Taking advantage of the current strength of the Liang State, he retreated to Luoyang and Guanzhong, and then used the Central Plains as a piece of fat to attract the two great powers of Wu and Jin to compete, and the Liang State was able to accumulate strength in Luoyang and Guanzhong and watch the situation in the world change.

There are pros and cons to this strategy.

On the positive side, of course, it can avoid the edge of Wu and Jin, and rely on the terrain near Luoyang and Guanzhong to continue to hold on to the change; In this way, the pressure on the Liang State could be greatly reduced, and at the same time, the Jin State and the Wu State had to fight for the Central Plains.

When the situation in Wu and Jin changed, Liang would be able to send troops eastward to recapture the Central Plains and restore the prestige of Liang.

However, on the other hand, if the Central Plains were directly abandoned, then the strength of the Liang State would inevitably be greatly damaged, not only in terms of population, territory, taxes, etc., but also in terms of prestige and prestige of the imperial court.

Not everyone will always be loyal to the Liang State, if the Liang State really gives up the Central Plains, then the prestige of the Liang State will be greatly reduced, but I am afraid that many people will feel that the Liang State is gone, so they choose to surrender to the Wu State or the Jin State.

As for the subordinate forces in those peripheral areas, such as the Dingyan Jiedu envoy in Xiazhou, the Shuofang Jiedu envoy in Lingzhou, etc., they obviously will no longer submit to the Liang State.

Moreover, after the loss of the Central Plains, the military strength of the Liang State will also be greatly reduced, as many people say, at that time, the Liang State will inevitably degenerate from a first-class power in the world, and quickly degenerate into a third-rate small country, and even Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, may not be able to suppress it, which is a little worse than the Shu State, let alone compared with the Wu State and the Jin State.

In addition, although Luoyang and Guanzhong are in dangerous terrain and are conducive to holding on, this does not mean that as long as they occupy the geographical advantage, they will be able to hold on.

If you give up the Central Plains, but fail to hold Luoyang and Guanzhong, then Jingxiang's strategy is to lift a stone and shoot yourself in the foot.

Zhu Youzhen thought for a long time, and finally could only reply: "Mr. Jing's strategy is too dangerous, now that Wu has not yet gone on the Northern Expedition, it is too early to say that it is too early to give up the Central Plains, let's talk about it when the time comes." ”

Zhang Hanjie, Zhao Yan and others breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, they were unwilling to give up the Central Plains, so they were relieved to see that Zhu Youzhen had no talent to Jing Xiang.

However, Zhu Youzhen then said: "But what Mr. Jing said also has some truth, if Wu is a Northern Expedition, it is indeed unlikely that our army will block the Wu army, and it will inevitably be caught off guard at that time, so we really need to plan early." So I decided to start thinking about plans such as immigrating to Guanzhong and hoarding grain and grass now. ”

"Mr. Jing, since you have proposed this plan, I think you should have thought carefully about these aspects, I don't know if you can talk about it."

Jing Xiang was overjoyed in his heart, and hurriedly said: "This minister can't ask for it." ”

Then, he began to introduce the retreat plan that he had been thinking about for a long time, and the content was detailed, and even the number of immigrants and the number of people arranged in each county were very clear.

It can be said that Zhu Youzhen has not paid much attention to Jing Xiang over the years, and Jing Xiang has just spent his energy and time on this plan.

After introducing his plan, Jing Xiang continued: "Your Majesty, if you want to retreat to Luoyang and Guanzhong, there is another important factor that must also be taken into account, and that is Li Maozhen, the king of Qi. Please send an envoy to try to reconcile with King Qi! ”

"Reconcile with King Qi?" Zhu Youzhen was stunned for a moment, and said: "Since the first emperor crusaded against Guanzhong, in the past twenty years, our dynasty and King Qi have often attacked each other, and the hatred is very deep, and now send people to ask for reconciliation, is this necessary?" Will King Qi agree to reconciliation again? ”

It's not that he doesn't know the benefits of reconciling with Li Maozhen, after all, although Guanzhong is known as the land of Sisai, the core Guanzhong Plain is actually divided equally by Liang and Qi.

Fengxiang, the foundation of Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, is actually the Baoji of later generations, located in the west of the Guanzhong Plain, less than 300 miles away from Chang'an, and there is no danger to defend in the middle.

It is precisely because of this that Li Maozhen's army was able to invade Chang'an from time to time, if it weren't for the fact that Li Maozhen and Shu fell out again, the two families have been at war with each other for many years, but I am afraid that now Liang will have more headaches.

"Your Majesty, Li Maozhen is in Guanzhong and Longyou, and he can threaten Chang'an at any time, if he can't reach a reconciliation with this person, my country will definitely not be able to get peace in the future." Jing Xiang explained.

"Then can't you send troops to destroy it?" Zhu Youzhen frowned, "I heard that Li Maozhen's territory has been seized by the Shu army one after another in the past few years, and now his power is declining, and it is not as good as before. If I took advantage of the opportunity of the Jin army to quell Zhang Wenli's rebellion and sent troops to attack Li Maozhen, is it possible to wipe him out? ”

Jing Xiang smiled bitterly: "In the past, the first emperor besieged Fengxiang with an army of 200,000 for more than a year, but he was never able to break through the city, and finally he could only reconcile with him and force him to hand over Tang Zhaozong. Now that His Majesty is in a hurry to use troops, if he wants to break Fengxiang, he is afraid that it will be difficult to succeed, but it will anger Li Maozhen. ”

On the side, Li Zhen also persuaded: "Your Majesty, although Zhang Wenli's rebellion will indeed contain the Jin army for a period of time, it is difficult to say how long it can contain them, and the southern Wu State is eyeing the tiger and may send troops to the Northern Expedition at any time." At such a time, it is really not advisable to make a strong enemy! ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded, no longer mentioning the attack on Li Maozhen, and instead asked: "So Mr. Jing thinks that our army has been fighting with Li Maozhen for so many years, is it still possible for me to reconcile with Li Maozhen?" ”

"Yes, of course!" Jing Xiang cut through the ironclad road.

"That Li Maozhen was suppressed by Shu State, his power declined, and he was not as good as before, in this case, he must also think about how to maintain peace with our country. Moreover, the two great powers of Jin and Wu will inevitably threaten Li Maozhen, once which country completely annexes our country, it will be difficult for Li Maozhen to survive alone. ”

"So as long as he is not stupid, he will realize that reconciliation with our country and let us resist Wu and Jin with peace of mind, which is the best choice for them."

Zhu Youzhen nodded again and again after hearing this, but Zhang Hanjie asked on the side: "But although Li Maozhen is unruly, he has always claimed to support the Tang Dynasty and rejuvenate the Tang Dynasty, will they reconcile with us?" ”

Jing Xiang said with a smile: "Otherwise, Li Maozhen is certainly under the banner of reviving the Tang Dynasty, but what is his real thought, isn't it clear to everyone?" I heard that even his wife was called the queen, so it can be said that in addition to the fact that he himself was not called the emperor, what is the difference between Li Maozhen and the emperor? ”

On the side, Li Zhen also smiled: "So Li Maozhen's so-called revival of the Tang Dynasty is just a slogan, and he will not be stupid enough to continue to stick to that false slogan in the face of interests." And if it really doesn't work, we can also reach a tacit understanding with him, just like the tacit understanding between us and Wu Guo. ”

mentioned the "tacit understanding" with Wu Guo, and everyone smiled bitterly.

Indeed, despite the fact that there was no formal peace treaty between Liang and Wu, in essence, the two families maintained peace for so many years, which is enough to show that sometimes this tacit understanding is still very useful.

"In short, if we want to gain a foothold in Guanzhong and Luoyang, then it is very necessary to reach a settlement with Li Maozhen. And the current situation is also feasible to reach a settlement. Therefore, please send an envoy to Fengxiang! Jing Xiang finally concluded.

Only then did Zhu Youzhen make a decision and ordered Lu Tan as the envoy to send Fengxiang.

……

At the same time, Kuang Guojiedu, who was in Xuzhou, made Gao Jichang also worried about his future.

In that year, Gao Jichang was named the envoy of Kuang Guo Festival for his great contribution to helping Zhu Youzhen ascend the throne, and for a time he became the new feudal official again, and had the territory of Xuzhou as the foundation.

However, Xuzhou is not Jiangling after all, it is located in the hinterland of the Liang State, and it is not far from Luoyang, the capital of the Liang State, where Gao Jichang's every move is difficult to escape from the surveillance of the Luoyang Imperial Court.

In addition, the things that Gao Jichang did during his time in Jiangling, although it was out of self-preservation, his disobedience was also quite obvious, and he was already inseparable from Liang Guo, so Gao Jichang was actually registered in the hearts of Zhu Youzhen and others, and belonged to the target of key surveillance.

Therefore, in the past few years, Gao Jichang has not to say that he has developed his own power, even if he usually says and deeds, he is extremely cautious, for fear that something will go wrong and people will find out, so as to attack himself in the court.

Not only that, but in order to protect himself and prevent someone from suing him in front of Zhu Youzhen, he has given Zhao Yan, Zhang Hanjie and others many benefits over the years.

It is with the secret support of these people that Gao Jichang can regain a foothold in Liang State, and always control the territory of Xuzhou, and he is quite happy in Liang State, but he can't do whatever he wants like when he was in Jiangling.

However, people who have no long-term concerns must have near-term worries, not to mention that Gao Jichang has a long-term vision, so he can naturally see the crisis of Liang Guo today.

No matter how glamorous it looks on the outside, in Gao Jichang's opinion, the ship of Liang Guo is already full of holes and may sink at any time.

In this case, it is natural for him to start planning for the future as well.