Chapter 1313: Nan Chen’s Dilemma

Chapter 1313: Nan Chen’s Dilemma

After several years of recuperation, Jiankang City in the Southern Chen Dynasty has completely emerged from the shadow of war and has become prosperous and lively again.

Many mansions have been built on both sides of Qingxi River in the east of the city. There are rows of residential houses in Changganli south of Daheng. The market along the Huai River is bustling with people, and there are endless traffic of carriages, horses, and boats.

The recovery of Jiankang City is certainly due to the reconstruction of order and the restoration of production after the end of the war, but it is also closely related to the exchanges and interactions between the north and the south of the Yangtze River. Otherwise, the personnel foundation of Jiangdong after the turmoil today is far from enough to restore its vitality.

In particular, the rich commodities transported along the river from the Jingxiang area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River have greatly met the daily needs of Jiankang people, and even the commodities obtained through the north-south trade can be overflowed to the Three Wu areas.

It should be noted that Jiankang was severely damaged during the Hou Jing Rebellion and experienced repeated turmoil afterwards. The production order and scale were even completely destroyed for a time. However, the Three Wu regions were relatively less damaged, especially some large estates with many rural men protecting them.

Therefore, in the early days of the establishment of the Southern Chen Dynasty, although the Jiankang region was still the political center, it had almost no ability to produce self-sufficiency. A considerable part of its daily needs required material supplies from the Three Wu regions. Whether the transportation of grains in the Three Wu regions was smooth directly affected the price of rice in Jiankang City.

As the political center of the Southern Chen Dynasty, the Jiankang region was in an absolutely weak position in its internal economic activities, which also limited Jiankang's control over the surrounding areas. After all, only by attracting more people and materials can more resources be mastered.

After Chen Chang, the Lord of Chen, succeeded to the throne, he was no longer a strong monarch. He did not get the support of the clan and the elder ministers at home, and he still needed to rely on the help of the northern regime outside. His situation was even more embarrassing than that of a puppet. After all, as long as the puppets abide by the law, they can temporarily maintain a stable situation. Chen Chang has to face various internal and external variables and challenges, but he still needs to bite the bullet and stand up, but he does not have enough power to solve the problems.

When Linchuan King Chen Qian was exiled from the capital, there were many court officials and generals who would rather give up their official positions in the court and follow Chen Qian to Wuxing, which shows how much the court of Chen Chang lacks deterrence and appeal to the Southern Dynasty.

However, this situation has been gradually reversed in recent years, especially the people's livelihood economy of Jiankang City has continued to improve in the process of trade with Jiangbei, and it has reversed its disadvantageous position in the domestic economic environment.

Before, the tax rice of the Three Wus did not arrive, and the people in the capital had to face the embarrassing situation of having no rice to cook. But now the rice from upstream is not only enough to fill the stomach, but also cheaper than the price from the Three Wus.

In addition to basic necessities of food and clothing, other commodities from Shannan, Jingxiang and other places are much higher in quantity and quality than those in the Three Wus, and the way to obtain them is also more convenient.

This is naturally a great convenience for the people living in Jiankang City. Not only can their living needs be fully met, but the cost of living is also greatly reduced, and they can even rely on this convenience of trade to gain benefits.

However, for the people in the Three Wus, the close trade with Jiangbei is not so pleasant, and even annoying and resentful.

This is because there are many large manors with vast areas in the Three Wus, and these large manors are engaged in various high-economic production, such as planting fruits, tea, ginger, cinnamon, medicinal materials and other crops, as well as various manual production. The proportion of these products that can be digested by themselves is not high, and they often need to be sold in Jiankang area for cash.

However, now there are a large number of new commodities with good quality and low price coming from the upper reaches of the river, and a considerable part of them are difficult to produce in these large manors in the Three Wus.

The products of the Three Wu regions no longer occupy a strong position in the Jiankang market, but their own demand has increased significantly, which has caused them to lose the pricing power of various products. Not only can they no longer grab considerable wealth from the Jiankang market, but their own wealth resources are still flowing out continuously, which naturally makes many Three Wu tyrants unhappy.

The Southern Chen regime was established for a short time and did not accumulate much political cohesion. The reason why it was able to maintain its rule mainly came from the personnel inertia of the Southern Dynasty regime for many years to divide Jiangdong, and the same interests. Especially the latter, in a group, has an eternal significance that transcends other factors.

Therefore, the current Southern Chen has also formed a new order situation because of different interests. On one side, the Jiankang pro-Tang faction with Chen Chang as the core, and on the other side, the Jiangdong local faction composed of local tyrants in the Three Wus who still hope to maintain the rule of the Southern Dynasty, and this faction is centered on Linchuan King Chen Qian and some other founding fathers.

The most important difference between the two parties is how to interact with the Tang Dynasty. One side naturally wants to be close and dependent, while the other side wants to seek more independence and autonomy.

If the demands of the local faction were vague or unrealistic before, after all, the Southern Chen Dynasty was inherently deficient since its establishment. The huge gap in national strength and the severe situation on the border made it difficult for them to maintain an independent and dignified attitude in front of the Guanzhong regime. Then their demands are now clearer, that is, to close the mutual market, or at least to limit the scale of dumping of Jiangbei goods, otherwise the wealth of Jiangdong people will be taken away!

There is no doubt that this kind of conflict based on different interests will become more intense, and both parties must try their best to achieve their respective intentions. For example, Wuxing in Zhenzhou, where Chen Qian is now in charge, basically refuses to accept the orders of the Jiankang court, and Wuxing's attitude directly affects the other areas of Sanwu, which are also relatively indifferent to the Jiankang court.

Such a situation will naturally cause great internal friction and constraints, especially when encountering some unexpected changes and emergencies, which will make it more difficult to exert one's own strength.

"There's still no reply from Wuxing?"

In the Jiankang court, Master Chen Chang asked anxiously, while the ministers in the palace shook their heads with helpless expressions.

Shangshu Zuopushe Wang Tong sighed and said: "The King of Linchuan may have some grudges because he lives outside the city, which is understandable. But now he ignores the difficulties in the country and brazenly intercepts the people and goods of Wuzhong in the city he governs. It is really outrageous. It’s ulterior motives and makes people uneasy! If we continue to tolerate this without further investigation, I’m afraid not only will things change in Nanchuan, but we will also be uneasy day and night.”

New changes occurred in the situation in Nanchuan. In addition to sending envoys to Chang'an to ask for help, Chen Chang also tried to use Nanchen's own strength to solve the problem. He added Wuzhou Governor Hou Qi as the Zhennan General, hoping that he could lead his army south. During the campaign against Wang Lin and other rebels, Hou Qi took the opportunity to ask the court for money and food for his troops, telling him that his army was weak and his generals were short of money and food. Once he received subsidies from the court, he immediately went south to quell the rebellion and attack and kill Wang Lin.

Chen Chang was not an ignorant young man, so he naturally knew what Hou Zhen had in mind. But for him, if he can resolve this incident on his own, it will undoubtedly greatly strengthen Nanchen's control in Jiangzhou and other places, and also allow him to take a certain initiative in his interactions with Datang. .

Therefore, he also wanted to satisfy Hou Yi's request as much as possible so that he could send out troops smoothly. As the season entered autumn, taxes and rice from various states and counties would also be paid to the court, including Daicheng, commercial taxes, and Kuaiji taxes in various places. salt tax.

Although the court officials in Jiankang City are also waiting for the rice to be cooked, the current situation in the country has changed, and it is better to tighten the belt. However, just when Chen Chang was calculating how much military resources he could allocate to Hou Qi, accidents happened frequently. First, Kuaiji and other places reported bad weather this year, the salt field tax revenue was poor, and then ships were stranded in the Qiantang shipping market. , the Dai Cheng that should have been paid will also have to be postponed to Beijing.

The Jiankang court successively sent envoys to urge them, and even sent a team of boats and chariots to personally transport the money and goods that should be paid to the court into Beijing. However, when the people, carriages, and ships arrived at Wuxing, they were all detained. Chen Qidao, the governor of Zhenzhou, was a bandit in the territory. Seriously, all passenger and cargo teams coming and going must be strictly inspected.

The banditry in Wuxing did not break out at this time. The banditry was rampant and unscrupulous as early as the middle of the year, causing great trouble to external communications. Of course, the root cause is still the fact that the Tang Dynasty sent people south to hold people accountable for colluding with the remnants of the Northern Qi Dynasty. Everyone knew that this was just a trick played by the King of Linchuan to support the bandits, and those so-called bandits may be the state soldiers of Zhenzhou.

As a result, Chen Qian is now addicted to playing, and now she is openly using this as an excuse to withhold taxes that should be sent to the DPRK during the changes in the country. She is really audacious.

Wang Tong was born in the Langya Wang family, and now as a minister in power, he has always advocated severe punishment for King Linchuan. As early as when the Tang Dynasty envoy came to the court for accountability, he proposed to simply capture King Linchuan and send him to Chang'an so that Tang Dynasty could personally investigate the crime. In addition to worrying that Datang would use this to pursue the case, it was also because of his relationship with King Linchuan. There were some old grudges.

But the reason why Chen Qian is so arrogant is that she relies on her own support. In addition to the hinterland of Sanwu where he is located, there is also no shortage of supporters in the court.

As soon as Wang Tong finished speaking, Du Leng, who was in charge of Danyang Yin, spoke up and said: "The late emperor used the humerus of Wang Zong's family in Linchuan as an arm to keep him in the city for a long time. Today, Zhejiang and Fujian are safe and sound, and they all rely on his strength. Oops. Or you should try your best to communicate and coordinate if you fail to deal with the matter. If the criticism is too deep, it will make your confidants uneasy and the three Wus will be out of order!"

"Du Yin's words are absurd. Because the King of Linchuan is the head of the clan, he should be more cautious and self-defeating and put state affairs first! The old murderous thief Hou Jing caused chaos in the territory, and the Liang kings gathered the crowd to watch and sit down to watch the disaster. You are the one who is ridiculed by the world, and you are the sinner of Sheji! Now that Nanchuan is in trouble, it is necessary to rely on Sanwu's money and food to quell the chaos, but the king of Linchuan actually intercepted it, and his crime is even worse than that of the Xiao family!"

The leading general Cheng Lingxi started from Hou Jing's rebellion. When he told the story of the Xiao family's kings who gathered in the capital to watch their father being humiliated by Hou Jing, he was also disgusted. When he heard Du Leng's excusing words, he immediately thought He said unceremoniously: "Who is the King of Linchuan? If he had not happened to be born in this court and enjoyed my late emperor's contribution to saving the world, he would be just a prodigal from the Wu Dynasty. The current treatment of him by the court cannot be said to be unkind. He actually respects himself in the territory, so that the government and the public are silent. No one dares to condemn this! I will not be intimidated by this, but I need an order from the king to attack Wuzhong immediately!"

These words became even more serious, and all the ministers in the palace immediately expressed their disapproval. If the Nanchuan Incident was not over, another civil war would break out in Wuzhong. After such a quarrel, naturally no effective consensus could be reached, but Chen Chang's face turned pale with anger.

Similar scenes have happened several times in the past few days, and this is undoubtedly the worst case scenario, which means that Nan Chenfei is now not only unable to calm down the chaos in the country, but also unable to even make a basic response!

There was something even more outrageous. After accepting the official title from the court, Hou Zhen not only did not send troops to attack Wang Lin, but also sent his son to lead a part of his troops to Wuxing to serve as the staff of King Linchuan. He did not take the court's expectations of him seriously. Perhaps he had reached some conspiracy with Chen Qian in private!

After Chen Chang learned about this, he was furious and even began to consider whether to use troops in Wuzhong to completely solve the problem of his cousin Chen Qian. In order to strengthen the deterrence against the Three Wu regions, he also sent people to contact Xu Du, who was stationed in Jingkou, hoping that Xu Du could stand on the side of the court.

Since Jingkou became an important military town in the Southern Dynasty, on the one hand, it has been responsible for the important task of Jiang defense and the control and influence of various places in Huainan, and on the other hand, it has been responsible for the deterrence against the Three Wu regions. Emperor Wu of Song Liu Yu suppressed the Tianshi Dao rebellion that swept across the Three Wus and grew stronger, and eventually became the founding lord of the Southern Dynasty.

Although Xu Du was also a founding minister, he did not have the experience of living in Chang'an and returning to Jiangdong with Chen Chang. He also had a certain friendship with Chen Qian, but he was still one of the people who could be won over.

Xu Du himself was a person from the capital, not a powerful person in the Three Wus. His family had been engaged in business for generations. From the perspective of the factions divided by interests within the Southern Chen Dynasty, he should belong to the faction close to the Tang Dynasty.

This is indeed the case. Although Xu Du was stationed in Jingkou, he had close interactions with Guangling in the north of the Yangtze River and Liyang in the upper reaches. The business was very large. Among the boats traveling back and forth across the Hengjiang River, two or three out of ten were related to Xu Du.

However, because Xu Du's attitude was ambiguous when Chen Qian was in power in Jiankang before, there were some secret collusion between him and Chen Qian, so Chen Chang did not dare to trust him too much. Moreover, since Xu Du had been stationed in Jingkou for a long time since his father, Chen Chang could not intervene in the military and political affairs of Jingkou, so his attitude towards Xu Du was naturally more reserved.

However, Chen Qian was going too far, and Emperor Chen Chang was about to become a laughing stock in the country. In order to effectively strike Chen Qian, Chen Chang began to actively win over Xu Du, constantly sending envoys to Jingkou and giving Xu Du various generous rewards.

Although Xu Du responded enthusiastically, he repeatedly expressed his gratitude and spoke respectfully and earnestly, but he was unwilling to get involved in any substantive issues. He avoided talking about all the attempts of Chen Chang. It can be seen that he probably did not think that Chen Chang had the ability to completely solve Chen Qian, so he was unwilling to stand on the opposite side of Chen Qian before the situation was clear. Therefore, the situation in the Southern Chen Dynasty was still like a pool of stagnant water with few ripples.

However, after the Tang envoys crossed the river and arrived in Jiankang, and conveyed the intentions of the Great Tang Emperor to the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Chen Dynasty, the originally stagnant situation suddenly changed dramatically.