Murong Fu said, "The Prime Minister is thousands of miles away from here. Maybe he doesn't know the result of the northern expedition yet …"
Yang Juyuan interrupted him and said, "I've made it very clear. The Prime Minister asked you to stay in seclusion and not attack without permission. Did you not understand?"
Yang Juyuan took out a token and sneered, "Could it be that you dare to go against the Prime Minister's will? Don't forget who made you the Deputy Xuan Fu Deputy Envoy? "
"I don't dare!" Murong Fu hurriedly bowed.
"I don't think you dare." Yang Juyuan snorted and walked away.
After he left, Feng Poliu, Bao Butong, and a few other servants came in. Murong Fu couldn't hold back anymore and smashed the teacup on the ground. "He's just a dog of Jia Shidao. How dare he show off in front of me?"
Bao Butong hurriedly stopped him and said, "No, no. Please be careful with your words. We can't offend Jia Shidao yet."
Song Qingshu, who was hanging upside down outside the window, smiled and thought, "So it's these two clowns. Why didn't I see them in the King of Shu's Mansion last time?"
Murong Fu snorted and said, "Of course I know. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let him leave like this!"
Feng Poliu said impatiently, "I don't know what's wrong with Jia Shidao. Our young master's northern expedition is so promising, and it's a great opportunity for him to make a name for himself. How could he stop us?"
"No, no, no!" Bao Butong continued to shake his head and said, "There are two mistakes. First, our young master has already made a name for himself by suppressing the traitor Wu Xi, so he doesn't need to make any more achievements. Second, Jia Shidao has always been a firm supporter of peace, while Han Xingzhou is a supporter of war. Now, Han Xingzhou's position is shaky because of the series of northern expeditions. If the northern expedition in Sichuan succeeds, the Jin Kingdom will have to transfer troops from the east to the west. In that case, Han Xingzhou will have a chance to catch his breath and maybe he can make a comeback. How could Jia Shidao give him such a chance? So it would be strange if they didn't obstruct us. "
Hearing Bao Butong's arguments, Song Qingshu couldn't help but laugh. Bao Butong's analysis made sense. Song Qingshu had been too concerned, and he hadn't thought about the whole situation from Jia Shidao's point of view. It was true that Song Qingshu couldn't just sit back and watch Sichuan go north to save Han Xingzhou's life.
Feng Fenger was shocked. "Isn't Jia Shidao sacrificing the interests of the country and the people to satisfy his own selfish desires?"
This time, Bao Butong changed his usual frivolous tone into a serious one. "For politicians like them, which one of them isn't the same? In this aspect, young master should learn more from him. "
Murong Fu nodded and asked in a deep voice, "What should we do next? Are we really going to follow Jia Shidao's orders and do nothing?"
"No, no!" Bao Butong shook his head. "We have to listen to Jia Shidao's orders, but that doesn't mean we'll do nothing. In fact, it's not necessarily a bad thing that Jia Shidao stopped young master from going north. You've already made a great contribution by suppressing Wu Xi, so no matter how glorious the northern expedition is, you'll face a situation where you won't be rewarded. However, if there's a setback in the war, young master will face severe punishment. So, it's better to follow Jia Shidao's instructions and stay in seclusion. "
"Of course, you won't completely listen to Jia Shidao's arrangements. Young master, you want to revive the Yan Kingdom, and Sichuan has always been a prosperous and prosperous country. The Qin Kingdom conquered the world with Sichuan, and Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty won the Chu-Han War because of the endless logistical support from Sichuan. It's God's will that you have Sichuan. It seems that the Murong family's hope of reviving the Yan Kingdom will come true."
Hearing what Bao Butong said, Murong Fu was overjoyed. "Brother Bao, you're really far-sighted. However, I'm only the highest-ranking official in Sichuan, and there are still many people who won't listen to me. I'm afraid it's too early to talk about founding a nation."
"Isn't there a great opportunity to clean up the officialdom in Sichuan?" Bao Butong smiled.
"Oh?" Murong Fu's expression changed, and even Song Qingshu, who was outside, became interested.
"Didn't Jia Shidao ask young master to restrain his subordinates from sending troops? But those arrogant soldiers and generals may not be obedient. Young master, you can make appropriate arrangements to defeat them, and then use military law to punish a group of generals who aren't loyal to young master," Bao Butong said in a low voice.
Feng Polio, who was standing aside, frowned. "That's not what a gentleman would do."
"No, no. You're being too soft-hearted." Bao Butong didn't agree. "Young master, you're ambitious, and you're on par with the emperors of the past dynasties. Of course, you can't be judged by ordinary moral standards."
Feng Polio opened his mouth and wanted to refute, but he couldn't argue with Bao Butong. In the end, he remembered that he was a retainer of the Murong family, so he sighed and didn't say anything.
Outside the window, Song QingShu thought to himself, 'This Bao is different. Usually, he only knows how to bicker. I didn't expect him to occasionally come up with one or two good ideas. If Murong Fu does as he says, he can indeed quickly build a team loyal to him.'
After listening for a while, Song Qingshu didn't hear anything valuable, so he left quietly. He had planned to imitate what happened to Linghu Chong and control Murong Fu to give orders to get rid of the hidden danger in the western defense line of the Jin Kingdom. But now that he knew that Jia Shidao had intervened, the northern expedition of the armies in Sichuan would definitely fail, so he didn't need to control Murong Fu anymore. He planned to watch the show first.
As expected, the situation in Sichuan changed in less than two days. Shen Xiaolong asked to take advantage of the victory to attack Qinlong to contain the Jin army, but Murong Fu didn't agree, so the morale of the army was greatly affected. On the same day, because the support from the rear hadn't arrived, the Jin army took back Daesan Pass.
General Sun Zhongrui was furious. When he came back, he didn't even have time to take off his blood-stained robe. He went straight into Murong Fu's house and scolded him, then left angrily.
Soon, Murong Fu called Yang Juyuan to discuss with him. He pointed out that Sun Zhongrui was under Han Xingzhou's command and wanted to make a contribution in the northern expedition to relieve Han Xingzhou's pressure on the eastern defense line. Although he was temporarily suppressed, no one knew what he would do next. What if he ruined the prime minister's plan?
Yang Juyuan had switched allegiance to Jia Shidao from Han Xingzhou not long ago, so he had been a little uneasy about it. He wanted to make a contribution so that he could stand firm in front of his new master.
So he agreed to Murong Fu's arrangement. He sent soldiers to disguise themselves as Jin soldiers and kill Sun Zhongrui on his way to the new place.
This caused a stir in the officialdom of Sichuan. After all, the place where Sun Zhongrui was killed was under the control of the Southern Song Dynasty. How could there be Jin soldiers there? Because he had just had a fierce argument with Murong Fu, many people suspected that he was the culprit.
Unlike other people's speculations, Shen Xiaolong, the Three Emotions Taoist priest, went directly to Murong Fu's mansion to question him. He had military power, and he was powerful in martial arts, so he didn't worry that Murong Fu would do anything to him.
Faced with his repeated questions, Murong Fu looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped on second thought, as if there was something he couldn't say. In the end, Shen Xiaolong asked his servants to leave and went to a secret room to talk. Murong Fu hesitantly took out a document, which recorded the names of the soldiers that Yang Juyuan had mobilized a few days ago, as well as the details of all the operations. He said that it was the result of his investigation.
Shen Xiaolong was extremely shocked when he learned that the murderer was Yang Juyuan. At the same time, he expressed confusion and doubt. Then, Murong Fu told him that Yang Juyuan was Jia Shidao's subordinate and told him that he also wanted to conquer the Central Plains in the north, but he couldn't go against Jia Shidao's order. And Yang Juyuan was Jia Shidao's chess piece to keep an eye on him.
Before saying that, Murong Fu had investigated Shen Xiaolong in detail. He knew that Shen Xiaolong had always been neutral. He didn't work for Han Xingzhou, nor did he work for Jia Shidao. It could be said that Shen Xiaolong was one of the few people in the officialdom who wholeheartedly served the country.
As expected, Shen Xiaolong was filled with righteous indignation after learning the whole story. In his opinion, a power struggle was one thing, but if the fate of the country and the lives of the people were to be gambled for a power struggle, it was completely intolerable.
Murong Fu took a look at his expression and continued to say that if he wasn't worried about the unrest in Sichuan, he would definitely kill Yang Juyuan himself. After hearing that, Shen Xiaolong left thoughtfully.
After Song Qingshu eavesdropped on the conversation between Murong Fu and Yang Juyuan, he went back and asked Ren Yingying to go straight down the river to Jianghuai to inform Taj-kis not to panic because of the attack on the western front of Sichuan. He would take care of all the problems here.
It was thousands of miles to go to Jianghuai. If there was a choice, Song Qingshu didn't want Ren Yingying to travel all the way. But this time, it was the handover with Taj-kis, which was too important. He couldn't leak anything, so he could only send his closest people. Fortunately, the journey went straight down the river, which saved a lot of traveling.
After Song Qingshu asked her to inform Taj-kis, he went to Yangzhou to inform Zhou Zhiruo to send troops to the west, pretending to cooperate with the Song army to pressure the Jin Kingdom and urge them to negotiate.
After all, the Golden Snake Battalion agreed to participate in the Southern Song Dynasty's Northern Expedition, but they had been acting as bystanders. This had already aroused the dissatisfaction of many people. In order to avoid losing the support of the people, it was necessary to maintain the necessary posture.
After Ren Yingying left, Song Qingshu had been silently observing Murong Fu's actions. One day, he suddenly found Ruan Xingzhu and asked, "Madam, shall we go and avenge you today?"
"Today?" Ruan Xingzhu was a little surprised. Speaking of which, her mood had been fluctuating greatly recently. Originally, she was very happy when she saw the Sichuan army winning in the Northern Expedition. But what came next was a wave of defeats. Recently, the various armies even quieted down and no one mentioned the Northern Expedition anymore.
Just when she was feeling a little down, she couldn't react for a moment when she heard Song Qingshu's words.
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