In Kaifeng City, after more than half a year of conditioning, Zhu Youzhen, the new emperor of Liang, has basically stabilized the situation.

Compared with Zhu Youzhen, who killed his father and usurped the throne, although Zhu Youzhen also ascended to the throne through mutiny, Zhu Youzhen's mutiny has the meaning of setting things right, so he can win the support of the Liang State more.

Not to mention those local festival envoys, even those civil servants in the court who refused to serve Zhu Youzhen before also joined Zhu Youzhen's command at this time and did their best for him.

It's a pity that Zhu Youzhen, as a new emperor, trusts his confidants more, especially Zhao Yan and Zhang Hanjie, who are even more reused by him, and almost all affairs in the court and China have to seek advice from Zhao Yan and the two.

As for Jing Xiang, Li Zhen and other Zhu Wen's old ministers, although Zhu Youzhen gave them a very high status and appointed them as prime ministers, in fact, he did not trust these people.

Some important personnel appointments and national events will basically not be discussed with Jing Xiang and others, and they will decide with Zhao Yan and Zhang Hanjie, two henchmen.

Even if Jing Xiang and others took the initiative to put forward their opinions, Zhu Youzhen would ignore them.

In addition to the great increase in the power of Zhao Yan and Zhang Hanjie, Yang Shihou, a veteran with heavy troops, has now become more and more majestic in the Liang State, and even Zhu Youzhen has to look at his face to act.

In May this year, Yang Shihou and Liu Shouqi led 100,000 troops from Bianzhou, Huazhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, Weizhou, Bozhou, Xingzhou and other places to capture and plunder Zhao, trying to rescue the Yan State, which was already in danger under the attack of the Jin army.

Yang Shihou led his troops to attack Tumen from Baixiang, and the soldiers pointed directly at Zhaozhou; Liu Shouqi led the troops from Beizhou to Jizhou, camped outside the south gate, and burned the Chengguan of Zhenzhou.

On the 11th, Yang Shihou retreated from Jiumen to Xiabo, while Liu Shouqi led his troops to join Yang Shihou to attack Xiabo, and soon captured the city.

The Jin generals Li Cunxun and Shi Jianjiao led their troops to defend Zhaozhou, but their troops were small enough to resist Yang Shihou's soldiers.

Therefore, King Zhao quickly complained to Zhou Dewei, who was presiding over the attack on Yan in Youzhou.

At this time, Zhou Dewei had defeated the Yan army one after another and seized most of the territory of the Yan State, except for a few areas such as Youzhou, the capital of the Yan State, which was still resisting the Jin army.

Although he wanted to break through Youzhou in one fell swoop, Zhou Dewei also understood that the situation in Zhao was difficult and there could be no mistakes, so he immediately sent the cavalry general Li Shaoheng to resist the Later Liang army together with the Zhao general Wang Deming.

The main purpose of Yang Shihou's dispatch of troops this time was to help Yan State share the pressure and force the Jin army to return to Zhao State, and now that the goal has been achieved, he is naturally reluctant to forcibly attack Zhenzhou.

He chose to cross the Yuhe River from Gonggao to the east, all the way to Cangzhou, Cangzhou guard Zhang Wanjin was afraid, immediately asked Yang Shihou to surrender, and asked to move to Henan; Yang Shihou asked Zhang Wanjin to guard Qingzhou and appointed Liu Shouqi as the envoy of Hue Jiedu.

Unfortunately, although Yang Shihou's military operation achieved certain results, forcing the Jin army to divide its forces to defend the Zhao State, on the whole, this operation came a little late, and the main force of the Yan State had been almost wiped out by the Jin army in many previous major battles.

If Zhu Wen had not died suddenly last year, or if the Liang State had not fallen into turmoil after Zhu Wen's death, Yang Shihou had led the troops to launch an operation last year, and perhaps he could have reversed the defeat of the Yan State; But now, it's just a small amount of burden shared for Yan Guo, and nothing has changed in the overall situation.

At this time, there were many rumors in Kaifeng City inexplicably.

At the gate of the city, a few soldiers guarding the city chatted a little lazily.

"Did you hear that? Recently, there has been a drought in the southern part of Wu, and later there was a locust plague, and many places have lost their crops. One of the soldiers snorted, rubbed his eyes, and said.

"Hey, this was all a long time ago, a friend of mine, followed a businessman, just went to Wu to do business this year, and only came back some time ago. According to him, now that the drought in Wu has passed, the locust plague is basically over. Another soldier with a scar on his face said with some disdain.

"Hey, the people of Wu have relied on their strong soldiers and horses to invade our country repeatedly, and now this is retribution!" Someone said with some schadenfreude.

No matter what, as soldiers of the Liang State, these people still have some basic thoughts of family and country in their hearts, and they will naturally have some hostility in their hearts towards the Wu State, an enemy that has repeatedly invaded.

At this time, the scar-faced soldier from before said, "Retribution? I heard that during this drought and locust plague, dozens of people died in the entire Wu country, what kind of retribution is this? ”

"Impossible, right? There are so many places where there is no harvest, don't the people of Wu Guo want to eat, and they won't starve to death? "Some people don't believe it.

"What's the matter, the court of Wu collected food everywhere, and the relief was effective, so naturally no one starved to death." Speaking of this, the scar-faced soldier looked left and right, and saw that there were no officials there, so he lowered his voice and said: "It is said that several assassins in the south of our Liang Kingdom, especially the one in Xuzhou, secretly provided food to the Wu State to help them tide over the disaster!" ”

"What? It can't be, right? The crowd exclaimed.

"Shhhh Be quiet! Scarface was anxious, and hurriedly reminded him.

After all, this kind of news involves local officials, and where does he dare to discuss it openly as a small soldier, that is, he dares to brag a few words after following these old brothers in front of him.

Seeing that everyone didn't believe it, Scarface explained: "I know you don't believe it, and I didn't believe it at first, but then I thought about it, and I thought that it was really possible!" ”

"What do you say?"

"What else? It's nothing more than pulling a relationship with that side and leaving a way back for yourself! Scarface explained: "You don't know what the situation in our Liang Kingdom is. Then the Wu State is now in full military power, don't those big officials in the south have any ideas in their hearts? ”

"Woo, that's what I'm saying, if it's me, I'll have to find a way back!" The crowd was thoughtful.

Scarface continued: "Yes, especially the one in Xuzhou, don't forget who appointed him, doesn't the emperor have a mustard in his heart?" Isn't there any worry in his heart? ”

Wu Ning Jiedu envoy Wang Yin is Zhu Youqi's confidant, which may not be very clear to these soldiers, but they know that Wang Yin was appointed by Zhu Youqi.

In the past half a year, those high-ranking officials appointed by Zhu Youqi have all fallen into bad luck, and Wang Yin must have been unable to escape.

In this way, Wang Yin will inevitably find a back road for himself, and among these back roads, which back road is comparable to Wu Guo?

With the prestige of the Wu State, as long as Wang Yin can get Yang Wu's support, then Wang Yin's safety can be guaranteed, and even if he is willing to surrender to the Wu State, there will be no problem in becoming rich and prosperous in the future.

"Alas, it's useless for us to talk about these big things." The last sigh of the crowd was to stop it.

However, the same rumor is not only circulated among these soldiers, but also Zhu Youzhen in the palace has also heard about it.

And unlike those little soldiers, Zhu Youzhen was furious on the spot after learning the news.

"Wang Yin, this thief, is really hateful! Back then, my father thought that for the sake of his uncle Wang Chongrong, he gave this thief a heavy use, and he didn't want this thief to collude with Zhu Youqi first, and now he is unclear with Wu Ren, such a rebellious thief, I vow to get rid of it! In the main hall, Zhu Youzhen's anger spread to every corner, making those attendants tremble.

"Your Majesty is angry, although Wang Yin is indeed appointed by Zhu Youqi, but to say that this person has colluded with the people of Wu Guo, the minister thinks that this may not be true." Jing Xiang hurriedly stood up and persuaded: "What's more, the location of Xuzhou is extremely important, if Your Majesty rashly sends troops to fight, I am afraid that Wang Yin will really take refuge in Wu State." ”

Li Zhen also said beside him: "Although Wang Yin is also Zhu Youqi's party, Xuzhou is close to Wu State, if he is forced to hurry, this person will inevitably take refuge in Wu State." Now that our dynasty is fighting with the Jin army for the middle of the river, it is really not appropriate to conflict with the Wu State again, and please think twice. ”

Zhu Youzhen suddenly hesitated when she heard this.

Indeed, it was not because of the Liang army that Zhu Youqian, the king of Ji, went to crusade at the beginning, so he suddenly took refuge in the Jin state, which made the hand of the Jin army reach out to the Hezhong region; If he rashly attacked Wang Yin, he was afraid that Wang Yin might take refuge in Wu in order to protect himself.

"Think twice? If you think about it again, Xuzhou will no longer be owned by me! Zhao Yan sneered.

"Your Majesty, Wang Yin is just Wang Chongrong's adopted son, how can this person be able to sit in the position of the envoy of Wuning Jiedu? It's just by colluding with Zhu Youqi. Your Majesty is now in order, and he must eliminate all evil, how can he know that Wang Yin, a thief, has a rebellious heart, but sit back and ignore it? ”

"Your Majesty, Xuzhou's position is extremely critical, and you can't act rashly!" Jing Xiang and the others were anxious, and hurriedly spoke out to dissuade them.

"What does it mean to act rashly? Now that Wang Yin and Wu have colluded together, even if His Majesty does not send troops to fight, won't Xuzhou fall into the hands of Wu State? It is better to strike with all your strength, as long as you defeat the Wu army, you can reinvigorate the prestige of our army. Zhao Yan said angrily.

"Enough!" Zhu Youzhen frowned, turned his head to look at another henchman and said, "Zhang Hanjie, what do you think?" ”

When Jing Xiang and the two saw each other, they glanced at each other, and their eyes showed deep helplessness.

As the heroes and strategists who helped Zhu Wen establish a hegemony, they have been giving advice to Zhu Wen's foundation for many years, although Zhu Wen's great cause has been repeatedly frustrated in recent years, but this does not mean that the two of them have a bad plan.

It's a pity that although Zhu Youzhen respects these old ministers as guests, it is just for show, and he actually doesn't trust them much; Instead, he obeyed the words of Zhang Hanjie and Zhao Yan, two henchmen.

Judging from the current situation, I am afraid that the final decision is based on the ideas of Zhao Yan and the others.

In this case, even if they want to contribute to the country, they can only turn into a sigh in the end.