Jiaohua

Shen Lie did indeed have his eyes on Jiangnan.

Although Jiangnan is not as close as the Daping Dynasty, the Quyang Mountains in Guizhou and the Jixing Mountain in Mingtai County in Xizhou block Songzhou and Huazhou in the west.

Gaizhou in the south of Jiangnan is separated from Guizhou by a strip of water, and the two places have flat terrain and unobstructed traffic.

There is an old saying that goes, "I will not allow others to snore beside my bed."

This is not only true for them, but also for Zhuang Mengyao in the Jiangnan Barracks.

Li Ju, who was old and frail and suffered from nightmares all the time, had lost his ambition when he withdrew from Yong'an. He stayed in Hejing, and only hated two people, A Li and Song Zhiyi.

Li Ju never had any thoughts about Zhuang Mengyao, which made Zhuang Mengyao fearless.

While Zhuang Mengyao continued to pretend to be a vassal to Li Qian, he sat on the mountain and watched the fight between the two tigers. He saw Tian Dayao, Song Zhiyi, Yun Bozhong, and other large and small forces in the north fighting to the death.

But now, things have changed in Hejing. Hejing is no longer the sick tiger that was drowsy and doing nothing.

Zhuang Mengyao had sent people to test Yu Shiling several times and had noticed that he was uneasy.

I believe what made him even more uneasy was that despite his probing and overtures, He Jing did not respond at all.

Zhuang Mengyao couldn't sit still.

However, he can't sit still and will just stay like that. He won't achieve anything great, which is why Xia Zhaoyi has never paid attention to him.

But Shen Lie would not ignore it.

Another reason why he targeted the Jiangnan Barracks was that Zhuang Mengyao was a big idiot.

In the past few years, Zhuang Mengyao has lived the most comfortable life in the troubled times. In the eyes of others, he is smooth, versatile, and adept at opportunism, but in Shen Lie's eyes, this man is a complete waste.

Zhuang Mengyao was ambitious, otherwise he would not have established the Military Inspection Department. The Military Inspection Department was aimed at the various warlords who were causing chaos outside.

Also, when Li Zhixi died of a sudden illness, he took the position of the general of the Jiangnan Barracks. Afterwards, he united with his party to fight against dissidents and firmly controlled the power of the entire Jiangnan Barracks in his hands. This shows how ambitious he is.

But unfortunately, his strength does not match his ambition.

While others have been fighting in chaos for so many years, he, who has a stable political situation, has remained unchanged, conservative, and has achieved little in terms of political achievements.

Not to mention the chaotic times, even in the peaceful times, it is difficult to go far by following the old rules. One of the laws of politics is that if you don’t advance, you will retreat.

And the Military Procuratorate has not done much since its establishment, and has not even caught a few small fish or shrimps. If I must praise it, I can only say that it is a good thing that it has not caused any false or wrongful convictions.

If this military power and the military inspection department were handed over to Tian Dayao, Song Zhiyi or Yun Bozhong, they would definitely be able to play their greatest role.

Unfortunately, it fell into the hands of Zhuang Mengyao and achieved nothing and had little effect.

Looking back on the time when he took the position of general and held all the power, it was not because of his ability, but because of his timing.

The overall situation is stable, and victory will be achieved through stability, that's all.

Therefore, Shen Lie had to take action at the Jiangnan Barracks and take down Zhuang Mengyao while he was still firmly in power. This would be easier than waiting for him to step down and then replacing him with a new ruler who was ignorant of his own abilities.

It's still the same old saying, how can I allow others to sleep soundly beside my bed? Jiangnan has been a land of genius since ancient times, and it is rich and has a continuous supply capacity. If a talented person takes office, it will inevitably become a disaster for Hejing.

Hejing was the cultivated land she had opened up with her own hands. She had sown the spark of life here with her own hands, and hoped that the seed would bear abundant fruit. Shen Lie would not allow anyone to extinguish the light and expectation in her eyes.

He was going to write to her to tell her about this matter, but she took the initiative to mention it in the letter.

At the end of the third letter, she mentioned one thing. She wanted to build a Lingzhou female soldier camp to supplement the Falcon Camp. She had already written to inform Gao Zhou and Yang Guanxian about this matter and asked them to select people to be in charge.

The fourth letter was about a trivial moment when she stopped on the road at night and saw a croaking little frog. She said she didn't know why, but she stared at the frog for a long time.

But staring at it like that, time passed slowly and I felt extremely happy.

Coincidentally, Shen Lie was by the river at that moment. When he read these sentences, he looked up and saw a little frog jumping over on the other side.

Shen Lie couldn't help but smile again, his handsome, snow-white face was elegant and unparalleled.

Miao Zhonghai, who was still standing over there, sighed softly: "General, you usually read ten lines at a glance, but today you are really slow."

Hui Jin suddenly asked: "Miao Zhonghai, do you have a girl you love?"

Miao Zhonghai was stunned by the question and thought for a moment: "When I was a child, I liked the girl next door."

Zhang Chi pricked up his ears and looked at them. "What happened next?" Hui Jin asked.

"Later I found out that she was born to my father and stepmother. The year she was born, my father and stepmother were seriously ill and couldn't support her, so they gave her to a neighbor."

Hui Jin breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately you found it early."

Zhang Chi was curious: "Did you recognize him?"

Miao Zhonghai shook his head: "My family has always been poor. She lives well, so why would I recognize her? Not long after that, she got married. The man she married was pretty good. He had a small job as a steward in Aisan's family."

"Aishan?" This name sounded familiar to Hui Jin. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Lin Jianrui's deputy general in Tanzhou?"

Hui Jin had recommended himself to the Yan army for several months. As a counselor, he and Liang Jun Jixia were close to them.

In their spare time, I heard them talk about Tanzhou. Lin Jianrui had a deputy general named Aishan who liked to ask everyone if they were married, as he wanted to marry his third daughter off.

To this end, Liang Jun also "became a father" and lied that he was married and had a three-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter. This was how he got away with it.

Hui Jin nodded: "Aishan is Lin Jianrui's capable deputy general, and Lord Lin treats Lin Jianrui as his own son. Your sister's husband works under Aishan as a steward. Regardless of his future prospects, at least he will have a stable life and will not have to worry about food and clothing."

Miao Zhonghai suddenly changed the subject: "Mr. Hui, what about you? Do you have a girl you like?"

Hui Jin laughed out loud: "Never before, my father was a teacher in a private school in the village, he was very strict with me since I was young, I only focused on studying, I only wanted to think about marriage after I passed the imperial examination, and then you see, the world is in chaos."

As they spoke, the two turned their gaze to Zhang Chi.

Zhang Chi's face suddenly felt uncomfortable and he was afraid to speak.

Of course he had girls he liked, but they were all from red-light districts and brothels.

He was born in the Xiaohu Camp, and Li Qian's guards in the capital were all the same, filled with sons of ministers, young and old. It was common for these sons to take him with them when they visited the Imperial Court, and they would pay for all the wine and drinks for him.

But that was before.

Ever since he was called out from the Xiaohu Camp by Gao Zhou and led a thousand soldiers to the Qisan Mountain in Guizhou to do some work, and when he came back he helped Miss A Li deal with the Jiang family's gang at Panxianqiu, Zhang Chi began to get close to the Xia family army.

Later he came here and was recruited by Shen Lie and came into contact with Yan Jun.

No matter whether it was the Xia family army or the Yan army, no one mentioned those brothels.

Not to mention it, Miss Ali is going to close down all the brothels in Hejing.

As men, no one from Xia Jiajun or Yan Jun had any objection to this and did not react at all.

No matter whether it was the gentle and refined literati such as Liang Junhuijin, or the muscular Ye Zhengwu Shaoning, Zhang Chi felt that they were all true gentlemen.

Birds of a feather flock together, and the influence was so subtle that he stopped mentioning it.

Just as Zhang Chi was thinking about how to respond, another person came running over from a distance with a bad look on his face.

Hui Jin and Miao Zhonghai both turned around and saw that it was Ye Zheng.

Ye Zheng walked over quickly: "Where is the young master?"

Hui Jin frowned and went forward: "I'm reading Miss A Li's letter."

Ye Zheng glanced at the tall, thin figure by the river and frowned, saying, "A group of people came from Yunliang. They were sent by Old Madam Cui."

"Who is Mrs. Cui?" Miao Zhonghai asked.

Hui Jin lowered his voice: "Our general's grandmother."

"Ah!" Miao Zhonghai said, "Then, shall we go and tell the general?"

"No hurry," Hui Jin said, looking at Ye Zheng, "Did the person who came say what it was about?"

Ye Zheng shook his head: "No, I will tell you in person after I meet you."

"Look at their expressions. Are they anxious?"

Ye Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Very tired."

"That means he is in a hurry. He must have traveled a lot for days. Let's go and find the young master." Hui Jin said. (End of this chapter)