Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

While the hearts and minds of the local people in Jingzhou were in turmoil due to Li Tai, the city of Xiangyang, which was far away on the south bank of the Han River, was not much better either.

In the main hall of the Yongzhou Governor's Office in Xiangyang City, a young man wearing a long robe and a gold and jade crown angrily threw a letter on the case, and at the same time roared angrily: "The Northern prisoners are really cowardly. You are so arrogant and ignorant that you accuse me of what happened in Poyang. How unreasonable!"

This young man was Xiao Qi, the king of Yueyang, who was the governor of Yongzhou at the time and the third son of Prince Zhaoming. The letter he threw on the case was the envoy of Li Tai, the governor of Jingzhou in the Western Dynasty, who had just sent it to the state capital from the north bank of the Han River. Submitted book.

There were more than a dozen people in the hall, all dressed in different costumes. Several of them were dressed as warriors. Seeing King Yueyang being so angry, they all stood up and echoed: "The thieves are arrogant and dare to offend the king. , I really can’t bear it! Please use your brave soldiers to attack the thieves from the north, and capture them from the south to apologize for their sins!”

After hearing what several people said, King Yueyang couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and he was silent as if thinking about the feasibility of this matter.

However, Cai Dabao, a member of the royal family's advisory body who was also in the hall, saw this and said quickly: "Your Majesty, please be patient and calm. The captives are ill-educated and unaware of the personnel changes in our dynasty, so they have this misunderstanding. I am a good disciple." In war, killing is regarded as merit. It is really unwise to rush to war. It is better to send envoys..."

Before he could finish what he said, one of the people who had previously clamored for war spoke up: "What Cai Shenjun said is wrong. The former King of Poyang led his army to attack along this route. It is a conclusive fact. This is what the bandits asked in the letter. How can we explain away what has happened? Even if the former army is not from Yongzhou, it is still an army of one country. If the thieves use this to provoke them, if I send an envoy to write a letter to clarify this matter, the thieves will definitely become more rampant!"

After Cai Dabao heard this, his expression suddenly became anxious again. Before he could open his mouth to continue the argument, King Yueyang in the hall frowned and said in a deep voice: "No need to say more about what the envoy said! If the thief dares to come, I will attack him head-on!" Xiangyang is the residence of my lord Shang Longxing. There are many loyal, brave and righteous people inside and outside, so how can we be afraid of just a few captives?

If the thief doesn't provoke me, I won't want to use weapons to hurt anyone. But now that the thief wants to take the initiative to attack, we, the people of Xiangyang, can only do our best to kill the thief! Inform all parties in the state to prepare for war from now on, and the garrison troops from the cities south of the Han River will be dispatched to reinforce Xiangyang..."

Wang Tian of Yueyang was a member of the noble family and was in his prime. He was naturally arrogant and arrogant, so naturally he would not bow down to others easily.

What's more, Xiangyang is the place where the current emperor started his business and prospered. Xiangyang can be said to be the largest town before the Han Dynasty and a gathering of people. The city is tall and vast, and the soldiers and horses are strong. King Yueyang has this great city and an elite army, and he has a better ambition. , how could he be afraid of the threat of a mere Northern barbarian major general.

After he made this statement, he issued various orders to prepare for war. As he issued orders one by one, the entire Yongzhou military and supplies would be dispatched and continuously converge towards Xiangyang. Come.

After the orders to surrounding counties were issued, important personnel appointments came next. Although the troops are mobilized, they must be led by talented generals in order to fully unleash their combat effectiveness and defeat their opponents.

Xiangyang City itself is naturally the top priority of defense, and King Yueyang and his elites from the two palaces are responsible for guarding it. The most important thing besides this is Fancheng, which is on the other side of the Han River and faces Xiangyang across the river.

Fancheng is the north gate of Xiangyang and the most important city defense location outside Xiangyang City. Of course, suitable candidates must be selected to guard it.

When Cai Dabao saw that King Yueyang refused to adopt his advice, but instead wanted to meet with the enemy generals in the north, he gave up his advice and instead asked to go to Fancheng to assist in the defense.

After hearing this, King Yueyang immediately frowned, waved his hands and shouted: "Cai Shenjun is a scholar who is hard to beat. Even if he has the ambition to make great achievements, there is no need to force himself to fight at this time. There is no shortage of loyal and brave soldiers in the lone sect. There is no need to win a decisive battle with the enemy." Rely on the power of a scholar!”

Everyone in the hall burst out laughing after hearing this. They did not dare to say outright that Cai Dabao was greedy for success and overestimated his own abilities, but it was okay to laugh at him while others were laughing.

When Cai Dabao heard the sarcasm of King Yueyang and the ridicule of the crowd, he felt a little embarrassed in his heart. However, he looked at the young king carefully and then retreated to his seat thoughtfully without saying anything more.

Since Cai Dabao, who volunteered for the job, is not suitable, naturally we have to continue to discuss candidates.

King Yueyang proposed several candidates one after another, all of whom were members of his palace. However, most of these retainers had little qualifications and no important names at the time. Although the officials of the state government could see that King Yueyang was eager to promote his confidants, they still used various reasons to implicitly reject these proposals for the sake of safe city defense.

Fortunately, King Yueyang was not angry about this. He still actively discussed the candidates with the masses, and finally decided that Liu Fanggui, the commander of the palace, would go out to control Fancheng.

Liu Fanggui had been an official in Yongfu for a long time, and he had a wide popularity and high prestige in Xiangyang. Since King Yueyang entered the town last year, he has treated these elders of Yong Mansion with great courtesy and relied on their efforts to make the situation peaceful and orderly. At this time of year, it would be the safest choice to leave Fancheng.

After determining the candidate for the central guard of Fancheng, the remaining personnel appointments became much easier. Soon King Yueyang made serious arrangements for the defense matters around Xiangyang. The reason why it was so efficient was that King Yueyang had already given instructions for various armament matters before.

Towards the end of the meeting, another state official suddenly asked: "There is going to be a big war here. Do I need to report the matter to Jiangling so that Jiangling can be equally prepared and respond to me?"

When King Yueyang heard this, his expression suddenly froze, and after a moment he said in a deep voice: "It is not yet certain whether the thieves dare to attack, so there is no need to disturb Jiangling rashly. It is better to wait until the matter develops further before telling him."

After everything was arranged, King Yueyang returned to the nearby palace with his family members and confidants.

Compared with the well-organized state capital, the royal palace is much more lively. When they heard that the king had returned to the palace, hundreds of disciples immediately poured out of the palace to greet him.

These people may be strong and powerful, or have skills that some others cannot match. They are all knight-errants recruited by King Yueyang. Although they do not perform specific duties in the palace, they do not discount King Yueyang's orders. Execution is also a considerable force under King Yueyang.

Today, because King Yueyang had something on his mind, he did not play around with these disciples and went straight into the central hall. Then he bowed deeply to Cai Dabao, who was accompanying him, and said at the same time: "When the state government was discussing matters before, he had a lot of respect for Cai Shenjun. It’s disrespectful and offensive, please join the army and don’t be offended.”

Upon seeing this, Cai Dabao hurriedly stepped aside, bowed deeply and returned the courtesy, and then spoke again: "Does the king want to take advantage of this season to reorganize the personnel in the state?"

King Yueyang nodded after hearing the words, and sighed at the same time: "Since I took charge of the government last year, I have always wanted to get along with the people here, and I have done a lot of good deeds. I hate that the people here deceived me when I was young. They look respectful but are arrogant on the inside. When the seven officials return to Jiangling, they all have different plans! If I continue to wait like this, I will lose more than just the power to conquer the Han Dynasty!"

Not to mention the northern enemy general who issued a letter of condemnation, King Yueyang himself was also extremely indignant about the recent incident of King Poyang leading troops to invade Mianbei.

When he went out to control Xiangyang last year, he originally had the military power of the governor Yong Liang and other Han and Mian states. However, due to the death of his fifth uncle Xiao Xu, the former governor of Jingzhou and King of Luling, the court restored his seventh uncle to Xiangdong. Wang Xiao Yi became the governor of Jingzhou, and by the way, he took over the military power of his governor to Xiao Yi. Even his own Yongzhou was subject to Jiangling control.

What made him even more indignant was that when the enemy country Jingzhou was empty and unprepared, the imperial court did not use him as the nearby governor of Yongzhou to attack. Instead, he transferred King Xiao Fan of Poyang to governor the military forces in northern Han Dynasty to take charge of the conquest of Rangcheng.

Although Xiao Fan ultimately returned without success, he was deeply indignant at being ignored and having his power seized several times.

The King of Xiangdong was his elder, and the candidate to conquer Hanbei was appointed by His Majesty the Emperor of Jiankang City. Even though he was indignant, there was nothing he could do, but the Xiangyang people's obedience made him even more intolerable and wanted to change.

People like Liu Fanggui believed that he was an old man in the Yong Mansion, so he rejected many of his orders without mercy. What's more, the wealthy families here relied on their participation in the Liang family's entrepreneurial success, and each supported his own troops, so they also treated him indifferently.

Now, taking advantage of the enemy's provocation, King Yueyang wanted to take the opportunity to firmly control the scattered military and political power in his own hands. Even if the enemy attacked, he could also take the opportunity to suppress the local local forces in Xiangyang.

After Cai Dabao heard King Yueyang's plan, he sighed with a heavy face: "The soldiers are very dangerous, so we can't start them lightly. Although the king's plan is clever, once the war starts, there will be many surprises, and it may be difficult to make progress calmly. ”

"Although what I said about joining the army is reasonable, if I have the choice, of course I hope to be able to study calmly, but now not only thieves are forcing me, but I really don't have time to wait!"

Xiao Qing couldn't help but sigh again. They, the sons of the former prince, looked noble, but in fact their status was subtle. The emperor treated them favorably on the surface, but was alienated on the inside. The current prince was also wary of their brothers. He may not have been the prince among those who were kidnapped many times. Although King Xiangdong is their elder, he is definitely not a kind and generous person.

As a confidant of King Yueyang, Cai Dabao naturally knew that he was worried. After hearing this, he said nothing more. After discussing some details with King Yueyang, he stood up and left.

When he came to the gate of the palace and was waiting to board the car to go home, a servant came forward and told him that Li Renlue had come to visit and had been waiting at his home for a long time.

After Cai Dabao heard this, a trace of suspicion flashed in his eyes, and he murmured: "This Li Renlue is so concerned about the situation in Hanbei that he visits several times a day. This is beyond ordinary attention to current affairs. He is from the Li clan in Longxi I heard that the enemy general Li Boshan is the same, is there some hidden connection between them? "