Jinling, even though it has entered winter, is still so prosperous. It is originally a city with a strong commercial atmosphere. As the weather gets colder, the shortage of daily resources such as firewood for winter use, seasonal food, fruits and vegetables continues to give birth to new products. It leads to the commercial prosperity of Jinling City.
However, since the beginning of winter, there have been several times when I was waiting to ride from the east, trampling on the cold dew, heading straight for the palace.
In Jinling City, the boundaries between the city and the neighborhoods are very blurred, so there are wine shops and restaurants sandwiched between the many lanes.
"Has the chaos in Hunan changed again?" There is no shortage of people eating melons everywhere. In a restaurant next to the neighborhood, a diner asked as he watched the military cavalry rushing away.
The wine shop is not big, and the decoration is simple and tidy. There are only four diners sitting at the same table. They are all in their prime and well-dressed. They drink warm wine and eat hot dog meat. It is very comfortable in this winter. of.
Hearing this, another man dressed as a wealthy businessman picked up a piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth. It was a bit hot. He choked a few times, shook his head and said with emotion: "The people of Chu are brave and brave. According to the method of plundering and gathering, , how can there not be chaos?"
"Didn't you say that everything shipped back to Jinling was all obtained from Ma Chu's treasury? Are the rumors about the army looting Hunan true?" Another person said.
"Haha!" The wealthy businessman suddenly sneered: "It's just to deceive those ignorant people! Just imagine, the Ma brothers have been in civil strife for many years and have attacked each other. How rich can Hunan Peizang be? Can he make dozens of ships return fully loaded? "
After such an explanation, several people suddenly understood. The person who was the first to ask questions said: "Brother Zhao was at the dock a few days ago and found a lot of good things!"
"Hehe!" The wealthy businessman surnamed Zhao suddenly showed a profiteer-like smile and laughed: "All the good things have been taken into the palace, where can we get it?"
Many of the things plundered from Hunan, except for rare treasures, were mostly purchased by merchants in Jinling, and the court, officers, soldiers, and merchants all benefited from them.
"The imperial court expands its territory and wins battles. If we follow, we can still benefit from it. If...hey, I can't say..."
The situation in Hunan is still just a topic of conversation for the scholars and people of Jinling. Most people are still intoxicated by the beauty of Jinling in winter.
But inside the palace city, Tang Dynasty Lord Li Jing and several officials were angry with themselves and no longer as proud and arrogant as before.
"What is this Bian Hao doing? Thirty thousand land and water elites, plus Chu soldiers surrendering, there are 50,000 people. A mere leader, with over 10,000 soldiers? Over a thousand horses? How can he let his troops come to the city? Where does he have the face? , let the imperial court send troops to rescue?" This is the first time that Li Jing has lost his composure and shows no trace of his usual virtuous style.
These days, Li Jing has been in a happy mood. He has expanded his territory and made great achievements. Not to mention his achievements, just a large number of gold and jade luxury utensils transported from Ma Chu are enough to make him lose his mind. They are placed in the Tang Palace and become the palace. , adding a bit of luxury.
To celebrate the pacification of Chu, there was a small banquet every three days and a big banquet every five days. For this reason, the poets of the Southern Tang Dynasty wrote many good nouns and poems. Li Jing himself also added a few poems to Express his pride and sing his ambition.
However, just a short time later, Hunan reported urgently one after another, and Hunan was in emergency. The contrast between before and after was so strong that Li Jing only felt that an old face was burning. The slap on the face was too sudden and too hard, so that he was a little confused. He even doubted that the previous good news and victory reports about Hunan were all is fake.....
Just three days ago, Li Jing suddenly received an urgent military report from Bian Hao, saying that Lang's army had rebelled and gathered thousands of troops to go south to attack Yiyang. Bian Hao gathered 10,000 soldiers from the Tang army in Changsha and surrounding areas and went north to meet the enemy for support.
One day later, Hunan News was collected again. Lang's soldiers were cunning and used rebel generals Sun Lang and Cao Jin to surround the army from the waterway. After the Tang army was defeated, more than 3,000 troops were lost and they were defeated in Changsha.
After another half day, I got my reward, but Yutan was lost. After another half day, Xiangxiang was lost.
As of today, Lang's army has arrived in Changsha, facing each other across the river, and its strength has soared to more than 10,000. Chu people are in chaos. Many Chu troops in various states have surrendered. They also "raise righteousness" under the banner of "defending their hometown" and stand on their own. The self-reliance, the surrender. What is ironic is that many of the repeated Chu armies used the Tang army's policies to plunder, and they were not merciless at all when they took action.
Such drastic changes in the situation were really unacceptable to Li Jing. In the palace, several important ministers were present. Facing the emperor's anger, Feng Yansi felt a little uneasy.
"Your Majesty!" Han Xizai glanced at Feng Yansi, took a deep breath, and said to Li Jing: "I have already warned that the soldiers and people of Hunan are suffering from war and are in urgent need of stability. The imperial court only needs to implement the policy of appeasement and nurturing to win their hearts. However, the generals in Hunan do whatever they want..."
"That's enough! The matter has reached this point. It's useless to talk more!" It was rare for Li Jing to be so angry. With a cold face and cold eyes, he glanced back and forth at Han Xizai, Feng Yansi and others. This was probably the first time that Li Jing felt so annoyed by the dispute between the two parties.
"What your Majesty said is true, Hunan is in chaos, and now the top priority is to solve the chaos!" Wei Cen, the admonishing doctor, came out to speak, his words were humble, and he had never been so cautious.
It can be seen that His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is really angry. Although Li Jing has always been kind and treated his subordinates affectionately, after all, after being the emperor for nearly ten years, his majesty has grown.
Resisting the indelible hatred in his heart, Li Jing calmed down, with a look of dejection on his face. He thought of the incident in Fujian again. Not long after he came to the throne, the king of Fujian was in political turmoil and he sent troops to pacify Fujian. How energetic he was at that time, but what happened later...
Today's Hunan, hey... Sitting behind the throne, Li Jing asked with a little enthusiasm: "How to solve it? Bian Hao is incompetent. Should we replace him and send another good general to suppress him?"
"Your Majesty, changing commanders before battle is a taboo for military strategists!" Han Xizai said quickly.
"Then what do you think we should do?" Li Jing glanced at him with anger.
Han Xizai was angered. He was stunned for a moment, then calmed down and said, "The first thing to do is to make the generals and officials in Chu stop coercing and plundering the people of Chu. Violators will be severely punished and those who behave excessively will be punished severely." Those who are harsh will be punished to eliminate the resentment of the people of Chu; secondly, let us, all the troops in Hunan, concentrate their efforts to prepare the gates of Tan, Heng and other major states, waiting for rescue."
"Third, send envoys to contact the Chu army that has been repeated repeatedly, reward officers and knights, and divide the rebels, so that the Lang army can never expand its strength; fourth, send envoys to the Southern Han Dynasty to negotiate peace with them, abandon the Lingnan land, and let them attack. In order to eliminate the troubles in southern Chu; fifthly, let Bian Hao defend Changsha without any loss, send more troops and horses into Chu, and use the power of thunder to put down the chaos in Chu as soon as possible!"
Han Xizai said several measures in one breath. After hearing this, Li Jing perked up, straightened up slightly, raised his hand, trembling a little with excitement, and said: "Okay! Okay! Just do what Han Qing said, and you can deal with it." .”
Seeing Han Xizai's "proudness" made Feng Yansi a little unhappy, and Li Jing's reaction gave him a new sense of crisis. At this time, he also hurriedly came out of the queue and said to Li Jing: "Your Majesty, the only ones that can quickly enter the Chu army are Ezhou and Hongzhou. I suggest that we can go with Song Gong (Song Qiqiu) and the Wuchang Army Jiedu Envoy Lin Rengan, divided into two routes, north and south, led troops to assist Chu! On the south route, Song Gong can follow the Bianhao road into Chu, and on the north route, Lin Rengan can advance by land and water, and can take the road to Lizhou——"
As soon as Feng Yansi finished speaking, Han Xizai shook his head and sighed slightly.
Just because he couldn't see Han Xizai's arrogant and conceited appearance, Feng Yansi immediately asked: "Why, does Han Shilang have any objections to the proposal of the Prime Minister?"
Han Xizai raised his hand to Li Jing and said, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Feng is advancing the policy. The Duke of Song can lead the army to aid Chu on the south route, but it is a big mistake to envoy Lin Ren on the north route to pass through Lizhou where the Han army is stationed."
On the Hunan side, Lizhou defense envoy Cao Yin sent Han troops to cooperate with Wang Kui and Zhou Xingfeng in fighting, but he did not use the banner of the Han army, but disguised himself as the Langzhou army. The time to break up can only be a little later.
"What does Han Qing mean by this?" Li Jing asked, confused.
Seeing the reaction of the Tang Lord, Han Xizai sighed silently in his heart and said: "In my opinion, your Majesty will send troops to assist Chu. While quelling the chaos in Hunan, he should also control the Huainan states and take strict precautions against the Northern Han Dynasty!"
"With the Han soldiers in Lizhou behind, how could the Lang soldiers dare to come out in full force? Without the acquiescence of the Han army, how could Wang Kui, Zhou Xingfeng and others dare to do this. In addition, recently, He Jingzhu, the governor of the Huai Army of the Qing Dynasty, has repeatedly reported that there are people in Huaibei In response to the unusual movement, the Han army has established martial law in Huaibei, holding the ferry, and patrolling the border. I am only afraid that the Han army will take advantage of the chaos in Hunan to attack our court!"
Han Xizai was extremely serious and expressed his concerns again.
Seeing this, before Feng Yansi came out to object, Li Jing could not help but frown: "Are Han Qing's words exaggerated? The Han army is competing with the Khitan people in Hebei, so how can they spare the time to look south? In the past two days, the Han army The reason why he came from the south was not to explain to me specifically, but because a war in the north was imminent, martial law was imposed in the north of Huaihe..."
"Please think about it, your majesty, if the Han army really had no movement, why would it be necessary to send an envoy to explain? Isn't it just to cover up?" Han Xizai said: "Even if the Han army really has no intention of doing so, when there is chaos in Hunan, in order to prevent unexpected events, the Huainan capital You have to be more vigilant!”
But Han Xizai didn't know that when the Han envoys came, they didn't care whether they would alert others, they just wanted to buy time, even if it was just a day or two.
After hearing what Han Xizai said, Li Jing, who was already a little sensitive, thought about it seriously, couldn't help but trembled, and hurriedly said: "It is said that Shou, Hao, Si, Chu and other states bordering the Han Dynasty were ordered to be governors, guards and governors. , be sure to step up your vigilance!”
Han Xizai's concerns were not unfounded. In the evening of that day, a messenger came from the north and rode into the city. He looked panicked and shouted "disaster".
In the inner hall of the Tang Palace, Li Jing had a meal with the Queen Zhong, sighing and sighing, completely lacking in his usual poetic style...
The Han army invaded the south in a large scale, raided the Huai River shoal, and defeated the "Baqian" soldiers deployed by He Jingzhu. Jiedu envoy He Jingzhu personally led his army to intercept and fought with the Han army at the crossing point. He was defeated and defeated Gui Shouchun, losing three thousand troops in front and rear. Under the command of their commander Wang Jun, the Han army advanced by land and water. Tens of thousands of troops surrounded Shouchun.
The moment she heard the news, Li Jing's face turned pale, she was almost colorless, and the rice bowl in her hand was knocked over.
My mind was in chaos. Although I couldn't figure out the cause and effect for a while, one thing was very clear. Datang was really in trouble.
