In the battle of Jiangkou, the main force of the Niujiaozhai bandits was annihilated, and Zhu Pingjin gained the freedom to collect contributions, controlled the county seat of Pengshan and a large amount of land, seized the whole truck of gold, silver and jewelry, and 8,000 free human resources; Liao Daheng used Zhang Guangzu's head and his achievements in exterminating bandits to keep his own career and share Zhu Pingjin's sponsorship fee. Everyone takes what they need, tacitly agrees, and everyone is happy.

On the morning of 17 February, the day after Liao Daheng received Zhang Guangzu's head, the governor Yamen convened a meeting of the provincial officials.

Zhang Guangzu's head was washed white, and his hair was broken and recombed, which was even more standard than when it was on his body. It was placed on a black-lacquered plate, covered with a red cloth, and placed in the corner of the large table in the main hall of the governor's yamen.

"What is this?"

Obviously not the governor's seal.

Mysterious things always make people's curiosity flare up, and this is the first time since the governor is sick and on leave, he has convened the three divisions, military equipment, and other civil and military officials in Sichuan to discuss together.

As one of the two, the patrol press should have come. However, the old inspector has already left his post, and the new inspector Liu Zhibo (Note 1) has just left Beijing, and it is estimated that it will take two or three months before he arrives to take office. As the leading general, the Sichuan general should also come. But the general soldier Fang Guoan still led the army to stay in Kuizhou Mansion and would not be able to return for a while. It is rumored in officialdom that Fang Guoan will be transferred to the chief soldier of a town in the Chu Army because of the previous defeats.

Liao Daheng limped out of the back hall and was supported by the two masters. There were tears on his face, and it was clear that he had just cried bitterly. The officials were shocked in their hearts, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute and greet them.

Liao Daheng sat down in the main hall, and all the officials took their seats.

TYCOON LIAO ANNOUNCED THE BAD NEWS WITH SADNESS: "BENFU RECEIVED NEWS THIS MORNING THAT THE THIEF HAS BROKEN XIANGYANG CITY, AND THE KING OF XIANG HAS ALREADY (HONG)!" After saying that, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

The death of the vassal king is the death of the country. The governor is crying bitterly, and the officials below dare not cry? This is not a trivial question of whether an individual has feelings or not, but a political issue of right and wrong related to loyalty and disloyalty!

The officials wept together, and the sound shook the beams of the house, so frightened that several crows on the cornices hurriedly fled, leaving a series of ugly and strange cries in the sky.

Seeing that the play had been done enough, Liao Daheng finally stopped crying.

"After receiving the news, he also said: After the thief defeated Mengzhen in the first month, he hurried out of Sichuan and entered Jingzhou, and King Hui was frightened three times a day and couldn't sleep at night......

Who knew that the offering thief was extremely treacherous! When he heard that our army was gathering in Jingzhou and Xiangyang was empty, he actually led a light horse to gallop 200 miles in one day and one night to reach the vicinity of Xiangyang. He also ordered the 28 cavalry to disguise themselves as officers and soldiers, and mixed into the city with the captured Yang Gebu troop transfer documents. In the middle of the night of the fourth day of the first lunar month, the ambush soldiers in the city set fire to attack the officers and soldiers while they were in chaos. After dawn, Xiangyang unfortunately fell, and King Xiang was executed!

According to legend, the thief sat high in the middle hall of the palace, gave King Xiang a glass of wine, and said: 'I want to behead the heir Chang, and the heir Chang is far away in Shu, and now I should use the king's head to make the heir Chang to trap the feudal lord.' Wang Qi tried his best to make this glass of wine. As a result, the king of Xiang and the king of Guiyang died on the upper floor of the west city of Xiangyang, and the wealth of the royal family was not in the hands of thieves! ”

Liao Daheng recounted the details of the death of King Xiang that he heard, and his eyes turned red when he finished speaking, and he almost cried again.

Liao Daheng's words are clearly using Zhang Xianzhong's words to defend Yang Sichang! Sichuan officials hate Yang Sichang to the bone marrow and are naturally very sensitive.

Chen Shiqi, the deputy envoy of the school, took the lead in getting up and attacking: "Yang Wenweak led thieves into Sichuan, and he has been in trouble for many years!" Now, the thief has returned to Jingxiang, like a fish entering the sea, where it can still be trapped! Yang Wen weakly mentioned the soldiers of several provinces, the salary of a country, bullying the Son of Heaven, and the people of Li, this crime is already unforgivable, so why should he be charged with trapping the vassal! ”

Since Chen Shiqi was disrespectful, Liao Daheng immediately decided to fight back. Otherwise, according to the customary practice of the proceedings, the next step would be for the crows to attack him.

Chen Shiqi is a Fujian man, whose name is Gongfu, and his hometown is said to be on an island in the East China Sea (Note 2).

He was in his fifties, served as a military garrison in Chongqing, Guizhou, and Ganzhou, and served as a student in Guizhou and a senator in Jiangxi, dealing with students and thieves. He lived a simple life, was stubborn, and was good at talking about military affairs, which was welcomed by the students and soldiers who were also good at talking about military affairs, and was also deeply appreciated by the officials of the Beijing division who were also good at talking about military affairs. It is said that the emperor has accepted the recommendation of the court officials and appointed him as the deputy envoy of the Sichuan military garrison, and the vacancy was replaced by the old champion Zhang Shaotong, and the edict is already on the way, and it is estimated that it will arrive in a few days.

The official of the deputy envoy is the deputy envoy of the probation, who is in charge of the academic affairs of a province as the deputy envoy of the probation, so he is called the deputy envoy of the study, or the Taoist of learning, and the scholar is called the great master. The official of the deputy envoy of the military garrison is also the deputy envoy of the criminal prosecution, commonly known as the military supervision road or the military preparation road, as the first military deputy of the governor, and is also the fourth product.

From the deputy envoy to the deputy envoy of military armament, although the official quality has not been promoted, the weight is very different. Since Xuande, the posts of governor and governor have gradually changed from temporary dispatch to permanent status in a province, and they have become the highest civilian officials in the local government.

Since the governors and governors are in high positions, they must be carefully selected for appointment, so the qualifications for promotion have gradually formed. The governor generally has the qualifications of the right capital of the Imperial Court or above, and is promoted by officials such as the six Shangshu, Shilang, and local governors; THE GOVERNOR GENERALLY HAS THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE IMPERIAL HISTORY OF THE METROPOLITAN PROCURATORATE (QIAN) OR ABOVE, AND IS PROMOTED BY THE LIANGJING TEMPLE QING, SHAOQING, DALI TEMPLE CHENG, LOCAL SENIOR POLITICAL ENVOYS, ACCORDING TO THE INSPECTION ENVOYS, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, MILITARY DEPUTY ENVOYS, SENIOR PREFECTS AND OTHER OFFICIALS.

During the Chongzhen years, the Tartar Koubian and the thieves were rampant, and the military in various places became heavier, and more and more people were promoted to governors by the deputy envoys of the military garrison. Not to mention the far, the nearest one is Liao Daheng himself, who was promoted from the deputy military envoy to the governor of Sichuan. After he was promoted to governor, the post of deputy military envoy has been vacant, and he didn't want the imperial court to appoint his political rival Chen Shiqi to take over.

"Lord Chen, it's not good to be rude to Yang Gebu." Liao Daheng's tone was not serious, but the meaning of the warning was strong, "The world knows that the Yang Pavilion is the Son of Heaven, and he is deeply relied on by His Majesty. The small people in the market do not know the difficulty of suppressing thieves, do not know the difficulty of money and food, and discuss current affairs in vain, because of their ignorance, let them indulge. Now that the country's fortunes are bumpy, we are all important ministers of the imperial court, and at that time, we shared the worries of the saint and solved problems for the imperial court, and it was difficult to say things that were not important! ”

Liao Daheng said something absolutely politically correct, making it difficult for his political opponents, and by the way, he lost a few words about Chen Shiqi.

"Yang Thief is indeed the Son of Heaven Jianba, but he deceived the Holy Lord and failed the Holy Grace, which is really shameless!" Chen Shiqi was not stumped by Liao Daheng's words at all, and his speech was as fast as a cannon: "Now the difficulties of the Xiang Domain are all caused by Yang Thief!" Now he still wants to deceive the saint, don't say that Jingxiang people of insight will not rely on him, even if we are waiting, we must join him! ”

Chen Shiqi's fierce attitude seems to be very appetizing to several officials. They kept nodding their heads in agreement with the rhythm of Chen Shiqi's speech. Liao Daheng secretly remembered the names of these officials in his heart, and at the same time corresponded to the co-signers on the impeachment plaque one by one. He remembered all those who wanted to put him to death, and those who might be bewitched by Chen Shiqi and others. But he knew that even if he didn't remember it, the two masters Qian and Li beside him would secretly help him remember it.

"Sitting on the lost family, of course you have to participate!" Liao Daheng first made his attitude clear.

The vassal king is dead, and he is still dying so miserably, the court will definitely be held responsible, even if the Son of Heaven may not be able to keep it. Yang's fate has become irreversible.

Since Yang Sichang is a dead tiger, if you can step on it, you might as well step on two feet. Got rid of the relationship with Yang Sichang, and got rid of Chen Shiqi's entanglement, lest they scold Yang Sichang and secretly scold themselves every time.

"It's just that our immediate priority is to quell the riots outside the city......"

Before Liao Daheng finished speaking, he was interrupted by Chen Shiqi: "The people in Sichuan are in turmoil, all because the rulers are leviing taxes and tyrannizing the people of Sichuan!" ”

Chen Shiqi almost pointed at Liao Daheng's nose and scolded, "For the official side, you should ensure the safety of the party!" The palace has repeatedly sent a letter to Lord Futai, asking us to send troops to quell the chaos. Xia Guan and several colleagues all wanted to know, when will Lord Futai send troops and when will he be able to relieve the people from hanging? ”

Rao is Liao Tycoon's cultivation is very good, and he can't help but feel his blood churning in his heart. He looked at the lacquer plate on the table, suppressed the anger in his heart, and smiled: "Lord Chen's words are inappropriate!" The civil unrest in Sichuan was not a policy for the imperial court to levy and pursue the requisition, nor was it the fault of the local gentry who violently bullied the villagers. Such remarks are pure rumors about the remnants of the thieves! Diao Min was bewitched, which led to the current chaos! Lord Chen, don't say the same thing with the remnants of the thief......"

"Sacrifice the remnants of the thief? Unison? ”

Liao tycoon Zhu Bajie hit a nail rake, which provoked Chen Shiqi's sneer, "Where did the remnants of the thieves come from?" The thief went out of Sichuan at the beginning of the year, and Lord Futai also said that he was ...... in Xiangyang"

A kind of pleasure that attracted the enemy into the hub instantly spread to every pore of Liao Tycoon. He elegantly twisted a slip from the holder, and then used the tip of the slip to pick up the red cloth on the lacquer plate.

A huge human head stared at Chen Shiqi and other officials without blinking.

Yes! A few officers were so shocked that they left their seats.

"A bunch of useless things! He played to the emperor all day long, looking like a pillar of the country, but it turned out to be a silver-like wax spear! Liao Daheng scolded angrily in his heart, but his face glanced around majestically, making those gaffe officials sit down again in shame.

"This is the remnant of the thief! Zhang Guangzu, the brother of the thief clan, is the culprit of this civil unrest!

After investigation, this thief is an old thief! once followed the thief to break Luzhou and kill Su Qiong in Zhizhou; broke Renshou again and killed Liu Sance in Zhixian County. Due to the rapid pursuit of our army, hundreds of people including this thief were separated from the thief brigade and hid in the Longquan Mountain. After the thief left Sichuan, the thief was unwilling to hide, so he thought of making waves, sending minions everywhere, spreading rumors, and saying that the official gentry were tyrannical and bullying the people of Sichuan......"

Liao Daheng spoke softly, but it was like a big-eared scraper slapping Chen Shiqi's face. Several officials who had not yet chosen a side looked at each other, and it seemed that these two officials were endless.

"Why don't we know such thieves?" Chen Shiqi decided to fight back, and the breakthrough point was chosen on the authenticity of this human head, "Has Lord Futai ever tested a human head?" ”

"The human head is naturally tested. Zhang Guangpei, the thief's own brother, has been personally identified. In addition, dozens of generals under this thief have been identified and detained. As soon as the angel arrives in a few days, Benfu will naturally ask the angel to test it together! Liu Sance, the county governor of Renshou, fought against thieves alone, and the city was broken and died. The corpse was hung on the flagpole of the county government, and all the soldiers and civilians in the city were slaughtered! It's a sad pity too! Here is a posthumous copy written by Liu Hongting, the orphan daughter of Liu Sance, and it is sad to read it......"

Why did the good guy suddenly talk about Liu Sance? Chen Shiqi wondered in his heart, is there something wrong with the head thing? He decided to break the casserole and ask to the end.

"Lord Futai, the matter of the thief chief is very important, we all know nothing, I wonder if Lord Futai can tell me one or two details?"

Oh! Liao Daheng seems to have just broken free from his grief for Liu Sance and Renshou Junmin.

"The whereabouts of the thief are secretive, and he uses the chaotic people in various places as a cover, mixed in the chaotic people, and it is not easy to find out. It just so happened that Benfu was sick, and the shogunate offered a plan to lure the snake out of the hole, so that the thief chief exposed himself. Thief Zhang really hit the plan, and led the thieves to go out of the mountain and capture my Pengshan County......"

Note 1: Sichuan Governor Liu Zhibo (also known as Liu Zhibo in the history books) was appointed by Chongzhen in the fifteenth year, and the plot here needs to be advanced.

Note 2: It is said to be Dongshan Island, which is very close to Taiwan.