In the city of Jinzhou, the army of the Shence Army is resting and recovering. Whether it is the soldiers and horses led by Wang Yuan or the soldiers and horses led by Gao Xianzhi, they all need to rest and recover. Wang Yuan's more than 80,000 soldiers and horses were too tired and tired when they crossed the Shu Road, and Gao Xianzhi's soldiers and horses were even harder, they encountered several major battles, and they were also plagued by a shortage of grain and grass, and they needed to rest.

Regarding the lack of food that Gao Xianzhi talked about, Wang Yuan began to feel that there might be some delays, either because the roads were difficult to travel, or because of the delays caused by frequent wars, so he didn't think too much about it. However, when Wang Yuan privately summoned the logistics officer in charge of grain and grass in the army to inquire, he suddenly found that the matter was much more serious than he imagined.

The quartermaster Wang Yuan asked was a logistics officer who followed him to Tongzhou to fight. I didn't know, but after asking, the quartermaster told Wang Yuan that in fact, the grain and grass that should have arrived when he was in Tongzhou had not arrived in the army from Chengdu. However, due to the large amount of grain and grass materials captured after the battle with Shi Siming's army, there was no shortage of food in the army. The logistics quartermaster also thought that because more than 100,000 stones of grain and grass had been seized, Wang Yuan issued an order to postpone the delivery of grain and grass.

How could Wang Yuan ever give such an order? More than 100,000 stone grains are a lot, but more than 100,000 soldiers and horses can only last for about half a month to 20 days. During the war, the war horses ate fine grain, and the food was better than that of the soldiers, and more than 100,000 stone grains could not withstand many days. He led the army out of Shu to fight, and the supply line was very long, so he had to replenish grain and grass materials before leaving Shu, so as to facilitate long-term combat. As a result, his own soldiers and horses had run out of food when they were in Tongzhou. It's incredible.

Wang Yuan immediately ordered the removal of the quartermaster from his post and punished by military law. This person is unqualified, in charge of the army's food, and more than 10 days after the deadline for the army's rations have not arrived, he actually did not come to report, this kind of behavior is bad and irresponsible. But in addition to the dereliction of duty of the quartermaster, there must have been a problem on the side where the grain and grass were transported. Gao Xianzhi's grain and grass did not arrive on time, and he would think that there were some reasons, but now that he was in Tongzhou, the grain and grass were smooth, and the grain and grass did not arrive, which means that there is a problem.

And the problem of food and grass for the army has been handed over to Fang Xuan when he left Chengdu to send troops, and Fang Xuan also promised himself, and now that this situation has occurred, Wang Yuan can't help but suspect that it is Fang Xuan's problem.

Wang Yuan didn't want to think about the problem in the worst way, so he waited patiently for a few days, hoping that the delayed food would reach the army, but it was just a matter of delay, and it was much lighter in nature. However, three days passed, and there was not even a shadow of a grain cart. On the mountain road leading to Shu, Wang Yuan also sent cavalry to investigate, but there was no news. Seeing that the army's food stocks were being consumed day by day, and there were only seven or eight days left, Wang Yuan finally couldn't sit still. He was almost certain that the grain and grass would not be delivered, and someone had pulled his own hind legs at this critical time and trapped his army in Jinzhou. Without a sufficient supply of grain and grass, the army did not dare to cross the Qinling Mountain Road and march to Chang'an, which was tantamount to self-defeat.

Wang Yuan immediately informed Gao Xianzhi of this situation, Gao Xianzhi was shocked after listening to Wang Yuan's narration, and thought for a moment: "Brother, there is no doubt that there must be something strange in this matter, and there is no need to guess here, so let's go back to Chengdu to find out the reason, and we also need to mobilize grain and grass to send to the army, otherwise we will be in big trouble." ”

Wang Yuan shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it won't be possible for my brother to go back, and I need to go back for this matter." Brother, the 130,000 troops here will be handed over to you, I will return to Chengdu quickly, and a part of the grain and grass will arrive within ten days. And the soldiers could not be made aware of this, so as not to cause confusion. In addition, it is necessary to closely monitor the outside of the mountain pass, if the rebels attack when the food is cut off, it is the most annoying. ”

Gao Xianzhi nodded and said, "That's what I said, it's useless for me to go back without you going back." However, if someone is really making trouble behind your back, what are you going to do with it, brother? I mean, if it's really Fang Xuan who did something behind his back, what can you do? ”

Wang Yuan sneered: "What can I do? Slowly, it is Fang Xuan, even if it is Your Majesty this time, I will never give up. Let's hope it's all a misunderstanding, although I don't believe it's a misunderstanding. Without further ado, I will leave immediately, and I will leave everything in the army to my brother. ”

Gao Xianzhi sighed lightly and arched his hand: "Brother, don't worry, everything here has me, but you don't rush to get angry, think twice about everything, and take care of yourself." ”

Due to the need to ride lightly and quickly, Wang Yuan only brought five hundred personal guard cavalry from Gongsun Lan and Zhao Qing and Tan Ping to accompany him. The group set off at the right time and entered the Shudao Pass in the evening. In the middle of the first month, the moonlight was full, Wang Yuan and the others did not rest, taking advantage of the moonlight to rush overnight, until the moon set in the second half of the night before resting for a while.

After such a hard day and night, and all of them were light horses, the foot was very fast, and they arrived in Tongzhou in two days and three nights. After resting in Tongzhou for the night, he set off from Tongzhou the next morning and ran until dark. After resting in the mountains for a few hours, he waited until the middle of the night when the moon rose before he hurried, and finally arrived in Chengdu on the morning of May 22.

The journey took three days and three nights, and everyone in the group was sleepy. Wang Yuan's smooth and handsome face also became black and thin, a layer of jagged stubble appeared on the side of his mouth, his eyes were bloodshot, and the whole person looked extremely haggard. Gongsun Lan didn't have anything unusual, but she was distressed when she looked at Wang Yuan's haggard appearance.

The group immediately entered the city, and the soldiers and horses defending the city were soldiers of the Shence Army, and when they learned that the marshal had returned to Chengdu, they immediately reported it to Li Mi. When Li Mi learned about it, he hurried from the barracks to greet him. Wang Yuan asked him not to make a noise first, he didn't want His Majesty and the court officials to know that he had returned to Chengdu, because he wanted to secretly investigate the ins and outs of the matter, and then take action after mastering the situation.

Wang Yuan and his entourage did not return home, but went directly to the eastern military camp of the Shence Army to rest. Wang Yuan didn't even take a sip of tea, and the first thing he ordered was to ask Li Mi to immediately take his own hand and send someone to the granary to load grain trucks and transport them to the army, which must be delivered within seven days. Li Mi immediately sent someone to do it, and when he turned around, Wang Yuan had time to tell him the ins and outs of the matter.

After Li Mi listened to Wang Yuan's narration, he jumped to his feet angrily and scolded, and the first sentence was: "It must be Fang Xuan, the ghost of the turtle son, it must be him." ”

Wang Yuan hurriedly asked, "How do you know it's him?" ”

Li Mi told what happened in the city during this time. Speaking of the fact that Fang Xuan came to the barracks to suppress the people after the victory in Tongzhou that day, he also talked about the matter of His Majesty's decree appointing Shouwang Li Maoyao to lead the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, and talked about the recent vigorous recruitment action in Chengdu.

Wang Yuan listened to him quietly, and suddenly understood most of it in his heart. He led the army desperately outside, and the imperial court did so many actions in the back, and he didn't know anything. Let Shou Wang Yao lead the envoy of the festival and recruit soldiers and horses in Chengdu in the name of recruiting Hedong rebel soldiers and horses, even a fool can see that this is actually to build another soldier and horse. Otherwise, if you recruit troops to quell the rebellion, why not in the name of the Divine Army? And do you want this Shouwang to raise rebel soldiers and horses in Hedong? This is to cover up, in fact, it is to build a new soldier and horse in Chengdu that does not belong to his command. Combined with the previous move of Xuanzong and Gao Xianzhi to rebuild the forbidden army that they talked about in private, this move is self-evident.

But in fact, Wang Yuan is not interested in these, what he cares about is that, according to Li Mi, King Shou has raised tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, so where does the money and food come from? Moreover, Li Mi said that the conditions for this recruitment were extremely lucrative, and the treatment of soldiers was equivalent to the treatment of petty officials, which led to a surge of people in the city to join the army, and everyone rushed to join the army. The soldiers in the Shence army were secretly greedy, because the treatment of Shouwang's soldiers and horses was twice as good as that of the Shence army. In such a tight situation for the imperial court, where did the money and food come from to raise soldiers and horses with such a generous treatment?

After listening to Li Mi's narration, Wang Yuan could basically understand why the grain and grass supplies in his army had not arrived for a long time. If it is said that it has nothing to do with King Shou's recruitment, Wang Yuan will never believe it.

But this matter needs evidence, Li Mi doesn't know anything about it, and he doesn't know the details of the internal species. Wang Yuan needed someone who knew the inside story to tell him in detail. After pondering for a long time, Wang Yuan said in a deep voice: "Old General Li, please go to the political hall in person, find Zuo Xiang Wei Jiansu, and privately tell him the news that I have returned to Chengdu, and tell him that I am in the Dongcheng barracks. ”

"What is the big handsome looking for Wei Jiansu to do? He's a man he can't be trusted. It's a man of all kinds. Does the marshal mean to ask what news came out of his mouth? Li Mi frowned.

Wang Yuan smiled and said: "It is precisely because of him that I want to find him." Go ahead, he'll definitely come to see me, I'm sure so. ”

Li Mi didn't dare to say more, turned around and left in a hurry. After he left, Gongsun Lan took a hot cloth towel to let Wang Yuan wipe his face and refresh himself, and at the same time asked in a low voice, "What is Erlang going to do about this?" If it was really Fang Xuan who gave the army's military rations and materials to Shouwang for recruitment, what are you going to do? ”

Wang Yuan was surprised: "You think so too?" ”

Gongsun Lan said softly: "It's not hard to guess. King Shou was suddenly named the envoy of the festival, which was to give him the right to recruit troops. It's all strung together. Fang Xuan must have embezzled military grain. And...... Erlang don't forget, since His Majesty has appointed King Shou as the envoy of the festival, it means that His Majesty may also know about this matter. Then things are not simple. ”

Wang Yuan took a breath of cold air, nodded slowly, and said, "You are right to remind you, it is very likely that Your Majesty also knows about this matter." But what I don't understand is that doesn't Your Majesty know that the suppression of the rebellion by my army is the top priority right now? If he really knew the whole story and chose to acquiesce, then I would be really disappointed. But no matter what, I won't give up, this time I can't tolerate their behavior, I have to all of them understand that if they want to bully me Wang Yuan, it will definitely not work. I'm not the one they can play whatever they want, and I don't want to be a loyal son. What if you provoke me, what if I turn the sky upside down? ”

Gongsun Lan was startled, and looked at Wang Yuan blankly for a long time.