On the evening of the seventh day after returning to Yanzhou, Shang Cheng had just returned home from the Admiral's Mansion when he received a reply from Li Shen from Duanzhou.

This letter was not delivered by the post army, nor was it transferred from the Wei Mansion, let alone delivered to the Admiral's Mansion, but was directly handed over to him by an officer sent by Li Shen. Because of the hurry, the people sent by Li Shen were so tired that they couldn't even stand on their feet when they arrived

After arranging for someone to lead the lieutenant of the seventh grade to go down to rest, Shang Chengcai read the letter by candlelight.

On the envelope are square, straight, large and small lines. The big line is inscribed "Brother Zida of Yi County", and the line is downgraded to a string of small characters "Pingyuan Li Shen's handwriting".

Shang Cheng pondered about this unusual title and payment while opening it and reading the letter. Li Shen knew that he was coarse in writing and ink, so the words were not elegant, and he wrote clearly and clearly:

"Brother Zida, the letter has been received, and the case is panicked and worried. The bandit chieftains died in the chaos, and the remaining bandits identified and resigned on the same day and the military intelligence document as evidence, and the Wei Mansion also had a case file. Duanyan mountains and rivers are blocked, but I hope Zida will be cautious and cautious, and don't be taken advantage of by the people who talk evil about the night.

The day before yesterday, he had ordered the garrisons of all units stationed in the 10 counties of Yandong to be closely deployed along the river roads, and gathered 16 battalions of the four brigades of Zhengchu County in the north of Duanzhou to attack from the east and west to the north and south, so as to completely annihilate the rebels north of Tiaoshan. Military details are attached to the letter. Seeing this, Shang Cheng turned to the end of the thin few pages of letterhead, and there was indeed a rough map drawn on a piece of paper, marked with mountains, rivers, roads, where to set up checkpoints, where to build outposts, and where to transfer the garrison to advance and retreat, and annotated them one by one. He glanced at it roughly, but without looking too closely, he continued to read the letter.

"Again. The seven brigades of the Yandong garrison, and a total of 41 battalions in the military village passes of each county, belong to the Weifu, the three armies and the governor's mansion, the food and salary are different, the orders are mixed, and they cannot be unified with each other, and the command of advance and retreat is inevitably negligent.

"Sincerely. Plains Li Shen. Date. ”

He read the letter from cover to cover, and then placed a few pages of snow-white bamboo paper on the table.

Exactly as he expected before, Li Shen did not admit that Qi Bald had slipped through the net. But Li Shen argued for himself on the one hand, accused others of being villains, and kept "reminding" himself not to forget the "predetermined matter", and put the three brigades including Yandong Qian, Laosan, and Fan Quan under his command, which was completely beyond his expectations, and he thought that after Li Shen was exposed to the trick, he would settle down a little, at least until he broke Hao Laodao's Huanghuazhai before mentioning this matter. Who knows......

With his eyes closed, he leaned back in his chair, slowly combing his sideburns and gently massaging his temples, which were aching.

This afternoon, Zhang Shao brought Wen Mu, the deputy envoy of the Weifu Governor's Division, who had just returned from a business trip in Duanzhou, to find him, and the three of them talked for a long time behind closed doors.

The first thing Wen Mu said was what he learned about Qi Bald's leakage. Qi Bald's bandits had already been bitten by Qian Laosan's soldiers, just because Li Shen wanted to give his henchmen a large piece of credit, and strictly ordered Qian Laosan to "not act rashly", but the several teams that were encircled failed to connect with each other, and finally let Qi Bald take advantage of the chaos to escape.

Wen Mu not only talked about this matter, he also mentioned what Li Shen did in Duanzhou. What particularly made him angry was the fact that Li Shen supported the soldiers to build roads and extort money and grain from the local people, and then filled his own pockets. This matter was shaken out by the local civil officials, and now it has been spread to everyone, not only making the Wei army lose face, but also affecting the reputation of Shang Cheng It is said that the Duanzhou Mansion originally did not plan to pay this money, and it was because of a Jun order from the Admiral Shang Cheng that the state government had to take out the money.

This is really wronged. This money came out of the Duanzhou Treasury, but in fact it was not the money from the Duanzhou Mansion, but he lent it, but it was only issued to Li Shen in the name of wages under the signboard of Duanzhou. The day after he returned to Yanzhou, he had already used his minister's money to fill back the treasury of Duanzhou.

Shang Cheng's statement surprised Zhang Shao. Zhang Shao never thought that Shang Cheng would shield Li Shen like this. I really don't know what Shang Cheng thinks! Doesn't he know that just because he didn't become a commander, Li Shen has been stumbling on him behind his back? Doesn't he want to remove the word "fake position" from his head and become a real commander? The two things that are happening right now, whether it is lying about the results of the battle or inviting money and food, any one of them can easily make Li Shen get out; As long as Li Shen gets out, who else on the ground in Yanshan can compete with him? Even if the imperial court has other plans at that time, the three provinces and six ministries will have to consider the recommendation of local military officials, and the position of this admiral will still have to be surnamed Shang!

Wen Mu was also surprised.

Unlike Zhang Shao, Wen Mu didn't think about it so "long-term", he just looked at these two things from the perspective of military affairs. It was precisely because he did not consider it from a political perspective that he was even more angry at Li Shen's actions. The right army is the main force of the Yanshan Guard, and its duty is to guard Yandong, not the local garrison. As for Li Shen's lying about the results of the battle, he didn't think there was anything. Although it is said that this matter is not big or small, it cannot be said that this may not necessarily be Li Shen's intention, maybe the people below made a mistake in the surprise and chaos and Li Shen neglected to overlook? But Li Shen missed the fighter in order to compete for credit, and he should be severely punished!

Shang Cheng asked Wen Mu at that time: "Then how do you say to punish you?" ”

Wen Mu said without hesitation: "The Admiral's Mansion issued an order to reprimand, demote and retain, and Xu Li Shen will atone for his crimes." ”

Shang Cheng could not agree with the opinion of the deputy envoy of the Zhibing Division. He and Wen Mu have different starting points, so they consider completely different things. In the past three years, the Turquoise people have been active in Yandong, and it is obvious that the steppe barbarians have used this place as a new breakthrough point to the south, which means that for a long time to come, the Yandong region will be an important battlefield for both sides. Li Shen is a veteran general of Yanshan, with prestige and achievements, can lead troops and fight, and is familiar with the geographical environment, so he is the most indispensable figure in Yanshan at present. For such a general, any decision that will adversely affect his commander's orders must be cautious and cautious, and careful and careful.

Wen Mu and Zhang Shao reluctantly accepted Shang Cheng's explanation.

But Wen Mu still felt that Shang Cheng was too indulgent to Li Shen, and it would not be good for both of them to go on like this Li Shen was already arrogant, and the relationship with Wei Fu was not good, Shang Cheng's connivance would make him even more arrogant and domineering, and he would not take Wei Fu in his eyes in the future, and he might cause trouble at some point, so he suggested that Li Shen be recruited back from Duanzhou to report on his work. He said: "Even if you don't punish Li Shen, you must at least knock him down." ”

"Not right now." Shang Cheng said, "The matter of Yandong's suppression of bandits is very important, and Li Sima can't leave for the time being." ”

Zhang Shao and Wen Mu both saw that this was an excuse for Li Shen to become Shang. There are one or twenty generals of the fifth rank and the captain of the sixth rank in the Yandong area, encircling and suppressing a few bandits, and just pulling one or two brigade commanders out to do it, so why do you have to let Li Shen sit there and command? Shang Cheng's favoritism towards Li Shen certainly made them dissatisfied, but since the governor said so, what else did they have to say?

Now, holding Li Shen's reply, Shang Cheng couldn't help but think of what Wen Mu said to himself when he left:

"Zida, it's wrong for you to do this."

No, he didn't feel like he was doing anything wrong. He and Wen Mu have different responsibilities, and they look at the problem from different angles, everything he is doing now is the best plan after repeated weighing......