The night snow in Hangzhou, with the sound of rain, under the Huatang, the bright candles are shining, the servants and maids are sent down to the hall and wait outside, Chen Mingzhe and Chen Huawen's uncle and nephew sit on the case.

Chen Mingzhen sat on the ground, his face was full of bitterness, and he looked up and saw that the second uncle Chen Huawen had frosty hair on his temples, and said: "The second uncle's temples are full ......of hair."

Chen Huawen smiled reluctantly and said, "I had it the year before last, and it is normal for me to have long gray hair; Look at you, you're not even thirty years old, and you don't have any less gray hair on your temples than I do. ”

Chen Mingzhe smiled bitterly, so many things have happened in the country and at home in the past two years, hard work, no one can be leisurely, where can you care about the long gray hair? asked: "Meng Yishan is really too late to save it?" ”

"The fifty or sixty thousand soldiers and horses of the luxury family in Ningguo have poured out, and this is indeed to swallow Meng Yishan before the Huaidong soldiers and horses go north," Chen Huawen said, "I can also know some truths over the years of leading the troops." The old nest of the luxury family has been dropped by Huaidong, and if it is someone else, the people's hearts and morale have long collapsed, but the Zhejiang-Fujian army has won successive victories in Daqingxi, Yuling Pass, and Huizhou, and it is hard to gather people's hearts and morale without dispersing, which is also the so-called mourning soldiers! The mourning soldiers will win, but the mourning soldiers cannot be held for a long time, and the luxury family must make a big breakthrough in Jiangning or Jiangzhou before this anger is discarded - the luxury family is extremely vicious, and it is fighting for its life without venting its breath. Huaidong's soldiers and horses seem to be fast and slow, why isn't Yue Lengqiu like this? The Jiangzhou army entered the territory of Chizhou on the 14th, but where did it go today? In the final analysis, they didn't want to fight for their lives, but Meng Yishan bumped into it! ”

"Eat the king's Lu, worry about the king, Jiangning is in danger, the Hanghu army is supported by the imperial court, how can you retreat?" Chen Mingzhe knew that he was a little angry when he said such things, but when he came back from Xiaoshan, he had a sense of anger in his heart, and he was not happy not to say it.

"It's true that Meng Yishan is a little greedy, but he has no ambitions, and he is also loyal to the emperor. This, others don't know, you and I are clear, but some people in Jiangning City treat the Hanghu Army as a foreign soldier to guard! Chen Huawen said.

Chen Mingzhe felt bitter in his heart, and when he heard what the second uncle meant, he also judged that Meng Yishan would not be able to hold on to the arrival of Huaidong reinforcements.

Chen Huawen continued: "Before Xie Chaozhong went to Huizhou, how good was the situation? Huizhou has been defeated, if the Hanghu Army can enter Jiangning to assist in defense, and the Jiangzhou soldiers and Huaidong soldiers and horses are slowly approaching from both flanks, the situation will not be leaked for thousands of miles. I'm worried that Meng Yishan will be defeated in Liyang, and the Jiangzhou soldiers and Huaidong soldiers and horses can't enter the periphery of Jiangning in time, can Jiangning be able to hold it? ”

"The second uncle stayed in Hangzhou, was he worried from the beginning?" Chen Mingzhen asked.

Chen Huawen said: "Over the years, the rise of Huaidong is just around the corner, Huaidong pointed out all kinds of shortcomings before Xie Chaozhong went to Huizhou, and the emperor turned a deaf ear, can I turn a blind eye?" ”

Chen Mingzhen said: "I can finally understand why my father can rest assured that he will hand over Haiyu's children to the second uncle. ”

"I'm just a little timid and pragmatic, and I don't have any other strengths, and my articles and talents are far inferior to you," Chen Huawen sighed, "I think Chen Xiang also saw that Huaidong was precautionary and unprepared, so he didn't dare to rush to transfer Huaidong's troops and horses in Hailing into Jiangning." ”

Chen Mingzhe was silent, if Huaidong really expected today's situation, but did not take any precautions, it would not be difficult to guess in his mind. The world can't blame Huaidong, step by step good chess to the emperor's hand, this bad debt can not be counted on Huaidong's head, but Huaidong's calculation is so deep that it always makes people's backs cold.

"Will Huaidong depose the emperor?" Chen Mingzhen unconsciously lowered his voice and asked the most critical question.

Chen Huawen shook his head and said, "If Jiangning City can be defended, with Chen Xiang here, Yue Lengqiu's Jiangzhou army can also enter the periphery of Jiangning in time, and the situation will not be so bad." Although the emperor played a few stinky chess, he did not lose his morality to the point of anger and resentment, and Huaidong would not risk the world's disapproval to do things to abolish the establishment. At least before Yue Lengqiu and Dong Yuan, Huaidong will compromise, and there will be good shows to watch in the court in the future; If Jiangning City doesn't keep ......"

Chen Mingzhe nodded, feeling very heavy.

If the city of Jiangning is not defended, the emperor will either die with the city or abandon the city and flee.

As the emperor of the lost capital and the minister of the lost country, the remaining imperial army will inevitably suffer heavy casualties, even if Huaidong does not rise and abolish the establishment, the emperor and Chen Xiang will also lose the right to speak, and the government can only be controlled by Huaidong.

Of course, Huaidong wants to control the government, and there are still some factors to be settled, such as the remnants of the Hanghu Army, such as Yue Lengqiu, such as Huaixi Dongyuan, such as Jinghu Hu Wenmu.

If Meng Yishan's army was defeated in Liyang, the remnants of the Hanghu Army would be dominated by the Haiyu army led by Chen and Su Pinxiao's Bainao Navy, with a total strength of more than 15,000 people.

Thinking of this, Chen Mingzhen said again: "Su Pinxiao's side, Huaidong should also send someone to contact him, right?" ”

Chen Huawen nodded and said, "Since Lin Lian said such heavy things in front of you, I am afraid that Su Pinxiao has a tacit understanding...... It has been eight days since Lin Jian arrived in Xiaoshan, and it is impossible to deal with the matter of the army all the time. ”

Su Pin Xiaoyuan was the leader of the Taihu Lake Water Village forces, and finally the Taihu Lake Water Village forces were able to form the Bai Nao Army and integrate into the Haiyu Army in the eleventh year of Chongguan.

Although the Wu Party and the Bai Nao Army were both rooted in Wu, there were still some differences.

The Bai Nao army mainly comes from the bottom, and the Wu Party is the representative of the Wu squire forces, and if you want to say that the influence on the Bai Nao army, maybe Huaidong is deeper.

In addition to Lin Bin's early activities in the Taihu Lake area, including the bloody battle of Jiyang, which made Lin Jian himself have a high prestige in the counties along the Taihu Lake, Lin Jian later engaged in construction in Chongzhou and purchased a large number of materials from the counties along the Taihu Lake, mainly through the Jiyun Society and the water village related to the Bai Nao Army.

Su Pinxiao and many generals of the Bai Nao Water Army were born recklessly, and their loyalty to the court was no better than that of the gentry. Moreover, over the years, the performance of the imperial court and Huaidong, perhaps the dignitaries and nobles in Jiangning City sat in the well and watched the sky, and the generals of Su Pinxiao and the Bainao Water Army should be as clear as drinking water in their own stomachs.

Chen Mingzhen thought to himself: The second uncle said that Su Pinxiao and Huaidong had a tacit understanding, but I am afraid that he will only consider the situation lightly.

Now Su Pinxiao led the remnants of the Bainao Navy into Taihu Lake, saying that he was fighting with Meng Yishan, but after Meng Yishan was ordered to go west to Liyang, Su Pinxiao's army also remained in Taihu Lake. If Su Pinxiao has formed a tacit understanding with Huaidong, and Huaidong sends troops and horses to take over the defense of Changxing County, it also means that Taihu Lake has actually been controlled by Huaidong.

To say that Huaidong has a deep influence on the Bai Nao Water Army, how can the Chen family get rid of Huaidong's influence?

Over the past two years or so, Jiangning has had to maintain the support of hundreds of thousands of troops, tens of thousands of officials, and the inner court, and has continuously levied heavy taxes on Pingjiang and other prefectures. Although Pingjiang is rich, the people are also overwhelmed. It is not that there was no civil unrest, but unlike in the past, there was only one town along the Taihu Lake with less than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and the Hanghu Army had 60,000 troops at its peak, and the civil unrest could be extinguished in time at the beginning, so there was no major chaos.

If Meng Yishan is destroyed in Liyang, the Hanghu Army will also be weakened to the extreme, even if Huaidong has no ambitions, relying only on the remnants of the Hanghu Army, will it still have the ability to suppress the popular anger that is about to boil in the counties around Taihu Lake?

In the early years, Huaidong tied the military food supply of the Haiyu Army to Huaidong's body through the trade of "raw silk and rice". After the Northern Zhejiang Envoy Division was reorganized into the former Hanghu Army, the money and grain of the Hanghu Army were unified by the Military Commander's Division, so that they could be considered to be free from the control of Huaidong. However, the war is still frequent, the price of raw silk in the Jianghuai region continues to fall, and the highly profitable overseas raw silk trade is firmly controlled in the hands of Huaidong, although the Chen family has more than 2,000 hectares of mulberry gardens, but life is extremely difficult.

In the past, the harvest of one acre of mulberry orchard was equivalent to two acres and three acres of grain fields, and Pingjiang was able to enrich the world.

Nowadays, the harvest of one acre of mulberry orchard is far less than that of one acre of grain field, but the labor invested in one acre of mulberry orchard is more than planting rice and wheat, and the price of rice in the south of the Yangtze River has risen vigorously. More than 100,000 mulberry farmers and weavers in Haiyu County, plus a large number of displaced people who fled the war, have become a sharp blade hanging over their heads that may fall at any time.

If Huaidong turns to Huaidong for help, it will be easy to solve the problem, first, Huaidong will import a large amount of grain to Haiyu and other places to curb the price of rice, first, Huaidong will raise the purchase price of raw silk and other fabrics in Haiyu and other places, or Huaidong will open up the overseas raw silk trade to let the raw silk and silk merchants in Pingjiang Prefecture participate.

After the Ninglu dispute, Yudongzhi County, which was only separated from Haiyu by the Dongjiang River, was placed under the jurisdiction of Huaidong, and Wang Chengfu was appointed to the county, repairing embankments and cultivating fields, and Yudong's grain fields increased from more than 400,000 mu to millions of mu. The transfer of increased grain production from Yudong County to Pingjiang alone can greatly alleviate the grain crisis in Pingjiang Prefecture.

Pingjiang Mansion is the most important foundation of the Wu Party, what reason does Huaidong have to resolve the crisis for the Chen family?

Chen Mingzhe was really painful in his heart, he should have made up his mind to destroy mulberry and grow grain back then, and he would not be as passive as he is today.

If Lin Lian's words in Xiaoshan today are understood as an ultimatum, and the Chen family does not give in, Huaidong is likely to use means to exacerbate the crisis that Pingjiang Mansion is currently facing. Once a large-scale civil unrest broke out along the shores of Taihu Lake, and the Hanghu Army was unable to suppress it, it would not be able to prevent the Huaidong soldiers and horses from openly entering.

Chen Mingzhe's expression was painful, and he betrayed Chen Xiyan, and his heart was unwilling.

Chen Huawen sighed: "Chen Xiang tried his best to use Dong Yuan to go out of Zhenhuaixi and Yue Lengqiu to go out of Zhenjiangzhou, which was a good game of chess, but Chen Xiang's hard work was still regarded by the emperor as having different aspirations, which caused today's bad situation, who can blame him?" ”

"I ......" Chen Mingzhen was miserable.

"You go back to Jiaxing; Lin Jian will come to Hangzhou the day after tomorrow, and I will lead a group of soldiers and horses to aid Jiangning, and Fuyang will ask the Huaidong Army to assist in guarding the ......," Chen Huawen said.

Chen Huawen led the army to accompany him, which also expressed the intention of advancing and retreating together, but he would not be in a hurry to express his position. If Meng Yishan held on to Liyang, or if Yue Lengqiu entered Jiangning City first, the Chen clan would still have other options.

Chen Mingzhen nodded dejectedly, not wanting to say anything more.