Chapter 340 Confessing the King
Su Yuanjing and Wen Huanzhang were both shocked after hearing this. This situation seemed even worse than the rumors.

Shangjing, thousands of miles away, was the capital of the Jin Dynasty.

Before the war between Song and Jin broke out, the retired emperor sent envoys to the country, with the round trip taking sometimes half a year and sometimes eight or nine months.

In the middle of winter, General Yang took Master Lu deep behind enemy lines. It was unbelievable, wasn't this ridiculous?

Do you know the way? Can you speak nonsense? Can you come back?
Su Yuanjing was full of questions and had a bitter face, not wanting to comment.

When I turned around, I saw Huanzhang speaking.

"This is too risky, and the round trip time is too long. What if something happens on the way? The Prince Consort and the Grand Commandant are as close as brothers, don't you think of trying to persuade them?"

"You don't know how dangerous it is. The curse can make people faint at any time, and the duration is getting longer and longer. The longer it is delayed, the more dangerous it is. No one knows what the problem is. Fortunately, Luo Zhenren from Erxian Mountain gave us some advice, so we knew we had to go to Shangjing to break the curse. So Sanlang rushed over. He also expected that the Jin people would invade, so he left a backup plan to deal with it. But he didn't expect the rumors to be so fierce."

"Second Immortal Mountain? Master Luo?"

Su Yuanjing looked puzzled, and Wen Huanzhang quickly reminded him: "The Liangshan Master Gongsun Sheng came from the Erxian Mountain in Jizhou. Luo Zhenren was his master, and he was said to be a living immortal."

"Since Master Luo has great magical powers, why didn't he help Master Yang resolve the crisis? Why did he have to make him travel thousands of miles to the capital? Would he know the way? If he can't speak nonsense and is discovered by the Jin people, what will he do?"

"General Su, you don't know that it is not easy to get guidance from a hermit like Luo Zhenren, so how can we expect him to do it personally? As for the guidance and language issues, the Zhenren sent a disciple to accompany us."

"I see."

"and many more."

Wen Huanzhang interrupted the conversation and asked nervously, "It takes several months for the general to go back and forth. Now that the Jin army in Hebei has attacked Pingding, who is in charge there?"

"Princess Maude."

"That's no problem."

"No." Su Yuanjing was confused, so he asked questions like a string of cannonballs: "Who are you talking about? Princess Maode? Did she go to meet the enemy?"

Wen Huanzhang smiled and said, "Brother, you don't know that Princess Maode has great magical powers. She once displayed her power at Fengyue Pass and blocked Talan's army of tens of thousands. She is really amazing!"

"Ah? How is this possible?"

"Not only that, at the end of last year, when Saburo led his army to the north, she was the one who held the Pingding Army to contain the enemy, but in the end, they were unable to stop the enemy."

As soon as Wu Song finished speaking, Su Yuanjing swallowed his saliva and murmured, "Princess Maode is so powerful? How come I have never heard of her before?"

"She was just a mortal before, and she learned Taoism after marrying Sanlang. My brother is not a simple person. He sneaked into the camp and beheaded the two marshals, Olib and Xieye, alone. I heard that the Jin people could stop them? So no one stopped him from going to the capital."

"hiss"

"Lieutenant Yang is very capable, and everyone in Liangshan knows it. He will definitely not be able to come back at this time. Let's think of a proper way to resolve the impact of the rumors."

Wen Huanzhang brought the topic back to normal, and Wu Song hurriedly explained: "Before Sanlang left, if anyone used his absence to make trouble, she would let the third lady pass him on and dress up as Sanlang to the place where the rumor spread, and the local officials would cooperate with the show. But now it seems to be spreading too fast, and I'm afraid she won't be able to handle it in time if she goes from state to state."

"Why not issue a notice at the Office of the Commissioner of Civil Affairs, and then post it at the offices of various prefectures and counties, city gates, etc., and then cooperate with the Third Madam's inspection to dispel the rumors?" Su Yuanjing was the first to give his opinion.

"I think it's OK," Wu Song responded and looked at Wen Huanzhang, only to see that he was frowning and silent, so he asked again: "Does the prefect Wen have a better solution?"

"This matter has spread so quickly. In addition to the carefully prepared rumor, there must be spies fanning the flames. I'm afraid that issuing a notice will not be very effective. Let me think about it carefully."

"Right."

Su Yuanjing nodded in agreement: "If the root cause cannot be solved, once one rumor is dispelled there will be another one. God knows what the next one will be."

"The key is still San Lang's deterrent power. The Third Lady can only play him to an 80% degree. Although her martial arts are also very good, there is a fundamental gap between her and San Lang, which will be revealed as soon as she makes a move."

"Wait, I have an idea, maybe it will work!"

"Speak quickly!"

Wen Huanzhang held his head high and chest puffed out, his eyes seemed to be shining, and Su Yuanjing looked over expectantly.

"I was outside the house just now, and I heard you talking about the reward. Prince Consort Wu thought that the reward was too low, not even as high as Tong Guan's?"

"Yes, what's wrong?" Wu Song was surprised.

Su Yuanjing seemed to understand something, but he waited for Wen Huanzhang to give an answer, and then he saw Wen Huanzhang said righteously: "Tong Guan bought back Yanshan and was named Prince of Guangyang by the court, and Yang Taiwei's contribution to the recovery of Hedong was unparalleled, so it is not too much to make him a king."

"The court has made Sanlang the Duke of Jin. Does that mean he wants to establish himself as the King of Jin? Wouldn't that make him the second Tian Hu?"

Wu Song spoke with doubt, thinking that it would be better to just declare himself emperor. Unfortunately, Sanlang had already refused many times, and it would be too rude to execute him first and report later.

"Then change the title? The Taiwei's surname is Yang, why not posthumously recognize Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, as the ancestor, and then call him the King of Sui? However, it seems unlucky that the Sui Dynasty died in the second generation."

"Wen, wait a minute." Su Yuanjing interrupted Wen Huanzhang and said sternly, "We are in Jin, how can we still call ourselves the King of Sui? What's wrong with declaring ourselves the King of Jin? No, there is no need to declare yourself the king. You should hold a ceremony to crown yourself the king first, and then the rumors will be broken. I will rush back to Tokyo Bianliang immediately to persuade His Majesty to crown me the king."

"Hiss" Wen Huanzhang took a breath of cold air, "Can this be done?"

"As the prince consort said, Taifu Yang's contribution is greater than Tong Guan's, so it is only natural that he should be crowned a king. In addition, the court is in a difficult situation right now, and Your Majesty needs this help. Oh, by the way."

Su Yuanjing was halfway through his words when he suddenly turned back to the couch, took out the imperial edict from his cloth bag, handed it to Wu Song and continued, "You can use this as the imperial edict to confer the title of king. No one will check the contents anyway."

"I don't think it's a problem to check it out."

Wu Song spread out the imperial edict and muttered to himself, "We have a great calligrapher named Xiao Rang, who can easily forge an imperial edict. Jin Dajian will be in charge of the seal, and Hou Jian will be in charge of the imperial edict itself. I guarantee it will be indistinguishable from the real thing."

"Haha." Wen Huanzhang laughed and said, "I almost forgot about this. Liangshan is full of capable people."

Su Yuanjing nodded repeatedly: "This is the best, let's follow your method, and wait for me to return to Bianliang to obtain the true imperial edict, and then I can replace him."

"Uh-huh."

Wu Song's head was as small as a chicken pecking at rice, and he said solemnly, "I will immediately arrange for the imperial edict and seal. When General Su returns to Linfen, please notify Xiao Rang to come to Yangqu."

"Linfen is too far away. It will take nearly ten days to go back and forth. We can't wait that long. So, we should use the current imperial edict as my brother said. Give Hou Jian one day to prepare the robes. The ceremony of crowning the king will be held the day after tomorrow. We can slowly prepare the fake imperial edict. By the time we announce the news to all places, it will be almost done."

"Brother Wen is really thoughtful. You should hurry up and prepare to avoid any unnecessary trouble."

"As you two wish."

As an envoy of the imperial court, Su Yuanjing was kept by Wen Huanzhang to accompany him after the ceremony, and then he began to make intensive preparations.

All the Yangqu officials who were to take part in the ceremony were called to the office of the Zhizhishisi in advance and asked to cooperate in completing the ceremony.

Of course, apart from a few organizers, the participants were the Liangshan brothers, Tang Ke and Yang Jian. It can be said that except for Tang Ke, the rest were all insiders. Tang Ke had been here for several years and had already regarded Yang Chang as his master, so he would naturally cooperate with him.

April 18th, auspicious time in the morning.

The main hall of the front hall of the Zhizhisi.

Qiu Qiongying was wearing a bright red gauze gown and a black long-winged hat. She sat facing south. From a distance, she looked very heroic. As the saying goes, clothes make the man, so it is no exaggeration to say that she was Yang Chang.

Hou Jian was able to complete the work in such a short time thanks to the unique clothing aesthetic of the Song Dynasty, which pursued a minimalist and elegant style.

In fact, in the early Song Dynasty, the emperor's crown and court robes were similar to those of the Tang Dynasty, and they were a complex and gorgeous combination at first glance. However, with the reform in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, decorations such as dragon patterns on clothes were gradually removed, and they were almost the same as those of the scholar-official class, except that there were more choices in color and the quality of clothes was better.

The red robe Qiu Qiongying was wearing at this time was very similar to the one Yang Chang wore when he was the inspector general. It seemed that he was going backwards as he got promoted.

Su Yuanjing was the first to read the imperial edict. Two rows of people stood solemnly on the left and right in the hall below the stage. On the left was headed by Wu Song, and the rest were Ruan Xiaoer, Ruan Xiaowu, Ruan Xiaoqi, Sun Xin, Gu Dasao, Le He, Cai Qing and Tao Zongwang; on the right was headed by Tang Ke, and the rest were Wen Huanzhang, Chai Jin, Li Ying, Jiang Jing, Jin Dajian, Yang Jian, An Daoquan and Huangfu Duan.

The coronation ceremony ended hastily.

Qiu Qiongying deliberately rode a tall white horse and appeared on the street under the protection of Wu Song and his soldiers, and enthusiastically escorted the imperial envoy Su Yuanjing out of the city.

On the 19th of the next day, Tang Ke, in the name of the Prince of Jin's Palace, issued a notice to all the states in Hedong, informing them that Yang Chang had been conferred the title of king, and reminded government offices at all levels to adjust the titles of documents in order to offset the influence of the rumors.

The messengers set out at the same time, from far to near.

Afterwards, the news of Yang Chang's enthronement as king quickly spread to all major cities, just like sending erotic pictures to a chat group, easily covering up previous rumors.

Of course, this news was also obtained by Zhu Gui and Bai Sheng, and passed back to Xiangzhou camp through secret channels.

At this time, Song Jiang had made all preparations and was just waiting for Luzhou to become more chaotic before launching the attack on the last day.

Various military supplies were ready to go, including more than fifty artillery pieces.

That was arranged by Wang Boyan, deputy marshal of Xiangzhou Army, when Zhao Gou started the rebellion in Daming Prefecture, to deal with the army sent by Zhao Huan to fight against the rebellion.

At that time, Zhao Gou colluded with the Jin people and used Daming Prefecture as bait to lure Liu Qian into a trap, causing the imperial army to be devoured by the Jin people and Zhang Shun's navy. Commander Liu Qian returned to Beijing with his army lost and was dismissed from office. Deputy general Zhe Yanzhi was captured by Zhang Shun and brought back to Yingtian, while deputy general Zhe Keqiu fell into the hands of Nianhan and was imprisoned in Yunzhong.

Later, as the Jin army continued to move south, Zhao Gou ordered Wang Boyan to move his troops to Shandong and cede the Xiangzhou Pass to the Jin army. Fifty cannons were left in Xiangzhou and eventually obtained by Song Jiang, the commander of the Four Towns.

Last year, Song Jiang specially asked Zhao Gou for the allocation of artillery shells in order to attack Fengyue Pass. Now he is determined to capture Fengyue Pass.

When the news of Zhu Gui and Bai Sheng came back, the brothers who were originally ready to fight, lowered their heads and refused to speak for a while.

Not only was Yang Chang not unconscious, he was also named King of Jin by the Western Court and even walked around the streets.

He was a fierce man who slaughtered famous generals of the Jin Dynasty.

Can this battle still be fought?

Wu Yong hesitated for a moment, so he consulted with Gao Qingyi who was watching the battle (supervising the battle).

"Gao Tongshi, your witchcraft doesn't seem to be working. Yang Chang appeared on the streets of Yangqu. Although we don't know what happened, since things have changed, can you give us a few more days to send troops at the end of April until we can figure it out?"

"Please forgive me, it's not that I am unreasonable, this is the day set by the Grand Marshal, I can't make the decision."

"Then could you please write a letter to explain the situation, or go back to Yanjing with Commander Dai? Marshal Nianhan should also be aware of this matter."

"This"

Gao Qingyi replied in embarrassment: "There are only two days left in April. It will be too late for Commander Dai to come and go. How about you start fighting first and stop halfway if something happens?"

"Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Once we start fighting, it will be equivalent to declaring war on Yang Chang. How can we stop whenever we want?"

Wu Yong explained earnestly, but Gao Qingyi didn't dare to let go.

At this time, Song Jiang suddenly said, "Let's do this. We will send out the troops as scheduled. Commander Dai, you go to Huaizhou first and tell Hu Yanzhuo to launch a feint attack in the direction of Taihang Xing on the first day of May to attract Lin Chong's attention, and then go north to Yanjing."

"what?"

Dai Zong did not comment, and could not help but look at Wu Yong. However, before Wu Yong could speak, Song Jiang scolded him: "What? Don't you understand what I said?"

"No, I understand."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"General, calm down."

Wu Yong hurriedly took over to smooth things over, advising: "Yang Chang's strength should not be underestimated. It won't be too late to find out what's going on before deploying troops. Anyway, Zhu Gui and Bai Sheng are undercover, so it won't take much time."

"No need."

"install?"

"Master Yang is in Yangqu, and the miraculous Little Dragon Girl is in Pingding. We suddenly attacked Fengyue Pass, and he had no time to rescue us."

Song Jiang's face was as gloomy as water at this time, as if he had eaten a weight.

Wu Yong stood there in a daze, and originally signaled with his eyes that Song Jiang should be called aside so that he could have another private conversation with him.

Unexpectedly, this guy acted foolishly and suddenly said to everyone in a domineering manner: "I'm sure to take over Fengyue Pass. Even the king of heaven can't stop me. I say it!"

"Okay! Commander Song is so heroic, you can do it!"

The first person to agree was actually the outsider Gao Qingyi.

The rest of the people were still worried, thinking, is this a matter of Fengyue Pass? Even if we take down Fengyue Pass, it doesn't mean everything will be fine.

The most crucial thing is to face Yang Chang. This guy was already a leader in Liangshan back then. Who dares to confront him head-on now?
Seeing the cold response from everyone, Song Jiang stood up and said earnestly, "Don't be afraid, everyone. With our fifty artillery pieces leading the way, plus Zhu Gui and Bai Sheng as our internal supporters, it will be easy to take Fengyue Pass. As long as this pass is opened, won't the sky be high and birds fly freely? Luzhou is empty right now, and Yang Chang has only so many troops. If he is transferred to rescue Luzhou, the Jin army will naturally make a move."

"Well said, Commander."

Gao Qingyi took over the conversation and helped analyze it, "Soldier Yang likes to take advantage of the terrain and only deploys heavy troops in key places. Even if he mobilizes them, it will take time. As long as the outer wall is broken, he can naturally eat the meat inside. In addition, the marshal is convinced that the curse is successful. Maybe Yang Chang in Yangqu is fake? If he is really fine, why doesn't he quell the fighting himself, but instead sends Xiao Longnu? This is very strange."

"Did everyone hear that? This is all a trick played by Wu Song and the others. We will soon be able to tell who is the elite of Liangshan. All right, all the battalions, pay attention to controlling the speed and ensure that the artillery is in place at the same time. All the generals, listen to my orders and march to Fengyue Pass!"

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)