In the palace of Jinling City, it was Xiao Zhan's sleepless night, and in the midst of the lights, the empress, who had only been on the throne for more than a year, was reviewing the notebook, and every day she only went to rest for a while when it was almost dawn, and the next day she had to go energetically to take care of the government and meet the ministers.

For Xiao Zhan, she has too many responsibilities on her shoulders, and the life and death of the entire Southern Dynasty are almost tied to her alone. Hui Wang Xiao Ling is drunk all day long, even if it is her imperial uncle who now holds the military power, she can't detect what kind of help Xiao Ling will give her, but sometimes she will help her, several times Xiao Yang sent people to invite Xiao Ling into the palace for military and political affairs, Xiao Ling refused on the grounds of physical discomfort.

The assassination at the beginning of the year had a certain impact on Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling often walked out of the mansion in the past, but after that, Xiao Ling was like a mouse hiding in a cave, no matter what happened outside, he would not poke his head out easily. Even if he had been to Yangzhou once, after coming back, he still shrank into King Hui's mansion, and everything was arranged for his supporters to do.

Because of this, the military defense of the Southern Dynasties was very poor, so bad that Xiao Zhan wanted to slap the table, and the Northern Dynasties wanted to raise troops to the south, but it was announced to the world a few months in advance, even so, except for Yangzhou, where Sima arranged defense, other places were almost undefended, and even unable to form an effective defense and support system, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Northern Dynasties went south, and what the Southern Dynasties would use to contend with it was Xiao Zhan's greatest worry.

After the third watch in the evening, it was already quiet outside, and Xiao Zhan was alone and looked at the recital book that had just come from the south.

Xiao Zhan originally wanted to transfer the garrison in Lingnan to the north, on the one hand, to guard the Yangtze River defense line, and more importantly, to maintain the Beijing division of King Qin, who knew that her imperial order would be rejected by the local guards when she arrived at the place, and all the armies were almost the same tone, and they did not obey the edict in the name of not eliminating the local bandits. Actually, in the end. They didn't get the edict of King Hui's mansion, and in Lingnan, there are many places where King Hui's family soldiers, and even if they are not, it is King Hui who is now in charge of the imperial court's military power, and the local generals dare not offend King Hui for the sake of the empress.

But there are those who can give edicts. It seems that they are loyal and patriotic ministers, but they put forward difficulties, there is no military budget and salary, lack of food and materials, local soldiers and horses are not suitable for long-distance travel, and they always have to ask the court for money and food, which Xiao Yang can't take.

Xie Rumo has been alone for more than ten years, and the Qi Dynasty seems to be flashy on the outside, but in fact, it has long been hollow. The Southern Dynasty also had money and grain, but it was in the hands of the local gentry and merchants, the treasury was empty, and the people were poor. And she did not have absolute imperial power, and could not take grain from the gentry and merchants. The most appropriate approach now is to implement reforms, but they will take a long time. Now that the Northern Dynasty is approaching, she really has no way to solve it.

"Your Majesty, an envoy came from the north, saying that he wanted to see His Majesty." A man dressed in the costume of a little eunuch walked in and said timidly.

Xiao Zhan looked up and saw that the person wearing the clothes of a little eunuch was actually a little palace maid. According to the rules of the palace, the night vigil must be a little eunuch, but Xiao Zhan was very suspicious of those eunuchs, but felt that the little palace maid had never been out of the palace and had no heart for fame and fortune. On the contrary, they will not collude with the courtiers outside. So she also changed all the little eunuchs who were close to her, and even the guards were female soldiers.

"Envoy?"

Xiao Zhan thought about it, she had sent Li Fangwei to the north as an envoy to the north as an envoy from the Southern Dynasty at the recommendation of Sima Yi before, and now it has been more than four months, and she is expected to come back. But Li Fangwei seemed to know that the matter had not been done, and there had been no news, and the envoy that the little palace maid said seemed to have come from the north.

"Bring someone in."

Xiao Zhan was not so stubborn, since the envoys had arrived at the gate of the palace, it would not hurt to see him.

Xiao Zhan waited for half an hour before he came over accompanied by female soldiers, and when he came into the main hall, he stood still, Xiao Zhan looked down, but unfortunately the light was dim, and she couldn't see who the person was. But I felt like a woman, not a man.

"Who are you?" Xiao Zhan was a little nervous, could it be an assassin?

But he listened to the man: "On the order of the emperor of the Northern Dynasty, I specially sent a secret letter to ask Your Majesty to read it." ”

The voice was really a female voice, Xiao Zhan motioned for the guards to light all the lights in the palace, and there was finally light in the entire hall, Xiao Zhan saw clearly that the person who came, it was none other than the leader of Han Jian's most trusted intelligence system, and the helmsman of tens of thousands of fine works in the north in the Southern Dynasty, Da Xiliu.

Xiao Zhan knew Daxiliu when she was working in the Northern Dynasty, and Daxiliu took care of her daily life at that time, although she knew that it was all arranged by Han Jian. Now that Da Xiliu came to deliver the letter in person, Xiao Zhan also moved the idea of taking her down and interrogating her, you must know how important this person is to the Northern Dynasty, if you can get something out of her mouth, how much it will be rewarding.

It's a pity that Xiao Zhan didn't do that, because Da Xiliu came as an envoy of the Northern Dynasty, and the two countries are still at war, not to mention that the two countries have not officially exchanged troops now, and if she does this, it will only make the world laugh and give the Northern Dynasty a more reasonable excuse for the invasion. What's even more important is that Xiao Zhan is still reusing Sima Yuan, and she doesn't want to lose a helper like Sima Qi for Daxi Liu, so she will press down on the thoughts in her heart.

"Bring it in."

With Xiao Zhan's order, a female guard immediately submitted the letter.

In addition to the basic greetings, Han Jian was also very polite in the letter, and finally pointed out that he wanted to help the Southern Dynasty solve the internal troubles, and at the same time to take revenge for Zhu Tongjing leading the troops to Yuzhou, and preparing to send troops to fight Jiang Jiang, at the end of the letter, Han Jian even promised that as long as Zhu Tongjing's troops were all defeated, the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty would withdraw to the north without any offense, and the two countries would make an alliance from then on, and always repair the old good.

Xiao Zhan read this letter, became angry, slapped the table and said, "You are on the order of your Son of Heaven to send the war letter?" ”

Hearing that it was a war letter, even the guards next to him had to go up to escort Da Nishiyanagi, but they saw that Da Nishiliu was still calm and relaxed. On the contrary, it was Xiao Zhan who prevented the guards from further intrusion.

Daxi Liu said: "The Zhu thief took advantage of the civil strife in my court, colluded with the Xie thief, and sent troops north to invade my territory. When the Son of Heaven said, the coming day will be repaid, and now my Son of Heaven is rising, waving millions of soldiers and horses to the north to drive out Hulu. It is the time of prosperity, and it is also the revenge of the thief back then. Please also ask Your Majesty Haihan. ”

Xiao Zhan sneered: "Haihan? When you send troops to my territory to sweep away civil strife for me, have you ever asked me what I mean? Your emperor is so domineering that he doesn't even understand the most basic etiquette? ”

Onishi Liu saluted and said: "The foreign minister came to deliver the letter on the order of the Son of Heaven. I don't know anything else, but if Your Majesty has any doubts, you can write to me in person to inquire about the Son of Heaven. This is not something that we and other ministers can answer. ”

What she said was diplomatic rhetoric, which made Xiao Zhan quite speechless, she knew that Han Jian was domineering, but she couldn't say that Han Jian was impersonal, otherwise she wouldn't have known that she came back to inherit the throne and be an enemy of the Northern Dynasty, and she would have sent someone to personally escort her south. Protect her along the way. Others have affection, she can't be unrighteous, now it doesn't involve the issue of personal relations, it is to warn the two countries, even if she is grateful to Han Jian for his success, now she has to be ruthless and regard Han Jian as her biggest enemy.

Xiao Zhan raised her pen and expressed her questioning words in words. She just wanted to ask the emperor of the Northern Dynasty why he ignored the alliance between the two dynasties. Sending troops to attack. You must know that when Han Jian raised troops in Jiangdu, the Southern Dynasty gave Jiangdu a lot of aid, and the person who escorted the aid grain and grass was also Zhu Tongjing, the thief who was criticized by Han Jian.

After writing the letter, Xiao Zhan painted the fire paint before asking the guards to hand it over to Daxiliu. He said, "Go back to meet you and give him this letter." I wonder what he has to say! ”

Da Xiliu saluted again, and left the palace with Xiao Zhan's handwritten letter. Xiao Zhan thought that someone would inevitably know about the envoy to the Northern Dynasty, and letting Daxiliu go out like this would probably be detrimental to Daxiliu. Now she wants to keep Onishiliu from having an accident.

Obviously, if the Northern Dynasty comes to make an accident in the Southern Dynasty, the Northern Dynasty will have enough reason to send troops, instead of making excuses to take revenge on Zhu Tongjing as it is now. The most important thing about the war of this era is that the division is famous, of course, there is not so much reason to talk about with the barbarian people on the grassland, but if it is a civil war, the name is not justified, and the people will not support it.

After Da Xiliu was sent out of the palace, Xiao Zhan was still uneasy in her heart, this was also the first war letter officially issued by the Northern Dynasty, and she was still very unwilling to fight with the Northern Dynasty people like this. Although the emperor of the Northern Dynasty has just ascended the throne, Han Jian has fully mastered the politics and military of the Northern Dynasty, and he has responded to every call, and more importantly, the internal troubles of the Northern Dynasty have been eliminated, and the internal political struggle has also calmed down, even the empress of the Wei Dynasty, Yang Rui, has also become Han Jian's concubine, and even this time Han Jian went out to patrol the river capital, Yang Rui still accompanied him. Even if Yang Rui still has the heart to restore the country, but before Yang Rui abdicated the throne, her emperor had already existed in name only, after the four kings and Yang Yu's rebellion, and then Lin Ke's party was destroyed, and Ning Yuan and Han Song's purge of the old school in Luoyang, Yang Rui had no cronies to help her.

But the Southern Dynasty was in the autumn of wind and rain, the empress and King Hui could not get along harmoniously, and the people under King Hui were even more self-respecting, and Zhu Tongjing's henchmen were plotting chaos, and local officials and generals wanted to watch the fire from the other side.

……

……

Daxiliu went for 30 days, and when Daxiliu returned to Han Jian and submitted Xiao Zhan's handwritten letter, it was already April 12, at this time Luan and his party had arrived at the ground in Jiangdu, and Luan Jia would arrive in Jiangdu a few days later, which was also the terminal of Han Jian's patrol. But that was also the starting point of Han Jian's personal expedition.

Han Jian opened the letter, the handwriting on it was very neat, Han Jian did not often see Xiao Zhan's handwritten letter, Li Fangwei had presented a copy before, took it out and compared it, the handwriting was exactly the same.

"Qing is hard, retire and rest first, and drive to Jiangdu tomorrow." Han Jian said to Onishiyanagi.

Onishi Liu saluted and retired, she has also been used to running around in recent years, she has to be responsible for the investigation of intelligence, and she must bow down to everything, otherwise what she does will make Han Jian dissatisfied. It can be said that it is the intelligence system of Jiangdu supported by Onishiyanagi, but the entire intelligence system can still operate freely without Onishiyanagi.

This is Han Jian's way of employing people.

Han Jian read the content of the letter, which was full of questions and reprimands, but after reading it, he also felt the helplessness in Xiao Zhan's words. In addition to questioning, there are no constructive words, Xiao Zhan's status in the Southern Dynasty is very embarrassing, and he is even inferior to Yang Rui when he was in charge of the government. Han Jian finally handed over the civil and political affairs to Yang Rui to deal with, no matter how poor Yang Rui was, he still had thousands of soldiers in Luoyang, and the military generals were still there.

But now Xiao Zhan, there is no minister around him who can be trusted, and there is not even a "Lin Ke" with a ghost in his heart, but Xiao Zhan can rely on it, only Sima Yu, Sima Yu was also sent by her to Jiangbei to guard Yangzhou.

"Poor woman for the country." Han Jian sighed, and at this time, Yang Rui also came into the tent.

Han Jian is not in the big tent of the Chinese army, but in his own sleeping tent, along the way of Han Jian's patrol, Han Jian can't go to find a woman every day, on the way Han Jian has to review the recital book until late at night, but if he wants to get close to the women around him, he must also summon the women around him to his sleeping tent to sleep. Only occasionally when Han Jian is not too rigid will he personally go to Yang Li'er's dormitory to stay overnight.

Yang Rui was also "summoned" by Han Jian on this day, but if she was unwilling, even if Han Jian sent the little palace maid over to pass the word, Yang Rui would not give him face.

As soon as Yang Rui entered the tent curtain, he heard Han Jian's emotion, and stood still and didn't go inside, but the little palace maid behind him had already closed the curtain and fixed it.

"Is this for me?" Yang Rui frowned and asked.

Han Jian sat on the edge of the bed, smiled, and poked his hand holding the letter out. Yang Rui walked up to take a look, and knew that it was a letter written by the empress of the Southern Dynasty that resembled a letter of state.

But because this credential was not presented in a formal setting, it seems that the content of it is too sharp.

"You see, people are also emperors, and their speaking demeanor is different, and after talking for a long time, it can be summed up in one sentence, that is, 'What do you want to do to let go of the people of Jiangnan'. You say, I killed the soldiers and horses to her door, and she can only ask like this, is that not forcing robbers to enter her house? ”

After Han Jian finished speaking, Yang Rui kept looking at the letter.

In the end, Yang Rui seemed to understand something, put down the letter, and said in a somewhat puzzled tone: "It seems that you still deliberately said it to me." What about women in power? She is now working hard to keep the foundation and country of her ancestors, and now I have failed my ancestors' society, I am afraid that she will ...... It is also difficult to protect the country. (To be continued.) )