Jiangbei, Dingzhou.

After fifteen years of absence, this territory in the middle of the cracks finally returned to the rule of the Great Qi.

Thanks to the excellent image established by the Huaizhou Army during the Northern Expedition, and the fact that those old people were still alive at that time, the people of Dingzhou did not show too strong resistance to Daqi.

Chen Chun, the first assassin of Dingzhou, was originally a waiter in the Ministry of Rites, with a calm temperament and sophisticated means, and was very good at winning people's hearts and helping people's livelihood, and was assisted by cadres like Dou Biao and Yang Kangzhi, and soon built the official system of Dingzhou.

Nowadays, there are five prefectures in the boundary of Dingzhou, the original Ruyin City is the main city of Ruyin Mansion, and it is also the residence of the Governor's Mansion, and the Assassin Mansion is located in the south of the Gushu Mansion City.

From south to north, from west to east, there are Gushu Mansion, Gaoyuan Mansion, Ruyin Mansion, Yongqiu Mansion and Dongming Mansion in order.

Chen Chun's greatest merit is that he does not make his own decisions, and his methods of governing Dingzhou are completely in accordance with the face-to-face instructions of the two prime ministers, and in just nine months, he has taken care of all parts of Dingzhou in an orderly manner, and at the same time has become more and more closely connected with Huaizhou in the south.

Correspondingly, it is Li Jingda, the governor of Dingzhou, who is not even at ease with the Son of Heaven.

Ruyin City, the Governor's Mansion.

Li Jingda sat in the commander's seat, and most of the left and right rows below were the main generals of the various armies in Dingzhou.

The Feiyun army stationed in the north of the Dingfeng Road commanded Song Shifei, the Lai'an army stationed in the west of the Qingliuguan defense line commanded Duan Zuozhang, and the Zhenwei army that stayed in Ruyin commanded Hou Dayong.

The newly established Ningyuan Army commander Liu Jiangdong, the deputy commander of the Dingbei Army Li Chengen, and the Fengfu Army all commanded Wen Maofu.

Among these six armies, the Dingbei Army is naturally eye-catching as the only cavalry, and so far the commander of the Dingbei Army is still Lu Shen.

After Li Jingda learned that Lu Shen was appointed as the general of the Beijing Army, he once tentatively asked the Son of Heaven whether he wanted to choose a new general to take over the Dingbei Army, but the Son of Heaven only replied to him with the word "no need", and Li Jingda did not dare to fight the idea of this cavalry again.

In addition to these six generals, there were also three officials in the festival hall.

One is Su Yunqing, the Huaizhou inspection school of the Weaving Division, the second is Sima Huang Xianfeng, the marching army of the Huaizhou Governor's Mansion, and the third is Xu Zuo, the imperial historian Zhongcheng and Dingzhou supervisor.

In fact, since Li Duan ascended the throne, in order to give the border army enough trust and a certain degree of autonomy, he has never sent a supervising army, and Li Jingda is the first border army governor to enjoy this kind of treatment.

What makes Li Jingda even more depressed is that Xu Zuo is not an internal supervisor or an ordinary official in the palace, but a former celebrity who holds real power in the emperor's heart and is very likely to take over as the imperial doctor in the future.

At some critical moments, Xu Zuo could even directly veto his decision as the governor of Dingzhou.

As for Huang Xianfeng's appearance at the military meeting of the Dingzhou Governor's Mansion, it was because the Son of Heaven clearly informed Li Jingda in the latest secret decree that if there was a major omission and crisis in the Dingzhou defense line, Xiao Wangzhi would have the right to temporarily control the armies of the two states.

In addition, most of these generals in the hall are extremely closely related to Lu Shen, Li Jingda only feels that he has done a boring job as the governor of Dingzhou, and he is far from being as powerful as Chen Chun.

"Yu Dadu, according to the news that the secret agents of the Weaving Department were exploring in the enemy territory, it can be known that about half a month ago, two Jing armies arrived in Heluo City one after another, with 8,000 cavalry and about 15,000 foot soldiers. From the analysis of the banner, the cavalry is a part of the Xiashan Army under the command of Qing Yugong, and the foot soldiers are a part of the Dingbai Army under the command of the Jinglian nobleman Shanyang. ”

Su Yunqing's face was solemn, and he said unhurriedly: "Up to now, there are more than 20,000 cavalry of the Jing Army in Heluo City, and nearly 40,000 foot soldiers. ”

Duan Zuozhang took the opportunity to say: "To the west of Qingliu Pass, the Jing army took Anxian and Shenze City as the backup, Gongcheng as the corner, and Yaoshan Pass as the core, and rebuilt a defense line about 200 miles long. Before September, the situation on the front line was relatively calm, and our army and Jing army only routinely sent ranger scouts to patrol the border. But since last month, we can clearly feel that the frequency and number of Jing army rangers are increasing, and even crossing the line from time to time. It can be seen from this that after more than half a year of hibernation, Jing Jun has begun to move. ”

Song Shifei, who was sitting on the other side, bowed his head and said, "The Yongqiu defense line also has a similar situation. However, because of the help of those masters of the Seven Star Army, the Jing Army Rangers did not dare to enter the Dingfeng Road, but kept spying on the periphery, obviously trying to find out the details of our army. ”

The Feiyun Army was stationed on the northern front line of Yongqiu Province, and its main task was to guard the Dingfeng Road connected to the North Yanhe South Road.

In fact, there is another road that can enter the northern part of Dingzhou, and that is the Baotai Mountains, which stretch over the vast expanse of mountains.

However, the year before last, the Jingyan coalition army suffered a big loss in the mountains, and now the Seven Star Army, after receiving the funding of Daqi, continues to attract reckless talents from the north to join, becoming stronger and stronger, and occupying an absolute advantage in the complex terrain in the mountains, and the Jing army can only be discouraged.

Seven-Star Army......

These three words entered Li Jingda's ears, and he couldn't help but feel even more melancholy and distracted.

Who doesn't know the relationship between Seven Star Gang leader Lin Jie and Lu Shen now? Who doesn't know that his daughter Lin Xi and Lu Shen have been married?

What is the difference between this so-called Northland Rebel Army and Lu Shen's private army?

Thinking that he was the governor of Dingzhou, almost all of his subordinates were Lu Shen's people, which really made him feel uncomfortable.

"The Grand Duke? The Grand Governor? ”

A few shouts brought Li Jingda back to his senses, and he suddenly realized that this was a military meeting held by himself.

Looking around, I saw that everyone in the hall was looking at him in unison, especially Hou Dayong, who he brought from Nanya, and his face was full of concern.

Li Jingda coughed lightly twice, and said slowly: "Judging from the situation on the front line, Emperor Jingguo's heart to go south is not dead, and the Jing army will inevitably invade our border, what are your countermeasures?" ”

After a short silence, Duan Zuozhang said calmly: "Grand Governor, the last general thinks that after the defeat of the previous two years, the Jing army will not launch a strong attack, because they cannot afford another defeat, which is very likely to shake the morale of the Jing army's invincible army. Therefore, the most likely thing is that they are constantly provoking on the border front, or they are inducing our troops to take the initiative to attack by means of feints and feints. Once our army leaves the shelter of the city and passes, it is convenient to call on a large force of elite cavalry to fight our army in the field. ”

Except for Song Shifei and Hou Dayong, the rest all agreed with Duan Zuozhang's judgment.

Seeing that Li Jingda was silent, Duan Zuozhang continued: "The last general thinks that as long as our army sticks to the city pass, the Jing army will have nothing to do in a short time, unless Qing Yugong and the army come in person and launch a full-scale attack. However, at that time, the Governor's Office of the three major border armies of our country will naturally deal with it together. ”

"That's true."

Li Jingda nodded slightly, then looked at Song Shifei and asked, "What does General Song think?" ”

Song Shifei raised his hand and touched his head.

When he was under the command of Xiao Wangzhi, he and the Feiyun Army were known for their courage and fierceness, and they would show their swords when they met the enemy.

In all fairness, Song Shifei didn't like to be beaten passively by guarding the pass, especially following Lu Shen all the way from Qingliu Pass to Heluo City, which made this fierce general get great satisfaction.

It's just that when he saw Duan Zuozhang's admonishing eyes, he reluctantly responded: "Governor, the last general thinks that Commander Duan's suggestion is very reasonable. ”

Li Jingda took in everyone's reactions, and then said: "Since everyone agrees, then according to General Duan's words, all departments will hold their garrisons steadily, and they will not fight without a general's order!" In addition, the Ningyuan army was relocated to the southern part of Yongqiu Province, and the Fengfu army went to Gaoyuan Mansion City to support the northern and western fronts at any time. ”

The crowd responded in unison.

After the military discussion ended, Su Yunqing specially stayed and said to Li Jingda: "Metropolitan Governor, the lower official has received an order to promote the lord, and he will return to the capital in the near future. The Weaving Department will cancel the Huaizhou Division and set up the Jiangbei Division, and the inspector Yang Jingxuan will take over the Jiangbei inspection school, and he will be responsible for the intelligence of Ding and Huai in the future. ”

Li Jingda has been in Beijing for many years, so he naturally knows who Yang Jingxuan is, but his focus at the moment is on Su Yunqing, and he asked with a smile: "Lord Su must have been promoted when he returned to Beijing this time?" ”

Su Yunqing smiled indifferently and said: "Thanks to Your Majesty's appreciation and Qin Tiju's recommendation, Xia Guan will take over the post of Weaving Commander." ”

Li Jingda's eyes lit up, and he arched his hand and said, "Congratulations to Master Su!" ”

Su Yunqing hurriedly returned the salute, and left with a few polite words.

At this moment, the festival hall finally fell silent.

Zhenwei Jun commanded Hou Dayong to go and return, and saw Li Jingda sitting alone in the handsome position, looking like he didn't belong, so he approached and whispered: "Governor, these people are very respectful to you on the surface, but in fact, they are guarding against you. ”

Li Jingda raised the corners of his eyes slightly, and said in a muffled voice: "What do you mean?" ”

Hou Dayong sat on the chair next to him, frowned, and said: "Xu Zhongcheng is okay, although he came with a will, after all, he doesn't understand military affairs, as long as the Metropolitan Governor can obtain the support of these generals, presumably he will not obstruct the Metropolitan Governor's decision at will." But these generals don't have a metropolitan governor in their hearts at all, they just want to wait for the Marquis of Shanyang to come to Dingzhou, and then they will definitely change their appearance, and they wish that the Marquis of Shanyang would take them to a bloody battle with the Jing army. ”

Li Jingda was silent.

Seeing this, Hou Dayong said: "Governor Dadu, they are obviously worried that you will make great achievements here, so they try every means to persuade you to be beaten passively. In the eyes of the last general, these people are really hateful, and the last general doesn't believe that if the Marquis of Shanyang is not there, the strength of our border army will drop a lot, and they are not the opponents of the Jing army at all? ”

Li Jingda said with a little irritability: "What exactly do you want to say?" ”

Hou Dayong's eyes flashed with a gleam, and he said solemnly: "Metropolitan Governor, only if the Marquis of Shanyang earns credit for Jing Jun, can you return to the center in style!" ”

"Fart!"

Li Jingda suddenly changed color, and said angrily: "Your Majesty has repeatedly ordered me to hold on to it to avoid being found by Jing Jun!" You're talking nonsense here, do you want to make Ben Du a second Hou Yu? If it weren't for your loyalty to the Governor, you would have been punished today for the crime of demagoguery! In the future, if you are not sure of everything, you will have to continue to talk nonsense. ”

Hou Dayong hurriedly got up to make amends, but he didn't have too much panic in his heart.

From Nanya to the border army, he has been by Li Jingda's side for nearly ten years, and he knows the temperament of this Shangguan well.

After Hou Dayong retired in fear, Li Jingda pressed his hands on the armrests and looked at the frontier topographic map hanging on the east wall in a daze.

In my mind, it was as if heaven and man were at war.

"Alas, what a dilemma......"

He sighed softly, his gaze obscure.

(End of chapter)