The envoys of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the commander of the horses, the general of the left guard, the Enzhou regiment trained the envoys, and the envoys arrived in Yanzhou on the 10th day of the first month of April in the first year of Guangshun. With-Dream- . lā Zhangwu Army Ya Nei Du commanded Gao Shaoji and Yanzhou Jiedu Judge Liu Xun on behalf of the sick Zhangwu Army Jiedu to make Gao Yunquan go out of the state to govern the south gate five miles to greet him. Zhang Yongde entered the city for the first time after visiting Gao Yunquan, read to him an edict, the emperor canonized Gao Yunquan as the prince of Yan'an County in the edict, after the edict was read, Zhang Yongde to the seriously ill Gao Yunquan on behalf of the emperor Guo Wei's comfort.

However, for Gao Yunquan's invitation to the mission to stay in Jiedu Mansion, Zhang Yongde thanked him very humbly. The mission finally chose the Yanzhou Pavilion Station, which had been unoperated for many years and had long been dilapidated, as its station.

That night, the subordinates who went out to inquire about the news returned to the pavilion to report the information they had found in the city to Zhang Yunde, and after sending these entourages to dinner, Zhang Yongde discussed with Wang Pu and Han Wei, who accompanied him, and made a basic analysis of the situation in the city. The three agreed that the current situation in Yanzhou was too chaotic, and that any statement by the envoys needed to be cautious. Subsequently, Zhang Yongde summoned all his subordinates and reprimanded them, prohibiting them from meeting with Yanzhou officials or accepting bribes from them while they were in Yanzhou.

The next morning, the visit came in groups, and to the surprise of the visiting delegation, four county commanders from Yanzhou County, Qin Gu, the county commander of Fushi County, came to visit. These four county commanders are Qin Gu, the county commander of Fushi, Cui Ying, the county commander of Jinming, Zhang Su, the county commander of Fenglin, and Liu Chengfeng, the county commander of Yanchang. These four people also brought letters of appreciation from the three counties of Yanchuan, Yanshui, and Strike at the same time. These people are all scholars from the scientific system, and naturally they don't speak as straightforwardly as Wufu, and the words in their mouths are mostly diplomatic rhetoric. However, Zhang Yongde and others didn't care, even if the intention of these people was subtle, it was not difficult to understand, these people just wanted to express to the imperial court, and the four county officials who came with them today. and several county officials who brought the letter to them, all of them stood on the same front to support Li Wenge, the head of the new army.

In addition to the county order articles that Zhang Yongde and others had seen in Jincheng County, eight of the nine counties in Yanzhou had already expressed their support for Li Wenge, and only one county, Linzhen County, which was geographically close to Danzhou, had not yet expressed its position. Yesterday, Han Wei had already inquired clearly, this Linzhen county magistrate Xiao Liya is the only county magistrate in the nine counties who only has a meritorious reputation, and he is not very sociable among the civil officials of the prefecture and county who are mostly selected by the examination, so he has never expressed his position with others this time.

The afternoon is even more eerie. More than a dozen officers from the four battalions of the Zhangwu Army came to visit under the leadership of Zhang Tu, the deputy envoy of the command of the Yanei, and a small reception room in the post of the eight generals of Qiu was crowded, staring at them with big eyes, and the picture seemed to be a little reluctant, but under the persecution of everyone, he had to take the lead in speaking, but he did not say that he was ugly for a long time. In the end, one of the low-ranking officers surnamed Liao pierced this layer of window paper, unabashedly indicating that the five battalions of the Zhangwu Army were now unanimously under the command of Li Wenge, the commander of the former battalion.

This rare unanimity between the civil and military sides in Yanzhou surprised the envoys. In today's world, it is extremely normal for civil and military discord and even civil and military enmity to fight each other. The phenomenon of civil officials and military generals like Yanzhou electing a person in unison is an anomaly.

Finally persuaded this group of Qiu Ba, and the exhausted Zhang Yongde and others hurriedly packed up their clothes to attend the public banquet held in Jiedu Mansion, although it was a banquet. None of the attendees actually went to eat. The dishes at the banquet were also very simple, the drinks were not of the highest quality, and there was no dance music. At this banquet, the old man Gao Yunquan complained bitterly about the crimes of the extreme fundamentalist terrorist Li Wenge. so that everyone sighs when they hear it.

At this banquet, in addition to the Gao family, Yao Gongwang, the patriarch of the Yao family, the patriarch of the Wang family, Wang Qiu, the patriarch of the Han family, and Han Fuji, the eldest son of the Han family, were all present. The representatives of these wealthy families remained silent throughout the banquet, and did not echo or even support Gao Yunquan's bloody and tearful accusations, but Zhang Yongde and Wang Pu knew very well that they could sit here today. It already shows that these people and the families behind them support Gao Yunquan and are dissatisfied with Li Wenge.

In addition to these big clans, as long as there is a slight branch of the family on the ground in Yanzhou, they are all invited to participate in the meeting, and there are thirteen or fourteen families of all sizes. In addition to these people, there are also some military generals who wear cross-legged hats. They are all old guys, and the oldest of them is a soldier and horse envoy of the same generation as Gao Yunquan's uncle Gao Wanjun. In other feudal towns, the positions held by these people should have been high-ranking officials with real power, but unfortunately, in the Zhangwu Army, these people were all idle.

When Zhang Yongde saw these people, he somewhat understood why the Gao family father and son did not have the slightest control over the army. These veteran military leaders are willing to attend the meeting today, more or less to give the Gao family some face, but it is really difficult to say how many of them can support the Gao family with iron heart. It can be seen from the performance of these martial arts banquets that the old men are constantly communicating with each other, but no one speaks from beginning to end.

Among the people who participated in the banquet, there was only one person who spoke, and that was the Fenglin Qin family, which was more or less a wealthy household in Yanzhou.

The patriarch of the previous generation of the Qin family just died of a violent illness last year, and several of this generation

The nephew competed for the position of patriarch quite fiercely, it is said that once the head was broken and the blood people were in order to balance and contain each other, and they unanimously elected Qin Zhaoduan, the youngest son of the former patriarch Qin Jiwei, to take over the position of patriarch, this Qin Zhaoduan is eight years old this year, and he is still a milky doll, and his mother Fan was originally the most voiceless one among the concubines. Supporting this mother and son to take the position of patriarch is obviously to kick out at a critical moment to be a substitute for the dead ghost or a shield. At today's dinner, this little boy came to the meeting under the service of several attendants and nursing mothers, and he spoke at length with tears in the senior attendant, counting the sins of Li Wenge, Zhang Yongde and others listened with a smile but did not say a word, and the eight-year-old child suddenly stood up from his seat. First, he respectfully waved to the elders around him, and then bowed to Zhang Yunde, and asked in a childish and crisp childish voice: "This person is so disrespectful and ignorant of the Gangchang, he is actually the great enemy of the famous religion, and the general is an envoy of the imperial court." Why don't you kill this fang and get rid of the big harm for Yanzhou Lishu? ”

For a while, everyone was shocked, and Gao Yunquan, who was acting to the * stage, was also so shocked by this child that he forgot to continue acting, Zhang Yongde, who was determined not to express his position easily, was ashamed in the face of this child's innocent gaze, and said with a smile, "Qin Xiaoyuan said yes, Zhang is embarrassed and ......", which covered up this embarrassing and unexpected section.

I came back from this dinner party, which was not delicious. Zhang Yongde, Wang Pu, and Han Wei all felt a little hungry in their stomachs—no wonder, they basically didn't eat anything all night, and immediately ordered the corridor to prepare some soup, but the three core figures of the mission sat indoors and exchanged their experiences within less than twenty hours of arriving in Yanzhou.

"This Qin Xiaoren is a supernatural outside, knows books and etiquette, and has the demeanor of everyone in action, sitting and lying, although he is young, he understands things very well, if it is time, he will be a generation of famous ministers...... Wang Pu was full of praise for the eight-year-old Qin Zhaoduan. It's a bit of a pity.

—

Han Wei shook his head slightly, now the situation in Yanzhou is obviously Li Wenge's absolute advantage, and most of the military power and political authority have fallen into the hands of the terrorists in the mouth of the Gao family's father and son, and the current situation is actually a foregone conclusion that this person will be on the throne, if he does not consider the attitude of the imperial court at all, this person is afraid that he has already sat in the Jiedu Mansion at this moment. Now the major tycoons and veteran military leaders have kept silent as much as possible. Although they don't support him, they don't want to take the initiative to anger him, and his intentions are obvious. In this case, the Qin family, an open-mouthed doll, is unabashedly in such an important public occasion, and he is afraid that the disaster of the Qin family's destruction is just around the corner. Li Wenge may not dare to touch the four major families of Gaoyao, Wang and Han for the time being, and he can't do anything with those old military leaders who have retired for many years, but he doesn't have so many worries about the Qin family, which has a deep foundation and is not very great among the wealthy families in the nine counties. A child is a child, and he inadvertently broke into a catastrophe, and at this moment, I am afraid that he is still secretly smug.

Although he thought so, he didn't say it, Wang Pu was a senior after all. It's not good to go against him publicly.

Zhang Yongde's face was full of solemnity at the moment: "In the past two days, I have met many people, said a lot of things, and found out a lot of news, but when it comes to the purpose of our trip. But there doesn't seem to be much progress. We know that the civil and military forces in Yanzhou are behind the support of the rebellious military leader, but we don't know the details of this person, where does this person come from, what is his family background, where is the person, and what kind of temperament and temperament is he? We don't know anything about that yet. Although there are many people who have seen it, but there is no key one, it is equivalent to not seeing a ......"

Wang Pu nodded: "The big camp in the folded service is outside the city, and the general should visit in person, but I don't know when he will return to the camp!" ”

Zhe Congruan's attitude is the most important thing to pay attention to during Zhang Yongde's trip to Guanzhong, and in order to solve the problem of Yanzhou, no one's opinion can be sought, but the opinion of this Zhe servant has to be consulted.

In addition, Li Wenge and Li Bin, who are at the core of the whole problem, are not in Yanzhou City at the moment.

In other words, although the search mission entered Yanzhou City, there was no big difference in their grasp of the situation in Yanzhou compared with before entering Yanzhou.

Even though the key figures are not there, the mission should be able to do something with this rare time.

"The strangest thing today is that those officers are all unwilling to allow us to patrol the military village on Fenglin Mountain. Can't we outsiders see it? ”

Zhang Yuma's eyes flickered and he guessed.

Wang Pu smiled: "The general misunderstood those officers, in Wang's opinion, they are not unwilling to let the general go to the cottage to see; It's that they don't have the right to ......."

"Oh——?" Zhang Yongde's eyebrows moved, "Mr. Wenbo, are you saying that there are no cronies of Li Wenge among the officers who came today?" ”

Wang Pu Zhengse said: "This is not surprising, the general observed the words and looks, and knew that the picture was not necessarily willing to come out of this head, obviously coerced by the rest of the people, and although the rest of the people expressed their support for the promotion of that Li Wenge, no one dared to greet the general or ask the general to meet on behalf of Li Wenge." It can be seen from this that these people are not Li Wenge's cronies and important generals, although most of them are powerful generals in charge of the army, but they seem to be on the periphery in Li Wenge's scenes. and cannot participate in confidentiality. Since the Fenglin Mountain Military Village is the old camp of Li Wenge, it will naturally not be composed of these foreign officers

...... system"

Zhang Yongde nodded and smiled: "What Mr. said is reasonable!" ”

Then he said: "Yongde thinks that Qin Gu, the commander of Fushi County, speaks steadily, looks forward to Shengwei, and seems to be a natural leader among the orders. I don't know if this person can lead us up to Fenglin Mountain to have a look. ”

Wang Pu nodded at the same time: "Yes, I also thought of this person." Today, it is precisely this civil official who greets the horse on behalf of Li Wenge. From a certain point of view, this person should be a person who has responsibility and can make decisions. Among the county orders, Li Bin left him to receive us, presumably this person should have some outstanding features, I am preparing to visit this county in the name of the general tomorrow, the county order, the matter of mountaineering, you can consult him in person. ”

Han Wei, who had not spoken, sat slightly straighter at the moment. The Luo pot behind him was not particularly obvious, and he said with a relaxed face: "Today, the Gao family is taking great pains, in fact, it is all to tell the imperial court that they still have considerable influence in Yanzhou, which cannot be ignored. A hundred-legged insect, dead but not stiff, the Gao family has been operating for several generations, and there is the shadow of the Gao family almost everywhere in Yanzhou, the one surnamed Li, if you want to uproot the Gao family. I'm afraid it's not that easy! ”

“…… Although the Gao family tried their best to show their power, it backfired......"

Wang Pu sighed softly.

Zhang Yongde gently bowed his head and agreed with Wang Pu's opinion.

"The more the Gao family tries their best to put on the appearance that their strength is still with many allies, the more it shows that they are weak and betrayed inside. At today's banquet, the Yao family's attitude was still calm, and the Wang Han family was obviously restless. This is still the case with these two families. Not to mention other homes. Those veterans are all relaxed, but it is said that these people are all people who have been seized by the Gao family's father and son in recent years. Speaking of which, it's one thing for the Gao family to pull them out to stand up for power, and ask them to come forward to appease the army and fight for military power with that Li Wenge, don't even think about it! ”

Han Wei understood what Zhang Yongde meant, the director of the Gao family cried Qin Ting, which seemed to be lively and noisy, but in fact, it showed the Gao family's forbearance.

On the other hand, Li Wenge, who has never even seen a shadow so far, this terrorist not only did not rush to visit the six envoys of the imperial court. Even Li Bin, the observer judge who stood beside him and supported him, did not come, and so far no one from this person's descendants had ever come to the pavilion. On the one hand, it is indeed because these two people are all in Luzi Pass, and on the other hand, it also shows that the other party pays more attention to strength, so it is likely that these two people are now in secret private contact with the Zhe family. Although there is no direct evidence. But Zhang, Wang, and Han all knew this.

“…… The situation in Yanzhou is too turbulent, no matter what, the general must not express his position lightly......" Wang Pu patted the case lightly and said to Zhang Yongde.

Zhang Yongde stroked his chin with one hand and said softly: "It's not that we can't express our stance easily, look at what it means, we can't express our stance at all this time......"

Wang Pu was stunned for a moment, Zhang Yongde waved his hand and said: "Mr. Wenbo, please think about it, in the current situation in Yanzhou, the Gao family has a reputation but no real power; Li Wenge, then, has real power and strength, but no name. Now the Gao family wants to rely on the imperial court to regain the military and political power in Yanzhou, although Li Wenge has not seen it, it can be imagined that what he wants is nothing more than a name. It is easy to get a name, but it is difficult to get real power. However, after all, the imperial court is the imperial court, and Gao Yunquan is the servant of the imperial court's canonization, as long as he is alive, the imperial court will never let others be the envoys of the Zhangwu army. Although this is just a matter of face, the court still needs this level...... However, this Li Wenge is not easy to deal with, unless the imperial court soldiers enter the customs, otherwise there is no way to deal with this person, forced to be anxious, this person may want to seize the throne for himself, if the court does not admit it, if he votes for the Northern Han Dynasty, things will not be easy to do. Yanzhou is the gateway and barrier of Guanzhong, and once something happens in Yanzhou, the party members will go straight down the road to Chang'an and Hezhongfu...... Thinking about it, there is no way to take care of the face of the imperial court and the overall situation of Guanzhong, so although His Majesty has granted me the right to act cheaply, I really can't act, let alone act......"

Wang Pu smiled, Zhang Yongde said this, he had already carefully checked it in his heart, but at this time he didn't say much, only said: "The situation is still unclear now, and we still need to contact some people." I'll visit that Qin Ming Mansion tomorrow and bother him to take us to Fenglin Mountain for a walk. In addition, Qiren can't be idle, in the Fushi County Ya, the chief secretary and captain Qiren have to visit one by one, although the meaning of these petty officials is insignificant, but they can know a little about the public opinion of Yanzhou......"

"Not bad...... Zhang Yongde patted a few cases, and said: "From tomorrow onwards, I will still entertain guests as usual in the pavilion, Mr. Wenbo and Qiren will go out in micro-service, Yanzhou's official and people's affairs, officials and military affairs, all related to the big, the clearer and more detailed these things are understood." The more favorable it will be for the final decision of the imperial court......"