Beijing, Wei House.

This Beijing is not Youzhou, but a new city - although the new city and the old city are sometimes popularized as Yanjing.

After more than two years of construction, the buildings of Beijing City have been quite large-scale, the new city of the drinking canal and the drainage channel are separated, the water is diverted to circulate the whole city, although the palace tower has not yet been completed, but the market has already been given the land of the shops and streets have already built one after another in accordance with the regulations, the first group of residents have also moved in the residential area - these earliest residents are the families of meritorious soldiers in the previous wars, as long as they are willing to move to the new capital, the imperial court has built a house for them in the residential area. Today, more than 5,000 households have moved in. Some consumer shops in the residential area have also been opened, providing convenience for the new residents in the city.

In addition to the military dependents, some of the meritorious generals also received mansions, which were divided into permanent mansions and mobile mansions, and Wei Renpu's permanent mansion was among them, when he asked to step down, the mansion had already been allocated to him, and his fault did not offset his merits, so the mansion was not recovered. Since he stepped down from the post of chief constitution of the Supervision Station, Wei Renpu has been at leisure, and often rides to the new city to visit the new city when he has nothing to do.

The heavenly family, the government and big businessmen have not yet moved in, so the huge Beijing New Town seems empty, but for Wei Renpu, it is happy and quiet.

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Recently, the Khitan invasion of the East has caused a lot of trouble, and many protégés have come to the door much more frequently, to the effect that they all persuade Wei Renpu to take advantage of the situation. But Wei Renpu has never said a word about this.

On this day, Wei Renpu walked beside the just-completed national correction platform, and saw more than a dozen protégés and an empty evaluation platform. There were only a dozen people left, and it seemed more and more empty.

Wei Renpu pointed to the correction platform and said: "The new capital is basically completed, and the marshal is coming to the west, which is probably the time when the new capital is officially relocated." ”

More than a dozen protégés were heartbroken when they heard this, if they usually talked about this topic for a long time, but they had something big to talk about today, so they all suppressed this curiosity. stepped forward and said, "Teacher, something happened in Fenzhou!" ”

"Oh?" Wei Renpu's eyebrows moved, but there was no surprise. Rather, it was an expression that had finally arrived.

"The Zhizhou sent by the imperial court to Fenzhou was found to be corrupt by An Chongrong's people, and that Zhizhou committed suicide overnight and set a fire. Burned the mansion to the ground. There was a family of five, and no one escaped. An Chongrong has sent his people to take over Youzhou in the name of the imminent execution, and has sent additional soldiers and horses to station, which is called defending the country and defending the land. This news, the official face will probably reach Youzhou tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we got the news first and came to report to the teacher. ”

Wei Renpu snorted coldly: "An Chongrong's unsubservient heart, I have long seen it. It's just that I didn't expect him to even have the courage to raise the flag publicly. ”

But his intentions are extremely obvious, and now the situation in Yanjing is the same. I'm afraid that when the news arrives, it will make people's hearts commotion. In addition, Li Shouzhen in Xuzhou also replaced the head of the field for corruption, and killed two people who went there to check the accounts. ”

"What else?"

"What's more, I heard that the Southern Qi side has increased troops on the border again!"

Wei Renpu sighed, and there was no more reaction.

Two of his students were anxious: "Master Wei! For example, today, internal and external instability, even An Chongrong and Li Shouzhen are like this, Liu Zhiyuan must have more schemes on his side, and if the soldiers of Chang'an are not released, they will probably cause trouble to the henchmen of the Central Plains! In this autumn of critical survival, Wei Shi should have done something. ”

"As? What do you want me to do? ”

"Now that the political program of the imperial court is disordered, there are complaints about the current ruling in various places. We are willing to follow the teacher, set things right, and reorganize the dynasty. ”

"Reorganize the dynasty? I am no longer the general constitution of the Taiwan Supervisory Committee, so what are I talking about reorganizing the DPRK program......"

"Although Wei Shi is not the general constitution of Taiwan, he still corrects and comments on the constitution of Taiwan's Constitutional Hall! With your prestige, as long as you raise your arms, the government and the opposition will inevitably gather! Even if it's a heavenly family, you can't ignore Shilin's discussion! ”

"Shilin Qingyi? That's public opinion......" Wei Renpu touched the base of the correction and evaluation platform and muttered: "Public opinion is also a kind of power!" And it's a terrible power! With this kind of power, it is possible to influence the situation of the government, whether it is in the government or in the opposition. ”

When several protégés heard this, they were all excited for a while: "Yes! Right! The teacher was right! Public opinion is also a kind of power, and it is a very fatal power! ”

Wei Renpu said: "It's just that if this kind of power is not used properly, it can also bring disaster to the country and the people!" ”

Several protégés were stunned.

Wei Renpu said: "I didn't say these two sentences just now. ”

"It's not Wei Shi who said it, that's ......"

"It's the marshal, it's the marshal who said it." Wei Renpu said: "The correction platform is a place where public opinion is issued, so this is also a place of national power, but this kind of power needs to be protected and cannot be abused!" Not allowing it to abuse is also one of the measures to protect the right of public opinion in the correction and evaluation platform. Do you understand? ”

Several protégés shook their heads after a while.

Wei Renpu said: "The real source of public opinion power is not in the gift of anyone, but in public trust!" If public trust exists, the right of public opinion is there, and if public trust is lost, the right of public opinion will naturally be gone -- not that no one has deprived it, but that it itself is gone. Got it? ”

A few protégés still don't understand it.

Wei Renpu continued: "The establishment of the correction platform lies in speaking for the subordinates, if a correction and evaluation of the imperial history is really the spokesperson for the subordinates, then what he says represents a large group of people. But if a critic of the imperial history uses his position to seek personal gain with public opinion, and uses the slogan of serving the country and the people as a ladder for his own rise to power, then when he does this, his credibility will be lost -- this loss may be delayed, because the people can be bullied for a while, but even if it is delayed, it will eventually be lost in the end. When public trust is lost, his power in public opinion is naturally gone...... You get it, don't you? ”

Several protégés were a little panicked for a while, and they faintly felt that the teacher was really criticizing themselves.

Wei Renpu said: "You just said that the country is in a critical period of survival. Persuade me to take advantage of the situation, persuade me to reorganize the dynasty, and to reorganize the dynasty. Naturally, we must first take charge of the dynasty, so is it the end or the means to be in charge of the dynasty? ”

"This ...... This ......"

Wei Renpu said again: "I naturally still have some prestige now, even if I resign because of what happened last time, it hasn't damaged my foundation greatly, but if I really take advantage of the situation again this time, I will sell my only remaining credibility." Taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the country and my own prestige to regain power, this business, you say this is for me. Is it a gain, or a loss? ”

Several protégés knelt on the ground in panic and exclaimed, "Master Wei...... I...... We were wrong! ”

Wei Renpu snorted and said, "Although I have been idle during this time, I have learned from the pain. There are many truths that I haven't figured out before. Now it's clear! Feng Gong, he was wrong! He thought that after getting the seal of the words of the people. You can really control the Son of Heaven and balance hundreds of officials. But he didn't want to think that the seal of the people's words was cast by the marshal's order, and the marshal could be sold if he could, and the constitution without the basis of public opinion could become a dead letter at any time. A big endorsement that can't really 'speak for all the people' will sooner or later become an ornament. If you want to really confront the Son of Heaven, unless his power does not come from the Son of Heaven's commission. It comes from the recommendation of all the people!

"The position of the General Constitution of the Supervision Station comes from the Son of Heaven. As a result, I didn't think about the Son of Heaven from the standpoint of the Son of Heaven at the beginning, which was wrong; It stands to reason that the position of the Constitutional Commentary should come from the lower people, and if I stand on the wrong side again, it will be a mistake on top of a mistake! And if you make a mistake this time, you will never recover!

"You're right, now that the country is in danger of survival, we should stand up and take advantage of the situation. However, what we stepped forward this time to get back was not the power of the court, but the trust of the people! ”

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Xishan, Guo Fen has been worried for the past two days.

Because there was a problem with coastal defense, the Khitan was allowed to bypass Luanzhou and land!

Follow Tianjin in an emergency!

Follow the loss of Luanzhou!

Then follow the stone city to lose!

And today, suddenly there was an accident in Fenzhou!

Then something happened in Xuzhou again!

What's even more terrifying is that there is a rebellion in Mobei! I don't know what to do with the small stones, but Yelu Ruan raised his banner, and there were already seventeen large and small tribes in the north of the east and west desert in response!

News came from the Privy Council again, saying that there was an abnormal movement in Qi along the Huai River, and there were traces of the movement of troops and horses in Huazhou - obviously Liu Zhiyuan was also restless!

The news of Mobei, Xuzhou, Fenzhou, and Huazhou has not yet been made public to the public for the time being, but this kind of major event will certainly not be hidden for long. Now that Youzhou is already in chaos, not to mention that these news will spread again, I don't know what kind of turmoil it will cause!

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So after receiving Feng Dao's plea, Guo Fen was about to go down the mountain, but was stopped by Tang Renyi, the captain who stayed behind in the West Mountain: "Madame, stay here!" The marshal said, if there is a police in Yanjing, please don't go down the mountain! ”

Guo Fen didn't expect him to stop himself, although Tang Renyi was only in his twenties, he was also the "old man" who followed Anxi all the way, although he didn't have the courage of his brother Tang Renxiao, but he was cautious, as Zhang Mai's guard, he had never been on a business trip over the years, how could he suddenly be out of line today?

"Right now, Yandong is sending the police, I should go to Youzhou to calm down the people's hearts, not to mention the big endorsement urging me to convene a court meeting, I have to go."

"Madame, if you want to hold a court meeting, please ask the ministers to go up the mountain."

Guo Fen has been very irritable in the past few days, and he stopped him twice, and couldn't help but be angry: "Xiao Tang, when did you become neither big nor small?" You dare to command me! ”

"The last general will not dare!" Tang Renyi hurriedly said: "But this is the marshal's instructions!" ”

As soon as he mentioned Zhang Mai, Guo Fen was even more angry: "Instructions, instructions!" He took Shanya and ran to the Western Regions to have a good time, leaving our mother and son here to clean up the mess for him! Now that the country is going to change dramatically, it's better for you to still stick to his orders! ”

Tang Renyi said: "It is precisely because the country will have great changes that the last general must abide by this order!" The fortifications of Xishan are complete, the food and salary are abundant, and the equipment is complete, and the last general is enough to guard the upper and lower passages, and the thieves are surrounded by 100,000 troops, and they will not want to attack it for a while. ”

Guo Fen said: "Can you keep Xishan and Yanjing!" ”

Tang Renyi said: "The order that the last general received was only to protect Xishan, protect his wife and son, and Yanjing's affairs. It has nothing to do with the end. ”

Guo Fen was angry for a while: "You! Then he thought of something and asked, "What else did the marshal explain before leaving?" ”

"Nothing." Tang Renyi said: "The only thing is to protect my wife in case of change." ”

Guo Fen snorted and said, "Then did he give you a gold medal for avoiding death?" ”

Tang Renyi was stunned: "Death-free gold medal? We Datang have this thing? ”

"Of course not!" Guo Fen said angrily: "So if you are blocking me, I will behead you for disobeying the king's order!" Another lieutenant is here! ”

Tang Renyi said: "It's a different person, and it's also this order!" ”

Guo Fen said angrily: "Then I won't change people, I'll lead the troops myself!" There are only 1,000 people, and I can't control it? Field battles are also good. Guarding the mountain, I may not be inferior to you men! ”

After all, Guo Fen is not a concubine who grew up in the deep palace, and even Zhang Mai may not be able to stop the anger of the crown. What's more, Tang Renyi? She instructed Tang Renyi to guard the West Mountain, changed into a military uniform, and led twenty female soldiers and one hundred elite horsemen. It's going to go down the mountain.

Tang Renyi persuaded again. Guo Fen sneered: "Don't say that there are only some rogues near Youzhou now, even if there is really a Khitan army to arrive, I can kill it back!" You want to worry! ”

One hundred and twenty horsemen, the female red tassel male Mingjia, went down the West Mountain and drove into Youzhou City.

――――――――――

When the soldiers and civilians of Youzhou heard the news of Guo Fen's entry into the city, they came to greet each other.

The younger citizens were all amazed when they saw Guo Fen wearing bright light armor, but several old gentry stepped forward and hugged the horse's legs. Speechless, just tears. looked very flustered, and seeing Guo Fen was like seeing a savior.

Many others shouted, "Here comes the mother!" That's good, that's good! ”

What does this mean? It's not necessarily that they think that Guo Fen can protect them, but most people think that as long as Guo Fen is here, then the country's army will always try to protect Niangniang, right? As long as you are with Guo Fen, you will be protected.

Guo Fen comforted them, but there was a burst of irritability in his heart, and he said in his heart: "The enemy hasn't approached yet, why is Duzhong so in a hurry?" It is said that Yan Zhao is a good man, why is the popularity of Youzhou so inferior to that of Liangzhou? If the Liao, Jin and Shu families besieged the northwest, they would not have seen any chaos in Liangzhou! ”

Her thoughts were blinded by the atmosphere in front of her.

At the beginning, the Liangzhou City was based on the Han people who moved all the way from Anxi, and these people dared to go into battle even if they were women, children and the elderly, so they were not shocked in the face of war, and they would not be discouraged because of a little rumor.

As for Youzhou since it was relocated by the Khitan, there are almost no locals in the city, and now the residents of Youzhou, not to mention the low-level laborers, the middle class and the upper class, either the family members of officials in Beijing, or the merchants who came to Beijing, as well as the gentry and their families from Hebei, these people are powerful and powerful, and they have led the atmosphere of Youzhou. As for the Tiance military dependents who moved from the northwest, these people have experienced many major events, but they are not surprised, and at this time, they mostly do their own work in their respective homes, and they do not come to greet Guo Fen like a savior. Those who are not afraid do not make a sound, but those who are afraid are running around the streets, but it seems that the whole city is shocked.

Feng Dao was also in the ranks of greetings, after Guo Fen entered the city, he directly invited her to go to the correction platform, and held a large court meeting for the correction of the imperial history to observe, the Privy Council of the Government Council, the Hanlin Yuan of the Imperial History Correction and Supervision of the Imperial History, all who could arrive arrived, this day was the end of May, the weather was quite hot, but Guo Fen swept his eyes, and many people were quite shrunken.

She slapped the table and shouted, "What's the matter with the Privy Council!" What's going on with the military towns everywhere! How can it hit people right under their noses in the blink of an eye! ”

When she slapped the table, the room was startled at first, and then whispered and discussed.

Lu Jialing and Cao Yuanzhong looked at each other, their faces were ashamed, Cao Yuanzhong said: "In Hebei and Shandong, there are military towns and military governments, and the local county and township clans are jointly protected, interlocking, solid as a rock, if there are thieves, the armor will move, if the thief is big, the military government will be dispatched, and the military government cannot be controlled, so the military town will be dispatched." But on the Yanjing side, since the Khitan moved the Yan people, now there are only a few county populations, and the countryside is uninhabited, and the place where the incident occurred is the eastern coast, from the sea to Youzhou, which is two hundred miles of wilderness. Except for the five places of Hejin, Xianghe, Wuqing, Anci, Yuyang, and Luxian, all other places have only the military town system on paper, and they will be rebuilt when the population recovers in the future, and there are not many defenders now. ”

Guo Fen was stunned for a moment, and also remembered this situation.

The land of the swallow thistle has prospered rapidly in recent years, but this rapid prosperity depends on commerce, and only Youzhou, Hejin, Tianjin and other places have rapidly gathered population, but in other places, especially the vast rural and rural areas, it is not a matter of a few years for the population to recover.

Originally, Fan Zhen and others had asked for immigrants from other places, "the population of Gyeonggi in Esh", but Zhang Mai refused, and he only kept a few traffic arteries to Yanjing, leaving other places to be deserted, and it seemed that he had other plans.

Cao Yuanzhong continued: "Our current layout in the Yanjing area can curb the movement of the army, but the flow of small groups of organized bandits in the open land, without the cooperation of the township and county security armor, it will be difficult to effectively stop it for a while. ”

Guo Fen said: "What kind of shape is Yanjing now?" ”

Cao Yuanzhong said: "Xiao Zhili has already occupied Shicheng County, but several troops and horses have rushed to support Li Yancong, so Xiao Zhili did not dare to go east for a while. Over there in Tianjin, I have already received news that the head of his army is Du Chongwei, the thief! Although he has a lot of soldiers and horses, but our army has been so that he can not cross the river, Tianjin, there are several effective corrections and imperial history calls, and now Tianjin is also stable. ”

Guo Fen said again: "Then Youzhou has been haunted by Huma many times in the past two days, what's going on?" How many soldiers and horses are there in Youzhou City now? ”

Cao Yuanzhong said: "The Khitan army is still on the periphery, so it will not be forced to the city of Youzhou, and the people and horses that have recently appeared in the eastern suburbs should be the Khitan harassing rangers, or sentinels, or fine happing, but they just disturb the law and order, and there is no obstacle to the overall situation." As for the city of Youzhou, not counting the auxiliaries, there are three cavalry mansions, six infantry mansions, and one engineer mansion, a total of ten prefectures. ”

An imperial historian exclaimed: "Isn't that only 10,000 people?" ”

Martial arts scholar Ding Hanshan snorted and said, "How many people is there in Youzhou now?" Ten thousand defenders is already too much! ”

At this moment, a battle report came urgently, and Guo Fen waved his hand and said, "Read it!" ”

"Urgent! The Khitan has been rumored to invade the west, with its regent Yelu Li Hu in command, the army is claimed to be 500,000, and the vanguard has been out of Yuguan! Shicheng County Xiao Zhili also has a tendency to march into the army. ”

As soon as the battle report was reported, the entire correction station was in an uproar, shouting one after another, not knowing what they were talking about. One of the most prominent voices was the unanimous cry out, "That's good!" ”

Guo Fen saw the chaos at the scene, and she was even more irritable, she recalled Lu Jialing Cao Yuanzhong and said: "The Khitan invaded westward on a large scale, Yanjing is in danger, what should happen now?" ”

Cao Yuanzhong was silent, and Lu Jialing said: "The marshal is on a tour of the west, and the head of the military is absent, but there is a major national defense matter, and a court meeting must be held to make a decision, so the command is not effective." In the current form, the Privy Council must be given the power to make decisions on the spot, so as to oversee the Yanjing war! ”

When Guo Fen heard this, his heart moved, and he said, "Okay, let General Yingyang enter Beijing to take charge of the Privy Council." ”

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―――――――― (To be continued......)