It was March, the cold chill dissipated, the warmth melted, the flowers were fragrant and willow green, and the distant mountain peaks were verdant. Li Xuanba settled the relevant matters of Jinling County and led part of the army back to Jiangdu first.

It is not a trivial matter to give up Jinling County, although Yang Tong trusts Li Xuanba very much, but there are still many ministers in the court.

The reaction of the civil and military officials was far more intense than Li Xuanba thought, and more than a dozen important ministers threatened to return to their hometowns, resolutely disagreeing to hand over Jinling City to Du Fuwei, and even questioned the collusion between Li Xuanba and Du Fuwei again.

Li Xuanba was very helpless, he returned to Jiangdu for a few days, and deliberately took advantage of Chen Ling's absence to go to the court, but he didn't expect to be reprimanded. The literati are pedantic and attach too much importance to honor, as long as they think it is justified, they will not even care about their lives, and they will make others submit.

"Lord Zhou Guogong, what the hell are you going to do!" Ming Yi knocked on his crutches, blew his beard and glared: "Jinling County is exchanged for the lives of the soldiers, if Lord Zhou Guogong feels that the court is not manpowered, the old minister is willing to take the sword to Jinling to defend the city." ”

The imperial court was able to obtain the support of the Jiangdu Shi clan, and the Ming people made great contributions, so Yang Tong and Li Xuanba have always respected him for three points.

"Lord Ming, the early dynasty was originally to discuss state affairs, why should you be angry?" Li Xuanba persuaded in a good voice: "Now is not a peaceful and prosperous world, some things cannot only be reasonable, but also need to weigh the pros and cons. ”

"The pros and cons? Shen Faxing is a traitor, and Du Fuwei is also a traitor, retaking Jin Ling from the traitor and giving it to another traitor, this is what Lord Zhou Guogong called beneficial to the imperial court? Ming Yi laughed angrily and said angrily: "The soldiers know everything, how can they be willing? ”

"Master Ming, you have never been on the battlefield, how do you know what the soldiers think?" The court had been arguing about this issue for more than an hour, and suddenly a voice sounded from outside the main hall. Chen Ling was dressed in an official uniform. Strode into the hall: "Your Majesty, what Zhou Guogong said, Weichen agreed." ”

As soon as Chen Ling's voice fell, the Manchu Dynasty was shocked, his grudge with Du Fuwei was no secret, and Li Xuanba planned to give up the Jin Tomb to Du Fuwei. If there is only one person who opposes it, that person should also be Chen Ling. But now, Chen Ling actually agrees with Li Xuanba's idea, how can others remain calm?

Chen Ling has guarded Jiangdu for a long time, and although his prestige in Jiangdu is not as good as Ming Yi, it is not much different, and the weight of his words is naturally not light.

"Lord Chen, you?" Ming Yi's face became ugly, he was originally worried that Li Xuanba would insist on going his own way, so he secretly sent someone to invite Chen Ling. Unexpectedly, Chen Ling actually supported Li Xuanba.

"In the first battle of Jinling, Zhou Guogong took the lead and killed more than 600 thieves with his own hands, Lord Ming, can you do it?" Chen Ling calmly arched his hand, turned to Yang Tong and bowed: "For such a meritorious achievement, Zhou Guogong does not ask for a reward." Instead, he is dedicated to giving advice to the court, Your Majesty. Wechen implores you to support Zhou Guogong's plan against public opinion. ”

Li Jing led his troops back to the north, Zhang Xutuo and others stayed in Jinling for the time being, only Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng and others stood on Li Xuanba's side in the court, most people were still waiting, and now Chen Ling spoke. The number of people who echoed it gradually increased

After retiring from the early dynasty, Li Xuanba returned to his house to prepare gifts and personally visited Chen Ling's mansion.

Chen Ling was lying on a rocking chair in the courtyard basking in the sun, and on the stone table in his hand, a pot of hot tea was placed. Two teacups.

"General Chen seems to have guessed that Xuanba would come to the door to disturb him?" Li Xuanba arched his hand, sat down casually, and his own subordinates poured tea for him, but he was not polite, and took two sips.

After talking too much in the early dynasty, Li Xuanba only felt that his mouth was dry, and he hurried back home, and he didn't even have time to drink a sip of water.

"I didn't expect Lord Zhou Guogong to come so early, and he was really young and vigorous." Chen Ling didn't even open his eyes, and said slowly: "I don't know what advice Lord Zhou Guogong came to visit?" ”

Chen Ling's attitude was very bad, and Li Xuanba was not surprised at all, after all, he deceived Chen Ling first.

"Xuanba wants to know why General Chen agreed with me." Li Xuanba said with a smile: "At the beginning, the imperial court wanted to recruit An Du Fuwei, but you were resolutely opposed to it, general. ”

"The dead are gone." Chen Ling opened his eyes, and the bright sunlight stabbed his eyes a little uncomfortable, so he sat up straight, looked at Li Xuanba and said, "Lord Zhou Guogong, do you still remember what I said in the court today?" ”

Li Xuanba apologized and arched his hand: "The appearance of the general was too unexpected for Xuanba, and he was a little distracted at the time, so I don't remember it very well." ”

"I told Master Ming that he had never been on the battlefield, and he didn't understand the thoughts of the soldiers at all." Chen Ling didn't care, and said lightly: "The soldiers fought bravely to kill the enemy, not only for fame and fortune, they want to protect their relatives, and want to make their relatives' lives better, since Zhou Guogong can realize the wishes of the soldiers, what reason do I have not to support you?" ”

The development of the Southern Sui Imperial Court, in the eyes of everyone, Chen Ling lives in Jiangdu, how can he not know?

"Thank you, General Chen." Li Xuanba said sincerely: "It is really a blessing for the court to have a courtier like you. ”

"Lord Zhou Guogong doesn't need to compliment me." Chen Ling waved his hand: "I still hold a grudge against Du Fuwei, but compared to him, I don't like the children of the Ming clan even more, they are short-sighted, only care about their own interests, and do not take the threat of many forces in the north in their eyes at all, only staring at the many benefits of Jinling, which is really chilling." ”

Ming Yi said righteous words in the court, but he was not really worried that Du Fuwei had wolf ambitions, although Jinling County was not as prosperous as Jiangdu, it was also extremely rich, otherwise Shen Faxing would not have abandoned Wu County and had been living in Jinling City.

The imperial court captured the Jinling Tombs, and the scholars still wanted to get some benefits from the Jinling County, but Li Xuanba actually wanted to give them away, of course they would oppose it.

"The court needs them, and they know this very well, so they dare to be so unscrupulous." Li Xuanba sighed: "Actually, Xuanba has always disliked these people, but what can be done?" ”

"The southern culture is prevalent, and there are countless talented people in Jiangdu, if they can be respected, it will be very helpful to the imperial court." Chen Ling squinted his eyes and lay down on the rocking chair again, and said casually: "Master Ming is very prestigious in Jiang, but he, like me, is a person who is about to die after all. ”

Looking at the wrinkles on Chen Ling's face, Li Xuanba felt sad and didn't know what to say.

Ordinary people are tired of running around for a living, how can they have spare money to recite poems and paint? The literati talents in Chen Ling's mouth are all children of the family, and they are still young, but their family will eventually fall into their hands.

Thinking of this, Li Xuanba got up, gave Chen Ling a look, and left. (To be continued.) )