At the end of May, the weather got hotter. A large number of generals entered the envoy office, chatting and laughing. Looking at the team of civil servants on one side, there were many unfamiliar faces, making low-pitched comments.
Zhang Chi had just been promoted. He had no acquaintances here and was sitting alone in the corner.
While everyone was talking noisily, Wang Xiaolie, Chen Yuyi, and Uncle Li Hui came in. Wang Xiaolie glanced at everyone, and the noisy chatter immediately stopped, and all the generals crossed their hands and saluted together.
Wang Xiaolie said: "I don't pay attention to harsh punishments here. In the army, officers and soldiers are equal. When speaking to everyone like this, if the people below are standing, the person speaking must stand. The people below are sitting, and the person speaking is standing. People can sit or stand. - Take a seat!"
"No!" All the generals saluted together and sat down on the chairs that had been prepared.
All the civil servants looked at it and couldn't help but be shocked. In front of military generals, Wang Xiaolie was not as kind as in front of civilian officials.
Sat down. Wang Xiaolie said: "It's summer. In the following days, the Jin army will not invade south, and there will be a few months of peace. We can't be idle during the peace time. Civil servants have their own affairs, and military generals have their tasks. A few days ago In Hutoushan, a group of officials discussed the printing of huizi and the establishment of a bank. In the next few months, the states and counties will have to do this well. Also, if a bank is established, the army's money will be the same We also need to get it from the bank. We will gather a crowd later to discuss how to arrange it."
"From then on until October, the army's task is to reorganize. At the beginning of this year, we saved Shaanzhou. In the past few months, we rescued Jingmen. Fighting two battles in a few months is a rare experience for us. After reorganization, These experiences have basically been printed into a booklet. In the next few months, we will study, transform, and train according to the booklet we compiled. By the end of the year, the army will have a completely new look!"
All the generals made a promise together.
All the first-level generals have arrived today, and there are a lot of them. Wang Xiaolie didn't say much, but simply talked about the next task. The civil servants were all county magistrates and above, and they also only briefly introduced the upcoming tasks.
After more than an hour, Wang Xiaolie told the civil servants and generals not to leave, but to stay at the Zhizhi Envoy Office for a day or two. Many matters need to be arranged individually with officials and generals, which cannot be explained in a few sentences.
As soon as he returned to the official hall and sat down, Cui Qing came in hurriedly. Crosshand said: "Observe, the imperial court has sent an imperial envoy and has passed Zaoyang. According to the distance, we should arrive outside Xiangyang City this afternoon!"
Wang Xiaolie was surprised: "Why did the imperial court send an imperial envoy here? Do you have any orders?"
Cui Qing said: "I heard from people sent by Chen Zhizhou of Suizhou that the imperial court wanted to build a vassal town. The imperial envoy came to be appointed an official. The imperial envoy went from Ezhou to De'an Prefecture, then entered Suizhou and transferred to Xiangyang."
Wang Xiaolie nodded. He said to Chen Yuyi: "Since the imperial envoy is here, don't be careless. Gather the generals above the commander's level in the army, as well as officials above the county magistrate, to prepare for the reception. When the news comes from Suizhou, the imperial envoy will arrive at Xiangyang City in the afternoon. He is walking in a hurry on the way."
Chen Yuyi agreed and hurried to prepare.
Wang Xiaolie sat on the top chair and was lost in thought for a while. At this time, the imperial court sent an imperial envoy. What kind of official title would he be granted? What does Jianfan Town mean? I remember that the Song Dynasty had done this before at this time, but I couldn't remember the specific content.
In the afternoon, the imperial envoy's entourage entered the city, and Xiangyang officials were asked to go out of the city to greet them.
Wang Xiaolie took Chen Yuyi, Chen Qiudao and a group of officials to welcome him out of the city. It didn't take long for the imperial envoy's guard of honor to arrive. The ceremony was very simple, with only about twenty people, all on horseback.
Stepping forward to salute, Wang Xiaoxian said: "The imperial envoy is here, but I didn't come far enough to greet him. Please forgive me!"
Qin Zi looked a little tired right away. He said: "There is no need to be too polite when making arrangements! I came here to convey the order under the order of the imperial court, and everything went as expected."
After entering the city and arriving at the official hall, Qin Zi took the imperial edict, and Wang Xiaolie received it with a courtesy. Looking further, it turns out that the imperial court decided to implement the vassal-zhen method for some unknown reason. Gyeonggi, Hubei, Huainan, Jingdong, and Jingxi prefecture armies were divided into towns. The roads in Shaanxi, Sichuan, Jiangnan, Zhejiang and Zhejiang, Hunan, Fujian and Erguang remain as before. In each town, except for tea and salt officials, the rest of the supervisors were dismissed. Except for the money and silk provided, the rest of the wealth is left to the commander-in-chief's disposal. Now that the feudal town is first built, the tribute is exempted for three years. The authority of the commander-in-chief is expanded, and he can appoint his own officials, who can be promoted and deposed according to the inspection. When the army is prosperous, you may act cheaply. If you can defend against foreign invaders and perform great service, your position can be hereditary.
Wang Xiaolie was appointed as the envoy of Xiangyang Prefecture, Ru, Tang and Dengzhou Towns from the south of Beijing Road, and was also appointed as the envoy of Xiangyang Prefecture. The other official positions remained as before.
Looking at the imperial edict, Wang Xiaolie was stunned for a long time. Although I had been mentally prepared for it, it was still a surprise when things actually happened. He was originally a warlord, but now he is regarded as a warlord recognized by the court, and his territory is smaller.
After a long silence, Wang Xiaolie said: "I only have four prefectures in my name, what about the other prefectures on Jingnan Road?"
Qin Zi said: "The imperial court has agreed that the territory of each town and envoy should not be too large to avoid confusion of government orders. Therefore, the area under the jurisdiction of a town and envoy can be one or two states if it is small, and up to five states if it is large. The area under observation is De'an Prefecture. Chen Gui, the governor of Fuzhou and Hanyang military towns, Xie Qian, the governor of Jingnanfu, Gui, Xiazhou, Jingmen, and Gong'an military towns, Fan Zhicai, the governor of Jin, Jun, and Fangzhou towns, and Feng, the governor of Huaining and Shunchang prefectures Changning, Zhai Xing, the envoy to the towns of Henan Prefecture, Meng, and Zhengzhou. Also, Wang Ruohai is the envoy to the military towns of Caizhou and Xinyang, and Chen Qiudao is the envoy to the towns of Sui and Yingzhou."
Wang Xiaolie looked at Chen Qiudao on the side, smiled and said nothing.
Chen Qiudao said: "I think the imperial court's intention is to let the armies on the border have their own territory to resist the Jinlu and stabilize the place. Wang Tixing and I don't have an army, so how can we be governors? It's just a false name, but it's Why bother!"
Qin Zi said in a deep voice: "The imperial court must have deep intentions in making such arrangements! Observers and transport envoys can just follow the orders!"
Wang Xiaolie said: "In this case, I can only gather all the troops in the four states under the central government, and ignore the rest. By the way, I still have 10,000 troops in Shaanzhou, should I also transfer them back? ?”
Qin Zi said: "That's natural! If it is not necessary, the troops and horses of all parties should not leave the country easily! The imperial court has issued an edict to appoint Li Yanxian as the strategic envoy of Shaanxi, Guo, and Shangzhou to defend the place. The observing army will not be in Shaanzhou again. convenient."
Shaanxi is not within the scope of setting up a town and governor, so Li Yanxian's official title is the economic envoy, which is actually similar to the town and governor.
Wang Xiaolie nodded and said nothing more.
Obviously, the governor was just a gimmick put out by the imperial court to appease the powerful factions with soldiers in various places. The territory allocated was small, so the governor could not be enlarged. These envoys are either on the border or in areas where bandits are rampant, and their intentions are obvious.
Wang Xiaolie couldn't help but think of a famous sentence from before. Kill the Japanese invaders to eliminate troubles, kill the miscellaneous people to eliminate internal troubles, now I am the miscellaneous people promoted by the imperial court to stop the Jin army. This was expected, but I didn't expect it to be so upright.
After thinking for a while, Chen Qiudao sighed: "When the Jinlu come, they will have to have tens of thousands of troops to stop them. How can one or two states block the Jinlu army? In the past two years, the king has been observing and intending to expand the army. So far, there are We have killed tens of thousands of people and kept the place safe. It is really inappropriate to divide the territory we are currently under control into four states for me and Wang Tixing to guard. I have no soldiers and horses, and Wang Kuan is short of money and food, so both sides suffer!"
Qin Zi said: "The king observes that he has many soldiers and horses, and he can divide them between two thousand men. With thousands of men guarding the place, the place must be impregnable!"
After hearing this, Chen Qiudao couldn't help but laugh. This is so easy to say. Wang Xiaolie worked so hard to build an army, how could he share it with others? Moreover, Wang Xiaolie's army is different from others. It is a whole and cannot be divided casually.
Seeing that both Wang Xiaolie and Chen Qiudao had opinions on the imperial edict, Qin Zi didn't want to say more. Said: "It's not easy for me to come all the way north. Please send me a letter to ask Wang Ruohai and Feng Changning to go to Xiangyang to accept their official positions. I won't walk these hundreds of miles anymore. It is said that Caizhou is not very peaceful to the west. . I don’t have many soldiers and horses around me, so I can’t go into danger.”
After hearing this, Wang Xiaolie understood that the appointment of the governor was not serious.
Qin Zi was the editor of the Privy Council. He came all the way north from Ezhou and granted many governor envoys along the way. Since Wang Xiaolie's Dengzhou is still at peace, he will go all the way to Yiyang this time to appoint Zhai Xing as an official in person. There were so many envoys sealed along the way that Qin Zi felt a little numb. If you come along, you will be canonized in person. If you don't get along, you'll have to ask the envoy to come over.
Of course, Qin Zi also has another identity. He is Qin Hui's brother. However, although they are brothers, Qin Zi's political stance is different from his younger brother.
