Chapter 1181: Serving the country is difficult

Chapter 1181: Serving the country is difficult

The reason why Chen Baxian severely taught Chen Xu a lesson was not only because his rash and presumptuous remarks might destroy the atmosphere of the alliance between Southern Chen and Western Wei, but also because he was somewhat guilty.

Because when Chen Xu was speaking in front of people and said that the foreign policy of Southern Chen would also follow the trend, Jingkou had already received a message from Northern Qi. Chen Baxian's nephew, King Nankang Chen Tanlang, who was stationed in Jingkou, also reported the situation to Jiankang at the first time.

Chen Baxian was still hesitating whether to have some substantive contact and exchanges with Northern Qi, but he didn't expect that Chen Xu, who was so smart, had already shouted first. This naturally made Chen Baxian feel embarrassed and annoyed. Just inviting Chen Xu to the palace to reprimand him was already a very generous way of dealing with it.

Although there was an alliance between Southern Chen and Western Wei, it did not mean that Southern Chen could not contact Northern Qi or other forces and regimes in private, or even develop cooperative relations.

Without any clear explanation or restriction, Southern Chen, as an independent regime, naturally had absolute autonomy in diplomacy, and Chen Baxian also had the power to decide what diplomatic strategy to adopt. Of course, the series of changes and influences caused by this naturally had to be borne by Southern Chen itself.

From Chen Baxian's point of view, he certainly hoped that Western Wei and Northern Qi would confront and restrain each other, while Southern Chen would be able to get along well with both countries. This was the approach and state that best suited the interests of Southern Chen.

However, Western Wei and Northern Qi were old enemies, and no matter whether they took a policy of fighting or peace with Northern Qi, they naturally did not want Southern Chen to flirt with Northern Qi.

Especially at the moment, Western Wei had achieved great results in fighting Northern Qi, both on the battlefield and in negotiations, which could be described as comprehensive suppression.

Under such circumstances, if the Southern Chen rashly carried out substantial exchanges and cooperation with the Northern Qi, it would directly anger the Western Wei. Even if the Western Wei would not immediately tear its face and hostile to the Southern Chen, it would definitely find a way to retaliate and restrict it from other places. For example, on issues such as the distribution of the spoils of war this time, it might not consider the demands of the Southern Chen too much.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, Chen Baxian decided to contact the envoy of Qi in private first.

First, as Chen Xu said, the current situation of the Three Kingdoms has undergone new changes, and the Southern Chen, as the weakest of the three countries, needs to have a more sensitive and timely response to this new change in order to gain more room for maneuver in the subsequent development of the situation.

Second, even if there is a certain degree of contact and communication with Qi in private, it does not mean that the two sides will immediately start any substantial cooperation.

If the Northern Qi was not sincere and was just trying to sow discord, Chen Baxian would not fall into the trap easily. He could even take this opportunity to find out the truth about the Northern Qi and share the relevant information with the Western Wei for the Western Wei to use in the subsequent negotiations with the Northern Qi.

With this idea in mind, Chen Baxian secretly sent his confidant Xu Du to Jingkou to communicate with the Qi people on the other side and report any progress to them as soon as possible.

However, as the two sides established a channel of communication, the news sent back by Jingkou disappointed Chen Baxian. It turned out that the Northern Qi did not have any actual and specific cooperation plan for the Southern Chen to choose from, but only conveyed an intention to directly hand over Huainan to the Southern Chen.

Although this was also good news for the Southern Chen, the Northern Qi used this to reveal its goodwill to make peace with the Southern Chen, and the Southern Chen did not have to rely on the Western Wei to recover the Huainan counties without any effort.

But Chen Baxian knew that there was no such thing as a free benefit in the world. The Northern Qi's approach seemed to be showing goodwill to the Southern Chen, but in fact it was also deliberately sowing discord.

If Chen Baxian really couldn't hold back and took the bait, even if he could bypass the Western Wei and successfully take over the six counties of Huainan, he would still face a huge trouble.

The Western Wei invested a lot of manpower and material resources and took great pains to force the Northern Qi to give up the Huainan area, but in the end, it was even deprived of the right to distribute the final results of the war. In addition, the Southern Chen was greedy and ungrateful. The Western Wei was very likely to choose to tear up the alliance directly and turn its troops to the Southern Chen. If the situation really came to this point, it would be absolutely disastrous for the Southern Chen!

While Chen Baxian was still hesitating and struggling, Li Zhen, who had returned to Liyang from Hongnong, also sent an envoy to Jiankang. He first formally notified him of the results of the Huainan negotiations, and then asked Chen Baxian to arrange his country's first brigade. After the divisions and brigades in Yingzhou and Hezhou of the Western Wei Dynasty were assembled, they would march into Huainan together and take over the counties and territories from the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Although Chen Baxian had expected this, he was still a little disappointed when he heard this.

The Western Wei Dynasty had already stationed a considerable number of troops in Liyang, Hefei and other places. As a result, Yingzhou and other Jingxiang troops were dispatched to take over the Huainan city this time. This meant that the Western Wei Dynasty had to send more troops to Huainan, which meant that the six counties of Huainan obtained through negotiations would not be completely transferred to the Southern Chen Dynasty. As for how much would be handed over to the Southern Chen Dynasty, and whether it was important or unimportant territory, it was even more unpredictable.

"If you are weaker than others, you will inevitably be controlled by them! If the Northern Expedition Division can make great achievements recently, the distribution of the results of the Huainan campaign today will not have to be entirely dependent on the Wei people."

Even though Chen Baxian was determined, he couldn't help but sigh with regret at this moment.

If the important town of Huainan could not be controlled by himself, the so-called river defense of Southern Chen would be useless. The current living forces needed to be deployed along the river. The local forces in Nanchuan and Lingnan could not be effectively suppressed and pacified, which made Southern Chen always in serious internal and external troubles.

Originally, the fierce battle between the two northern countries was an excellent opportunity for Southern Chen to open up the situation in Huainan. As a result, due to insufficient preparation and the imperfect performance of the Northern Expedition soldiers, this opportunity was wasted.

As the Western Wei's advantage in Huainan was further consolidated and strengthened, Chen Baxian was afraid that he would never see the power of Southern Chen expand in Huainan and Jiangbei again in his lifetime.

For a hero like him, the most terrifying thing is not being in adversity, but the desperate situation where there is no hope and turning point.

Chen Baxian naturally did not want the rest of his life and the entire Southern Chen regime to sink under the huge shadow cast by the Western Wei from now on. He also realized that his son might not be a leader who could handle difficulties and be heroic, so he also wanted to gain some room for change.

So he secretly sent a message to Hou Andu, the main general of the Northern Expedition who was now supervising the war in Jiangbei, telling him to act at his convenience when necessary, and gave Hou Andu the power to adapt to the situation and take over the Huainan territory first.

After all, with the order of retreat from the Northern Qi, the rule will inevitably collapse and the followers will fight to retreat. Under such circumstances, it is very reasonable for Hou Andu, as a front-line general of the Southern Chen, to advance to stabilize the situation, and the Western Wei could hardly find any fault with this.

On the other hand, he sent someone to inform Liyang about the communication between the Qi people and the Southern Chen. This was done to show his selflessness and openness, and he would not conspire with Northern Qi behind the back of Western Wei. At the same time, it was also to urge Western Wei to speed up the work of taking over Huainan, so as to avoid any new variables.

If the work of taking over can be carried out in advance, the military strength of Western Wei in Huainan alone is not enough to distribute and control it, so it will naturally need to rely more on the army of Southern Chen.

It has always been easier to invite gods than to send them away. If the Southern Chen army went to the counties and stationed with the tacit consent of Western Wei, then there would naturally be various excuses and reasons for evading in the future. They would just have to argue with each other slowly, and it was not worth hurting the harmony for this.

Chen Baxian's plan was not bad, but he still underestimated the confidence of Western Wei in facing Northern Qi.

After learning about this situation, Li Zhen in Liyang did not become nervous, but wrote to Chen Baxian excitedly, hoping that Southern Chen could escort the envoys of Northern Qi to Liyang, and then send them to Hongnong, and put them in front of the Qi envoys who were negotiating peace for questioning.

In other words, the Western Wei Dynasty was not afraid of the Northern Qi Dynasty's changing attitude on the Huainan issue. Instead, it was happy to use this as a reason to continue to increase pressure on the Northern Qi Dynasty.

But Chen Baxian was in a dilemma. He just wanted to create an atmosphere of urgency and uncertainty. However, if he really responded to Li Zhen's request and sent the envoy sent by the Northern Qi Dynasty to Liyang, it would undoubtedly completely cut off the possibility of continuing to seek peace with the Northern Qi Dynasty, which would increase the cost of subsequent exchanges and make it difficult to carry out in-depth communication.

While he was still considering how to decline this request, Hou Andu, the commander of the Jiangbei army, gave Chen Baxian a big "surprise" in a way that Chen Baxian could not have expected after receiving Chen Baxian's instructions!