Ningguo Houfu

In the study, Ning Guohou Feng Yanting was rubbing his forehead with his fingers, listening to Zhuang Yi's report on the recent situation.

"Bian Hao has obtained most of the boundaries of the Chu State, because he is the one raised by the King of Yan, His Majesty has recently rewarded the King of Yan with a lot."

Ning Guohou commented lightly: "King Yan's foundation in the army is getting stronger and stronger, and he will definitely compete with the East Palace in the future. ”

The Eastern Palace of the Southern Tang Dynasty was not the crown prince, but the emperor's younger brother Li Jingsui, but Li Hongyi, the eldest son of the Tang Emperor Li Jing, was brave and good at fighting, and had a very high prestige in the army, while Li Jing was indecisive, which led to the incompatibility of the two forces, and gradually formed a party dispute.

"Bian Hao is too generous, and his rule is excessive, and the land of Chu will be in turmoil for a long time." Zhuang Yi said.

Ning Guohou waved his hand and said: "Then it's not something we need to worry about, the people you sent to the imperial court are back, has anything happened recently?" ”

Zhuang Yi hesitated for a moment and said, "Recently, there have been rumors that the privy envoy Wang Kai is going to return to his hometown, and several deputy envoys are moving around to compete for the position of the envoy. Jiang Huai has also been active for his brother from time to time recently, and has secretly gone to the palace of Chizhou County many times. ”

"That stinky old man, can't you stand up to such a little pressure? Is he gone, leaving my eldest brother alone on the fire? Ning Guohou stood up violently, furious.

Ning Guohou's brother Feng Yansi is a Zhongshu Ling, and like Wang Kai, he has not been involved in party disputes, forming a neutral faction, and the two are supporting each other, and Donggong and King Yan are not easy to force each other.

But if Wang Kai leaves, Feng Yansi's situation will be extremely bad.

"And Brother Jiang Huai seems to be ready to take refuge in King Yan, I'm afraid it will be more difficult to deal with in the future." Zhuang Yi added.

"Master Hou, our side is ready, it's better to let the old man return to his hometown." Liu Angjin said.

"No, there must be someone in the court, otherwise we will be like deaf and blind on our side." Ning Guohou waved his hand.

"Then it's better to let the boss pretend to take refuge in the East Palace, and then withdraw when we are ready."

Feng Yanting glared at him and said, "How dangerous the party struggle is, as long as it is involved, how can it be so easy to retreat." ”

He sat back in his chair and said in a deep voice: "My eldest brother has a lot of people, it should be able to hold out for a while, we must speed up our actions now, Liu Ang, how is the situation of the officials sent from various places?" ”

"Most of the officials are quietly integrating into the local area according to the plan and preparing for major events, but only Lu Yuan, the county commander of Shexian County, has become a fire and water with the local officials, and the movement is very noisy." Liu Ang said slowly.

Ning Guohou's brows furrowed deeply.

"I heard that Lu Yuan used methods to pull out the local forces, and he has already controlled the forces of Shexian County." Zhuang Yi defended Lu Yuan.

"But the reason why he was able to do this was not to rely on the prestige of the Hou Ye, I heard that he also had a big quarrel with Xue Sima of the Assassin's Mansion, and he also sent his subordinates to suppress bandits everywhere, and the other subordinate officials would write letters every few days to report the situation, only he, since he went, not a single letter came!" Liu Ang said coldly.

"Otherwise-" As soon as Zhuang Yi spoke, he only heard the sound of "touch", Ning Guohou slapped it on the table hard, and said angrily:

"This Lu Yuan, I originally thought he had some talent, but I didn't expect to be so brutal, I don't know the general situation, Liu Ang, you write me a letter and warn him. In addition, he doesn't have to agree to any requests in the future. ”

"Yes." Liu Ang smiled secretly.

"Master Hou, in this case, Lu Yuan is only afraid that it will be difficult to do things." Zhuang Yi was surprised.

"He can't do it, so I'll let someone else do it." Ning Guohou said lightly: "Immediately send a letter to recall Song Gang, Lu Weiyi, and Lu Ning, I want to reformulate the strategy." ”

"Yes!" Liu Ang arched his hand.

Two days later.

Ning Guohou Mansion, in the garden of the back house, Feng Yanting was lying on the lap of his concubine listening to music, and two other maids rubbed his feet.

At this moment, Zhuang Yi came quickly with a happy smile on his face.

"Master Hou, Lu Yuan is here." Zhuang Yi said with a smile.

"Are you here to plead guilty?" Ning Guohou said lightly.

"He sent you 200,000 taels of silver!"

Ning Guohou kicked away the two maids, stood up violently, and asked, "What did you say?" ”

"He brought you two hundred thousand taels of silver!" Zhuang Yi smiled.

"Where did he get all that money?" Ning Guohou was incredulous.

"Just ask him yourself, he's waiting in the study!"

Ning Guohou hurriedly put on his shoes and ran to the study, even for a feudal official like him, 200,000 taels of silver is not a small amount, not to mention that he is now seeking to seize big things, and he needs silver turnover the most.

A shadow suddenly followed him, like a shadow, it was Wei Feng.

Walking outside the study, he suddenly heard Liu Ang's voice in the room, Ning Guohou thought about it, stood by the door, and listened to the conversation inside.

I only heard Liu Ang ask:

"Isn't that just a raid? Do you know how much trouble you will bring to Master Hou if you mess around like this? Who wouldn't raid their home? But the rabbit will bite when it is urgent, and those heroes will not rebel if they are forced to be urgent? Won't Jiang Huai use this to make a fuss against Hou Ye? He was aggressive and asked a series of questions.

"As I have already said, it is not a raid, but a voluntary donation to the government." Lu Yuan said slowly.

"It's good that you deceive the people with your words, and you don't recruit them from the truth in Houfu!" Ryu Ang sneered.

Seeing that his tone was mean, Lu Yuan calmed down and said patiently:

"This is the truth, the prisoner Cao Jian suddenly woke up during the interrogation, he is still imprisoned in the county jail, if the judge does not believe it, he can go over and take a look."

"How can this official have the spare time to go to you, I don't care if you are beaten into a trick or use any other means, you must cover me tightly, don't make a civil uprising, otherwise even the Hou Ye will not be able to protect you at that time!"

Outside the door, Ning Guohou lowered his voice and asked Zhuang Yi:

"Ling Bo seems to be a little hostile to Shang Bai, why is that?"

"Master Hou, you forgot, Liu Ang once proposed to kill Lu Yuan." Zhuang Yi reminded in a low voice.

Ning Guohou was so shrewd, he knew what he meant, and thought to himself, no wonder he never said good things about Lu Yuan.

"If you go in first, I'll be there right away." He commanded.

After speaking, he took a few steps back, waited for more than ten seconds, stepped on heavy steps, and walked into the study.

I saw Liu Ang, Lu Yuan, and Zhuang Yi all standing on both sides, Lu Yuan's face was heavy, and Liu Ang was smiling.

Seeing Ning Guohou coming in, the three of them said in unison: "I've seen Master Hou." ”

Ning Guohou waved his hand and said with a smile: "Shang Bai has worked hard from afar, drink a glass of water first." As he spoke, he poured a glass of water and handed it over.

Lu Yuan didn't shirk it, and after taking it, he drank it all in one gulp.

"I heard that Shang Bai brought 200,000 taels of silver to Ben Hou, I don't know what's going on?"

"Master Hou has heard of Eleven Village?" Lu Yuan asked rhetorically.

Ning Guohou looked at Zhuang Yi, he immediately knew what he meant, and said: "Eleven Village is the largest nest of bandits around She County, I heard that there are some bandits inside, and there have been county orders to try to exterminate them before, but they have all failed. ”

"The secretary is really knowledgeable." Lu Yuan arched his hand to Zhuang Yi and said: "After arriving in She County at the beginning of the next year, I secretly investigated and suspected that someone in the Yamen of the Assassin History had colluded with the Eleven Villages to rob the merchants, so I began to plan to secretly exterminate them. ”

It turned out that this was the purpose of his suppression of bandits, Ning Guohou thought to himself, and glared at Liu Ang fiercely.

Liu Ang was about to argue, but Ning Guohou waved his hand and said, "Uncle Ling, you go out and get busy." ”

"Yes." Liu Ang's face turned pale and he nodded.

Waiting for him to go out, Ning Guohou sighed: "It turns out that Shang Bai led the officials to suppress the bandits for this reason, but what happened later?" ”

"Later, I broke Bazhai, and found Cao Jian, Li Yuan, Chen Guang and the letters of collusion between the thieves from Bazhai, Cao Jian is a big businessman, and after my interrogation, he suddenly woke up, and gave 210,000 taels of family wealth, and his subordinates left 10,000 taels on their own initiative, and asked Hou Ye to forgive his sins." Lu Yuan said.

Ning Guohou raised his head and laughed, stood up and said, "If Ben Hou is really so stingy, I'm afraid that you will all run out the next day, leaving Ben Hou as a bare-bones commander." Shang Bai, Ben Hou only needs 100,000 taels, and the other 100,000 taels belong to you! ”