Chapter 521: Fancy
Xie Zhan came out of the inner study and said to Jiang Boya, who was sitting in the outer study sipping tea, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Boya waved his hand and said, "It's okay, as long as the problem is solved."
Then, he solemnly warned, "With a powerful enemy at our doorstep, such disobedience must not happen again."
"Um."
"Sir, there is more news from Pingzhou." Jiang Boya handed over a thin stack of paper.
"Let me see."
Xie Zhan carefully read the latest news from Pingzhou. After reading it, he was only puzzled, "What is Pingzhou doing?"
It is understandable that Lu Songli arranged for the women of the Qin and Lu families to take up high positions in power departments. After holding power, they will benefit their families.
Liaodong Academy added agricultural colleges, engineering colleges, medical colleges and military colleges, which is understandable as it aims to cultivate talents.
But a few less important departments were added?
The Women's Federation, the Street Management Office, and the Township Government Office—one is responsible for managing women? The other two are responsible for managing urban and rural residents? I don't think they have much use.
Health centers, schools, and orphanages all cost money. Does Pingzhou have too much money to spend?
These departments are more likely to be set up to appease meritorious officials and share the credit.
I wonder what she's doing all this for? Is it to win people over? Will it be a waste of money?
Jiang Boya also felt that it was a bit gaudy.
Xie Zhan and Jiang Boya were both from the aristocratic class, so it was hard for them to understand why Pingzhou wasted energy and money on such insignificant things at the beginning of the struggle for hegemony. It would have been much better to use so much money to raise more soldiers and strengthen its strength.
At that time, there was no saying "Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it", otherwise, with their intelligence, they would definitely understand the deep meaning of Lu Songli's action.
If you can't figure it out, put it aside for now. They have a more pressing crisis to resolve in the South.
The two men then summoned important personnel under their command to discuss military intelligence.
It took them about two hours to finalize a preliminary battle plan.
After the important matters were discussed and the results were reached, Xie Zhan saw that it was getting late, so he let everyone go.
Jiang Boya stayed until the end.
When Xie Zhan saw this, he knew that he had something else to say.
"Mr. Jiang, if you have anything to say, please speak frankly."
Jiang Boya sighed and said, "Master Xie, do you still remember the two people from Fanyang and Guo Chong whom I mentioned to you before?"
Xie Zhan nodded. These two people were also mentioned in the Xie family's talent collection records, but he was born late, and the two people gradually disappeared after he could remember them.
Xie Zhan had always known that Jiang Boya was trying to win them over for him. Could it be that he was on the verge of success? But his expression didn't suggest otherwise.
"From what I've heard, the two of them should have taken action."
"Oh, they're going to enter the world?"
"I think so, but this is just my speculation."
"Mr. Jiang's speculation is undoubtedly very close to the truth."
Jiang Boya smiled.
Xie Zhan asked sincerely, "Mr. Jiang, do you think we in the South can win these two people? At the very least, getting one of them would be good."
Xie Zhan truly felt that compared to Pingzhou, he had too little help.
Jiang Boya pondered for a moment and said, "Both of them are extremely intelligent. However, Guo Chong has a strange personality, and Fan Yang values his reputation. I think you can try to win over Fan Yang."
Chang'an
Xu Junfan, the clerk of the Cangbu Department, came back. The first thing he did when he got back was to go to the palace to apologize to the emperor.
He was kneeling there, looking very unwell and obviously thin.
He and Zuo Yi led people to Pingzhou to supervise the payment of taxes and grain.
Everything went smoothly at first, but unexpectedly, the tax grain was robbed by the Xianbei army later.
Zuo Yi died in Wencheng County, Liaoxi Commandery, killed by rebellious knights.
He was the only one who came back alive.
Song Mo summoned him to the imperial study.
Xu Junfan told everything that happened after he and Zuo Yi arrived in Pingzhou.
After listening, Song Mo stared into his eyes and asked, "As far as I know, the robbery of 1.2 million dan of tax grain was actually a play directed and performed by Pingzhou Lu Desheng and others. Xu Junfan, what do you think?"
"Is that so?" Xu Junfan was surprised at first, then a look of sudden enlightenment appeared on his face. "As expected, this is the case. I, your humble servant, also find it strange."
"At that time, I also had doubts in my heart. I thought, regardless of whether the tax grain was robbed or not, if we asked Pingzhou to pay it again, wouldn't the problem be solved?"
Song Mo and the two ministers present thought that this idea was not wrong.
One force can defeat ten. Faced with the court's request, Pingzhou dared not disobey.
They don't need to care about the truth or falsehood.
But I didn’t expect that so many things would happen later. Pingzhou rebelled, but the imperial army was still unable to do anything to the Pingzhou army.
Xu Junfan continued, "I am useless. Lord Zuo was killed in the street, and his head was..."
"I was frightened, and coupled with the severe cold in Pingzhou, I fell ill."
"The Pingzhou authorities were not attentive to my treatment. My condition was fluctuating, and I had to stay in bed the entire time. Fortunately, I was still young, and after lying down for half a month, I gradually recovered."
"Your abilities are pretty good, why didn't Pingzhou recruit you?" Song Mo's eyes were sharp.
"Pingzhou wants me to stay and serve them, but my heart is with the court. I was trained by Dali, so I naturally have to be loyal to Dali. How can I surrender to a traitor? Besides, my family is still in Chang'an. If I stay in Pingzhou, how will my family live?" Xu Junfan said righteously.
"You left like this, and Pingzhou didn't stop you?"
Xu Junfan shook his head. "Pingzhou has always claimed that people can come and go freely in Pingzhou, and I have a hold on them on this point. So how could they let their reputation be ruined because of someone as insignificant as me?"
Song Mo nodded, "Alright, you can go down!"
Xu Junfan withdrew respectfully.
Song Mo glanced at Liang An, who bowed and quietly left the imperial study.
"My dear Xiao, what do you think of Xu Junfan?"
Xiao Qun said, "It can be seen that what he said before about being ill in Pingzhou should be true."
"Sang Aiqing, what do you think?"
Sang Baiqing replied, "There's no flaw in what he said from beginning to end. Logically, it's not tense, but relaxed to a certain degree. And when you think about it more deeply, the details make sense."
Song Mo nodded. His words sounded true.
At this time, Zuo Anmin and Zhang Xian had fallen out of favor, and the most popular people in front of Song Mo were important officials such as Xiao Qun, Chen Wan, and Sang Baiqing.
Song Mo now realized that the four ministers his father had left him were indeed very capable. Unfortunately, in the past two years, he had been busy fighting with them and trying to seize power from them.
Now he relies heavily on them in state affairs.
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