Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

The envoy sent by the Southern Dynasty to Chang'an was named Xu Ling. He was also one of the few remaining figures in the Jiangdong regime after the Battle of Jiangling. But even this Xu Ling actually stayed in Northern Qi and returned to Jiangnan with Xiao Yuanming.

Xu Ling was nearly fifty years old, and his appearance and demeanor were typical of the scholar-bureaucrats of the Southern Dynasties. Although he was sent as an envoy to a weak country to strengthen its neighbors, there was nothing groveling about it.

After being introduced into the hall by the visitor, he first glanced at Mr. Tang in the hall. Like other people meeting for the first time, a trace of surprise flashed across his face, but he soon returned to normal. He greeted him before entering: "Xu Ling, the envoy of the State of Liang, came to Wei Tonghao on the mission of His Majesty and Prime Minister Chen. He would like to congratulate Duke Tang and the Prime Minister on joining the government to assist the state."

"No need to be polite, Marquis Xu, please take a seat."

Li Tai looked at Xu Ling with great interest, raised his hand to signal him to come and take his seat, and then said with a smile: "Although the former battle in Jiangling made great achievements in the Southern Dynasties, Xu Hou still left his pearls behind. It's really surprising." It’s a pity that Marquis Xu has come to the country to see you. He really lives up to his reputation. It’s not a full achievement to lose this person!”

Xu Ling's expression was a little unnatural when he heard this. Although the other party's words were praising him, they were quite derogatory to the entire Nanliang court. For an envoy who was ordered to go to other countries, he felt natural. Very unpleasant. Especially what the other party said made him unable to refute, and the current weak national destiny of Nanliang also gave him no confidence to teach people about cold and heat like he did before when he was envoy to Northern Qi.

Li Tai did not deliberately want to humiliate Xu Ling, but he did not treat Xu Ling as a formal envoy at all.

At least from their perspective of the Western Wei Dynasty, the Southern Liang Kingdom Zuo had already ended after conquering Jiangling. Historically, the Liang King Xiao Jin would also establish the Western Liang to continue his Kingdom Zuo. However, in the time and space where Li Tai spoke, neither Liang Emperor nor Liang Emperor The king of Liang was all packed up and sent to Chang'an. Last year, Emperor Liang Xiao Yi was beheaded. After King Liang entered the court, he was demoted to the title of Duke of Liang County in order to comfort the Southern Liang scholars.

As for Xiao Fangzhi, the young emperor established by Chen Baxian in Jiankang, the Western Wei Dynasty did not recognize him at all. After all, Li Tai's great achievement was to destroy Liang. If he treated Xu Ling as an envoy from another country, it would be a slap in the face.

That's why he introduced Xu Ling to meet him in the afternoon after dealing with major military and state affairs, just like summoning his staff. As for the series of titles he said, they had no meaning to him.

Of course, this denial is not a deliberate disparagement of Chen Baxian. At least it means that the Western Wei Dynasty will not use Nanliang's legal system to make any articles to interfere with the current situation in Jiangdong. For example, even if Chen Baxian abolishes Liang and establishes himself in the coming year, the Western Wei Dynasty will not do the same. What's the protest against. Jiangdong was originally a place where soldiers could not reach during the Battle of Jiangling. You can scold Chen Baxian for stealing the results, but you will not attack him as a traitor and traitor.

Although he did not get the treatment of an envoy, he still had to do the necessary personnel communication, so Xu Ling calmed down for a while and said again: "Before leaving, Prime Minister Chen specially asked Xu to congratulate him after he came to see him. I mean! Prime Minister Chen said that when Tang Gong was guarding Jingxiang in the past, we had the honor to work with him to plan things together, and we both gained something. I still feel happy when I think about it.

Although Prime Minister Chen was outside the government, he deeply felt that Tang Gong was a man of great talent and ambition. Now that he was able to defeat powerful enemies and enter the government, it was God's will. Even the foreign people could not help but be convinced! Although the old Wei State had the intention to pursue thieves, it had no power to defeat the enemy. Even if the powerful officials of the shogunate had no intention of deceiving the world, they were suspected of stealing their reputation. When Duke Tang entered the dynasty, he was not only expected by everyone, but also in name and reality! If the plan can be reconstructed, then even though the thieves are fierce, there is nothing to be afraid of! "

Hearing Xu Ling's words of praising himself and belittling his predecessor Yu Wentai, Li Tai couldn't help but feel happy. These words were said in front of him. In addition to flattering him, they probably also meant that Chen Baxian was bragging about them and showing that he was better than Wang Sengbian.

Li Tai was not surprised that Chen Baxian hoped to replicate the previous cooperation in Huainan and continue to cooperate against Beiqi.

Although the Western Wei Dynasty conquered Jiangling and beheaded their boss, and the hatred between them is much greater than that between them and Northern Qi, the aggressive and raging malice shown by Northern Qi now caused greater harm to Jiangdong. threaten. Chen Baxian didn't really want to revive Liang, he only wanted to protect Jiangdong and fulfill himself. Of course, he would not be trapped by this old grudge.

However, Li Tai is no longer just a little uncle living in Shannan. Strategic choices and focus must of course be based on a higher perspective. If Chen Ba first wants to cooperate with him, he must also consider whether the other party has the strength.

So after thinking for a while, he spoke again: "The former news came from Jiangdong, which surprised me deeply. Wang Taiwei and Chen Situ were both famous officials from Jiangdong who pacified the chaos and defended the country. Unexpectedly, they couldn't get along with each other after they succeeded in wiping out the thieves. "Rong, why did the chaos lead to a vendetta? Although I have no intention of asking deeply about the reason and distinguishing right from wrong, I still pity the people of Jiangdong, and I am afraid that I will be trapped in the flames of war and cannot extricate myself."

"Tang Gong was kind-hearted and sympathized with my elders. His sentiments are touching. The story of Taiwei Wang is so old that I don't know it deeply. After returning home, I saw that Prime Minister Chen was also working hard and doing his best for the country. Although the Three Wus had The troubles will all be overcome. Even if there is disrespect in Lingnan, it will not be a big problem. The rebellious local tyrants in Nanchuan are all greedy and chaotic. "

Xu Ling had also received favors from Wang Sengbian. Although he was ordered by Chen Baxian, he did not discuss the right and wrong of Wang Sengbian. He just spoke vaguely about it and then briefly explained the situation in the country: "The so-called stubborn bandits now are the stubborn bandits in Jiangbei. They have joined forces with strong bandits outside and brought disaster to the country. They are very hateful!"

Since the Western Wei's Eastern Expedition last year, the focus of the world's disputes has shifted to the old enemies of the Western Wei and the Northern Qi. Including Li Tai, he also turned to focus on the war situation in Heluo, and turned to conservative wait-and-see for the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and no longer invested more manpower and material resources to interfere.

Especially the Northern Qi, as early as after Chen Baxian attacked Wang Sengbian, he showed a strong intention to interfere. And tracing back to the source, this civil strife was originally caused by the Northern Qi's forced interference and the desire to let Xiao Yuanming ascend the throne as emperor.

So the Northern Qi first sent Duan Shao to directly capture Guangling City, which became empty after Chen Baxian's main force left, and then sent a large army south to continue to interfere.

However, due to the power struggle within the Northern Qi, Gao Yue, the King of Qinghe, who was the commander-in-chief at the beginning, was recalled and killed, which cast a shadow of changing the commander at the last minute. Then, Yuwen Tai of the Western Wei took advantage of the fact that the Northern Qi was deploying troops in Huainan to launch an eastern expedition. The Northern Qi was busy dealing with the Heluo War, and this war lasted until the end of the year.

Therefore, the army sent to the south suddenly became anticlimactic and stopped in Pengcheng, Huaibei, waiting for subsequent orders. After the Heluo War ended, the Northern Qi did not increase its investment in the south, but instead transferred Gao Huan, the King of Shangdang, the commander of this army, back to attack the Turks at the Beishan Great Wall.

It was precisely because the East and the West fought each other that the Jiangdong side had a chance to breathe, at least compared with the same period in history, the situation was much better. Chen Baxian also fully grasped this opportunity and took the lead in concentrating his forces to pacify the core Three Wu regions of Jiangdong. He even returned to Jingkou for a time, wanting to recover Guangling that was taken away by the Northern Qi. However, he had to give up this plan because of the rebellion in Lingnan.

To this day, there are still two forces opposing Chen Baxian in the entire Jiangnan region. One is Wang Lin, who is entrenched in the Yuzhang area of ​​Jiangzhou, and the so-called Nanchuan heroes in Jiangzhou. The other is Xiao Bo, the governor of Guangzhou, who was a member of the Southern Liang clan and had been entrenched in Lingnan for a long time.

However, as Xu Ling said, these two forces are not a big threat. Wang Lin is the most fierce among them, but when he was entrenched in Xiangzhou before, he was driven away by the army sent by Li Tai. He was almost stripped naked before he could go east. So far, his power has not been fully strengthened.

Previously, he accepted part of the baggage and armed forces provided by Li Tai and was able to gain a foothold in Yuzhang, but at present, his main energy is to unify the local tyrants in Yuzhang who are not obedient, and he has no ability to attack Chen Baxian at all.

As for Xiao Bo in Lingnan, he was just an atmosphere group. Lingnan itself was located in a remote area and it was difficult to affect the core area of ​​Jiangdong. Xiao Bo was not capable enough to confront Chen Baxian.

Chen Baxian was able to basically pacify the Jiangnan region in less than a year, even if it was because of the window period left by the fight between Western Wei and Northern Qi.

But some things are bound to come. Northern Qi, which had no time to fight in Huainan before, finally got out of the trouble and gathered troops to go south again.

Although the Jiangnan region is now stable, the situation of river defense is more severe than before. Not to mention Guangling, which was lost again, there is also Qin County occupied by Xu Sihui, a former general of Wang Sengbian. Now Xu Sihui has also defected to Northern Qi, allowing the Northern Qi army to launch a crossing battle at any location in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, this time Chen Baxian sent Xu Ling to the north to visit the Western Wei, mainly hoping that the two sides would restore the tacit understanding of cooperation in Huainan before, so that the power of the Western Wei in Huainan could properly contain the army of the Northern Qi, thereby slightly easing the pressure on the river defense faced by Jiangnan.

After listening to Xu Ling's story, Li Tai first pondered for a moment, and then said: "In addition, does Chen Situ have any other requests? I remember that his sons and nephews are still in Chang'an."

After hearing this, Xu Ling bowed his head and said: "Prime Minister Chen also explained this matter. The weak asked for an alliance with the strong, and should have offered hostages to show sincerity. However, the blood of the disciples is rare, and there are no more sons to offer, so please let the two sons continue to stay in Chang'an. If we win this time, both countries will be happy. If we lose, Prime Minister Chen will die for his country, so how can we care about the heirs!"