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If the Tang army and the Jianghuai army fail to capture and kill Yuming at the Luoyang Conference, the Zhou army, which has the backbone, will be a terrible force, and whoever wants to attack it will have to be weighed. Although Li Yuan and Du Fuwei both believed that if the two of them joined forces and attacked Yuming together, they would have a great hope of winning.

But such a victory would be a pyrrhic one with heavy losses. At that time, maybe the two armies would fight against the Zhou army in the front, but the rear would be copied by Xiao Miao.

Therefore, if the result of the Luoyang Conference is Yuming, Yuming wins and obtains the ownership of Luoyang City. Then, Li Yuan and Du Fuwei will unite and attack Xiao Mo first, and while he has not returned to Jingxiang, the 200,000 Tang Army under the command of Li Xiaogong, which has long been stationed in Badong, and the 150,000 Jianghuai Army led by Du Ping, the chief of Du Fuwei, who is stationed in Luzhou, will jointly attack Xiao Miao.

Li Yuan and Du Fuwei tried to eliminate Xiao Mian before Yuming could react, eliminating the worries of the two armies. After the situation in the south calmed down, the Tang army could send troops from Hedong, Tongguan, and Xiangyang to attack Luoyang and occupy this pivot of the world. The Jianghuai Army will also cross the Huai River north and attack Henan, Shandong, Hebei and other places.

According to the agreement between Li Yuan and Du Fuwei, after destroying the enemy Yuming they thought they wanted, the two would start a duel again.

And the results of the Luoyang Conference and the subsequent Battle of Luoyang obviously disappointed Li Yuan and Du Fuwei. Not only was Yuming unscathed, but the Tang army and the Jianghuai army that participated in the Battle of Luoyang suffered heavy losses. Especially Du Fuwei, not only lost 50,000 elites, but also made his son and general prisoners.

He is no better than Yu Ming and Li Yuan, he was born in a family of gate lords, and he has many generals. He was the leader of a peasant rebel. The talents under his command are much smaller than those of other princes.

Although Du Yu has many shortcomings, he is his own son after all, and his ability to command operations is also okay. Chen Zhengtong, Chen Dangshi, Feng Huiliang and other generals followed Du Fuwei's old subordinates for many years. Their loyalty to Du Fuwei is unquestionable, and this man's command and combat ability is second to none in the Jianghuai army.

So, that's why Duvowe was willing to pay a heavy price and ransom them back. For this reason, he also sent his sworn brother Fugong Zuo to Luoyang to negotiate with Yuming, which shows the importance he attaches to this matter.

It's just that Yu Ming's request for the land of Huaixi really made it difficult for Fu Gongzuo, because it was beyond the bottom line that Du Fuwei gave him.

"Let's do it: if General Fu feels that he can't make up his mind, he can send someone back to Jiangdu to report to the king of Jianghuai. If Duvowe is willing to trade the land for people, then we can settle it immediately. If this Jianghuai king thinks that the lives of his sons and subordinates are not as important as the muddy land in Huaixi, which often suffers from floods. The king had no choice but to obey his wishes and escort all the more than 10,000 people below Du Yu to the bitter cold land of Liaodong to open mines. The son of the dignified Jianghuai King actually became a miner. I think it will definitely make the people of the world write a special book! Yu Ming smiled and said. There was a hint of cunning in his eyes.

After Fu Gongzuo heard about it, he knew that Yuming had found Du Fuwei's weakness. He knows that his righteous brother is a big old man who doesn't know how to chew words, but he is the most righteous person, and he also attaches great importance to his reputation in the rivers and lakes. If Yu Ming publicized his unwillingness to cede his land in exchange for the lives of his sons and subordinates in the world, then Du Fuwei would be ashamed to death. Where does he have the face to face his subordinates and a bunch of old brothers again?

"Alright! It seems that King Zhou is confident! Fu Gongzuo could only smile bitterly at this time: "Fu will immediately send a fast horse to pass on the meaning of King Zhou to my eldest brother in an expedited manner of eight miles." But as for him, he disagreed. Fu is unpredictable. ”

"Hehe, I think General Fu knows King Jianghuai very well, and according to your understanding of him, you should know what the likelihood is that he will agree to this condition." Yu Ming picked up a cup of tea at this time and took a sip.

In the past half a month, he has carefully checked the information about Du Fuwei, Xiao Mo and others. For this person's temperament and temperament, it can be regarded as having an in-depth understanding and knowing his character characteristics, so he can grasp his weaknesses in a single sentence during negotiations.

And the reason why Yuming wants the land of Huaixi is also to have the role of an arrow.

First, at present, Luoyang is less than a mile from the border of Huaixi under the control of Du Fuwei, and it is all a flat river. If the Jianghuai army wants to attack Luoyang, it can be described as an easy matter. And if this place was controlled by the Zhou army, the threat to the east of Luoyang would have been largely eliminated.

Second, the land of Huaixi is bordered by the Huai River in the north and the Yangtze River in the south, and although the land is barren and flooded, its strategic position is very important. After controlling this land, it will be much easier for the Zhou army to go to Jiangdu in the east or Jiangling in the west.

First, because the land of Huaixi is bordered by Jingxiang in the southwest and Henan in the northwest, it is at the junction of the territory of Yuming, Xiao Milling and Du Fuwei. In the case that Xiangyang was under attack by Li Yuan. Yuming was no longer able to send troops into Jingxiang. And if he obtains the land of Huaixi, he can send troops to rescue Xiao Mo through Huaixi. Help this cousin to prevent him from being destroyed by Li Yuan and Du Fuwei so soon.

After listening to Yuming's words, Fu Gongzuo could only smile helplessly, in this case, what else could he say? With Duvoy's character, most of them would agree.

Ten days later, Du Fuwei really sent a message, agreeing to exchange the land of Huaixi for the freedom of Du Yu, Chen Dangshi, Chen Zhengtong, Feng Huiliang and others, as well as more than 10,000 Jianghuai soldiers, but asked Yuming to pay 50,000 taels of silver as a "land purchase fee".

As for the matter of the "land purchase fee", Fu Gongzuo also explained for a long time in a roundabout way before Yuming and others understood. It turns out that Du Fuwei is also a face-to-face person, if he directly says that he will cut the land, he is afraid of losing his majesty in front of the world, and if he sells this land to Yuming, it will seem to be a transaction, and he is not afraid of what others will gossip.

Yu Ming was also secretly funny, but he didn't expect Du Fuwei to be such a stubborn person. It seems that this was unintentionally discovered another weakness of his.

The assistant had been fully authorized by Du Fuwei, so the two sides quickly signed an exchange agreement. Yuming exchanged 50,000 taels of silver for the land of Huaixi. At the same time, as a symbol of "friendship" between the two sides, more than 10,000 prisoners of war of the Jianghuai Army under Du Yu, Chen Dangshi, Chen Zhengtong, and Feng Huiliang were released.

The agreement stipulated that the delivery of the land and prisoners of war in Huaixi would be completed within one month.

After completing this transaction, Yu Ming was about to leave for Beiping when he suddenly received a report from his own soldiers that a person claiming to be his cousin had come to him.

"Cousin?" Yu Ming was also stunned for a moment after hearing this. He couldn't remember when he had another cousin.

"Call him in! I'd like to see who is pretending to be my cousin! Yuming was angry and funny.

A moment later, two pro-soldiers accompanied a young man dressed in brocade into the door. Yu Ming fixed his eyes and saw that this person turned out to be Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan's father Xiao Mo and his mother Xiao Wanjun are cousins, so Xiao Yan is indeed his cousin.

"Cousin, I didn't expect you to defend Luoyang and be intact, congratulations!" When Xiao Yan saw Yuming, he hurriedly stepped forward and hugged him tightly.

Yu Ming patted him on the back, then pushed away the enthusiastic cousin, and said with a slight smile: "Cousin, I was also lucky to finally defeat Du Yu and Li Shimin, and barely kept Luoyang City...... Now I'm preparing to go north and return to Beiping. ”

"Cousin going north?" Xiao Yan was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then nodded and said, "Indeed, you have been away from Beiping for almost a month, it's time to go back......

Yu Ming saw Xiao Yan's sad face, but he had an expression that wanted to speak and stopped, and couldn't help asking: "Cousin, if you have something to say, just say it!" Since we are cousins, what is there to say? ”

Xiao Yan sighed at this time, then held Yu Ming's hand tightly and said, "Cousin, this time you have to save your cousin and cousin!" ”

Yu Ming was startled when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"My Daliang is now being attacked by the Tang Army and the Jianghuai Army, and he is already in danger, and only you, cousin, have the ability to save us!" Xiao Yan smiled bitterly.

At this time, the other side told Yuming and others about the current situation in Jiangnan one by one.

It turned out that as early as the end of the Luoyang Conference, Li Yuan sent his brother Li Xiaogong to lead 200,000 Tang troops from Badong to attack Yiling County.

Because the Tang army has been planning for a long time, it is well prepared, and the troops dispatched are very strong. Although the Liang army had long been on guard against this great enemy, it still suffered heavy losses when they were outnumbered. Yiling County soon fell, and after the Tang army conquered Yiling, it immediately divided its troops into two. One was led by Li Xiaogong and went north to attack Xiangyang. The other, led by Li Shentong, went east to attack Jingmen County.

At the same time, Du Fuwei also took advantage of the fire to rob and sent his commander Du Ping to lead 150,000 Jianghuai troops from Luzhou to attack Jiujiang County. Since most of the Liang army was transferred to the western front to fight against the Tang army, the defense of the eastern front was weak, and Jiujiang only held out for a few days before falling. The commander of the Jianghuai army drove straight in, as if entering a no-man's land.

It only took more than half a month for Du Ping to conquer Yuzhang County, Luling County, and Panyang County, and almost all the eastern part of Western Liang fell into the hands of the Jianghuai army.

After Xiao Mo returned to Baling, although he immediately forcibly recruited a large number of people into the army and went to the front line to resist. However, the combat effectiveness of these temporarily recruited strong men is really poor, and they often collapse at the touch of a button on the battlefield. At present, although the strategic places of Xiangyang, Jiangling and Jiangxia have not been lost. But Liang's control has been reduced by nearly half. And the peripheral important places are lost, facing a very unfavorable situation.

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