"Your Majesty's Huainan victory! Huainan victory! What a victory! ”

Xiao Dengzi hurriedly walked into the imperial garden with a good news in his hand, and the palace maids who were singing and dancing were waved by Sima Shu to let them go down, and the queen knew that the emperor should be busy with military affairs next, and hurriedly took the children back to their respective bedrooms.

"Your Majesty, Huainan Governor Liu Kun urgently reported: A week ago, the Huainan Governor's Office mobilized the main force of the Chaohu Water Division to defeat the main force of the Jiangdong Water Division at the mouth of the Xukou, and took the opportunity to take the important town of Tuzhong in Jiangbei in one fell swoop, and completely drove the Jiangdong forces to the south bank of the Yangtze River."

"Good! Liu Yueshi really lived up to my expectations of him, Xiao Dengzi, you go and inform a few cabinet ministers to come to the Jiade Palace, I have important matters to discuss with the ministers. ”

After a short period of excitement, Sima Shu calmed down, and what he needed to consider now was whether the court would ask him to immediately send troops across the Yangtze River and pacify Jiangdong after learning the news. It's not impossible, looking at the performance of the Huainan Governor's Mansion, Liu Kun only relied on the weak strength of the sailor in his hand to beat the invincible sailor in Jiangdong to the point of embarrassment, if the court fought with all its might, it may not be able to take the opportunity to take Jiangdong.

But Sima Shu knew that now was not the time to recover Jiangdong, and there were still millions of Hu people in the north, and he didn't want to go south before clearing the threat of the Hu people. He would rather lose the Great War in the North in the future and give Jiangdong the opportunity to enter the Central Plains, rather than be found by the Hu people in the north to go south to the Central Plains in the defeat in the south.

"Your Majesty, long live my emperor!" While Sima Shu was thinking about his own affairs, several cabinet ministers also arrived in the Jiade Palace.

"Everyone, love Qing Ping. I am here today to discuss the situation in Huainan, presumably everyone has received the news of Huainan's victory, and the Huainan frontline soldiers hope that the imperial court will expand the war and take the opportunity to cross the Yangtze River to attack Jiankang. I haven't replied to Liu Yueshi yet, what do you think? ”

After listening to Sima Shu's words, several cabinet ministers were silent, everyone present was an important minister of the imperial court, and they must know the current strategic strategy, and under normal circumstances, the imperial court would never easily change the established strategy. But this time there is a bit of an exception, the first person to propose a change of strategy is Liu Kun, the former general staff of the Privy Council Military Administration, who has participated in the formulation of relevant strategies of the imperial court, and it is impossible not to know the strategy of first north and then south that the imperial court has long determined.

But he was after this battle. However, he proposed to the imperial court the strategy of pacifying Jiangdong first. It can be seen how beneficial the current situation in Huainan is to the imperial court. None of the people present could resist the temptation from Jiangdong, and if it weren't for Sima Shu's ability to list the Hu people as his biggest opponent in later generations, I'm afraid he would not be able to help but go south to Jiangdong.

In the eyes of traditional Chinese scholars, Jiangdong was much more important than the Hu people in the north. If Jiangdong can be taken in one fell swoop, it basically means that the imperial court has put down rebellions in various places. The initial realization of the Jin Dynasty Zhongxing. On the other hand, even if the imperial court recovers the state and Youzhou. The court will still think that the great cause of quelling chaos and reunification is still far away.

"Your Majesty, is the situation in Huainan really very favorable to us? If the imperial court is ready to go south, will it be able to break through the Yangtze River defense line in one fell swoop? Pei Wei pondered for a long time before asking.

According to the information from the Huainan Governor's Office, if the imperial court can transfer a part of the navy to support them, Liu Kun is eighty percent sure that he will break through the Yangtze River defense line in one fell swoop. And Jiankang can be successfully conquered, even the counties along the south bank of the Yangtze River can also recover a part. Sima Shu replied, holding up a document.

"Doesn't that mean that the opportunity to pacify Jiangdong has appeared?" Wang Yan's face showed a happy look, he very much hoped that Sima Shu could dominate the world as soon as possible, the interests of the Central Plains and Shandong have been carved up in recent years, and many nouveau riche are eyeing the land of the five states in Jiangdong.

"Hehe, Aiqing, it's not that the opportunity to pacify Jiangdong has appeared, but the opportunity to break through the Yangtze River defense line has appeared." Sima Shu smiled and corrected his cheap father-in-law.

"Huh? This, is there any difference between the two? "What Wang Yan is good at is 'boasting and talking', and when he encounters specific problems, he becomes numb.

"Lord Wang, what Your Majesty means is that with our strength and the current favorable time, place and people, as Liu Yueshi said, we can completely break through the Yangtze River defense line in one fell swoop, even if we take Jiankang, it will not be a problem. But that doesn't mean we'll be able to pacify Koto. Without waiting for Sima Shu to speak, Shoufu Zhang Bin explained.

It is estimated that he is the one who knows Sima Shu's true intentions best, and I saw him continue: "Everyone knows that since the end of the Han Dynasty, Jiangdong has always been outside the central court, even if Sun Hao, the lord of Wu who was captured by Emperor Wu, did not completely digest Jiangdong. ”

This has caused the Jiangdong scholars to be particularly xenophobic to foreign forces, and this time the Huainan Governor's Office was able to win the Huainan War so smoothly, and I am afraid that most of the credit is due to the outbreak of internal contradictions in Jiangdong. Let's take a look at this piece of information from the Intelligence Agency. ”

"This information tells us very clearly that if it weren't for the internal conflict in Jiangdong, how could Wen Xian, who had been acting very well before, leave Tuzhong. If Tu Zhong Wen Xian was in charge, how could he have the courage to launch a counterattack, that is, the local warriors in Jiangdong were eager to make meritorious contributions, but Liu Yueshi seized the opportunity to defeat the Jiangdong Naval Division in one fell swoop. ”

"Your Majesty, my lords, I'm afraid that the whole Jiangdong has already been rumored for a long time, and I believe that as long as we have a hint of wind and grass, maybe we can make Sima Rui take the initiative to give up Jiankang. But what will happen to us after we take Jiankang? It is very likely that the civil strife in Jiangdong, which has already shown its signs, will be suppressed again, and in the face of the unanimous Jiangdong people, how long will it take for us to level the south? ”

"In addition, the south is full of woodland and water, which is not conducive to cavalry combat, in case the other side runs to the mountains to form an alliance with Shanyue, will we be caught in a long-term battle to quell the chaos? Let's not forget that there are still hundreds of thousands of Hu cavalry in the north who are waiting for us to make a mistake. ”

"For Jiangdong, we can rely on the Yangtze River to block the opponent from going north, but in the face of hundreds of thousands of brave and warlike Hu cavalry, we don't have a geographical advantage that we can rely on. Therefore, the minister suggested that the imperial court should accept it immediately when we see it on the Huainan battlefield, and we must not take the opportunity to go south. After a tirade, Shoufu Zhang Bin made it clear that he was against it and immediately went south to Jiangdong.

"Lord Shoufu is right, Weichen also disagrees with the Huainan Governor's proposal to revise the strategic strategy, Your Majesty Ryukyu has just been pocketed by the imperial court for only a year, and it is simply unable to support long-term warfare. If the imperial court were to fight south at this time, the Ryukyu base would basically not be able to play any role. As the only military representative in the cabinet, Zu Ti also made it clear that he did not support the proposal of the Huainan Governor's Office.

"Meng Sun and Shi Zhi are right, I also think so, everyone knows that taking Jiankang does not mean that the imperial court completely controls everything in the Jiangdong region, and I definitely don't want to have a situation like Taikang Nian again!" Emperor Sima Shu said with a resolute face.

Sima Shu's words reminded everyone that in the first year of Taikang, after the Zhennan general Du Pre led the troops to level Wu, the imperial court did not include Jiangdong in the Great Jin system, and the entire Jiangdong has maintained a semi-independent state. From Sima Shu's words, the cabinet ministers clearly understood the emperor's determination to completely break the situation of the Jiangdong clan controlling Jiangnan.

After the first assistant, the privy councillor and the emperor himself reached an agreement on the situation in Huainan, everyone present did not add any more obstacles. After the others left, Sima Shu left Zu Ti alone, "Shizhi, I will stay because there is one thing I need you to do. ”

"Please ask Your Majesty to command, and the minister will live up to Your Majesty's trust." The moment the emperor asked him to stay, Zu Ti knew that there was something he needed to solve.

"Well, in fact, it is related to Huainan, and this Huainan battle can be said to be completely unexpected by the imperial court. I never wanted to fight Jiangdong at this time, but the plan couldn't keep up with the rapid change, but fortunately, we achieved great results. At present, the war in Huainan is coming to an end, but I am worried that the soldiers on the front line in Huainan will misunderstand the imperial court, so I plan to let you go to Huainan in person and explain it to the Huainan generals. ”

"Shhh Zu Ti shuddered when he heard this, he felt that Sima Shu's worries were not unreasonable, when the morale of the current Huainan soldiers was high, the decision of the imperial court just poured cold water on them, and in this case, the Huainan soldiers would inevitably have no other thoughts. I'm afraid that even Liu Kun can't help but muttered in his heart: Isn't there a minister who is jealous of him Liu Yueshi? And deliberately prevent him from making Pingnan contributions?

"Aiqing figured it out? Liu Yueshi is a talented figure, and he has been suppressed in the military office for all these years and has not been allowed the opportunity to lead the troops alone. Now that such a good opportunity is in front of him, don't say that Liu Yueshi will not give up this opportunity even if he is in charge of Huainan as a person. ”

"I asked you to go to Huainan to persuade the Huainan soldiers to put the overall situation first, and temporarily press down on the heart of imminent action. In addition, you can also tell Liu Yueshi that I can make a promise here, and in the future, the pacification of Jiangdong will definitely be dominated by Huainan soldiers, so that he will not have mustard. ”

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty will definitely appease the Huainan soldiers here, and besides, Liu Yueshi is not a mediocre talent, he will definitely be able to understand Your Majesty's painstaking efforts." Zu Ti has been friends with Liu Kun for a long time, and he knows his brother's temperament very well, and if the imperial court refuses his request for war regardless of direct and force, it may really make him feel dissatisfied.

"Well, you can rest assured when you go to me, after all, you and Yue Shi have been friends for many years, and you have a better chance of succeeding in appeasing the other party. In addition, there is a secret document here, which involves some secret tasks, and you will do it according to the requirements after you arrive in Huainan. Okay, that's all for today, you go back and get ready to go south to Huainan! ”

"Obey the order, the minister retires!"

When Zu Ti was preparing to go south to Huainan, Liu Kun in Huainan was actively preparing to cross the river, and the entire Governor's Mansion was busy under his command, and all the Huainan soldiers felt that the imperial court would definitely agree to their proposed battle plan, and they did not expect that the imperial court would reject their proposal to take Jiankang. (To be continued......)