In late April, it is late spring and the weather is getting hotter. Huzhou City.

In the past, the prefecture government offices of the Song Dynasty have now been occupied by officials of the Wu State. At this time, Qian Maocai, who was in charge of the military and political power of Huzhou, also served as the Minister of the Ministry of Works of the Central Committee of the Court. Although this arrangement is too great to use, judging from the current situation of the Wu State, he is also an important official in the court.

However, Qian Maocai was not satisfied with his official position. As the founding father who was dedicated to assisting Fang La when the uprising and played a major role in the period, he thought that he had made more contributions than Fang Fei, Pang Wanchun and others, but as a result, the three ministers in the court were not his turn to be the ones. Even the six ministers of the Ministry of Works were only the turn of the Minister of Works, which really made him unacceptable.

If he was in a unified court, the position of Minister of Works would be a very powerful tycoon. Every year, all kinds of project funds alone would be enough for any corrupt official with a big appetite to eat and drink. However, in the Wu Kingdom, the Ministry of Works was a completely decorative decoration. The court, which had little money to accumulate, would be difficult to pay the salary of officials, let alone allocate money to build a large-scale construction project. In this way, the Minister of Works would completely lose any real power, and Qian Maocai could only be transferred to Huzhou for a job.

What made Qian Maocai even more dissatisfied with was the deeper purpose behind this arrangement. Fang La refused to leave him in the capital Hangzhou. After all, he did not trust him enough, for fear that he would become bigger in Hangzhou and thus affect his authority. The reason was that Qian Maocai was born, who was a descendant of the Qian family of the Wu Yue Kingdom a hundred years ago.

Although it was only a branch outside two or three generations, Qian Maocai had a great influence in Jiangnan, especially in Hangzhou. Of course, this is also related to the imperial court's excessive exploitation of the local people in Jiangnan over the past year, and the provocation of the people's desperation, forcing the people to go desperate. You should know that although the Wu Yue Kingdom was weak at the beginning, the king was still sympathetic to the people after many years of its establishment, and did not cause any harm to people, thus leaving a good reputation. Even if a hundred years have passed, the people in Jiangnan still respect the Qian family.

It is precisely because of this that when the people of Jiangnan were finally overwhelmed and were bewitched by Fang La to raise an army and cause chaos, Qian Maocai also initiated an operation in Hangzhou. Soon after, the two sides quickly merged. Fang La, who was good at using troops and people, and Qian Maocai, who was very famous in Jiangnan, became a complementary force, which quickly expanded the power of Wu State and occupied many cities in just a few months, and finally founded the country and became emperor.

However, during this period, Qian Maocai was far inferior to Fang La and others in terms of ability. He had only a false reputation and failed in the subsequent secret battles of the court. In the end, he only got a position as Minister of Works and guarding Huzhou. Not to mention that he was the emperor, he was far behind Fang La and others. The resentment and resentment in his heart were naturally extremely great.

However, he was not completely unrealized. In the past few years of open and secret struggles, Qian Maocai, who was only passionate and simple-minded, finally grew up quickly. After suffering a great loss, he finally understood that all the names were false and the military power in his hands was the truth. So after coming to Huzhou, he devoted himself to cultivating his trusted soldiers. Now he has made Huzhou a solid piece, and he has trained more than 10,000 elite soldiers who only obeyed him.

That's not all. During his period of hiding in Huzhou, he also made friends with fellow rebels, and formed an alliance with some other rebels who were also excluded by Fang La and could only serve in the local area, which enabled him to gain a considerable force outside the Wu Kingdom and was ready to go back to Hangzhou at any time.

However, all this has to be taken over by completely occupying Jiangnan before doing it. After all, he still takes into account the overall situation. In addition, Fang La's name was decided long ago, so he could not overthrow it by joining forces with several local officials. But at this moment, Sun Tu's manifesto arrived and hit the weak point of the Wu Kingdom, causing the people's hearts to fluctuate. Many scholars in the local area began to question the orthodox of the Wu Kingdom.

Qian Maocai quickly seized this opportunity, secretly planned several civil unrest and spread the statement, which caused more and more panic among Wu. He chose to do this, in addition to taking the opportunity to regain his own things, but also because he did have doubts about Fang La and the others. He was also a scholar, so he naturally could not accept the control of the court by the heretics like Manichaeism. He had even made plans and just when the time was right, he personally led his troops to Hangzhou to question Fang La in person about the fact that Manichaeism would replace Confucianism and become the foundation of Wu.

But before he could make his trip, Hangzhou sent people to Huzhou. At noon on April 18, hundreds of elite Wu soldiers, led by Fang Bo, came directly to the yamen and quickly entered the hall, and saw Qian Maocai.

Fang Bo is also a brother of the Fang La tribe. Although he is not capable enough, he is loyal and reliable enough. He was named the commander of the Imperial Guard and his status is not low. Because of this, when he saw Qian Maocai, he didn't have much respect, but just clasped his fists and said, "Shangshu Qian, I came here at the will of Your Majesty. I came here to invite you to return to Hangzhou to report your duties. Please follow me now."

"Well? This is not a new year or a holiday, what is my job?" Although he was unhappy, Qian Maocai did not immediately get angry, but just frowned and asked.

"Now that foreign enemies are facing, Suzhou has fallen into the hands of the Song army. Next, Huzhou may become the next target of the Song army's military use. Your Majesty is worried that there will be insufficient defense here, so he announced that you will go back and make further plans after discussion." Fang Bo said, and took out another imperial edict and handed it to the other side.

The Wu Kingdom has only been in office for two years, and there is not much etiquette in the etiquette of the monarch and ministers. One is handed over and the other is picked up at will, and there is no such complicated set of tape as kneeling down and listening to the order. However, after casually scanning the contents of the order, the gloomy color between Qian Maocai's eyebrows became a little heavier: "Your Majesty is still planning to let you take care of all the affairs of Huzhou on my behalf?"

"That's right. Huzhou is not far from the Song army after all. If they suddenly attack, Shangshu, you are not in the local area, something might happen. But here is enough to defend Huzhou!"

"Your Majesty is really thoughtful." Qian Maocai smiled a little sarcastically, and then said, "But there is no need to be such trouble. I have done all the defenses in Huzhou. I have written a stamp early. Just take it back and let Your Majesty know at a glance. And I am not at ease to let you, an outsider, stay here in Huzhou. But I rejected the other party's request and did not even leave any room for anything.

This time, it was Fang Bo's turn to look gloomy: "Shangshu Qian, this is His Majesty's order. Do you dare not obey? Are you planning to resist the order?"

"The general will not accept the orders of the foreign king! Your Majesty also mentioned that Huzhou is the key to resisting the southward advance of the Song army. How can there be any negligence?" Qian Maocai immediately replied toughly. In the battle after the founding of the country, he had already suffered the loss of being seized by others. In addition, he was guilty, how could he leave Huzhou's nest and go to Hangzhou alone?

Fang Bo's face changed again, and his hand was placed on the hilt of the sword around his waist, and asked in a deep voice: "Is Qian really unwilling to follow the order? If this is true, then Your Majesty wants me to ask you, the chaos that happened in Deqing this month, can Chongde and Wukang be related to you?"

This made Qian Maocai's heart suddenly jump, his face changed, and he hurriedly said, "I am a minister of Wu, how could I do such a thing?"

"But the local rioters and thieves who were taken down in the local area have confessed that they had contact with Shangshu Qian. If you refuse to go back to Hangzhou to give an explanation to Your Majesty, you have to offend him!" Fang Bo said, and had already pulled out his sword and was about to take action.

Qian Maocai, who had long been guilty, reacted very quickly. He quickly retreated and shouted loudly: "Come here, there is an assassin!"

While he shouted, the guards in front of the gate rushed in like a cheetah. The four steel knives immediately took Fang Bo's body from four directions. The howling sound of the knife made Fang Bo have to give up chasing Qian Maocai, and turned around to block the opponent's attack. He shouted: "Qian Maocai, do you dare to attack the imperial envoy, will you really be against the enemy?"

"I think you are the one who has ulterior motives, kill him!" Qian Maocai, who was almost hit by the other party with a knife, was also shocked and angry. In addition, the anger he had been holding in his heart, which made him explode quickly at this moment. Without thinking too much, he issued such an order.

The guards thought less, and they just obeyed the orders and attacked with all their might. These four people were masters he carefully selected from the army, and they attacked together with four people. In just a few moves, Fang Bo had already been forced to a dead corner and several scars were added to his body.

At the same time, there were also sounds of fighting outside. Obviously, the people and horses who came with Fang Bo finally realized that there was a change inside and wanted to rush in to save people, and had a head-on conflict with Qian Maocai's guards. Just looking at this reaction, Qian Maocai immediately understood that the other party really didn't leave any room for him. He immediately became angry and rushed over without saying anything.

Although he was not very skilled in martial arts, Fang Bo became the last straw that crushed the camel. After two swords passed by and another sword, his shoulder was already hit by a knife. Before he could change his tricks to save himself, Qian Maocai's long sword had already roared in, and he suddenly penetrated Fang Bo's unprepared belly and stabbed him into his face.

"You..." Fang Bo screamed, and what else to say. Qian Mao, who had already determined his heart, quickly drew his sword, and slashed through it. He cut open the artery on the other party's neck with a splash. Blood shot out, and screamed. Fang Bo fell down in response.
Chapter completed!