Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 689: Leaving the Sword Gate

After hearing Baili Bing's question, Fan Qing thought about it and answered seriously: "I don't eat meat, soft rice, pickles, coriander and citrus."

Baili Bing laughed and said, "Okay, then little master, please wait a moment."

She could see that the little nun in front of her was not being pretentious, she was just expressing her likes and dislikes in a normal way.

Although...her behavior is somewhat inhumane to ordinary people.

However, this kind of thing seems to be natural for such a pure and innocent little nun who does not seem to be a part of worldly life.

Baili Bing went back to the kitchen to get some more food, then returned to the hall.

Fan Qing clasped his hands together, thanked him, and picked up the chopsticks.

Baili Bing sat down opposite her and asked curiously, "Where are you from, little master, and where are you going?"

Fan Qing replied, "I came from Mount Emei and went to Tongchuan Prefecture."

"Oh, Tongchuan Prefecture, it's such a long way, and you are all alone?

I heard that the new pacification envoy of Tongchuan Prefecture, Yang Yuan, is currently clearing out bandits and robbers.

Little Master, you are alone and a young woman, so you must be careful."

"Thank you for the reminder, benefactor."

Fan Qing paused for a moment and said, "This Yang Yuan that the donor is talking about is vigorously clearing out the bandits? So he is a good official, right?"

Baili Bing raised the corner of his lips and said, "Hey, a new official should start with three things.

Besides, it is probably because the bandits in Tongchuan Prefecture are rampant and have caused the wrath of heaven and people that he needs to vigorously suppress them. "

Baili Bing knew that Buddhism and Taoism had many followers. The young master in front of him had an extraordinary temperament and must be a practitioner from a famous large Zen temple.

If he could make her dissatisfied with Yang Yuan, he could let many believers of status and position know through her mouth.

So, Baili Bing said: "My little master thought that Yang Yuan, a new official, was vigorously clearing out the bandits.

But these officials don't have such simple purposes in doing anything.

He claimed that he wanted to suppress bandits. Does that give him an excuse to get money from the local authorities?
He also urged various places to establish "Loyalty Societies". These "Loyalty Societies" were built by the localities themselves and only obeyed his orders. Isn't this just having your own troops?

I think this person is ambitious and not a good person."

Fan Qing could sense that the female shop owner disliked Yang Yuan.

However, isn't it normal that people like Yang Yuan are not liked by good people?
Fan Qing can only feel a person's most direct and true emotions towards another person.

Whether it's forced calmness, false enthusiasm, hatred under sweetness, or malice under tranquility...

The stronger the emotion, the clearer she could sense it.

But why this emotion arises, or what complicated reasons are behind this emotion, is not something that can be perceived by this ability.

Fan Qing nodded. She could feel the female owner's disdain and dislike for Yang Yuan.

The female shop owner's words further confirmed that Yang Yuan was a cruel, ambitious and ruthless official.

To eliminate violence is to protect the good, and to eliminate evil is to promote good.

Yang Yuan, this bad guy, must be punished!

……

Longzhou, Jiangyou, Laojun Mountain.

Longzhou originally belonged to Lizhou West Road. When the prefectures under the jurisdiction of the four Sichuan and Xia roads were re-demarcated at the beginning of the year, it was included in Tongchuan Road.

Today it is a state located at the junction of Yang Yuan of Tongchuan Road and Wu Jia of Lizhou West Road.

It took Han Qianchen two days to walk here from Chonghua Town.

He and Wang Changsheng were leading people to survey the mountains and geography of the Sixteen Prefectures of Tongchuan.

The two started from Tongchuan Prefecture, one heading south and the other heading north, inspecting each state one by one.

They drew the terrain, mountains, rivers, roads and paths, and corrected and refined the original maps.

The imperial court had its own corresponding regulations and books, and those that could be used for military purposes were top secret and not available to the public.

But even these top-secret military maps cannot guarantee absolute accuracy, let alone detailed details in many aspects.

Especially the changed rivers, the garrisons and population in various places, the output of food and other materials, and the exploration of local mineral resources by Wang Changsheng and Han Qianchen based on their respective abilities.

These are the contents that they re-surveyed, explored and registered and supplemented.

It is said that Laojun Mountain is the place where Taishang Laojun once practiced alchemy and cultivated himself, hence the name.

The vegetation in this area is dense, and wild animals such as wild boars and black bears often appear here, so few people come here.

However, based on his experience in esoteric studies, Han Qianchen felt that this kind of mountain terrain should have rich mineral resources.

The people he led were fully equipped with bows, crossbows, swords and knives, so naturally they could not be afraid of difficulties.

In fact, he really came this time.

“It turns out there are a lot of saltpeter mines here!”

Han Qianchen observed the saltpeter in the cave with some regret and asked his assistant to record the situation here.

He was not very happy.

He knew that saltpeter was an important raw material for making gunpowder, but gunpowder was not the most important military supply for the Song army at that time.

Because of the use of gunpowder, it was not an important military material for the Song army in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Yang Yuan had just taken office when he and Wang Changsheng separated, so he didn't know that Xiao Qianyue had improved the gunpowder and greatly increased its power.

What Xiao Qianyue is currently studying is the different uses of different proportions of gunpowder, as well as the difficulties in the safe preparation, storage and transportation of gunpowder.

Therefore, although the saltpeter mine is also a huge fortune, it is not a big surprise for Han Qianchen who has discovered many mineral resources.

He wanted to find copper and iron mines, which was equivalent to a mountain of money.

Forget it, let’s keep looking. After all, we have found two unknown iron ore veins during the previous exploration.

After being slightly depressed, Han Qianchen cheered up again.

He took a few sips of the sweet spring water and continued to explore forward.

……

Yang Yuan had already left Tongchuan Prefecture and headed for Xingyuan Prefecture on the Lizhou Middle Road. After receiving the imperial edict, he spent two days to arrange a series of things.

Since taking office in Tongchuan Prefecture, he has indeed been busy day and night.

Fortunately, Liu Yanran and Duozi were both good at serving others, and they were both gentle and considerate, so they took good care of his life.

Yang Yuan successively hired a number of scholars from Tongchuan to serve as his staff.

Most of these scholars came from powerful families.

These powerful people are just following him now, and there is no question of them serving him.

Even if they have already surrendered, these powerful people are just small lords under his lord.

They have their own small circle of core interests. Yang Yuan has to use them but also guard against them. He cannot confide all the secrets to them.

More trustworthy than these aides are Fan Jiang, Wang Yeran, Wen Tian and others whom he cultivated in Lin'an.

However, whether or not they want to leave the prosperous paradise of Lin'an and come to Western Shu to work depends on their own wishes.

Yang Yuan has already conveyed his intention of recruiting them, and how to choose depends on their own decision.

The other ones are Yang Yuan’s female relatives.

When Yang Yuan was the magistrate of Lin'an Prefecture, he had already privately set up a shadow staff room and asked Xue Bingxin, Leng Yuchan, and Bei'er to handle official business for him next to the provincial government office.

Once they come over from Lin'an, they will be able to serve as Yang Yuan's internal secretaries and help him solve big problems.

And these people are the ones he can completely trust and entrust.

Yang Yuan left Jianmen Pass, passed Lizhou, crossed Lianshui, and headed straight for Xingyuan Prefecture.

In fact, in Yang Yuan’s plan, he wanted to use a year to consolidate his base, Tongchuan Prefecture.

By next year, his staff team will be truly established, the assessment and adjustment of officials in the sixteen states of Tongchuan will be completed, and the two armies of the first general of Tongchuan will also be reorganized.

On the premise that no one in the sixteen states under his jurisdiction rebelled, he had already become the first person who truly held power over the sixteen states of Tongchuan Prefecture.

At that time, he could continue to develop and expand Tongchuan Prefecture while cooperating with the court to strengthen control over the Western Army.

His original target was the Wen family and the Guo family in Lizhou East Road.

For this reason, Tongzhouhui’s main reconnaissance target is now Lidong.

Because Yang Yuan felt that the internal strife between the Wen and Guo families in Lidong would greatly weaken the military strength of the Western Army's Lidong Front, while also providing convenience for the court's rectification and cleanup.

The imperial court strengthened its control over Lidong. Yang Zheng of Lizhong was already old, and his offspring were not very promising. It would be easy to continue to reorganize Yang Zheng's Lizhong Front Army at that time.

If this step goes smoothly, it will take a year. By then, the Lixi Front Army will be alone, with the Chengdu Prefecture Road blocking its retreat. The Tongchuan Road army will grow stronger, and with the support of the Lidong Front Army and the Lizhong Front Army, the cleanup and reorganization of the Lixi Wu family will go very smoothly.

The entire plan, which began when Yang Yuan had just become a counselor in Lin'an, took three to four years for the court to re-plan the jurisdictions of the four routes of Sichuan and Xia and adjust the officials.

It takes about three years from recruiting soldiers to training them into elite troops. By then, the Song Dynasty's war losses in the Lianghuai region will be fully made up.

However, as the Jin Dynasty lost the territory north of Yanshan Mountain, it was unable to recruit enough Jurchen soldiers. The Meng'an and Mouke system began to collapse, and it had to establish a new military system with the Han army as the main body.

Because of this fatal reason, the Jin Kingdom would take nearly two years later than the Song Kingdom to complete the simultaneous completion of compensating for war losses and transforming its military system.

This two-year time difference gave the Song State enough time to boldly conquer Western Xia.

Moreover, the New Jin Empire was secretly sucking blood from the Tatars, stealing their money, horses, and women.

After three or four years, the greatly strengthened New Jin would inevitably move south with the intention of annexing the Jin Kingdom.

In the game of chess, everyone plays his own game and sets up his own strategy.

By the time the Battle of the Two Jins and the Battle of Song and Xia came to an end, the only country that still had an elite division ready to go as a general reserve force and had never been involved in the war was the Song Dynasty.

At this point, the world can be stabilized.

This is the plan planned by the emperor. He wants to pacify the world in ten years.

But these chess pieces have thoughts.

Who would have thought that Yang Zheng, who was supposed to act as an NPC in the whole game of chess, actually suffered from the "imminent retirement syndrome" and suddenly started to make small moves.

The "Quezifang" of Jisuyuan has found some clues and reported them to the government.

The reason why the Emperor sent Yang Yuan to Lizhong as his special envoy was because he was the executor of the plan to reorganize the Western Army.

This is a good thing. It doesn't really matter whether Qiu Pi'er's death is investigated or not.

His most important task was to find ways to sabotage Yang Zheng's plan to go to war with Wu.

Yang Yuan was riding lightly while thinking about his worries.

Suddenly someone came to report: "General, we have arrived at Nanzheng City in Xingyuan Prefecture."

These are the scouts that Yang Yuan sent to the front.

In order to save speed, Yang Yuan traveled light and brought only thirty-six riders with him.

Anyway, they were going to Yang Zheng's territory. If something really happened, it would be useless even if he brought 360 people.

It’s better to be open and honest.

Although the three commanders of the Western Army each have their own plans, at least for now they have no intention of rebelling, so there is no need to worry too much.

Hearing the sound, Yang Yuan reined in his horse and looked up.

This ancient city, which was fought over repeatedly by the Qin and Chu states for three hundred years, now comes into view.

Yang Yuan raised his eyebrows and said, "Send a scout into the city to deliver the letter. The rest of you should stop where you are, rest for half an hour, change clothes and go into the city!"

When Yang Yuan and his companions were on the road, they naturally tried to travel as lightly and comfortably as possible, and now they all looked dusty and exhausted.

Naturally, they had to stop to clean their faces and change into official clothes, after all, they represented the dignity of the court.

When the news reached the city, Yang Zheng, who was acting as an official in the hall, was stunned: "The angel has arrived? Who do you think he is?"

The lieutenant said dryly, "Tongchuan Road General Manager and Pacifier, Yang Yuan."

Yang Zheng was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered something, with a strange look on his face: "Oh, yes, he is still the Right Counselor of the court."

Yang Zheng thought for a moment, and the hand stroking his beard paused slightly: "Arrange the banners, halberds, and ceremonial guards. I want to go and greet this Doctor Yang in person!"

Chen Zhuoguang, a staff member standing by, said in surprise: "Yang Yuan's status and position are far inferior to that of the commander-in-chief. It would be enough to send a deputy general. Why bother to condescend to greet him in person, and there is no need to display a grand ceremony."

Yang Zheng's eyes flickered, and he waved his hand, saying, "After all, he is here on behalf of the emperor, so he should be respected."

(End of this chapter)