Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

Page 256

Chapter 394 Chai Jin is the mastermind behind the scenes

The magistrate of Cangzhou and his wife hurriedly checked the small yamen, and found that the clothes of the small yamen were only stained with blood, but they were not injured at all, they felt relieved.Madam smiled through tears, hugging Xiao Ya Nei tightly and went into the inner hall, and did not let the maid to help her hold the Xiao Ya Nei.

After the madam left, the magistrate then turned his attention to Zhu Tong and Ximen Qing who was beside him.Seeing that there were many bloodstains on Zhu Ting's body, the magistrate asked with concern: "Zhu Ting, are you injured?"

"Xie En is concerned. The villain is fine. This blood was contaminated after the villain killed the villain of Liangshan. Tonight, the villain neglected his duty and was stolen by the villain of Liangshan to the small yamen. It almost caused a catastrophe! Fortunately, this Ximen’s high-ranking officials helped each other, and the villain just saved the small yamen with all his might, and he did not owe Enxiang’s cultivation. Enxiang’s family was shocked tonight, the villain deserves death, please forgive him!” Zhu Dian gave a “plop” He knelt on the ground and kowtowed to plead guilty.

This is not Zhu Dian's pretentiousness, but his true feelings.After Zhu Tingfa was dispatched to Cangzhou, the magistrate looked favorably on him and kept him by his side to wait for orders. He did not send him to the prison camp to suffer according to the rules, let alone eat the killing power that must be given to the army. Bravo.As the saying goes, a scholar dies for his confidant, and Zhu Dian is also a person who values ​​loyalty and repays kindness.The magistrate treated Zhu Dian so kindly, and Zhu Dian naturally thought that he would be loyal to the magistrate.

Furthermore, Xiao Ya Nei was only four years old, but he was born dignified and beautiful, smart and cute.He is very close to Zhu Dian, and Zhu Dian has been with him for half a month, so why is it that his feelings are getting stronger and stronger, and he regards Xiao Ya Nei as his heart?

Seeing the magistrate's yamen in a mess at this moment, and Engong's face being scratched, and thinking that the little yamen who trusted and relied on him was almost brutally killed because of the Liangshan robbers he befriended, Zhu Dian felt very guilty, so He pleaded guilty to the magistrate.

Seeing this, the magistrate quickly helped Zhu Dian up, bowed to thank Ximen Qing, and then asked Zhu Dian the ins and outs of what happened tonight.

On Zhu Ting's way back to the city, Ximenqing had repeatedly told him that when he reported to the magistrate, he must not say that the Liangshan bandits forced him to kill the small yamen in order to invite him to join the gang.Because if the prefect of Cangzhou knew the truth, he would inevitably have doubts about the friendship between Zhu Dian and the Liangshan robbers. Even if Zhu Dian would not be punished this time, it would be difficult to trust Zhu Dian in the future and keep him by his side with confidence.

Zhu Ting is not a stupid person either. After receiving Ximen Qing's advice, he avoided the reason why Liangshan Po Wu Yong and others made a special trip to earn him to go up the mountain when he reported to the magistrate. Instead, he told the magistrate that he did not know why those Liangshan villains Sneaked into Cangzhou Mansion, and took advantage of the crowds watching the river lanterns to snatch the small yamen.

Zhu Ting said that he was too impatient to reciprocate, so he had to chase all the way out of the city.When I caught up with the Liangshan robbers, I didn't think that the other party had premeditated, and there were so many people.I fell into the siege of thieves, with two fists and four hands, I saw that I was about to be defeated.

At this critical time, fortunately, the senior officials of Ximen led people to pass by, and smashed the conspiracy of the Liangshan robbers.The senior officials acted bravely when they saw righteousness, led people to fight off the robbers, and saved themselves and the small yamen.He also took the opportunity to fight back and killed Ma Lin, the bandit leader "Iron Flute Fairy" in Liangshanbo.

In order to protect Xiao Ya Nei's safety, he dared not go after the escaped Liangshan robbers, so he had to ask Ximen officials to escort him and Xiao Ya Nei back to the mansion first.

After listening to Zhu Dian's report, the prefect of Cangzhou frowned and asked, "This matter is quite strange. Liangshanbo is in Jeju, which is on the east-west road of Beijing. Why did the robbers travel thousands of miles to my Cangzhou to do evil? Zhu Dian, I think you are also in Jeju Man, is this matter related to you?"

Zhu Tie hurriedly replied: "Don't dare to lie to Enxiang. The villain once served as the capital in Yuncheng County, Jezhou, and was responsible for arresting thieves. He did have many conflicts with the robbers in Liangshanpo and offended some thieves. This may be the reason why the Liangshan robbers came here. However, Liangshanpo does not need so many people just for the villain. Maybe those bandits have another conspiracy. The villain has heard about this "little boy" from Henghai County, Cangzhou before. Whirlwind' Chai Jin likes to make friends with heroes from all corners of the country, and in the chaos last night, I heard the mention of Chai Daguan from the mouth of the thief, so the villain suspects that those Liangshan bandits came to Cangzhou to cause trouble, and they have something to do with Chai Jin!"

Zhu Ting's words were also discussed by Ximen Qing and him on the road.Zhu Dian had known that Chai Jin had many connections with Song Jiang and others. Now, in order to clear himself up, of course he would no longer hide it for Chai Jin, but would take the opportunity to push all the troubles to Chai Jin.As for Ximenqing, it was also necessary to attract the officers and soldiers to capture Chai Jin and seal up his estate.So true or false, Chai Jin and others will only think that all their wealth has fallen into the hands of the prefect of Cangzhou after they go up the mountain, and they will not understand who attacked and looted his manor.

Sure enough, when the prefect of Cangzhou heard that it was Chai Jin who planned the conspiracy against him, he immediately believed it was true, and in a rage he ordered Yu Hou to dispatch troops quickly, so that he would personally lead the troops to arrest the traitor Chai Jin .

For local wealthy families such as Chai Jin and Ximen Qing, they are the people who are most concerned by the local officials of various states and counties.

If the local powerful families support the governance of the local officials in the prefectures and counties, everything will go well, and it is difficult for the local officials to make achievements.For example, Ximen Qingzhi was the magistrate of Yanggu County and the magistrate of Dongping Prefecture in Yunzhou, and they were very helpful.

And if the local wealthy family does not support the local officials of the prefecture and county, it will be even more difficult to make political achievements in such a place.Chai Jin and Chai Daguan are obviously the latter kind of local wealthy family.

Chai Jin, relying on the ancestral "oath and iron certificate", exclusively opposes the government secretly.Covering criminals, cultivating desperadoes, and messing up the place, he came here. The previous prefects of Cangzhou had a headache for this descendant of the former royal family.

Cangzhou was hit by floods last year. As the largest wealthy family in Cangzhou, Na Chaijin had the money to support a group of desperate people, but he was reluctant to give money to help the government relieve the victims.For this matter, there were some festivals and unhappiness between the prefect of Cangzhou and Chai Jin.

Hearing that Chai Jin was involved in the kidnapping of his own son, the magistrate immediately thought of the discord between him and Chai Jin in the past, and without any doubts, he decided that Chai Jin must have colluded with Liang Shanbo's rebels to come to Cangzhou for revenge. Make chaos.

Chai Jin is so daring!Even if the magistrate is a scholar, it is difficult to restrain the anger in his chest at this time, and the white face with two bloodstains has become a little hideous.He once again solemnly thanked Ximen Qing, and asked Ximen Qing to rest in the mansion first, and then hold a banquet to thank him after he captured the traitor Chai Jin.

Immediately afterwards, the magistrate asked Zhu Dian to work hard again, and went to Chai Jinzhuang with him to arrest Chai Jin and the Liangshan group of thieves.The magistrate's remarks obviously still regard Zhu Dian as a confidant.Zhu Ting naturally cheered up and took orders loudly.

Ximen Qing was thinking about Chai Jinzhuang's situation, so he took a step forward and said, "I would also like to help my husband!"

Chapter 395 Cangzhou Du Zhifu

It was already dawn, and Ximen Qing took a dozen of his subordinates, tirelessly followed the prefect of Cangzhou and Zhu Dian, and led hundreds of imperial troops and officials to rush straight to Chaijin's manor.

Although the prefect of Cangzhou was born as a scholar in the imperial examination, he was also a good horse rider. Surrounded by Ya Fan, Yuhou, Zhu Dian and others in the mansion, he rode side by side with the Cangzhou soldiers and horses. When I came to the woods where Ma Lin murdered Xiao Ya Nei, I didn't see that the magistrate looked tired.

After seeing the corpse of the Liangshanbo robber Ma Lin in the woods, the magistrate ordered a few people to keep the corpse of the villain Ma Lin and show it to the public after the case was closed.Immediately afterwards, the magistrate led the soldiers through the woods and marched towards Chai Jin's manor.

After leaving the woods, the view ahead became wider, and everyone noticed thick smoke billowing in the distance.Isn't Chai Jin's manor in front of him?After the magistrate asked about the people around him, he knew that something had changed, and immediately urged all the soldiers to hunt them down with all their strength, and if they caught Chai Jin and the bandits in Liangshanpo, they would be rewarded with great rewards.

All the sergeants heard this, shouted, and galloped forward in unison, rushing towards the burning firewood into the manor with knives and guns.

Seeing the flames in front of him, Ximen Qing knew that Jiao Ting, Hong Zhen and the others must have succeeded, so he slowed down and fell behind the team following the prefect of Cangzhou.

At this time, Ximen Qing was no longer thinking about Chai Jin, but was recalling what kind of person the magistrate in front of him who was riding a horse and personally catching robbers was like in history.

On the way out of the city, the prefect and Ximen Qing exchanged a few words on the horse, and Ximen Qing knew the name of the prefect of Cangzhou.Ximen Qing always felt that the magistrate should be a historical celebrity, but he didn't think of what he had done in history.

Ximen Qing remembered that there seemed to be such a person in a film and television drama he had watched. After thinking about it carefully, Ximen Qing suddenly reined in his horse and looked at the back in front of him in amazement.Isn't the prefect of Cangzhou named Du Chong a big traitor in Jingzhong Yue Feili?

In Ximenqing's memory, this Du Chong was Yue Fei's immediate boss who took up the post of staying behind in Tokyo in the Southern Song Dynasty after Zong Ze.Later, Du Chong was appointed by Zhao Gou as prime minister, responsible for defending the Nanjing Jiankang Mansion on the Yangtze River defense line.After the defeat of the Jiankang Mansion in Nanjing, he surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin and became a big "traitor" ugly in film and television dramas.

Hey, I, Ximen Qing, have a strong villain attraction attribute, so I accidentally made friends with a great traitor in history, a big traitor!

Ximenqing remembers that when Zongze was in the post of staying behind in Tokyo, he recruited all kinds of rebels to unite against the gold.But after Du Chong took office, he didn't trust those rebels, dismissed them one after another, and even ordered Yue Fei to lead the army to attack those disobedient rebels.Now that I think about it carefully, Du Chong's change of strategy towards Zong Ze may have something to do with the death of Xiao Ya Nei.

In history, after Du Chong's four-year-old youngest son was killed by the Liangshan bandit Li Kui, he must have hated the Liangshanbo bandit in his heart, so he also hated the drama bandits everywhere.Many of the rebels that Zongze contacted in Hebei and Hedong were bandit gangs that gathered in the mountains and forests in the past.Zong Ze could win over these bandits regardless of his background, but Du Chong couldn't work in harmony with the rebels who were from bandits.

Now that Xiao Ya Nei has been saved by himself, the magistrate Du Chong has not lost his son, so will he change because of it?Ximen Qing was full of curiosity about the person in front of him.

Regardless of whether Du Chong will be a loyal minister or a traitor in the future, one thing has not changed, that is, this guy is still a capable person, otherwise he would not have climbed to the high position of staying behind and prime minister in Tokyo.

Ximen Qing himself was not prepared to be a loyal minister and martyr for the Zhao and Song courts, so he naturally didn't have such a bad feeling for Du Chong.This guy can still make friends, maybe his power will be used at any time.When the situation changes in the future, let's see what choice he makes!

Although Ximen Qing had read and studied the novels of the Water Margin in his previous life, he had not done any special research on the history of the Jin-Song War. Most of the concepts in his mind came from novels, film and television dramas, or bragging arguments from netizens on forums. Du Chong's understanding is still superficial and one-sided. He only knows that he was the one who was finally vilified as a traitor of the Southern Song surrendering faction.In fact, Du Chong's influence on history and China is far greater than his cognition.

Speaking of it, Du Chong is different from the general literati-born officials of the Song Dynasty. During the Song-Jin War, Du Chong was a main combatant before he was finally defeated and surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin.Moreover, as a civil servant, he shouted the slogan that a man should be the commander of the front line, which has already surpassed his civil servant colleagues.

How did the civil servants of the Song Dynasty command the army to fight?The student Li Qiong rescued by Ximenqing in Xiangzhou, in history, later abandoned literature and martial arts, joined the army to fight against the Jin Dynasty, and was later forced to surrender to the Kingdom of Jin due to internal struggles in the Southern Song Dynasty.When Li Qiong analyzed the differences between the commanders of the Jin and Song Dynasties to Wanyan Zongbi, the commander of the Jin Kingdom, he said this:

"When I followed the army to attack the south, I often saw the king, the marshal of our army, came to the front to supervise the battle. He did not wear a helmet in the arrow forest, and he personally commanded the army to fight. He is truly a man of destiny. As for the person who braves the sharp arrows to advance without dodging, no one is afraid of death after seeing the sharp arrows. The army is invincible and can open up thousands of miles of land every day.

And the commanders in Jiangnan are less talented than ordinary people.Whenever troops are dispatched, they must be hundreds of miles away from the battlefield, which is called so-called prudence.Some supervisors summoned the army, replaced generals and officers, and only used one soldier to hold orders to announce.The decisive victory against the enemy was actually entrusted with the deputy general, so the clever ones were scattered, and the stupid ones were wiped out.Occasionally, if you are lucky enough to win a small battle, the news of success will spread frequently, and you will add prisoners as your credit, and you will restrain the resentment of the soldiers.Even if some generals come to the battlefield in person, but the momentum is wrong, they will definitely run away first. "

That is to say, in the Song Dynasty, military power was controlled by culture, and military power was in the hands of civil officials. However, when commanding battles, these civil officials with heavy soldiers hid behind hundreds of miles away, and they called this "senior and prudent".The commander-in-chief was so cowardly that he didn't dare to go to the front line to fight, but only yelled slogans in the rear. How could the Song army be undefeated?

Just like the famous main battle faction, Li Gang, the famous anti-golden minister in the late Northern Song Dynasty, is a typical civil servant whose name is superficial and slogans.

At that time, the military power of Jin and Song was very different. For the first time, the Jin army went south to surround Bianliang. Jin and Song reached a peace agreement.According to the comparison of strength at that time, Song Dynasty could not beat the Kingdom of Jin at all, so he should have made peace on this point and slowly accumulated strength for the future.

However, after the Jin army retreated to the north, the main combat faction headed by Li Gang, regardless of the opposition of the main peace faction, shouted beautiful slogans, immediately tore up the agreement, and sent all the remaining main field troops into Hebei and Hedong to fight for the three towns with the Jin army. As a result, the Song army was defeated and lost, and the Jin army was killed.

Chapter 396 Saved the land of Huaihe River?

Because under the instigation of Li Gang and other main fighters, Song Qinzong tore up the agreement, Jin Guo was furious, and immediately swung his army south again after harvesting the heads sent by the Song army.

Seeing that the Jin army was unstoppable, the ministers of the main war faction were all idiots who could only speak empty words. Song Qinzong had no master, and asked the ministers of the main peace faction for advice.

But at this time, Song Guo has repeatedly betrayed his promises, and has lost the best time to seek peace, and the peacemakers are also powerless.However, the peace faction always wanted to vent, so they aimed at Li Gang, the die-hard war faction.

Don't you, Li Gang, want to be righteous?Didn't they denounce us as capitulators who betrayed our ancestral foundation?Didn't you insist on fighting Jin Guo?Now is the opportunity to serve the country, you, Li Gang, should stand up!

The ministers of the Zhuhe faction took the opportunity to ask Song Qinzong to send Li Gang as Xuanfu envoy of Hedong and Hebei, and let Li Gang lead the army to fight northward.At this time, Li Gang was shocked, saying that I am a civil servant, how could I lead troops to fight?

Yes, Li Gang doesn't know how to lead the army to fight, but it doesn't delay him at all to shout in the court that he must fight, let others shed blood and sacrifice, and win himself a righteous reputation for persevering in the war of resistance.This is the typical "Slogan I shout, honor I get, send you to death!" When he refused to lead the troops to fight in person, I don't know how those dead soldiers who were forced to send their heads to Hebei and Hedong by him felt. ?If they could climb out of the grave, they might hack Li Gang to death first!

Although Li Gang didn't want to lead the army, under the insistence of the ministers of the main peace faction, Song Ting still forced him to be the Xuanfu envoy of Hedong and Hebei, kicked him out of Bianliang, Tokyo, and led the troops to fight northward.But where does Li Gang know how to fight?His troops and the Jin army collapsed at the first touch, and did not have any effect on saving the crisis.