Guo Ziyi took the letter, read it carefully, and said: "As our army gradually approached, there was great chaos in Jiankang City. Some people in the puppet government suggested abandoning the city and fleeing south, some suggested fighting to the death, and some suggested that the whole country surrender."
Li Guangbi asked the messenger to go down to rest first, and then said to Guo Ziyi: "According to the letter, Li Yu is unwilling to leave Jiankang and is determined to live and die with the capital. However, the combat power of Jiankang's defenders is worrying, and many of them have never even experienced war.
Before our army even reached the city, a large number of deserters from Jiankang fled outside the city."
Guo Ziyi: "Li Yu wants to defend Jiankang, so he naturally knows in his heart that the current military strength alone may not be enough, and he needs to mobilize troops."
Li Guangbi touched his chin, shook his head and smiled: "It is better to borrow troops than to mobilize troops. Li Yu actually approached Shi Siming."
Guo Ziyi smiled slightly: "Shi Siming and Jiangnan seem to be inseparable. Before our army captured Jiangcheng, Shi Siming was quite submissive to the Jiangnan puppet government. After Jiangcheng was captured by our army, Shi Siming no longer ignored Jiangnan's orders.
, just keep recruiting troops and buying horses, and then avoid fighting everywhere... Li Yu borrowed Shi Siming's troops to defend Jiankang City this time, and I'm afraid he promised a lot of benefits."
Li Guangbi: "Jiankang has been at war in the past few years, and the money and food must have been at the bottom. Shi Siming was greedy, and Li Yu probably couldn't give him any real benefits. He probably gave him a lot of titles and fiefs... However, Shi Siming didn't
Stupid, he probably doesn't like the things Li Yu gave me, I guess Shi Siming has other intentions."
Guo Ziyi glanced at the letter again and said: "The last paragraph of Shi Chaoyi's letter is very interesting. Shi Siming rebelled against the rule of law and wanted to use his ministers to rebel against the emperor. Chaoyi did not want to join in the evil and bring trouble to the world."
Li Guangbi: "Rebellious and chaotic, you want to turn your ministers against the emperor? What is Shi Siming going to do?"
Guo Ziyi thought for a while and said to Li Guangbi: "Kong Zhongcheng is good at planning and is in the army now. Why not invite him to come to the tent to discuss this matter?"
Li Guangbi frowned: "Kong You?"
Seeing Li Guangbi's hesitant expression, Guo Ziyi asked, "What's wrong?"
Li Guangbi: "Kong Zhongcheng is indeed proficient in planning, but his tactics are ruthless and he often goes beyond the rules. I am just a little worried."
When Guo Ziyi heard this, he understood that Li Guangbi was alluding to the killing of prisoners of war, so he said: "Guangbi uses his military skills to be upright and does not like deceit. It is normal to have a grudge against Kong Zhongcheng. It's just that the war is dangerous and requires Guangbi's strength."
Being upright and upright also requires being as cunning as Zhongcheng. The two are like the two sides of yin and yang, one is indispensable."
Li Guangbi cupped his hands to Guo Ziyi and said, "Be taught."
Guo Ziyi told his guards to invite Kong Zhongcheng to come and discuss the account.
Not long after, Kong You came to the Chinese army's tent from the rear camp. Seeing that Li Guangbi was also present, he first bowed his hands and saluted, then sat down and drank tea from a porcelain cup.
Guo Ziyi pushed the letter in front of Kong You and said: "Shi Chaoyi in Jiankang City brought a secret letter saying that he wanted to surrender."
Kong You put down his tea cup and read the letter carefully. After thinking for a moment, he said something shocking: "Shi Siming wants to be emperor."
Kong You's jump in thinking was so bizarre that Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi were both shocked when they heard this.
Guo Ziyi quickly asked: "Why do you see it?"
Kong You: "Shi Siming is good at calculations. Now that Jiankang City is in danger, there is no need for people like him to risk their lives and lead their troops to Jiankang City to receive that useless title.
Therefore, when Shi Siming agreed to Li Yu's request to mobilize troops this time, he must have something bigger in mind."
Li Guangbi: "Shi Siming was a general of the Yan army earlier. How could he become emperor in the south of the Yangtze River?"
Kong You: "Almost the entire Jiangnan officialdom knows what kind of person Shi Siming is. The pseudo-emperor Li Yu was so panicked this time that he invited Shi Siming to Jiankang. This is enough to prove that Jiangnan lacks fighting soldiers and is really at the end of its rope."
It was precisely because of this that Shi Siming dared to lead the army to Jiankang City and negotiate with Li Yu. If Li Yu was willing to abdicate, it would be in Shi Siming's wish, and he would be able to fulfill the latter's dream of becoming an emperor.
."
Li Guangbi asked: "What if Li Yu refuses to abdicate?"
Kong You looked at Li Guangbi.
Li Guangbi felt a chill in his heart and stopped talking.
Guo Ziyi shook his head and said: "This Li Yu is also confused. This move is tantamount to inviting a wolf into the house."
Kong You: "In times of despair, no matter how smart a person is, there will be times when he becomes a fool. Li Yu thought that he could win over Shi Siming by banning his title. How could he have expected that the latter's appetite would be even greater?"
Guo Ziyi: "No wonder Shi Chaoyi wrote to Guangbi, saying that Shi Siming was rebellious and wanted to turn his ministers against the emperor."
Kong You: "Shi Chaoyi has never been favored by Shi Siming, who prefers his second son Shi Chaoxing. If Shi Siming wins the throne, he will definitely make Shi Chaoxing the prince, and the situation of the eldest son Shi Chaoyi will become dangerous and he may even be silenced.
; But if Shi Siming fails to proclaim himself emperor, the situation will deteriorate and the future will be dangerous. Therefore, regardless of whether Shi Siming proclaims himself emperor or not, Shi Chaoyi must leave Jiankang for his own safety."
Guo Ziyi nodded first and then asked: "Zhongcheng, in your opinion, what should our army do now?"
Kong You: "Shi Siming wants Li Yu to take the Zen position in two ways, one is inner Zen and the other is outer Zen. You two should both know the so-called inner Zen, so I won't go into details."
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi both knew that the reason why Kong You did not want to mention inner Zen was because Zhou Jun, the monarch of the Northern Tang Dynasty, followed the path of inner Zen.
He was first adopted as the adopted son by Li Longji, then changed his surname to Li, and finally inherited the throne.
Kong You continued: "As for external Zen, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty Liu Xie gave up his throne to Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi, which is the best example..."
Guo Ziyi interrupted: "The whole of Jiangnan will never agree to the emperor's foreign surname. There will definitely be a backlash in the DPRK. It is also impossible for Li Yu to give up the pseudo-Tang Dynasty title and cede Jiangnan to someone with a foreign surname."
Kong You: "If things develop to that point, it won't actually matter whether Li Yu agrees with Wai Chan."
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi looked at each other.
Li Guangbi sighed: "Zhongcheng is right. Shi Siming has a lot of troops. If Li Yu refuses to renounce his power, the worst he can do is seize the throne directly."
Guo Ziyi thought for a while and asked Kong You: "According to Zhongcheng's opinion, what should our army do now?"
Kong You: "If the commander-in-chief asks for advice, you'll only have one word to suggest - wait."
Guo Ziyi: "Wait?"
Kong You: "To seize power in Jiankang City, a big drama will soon be staged. If our army approaches at this time, the two parties seizing power will inevitably share the same hatred, put aside their differences, and deal with our army together. In this case, our army can
Slow down the march slightly and give Jiankang City some space to fully release the contradictions in the city. As long as the conflict reaches a certain level, Jiankang City's defensive power will be damaged. If our army attacks this capital, it will
More effort-saving.”
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi exchanged glances, and they nodded slightly in unison.
Guo Ziyi turned to Kong You and said, "Just follow what Zhongcheng said."
