Chapter 363: 95. Not Taking Me Along to Split the Cake, Are You?

95. Not Taking Me Along to Split the Cake, Are You?

(Asking for votes at the beginning of the month!) (Asking for votes at the beginning of the month!) ->:

The next day, morning.

The Jiangzhou Government Office holds a combat readiness meeting.

Xunyang Prince Wang Lixian, Grand Commander of the Jiangzhou Circuit Vanguard Expeditionary Army Zhu Lingxu,

Jiangzhou Inspector Wang Lengran, Jiangzhou Changshi Ouyang Lianghan.

Colorful-robed female officials Rong Zhen, Mistress Miao Zhen.

All attend this meeting.

Everyone attending today has received tallies, contracts, or imperial edicts in their hands.

Because once the Great Zhou imperial court selects a Grand Commander of the Expeditionary Army, the Central Secretariat will issue a conscription order, activating the Great Zhou mobilization system.

It is mainly from the two lines of administration and military, issuing government decrees separately, collectively known as "Tallies and Contracts".

Tally, which is the fish tally.

It is a variant of the tiger tally, meaning the same thing.

Contract, which is a wooden official document contract, which can be understood as a special red-headed document.

The former is given to the military Zhechong Prefecture, and the latter is handed to the local government office.

After the order of the Secretariat reaches the locality, the local government office and the military Zhechong Prefecture will each take the tallies and contracts from their superiors, merge and verify the tallies and contracts, and after confirming that there is no error, they will start the local military mobilization.

At present, the Jiangzhou Government Office is also like this, strictly following this procedure.

In the morning, in the main hall of the meeting.

Ouyang Rong, Wang Lengran, and other Jiangzhou officials solemnly receive the contracts handed over by the palace attendants who passed the edict like Mistress Miao Zhen, and the fish tallies handed over by Vanguard Commander Zhu Lingxu.

After a careful comparison, it is confirmed that there is no error.

Ouyang Rong and Wang Lengran transfer the power including the defense of Jiangzhou City and the dispatch of the Zhechong Prefecture.

Jiangzhou is officially in a state of war.

At present, the Grand Commander of the Jiangzhou Circuit Expeditionary Army, Prince of Wei Wei Jisi, has not yet arrived,

The Vanguard Commander can be considered the highest military officer present,

State-level officials like Wang Lengran and Ouyang Rong all need to cooperate with Zhu Lingxu's subsequent actions.

However, there is also the Xunyang Prince Wang Lixian, the Pacification Ambassador of the Jiang Nan Circuit, who can be considered an official position nominally equivalent to the Grand Commander of the Jiangzhou Circuit Expeditionary Army.

It can be understood that one is responsible for unified front propaganda, and the other is responsible for military combat.

Therefore, Zhu Lingxu also needs to treat Wang Lixian respectfully, humbly asking for the attitude of this Prince.

Besides this, the colorful-robed female official Mistress Miao Zhen is still the female historian sent by the imperial court to "care for" the Xunyang Prince's Mansion, which has not changed. When the Xunyang Prince goes out, she follows closely by the Xunyang Prince's side to "protect" him.

As for Rong Zhen, she detaches from it and gets a new errand, becoming the supervisor of the expeditionary army of the imperial court that is about to arrive.

The position of supervisor is usually held by eunuchs, supervising military officers leading troops outside on behalf of the imperial order.

It is just that Empress Wei Zhao values female officials more.

During her reign, the imperial court's female official system developed significantly, widely recruiting groups of women—including noble widows, unmarried daughters of scholar-official families, and virtuous women from the common folk—to enter the Astronomical Bureau.

Female historians are considered to be a head above eunuchs.

Ouyang Rong originally thought that this time the supervisor would send Hu Fu over.

Now it seems that the matter of persuading the surrender of the northern returning garrison troops last time did indeed implicate him, and he was impeached by many censors.

However, this tall eunuch who loves to touch his sideburns still wrote to Ouyang Rong a few days ago, thanking him for the gift of the sword last time.

Regarding the increasingly growing momentum of Cai Qin's army, they chatted, and Hu Fu sighed quite a bit in the letter, but it could be heard that he was quite optimistic about his current situation.

Ouyang Rong actually developed some good feelings for this godson of Shun Bo.

It is just that Ouyang Rong is not qualified to sympathize with others, and he and Hu Fu are also brothers in adversity.

In the letter, Hu Fu mentioned casually that

Originally, Master Di, Shen Xisheng, Prince Xiang, and others jointly recommended him as the Changshi of the Grand Commander's Mansion of the Jiangzhou Circuit Expeditionary Army.

The so-called General Mansion, also known as the Military Division, is actually the main tent of the middle army often mentioned in storybooks.

It is the command center of the entire expeditionary army, which cannot be handled by a single tent, but a huge system.

The Changshi established under its name is similar to a secretary-general, responsible for the first person in charge of the internal affairs of the entire military division.

Like in storybooks, the Great General and Great Marshal wave their hands and say who violates military law and should be dealt with according to military law, which does not exist in reality.

An army of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people, if the Great Marshal has to personally ask about the violation of military discipline by a small soldier, wouldn't he be exhausted.

These are all handled by the Changshi, including logistics and food supplies.

The position of Military Division Changshi is not high in rank, but has great power.

Ouyang Rong happens to be nearby, is the Jiangzhou Changshi, and is famous and has outstanding political achievements. Naturally, the Baoli faction forces led by the Master and Prince Xiang want to fight for him. After all, the most important position of Grand Commander of the Expeditionary Army was picked by the Wei clan, so they must try their best to divide a little cake.

It is just that according to Hu Fu, this proposal happened the day after Ouyang Rong was "praised" by Zhu Lingxu's memorial.

Liang Prince Wei Sixing opposed it, threatening that someone needed to avoid suspicion, and the Empress shelved the case and did not reply.

Not long after, Wei Jisi recommended a Lu-surnamed Ministry of War official who had married a Wei clan woman and had sufficient qualifications to serve as the Military Division Changshi.

Not long after, the Emperor agreed.

The Wei clan kicked Ouyang Rong out of the game easily.

Want to white-whore, split the cake? No way.

Causing Li Guoer to tease last night during the study meeting, "Ouyang Lianghan, why don't you ask if the Wei clan is still short of a son-in-law," which was naturally hit by a pear thrown by the Xie clan noblewoman in the opposite seat, and the two beauties bickered.

Ouyang Rong shakes his head.

The sun outside the door is almost noon, and the crowd at the combat readiness meeting discussed some important matters.

A short while later, they took a break to drink tea.

Wang Lengran puts down his teacup and takes the lead in arching his hands:

"Managing the vanguard is hard work, Grand Commander Zhu. This official and all the officials of the Jiangzhou Government Office will certainly cooperate wholeheartedly, so as not to live up to the expectations of the Empress, the Prince of Wei, and the Xunyang Prince."

The chief official took the lead in saying empty words, and the other officials attending the meeting had to stand up one after another and arch their hands together.

Ouyang Rong remains silent and arches his hands slightly.

Zhu Lingxu immediately lifts his buttocks slightly from the stool, waves his hands, and then supports the crowd from a distance:

"Everyone, please sit down. Hey, Wang my lord, Ouyang Changshi, you are too polite. Those Li thieves and Cai thieves are rampant, stealing the Southwest, daring to covet the tripod, wanting to take a dead end. It concerns the Empress's majesty and the Great Zhou's country. We are duty-bound, where is the hard work."

He turns his head again, looking at Wang Lixian, who is sitting high in the main seat of the hall and is amiable and taciturn, and says with a serious face:

"This time going out, the war is complicated and dangerous. This subordinate is incompetent and cannot accompany the Prince often. I trouble the Prince to stay in Xunyang City for a few more days and wait for news.

"After this subordinate recovers Hongzhou City and clears out the remnants, I will welcome the Prince to Hongzhou at the first time to comfort the Hongzhou military and civilians who are looking forward to it,

"At the same time, it is also a welcome for the Prince of Wei to visit the front line in person in a few days."

"Good." Wang Lixian nods with a smile.

Beside him, hearing Zhu Lingxu's somewhat certain tone, Ouyang Rong glances at this Hongzhou Commandant calmly.

This Zhu Lingxu, he can be considered to have been in contact for a while,

The evaluation is that he is an old fox, and he doesn't scatter the eagle without seeing the rabbit.

Right now, he dares to boast in public to recover Hongzhou.

It seems that he has indeed made relatively comprehensive preparations. It is said that there are many of his eyes and ears in Hongzhou City, and the pieces buried before the defection were just for this day, which the Wei clan might have secretly promised.

It is also true, after all, he has been the Hongzhou Commandant for several years, and he is estimated to be familiar with the terrain and the weaknesses of the defense in Hongzhou, more skilled than sleeping with his wife on his own bed, they are old husband and wife.

Not to mention, before, Zhu Lingxu has always been famous for being good at using troops.

So this kind of old fox only dares to release this statement after deducing it countless times and thinking it is 90% stable.

Facing this enemy who is as steady as an old dog.

Ouyang Rong's eyebrows wrinkle slightly.

Turning his head to look at Wang Lengran and Zhu Lingxu who are tacitly exchanging eye contact.

At present, the imperial court and the whole world are staring at the subsequent war in Hongzhou.

This battle is an active attack, changing from defense to offense.

Compared with the previous Battle of Guling, the significance of this Battle of Hongzhou is even more significant.

If Zhu Lingxu and his son successfully recover the lost territory of Hongzhou, it can indeed win a good start for the war between the Prince of Wei and the expeditionary army he leads and Li Zhengyan's Restoration Army in the Southwest.

The reward given by the Empress who buys horse bones with a thousand gold will certainly not be small.

The opportunity given by the Wei clan to Zhu Lingxu and his son is really not small.

No wonder before the Grand Commander of the Jiangzhou Circuit Expeditionary Army, the Prince of Wei, arrived, he quickly let him form the vanguard and set out in advance.

The cake delivered to the mouth is naturally positive.

"The Prince and everyone work together, why worry about not being able to restore our Great Zhou lost territory."

Zhu Lingxu looks around, his gaze ignoring the low-key Ouyang Rong, he sighs with relief, and then bows politely to the cold Rong Zhen:

"Next, the expedition may trouble the female historian. Please understand more."

Rong Zhen has no expression, does not nod, and does not speak.

The performance is a bit disrespectful.

Or rather, except for the Empress, she doesn't need to give anyone face.

"Haha, the female historian is here, this subordinate is relieved."

Zhu Lingxu nods with a smile, breaking the cold embarrassment, but he frowns slightly in his heart, a bit unclear about this woman,

However, this woman doesn't look like someone who likes to meddle in other people's business, not like the one surnamed Ouyang, so he doesn't care much.

Supervisor is supervisor, anyway, Zhu Lingxu is not going to do anything against his conscience. Before, Ouyang Lianghan's radical method and insults, he endured them, and restrained his subordinates.

Facts have proved that opportunity favors those who are good at enduring and always prepared.

This is called the light boat has passed ten thousand mountains.

Zhu Lingxu smiles and strokes his beard.

A short while later, the tea break ends, and the crowd discusses the matters of the vanguard expedition again.

This time, the vanguard formed by Zhu Lingxu by imperial decree has a total of more than 8,000 people.

They are 3,000 elites originally led by Wang Lengran, 2,000 routed soldiers from the Battle of Guling and surrendered Hongzhou troops, and 3,000 reinforcements from three Zhechong Prefectures in the southeast that have arrived one after another these days.

8,000 Fubing, all are elite good family sons, can be considered the largest regular army in the Jiang Nan Circuit.

Li Zhengyan's Restoration Army in Guizhou is still in the Southwest, having just entered the Jiang Nan Circuit not long ago, attacking cities and seizing land along the way.

The failure of the Jiangzhou war has spread throughout the Jiang Nan and Lingnan Circuits, faintly increasing the resistance in many places, causing the Restoration Army's advance speed to be slightly hindered.

The main force of the Restoration Army is expected to arrive in Hongzhou in more than half a month, but it is also possible that they have already sent a vanguard to rush to Hongzhou for support, but the vanguard is not the main army after all.

Therefore, the current timing is indeed a rare opportunity for war, and the 8,000 elites in Jiangzhou have a numerical advantage.

However, although "the advantage is with me", Zhu Lingxu is arranging with a serious face, sitting in command, assigning tasks, and arranging cautiously.

Ouyang Rong listens carefully for a while and cannot help but look at him more.

He finds that this Zhu Lingxu, old fox is old fox, but he really has something, not like Wang Lengran who is half a bucket of water shaking.

"By the way, Grand Commander Zhu, this Prince has one thing to ask, I don't know if I should say it or not."

Wang Lixian puts down his teacup and suddenly speaks.

Except for Ouyang Rong, the crowd in the hall looks curiously.

Zhu Lingxu immediately says: "Of course you should say it, Prince please speak." Spreading his palms to signal.

"The vanguard general who moves in advance and scouts the road for the vanguard, has it not been decided yet?"

"Yes." Zhu Lingxu nods subconsciously, and then asks calmly: "Does the Prince have a suitable candidate?"

In the gap of the slow-speed inquiry, he glances at Ouyang Rong not far away, who is lowering his head, sipping tea calmly.

Wang Lixian nods, smiles embarrassedly:

"In this Prince's view, the Resolute Commandant of the Jiangzhou Zhechong Prefecture, Qin Heng, is quite good, a reliable young general."

Hearing the name, Wang Lengran, who was curious a moment ago, has his eye corners twitch fiercely, looking at Ouyang Rong with some staring eyes, and after a while, turns his head and snorts coldly.

If it weren't for Wang Lixian, he would have to ask someone well.

"Oh, presumably this person must be a talent, for the Prince to take the initiative to recommend..."

Zhu Lingxu nods, thinking for a moment, Wang Lengran coughs, Zhu Lingxu does not look at him, but reveals a little apology, respecting Wang Lixian:

"Prince, the vanguard involves the major event of the expedition, this subordinate must go back and discuss it carefully before making a reply."

Wang Lixian nods, a short while later, the meeting ends.

The next day, the meeting is held again, Zhu Lingxu immediately gives an answer, his face full of difficulty:

"Sorry Prince, the position of vanguard, the Prince of Wei sent an order, arranging it for my son. The Prince of Wei said that my son is from Hongzhou, familiar with the terrain there, and serving as a vanguard scout is the most suitable."

The crowd looks sideways.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is just an excuse.

Yesterday you said there was no arrangement, today you brought out the Prince of Wei, he is estimated to be still in Guanzhong, ten thousand miles away, the appointment news spread so fast?

Full of loopholes, too lazy to find more excuses.

Just don't want to split the cake.

Some things, asking again is not decent.

"Alright." Wang Lixian nods, revealing a little disappointment.

Ouyang Rong also sighs lightly.

Causing Wang Lengran beside him to look over,

Seeing his expressionless face, Wang Lengran is a bit gloating,

But he doesn't know that someone is muttering in his heart:

"Hongzhou Commandant is not enough, and another Vanguard Commander? The official is getting bigger and bigger, a bit embarrassed..."

A short while later, the meeting ends, and Zhu Lingxu, who is still very compliant and only brought ten personal guards into the city to discuss, stops at the door, smiling and sending everyone away.

Even if the Jiangzhou city defense is now handed over to Zhu Lingxu according to the state of war, he can change the city defense team and change the rules at any time.

But I don't know if it was forgotten or intentional.

At the east and west city gates, Ouyang Rong and the people and rules originally arranged by the Jiangzhou Government Office, Zhu Lingxu didn't move a bit, everything is as usual.

It looks like humble respect, but it looks more like... disdainful sarcasm.

Wang Lengran walks over and talks to Zhu Lingxu at the door.

In the corridor, before Ouyang Rong leaves, his ears faintly hear Wang Lengran's words from behind:

"The Prince of Wei heard that Lingxu brother was made difficult by villains, and can only bring ten people into the city daily. The Prince is worried about Lingxu brother's safety, and specially sent some masters to protect Lingxu brother. Li Li will bring people over today..."

He turns his head to look, Zhu Lingxu looks straight ahead, nods in gratitude, Wang Lengran turns his head at the right time, glances at him.

The two look at each other from a distance, Wang Lengran smiles, waves his hand at Ouyang Rong, as if explaining innocently that the villain he just mentioned is not referring to him.

But who exactly is being guarded against, does it really need to be asked?

Ouyang Rong nods lightly.

Good, good, good, not taking him along to split the cake is fine,

Now even a gentleman is guarded against.

"Alas."

Being a gentleman is not easy, Lianghan sighs.

Leaving alone.

New December, I wish everyone all the best. Cough cough, if you can vote for the gentleman at the beginning of the month, it would be even better or2 (eagerly)

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 364 =====

A new twelfth month is here; I wish everyone all the best. Ahem, if you could vote for this gentleman at the beginning of the month, it would be even better. or2 (Eagerly waiting)

(End of chapter)