Wuchang Mansion

All the armies have been sent to fight, even Li Yan and his wife, and even Xu Cheng have gone to the front battlefield, leaving only Fang Yuan, 5,000 sergeants, and 500 brocade guards in Wuchang Mansion.

In the lobby of the Wuchang Governor's Palace, Fang Yuan met with Li Yan and his wife, and He Jin, who came to surrender together, stayed outside the lobby.

Li Yan secretly connived with Li Zicheng this time, and according to military law, it must be the crime of beheading, he was dressed in sackcloth, and came to ask Fang Yuan for the crime.

Fang Yuan looked at Li Yan who was guilty of Jing in amazement, and said with a smile, "Young Master Li, who are you?" ”

Li Yan knelt on his knees, kowtowed to him, and said, "Regent, I am guilty of a capital crime, a capital crime!" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Gongzi Li, you should have made a great contribution by recruiting He Jin to come, where did you come from for a capital crime?!" ”

The red lady said, "Regent, we have secretly released Li Zicheng to cross the border in Wuling City, which is a capital crime, please punish the regent." ”

Fang Yuan sighed lightly, got up and approached, stared at the two and asked, "Gongzi Li, sister-in-law, why did you want to let Li Zicheng go?!" What are the benefits of Li Zicheng? ”

Li Yan sighed and said, "Regent, Li Zicheng and I, Song Xiance used to be righteous brothers after all, so I really can't make this ruthless move!" ”

Fang Yuan walked around the two of them twice, patted Li Yan's shoulder, and said in a deep voice, "Li Gongzi, on the battlefield, what you are carrying is the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, how can you talk about brotherhood?" I'm afraid you're not suitable for the battlefield, so take a break! ”

As soon as Li Yan heard it, he knew that Fang Yuan wanted to remove him from his post and take away his military power, this time he did commit a serious crime, Fang Yuan did not fight or kill is the greatest tolerance, and there is no way to refute it, so he can only accept the punishment, "Thank you for the regent's forgiveness, I will immediately hand over the military power and go home." ”

Seeing her husband's military power, the red lady said anxiously, "Regent, this time we have broken off with Li Zicheng and Song Xianceen, and we will never show mercy to our subordinates next time, please give my husband another chance." ”

Fang Yuan stared straight at her and said, "Sister-in-law, do you dare to make a military order like this?" ”

"I have been fighting on the battlefield for so many years, and I have never made any military orders."

The red lady rolled up her sleeves, took out her saber and slashed it on the palm of her hand, and immediately the blood flowed, and she said loudly, "I swear with the regent in blood, if I have any mercy for Li Zicheng and Song Xiance, I don't need the regent's military law, I will make it myself." ”

Li Yan saw her blood dripping to the ground, and said distressedly, "Madam, it's all my fault, alas! ”

The coldness on Fang Yuan's face suddenly froze, and he laughed and untied Li Yan, "Li Gongzi, sister-in-law, I have been thinking about how to pacify Li Zicheng before I set out on the expedition, whether to directly behead him, and then pacify the other rogues one by one, or use his fame to gather and annihilate all the rogues. ”

He warmly invited the two of them to sit on the chair, and said with a smile, "These days, I have figured it out." To defeat Sun Chuanting, it took me less than half a year at most, but it took me three years to suppress bandits in Jiangxi. In my opinion, I still chose to use Li Zicheng's fame to make most of the rogues gather together and annihilate them, so as to eliminate future troubles. Otherwise, the suppression of bandits in Huguang and Henan alone will not know how long it will take to delay. ”

The red lady didn't understand these big truths, and looked at him in amazement, but Li Yan nodded and said, "The regent is very knowledgeable, if Li Zicheng is beheaded, the rest of the rogues will definitely be scattered and defeated." The destructiveness of these disorderly rogues to the people is far greater than that of Li Zicheng. It is even more difficult to suppress bandits in Huguang and Henan than in Jiangxi. ”

Fang Yuan grabbed his hand and said with a smile, "So Gongzi Li and sister-in-law release Li Zicheng, which is also in line with me, and it is not considered an unforgivable felony." Since he broke off with Li Zichengen, it is good to return Li Zicheng's favor. ”

Li Yan, the red lady saw that he was so tolerant, and she was so moved that she knelt on the ground to thank him.

Fang Yuan asked again, "Is it true or false that He Jin surrendered?!" ”

Li Yan said truthfully, "He Jin was originally the old department of the Fifth Battalion of the Revolutionary Left, and he was not Li Zicheng's henchman, and he had been squeezed out by Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing before. Now that the regent led the king's army to rebel, Li Zicheng hurriedly retreated, leaving He Jin as cannon fodder, and He Jin's surrender should be reasonable. ”

Fang Yuan nodded, Li Yan obviously knew more about Li Zicheng's internal factional struggle than him, and since Li Yan had made an accurate judgment, Fang Yuan also had all his doubts.

Li Yan presented another letter, which was handed over by He Jin, pointing out that Gao Ze and Li Benshen were also recruiting He Jin behind his back.

Fang Yuan reviewed the letter, and it was also an ordinary surrender, and there was no sign of derailment, "Li Gongzi, this is an ordinary letter of persuasion, and I also gave them the right to surrender before the war." ”

Li Yan said in a deep voice, "The correspondence will definitely not be based on the truth, please ask the regent to ask He Jin to come to the court for questioning." ”

Fang Yuan waved his hand, and ordered the Jinyi guard to bring He Jin.

He Jin bowed respectfully to Fang Yuan, "Lord Regent, the guilty general has come to ask for surrender, and I hope that the Lord Regent will forgive us for our previous crimes for the sake of one or twenty thousand soldiers." ”

Fang Yuan hurriedly stepped forward, personally helped him up, and said with a smile, "General He has the virtue of a good life, and he abandoned the darkness and turned to the light in time, good, very good, please take a seat." ”

Fang Yuan, the world-famous regent, has no shelf, and does not despise He Jin, who was born in a rogue, but is kind and pleasant, and treats each other with courtesy, compared to the previous general soldiers who suppressed bandits, the guerrilla generals are simply worlds apart.

He Jin's eyes oozed tears, wiped his tears, and sat upright.

Li Yan asked, "General He, tell the regent how to dictate the envoys of Gao Ze and Li Benshen, and tell the regent truthfully!" ”

He Jin's 1510 generals Gao Ze and Li Benshen tried in vain to take advantage of the opportunity of purging Li Zicheng to secretly recruit private soldiers in Huguang and expand their power.

Gao Ze and Li Benshen's self-respect, plotting against each other, and even plotting against Gao Yuanjue's mother and son, Jin Yiwei had already found out. But the two dared to recruit the old army under Fang Yuan's nose to expand their power, and even He Jin, one of the generals of Li Zicheng's five battalions, had to secretly incorporate private soldiers, their audacity and stupidity were still beyond Fang Yuan's expectations.

For these two fools who didn't know whether they were alive or dead, Fang Yuan was still a little in a dilemma. Now is the critical time to purge Li Zicheng. He was about to use the two troops of Bai Guangen and Gao Jiajun as a signboard to recruit the rogue.

If the two of them are executed rashly, I am afraid that there will be rumors that the rabbit is dead and the dog is cooking, which is very unfavorable to the surrender, which will affect the overall strategic situation. If they are ignored and allowed to continue to expand their power and absorb a large number of rogues, it will be tricky to clean them up in the future.

What Fang Yuan was most afraid of were those madmen who didn't know whether they were alive or dead, and who thought they were smart. If they were all smart people like Li Yan, He Jin, or even the Xing family, of course they knew that the act of separating Huguang was to kill themselves, and they would never take this risk. The Xing family had long known that only by getting Fang Yuan's protection could they be rich and glorious, so they came to their arms early. Even though He Jin was an enemy, he also reported to Fang Yuan as soon as possible and asked for credit.

It's just that Gao Ze and Li Benshen, two stupid people who have no ability to see, who want to see but don't know, and who are self-righteous, will choose to engage in conspiracies and tricks when the overall situation of the world is about to become clear, and secretly oppose Fang Yuan.

This kind of stupid person just doesn't know how to write dead characters, and he just pulls tens of thousands of people to be buried together.

Li Yan saw that Fang Yuan was in a hesitation, and he also knew that he was in a dilemma at the moment, so he hurriedly said, "Regent, I have a plan to solve the regent's dilemma." ”

"Since Gao Ze and Li Benshen are going to toss, they have to go south of Changsha Mansion to surrender and rebel, and we pretend not to know. Just order General He to feign surrender, as an internal response, and wait for the end of the Huguang war, maybe the two can be solved without blood. ”

Li Yan's plan was exquisite, and Fang Yuan applauded again and again when he heard it, "Okay, Gongzi Li, just follow your plan." ”

He said to He Jin again, "General He, please go to Gao Ze and Li Benshen to surrender as an internal response." In the future, the two will be executed, and General He should be the first to take the credit! ”

He Jin didn't think about it, and promised, "Yes, follow the instructions of the regent." ”

Fang Yuan was slightly stunned, He Jin didn't even mention any reward for his meritorious service, so he directly agreed to go and be the internal response. This person knows when to show loyalty and win Fang Yuan's favor, he is really a smart person!