Chapter 539: Wildfires Burn Endlessly

There is a temple of mercy and grace in the north of Liaozhou city, built in the middle of the mountain, the scale is not very large, but the incense is very prosperous. This temple was built very early, in the old days it was the royal temple of Goguryeo, after several rises and falls, once burned down by the Murwei people, until Li Mao moved the Liaodong Jiedu envoy to Liaodong City, and built a new Liaozhou City under the mountain, it prospered again.

The presiding monk of the temple, Monk Pingshan, is a senior monk from Luoyang in the Central Plains, and was invited by Li Mao to preach the Dharma here. But to be ashamed, Li Mao has never been there since the temple was built, and the reason is that he is too busy.

He is indeed too busy, everything is in his own hands, naturally busy, one day figured it out, put the power in his hands to the most trusted partners, when he walked into this quiet ancient temple alone, he suddenly found that many of the hardships he had suffered before were actually self-inflicted, there are many ways to live in the world, and he unconsciously chose the most difficult way.

Monk Pingshan is a monk with Taoism, he is not concerned about secular affairs, he is called the host, and he doesn't care about how many things, Li Mao came, he explained to the temple, accompanied Li Mao to play chess, discuss Buddhism, step on thousands of mountains to find thousands of waters, and go with a pure heart.

There were only three people who accompanied Li Mao up the mountain: Shi Kong, Han Zhenzhi, and Hu Sijin, Han Zhenzhi and Hu Sijin have become Li Mao's "insiders" since they married Taohong and Qingbai. When Li Mao came out this time, he wanted to take Shikong alone, but Lan'er had an extra heart and let the two follow, in case he was "happy" outside.

After the Liaodong Rebellion was quelled, Qin Mo and Chang Mucang were ordered to return to Youzhou and cut their own piece of the cake of counterinsurgency victory on behalf of Li Mao.

At this time, the general trend of Youzhou had been decided, and Zhang Hongjing continued to be his envoy to the festival, and his position was more stable than before the rebellion.

Zhu Wei was condemned as a rebel minister, and his head was sent to Chang'an, and his henchmen were killed, imprisoned or exiled, and there was no one left. Because his son Zhu Kejian was meritorious anyway, the clansmen were preserved, Zhu Kejian and Zhu Kerong were ashamed to stay in Youzhou and voluntarily rushed to Chang'an to accept the guilt.

Zhu Keding, the third elder of the Zhu family, insisted on Yanzhou, scolded the second brother for killing his father and standing on his own, and swore that he would break off his righteousness and be incompatible. The Khitans besieged the city for a winter and failed to break the city, and in the blink of an eye to the spring of the tenth year of Yuanhe, the Khitans went back to the grassland to graze their cattle one after another, Zhu Keding just breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly found that tens of thousands of counterinsurgency troops were killed violently, and the three generals were their mortal enemies.

After continuing to attack for half a month, the city of Yanzhou was broken, Zhu Keding led his own soldiers to flee westward, but was caught up by Yan Qin's light cavalry, Zhu Keding was cornered, drew his sword and killed himself.

One of the three great generals of Hebei fell.

Yanzhou is occupied by the Manor Department of the Xiongwu Army and the Cheng Weigong Department of the Lulong Army, and the two of them each account for half and are divided equally.

After the reconstruction, the main force of the Xiongwu Army was stationed in the west of Youzhou City, the Hao Jun Department of the Lu Long Army was stationed in the city, Cheng Weigong was stationed in the southwest of the city, and the Yan Qin Department of the Hedong Army and the Fifth Division of the Andong Army were stationed in the south of Youzhou City.

The two prefectures of Ying and Mo to the south of Youzhou were occupied by Wang Tingcuo, and Pingzhou was occupied by the Anton army.

Li Mao's army under Youzhou City was not much, mainly the teaching team, which was used to help the manor train the army, but more than 10,000 people were stationed in Pingzhou. One of the major advantages of fighting out of the town is that the ordnance, grain and grass are supplied by the imperial court, and the feudal town works for the imperial court, so it is logical to get a little benefit.

In addition, Pingzhou guards the throat road from Liaodong to the Central Plains, and Li Mao does not want Liaodong to be isolated from the world, so he must also guard the throat of Pingzhou.

Zhang Hongjing completely collapsed, almost overnight, he tried hard to collect all the bones of his wife and children, he locked himself in the house, lying alone among the bones of a pile of bones to fight his relatives.

The efforts were in vain, the bones were mutilated, and they were mixed together, and even men and women could not be distinguished, and how could they distinguish their identities.

The disheartened Zhang Hongjing completely lost interest in the military and political affairs of Youzhou, and entrusted everything to Wei Yong and Zhang Zonghou. With Wei Yong's full support, the Xiongwu Army was not only rebuilt, but also rapidly expanded its forces, becoming a powerful military force on a par with the Pinglu Army.

The newly formed Xiongwu Army was modeled after the Andong Army, with five divisions under its jurisdiction outside the military headquarters, with a total strength of 23,000.

The Xiongwu Army made the manor understand who he could rely on to make a comeback, and who was the real mastermind behind the scenes of this Xiongwu army under his command.

All the units of the Lu Long Army involved in the rebellion were all cancelled, Zhang Hongjing had no intention of caring about these things anymore, Li Mao insisted on carrying it out, he judged that Cheng Weigong, Hao Jun, Mu Dahai and others of the Pinglu Army would fully support it, and it turned out that Li Mao's judgment was not wrong, the Pinglu Army had been divided, and Cheng Weigong, Hao Jun and Mu Dahai just wanted to protect themselves, as long as the military power in their hands was not reduced, they cared about the life and death of others.

Zhang Hongjing went to the imperial court to announce the "sale of troops" in Youzhou, and the total number of troops was reduced from 100,000 to 50,000.

This move was strongly supported by Chang'an, and the court greatly appreciated it, and Zhang Hongjing's good reputation damaged by Zhu Hui's rebellion was repaired.

Youzhou Lulongjun is a highly professional army, after the army will be dismantled, there is no livelihood, but let Li Mao pick up a bargain, Li Mao selected the elite, organized into 12 "sharp battalions", enriched into the reduced Anton army, so that the overall quality of the Anton army has been greatly improved.

Wei Yong, with the full support of Li Mao, resorted to a means of ascending and descending secretly, and successively dismissed Cheng Weigong and others from their posts as assassins, concentrated them in Youzhou, and mastered the actual military power of Lu Longjun by strengthening his control over people.

In early summer, Qin Mo arranged the affairs of Youzhou and returned to Liaodong, and it took a lot of twists and turns to meet Li Mao in Bezhou. When Li Mao heard that Zhang Hongjing locked himself in the house and spliced the bones, his heart was very heavy, and he said to Qin Mo: "I worked hard to calculate Zhang Yuanli, just for Youzhou City, I really didn't expect to make such a fuss." I'm sorry old friend, I'm guilty. ”

Qin Mo said: "The blame for this matter is not you, it is me, I originally just wanted to create an incident and provoke the two armies of Xiongwu and Lulong to fight, I really didn't want to harm Zhang Yuanli's family." Zhang Yuanli's behavior in Youzhou is incompatible with the previous Yan Shuai, the people are very angry, it is easy to ignite the fire, it is too difficult to control the fire, and once the fire burns, I can only stare at it, I can only keep him safe, and the rest of the people can't take care of it. It was my mistake as a right-hand leader, a big mistake. I don't have the ability, please allow me to resign and retire to the mountains and forests, and be an idle cloud and wild crane like you. ”

Li Mao said: "You want to be beautiful, you can't pick a son now, you have to figure out the ins and outs of this Youzhou change for me." Why did it suddenly get out of control, why did so many people die at once? Which black hand is behind this, manipulating and pulling him out. Youzhou is calm on the surface, but in fact it is still a torrent, just like a fire that burned the grass on the grassland, but the grassroots are still there, the culprit is not dead, and the black hand is still there, so it must not be taken lightly. In addition, we ourselves should also reflect more, why the order cannot be banned, why some people violate the law, whether the family rules you set are too loose, whether there are big loopholes, why there are many people who disobey the order, and the person who ordered Zhu Xun to shoot has found out who it is."

Qin Mo said: "I advise you not to ask so deeply, otherwise everyone's faces will not look good, you understand what I mean." ”

Li Mao said: "I don't understand, what else can't you say in front of me." ”

Qin Mo said: "Okay, I'll make it clear, many of us hope that Zhang Yuanli will die, so that there will be no psychological obstacles for you to occupy Youzhou, people are dead, Youzhou is in chaos, you send troops to take over Youzhou, and avenge your friends, people will only praise you for your loyalty." But Zhang Yuanli is not dead, then Zhu Wei will die, Zhu Wei will not die, we will attack the city, many people will die, so many people will die, but the fruit of the future will be given to Zhang Hongjing, and everyone is not convinced. ”

Li Mao said: "So you make your own opinion, I don't kill Zhu Huan I have my own reasons, it's easy to kill him, what has happened, Youzhou has left a bane, believe it or not, within five years, Youzhou will be in war again, and more people will die by then." If you can finish the battle this time, you will have fewer deaths, and if you get Youzhou, I can give it to Zhang Yuanli, but will he ask for it, what if he wants it, it's not ours, why don't you understand this truth. ”

Qin Mo said: "You are handsome, you stand high and see far away, and the people below can only look in front of you." Who would know that Wei Yong, Zhang Zonghou, and Manor are our people, they will naturally think that Zhang Yuanli has the ability to regain control of Youzhou, and we are just busy in vain. ”

Li Mao said: "This is the crux of the matter, whether I command the right wing, or the right wing, I have reached this point, and you have an unshirkable responsibility." ”

Qin Mo said: "I'm wrong, I've always been in charge, I never ask about specific things, and you don't let me ask too much." What you said yourself, you can't help but admit. ”

Li Mao said: "A mess of mud, on the surface, my pro-army only obeys my orders, I am a man of all my word, and the result is that the tail is too big." So I put it under the staff hall and hope they will be a little more vigilant, are they awake"

Qin Mo shook his head: "I don't know if you're alert or not, anyway, no one dares to care about your pro-army"

Li Mao sighed and said, "I'll authorize you now, how about the right compartment."

Qin Mo said: "It's better to maintain the status quo, Qin Fengmian wants to expand his power, Li Guotai wants to restrict, Zeng Zhen wants to reuse, and he also authorizes Zuo Si to focus on supervision and engage in checks and balances of power, maybe there will be improvement." ”

Li Mao patted Qin Mo and said, "As you wish, you can't travel around the mountains and forests now, the right wing is merged under the staff hall, the temple is small, but there are still a lot of immortals, and you are still needed as a great god." ”

Neither of them wanted to be entangled in this matter, the strength of the right wing was getting stronger and stronger, Qin Mo was one of the eight chiefs at the beginning, and his status was too high, in order to prevent interference in politics, he could only keep a certain distance between Qin Mo and the right wing, so as to check and balance each other, but this design still seemed to have failed, and Qin Mo gradually couldn't restrain the right wing.

The only thing Li Mao feels fortunate about is that he only gave power to the right wing at the beginning, but did not give it a name, and if his fame and strength are missing a leg, he will not be able to make huge waves.

However, the self-expansion of the right compartment must be curbed as soon as possible, otherwise it is very likely to become the second copper tiger head, with its own thoughts, acting on its own, difficult to control, and even eventually rebelling against the master.

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