In the Liaodong Thorn History Mansion, the lanterns were colorful, singing and laughing, it was a birthday banquet of harmony, but because of Xue Rong's smashing of the cup, it suddenly became a Hongmen banquet, the protagonist of the banquet, the birthday star, and Zhang Heng, the Liaozhou record secretary and the army, could only watch the six ironclad guards rush to the hall like wolves, and held down the long history Zheng Xiaozhang on the table;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Zheng Xiaozhang bit his lip tightly and didn't say a word, as if he had expected this change.

Xue Rong stood up and announced Zheng Xiaozhang's crimes in a cold tone, including eight counts of corruption, bribery, arrogance, and disrespect. After saying this, he gave a look to the military capital to escort Lieutenant Envoy Huang, who personally led the guards to escort Zheng Xiaozhang down.

The more than 20 senior generals of Liaodong who participated in the birthday banquet looked at each other, and they did not dare to take a breath in their nervous atmosphere.

Zhang Hairong, the overseer, shook his head, got up and said goodbye to Xue Rong, who sent him to the bottom of the corridor and said goodbye.

With Zhang Hairong taking the lead, everyone said goodbye one after another, and even the birthday star Zhang Heng left for a while, leaving only Xue Rong and five or six close staff. Xue Rong's face was dark, his expression was cold and hard, he didn't say a word, he drank three glasses of wine in a row, and said to the judge Chen Wangfeng with red eyes: "Am I doing something wrong, the courtiers of the Tang Dynasty support the army and act arbitrarily, shouldn't they use thunderbolt means?"

Chen Wangfeng wants to say that the reason is such a reason, but there is something wrong with such an approach.

As Xue Rong's close staff, such a major matter was neither discussed with him in advance, nor explained to him afterwards, so he rashly asked such a sentence and asked him how to answer.

He didn't speak, someone spoke, and Huang Li, the general of the Shenwu Army and the commander of the Duzhi soldiers and horses, shouted: "Li Mao wants to follow Tian Chenghei and Li Baochen to divide power, and I, Lao Huang, will never agree." Please Shangshu give a warrant, and I swear to sweep away the remnants of Li Mao's party and return Liaodong to a clean and peaceful place. ”

Staff officer Wu Yuliang echoed: "General Huang is loyal and brave, and his husband is also." Li Mao changed his official position in Liaodong without authorization, supported the army and respected himself, gave his own orders, rewarded and punished excessively, raised troops to crusade against his vassals for no reason, and the people were resentful. Wangshangshu made a decision early, the first to strike is strong, and the last to strike will suffer. ”

The general strategists echoed one after another, Wu Yuliang, a native of Suzhou, is rarely famous, and can make a few fresh and elegant poems, but the staff and military officers are often confused, Xue Rong listened to his "high opinion", and his heart was extremely depressed for a while.

What happened to Li Mao in Ziqing, he didn't know, the imperial court suddenly sent a secret envoy, telling him that Li Mao rebelled in Ziqing, and asked him to immediately start searching for his henchmen, Xue Rong wanted to come to the envoy to show the secret edict, but the envoy couldn't get it, only took out a letter from the privy envoy Wang Shoucheng, proving that Li Mao did not have a heart of disobedience, and asked him not to hesitate to do it immediately.

Knowing that it might be a pit, Xue Rong still jumped down without hesitation, thinking that he was out of Liaodong by Si Nongqing, wasn't the purpose to calm down on behalf of the heavens and prevent Li Mao from slipping into ugly ministers like Tian Chengsi and Li Baochen This is beneficial to the court, Liaodong, and Li Mao himself.

I remember that when he left Beijing to take up his post, the Son of Heaven summoned him in the Zhonghe Palace, and in front of him, he scolded Li Mao for supporting troops in Liaodong and respecting himself, playing with authority, ignoring the laws of the imperial court, and playing with the two prison envoys in the palm of his hand, and being loyal and deferential to Chang'an, to the imperial court, and to him, the king.

When Xue Rong heard this, he was like five thunderbolts, crawling on the ground, crying bitterly, and immediately made a heavy oath: If Li Mao has the heart of disobedience, he Xue Rong will wield a sword to break the love thread, and do his best, even if he goes to the soup and fire, he must ensure that the Tang Dynasty does not lose Liaodong.

When the Son of Heaven heard about his loyalty, he turned his sorrow into joy, personally undressed and draped his body, and gave him a jade belt, which was soothed with good words and treated with his heart.

He Xue Rong is a loyal minister and a trustworthy person, and now that the oath he made back then is time to fulfill it, how can he hesitate

He told the secret envoy that even if he Xue Rong was full of liver and brains, he would never allow anyone to separate Liaodong from the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and he would never allow it

Now he only spent a few tables of banquets, and easily ensnared Zheng Xiaozhang, the "Great Supervisor Army" that Li Mao had planted in Liaodong, and as soon as this person was gone, Li Mao's power in Liaodong collapsed by half.

The Hongmen banquet is easy to place, and the mess after the banquet is dispersed is difficult to clean up, Xue Rong is glad that he was sober-minded at the beginning, so that he has something to rely on, and he is not afraid of Zheng Xiaozhang's counterattack.

I remember that when he had just taken up his post in Liaodong, Li Mao greeted him outside the city of Pingzhou, and handed over to him the order for the transfer of troops of the Anton Army in person, promising that he would never interfere with the military affairs of Liaodong again, and that all the troops stationed in Liaodong would be handed over from this day on.

On that day, the Andong Army was not in good shape, the sergeants were dressed like Hanako, and the battle flag was in tatters. But the morale is high, and the combat effectiveness is very amazing, just like a tiger in the mountains. With such an army in hand, Xue Rong's career in Liaodong will become very easy, shaking his majesty, and it couldn't be easier.

On that day, Li Maofang was in Youzhou, his ass had not yet sat firmly, and he was restrained on the left and right, at least on the surface, he had to pretend to be a loyal minister of the Zhu State, and it was impossible to do anything out of the ordinary in a short period of time.

In this situation, as long as he Xue Rong relaxes a little, it will definitely not be a problem to easily mix for three or five years, and when the time comes, the court will ask for an external transfer, and he will have an explanation for the king and his brothers, as well as for his old mother in the river.

Over the years, Li Mao sent people to Baoding County in Hezhong every festival, coaxed his old mother into a daze, and talked about Li Mao all day long, who was closer than her two sons.

But he, Xue Rong, chose to take another path, he set up in his heart that Li Mao already had a heart of disobedience, and used this as an anchor to quietly begin to expand his power, including mastering a ** army of his own.

Li Mao dared not to be subservient, because he held an army in his hand that only obeyed his orders, with this confidence, he couldn't do anything in Liaodong to dispel his idea of disobedience, only he also controlled an army, once Liaodong's military strength remained balanced, he would not dare to act rashly, even if he took risks, he had the ability to deal with it, so as not to be helpless, ashamed of the king.

Before going to Fujian, he didn't know anything about military affairs, but everything in the world was all in the world, because he had to deal with bandits and pirates in Fujian, he forced him, a layman, to study the military book behind closed doors, and now learn and use, applied to the world, and even won a "knowing soldier" praise, in those years he went to the east and the west, and with his own strength, he played a peaceful world, and erected an eternal monument in the hearts of the people of Fujian.

However, it is still too pediatric to fight bandits and pirates, and what really makes him familiar with military affairs and how to use troops is that after sitting in Fengzhou, he has been dealing with the surrounding bandits every year, and he will not be able to.

This time he came to Liaodong and all parties were very concerned, contributing money, strength, and people, and his shogunate team was luxurious, and more than half of the staff recommended to him by friends from all walks of life were well-versed in military affairs, knew how to train and lead troops, and even Huang Li, a general of the forbidden army, voluntarily followed him.

With the help of these people, it was smooth sailing for him to start a new business in Liaodong, and he hardly encountered the slightest obstacle, and in just two or three years, the "security army" that he was holding up with one hand began to take shape, with nearly 20,000 people, well-equipped, and well-trained.

At the same time, his good brother almost completely transferred the old troops stationed in Liaodong because of the constant use of troops abroad, and now the only troops he left in Liaodong are Kim Doan's 6th Division stationed in Pyongyang, the 12th Gaosu Division stationed in Bezhou, the 2nd Zhujiu Division stationed in Kokju, and the 10th Division of Sangrong and Ma Xiong'an stationed in Beisha City, and only the 1st Garrison Division and the 7th Division are left in the hinterland.

Although Jin Daoan has been following him for a long time, he is not a confidant, and after being assigned to Pyongyang City, he has become increasingly estranged from Li Mao, and his old master, Li Jie, the king of Song, still has a huge influence on him, and it is just that Xue Rong has a very good relationship with Li Jie.

This person was bent on fighting back to Silla to take revenge, and Li Mao delayed giving him this opportunity for the sake of Liaodong's interests. He could have fulfilled this wish of his own, but the infighting between Kim Chong-hee and Kim so-jong in Silla was escalating, and such infighting had exhausted the people of Silla and shattered the hearts of the people

Soon after Xue Rong took office, he personally went to Pyongyang to inspect Pyongyang, while presiding over the relief of Silla refugees, and on the other hand, expressing to Kim Do-an the intention of having the opportunity to let him return to China, and to a certain extent, he won Kim Do-an's allegiance.

Gao Su is a general of Bohai, and the annexation of Bohai to the Tang Dynasty is a deal he made with Li Mao, he multiplied in Bezhou, divided himself, only had family, army and territory in his eyes, and had no special interest in other things, as for whether Liaodong was Li Mao or Xue Rong was in charge, as long as it did not infringe on his interests, he didn't care.

To deal with such a person, Xue Rong has the means, after he took office, he invited Gao Su to Liaozhou three times, every time Gao Su came he personally went out of the city to greet him, a big banquet in three days, a small banquet a day, always accompanying, accompanying everywhere, and more generous rewards when leaving, so that he could really feel his kindness, Xue Rong can be sure that on the day of his showdown with Li Mao, Gao Su will stand on the side of the victor rationally.

Sang Rong and Zhu Jiu are Li Mao's henchmen, especially Zhu Jiu, who is the only one who looks forward to everything, but both of them are far away from the hinterland of Liao, Dong, Gao, and Guizhou.

Although the First Division stationed in the Liao, Eastern, Gao, and Guihinter areas had a huge number of troops, its combat effectiveness was actually very average, and what was even more deadly was that Wen Cheng and Zhao Guangliang did not know any soldiers, and Chen Wangdao, who knew the soldiers, had no right to directly command this huge number of internal guard troops.

Taking a step back, even if Chen Wangdao successfully obtained the authorization to command the first division and his security army collided violently, the final victory would definitely belong to the security army

Xue Rong carefully calculated, he already had the strength to have a showdown with Li Mao, and after careful calculation, he decided to strike first to solve the remnants of Li Mao's stay in Liaodong by force, and stabilize Liaodong for the country.

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