This time, the troops were sent to Caizhou and Xuzhou, not so much to capture the territory of the Liang State, but to make a test.

For Wu, after the capture of Jingxiang, the next important target is naturally Lingnan, which has not yet been completely unified, before the unification of Lingnan, unless the situation in Liang is in chaos, or there are local forces to take the initiative to vote, Wu will not send troops to attack Liang again.

It is precisely because of this reason that not many troops were used in this operation, except for the army that was originally stationed in the north, none of the troops in Jinling were used.

Li Jian's side only dispatched 10,000 troops, plus the remnants of Wang Yanyu's Caizhou army, a total of more than 12,000.

Wang Juan's side used more troops, reaching 15,000 people, but on the other hand, the enemy troops on the Xuzhou side were much more heavily guarded, and it was not very likely to make a breakthrough here.

At the end of August, the combined forces of Li Jian and Wang Yanyu engaged the Liang army in the north of Xia Caicheng, and the Wu army, which had a slight advantage in strength, won a small victory, killing more than 600 enemy troops and suffering more than 300 casualties.

Immediately, the Liang army retreated to Caizhou, relying on the city to confront the Wu army, and asked for reinforcements from the rear.

The Wu army was approaching the city of Caizhou, Li Jian saw that the other party was heavily guarded, and he was not sure of breaking the city, so he immediately had to give up the plan to attack the city, divide his troops and plunder everywhere, especially capture a large number of people, and then withdraw his troops before the arrival of the main force of the Liang army.

As for the other army, after Wang Juan entered the territory of Xuzhou, he found that the Liang army had already been prepared, and more than 10,000 Liang troops were stationed in Bazhai to hold the advance of the Wu army.

Although the Wu army launched many attacks, it was never able to break through the enemy's defensive line, and in the end Wang Juan could only return in vain.

The two sides of the army sent troops to attack the beam, and in the end one way was in vain, and the other way won a small victory, this result did not surprise Yang Wu.

After all, no matter how turbulent the Liang State was, it had not reached the point where it had run out of gas, and with the strength of the two armies stationed in the Huaihe defense line, it was enough to defend, but it was not enough to attack.

At the beginning of September, Yang Wu issued an edict to canonize Wang Maozhang as the Duke of Laiguo, and he was hereditary with the title of Duke of the County; Feng Liu Xin was the Duke of Kangle County, hereditary as a marquis; Feng Zhou was originally the Duke of Shu Guo, and he was hereditary as the Duke of the County; Zhu Jin was named the Duke of Dingguo, and he was hereditary as the Duke of the County.

This Qin Pei, Hou Zhan, and Shi Yan are all ranked as county dukes, and they are hereditary marquises; Zhu Siqing, Chai Zaiyong, Lu Shizhou and others are also ranked as county dukes, and they are hereditary earls.

In addition, although Li Jian and Wang Juan have not made great contributions in these years, they have guarded the Huaihe River defense line for many years, which is also a great achievement, so they are also awarded the title of county duke, but they cannot be hereditary for the time being.

At this point, the governors of the ten armies of the Wu State Forbidden Army and the two cavalry commanders of Hou Zan and Shi Yan have basically been awarded the titles of county duke or state duke.

As for the newly appointed Zuozhen National Army Governor Zhu Qianyou, after all, his prestige is still shallow, and his merits are insufficient, so he is only named the Marquis of Qingyang for the time being.

Another governor, Li Chengding, inherited the title of Duke of the Kingdom from his father Li Shenfu, so it was naturally impossible to raise the title, and finally Yang Wu ordered his newborn second son, that is, Yang Wu's nephew, to be canonized as the captain of Yulin to show his favor.

He also canonized Mi Zhicheng, Li Decheng and other commanders who have made great contributions as marquis or earl, although it is not as good as the titles of the prince of the country and the duke of the county, but you must know that there are still very few titles in Wu now, especially the titles above the earl, and the total number of people who confer the title is only dozens of people.

Except for a few people such as Yuan Xi and Gao Miao, who were the first to follow Yang Xingmi's uprising, the other Wenchen did not have a title, that is, Chen Yanqian, the current scholar of Shoufu University, and he does not have a title now.

No knighthood will be conferred on those who have no military merits, and this basic principle is being implemented step by step.

Of course, like Yan Keqiu and Guo Chongtao, although they are more inclined to civil servants, they both serve in the Privy Council, and they often plan military affairs and have meritorious deeds, so this time the two of them were also named earls.

In addition, there are some commanders, such as Liu Chongjing and others, who were also awarded the title of viscount or baron for their military merits, although it is not high, but it is also an honor.

After the top and bottom rewards, the generals of all departments of the army were naturally cheering, although some generals were dissatisfied with their knighthood, but most of the generals still recognized the result.

Of course, the most important point is that everyone knows that this knighthood is actually only temporary, and the most important knighthood ceremony must not be now, but after the unification of the world.

No matter how strong the current Wu State is, it can only run rampant in the south, as long as the world is not unified for a day, the Wu State will not be able to get the orthodox name for a day.

Whoever can make great contributions in the Northern Expedition that will dominate the world in the future will be able to surpass others in one fell swoop and get the ultimate glory of hereditary Guogong like Li Shenfu.

Before that, no matter how great the credit was, it would be impossible for Yang Wu to seal another hereditary prince.

In mid-September, the Wu State Imperial Examination came to an end, and finally Zhang Yanhan, a scholar from the north, was appointed as the champion of this year's imperial examination, Chang Mengxi was the eye, as for the identity of the third Tanhua Wei Dezhao, but it was a little special, this person was the eldest son of the Xinzhou assassin Wei Zichang, that is, the nephew of Wei Quanxi.

Wei Quanyi led the Jiangxi coalition army to be the enemy of Huainan that year, but was defeated by Zhou Ben in the battle of Ivory Pond, and Wei Quanyi himself was also captured; However, when Yang Xingmi and Sun Ru were fighting, Wei Quanqi once provided some help, and once he was kind, Wei Quanyi's family was finally preserved.

And Wei Dezhao studied hard, hoping to take the road of the imperial examination, but in the end, he got the position of Tanhua.

At the end of September, Zhaorong Xu gave birth to a prince, who was named Yang Yu by Yang Wu.

On the day of the birth of this prince, someone happened to see the palace filled with divine light in the delivery room, and everyone who saw it was amazed and thought it was supernatural.

There is also a respected old monk in Qixia Temple in Jinling who commented that this son's identity is respectful and will be unspeakably noble in the future.

When Yang Wu heard this, he was immediately overjoyed and ordered to canonize Xu as Concubine Hui.

Xu's elder brother Xu Shan was promoted to the head of the household department because of his meritorious promotion of Suzhou City, replacing the old and old Zhishi's former waiter; At the same time, Yang Wu personally came to the door to celebrate the birthday of the old lady of the Xu family, and canonized the old lady as the monarch of Nanyang County.

It is also rumored that the Empress Dowager Shi is very fond of her newborn third son Yang Yu, and she takes her by her side day and night, and even her attitude towards the Xu family has changed greatly.

For a time, the prestige of the Xu family soared, and soon became the most prominent rich family in Jinling City, and even Li Chenghe, Zhu Jin and other meritorious veterans looked at the Xu family differently and did not dare to offend easily.

Those middle-level officials even went to Xufu to pull relations, and as for those lower-level officials, there was no way to even pull relations.

On this day, in the imperial study, after dealing with official business, Yang Wu got up and took a walk in the courtyard.

"I heard that after going to the Xu family to celebrate his birthday that day, the big families in Jinling City were all proud to have intersected with the Xu family, is there such a thing?" After walking a few idle steps, Yang Wu asked Fan Yu behind him lightly.

"Yes, the minister did hear about it."

Yang Wu nodded, and asked again: "Then what is the attitude of those meritorious veterans?" ”

"This ......" Fan Yu hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "King, as far as the ministers know, those meritorious old ministers have a relatively neutral attitude towards the Xu family, and they did not deliberately associate with them, but they also did not make enemies with them. ”

"Neutrality? This is also normal. Yang Wu smiled: "By the way, the incident that asked you to investigate last time is eyebrow-raising?" ”

"King Qiqi, according to the minister's investigation, that incident should be related to the Xu family; It is said that before the birth of the third prince, a confidant of the Xu family went to Qixia Temple. Fan Yu said.

Yang Wu was surprised, and then asked, "Then what about those who say that they saw the divine light above the palace?" Who was the first to spread this? ”

"It's hard to pinpoint."

"Well, got it. This is the end of the matter, and you should not ask any more questions. Yang Wu nodded and instructed Fan Yu.

Since the Xu family gave birth to a prince, he realized that the Xu family would inevitably make a big splash in order to prepare for the future competition for the crown prince.

Because he knows Xu too well, this is not a peaceful woman.

However, he still didn't expect that the Xu family would make a move so quickly, and when Yang Yu was just born, someone actually claimed to have seen the divine light gathering in the delivery room.

Since ancient times, this kind of vision has only been possessed by those who have accomplished the cause of emperors; As soon as it came out, it made the third prince Yang Yu famous.

In particular, the host of Qixia Temple would actually stand up for the newborn Yang Yu, saying that his life is unspeakably expensive, what does this mean? It is nothing more than to start building momentum from an early age to prepare for the future succession.

It's a pity that this trick may be very useful to confuse Mrs. Shi, and it really has a great effect, and now Mrs. Shi is very fond of Yang Yu, which is the impact of the respected host of Qixia Temple after approving the order.

However, how can this method be concealed from Yang Wu, after hearing the news, Yang Wu sent someone to investigate, although there is no actual evidence, but as long as it can be confirmed that the Xu family has dealings with Qixia Temple, the rest is not important at all.

Of course, even if it was determined that all this had something to do with the Xu family, Yang Wu didn't say anything, let alone dislike the Xu family.

After all, he had no actual evidence, so it was impossible for him to dispose of the Xu family with his own speculation; Second, what if there is evidence? No matter how Yang Yu says it, he is his own son, and he can't say that just because the Xu family plans to compete for the position of crown prince, he will abolish his son now, right?

If you don't say something like that, Mrs. Shi and the others will inevitably be furious, even if Yang Wu himself can't get over it.

In addition, Yang Wu himself was able to successfully inherit Yang Xingmi's position, of course, because he was the eldest son and the other younger brothers were young, so he had no competitors, but also because he had already shown unusual abilities at that time.

And the current prince, although he is still young, does not seem to have anything outstanding; If there is no change, I am afraid that in the future, I am afraid that I may not be able to inherit the Wu State safely.

In this way, Yang Wu might as well cultivate a spare tire in advance, which can be used to sharpen the prince, and secondly, it can also be used as an alternative in the future, in case the prince is really unbearable, he will not have no one to pass on.

Of course, for now, Yang Wu still has no intention of replacing the prince; And he didn't like Xu's methods.

Just gave birth to a prince and planned to fight against Queen Zhou Mengjie, so if Yang Yu has any outstanding performance in the future, then the Xu family will not be allowed to go to heaven?

The only thing that reassures Yang Wu is Xu Shan, the elder brother of the Xu family.

Although the Xu family is very capable of tossing, which makes Yang Wu disliked, Xu Shan is a good talent.

During the promotion of the Suzhou Municipal Shipping Division, this person not only handled the affairs of the Municipal Shipping Division properly, which made the revenue of the customs increase year after year, but what is even more rare is that this person is also honest and upright, not greedy or corrupt.

As the number one boss of the city, in the process of dealing with those big businessmen, if he really has a corrupt heart, as long as he stretches out his hand casually, I am afraid that the Xu family can become a wealthy family in Jinling City.

However, according to the results of Yang Wu's investigation, this person is clean and self-conscious, and he is thrifty.

If it weren't for that, even if he was Xu's brother, even if Xu had just given birth to a prince, it would be impossible for Yang Wu to promote him to the head of the household.

"Xu? Hey, just watch! Yang Wu didn't care, and returned to the study to continue reading the papers.

Soon, Yang Wu ordered Xu Zhihe, the former Bangyan and Xu Wen's adopted son, to be promoted as the new Suzhou City Bo Si to replace Xu Shan.

Time flies, autumn goes to spring, more than half a year has passed in a blink of an eye, and now it is the beginning of the sixth year of Wuyi (913).

On the twelfth day of the first month, in the northern Liang Kingdom, Zhu Youqi personally went to the Taimiao Temple to worship; On the 23rd, Zhu Youqi sacrificed to the sky and ordered an amnesty to the world and changed the Yuan Feng calendar.

After more than half a year of rule, the situation in Luoyang City has generally stabilized, and although the ministers of the DPRK and China are still not very dependent, the situation of rebellion in various places has been contained.

In the rebellion of Caizhou in the south, the Wu army took the opportunity to send troops to attack Liang, although the Liang army suffered a small setback, but finally repelled the Wu army, and recaptured Caizhou, which had previously disobeyed the Liang court, so that the prestige of the Liang State was restored.

On another front, Li Cunqiao personally led his troops to rescue Zhu Youqian, the king of Ji in the river, and defeated the Liang army.

However, the Liang army was powerful after all, and in the end Zhu Youqian could not hold on, and withdrew from the river under the cover of the Jin army.

In addition, Zhu Youqi used various means to fight against those local forces who did not obey him, and installed his own people; For example, the previous Xuzhou Jiedu envoy was dismissed because of his "ineffective combat" during the war with the Wu army, and was replaced by Zhu Youqi's confidant Wang Yin.

Wang Yin's original name was Jiang Yin, who lost his father at an early age, and followed his mother to the river to make Wang Chongying's house, Wang Chongying saw that he was pitiful, so he accepted him as a righteous son, and changed his name to Wang Yin.

And Wang Chongying's younger brother Wang Chongrong had a great favor to Zhu Wen back then, and after his rise, he promoted Wang Yin to the deputy envoy of the Xuanhui Yuan in order to repay his kindness.

After that, Wang Yin made great contributions in the process of Zhu Wen usurping the throne and becoming emperor, and was finally promoted to Xuanhui envoy.

This time, after Zhu Youqi ascended the throne, Wang Yin was awarded the position of Xuzhou Jiedu envoy because of his friendship with Zhu Youqi.

After successfully stabilizing the overall situation of the DPRK and China and establishing his own power in the local area, Zhu Youqi gradually became complacent and began to act arbitrarily.