End of March.

The war in Jinan Mansion City is still going on, tens of thousands of thieves and robbers in the face of the strong city defense of Jinan Mansion City can not be attacked for a long time, all kinds of thieves are seriously damaged, those old bandits have the intention of retreating, and then leave some thieves to drive the victims to continue to impact the city, and at the same time begin to divide troops to plunder the surrounding places, and there are constantly people everywhere who are coerced into the thieves army, the thieves are getting bigger and bigger, and the situation is becoming more and more severe.

At the same time, the bandits and soldiers in the area of Dongchang Mansion were also very active, and all prefectures and counties were attacked one after another, and many places were looted by the thieves and soldiers, and a large number of people and victims fled south and entered the territory of Yanzhou Prefecture.

Upon hearing the news, Liu Yan immediately ordered the personnel of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture to go north and set up many resettlement sites in the northern part of Yanzhou and Qingzhou Prefectures to resettle the people who had fled south. At the same time, Liu Yan ordered Wu Guojin to lead the intelligence department to accompany him to the north to strictly investigate the thieves and spies and prevent them from being mixed into Qinglai Town.

Now within the entire Shandong Metropolitan Division, only the four prefectures under the jurisdiction of Qinglai Town have been basically stabilized, and the thieves in Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Dengzhou, and Laizhou have been pacified.

Song Gongming also reported that the various industries of the Ministry of Commerce have begun to increase their output, and this year's goods will be sold in large quantities to Nanzhili and other places, and the income will be higher than last year.

Seeing that the situation was stable, Liu Yan ordered the allocation of 200,000 silver coins and 300,000 stone grain to be distributed, and this batch of money and grain was only the first batch

The Ministry of Finance is also raising money and food to try to stabilize the situation in various places.

In the General Soldier's Mansion, Wu Guojin hurried to the main hall, saw Liu Yan who was handling official business, and stepped forward and said: "Zongzhen, I just received news that the imperial court is discussing the selection of the new governor of Shandong, and the parties are deadlocked, and it is estimated that there will be no results in a short time." ”

Liu Yan put down the official document in his hand and frowned slightly: "I said why is the imperial court so strange, it is clear that there is King De in the city of Jinan Mansion, why has he not transferred troops to rescue him until now, it turns out that this is the case." ”

Wu Guojin said: "The head town, there is a lot of news in the capital now, and it is also very miscellaneous, but the intelligence department has sorted it out, and the subordinates think that the current situation is deliberately done by the emperor, that is, to use the new governor to check and balance the head town and prevent the head town from continuing to grow." ”

Liu Yan sneered and said: "Yes, the new governor is here, and he has pacified the thieves in Shandong, and the credit naturally belongs to the governor, so we can only drink soup." If it is not done well, the city of Jinan has fallen, and the vassal king has fallen, then the responsibility is ours, this is like the emperor's style, this is to give our Qinglai town eye medicine. ”

Wu Guojin didn't understand what "eye medicine" was, and he didn't care, and continued to ask: "Zongzhen, what should we do, do we do something?" ”

Liu Yan thought for a while and said, "Who is staring at the capital now?" ”

"Investigate Cao Director Wang Yang."

"Tell Wang Yang to find an opportunity to meet Hong Chengchou as soon as possible, and let him help me win the post of governor of Shandong."

Wu Guojin said worriedly: "Hong Chengchou is very old-fashioned, and his subordinates are worried that Wang Yang is not an opponent, and Hong Chengchou will not agree." ”

"Hmph

, it's nothing more than a matter of price. ”

Liu Yan said: "You tell Wang Yang that as long as Hong Chengchou agrees and helps me become the governor of Shandong, all the conditions are negotiable." ”

"Don't worry, don't look at Hong Chengchou is now the head of the cabinet, but he is also having a bad time in the DPRK, and he can't wait for someone to have dealings with him. This time the town came to the door, even if Hong Chengchou was reserved on the surface, he must be ecstatic in his heart! ”

"Yes, my subordinates will do it."

A few days later, the fast horses of the Intelligence Department rushed into the capital and arrived at a house in Xizhimen at dusk.

"My lord, this is Si Cheng's handwritten letter."

Wang Yang took the letter and unfolded it, his face changed suddenly, and then he took out the fire fold and burned the letter in front of the messenger.

"You rush back immediately now and tell Lord Si Cheng that I already know about this matter and am trying my best to handle it."

"Yes."

Then Wang Yang said to his subordinates outside the door: "Prepare the carriage and horses in the middle of the night, and I will go to the old mansion of Hongge." ”

"Yes."

In the middle of the night, the city of Beijing is very quiet, and the originally lively streets are empty, except for the occasional passer-by, and the sound of tapping the time from time to time. There are also soldiers patrolling the city of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses, constantly patrolling all over the former Sanmen Street and around the palace.

Wang Yang's carriage stopped in a small alley outside Chongwen Gate, and then he got off the bus and walked with a gift slip, avoiding the city patrol soldiers and came to Hong Chengchou's mansion.

Wang Yang looked around, and after making sure that there was no one, he knocked on the door and stabbed on the ground. After the porter reported, Wang Yang followed the servant to a tea room in the front yard, and waited for a while before Hong Chengchou changed

The upper obedience turned out from behind the screen.

"The villain greets the elder."

"Get up and sit down."

"Xie Ge Lao."

"I see that the name thorn says that you are a member of the Dingyubo Shogunate, so late, a subordinate who is guarding the chief military officer outside the town has found the home of the head of the cabinet of the current dynasty, if this spreads, it will definitely cause an uproar in the government and the opposition."

Wang Yang knew that this was Hong Chengchou beating himself, if he really wanted to avoid suspicion, Hong Chengchou would not see him at all.

"Don't worry, the villain is quite careful, and he won't embarrass the elder."

"That's good."

Hong Chengchou took a sip of the teacup and said, "If there is something, let's talk about it." ”

"Yes."

Wang Yang first presented the gift list, and then said: "My head town heard that the imperial court is discussing the candidate for the governor of Shandong, so I want to invite ......."

"Bold!"

Hong Chengchou slammed the case and reprimanded angrily: "Liu Yan really thinks that the imperial court can't do anything about him? even sent someone to ask for an official position late at night, and his heart can be punished! ”

Wang Yang was not afraid, and said: "The elder of the pavilion is angry, my family is really dedicated to the country, and I just want to pacify the thieves in Shandong as soon as possible." Let me ask, at the moment, apart from my family's head town, who else can be the governor of Shandong? ”

"I'm dignified, isn't there anyone who knows how to fight except Liu Yan!"

"Don't blame the elder Ge, the villain speaks more straightforwardly. If there is a suitable candidate in the court, how can it be delayed until today? ”

Wang Yang said: "Now that the city of Jinan is in danger, the king of Germany in the city is also looking forward to it, presumably the elder is also anxious, right?" ”

Hong Chengchou stared at Wang Yang's solemn face, and after sitting down, he glanced at the gift list, and suddenly showed a surprised expression. The value of this gift list is the same

less than three hundred taels of silver, it can be seen that Liu Yan's determination is great.

Wang Yang saw it in his eyes and said with a smile: "This is just a greeting gift from the head town to the elder of the pavilion, and after the matter is completed, there will be heavy thanks." In the future, in terms of state affairs, my Qinglai Town will also make friends with Ge Lao Duoduo. ”

Hong Chengchou frowned slightly, obviously a little moved. There are many people staring at his position as the head of the cabinet, especially Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, don't look at it on the surface, he is good with himself, but behind the scenes, he is eyeing himself, and he can't wait to pull himself off the horse immediately, and he Chen Xinjia is good to sit in this position.

"This matter is very important, especially His Majesty's side, which will not agree to let Dingyubo become the governor of Shandong."

Wang Yang saw that Hong Chengchou was relieved, so he struck while the iron was hot and said: "The matter is man-made, and Your Majesty does not want King De to fall into the hands of thieves, and asks the elder of the pavilion to help more." ”

"Let me think twice about this matter, you go back first, and there will be a reply in the next two days."

Early the next morning, Wang Yang received a letter from the servant of Hong Chengchou's mansion, and after opening it, only eight words were written on it: "Prepare for war, wait for good news." ”

"It's done!"

Wang Yang immediately resealed the envelope, and then explained to his subordinates, and personally took the reply out of the city and rushed to the capital of Qingzhou.

"Hong Chengchou is really decisive, and he deserves to be the governor of Jiliao."

Liu Yan took Hong Chengchou's reply and was very happy. Now that all the thieves in Qinglai Town have been pacified, and the battalions of the new army have returned to their garrisons one after another, Liu Yan began to transfer troops to the north, and he can immediately send troops to aid Yan Jizu as soon as he waits for an order from the imperial court.

"Order the cavalry battalion to stand by in the north of Yanzhou Prefecture, follow

When he was preparing to enter Dongchang Mansion to the north, he encircled and suppressed the thieves. ”

"Order the right battalion and the middle battalion to set off to the north, stand by in the north of Qingzhou Mansion, and be ready to enter Jinan Mansion at any time to encircle and suppress the thieves."

"Each battalion fights separately, the cavalry battalion and the right battalion are responsible for encircling and suppressing the thieves on the periphery of the two prefectures, and the middle battalion directly rushes to the aid of Jinan Prefecture."

"Yes."

Tian Huixu, the head of the military department on the side, prepared the order, stamped the seal letter he carried with him, and immediately sent people to distribute the battalions, and then said: "Commander, that Hong Chengchou is not a good person, can the matter of the governor of Shandong be done?" ”

Liu Yan said: "Hong Chengchou and Chen Xinjia are inseparable, he is a foreign minister who was directly transferred to the cabinet as the first assistant, and his foundation is shallow, and he cannot be compared with Chen Xinjia in terms of power. So don't look at Hong Chengchou as the elder of the Shoufu Pavilion, but he is very isolated in the DPRK and China, and he urgently needs to find a powerful political ally. I, Qinglai Town, am the most suitable object for an alliance, so as long as Hong Chengchou is not an idiot, he will definitely try his best to facilitate this matter. ”

"Zongzhen also said that Hong Chengchou is weak in the court, does he have this ability?"

"After all, Hong Chengchou is the first assistant of the cabinet, and he may not have much influence in the court, but his words are still very popular with the emperor. So I don't think it's hard to do that. ”

Tian Huixu said: "But I have some ups and downs in my heart, in case Hong Chengchou is not able to catch it, even if this matter is completed, it will be delayed for a long time, even if the town becomes the governor of Shandong, but Jinan City can't hold on to falling, then the responsibility can only be resisted by the town." ”

Liu Yan frowned slightly, he also took this situation into account, and at the moment, he was determined to win the position of governor of Shandong, so it was necessary

Add another fire, so that Hong Chengchou can speed up.

"Send a team of elites to break into Jinan Mansion at night, and tell Yan Futai: Immediately write a note, the core content is that the thief army is carrying artillery everywhere, preparing to gather the main force to capture Jinan Mansion, King De's domain is in danger, if the imperial court does not send reinforcements, Jinan Mansion will definitely not be protected!"

"Yes, my subordinates will do it now."

In the blink of an eye, at the beginning of April, in the midst of the quarrel between Hong Chengchou and the ministers of the court, Yan Jizu sent a fast horse to rush into the city of Beijing and sent a letter to the court, which immediately caused an uproar.