However, it was said that this Hou Jing lost and fled back to Liang, and the whole country was shaken, and the government and the opposition were terrified, and they were afraid that He Batsheng would take the opportunity to cross the river south and invade. Hou Jing himself wrote a letter to Xiao Yan to explain that it was powerful, and said in vain that He Batsheng would never cross the river to invade. It is true that not only He Batsheng, but even Gao Huan felt that it was not yet time to destroy the Liang State, because although the Liang State was weak, it was vast and the entire area south of the Yangtze River to Bashu was Xiao Yan's territory. It will not be possible to swallow the entire territory in a few years, which will give Yuwentai, who has been struggling to support in Guanzhong, a chance to breathe, and cause the evil consequences of raising tigers.

So he took the initiative to ask Xu Mingzhi to write a letter of state to Xiao Yan with strict diplomatic rhetoric, asking him to pay tribute every year, otherwise he would have to drink the blood of the Yangtze River to stain Jiankang (that is, later Nanjing), Xiao Yan had to send someone to repair the book and report that he was willing to accept mediation and respect the Eastern Wei Dynasty as the country of the upper state.

The correspondence between the two was unfortunately intercepted by Hou Jing, seeing that the words of the two in the letter became more and more intimate, he had an inexplicable fear in his heart, so he pretended to reply to Xiao Yan with Gao Huan's tone, to the effect that Xiao Daoquan was exchanged for Hou Jing in the district, to see if Xiao Yan was willing, this Xiao Yan was also old and confused, how could Gao Huan discuss this kind of thing with him in the letter, and he replied without thinking about it, expressing his willingness to exchange Hou Jing for Xiao Daoquan.

Hou Jing took the case after seeing this letter of state, and scolded Xiao Yan for not being a thing, he was born and died several times to help him resist Gao Huan, but now he wants to betray himself, the more he thinks about it, the more angry he becomes, so he burns the letters, and gathers his subordinates to enter Jiankang to question this old fool in person.

But Hou Jing himself was afraid that if he really fell out with Nanliang, there would really be no place for him in this world, so he gathered his henchmen to discuss the matter in the secret room. The military advisor sacrificed wine Guo Yuanjian, the general of the Chinese army Song Zixian, and the leading general Zhang Huaren all agreed to attack Jiankang.

Cao Shangshu proposed a safer strategy: to contact the military guards in Huaibei and Huainan to raise troops with Hou Jing as the leader of the alliance.

Zhongli Hou Jing's military camp, the soldiers outside the camp gate were running back and forth, preparing to transport grain, grass and baggage, and the warriors on horseback were shouting and urging everywhere. At this time, Hou Jing and the generals sat in the big tent, and the representatives of the garrison generals of several nearby counties sat down and faced him face to face.

Hou Jing was wearing a long armor, holding a light feather fan, and two young generals behind him, one holding his helmet and the other holding his sword, looked like Hou Jing was very leisurely. Song Zixian opened his mouth first and asked loudly, "How is it?" Are your lords willing to join us in the attack on Jiankang? ”

The first few envoys glanced at each other and didn't say anything, and then the envoy of Xuyi Taishou got up and said: "Although we are willing to follow Prime Minister Hou Cheng (before Xiaoyayi officially appointed Hou Jing as Prime Minister), the lord is worried that the uneven distribution of land will be unpleasant afterwards, so I hope that the Prime Minister can personally unload the imperial gift and give the north and south Yanzhou to my family Taishou." "Everyone present whispered that before the army entered his house, he began to sit on the ground and share the spoils?

Even Guo Yuanjian and Song Zixian felt that Hou Jing would be furious after hearing this, who knew that he actually smiled and said: "This is a trivial matter, I can promise your family to be too guarded." Several other generals saw that Hou Jing agreed to the fief so easily, so they also proposed the conditions for the division of their master's apprentices after the war, except for a family Taishou who did not get his wish (but the relative promise to compensate him with millions of money), everyone else was satisfied.

Hou Jing got up and said to everyone: "Now everyone is satisfied, okay, please send a member of the hostages from each family, so that Hou Jing can take you to Jiankang to share the wealth with peace of mind." This was not in the initial conditions, so that the envoys did not expect it, Hou Jing said loudly: "I will not force you, I am willing to send hostages to seize the world in the future, and I am also a novice promise, otherwise, even if I occupy Jiankang in the future and hold the emperor hostage, I will not be able to fulfill today's oath with you." ”

Song Zixian took the opportunity to fan the flames and said: "Now that the Southern Liang and Northern Expeditions have failed, the capital is empty, and the garrison in the area from Jiankang to Shi is ten rooms and nine empty, and our army will definitely be able to capture Xiao Yan alive when it goes south, and don't envy us when we take the fief and divide the gold and silver." The envoys also discussed, and the envoy of Xuyi Taishou also showed no weakness: "In the end, the prime minister invited us to come because he was not completely sure that he could attack Jiankang, otherwise he would not have pulled us into an alliance here." Since it is an alliance, please conclude a fair alliance, we are not a subject of the prime minister, and there is no reason to offer hostages to you. ”

When Hou Jing heard this, he couldn't wait to kill this guy on the spot, but he said with a smile on his face: "What this general said is reasonable, since it is a treaty to conclude an offensive and defensive alliance, it is natural to give priority to the interests of everyone who are fair. Since you are not willing to give hostages, and I, Hou Jing, am also an unruly person, let me believe in your sincerity first, and go back and tell your lords, I will send troops to Dunqiu first, and wait for your military forces to gather there, if you are not willing to come at that time, I Hou Jing will not be reluctant. It's just that it's not going to keep him safe. ”

These words were full of temptation and threat, and several envoys bowed their heads and retreated. Guo Yuanjian turned his face to Hou Jing and said, "Lord, can we send troops now?" Once these envoys return to their own territory, then we will sneak attack Jiankang will be leaked, then I am afraid it will be very difficult to do, as the so-called soldiers are fast, we will first lay down the gateway of Dunqiu, and then go south to surround Jiankang, and then other armies will definitely join our army when they see this. ”

This matter really can't be delayed, the more it drags on, the more it falls into passivity, and it is very unfavorable, since it has decided to rebel, he simply makes a quick move, if it really fails, he can take the army to take the Jiangling waterway all the way to Hebei, and then enter Hanzhong from Nanjun, and then he can join Yuwentai.

Hou Jing's wishful thinking is quite fine. So he ordered all the men and horses to prepare to march towards Dunqiu tonight, and really go to surround Jiankang early tomorrow morning.

The keeper of Dunqiu is Xiao Zhengde, the Hou of Xifeng County of Xiao Yan's family, this person has evil intentions, has always had the idea of rebellion, and the world has been chaotic for 50 years, everyone wants to sing their own big drama on stage, not to mention that Xiao Zhengde is a person in power in a high position, and his ambition is far from a throne.

He is Xiao Yan's nephew, Xiao Yan had no heirs in the early years, so Zhengde succeeded him as a son, but later Xiao Yan was forty years old and gave birth to Xiao Tong, so Zhengde was ordered to return to the sect, after Xiao Yan became the emperor, Xiao Zhengde also hoped that he could make his nephew the eldest son, after all, many years of parenting. However, Xiao Yan still set up his own son Xiao Tong as the crown prince, and Xiao Zhengde was also sent to Daowu County as a prince, which made him feel very dissatisfied, and often spoke wildly, and peeped inside the palace, hoping that one day Xiao Yan would have a change.

Hou Jing's sudden arrival of soldiers in the city made him feel that this might be an opportunity, and immediately sent his henchmen out of the city to Hou Jing's array.

Under Dunqiu City, in the middle of Hou Jing's array, Hou Jing was sitting in the camp tent fully armed at the moment, and Xiao Zhengde's secret envoy was kneeling in front of him. After reading Xiao Zhengde's secret letter, Hou Jing raised his head and smiled at Song Zixian, Guo Yuanjian and the others: "Haha, God really helps me." I'm worried that there is no guide who can help me enter Jiankang, and now that Xifenghou is here, I have a heart sickness in my heart since then, hahaha. ”

Song Zixian took the secret letter in Hou Jing's hand, glanced at it a few times, and immediately patted the horse and said: "Really congratulations to the prime minister, congratulations to the prime minister, this is really a great victory for our army. Hou Jing nodded, and then said to the secret envoy: "Go back and tell your family Hou Ye, just say that I, Hou Jing, agree to join forces with him, if I really overthrow Xiao Yan in the future, I will definitely support him as the emperor." The secret envoy bowed his head and bowed down and said: "Thank you for the prime minister's kindness, it's just that my marquis hopes to get a letter from the prime minister to promise this matter, so that he can rest assured and don't be surprised by the prime minister." ”

Hou Jing was overjoyed at this time, where would he be angry, so he asked someone to take a pen and paper and write a reply letter for him to take back to Xiao Zhengde. Dunqiu doesn't have to fight anymore, they can rush to the Yangtze River overnight, and if they are lucky, they can survive the Yangtze River tonight to surround Jiankang. But in order to hide people's eyes, Hou Jing cunningly wanted to use Xiao Zhengde, pretended to transport military rations to Jiankang in his name, and hid his own sergeants in the cabin, and everything would be simple when he crossed the Yangtze River.

Xiao Zhengde and Hou Jing's first meeting was at the moment before the army started, this Xiao Zhengde was dressed in white clothes and silver armor with a white horse under his crotch and looked very chic, Hou Jing was respectful to him, and called him respectful at every turn, Xiao Zhengde and Hou Jing The two villains hit it off, and immediately decided to use Hou Jing's strategy to win the Yangtze River guard.

The next day, when Hou Jing and Xiao Zhengde's combined forces attacked Stone City on the outskirts of Jiankang, Xiao Yan was still sleeping soundly in the palace, Zhu Yi quickly asked the eunuch to wake him up, and after informing Xiao Yan of the matter, he was shocked, and kept saying: "How can this be? How so? One of them then offered him a plan to invite his ministers to the court to discuss the matter

The defender of Stone City is Xiao Fan, the king of Xianyang, and his soldiers are only 4,000, how can they resist Hou Jing and Xiao Zhengde's coalition army of 60,000 horses, along the way Xiao Zhengde's army opened the way for Hou Jing, almost did not encounter any resistance, but there was no strength to resist them, and several other retinue troops also sent troops to help in the battle, so within a few days Hou Jing's rebellion appeared to be huge, causing a lot of shock in the Jiangdong region.

In the palace of Jiankang City, Xiao Yan was at a loss to look at the civil and military ministers under him, they seemed to be more anxious than themselves, but there was no feasible plan, they were messy like a group of ants on a hot pot, seeing them like this, Xiao Yan was so angry that he was going to die, as he said, raising troops for a thousand days and using soldiers for a while, these ministers usually sang and feasted with themselves to enjoy the glory and wealth, but when it came to a big event, they couldn't count on anything.

Zhu Yi snorted lightly and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the situation is urgent now, and Your Majesty is still waiting for everyone to come up with a solution." So the ministers all quieted down, and Shang Shuyang Kan came out and said: "Your Majesty's top priority now is to resist the forbidden army of the palace from within, and recruit the generals of the feudal town to enter Beijing to escort them, and there is no other way. ”

The ministers agreed, so Xiao Yan appointed Yang Kan as the general of Wei, commanding the palace forbidden army to defend the capital, and delegated all military affairs to him. He took the queen, Zhu Yi and others to hide in the palace.

Jiankang City was built as a huge city as early as the Sun Wu era of the Three Kingdoms period, the depth of the north and south is 4.5 kilometers, the width of the east and west is 3.5 kilometers, after the Western Jin Dynasty moved south, the Sima family has increased the number of arrow towers, expanded the outer protective city wall, so that Jiankang is no longer a bare city with only the inner city wall, plus the later Southern Dynasty Song/Qi/Liang three generations of overhaul and expansion, Jiankang's palace area and inner city are far larger than before, and the population has also reached nearly one million people from less than 200,000 in the Eastern Wu period to the Xiao Yan period.

With a large number of arsenals and granaries in the city, and more than 20,000 forbidden troops garrisoned, it would be easy to hold on to such a huge city if there were no accidents. Yang Kan also saw his own advantages, so he said to Xiao Yan with confidence: As long as we hold on for half a year, as soon as the army of the foreign feudal towns arrives, Hou Jing will not attack himself, and he will either go west to Jingxiang or go north to Eastern Wei. At that time, all you need to do is send a detachment of troops to capture him.

Xiao Yan was already in his fifties at this time, and the glorious era of his life had passed (his glorious era was the decade when he raised troops to replace Xiao Qi), just when the so-called old man was in a coma, coupled with Zhu Yi, a big traitor from the middle school, who was a great traitor, he made a fool of himself on the side, and the situation was originally a good situation but they made troubled the waters, and listen to me slowly. (To be continued.) )