Wang Yanzhi sat cross-legged on the kang proudly, and said to General Lu Xiao and Deputy General Li: "Prince Chu has given a reply, and tomorrow he will hand over those who defected to us, and the corpses of Zhao Jie and Xu Man are also included." ”

Vice Admiral Li asked, "How many are still alive?" ”

"Only five people died."

"That is to say, there are still forty-eight people alive," Vice General Li frowned and asked, "How will these people be handled, will they be sent back to the capital for disposal, or will they be executed on the spot?" ”

"No execution," Wang Yan said: "The first crime is Zhao Jie and Xu Man, since the two of them are dead, these soldiers will naturally be dealt with separately." ”

"How can this be, they are soldiers who follow Zhao Jie to commit treason." If such people are not killed, how will they manage the soldiers in the future?

Wang Yan took out a booklet and a letter to show him, "The booklet is a list of all the people who followed Zhao Jie's rebellion this time, including the more than 400 people who were captured by you. The letter was written by a personal soldier who fled to Chu with Zhao Jie, named Qiao Chong. ”

Wang Yan said: "I asked the soldiers you captured, they were confused from beginning to end, and they didn't know what happened until they came into contact with you, if you hadn't yelled, they wouldn't have known that Zhao Jie was going to take them to commit treason." ”

Adjutant General Li was silent.

"Those soldiers who have died really don't know how they died until they die," Wang Yan said: "I think that except for his henchmen, only the generals and lieutenants who followed him know about the rebellion, and the rest of the soldiers don't know about it." ”

Vice Admiral Li asked depressedly, "Then they won't deal with it?" ”

"It's not that you don't deal with it, but you don't use killing as a means," Wang Yan paused and said: "This is a matter in your army, and I don't want to interfere, but this Qiao Chong said that they really didn't know that Zhao Jie was going to commit treason, so they followed him to Chu in a daze, and he was willing to lead people to kill Zhao Jie and Xu Mancheng." ”

"I think that Zhao Jie may really commit suicide, but Xu Man's death may really be done by them, and they can be regarded as a meritorious service based on this, so it should be regarded as atonement."

After Wang Yan finished speaking, he looked at the two of them and asked with blazing eyes, "What do you two think?" ”

Vice General Li turned his head directly to look at General Lu Xiao, "This is your Lu family's army, so naturally you should make up your mind." ”

General Lu Xiao frowned and said, "I don't have an opinion, but this army may not be in my hands, I'm afraid that I will have to wait for His Majesty to send someone to solve it." ”

Wang Yan raised his eyebrows and asked casually, "Why, your father doesn't take back this part of the military power?" Zhao Jie is dead, this is a rare opportunity. ”

General Lu smiled and said, "Father naturally has to listen to Your Majesty." ”

Vice General Li's heart moved, Wang Yan also lowered his eyes and pondered, and did not say anything about those soldiers, but the general direction had been set, first get the people back and lock them up, and wait for the arrival of the new general to deal with it.

The chief entourage sent General Lu Xiao and Vice General Li away, and then brought refreshments to Wang Yan, and asked in a low voice, "Master, our family wants to fight for this military power?" ”

Wang Yan raised his eyes and smiled, nodded and said, "You are really a roundworm in your stomach, and I can't hide anything from you." ”

He fell back, leaned on the pillow and said: "In the troubled times, only by holding the military power can you be invincible, you look at the Zhao family, but there are only three generations, and only Zhao Jie is one of the top five families in the south of the Yangtze River, why?" It's not because he has soldiers. ”

"My Wang clan has all the prestige and talents, and if I have military power at this time, even if I can't compare with the Lu clan and the Cui clan for a while, it won't be too bad in the future."

"But there is no son in the clan who serves in the army."

Wang Yan touched his chin and said, "I remember that the third master of the twelfth room has a cousin and nephew who is now a general in the army?" ”

"Ouch, how many rooms have been separated by that, you remember when you are tired."

"Get out, hurry up and grind the ink, I'll talk to Brother Lobby, he still has to run this matter."

Chang Sui farts and brought pen and ink, "Do you want to hand it over to the post station, or will we send someone to deliver it?" ”

"Let's send it ourselves, hurry up, the news of Zhao Jie's death will be transmitted back to the capital, and the next thing is to discuss the ownership of this army, we can't be too late."

"This is the Lu family's army, and General Lu Xiao is here ...... again"

"Don't worry," Wang Yan raised his eyebrows and said, "It is impossible for anyone to give this military power to the Lu family." ”

His finger pointed at his thigh and said: "Zhao Jie is Lu Zhen's subordinate in the end, he made such a big mistake, His Majesty is generous without asking about the crime, how can he still think about grabbing the military power?" ”

"And back then, Your Majesty transferred Zhao Jie from the Northeast Army and inserted it into the Lu family's army, in order to divide Lu Zhen's power, and it was easy for this part of the military power to be separated, how could Your Majesty be willing to give it to the Lu family again?" Wang Yan said with a smile: "So, the Lu family, the Cui family and the Zhong family don't have to think about it, they all have military power in their hands." So there is also the advantage of not having military power. ”

Chang Sui took the letter and went down, chose a confidant to deliver the letter, and when he returned to the main room, Wang Yan was picking up Qiao Chong's letter to read.

"This person is not bad, if he can get out of Chu alive, and stay when the time comes, maybe he can help my Wang family."

Chang glanced at the probe, "Qiao Chong?" Oh, I remember him, a native of Suzhou, Jiangnan. ”

"How do you remember?"

"Didn't the lord tell me to copy the soldiers' roster...... Woooooooo ”

Wang Yan shook his hand in disgust, "You keep quiet, do you want General Lu Xiao and Vice General Li to know about it?" ”

Chang Sui couldn't help but roll his eyes and said, "Master, this is the backyard of the Thorn Mansion." ”

Think everyone is like you, collecting news everywhere and planting people everywhere?

Wang Yan stared at the letter and said secretly: "Suzhou, Jiangnan? ”

He always had a sense of foreboding.

Zhao Jie and Xu Man were dead, and it was useless for the Prince of Chu to keep these rebels, so he handed over everyone, including the corpses, to Wang Yan early the next morning, and of course, he searched thoroughly before leaving.

Qiao Chong and the others were all wearing the new clothes he sent, even the socks and the cloth towel on their heads were new, no way, the old old elephants were left, and they had to be cut and checked.

Chu couldn't let people go bare, so they gave them a new one.

Qiao Chong and others carried the bodies of Zhao Jie and others on stretchers, and Wang Yan collected the bodies after checking that it was himself, and Qiao Chong and others were temporarily locked up.

However, it will not be closed for too long, and after the interrogation, they will definitely be arranged with some of the hardest and most tiring work, and then they will be dealt with after the new general comes.

As for what kind of work is the hardest and most tiring, such as going to the mountains to quarry stones and build a military station.

Qiao Chong and the others went without regrets, in their opinion, as long as they could live, it was enough not to be beheaded.

After inquiring about Wang Yan, Qiao Chong was also given the treatment of writing a letter to his family, which was regarded as a reward for him to take refuge in the initiative.

Wang Yan said that he would let the post station help him deliver it.

Qiao Chong was moved to tears, since he joined the army, he has been sending letters to his family, and he can always receive letters from home in the first few years.

But in the past two years, he either followed Zhao Jie to the southern expedition, or followed to Jiangling, the place was uncertain, so he cut off contact, he sent a letter to his family, but he didn't know if the merchant who sent the letter had an accident, and his father seemed to know nothing about his whereabouts.

The letter in his arms had only been received by Zhao Jie on the morning of the rebellion with them, or had been delivered to him by a merchant who was familiar with him.

Said that the merchant who received the letter with his father did not find him after arriving in Lingzhou, because he knew that he was familiar with him, so he gave him the trust, and he also inquired for half a year before he knew that he was in Jiangling, but he had not been able to find the opportunity to send it, and he happened to come to Jiangling to do business this time, so he brought the letter by the way.

Qiao Chong looked at the date, the letter was written the year before last, when he was on the southern expedition, no wonder it didn't reach him.

Qiao Chong was eager to know what was going on at home, so he was especially grateful for Wang Yan's leniency.

Wang Yan touched the mustache on his lips with a smile, and said happily: "Look, in time, the master will accept another person." ”

Long with the long should be.

At this time, Qiao Chong's father Uncle Qing had just come out of the Lin family's courtyard, and he had come to deliver dried wild mushrooms to the courtyard.

This year, the rain is good, the rice grows well, and the wheat is about to be harvested, he came to receive the subsidized sickle, and the villagers are grateful to their aunt and grandmother, so they dried the mushrooms picked at home and asked him to send them, so it is a little heart.

Although he didn't see his aunt and grandmother, Butler Lin accepted all the things he sent, and Uncle Qing was very happy.

Lin Qingwan, who was in the study, was also very happy, she took the letter and said with a smile: "Your Majesty has promised to let Lin Xin take over Zhao Jie's army." ”

Yi Han's face also flashed with joy, and he bowed down and said, "Congratulations to my aunt." ”

Lin Qingwan couldn't help laughing: "Tongxi, Tongxi, this is a big happy event, tell the kitchen that we have to have a good meal today." ”

After a pause, she said, "Invite the patriarch, the four princes haven't drunk since they came, so I'll invite them to drink tonight." This time, thanks to His Royal Highness, it wouldn't have gone so smoothly. ”

"I don't know if Zhao Jie will commit suicide," Yi Han said suddenly: "If he doesn't die, I'm afraid it will be very difficult for Young Master Xin to take over the deployment of Jiangling." ”

Lin Qingwan's joy decreased slightly, but after thinking about it, she said with relief: "Young man, it's always good to hone more, it's hard to be difficult, and the Lin family will always help him." ”

"That's right, it's always a good thing to believe that Young Master can be in charge of the army." Yi Han turned around and was about to go down, and after a pause, he asked, "Do you want to tell the patriarch about this?" ”

"Let's not talk about it yet, wait for the emperor to make a holy decree," Lin Qingwan said: "Now that the matter has not been made public, it is not good for us to say it." ”

Yi Han understood, so he turned around and retreated.

Lin Qingwan patted the letter in her hand, put it in the box and locked it, and then picked up the pen to write a reply to Ren Shang.

As early as a few days ago, the emperor was worried about the selection of the new guard general in Jiangling, and several ministers in the court and the central government have been arguing, and the emperor has not decided who to give this part of the military power.

Knowing this, he realized that it seemed that in addition to a few major families, there were still too few generals he could use.

Lin Qingwan was thinking as early as when Zhao Jie fled to the Chu State, who will the military power of Jiangling be handed over to in the future?

It is better to hand it over to anyone than to hand it over to the Lin family to make people feel at ease, but Lin Xin is the only one in the Lin family in the army, but unfortunately he is too young and his qualifications are too shallow, so I am afraid that he will not be able to convince the public.

But even if she couldn't convince the public, Lin Qingwan still wrote an excerpt to recommend Lin Xin, and by the way, she also recruited the four princes who were close in front of her and Ren Shangshu, who was far away in the capital, to help.