In early November, it was also snowing heavily in Jiangning for several days. In the cold weather, in front of the house and behind the house, the ice skates under the eaves are hung there like spears, in order to prevent the ice skates from breaking down and hitting people, three or five children run around with long bamboo poles, go to play ice skates, play very happily, and ignore the heavy snow on the body to wet the clothes.

A group of officers and men armed with knives and guns, escorting more than a dozen prisoner carts, braved the wind and snow and drove into the city from Donghua Gate. There were men and women in the prison car, presumably important prisoners, and behind the prison car, a long line of prisoners was strung with ropes, and there were more than 200 officers and men in custody alone.

Jiangning is now Xinjing, and the escort of so many prisoners into Beijing is also very eye-catching-the weather is extremely cold, and there is naturally a lot less excitement on weekdays.

At present, the prisoner car has a sign indicating the crime committed by this cadre, and some literate people shake their heads and read it: "Chen Hansan, the former envoy of Xuzhou, was worried about the emperor's grace, had a rebellious heart, wanted to sacrifice the city to the thieves, and colluded with the thieves to lure the Huaidong army into ambush, and fled in defeat." Chen Hansan openly raised an army to rebel in Xuzhou, and the evidence was conclusive, although it was a pity that the first thief was defeated and escaped, but he captured his family and deported him to Beijing for trial......"

The news that Chen Hansan rebelled in Xuzhou, colluded with Yanhu, and 50,000 soldiers and horses beat the 20,000 elites of the Huaidong Army under the city of Xuzhou to the point that they lost even their underwear. The details of breaking the ice and trapping the enemy are also spread in Jiangning. In order to hear and hear the truth, Zhao Shuhan also deliberately demonstrated the techniques of sprinkling salt and melting snow and charring ice in the thatched cottage of the estuary to promote miscellaneous studies.

The scholar Qingliu suddenly realized that he understood the reason, but the peddler and pawn knew how to spread these ways or how to pass them on.

In the battle of Xuzhou, although Liang Xi, the Duke of Lu, was still trapped in Dongping, those who understood the situation were always relieved in their hearts, eliminating the hidden danger of Chen Hansan, and with the elite of Huaidong in front of them, they could finally get through this winter with peace of mind.

When Chen Hansan rebelled, it spread, but only today did he see some criminals escorted into Beijing to stand trial, and there was always a tradition of "one person breaking the law and harming the family", and between the streets and alleys, naturally they would not be stingy with mud and snow, saliva, rotten cabbage and other people to take care of them, and even rushed up to beat them with their fists, or smashed them with bricks and stones. It took a lot of effort for the officers and men to push away the crowd and go to the prison of the Criminal Department.

When passing through Xiubai Building, the drinkers in the building also joined in the fun, and those who had good deeds brought a basin of cold water and poured it on their heads from the second floor, so that the officers and soldiers on the side were also involved and wetted their bodies.

In this cold winter with the north wind like a knife, it is not fun to wet the body with cold water, and the officers and soldiers are glaring angrily, and they want to break in to find the troublemakers. The leading general also knew that the people in the market were angry with Chen Hansan's rebellion, and stopped his subordinates from leaving the team without permission.

At this time, a guest on the Xiubai floor said: "Offended, offended, here are a few pots of wine to invite the military master to drink to keep out the cold, it is considered that Fu someone is making amends, and I also ask the military masters of Huaidong to kill a few more Hu dog traitors on the battlefield!" ”

Everyone praised, and some people threw down the robe, saying: "Wet Huaidong military master, big crime, big crime, a leather robe please put on a cold ......" between the window pavilions there are more kaki dancers and prostitutes who sell skin and meat poke their heads out, throw down the champas, and the eyes are full of flattery, and there are even more arrogant people who claim to entertain Huaidong generals for free, which also provokes a lot of applause, no one pays attention to the female prisoners who poured ice water in the prisoner car shivered, and they almost froze to death.

In a small pavilion in this Xiubai Building, two people stood in front of the window, watching everything in the street with cold eyes, and only turned to close the window when the line of prisoners was moving away.

In this wine pavilion, there is a foot stove to keep warm, with good charcoal, sprinkled with sandalwood foam, and the fragrant fragrance fills the room.

The two drinkers were both wearing a green robe, one with a white face and no beard, and the other with a dark face and a long beard reaching to the neck.

Looking at the past, the beardless man under his chin held a pot and poured wine for another person, and said: "Now that Huaidong has gathered 40,000 elites in Linzhou, and invited Dong Yuan and Tao Chun to lead troops over, they want to compete with Yanhu between Linzhou and Shouzhang, what does Yue Xiang think?" ”

"What is the emperor's mind?" Another asked.

"Qingzhou was defeated, Liang Guogong was surrounded in Dongping again, there was no old grudge to talk about, and the shock of Hehuai was enough to make people raise their hearts to their throats. At that time, everyone was worried about Chen Hansan's instability, and you can't blame you for this matter, the emperor also knows it; Chen Hansan's nail was pulled out smoothly beyond imagination, and if he didn't understand the siege of Dongping, it seemed that he couldn't say anything? The man said.

These two people are not outsiders, they are Yue Lengqiu, who was punished by the willow leaf flying to the enemy, and Zhang Yan, the envoy of the branch and the envoy of salt and iron. After Chen Hansan's incident came out, the day when Yue Lengqiu returned to the dynasty was even more distant.

It was inconvenient for Emperor Yongxing to summon Yue Lengqiu into the palace to ask for advice, and he was afraid of interrogating other ministers, so he asked Zhang Yan to meet Yue Lengqiu and ask about state affairs.

Yue Lengqiu didn't know whether the new emperor really trusted and valued him, or whether he intended to appease, but when he heard Zhang Yan say this, he knew that the emperor's mind did not really want to solve the siege of Dongping, presumably because of the grudge and support, and he did not want the Liang family to be able to hug under Liang Xi, the Duke of Lu.

Compared with the Liang family hugging together under Liang Cheng, the Duke of Lu, and letting the two brothers Liang Chengchong and Liang Chengyi lead the troops separately, the threat to Jiangning is much smaller.

I think so, but if the emperor exposes this idea, it will be immoral, that is, he will be unkind to his subordinates, and he will not be able to explain it to the government and the opposition and the world. As far as Yue Lengqiu understands the situation, Chen Xiyan and others are all in support of relieving the siege of Dongping, which makes the emperor even more unable to express his position, only complaining, Chen Xiyan and others will not figure out their intentions, but want Zhang Yan to come over and ask for advice.

Yue Lengqiu groaned slightly, and said to Zhang Yan: "When Lord Zhang went to find Chen Xiang, he asked him who should be the leader of the army in Linzhou, and he couldn't make a mess and fight his own ......."

Zhang Yan said: "I also mean the same, this Huaidong's reputation is now about to break through; Xuzhou's victory, there is talk of giving Lin Huaidong to the county prince and the national prince, if this is a big victory, what else should be sealed? Lin Huaidong is young, and he will never be willing to enter the court to work for each other, so there is nothing to reward. Since ancient times, it is not a good thing to have a high degree of merit, why do you say that Chen Xiang is confused for a while? Besides, Xuzhou won by luck, but it can't be repeated. As far as I mean, it is appropriate to act according to the previous arrangement: Lu Guogong broke through on his own, and the Changhuai army should take advantage of this favorable opportunity to retreat and preserve its strength, instead of recklessly fighting and gambling on all the money it has. ”

Yue Lengqiu sighed lightly in his heart, he knew that what he had just said was in vain, Zhang Yan was also a strange character, it was not good to lead the troops to fight, but Wendou was extremely fine, Huaidong's momentum was so fierce, if Zhang Yan couldn't see it, he would be blind; I'm afraid that Chen Xiyan also understands this truth in his heart.

However, the great victory in Xuzhou, the people's hearts are excited, if anyone on the court side wants to say that they will not fight, most of them will be afraid of the enemy and cowardly, and they will not save their reputation when they see death - the emperor does not want to carry this, Chen Xiyan naturally does not want to carry this, but I am afraid that Dong Yuan does not want to carry this, but if it really fights, whether it is victory or defeat, the outcome is not what the emperor or Chen Xiyan and others want to see, so at this time, someone needs to stand up and carry the black pot.

Yue Lengqiu has already carried too much of the black cauldron, and he is not qualified to carry this black cauldron now, so who can carry it?

As long as Tao Chun led the Changhuai army to retreat from Daliang, he would not be able to continue fighting, and Tao Chun would have to bear the charge of fear of the enemy's cowardice. But Tao Chun may not be willing to carry it, Tao Chun is a military general, seeking military fame and fortune, who wants nothing to be marked with fear of the enemy and cowardice?

Moreover, even if the imperial court issued an order to order the Changhuai army to withdraw, Tao Chun may still be tempted and instigated by Lin Tie, and join forces to fight Shouzhang's captives - so Yue Lengqiu is needed to be this lobbyist.

"As a minister, for the monarch to solve worries and solve difficulties, General Tao is loyal to the court, and the emperor will not punish him for his momentary cowardice; In addition, the luxury family also has traces of being ready to move on the Western Front, and the emperor's meaning is that he wants a minister who can rest assured to go to the Western Front to watch, and he can't let Huaidong carry everything. Seeing that Yue Lengqiu fell into silence, Zhang Yan knew that he had peeked into his intentions, so he simply pointed out his words: The emperor didn't want Liang Xi to escape from Dongping comfortably, and he didn't want Huaidong to make any more meritorious achievements and high achievements.

Yue Lengqiu sighed slightly in his heart, thinking that Lin Jian gathered troops in Linzhou, and he might not really be sure to drive away the enemy soldiers who gathered to help Yu Shouzhang, but it was not easy to say anything at this time, the battle of Xuzhou, no matter how you look at it, is the Huaidong Army's nine deaths, but it can win with a strange trick. In the current situation, he has no possibility of appearing again in a short period of time, but it is better to be released as a Xinjiang minister than to be idle in the house, nodded and said: "It is Yue's duty to relieve the king's worries, the snow in the city is so heavy, presumably the snow scene outside the city is more worth seeing, I will go out of the city for a trip!" ”

"There is Lao Yuexiang." Zhang Yan said.

After speaking, Zhang Yan and Yue Lengqiu left Xiubai Building with Hu Cong respectively.

***********

In the wind and snow, dozens of horsemen surrounded a plain carriage out of Jiangning and crossed the river to the north, from Dongyang through Haozhou, crossed the Huai River to the north to Wuyang......

Although Yue Lengqiu said that he was resigned, his whereabouts always affected the minds of many people, and Lin Xuwen also quickly knew that Yue Lengqiu left Jiangning and went north. Rushed Zhang Yubo back to Beijing to report on his work, went to a banquet at Lin Xuwen's mansion, and learned the news that Yue Lengqiu left Beijing and went north, so hateful that he dropped the wine glass: "Great rivers and mountains, great rivers and mountains, if you have the opportunity to take it back, you don't take it, and you have to give it to Hu Lu, where is the reason!" What is the reason of heaven! ”

Ordinary officials, whether they are in office or in office, must report to the department when they leave Beijing; How could a character like Yue Lengqiu leave Beijing casually? Without the emperor's acquiescence, Yue Lengqiu's departure from Beijing without permission will inevitably stir up monstrous waves - everything is silent, indicating that Yue Lengqiu's departure was acquiesced by the emperor.

If the imperial court wants to fight, a holy decree orders Dong Yuan, Tao Chun, and Liang Chengchong to be controlled by Huaidong, and if they can raise 140,000 troops in Linzhou, why do they need Yue Lengqiu, an old minister who is idle at home, to leave Beijing to do business?

In the past few days, several holy decrees have been issued to reward the merits of the northern armies, but they have been unwilling to authorize Lin Lian to preside over the war on the northern front with full authority, and at this time Yue Lengqiu has mysteriously left Beijing - Zhang Yubo is not a fool, Lin Xuwen and Huang Jinnian who were present are not fools, they can guess: The emperor doesn't want to fight anymore, but he has a good face, and he doesn't want him to personally order the troops on the northern front to be recalled, and wants Yue Lengqiu to go north and persuade Dong Yuan or Tao Chun to be the scapegoat.

Zhang Yubo was really angry, Lin Xuwen and Huang Jinnian glanced at each other, and echoed Zhang Yubo's words, but there was really not much anger in his heart - Lin Lian's mind actually didn't want to fight, so Huaidong didn't bother to pay attention to Liang Xi's life or death.