Chapter 1029 Remedies
Chapter 1029 Remedies (Part )
On July 328, the first year of the Taixing reign of the Jin Dynasty (), Lu Wan arrived in Liyang with his navy.
Liyang (now Hexian County) was originally a subordinate county of Huainan. During the reign of Emperor Hui of Jin, Liyang and Wujiang counties in the southeast of Huainan were separated to establish Liyang County, with its capital in Liyang.
The reason is simple: this place is too critical.
On the opposite side of Liyang is the famous Caishiji, an important ferry crossing on the Yangtze River, so Liyang County was established - Jingkou and Liyang are collectively known as the key to the east and west of Jianye.
Before Sima Rui ascended the throne, he planned to build a navy here. After founding the country, he made another effort and set up the Liyang Land and Water Commander, who usually also served as the Liyang Prefect.
After getting off the boat, Lu Wan first went back home, took off his military uniform, bathed and changed his clothes, then put on wooden clogs, a tall hat and a wide belt, and rode an ox cart straight to the riverside.
"Governor." Brothers Lei Ming and Lei Dian bowed down together.
"Today I'm just seeing you two off. No need to be polite." Lu Wan waved his hand and said.
Lei Ming and Lei Dian stood respectfully by the side.
"Do you have any feelings about the battle with the Liang people this time?" Lu Wan asked.
The river breeze is fierce and the weather is magnificent.
Niuzhu Mountain on the opposite bank stands tall, and Caishiji extends deep into the river, like two silent giants, quietly savoring the eternal pride of the river flowing eastward.
"I can't beat him." Lei Ming said honestly.
He escaped by swimming, but he still remembered that thunderous night and the hideous face under the lightning.
Perhaps, only on the bumpy boat could he have the confidence to defeat these people.
"They..." Lei Dian thought for a long time, but couldn't find the right words. In the end, he could only say, "It's as if they were born into the business of killing people."
Lu Wan nodded slightly, but was shocked in his heart.
He also felt that the Liang army was brave and good at fighting, and it was indeed difficult to contend with them in a short field battle, but he did not expect the Lei brothers to be so frightened. Were they scared?
Thinking of this, he felt a little regretful. He should have urged the commander-in-chief not to send the Lei brothers back to "report the victory."
But then he thought of Lei's other identity, and could only sigh and said, "After returning, I will meet the Prime Minister first and listen to his thoughts."
"Yes." The two answered in unison.
"And..." Lu Wan thought for a moment and said, "Shan Yanlin used to have a good reputation. Although he is trying to cover up his defeat and turn it into a victory, I am afraid that he cannot stop the gossips. Inside and outside Jianye, there are slanderers, which may be harmful to the country. The prime minister is a wise man and should make a decision."
Lei Ming and Lei Dian looked at each other, with some fear in their eyes.
Two armies, tens of thousands of troops, not only failed to achieve anything, but also lost Shouchun, and had to retreat to Hefei. Isn't this a defeat? Lu Shiyao must have a point when he said this.
But they didn't know where it was pointing to.
I heard from my sister before that Shan Yanlin would be promoted from the position of Lieutenant General of the Northern Army to Lieutenant General. Although his actual powers and responsibilities would not change much, his official rank would be greatly improved.
If the crown prince succeeds to the throne in the future, won’t he be able to choose any important minister from the cabinet?
But now it seems that someone will not let him off easily. Could it be the prime minister?
Someone in Jianye jokingly called the Jin Dynasty "Wang and Ma share the world". Three quarters of the country's officials came from the family of Prime Minister Wang Dao. The rapid rise of Shan Xia and Shan Yan Lin might not be without reason. Would he really be unable to recover?
The brothers Lei Ming and Lei Dian's brains raced, but they couldn't figure out what was going on. But one thing was clear: they were the prime minister's men, and they could only stand on the prime minister's side.
In addition, Lu Wan did not have much friendship with the prime minister, and their relationship was very ordinary. He was definitely not the prime minister's man, but he invited them brothers here halfway to give them some instructions and said some ambiguous words, which was very confusing.
Perhaps, only the prime minister could understand the hidden meaning of Lu Wan's words.
******
On the day the Lei brothers arrived in Jianye, Crown Prince Sima Fei returned from Guangling.
In this massive war, he became almost invisible, which was both unfortunate and fortunate.
The unfortunate thing is that he didn't show his face, the fortunate thing is that he didn't lose face.
But something was still not right.
On July 14, Sima Fei convened a group of confidants whom he considered reliable in the East Palace to discuss matters.
Most of the participants in the meeting were middle and low-level officials. Positions like the Prince's Grand Tutor and Junior Tutor were usually concurrently held by the Prime Minister, the Three Dukes, the General of the Guards, the Chiefs of the Three Ministries and the like. Sima Fei was not really qualified to order them around, let alone make them his confidants.
The Prince's Secretary, who was in charge of the affairs of the Eastern Palace, was sometimes established and sometimes abolished, or was concurrently in charge of the Grand Tutor or the Junior Tutor. But there was no such position at this time.
Therefore, those present were headed by two of the four princes' sons-in-law (fifth rank), Yan Han and Shen Zhen.
In addition, there were more than ten other people, including the Prince's concubine (fifth rank) Jiang Bīn, the Prince's household manager (fifth rank) Cai Shao, the Prince's guard commander (fifth rank) Bian Zhan, the Prince's right guard commander (fifth rank) Zhou Yán, the Prince's secretary (sixth rank) Yu Mao, the Prince's secretary (seventh rank) Ruan Ning, the Prince's groom (seventh rank) Chen Da, and Du Qian.
These are basically the team that the prince has recruited in recent years. They are very reliable - at least Sima Fei thinks so.
As soon as everyone arrived, he said anxiously, "It's urgent!"
"Your Highness." Yan Han coughed heavily and said, "The Crown Prince is the one who is expected by the whole world. He should be more stable." After that, he stood up, glanced at everyone in the room, and said, "It's just a little bit of wind and frost. Why rush? Besides, in such matters, the country should be the most important. The Crown Prince is the heir to the throne. He should be more open-minded and stop having those sectarian views."
Sima Fei felt ashamed after hearing what he said.
Shen Zhen glanced at him and thought to himself that Yan Hongdu was an upright person. It would have been fine if the prince had invited him to the East Palace because of his great reputation, but he actually invited him to discuss matters. This was really stupid of him.
Yan Hongdu would most likely not do anything mean, but today it was a "group of mean people" discussing matters, what could he do?
"Your Highness." Shen Zhen decided to come out and set the tone, lest the wind go in the wrong direction. He only heard him say: "Although the battle in Huainan is said to be a victory, I am afraid that we will not be able to pass the test of the emperor. Shan Yanlin may have failed the emperor's high expectations after this experience."
There are two "Son of Heaven" in one sentence. The first one does refer to Sima Rui, while the second one refers to Sima Fei.
"What is your plan? Tell me quickly," Sima Pei said.
"Don't worry, Your Highness." Shen Zhen smiled faintly and said, "Zu Yue rebelled and surrendered the city, which led to the Liang army marching south. Overnight, Jiangbei was no longer the king's land. Shan Yanlin led the army to the battle, and although he did not recover Shouchun, he saved Liyang, Hefei and other key places. I heard that he has gradually recruited thousands of Zu's soldiers to surrender, and when he was about to retreat, he sent the navy to move the people of several counties. Isn't this a merit?"
"We have captured no less than 7,000 soldiers and civilians, most of whom are from Xuzhou and Yuzhou. Now we have sent them all to Wuhu. I think we can set up Qiao State in Wuhu County and appoint Shan Yanlin to supervise the military affairs of Qiao, Huainan, Liyang and Lujiang counties."
When everyone heard this, they thought about it secretly.
According to the original plan, after Shan Xia won the battle, he would be able to take over the central government and hold important positions such as the Commander-in-Chief or the Supervisor of the Secretariat, in order to divide Wang Dao's power.
But now everything is gone. If the war is not won, there is no point in saying anything.
Although the nobles of the dynasty were punished by drinking three cups of wine, at this juncture, Shan Xia had no chance of returning to the center, and he could not even keep his position as the lieutenant general of the Northern Army, because there were too many people who wanted to laugh at him, not just Wang Dao.
Then, it is better to settle for the second best and continue to suppress the foreign vassal states.
It is estimated that he cannot become the governor of Yangzhou and Jiangbei, so he changes his title and supervises the military affairs of four counties. It is the same thing, so he will stay out of the spotlight for the time being.
The most important thing here is the emperor’s attitude.
Shen Zhen thought about it and felt very confident that the emperor would not hold Shan Xia too accountable, because the emperor needed such a person to limit Wang Dao's power.
"Your Highness, when I entered the palace today, I heard that the emperor intended Liu Kun and Liu Yueshi, and Wang Shu and Wang Chuming to take charge of the imperial guards. Judging from this, the troops from Liyang, Dongguan, and Hefei should not..." Chen Da, the prince's groom, said as he glanced at Yan Han.
Yan Han noticed his gaze, snorted coldly, stood up and bowed, saying: "There are many loyal ministers around the prince. I am not feeling well, so I will take my leave."
After saying that, he left.
Sima Fei subconsciously stretched out his hand, then put it down dejectedly.
However, as soon as Yan Han left, the atmosphere in the room became much more relaxed.
Cai Shao, the prince's household official, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Your Highness, if the military power of Jianye falls into Wang Maohong's hands, then the military power of Liyang and Hefei will definitely belong to others. Now the one to worry about is Zhuge Daoming. I heard that the court wants to establish an overseas county in Jingkou. Zhuge Daoming has many refugees from the north and 10,000 elite soldiers. If he has any intention of doing this, it may be disadvantageous."
The refugees in Jingkou are a historical problem.
When Sima Rui's shogunate crossed the river from Xuzhou to the south, a large number of Qingxu scholars and civilians followed them south. At that time, the Jiangdong nobles had not yet reacted, so many people poured in at once. But it was precisely because of their influx that the conflict between the Jiangdong residents and the northern refugees became more acute.
From then on, except for scholar families and their followers, most refugees were stopped in Jiangbei. Even many scholars who were not from high-ranking families, not famous enough, or arrived later had to stay in Jiangbei until they were recruited to serve as officials.
Zhuge Hui was in control of this force. As the Minister of the Interior, he was stationed in Jingkou and had trained 10,000 soldiers for several years.
This force is crucial considering Jingkou's unique location.
"Ridiculous!" The Crown Prince's concubine Jiang Fei refuted upon hearing this: "Zhuge Daoming is an upright gentleman, loyal and admirable, why slander him?"
Cai Shao glanced at him, sneered, and said nothing more.
Others may not know, but he knows a little secret.
When he heard that Jiang Fei had met Princess Langya Zhuge Wenbiao by chance, he became distracted and could not forget her.
But the question is, do you have a chance? Even if the Prince of Langya died, Zhuge Wenbiao would only continue to be her Langya Concubine.
Is it useful to be loyal to the Lord?
Sima Fei didn't know about this, he just looked at Jiang Fei in surprise and said, "Now we need to turn things around for Shan Yanlin. This is the main thing, don't talk about other things. What good ideas do you have?"
"This matter still falls on the Prime Minister." After a long time, Zhong Sheren Yu Mao bowed and said.
Sima Fei was stunned and a little confused.
At this moment, a palace maid walked in, and when she came to Sima Fei's side, she whispered a few words in his ear.
Upon hearing this, Sima Fei's face turned pale and he turned to look outside, only to see Crown Princess Shan nodding to him.
It’s over, the emperor was so angry that he fell ill!
(It’s the last day, vote quickly if you have tickets.)
(End of this chapter)