Chapter 114 The Dead Duck Flies Away
The area along the wind was strictly guarded and those who knew the inspector were asked to identify and release him one by one. All those who should be arrested were arrested and released, but the inspector was still not found.
Haha, the cooked duck really disappeared.
Zhao Yulin asked for a thorough investigation to find out where this person was last seen.
How could he believe that this person was really a god who could go to the sky, into the ground, and escape by climbing over eaves and walls?
Shunfeng worked until late at night but still found nothing. All clues pointed to the East Courtyard of the inspector's wife, but after searching every corner of the courtyard, no one could be found.
Lao Lu said that he had deployed personnel at all four gates, so he would definitely not be able to escape. But if he was not caught in that yard, it would be difficult to catch him in the whole city of Nanzheng.
Zhao Yulin found it interesting and asked people to go and take a look.
The inspector's wife was sitting outside the house, holding Buddhist beads and muttering to herself, with a Buddhist look on her face. Zhao Yulin saw a walking stick beside her, so he took it and played with it carefully. It turned out to be a fine old bamboo stick.
He picked up his crutches and went room by room with Lao Lu, including the attic on the roof, but there was indeed no one there.
Zhao Yulin knocked on each blue brick floor with his crutch, and there was a solid echo underground. Where was this person hiding?
Just as everyone was about to leave, he smelled a hint of urine in the air and remembered that he had only looked at the surface of the toilet and had not knocked on it carefully.
He told me to go to the toilet in the bedroom.
Lao Lu asked him if there was any place he hadn't searched. He had checked all the toilets there, but there was no one inside.
Zhao Yulin poked the crutch in his hand and said he had never used it.
Everyone turned around and went back. The soldier opened the toilet bucket, and the small amount of fresh urine in it immediately gave off a foul smell.
These wealthy families have servants who empty their toilets every morning, so there aren't many old items in them.
It seems that the inspector rarely hangs around his main house.
The floor of the toilet was paved with three large stone slabs. Zhao Yulin knocked along the perimeter and each stone slab produced a solid echo. He turned and poked the center where the toilet was placed. Just as he was about to call for help, he heard a hollow echo from below.
Damn, is it hiding under the toilet?
The dog hides very deeply.
Zhao Yulin was muttering to himself.
Everyone looked puzzled. He took the torch from the soldier and held it close to the crack in the stone slab to observe. The flame immediately shifted slightly.
Lu Youpeng called out to him with concern, "Be careful."
Zhao Yulin stepped back, and Lao Lu asked the constable to pour the urine in the toilet bucket over to try.
The urine immediately flowed down the cracks between the stone slabs. Several constables fanned themselves in front of their faces with their hands and said it was too unlucky, so they brought two more buckets of urine and poured them down to ward off evil spirits.
A voice suddenly came from under the stone slab: "No, no, please don't fall. I'll be right out."
Haha, it’s the inspector again. He is hiding underneath as expected.
Zhao Yulin glanced at Lu Youpeng and turned to leave...
Nanzheng removed three major stumbling blocks in succession, and reform entered the fast lane, and subsequent problems were easily solved.
Zhao Yulin also moved the Hanshui Morning Post to Nanzheng, and asked the government officials to write good articles and publish them in the newspaper, publishing the story of the arrest of the inspector in its original form to make the people happy and support his reforms.
The large amount of illegal gold and silver seized was enough to support financial operations, and he immediately started the restoration work of the Lianyun Plank Road.
This is a complicated project. First, we need to produce earth cement in Mianzhou, prefabricated beams, diagonal bracing steel bars and lifting and transportation machinery.
None of these could stop him, because the craftsmen from Yibin had already arrived.
Nanzheng issued a notice to repair the plank road and began to recruit civilian workers.
Zhao Yulin arranged everything and went to Qingyeyuan.
He made such a big noise by arresting people and beheading criminals in Nanzheng, it would be unreasonable not to report it to Cao Youwen. When he entered the central army tent, Cao smiled and said that the little brother had finally come. Three people had hanged themselves in Qingyeyuan. He was really scared of him.
Zhao Yulin presented the confidential document to him, saying that he had not expected the news to leak out so quickly, and these people could no longer be stable.
The transport envoys and inspectors dared to eat money in the border areas without restraint, and they were in collusion with the people in the Administration Office. They could not bear the pressure before Zhao Yulin sent the materials, and they hanged themselves one by one, which was a simple way to go.
These were all civil servants. Although they appeared to be righteous on ordinary days, they actually did many sneaky things in secret. When they heard that Zhao Qi'er was not targeting anyone but the matter, they were helpless and quickly took the shortcut of committing suicide.
Lao Cao invited him to tea and said that the person who dared to do this before Hanzhong was Wu Jie, Lord Wu.
He smiled and said, I just learned the basics.
Zhao Yulin knew that if these bad guys dragged their feet on illegal matters, they would inevitably attract countless people to intercede for them. By then, it was very likely that they would be given light sentences for serious crimes or be exempted from punishment for minor crimes. How could he make the people convinced?
The food was served and Lao Cao invited him to have a drink.
It is already June, and the whole of China has entered the hot summer. The cicadas in the trees keep chirping! It's hot, it's hot!
After three rounds of drinking, Lao Cao said that it was just as he said, the remnants of Wuxian had been driven into Madang Mountain by General Meng, and were about to be wiped out. The court wanted to reward them handsomely.
He said that it was his duty as a subject, but now he had to pay attention to Tianshui as he was worried about an attack from Gongchang Prefecture.
Lao Cao said that Wang Shixian was indecisive. He wrote to him and also had contact with Kuoduan. There were secret reports that he wanted to surrender to Kuoduan, but he was afraid of being badly regarded, so he delayed taking action. Now Jin Ting is still in power.
Zhao Yulin said that we must be prepared no matter who we surrender to, and we should try our best to accept the Jin people and Jin soldiers. There is a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend , and the more friends we have, the easier it is to make a living.
Lao Cao found Zhao Yulin's words very interesting and asked him that Wudang had gained another 20,000 soldiers in the battle against Wuxian, so he must have 120,000 soldiers now, right?
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that there was gold and silver at home and a scale next door, so the general's calculation was really accurate.
In fact, if you count carefully, the number is already more than 120,000.
Lao Cao said that the soldiers in Qingyeyuan were only a fraction of the Shenwei Army, and the Military Administration Office provided wages for 100,000 soldiers.
He thanked the general for his support and said that no matter how many soldiers there were, they were still the court's soldiers. However, the defense area was so large and there were tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves all around, and it felt like danger was lurking everywhere.
Lao Cao doesn't think so. He feels that Hanzhong is much more stable now.
Yes, compared with the past when the Mongolian army often harassed Fengzhou, Hanzhong is certainly much more stable. You can sleep peacefully and drink happily.
Zhao Yulin told Lao Cao: If the situation in Tianshui becomes critical, he will transfer soldiers from Jinzhou and Yangzhou to provide support, to deal a heavy blow to Gongchang Prefecture and make Wang Shixian completely give up the idea of fighting to the death with the Song army.
Lao Cao took a short break, and said with a smile that his brother was venting his anger for him, and that the entire Qingyeyuan army would attack and act together when the time came.
They smiled knowingly and clinked their glasses.
In Gongchang Prefecture, Wang Shixian has received a secret letter from Kuoduan, asking him to advance eastward to Tianshui to contain the Song army, because the Mongolian army wants to take down the Jin Kingdom in one fell swoop, and all its forces are circling Caizhou, the Jin army's last gathering place.
However, Wang Shixian kept procrastinating and hesitating.
The Song army that is now attacking Tianshui is actually helping the Mongolian army. This is tantamount to abetting the enemy.
But he was also very clear that the demise of the Jin Dynasty was only a matter of time. So who should he turn to?
According to reason, the Mongol army had a deep hatred for the destruction of the Jin Dynasty, so he should have surrendered to the Song Dynasty, so he wrote letters to the Song people one after another to test their attitude. However, the Lin'an court did not respond for a long time, so Cao Youwen was not sure whether to reply. This was because the Jin Kingdom had bullied the Song Kingdom in the past, and the resentment between the Song and Jin was too deep, and the court did not handle it properly.
It is an absolute truth that after the demise of the Jin Dynasty, the Mongolian army would inevitably turn its spearhead towards the Song Dynasty. It is pointless to try to strengthen yourself as much as possible at this time. If there is no one to guard the city, it will sooner or later belong to someone else.
Moreover, it was obvious that the Mongolian army was powerful and it seemed that the whole world belonged to the Mongolian army. Wang Xian was not confused. Besides, he originally belonged to the Wanggu tribe of Mongolia and was related by blood.
Therefore, the balance in his heart had long since tipped towards expansion.
Otherwise, how could the Mongolian army allow them to defend Beitianshui?
However, at the beginning of the year, the Shenwei Army suddenly entered the valley and captured Qinzhou City, which originally belonged to them. They also built large-scale passes and fortresses around it, making it clear that they wanted to occupy the city and not leave.
Kuoduan sent a letter asking Wang Shixian to attack and take back the territory that belonged to them, the Jin people.
This was to put a yoke on Wang Xian and force him to choose sides. He refused on the grounds that the season had not come yet and there was not enough food and grass.
Now that the grass and water are lush, the Mongolian army has risen up again and surrounded Caizhou like an iron barrel. The decisive battle is about to begin. If we don’t return the favor, Prince Kuoduan will be unhappy, and we will have missed the opportunity to surrender.
Therefore, the Wang family decided to organize their army and march eastward to Qinzhou City.
Qinzhou City is the Beitianshui County in the river valley. He is the commander-in-chief of Qin Gong, so of course he has to take back Qinzhou City. This is a legitimate thing to do.
However, the remaining Jin territory in the west was not a solid block, and Guo Bin in Zhenyuan refused to obey Wang Shixian's orders.
Guo Bin was not good-looking. He was tall and strong, and the most notable feature of his body was a pair of bulging frog eyes on the top of his head. People gave him the nickname Guo Chongma.
Kuoduan had approached Guo Chongma, hoping to persuade him to surrender.
However, this man was filled with indignation as he watched the Great Jin Kingdom being swallowed up bit by bit by the Mongolian army. His patriotic enthusiasm was so high that he didn't care about the expansion at all.
Wang Shixian sent someone to contact Guo Chongma to advance eastward to recover the old Jin territory in Tianshui. This person was also as steady as a rock and disdained to interact with Gongchang Prefecture.
Because he already knew that the Wang family was secretly communicating with the Mongolian army. Was this trip for the Jin Dynasty to recover its territory, or for the Mongolian army to contain the Song army in the northwest?
No further explanation is needed.
The Wang family army is not the only one in Hexi. There are many tribes that are also waiting and watching.
In this way, the Eastern Expedition to Qinzhou became a one-man show of the Wang family army.
Wang was very helpless and urged his men to speed up their preparations.
His eldest son suggested that Zhao Qi'er of the Shenwei Army defended Qinzhou and built horse fences with hot mud, which were said to be indestructible. Zhao Qi'er also possessed powerful firearms. Prince Kuoduan suffered a great loss, so we have to move our signature weapons there.
Wang asked him in a relaxed manner: When it comes to cavalry, whose family is better?
