On the royal road in front of the Duanli Gate of the Shu Prince's Mansion, the two official sedan chairs were passing through the Lingxing Gate and hurriedly rushed to the Duanli Gate, the main gate of the Shu Mansion. In the sedan chair in front is the Sichuan governor Liao Daheng, and in the back sedan chair is the Sichuan governor Liu Zhibo. The two asked to see each other, naturally because of the riots of salt merchants in Fushun and Rong County, but Liao Daheng still had some other ideas.

In one battle, more than 3,000 were beheaded, 2,000 were captured, and two of the thief chiefs were beheaded, which in Liao Daheng's memory, was a huge victory comparable to the Battle of Onyx Mountain, the pinnacle of Zuo Ping's (Zuo Liangyu) military career. What's even more valuable is that the caravan guard is only more than 1,000 troops, against two forces of earth tyrants with a total of six or seven thousand, with a few heavy blows, with less to win more!

Zhang Zuokai's losses of hundreds of officers and soldiers and salt Ding were automatically ignored by Liao Daheng. Liao Daheng thought about it, and couldn't help but laugh out a row of white teeth. Fortunately, this is in the sedan chair, and no subordinate officials can see it.

"It seems that Zhu Pingjian, this kid is really famous!" Liao Tycoon thought excitedly.

Last night, Liu Zhibo took his son Liu Wenyu's family letter and ran to Liao Tycoon's house in a hurry to inform him of the news of the caravan's victory in Changping Mountain. Of course, Liu Zhibo didn't know that Liao Daheng and Zhu Pingjin had been in cahoots, and the news was half a day earlier than him. Liu Zhibo was excited, and Xianbao generally read a few paragraphs of the words in the letter aloud.

"It seems that this is the destined number of qi!" Liao Tycoon has a lot of thoughts.

In the past few days, in addition to receiving a briefing from Zhu Pingjin about the defeat of the caravan and the local tyrants, he also learned about some of the latest situations on the battlefield in Henan through a private message from Liu Zhenfan. The former governor of Sichuan and the current governor of Shaanxi, Fu Zonglong, the general of the Sichuan soldiers in the battalion of the three sides of Shaanxi, wrote to Liu Zhenfandao that Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue were forcing the thieves to come out and fight them in a decisive battle. These Sichuan generals were very scared and worried that they would not be able to come back, and hoped that Liu Zhenfan would take care of their families based on the affection of his colleagues and comrades-in-arms for many years.

"If Fu Zonglong is defeated, the thieves will turn to Kaifeng, and Kaifeng will be in danger! Kaifeng is in danger, and my Liao tycoon is also in danger! In addition to being happy, Liao Daheng suddenly worried about himself.

The emperor was bent on looking for a national city that Yang Sichang could rely on among his courtiers. He first selected the right attendant of the former military department and Ding Qirui, the governor of Qin, and gave him all the titles and honor guards of Yang Sichang, that is, all the rights. Who knew that Ding Qirui was a complete mediocre fool, not only did his military attachés ignore him, but the civil officials in Huguang adopted the method of not giving food or boats, so that he loaded a belly of horse meat and rolled out of the province in embarrassment. As for Ding Qirui, it is said that the emperor has been disappointed and is looking for a new supervisor. Although Fu Zonglong is "Pu Zhong" and does not like the emperor, he can still fight, so he is also one of the reserve candidates for the superintendent. If Fu Zonglong is defeated, he will naturally be punished, and maybe this unlucky errand will fall on himself who has just won the battle.

"Gotta find a chance to take the credit away! It's better to ask for another self-punishment! At the very least, the merits and demerits are offset! Liao Tycoon made a decision. But this credit is so great, how can it be pushed away? And to whom is it appropriate? Zhu Pingjian, or Chen Youfu? He didn't think it through.

Governor Liao Daheng wanted to make mistakes and blame him, but Liu Zhibo did not have the same superfluous good mood as Liao Daheng. He was tense all over now, and his head was sweating. He had the intention to urge the sedan chair driver to go faster, but Liao Daheng's sedan chair was blocking in front, and his sedan chair was not easy to overtake.

I wanted to do a good deed, not only to investigate and punish corrupt officials, to rectify the corrupt atmosphere of Sichuan officialdom, but also to get back a sum of silver for the empty Sichuan Domain, just like copying Fu Chongqi.

It's just a pity that the impatience of the upper officials made the lower officials inappropriate.

As soon as Fang Yaoxiang arrived at the Furong Salt Factory, he immediately sealed the accounts and checked them, and imprisoned the officials associated with Fu Chongqi. How can those old bad debts stand up to scrutiny? How many of those officials and salt merchants are clean? After a first investigation, almost all officials and salt merchants had the problem of tax evasion and illegal salt production.

Selling salt without permission is similar to selling illegal salt, and it can be cut off according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, which stabbed the hornet's nest. The salt merchant first bribed to soften, but the result was unsuccessful; Then there was intimidation, and the result was not successful. The principals of several salt merchants have been arrested and punished. Other salt merchants put themselves in danger and simply closed their businesses in protest. The salt workers and stove households lost their livelihood all of a sudden, and they were picked up by salt merchants with ulterior motives, and there was the scourge of the recent riots. If Fang Yaoxiang, as an official of the imperial court, threw his life away in the Furong Salt Farm, this matter would be a big trouble, and no one would be able to cover it up!

"Why!" Liu Zhibo thought indignantly, "Those salt merchants seem to be very reasonable!" In his last report, Fang Yaoxiang said that the salt merchants were holding stacks of quotation tickets and demanding that the imperial court honor them. But he couldn't get anything. The salt storehouse was empty, and even the dust on the floor was swept away; The salt merchant took the charter of the salt compendium, recited the promises of the court officials, cursed him, mocked him, begged him, debated with him, and argued with him...... There is cause and effect, there is a right and wrong, and all of them can be put into public opinion, but everyone complains! Why? Could it be that it was really me who made the mistake, and it was really the rules of the imperial court? ”

Liu Zhibo thought that his once rock-solid belief was becoming more and more shaken.

……

The autumn morning breeze is crisp and cool. Zhu Pingjin suspended the court meeting, leaving Zheng Anmin and Cheng Xiangfeng, and summoned Liao Daheng and Liu Zhibo in the Carrier Palace.

After the meeting, Zhu Pingjin gave tea and gave a seat, and without waiting for Liao Daheng and Liu Zhibo to speak, Zheng Anmin first told the two of them about the victory of Changping Mountain. After they listened, Zhu Pingjin immediately talked about his thoughts:

"The son of this world persuaded donations and salaries, and lost guards, Zhuang Ding, and domestic slaves to the camp, and had high hopes. Chen Youfu, Luo Jingyun and more than 1,000 officers and soldiers of the caravan fought bravely to kill the enemy, thwarted the enemy's front in Changping Mountain, and greatly increased the prestige of our heavenly soldiers. Now the head of the thief chief Yao Yuchuan and Yang Bingyin has spread to the states and counties in northern Sichuan, and everywhere they go, the officials and the people are all happy to look at each other, run to tell each other, and the people are longing, the sun and the moon! Outside the first issue of "Fuxing Daily" today, the people scrambled for a sneak peek. He also received hundreds of petitions. The people who invite the war include clans, scholars, Zhuang Ding, and left guards. From this point of view, protecting the country and the people, and exterminating the local tyrants is a sincere move to conform to the will of the people and win the hearts of the people! I have the world, and I am blessed by the will of God, so why worry about the thieves who will not be destroyed! ”

The prince came up to cheer up first, and on the surface it sounded like an officialdom cliché, but Liu Zhibo and Liao Daheng had different interpretations.

Liu Zhibo believes that the prince must have heard some pessimistic and depressing arguments, so he took this opportunity to remind the officials in Sichuan that in the autumn of the country's critical survival, only loyalty to the country is the duty of a courtier.

Liao Daheng thought more carefully. The war between officials and thieves in the Central Plains was about to break out, and Ning Jinming's victory was unknown. Shizi may have some news that others don't know yet, so he blows the wind in advance to make them a little prepared.

However, although the interpretations are different, they both know that the opening remarks of the prince are just foreshadowing, and there is substance underneath.

"Just now, the two adults knew that in the battle of Changping Mountain, thirty-seven members of the caravan were killed, ninety-one were seriously injured, and countless minor injuries were inflicted, and even Liu Wenyu, a staff officer of the battalion headquarters, was hit in the right chest by an iron. Fortunately, there is an iron armor body, so it is not a big problem......"

Shizi took the initiative to talk about his son, Liu Zhibo hurriedly stood up and thanked him, but was suppressed by Shizi with a gesture:

"Not only did the caravan suffer huge casualties, but also the military resources such as food, gunpowder, and iron were exhausted and needed to be replenished urgently, so they were unable to fight again in the short term! The two adults came by chance to discuss this matter! ”

The emperor demanded that Bazhou be recovered within a time limit, so no matter how difficult Sichuan was, it would have to fight with troops. Liao Daheng came today, in addition to the salt merchant riot, he also wanted the Shu Wangfu to send troops to Bazhou together. His planned plan was to adopt a four-way siege strategy, and the deputy general Liu Zhen's domain would go out of Lizhou Wei and Baizhang Pass and attack from west to east; Mo Chongwen, a general of the Chu army, went out of Dazhou and attacked from east to west; The deputy general of the Chu army, Zhang Zuokai, left Baoning Mansion and attacked through Yuxi; The caravan went out of Yilong and attacked Bazhou. Since the Chu army general Jia Denglian in Tongchuan Prefecture colluded with the Shu Wangfu, it was better for them to send two or three thousand troops to the vicinity of the southern county as the general reserve of the campaign. The reserve is deployed in the southern county, so the main offensive force is naturally the caravan with the power of the new victory. From Yilong County to attack Bazhou, it was less than two hundred miles away.

But as soon as Shizi opened his mouth, he sealed Liao Daheng's mouth, and Liao Daheng knew that Shizi's words were true.

The content of Liu Wenyu's letter not only unreservedly confirmed what Shizi said, but also made it clear that the caravan was actually very difficult to win. If it weren't for Lin Yan detonating the three hundred catties of gunpowder that Shizi had just sent a few days ago at the last moment, which shattered the morale of the Tu Tyrant's army, maybe the caravan would have suffered even greater casualties. Liu Wenyu said in the letter, more than 2,000 people of the local rioters suddenly made a plan to attack the east and west, and suddenly turned to the front to break through the position of the caravan, and the forward fortifications had been completely destroyed, and some of the local rioters even rushed into the position. Liu Wenyu, like all the officers of the caravan, was arrayed in the ranks, ready to fight to the death with the white blades of the local tyrants. Fortunately, the explosives in the coffin were not damp, and the lead in the bamboo pipe was not damp, and the earth-shattering bang blew up all the hopes of victory of the local rioters.

What to do? Liao Tycoon's brain teaser was in a hurry.

Does the prince really not want to participate in the Bazhou offensive, or is he using this as an excuse to let the province shed some more blood? If you want to bleed, there is no money and food, and gunpowder can be evenly distributed for 3,000 catties. Of course, this is too little. But in addition, what else can the province come up with? Swept?

Liao Daheng is still using his brains, and Liu Zhibo has already taken the lead in speaking:

"The lower officials are here to report two important things to the son. One was a riot against the people of the Furong Salt Factory, and the official minister of the imperial court was detained. The next official invited the prince, sent troops to Furong, and rescued Lord Fang! The second is the salt tax. The next official asked the prince for permission, and the palace would take over the salt tax in Shudi! ”