Chapter 340

Sixty-nine, Restoring the Li-Gan

When receiving the news that the Son of Heaven's private envoy Hu Fu had granted death to the Guizhou Prefect Lan Changhao.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong was in the main hall of the Jiangzhou Great Hall, holding a meeting with Wang Wang Lengran, Yuan Yuan Huaimin, and the six-office military advisors such as Yan Yan Liulang, discussing the storage of materials in the city.

Since the fall of Hongzhou, the Jiangzhou Great Hall, which used to be loose, has become much more united.

Officials like Wang Wang Lengran, who couldn't be seen in the past, were all present, and this main hall was rarely crowded every day, holding meetings every day, and receiving battle reports from the Hongzhou direction.

"What, Lan Changhao is dead? Granted death by... by Middle Envoy Hu?"

Wang Wang Lengran, who was secretly an ally with this Guizhou Prefect, clutched a piece of the latest intelligence from Lingnan, his expression unbelievable.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong, who was lowering his eyes to record the number of grains transported into the city today, put down his brush and turned his head.

Wang Wang Lengran, Yuan Yuan Huaimin, Yan Yan Liulang, and others also turned their heads in surprise, looking together at a certain person involved in the main hall, Middle Envoy Hu.

Their gazes were strange.

"This..."

Hu Fu was shocked, his face flushed red, and he gritted his teeth:

"Nonsense. This trip, the furthest I went was Tanzhou Prefecture; I didn't even cross the border into Lingnan Circuit. From where did I run to Guizhou Prefecture to issue this absurd order?"

"Was it not a secret letter from the Son of Heaven sent by you, Envoy, to execute him secretly?"

Thinking of the temperament of a certain Majesty, Wang Wang Lengran asked cautiously.

"F*** off. No."

Hu Fu couldn't help but burst out a foul word, stomping his feet:

"Don't look at me anymore. It wasn't me who did it. Whether the Sage had other arrangements... I don't know, but that Son of Heaven's private envoy in Guizhou Prefecture is definitely not me."

Everyone looked at each other, all speechless.

Hu Fu asked with raised eyebrows: "Wang-my lord, where did this news come from?"

Wang Wang Lengran said worriedly:

"It is the first-hand news brought by some Lingnan merchants who just arrived at Prince Xunyang Ferry this morning.

"These merchants run all over the world, active between the two circuits, and their news is the most well-informed, and they are also the fastest to run."

Hu Fu argued: "It could be that three people make a tiger, and it was spread into a rumor."

"Middle Envoy Hu's words make sense."

Wang Wang Lengran nodded with a forced smile and analyzed:

"Lan Magistrate Ouyang Changshi is the chief official of Guizhou Prefecture, acting as Prefect, and is loyal to His Majesty. How could he be granted death just like that, conspiring to rebel? It is simply absurd; there must be rumors involved."

He turned his head and ordered with a straight face:

"Yan Yan Canjun, arrest those treacherous merchants who spread rumors. At this critical moment of crisis, if they don't help each other, they still dare to spread rumors and confuse the public, making everyone panic..."

Hu Fu's expression eased a little, but a sentence drifted from the side:

"No, it is you. The one who granted death to Lan Changhao should be you, Middle Envoy Hu."

Everyone was stunned and turned to look, only to see Magistrate Ouyang Rong, who had been listening, speak calmly.

"What does Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Changshi mean? I was clearly here." Hu Fu frowned.

"Who said Middle Envoy Hu must be present?"

He said lightly, with just a few simple sentences, but it tugged at everyone's heartstrings:

"As long as the Guizhou Great Hall feels it is Middle Envoy Hu, and the seal and hand-written edict are correct, then he is the Son of Heaven's private envoy."

Around him, Wang Wang Lengran and others were still confused, but Hu Fu's body stiffened.

This tall eunuch, who had re-applied his bearded chin today, broke out in a cold sweat:

"Seal and hand-written edict..."

Magistrate Ouyang Rong looked straight at him without speaking.

"Is Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Changshi saying that Cai Qin's people impersonated me, lied that the Son of Heaven ordered the death of Lan Changhao?"

Hu Fu felt it was tricky and paced back and forth.

As if remembering something, Wang Wang Lengran, who was on the side, broke out in a cold sweat and was restless.

Even more panicked than Hu Fu, who was derelict in his duty.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong watched coldly, thinking about other possibilities, and during this time, glanced at Wang Wang Lengran.

He roughly knew what he was worried about.

Lan Changhao was the culprit who caused Cai Qin and the other garrison soldiers to be delayed, and he, Wang Wang Lengran, was also an accomplice.

Lan Changhao was thousands of li away and was designed to be granted death.

Plus, not long ago, Hongzhou city fell, and the Training Envoy and Zhechong Registrar of the Hongzhou Military Prefecture were publicly opened up and executed.

It is conceivable that he, Wang Wang Lengran, would also have a hard time escaping.

Naturally, he was panicked.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong moved his gaze away and frowned slightly.

At this critical moment, such news came; is it really as simple as revenge?

Why did Zhu Zhu Lingxu, who was of similar nature to Lan Changhao, have no trouble after surrendering?

By the way, this matter of Zhu Zhu Lingxu also made Magistrate Ouyang Rong feel that something was wrong.

Inside the main hall, everyone had different thoughts.

On the afternoon when the Guizhou "rumor" came, Hu Fu left Prince Xunyang City with a heavy heart.

He hurried north, returning to the Divine Capital.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong stood at the Prince Xunyang Ferry, watching Hu Fu board the ship and leave.

He stood with his hands in his sleeves, the river wind blowing his sideburns and wide white sleeves.

On the way back riding Dongmei, Magistrate Ouyang Rong glanced at the street.

Not long ago, the bustling Prince Xunyang Ferry and the East Market, which were lively and crowded, had at least half the flow of people less than usual.

And most of the pedestrians on the street were burying their heads and hurrying, with not much lingering.

Most of the shops along the street had closed their doors, and as for the remaining small half, they were in the process of packing up their stalls and preparing to close.

Clearly there were not few pedestrians, and it was the turn of spring and summer, but the street was quite empty.

The atmosphere was a bit desolate and murderous.

From ancient times to the present, war has been the greatest factor of instability.

And merchants are all those who seek profit and avoid harm.

Especially under the atmosphere where a certain storm was brewing in Hongzhou, the central heart of Jiang Nan Circuit, and discerning people had already smelled the blade pointing vaguely at Jiangzhou.

Prince Xunyang City, which sits on the busiest ferry in the middle reaches, naturally knows the warmth of the spring river first.

The influence of the Hongzhou chaos was immediately apparent here.

In the past few days, there were extremely many passenger ships arriving and docking from the Hongzhou direction in the west upstream.

Merchants are all well-informed people; after receiving the news of the Hongzhou chaos, they ran away from the west of Jiang Nan Circuit to the southeast.

Jiang Nan Circuit in this era is not prosperous and rich everywhere; the richest place is still the southeast.

The southeast is actually what is commonly known as the hinterland of Jiang Nan, and it is also the tax hub of the Great Zhou dynasty. This one place alone involves nearly 30% of the dynasty's fiscal revenue.

And Jiangzhou and Hongzhou are the western gateways guarding them.

Jiangzhou, which possesses the number one ferry in the middle reaches and controls the throat of the Yangtze River, is even the gateway to the southeast.

Losing Hongzhou is like losing the lips,

and losing Jiangzhou is like losing the teeth, allowing people to stab straight into the "stomach" in one step.

Therefore, even the officials in Prince Xunyang City who were lazy, slacking off, and indulging in music knew the importance of Jiangzhou at this moment.

Once a problem arises, no one can think of running.

This is also the reason why Wang Wang Lengran and the other officials of the Jiangzhou Great Hall began to be terrified and under great pressure.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong came back to his senses, patted Dongmei's head gently, and returned to the Jiangzhou Great Hall.

In the following days, the ships docked at Prince Xunyang Ferry increased day by day.

However, almost every day, they were new ship faces.

Because most of them were forcibly intercepted by the Prince Xunyang Ferry, they had to dock at the ferry, wait for the ship inspection by the Shipping Division of the Jiangzhou Great Hall, check the documents, and could only leave that evening or the next day.

This was a suggestion put forward by Magistrate Ouyang Rong.

Ships going to the southeast must dock for inspection to prevent Hongzhou rebel soldiers from hiding and penetrating deep into the southeast.

At the same time, ships coming from the southeast and heading toward Hongzhou must also dock for inspection to prevent the transport of important materials to the enemy.

It was just that the latter was relatively few, and the Jiangzhou Great Hall was just making early precautions.

Thus, boats were coming and going in an endless stream.

The merchants running ships in Jiang Nan Circuit had a very keen sense of smell.

Some individual merchants discovered the move of a certain young Magistrate Ouyang Changshi leading people to silently renovate the Lock-River Building and Huilongji,

as if smelling a certain atmosphere, some gossip spread like wildfire,

and the merchant ships west of Jiangzhou scrambled to go south, taking advantage of the window period to leave.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong saw all this in his eyes, did not stop them, and continued his "better safe than sorry" measures.

At the same time, he and Wang Wang Lengran and the other officials of the Jiangzhou Great Hall were also waiting together for reinforcements from the imperial court.

At the moment, the news that the northern-returning garrison soldiers had captured Hongzhou had already spread north to Shenjing Luoyang, and the imperial court reacted, with reinforcements from all sides gathering.

It was just that Hongzhou, which was nearest to Jiangzhou, had already fallen into the hands of the enemy.

And the nearest military prefecture with large-scale troop hoarding was still downstream in Yangzhou.

But Hongzhou is directly adjacent to Jiangzhou,

even by water. The distance from Yangzhou to Jiangzhou is much farther.

The imperial court's reinforcements would inevitably be a bit slow, it was just a question of how slow.

Thus, Wang Wang Lengran, who was previously arrogant and unruly, changed his attitude 180 degrees, began to swallow his anger, and fully supported Magistrate Ouyang Rong in accumulating grain, hoarding water, and strengthening city defenses.

Wang Wang Lengran also took the initiative to take out the discarded weapons from the armory of the Third Zhechong Prefecture of Jiangzhou, gather iron materials, and help him cast them into iron chains...

Throughout the beginning of August, everyone in Jiangzhou city hoped to hold out until the reinforcements arrived.

And the latest news from Hongzhou was that after Hongzhou city fell, the county towns in the whole territory were being taken down one by one by Cai Qin's army, either surrendering or being broken after slight resistance.

Cai Qin's army, which had already gathered six or seven thousand people, was digesting this state of land. Recruiting soldiers and buying horses, carrying out reorganization.

When they captured Jiangzhou next time, they didn't know how many troops they would bring.

It was just that there was one thing that made everyone in Jiangzhou confused and puzzled.

Everyone knew that Prince Xunyang City controlled the Yangtze River waterway and was the gateway to the southeast, which was so important.

After Cai Qin's army captured Hongzhou city, they didn't reorganize slightly and then strike while the iron was hot to attack Jiangzhou.

Why was this?

Was it that they had no intention of advancing into the southeast, so they only captured one Hongzhou to prove their qualifications for recruitment and control the scale?

Or was it that they knew Prince Xunyang City was well-prepared for defense and hard to chew, so they were preparing for something big?

Regardless of anything else, the temporary quiet in Hongzhou made everyone in Jiangzhou and surrounding states slightly relieved.

At least they were a little closer to the reinforcements arriving.

It was just that this kind of calm before the storm made people feel exceptionally worried and fearful...

Unlike their conflicted mood of joy and fear.

The steady progress in Hongzhou made Magistrate Ouyang Rong's heart sink gradually.

A bad premonition.

In his eyes, if Cai Qin's army had attacked Jiangzhou immediately after capturing Hongzhou, it would have been a good thing.

First of all.

Not to mention the friendship between Qin Heng and Su Li Qian in the dark, perhaps Magistrate Ouyang Rong could persuade them to surrender when attacking the city, breaking the momentum and rhythm of Cai Qin's army.

Just saying that if Cai Qin's army attacked Jiangzhou without stopping, it would have two benefits:

One is that Prince Xunyang City could wait at ease for the exhausted enemy; Cai Qin's army had been transferring, so they must be tired.

Even if they were in high spirits after capturing Hongzhou, this kind of siege warfare consumes the attacker's morale very much, not to mention the easy-to-defend terrain of Prince Xunyang City, which relies on mountains and rivers.

The second is that it could clearly and unmistakably indicate one point.

That is, Cai Qin's army's rebellion this time was not carefully planned, but just a whim.

The difference between the two is worlds apart.

Because Cai Qin's army could only hold up one banner so far, and that was the cruelty of the officers and the return of the garrison soldiers home.

This is also the reason why all the people in the world, and even including Magistrate Ouyang Rong, subconsciously sympathized with Cai Qin's army.

Besides this, Cai Qin's army didn't have much righteousness, and they couldn't continue to expand the situation after solving the matter of Jiangzhou returning home.

What, would they come back to "clear the side of the emperor" later? Then some selfish intentions would be self-evident.

Therefore, for the possibility of Cai Qin's army attacking Jiangzhou immediately, Magistrate Ouyang Rong had long had countermeasures and treated it calmly:

He had prepared that while Cai Qin's army, which was fighting under the banner of returning home, was besieging the city, he would cooperate with Qin Heng to force Wang Wang Lengran to arrest the Training Envoy and Zhechong Registrar of the Third Zhechong Prefecture of Jiangzhou who had caused the garrison soldiers' resentment and insisted on the delay,

and execute them publicly on the city wall to appease their anger.

Then, as the Magistrate Ouyang Changshi, Magistrate Ouyang Rong would clearly express his attitude, treat the families of the 300 Jiangzhou garrison soldiers with hospitality, and thereby dissolve the rationality of Cai Qin's army's rebellion and lift the siege of Prince Xunyang City.

Even, in the situation where Cai Qin and the other garrison soldiers' "resentment was not yet resolved," he could borrow the momentum to act against his superiors and behead Wang Wang Lengran.

Dealing with it cleanly.

He could easily solve the problem of the Prince Xunyang Prince's Mansion and lead Li Su Xian and the others to break through this birdcage.

And in this way, Cai Qin's army would also lose the righteousness of returning home.

They were already in their hometown, the garrison soldiers were thinking of peace, and the military disaster in Hongzhou and Jiangzhou would naturally not last long.

Even if they had to fight, the government army could occupy righteousness later and gradually suppress this chaos.

However, it was as if they knew Magistrate Ouyang Rong's certain conspiracy, and the situation did not develop in that direction.

Cai Qin's army in Hongzhou did not attack Jiangzhou immediately!

Instead, they were waiting like hawks, waiting without moving, and they didn't know what they were waiting for.

This made Magistrate Ouyang Rong frown constantly.

Of course, his relationship with Qin Heng and the predicament of the Prince Xunyang Prince's Mansion were almost unknown to outsiders at the same time, so it was probably not really targeting him, and he wasn't really a roundworm in their stomachs; it might just be a coincidence.

But the restrained abnormality of Cai Qin's army reflected that there was preparation and planning behind it.

Delaying not attacking Jiangzhou meant that a certain momentum and military morale always existed, like a sword hanging over Jiangzhou.

Reconnecting with the fact that Cai Qin's army defeated the Hongzhou government army like a god not long ago.

And the "rumor" that came from Guizhou.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong smelled the aura of a fellow clever person, feeling more and more that there was someone pointing behind this...

Just ten days after Hu Fu left Jiangzhou.

A piece of news was brought by travelers on ships fleeing from the west.

The source of this news was actually a Lychee Envoy from the western border of Lingnan Circuit.

He fled north in a panic, arrived at Prince Xunyang Ferry in a sorry state, and the news he stammered out fell into the ears of the people of Prince Xunyang like a thunderclap:

The former Meizhou Prefect, current Raozhou Commandant, and Duke of England Li Li Zhengyan had raised an army to rebel in Guizhou Prefecture, Lingnan Circuit.

He conscripted the soldiers of a whole state, raised high the banner of "Restoring the Li-Gan,"

and at the same time, announced the use of the era name of the current Prince Xunyang Prince Li Su Xian when he was the deposed emperor... the first year of Sisheng!

The world was shocked.

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(End of chapter)