Zhang Xuan asked the soldiers to send Shen Jian onto the ship, but Li Qingming remained in the cabin, he knew that the lord still had something to find him.

Zhang Xuan stood in front of the window with his hands in his hands, silently thinking about this unexpected incident, although this incident was reasonable, but it was indeed beyond Zhang Xuan's expectations, mainly because the situation in Jiangnan was developing too fast, thinking that they would face off and fight fiercely for half a year, but he didn't expect Shen Faxing's army to be so poor and retreat step by step.

After pondering for a long time, Zhang Xuan turned around and asked, "Regarding the death of Brother Meng Haigong, will Jiang Nan have any suspicions?" ”

"Your Royal Highness, the Jiangnan Society has investigated this matter, but they think that it was done by Le Botong's subordinates, at that time, Le Botong had not surrendered to Meng Haigong, and led thousands of bandits to be active in the area of Danyang County, and his subordinates often robbed merchants on the official road, but this matter is no longer important, Meng Haigong has killed too many scholars, and Jiangnan will not share the sky with him."

"What do you think of those Jiangnan Shi clans who fled to Jiangdu?"

"Back to His Royal Highness, there is no difference between these scholars and the northern scholars, Wechen they have talked about it, and Wechen found that many of their families have purchased land in the central capital."

"How so?"

Zhang Xuan smiled puzzledly and asked, "Didn't you say that the Jiangnan Shi clan has always been very resistant to the north?" It's a bit unbelievable that they actually went to Zhongdu Land. ”

"Your Royal Highness, no matter how dissatisfied the world is with the Son of Heaven before yesterday, but Weichen admires his foresight, he dug the Grand Canal, and developed Jiangdu into the largest commercial center in the world, many scholars in Jiangnan have invested in Jiangdu, it is more than 20 years of commercial trade, the southern scholars have no longer excluded the north as before, through years of commerce, the north and the south have gradually eliminated hostility, and a large number of Jiangnan scholars have fled to Jiangdu for refuge, which shows that they have the consciousness of going north."

Of course, Zhang Xuan knew that Yang Guang had made great efforts to eliminate the gap between the north and the south, and the digging of the Grand Canal was one of them.

He nodded and asked, "Do you think Jiang Nan will be able to accept the conditions I offered?" ”

"Wechen thinks they will accept it for the time being, but from a distance, it may not be, although His Royal Highness asked them to write down the guarantee and make it public, but this is only useful for the last few years, at most after three years, this guarantee will be weakened, the key is still in the interests, Wechen and the Jiangnan family have been dealing with for a long time, the interests are the most important to the Jiangnan family, the previous dynasty did not do a good job at this point, because after the capture of Jiangnan, the Guanlong nobles infringed too much on their interests, His Royal Highness handled this point well, it doesn't matter whether to write a guarantee or not."

Li Qingming's insight made Zhang Xuan secretly appreciate, Zhang Xuan smiled: "That being said, the guarantee is still necessary, at least for two or three years, I don't want these Jiangnan families to hold me back." ”

．．．．．．

Shen Jian sailed overnight, in the early morning of the next day, he rushed back to Jiangning County, Jiangning County is the nest of the Jiangnan Society, and it is also the place where the family is concentrated, due to the serious threat of the army of Meng Haigong to the Jiangnan family, most of the families have sent their families to Jiangdu, Jiangning City seems to be very deserted, many shops are closed, pedestrians are cold, and the gorgeous carriage walking on the street from the front is gone.

Shen Jian hurried to the headquarters of the Jiangnan Society, the White Tiger Building, the head of the meeting, Chen Xian, and more than 20 other representatives of the scholar clan gathered in the hall, they were already anxious, just yesterday morning, Meng Qigui's army slaughtered into the defenseless Biling County, slaughtered and ransacked the whole city, the three Jiangnan members in the city of Biling County were all exterminated and slaughtered, and the wealth accumulated in a hundred years was looted, which made the various scholars of the Jiangnan Society panic, and they were arguing whether to abandon Danyang County and withdraw Jiangdu.

At this time, a gray-haired old man said loudly: "Everyone, please be quiet, please listen to me!" ”

The old man's name is Yuan Zherong, is the second person of the Yuan family in Danyang, and is also the representative of the Yuan family in the Jiangnan Society, the Yuan family moved from Bashu a few decades ago, although there is a lot of time, but the development is extremely rapid, and it has become one of the famous families in Jiangnan.

In fact, the core of the power of the Jiangnan Society is the four major families, the Shen family of Wu County, the Yuan family, the Wang family and the Xie family of Danyang County, and the other Shi clans can only be regarded as ordinary members, such as the Lu family of Wu County, the Gu family, and so on.

The hall gradually quieted down, and Yuan Zherong said: "The situation is indeed not optimistic now, let's discuss it with several major families, if we put together the Zhuang Ding of all the families, there will probably be more than 10,000 people, plus Shen Lun's 3,000 people, a total of 15,000 troops can be gathered, weapons and armor are in stock, and Meng Qi's army is only more than 10,000 people, we can still fight, so everyone doesn't have to be too afraid, in addition, Vice Master Shen has rushed to Jiangdu to ask for help from the Sui army."

As soon as this sentence came out, the hall suddenly exploded, and everyone was discussing, and some people shouted excitedly: "When Meng Haigong was brought to Jiangnan, it was already a wolf into the house, do you want to lure the tiger into the house now?" ”

"Shut up!"

Xie Yong, the vice president, shouted loudly, the sound was like thunder, and the hall suddenly quieted down, Xie Yong said angrily: "Your wife, children, and mother have all been sent to Jiangdu, don't you know whose territory Jiangdu is?" ”

Everyone looked at each other, this sentence was very convincing, since everyone sent their families to Jiangdu, but they were hostile to the Sui army, this was obviously a very contradictory thing, there was silence in the hall, at this moment, a guard ran to Yuan Zherong's side, and said in a low voice: "Vice Master Shen is back!" ”

Yuan Zherong hurriedly glanced at Xie Yong, and Xie Yong shouted: "Let's go back and concentrate on the strong men first!" This is a matter of urgency, and action must be taken immediately. ”

Everyone also knew that the situation was critical, and they all went back one after another, Yuan Zherong and Xie Yong walked quickly to the back hall, and Chen Xian, who had been silent, also followed, although he had no real power in Jiangnanhui, just a symbol, but he was not stupid, he knew very well what he would do if he fell into the hands of Meng Haigong, I am afraid that it would be worse than anyone else.

In the inner hall, Shen Jian, who had just come back, was listening to another core member, Wang Zhili, tell him about the affairs of Biling County, and the three of them walked into the inner hall quickly, Yuan Zherong asked anxiously: "How is it, have you met Zhang Xuan?" ”

Shen Jian nodded, "I met him, talked about our situation, and asked him for help." ”

"Is he willing to send troops to help us?" Xie Yong also hurriedly asked.

"He is willing to send troops, but the conditions are more harsh, I think everyone should discuss it first!"

The four of them sat down at the square table, and Chen Xian also sat aside, usually he is not qualified to participate in this kind of core meeting, but this time the situation is not trivial, and everyone also asked him to participate together.

Shen Jian told everyone in detail about his meeting with Zhang Xuan, and finally said: "He only gave us three days to think about it, in fact, it was only one day, and it will take at least two days for me to rush to Jiangdu, let's decide!" ”

Everyone was silent, and for a long time, Yuan Zherong said in a hoarse voice: "Disbanding the Jiangnan Association, our decades of hard work will be in vain, and it is difficult to accept it if we have to write a guarantee to publicize it!" San Lang, can Jang Hyun be negotiable? ”

"Definitely not!"

Xie Yong had a straightforward personality, and he said to everyone: "Shen Gong also said just now, there are no two masters, if we don't surrender, how can he come to rescue us?" Now our choice is to either be slaughtered by Meng Haigong or surrender unconditionally to the Northern Sui. ”

Yuan Zherong stretched his face, "This may not be, we should have a third choice." ”

"Does Yuan Gong think we can defeat Meng Ghost?"

"I don't think it's impossible, we have 10,000 sets of Mingguang armor in stock, with sharp knives and spears, and most of the other party is cloth armor, not even leather armor, and the weapons are even more shoddy, our Zhuang Ding has been trained in the army for several years, and it is by no means comparable to the rabble of Meng Haigong."

"I'm afraid that the morale is not as good as the other party." Wang Zhili was a little worried.

"Morale?"

Yuan Zherong sneered, "Do we still have a way out?" These Zhuang Ding are the same, what is called a battle against the water, now we are, there is no way out, they only have a way to fight to the death, otherwise their wives and children will fall into the hands of the enemy, I don't think they have no morale. ”

At this time, Chen Xian, who had been silent, spoke: "I think you can give it a try." ”

Everyone turned their heads to look at him, and he hurriedly said: "Meng Qi ghost is just here to take over Lebotong's army, and everyone knows that Lebotong's army is lax, most of them are ruffians, and they are powerful at burning and killing ****, but when it comes to really fighting, just like Yuan Gong said, a group of rabble, and the equipment is also very inferior, and our Zhuang Ding army can completely defeat them." ”

Wang Zhili nodded, "I also think I can give it a try, the price of begging Zhang Xuan for support is too great." ”

"What about Xie Xian's nephew's opinion?" Yuan Zherong looked at Xie Yong.

Xie Yong pondered for a long time, and finally nodded, "Then give it a try!" ”

Shen Jian saw that the four of them had decided to fight for the last time, so he had to sigh and say, "Then I'm okay!" I will go to Jiangdu again and explain it clearly to His Royal Highness King Qi. ”

The five of them reached a consensus, but no one said anything about the subconscious behind them, they all realized that there was actually another way, and it really didn't work, so they gave up Jiangnan and fled to Jiangdu.

(To be continued.) )