In late May, when the temperature in Chongzhou was already hot, Yuan Yan wore a thin shirt, revealing half of her arm like a lotus root, sitting on the edge of the bamboo couch, and reading the letter sent from Nanyang to the Empress Dowager Liang.

The Queen Mother Liang suffers from eye disease, and has been unable to cure it, so she can only see the shadow of confusion, and if a letter comes, it is impossible to read it at all, but fortunately, with Wuyan by her side, it is better than a few maids.

"Huaidong buys medicinal materials in Xinyang, Nanyang lacks medicine people, although it occupies half of Tongbai Mountain, and there is Funiu Mountain in the west, but you can't exchange medicinal materials for grain and salt with Huaidong, Hou Ye's tone in the letter is still very regretful...... Yuan Yan said on the content of the letter.

"Yes, there is no output, no matter how much property you have, you will only sit and eat nothing, and Nanyang is so little that it can't support 20,000 soldiers and horses at all, Dong Yuan will cut off the channel in the future, Nanyang will be in a hurry first, right?" The last sentence of the Empress Dowager Liang was to ask Miao Shuo.

Miao Shuo has been in charge of Yudong Palace Village for many years, although he has no military ability, but his insight into governance is not shallow, especially after the recent improvement of the relationship between the Liang family and Huaidong, the days of Hailing Wangfu are much more comfortable, in addition to the uncontrolled correspondence with Nanyang, Jiangning and other places, he is no longer restricted from entering Chongzhou City, and he can also see the Tang copy of Jiangning and the county governments in time, and the news is no longer closed, and said: "Huaidong is a good means, I heard that Weiyang and Jiangning cloth iron are almost all produced in Huaidong, and the grain prices in Jiangning, Weiyang and other places, It is almost twice as high as Huaidong. As long as Nanyang, Xinyang and other places cannot be self-sufficient in grain, iron cloth and other things, they will rely on Huaidong; Dong Yuan couldn't restrain Huaidong's tentacles and stretched out to Huaixi. If the local clans in all prefectures and counties say good things about Huaidong, in the future, there may be nothing to say in the future......"

The Empress Dowager Liang knew what the "maybe" in Miao Shuo's mouth meant, sighed lightly, and asked: "Now it is said everywhere that Huaidong is going to fight Mindong after the autumn, and the secret fold that Huaidong handed to Jiangning has also become a clear fold, and the emperor has also decreed it, this battle after the autumn is really very critical......"

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Zeyuan in front of the Jiangning Zangjin Bridge is the residence of Yu Xinyuan's family in Jiangning City.

In the small pavilion of the East Garden of Yufu, Yu Bijiang sat beside his father Yu Xinyuan, and talked with Xie Chaozhong, who came to Yufu as a guest.

When Xie Chaozhong went south with Xinning, his family stayed in Yanjing, and there was no war, and only three children of the Xie family fled to Jiangning to join Xie Chaozhong when he broke through Yanjing with Emperor Chongguan.

Although Xie Chaozhong won the trust of the new emperor and took charge of the Jiangning Imperial Camp Army, his foundation in Jiangning was too shallow, and there were not many descendants who could be used in the Jiangning Imperial Camp Army, and countless people were staring at the position of the imperial camp army, so they had to find a strong reinforcement in Jiangning City.

Yu Xinyuan and Chen Xiyan were both the mainstays of the Wu Party, and they were in charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate with the imperial history of Zuodu, and they were the head of Jiangning Yanguan, and they were born in the Danyang clan, Xie Chaozhong continued to marry Yu Xinyuan's niece as his wife, which was considered to have a foundation in Jiangning City.

Yu Xie borrowed from each other, and he was also strong in Jiangning City, but it was not everything that went well.

"It's not that I don't give my uncle face, it's just that Chen Xiyan, the old horseman, really doesn't know how to lift, the imperial camp army allocated 20,000 soldiers and horses to Dong Yuan a few years ago, and the money and food have not been reduced, but it is also too much to owe the imperial camp army before, just enough to make up for the previous arrears. Now this old man wants to withhold the money and food of the imperial camp army, not to mention, but also to say that he wants to streamline the government, "Yu Xinyuan was born as a military general, spoke rudely, and he had no scruples to accuse Chen Xiyan in front of Yu Xinyuan, "The imperial camp army guards the imperial capital, Chen Xiyan wants to reduce the soldiers and horses of the imperial camp army, what is his intention?" Cheng Yuqian's old puppet also joined in the fun, saying that he would purge the imperial camp. said that it was to purge the imperial camp army, didn't it join forces to rectify me Xie Chaozhong? ”

The imperial camp army was once expanded to 100,000, and 20,000 were taken away to Dong Yuan, and 80,000 were subordinated to the Eighth Army.

Xie Chaozhong served as the commander of the imperial camp army for nearly two years, but the imperial camp army, which inherited the Jiangning garrison, was far inferior in combat power and military appearance to Li Zhuo's period; Even the 20,000 soldiers and horses that Dong Yuan brought to Huaixi were finally broken up by Dong Yuan as pawns.

Dong Yuan wantonly expanded the number of garrisons in Huaixi, and he had other intentions, but the main thing was that the soldiers and horses of the imperial camp were really unusable.

After the autumn of last year, 20,000 soldiers and horses of the imperial camp followed Dong Yuan into Huaixi, not to mention the confrontation with the Yanlu iron cavalry, and there were many runaways who could not bear the hard work when they moved in, so that during the war in Xuzhou, Dong Yuan did not dare to use the soldiers and horses of the imperial camp army at all, and could only rely on Xiao Kuian's department.

The various performances of the soldiers and horses of the imperial camp in Huaixi, Dong Yuan played, and Liu Tingzhou also made a secret report, so that Chen Xiyan was worried that when the enemy soldiers came to Jiangning City, although the soldiers and horses of the imperial camp were numerous, they were likely to collapse without a fight.

The other is that there are too many soldiers and horses in the imperial camp, the pressure on the consumption of money and food is too great, and the power in Huaidong is expanding more and more, Chen Xiyan is more interested in purging the imperial camp army, and supporting Dong Yuan to break up the 20,000 imperial camp troops transferred to Huaixi and organize them into cantonments, which is the first step.

It's just that Xie Chaozhong will not think that he has no ability to govern the army, he will only think that Chen Xiyan is troublesome to him in everything, and even when the Imperial Camp Division discusses the affairs of the Imperial Camp Army, Chen Xiyan will never invite Xie Chaozhong to come over alone, but will Xie Chaozhong and the eight generals of the Imperial Camp Army attend together.

The Imperial Battalion Army inherited the original Jiangning Garrison Army, and six of the generals in the Eighth Army were all born in the Jiangning Garrison Army, and they had a close relationship with their old boss Cheng Yuqian, and they were qualified to attend the military meeting of the Imperial Battalion Division, so they naturally ignored Xie Chaozhong, the boss who had risen explosively-Xie Chaozhong naturally regarded this as Chen Xiyan, and Cheng Yuqian was afraid of him.

It was the 20,000 soldiers and horses of the imperial battalion that were scattered and organized as garrisons for Dong Yuan, and most of their generals were Xie Chaozhong's cronies who were promoted, and they were eager to leave Huaixi, the place of the four wars, and sent to Jiangning and did not resist, but after arriving in Jiangning, they naturally complained that Dong Yuan and Liu Tingzhou made things difficult for them, and also asked Xie Chaozhong to rearrange his position as a general in the imperial camp.

On the one hand, Xie Chaozhong wanted to arrange more generals to the imperial camp army, and Chen Xiyan advocated the rectification of the imperial camp army at this time, and he wanted to streamline the administration of the army, and made trouble several times in front of Emperor Yongxing.

Xie Chaozhong has been angry these days, how can he not complain in Yufu at this time?

Although Yu Xinyuan is the head of the officials, he is not listed in the phase, and he is excluded from the Imperial Camp Division and the Military Leader Division, who really control the military power and financial power, so he can't help Xie Chaozhong when he fights in the court.

Going deeper, after Chen Xiyan retired, the Wu Party was headed by Yu Xinyuan, but during the Ninglu dispute, Huaidong pushed Chen Xiyan out and contacted Yue Lengqiu, Cheng Yuqian and others to support King Ning. Chen Xiyan took advantage of the merits of the establishment and naturally became the head of the prime ministers, and Yu Xinyuan only ended up with a post in the imperial history of the left capital.

Passing by the wrong phase, Yu Xinyuan had an indescribable loss in his heart.

Listening to Xie Chaozhong's complaints, Yu Xinyuan just kept a calm face and was silent.

"Streamline the imperial camp army, reduce the money and food festival, where do you want to invest," Yu Pijiang asked, "I saw that when Chen Xiyan recommended Yue Lengqiu to go to Jiangzhou, I thought about this step now; Now Huaidong plans to use troops against eastern Fujian after the autumn, and Chen Xiyan also advises to strengthen Jiangzhou, asking Yue Lengqiu to use troops against Yuzhang in Jiangzhou at the same time after the autumn. Chen Xiyan became more and more confused as he got older, forgetting who made him up back then, and at this time he was bent on supporting Yue Lengqiu......

After King Ning succeeded to the throne, Yu Pijiang was sent out of Zhihao Prefecture, and Chen Mingzhi went out of Zhijiaxing at that time.

is also a rookie of the Wu Party, Yu Pijiang is naturally compared with Chen Mingzhen in everything. Although they are both prefects, Haozhou is very different from Jiaxing. Although he knew Haozhou, Yu Bijiang was full of complaints in his heart.

Last year, when the Yanlu army went south, Hehuai was turbulent, and even Haozhou was difficult to protect, so Yu Bijiang left Haozhou under the pretext of illness, and the prefect of Haozhou was concurrently served by Liu Tingzhou.

Yu Bijiang has been "sick" in Jiangning for more than half a year and wants to come out again, but Chen Xiyan wants him to recover from his "illness", why doesn't he have resentment in his heart?

Liu Yefei's defection was revealed to Huaidong, Yu Xinyuan thought that he was expected to make up for Yue Lengqiu's phase, and organized the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to impeach Yue Lengqiu the most, and naturally there was also a liquidation of the old hatred with the Chu Party; At that time, Chen Xiyan tried his best to protect Yue Lengqiu.

Chen Xiyan wanted to protect Yue Lengqiu, not because he had forgotten the party struggles in the past, but because on Jiangning's side, he really couldn't find a reputable official who knew more about military affairs than Yue Lengqiu.

Although Yue Lengqiu was a civilian official, he cleaned up the Yanshan defense line with the military department, and served as the governor of Dongmin to suppress the luxury family, and then served as the governor of Jianghuai, all of which had a good performance and had a deep influence on the Changhuai army, the Huinan army and the Luzhou army. With Yue Lengqiu in Jiangning, whenever there is a military incident, the new emperor only attaches the most importance to Yue Lengqiu's opinion, and there is no stage for Xie Chaozhong to perform.

Yue Lengqiu worshiped the prime minister in the temple, grasped the situation of the imperial court, and suppressed local forces, which had all the benefits but no harm; Chen Xiyan protects him, but also to take care of the overall situation.

Yue Lengqiu finally resigned and left office, but Yu Xinyuan failed to make up for the vacant position after Yue Lengqiu left. The main reason is that Lin Xuwen, who has the support of Huaidong behind him, strongly opposes it, contacts others to oppose the Wu Party at the same time, and at the same time, two people occupy the phase, and Emperor Yongxing is also worried that the Wu Party is too powerful and does not fit the way of checks and balances; Yu Xinyuan complained that Chen Xiyan didn't help him speak this time.

Chen Xiyan wanted to streamline the imperial camp army and reduce money and grain to increase investment in Jiangzhou and Huaixi, but it aroused new and old grudges against Xie Chaozhong, Yu Xinyuan, and Yu Bijiang.

Xie Chaozhong and Yu Xinyuan complained, Yu Xinyuan didn't say much, his city government was not just trying to talk about it for a while, he was thinking more far-reaching.

Huaidong planned to fight Mindong after the autumn, and Chen Xiyan also asked Yue Lengqiu to use troops against Yuzhang in Jiangzhou.

The situation in Huaixi gradually stabilized, and Jiang Ning was able to support Yue Lengqiu to use troops against Yuzhang at the same time.

This strategy is to make it difficult for the luxury family to take care of each other, and at the same time to suppress the light of Huaidong is too strong, Chen Xiyan wants to use Yue Lengqiu to divide the momentum of Huaidong, so as to curb Huaidong's ambitions to continue to expand.

As long as Yue Lengqiu can successfully recover Jiangxi, and Dong Yuan can gain a firm foothold in Huaixi, no matter how strong Lin Lian's ambition is, he can only temporarily nest in Huaidong. Chen Xiyan's intentions can not be described as bad and bitter, but this situation is extremely unfavorable to Yu Xinyuan.

On the one hand, Xie Chaozhong's authority will be reduced, and it may even be hollowed out, becoming a nominal control of the imperial army; On the one hand, if Yue Lengqiu can successfully recover Jiangxi, in order to prevent Yue Lengqiu from sitting in Jiangxi, he can only let him return to the court to worship the prime minister again, and will completely eliminate the possibility of Yu Xinyuan worshipping the prime minister in a short period of time?

More importantly, Chen Xiyan regarded Dong Yuan as a member of the Wu Party at this time, and also valued Dong Yuan more, and in addition to Dong Yuan, he paid more attention to cultivating his protégé Chen Mingzhen - Yu Xinyuan also had a feeling of being completely abandoned by Chen Xiyan at this time, and he was also afraid that Chen Xiyan would completely kick him away in order to consolidate his position within the Wu Party.

"Chaozhong, if you lead the army to Jiangxi, can you be sure?" Yu Xinyuan asked abruptly.