First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 293

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Suspicious, moody, lenient on the outside and jealous on the inside...it is no exaggeration to apply these comments to Xiao Xian. If it weren't for this, Liang Guo, which has 40 troops and covers thousands of miles, would never have fallen to such a state.

Seeing that Xiao Mian was so furious and lacked the manners of a gentleman, Cen Wenwen felt sad. Qiu Gao and Li Tang had a very close relationship, and his Cen family had a very close relationship with Xiao Liang. If not, Cen Wenwen would only be loyal Xiao Liang.

"Your Majesty, Qiu and his second son and grandson all work in Li Tang. Gao Shilian's niece is Li Tang Qin Wangfei, and Li Tang Zhongshu Ling Gao Junya is also from the Bohai Gao family. Such a close relationship, it is difficult to guarantee that these two people will not disagree." , Cen Wenwen said in a deep voice, these superficial news are not important information worth keeping secret, everyone knows.

In the past dynasties, there are many families of this kind who served in multiple ways. For example, during the Three Kingdoms period, Xiahou’s family, Zhuge’s family, etc., were fine in ordinary times. Once a war broke out between the two parties, this relationship would be very suspicious. There is no lesson learned.

Xiao Xian's eyes were burning with anger when he heard this, "I decree to take these two thieves down".

"Your Majesty can't."

Hearing this, Zheng Wenxiu and Cen Wenwen tried to dissuade them.

The two looked at each other, and Zheng Wenxiu hurriedly said: "The two of you have no objection at the moment, once His Majesty orders arrest, it will really turn them back."

Cen's text box also echoed: "Now the two are innocent and have not shown any signs of rebellion. If your majesty commits a crime without reason, I am afraid that I will lose the hearts of the army and the people."

"Then tell me, what should we do?" Xiao Xian waved his sleeves angrily and said, "I will never allow a hundred thousand soldiers and a thousand-mile embankment to be handed over to others like this." After saying this, Xiao Xian's heart was bleeding, At this moment, he regretted a little, why Qiu He and Zhou Faming didn't make up their minds to seize their military power when they submitted their submissions.

Cen Wenwen frowned and thought about it, before he said: "The only solution for now is to appease. Your Majesty can issue a decree to reward them, and promise high officials and rich salary to appease them. As long as they can get more in Daliang, they have no reason to defect Li Tang, even..."

"Even what? But it's okay to talk about it," Xiao Xian waved his hands and said bluntly, showing the demeanor of humbly accepting advice.

"Even becoming a king is all right." When he said this, Cen Wenwen was actually very unwilling. A large part of the reason for Xiao Liang's tossing to such an extent was the fighting between the kings. Other methods.

From Cen Wenwen's point of view, Xiao Liang already had so many kings of the opposite sex, anyway, he was only a prince in name, and he didn't care about having one more. If the false name of a prince can make Qiu He loyal, it would definitely be a safe profit.

However, Xiao Xian has been exhausted physically and mentally by the kings of the opposite sex since the founding of the country and proclaimed himself emperor. When he heard this, he immediately frowned, and immediately reprimanded him: "No, how can a king be granted a title easily? I can enter him into a noble kingdom. male".

"Your Majesty's words are reasonable, if you don't have the great merit of following the dragon, why should you be crowned king?" Zheng Wenxiu, King of Chu, stared and said immediately.

Xiao Liang already had enough kings of the opposite sex, and they were unwilling to have one more.

Seeing that the country is about to perish and these people are still fighting each other, Cen Wenwen, even though he is gentle, can't help being furious, "Daliang is at a critical moment, so what's the point of caring about how much you have? Xu Shao only attached Xiazhou (Yiling) Then he won the position of Duke, and if Qiu He returns to Tang with [-] troops from Jiaozhou, does Your Majesty think that Li Yuan will be stingy with a Duke?"

Xiao Mian was stunned when he heard this, and there was no way to refute it. Doing great things but being greedy for small profits is the change of Xiao Mian's mentality in recent years. As for Xiao Xian, he cared more and more about power, and he was unwilling to delegate power, let alone promote officials to rank.

Cen Wenwen is so loyal, assists the state affairs, and has a high status. If he was in the Tang Dynasty, he would be a prime minister of the third rank, that is, Shangshu Zuopushe, Shizhong, and Zhongshu Ling, etc., and Xiao Xian is only a fourth-rank minister of Zhongshu. , There is no title in the body.

Xiao Mian also did not appoint servants, servants, and Zhongshu Ling, but only Cen Wenwen, the Zhongshu servant, acted as prime minister, which shows Xiao Mian's character.

Although he came from a noble family, he belonged to the royal family of Xiaoliang, but his grandfather, Xiao Yan, king of Anping in Xiliang, was killed in the ninth year of Kaihuang, the former Sui Dynasty. With the help of Empress Xiao's relationship with her relatives, she was able to become an official and served as the magistrate of Luochuan County.

In the final analysis, Xiao Xian still has a bit of pettiness in his bones, far from Li Yuan's kind of spirit, let alone Li Yuan's methods of employing people.

When Li Yuan raised his troops, he also conferred officials arbitrarily, but Li Yuan did not confer the title of king, and he could completely control it after he was proclaimed an official, but Xiao Mian carelessly entrusted the queens and found that he could not control it. operate.

While everyone was arguing, the palace guards hurried into the palace, "Your Majesty, urgent report ahead."

Xiao Mi was startled, and hurriedly ordered someone to fetch it, opened it hastily, his face turned pale, and then he cursed, "You son of a bitch, don't deserve a good death".

Cen Wenwen was shocked when he saw this, so he hurriedly questioned, Xiao Xian threw down the battle report in his hand, pointed at the people in the hall and cursed angrily: "You are full of Liang Lu, and you need to be smashed to pieces in return, how dare you betray the country and surrender to the enemy."

The faces of Zheng Wenxiu and the others changed drastically, and they hurriedly prostrated themselves on the ground, "Your Majesty, why did you say that, the ministers are loyal, and the world can learn from them."

Cen Wenframe was sad in his heart, Xiao Mian was completely insane, and he didn't choose what to say, but he didn't know that such unreasonable accusations and insults would only make the already panic-stricken civil and military officials even more alienated from Xiao Liang.

When he opened the battle report, Cen Wenwen's face also changed. He closed his eyes, his lips trembled, and couldn't speak. Zheng Wenxiu and others didn't care much when they saw this. How dare Yan Juan do this?"

Although Zheng Wenxiu's name is "Wenxiu", he was born as a brigade commander in Baling (Yuezhou), a martial artist, and it is not surprising that his mouth is fragrant.

Cen Wenwen calmed down a little, and said straightly: "Your Majesty, now that Wen Shihong's entire army has been wiped out, the Tang troops from the east and north have already driven straight into Jiangling, leaving only the south with a way out. The situation is so serious, please don't hesitate, hurry up! The decree is to win over Qiu Gao and the two to ensure that the south is not lost."

The matter is very simple. Zhou Faming, the general manager of Huangzhou of the Eastern Route Army, captured Anzhou and separated Jiangling from Jiangzhou in the east. Due to the situation, Gai Yanju, the general manager of Jiangzhou, surrendered to Datang with the land of five states.

The same is true for the Northern Route Army. Li Yuan, the governor of Jinzhou, captured Changlin, cutting off the connection between Luzhou in the north and Jiangling in the south, and Lei Changying, the governor of Luzhou, returned to Datang.

The reason is also very simple. Jiangzhou and Luzhou have become isolated cities, and all the cities between them and the capital Jiangling have been captured by the Tang army. In this situation, it is hopeless to hold on, so they have to surrender.

For Xiao Xian, although the Tang army made rapid progress and captured many states and counties, there were still states and counties standing behind them in Daliang. The prefectures and counties all over Liang could no longer bear the pressure and surrendered one after another.

(End of this chapter)