The Beiping Army in the tenth month of the lunar calendar of the eighth year of Xiande was very lively because of the great changes in the military defense area. At the same time, Kaifeng City, thousands of miles away, after the hectic and disturbance at the beginning of the new monarch's accession to the throne, has gradually entered the right track, gradually returning to the normal operation mode before Chai Rong's death, and slowly calming down.

It's just that the calm of Kaifeng City is only a superficial phenomenon, and under the calm and usual appearance of the Later Zhou Dynasty, there is an undercurrent surging, and it has a tendency to intensify. Whether it is the emperor Chai Zongxun or the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, as long as they are not careful, they may be swallowed up by the dangerous and deadly whirlpool that is dense in the undercurrent, and become the victim of this political struggle that is already about to come. The impetus for stirring up this huge political undercurrent is naturally the political shili of all parties who have the strength and ambition to compete for that dragon chair, and the reason why these political shili are so impatient and willing to take risks is that the deployment of those military generals who have been on Chai Rong's "blacklist" continues to be effectively implemented after their deaths.

Although Chai Zongxun is the young ruler, there are many civil servants and military generals of the auxiliary political country left by Chai Rong. In addition to Zhao Kuangyin, Zhang Yongde and other military generals who were no longer fully trusted by Chai Rong and began to cut their wings during his lifetime, as well as those civil servants who depended on them, there were also military generals like Han Tong who held military power and were loyal to the Later Zhou Dynasty in the Later Zhou court, as well as Wen Chen like Fan Zhen, Wang Pu, and Li Gu, who were loyal to the Chai clan and intended to do their best to assist the young lord. With Chai Rong's burial in Qingling, the government began to resume normal operations, and Han Tong, Fan Zhen, Wang Pu and others handed over secret folds one after another, suggesting that the imperial court continue to implement the deployment of the first emperor to weaken the military generals that might be detrimental to the dynasty.

For Chai Zongxun, who is only nine years old, it is naturally impossible to understand the meaning of these secret folds, and it needs to be decided by his mother, that is, the Empress Dowager Xiaofu of Hou Zhou, and Concubine Lin Xiaoyu, who has enough insight and political sensitivity, and Chai Rong confessed to Empress Xiaofu before his death that he can make decisions on military and state affairs.

Whether it is Concubine Lin Xiaoyu, who once discussed the "Kuroki Weiwei" incident with Chai Rong in detail, and took the initiative to propose that he should respond to all changes with unchanged on the surface, and secretly vigorously suppressed the military ministers of the DPRK and China, or the Empress Dowager Xiaofu, who had a limited understanding of politics, held Chai Rong's secret edict and promised to abide by the edict, they are all firm supporters of Chai Rong's policy of weakening the military power of military generals. Therefore, the two of them agreed with the secret letter handed by Han Tong, Fan Zhen, Wang Pu and others to continue to implement the relevant policy of reducing military power. As a result, with the mutual cooperation of the inner court and the outer court, the action of reducing military power, which was temporarily suspended due to Chai Rong's death, was launched again.

Of course, in this era of emphasizing "the reputation of the teacher," it is not in accordance with the rules to suddenly cut off the functions and powers of important officials of the imperial court and the head of the army for no reason -- the matter of "punishing without teaching" is definitely something that a wise monarch can do, even if the monarch is only nine years old. Therefore, the relevant work of reducing military power was accompanied by a series of rewarding the DPRK's Chinese military ministers, and was carried out in the form of rising and falling secretly, and replacing reality with fiction. For example, while sealing the former Right Yulin Commandery, the Quan Xingzhou Jiedu Envoy, the Inspector Taibao, and Zhao Kuangyin's righteous brother Li Jixun as the Xingzhou Jie Du Envoy and the Inspector Taifu, he was dismissed from his position as the Right Yulin Commandery; At the same time as sealing the former Hujie Left Wing Commander, Yuezhou Defense Envoy, and Inspector Situ, and Zhao Kuangyin's brother-in-law Gao Huaide as the Kuizhou Jiedu Envoy and the Inspector Taibao, he revoked his military post as the commander of the Hujie Left Chamber, and so on. Except for a small number of those vacant military posts who were directly promoted by the deputies of the dismissed generals, most of the others were taken over by officers who were considered to be not party members of Zhao Kuangyin, Zhang Yongde and others in the pro-military division of the guards, and had similar official positions. In this way, it not only weakened the shili of Zhao, Zhang and others, but also ensured the combat effectiveness of the troops in front of the palace to a certain extent.

The various measures taken by the imperial court to weaken the military power made Zhang Yongde, Zhao Kuangyin and others, who had just breathed a sigh of relief because of Chai Rong's death, nervous again, and they were really "in the eyes and anxious in their hearts". While using all the energy they can to obstruct and delay the weakening of military power, the DPRK and China have begun to respond with all their strength and make active preparations, intending to take risks when things are irretrievable, solve all the problems they face by force, and realize their "lofty" ideals and ambitions. In this way, the attitude of the Beiping Army, which has the strength and ability to exert influence on the political situation in Kaifeng, is particularly important.

Therefore, although a lot of information about the possible attitude of the Beiping Army towards the political turmoil in Kaifeng has been found through various channels and methods, it can roughly show that the Beiping Army is not in the Central Plains. And the Beiping army went out to the north to carry out the northern expedition at the same time as Chai Rong's death, and fought against the Khitans, which also strongly proved from another angle that the Beiping army was determined to destroy Liao. However, what he will do in the near future is, after all, a major matter that has a bearing on himself, his family, and the lives of his subordinates and henchmen, and before he really puts it into practice, he must be 100 percent sure that the Beiping Army will not intervene and must solve all his worries. Therefore, whether it is Zhang Yongde, Zhao Kuangyin, or other ambitious Later Zhou courtiers, they all invariably shifted their attention to the north and focused on the Beiping Army again, trying to completely find out whether the strategic focus of the Beiping Army was indeed in the Khitans, and whether they would definitely ignore the turmoil and regime change in Kaifeng City.

Thanks to his advantages in intelligence, the first to start a new round of news investigation was Zhang Yongde, who owned "Feiyantang". As early as the middle of September of the lunar calendar of the eighth year of Xiande, when the Northern Expeditionary Force of the Beiping Army had not yet retreated, Zhang Yongde had already sent his confidants to Luxian (Tongzhou) with his own handwritten letter to meet Zhang Yan, give new orders to the other party, and wait for him to complete the task before returning to Kaifeng City with new news.

After receiving a letter from her father-in-law, Zhang Yan did not dare to slack off. While arranging for the messenger to go down to rest, she summoned her subordinates to assign tasks.

Since he wanted to explore the movements of the Beiping Army, Zhang Yan's first thought was naturally Fan Wucheng's line. Therefore, without waiting for the subordinates who entered the secret room to stand in their positions, she hurriedly ordered: "Deputy Hall Master Shi, you will immediately leave for Beiping City and join in with that Fan Wucheng." He asked him to try his best to find out the future movements of the Beiping Army, and quickly report it to the master of the hall. ”

"Subordinates receive orders." Shi Ran replied when he heard this. With the arrival of the second group of spies who went north to support the Beiping Army, even if it was only a few people who survived by luck, the Beiping branch of the "Feiyan Hall" was finally established very reluctantly, and Shi Ran, who was deeply appreciated and trusted by Zhang Yan, naturally had to change accordingly. Although out of the need for balance, and considering that Shi Ran was indeed inferior to Liu Jingming in terms of qualifications and experience, Shi Ran was only appointed as the deputy head of the Beiping Branch. However, in the management of the daily affairs of the branch, the distribution of personnel, the implementation of tasks, and other specific work, Shi Ran played a role not much less than Liu Jingming, and the prestige and connections of the two people in the Beiping branch hall were on par - this is also the balance and restraining effect that Zhang Yan hopes to see the most.

On the afternoon of the 16th day of the ninth lunar month of the eighth year of Xiande, Shi Ran arrived in Beiping City and stayed in the inn where he usually lived, and after a short rest, he left the inn and went to the street.

After scurrying around in Beiping City and confirming that he was indeed not being watched, Shi Ran made a big circle and came to the secret contact point agreed with Fan Wucheng, and drew the sign asking to meet the other party in the old place on an inconspicuous wall. Then he pretended to leave as if nothing had happened, and went around a long way before returning to the inn.

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