The white sails are like gulls, and an official ship flying the tribute flag sails from the Yuxi River into the Yangtze River waterway, which attracts the attention of passing boats.

When it was nearly dusk, the official ship slowly docked at the Jinghaimen Wharf, and saw the envoy of the official ship Liang Guo commanding the manpower, carefully lifting a large box more than a foot high off the ship and loading it onto a load-bearing carriage.

"What kind of stuff is in there, it looks like it's sent to the palace?"

Seeing the palace guards wearing gorgeous armor and riding high-headed horses, as well as many Great Chu officials and Liang envoys escorting the carriage in a large wooden box, heading straight for the direction of Miyagi, it attracted the attention and discussion of a large group of people near the dock.

"It should be the birthday of the Empress Dowager Changxin, a congratulatory gift from the lord of the Liang State," someone familiar with the situation said, "Since the Tangyi system made Chan to succeed the lord of the Liang State, not only the Liang State has called our Great Chu a minister, and sent more than a million tributes every year, this Lord of the Liang State every year on the birthday of the Empress Dowager Changxin, he will also send someone to send the rare things he collected from the Liang Realm to please the Holy Face." Every year is a novel plaything, last year was sent into the palace two groups of bronze dolls, I heard that the water flow drives the wheel below, the bronze puppets move like a line of soldiers, it is very good-looking; The year before last, it was an automatic stringed piano, placed under the flowing spring, and it could sound "Qingping Music" with ding ding dong, which was not worse than the pianist in the music workshop, so I don't know what was in this big wooden box this year......"

"This lord of the Liang Kingdom is trying to please the Holy Queen."

"Of course. The lord of Liang and the Empress Dowager Changxin also have an old friendship - if it weren't for the lord of Liang back then, the Empress Dowager Changxin might not be able to marry into our Dachu - the heart of this congratulatory gift, naturally take more thought! ”

"Lord Liang and the Queen Mother have an old friendship, what's going on?" Suddenly, many people pricked up their ears excitedly.

When Yang Yuanpu was alive, many things were strictly forbidden to be discussed, and many people didn't know the old news of the year, but no matter how serious the crime of "great disrespect" was, there was naturally a soil for spreading secrets in the market.

There is probably nothing in this world that is more worthy of inquiry and speculation than the old friendship between men and women, not to mention that the matter involves the most powerful pair of men and women in the world.

“…… This also has to start from the year when the Emperor Gaozu of Great Chu was punished, when the lord of Liang was still a Chu minister, he was ordered to send an envoy to Shu to welcome his relatives, and when there was a rebellion, Great Chu almost fell apart, and many people thought that the marriage should not be saved, but who was the Lord of Liang at that time immediately made a decision, and directly hijacked the Empress Dowager Changxin and left Shu to welcome us into Dachu and marry the first emperor. If this matter weren't for Lord Liang, don't say that the marriage between the Empress Dowager Changxin and the first emperor would be yellow, and my Da Chu might have turned his face with Shu back then, and later it was also the first of Shu to see that the Empress Dowager Changxin and the first emperor had cooked rice, so why didn't they have the face to ask the Empress Dowager Changxin back to Shu, and this matter was successfully completed. ”

"Hehe, I'm afraid you don't know that before the Empress Dowager Changxin married into Da Chu, she disguised herself as a man and went to Da Chu with the Lord of Shu, so she should have met Lord Liang at that time. Otherwise, how could Lord Liang spend so much effort and take so much risk to welcome the Empress Dowager Changxin into Dachu? I also heard that the Queen Mother took the initiative to cooperate with Lord Liang to hijack and go to Xuzhou first, otherwise it would not be so easy to leave Shu......"

"Yes, it stands to reason that it is enough for Liang to call the ministers and pay tribute, why should Lord Liang bother to collect these rare things and send them to the palace every year? It turns out that there are so many twists and turns! ”

"Ahem......" Someone coughed, signaling that the topic was okay here, and it would be taboo to talk about it any further.

…………

…………

Feng Yi and Wen Ruilin stood proudly, chatting with Han Jianji, who had been stationed in Jinling on behalf of the Great Liang in recent years, while looking at the burnt marks left after the renovation of the palace change.

Zheng Xixuan, the deputy commander of the Horse Soldiers Department of the guards in front of the palace, and Cai Chen, who has been transferred to the supervisor of Honglu Temple in recent years, saw the officials of Honglu Temple and the Inner Chamber, after opening the wooden box, there was a sandalwood shell instrument with a strange structure and a height of one person.

The instrument has a metal disc covered in glass, two cast gold hands, and a long rod pendulum hanging down, and when the sandalwood shell is opened, there are precision-cast gears and reeds inside, which makes people feel dazzled just by looking at it.

Zheng Xixuan asked Feng Yi curiously: "What did Lord Liang send this time to congratulate the Queen Mother on her birthday?" ”

"Luoyang's newly made chronograph clocks have also been built at present, with full strings, and the reeds drive the hands, which can be timed on time at twenty-four hours—" Feng Yi said.

"Lord Liang is really bothered about the Queen Mother." Zheng Xixuan said with a smile.

"My lord read that the Empress Dowager Changxin lived in the palace, and the rare things must be common, so he issued an edict to send one of them to Jinling." Feng Yi said.

The clock is on the road from Luoyang, even if it is quite careful along the way, it is inevitable that some parts will be loose, Luoyang College also specially sent someone to calibrate nearby, and at the same time will also guide the engineers of the inner chamberlain how to repair and maintain.

Feng Yi and Wen Ruilin, as Liang envoys, of course, could not enter the palace casually, seeing that the officials of the Inner Servant Mansion and Honglu Temple checked that they were correct, and carefully transported the clock to the palace, they also had to go to the Liang Guoguan on Dutingyi South Street to wait for the summons.

Before going to the Liang State Pavilion, Feng Yi warmly invited Zheng Xixuan to a banquet, but Zheng Xixuan just smiled and declined.

Zheng Yu and Zheng Chang have both left the Great Chu Dynasty due to old age and illness in the past two years, and neither of them stayed in Jinling City, but returned to their ancestral homes in Huangzhou to spend their old age.

However, in addition to Zheng Xixuan, in addition to serving as the main general of the guards, Zheng Hui was also a feudal official sent by Dachu to Xingwangfu, and the foundation of the Zheng family in Jinling has never been shaken.

However, even if it was the Zheng family that vigorously promoted the Liang and Chu peace discussions back then, and it was also a pro-Liang faction in the Chu court, Zheng Xixuan, as a general of the guards and pro-army, if he privately accepted the banquet of the Liang envoy, there might be how many impeachment performances would fly into the political hall tomorrow.

Feng Yi's invitation was only polite, and he was accompanied by Cai Chen at the moment and went to the Liang National Pavilion.

"Ruan Yan's son Ruan Tao is two months apart, the day before yesterday came to Jinling again, but he didn't see other ministers, these two days have been living in the Shouwang Mansion, Xu is Sima family and King Xin have talked about it," Cai Chen, as the secretary of Honglu Temple, received and took care of the envoys of Liang State is his dispatch, accompanied into the Liang State Pavilion, sat down in the Mingxi Hall, and took advantage of the entourage officials to be entangled in other errands, told Feng Yi and Wen Ruilin some of the news he had, and asked curiously, "Sima family Xu Si, has always been a piece of opportunistic and slippery wallgrass, why didn't the king send someone to fight for it? ”

"Although the Sima clan is disdainful, but Xu Si's army occupies Xu Sihai Miyi and other six states, and more than two million soldiers and civilians, if they can win it over, it will greatly speed up the process of the war, Luo

How could Yang not fight for it? Feng Yi patted his head and said, "However, it is precisely because the Sima clan has been used to serving the price over the years, and he has not fought a hard battle with us over the years, so it is inevitable that he will not be able to carry a few catties and taels of muscles and bones!" ”

"Xing Shouzhou army is west of Surabaya, and there is another choice to prevent the Sima clan!" Wen Ruilin said, "If Luoyang can send troops to defeat the Shouzhou army first, Xu Si's situation may be improved!" ”

In addition to war, Han Qian has always paid attention to using a variety of means to solve problems, and naturally he has also sent people to secretly test Sima's attitude.

However, the two reasons that Feng Yi and Wen Ruilin said are also to the point.

One is that the Sima clan was isolated east of Surabaya by the Shouzhou army, and they didn't have many opportunities to engage the soldiers and horses of the Great Liang, and they had never fought a bad battle before, so they would not think that the combat effectiveness of the elite of the Great Liang was very strong.

They attributed the results of the previous series of battles to the vulnerability of the Eastern Liang army, and also believed that the Mongolian army was actually not as strong and invincible as imagined.

Therefore, deep down in their hearts, they did not feel that the soldiers and horses of the Great Liang were invincible, and they had not yet formed a shadow in their hearts, so it was naturally impossible for them to accept the harsh conditions offered by the Great Liang, give up their ambition to divide the locality, and go to the Great Liang; And Han Qian obviously would never agree to the Sima clan's secession.

Of course, there are also people in Luoyang who advocate that the division can be used as a condition to stabilize the Sima clan first, but more generals feel that there is no need for this.

In comparison, the Sima clan was attached to Chu Ting at this time, and he could barely maintain the status of a local vassal.

Another important reason is that on the surface, it is also Sima Shi who was isolated east of Surabaya by the Shouzhou army.

The Shouzhou army and the Liang army have been fighting for so many years, and they have suffered countless casualties to each other, as long as the Shouzhou army has a chance, they will not surrender to the Liang state, and the Xu Si army, which is isolated by the Shouzhou army in the east of Surabaya, even if they want to directly join the Liang, they will also face the situation of being attacked by Zhu Rang, Xu Mingzhen and Yang Yuanyan, the king of letters.

Of course, Luoyang has also considered this series of situations, even if he will not promise to allow him to divide Xu Si, but he also strives to pass the inside line, hoping that Sima can maintain the status quo, and there may not be no opportunities and possibilities for talking in the future.

However, now, judging from the fact that Ruan Yan's son Ruan Tao secretly came to Jinling twice and only had secret meetings with Yang Zhitang and many other clues, the secret secretaries lurking in Jinling and other places are inclined to think that the Sima clan has reached a consensus with King Xin, so they are waiting for Yang Zhitang, who has been recuperating in the house for many years, to stand up and officially promote Chu Ting to accept Sima's surrender.

At present, the Chu army has also ended the war in Fujian, Gu Zhilong and Huang Xi led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to escort the Wang family of the king of Fujian and more than 10,000 generals, and they have rushed back to Jinling from Jianzhou, which has greatly boosted the morale of the government and the opposition in Chu.

This is likely to push the Chu court and the opposition to accept Sima and adopt a tougher attitude towards Liang.

In addition to Sima's family, every move of many figures in the Shouzhou Army is still the focus of Nansi's attention.

At present, the Shouzhou army is not determined to tie Zhu Rang and Liang Ren to a tree, although as one of the culprits of the Jinling rebellion that year, there is an insurmountable ravine with Chu Ting and cannot make peace, but Xu Mingzhen was bedridden after the beginning of the year, and there was no turnaround at that time, so there were many changes in things.

If Xu Mingzhen died of illness at the right time, Chu Ting would not be without the possibility of accepting the Shouzhou army.