In Yangzhou City, Sima took charge of the defense of Jiangbei as the right minister, and officially took office after Xiao Zhan and Xiao Ling went to Yangzhou. His seat of governance is in Yangzhou, and the soldiers and horses he can dispatch are the 20,000 permanent soldiers and horses stationed in the Wei Dynasty on the east road of Yangzhou in Jiangbei and more than 10,000 local garrison soldiers and horses.

If you add local regimental training, Sima can mobilize the number of soldiers and horses at a time is about 60,000, and the area he is responsible for is only the defense line of about five or six hundred miles on the front line of Yangzhou, which is also the main area of the war between the Wei Dynasty and the Qi Dynasty before, because Yangzhou crosses the river to the south and goes down is the capital of the Qi Dynasty, Jinling, Yangzhou defense is the top priority in the defense of Jinling, once Yangzhou is lost, the Qi Dynasty will be completely exposed to the Northern Dynasty's troops in addition to being able to block it with the moat of the river.

Sima Qi led the troops as a civilian official, but the people in the Huiwang system were basically familiar with Sima Qi, Sima Qi could not be regarded as a civilian official, but a military advisor, plus he was a northerner, and at the beginning of his tenure, he could not gain the trust of the military and people in Yangzhou. At the moment of foreign enemies, the empress and King Hui did not arrange for others to be responsible for the defense of Yangzhou, but arranged for Sima Yu, who was already a northerner, to take on this position, and the people around Yangzhou regarded it as a compromise between the Qi Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty.

Although there is not much basis for this statement, but the legend is getting more and more intense, the people believe it is true, because they are afraid of becoming a slave to the country, Yangzhou City also began a large-scale flight south, in the first month of the year the number of refugees is gradually increasing.

From the beginning of the first month of his tenure, Sima Yi asked Yangzhou Taishou Suihua to arrange a temporary yamen for him to settle him, he did not plan to live in Yangzhou Taishou Mansion, he always came to the Southern Dynasty as a guest secretary, even if he is now burdened with heavy responsibilities, he does not want the local people to think that he has a shelf. Under Sima Yi. There were 60,000 soldiers and horses, but the soldiers and horses were too mixed, and he needed a period of time to sort them out, and at the same time make proper arrangements for the deployment of troops in the two counties and seventeen counties around Yangzhou.

Xiao Yang and Xiao Ling gave him enough power to transfer troops, and as long as it was within the appropriate range, no one would interfere with his arrangements. Even before the war, his defense decrees could have been cut first. This is the first time Sima Yi has power in his hands, or is it so heavy military power, he himself is a little unsure, if it is just Xiao Zhan and Xiao Ling's trust in him, it is impossible to let a person like him who has no actual experience in commanding troops to take on a big responsibility, then there is only one explanation, his own identity is also the place where Xiao Zhan and Xiao Ling take advantage.

There are almost ten days before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Sima Yu's Jiangbei Commander-in-Chief Yamen has never issued a single decree, and even the soldiers and civilians of Yangzhou City have almost forgotten the existence of this yamen and the people in the yamen. Under the commander-in-chief's yamen, there are the two county guards, as well as the civil officials and local garrison generals of the state capitals, as well as the three generals and seven deputy generals and staff generals of 20,000 permanent soldiers and horses, which are the main deputies of his Jiangbei commander-in-chief yamen. In addition, Jinling did not even send anyone to assist and supervise him, what Sima Yi was going to do. It is also very difficult to do things for him through these people who are already entrenched in Yangzhou and have local forces.

Said to be the Consulate General for Defense. However, the defense around Yangzhou was still controlled by local officials and local generals.

By the fifteenth day of the first month, the number of soldiers and civilians in Yangzhou City had dropped sharply, and the situation on the army side was even better, and there were not many deserters, after all, the war between the two dynasties was only in the brewing stage and had not yet begun. But more and more ordinary people are fleeing to the south. Even on the Shangyuan Festival, there is no festival in the whole city, but there is a banquet of the Shangyuan Festival in the Yangzhou Taishou Mansion, mainly for Sima Yu, who is the right minister and leads the defense of Jiangbei, and it is also to introduce the civil officials and military generals in Yangzhou City to Sima Yu.

Before dark. Sima Yi has not come out of his yamen, since he took office, he rarely walked out of the yamen, completely regarded the yamen as a closed residence, there was no one in the yamen at all, except for Huan'er, and the personal soldiers temporarily recruited by Yangzhou Taishou to Sima Yi, the whole total of more than a dozen people, and even the usual security could not be guaranteed.

Sima's daily life will be taken care of by Huan'er, and even things such as washing clothes and cooking are also taken care of by Huan'er. On this day, Sima borrowed to the Taishou Mansion for a banquet, and did not bring Huan'er by his side, after all, it was a public occasion, and he saw all the dignitaries of the military and political system of Yangzhou City, and Sima borrowed that there was no need to bring a woman like Huan'er who was not familiar with political affairs by his side.

When the sun set in the West Mountain, the sedan chair that came to greet Sima Yi from the Taishou Mansion had stopped at the door, and the sedan chair man waited for a long time and did not see Sima Yi come out. It wasn't until the sky was a little dark that Sima Yi came out of the yamen, and the greeters hurriedly welcomed him into the sedan chair.

The Taishou Mansion specially sent people to protect Sima Yu's travel, and even had a guard of honor to open the way, and when he arrived outside the Taishou Mansion, there were many civil officials and generals who went out to greet him, and these people also waited for nearly an hour before waiting for the main master. As the leader of the military and government in Yangzhou, Yangzhou is too guarded by Suihua to meet at the forefront. After Sima Yi got off the sedan chair, Sui Hua introduced the people who were waiting outside to Sima Yi one by one, and Sima Yi only returned the salute politely, and did not even have the spirit of carefully looking at these people, which made the faces of the people who greeted him outside quite embarrassed.

About Sima Yi, the people in Yangzhou City have long heard of it, after all, he is an important figure in the Huiwang system, even if ordinary people know little about Sima Yi, but as a person in the court system, if they don't even know anyone around King Hui, then there is no need to mix in the court. But there are too few people who have really seen Sima Qi, Sima Qi belonged to the characters who saw the head and the end of the dragon before, and there were a lot of military advisors behind the scenes, but if you really want to do things on the bright side, there will be others to do it for you.

The generals in Yangzhou City, strictly speaking, are not the descendants of the Huiwang system, but after the Huiwang gained power, they defected to the Huiwang system and became the vassals of the Huiwang. Although there are also generals sent by King Hui in the city, these people cannot be integrated into the original military and political system of Yangzhou, and these people will be excluded by the inherent system of Yangzhou City while supervising the original forces in Yangzhou City. Even if Sima Yi is now reused by the imperial court and leads the defense of Jiangbei, the people in Yangzhou City are also perfunctory to him rather than obedient, and Sima Yi is just a high-ranking official sent by the imperial court to supervise the army in their eyes, and as for the defense affairs, they are not ready to listen to Sima Yi's dispatch.

After seeing the comer, Sui Hua welcomed Sima to the Taishou Mansion. A banquet has been set up in the main courtyard of the Taishou Mansion. Because there were too many people invited to the banquet, hundreds of banquets were held, and even some small staff members in Yangzhou City were invited.

As the guest of honor, Sima Yi's seat was on the main seat in the main hall of the Taishou Mansion, and he sat with several high-ranking civil officials and generals in Sui Hua and the city. Out of courtesy, Sui Hua also invited the people sent by King Hui to Yangzhou to supervise military affairs to the main seat. But it's just an accompaniment, and Sui Hua's perception of Sima Yi is only that this person is King Hui's military advisor, and other things can only be heard through some heard, and it is estimated that Sima Yi should have real talent and real learning to be reused.

"Sima Xiangguo is on top, today's banquet, in addition to celebrating the Shangyuan Festival, is also for you to catch the wind and wash the dust. In the coming day, the soldiers and civilians of Yangzhou will be united and obey the dispatch of Sima Xiangguo, and they will definitely be able to defend the territory in peace. Protecting the country and the society for His Majesty...... There is also King Hui's worries. ”

Sui Hua first said the front of the scene, but he was also afraid that Sima would make trouble. According to the reason, Sima Yi is now his boss, and the new official has taken office with three fires, in the past, whenever there was a war and a person who had a general defense officer to the place, even if he was dormant, there would be a sudden attack, Sui Hua was also very worried that Sima Yi was already a blockbuster, and he wanted to take advantage of today's banquet when everyone was there. If this is the case, he really doesn't dare to be disrespectful to Sima Yi in front of everyone. How to say that he is only Yangzhou Taishou, in addition to obeying the orders of the imperial court, he also needs the assistance of the imperial court in times of war, the territory of Jiangbei is too special, and the local head snake also has to carry his head.

Sima Yi picked up the wine glass and said, "Sui is too serious. ”

After speaking, he drank the wine in the wine glass. But there is no other indication. This made Sui Hua's heart a little cautious, he was most worried about Sima Yi's trouble, it seemed that Sima Yi really had the intention of making him unable to get off the stage in person.

The toast and toast after that did not have any waves, although Sima Yi received the toast. But I didn't drink much, probably because I was afraid that I would come up and toast one by one and cover my head in the end. The more this is the case, the more careful Sui Hua becomes. Until the three rounds of drinking, the banquet inside and outside the main hall was already very lively, Sima Yi still did not have any signs of trouble, Sui Hua arranged for someone to invite singers and dancing girls to perform to help the fun, Sima Yi was still sitting there, looking indifferent.

"Xiangguo, you see that His Majesty has sent you to lead the local military affairs of Jiangbei...... There was a while, but now...... The situation in Yangzhou City is not very good, and the soldiers and civilians in the city are quite worried about the northern soldiers and horses going south, I don't know what your plans are? ”

Sima said: "Since the northern soldiers and horses have not yet come, it is too early to talk about these things. ”

Sima Yu's words came out, Sui Hua was cautious, and glanced at several subordinate officials and strategists next to him, wanting to see some feedback from their faces. But Sima Yi's answer was obviously not according to common sense, or it was an unfathomable relationship, except that Sui Hua couldn't see Sima Yi's plan, and even his cronies around him didn't notice it.

Sui Hua nodded with a smile and said, "With Sima Xiangguo in Yangzhou, the military and people of Yangzhou are united, and they must be able to defeat the enemy." We can rest assured. ”

That being said, Sui Hua's worries were even greater.

Before Sima Yi came to Yangzhou, Sui Hua didn't get any news, and he was suddenly surprised until the empress and King Hui came to Yangzhou at the same time. Later, Sima Yi was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Jiangbei Defense, and in Sui Hua's opinion, the imperial court had already prepared, and arranging such a top boss above him to restrain him was also a manifestation of the imperial court's unease about him. But what Sui Hua thinks, Sima Yi should not be more trusted by the court than him, how to say that he is also a native of the Southern Dynasty, and he has experienced the Battle of Jinling twenty years ago, and Sima Yu is a fine work of the Northern Dynasty, and the court should send someone to manage him, and Sima should not be sent to borrow it.

Originally, he wanted to test Sima Yi at this banquet, but in the end, he was still confused.

Just when Sima Yi was sitting as usual, a guard suddenly came in and said: "Report to Taishou, the soldiers who went out to patrol the city caught a few suspicious people, and searched for secret letters from these people under investigation, all of which were made by the north, please show Taishou how to deal with them." ”

Sui Hua was shocked when he heard this: "Is this really the case? That's something to pay attention to. Just as he was about to go out, he suddenly looked back at Sima Xiangguo, "Now these things should be obeyed by Sima Xiangguo's orders, I don't know what Sima Xiangguo has to say?" ”

Sima Yi saw that it was a play deliberately set up for him, otherwise how could it be so coincidental, he came to the banquet and happened to have a fine work from the north being arrested?

"Let's take a closer look." Sima excused himself.

Sui Hua listened to Sima Yi's deliberate connivance at these northern meticulous works, nodded and said, "Then bring people over, and in front of Ben Taishou and Sima Xiangguo, inquire clearly!" ”

"Yes!"

The guards immediately went to fetch people, and in this space, almost everyone was observing Sima Yi's reaction. And Sima Yi just ate the vegetables with a suitable face, as if he had nothing to do with himself.

In a short time, the people had already been brought, a dozen or so in all, all tied with ropes, and there were wounds on their faces, indicating that these people had been tortured before they came. With the arrival of these people, the originally noisy banquet in the courtyard suddenly quieted down, and the people were escorted to the door of the main hall, and they were pressed down one by one.

"Who are you waiting for?" Sui Hua went to the door and asked first.

None of the bound men below replied.

Sui Hua sneered: "You and others came to my territory with bad intentions, it seems that you will not confess without heavy punishment." Come on, hang these people, torture them! ”

A subordinate officer next to him reminded loudly: "Sui Taishou, this ...... It's the time of the feast, so I'm afraid it's a little inappropriate to torture here, right? ”

The words were deliberately said to Sima Yi, but Sui Hua seemed to have suddenly understood, and turned around and asked Sima Yi: "It's also a subordinate official, I don't know what Sima Xiangguo has to say?" ”

Sima said: "The matter of local defense, you don't need to ask me for everything, right?" ”

After saying that, Sima Yi turned around and walked into the hall, Sui Hua felt that Sima Yi couldn't bear to see the fine work in the north being tortured, or Sima Yi saw some of his intentions, and his face was a little confident. He asked people to arrange this play, which was originally to give Sima a dismissal, and also to let Sima know who was in charge of Yangzhou.

Just as Sui Hua was about to sell his favor to Sima Yi, Sima Yi suddenly walked back, but he was carrying his sword in his hand.

Sima Yu opened his mouth and said: "If you are really a fine work sent by the Northern Dynasty, and now you end up like this, I can't protect you." There's a sword here, kill yourself! ”

After saying that, he threw the saber down. (To be continued......)