In the first month of the seventh year, Wang Meng, the governor of Xingdu, summoned Zhang Ping into Chang'an, wanting to collect and merge the state and rebel, and called himself the King of Han and Da Dan Yu. In March, King Ming officially opened his mansion in Chang'an, setting up the Wuchang Mansion and the Zhenbei General's Mansion, and its military name was Zhenbei Army and Beifu Soldiers.

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Zeng Hua and his entourage drove quickly, but they were accompanied by Mao Anzhi and Jiang Kui's family, and no matter how fast they were, they couldn't get up quickly, and they arrived in Xiangyang on February 17. At this time, Yin Hao of the Eastern Route Army of the Northern Expedition had already waved his army out of Jiankang until Hefei, preparing to re-enter Shouchun, join Xie Shang and Xun Xian, and swear to the Northern Expedition. And Huan Wen, the middle route army of the Northern Expedition, has moved from Wuchang to Xiangyang, but he is cleaning up General Anbei and Sima Xun, the assassin of Sizhou.

Since Sima Xun was instigated by Zeng Hua to go on the Northern Expedition, he desperately recruited troops and horses, and made Nanxiang County and Yiyang County jump, and the people of Nanxiang and Yiyang were forced to have no choice but to flee south to Xiangyang or west to Weixing County. After some tossing, Sima Xun finally expanded his soldiers and horses to nearly 20,000 people, but no one knew how much combat strength there was.

In the first month, the imperial court issued an edict announcing the Northern Expedition. Sima Xun was happy and found a strange problem, he was no longer in Huan Wen's control. According to the division of the edict, Sima Xun found that he was in the middle road, but he was under the jurisdiction of Yin Hao of the east road. Sima Xun's small abacus was immediately pulled open, and he immediately sent a letter to Yin Hao, who was just popular, asking for the latest instructions. While waiting for instructions, he put his troops and horses across Yiyang County, between Xiangyang and Nanyang, and his intention was self-evident.

When Huan Wen received this information, he just sneered. On the one hand, he wanted to worship Sima Xun as the forward commander of the Middle Route Army, and on the other hand, he sent his younger brother Huan Chong to lead 20,000 cavalry into Deng County, directly threatening Sima Xun and preparing to take down this anti-bone boy in one fell swoop.

By the time Zeng Hua came to Xiangyang, the imperial edict had already come down, and Sima Xun was transferred to the general of the conquest, except for the history of the Sizhou assassin, and was placed under the jurisdiction of Huan Wen.

Sima Xun was dumbfounded, he didn't expect that at this time, the imperial court would never offend Huan Wen for a small one. Bad Northern Expedition big event. Sima Xun was helpless. I had to go to Xiangyang in person to plead guilty.

Under Zeng Hua's "persuasion". Huan Wen "forgiven" Sima Xun, continued to worship him as the forward commander, led the siege of Nanyang, worshiped Huan Chong as the general of Wuwei, and led 20,000 horses out of Xinye. He led the way and rode 20,000 yuan, and then set off.

Zeng Hua and Huan Wen had a two-day discussion in detail, discussing the various possibilities and countermeasures of sending troops to Heluo. On the third day, Zeng Hua gathered Qi and Deng Yao's family, leaving a sum of money and grain to Yuan Fangping, who wanted to stay and guard the system. After some careful advice, he continued to go north, straight into Weixing County, passed through Luo County, went to Chang'an from Lantian Pass, and finally arrived in Chang'an on the third day of the third month of March.

When Zeng Hua came to Chang'an, he found that Chang'an was in a tense atmosphere.

Zeng Hua left Chang'an to go to Jiankang to face the saint, and gave all the power of Guanlong and Yiliang to Wang Meng, who had not been in the new investment for a long time. The "leadership" who knew Wang Meng's ability had no opinion. On the contrary, I feel that Zeng Hua's committee is appropriate. But here's a different view. In particular, those middle- and low-level officials who had been promoted with Zeng Hua when they fled from Tuntian in the middle of the country or in the south were very dissatisfied with the fact that Wang Meng, who was not a famous person in Jiangzuo and had taken refuge in the past, actually climbed on their heads.

They didn't dare to have any opinions on Zeng Hua. So he looked at Wang Meng with resentful eyes.

After Wang Meng dealt with the rebellions in various places, gathered the powerful people in various places, and sent them to the places where they should go, he continued to deal with military and political affairs in a step-by-step and planned manner.

First of all, the government took advantage of the winter leisure season to ask the local government organizations to recruit enough people to overhaul water conservancy projects and overhaul bridges and roads in various localities. The water conservancy project focuses on the Guanzhong Plain, the Chengdu Plain and the Shui (Hanjiang) Basin, and strives to restore and expand the agricultural infrastructure there, gradually restoring these three places into the granary of Tianfu. The focus of roads and bridges is still Guanlong Avenue and the roads of Yongzhou and Liangzhou. The avenue was leveled and widened, and a large number of bridges and pontoon bridges were built on the rivers such as Wei, Jing, Wei, Feng, Li, Chan, Ba, and Jiang, which made the traffic in the Guanlong Yiliang area more and more convenient, and there were more and more business travelers walking.

On the basis of continuing to develop the transportation of Yiliang and Yiqin to the south, Wang Meng began to plan the development of the road to Beidi and Shuofang north of Yongzhou, so as to facilitate the use of troops in the north in the future.

In military affairs, he began to implement the new military system, military discipline, and military merit regulations that had been discussed with everyone and approved by Zeng Hua. In the new regulations, the army under Zeng Hua's jurisdiction is more clearly divided into the box army and the government army, and it is more strictly stipulated that in peacetime, the general shall not command the army and the government army stationed in various places, and only after obtaining the authorization and appointment of the general's office can he lead the box army and government soldiers who have been recruited by the general's palace to go out to the army. The terms of military discipline and military merit have also become more detailed and clear.

In December of the sixth year of Yonghe, Zhang Ping, the assassin of Northern Zhao and Prefecture, sent Chang'an to ask for surrender. Wang Meng knew that this was Zhang Ping's plan to seek temporary peace, and according to the report of the spies who explored Ma Si, Luoyang and the city also had Zhang Ping's envoys.

Wang Meng is welcome. On the one hand, he asked Zhang Ping to come to Chang'an to take up his post and allow Guan Long's army to enter Bingzhou. Sure enough, as Wang Meng expected, Zhang Ping immediately reversed when he received Wang Meng's letter, calling himself King Han and Da Shan Yu.

Wang Meng doesn't care about Zhang Ping's rehabilitation, Zhang Ping is not capable of posing a threat to Guan Long now, and now Chang'an is Jiangzuo's biggest spokesperson in Jiangbei, this superficial effort has already been done, and you have to rebel, so Guan Long has an excuse to crusade "on the orders of the Son of Heaven".

On the one hand, Wang Meng began to prepare for the conquest of the northern Shuofang and the annexation of the state. However, the official recruitment work should not start until Zeng Hua returns to Chang'an, and the commanders of this expedition should be himself and Xie Ai. Wang Meng knows Zeng Hua's mind very well, he knows that his family's ambition is not only this, which is also one of the reasons why Wang Meng is willing to follow Zeng Hua. Since you have great ambitions, you must have a group of talents under your command. Wang Meng felt that Zeng Hua's ability to collect people was still very good, although the current Guan Longyiliang was not the place that gathered the most talents in the world, but it was the place where the average talent ability was the strongest, but it was still in the dormant period, so it would not be known by the world.

Zeng Hua's subordinates were divided into three parts. The first is the talents dug from Huan Wen and Jiang Zuo, these people are not many, but because of the high starting point, they now occupy an important position in Guanlongdi, such as Mao Muzhi, Che Yin and others. The second is the people who followed Zeng Hua from the south and Fuzhong Tuntian, as well as the talents who were subdued in Yizhou, Qiuchi, and Xiqiang, all of which are Zeng Hua's descendants, except for Zeng Hua, the emperor and Laozi. These people are very widely distributed. It occupies various inconspicuous but extremely important key positions. Especially in the military. The third is to recruit and collect talents in Guanlong, and the quality of these people is higher than that of the second group of people, but they are different from the first group of people, and the biggest difference is in the attitude towards Jiang Zuo. The third group of people is more pragmatic, and their loyalty to Jiankang is not as loyal to Zeng Hua as personally.

Wang Meng now understands Zeng Huadi's intentions, and his own adults are trying their best to promote the third group of people to the top and occupy real power step by step. It's completely possible to compete with the first group of people. He and Xie Ai are the people led by the third group of people, Zeng Hua naturally wants to try his best to put the two of them in high positions and important positions, and the best way to get to the top is military merit.

On this day, when Wang Meng returned to his house from the Governor's Mansion, he was stopped by a car on the road to complain

... There is a large merchant Sun family, who has a lot of money. He also relied on his brother-in-law to be the captain of Yongzhou (in charge of the Yongzhou government soldiers) Ou Quanzi. It is a frustrated old man who has followed Zeng Hua for many years, bullying and dominating the market, and forcibly buying and selling. The Tian family was not obedient for a while. The Sun family sent someone to burn down his shop, and burned a younger brother and three men of the Tian family to death. The person who set the fire was also caught red-handed by the patrol, and he was taken to the Nanzheng Patrol Division for interrogation and confessed that it was instigated by the Sun family.

But when the matter got to Nanzheng Inspector Criminal Division, it turned sour, because the criminal officer was Ou Quanzi's old comrade-in-arms, and he also came out of depression together. Because of this relationship, the criminal judge, who has always enforced the law impartially, gave a light sentence to the surnamed Sun, and attributed all the local crimes to those who did it.

The Tian family was not satisfied and appealed to the Liangzhou Inspector for grievances, but the Liangzhou Inspector upheld the original verdict and remanded the case. The Sun family was even more arrogant, and actually led someone to beat the men of the Tian family violently, which made the old father of the Tian family hurt and angry.

Tian Shangshang ran to Chang'an with the help of the neighborhood, ready to appeal to Zeng Daren for grievances, but found that Zeng Daren had gone to Jiankang to report on his work. But he was not discouraged and stopped Wang Meng, who was the governor of Xingdu.

As soon as Wang Meng heard about the case, he was shocked. didn't expect to hit Guan Long, and the "upstarts" couldn't wait to come out to show off and make trouble.

Wang Meng took the case after thinking about it silently, and then informed Jing Zhao Yin Cheyin, who was acting for administrative affairs, and Liu Nu, who was the general consul of the criminal officer, and the three of them were together, and first sent the cavalry of the Xiang Army to rush to Nanzheng, and escorted the Liangzhou Inspector and Criminal Officer of Nanzheng, the Nanzheng Inspector and the Sun family and other relevant people and witnesses back to Chang'an together with all the evidence.

Then the three of them were tried, and the case quickly came to light. The Sun family relied on power and oppressed the people, and the Liangzhou Inspector and the Nanzheng Inspector joined forces to protect and protect them. In the end, it will be handled by Wang Meng, who is the commander-in-chief.

Wang Meng didn't say a word, investigated the whole matter from beginning to end, and took the case as an opportunity to find out more than a dozen similar cases that occurred in Liang and Yong in one go, and found out 67 officials and 29 businessmen and squires who relied on power. Wang Meng gave an order, and the sixty-seven officials, gentry, and twenty-nine merchants were hung on wooden poles in accordance with the death penalty regulations.

This time the nest was blown up, and most of these ninety-six people were related to the "old man" who came out of frustration. Since the "Civil Mansion Daily" followed up on the whole case, the public opinion of the people was completely one-sided, and these people did not dare to come out to make trouble, so they had to settle the old account with Wang Meng and the new account.

These people were linked together, disobeyed Wang Meng's orders, and from time to time went to the Governor's Office where Wang Meng worked to make trouble, especially Ou Quanzi, and also ran to the Governor's Office to scold Wang Meng, scolding Wang Meng for not knowing how to hide in the corner before, and when the military master knocked down Guan Long, he ran to the military master, relying on evil words to bewitch the military master to invite favors, and as a result, the traitor climbed on everyone's head as a prestige.

Wang Meng couldn't help but be furious when he heard this, and called for Ou Quanzi to be beaten out with a stick left and right. At this time, Ou Quanzi was even more angry, blocking the door of the Metropolitan Governor's Office every day and scolding, causing the people to watch, and even appeared in the "Civil Mansion Daily".

When Zeng Hua returned to Chang'an, he couldn't help but be furious when he saw this scene, and immediately gathered all the more than 200 old subordinates in Chang'an, including dozens of troublesome old subordinates such as Ou Quanzi.

In front of Zeng Hua, those who were noisy and jumping in front of Wang Meng a few days ago did not dare to come out, and as Zeng Hua's eyes became gloomy, the more sweat on their heads became.

"You have grown up, and I heard that you have blocked the governor's office. Are you going to kick me out in two days? ”

Zeng Hua's tone was light, but everyone who heard this couldn't help but feel a chill, especially the dozens of troublemakers, who fell to their knees like an electric shock, and said they didn't dare to say again and again.

Zeng Hua looked coldly at the dozens of old subordinates who bowed their heads, and said for a long time: "You can go to the Criminal Bureau to collect the guilt yourself." Death or life is decided by Guangyun (Liu Nuzi). ”

Liu Nu bent down and arched his hand: "Yes, Lingling." ”

Ou Quanzi and the others suddenly looked like ashes, and the things they committed were all to collide with the officials, besiege the officials, disobey the orders of the superiors, and tie up privately, and hand them over to Liu Nu, who is known for his iron-faced selflessness, and they have to shed their skin if they don't die.

Zeng Hua stared at the standing and kneeling people, and continued: "I think that a few years ago, you either fled south with me to Jingxiang, and the dog who lost your home, panicking all day long, or you were depressed in Tuntian, working hard for a day's food and clothing. I didn't think that after a few years, you would be a landlord and a bully. Is this what you are doing with me? ”

Everyone knelt down and bowed their heads and said, "My subordinates don't dare!" ”

Zeng Hua continued: "I didn't bring you out to be a local lord bully, I wanted to take you to Yuntai Pavilion and live forever!" How can I go to Yuntai Pavilion? It is not by oppressing the people, let alone by being overbearing, it is to kill the enemy, recover the lost land, and glorify China! ”

Everyone was shocked, and couldn't help but say in unison: "The subordinates remember." ”

Zeng Hua turned to say: "Mr. Jingluo is talented, I am not as good as what happens, and it is my great luck that he is willing to assist me." In the future, if anyone dares to despise Mr. Jing Luo again, I will ask him to get out of his way and stop being my subordinate. Remember? ”

Everyone replied in unison, "Remember." ”

On the seventh day of the third month of the seventh year of Yonghe, Zeng Hua announced the official opening of the mansion in Chang'an, announcing that the military order would be issued by the Zhenbei General's Mansion and the government order would be issued by the Wuchang Mansion.

The Zhenbei General's Mansion is set up with left and right Sima, respectively served by Wang Meng and Xie Ai, and then divided into the Privy Council, the Infantry Division, the Cavalry Division, the Guard Division, the Navy Division, the Government Soldier Division, the Ordnance Supervisor, the Joint Logistics Division and other divisions. The Privy Council is responsible for the Military Analysis Staff; The four divisions of the Infantry Division, the Cavalry Division, the Guards Division, and the Naval Division are in charge of the infantry, cavalry, water and guard soldiers of the Chambers, and are responsible for the management, training, garrison, promotion, reward and punishment, and recruitment and dispatch of each Chamber, but they have no right to dispatch; The Department of Government Soldiers is responsible for the daily management of local government soldiers in peacetime, and has no right to dispatch; The Ordnance Superintendent is responsible for the supervision and procurement of military weapons; The Joint Logistics Department is responsible for the procurement of military rations, grass, clothing, hats, horses, and other things other than weapons. Each division is under the command of the left and right Sima respectively, and the order to dispatch troops and horses is directly issued by the general of Zhenbei.

The Wuchang Mansion has a long history, which is served by Che Yin and Pu respectively, and is divided into the Degree Branch Division (in charge of the audit of money and financial expenditure), the Department of Persuasion of Agriculture (in charge of the construction of bridges, roads, water conservancy, etc.), the Department of Transport (in charge of the construction of bridges, roads, water conservancy, etc.), the Department of Transport (in charge of water and land transportation and transshipment), the Department of Politics and Horses (in charge of the management of the militia and the persuasion of the people to be martial), the Department of Salt and Iron (in charge of the purchase and sale of salt, iron, copper, weapons and other materials in charge of the government), the Department of Education (in charge of education), the Department of Civil Affairs (in charge of household registration, home relief and orphan relief, etc.) and the Customs Department, Patrol Bureau, Interview and Observation Bureau, and other official offices.

The local law is still the same, but the judicial aspect has been changed, and the investigation power is still in the hands of the Patrol and Arrest Department, and the Criminal Investigation Department is changed to the Prosecution Division, which is in charge of the case submission, and then submits it to the magistrates of the newly established Judicial Office (the magistrate must be a prosecutor who has served for three years but is not at fault) for trial and decision.

After the completion of the opening of the mansion, Zeng Hua's Xiang army was called the Zhenbei Army, and the government soldiers were called the Beifu soldiers, and they began to sharpen their knives and prepare for a new expedition. At this time, Zeng Hua followed the opportunity to open the government and ordered Wang Meng and Pu to carry out a major cleanup of the officials in the subordinate prefectures, counties and counties, revitalize the law, and eliminate corruption.