Chapter 510: Cutting the Gordian knot
Yan Luming nodded vigorously and told him that Yang Qichang had come again, and among them was Li Quan's wife Yang, who requested to meet the third young master.
Zhao Yulin began to marvel at the old woman's courage and bravery.
At this time when the two armies were fighting, Madam Yang dared to cross the line of fire and come to Shangqiu to find him, which shows her sincerity in submitting to the New Song Kingdom.
Seeing that he was still in deep thought, Yan Luming hesitated for a moment and said: In the past few years, his uncle and Li Gong had many exchanges, and the two families often visited each other and were not strangers. Li Gong was a righteous man. He dealt with the northern barbarians in Shandong and did a lot of good things for the people.
Madam Yang intends to surrender to our New Song Dynasty. She came to Shangqiu to get the final word from the Third Young Master.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said: General Xingyun is out on military duty, he will go to the government office to see Mrs. Yang.
The two men went out and walked along the canal in the opposite direction toward the state capital.
They had only walked past ten shops when they heard the deputy captain of the guard, Zuo Liangchen, shouting, "Lie down and protect the third young master." The guards around them quickly pushed Zhao Yulin and Yan Luming to the side of the street and threw them to the ground.
Then, Zhao Yulin saw several arrows whizzing in from the river, and pedestrians on the street dodged in panic.
Two boats, one large and one small, came quickly from upstream. On the bow stood a row of ruthless men holding bows and arrows, constantly shooting arrows at the shore where Zhao Yulin and his men were hiding. The guards behind Zhao Yulin came up and immediately set up Zhuge crossbows to shoot back, covering Zhao Yulin's departure.
As soon as the two entered the alley, they heard a deafening explosion coming from the street.
Zhao Yulin recognized it as the sound of a grenade exploding.
Damn, this gang of criminals wanted to kill Zhao Yulin, and actually threw a grenade into the street. It was obviously a well-planned and well-prepared plan to kill Zhao Yulin.
He had just stood still when Wu Yuqi rushed in with a sword in his hand, and asked him with concern if he was injured.
Zhao Yulin said with a smile: How could that happen when I have my wife to protect me?
The woman told Zhao Yulin that they had walked south for a long time and felt that something was fishy about Dale's case. They were worried that it was a smokescreen set by the enemy to transfer her away to harm her brother. So they handed the task to Zhang Qi halfway and asked Ke Zhenxie to go all the way to Jiankang Prefecture to supervise Dale's case, and she came back quietly.
Zhao Yulin pulled the woman into his arms and hugged her tightly. He heard a fight on the canal, with shouts and explosions.
Yuqi told him: It must have been done by Hubili's assassins. This group of people followed him from Hebei to Chengdu, and then from Chengdu to Shangqiu. They are really evil and have not yet given up. She wants to kill them all.
He said that the seven Vajras had all gone up there and they couldn’t escape.
The woman still broke free from Zhao Yulin's hands and rushed forward with the sword in hand.
Zuo Liangchen said that this place is under the control of Madam Yuqi, so the young master should go to Mr. Yang's house to do business.
Zhao Yulin looked in the direction of the canal for a while and called for a start. The group walked through the back streets and alleys to the provincial capital. When Xiao Yan saw his official uniform covered in mud, he immediately ordered the maid to help him bathe and change clothes.
He stopped them, asked the guards to help with a simple cleanup, and then asked the guest to come out to meet him.
Later, Li Quan's confidant Yang Qichang came out, supporting Mrs. Yang. After the two sides exchanged greetings, they sat down as host and guest and talked.
Zhao Yulin said with a smile that he had just fallen and apologized to his wife for making her laugh.
Madam Yang already knew that someone was planning an attack on the canal, and she said guiltily that it was she who put Commander Zhao in danger. It was such a sin, such a sin.
Zhao Yulin said that there was no sin at all. Madam took the risk to come to Shangqiu, which was a real risk. It was just a good opportunity for us to seize the opportunity to eliminate these evil people.
He got back to the point and asked directly what Mrs. Yang wanted after Shandong returned to the New Song Dynasty.
Madam Yang was stunned for a moment and said: "I, a guilty minister, dare not make any request to the court when I return home." But her husband was a little uneasy and wanted to get confirmation from Commander Zhao.
Zhao Yulin listened to Madam Yang talking, and felt much more comfortable without the equal negotiation style of Yang Qichang. He said with a smile: "You can say whatever you want. I will tell you everything I know and speak the truth."
Mr. Yan then helped Madam Yang to express all of Li Quan's concerns. Madam Yang kept nodding her head. Although she did not have the same negotiating momentum as Yang Qichang, her concerns were still similar.
Zhao Yulin wanted to end the war in Shandong as soon as possible and decided to cut the Gordian knot.
After taking a sip of tea, he said solemnly: Lord Li and his wife had taken refuge with the Mongol Empire in the past, and they were also persecuted by the treacherous officials of the court. Lord Li did a lot of good things for the people when he led Shandong and dealt with the north, which was witnessed by all.
If Shandong can return safely, he will petition the Chengdu Central Court to pardon all charges against those who surrendered from Shandong.
After Shandong's return, Lord Li can go to Taijiantang in Chengdu to continue serving the New Song court. The rest of the officials need to learn about the New Song's philosophy of governance and laws before being assessed and appointed. This is the rule for selecting officials in the New Song's Ministry of Personnel.
As for the army, it needs to be comprehensively reorganized. Based on the principle of freedom of coming and going, those soldiers who are willing to demobilize and return home will be resettled back to local areas to farm and serve as garrisons, leaving behind elite troops to work to recover China's mountains and rivers.
He believed that Li Tan could be the commander of the Shandong garrison, and the Ministry of War would send inspectors, guards and staff officers at all levels to assist in the management of the army. However, it was necessary to establish soldiers' associations at all levels to achieve unity between officers and soldiers, just like the army of the New Song Dynasty.
Finally, regarding the post-war reconstruction of Shandong, he asked Mrs. Yang to believe that the new Song Dynasty's measures to restore Shandong's economy would definitely be more extensive than they imagined.
Mrs. Yang listened very carefully, and Yang Qichang even acted as a stenographer beside her.
She was very happy when she heard Zhao Yulin say that her husband could work at Taijian Hall. Although Taijian was a sinecure, it was a great honor in their minds.
She was excited when she heard that after the reorganization of the Shandong army, the garrison would still be led by her eldest son.
This was equivalent to handing over the safety of Shandong to the Li family, which meant that the Shenwei Army believed that the Li family was sincere in their allegiance. This was enough, and she made up her mind to go back and convince Li Quan that he must return to the New Song Kingdom.
Zhao Yulin asked Zuo Liangchen to lead the guards to escort Madam Yang out of the country, and then sat down to continue drinking tea with Yan Luming.
A guard came back to report: the attackers on the canal had been wiped out, and Chief Steward Wu was interrogating and clearing out the hidden enemies.
Yan Luming reviewed to him that the anti-espionage work in Shangqiu was not done well and frightened the third young master.
He said that Shangqiu was on the front line of the fight against the Mongols, and the enemy's infiltration was everywhere. The task of eradicating traitors was arduous, and it was not Xiao Yangong's fault. We just had to keep thinking of ways to eliminate these tumors and tighten the fence.
He said goodbye and went back to write a letter to Feiyan, reporting his opinion on how to deal with Shandong.
In the southern province of Thang Long, the Fire Phoenix was arresting rebellious and corrupt officials in the city.
Among the remnants of the Chen Dynasty, many loyal followers refused to give up even after seeing the collapse of the Chen Dynasty. They intended to support the bloodline of the Chen family to rebuild the court. After being discovered by the Fire Phoenix, they quickly launched a campaign to clean up and suppress the rebellion.
However, even so, the newly appointed officials were still killed. A few remnants of the Chen Dynasty even attacked their compatriots and killed the officials of Thang Long Prefecture appointed by the Fire Phoenix, and even spared Li Shu's younger brother Li Guo.
Fortunately, the Fire Phoenix adjusted its alert and defense, and equipped the Lord of the Kawachi Cave with guards, otherwise the losses would have been great.
The enemy's indiscriminate killing aroused the hatred of the army and people in the newly built Thang Long Province. The people of the whole city united to catch the rebels, leaving the remnants of the Chen Dynasty with nowhere to hide.
The Fire Phoenix was cracking down on counter-revolutionaries and traitors while distributing relief food, and the order in the city was improving day by day.
On this day, the King of Zhennan of Dali Kingdom personally escorted the grain and fodder to Thang Long Prefecture, and the Fire Phoenix happily received them.
Duan Xiaolin reported to his sister Fenghuang: Dali did not have much surplus grain, so he and his sister Sihan used their own money to buy new grain and sent it to his sister-in-law.
Huo Fenghuang didn't care whether Duan Xiaolin was telling the truth or a lie. She accepted the money with a smile on her face and asked Duan Xiaolin to deduct it from Xin Song's loan. Xin Song would never default on its debt.
This made Duan Xiaolin feel embarrassed. He told Huo Fenghuang that Sihan was still collecting grain, and if there was any need later, they could send down another 30,000 kilograms.
Fire Phoenix said with a smile: "That's good. She thanked him on behalf of her third brother." She would use the food that the people of Thang Long Prefecture needed most to regain the people.
The soldiers of the Shenwei Army began to check every house and deliver food to every household to ensure that no one was hungry.
The people of Thang Long Province were happy. In the past, the army of the Chen Dynasty would whip people if they didn't like them, or even beat them with sticks, fists and kicks to drive them away, and they didn't care about their lives.
The Shenwei Army of the New Song Dynasty had a heart as kind as the living Bodhisattvas in the temple. They sent them life-saving food, which was new rice.
Not only that, the Shenwei Army also helped the people repair their houses, and the military medical officers provided medical treatment and medicine to the sick. There has never been such a good army.
In Jinguan City of Chengdu, King Zhao Feiyan received a report from the Fire Phoenix: the Shenwei Army had successfully entered Thang Long City and was dispatching officials and garrisons to various places. A big stone in her heart fell to the ground, and she left the court early and went to Baihuatan to talk with her mother Kuang Sisi.
Kuang Sisi was delighted to see her good girl coming, and she took Feiyan to the pavilion for tea.
In midsummer, the pergolas on both sides of the pavilion are hung with grapes that are carefully cared for by gardeners. Each grape is like a jade bead and is exceptionally large.
Kuang Sisi shouted happily: Eunuch Luo, Eunuch Luo, please pick some quickly for our king to taste.
Zhao Feiyan cried out in embarrassment: Mom, what are you teasing me for?
The mother and daughter sat down and drank tea with happy faces.
At ease, Kuang Sisi saw Feiyan's slightly worried look and asked: What's the matter? Are you worried about Yulin's safety or is there something wrong with the court?
Feiyan shook her head and said that state affairs were simple. The new Song Dynasty was at peace, all the ministers were concentrating on handling government affairs, and the army was winning victory after victory in the south and the north. How could there be any difficulty?
I haven't talked to my mother for a long time, so I came here specially to see her.
Luo Mingqiu picked some grapes, washed them and brought them over, complimenting Princess Feiyan for being a child of destiny. He said that the third young master had taken half of Shandong with just one move. In his opinion, the surrender of Li Quan was imminent.
The Shenwei Army in the south has conquered the Kingdom of Yue, making the entire Yue Kingdom the Thang Long Prefecture of our new Song Kingdom. Our king is truly blessed with great fortune and great luck.
