Having decided that this was not a solution, Zhao Xiang began to take action.
He transferred the most reliable army, the selected vanguard troops, to Linyi City to serve as Linyi City's escort troops. One part was stationed inside the city and the other part was stationed outside the city.
Then he was still worried that one army would not have enough strength, so he transferred two troops, the rear army commanded by Zhao Xiong and the left army commanded by Zhao Yi, to the north and west of Linyi City as the outer protection of Linyi City.
The rest of the troops controlled by the Zhao family must also be prepared for emergencies.
He waited until the military mobilization in Linyi City was urgently completed before he sent people to inform everyone about Zhao Kaishan's death and Zhao Xiang's replacement as the leader of the Liberation Army.
Of course, Su Yonglin sent a special person to report the matter, and it was very grand, and he brought a large number of gifts, which was clearly prepared to please Su Yonglin.
Su Yonglin's side aside, Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan were very surprised by this sudden funeral and the change in the position of leader of the Liberation Army.
Zhao Kaishan's death had already surprised and saddened them, and Zhao Xiang's ascension was even more unexpected.
Zhao Kaishan passed away. Shouldn't it be Zhao Yucheng who succeeded him and became the leader of the Liberation Army?
Zhao Kaishan had appointed Zhao Yucheng as the acting leader before. Why isn't Zhao Yucheng taking this position now?
Why Zhao Xiang?
Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan felt strange and smelled a strong smell of conspiracy. They also felt that Linyi City at this moment must be a dragon's den and a tiger's den. It is easy to get in but difficult to get out.
But it was their respective supervisors who came to invite them.
So they understood that there must be some problem within the Zhao family. Zhao Yucheng was squeezed out, and Zhao Xiang stood out and became the successor of the Zhao family and the Liberation Army.
Good guy, I have made you Zhao family understand!
In desperation, Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan had no choice but to go to Linyi City to attend Zhao Kaishan's funeral and Zhao Xiang's enthronement ceremony.
Although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs. Although the territory of Zhao Kaishan's ruling area is small, it is related to the promotion of the new leader. It still needs to be pompous and standardized.
So much so that those who came to attend the funeral couldn't even figure out whether Zhao Xiang really held the funeral for Zhao Kaishan.
Although people have a lot of doubts in their hearts, the Zhao family holds absolute military power. They think Zhao Xiang can, so they can resolve it privately, and of course outsiders cannot interfere.
Despite this, there are also some people who don't like Zhao Xiang or simply don't know that this person exists. They don't care about Zhao Xiang at all. They just paid tribute to Zhao Kaishan and expressed condolences to Mrs. Zhao and her children who were working as tools on the side. , and then left.
They didn't care where Zhao Yucheng was, and they had no feelings for Zhao Xiang. They just knew that they couldn't change everything, so they chose to ignore it.
Anyway, this group of people have basically treated the Zhao family in a state of alienation. The reason why they still come to worship is just to save Zhao Kaishan's last bit of face and the banner of the Liberation Army.
A considerable number of this group of people were already ready to extend an olive branch to Su Yonglin.
Although Zhao Xiang was unhappy, he had no worries about these stragglers and other non-staff personnel. Apart from Su Yonglin, only Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan were worthy of his concerns.
Seeing the two people coming, Zhao Xiang cheered up, watched the two people crying and offering sacrifices to Zhao Kaishan, and then expressed condolences to Mrs. Zhao and several children, and then came to him.
"I never thought that my brother would pass away so early. My brother should have already received the condolences of the two generals. With these two generals caring about me so much, my brother's spirit in heaven will definitely be comforted."
Zhao Xiang looked sad.
Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan looked at each other and were silent for a while. Finally, Li Xiao, who had a relatively straight temper, spoke.
"May I ask the commander, where is General Zhao?"
"General Zhao? Which General Zhao?"
Zhao Xiang rubbed his eyes.
"Zhao Yucheng."
Zhao Xiang's body shook invisibly.
"Yucheng was so sad because of his father's death that he fell ill on the hospital bed and was in a coma. I sent the best doctor to treat him. He can't see anyone at the moment. I will pass on the concerns of the two generals. Let Yucheng know."
Li Xiao was not satisfied with this answer.
"Before, the old commander-in-chief once asked General Zhao to take over as commander-in-chief in front of us. This is something we all know. But now, I am very puzzled as to why you are suddenly succeeded as commander-in-chief. I hope you can help me. Let me clear up the confusion.”
"What's there to be confused about?"
Zhao Xiang shook his head: "Before, when Yu Cheng was the leader, he not only failed to unite his comrades and win over people's hearts, but instead carried out large-scale reforms. The more reforms he made, the more chaotic he became, making the situation a mess.
When my brother found out about this, he was very worried and worried that Yucheng would not be able to fulfill his position well. So before he died, he called me over and gave me the position of commander to lead the Liberation Army. "
Can it still be like this?
Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan looked at each other and felt that what Zhao Xiang said seemed to be made up, but after thinking about it, they felt that it was actually quite reasonable and made sense.
Zhao Yucheng's previous actions were indeed quite reckless, and many people were dissatisfied. This is not surprising.
Is this really the case?
To be honest, Zhao Xiang is unhappy with this situation.
He was not happy to be questioned.
But at the same time he was also very happy.
The reason is very simple. What Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan did did not surprise him. They were still so direct and spoke out instead of hiding it in their hearts. Such people may seem difficult to deal with, but they are actually very good. deal with.
While Zhao Xiang felt embarrassed, he also felt a different kind of happiness.
And these two people also actually called him "leader", which is more important than anything else.
Zhao Xiang has already reduced the danger to Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan to the lowest level.
Compared to Li Xiao and Chen Qiaoshan, Su Yonglin is indeed more dangerous.
Zhao Xiang's guess was actually correct, because Su Yonglin had other channels to know the things that Zhao Xiang tried hard to hide.
Zhao Kaishan's mansion was like a sieve, infiltrated not only by Zhao Xiang, but also by Su Yonglin.
A few days before the convoy arranged by Zhao Xiang arrived at Hejian Mansion with great fanfare, Su Yonglin had obtained relevant information, and the content of the information was quite specific.
Su Yonglin also knew about Zhao Yucheng's previous plans to reform the Liberation Army and clear his father's land.
Su Yonglin was a little sad when he learned about Zhao Kaishan's death.
I briefly recalled the high-spirited and majestic Zhao Kaishan when he and Zhao Kaishan met for the first time at sea, and the depressed look when they met for the last time.
Time is indeed a butcher's knife, it can change many things and many people.
The last impression Zhao Kaishan left on Su Yonglin was very bad. Su Yonglin very much hoped that the last impression Zhao Kaishan left on him would also be the image of a hero who dared to fight bloody battles with the Jin army.
It's a pity that he left more of an impression on Su Yonglin as a pioneer who was fighting among himself as a second-rate military and a third-rate military who did everything he could and couldn't get enough.
There is no achievement worthy of praise, no merit worthy of praise, the ability is just like that, and the level is just like that.
But no matter what, Zhao Kaishan also has one biggest advantage - he dares to fight.
He is not afraid of the Jin people or the front of the Jin army. He dares to fight with the Jin army and fight bloody battles. This alone is enough.
Su Yonglin even thought that if Zhao Kaishan, who also had the same surname as Zhao, was placed in Zhao Gou's position, future generations' perception of the Southern Song Dynasty would not be that bad.
Although he is reckless, although he is stupid, although he is envious of talents, at least as a leader, he is not timid and dares to bare his teeth at the Jin people and bite the Jin people's flesh, biting the Jin people with blood.
Thinking of this, Su Yonglin shook his head again and sighed.
There is no doubt that Zhao Kaishan is a bad person. Apart from his courage, he has almost nothing to praise, and his achievements are just like that.
But because of Zhao Gou's existence, Zhao Kaishan's image suddenly became taller compared to the other two.
Zhao Gou is really a magical person who has lowered the average of human beings in the world. When compared with him, anyone who has a little courage and dares to bare his teeth at the enemy will immediately become taller.
If Zhao Gou is used as the benchmark of mankind, the image of the entire human world suddenly becomes taller... No, if Zhao Gou is the benchmark of mankind, human civilization may have perished.
It seems that a world with Zhao Gou as the benchmark for human beings cannot exist.
Su Yonglin shook his head and put down all the memories of Zhao Kaishan and the reverie of Zhao Gou.
The only thing he is looking forward to now is that Zhao Gou can live longer, preferably until he can go south with millions of troops. At that time, he would like to have a long talk with Zhao Gou, understand his inner world, and eat together by the way. A bowl of snail soup with clear sauce.
Zhao Kaishan died. He completed his historical mission and bought enough time for Su Yonglin to develop and grow.
Now that he has fallen, he no longer exists. No one can continue to buy time for Su Yonglin's development and growth. Su Yonglin has no more time and must look forward and move forward.
So he called Tian Guizi and Xin Qiji, told them about the matter, and discussed it with them.
The two of them were not surprised by Zhao Kaishan's death, but they felt that Zhao Kaishan died a little too early and too fast, catching them off guard.
But they later learned of what Zhao Xiang had done and Zhao Yucheng's failure.
"What? Zhao Xiang can actually do such a thing?"
Tian Guizi was very angry and said angrily: "What he did is tantamount to rebellion, Alang, for this reason, we can justifiably attack him!"
"It's inappropriate. To attack him legitimately will only make him jump over the wall and do many things that I don't want to see, such as returning to the Song Dynasty, or even investing money. There is nothing that this person can't do."
Su Yonglin shook his head: "At this time, the main force of our army is concentrated in the north to fight with the golden thief. It is not convenient to mobilize a large number of people southward. There is too much movement, which is not good for my overall plan. My main attack direction is still north, not south. It's just a pity that Yucheng..."
Tian Guizi shook his head.
"I'm afraid that Alang doesn't want to cause trouble, but that villain Zhao Xiang wants to take the initiative to cause trouble."
Xin Qiji didn't know Zhao Xiang very well and didn't have much interaction with him, so he asked, "Is Zhao Xiang a villain?"
"Not only is he a villain, but he also had trouble with A Lang."
"Is this happening?"
Xin Qiji was a little surprised and looked at Su Yonglin.
Su Yonglin nodded.
"Well, more than a year ago, at the beginning of the uprising, we rebelled in Yizhou. I was responsible for conquering the countryside. Zhao led the army directly to Linyi County. When I went to Linyi County, I met this Zhao Xiang who was preparing to attack A rich girl in the city did something inappropriate and I stopped her, so he became unhappy with me."
Su Yonglin folded his hands in front of his chest and said slowly: "I don't have a good impression of this person. This person is narrow-minded, short-sighted, and has evil intentions. He is a complete villain. It is absolutely unreasonable for such a person to control the actual power of the Shandong Liberation Army. Good thing."
"How did he do it? Such a villain shouldn't be able to achieve anything?"
"Are there still few villains who have always accomplished great things?"
Su Yonglin sneered and said: "Originally, if my father-in-law was still here, the one who made the decision must be my father-in-law. Unfortunately, my father-in-law was dismissed. Among the remaining family members of the Zhao family in the army, he has the highest status. He was also Commander Zhao's confidant before. That's probably it. Only then was he recommended by the family members of the Zhao family in the army.
Not to mention, there are nine main armies of the Shandong Liberation Army, six of which are controlled by relatives of the Zhao family. As for the nine supervisors of the nine armies, there are seven surnamed Zhao, which equals eighteen people who hold real power. Among the people, thirteen are all members of the Zhao family.
This time Yucheng wanted to carry out some reforms to the Liberation Army and disturb the carnivores in the Liberation Army. As a result, they were unhappy. Zhao Kaishan happened to be dead, so they took advantage of the situation and defeated Yucheng. Zhao Xiang came to power. "
"This... how can you be so nepotistic!"
Xin Qiji said disdainfully: "I used to think that Commander Zhao had no courage. I never thought that he would be so nepotistic and petty. How could such nepotism be successful? What a waste of his courageous son."
"However, this kind of person still has a main force of more than 100,000 people and an army of more than 100,000 followers. The strength is almost the same as mine. Where can I reason with him?"
Su Yonglin smiled helplessly.
Tian Guizi shook his head.
"These are not important, A Lang. I think that if there is such a change in Shandong, we have to be on guard. We still don't know what Zhao Xiang's attitude is towards us. Rather than being frightened, it is better to take the initiative."
"What you say makes sense. Yucheng has failed, and there is definitely nothing he can do. There are too many relatives of the Zhao family in the army, and other more rational officers cannot do anything. Once Zhao Xiang wants to do something shameful, There’s no guarantee that anyone can stop him.”
Su Yonglin gently rubbed his temples with both hands, relaxed his tense nerves a little, and then slowly said: "Although Zhao Kaishan is petty, his stance is relatively clear. Although he is incompetent, he insists on being anti-gold, but Zhao Xiang is different."
