Chapter 989 Forked Road

Chapter 989 Forked Road

Chapter 989 Forked Road
The sky was not clear and there was snow at night.

As they drank glass after glass of wine, the atmosphere gradually became more lively.

This is a small courtyard, and the owner must have spent a lot of money to build it. However, when the chaotic times came, it was all gone, and no one could tell where the owner went, so the courtyard was abandoned here.

After the situation gradually improved, someone set their sights on this courtyard, but it was soon taken away by the government, along with a large area of ​​surrounding land, which all became military land.

On the eve of the founding of Daliang, the courtyard became one of the granaries of Mangshan Longxiang Mansion.

Over the past twenty years, it has changed from a wealthy family's residence to an abandoned courtyard and then to a military residence. It cannot speak, but it reflects the changes of the times.

Outside the fence, warriors in sheepskin coats walked back and forth, patrolling.

Heavy snow fell from the sky, covering all the wheat planted before winter.

Next to the stone mill in the yard, the soldiers swept the wheat bran into a winnowing basket, preparing to get up at night to feed the war horses.

The paper lanterns swayed unsteadily in the wind, and the dim yellow light looked hazy.

Tong Qianjin carried two plates of steaming stir-fried dishes, pushed the door open with his elbow, and walked in.

There were eight or nine people sitting in the room, chatting and laughing, and the atmosphere was lively.

"I received a letter this morning. Sima Rui is restless." Shao Xun's voice seemed to carry a hint of amusement, mockery, and sympathy (?): "Sima Rui ascended the throne of Jin a year ago. Just after the first day of the first lunar month, the ministers urged him to take the throne. Rui declined."

Zu Ying looked sick and didn't react much after hearing this.

Xu Liu was very surprised.

Renri is the seventh day of the first lunar month and today is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, but it has only been eight days. What does this mean?
This shows that there were too many people in Jianye who tipped off the information. On the seventh day of the first lunar month, someone wrote a letter and sent someone to cross the river to the north. Then there must have been someone in charge of this matter, and it was delivered to the capital by express horse, which took no more than eight days.

If it is a normal transmission, it will take at least two months. Around the Chinese New Year, it may be extended to three or four months.

The Emperor of Daliang paid great attention to Jianye.

"Ji Zu (Xu Liu), you have lived in Jiangdong for a long time. Do you know who will be in power in Jianye after this persuasion to ascend the throne?" Shao Xun signaled with his eyes, and Hulang immediately stepped forward and poured wine for everyone.

Zu Ying still looked weak, but he was observing Hulang.

In terms of appearance, he is slightly better than his father, and his various demeanor is also very much in line with the taste of scholars. But in terms of temperament, he is much worse than his father, after all, his experience is different, and he is too young.

But to be honest, at the age of nineteen, King Gui of Chu was already relatively good. He must have been taught by famous teachers since he was a child, and he was also taught by King Liang, who taught him by example and followed very strict rules.

If placed in a noble family, they can be the core descendants that the family can focus on training and work for the family after entering officialdom.

He was quite satisfied.

Xunniang sat next to Shao Xun, her eyes only on her son.

The mother wants nothing more than for him to get married quickly and give birth to grandchildren, then she can feel at ease.

In this life, she only asks for a life of ups and downs in the first half and happiness in the second half.

The Secretary General Lu Chen and the Imperial Court Assistant Minister Xu Shi were more enthusiastic.

I can't say that I have any ambitions, but I just have a little hope that this marriage will be completed as soon as possible. Under the operation of the Taichang Temple, it has actually been almost completed. Now it only takes the last step and I can't regret it anymore.

When Xu Liu saw Shao Gui pouring wine for him, he immediately stood up to thank him, then sat down again with a look of panic on his face.

"Your Majesty, if nothing unexpected happens, Wang Dao and Wang Maohong will be the prime ministers and take charge of all government affairs." Xu Liu calmed down and replied, "As for military affairs, they actually depend on other states."

"Which places?" Shao Xun asked.

"Huaiyin, Shouchun, and Xiangyang." Xu Liu said, "The area between Huaiyin and Guangling is mostly populated by refugees from Xuzhou and Sichuan who migrated south. It was founded by Zu Shizhi, and there are about 30,000 of them."

"The soldiers of Shouchun are the garrison soldiers of Shouchun and Hefei, and the soldiers of Jiangzhou."

"Xiangyang is the best place in Jingzhou."

Shao Xun nodded. After all the changes in the Southern Dynasty, this was basically the military situation.

The refugee army guarded the Huaihe River Basin north of Jianye, and the wealthy families in Wu also provided some troops and navy - Shao Xun called it the "Xuzhou Group."

Shouchun was derived from the Dongwu Jiangzhou Group.

Many great generals emerged from this place during the Eastern Wu period, and Chaisang, where Zhou Yu stationed his troops, was located in this area.

Sun Quan attacked Hefei many times and also transferred troops from Jiangzhou - Shao Xun called it the "Jiangzhou Group".

The westernmost one is Jingzhou, which is based on Xiangyang, Nanjun, Jiangxia, Jiangling, Wuchang and other places, and has both land and water. Shao Xun called it the "Jingzhou Group."

In addition to the three major groups, there were actually troops from the Jiangdong nobles and troops stationed near Jianye. A considerable number of them were refugee troops from the three states of Qing, Xu and Yu. However, they were not necessarily the first generation of refugees. Many of them were born in Wu as teenagers. But in the political context of Jiangdong, they were still "refugees" and were slowly resettled through the establishment of states and counties.

It is hard to say which of these military groups is stronger.

The Jingzhou Group stood out in the early history.

This army, composed of local soldiers from Jingzhou and elite soldiers from Guanxi who had immigrated there, had rich experience and strong combat effectiveness due to their long-term battles with the Northern Dynasties.

When Huan Wen launched the Northern Expedition, he set out from Jiangling with 40,000 infantry and cavalry, the main force of which was the troops of the Jingzhou Group.

In this time and space, Shao Xun carefully studied the military reports sent from Nanyang and believed that the strongest group in the Southern Dynasty was actually the Jingzhou Group.

Who could have imagined that more than 20 years ago, when Zhang Chang rebelled in Jingzhou, the hereditary soldiers of Jingzhou and even the hereditary soldiers of Wancheng were vulnerable and were defeated several times, killing many generals and even princes.

However, after Liu Hong collected the remnants of the hereditary soldiers, resettled the refugees from Guanxi, and recruited the strong men from the nobles and the barbarians, he reorganized a combat-ready army. Jianye also supported him very much, and worked hard to build him up. His combat effectiveness increased day by day, and he had become the most important pillar of the Southern Dynasty.

Compared with the Jingzhou soldiers, the so-called Northern Army has not yet come to the fore. However, because they are close to Jianye, the Qingxu refugee army will always be given more attention. In addition, Jingzhou is far away and the risk of rebellion is relatively high. It is only a matter of time before they surpass the Jingzhou soldiers.

Now we need to kill the Northern Army in advance, or at least inflict severe damage on it, which will be more convenient in the future.

Thinking of this, Shao Xun asked, "Who is in charge of the troops stationed near Jianye?"

"It was Liu Kun before." Xu Liu said, "After Liu Kun went north, I heard that he was going to hand it over to Shan Xia and Shan Yan Lin."

"Who is Shan Xia?" Shao Xun asked.

"Shan Xia is the grandson of Shan Tao and the son of Shan Jian. He has a tough personality. When he was the magistrate of Yuyao, he carried out a large-scale purge on the grounds that many powerful families hid their populations, and captured more than 10,000 people." Xu Liu said, "Yuyao powerful man Yu Xi had many hidden households. Shan Xia wanted to capture and kill him, but the elders of Yuyao stopped him, saying that Xi was 'a man of high integrity and should not be humiliated.' The county soldiers were unable to capture him."

"The nobles of Yuyao also framed Shan Xia for building a county residence. When the Internal History of Kuaiji questioned him, Xia asked to stay in office for 100 days to complete the unfinished work, but was refused and dismissed from office."

Holy crap! The descendants of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove were extremely famous, but they actually fought back and forth with a local tyrant in a county, and in the end they were framed and driven away.

If he had not been the descendant of a famous scholar and a member of a noble family who had migrated south, he might have been killed by the Yuyao nobles.

Shao Xun actually developed a favorable impression of this person.

Warrior!
It’s a pity that you don’t have a good environment. If you were with me, you could check it with confidence. I would support you.

"Since Shan Xia has been dismissed from office, why did he suddenly take power?" Shao Xun asked.

"Shan Xia's niece is the principal wife of Prince Sima Fei. It's common for a relative to rise to the top." Xu Liu said with some envy, "All the sons of the Shan family are mediocre in talent, but Shan Xia is the only one who is brave enough to take on responsibilities. The previous investigation of Yuyao's household registration was probably instructed by Sima Rui, Wang Dao and others, but they stopped after finding that it was not feasible. Now that the situation has changed, it is just right to promote him."

Shao Xun thought for a while.

This is truly a case of a new emperor appointing new ministers.

If Sima Shao had not died, the position of crown prince would have been his, and his wife's family and relatives would have certainly held power, such as Yu Liang in history.

But he died. Sima Fei was originally very much loved by Sima Rui, who once wanted to make him the crown prince. It would be natural for him to become the crown prince, and the family of the crown princess Shan would rise to prominence.

Before he knew it, Yu Wenjun became his beloved little wife, Liangzi also worked for him, and Jianye was undergoing a series of changes, taking a different path in history.

Perhaps it was not necessarily a detour. If the 18-year-old Sima Fei had not followed Zu Ti to the north to fight against Shi Le, he would not have died suddenly within a few months - no one knew how he died, whether of illness, death in battle, or some other way. We only knew that he was dead.

"Your Majesty, the Crown Princess of Jin, Shan, is the niece of Yang Dan and Yang Pengzu." Xu Liu said again.

Shao Xun was really speechless this time.

Do you have to be so good at building a network of relationships?

The relationships between the powerful and the wealthy in Southern Jin and Northern Liang were so complicated that they are truly astonishing.

If Sima Rui had the upper hand at this time, Shao Xun suspected that the officials and generals under his rule would also be secretly colluding with the enemy on a large scale.

"He Nei Shanshi..." He sighed and said, "When I go on a tour to the west, I will bring Shanshi back and have a good talk with Yang Pengzu. As for you——"

Xu Liu's expression straightened up.

"Go back early and contact loyal and righteous people." Shao Xun said, "Once the time is right, start the rebellion immediately. I will send a large army to support you."

"I obey the decree." Xu Liu was overjoyed.

"Yi Zu (Xu Shi), do you dare to follow Ji Zu south?" Shao Xun looked at Xu Shi and asked.

He didn't quite dare.

But at this point, he could only bite the bullet and say, "I obey your order."

Shao Xun quickly looked at Shao Gui again and asked, "Huang Lang, do you dare to go south?"

Shao Gui was shocked.

"Your Majesty." Lu Xun subconsciously grabbed his hand, trembling slightly.

Shao Xun gently stroked the back of his hand, looked at his son, and said, "Look at you, you look so ugly. Your father asked you to go to Qiao County, not Jianye."

Shao Gui's expression eased slightly, and he bowed and said, "Son...I obey your order."

"Take your officials with you and let them give you some advice." Shao Xun said, "Your third uncle will also go south with you. Remember, officials in the palace can give you advice, but you have to learn to make your own decisions."

"Yes." Shao Gui's mind gradually returned to normal and he responded in a deep voice.

Shao Xun finally looked at Zu Ying and said with a smile, "Shi Ning, how about my son? Can he marry your daughter?"

Zu Ying smiled faintly and said, "The King of Chu is handsome and brave, and is indeed a good match."

Shao Xun was very happy, and looked at his son again, smiling, "Huang Lang, if you can't make any achievements, don't come back to get married. The daughter of Shi Ning is quite famous in Luoyang, and there are countless people who admire her. I think you should not delay her."

Shao Gui blushed and said, "I will definitely get this done."

Lu Xun gently patted Shao Xun's hand, as if blaming him for scaring his son.

Shao Xun laughed loudly and said, "It's a pleasure to drink while the snow is falling. Come on, the business is done, let's just drink tonight."

(End of this chapter)