Chapter 521 Prepare for a rainy day
Chapter 521 Prepare for a rainy day
"I can tell you clearly, Your Highness, that the Emperor will not tour the south again unless Your Highness is transferred away from Jiangnan. Please think about my words carefully."
Yuan Xiaoju said a few words and left.
After returning to the mansion, Xiao Xia was still thinking about Yuan Xiaoju's words in the study. He certainly understood what Yuan Xiaoju meant by this sentence. They had discussed it before. After the rebellion of Prince Qi, the court would inevitably reduce the power of the princes to prevent the next Prince Qi from appearing.
The first target was clearly directed at himself, but there was another meaning in Yuan Xiaoju's words, and the emperor also became suspicious of himself.
The emperor himself had no suspicion of himself, otherwise he would not have handed over the Jiangnan Road to him. However, the rebellion of the King of Qi gave rise to his suspicion. Even his legitimate son rebelled, so how could he still trust his illegitimate son?
Xiao Xia finally realized that it was not a wise move for him to help the court suppress the rebellion of the King of Qi. As long as the King of Qi was not destroyed, the emperor would not dare to touch him, for fear that he would join forces with the King of Qi. But once the King of Qi was destroyed, the emperor would take action against him.
Among his 80,000 troops, 50,000 recruits would not betray him. The key was the navy. If Lai Huer received the secret order from the emperor, who would he be loyal to? And Zhou Fashang, Chen Ling, Zhu Kuan and other high-ranking naval officers, would they be loyal to the emperor or to him?
Xiao Xia felt a little scared. He had to prepare for this possibility as soon as possible.
At night, Liu Wenjing was summoned by Xiao Xia and hurried to the Prince of Jin's Mansion. In the outer study, Xiao Xia told Liu Wenjing about his concerns.
Liu Wenjing pondered for a long time and said, "I have two solutions. First, Your Highness can arrange for Lai Huer's children and grandchildren to live in Jiangdu City, as well as Zhou Fashang, Chen Leng and others. This is a disguised hostage. If they want to betray Your Highness, they have to consider their own families.
Secondly, while the navy has not yet formed, Your Highness should replace all the lower-level navy officers, that is, below the rank of Langjiang, with your own people. This way, even if they want to betray Your Highness, Your Highness can quickly reverse the situation and control the navy. "
Xiao Xia nodded. These were indeed two good ideas and were feasible.
"I can directly convert the training instructors into actual generals. These training instructors are all from my personal guard battalion!"
Xiao Xia's personal guard battalion has a thousand people, all of whom are veterans who have followed him for many years and are loyal to him.
The personal guard battalion is not only responsible for protecting Xiao Xia's safety, but also serves as an instructor for training prisoners of war and new recruits.
Liu Wenjing was delighted and said, "This is a good idea. Your Highness needs to implement it as much as possible while Chen Leng, Zhu Kuan and others are away."
After finalizing the navy response plan, Xiao Xia asked again: "And the Guanlong nobles, I feel that Yuan Xiaoju's words today are full of meaning. If I cooperate with the Guanlong nobles, do you think it is feasible?"
Liu Wenjing smiled slightly and said, "Your Highness can contact them and cooperate with them, but as long as you don't let the Guanlong nobles lead you by the nose, I think there won't be any problems."
After a pause, Liu Wenjing continued, "In addition, I have another suggestion. This time, we suppressed the rebellion of the Shanyue tyrants and seized a large amount of wealth. I think we should quickly turn this wealth into war resources, such as food, cloth, copper, iron, weapons, etc. In addition, if the emperor does not tour the south again, can we find a way to buy more than a thousand ships?"
Buying ships is unlikely, after all, the imperial army also needs ships to cross the Yellow River, but other supplies are possible.
Xiao Xia nodded slowly: "Sir, you are right. We should prepare for war in advance."
In a mansion in Jiangdu, Yuan Xiaoju sat in the lobby, fanning himself and said with a smile, "Summer in the south is too hot and muggy. I am a northerner and I am not used to it. My dear nephew, I am really embarrassing you."
Yuan Wenzhen sat aside and smiled bitterly: "My nephew can bear this bit of stuffiness, but the key is the constant pressure from King Jin, which is hard for my nephew to bear."
Yuan Xiaoju smiled and said, "Don't worry! With the rebellion of the King of Qi, the court will certainly consider reducing the power of the vassal states. Under the heavy pressure of the court, the King of Jin will no longer put pressure on you. On the contrary, he will cooperate with the Guanlong nobles. If not tomorrow, he will definitely come to me again. Otherwise, why would I run to Jiangdu?"
Yuan Wenzhen hesitated for a moment and said, "My nephew is a little confused. It has only been a few years since Prince Yang Liang of Han rebelled, and Prince Yang Ling of Qi has rebelled again. After the death of the previous emperor, the Yang family's rule has become unstable. What is going on?"
Yuan Xiaoju smiled faintly and said, "The key is that the Yang family's kingdom came too easily. If it weren't for the support of the Guanlong nobles, could he have seized the Northern Zhou Dynasty? It can be said that our Guanlong nobles are the foundation of the Sui Dynasty. Although the previous emperor took away our military power, he still recognized the importance of the Guanlong nobles and did not dare to infringe on their interests. But this new emperor is so good. He moved the capital to Luoyang in the second year of his accession to the throne and abandoned Guanlong. Now the housing prices in Chang'an are less than half of what they were a few years ago. A ten-acre house can be bought for five thousand strings of cash. The housing prices are not as good as those in Jiangdu. There are also many veterans who support the Great Sui Dynasty, almost all of whom have been driven back home and are unemployed. The Guanlong nobles have also been gradually separated from the decision-making center of the court by him. Think about it, the foundation has begun to shake. Can the Sui Dynasty be stable?"
Yuan Wenzhen nodded, "My nephew finally understands. The new emperor's perverse actions ultimately led to today's disastrous consequences."
After a pause, Yuan Wenzhen asked again, "How long do you think the King of Qi can last in this rebellion?"
Yuan Xiaoju sneered and said, "Many people regard the rebellion of the Prince of Qi this time as the rebellion of the Prince of Han Yang Liang a few years ago, and that it will be put down in a few months. If you really think so, you are totally wrong."
Yuan Wenzhen was stunned and asked quickly, "Can the master tell me in detail?"
Yuan Xiaoju pondered for a moment and said, "The last time the King of Han rebelled, he had almost no support. In addition, the King of Han acted too hastily and left the native land of Hedong to attack Guanzhong. As a result, the army fell apart after the supply was cut off. But this time the King of Qi's rebellion is different. He will not leave Hebei. He has the support of the Long nobles and Baoguo behind him. Do you think the 100,000 troops he recruited are a mob? No, they are actually soldiers from various counties in Hebei, mobilized by Baoguo to join the King of Qi's army.
We also have manors in various parts of Hebei. There are a lot of grain, weapons and copper coins in the manors. They are our secret support for the King of Qi. As long as he takes these manors, he can get a steady supply. Not to mention the Liyang warehouse, which has 1,500 granaries and 400 large warehouses. So if the court underestimates the enemy when the King of Qi rebels this time, it will be a big trouble. "
The next morning, Xiao Xia sent someone to deliver an invitation to Yuan Xiaoju, inviting him to have lunch at Guangling Restaurant.
Guangling Restaurant is one of the three largest restaurants in Jiangdu and is owned by the Xiao family of Jiangdu.
At noon, in the elegant room on the third floor, Xiao Xia and Yuan Xiaoju sat facing each other, and a maid was cooking wine for them.
After the wine and food were served, Xiao Xia nodded to the maid, who immediately tactfully withdrew.
Xiao Xia personally filled a glass of wine for Yuan Xiaoju and said, "I thought about it for a long time last night. The last thing the Patriarch hinted at me was whether the Emperor would reduce my vassalage after suppressing the rebellion of the Prince of Qi?"
Yuan Xiaoju smiled and said, "As the saying goes, 'Those involved are confused, but those who are on the sidelines can see things clearly'. Your Highness is in the middle of many things and cannot see them clearly. On the contrary, I, as a bystander, can see things more clearly than Your Highness. There are some things that Your Highness does not know, but I know them clearly."
Xiao Xia was silent for a moment and then said, "Can you give me an example?"
Yuan Xiaoju was obviously fully prepared for today's meeting. If he wanted to convince Xiao Xia to cooperate with the Guanlong nobles, he had to reveal some important secrets that Xiao Xia didn't know.
"For example, the Lingyan Pavilion Warriors created by the previous emperor. Since the emperor ascended the throne, do you think it still exists?"
Xiao Xia nodded, "There is indeed no more news!"
"I told your highness that it no longer exists. Last year, there was a fire in Lingyan Pavilion, which burned it completely. Lingyan Pavilion is only in name."
Xiao Xia drank the wine in the glass and asked, "Is there anything else I don't know?"
(End of this chapter)