The envoy sent by the Southern Dynasty to Chang'an was named Xu Ling. He was one of the few remaining figures in the Jiangdong regime after the Battle of Jiangling. But even this Xu Ling actually stayed in the Northern Qi Dynasty and returned to Jiangnan with Xiao Yuanming.
Xu Ling was nearly fifty years old, and his appearance and demeanor were typical of the scholar-bureaucrats of the Southern Dynasties. Although he was sent as an envoy to a weak country to strengthen its neighbors, he did not show any groveling attitude.
After being introduced into the hall by the visitor, he first glanced at Mr. Tang in the hall. Like other people who met him for the first time, a trace of surprise flashed across his face, but he soon returned to normal and greeted him before entering:
"Xu Ling, the envoy of Liang State, came to Wei Tonghao on the mission of His Majesty and Prime Minister Chen to express his congratulations to Duke Tang. The Prime Minister is expected by everyone to assist in the state affairs."
"No need to be polite, Marquis Xu, please take a seat."
Li Tai looked at Xu Ling with great interest, raised his hand to signal him to come and take his seat, and then said with a smile: "Although the former Jiangling battle brought great glory to the Southern Dynasty figures, Xu Hou still left his pearls behind, which is really disappointing.
I feel very regretful. Now that Marquis Xu has come to the country to see me, his style is truly worthy of his reputation. Losing this person is not a full achievement!"
Xu Ling's expression was a little unnatural after hearing this. Although the other party's words were praising him, they were quite derogatory to the entire Nanliang court. For an envoy who was ordered to go to other countries, he felt natural.
It was very unpleasant. Especially what the other party said made him unable to refute, and the current weak national destiny of Nanliang also made him have no confidence to teach people about cold and heat like he did before when he was envoy to Northern Qi.
Li Tai did not deliberately want to humiliate Xu Ling, but he did not treat Xu Ling as a formal envoy at all.
At least from their perspective of the Western Wei Dynasty, the Southern Liang Kingdom Zuo ended long after he conquered Jiangling. Historically, the Liang King Xiao Qi established the Western Liang Kingdom to continue his Kingdom Zuo. However, in the time and space where Li Tai spoke, neither Liang Emperor nor Liang Emperor
The princes of Liang were packed up and sent to Chang'an. Last year, Liang Emperor Xiao Yi was beheaded. After he entered the court, the prince of Liang demoted himself to the title of Duke of Liang, in order to comfort the Southern Liang scholars.
As for Xiao Fangzhi, the young emperor established by Chen Baxian in Jiankang, the Western Wei Dynasty did not recognize it at all. After all, Li Tai's great achievement was to destroy Liang. If he treated Xu Ling as an envoy from another country, it would be the same.
Yu slaps himself in the mouth.
That's why he introduced Xu Ling to meet him in the afternoon after dealing with major military and state affairs, just like summoning his subordinates. As for the series of titles he said, they had no meaning to him.
Of course, this denial is not a deliberate disparagement of Chen Baxian. At least it means that the Western Wei Dynasty will not use Nanliang's legal system to make any articles to interfere with the current situation in Jiangdong. For example, even if Chen Baxian abolishes Liang and establishes himself in the coming year, the Western Wei Dynasty will not do the same.
Is there any protest? Jiangdong was originally a place where soldiers could not reach during the Battle of Jiangling. You can scold Chen Baxian for stealing the results, but you will not attack him as a traitor and traitor.
Although he did not get the treatment of an envoy, he still had to do the personnel communication that should be done, so Xu Ling calmed down for a while and said again: "Before leaving, Prime Minister Chen specially asked Xu to congratulate him after he came to see him.
I mean! Prime Minister Chen said that when Tang Gong was guarding Jingxiang in the past, he had the honor to work with him to plan things together, and both sides benefited from it. I still feel happy when I think about it.
Although Prime Minister Chen was outside the government, he was deeply aware of Tang Gong's great talent and ambition. Now that he was able to defeat powerful enemies and enter the government, it was God's will. Even the foreign people could not help but be convinced! Although the old Wei State had the desire to seek thieves.
, there is really no power to defeat the enemy. Even if the powerful ministers of the shogunate have no intention of deceiving the world, they are also suspected of stealing their names. When Tang Gong entered the dynasty, he was not only expected by the public, but also in name and reality! If we can plan the future together, then
Although the thieves are fierce, there is no need to fear them!"
Hearing Xu Ling's words that praised him and belittled his predecessor Yu Wentai, Li Tai couldn't help but feel happy. These words were said in front of him. In addition to flattering him, Chen Ba probably also used it to himself.
Xu means that one is better than Wang Sengbian.
Li Tai was not surprised that Chen Baxian hoped to replicate the previous cooperation in Huainan and continue to cooperate against Northern Qi.
Although the Western Wei Dynasty conquered Jiangling and beheaded their boss, and the hatred between them is much greater than that between them and Northern Qi, the aggressive and raging malice shown by Northern Qi now caused greater harm to Jiangdong.
Threat. Chen Baxian did not really want to revive Liang from the fall. He only wanted to protect Jiangdong and fulfill himself. Of course, he would not be trapped by this old grudge.
However, Li Tai is no longer just a small official living in Shannan. Strategic choices and focus must of course be based on a higher perspective. If Chen Ba first wants to cooperate with him, he must also consider whether the other party has the strength.
After pondering for a while, he spoke again: "The former news came from Jiangdong, which surprised me deeply. Wang Taiwei and Chen Situ were both famous officials from Jiangdong who brought chaos and defended the country. Unexpectedly, they couldn't get along with each other after they succeeded in wiping out the thieves.
"Rong, why is there so much trouble that there is a vendetta? Although I have no intention of asking deeply about the reason and distinguishing right from wrong, I still pity the people of Jiangdong, and I am afraid that I will be trapped in the flames of war and the disaster of war."
"Tang Gong was kind-hearted and sympathized with my elders, and his feelings were touching. The story of Taiwei Wang is so old that I don't know it deeply. After returning to the country, I saw that Prime Minister Chen was also thinking hard and doing his best for the country. Although the Three Wus had
All disturbances can be overcome. Even if there is disrespect in Lingnan, it will not be a big trouble. The rebellious local tyrants in Nanchuan are all greedy and troublesome, and they can be quelled by passing on the message."
Xu Ling had also been favored by Wang Sengbian. Although he was now ordered by Chen Baxian, he did not discuss the rights and wrongs of Wang Sengbian. He only spoke vaguely about it, and instead gave a brief explanation of the situation in the country: "What I am talking about now is
Those who are called stubborn thieves are those stubborn thieves in the north of the Yangtze River. They form strong alliances with outsiders and cause trouble to the country. They are extremely hateful!"
Since the Western Wei Dynasty's Eastern Expedition last year, the focus of disputes in the world has turned to the old enemies of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty. Li Tai also turned to focus on the war situation in Heluo, and turned to a conservative wait-and-see approach to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Invest more manpower and material resources to intervene.
The Northern Qi Dynasty, in particular, showed a strong intention to interfere as early as after Chen Baxian attacked Wang Sengbian. And tracing back to the origin, this civil strife was originally triggered by the Northern Qi's forced intervention to make Xiao Yuanming ascend the throne as emperor.
Therefore, the Northern Qi Dynasty first sent troops under Duan Shao to directly capture Guangling City, which became empty after Chen Baxian's main force left, and then sent a large army south to continue the intervention.
However, due to the power struggle within the Northern Qi Dynasty, Gao Yue, the king of Qinghe who initially served as the coach, was recalled and killed. This originally cast a shadow on this campaign that the commander-in-chief was changed at the last moment. Then Yuwentai of the Western Wei Dynasty
It even took advantage of the Northern Qi Dynasty's large-scale military deployment in Huainan to launch the Eastern Expedition. The Northern Qi Dynasty was busy dealing with the Heluo War, and this war lasted until the end of the year.
Therefore, the army sent to the south suddenly faltered, and the advance and retreat were awkward. They stopped in Pengcheng, Huaibei, waiting for follow-up orders. After the Heluo War ended, Northern Qi did not increase its investment in the south, but sent this army again.
The commander of the troops, Shangdang Wang Gaohuan, was transferred back to the Great Wall of Beishan to attack the Turks.
Precisely because the East and the West were fighting each other, Jiangdong had a chance to breathe. At least the situation was much better than at the same period in history. Chen Baxian also fully seized this opportunity and took the lead in concentrating his efforts to pacify Jiangdong's most core forces.
In the Sanwu area, they even returned to Jingkou for a time, hoping to regain Guangling, which was taken away by the Northern Qi Dynasty. However, they had to give up this plan because of the recurrence of the Lingnan rebellion.
Up to now, there are still two forces opposing Chen Baxian in the entire Jiangnan area. One is Wang Lin who is entrenched in the Yuzhang area of Jiangzhou and the so-called Nanchuan heroes in Jiangzhou. The other is the Nanliang clan, which has been entrenched for a long time.
Xiao Bo, the governor of Guangzhou in Lingnan.
However, as Xu Ling said, these two forces are hardly a serious problem. Wang Lin is considered the most vicious among them, but when she was entrenched in Xiangzhou, she was driven away by an army sent by Li Tai, and almost all her underwear was stripped off.
Only then was he able to go east, but his power has not yet fully grown.
Previously, he accepted part of the supplies and equipment provided by Li Tai and was able to gain a foothold in Yuzhang, but now his most important focus is on uniting the rebellious local tycoons in Yuzhang, and he has no ability to attack Chen Baxian.
As for Xiao Bo from Lingnan, he basically belongs to the atmosphere group. Lingnan itself is located in a remote area and it is difficult to influence the core area of Jiangdong. Xiao Bo does not have enough ability to compete with Chen Baxian.
Being able to basically pacify the Jiangnan region in less than a year, even if it was because of the window period left by the Western Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties fighting each other, Chen Baxian is worthy of being regarded as a hero of the moment.
But some things must come, and the Northern Qi Dynasty, which had never had time to engage in the battle in Huainan before, finally got away from everything this time and once again gathered an army to increase its troops and go south.
Although the Jiangnan area has stabilized now, the situation of Jiangnan defense is more severe than before. Not to mention the lost Guangling, there is also a Qin county occupied by Xu Sihui, the former general of Wang Sengbian's department. Now Xu Sihui has also defected to the Northern Qi Dynasty.
This allowed the Northern Qi army to launch cross-river operations at any point in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
So this time Chen Baxian sent Xu Ling north as an envoy to the Western Wei Dynasty, mainly hoping that the two sides could restore the tacit understanding they had previously cooperated with in Huainan, so that the Western Wei Dynasty's power in Huainan could properly contain the Northern Qi army, thereby slightly easing the situation facing Jiangnan.
The river defense pressure.
After listening to Xu Ling's story, Li Tai pondered for a moment, and then said: "Besides, does Chen Situ have anything else to ask for? I remember that his sons and nephews are still in Chang'an."
After Xu Ling heard this, he bowed his head again and said: "Prime Minister Chen also explained this matter. He asked the weak to ally with the strong. He should have offered a pledge to show his honesty. However, the blood of his family was thin and there was no son left to offer, so he asked for it.
The second son will continue to stay in Chang'an. If we win this time, both countries will be happy. If not, Prime Minister Chen will die to repay the country, and there will be no heirs!"