The atmosphere at the scene was extremely depressing, as if there was a huge vortex of vital energy in the sky slowly pressing down.
Fang Yun jumped off the carriage, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the people in front of him.
Fang Yun scanned everyone carefully, verifying each person's appearance with the portrait in the intelligence, and quickly grasped the detailed information of these people.
Before coming here, Fang Yun had already made preparations, but when he arrived he found that the situation was more complicated than he had imagined!
The Pearl River Army had a total of 200,000 soldiers, divided into five armies: the Central Army, the Front Army, the Rear Army, the Left Army and the Right Army. Each army was commanded by a Hanlin general.
Today, five Hanlin generals were present and stood at the front of the welcoming team, but in the end, only the general of the front army and the general of the central army saluted him!
This is not the worst.
Each of the five armies has 40,000 men. Under the generals of the five armies, every 10,000 men will be led by a fourth-rank Jinshi general with a title, for a total of 20 men.
However, among these twenty Jinshi generals, only six saluted!
The three Hanlin generals, namely the General of the Left Army, the General of the Right Army and the General of the Rear Army, did not salute Fang Yun at first, so it was normal for their subordinates, the Jinshi generals, not to salute.
However, the two Hanlin generals, the General of the Front Army and the General of the Central Army, clearly saluted, but among the Jinshi generals under their jurisdiction, one did not salute!
This was a very bad sign. Even if the front general and the central general supported him, the two of them could not completely control those 80,000 people.
Among the 200,000 Pearl River Army, only 60,000 can truly be said to support the Marquis of Pearl River!
Fang Yun took a deep breath to calm himself. This fact was somewhat horrifying. Ten years ago, the Zhujiang Army was impenetrable. In the past ten years, all the generals who were related to the Zhujiang Marquisate and within the nine clans and five mournings were transferred away. Some people left on their own initiative to protect themselves. A few generals stayed in the army but had joined other big families.
More than half of the current Zhujiang Army are generals who were newly transferred in the past ten years.
Fang Yun finally realized that the power of Marquis Zhujiang was in name only. Even if he became a Grand Secretary, there would be only 60,000 people who would truly obey him. The rest would certainly only obey the orders of Marquis Lumen.
"The test of the ninth mountain is indeed extremely difficult!" Fang Yun frowned.
Many thoughts flashed through Fang Yun's mind. Finally, he sighed softly and looked at the generals in front of him with melancholy, saying, "Everyone, long time no see."
Some generals looked excited, some had no expression on their faces, and a few had complicated expressions, as if they were nostalgic or ashamed.
"Uncle Qingfeng, Uncle Li, my nephew... is back again!" Fang Yun said, straightening his chest, his eyes gleaming with brilliant light.
Zhang Qingfeng, the general of the central army, and Zhang Wankong were close friends and had taught Zhang Longxiang calligraphy.
Wang Li, the general of the front army, was saved by Zhang Wankong. He was a typical fierce general who never played any tricks. A few years ago, the King of Chu wanted to transfer him away. As a result, Wang Li said in front of all the civil and military officials that if anyone dared to transfer him from the Pearl River Army, he would leave Chu and go to Zhou to serve as an official.
The literary world of Confucius is still the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou emperor is still the nominal ruler of the literary world, and the monarchs of the seven countries are still nominally ministers appointed by the Zhou emperor. Every monarch who succeeds to the throne must be appointed by the Zhou emperor.
If Wang Li went to Zhou, it would not be considered treason, but it would be essentially the same as treason, and would have a huge impact on the State of Chu. However, the King of Chu could not do anything about him, so he could only keep Wang Li in the Pearl River Army.
Both old generals had gray hair. Zhang Qingfeng was extremely calm and just nodded slightly.
Wang Lize's eyes were moist and red, and he said, "Okay, I'm glad you're back!"
Fang Yun sighed inwardly. These two generals and Zhang Wankong were friends for life and death, but they didn't dare to be too enthusiastic when they saw him now. This showed how profound their influence was back then, and how powerful the hostile forces of the Zhujiang Marquisate were.
Lu Menhou said coldly: "The war is urgent, so let's skip the red tape. Follow me to the Zhujiang Army camp, and the generals will work together to formulate a plan to retake Lianshan Pass!"
Zhang Qingfeng, however, bowed and said, "Please give me some advice, Lord Lumen Hou. Should our Zhujiang Army respect the Lord Zhujiang as its leader, or should we obey your orders?"
"Read it for yourself!" Marquis Lumen took out a scroll of royal decrees from the Hanhu shell and handed it to Wei Changxian beside him.
Wei Changxian held the King of Chu's decree in both hands and handed it to Zhang Qingfeng.
Kneeling ceremony is rarely performed in the Confucian literary world, and there was no imperial edict. Zhang Qingfeng simply took the king's order with both hands, took a closer look, nodded and said, "Since the King of Chu ordered you to lead the three armies of Zhujiang, Qishan and Lumen, then I will obey. However, the King of Chu did not abolish the Marquis of Zhujiang, so Zhang Longxiang can lead an army of 10,000 people in the Zhujiang Army and have the power to discuss matters."
Fang Yun felt warm in his heart. This Zhang Qingfeng was indeed one of his own. He asserted his power as soon as they met to prevent Marquis Lu Men from leaving him alone as he had done on the road. This would inevitably anger Marquis Lu Men, but Zhang Qingfeng showed no fear at all and argued with reason. He was truly a model of a scholar.
Lu Menhou snorted coldly: "I am in charge of three military forces, you just need to obey my orders and have no right to interfere!"
"The country has its laws, the army has its regulations. Even if the King of Chu comes in person, he must abide by the laws!" Wang Li took half a step forward and looked directly at Marquis Lu Men.
The rest of the Pearl River Army remained silent.
"How dare you! Do you want to rebel?" Wei Changxian was furious.
Fang Yun glanced at Wei Changxian. He used to think that this man was shallow and cunning, but now he thought that all his bad deeds were actually to please Marquis Lu Men. For example, he was shouting now. On the surface, he was an irritable and ignorant person, but in fact he was testing the other party's bottom line for Marquis Lu Men. He was also expressing Marquis Lu Men's attitude, and Marquis Lu Men did not need to say anything. No matter what the result was, Marquis Lu Men could advance and retreat freely and retain his authority and face.
Fang Yun sighed inwardly, realizing that his experience was ultimately inferior to these people's. Only then did he understand the role of people like Wei Changxian. He had met quite a few before, but at that time they were all so shallow and despicable. Now it seems that this is a way of survival, not very noble, but not despicable either. Everyone just serves their own master.
Zhang Qingfeng bowed and said, "Master Lumenhou, please think twice!"
Wei Changxian said angrily: "Master Zhang, aren't you afraid that the Marshal will replace you?"
"If the King of Chu gives an order, I will obey it." Zhang Qingfeng said calmly.
Wei Changxian secretly glanced at Lu Menhou.
Marquis Lumen nodded and said, "Before, I didn't let my nephew Longxiang join the war, in addition to concerns about his identity, I was mainly worried about his safety. After all, he has been in prison for ten years, and we don't know how much strength he still has. Letting him join the war rashly would be harmful to him. Now that he has arrived in Zhucheng, he is the Marquis Lumen of this generation, so he can naturally lead an army. These days, don't bother him to fight. Since he is so talented in writing, just take care of the official documents."
Zhang Qingfeng and Wang Li's expressions froze, and then they showed helpless and bitter expressions.
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Thank you, Lord Lumenhou."
Fang Yun sighed in his heart, he is indeed an old fox. He is the Marquis of Zhujiang, and this is Zhucheng. If Marquis of Lumen does not arrange things for him, there will definitely be a lot of soldiers and civilians who are dissatisfied. Now that he is arranged to handle official documents, it is simply killing three birds with one stone.
.(To be continued.)