When we arrived at Zhongmu County, it was already late at night, and the gate of the county seat was closed. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info Li Zhi called to open the city gate as a privy deputy envoy, passed through Zhongmu County, and the group ran straight to Kaifeng City.

When discussing with Cai Qi before leaving, Cai Qi was still hesitating. The overnight return of a privy deputy envoy and a deputy envoy of the Third Division to Beijing is bound to involve extremely important matters, and the shock is not small. Qiao Datou's matter, how can it seem that it is not so important, the two ministers rushed back overnight, is it a big fuss?

Xu Ping reminded Cai Qi and Li Shi that the party envoys went to Wutai Mountain to do business, and once they were done, they would go directly back to the party from Daizhou. If they really have the task of being a spy, they just happened to see the mountains and rivers on the border along the way. Starting from Daizhou, passing through the Ninghua Army, the Lan Army, the Baode Army, Fuzhou, and Linzhou, and returning to the party, the end of which happened to be the place where the party had been harassing in the past few years. If Zhao Yuanhao is against Song, it will also be their primary direction of attack. This is not a trivial matter, but it must not be delayed for a moment, and the party envoys must be stopped halfway.

If others say this, the two rulers may not attach much importance to it, and when these words come out of Xu Ping's mouth, the weight is very different. This is a person who has really led troops to fight, and naturally has his own unique views on analyzing the military situation.

Soon they discussed and decided, Cai Qi stayed to deal with the rest of the affairs, and Li Shi and Xu Ping returned to Beijing overnight. As soon as the gate of the outer city of Kaifeng is opened tomorrow, the two of them will be the first to enter the city, and they will go to Yang Jingzong to find out what happened and the result.

All the way along the avenue on the bank of the Bianhe River, the wind that hit the face carried water vapor and the unique atmosphere of the night. The croaking frog didn't know where to hide, and it didn't stop barking all the way.

Xu Ping's mood was a little complicated, and he couldn't put it into words. Will Zhao Yuanhao be opposed? Xu Ping, who has memories of his previous life, can answer with certainty that he must be opposed. Does it have much to do with what Qiao Datou reported this time? It matters, but it's not going to be much bigger. Zhao Yuanhao has been preparing for so many years, and Song has no precautions against him, and he must have already figured out the border geography and even Song's military deployment through various channels. This time, it is a real spy who only understands the geography and people on the border, and it may not be related to military operations.

However, Xu Ping must take advantage of this opportunity to make the imperial court more vigilant against the party, make targeted arrangements, and reduce losses as much as possible in the event of a war. Another point, Qiao Datou is a person he knew in Yongzhou, and he was his old subordinate back then, no matter what kind of person he is, he is not something that a cat or a dog can bully casually.

Xu Ping really went to confront Yang Jingzong and protect his own people, but the matter would not be resolved. On the contrary, Xu Ping didn't mention a word about Qiao Datou's identity from the old department of Yongzhou, and he bit him to death for the sake of the frontier military situation, and Yang Jingzong was in big trouble this time. With Empress Dowager Yang there, it is impossible to have any physical punishment for him, but if he is not kicked to the Far Evil State Army to suffer, Xu Ping will not finish this time. In the future, when he really fights with the party, Yang Jingzong's bad deeds will often be mentioned, and he will not want to get any good errands in this life.

Returning to Beijing overnight, for Xu Ping, there are public and private, and to be honest, the private component is even greater. For so many years, Xu Ping has always promised that everything must be said to others, and this time he made an exception, and he naturally had an unspeakable feeling in his heart.

The mood is complicated, Xu Ping is not so pedantic as to think that he has done wrong. Where can everything in the world go your way? There is always a time when people have to do it.

His old subordinates back then, the people who were transferred to the capital were not doing well, why didn't Xu Ping know? But now that he is in the Third Division, he doesn't care about the army, and he can only treat it as if he doesn't know. I have led troops to fight in the past, and now it will be taboo to meddle in the affairs of the military. Those who can only pass through the bridge and the army can give some convenience to their old subordinates, and often help make up for it, but Xu Ping himself can't come forward.

Although Qiaodaoxiang Jun is also affiliated with the Privy Council, many of the things he does on a daily basis are related to the three divisions, and he is under the dual leadership of the two yamen, and Xu Ping cares that no one will say anything. Sanya, especially the front division of the palace, is the most reliable armed force around the emperor, and the prime minister does not dare to say anything easily, who else dares to care about him casually?

As for the Imperial City Division, to be honest, regardless of civil and military, no official in the court looks at this yamen pleasing to the eye, and if something happens, I am afraid that it will be the officials of the Manchu Dynasty who fall into the ground. Wang Huaijie's identity is embarrassing, and Yang Jingzong can't count on the Imperial City Division to help him at all, just to see how much pressure he can withstand.

Compared with the inner city, the gates of the outer city are closed early and opened late, basically according to the rules of opening the door at dawn and closing the door at dark. The hours of darkness and dawn are according to the time of the celestial supervisor. Of course, the management of the outer city gate is far less strict than that of the inner city and even less strict than the imperial city, Xu Ping often went back late and called the city gate home, and there is a long list of his records from the Imperial Historical Observatory and the Imperial City Division. Home is outside the city, what can be done?

It was the darkest time before dawn, Xu Ping and Li Shi took Li Zhang and others to take Xinzheng Gate.

Stopping the horse, Li Shi said: "It won't be long before the city gate will be opened." After a night of walking, we went there to drink a bowl of wontons, so as to fill our stomachs and nourish our spirits. ”

Let the two soldiers look at the horses, and the group went to the wonton stall not far from the city gate and asked for wontons.

This stall is the business of people who get up early and go into the city, and when they see a large group of people coming to take care of their minds, the owner is so happy that he can't keep his mouth shut, and runs back and forth to greet him.

Li Shi had a large entourage, and a lot of time had passed by the time everyone had eaten. Xu Ping had the heart to let people go home and say it, but after thinking about it, forget it. If you have something to do, don't make a fuss.

After drinking the wontons, I couldn't wait long, and the sky just got a little light, and the city gate slowly opened.

Li Shi and Xu Ping took the lead and let Li Zhang lead the way, through the Xinzheng Gate, through the Old Zheng Gate, along the Mianyuan Street, and straight to Tianshui Lane. Regardless of how things turned out last night, they still had to go there first.

The fog was thick in the early morning, and after walking a short distance, my hair was wet, and my clothes were wet.

There were no pedestrians on the streets, and the hooves of horses were knocking on the stone pavement, making a crisp sound.

When the soldiers who were patrolling the streets or sweeping on the road heard this sound, they all raised their heads to look, and suddenly saw the honor guard of the Qingluo umbrella coming out of the dark shadow, and they were so frightened that they hurriedly flashed to the side of the road to make way, and they didn't dare to raise their heads.

When the team passed, these people talked a lot, early in the morning, how could there be a prime minister from outside the city? Looking at the direction of the team, it's not to go to the court, what is going on in the city?

Turning to the avenue by the Bianhe River, businessmen began to appear on the road, walking briskly on the road with their burdens, one by one low and not speaking. It was only when the horse team swept past them that they suddenly looked up.

There are two streets in Sweet Water Lane in Kaifeng City, the first Sweet Water Lane in the east and the second Sweet Water Lane in the west. Li Shi and Xu Ping and their entourage, as soon as they arrived at the intersection of the second Tianshui Lane, suddenly found that there were many torches lit here, which were as bright as day.

Seeing that there were a lot of soldiers standing under the torches, Li Shi and Xu Ping didn't know what was going on. Li Shi called his entourage and went up to the leader to ask why such a person was here.

The attendant lifted the reins of the horse, stepped forward and said in a loud voice: "Privy Council Li Xianggong is here, who are you leading the team, come out quickly, Xianggong has something to ask!" ”

As soon as the words fell, a military attache of four or fifty-five ran out of it, and said loudly as he ran: "Tao Tianli, the small left second carriage inspection envoy, return to Xianggong's words!" ”

The attendant brought him to Li Shi and gave an account of his errand.

As the inspection envoy in the capital, Tao Tianli naturally recognized Li Shi and Xu Ping, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

Li Shi asked in a deep voice: "Let me ask you, early in the morning, why did you bring so many people to block this intersection, what happened in the alley?" ”

Tao Tianli arched his hand and said: "Back to Xianggong's words, inside the alley, inside the alley-" Speaking of this, Tao Tianli hesitated, glanced at Li Zhang, who was beside Xu Ping, his eyes lit up, and he immediately became fluent in speech. "Back to Xianggong, there is an estate of Imperial City Division Yang Taiwei in the alley, yesterday because he didn't know what was going on, there was some quarrel between him and several forbidden soldiers of the palace division, and the two sides confronted each other and threatened to put a duel to the death. The little one got the news and hurriedly brought the soldiers. It's just, how can these people under me be able to suppress them? Tossed all night, until now. ”

Li Shi and Xu Ping glanced at each other and nodded, but they didn't expect that they were not too late.

Kaifeng City is divided into 16 compartments according to the regional city inside and outside the city, which is roughly similar to the district of the city in later generations, and is basically equivalent to the county-level administrative unit. Originally, the imperial court wanted to set up a magistrate and put this administrative level on a solid basis, but the urban areas were all dealing with market figures, and the affairs were complicated, and the scholars did not want to be this official, and the chief executive was still fictitious. Only those who have specific ministries and are responsible for public security are truly fully staffed.

The area around Sweet Water Lane belongs to the second compartment of the left army in the old city, generally referred to as the left second compartment.

The old city and the seven compartments of the new city in the city are directly under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture, and the nine compartments outside the city belong to Kaifeng County and Xiangfu County. The second compartment on the left is a place directly under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture, although there are officials on duty in the house at night, but whether it is Yang Jingzong or the military attache of the front division of the palace, which one can the officials manage? The prefect of Kaifeng Mansion can barely manage it.

I didn't care about it, and I didn't dare to let them make trouble, and I couldn't afford to take the blame if something happened, so I sent the inspector of the second box on the left to guard here, and took people to watch it, as long as it didn't really fight.

Duan Laoyuan gave Li Zhang a good analysis, the two sides didn't really want to fight, they both wanted to overwhelm each other in momentum, and there was a patrol inspector with soldiers to see there, and they confronted each other all night, and they didn't make a move.

Xu Ping and Li Shi rushed back overnight, just right. An hour later, there was someone in the yamen, so they took over the matter, but it took a lot of effort. (To be continued.) )