Chapter 273 Xunyang's shocking change

In March, the east wind on the Yangtze River surface was strong, and there was no need for a boatman. Ten large ships lined up in a straight line, loaded with grain and money, and rushed on the river. This was Li Qing and his party who had completed the mission to return to Beijing. Five days ago, Suzhou Chief Guo Xuping was stabbed to death by the assassin sent by King Qing in the Xishan Villa. That night, Li Qing led his army to hold King Qing's nest in Shihu, Suzhou, and seized Li Qiu and his party who had just returned, and found the robbed official silver in the farm. Both people and the people were captured and were now detaining them in the bottom cabin.

The convenient front is Jiangzhou (Jiujiang, Jiangxi today). The water surface is extremely wide. On the left is the entrance to Poyang Lake, which stretches for more than ten miles. The clear sky is clear and clear. The huge white clouds are like a cone-shaped mountain, hanging low in the air, and extending into an arc to the distance, disappearing westward to the distant sky.

"There is Jiangzhou in front!" A sailor shouted loudly on the mast. Li Qing put on the curtain and saw a black line faintly appearing in the west. He had been living on the boat after coming out of Suzhou. At this moment, he was very eager for the land. Li Qing turned around and ordered Li Fei Shouyu and said, "We have been walking for five days in a row. Everyone is exhausted. Pass my order and rest on the shore of Jiangzhou for one night!"

The order immediately came out with the flag slogans, and the several large ships behind him burst into cheers one after another. An hour later, the fleet slowly sailed towards the revet of Xunyang County.

"Tell me that you can go ashore to have fun, but you are not allowed to disturb the people or cause trouble. You must come back before midnight (11 o'clock in the evening), otherwise you will be engaged in military law!"

Li Qing gave the order, and the ships began to dock one after another. The side of the ship was crowded with impatient soldiers, all of whom were excited. As soon as the boat board was put on, the soldiers rushed out. Except for the soldiers on duty, almost all the soldiers went ashore.

"Your Majesty, why don't we go ashore too!"

Zhang Ji's eyes also showed a look of looking at him. When he saw Li Qing's gaze sweeping towards him, he couldn't help but scratch his scalp awkwardly and said with a smile: "Although I live on the boat in Suzhou, I can't stand it when I walk on the river for five days."

Li Qing laughed, "Then go ashore and have a good meal." He turned to look at Li Fei Shouyu, and smiled and said, "Are you going too?"

Li Fei Shouyu understood what Li Qing meant, and he straightened his back and said, "Please rest assured, Governor, I will be optimistic about a group of criminals, and there will be no mistakes!"

Li Qing smiled apologetically, "Let's go! Let's go ashore."

Xunyang County is the prefecture of Jiangzhou. Later, Bai Juyi moved here to the place and wrote the famous "Pipa Xing". The county town is about three miles away from the wharf. Li Qing hired a carriage at the wharf and soon entered the county town. The county town is quite large and has tens of thousands of households.

A river divides the county town into two, and this is the Xunyang River. The west bank is close to the riverside, and there are dense houses, which are endless, like a beehive. Most of the houses are low and worn. Several women in civilian dresses are squatting on the shore to rinse their clothes.

But the east bank is covered with green trees, and the wide streets are chessboard-shaped. The luxury houses are separated by the courtyard walls. Two main streets intersect in crosses. One is the North Street where the government office is located, which is deserted and solemn; the other is a prosperous place of business, with various shops crowded with wine shops, brothels, escort agencies, shops, and inns. There are convenient transportation here and the business is very prosperous. You can see merchants from all over the country. Of course, at this time, the streets were filled with soldiers in Beijing accents. Although there was no trouble, there were many acts of threatening the owners of old fists, and there were long queues in front of the brothels. However, it was precisely because of the existence of these soldiers that the hooligans and gangsters who were provoking trouble on the streets disappeared.

When Li Qing saw a headache, he flashed into a restaurant. More than a dozen people followed him to protect him. Diners were talking about the soldiers outside. Suddenly, they saw a large group of fierce soldiers pouring in. They were so scared that they kept silent, and looked at Li Qing, who was in the lead with strange eyes.

"It seems like a high-ranking official."

"Shh! Sigh down, don't be heard by him."

At this time, the waiter came up and smiled and said, "This master, why not go to the elegant room upstairs. The room is big, and there are 20 or 30 people who can sit down."

Li Qing waved his hand and said, "You lead the way!"

The group of people went up the stairs, and the ladder was squeaking. As soon as their heads poked out of the floor, Li Qing heard someone talking to himself: "Strange! How could the Yulin Army arrive in Jiangzhou?"

The speaker was sitting in front of the window, lying on Li Qing's back on the window and looking out. Seeing that his back was an old man, his hair was gray, his body was thin, and his back was slightly hunched. At this time, he turned to the follower next to him and said, "Wang San, go and find out whose army it is?"

Just as he turned around, the two of them met. The man was stunned for a long time and suddenly said in a lost voice: "Mr. Li!"

Li Qing was also stunned. This drunken person was nothing but someone else. Hexi Jiedushi Wang Zhongsi, who was questioned and demoted half a month ago.

"It's really where we don't meet in life? Mr. Li didn't expect that we would meet here. Come! Come! Come and have a drink together." Wang Zhongsi staggered and grabbed Li Qing, dragged him to his seat without saying a word.

Li Qing raised his footsteps instinctively and slowly, and the shock in his heart still did not subside. In less than a month, Wang Zhongsi, who was just in his forties, turned into an old man who was sixty years old. Li Qing looked at his gray hair and haggard face and felt a little sad. This famous Tang general who made countless soldiers admire and scared the Tubo people had fallen to such a state.

He sat down slowly, suddenly remembered something, and asked, "Aren't the King's Envoy moved to the governor of Hongzhou? Why was he here? Could it be that he could not pass by?"

Wang Zhongsi set a big wine glass for him, and he filled it up. He did not answer Li Qing's words for now. He raised his neck and drank the wine. Then he smiled and said, "The governor of Hongzhou was three days ago. Now I have been promoted to Xunyang County Captain."

After saying that, he raised his head and laughed wildly, and tears came out of his eyes. He grabbed the wine pot and poured it into his mouth. Li Qing held his hand and said slowly for a while: "The emperor demoted you only for the temporary situation. When the matter of the Eastern Palace is over, he will use the envoy again. You should take care of your health."

"Use me again?" Wang Zhongsi looked at Li Qing with a squinted eyes and said, "Mr., you are still dreaming! Are you really demoting me to depose the prince?"

He gently pushed Li Qing's hand away, poured more than a dozen sips of wine with force, then threw the pot. He said extremely sadly: "I am in Shuofang, Hedong, and the army only knows Wang Zhongsi but not Li Longji. I am in Longyou, and the same is true for Hexi. The army only knows to obey me but not the court. In this way, all four towns are all. Nearly half of the army in the Tang Dynasty are loyal to me. Can Li Longji tolerate me? He didn't want to kill me, but he knew that if I killed me at this time, the 143,000 troops in Longyou would immediately change, so he demoted me to the governor of Hongzhou, and then demoted me to Xunyang Wei. After another year and a half, when everyone gradually forgot me, they finally gave me a glass of poisonous wine to do it. This is his usual technique. Isn't Li Shizhi, Wei Jian, and Huangfu Weiming all like this?"

Wang Zhongsi sighed and smiled bitterly, "It is his grace to be able to sit here and drink. Like Zhang Qiu Jianqiong, he has no chance to drink a glass of wine."

"What!" Li Qing stood up suddenly, and he grabbed Wang Zhongsi's clothes, his face distorted in fear, "What did you say? What happened to the Prime Minister Zhang Qiu?"

"Don't you know?" Wang Zhongsi looked at him in surprise, "Zhang Qiu Jianqiong passed away five days ago. Don't you know about this?"

Li Qing felt a dizzy moment, as if all the bones were pulled away. His hands slowly loosened and he fell to the chair. After a while, he said hoarsely: "What happened?"

"I don't know much about the specifics. It was said that the eunuch who announced the eunuch said that Zhang Qiuqiong suddenly announced the situation of the royal family occupying more land and asked the emperor to investigate and punish him strictly. This incident caused a stir in Chang'an. The emperor forced the public opinion to investigate and punish the three princes. But at this moment, the chief censor Yang Guozhong suddenly impeached Zhang Qiujianqiong and privately occupied 5,000 mu of land. Later, it was found that the emperor severely scolded Zhang Qiujianqiong in front of all civil and military officials, and removed him from his position as the left prime minister. Zhang Qiujianqiong was angry and vomited blood and fainted on the spot, and died that night."

Before Wang Zhongsi could finish his words, Li Qing suddenly covered his face and burst into tears. The sudden bad news made him extremely sad. He could no longer control his sorrow, and tears rushed out of his palms unscrupulously.

Wang Zhongsi looked at him silently, thinking about his fate, and couldn't help but feel sad. He didn't persuade Li Qing to drink one cup after another. Finally, he got drunk and fell under the table.

After a while, Zhang Ji next to him saw that Li Qing was a little calm, so he stepped forward and helped him up and whispered: "Emister, let's go back to the boat first!"

Li Qing nodded weakly and let his confidant support himself back to the ship.

The sunset gradually slid to the horizon, and the raging fire seemed to ignite on the river surface, rushing straight to the sky, and even the clouds in the sky seemed to be lit. Li Qing stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the northwest, and he remembered Zhang Qiu Jianqiong's care for his kind fatherly.

"It's really you! You wrote the birthday poems of Mr. Xianyu, right? They are very well written, good writing, and good writing. Now it seems that their character is indeed good."

"I just came to see you on the way. Military affairs are busy and I won't stay for a long time. I'll go. Remember! Although there are many rules in the officialdom, the reputation of the people is the most important. You will do more practical things for the people in the future and accumulate reputation for the people. Only by climbing up in the future will you have capital and officials will sit steadily."

"You don't have to go back to Yibin County. The new Yibin County Magistrate has already taken office a few days ago. Your term as an agent county magistrate has expired. The position of military officers and military officers in our mansion is just vacant. Are you willing to transfer you to this position?"

The scenes of the past were repeated before Li Qing's eyes. Zhang Qiu Jianqiong's kindness and kindness could no longer be rewarded for his great kindness.

Before he knew it, he was already in tears. He knelt down slowly, slapped his head heavily, looked at Dajiang and screamed in a sad voice: "Teacher!"

He wiped away his tears, stood up suddenly, pointed at the sky and said firmly: "Mr., I, Li Qing, swear to the sky here that I will definitely give you a clean heart, but fulfill your unfulfilled wish!"

Li Qing turned around and strode towards the cabin, but suddenly found a personal soldier standing not far away and wanted to speak. He stopped and asked coldly, "What's the matter?"

"Report to the Governor, the person I met in the restaurant in the afternoon was under the boat to see the Governor."
Chapter completed!