Han Shizu

Chapter 269
When the rebellion in the north was over, the land in the south was still peaceful as a whole, with no wars and no chaos.

Southern Tang, Jiangning Mansion, Jinling.This largest and most affluent city in southern China is still prosperous. Since the troubled times of the Tang Dynasty, it has been operated by the separatist forces of the Wu and Tang Dynasties, and there has been no major war for 40 years, which is very rare.

Both sides of the Qinhuai River are densely covered with shops and merchants, accompanied by Jinling City, and the surrounding areas are economically developed and culturally prosperous.Even though news of war and turmoil from the western border of the Northern Kingdom kept coming, this place still had a prosperous scene of governance.

The Mid-Autumn Festival has just passed, and inside and outside Jinling, there is still a festive aftertaste after the festival.It really has been too peaceful for a long time, and the atmosphere of the whole city is full of pleasure and enjoyment, from high-ranking officials and aristocrats down to the head of the common people.Although Jinling is rich, there are also poor and poor people, but even the beggars in the market seem to be a bit leisurely.

Jinling City is a metropolis. Although it has a long history and profound heritage, it has been up and down several times.The imperial city was expanded on the basis of the Yangwu Jinling government office in those days. It is not small in scale and luxurious and magnificent.

A large carriage drove slowly on the smooth long street, heading towards the south gate of the imperial city. Looking at the decoration of the carriage and the purple and yellow clothes used, the owner of the carriage must be a royal nobleman.Inside the car was a young man with a broad face and a serious demeanor. He was dressed in a purple robe and a boa robe that exuded a strong sense of nobility.

He is the eldest son of Emperor Li Jing of the Southern Tang Dynasty, King Li Hongji of Yan. He is not very old, but he already has a slightly thick stubble.Contemplation appeared on his calm face, and he touched his neatly trimmed stubble from time to time.

Last year, his uncle Li Jingsui was established as the emperor's younger brother, and after he was passed down from brother to brother, he, the eldest son of the emperor, was sent to Yangzhou, the eastern capital, and then moved to Runzhou.Although Li Hongji is young, he has always been ambitious, and coupled with his youthful spirit, he is very unconvinced.This time returning to Beijing from Runzhou, in addition to spending the same Mid-Autumn Festival, it is also for the "send troops" for the Northern Expedition.

Previously, before Li Shouzhen conspired to rebel, he secretly kept contacts with the Southern Tang side, and when he rebelled, he sent envoys to Jinling to invite troops.Regarding this matter, whether to send troops or not, the Southern Tang monarchs and ministers also attached great importance to it, and there were several court discussions, but as usual, the court was divided into two factions, with disagreements, and constant arguing. After more than a month of discussions, the Mid-Autumn Festival has passed , no result yet
"The important matter of the military struggle has been postponed until now. The officials of the Manchu Dynasty are full of corpses and vegetarians. They are extremely incompetent. What's the use of keeping it?" Thinking about the court situation collected in the past two days, Li Hongji suddenly became violent and fierce. He smashed down the wall of the compartment, and cursed coldly.

The carriage stopped suddenly, as if frightened by the movement inside the carriage, stopped for a while, but there was still no movement, opened the curtain, and scolded outside: "Why did you stop?"

Li Hongji has always been a deep and honest person, but in fact he has a shy and impatient temperament, and easily explodes when he is slightly unsatisfactory.

The personal guard who drove the car hurriedly said: "His Royal Highness is driving in front."

It was such a coincidence that Li Hongji's expression flashed an unfriendly change, he leaned out, stepped on the shaft of the car, and jumped to the ground.At the side street, a more expensive car was parked there. A gentle-faced young man in Chinese clothes, supported by guards, got off the car slowly. When he saw Li Hongji, he showed a modest smile and slapped him. Say hello: "Hongji."

"Uncle Emperor." Li Hongji arched his hands, his attitude was neither salty nor indifferent, and the uncles and nephews seemed very unfamiliar: "Uncle Huang is also entering the palace?"

"Your Majesty summoned me, so I dare not neglect." Li Jingsui replied with a smile still.

Li Jingsui appeared modest and polite, calm and easy-going, but in Li Hongji's eyes, he repelled him. He just couldn't understand the elegant and easy-going appearance of the emperor's uncle, he only felt that he was putting on airs.

"If Hongji is in a hurry, you can go first." Feeling Li Hongji's coldness, Li Jingsui stretched out his hand and said.

"The emperor's younger brother is in front, how dare the minister go beyond the rules?" Li Hongji didn't seem to have any city government at all, so he responded calmly: "The emperor's uncle will invite you first."

Simple communication, the alienation between uncles and nephews.Li Jingsui had a gentle temperament and always maintained his demeanor, but when he turned back to get in the car, he sighed silently, with a worried expression on his face.

Li Jingsui's image in the eyes of others is modest and polite, a gentleman's style, and he has no desire to fight for power.In the one year since he became the emperor's younger brother, he has always been worried and kept a low profile.It would be fine to say that the emperor Li Jing had no heirs, but with Li Hongji, a grown-up prince, there was a temperament that he had grown up with since he was a child, and he had deep concerns.

Qinzheng Hall, with the arrival of all the people, after the worship, the debate about sending troops started again.An old minister who lost his teeth came out first, hunched over his old waist, and spoke in a weak voice, saying: "Your Majesty, the northern army is strong, the Tang army is not good at land warfare, and has not fought with the northern army for many years." Confrontation. Right now, the Liu family has decided on the Central Plains, and although Li Shouzhen rebelled, the situation is unclear, so we must not act rashly."

The person who spoke was Li Jianxun, a Yuan official of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He was very old and could not speak well, but he was still worshiped as a minister of the family and a colleague of Zhang Shi.What he said was commonplace, the northern soldiers were strong and the situation was uncertain, and his attitude was very clear, that is, he did not agree to send troops.

As soon as he said this, someone immediately refuted it, and the reasons were the same old ones. They used Beiding Central Plains as an example to restore the old days.This kind of slogan has been shouted by Nantang for a long time, and it is very empty.

They shouted when the Khitan destroyed the Jin Dynasty, when the Liu family entered the Central Plains, and when the Later Shu was in the process of attacking key points. Now Li Shouzhen is rebellious, and he can still show his political attitude.That is, the slogan was shouted loudly, but it has not been implemented.

In the two years when the situation in the Central Plains was turbulent and changing, the Southern Tang side, apart from offending the big man, did the most active thing is to send Huang Fuhui, the former Jin Mizhou governor who surrendered to Nanben, to recruit and hook up with the bandits in Huainan. After the year-old Liu Chengyou tried his best to suppress the bandits and stabilize the chaos in the country, there was no follow-up.

The courtiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty were very literary, and they were either good at Ci Fu, or good at poetry, or good at articles.How witty and quick-witted, this kind of debate often starts and ends endlessly.It has always been like this.

Emperor Li Jing was sitting on the throne at this time. He liked to discuss articles and poems with his ministers, but the politics of the court always disturbed him, especially when the court was full of endless arguments.

"Enough!" Finally unable to hold back, Yin Han was sullen, glanced at the officials in the hall, and couldn't help sighing in a low voice: "If Feng Zhengzhong and Han Shuyan are here, how can I bother you so much?"

Li Jing was just expressing his feelings, but if those two were really in court, they would probably quarrel even more violently.The two Feng and Han he mentioned in his mouth were the former prime minister Feng Yansi and the people of Zhongshushe who had issued an edict to Han Xizai.These two are Li Jing's most trusted courtiers.

In the past few years since Li Jing succeeded to the throne, two factions have basically formed above the Southern Tang Dynasty.One faction is dominated by Song Qiqiu, Feng Yansi, Chen Jue and other founding fathers and veterans, and the other is dominated by scholars such as Han Xizai and Jiang Wenwei who traveled south from the Central Plains. The two factions fought fiercely.

However, they are not in Jinling right now, and have been relegated to other places by Li Jing.When he came to Pingmin, Li Jing originally had the idea of ​​calling off troops to appease the remnants of the Wang family in Fuzhang. However, Chen Jue, who was then the privy envoy, ordered to send troops. Together with Feng Yanlu, Zha Wenhui and other Tang generals, Li Renda, who had stolen Fuzhou, was conscripted. Wu Yue sent troops to attack from both sides, and the Tang army was defeated.

This was a matter created by Song and Feng's party, so naturally they should wipe their asses.Under the mediation, Chen Jue, Feng Yanlu and others were spared from death, especially Chen Jue, who made a desperate attack, but was defeated. Such a felony was only demoted.Han Xizai, Jiang Wenwei and others were naturally dissatisfied, and impeached Song Qiqiu and Feng Yansi for bringing disaster to the country and the army, causing them to be demoted as well.

Song Feng was naturally unwilling to be part of the party, and then found an excuse to impeach Han Xizai and Jiang Wenwei. Li Jing was impatient, and simply demoted the two of them.

The dispute between the two parties has come to an end for the time being.However, although people are separated, above the court, the forces of the two parties are still fighting fiercely.Party struggle seemed to be the main conflict in the court of the Southern Tang Dynasty. In comparison, the power reserve struggle could only be described as mild. Yan Wang Li Hongji was fledgling and could not make any waves.

"What's your opinion?" Li Jing asked Li Jingsui after taking a deep breath.

Li Jingsui was next, and glanced at the ministers of the two factions who were clearly separated, his face was conflicted, he thought for a while, and then he bowed: "The war is fierce and dangerous, I think, I'd better wait and see, and then go to the district."

"Wait and see, the situation in the Central Plains is certain, and it will be too late to make any decisions at that time!" As soon as the words fell, a young and powerful voice refuted.

Li Jing frowned, glanced at Li Hongji, and saw him coming out of the line, with an air of brazenness.He has always disliked this irritable son, because he has no elegance and is not like himself.

Of course, Li Hongji didn't wink at that, he directly stated his thoughts, and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, our dynasty has a deep hatred with the Central Plains, and there are frequent disputes on the border. If we don't take advantage of the predicament there and send troops out of the Huaihe River, the northern soldiers will inevitably invade the south in the future! The princes are arguing endlessly over this matter, without taking any concrete measures, and in my opinion, the best time has already been missed, if there is no further action, there is no need to discuss this matter!"

As soon as this remark fell, all the princes and ministers in the court changed their expressions.This Yan Wang is really young and energetic.

"Let's put this matter on hold for now, let me think about it and retreat."

In the end, no conclusion could be reached, and Li Jing went back to the bedroom in a dispirited mood.

According to Li Jing's original thoughts, of course he still has the willingness to send troops. Now that the Southern Tang Dynasty is in full swing, even if he has a peaceful temperament, he is still a monarch, and he still has the ambition to expand his territory.Taking advantage of the chaos in Fujian before, he sent troops to wipe out the Wang family, and was able to occupy Fujian, which was a big boost to his reputation, of course, not counting the subsequent defeats.

However, every time conservatives talk about objective factors such as the strength of the northern soldiers, the instability of Fujian, and the threat of Wu and Yue, I feel discouraged again.

In the palace, after thinking about it for a long time, he hesitated, and finally, that night, Li Jing still made up his mind and issued an order to send troops.Li Jinquan, the envoy of the Zhenhai Festival, was recruited from the northern camp. He led [-] soldiers from Huainan in the Northern Expedition, aided Hezhong, and sent [-] forbidden soldiers from Jinling to the north.

Less than half a day after the imperial edict was issued, news came from the north that the Emperor of Han personally raised [-] soldiers to conquer the rebellion. Li Shouzhen was destroyed by the Han army six days ago, and the city was destroyed.

A piece of news, the Manchu Dynasty was silent, and then the conservatives who had just been suppressed revived, actively admonishing the emperor to strike.Li Jing was obviously very surprised by the fighting ability of the Han army. Defense of the frontier.

In addition, Yan Wang Li Hongji was driven back to Runzhou again.

(End of this chapter)