Before Yang Guang and his entourage returned to Chang'an, the imperial court issued an edict: to restore the governor of Jiangling.

Jiangling was originally the location of the capital of the Later Liang State, during the reign of Emperor Xuan of the previous dynasty, in order to prevent the Later Liang from secretly uniting with Nanchen to create a rebellion, the Later Liang Junchen was driven to Suizhou, and the governor's office was set up in Jiangling to govern the heavy army and supervise the Later Liang.

Until the second year of the emperor's reign, the princess Xiao Er of the Later Liang Dynasty married Yang Guang, the king of the Jin Dynasty of the Sui Dynasty, the two countries are not only the suzerain, the relationship of vassals, but also become the sons and daughters, and the then Hou Liang lord Xiao Yue adopted the strategy of pro-Sui Yuan Chen, every year to go to the Sui capital Chang'an Dynasty to see Yang Jian, the contribution is quite large, so, Yang Guang and Xiao Er in the state soon after the marriage, Yang Jian issued an edict to allow Xiao Yue to move the capital back to Jiangling, and abolished the Sui Dynasty's Jiangling governor and the heavy troops stationed in Jiangling, in order to show goodwill to the Later Liang.

However, just three years later, Xiao Yue died within five years of the emperor's reign, and Xiao Zong, the prince of Later Liang Zhisu, was sent back to Jiangling by Yang Jian to support him to succeed to the throne and become the next lord of Later Liang. At the beginning of Xiao Zong's succession, he was still submissive to the Sui Dynasty, and from time to time sent important ministers from the court to Chang'an to present tribute, but after a few months, Yang Jian repeatedly received secret reports that Xiao Zong acquiesced to his uncle Xiao Yan to resume contact with Nan Chen in private, and repeatedly rejected the Sui Dynasty's request to send a prince to Chang'an to hostage Sui.

Although the Houliang occupies an extremely limited area and troops, it holds the important place in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which can become the front line of the Sui Dynasty to destroy the Southern Chen, if it falls to the Southern Chen, it will inevitably become an important barrier that hinders the Sui Dynasty from breaking through the Yangtze River.

There was also a small episode in the determination of the candidate for the governor of Gangneung.

Because the governor of Jiangling had a heavy army in his hands and was responsible for supervising the Later Liang, Yang Jian originally wanted to send his own nephew Yang Xiong to take up this position, but he did not expect that after Yang Jun, the king of Qin who was guarding the northwest, heard the news that the imperial court was about to reinstate the governor of Jiangling, he took the lead in recommending his wife and brother Cui Hongdu to this important position.

At that time, Cui Hongdu was appointed as the assassin of Xuzhou under the command of Yang Yong, the prince of the eastern capital of the town, and his political achievements were quite outstanding, and Yang Jun recommended Cui Hongdu as the governor of Jiangling in the last chapter, and at the same time, he also wrote to the crown prince Yang Yong, asking him to say more good things for his wife and brother in this matter, and try his best to promote this matter.

Yang Yong wanted to win over his third brother Yang Jun, who had also made military exploits (the battle of Apo in the northwest) to contain Yang Guang and prevent Yang Guang from being dominant, so he agreed to Yang Jun's request and gave Yang Jian in the last chapter, praising Cui Hongdu for having both civil and military skills, not only being good at governing the state, but also repeatedly leading the army to quell the civil unrest under his rule, and he was a rare capable minister.

Due to the successive promotions of the crown prince Yang Yong and the king of Qin, Yang Jun, and considering that Cui Hongdu was Yang Jun's brother-in-law and a close relative of the imperial court, Yang Jian dispelled the idea of appointing Yang Xiong as the governor of Jiangling, and issued an edict to transfer Cui Hongdu as the governor of Jiangling, giving him 30,000 soldiers and horses, and was responsible for supervising the movements of the Later Liang Dynasty.

Objectively speaking, Cui Hongdu can indeed be called an outstanding state assassin, and he has no lack of experience in leading the army, but he has a fatal weakness: he is too self-righteous, and he is extremely strict and brutal to his subordinates, which gives Xiao Yan and Xiao Zong's uncle and nephew the opportunity to hide from the world.

On the day when Cui Hongdu first arrived in Jiangling, Xiao Zong personally led Liang Qunchen out of the city for ten miles, greeted Cui Hongdu, honored Cui Hongdu, and took the initiative to give up his palace for the 30,000 Sui troops under Cui Hongdu's command.

When Cui Hongdu was in Chang'an, he heard Yang Jian personally instruct him, saying that Xiao Zong's behavior was very different from that of his father Xiao Yue, and he had a lot of private contacts with the Nanchen court, reminding Cui Hongdu not to relax his supervision, and even if necessary, he could go to the court to advise the court, and send troops to destroy Houliang to eliminate future troubles.

Cui Hongdu saw that Xiao Zong was very respectful to him, and was willing to give up his palace to the Sui army as a military camp, behaving like a frightened bird, so he unconsciously had the idea of despising Xiao Zong, and said to the court that Xiao Zong, the lord of the Later Liang State, was timid and afraid, and when he saw the imperial army pressing the border, he was so frightened that he took the initiative to give up the palace.

On the day Yang Jian received Cui Hongdu's last chapter, it coincided with Yang Guang's return to Chang'an, so he ordered Yang Guang to enter the palace alone and go to Linde Hall to see the driver.

According to the Sui system, all vassal kings and important foreign ministers returning to Beijing must first play the Ming Emperor, and only after the emperor's permission can they return to their own mansions. Therefore, Yang Guang ordered Duan Da and others to escort Princess Xiao E and other family members back to the Jin Palace, and at the same time, he took Wang Shao and several other major officials to rush to the gate of Daxing Palace to wait for the emperor's edict.

Now that he heard that his father only ordered him to enter the palace alone, Yang Guang immediately dismissed Wang Shao and others, and followed Su Yi'er, who came to convey the edict, to Linde Hall to see his father Yang Jian.

When he stepped into the main gate of Daxing Palace, Yang Guangcai suddenly remembered: Is the jailer of Jingzhao Yamen, who first discovered Zhang Xutuo, the same name and surname as Xue Shixiong, the forbidden general who is responsible for guarding the main gate of Daxing Palace here? So, he inquired to Su Yi'er: "Father-in-law Su, don't you know that the main gate of this Daxing Palace is still guarded by Xue Shixiong?" ”

Su Yi'er because of the former Changqiu supervisor Yang Yuexin transferred to Dali Temple as a young secretary, is looking forward to being able to increase the official promotion, get a Changqiu supervisor deputy envoy or something, and has already learned that Yang Guang has been appointed as the powerful Yongzhou pastor and internal history order before returning to Beijing this time, if he has to say a word for himself in front of the emperor, he will naturally be ten times better than others, so he deliberately flattered Yang Guangdao: "The prince doesn't know, Xue Shixiong was imprisoned by the order of the mother as early as the day when the demon Gaode wrote and persuaded the emperor to abdicate. If it weren't for someone to help him speak in front of the emperor later, the emperor and Niangniang were very gracious and only sent him to Jingzhao Mansion to be a jailer, I'm afraid his head would have moved long ago. ”

Yang Guang listened to Su Yi'er's words, and suddenly realized in his heart: It turned out that Xue Shixiong, the jailer who found Zhang Xutuo's escape from prison, was the forbidden army general who used to lead people to guard the palace gate and acted very seriously and rigidly.

"Our family is now saying hello to the prince. In the future, there will be a place for our family, although the prince commands that our family is willing to contribute and serve the prince. Su Yier took the opportunity to confess to Yang Guang.

"Father-in-law Su is a celebrity before his father and son, how dare I tell my father-in-law to run errands and do things, my father-in-law is polite." Yang Guang absentmindedly and Su Yi'er politely chattered, quickened his pace, and strode towards the Linde Palace.