Sizhou has a vast territory and is sparsely populated. In just seven or eight days, four to five thousand mobs gathered to cause chaos. The scale was already huge. Even if Yang could quell the civil unrest, his vitality would be severely damaged and his control over the Wuchuan area would be weakened.
.
If we just think about the matter between Yuzhou and Chongqing, we should certainly take the opportunity to propose moving the state boundary to the south so that Yuzhou can occupy more territory.
However, when it comes to the two countries Shu and Chu, things are much more complicated.
Even though Chu's domestic troubles are still uncertain at this time, it has completely controlled the prosperous Taihu Plain, Poyang Lake Plain, Dongting Lake, Jinghan Plain and nearby areas. It has more than 40 prefectures and more than 200 counties. The population size is that of Shu.
Three or four times that of the country.
In addition, although both sides are facing threats from the Liang Kingdom, serious speculation shows that the threat facing the Shu Kingdom is more severe and more urgent.
The land where Chu and Liang met was divided into three fronts: east, middle and west. The east line was occupied by King Xin Yang Yuanyan, the middle line was occupied by Anning Palace and the Xu family, and only the west line was occupied by Zheng Hui, a direct lineage of the Chu State.
From another perspective, the Liang Army did not need to consider the threat from the Chu Army from the east and central lines for a long time. At this time, they only needed to send an elite force to guard Caizhou and Ruzhou in the north of the Nanyang Basin to concentrate their forces.
Marched from Guanzhong into the Kingdom of Shu.
Once the Liang Kingdom occupied the Shu Kingdom, it would have a geographical advantage over the Chu Kingdom.
Cao Gan paid a visit to the princess, and after returning to Dutingyi with Wei Qun, he has been thinking about this matter.
He thought to himself that if he were sitting in Liang Emperor Zhu Yu's seat, as long as conditions allowed, he would definitely consider conquering Shu first instead of going south directly to entangle the main force of the Chu army.
Under this situation, Cao Gan felt that the two countries should resolve their differences as soon as possible and conclude an alliance, instead of being entangled in the Chongqing border for the sake of small gains.
Wei Qun was afraid of being involved and hesitated, but Cao Gan advised him to make a decision as soon as possible. There was no need to send people back to the capital of Shu to ask for instructions from the king. The journey would at least take two or three months.
However, Cao Qian's idea only lasted for one night. At noon the next day, Yun Puzi rushed to Dutingyi and came to see him, telling him to change his mind.
Although this meeting was still accompanied by officials from the Honglu Temple of the Great Chu, Yun Puzi was very drunk when drinking. He walked up to Cao Gan with a wine glass and spoke a few private words enthusiastically.
Can officials still stretch their necks and put their heads over to listen?
"The princess asked the old Taoist to send a message to Mr. Cao. The princess said that if she and Yuzhou want to be safe, Xuzhou can only be relied upon..."
Yun Puzi honestly conveyed Princess Qingyang's words to Cao Qian's ears, then took the wine glass and staggered back to the drinking table opposite, seeming to be really drunk.
However, Cao Qian couldn't help but was stunned for a long time before he came back to his senses. Then he was thinking about the meaning of this sentence while drinking.
Of course, Cao Qian would not believe Yun Puzi's message without doubt.
Verification is also very easy.
The internal troubles in Da Chu were not settled yet. Facing the threat from Liang Jun, Shu, which was weaker than Da Chu, was a natural ally.
The court officials did not want to see Wang Guifei being too powerful in the harem, but their attitude towards the Shu envoy was quite polite.
Emperor Yanyou soon entertained Wei Qun with a state banquet, and Cao Gan and other Shu envoys also specially summoned Qingyang to accompany him.
Qingyang had to sit next to Emperor Yanyou Yang Yuanpu at any time during such a palace banquet. It was inconvenient and impossible to say anything inappropriate, but Cao Qian wanted to verify one or two things, so he naturally had a lot of clever words.
.
After confirming that Qingyang's message was correct, Cao Qian did not tell Wei Qun the details, but changed his mind and asked Wei Qun to postpone the submission of credentials until he returned to the capital of Shu in person to report the matter before making a final decision.
Wei Qun saw Cao Qian's sudden change of attitude. Although there were many suspicious things, he still did not dare to make any decisions.
He is relatively close to the prince Qingjiang Marquis, but he is not a die-hard loyal to Qingjiang Marquis. At this time, he just hopes that Cao Gan can rush back to the capital of Shu as soon as possible and get the new decree from the king before talking about anything else, so that he can avoid becoming a Changxiang Marquis.
A victim of the struggle with Qing Jianghou.
…………
…………
Cao Gan first rode a fast horse along the post road through Jingzhou to Yiling, then took a paddle boat from Yiling to Quzhou, then changed to a fast horse and rushed to Yuzhou. He passed the customs and crossed the border without any obstacles. When he met the Marquis of Changxiang, Wang Yong
, it was already half a month later.
After entering Yuzhou City, Cao Qian and his followers were all like beggars, with torn robes and unkempt beards. They were not suitable to meet the Marquis of Changxiang in this state, so he took several of his followers back to the mansion to wash up and change.
Robe.
Coincidentally, his eldest son Cao Zhe was also in the city.
Only then did Cao Qian know that the news of the civil unrest in Sizhou had only reached Yuzhou four days ago. Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, then sent people to the capital of Shu to report the matter, but at this time he had not received a reply from the king Jian.
.
Sizhou and Yuzhou opened the Qianjiang River channel, and the two states were close to each other. However, in the early stage, bulk cargo exchanges were directly handed over by the government at Zheliao Village in the north of Wuchuan County, and private merchants had not yet entered each other's territory.
Cao Gan didn't expect that the news about Sizhou would be blocked so well. He ate a bowl of cold noodles to fill his stomach, twirled his beard that he didn't have time to clean up on the way, and rushed to the state government office with his eldest son Cao Zhe to see his elders.
The country prince Wang Yong.
After August and a half, the hot weather in Chongqing has cooled down.
A pond with a radius of several acres was dug out in the garden of the back house of the governor of Yuzhou, with a green carpet of lotus leaves covering the water surface and lotus flowers blooming.
There were no other people in the yard and everyone dispersed. Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong, wearing a python robe, stood in the pavilion in front of the lotus pond. He frowned slightly, stared at Cao Gan and asked: "Is this what Qingyang said?"
"We are in Jinling, and we are accompanied by officials from the Chu State when we go in and out. It is inconvenient to send messages. However, when I left my humble post, I checked with the princess to confirm that she really meant this." Cao Gan reported the truth.
"Then what do you think of this matter?" Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, asked.
"Before hearing the message from the princess, I thought that the two countries should conclude an alliance as soon as possible to eliminate the threat from Liang Jun to Shu. I also advised Mr. Wei not to wait for new instructions from the king and just act according to the original plan.
, After all, the ownership of the Wuchuan area cannot interfere with the important matter of the alliance between the two countries," Cao Qian said, "But the thoughts of the humble position are indeed not as thorough and thorough as the princess."
"What else?" Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, asked.
"There are some things that should not be said in a humble position." Cao Qian said.
"You want to say that my father is using me to govern Yuzhou, mainly to check and balance Qingjianghou and make Qingjianghou become more honest, but not necessarily to replace Qingjianghou with me?" Changxiang Hou Wang Yong asked, "So even if I
The Wu Liao people were pacified in such a short period of time, but they only managed Yuzhou—not to mention uniting the troops to conquer the rebels in southern Sichuan. Even the prefectures and counties east of Yuzhou were unable to control..."
"The ruler of the country has far-reaching thoughts, but his humble position and wisdom are limited, so he dare not speculate." Even though Cao Qian was a direct descendant of Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong, some words related to the father-son relationship between Qingjiang Marquis and the monarch were not what he could say at this time.
Nonsense.
"I know that my father has passed away at a long time, the Marquis of Qingjiang has succeeded to the throne with his son, and the Kingdom of Shu is safe. Each of you can join the new master and inherit the wealth. It doesn't matter what fate I end up with in the end.
"Yes," Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong said with a long sigh, "Is this what you probably mean?"
After hearing the words of Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong, Cao Gan was sweating profusely. He fell to his knees and said, "I rushed back to Yuzhou non-stop to report this matter. I have no different thoughts."
Cao Zhe also gradually became more important in Yuzhou. This time he was able to participate in the most confidential matters without avoiding it. At this time, he was not qualified to comment on these sensitive topics, so he just knelt down with his father to show his loyalty.
"Then what is there that you can't say?" Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, asked.
"What the princess said makes sense. However, when the princess first arrived in Yueyang, there were people sent by Xuzhou to serve her, but then she ignored the people in Xuzhou, and it was difficult to have any contact with Xuzhou at that time, so
It is also difficult to judge Xuzhou’s true intention this time. If the Marquis makes a mistake in his response, he will leave a clue for Qingjiang Marquis to manipulate."
Cao Gan expressed his concerns and said,
"I have thought a lot about this journey, but I always feel that it is really difficult to make a conclusion, so I don't dare to talk nonsense in a hurry and disturb the Marquis..."
"What you said makes sense." Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, said.
Cao Gan continued: "When Beizhi came to Jinling this time, he also met Yang Hu and Cao Xiushi, the governor of Chen. Although they both insisted that the civil unrest in Sizhou was caused by Marquis Qianyang of Guizhou, what Beizhi couldn't understand was that Qian Yang
If Marquis Yang gives Emperor Chu a handle this time, or makes Emperor Chu decide to resolve the issue in Xuzhou first, what good will this matter do to Xuzhou? Even if Marquis Yang of Guizhou is ambitious, he should not be so eager. It is a humble position.
If you can’t understand this, how can you dare to speak nonsense?”
"What if the Marquis of Qianyang wants to seize Sizhou without leaving any clues?" Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, asked.
"First, it is difficult not to leave any clues about this matter. Second, we are just guessing in Yuzhou. At this time, we have no time to send people to Xuzhou to contact us." Cao Gan hurried back and thought a lot on the way. At this time, he said what he thought
Many worries were expressed one by one, "Thirdly, even if Xuzhou has the intention of thinking about the state, and the two sides have no plans to compromise, we will act rashly, and the Marquis of Qianyang will not say anything about us, and the Emperor of Chu will be angry and tear up
The alliance and the enmity between the two countries must have become a big lever for Qingjiang Marquis to manipulate the Marquis..."
"Haha, I just said that General Cao is loyal to the Marquis and will think carefully about everything for the Marquis." At this time, a man walked out from behind the rockery, laughed loudly, and saluted Cao Qian, saying, "Dragon Tooth Mountain
Farewell, it’s been a long time since I saw General Cao’s grace.”
Seeing that the person walking out from behind the rockery was a direct descendant of Han Qian, the governor of Syria, Shi Feng Liao, and Cao Gan were stunned for a long time, not knowing what to say.
He thought that Han Qian would not be in a hurry to go to the barren land of Sizhou, but when Feng Liao appeared at the Yuzhou Governor's Mansion, it undoubtedly proved that his previous guess was completely wrong...
