jiangling where Huan Shiqian was located.
The news of Xu Zongwen's western expedition must not be hidden from anyone, especially the Yan State just north of the Jin State.
Xu Zongwen predicted that Murong Chui would most likely not be honest.
At that time, instead of waiting for the other side to take a bite at any time from the long border, it is better to take the initiative to gain strategic initiative and overwhelm the other side.
So Xu Zongwen wrote in his hand that Liu Laozhi, who was stationed in Yecheng, would lead the Beifu soldiers, and Xu Yuanxi, who was stationed in Linzi, would lead the Qingzhou soldiers, each with a total of 7,000 people, to station on the north bank of the Yellow River. As long as the war in the west started, he would choose a few pre-decided ones. The goal is to launch a surprise attack on Yan State first, disrupting Yan State's plan to go south to thresh grain grass for the winter.
As long as the Yan State is contained, the remnants of Fu Qin, such as the remnants of Fu Qin who are lingering in Bingzhou, and Yao Qin and Xi Qin who are surrounding the pass, will not dare to act rashly and invade Jin.
"The general is victorious! The general is victorious!"
Under the banner, Xu Zongwen, dressed in a red brocade robe and black armor, rode a green thunder horse around the military formations. Wherever he went, cheers could be heard endlessly.
Those being inspected today were the left and right Yulin guards, the Huwei army, the Longxiang army, and the right Shenwu army from the sixth battalion of the Forbidden Army, which totaled more than 13,000 people.
In other words, in the huge Jiankang City, Xu Zongwen only left less than 4,000 Zuo Shenwu Army troops to stay in the capital!
For a time, the mountains roared and the tsunami roared, armors were thick, and weapons were everywhere.
"The soldiers are mighty! Our army is victorious!"
Xu Zongwen was in a daze for a moment.
The morale of the Jin army was very high, especially after Xu Zongwen announced the reward.
According to general practice, at this time, Xu Zongwen should push countless horse-drawn carriages and ox-carts filled with money behind him, and then, under the assignment of grassroots officers, enter the military garrison and usher in a scramble.
This is true for the Northern Expeditionary Army, and it is also true for all the battalions of the Forbidden Army, not to mention that all the rewards for the Forbidden Army come from the treasury...
It was night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.
After experiencing the lively military parade of the Jiankang Forbidden Army outside the city during the day, Jiangling had fallen into a deep sleep.
It was dark in the inner square. In the darkness, only the lanterns were hung on the gate of the governor's office. The bright red lights were swaying in the breeze, making it look even more gloomy and gloomy.
In the past few days, since he learned that Jiangling City was besieged, there was no news from Xiangyang for a long time, and that the Jin army divided into two groups and successively attacked important towns in Jingzhou, Huan Shiqian began to feel depressed. He neither interfered with political affairs nor saw the generals below. .
Uncharacteristically, he summoned the singers in the mansion to stay up all night and drink and have fun during the day. While Huan Shiqian and others were enjoying themselves in the mansion, the lights were suddenly raised and the main door was opened wide.
The guards guarding the mansion didn't know what was going on, so they quickly surrounded him.
Swish, swish... several arrows fired in unison...
Before the guards could draw their swords, they were all shot to the ground.
The group of about fifty people who rushed into the mansion were also Jingzhou soldiers in armor, but these were not guards arranged by Huan Shiqian, but had already been recruited by Sima Yan Zhen and school captain Wu Zhong.
These two people had complicated experiences. They were both generals who were surrendered by the former Qin Dynasty. In the sixth year of Taiyuan Dynasty, Qin Jingzhou governor Gui Gui invaded Jingling and was defeated by the prefect Huan Shiqian.
Yan Zhen and Wu Zhong, who were the pioneers at that time, were kidnapped by him at this time, and they have been working under his tent ever since. The sun flies by like a white horse, and today is already twelve years ago!
Huan Shiqian was defeated and fled back to Jingzhou in despair, and the two men became more active.
At this time, the Jinyiwei Intelligence Department was lurking in the Jingzhou soldiers to find out, so they secretly lured them with gold and silver, and encouraged the two men to bring order to the chaos, capture Huan Shiqian, and help General Xu Zongwen conquer Xuzhou!
During the day, Yan and Wu took advantage of Huan Shiqian's banquet and guests to enjoy themselves. When the palace was in chaos, they had sneaked into a private house near the governor's house. The house had been rented by Jin Yiwei. After nightfall, Yan Zhen He used the talisman order of Sima Jingzhou and the forged handwriting of Huan Shiqian to coordinate the defense, and arranged for the troops to enter the palace.
On the other hand, Wu Zhong led his troops to attack Huan Mansion from the outer main gate, preparing to capture Huan Shiqian as a sign of service to the new master.
"Capture the traitor Huan Shiqian!" Yan Zhenguan arrived at Sima. Logically speaking, he should be grateful to Huan Shiqian, but he led his troops into the Huan Mansion and met the drunken Huan Shiqian, but he did not remember his former ministers. Instead of being loyal, he immediately ordered Huan Shiqian to be tied up, eager to claim credit from Xu Zongwen outside the city!
"The rest of the people are all thieves and rebels, no one will be left alive!"
"Pfft..."
Wu Zhong was wearing armor, and as soon as he arrived at the scene, Yan Zhen led his men to kill all the people who had witnessed him betraying his master and begging for glory. No one was spared. For a while, there were shouts of killing inside and outside the hall, and there were stumps and broken limbs everywhere. Arm, after the blood dried, the room was dyed dark brown!
That night, Xu Zongwen personally put on his armor, gathered 3,000 cavalry from the Longxiang Army, and the two guards of Yulin who besieged the city. Under the welcome of Yan and Wu, they entered Jiangling City without any effort.
Immediately afterwards, Yan Qian and Zhao Tong, who joined the Jingzhou Zhongbing Army and took control of the Jiangling City Prison, and Yang Quanqi, who had been imprisoned for a long time, immediately came to see Xu Zongwen.
Soon, without the need for Xu Zongwen to say anything in person, the three people immediately surrendered to Xu Zongwen. Yan Qian was responsible for announcing the documents and publicly announced that it was Huan Shiqian who had secretly tampered with his brother Huan Shimin's will and usurped the position of Jingzhou governor.
At the same time, he also took out a "real testament of the people of Huan Shi", requesting Huan Xuansi to be the head of the Huan family.
Xu Zongwen followed the trend and appointed Huan Xuan as the governor of Jingzhou, and still appointed Yan Qian as the central soldier to join the army. Zhao Tong was reinstated as the prefect of Jingling, and Yang Quanqi was appointed the Sima of Jingzhou and the prefect of Jiangling. At the same time, he appointed Xu Yizhi, the prefect of Jinling, as the governor of Jingzhou.
As for Yan Zhen and Wu Zhong who had betrayed their master, they were secretly dealt with by Xu Zongwen.
"General, we are here to surrender sincerely. We are innocent and have meritorious deeds! Please forgive me, General!"
"General, we are not guilty! General, please spare my life! We are not guilty! How can the general sit on the throne of Huan Shiqian without a villain?"
"The general's rewards and punishments are unknown, and I won't accept it!"
"Wait a minute!" When he was about to do it, Xu Zongwen waved his hand and called to the sergeant who captured the two men.
Yan and Wu thought they had a chance to survive, but their faces turned from worry to joy. They looked back and kowtowed to Xu Zongwen: "Thank you, General, thank you, General!"
"Hehehe..." Hearing the laughter, the two of them thought they could escape and ascend to heaven, but Xu Zongwen just chuckled: "After I betrayed Qin, I betrayed Huan Shiqian. I may not be able to betray an orphan again, just like you and others. My desires are hard to satisfy, I am capricious, I have no faith, how can I trust you?"
"Pull him down, and immediately behead him in public, and send an order to the three armies to serve as a warning to others."
