Chapter 611 Parting ways
Chapter 611 Parting ways
The next morning, Xiao Xin found his master Xiao Jianli, who was also his grandfather. In front of his grandfather, Xiao Xin knelt down and paid homage.
Xiao Jianli sat in the hall and said coldly: "I know you are not convinced by me in your heart, so don't pretend in front of me. Just say what you want to say!"
Xiao Xian was silent for a moment and said, "The King of Jin's territory does not include the Lingnan counties. I think we should expand southwards and occupy Shi'an County, Yulin County, Yong'an County, Hepu County and other places, and then connect them through Yuanling County, Qingjiang County and Yiling County."
Xiao Jianli sneered, "You're going to Jiaozhi County in the end, right?"
"Jiaozhi County and Nanhai County are both within the scope of my disciple's campaign."
Xiao Jianli shook his head, "You are simply avoiding the key issue!"
"Disciple does not understand what Master said!"
Xiao Jianli said word by word: "You want to expand southward, I agree, but let's wait for three months!"
Xiao Xin's face turned pale. Prince Jin only gave him one month. After three months, they were gone.
At this time, Xiao Xin also realized that he could no longer avoid it, so he could only sigh and say, "We currently have only 80,000 soldiers, and we are inadequately trained and equipped. More than half of the soldiers have no armor and can only wear paper and cloth armor. The weapons are old and damaged and will break at the first blow. How can we fight against the Jin army on the battlefield? They have tens of thousands of cavalry, heavily armored infantry, powerful warships, and the unheard-of iron fire mines. In a month, the Jin army will launch a massive attack on us. Am I wrong to want to leave a way out for the Liang Dynasty?"
Xiao Jianli shook his head. "You have already decided that you will lose. Why are you still establishing the Liang Dynasty? Why don't you just become the governor of Nanjun? A true monarch never admits defeat and will not leave any escape routes for himself. It is either success or death. If you were not the King of Liang, I would agree to your expedition to Lingnan. But since you are the King of Liang, you must lead the army to fight against the King of Jin's army and would rather die than surrender."
Xiao Xin suddenly burst into tears, and he said loudly: "I am not afraid of death, but I do not want to build a short-lived Liang Dynasty. I want to build a Liang Dynasty that will last for hundreds of years. A real man can bend and stretch. Facing a strong enemy, what does it matter if I endure humiliation and retreat south? What's wrong with me going to Jiaozhi County to build the Liang Dynasty? If we must die in battle, who will build a temple for our ancestors?"
Xiao Jianli narrowed his eyes and looked at Xiao Xin for a long while before saying, "Resign your post as King of Liang! I will appoint you as the Prince of Jiaozhi County instead. See how many people are willing to follow you. You can take them away and I will take over as King of Liang. I want Xiao Xia to know that the officials of the Liang Dynasty can be killed but not humiliated!"
Ultimately, the grandfather and grandson were unable to compromise and the two sides parted ways. Xiao Xin announced his abdication as King of Liang and his replacement as the National Master. Xiao Jianli then appointed Xiao Xin as the Prince of Jiaozhi. Xiao Xin recruited troops to follow him to conquer Jiaozhi, but in the end only 8,000 people signed up. More than a dozen civil and military generals, including Dong Jingzhen, Lei Shimeng, Cen Wenben, Zheng Wenxiu, and Xu Xuanche, were willing to follow.
Ten days later, Xiao Xin led 8,000 people carrying two months' worth of food from Yiling County and began his southern expedition.
In Chang'an, three carriages slowly stopped in front of the gate of Dugu Mansion. Yuan Xiaoju, Yuan Shou and Yuan Hongsi got off the carriages. Dugu Zan greeted the three heavyweights of the Yuan family at the door.
Before that, there were generals Yuan Min and Yuan Zhou. Like Yang Xiong, they were infected with the plague and died on the ship returning from Liaodong.
Dugu Zuan stepped forward and saluted, saying, "My sixth uncle is feeling a little unwell, so I have specially ordered this nephew to come and welcome the three uncles. Please follow me, three uncles!"
Dugu Zan invited the three important figures into the mansion and went straight to the back hall. Dugu Tuo, leaning on a cane, stood in front of the hall to greet everyone.
"Has Brother Dugu's condition improved?" Yuan Xiaoju asked with concern.
"I'm well now, but I'm a little weak and need to use a cane."
"The next step is to slowly recuperate."
"Exactly!"
Everyone walked into the back hall and sat down. Dugu Zan also sat aside. He was the heir to the family head, and the real power of the Dugu family was basically in his hands.
Yuan Xiaoju took out a letter and handed it to Dugu Tuo, "This is a handwritten letter from the King of Jin. I just received it. Take a look, my dear brother!"
Previously, they received letters from Emperor Yang Guang and Dou Yan of Eastern Sui. They disagreed on whether to reconcile. The Yuan family and the Houmochen family agreed, but the Dou family and the Yu family opposed. The Dou family opposed because Dou Wei held military power and did not want to reconcile with Eastern Sui, while the Yu family hated Emperor Yang Guang because of Yu Zhongwen's death. The Dugu family remained silent. In fact, Yuan Xiaoju also knew the Dugu family's thoughts. They wanted to push Li Yuan to replace the Yang family. The current Western Sui was just a transition.
Dugu Tuo read Xiao Xia's letter and handed it to Dugu Zuan. He slowly asked, "What is the possibility that the King of Jin will send troops?"
Yuan Xiaoju pondered for a moment and said, "From the current situation, the King of Jin will definitely send troops. I have received news that the King of Jin has mobilized 50,000 troops and hundreds of warships to Jiangxia. Together with the previous 20,000 garrisons, there are 70,000 troops. They obviously want to destroy Xinliang first, take Jingxiang, and then they will definitely cooperate with the Eastern Sui army to capture Wuguan. This is the condition for Yang Guang to give Jingxiang to the King of Jin. Brother Dugu, we all know that the King of Jin's army has the most powerful firearms. Once he joins the battle, the Western Sui will undoubtedly be defeated."
Yuan Shou also said: "It's September now, and we don't have much time left."
The Yuan family does not care about the attitudes of Dou Wei and the Yu family. Their attitudes are not important. The key is the Dugu family. Once the Dugu family agrees, other families such as the Daxi family, the Dou Lu family, the Yuwen family, the He Ruo family, the Changsun family, etc. will agree. The Yu family will eventually agree. Dou Wei personally opposes it, but other Dou family members will also agree. Dou Yan himself actively advocates reconciliation.
Dugu Tuo and his nephew Dugu Zuan looked at each other, and Dugu Tuo finally nodded, "Okay! We really need to burn incense on both ends, and can't bet on only one. On behalf of the Dugu family, I agree to negotiate with Yang Guang."
Yuan Xiaoju was overjoyed and quickly took out the plan and said, "This is the conditions we drafted, please take a look, Brother Dugu!"
Dugutuo only agreed to negotiate, and reconciliation can only be achieved after the negotiations are successful. As long as it is a negotiation, of course conditions must be listed.
Dugu Tuo took a look and found three main points. The first was to let bygones be bygones and grant a complete pardon. This was a must and there could be no ambiguity at all.
The second was to move the capital back to Chang'an, which was also the basic condition of the Guanlong nobles. The third was to make King Jin Xiao Xia the crown prince. This was the opinion of the Yuan family. On the one hand, Yuan Xiaoju and Xiao Xia had a good personal relationship.
On the other hand, the Yuan family values Xiao Xia's wisdom and tolerance.
Xiao Xia could tolerate the Guanlong nobles supporting the Shanyue rebellion and the Yuan family sending people to the Jin Palace to steal the blueprints. This shows that Xiao Xia has political acumen and is not as impulsive and reckless as his father. Such an emperor is worthy of support.
But Dugutuo disagreed with the third point. If Xiao Xia ascended the throne in the future, what would Li Yuan have to do with?
Dugu Tuo was silent for a moment and said, "Let me think about it first! We will talk about it tomorrow."
The three Yuan family members said goodbye and left. Dugu Tuo handed the plan to his nephew and asked, "What do you think?"
Dugu Zuan thought for a moment and said, "We need to add Li Yuan to the list. We should continue to appoint Li Yuan as the governor of Hedong Road and lead the army to fight against the Turkic invasion."
"This one can be added, but what about the third one? Making Xiao Xia the crown prince is in the interests of the Yuan family, but not in our interests!"
Dugu Zuan smiled and said, "If Yang Guang wanted to make Xiao Xia the crown prince, he would have done it long ago. He is determined to make the crown prince a grandson, and this will never change. Uncle Six, don't worry. Yang Guang will definitely oppose this and will definitely compromise in the end!"
"How to compromise?" Dugutuo asked.
Dugu Zuan smiled slightly, "I suggest that we change it to not appointing an heir within ten years. This will be more vague and in the interests of everyone."
It does make sense. Yang Guang was not in a hurry to consider the issue of the successor to the throne. The Yuan family would also hope to further strengthen its relationship with Xiao Xia, and the Li Yuan family could avoid becoming the target of public criticism earlier.
Dugu Tuo nodded slowly, "Then you and Yuan Hongsi will go to Luoyang to negotiate together."
(End of this chapter)