Sui Dynasty: I, Yang Guang, am both scrupulous and stable

Chapter 346 Why not fight?

The emperor was stunned when he heard the news. This was no longer not playing according to the routine, this was completely fooling around.

The ceremony for the expedition to Nanchen was still going on here. Before the expedition was announced, the other party surrendered directly, and the expedition ceremony turned into a triumphal ceremony.

No one knows what Nan Chen is doing, but now they don't know how the whole expedition ceremony will proceed. Should there be a fight?

Yang Guang keenly noticed the changes in the emperor, and it was time to announce the expedition, but neither Yang Xiu nor the civil and military officials waited for Yang Jian to announce the expedition.

He came to the emperor's side and said: "Father, no matter what happens, the army is about to leave now, so let's send the army out first."

Yang Jian then ordered the whole army to go out. Yang Xiu pulled out the Bingzi pepper forest, shining in the sun, mounted a red-maned horse, and led the army like a flaming war god.

As soon as he left Daxing City, he was recalled by the emperor's secret envoy.

Yang Xiu looked at the eunuch sent by the emperor with great confusion. If he didn't really look familiar, he would have thought that someone was impersonating him. How could he have just left Daxing City and asked the coach to return alone less than ten miles away from Daxing City?
"Father, this is definitely not a joke. I am currently leading the army on an expedition. I have only traveled more than ten miles. If there are no special circumstances, it is absolutely impossible to be recalled. It is unreasonable for the commander to leave the army? "

"Did something happen to the prince?"

Thinking about this, there seems to be a little bit of expectation.

The eunuch said with some embarrassment: "His Royal Highness the King of Shu, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is fine, and if things go well, not only you, but also the army will not have to set off. In short, you can let the army rest first and go back to the palace with the slaves."

Yang Xiu immediately became vigilant. Thinking of Yang Guang's assassination, she even suspected that Yang Guang wanted to assassinate her.

"If the matter is not made clear, I will punish you for falsely spreading the imperial edict."

The eunuch looked anxious: "Your Highness, King of Shu, this servant can only talk to you quietly about this matter."

"No, don't get close to me until I make it clear. What if you want to assassinate me?"

The eunuch was almost crying. He had no choice but to lower his voice as much as possible: "Your Highness, King of Shu, Nanchen has surrendered."

"Ah?! What nonsense are you talking about?"

Yang Xiu looked at the eunuch in disbelief. He would not believe this news no matter what.

Chang Shi Yuanyan beside him was also stunned.

The two people noticed the eunuch and walked aside.

"What's going on?" Yang Xiu was still in shock.

Yuan Yan was also very confused, why did he surrender?
"His Royal Highness has just left Daxing City. The eunuch is someone close to His Majesty. The risk of falsely passing on the imperial edict is too high. As long as we return to the city, we can see through the scam, but if this is true, it will be troublesome."

"How troublesome?"

"If Nan Chen surrendered after His Highness arrived at the front line, even if he surrendered just after arriving, it would be all due to His Highness. But now... we have just left Daxing City and haven't fought a single battle. Your Highness, King of Shu, is also famous. Before we reach the border, Nanchen's surrender will have no merit, and even today's grand expedition ceremony will become the subject of laughter for others in the future."

Yang Xiu frowned tightly: "What should we do now?"

"Although the other party is a familiar face, he has not brought an imperial edict. Your Highness can ignore it for now. I will send someone back to Beijing to investigate and see what the situation is before making a decision."

"it is good."

Just when Yuan Yan was about to send someone out, another group of people came over. This time they were eunuchs from the palace or familiar faces around the emperor, and this time they brought the emperor's token.

"His Royal Highness the King of Shu, quickly follow your slaves and return to the capital in a low profile."

Two groups of people came in succession. Because the emperor felt that Yang Xiu might not believe it, he quickly sent the second group with tokens to invite him.

The emperor did not issue an imperial edict because he did not want to spread the news of Nanchen's surrender yet.

Whether to accept Nan Chen's surrender is still open to discussion.

At this time, Yuan Yan also felt that it was impossible not to return to the capital, and immediately said to Yang Xiu: "Your Highness, you take the five personal guards back to the capital first. Let the soldiers rest where they are first, and I will watch over you."

"No, you come with me."

The smartest and most trustworthy adviser around Yang Xiu is Yuan Yan, so the more times like this, the more he has to take Yuan Yan with him.

Yuan Yan felt Yang Xiu's trust in him and nodded heavily: "Chen, I understand."

The two of them hurried back to Beijing and entered the palace. At this time, there were only a few people standing in the palace hall.

The emperor is at the top, and below him are the most important officials of the Sui Dynasty, including Prince Yang Guang, Yu Wenshu, Yang Su, Yu Qingze, Gao Jue and others, as well as the six ministers.

As soon as Yang Xiu entered, he ran to the emperor in a panic: "Father..."

But before the words were asked, the emperor spoke first: "There is no doubt that Emperor Chen Shubao of Nanchen has submitted the letter of surrender. It is absolutely true."

"This...Father, could this be a trap? As soon as there was news of our expedition, Nan Chen handed over a letter of surrender. Could it be that he was deliberately delaying our front in order to get a chance to breathe? "

Yang Jian nodded: "I don't rule out this possibility. Before you arrived, I discussed it with everyone and listened to your opinion. Should we fight Nan Chen at this time or not?"

Yang Xiu said firmly: "Fight, we must fight. How long have we Sui Dynasty been preparing for this time? Now we will not fight if we don't fight. All preparations will be in vain, and if it is Nan Chen's delaying strategy, It just made me waste time, energy and money in vain, and I had to reorganize and fight again.”

"I support fourth brother's idea."

At this time, the person who stood up to support Yang Xiu was the prince Yang Guang, whom no one expected.

"Father, we have been preparing for the Southern Expedition for so long, are we really going to stop fighting? We cannot waste our national strength in vain."

Why does Yang Guang support Yang Xiu?Because before Yang Xiu came, all the civil and military officials in the dynasty said they would not fight, and even the emperor's own opinion was that he would not fight. Yang Guang was the last to express his stance, and such a seemingly firm stance could not produce any practical results.

Gao Jiong, who had the most say in Yang Jian's heart, said: "Your Majesty, I think we cannot fight."

"First, our Sui Dynasty is not a warlike country. The people of the Sui Dynasty love peace. If we can use such an easier way to get Nanchen to surrender, why not do it?"

"Secondly, the lives of Sui soldiers are also lives. As long as they go to the battlefield, half of their lives are surrendered. Even if we have better weapons and better equipment, each of our Sui soldiers will be worth ten. Then Nan Chen has at least hundreds of thousands of troops, but they will have to kill tens of thousands of our soldiers, who are all Sui soldiers."

"Third, if we don't allow Nanchen to surrender, the army and people of Nanchen will definitely fight to the death. In their eyes, we are the enemy country that wants to kill them and exterminate their clan. Even if we capture Nanchen, the difficulty of governing it will probably increase exponentially. It’s better to go with the flow and accept Nan Chen’s surrender now.”

Before Yang Xiu could speak, Yang Guang said: "It's still the same problem just now. What if Nanchen is pretending to surrender and has other plans?"

Yang Xiu continued: "Yes, Nanchen has been at odds with us for so long and suddenly surrendered without any warning. Don't you think it's suspicious?"

At this time, Yu Qing came out and said: "Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness the King of Shu, even if Nan Chen pretends to surrender, according to our current deployment, the worst result is to wait for a year and a half before going out to fight. With this Compared with if Nanchen surrendered sincerely this time, our Sui Dynasty could capture Nanchen without spending a single soldier. Compared with the two, I believe that the two highnesses can make a more reasonable choice." "No, not possible. If Nan Chen's plan succeeded, they must be harboring some bad ideas, Father, they must not be gullible."

The quarrel became fierce, and Yang Xiu took the lead. However, except for Yang Guang, who gave a few false words of support at the beginning, the rest of the people in the court asked for a joint discussion. He alone could not stir up trouble.

Yuan Yan could see clearly from the side and said it was a discussion, but the emperor had already made up his mind and just let others convince Yang Xiu.

Sure enough, when Yang Xiu and Yuan Yan couldn't convince everyone, the emperor spoke appropriately at the right time.

"Since Chen Shubao of Nanchen has sent documents of surrender, as a country of etiquette, I think we can take a look first."

"Father..."

Yang Xiu wanted to say something else, but Yuan Yan stopped him and shook his head to signal him to stop talking.

Yang Xiu felt a tightness in her chest that could not be released, and she felt very uncomfortable.

Yang Jian looked at Yu Qingze and said, "You were reading the document just now. What did Chen Shubao write in the book?"

Yu Qing came out with the surrender document. The document was very long, but Yu Qing spoke concisely.

"The document is stamped with Chen Shubao's seal, and the calligraphy is that of Yuan Xian, the Prime Minister of Southern Chen. Yuan Xian is a famous calligrapher, so his calligraphy is widely circulated and I can recognize it, so there is no doubt that the document is official."

"In the document, Chen Shubao first complimented the Sui Dynasty, and then said that after careful consideration, he decided to surrender to the Sui Dynasty in order to protect the people and land of Nanchen from being devastated."

"At the same time, he also made a demand for surrender at twelve o'clock."

"First, the Sui Dynasty promised not to use troops against Nanchen and not to harm the people of Nanchen."

"Second, the Sui Dynasty must not kill the Chen family, but must preserve the Chen family's legacy."

"Third, every year Nanchen promised to pay [-]% of his income to the Sui Dynasty in coins, but he wanted to obtain the Sui Dynasty's machines for manufacturing cheap goods."

"Fourth, the Chen family still lives in Jiankang City and has military power over Jiankang City and surrounding cities."

"Fifth, the Sui Dynasty was not allowed to garrison troops in Jiankang City."

"Sixth, the title of Emperor Chen Shubao should not be revoked and renamed Emperor of the South."

"Seventh, the Sui royal family married their daughter into the Nanchen royal family."

"Eighth, Princess Nanchen will marry the Crown Prince of the Sui Dynasty."

"Ninth, freedom of commerce and trade, no interference."

"Tenth, Nanchen has the right to cast its own currency and does not use Sui currency."

"No. 11, Nanchen students can participate in the imperial examinations of the Great Sui Dynasty. Nanchen will also hold imperial examinations, and the Great Sui Dynasty cannot prevent students from participating."

"No. 12, help Nan Chen establish a school and medical school."

After listening to these simplified and summarized conditions, Yang Xiu immediately said: "Father, is this a condition of surrender? Emperor Nanchen retains the title of emperor and has his own army. What is the difference between this and no surrender?"

Yang Jian himself also frowned. This condition seemed not very sincere.

Yang Su stood up and said: "Your Majesty, surrender negotiations are not something that can be completed overnight. Nanchen's economy, culture, and military strength are far from comparable to Goguryeo. Now it is understandable that they have put forward some conditions, and we can also put forward our own The conditions are so high that you have to pay back the money."

Gao Xi nodded: "I agree with this statement. Since it is a negotiation, the conditions this time must not count."

Everyone started talking again, but they still agreed on negotiation.

Finally, the emperor said: "You will be responsible for the negotiations with Gao Xi. First, send someone to reply to Nan Chen. I intend to accept their surrender and agree on a time and place for negotiations."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Seeing that there was no way to save the day, Yang Xiu could only lament.

The emperor continued: "Among the surrender conditions given by Nan Chen, all items other than the first, seventh, eighth, and ninth items are not allowed and must be overturned. These four items can be discussed."

Yang Guang reacted immediately.

"Seventh, the Sui royal family married their daughter into the Nanchen royal family."

"Eighth, Princess Nanchen will marry the Crown Prince of the Sui Dynasty."

Yang Guang immediately said: "Father, when we were targeting the Turks, we once said that without a marriage, without ceding land, and without paying compensation, how could we marry the princess to the Nanchen royal family."

Yang Jian, however, did not think this was a peace treaty: "If we accept Nanchen's surrender, even Nanchen's royal family will definitely be crowned king. By then, he will be a subject of the Sui Dynasty. This cannot be regarded as a peace marriage."

"Then Article [-] doesn't work either. I already have enough wives and concubines, and I don't want to add any more."

Yang Jian said disapprovingly: "You are the prince now, so you should sacrifice some for the country. This condition is the most reasonable and reasonable among Nanchen's twelve conditions. Even if they don't mention it, I will add it to it." .”

"This... I think the fourth brother is more suitable."

Yang Xiu immediately interrupted: "No, brother Huang, brother, no need."

As a special favorite, Yang Xiu decisively rejected this condition.

This is good, this other country sent a princess here, and there has never been a situation where princes have given way to each other since ancient times.

The emperor had a headache because the eldest son and the third son were too carefree, and the second son and the fourth son were too carefree. Why couldn't they be moderated?

Yang Jian didn't want to continue to have headaches because of such a small matter, so he said: "Let your mother decide on this matter later. These few items are settled like this. You can decide the time for the rest. We will discuss the results in the next few days."

"King Shu, go and take all the soldiers back to the camp on the outskirts of Beijing. Disperse them all and stop gathering together."

Yang Xiu reluctantly accepted his life.

I thought I had made great achievements, but I didn't expect that it ended without doing anything. I was so angry no matter how much I thought.

Before leaving the palace, Yang Guang found him alone: ​​"Fourth brother, you can't go to the southern expedition this time, so I give you this red-maned horse as a souvenir for my brother."

(End of this chapter)