Nantang, Jiangning.

In April, the smoke and rain are hazy. The breeze moved slightly, blowing the drizzle, as if it was really gently draped in a light veil woven by the drizzle for the Southern Tang Palace.

The light rain in the sky street is as moist as a crisp, and the grass color is close but there is none. It is the most beneficial spring of the year, and it is absolutely better than the smoke and willows in the imperial capital.

Bang! In a palace in the Southern Tang Imperial Palace, a middle-aged man dressed in a splendid silk robe slammed the tea cup in his hand on the desk, and his anger was overflowing.

"What do the thieves of the Wei State want to do, they want to start a war with my Tang Dynasty, the emperor of the Wei Dynasty has only been on the throne for a few years, less than two years, he thought that he had won a battle with the Northern Han Rouran, and he just sat down in his seat, first he opened a knife on the Shu State, and now he is going to bully my Tang Dynasty! Hum! The man in the robe snorted coldly, but his heart didn't seem to be calm, and he was frowning, pacing back and forth in the palace, as if he was worried about the Wei State in the middle of his heart.

"Your Majesty, Liu Yanzhen, the commander of the Shenwu Army, really asks to see you." A palace man said outside the hall.

This middle-aged man was none other than the supreme ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Jing, known as the "Emperor of the Tang Dynasty". There was no order for outsiders not to see, this was Li Jing's order, so the palace did not come in, and only informed Li Jing outside the palace.

"Announce quickly." Li Jing said.

Liu Yanzhen, Li Jing naturally knows this person, and I heard the ministers say that this person is an expert in governing the people and a master of battle formation, so he still has a good impression of this person.

Now that the great enemy is present, the Wei State intends to send troops to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty, and there are many discussions in the country, from the emperor's ministers to the common people and merchants.

Looking at the current world, in addition to the north like a behemoth like Rouran, the most powerful is nothing more than the Wei Dynasty in the Central Plains, although its country due to the instability of the government, perennial often chaotic into a pot of porridge, economic prosperity is far less than the wind and rain, splendid prosperity of the Southern Tang Kingdom, but the continuous war has also spawned a group of elite in the world, not to mention the past, just say that the new emperor defeated the Northern Han Rouran coalition army head-on last year, and won the entire territory of the four states of Shu within a month of the beginning of spring this year.

During his reign, Li Jing successively destroyed the Min State (now Fujian) and the Ma Chu regime (with its capital in present-day Changsha, Hunan), but Li Jing was still somewhat self-aware, and there was still a gap between him and Wei in terms of military strength.

Although Li Jing's words just now were full of disdain for Emperor Wei, he never dared to despise this Central Plains hero in his heart!

"Weichen see Your Majesty!" The palace people led a big man into the palace room, and when they saw Li Jing, the big man hurriedly saluted.

Seeing that the big man was dignified, heroic, and quite majestic, the Southern Tang Emperor Li Jing was more convinced of this man named Liu Yanzhen.

This person seems to be a person with some ability.

Li Jing thought secretly.

Although the ancient sages said that "you can't judge people by appearance", the world's first perception of others starts from appearance, even the ancient sages have not made this mistake? Sometimes appearance has a greater impact on a person's future, in a certain period of the previous dynasty (Tang Dynasty), the court officials with ugly appearance and poor face were not allowed to serve as officials, and they were directly ugly, so that those who did not meet Huaicai wanted to hide their faces and cry.

"General Liu saw me this time, what is the so-called matter?" Li Jing bowed his head and asked with a smile. Although he is now troubled by the fact that the Wei army is going south, these are not good to show in front of the courtiers, they are not up to standard, and there is still some superficial work, after all, he has been the emperor for more than ten years.

"Weichen is not talented, I am willing to share the worries for Your Majesty!" Liu Yanzhen replied.

"Oh, Aiqing is talking about Wei Jun." Li Jing suddenly became interested, the enemy is coming, and there are not many people who can face difficulties in times of crisis, and their attitude is also very good, and even their titles have changed, from "General Liu" to "Aiqing". Not everyone is worthy of the emperor's "Aiqing".

Emperor Wen Xu asked, as a party Liu Yanzhen naturally felt the most directly, and was overjoyed, but not superficial.

"Exactly. Wei room, rebellious ministers and thieves! Luckily, when the lord was weak and the ministers were suspicious, he launched a mutiny and stole the throne, although he called himself the emperor, but in fact he was humble and despised, and he was arrogant to the top. Now I dare to invade my Datang, the one who peeps, but my Datang is rich in land, and I am not talented, but for my king, I will fight the Wei thief and share the worries for Your Majesty! Liu Yanzhen looked sincere, spoke eloquently, and her words were sonorous and powerful.

Liu Yanzhen's words were clear-eyed, and scolded the royal family of the Wei Dynasty thoroughly, but did not use a vulgar word, Li Jing is pampered, likes poetry and literature, has good attainments, and loves elegant things the most.

"The wind knows the strength of the grass, and the board knows the loyal ministers! Aiqing is really my loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty! Li Jing was moved after hearing this, and said excitedly. Regardless of Liu Yanzhen's talents, just because he dared to stand up and maintain the authority of the emperor when the powerful Wei army was attacking, isn't it worth paying attention to!

"Your Majesty has won the award, I have a large number of people in the Tang Dynasty, a large number of soldiers, and a wide range of generals, how can I be the only one who is loyal to the ministers, and I, Liu, just said their heartfelt words for everyone in advance!" Liu Yanzhen had a good attitude and said modestly.

"Good, good! Rare, not arrogant or impatient. Li Jing said three "good" words in a row, and his impression of Liu Yanzhen was even better to a new height, "I ordered you to deploy for the northern camp and go to Huainan to defend against our enemies, how about it?" ”

"Wechen thank Your Majesty for your kindness! I don't dare to ask for it! Liu Yanzhen was overjoyed and bowed.

Li Jing laughed heartily, and personally helped Liu Yanzhen up.

The westward expedition carried out since the beginning of spring this year was not aimed at eliminating the Shu regime from the beginning, but only to recapture Qinfeng and other prefectures and counties, and cut off the threat of Shu forces to Guanzhong. Fortunately, the western expedition went very smoothly and did not last long, the war situation was clear, and the Shu State had already succumbed to the pressure of the military threat of the Wei Dynasty, and had cut the emperor's name and called the lord of Shu, and took the initiative to send envoys to sue for peace.

The imperial court has approved it.

Because the next war against the Southern Tang will also begin.

The imperial court intended Huainan, and the pre-war preparations had been brewing for a long time, but they had been waiting for the situation of the Western Expedition to be clear, to avoid fighting on two fronts, and to cause huge pressure on the national strength.

In April of the second year of Xuande, Xiang Xun was the first to be recruited back to Beijing; Hantong served as the internal and external inspector of the capital. The envoys who came to congratulate Wu Yueguo returned to the south, took away the edict of the Zhou Dynasty, and asked Wu Yueguo to reorganize his army and attack the Southern Tang State together; Wei also sent envoys to order Nanping (Jingnan) to transfer troops to participate in the war.

In May, Emperor Lu Rong of Wei decided to start a war against the Southern Tang Dynasty and appointed Li Gu as the capital of the former military camp in Huainan, and concurrently served as the governor of Luzhou and Shouzhou. Zhongwu Jiedu made Wang Yanchao his lieutenant general. In addition, twelve generals including Han Lingkun were sent to lead the southern expedition.

In May of the second year of Xuande, in the twelfth year of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Wei army marched south and passed on the county of Zhuzhou: "Huaidi is a fool, he dares to resist the big state, steal one side, and claim the emperor offside." In the Jin and Han dynasties, the country was not at peace, and you recruited rebels and helped the rebels. Li Jinquan was based on An Chong, Li Shouzhen rebelled in Hezhong, and others gathered a large army to aid the thieves. Invaded Lingmin, Yuedi, Tanxiang, Tan Shengmin, hooked up with the Northern Han Dynasty, contacted Houshu, invaded Xubu, and the battle of Shuyang, the twists and turns can be known. Collusion with Rouran, stubbornly galloping in the northern Xinjiang, invading the Central Plains year after year, continuous wars, knotting and blocking, chaotic China, is really a feud in the Middle Earth. The sin is monstrous, and people and gods are angry! ”

Therefore, Bai Li Gu was deployed for the camp, starting from the attack on Shouzhou, as a breakthrough point, and establishing a stronghold for the later army. At this time, Song Qiqiu was the envoy of the Hongzhou Festival, Li Jing summoned Song Qiqiu back to Jiangning, and deployed the northern camp with Liu Yanzhen, the commander of the Shenwu Army, and the general Liu Renzhen as the envoy of the Qinghuai Army, guarding Shouzhou to resist the Wei army.