Chapter 1218: Linjiang Serves the King
"Brother, Guangling Xu Du sent back a letter saying that the successor had been traveling for a long time in the past, and was not filial to his parents. It is only natural that he should be respectful and filial now. However, the situation in Jiangbei is still unstable, especially the power of Wei in Huainan is strong. It may be difficult to stabilize Guangling alone. If Jingkou is set up in one prefecture, the north and south can respond to each other and advance and retreat at will..."
When Chen Xu said this, he couldn't help cursing: "The dog thief is really greedy. If Jingkou and Guangling belong to him, he will be the tyrant of the North Prefecture!"
It's no wonder that Chen Xu was so angry. You must know that when their uncle Chen Baxian went upstream to attack Wang Sengbian and seize hegemony, the territory he controlled was just like this. Now Xu Du is asking for Guangling and Jingkou just to show his support for their brothers to govern.
"Since he dared to ask for it, how could I not be willing to give it to him? Give it to him!"
Chen Qian was not very angry about this, but said in a deep voice: "If the big thing is settled, we can work on it slowly. If it is not settled, my brothers and I will all be prisoners. Who will Jingkou belong to? What does it have to do with me? Now Xu Du is willing to be corrupted by me because of his greed for a while. How can I keep him away from me because of the amount of floating profits!"
Speaking of this, he looked at Chen Xu and said seriously: "Why is the successor now controlled by others? It is because he is too confident that he is the only son of his uncle and will be the successor of the country. The world is his private property and he is reluctant to share it with the masses.
However, as strong as Li Boshan in Guanzhong, he still gave the false name to the upper and the material benefits to the lower, and he had a moderate punishment and reward, and a proper supervision and appointment, so that he could monopolize power. The successor just admired his strength but did not examine his methods, so he failed to live up to the personnel arrangement."
"A I have taken note of your teachings. "
Chen Xu obeyed his elder brother's words, but he was still a little dissatisfied in his heart. He couldn't help but whispered: "But Li Boshan may not be as wise as my elder brother said. He just pretends to be kind and righteous, and condones his subordinates to bully men and women. Outsiders don't know and still brag about it!"
Chen Qian naturally didn't bother to pay attention to Chen Xu's little emotion, and then continued: "Shouchang Gong is still fighting with the bandits in Jiangzhou. There is no need to disturb the affairs in the capital for the time being. Send a letter to tell him to fight with peace of mind. With me in Beijing, he will have no worries and the supply of food and grass will be abundant! Wuzhong Shen Ke used to fight side by side with me to fight Du Kan and conquer the Three Wus. He is encouraged by good words and there is no need to worry. "
"Wu Mingche of Qin County is a big trouble after all! There are many ignorant people in Jiangdong today. Because of his merits in Wei, they blindly treat him. I am flattered, but I have lived in Wei for a long time and know that he is favored by Li Boshan and has been sent to accompany him on many important events. Now he has returned to Huainan, he must have some ulterior motives! "
Chen Xu said again: "Hou Andu and Wu Mingche had many conflicts in the past. He was exiled by his uncle before. Andu must have been resentful. Why not call him back to the court and let him guard against Wu Mingche?"
After hearing this suggestion, Chen Qian pondered for a while, and then shook his head slowly and said: "Hou Andu is brave on the outside and arrogant on the inside. Even my uncle often finds it difficult to control him. I am afraid that my brothers will find it even more difficult to control him. If we rely on him to accomplish things, he will be even more arrogant. Moreover, his previous actions angered the two northern countries. It is not appropriate for me to use him in a hurry when the situation is not determined. "
"Does my brother still plan to continue to befriend Wei? How is this possible! The successor was originally a puppet that Li Boshan wanted to support in Jiangzuo. Now he is counterattacked by my brothers. It will ruin their plot, and it will be very difficult for us to make peace with each other. It is better to abandon this side and concentrate on one place! "
When Chen Xu heard what his brother said, he frowned again and said, "In my opinion, it is time to abolish the Crown Princess to please the Queen Mother, and choose a good family in Jiangdong as the heir to please the sentiments of my native people. After all, I am a distant country to Wei, and Wei is a mortal enemy to Qi. It will be difficult for them to cross the river to attack me. Once this happens, Qi will move. In this situation, there is really no need to kneel down and serve them!"
After hearing this, Chen Qian shook his head and said, "How can we listen to the Queen Mother's opinion! The Crown Princess is dignified and polite, and she is a good mother of the country. She must not be abandoned lightly! It is not easy for me to make peace with Wei, and I must not break up lightly. Although the first lord is gone, the successor must be more respectful. If Wei really relies on its strength and arrogance, it does not need Zhou and Zhao, then our people will know that they should be strong! Before that, we must not make any provocative moves! "
Chen Qian knew very well that no matter how secure the current situation in the country seemed to be, it was still unstable. The final decision on whether the situation could be stabilized depended on the attitude of the Western Wei.
The Western Wei was not only powerful, but also had a profound influence and threat on the Southern Chen. It was true that Chen Xu said that the Western Wei did not dare to raise a large army to invade, but the problem was that the Western Wei did not need to attack the two brothers whose power was not stable.
What Chen Qian had to do now was to use these local Yuan followers in the country to quickly stabilize the people's hearts when the first lord died and people's hearts were turbulent, and And try to distribute the personnel interests in the country as much as possible, so that all parties can be satisfied and willing to accept their brothers as spokespersons for all parties.
If this is achieved, if the Western Wei wants to overturn this situation, it will directly violate the interests of everyone in the country, and it will be necessary to intervene with greater force to achieve the goal, but it is not ruled out that it will end up in vain.
For example, when the Northern Qi wanted to support Xiao Yuanming to cross the river to establish a puppet regime, it even forced Wang Sengbian to bow his head by force, but it did not expect to be strongly opposed by Chen Baxian, and the Northern Qi paid a painful price for it.
Even if the current Western Wei is stronger than the Northern Qi in the past, and has a more obvious strategic advantage, when it faces the whole Jiangdong regime with united will, it must consider whether the cost of investment is proportional to the return obtained.
Therefore, as long as Chen Qian can unite the people in the country closely enough, and is willing to maintain a respectful attitude towards the Western Wei, abide by the past alliance, and make certain concessions, the Western Wei may not necessarily support Chen Chang blindly, and it is very likely to recognize the current situation.
The reaction of the Western Wei was faster and more fierce than Chen Qian expected. Just when the Chen Qian brothers had just stabilized the situation in the capital, more than a dozen large and small ships from Liyang crossed the Hengjiang River and sailed towards Jiankang.
The patrol navy of the Southern Chen came forward to inquire, and the other party only said that they were transporting mourning rituals for the Crown Princess Li. This was obviously just a perfunctory statement. What kind of mourning rituals needed so many ships to escort? And judging from the deep draft of the large ship, it is possible that it was filled with fully armed soldiers.
But this reason was irresistible. After all, the Southern Chen had just announced that the successor would ignore the government and state affairs for mourning. Now as the family of the Crown Princess, it was natural for them to send a batch of ritual vessels for the full ceremony.
When this news was passed to Jiankang City, the Chen brothers were also very nervous. Not to mention Chen Qian, who was unwilling to start a war with the Western Wei, even Chen Xu, who had previously boasted that he was not afraid of a war, now looked at Chen Qian nervously and said, "Brother, the Wei army will not really attack across the river, right?"
"Using troops at this time will do harm to both sides. Li Zhen of Liyang and the Crown Princess are blood brothers and sisters. This time they sent boats to the south, probably because they were worried about the safety of the Crown Princess and deliberately tested her."
After a moment of hesitation, Chen Qian said, "For the time being, we will lead the fleet to Zhanggong Island, and then invite the old friends of the Crown Prince and the Wei Kingdom to meet them and tell them that the successor and the Crown Princess are safe and sound. I believe the Wei army will not dare to rush to use troops."
After making these arrangements, Chen Qian was still not at ease, so he arranged for General Qian Daoji to lead 3,000 armored soldiers to guard Shitou City to prevent external forces from approaching Jiankang.
But such an arrangement was only better than nothing. The threat of Wei to Jiankang was too severe. As long as they took action, they could be at the gates of the city in a very short time. The only thing that Southern Chen could do was to gather heavy troops in the capital to form the last line of defense. It can be said that once the war started, it would be a decisive battle. There was no room for stalemate outside the capital!
The Wei side responded so quickly that Chen Qian felt that time was running out. So he quickly contacted people from all sides in the country to form an alliance as soon as possible, and naturally, various promises were indispensable for this.
However, soon, new changes occurred in Jiangbei. Nankang Wang Chen Tanlang, who was originally held hostage in Guanzhong, suddenly arrived in Qin County, Jiangbei, and sent an envoy to Jiankang to announce his attitude: Now that the successor is in the court, it is legitimate to succeed the throne in front of the spirit. The empress dowager should not and has no right to order the outer court. Those who do not follow the successor's order should resign and return to their duties. Otherwise, Nankang Wang will mobilize the Jiangbei righteous army and cross the river to serve the king!
After Chen Tanlang's declaration was spread to the capital, it immediately set off waves again in Jiankang City, where the human situation had calmed down a little. The officials in the court were worried, and even the common people were like frightened birds, quickly packing up their belongings and fleeing to the outside of the capital.
Chen Qian and his brothers were also shocked by this. They immediately sent envoys to Qin County, hoping to persuade Chen Tanlang to cross the river and come to the court to talk it out with the brothers, and not to make a fuss outside casually, thereby exposing the discord of the royal family and being laughed at.
But Chen Tanlang was dismissive of this and directly ordered the envoy sent by Chen Qian to be beheaded on the riverside to show that he would never collude with rebellious people!