Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

"How is General Xu?"

In the Lord's Mansion of Runan City, Li Tai summoned several doctors to diagnose and treat Xu Wensheng's condition and asked.

After several doctors looked at each other, one of them stepped forward and replied: "This old general has been suffering from overwork disease, and now he has been attacked by anger, causing breathlessness and coma. He especially needs to soothe the liver and relieve qi. Don't overwork yourself." , great sorrow and great joy..."

The doctor talked a lot, but the core of it is that in a situation like Xu Wensheng's, the most important thing is to properly regulate your breath and rest to avoid violent mood swings, otherwise you may die.

Li Tai himself was not familiar with pathology. When he heard what the doctor said was serious, he also seriously warned the servants who were taking care of Xu Wensheng. As for emotions, he didn't know how to comfort the other person, but he just felt that it was better not to see him these days.

After all, he had recruited Xu Wensheng so enthusiastically before, but he still decided to reinforce Baling. As a result, before he even left, King Xiangdong killed all his family members and subordinates, and was denounced as a national traitor. Such an encounter is already a human tragedy. If he sees Li Tai again, he will be even more ashamed and angry.

However, Li Tai didn't have much time or energy to comfort Xu Wensheng at the moment. He was also a little anxious at the moment, and it was the first time he had choked on eating melon.

First of all, Xiangyang suddenly raised troops to attack Jiangling, which caught Li Tai off guard. He didn't know what the king of Liang was crazy about, so he hurriedly sent envoys to find out what happened, especially to find out the real intention of the king of Liang, whether it was just to scare him. The King of Eastern Hunan really planned to invade Jiangling.

If it is the latter, it means that the King of Liang is about to lose control. No matter what the Jiangling side does, and no matter what the personal relationship between Li Tai and the King of Liang is, out of consideration for the interests of the Jingzhou General Office and the Western Wei regime, Li Tai will Xiangyang must be controlled as soon as possible. Even if the situation collapses completely in the future, we must first ensure that the Jingzhou General Administration has the ability to command and control the entire Jianghan area.

If it is the former, then King Liang's approach is really too inappropriate. Originally, the King of Xiangdong poisoned his brother and was indeed the one at fault. But now the main force of Jiangling's army was fighting to the death with Hou Jing's rebel army in Baling. As a result, King Liang suddenly did this to tell the world that Xiao Liang The clan is not the worst, only worse?

Not to mention blood relatives of the same clan, even a foreign general like Li Tai could not collude with Hou Jing and do such evil things when he rebelled against his army in Jiangnan!

In short, regardless of King Liang's intentions, this approach exposed his short-sightedness and impulsiveness, and also made Li Tai somewhat passive when negotiating with all parties.

However, King Liang's approach still made some people very happy. When the news spread, Hou Jing, the general who was guarding Yingzhou, sent an envoy to see him and sent hundreds of people who had fled to Jiangxia from Runan City after the diplomatic war failed. Xiao Yuanzheng's trilogy, by the way, tests Li Tai's mind.

After all, it is already known to all the world that Liang Wang has surrendered to the Western Wei Dynasty and Li Tai, who is based in Mianbei, is his backer. Now that Liang Wang Xiao Qi has risen up and directed his troops towards Jiangling, it is inevitable that people will think that Li Tai belongs to Liang. Instruction.

Naturally, Li Tai was too lazy to meet the rebel envoys and just asked Li Yunxin to come forward and send them away. However, this incident also gave him some inspiration.

Although King Liang's trip was on his own initiative and not at his own instruction, looking at the situation now, he couldn't explain it clearly even if he wanted to. But if he thought about it more deeply, why did he actually need to explain it?

Xiao Yi, the king of eastern Hunan, was never a person who could deal with normal logic. Now he is indeed facing the most dangerous situation of internal and external troubles. Even if he does not add insult to injury and take actual military actions, It can also be used to put pressure on Jiangling to achieve some goals.

Soon, news came from Liang Shiyan who had arrived in Xiangyang. The military action of King Liang deliberately avoided the eyes and ears of Jingzhou people like them. Xiangyang City itself did not mobilize much military power. More than 10,000 troops were deployed south of Xiangyang City to guard against Jiangling.

After Liang Shiyan learned of this situation, he immediately gathered the Jingzhou soldiers and horses stationed in Xiangyang near the embankment in the north of Xiangyang, so that they could receive the land and water troops from the upper reaches of the Han River and Mianbei into Xiangyang at any time.

After learning about this situation, Li Tai also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The monk could escape but could not escape from the temple. Even if King Liang's behavior was a bit out of control, as long as Xiangyang was still within the suppression range of the Jingzhou army, the situation would still be peaceful. Not considered bad.

So the most important thing right now is to restore effective communication with Jiangling and let Xiao Laoqiu withstand it. If Jiangling is overwhelmed by Hou Jing's rebel army, then the pressure will completely come to him. When the time comes, Hou Jing will naturally no longer be given the opportunity to be King of Qin and rule by dividing the river. Handong will probably become the next target for the rebel army to loot and use war to support war.

So Li Tai sent an envoy to Jiangling to briefly explain the misunderstanding. At the same time, he led his elite cavalry from Runan City to Shicheng, the junction of the two sides. At the same time, he sent orders to all the people in the territory to either rush to Shicheng or stay behind. In order to prepare for changes, Linghu Yanbao, Zhu Meng and others were asked to lead the navy south along the Han River and enter the waters near the north of Xiangyang.

People in Jiangling City have also been in panic recently. In addition to military pressure from the outside, there is also a frightening atmosphere inside.

The King of Xiangdong was like a completely angered beast, constantly patrolling his territory, strictly investigating anyone who might collaborate with the enemy. The members of the mission who had just returned from Mianbei a month ago were subject to intense scrutiny. Especially except for Zong Miao, the envoy, most of the others took the initiative to join them, and some of them secretly let King Shaoling go. The official Xu Heng was naturally highly suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

In the mind of the King of Eastern Hunan, he had already tacitly accepted that Xiangyang's troops were raised under the orders of Mianbei. Therefore, in line with the principle of killing the wrong person rather than letting him go, he would close all those who made him feel suspicious. Go to prison to eliminate the possibility of them colluding with the enemy and cooperating inside and outside. For a time, the prisons in Jiangling City were overcrowded.

However, this kind of intensive inspection and purge did not make King Xiangdong feel safe. Instead, he became more and more suspicious and could not sleep at night. When the envoy sent by Li Tai came to Jiangling to express that there was a misunderstanding between them, King Xiangdong, although his expression was still majestic and indifferent, he breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Although I believe that Duke Taiyuan is not such a treacherous and despicable mediocre person who takes advantage of others' dangers, everyone knows that Xiangyang is a vassal of Mianbei. Now Xiangyang ignores the national crisis and rebels against my uncle. If Duke Taiyuan does not stop doing this, won't he be laughed at by the world?"

After learning that Li Tai did not intend to quarrel with Jiang Ling, King Xiangdong regained some confidence in his heart, and Xuan Ji said in a deep voice.

After hearing this, Li Quji, who was sent here as an envoy by Li Tai, clasped his fists and said with neither humility nor arrogance: "When the King of Liang entered the court, the country extended special gifts. My lord, Duke Taiyuan, paid tribute to the King of Liang. He was acting according to orders. Dare to give orders without authorization. Moreover, the troops raised by the King of Liang only concern family affairs and do not involve current affairs.

Your Majesty is the eldest relative of the King of Liang. His family affairs are not harmonious, and it is his duty to reconcile and reconcile. After all, my Lord is an outsider, and it is inconvenient to comment on this. This time the servants were sent to complain because they were afraid that the king would misunderstand and cause resentment. However, the general manager's office itself was also overwhelmed with self-care and was in deep trouble, so it was difficult for him to exert any external force. "

When the King of Xiangdong heard this, his face darkened. The bombardment of King Liang's speech could be said to have torn his face to pieces. The uncle and nephew completely turned against each other, let alone any room for reconciliation.

Although Li Quji only responded with sarcastic nonsense, when he heard that the Jingzhou Governor's Office was busy taking care of itself, the King of Xiangdong breathed a sigh of relief and asked curiously: "What worries do you have now? Could it be that there are also Military nuisance?"

After Li Quji heard the words, he nodded and sighed: "The former noble mansion of Yingzhou was not defended, which exposed me in the east of Han Dynasty to the front of the rebel army. My lord Taiyuan Gong urgently led his troops south, and then the rebel army was slightly suppressed. But now Hou Jing has sent someone to tell me to order my lord to take the route north of the Yangtze River and send his elite troops to march straight to attack Jiangling. If he refuses, his army will invade the east of Han Dynasty, leaving me with no grass on the land... "

"Is this happening?"

King Xiangdong was horrified when he heard this. He was so frightened that he stood up from the banquet, looked at Li Quji and said in shock: "Then, has your lord, Mr. Taiyuan, agreed to the thief's invitation? Hou Jinglang is ambitious. The people who conspired with him are despised by others. Mr. Taiyuan is a distinguished person, so he will not make such a mistake? "

"Of course! As early as the beginning of the year, Hou Jing sent envoys with goods to bribe my lord, and promised to divide the river to rule and confer the title of King of Qin, but my lord sternly refused. How can I be intimidated by him now and fight with the thieves? Conspiracy!"

Seeing that the king of eastern Hunan breathed a sigh of relief, Li Qu quickly said: "But Yingzhou is lost now, and the east of Han is defenseless. If the bandit army advances, it may be difficult to stop it. In order to plan for the safety of my people and the people of Lu, my Lord's special envoy I'm here to tell you if you can use the Xia Shou, Zhuankou, Xiakou and other rivers on the north bank to cross the rivers to prevent thieves."

When the King of Xiangdong heard this, he immediately frowned and shook his head and said: "You people from the north have never been good at water warfare, and there are no boatmen in Mianbei. Even if you can control the ferry crossing, there is no place for you. What's more, nowadays, there are many places like this. It’s all under the control of thieves, even if I have the intention, I can’t give it away generously!”

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. Although Mianbei does not have powerful boatmen, there are thousands of people who can operate oars and control water. Although they cannot cross the Yangtze River, they can still hold on to a few Jindu crossings."

After Li Quji heard what he said, he smiled again and said: "My lord has said that now the king is the most important weapon of the Liang family and the leader of Jianghan. He is the best choice to calm down the thieves. Even if the thieves are rampant for a while, they will never be able to win for a long time." Although the crossings are in the hands of thieves, they will be recaptured soon, but with your Majesty’s promise, our lord will strictly control the north of the Yangtze River and not allow anyone to approach Jiangling!”

When the King of Xiangdong heard this, he frowned and pondered again. After a while, he slowly said: "If I refuse to agree, will the Duke of Taiyuan sit back and let the rebel army invade Jiangling?"

"How could it be? The argument between the two sides is not short-lived. Our lord's respect for the king is just like the king's long-term desire to cultivate peace and harmony!"

Li Quji quickly lowered his head and said, and after King Xiangdong heard this, the worry in his one eye suddenly became more intense.