Three thousand miles in exile

There are three routes from Jinyang City to Cenzhou Mansion, Liu Zhan didn't know if Prince Rui would send someone to follow and monitor, so he deliberately took a long way around Wuyuan County.

"Boss, Mr. Song has sent a letter."

Since being stationed in Jinyang, Liu Zhan and Song Fenglin have maintained correspondence.In this letter, Song Fenglin mentioned the matter of the county barracks, and the post of Wuyuan county lieutenant cannot be vacant for a long time.

Now that Liu Zhan has returned to Prince Rui's command, Wuyuan County Captain needs to make another arrangement, Song Fenglin means that Cao Ming is safe and qualified for this position.

Another thing is that Wen Qingshan has been admitted as a scholar, so he can plan for Wen Qingshan to be the head of the county yamen for convenience.

Song Fenglin didn't know about Liu Zhan's appointment as Cenzhou Captain, so it happened that Liu Zhan arranged for Cao Ming and Wen Qingshan's posts together when he came to Cenzhou during his trip.

Originally a journey of up to five days, the team took a full eight days to reach the boundary of Cenzhou Prefecture due to detours.

Pei Wanshan's heart skipped a beat when he heard that his subordinates reported that the newly appointed Cenzhou Wei Nairui was under the command of King Zhonglang, thinking that the Great Buddha would come, right?Hastily tidied up his official uniform and crown and went out to greet him.

When Pei Wanshan saw Liu Zhan, who was wearing a sixth-rank azure military uniform, he was really stunned for a long time.

"This this……"

Before Pei Wanshan could speak, Liu Zhan said, "I've seen Pei Zhizhou. This general is Zhonglang General under the Northern Army's Central Army camp. He was ordered by His Royal Highness Prince Rui, the Governor of Northern Xinjiang, to serve as Cenzhou Captain."

The two had agreed that they would pretend not to know each other when they were outside.

When the incident happened suddenly, Pei Wanshan almost forgot to give up. "It turned out to be Mr. Liu, the general of Zhonglang. I didn't realize it for a while, so I was rude."

Pei Wanshan politely welcomes Liu Zhan into the Yamen, accompanied by Cao Zhuang, Li Xiaolian and Wei Chenggui.

It wasn't until Pei Wanshan's study was closed that only his own people were left, Pei Wanshan laughed out of joy, his eyes were squeezed into a slit by the fat.

"I knew that the young master is not someone in the pool, no, he is a general at a young age!"

Liu Zhan waved his hand. "What kind of general, it's just a reward for Prince Rui's work."

He simply recounted the incident to Pei Wanshan, before mentioning the secret mission assigned by Prince Rui, Pei Wanshan hastily agreed.

Prince Rui, who is that?Being Prince Rui and the governor of Northern Borderlands, with military power in his hands, he is the hottest prince who is most likely to inherit the throne!

If he can get on the big ship of Prince Rui, he can't stop laughing when he thinks about how he will benefit from the power of the dragon in the future.

Of course, Pei Wanshan didn't forget his identity, but his mind was clear, and he even changed his title. "General Liu, you can do whatever you want, as long as you tell me, I will never fail to obey."

Master Ma personally served tea for Liu Zhan, and the fragrance of the first-class Yuqian Longjing tea was overflowing.

Liu Zhan took a sip and put it down. "I want to take advantage of Prince Rui's power to completely control the six counties of Cen Prefecture."

Pei Wanshan immediately withdrew his smile and listened attentively.

"Cenzhou Mansion and Wuyuan County are the foundations of you and me, so naturally we can't really hand them over to Prince Rui, we have to do some manipulations."

Pei Wanshan's shrewd little eyes shone with calculating light. "General Liu, please don't worry, I have subdued Cenzhou Haoqiang, if anyone dares to go past us to seduce Prince Rui."

Pei Wanshan snorted, now that Cenzhou's military and government are in their hands, killing a local tribe is as simple as killing an ant.

"According to the regulations, I still lack 6000 men under my command." Liu Zhan took out a list, which included the number of missing troops and supplies.

If they want to control the six counties of Cenzhou, they must naturally have fewer soldiers. Pei Wanshan asked Mr. Ma to write down that the recruitment will be done tomorrow.

This time Liu Zhan was promoted to General Zhonglang and Lieutenant Cenzhou, and the officers under his command will also be redeployed.

"Da Zhuang under my command was promoted to seventh-rank school lieutenant, Xiao Lian and Cheng Gui were promoted to eighth-rank deputy lieutenant, and there is also a vacancy in Wuyuan County. Cao Ming can be appointed as county lieutenant, and Wen Qingshan can be appointed as chief secretary after he has won the title of scholar."

The local officials of Dachu have great power, and such an internal promotion only needs the permission of Pei Wanshan and Liu Zhan to stamp their seals.

As for Liu Zhan, who is qualified to serve as county lieutenants in the other five counties, they are all listed on the list. It is naturally not appropriate for Mou Ran to intervene. Although the county is small, it still needs to be planned.

Mr. Pei Wanshan asked Mr. Ma to write down the contact with the Liu family in the capital and the appointment and dismissal of the new county magistrate. Pei Wanshan took care of these matters. After all, it was inconvenient for Liu Zhan to contact the Liu family directly.

"One more thing, Fang's common people in Cenzhou have to find a reason to deal with it."

Pei Wanshan was a little embarrassed. "This matter needs to be discussed in the long run. Fang's direct descendant is a great surname. If they don't handle it well, they will catch them and they may end up in trouble."

Fang’s common clan in Cenzhou didn’t make five suits. Although the Fang clan in Cenzhou didn’t live up to expectations for several generations, they were relatives of Fang’s if something happened to Fang’s in Cenzhou. The Fang family would not ignore it. .

This is a little difficult.

Fang Cuo died in the battle of Giyangguan, and his military merits were inherited by his son. According to the laws of the Great Chu, Fang Cuo's military merits in this battle can at least inherit Fang Cuo's Cenzhou Lieutenant in Cenzhou.

Because of Liu Zhan's intrusion, Fang Cuo's eldest son now has only a seventh-rank school lieutenant, and Liu Zhan and Cenzhou Fang's relationship can be regarded as a knot.

Regardless of whether Liu Zhan made a move or not, the Cenzhou Fang family would not let it go.

Liu Zhan asked: "How many people are there in the Fang family of Cenzhou?"

Pei Wanshan didn't know what Liu Zhan wanted to do and said cautiously: "The Fang family in Cenzhou has no separate family. There are more than 70 people in total. I will ask Master Ma to present you the specific roster later."

Pei Wanshan worried that Liu Zhan would be too busy and added. "The Fang family, a commoner family, had always inherited the post of county magistrate of Cen County in the previous dynasty. When the founding of the Great Chu, Cen County was promoted as the capital of Cen Prefecture, and the Fang family was deprived of the county magistrate."

A family without an official status cannot call itself a clan. How could the Fang family in Cenzhou be willing to be reduced to a small local powerful clan? So the young Fang Cuo sold hundreds of acres of fertile land in his family and went to the Yan family to donate a seventh-rank school lieutenant.

There was no war in northern Xinjiang in the early years, so there was not much difference between military positions and vacant titles. Until a few years ago when the Yan army harassed the border, Fang Cuo was unwilling to live a life of licking blood, so he raised another sum of money to plan in Cenzhou through Fang's direct lineage. Ren Zhou Wei.

This matter was not handled properly so that Yan Qiliang knew the inside story in advance and thus offended the Yan family. Even so, Yan Qiliang could not cut off Fang Cuo's future. One can imagine how strong Fang's connections in Cenzhou and even northern Xinjiang are.

Liu Zhan leaned on the armrest of the Grand Master's chair and said indifferently: "No matter how capable the Fang family is, can they surpass Prince Rui? We are serving Prince Rui, and now Northern Xinjiang is under Prince Rui's world."

The more he knows that the Fang family is not simple, the more determined Liu Zhan is. If the Fang family is not eradicated from the Cenzhou government, he will have many scruples about what he wants to do in the future, and the Cenzhou Fang family must be eliminated.

"I don't know what the young master's plan is?" Pei Wanshan was in a panic.

Liu Zhan's plan was also very simple. He asked Zhang Xiaoman to spread the news all over the city, saying that the newly appointed Cen Zhouwei was from a poor family from a small local clan, and he replaced Fang Cuo's son as Cen Zhouwei by relying on his superior connections.

Rumors quickly spread throughout Cenzhou City, and Zhang Xiaoman brought back the definite news three days later.

Fang Cuo's cousin, Fang Zhao, serves as a deputy lieutenant in the Cenzhou Barracks. He is struggling with thousands of soldiers in the camp and wants to take Liu Zhan down on the first day of Liu Zhan's report.

The next day, Liu Zhan led Cao Zhuang, Li Xiaolian, Wei Chenggui, and 2000 soldiers to the Cenzhou barracks to report on their duties, and the remaining [-] soldiers were stationed outside the city.

There are more than 1000 guards in the Cenzhou Barracks, led by Deputy Lieutenant Fang Zhao. Fang Cuo deliberately left his cousin Fang Zhao to continue to control the Cenzhou Barracks before he left for the expedition. The Cenzhou Wei who took measures.

It's just that I didn't expect Cheng Yaojin to get into him halfway, how can the Fang family of Cenzhou be reconciled.

In their view, Liu Zhan was just from a humble family background, as long as he was taken down, he could be removed by any crime.

Knowing that Liu Zhan only came with 500 people, Fang Zhao was even more confident.

But he didn't want to think that Liu Zhan's soldiers were all good fighters killed in the sea of ​​corpses and blood, and Liu Zhan's personal soldiers were even the best in a hundred, so how could these old and weak soldiers under his command be opponents.

From a distance, the barracks was silent, and Fang Zhao's soldiers were in ambush, waiting for Liu Zhan to come to the door.

When Liu Zhan brought the team to the barracks, Fang Zhao had already brought people there to wait.

"A little bastard from a poor family dares to take our Fang's state captain, today I will teach you whether to come back or not!"

Looking at the eccentric face, Liu Zhan sneered while riding on the horse. "Only by you?"

The so-called non-speculative words are too much, and the school grounds suddenly become a battlefield.

Liu Zhan's personal soldiers formed a circular phalanx, with shield soldiers outside and spearmen inside, coming up to kill one after another. Fang Zhao saw that the situation was not right and asked the archers to open their bows and shoot arrows.

The shield soldiers immediately raised their shields to block the dirty arrows.

Of course Liu Zhan would not passively defend. After blocking the first two waves of impact, Cao Zhuang and others took the lead and rushed out. Liu Zhan's personal soldiers were all like big yaks, catching one and knocking down the other. group.

Fang Zhao panicked at this time, these military officers who rely on family connections have never been on the battlefield, and they have never seen the momentum of a regular army.

Just when Fang Zhao was about to run away, Guo Donghu, who was already the head of a thousand households, rushed to Fang Zhao first, grabbed Fang Zhao and broke his two arms as soon as he made a move. Fang Zhao's screams resounded through the barracks.

In the end, Fang Zhao was so distorted in pain that he couldn't even speak clearly, and was thrown at Liu Zhan's feet like a sack.

The leader of the thief was captured, and the other shrimp soldiers naturally scattered like birds and beasts, and some of the slow runners were caught and tied up and thrown together to guard them.

Liu Zhan stood with his hands behind his back, and he looked down at Fang Zhao expressionlessly. "Do you know what Ben will hate about you the most?"

Fang Zhao begged for mercy.

"I hate your arrogance the most." Liu Zhan sneered. "In the eyes of this general, you are just a bunch of moths. The division of people into ranks and ranks is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life!"

Fang Zhao really regretted it at this time, there are people who are not afraid of the aristocratic family, and people who don't pay attention to the rules of the world, this is a lunatic!Fang Zhao's eyes were full of horror.

"Drag on, deal with military law."

The news that the newly appointed Captain Cenzhou had killed Fang Zhao on his first day in office immediately spread throughout the Cenzhou government.

In this era, people are divided into ranks, between the first-rate family and the second-rate family, between the second-rate family and the local small clan tycoon, between the small clan tycoon and the common people, there is an insurmountable barrier between each other.

A well-defined class is like an indestructible pyramid. Those at the top can decide the life and death of those at the bottom, and those at the bottom cannot overcome their superiors. This has been the rule for nearly a thousand years.

The newly appointed Captain Cenzhou is just a man from a poor family from a peasant family who dared to kill the Fang family as soon as he took office.

The next day, the Fang clan of Cenzhou gathered hundreds of thugs who were guarding the courtyard and surrounded the government office aggressively.

The members of the Fang clan, wearing hemp and filial piety, cried and made noises in front of the yamen, threatening that if Peizhizhou did not take Liu Zhan down, they would take Peizhizhou and die.

"Where's General Liu? Why hasn't he come yet?" Pei Wanshan was sweating profusely.

Seeing that the Fang clan members were getting more and more violent and vowed not to stop, the noisy crowd of onlookers were suddenly shocked and retreated to the sides.

I saw soldiers wearing iron armor and holding long sticks rushing from the long street. There were thousands of people.

As soon as the soldiers came, they would fight without saying a word. How could Fang's captive nurses compare with soldiers who had seen blood on the battlefield?For a moment, the ground in front of the yamen was full of wailing.

Li Xiaolian looked on indifferently as he rode on the horse. "My lord has an order not to start the head, just break the hands and feet."

In addition, some soldiers went to control the members of the Fang clan, no matter men, women, old or young, they were all arrested and tied up with ropes. Even though they were tied up, the Fang clan was still arrogant.

"You lowly slaves! You bastards! I have already gone to Xinzong's house. If you dare to touch a hair of our Fang family, I will definitely kill you without a place to bury you!"

"As the magistrate of the state, I connive at lowly households and lowly criminals, and I will definitely ask the Zong family to give you a copy!"

"What happened today, I, Mrs. Fang, will never die!"

Liu Zhan arrived on horseback with a dozen personal guards in a leisurely manner. "What's the matter, your Fang clan is going to bring troops to attack Cenzhou?"

The young man who took the lead in scolding the most was choked.

A middle-aged man next door scolded: "You are Liu Zhan? How dare you kill my Fang clan members indiscriminately. Today, my Fang clan will report this matter to the imperial court and I will smash your body into thousands of pieces!"

Liu Zhan smiled and waved, Zhang Xiaoman immediately opened the announcement in his hand and read it aloud. "Fang has committed three crimes. First, he disobeyed the military orders. Second, he ambush and murder Shangfeng. Third, he intends to commit rebellion. He will be executed according to the military law of Great Chu!"

There were exclamations all around.

"Impossible! You fabricated it out of thin air!"

Pat--Liu Zhan raised his hand and slapped the whip on the man's face, and blood immediately oozes from the whip marks, knocking him into a daze.

"This general is General Zhonglang under Prince Rui's command! This general is ordered by King Rui to take over the Cenzhou barracks. How can you, a mere commoner, be able to discuss the internal affairs of the barracks!"

Liu Zhan said coldly. "The 20 troops of the Yan people are stationed in the Cangxia Plain. When the northern border is in crisis, you and others who claim to be rich have surrounded the Yamen here. Are you taking the opportunity to rebel? Do you still have His Highness Prince Rui in your eyes? Do you still have the Great Chu?" !"

Liu Zhan's words stunned everyone present.

These aristocratic families have formulated the rules of the world, and the people are divided into ranks, ranks, ranks and ranks, and the common people cannot be lower than the upper ranks, so the Fang family dared to surround the Yamen with people and clamored for Liu Zhan to pay for his life.

But none of them knew that some things had quietly changed in the frequent changes of dynasties.

All rules are empty talk in the face of absolute power!

This world is no longer ruled by rules, but military power!

Liu Zhan made this move to tell the people of Cenzhou that the sky has changed here!

Cenzhou belonged to him Liu Zhan, and he belonged to Prince Rui, those aristocratic families who wanted to move around should weigh themselves first.

Prince Rui is in charge of the northern border, and the Zhou family controls the court, who dares to make fun of it at this time?A mere second-rate Fang family?

"The Fang family committed a rebellion, and they will be expelled from the Cenzhou mansion immediately, and all property will be confiscated." Liu Zhan ordered coldly, and the soldiers immediately picked up the Fang clan and drove them away.

Pei Wanshan in the yamen was stunned seeing all this with his own eyes.

His inner shock was no less powerful than that of Cen Zhouhao.

This is a decisive young man. In his eyes, there are no rules, only a sharp knife in his hand. He can kill disobedient Fang Zhao today, and anyone who disobeys tomorrow.

Liu Zhan wants to take control of Cenzhou Mansion not only to make everyone superficially obedient, but to be fearful from the bottom of their hearts!