There are 3,000 men and horses under his command, and Chen Junfan, the new marquis of Nanchen Yongxin, who is stationed in Jinling City in the lower reaches of the river, is still the imperial uncle of Chen Shubao Yuanzhi, the queen of Southern Chen, because he is the imperial uncle of Yuanzhi, although Chen Junfan has made great contributions to the imperial court during the reign of Emperor Xuan of Southern Chen, he has never been allowed to be crowned king after Chen Shubao succeeded to the throne, and he was still only a marquis until the Chen State was about to die.

When the news that the imperial capital Jiankang was captured by the two Sui generals He Ruobi and Han Baohu reached the Jinling City, Chen Junfan was also worried about how to resist the Sui army Yanrong who crossed the river from the East China Sea.

Almost at the same time as Chen Shubao's edict of surrender, there was another mysterious figure who claimed to be Chen Junfan's old man.

After setting up an incense case in the main hall of the house and receiving the edict of resignation, Chen Junfan was not in a hurry to show his attitude, but asked the messenger who came to convey the edict of surrender to the side hall to rest first, and then ordered the servant to bring the mysterious person into the main hall to meet.

The mysterious figure followed the servant into the main hall of the Hou Mansion, and did not reach out to take off the hood that covered his face, revealing his true face, but asked Chen Junfan with compassion: "The prince and the prince kept the envoy to surrender and did not kill, could it be that he had the heart to surrender to Sui?" ”

The person who came refused to report his real name and was unwilling to show his true face, which made Chen Junfan quite curious about his intention, and couldn't help but feel a little wary, and asked coldly: "Listening to the tone of Zunjia's speech, it seems that I am from the court." Since he claims to be the old man of Benhou, why not take off his hood and show his true face? ”

The man let out a strange laugh and reached out to take off his hood, revealing a chubby white face.

"You are?" Chen Junfan stared at the person opposite for a long time, still unable to remember where he had seen him before, and asked with a puzzled face.

"The princes and nobles are so forgetful, don't you know Qinglian?" The man deliberately leaned his face closer to Chen Junfan so that he could see it more clearly.

"You are the Qinglian before the first emperor?! I haven't seen you for many years, how did I become like this? Chen Junfan looked carefully for a long time, and vaguely saw some shadows of many years ago from the eyebrows and eyes of the visitor, but he still didn't dare to recognize him, and exclaimed.

Qinglian stretched out her hand and took out an object from her arms, handed it to Chen Junfan, and explained with a smile: "The prince can't recognize Qinglian, so he should recognize this statue of the Great Bodhisattva." This statue was given to Qinglian by His Majesty in front of the prince thirteen years ago! ”

Seeing this lifelike statue of the Great Bodhisattva, Chen Junfan finally confirmed that the person who came was the most favored scholar by the emperor's brother Chen Ji more than ten years ago - Qinglian, and couldn't help but feel sad and happy, stepped forward and grabbed Qinglian's hand, and asked hurriedly: "Qinglian, it's really you!" After all these years, I still have you long gone! Tell me where you came from, and what are you doing to see me today? ”

Qinglian saw that Chen Junfan recognized herself, her chubby face showed a trace of sadness, sighed softly, and replied: "Thirteen years ago, Qinglian was sent by the ancestor to lurk in Jiangbei, but she has been separated from the ancestor so far. Today, thousands of miles away, Pan Hainan returned, wanting to save the homeland in danger, but he encountered a storm at sea again, and only came to Jinling until now, and had to reunite with the prince. That is, please ask the prince to surrender and work with Qinglian to restore the great cause! ”

"Thirteen years ago, you were ordered to lurk in Jiangbei? In this way, could it be that you are the legendary deputy leader of the 'Goose's Nest', Guan Zizai? Chen Junfan was so shocked that he took two steps back, stared at Qinglian with his eyes, and asked.

Qinglian nodded solemnly.

"Qinglian, you came by boat all the way across the sea, you may not know that as early as ten days ago, the imperial capital Jiankang had fallen. Today, not only did he become a prisoner of the Sui army, but he was also forced to write this edict of surrender and distribute it to various places, and it is rumored that there are no less than dozens of prefectures and counties that have surrendered to the Sui Dynasty after receiving this edict. I see you here, alone, with only three thousand soldiers and horses in my city, how can I try to restore the great cause? Chen Junfan shouted.

"Bandang knows loyal ministers. Although Qinglian is not talented, she is willing to help the prince and marquis to enter the succession and continue the Chen family's blood, but I hope that the prince and the marquis will not refuse. ”

"You, do you want to help me succeed to the throne as the emperor?" Chen Junfan looked at Qinglian in front of him with an awe-inspiring face in disbelief, and after a long time, he laughed on his back, "Qinglian, are you dreaming?" ”

Qinglian replied solemnly: "As long as the prince agrees, I have planned everything for the prince." Prince, please take a look. As he spoke, he walked to the map placed in the hall, pointed to the map and explained to Chen Junfan: "Although the Sui army has captured the prefectures and cities along the river to the first line of Jiankang, and Hunan and Hubei have also surrendered to the Sui Dynasty, most of them have surrendered to the Sui Dynasty, but the vast area of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian is still promising. I have laid 100,000 ambush soldiers for the prince in this area, the prince may wish to contact the guards of Wuzhou, Nanyu Prefecture and other places, first along the river to the invading Sui army to meet the head-on attack, and then retreat to this area in the deep mountains and dense forests with the Sui army, and then in the name of the Chen Dynasty Emperor to pass the edict to the Lingnan barbarians to raise troops and Qin Wang, then the day of restoration can still be expected. ”

Chen Junfan looked intently in the direction of Qinglian's finger, but saw that there were endless mountains and mountains, which were originally wilderness places that he usually refused to go out hunting, and couldn't help but question: "You said that there were 100,000 elite soldiers ambushed in this area?" How come I've never heard anyone talk about it? ”

Qinglian saw that Chen Junfan's mind had begun to come alive, so she took advantage of the situation to persuade him: "I was entrusted by the first emperor and actually took charge of the 'Wild Goose's Nest' for many years, doesn't the prince still believe what I say?" Retreating to the deep mountains and dense forests is still a matter of the future, and the most urgent thing at the moment must be to contact the cities along the river as soon as possible to meet the invading Sui army. As far as I know, Xiao Yan and Xiao Chen's uncle and nephew rebelled against the Sui Dynasty from Jiangling, and there is absolutely no intention of returning to the Sui Dynasty. ”

Xiao Yan and Xiao Tan were both the clans of the Later Liang rebellion against the Sui Dynasty, and were respectively named the Wuzhou Assassin and the Dongyang Prefecture Assassin after two years of Chen's surrender (Xiao Chen was renamed the Southern Yuzhou Assassin a year ago), and the two had about 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses, although it was not enough to counterattack and recover the imperial capital Jiankang with this force, but it was barely possible to hold on to the city and block the Sui army's eastward advance.

Chen Junfan was Qinglian's left one into the succession to the unification, and the right one Chen Chaotianzi said itchy, plus in recent years, his ears have been filled with all kinds of legends about the "Goose's Nest" and Guan Zizai, and he knows that this is a hidden force specially arranged by the imperial brother Chen Ji before his death, according to which the possibility that what Qinglian said is true cannot be completely ruled out, because I think that as Qinglian said is true, there are really 100,000 elite soldiers ambushed in the deep mountains and dense forests around Jiangsu and Zhejiang, even if the Sui army cannot be driven back to Jiangbei, at least it can be a corner of peace, It's still okay to be a copycat emperor in the future.

As soon as he thought of this, Chen Junfan decided to adopt Qinglian's suggestion, immediately kill the envoy who surrendered, and personally went to Wuzhou City to meet Xiao Yan, intending to block the Sui army from Wuzhou to Nanyuzhou to the east.