Chapter 843 The remaining embers

Chapter 843 The remaining embers

Wang Sengbian's rejection of the Northern Qi envoy's request to return Guangling not only made Qi leader Gao Yang very angry, but also the generals under Wang Sengbian were puzzled.

"Now that Jiangling has fallen, the king has been robbed, and our country has been severely damaged, we need to recruit help from all parties in order to restore the decline. Although the people of Qi are greedy and treacherous, they have been enemies of Wei for many generations. Seeing that they are not willing to unite with us to fight against Wei Fake!"

After Wang Sengbian clearly rejected the request of the Qi envoy, his brother Wang Sengmin, who had been staying in Jiankang to assist him in managing military and political affairs, said with a puzzled face: "Li Boshan is a talented man with great strategies. I must know that Jiangling In its heyday, we did not even dare to claim victory. Now that Jiangling has fallen, how can we and the lower divisions defeat it?

Although Guangling is also an important town for Jiang defense, it is not a matter of life and death for me now. It is better to abandon them quickly and form strong reinforcements, so that we can advance and retreat without losing support! "

After Wang Sengbian heard this, he sighed deeply, and after a while he said: "Guangling City was lost and recovered, all thanks to Chen Situ. If I ordered it to be abandoned in order to please the people of Qi, I might be at odds with Chen Situ." Besides, my division is not in Guangling now. Even if I want to give it up, but Chen Situ refuses to agree, it will inevitably lead to internal disputes and breach of trust externally, and the situation will be even worse by then!"

After Wang Sengxin heard this, he paused and said: "Even if Chen Baxian is greedy for seizing the fortress and refuses to give it up, once the Qi army comes south, how long can he hold it with his own troops? Not only will the city be lost to me, but also the city will be lost to me. He himself will lose his troops, lose peace with the Qi people, and have no way to recruit reinforcements to fight against the Wei army! What Kuang Jin is talking about is bravely going to the national disaster, and the army is trapped in the rear. How can Chen Baxian not feel ashamed? "

When Wang Sengbian heard this, he looked a little unnatural, and after a while he said: "The fall of Jiangling has become a fact, but the situation is not at its worst yet. Even if Li Boshan is extraordinary wise, I am afraid that he will not be able to calm Jiangling's people in a short time. Conflict. Moreover, Wang Lin's troops arrived in Xiangzhou and faced each other across the river and lake. In a short time, it was difficult for the Wei army to go down the river.

The national calamity this time is far greater than that of Hou Jing in the past, and the situation cannot be restored by a few hasty battles. Even if the Qi people formed an alliance with me, all they would do is drive me west to fight with Wei, while Qi would take the opportunity to seize my Jiangnan city.

Li Boshan is a famous general in the world, how can he easily defeat him? Instead of rushing to fight, it is better to consolidate our fundamental territory in the south of the Yangtze River for the time being, and then think about a long-term countermeasure after the people and the land are harmonious and the troops are full. Before King Jin'an entered Jiankang, he was worse than still when he moved! "

Compared with everyone who is eager to save the bad situation, Wang Sengbian is now the pillar of the entire Nanliang. Of course, he must think more comprehensively and thoughtfully. It is true that joining forces with Northern Qi can obtain strong support in a short period of time, but is this strong support so reliable?

It should be noted that not long ago, Li Boshan of the Western Wei Dynasty, who had always been kind-hearted, personally led his troops to Huainan, joined forces with their Nanliang armies to cause trouble, and cooperated with Chen Baxian to recapture Guangling. But he turned around and led his army to kill their capital Jiangling City and capture their king!

The alliance with the Northern Qi Dynasty was just to drink poison to quench thirst, and the poison was very strong. The poison mixed with it was not wine or honey, but simply arsenic. According to the request made by the Northern Qi envoy, they would only consider sending troops to join forces if Guangling was returned to them. Even if Wang Sengbian was willing to agree, Chen Baxian, who had spent so much money to take back Guangling and was currently under actual control, would never agree!

Nowadays, Chen Baxian is second only to Wang Sengbian in terms of power and prestige in the country. If you want to get help from Northern Qi, you have to break up with Chen Ba first. This is equivalent to cutting off one's own arm first and then expecting others to rescue him. If there are any other strategies that can be thought of, Wang Sengbian cannot choose this one. !

Especially now, although Wang Sengbian nominally commands the armies, the commanders of the armies also have their own plans. They sometimes even obeyed the orders of the Jiangling court. Now that the court has fallen, how much will they obey the orders of Wang Sengbian, the so-called Taiwei?

In fact, Wang Sengbian has lost part of his control over the situation. During the Huainan war in the middle of the year, Hou Qi and Zhang Biao also led their troops to participate. As a result, Zhang Biao was captured alive by Duan Shao of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and Hou Qi was defeated. And return.

At that time, Wang Sengbian wanted to cover up his failure to capture Liyang, and was afraid that the Emperor of Jiangling would blame the generals downstream of him for attacking Qi without permission, so he ordered the defeated Hou Yi to be sent to Jiangling to be punished by the emperor to vent his anger. .

As a result, when Hou Yi arrived in Jiangzhou, he asked someone to bribe Xiao Fangzhi, the governor of Jiangzhou and the king of Jin'an, with goods, so he stayed in Jiangzhou and did not continue west to Jiangling.

Soon after, Jiangling was attacked by the Western Wei army. Jiangling's urgent envoys went down the river and rushed to Jiankang to report the news. Wang Sengbian immediately ordered Pei Zhiheng, Cheng Lingxi, and Chen Baxian's Du Sengming and Wu Mingche to lead their troops west to rescue Jiangling.

However, the city of Jiangling was destroyed too quickly. The reinforcements from the west had just arrived in Jiangzhou, and the news of the city's destruction had already arrived, and all the kings and ministers of Jiangling were captured by the Western Wei Dynasty. As a result, Xiao Fangzhi, the king of Jin'an who was in Jiangzhou, became the only Liang prince who had not been captured by the Western Wei army.

Jiangling has fallen, and important towns such as Yingzhou in the west are also in the hands of the Western Wei army. The reinforcements from all walks of life are unable to advance and retreat, and they can only temporarily gather around Xiao Fangzhi, King of Jin'an. Hou Qi, who had been dismissed for crimes before, was a blessing in disguise. He gained the trust of Xiao Fangzhi, the king of Jin'an, by virtue of his previous bribery to the king of Jin'an.

So now the remaining forces in Nanliang are no longer a question of whether to immediately start a war with the Western Wei Dynasty and regain Jiangling, but whether they will directly fall apart and fight on their own! In addition to Jiankang, where Wang Sengbian was stationed, and Jingkou, where Chen Baxian was stationed, Jiangzhou, where King Xiao Fangzhi of Jin'an was currently located, had actually become a temporary center.

The problem Wang Sengbian is facing now is not whether to unite to fight against Wei, but to welcome Xiao Fangzhi, the king of Jin'an, back to Jiankang as soon as possible, and not to let Xiao Yi, the only Liang Emperor still in the land of Nanliang, His son fell into the control of others, otherwise he, the lieutenant, would be even more embarrassed!

Therefore, during this period of time, Wang Sengbian sent envoys to the west one after another to advise Xiao Fangzhi, the king of Jin'an in Jiangzhou, to quickly go eastward and come to Jiankang to preside over the grand event, otherwise the last few embers of the sparks in Nanliang would be completely destroyed. It was consumed in infighting and disputes!

Fortunately, Hou Yi was not arrogant enough to think that he could withstand the Western Wei army. In addition, the situation created by Li Boshan was extremely oppressive to Nanliang, not to mention that Yingzhou, several hundred miles to the west of Jiangzhou, had already After being taken over by the Western Wei Dynasty, even the powerful Lu brothers of Jinxi in the northeast of Jiangzhou had clearly defected to the Western Wei Dynasty.

It can be said that the current situation faced by Jiangzhou Xunyang City is no different from the situation faced by Jiangling City before, and they have all been exposed under the eyes of the Western Wei forces. Jiangling is still difficult to defend, and Xunyang City is also just a dish. It just depends on when the Western Wei Dynasty will eat chopsticks.

Forced by such a severe enemy situation, and with Wang Sengbian, Chen Baxian and other important ministers urging King Jin'an to come east, after the Chinese New Year, the generals temporarily stationed in Jiangzhou finally led their troops to follow King Jin'an. Xiao Fangzhi traveled eastward from Xunyang and returned to Jiankang.

Emperor Liang Xiao Yi was always wary of his generals and liked to appoint his sons as governors of large states, regardless of whether the sons could actually manage state affairs. Because of this habit, he gave away several sons. Fortunately, he had many sons and could bear it. However, it turns out that this employment habit still has certain positive significance. At least one person was retained and he was not single-handedly taken over.

The King of Jin'an, Xiao Fangzhi, was only thirteen years old. When the generals drove to the outside of Jiankang City and saw Wang Sengbian and others who were already waiting here, Xiao Fangzhi immediately grinned and burst into tears. While wiping away tears, he pointed at Wang Sengbian and said, "Why didn't Taiwei save my father?"

After Wang Sengbian heard this, his body trembled suddenly. A moment later, the sweat on his forehead and the tears in his eyes rolled down. He grabbed the ground with his head and cried loudly: "The city of Jiangling was suddenly destroyed. By the time we learned the news, it was already too late. Lu Fahe, Hu Sengyou and other generals were in vain for their master's favor and could not buy time for King Qin's troops... This battle was not a crime of war, but a fate that was not blessed..."

After hearing the words, all the generals also came forward to cry and join in. For a while, the entire outside of Jiankang City was filled with cries of extreme grief.

Then the generals entered Jiankangtai City from King Jin'an. Since the emperor and the crown prince were all kidnapped by the Western Wei Dynasty, and their lives and deaths are still unknown, King Jin'an was temporarily appointed as the supervisor of the country. Taiwei Wang Sengbian was the commander-in-chief of all Chinese and foreign military affairs. Situ Chen Baxian added the general to conquer the West, Wang Lin, the governor of Xiangzhou, was appointed as the general of chariots and cavalry, and Hou Zhen was appointed as the general of Zhenxi and the governor of Jiangzhou. The remaining generals were awarded titles, which can be regarded as the initial formation of a new personnel order after the fall of Jiangling.

Putting aside Xiao Bo and other local forces who have long been entrenched in Guangzhou, the territory that this small imperial court of Remnant Liang can control now is the area on the south bank of the Yangtze River east of Wuchang, south of Dongguan, Qinjun, Guangling and other towns in the north of the Yangtze River.

Among the several forces, Wang Sengbian was the main one. Wang Sengbian made his younger brother Wang Sengmin the prefect of Yuzhang and returned to Jiangzhou with Hou Qi, the governor of Jiangzhou, to take charge. His younger brother Wang Sengzhi was the prefect of Wu County and his son Wang Ban He guarded Dongguan as the prefect of Nanqiao County, and his son-in-law Du Gong was the prefect of Wuxing, forming the core area of ​​control. At the same time, other generals such as Pei Zhiheng, Wei Zai, Xu Sihui, Cheng Lingxi, etc. also obeyed Wang Sengbian's orders and were stationed on various sides.

In addition to the Wang Sengbian Group, the second most powerful group is the Chen Baxian Group. With Jingkou and Guangling as its activity centers, it can be regarded as dividing the east and west with Wang Sengbian and cooperating with each other.

After that, there is Wang Lin's tribe who is entrenched in the south of Dongting Lake. Compared with Wang Sengbian and Chen Baxian, Wang Lin's qualifications and prestige are slightly lower, but he is the most active in counterattacking the invasion of the Western Wei Dynasty, and this It also made Wang Lin the first person to be hit after Jiang Ling.