Diao Yan could see the sweat on Zhong Yangui's forehead, knowing that he had already listened to part of his words, he was slightly happy in his heart, and continued: "Moreover, the envoy feels that the earl's title is too low, but the envoy can know that the earl canonized by the king can be compared with the title canonized by the imperial court now?" ”

"Today's imperial court has decayed to such a state that it has no control over the place at all, which is why the title is worthless. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info But the king of my family is powerful in all directions, destroying Qian Biao in the south, and breaking Zhu Quanzhong in the north, and now he has the land of Jianghuai and Zhejiang, and he is also strong and strong, and it is not a problem to build a country and be respected in the future, and when the new dynasty is established, all kinds of titles will definitely not be so flooded. The envoy has the position of hereditary earl, and there is a sister in the palace, so who dares to underestimate the envoy? Isn't this a wealth that can be passed on to future generations, much better than those high-ranking officials who look glorious now, but are difficult to last? Diao Yanneng said in a deep voice: "Finally, with the current situation, does the envoy have any other choice?" ”

Jiangzhou was close to the Yangtze River, and it was difficult to hold in the face of the attack of the Huainan army, and Zhong Yangui was at odds with his brother Zhong Kuang, and he was extremely far away from Zhu Quanzhong, Ma Yin and other forces, and could not get their assistance; Therefore, Zhong Yangui has no other choice than to take refuge in Huainan.

Therefore, in the face of Zhong Yangui, Huainan is completely the party with sufficient confidence. This is also the reason why Yang Wu is only willing to give Zhong Yangui such a little benefit.

Of course, another reason is what Diao Yan can say, in the future, when a new country is established, its titles will definitely not be as proliferating as they are now.

Generally speaking, each dynasty was very cautious in its title canonization at the beginning, like the early Ming Dynasty, there were only six princes.

But in the later years of the dynasty, the titles gradually proliferated, and they became worthless.

Of course, the Five Dynasties period is a special era, because of the continuous disputes in the world, in order to try to encircle the generals, all countries are willing to canonize the title.

Like Huainan in history, Zhou Ben and Li Decheng, these two were canonized as kings when they were alive.

However, now Yang Wu's ambition is much higher, from the beginning he wanted to establish not a small local country with a divided side, but a powerful dynasty that can compete with the Han and Tang dynasties.

Unlike the Northern Song Dynasty, which was built on the basis of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Huainan is still a blank space today, and Yang Wu can be left to plan.

In terms of titles, he also doesn't have much historical baggage, and he doesn't have to be like in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, because he inherited too much power from the Sui Dynasty, and as a result, the Guogong canonized a large area.

In Yang Wu's view, as a last resort to reward people who have made great contributions, the awarding of titles must be done with caution.

Just like Qian Di's son Qian Chuanhui now, although he is now the county prince, if Yang Wu is the founding of the country in the future, he will definitely be demoted.

As for Zhong Yangui, he is Zhong Xiuning's brother after all, if he is willing to take the initiative to take refuge in Huainan, Yang Wu is also willing to give him a suitable way out.

Don't look at Zhong Yangui having a younger sister by Yang Wu's side, but the more this is the case, the easier it is to be suspicious.

is also a relative, but Zhong Yangui is not Zhou Ben, Zhou Ben has military power in his hands, and he is an old minister in Huainan, plus Yang Wu and Zhou Mengjie have a deep relationship, so he can be reused without being suspicious.

But when Zhong Yangui has a younger sister by Yang Wu's side, if he doesn't know how to restrain himself and wants to get a high position, it will be the way to get trouble.

Therefore, Yang Wu also told Diao Yanneng to try to explain this truth to Zhong Yangui as clearly as possible, so that he could see the situation clearly, and not be smart but mistaken by cleverness.

Zhong Yangui was a little hesitant for a while, he admitted that Diao Yan could say some truth, but at the same time he was a little unwilling in his heart.

However, Diao Yanneng kept silent and didn't say more, quietly waiting for Zhong Yangui's decision.

Zhong Yangui hesitated for a long time, and finally made up his mind: accept the conditions given by Yang Wu and take refuge in Huainan.

After getting this result, Diao Yanneng finally breathed a sigh of relief, this was his first stop in Jiangxi, and he had already made a breakthrough, which was a good start.

After Zhong Yangui's refuge, all kinds of inside information about Jiangxi were constantly told by Zhong Yangui, Diao Yanneng only understood how little Huainan knew about Jiangxi before, not to mention anything else, just Ma Yin had extended his hand to all parts of Jiangxi, and the assassins of several states had secretly taken refuge in him, and this information was what Huainan didn't know before.

"I can see that as long as my father is there, those assassins all over Jiangxi will obey my father's orders, at least superficially. But if my father was gone, Jiangxi would immediately fall into division, and even if Huainan did not send troops to attack, Hongzhou would not be able to maintain its command of Jiangxi. It's a shame that I've been fighting with my brother for so long. ”

Perhaps because he made up his mind to take refuge in Huainan, Zhong Yangui has now understood many truths that he had not figured out before.

Today's Jiangxi is, to put it bluntly, an alliance of forces, and Zhong Chuan is just the leader of this alliance; Because Zhong Chuan is the strongest, and has the highest prestige, and has the righteous name given by the imperial court, the most important thing is that Zhong Chuan's means are strong enough, so he can command other assassins.

But when Zhong Chuan, the leader of the alliance, is gone, the son of the leader of the alliance may not be able to inherit the position of the leader of the alliance, and even if he becomes the leader of the alliance, it will be difficult to command other forces.

Therefore, although Zhong Kuangshi is about to become the new nominal lord of Jiangxi, what he can actually control is Hongzhou, which is actually similar to the Jiangzhou he can control now.

Thinking about it this way, the depression and dissatisfaction when he lost to Zhong Kuang at the beginning have decreased a lot.

On the side, Diao Yanneng didn't have so much emotion, he thought carefully about the information that Zhong Yangui told him just now, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this news was very important, and he had to tell Yang Wu quickly so that he could be prepared.

……

Just when Diao Yan was thinking about his next move, the situation in the north also showed a major change!

The strength of the Liang army is indeed beyond doubt, even if a large number of living forces were wiped out by the Huainan army, but after the Huainan army withdrew, Zhu Quanzhong's strength began to gradually recover.

After returning from the defeat of the Southern Expedition last year, Zhu Quanzhong ordered the recruitment of some new soldiers. By this time, these recruits had been able to be sent to the battlefield to replenish their previous losses, although they were not comparable to the original elites of a hundred battles, but they were still capable of quelling the Wei Bo rebels.

After three months of fierce fighting, the five states of Weibo have now recovered the land of the four states, leaving only the most remote state of Beizhou still in the hands of the rebels.

However, the situation in Beizhou is more complicated, on the one hand, the local Wei Bojun has betrayed Luo Shaowei, and on the other hand, Beizhou has now been attacked by Liu Shouwen, the envoy of Yichang Jiedu; In addition, Wang Rong's army was also in the local area to help Zhu Quanzhong attack the Wei Bo rebels.

So Bay State is now in the midst of a three-way scuffle.

For Zhu Quanzhong, now that he has put down the rebellion in the five states of Weibo, the remaining states are relatively not so eager; After all, compared to Li Keyong, the king of Jin, Liu Shouwen's power was not taken seriously by Zhu Quanzhong at all, so he decided to transfer his troops and go back to relieve the siege of Luzhou first.

However, when his army had just arrived in Xiangzhou, an astonishing news came: Ding Hui, the envoy of Zhaoyi Jiedu in Luzhou, led his army of 30,000 to surrender to Li Keyong, the king of Jin!

"What? Will Ding surrender? Is this absolutely impossible? After learning the news, Zhu Quanzhong trembled in shock.

Who will Ding be? That was the first general to follow Zhu Quanzhong.

When Zhu Quanzhong was still a member of the Huangchao Rebel Army, Ding Hui was Zhu Quanzhong's subordinate, and later Zhu Quanzhong fought in the south and north, Ding Hui always followed the left and right, made great contributions, and was deeply valued by Zhu Quanzhong.

Later, Ding Hui was crowned as the envoy of Zhaoyi Festival because of his merits, but in order to prevent Zhu Quanzhong's suspicion, Ding Hui ignored government affairs most of the time.

Such a meritorious, capable, and knowledgeable veteran, even Zhu Quanzhong, who is often suspicious of his generals, is very satisfied with him, and is ready to give him a higher honor in a few years, and then retire.

Who knew that such a meritorious veteran suddenly surrendered to Li Keyong without warning!

What Zhu Quanzhong didn't expect was that Ding Hui's surrender was not without warning.

Although he was also a member of the Huangchao Rebel Army in his early years, Ding Hui still had a loyal heart to the Tang Dynasty.

Two years ago, after Zhu Quanzhong killed the king, Ding Hui learned the news and led the subordinate officials of the Zhaoyi Festival envoy to pay respects, and wept bitterly for a long time; Later, Zhu Quanzhong slaughtered many of Li Ye's princes, and treated the important ministers of the court like slaughtering pigs and dogs in the disaster of the White Horse Station, which made Ding Hui more and more disappointed in Zhu Quanzhong.

It's just that at that time, Ding Hui hadn't made up his mind to betray Zhu Quanzhong, after all, he had followed Zhu Quanzhong all his life, and now that he was old, his glory and wealth had reached the extreme, so he naturally didn't want to betray easily, so as not to lose his chances.

However, a few days ago, Zhu Quanzhong refused to add Jiuxi and executed the Empress Dowager He on the charge of ***, after the news came, Ding Hui was completely desperate for Zhu Quanzhong.

It was at this time that Li Keyong, the king of Jin, personally led a large army to arrive and sent an envoy to persuade him to surrender, and Ding Hui finally made up his mind to surrender after meeting the envoy.

The Jin army attacked Luzhou for nearly two months before, and it was never able to defeat Luzhou, but at this time, Zhu Quanzhong's move was to help Li Ke easily take Luzhou, which he did not expect.