Chapter 1053 Sunset
Chapter 1053 Sunset
After Shao Xun left Jingu Garden, he first visited the new soldiers at the training academy camp and gave them some encouragement. Then he went to the home of Liang Fen, Shangshu Zuo Pushe, to have dinner with him and discuss the matter of Yang Nandi.
Stayed at Liang's house that night...
"Yang Nandi doesn't seem to have surrendered to Liang." Outside the city of Chengdu in Shu County, 3,120 miles away from Luoyang, Chengguo Crown Prince Li Ban led the officials of the Eastern Palace out of the city to see Yan Han and his party off. Before leaving, he sighed, "Your Majesty treated Yang Nandi and his brothers well, but I didn't expect them to be so crazy and kill my brothers."
After saying this, he burst into tears, feeling extremely sad.
Li Ban was the nephew of Emperor Cheng Li Xiong and was made crown prince several years ago.
Li Xiong had more than ten biological sons, but he felt that none of them were capable of anything. So, despite the advice of his ministers, he insisted on making his brother Li Dang's son Li Ban the crown prince.
Of course, this is the public explanation. As for whether there are other reasons, it is unknown. After all, Li Dang was also a leader in the process of establishing the Cheng Kingdom, commanding a large number of troops and making many contributions.
Yan Han also sighed.
Li Dang's eldest son Li Han once led his army to attack Yang Nandi's brothers as the Minister of the State of Cheng and the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Army. When the friendly troops were blocked, he advanced lightly and fast, and pursued too fiercely, so he was besieged by Yang Nandi and died together with his brother Li Zhi and thousands of soldiers.
Although they were from an enemy country, Yan Han had a very good impression of Li Ban, so he couldn't help but sigh at this time.
General Jianwei Zhao Yin, who was on a diplomatic mission with Yan Han, was a little surprised to see that Li Ban's robe had patches on it. He thought to himself that this man was either a great man or a great villain.
"What Mr. Yan said may be difficult to accomplish." Seeing Yan Han did not speak, Li Ban wiped his tears and said, "The best we can do now is to calm the people and let them rest. In this way, the great families will be at peace, and the officials and the people will be happy."
Yan Han was helpless.
He has been here for half a year, and has communicated with Jianye Xindu several times, but has gained nothing. Now he is about to leave, but he has only exchanged a half-hearted promise.
In other words, Chengguo would at most stop fighting with Jin and not attack each other, that was all.
It is almost impossible to persuade them to go north from Hanzhong and attack Guanlong.
Only Ge Gong can do such a thing.
"What does Lord Fan mean?" Yan Han couldn't help asking, not wanting to be on a mission for several months without any results.
He did not want to address Chengguo Prime Minister Fan Ben by his official title, so he only wanted to call him "Fan Gong".
"But Mr. Yan is disappointed." Li Ban said: "The overseas Chinese are unwilling to go north, let alone the old people?"
These were indeed very sincere words. Yan Han understood them and immediately gave up.
In fact, Cheng State, like Jin State, had overseas Chinese and local ethnic groups.
Although Li Te (Li Xiong's father, posthumously named Emperor Jing), who started the rebellion, was from Bashu, he was moved to Lueyang as early as the Cao Wei period.
The army that followed him south were also refugees from Guanxi, including officials, scholars, and generals.
As for Li Te, he was originally an assistant official of the Guanxi prefecture of the Jin Dynasty. Before the rebellion, he served as General Xuancheng and Marquis of Changle. He led officials and civilians from six counties, including Tianshui, Lueyang, Fufeng, Shiping, Wudu and Yinping, to flee south to escape famine, a total of more than 100,000 people. He first arrived in Liangzhou, and then heard that Shu was rich, so he bribed an angel to be allowed to enter Shu.
Therefore, Li Cheng's base was the military and civilians of these six counties. To the Shu people, they were overseas Chinese, and their relationship with the scholars who crossed the Yangtze River and the nobles in Wu was the same.
Of course, there are some differences.
After all, the Li family defeated the Jin Dynasty's military forces in Shuzhong and established the Cheng Kingdom. But how did Sima Rui establish his country?
Therefore, different ways of establishing a country are bound to lead to different powers.
Simply put, the Li family's authority in Shuzhong is much greater than that of the Sima family in Jiangdong.
After Li Xiong founded the country, the upper class was mostly composed of royal family members and the six large families of Luo, Ren, Yan, etc. who followed them to start their own dynasties.
Only a few people from the great families in Shu, such as Li Zhao and Fan Changsheng, were appointed officials, and the main purpose was to use their reputation to appease the whole of Shu. But if your reputation is not big enough, forget it.
In a word, this regime is not "localized" enough, and there are conflicts between the overseas Chinese and the native people. The overseas Chinese are not willing to go north to attack Guanlong, so how can you expect the native people to fight back?
Yan Han was born in the Yan clan of Langya, a noble family that had migrated southwards. How could he not understand the intricacies of this? So he stopped talking nonsense, bowed, and said goodbye to Li Ban and the others.
Li Ban was polite and personally saw him off for a while.
"After Lord Yan returns to Jianye, you can submit a petition to your country's emperor, and our two countries can then become friends and stop fighting." Li Ban said, "Shao Xun controls the northern land and has the Xianbei and Xiongnu under his control. His power is even greater than Cao Mengde's. If we don't work together, I'm afraid it will be difficult to hold out for long."
Yan Han stopped walking, turned around and asked, "Is it true that the Crown Prince cannot write a letter of closure in private?"
Li Ban shook his head with a firm attitude.
Yan Han was helpless.
For the time being, Jin does not recognize Cheng and Liang, and regards them both as pseudo-dynasties, but in actual operations, it has to ally with Cheng to fight against Liang, just like the alliance between Wu and Shu to fight against Cao's army.
Yan Han originally hoped that Cheng would lower its stance and submit to the Jin Dynasty. The Jin Dynasty would also follow suit and make Li Xiong the King of Cheng.
It's just a superficial matter. Whatever happens inside Chengguo will go on as it pleases. Jianye will turn a blind eye to it. But it can't even do this. What can it do?
On the first day of July, Yan Han left Chengdu, first by car and then by boat, with a smooth journey, and arrived in Jianye at the end of the month.
Upon hearing the news, Jin Emperor Sima Rui urgently summoned him into the palace.
******
After being away for more than half a year, when Yan Han returned to Taicheng, he suddenly discovered that there had been considerable changes.
It seems that the construction of the palace has not stopped during this period of time, which makes him even more worried.
Sima Rui still did not have a separate bedroom, but combined his morning and sleeping quarters and still lived in the Taiji Hall.
When the sun set in the evening, a cool breeze blew in front of the west hall of Taiji Palace. Sima Rui was helped to sit down by the palace servants, panting.
Prime Minister Wang Dao, Grand Marshal Liu Kun, Shangshu Zuo Pushe Bian Xu, Shizhong Liu Wei and other important ministers knelt beside him - the former Shangshu Ling Diao Xie had just passed away due to illness.
Sima Ying, the Prince of Xiyang, was also by his side. He was quite special, having just been promoted to the position of Grand Chancellor and was also appointed to the position of Minister of the Secretariat. There was no doubt that Sima Rui felt that his time was running out, so he pushed forward this member of the royal family whom he trusted very much to share the power of the Prince.
There is no way out. Governor Shan is not up to the task and the opportunities given to him are useless. Sima Rui can only activate the "backup plan".
In addition to important ministers, Crown Prince Sima Fei, Prince of Langya Sima Chong, and even Sima Yu, who was only ten years old, came.
Just last month, Sima Rui took Kuaiji County out of Sima Chong's fiefdom and appointed Sima Yu as the King of Kuaiji.
This move would certainly make Sima Chong unhappy, but Sima Rui might have taken into account his old friendship with Zheng Achun and insisted on paving the way for Sima Yu before his death.
Therefore, Sima Chong is now the King of Langya, with Xuancheng as his capital; Sima Yu is the King of Kuaiji, with Kuaiji as his capital.
As for Sima Xi, born to Concubine Wang, he had been adopted by the royal family.
"Your Majesty." When Yan Han saw Sima Rui's emaciated appearance, she knelt down on the ground and burst into tears.
“Hongdu, you are not young anymore, how can you be like this?” Sima Rui wanted to stand up and help her, but after trying twice, he still couldn’t stand up. He immediately shed tears and said, “I can’t help the world, and I can’t even help you.”
When these words were spoken, everyone was moved to tears.
Yan Han stood up tremblingly, wiped away his tears, and said, "Your Majesty, I am incompetent and have failed in my mission."
After saying that, he handed over the letter of credence.
Sima Rui reached out to take it, and just as he was about to start reading it, he was stopped by Wang Dao.
"Your Majesty, there may be some disrespectful words in the book." Wang Dao advised: "Wait until tomorrow when you are calm and composed before reading it again."
Sima Rui followed suit and looked at Yan Han again, saying, "Does the son of the Li family have any ambitions?"
"Li Xiong has no ambition." Yan Han said, "No one in Shu dares to talk about a northern expedition."
Although Sima Rui had expected this, he was still quite disappointed.
If there is no Northern Expedition, it would be possible to advance eastward to take Badong, or go south to take the Nanzhong region, all of which are Jin territories.
"The fake Crown Prince Ban saw me off and said that even if we don't fight north, we are willing to stop fighting and fight against Shao bandits together." Yan Han added, "I advised Crown Prince Ban to take Wudu and Yinping in the north and connect them with Hanzhong. Then we can take advantage of the mountains and rivers, overlook Guanzhong, and harass Shao bandits. However, he is afraid that it will be difficult to do so because of the disputes among the expatriates and old people in the country."
Sima Rui listened in a daze and remained speechless for a long time.
Wang Dao sighed when he saw this, thinking it was better to rely on oneself than on others, so he said: "Your Majesty, since June, there have been several reports from Jingzhou that the Shao bandits have been continuously transporting supplies and equipment to Nanyang, and there is a possibility that they will move south. I think that the False Cheng may have heard some rumors, so he sat back and watched the battle between the royal army and the Shao troops, and then went straight to Ningzhou and other counties. With this in mind, he will definitely not come to help."
Sima Fei was listening nearby and was somewhat shocked. At this time, they were still attacking each other and taking advantage of the situation?
Wang Dao continued, "Besides, Badong is located at the eastern gate of Shu. If we don't capture it, it will be in the hands of the enemy. They will be worried. Therefore, we cannot trust Li Ban's words."
Yan Han was a little displeased and said, "Prince Ban treats people sincerely, is humble and polite, and will definitely not deceive me."
"That's right." Wang Dao cupped his hands and said, "It's possible that Li Ban is incompetent, doesn't understand state affairs, and doesn't know world affairs."
Yan Han was dumbfounded.
Wang Dao turned around again and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, we must defeat the Shao bandit now in order to make Li wake up."
Sima Rui felt weak all over, half leaning on the couch, and asked, "Why did the Prime Minister say that?"
"Shao the bandit has repeatedly attacked Yang Nandi, but he has not been able to defeat him. However, Nandi is already exhausted." Wang Dao said, "If the bandit army returns in defeat in Jingzhou, they may turn to seize Hanzhong and Wudu, and then enter Shu. By then, the false Cheng will surely be panicked and may come to us for help. Then we will be able to talk to him."
Sima Rui nodded slightly.
“So—” Wang Dao raised his voice and said, “I would like to formulate a strategy for the battle and defense of Jingzhou.”
"What does the Prime Minister mean..." Sima Rui asked softly.
"I think Jingzhou should focus on defense and supplement with attack." Wang Dao said firmly: "The court can send troops and food to Jingzhou in the west, relying on the strong city and rivers to delay until Shao's troops are exhausted and plagued by diseases and have to retreat. After that, we may divide them into different groups to pursue and boost the court's prestige."
Sima Rui looked at the others.
Liu Kun could not help but said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to sail north to recruit the cavalry of the Murong clan to attack Youzhou and make it difficult for the Shao bandits to take care of both ends."
Sima Rui was deeply moved when he heard this, but he still said, "The situation is dangerous, how can I let Liu Qing take such a risk?"
"Your Majesty!" Liu Kun said anxiously.
"The court will send an envoy to the north, and you can just stay in Jianye." Sima Rui shook his head.
After saying this, he took the hand of the Crown Prince Sima Fei and said, "I have something important to trouble you, Mr. Liu."
Liu Kun was shocked and had some guesses.
"You can be the Prince's tutor." Sima Rui said, "I'll leave my affairs after my death to you, Liu Qing."
Liu Kun lowered his head and shed tears, saying: "How can I accept such an important trust!"
Sima Rui burst into tears again and sighed, "I wanted to fight the jackals and tigers to the end, but the deadline is approaching. At this critical moment, I have to let go. Every time I wake up in the middle of the night, my clothes are wet with tears. I hate it! I hate it!"
When everyone heard this, they all covered their faces and sighed.
Director Wang looked toward the west.
The last ray of sunset glow seemed to be fading away, and he felt a little heavy-hearted.
(End of this chapter)