Chapter 65 Bad News

In the fourth watch, when Fang Yuanshan was in the post station outside the city, Xu Jinghong, Zhao and several brothers were coming out of Fanlou together. Fanlou is not only a kind of restaurant, but also a gentle hometown that is fascinating. At this time, those noble children have gone free with wine and gentle and charming women, but Xu and Zhao do not like this tone, so it is convenient for them to leave Fanlou at this time.

With a turbid breath, Xu Jinghong looked up at the sky and couldn't help smiling: "I think it must have been done. They will come back soon, right?"

"Your people have always been capable and should be so." Zhao cong also smiled and said, "However, you have to be prepared for tomorrow's events, and someone will suspect you. Even if we testify for you and your brothers today, their doubts will not diminish slightly. Instead, they will think that this is what you did on purpose.

"I naturally save this." Xu Jinghong nodded: "But as long as they can't provide accurate evidence, they can't push the Fang family to me, which is enough. As for their doubts, what is it for me?

Xu Jinghong's behavior of not paying attention to other people's opinions brightened Zhao cong's eyes. This is the person who does great things. After a pause, he asked, "Then what are you going to do next? The National Security Department has been ordered to shut down, and you have become an unofficial and idle person again.

"Go to the north and make another breakthrough!" Xu Jinghong said and looked up at the dark northern sky. Suddenly, he couldn't help frowning, because he faintly heard a sharp sound of horses' hoofs from there.

Daliang City strictly prohibits ordinary people from going out after sunset every day. Of course, some people with status are not included in this ban. However, this does not mean that they can act recklessly in the dark, and no one has ever run wildly in such a late night. But now in this dark night, there is such an eager sound of horses' hoofs, which makes Xu Jinghong not surprised.

"Your Highness, listen..." Xu Jinghong listened to the horse's hoof coming towards him and raised his guard. He had just killed people, but he had to be careful of others to do the same to himself.

Zhao Cong was stunned. At this time, he had already heard the sound of horses' hoofs and couldn't help saying, "In the middle of the night, who is so bold that he is galloping in Beijing?"

While talking, the man and horse had rushed to the crowd, but the comer did not care about the few people who stopped by the roadside, but ran in front of them. Obviously, he was not looking for trouble for himself as Xu Jinghong feared. At the same time, Zhao Cong's eyebrows were tightly locked and whispered, "It's a big deal!"

"What? Does Your Highness recognize this person on the horse? Xu Jinghong quickly asked.

"I don't recognize people, but I know what he wears. This is the costume of the cavalry in the north, the iron armored black horse! Only when they encounter a very major change will they be so eager to go. Now they suddenly come to the capital, I'm afraid that something big has happened in the north!" Speaking of this, Zhao cong couldn't help looking at Xu Jinghong.

Xu Jinghong was also stunned. He didn't expect that as soon as he had the idea of going to the north, something big happened there. I don't know if this is a blessing or a disaster?

A big event really happened in northern Xinjiang. After dawn, all the courtiers rushed to the palace and held an extremely important court meeting on this day when it was not a big and small dynasty meeting.

Every minister has a nervous look on his face, especially several bosses who already know the details of the matter, and their faces are like water, and they are not as comfortable as before. With the sound of the palace man singing to the court, the emperor appeared in front of everyone with a calm pace, and his face was not good at this time.

After a set of courtesy visits, Luo Qianwen, the director of the Tongzheng Yuan, came out first and said, "Your Majesty, an urgent letter from the northern frontier this morning, saying that on September 23rd, the northern Yanmen, Sanshan and the three customs were attacked by the barbarians at the same time. Because the generals of the three levels were unprepared for a while, these three gates have been lost one after another since the 26th..."

"What? The three gates in the north have been lost one after another?"

"This...what on earth is going on? How can those soldiers let the Hu people take such a dangerous place so easily?"

"This...how about this?" Before Luo Qianwen finished his words, many of the ministers began to talk uneasily, and there was a large buzz in the middle pole hall.

"Quiet! What's wrong with you waiting for such a gaffe in the palace!" Ye Mingyang suddenly shouted, which made the officials recover from the shock and gaffe just now, and the temple regained tranquility.

Luo Qianwen swallowed his saliva and continued, "Also, the Hu people did not stop after capturing the three customs and began to launch a strong attack on Youzhou, an important town in the north. The large and small villages and towns around Youzhou were looted by them, and countless people were poisoned by the barbarians.

"What?" This time, more people have changed color, but they are not only afraid and worried, but also angry.

The Song Dynasty has been more than 200 years old. Although it does not have a glorious history of foreign warfare like the Great Wu of the previous dynasty, it has never been so bullied by the enemy. But now the Hu people actually broke through the fortress in the north, went straight into the Central Plains, and killed innocent people. How can the officials who have always been self-respecting as the Celestial Empire can stand it?

"Youzhou?" At this time, the emperor, who had been silent, finally spoke: "It is Peng Ziming, the commander-in-chief of the three armies of northern Xinjiang, who guards Youzhou. How can hundreds of thousands of elite men under his command make the Hu people attack the surrounding people so easily? How did he guard the frontier?

"Your Majesty, Peng Ziming happened to patrol the Yanmen Pass when the Hu people raided the three gates. As a result, the sudden coming of the Hu people surprised the soldiers there, and even he himself was seriously injured. Fortunately, his soldiers tried their best to rescue him, and then rescued Peng Ziming, who was already in a coma, back to Youzhou City. It was because of the commander-in-chief that the soldiers in the north were greatly frustrated, which gave the Hu people an opportunity to go straight to my city of Youzhou. Luo Qianwen continued with a bitter face.

This time, the ministers don't know what to say. This is too coincidental. I think so. If Peng Ziming hadn't been injured, resulting in hundreds of thousands of northern border troops being headless and disturbing the heart of the army, no matter how powerful the Hu people were, it would not have been possible to hit the city of Youzhou so easily.

"Your Majesty, once something goes wrong in Youzhou City, my Central Plains hinterland will be completely exposed to the iron hooves of the barbarians. The court must quickly think of rescue. Qian Song, the servant of the Ministry of War, immediately came forward and put forward his opinion: "So I think it is urgent to quickly dispatch troops to rescue Youzhou City."

"Lord Qian's words are bad." As soon as his words fell, someone objected: "There are still hundreds of thousands of people in my north, and the troops are far above the Hu people. How can I transfer other people to rescue them? What's more, in terms of the essence of soldiers and horses, except for the 100,000 forbidden army guarding the beams of our capital, there is really no one who can compare with the northern frontier army. This person is Wu Jingzi. Among the seven masters, he is second only to Xu Zhengnian.

And his words were approved by many people. However, it was not how correct Wu Jingzi's words were, but because everyone knew that the forbidden army guarding the capital could not move. There are two reasons. First, most of the imperial army has now become the last guarantee for the seven people to consolidate their own forces. If they are taken away, I'm afraid that those noble forces that were originally suppressed will rise up and destroy the remaining six families at that time.

Second, it is also because today's imperial army is no longer the most powerful man in the Song Dynasty a hundred years ago. With the continuous infiltration and exclusion of dissidents after the seven masters came to power, the real fighters in the forbidden army have long been expelled, and the current forbidden army is almost an expanded patrol camp. The result of letting a public security (river crab) force fight against external enemies is naturally imaginable.

Therefore, many people agreed with Wu Jingzi's objection, and Qian Song, the servant of the Ministry of War, suddenly dared not say anything more. Although their military headquarters should be the most influential government, in the eyes of these seven officials, their own interests should still be put first.

The emperor's heart twitched again. At this juncture, these families still think about their own interests. How can the courtiers really do their best for the Song Dynasty? However, Zhao Zhe, who had only a few foreign aids in the court, also knew that it was not the time to turn against them, so he had to endure and look at the two important ministers Ye and Lu, who had not yet said anything.

Lv Zhonghe sighed and then said, "If Youzhou could repel the enemy by himself, there would not be such an urgent war report today. In fact, in my opinion, the most critical problem in the north is not the lack of troops, but how to use troops. And this is also divided into two layers. One is to have enough weight to control the generals of the situation to coordinate everything. Second, this person must also take the North Army to victory.

Lv Zhonghe is very disgusted with the selfish ideas of those in the world. But as one of them, he had to speak for everyone's benefit and finally had to say such words.

"Lv Xiang said so, so the court should indeed send help to the north now, but instead of adding troops, but sending some capable and prestigious generals to replace Peng Ziming." Ye Mingyang also agreed.

With the unanimous approval of these two bosses, others naturally have no reason to be unreasonable, and many of them will look at Xu Zhengnian. This old marquis was a veteran who had been fighting with the Hu people for many years, and the Hu people also suffered losses in his hands. If he could go to the north to command the battle, it would naturally be a great encouragement to us.

However, Xu Zhengnian's cough completely shattered everyone's good expectations. This cough was heartbreaking, which made the people listening to him worry that the old man would fall down in one breath. After a long time, Xu Zhengnian said in a hoarse voice, "The two adults are right. The northern defenders did not collapse, but because of the lack of the backbone, they had no choice but to send an urgent letter to the court. Therefore, as long as the court sends out a famous general who can use troops, today's problems will naturally be solved.

"However, except for Peng Ziming and the old marquis, where can I find a general who can suppress those proud soldiers in the north?" Qian Song couldn't help sighing. And his view is exactly the opinion of others. In their opinion, only when Xu Zhengnian returns to the north can those generals be willing to accept his leadership.

"Your Majesty, I can recommend a person, and this person will be competent to repel the heavy responsibility of the Hu people!" In the comments of everyone, Xu Zhengnian gave his ideas slowly.

"Xu Qing's family quickly said, who can solve the current crisis?" The emperor also asked quickly.

"He won't let that guy named Xu Jinghong go?" Such an idea suddenly came to many people's minds. No wonder they guessed with the heart of villains, just because Xu Zheng defended Xu Jinghong too much several times a few years ago, and now the latter has just lost his official position, and now it is just an opportunity.

But these officials who have found Xu Jinghong's amazing lethal power refuse to let this guy hold such power. This guy is just the capital of the National Security Department, and a five-grade official can drive a rich family like the Fang family out of the capital. If he had held a large army in his hand, the world would not be chaotic.

Just as everyone was preparing to oppose, Xu Zhengnian proposed his own candidate: "I think that now that the war in the southwest has been flat, it is impossible for the barbarians to pose any threat to my Song Dynasty in a short time, so I can transfer General Wang Chong from the southwest to the north. Judging from Wang Chong's prestige in the army and his contributions, he will live up to expectations.

"..." Everyone was stunned first, and then began to second. Indeed, Wang Chong is the most suitable candidate that the current court can bring out. Although there is a gap between him and the family, he still has nothing to do when he holds military power in the southwest, and he will not do anything if he holds the military power in the north.

"What do you think of Ye Qing, Lu Qing and Wu Qing?" The emperor then focused on three powerful ministers who could influence the decision-making of the court.

After looking at each other a few times, the three nodded at the same time: "I think Wang Chong is the most suitable. Since he can win a great victory in the battle with the barbarians in the southwest, he will definitely defeat the Hu people and promote the prestige of our country."

"Okay, let's draw up an edict to transfer the marshal of the southwest march as the marshal of the northern march, control all the military power of the five prefectures in the north, and let him drive him out of the frontier before the Hu people hurt the people of Song again!" Only then did the emperor issue an order.

"Your Majesty!" The ministers quickly praised, but there was endless irony in the emperor's ears. In fact, he didn't make any decision at such a critical time. He only nodded after those powerful ministers reached an agreement. This is not a puppet. What is a puppet?

When the ministers thought that the matter had been settled and everyone could go back to the government, a forbidden soldier guard outside came to the hall to report: "Your Majesty, the post station outside the capital is looking for a meeting outside the palace, saying that there is a big thing to report."

"Hmm?" The ministers were all stunned. I don't know where such a sesame official dared to enter the palace and ask to see him.

"What did he say?" In fact, the emperor already knew what was going on. The people he sent to kill last night were all for Xu Jinghong. Naturally, it was impossible to hide it from him, but the emperor at this time could not see any problem.

"He didn't say it directly, but the man looked very flustered and said that it was too important..."

"Well, now is the time of the Great Dynasty. What we are talking about is the major event of the country. What can he do as a small Yicheng do? If you drive people out, you will be punished with heavy punishment!" Wu Jingzi said with some unhappiness.

"This..." The soldier did not move, but looked at the emperor for help.

The emperor immediately nodded: "Since this man is so eager to come, I'm afraid it's a great thing, so let him in." As he spoke, he ignored Wu Jingzi, who had changed his face a little, which was obviously cutting his face.

After a while, a very embarrassed man stained with blood and mud came to the door and kowtowed to the emperor and ministers: "Little minister Huang Jiu has seen His Majesty!"

"Bing flat. You said you had something important to report, so let's talk about it now.

"Yes, last night... Lord Shangshufang and his family, who lived in Xiaochen's post station, were killed by a group of...unidentified strong men." Huang Jiu said such shocking news in a very stabling voice.

"What? Can you say it again?" Immediately, an official asked in disbelief.

Huang Jiu is also a real person. When he saw someone asking, he said it again, but this time it was much smoother than the last time.

At this time, the whole hall fell into silence. This news shocked the ministers more than the Hu people went south, because it happened under their own eyes, and people who died so familiarly.

"Your Majesty, this matter must be strictly investigated and investigated to the end." Ye Mingyang quickly gave his attitude.

At this time, other people came to their senses from surprise and asked one after another, "Your Majesty, this is a provocation to my Song court. We must not let the murderer go unpunish!"

When they talked about the murderer, they directly thought of a person - Xu Jinghong. It is very clear that this man has a grudge against the Fang family, and he may not be satisfied with driving the Fang family out of the court, so he killed him fiercely on the way from the capital.

"Yes, this matter must be investigated to the end!" The emperor also behaved angrily at this time and shouted, "All this has been handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice and the Gyeonggi Province to investigate. No matter who the murderer is, you can't let it go easily!"