In the south of Yuzhou City, in the big tent of the army in the camp of the Dongwang Army, Lin Zhan was receiving envoys from Yuzhou. After he stationed troops, Yuzhou sent envoys for the first time, and the two sides had been in a wait-and-see state before.

At this time, Yuzhou was in an emergency, and the 30,000 vanguard troops of the West Wangfu had already killed the city of Yuzhou. The soldiers and horses of the Northern Wangfu have also conquered Dingning and several surrounding counties, and they will approach the direction of Yuzhou at any time. On the contrary, it was the soldiers and horses of the East Wangfu who arrived in Yuzhou first, mainly because the soldiers and horses of the East Wangfu did not conquer the city and were not resisted.

"On behalf of the King of the South, I have come to ask General Lin for help. He also asked General Lin to cooperate with the Southern Wangfu to resist the Western Wangjun and the Northern Wang's army. ”

The envoy sent by the Southern Palace, Lin Zhan didn't recognize it, but he also heard about it a little. This person's name is Dousheng, he is very famous in the Jiangbei generation, he is a brave and knowledgeable hermit master in the mountains, and he was later recruited by Yang Luochuan, the king of the south.

For talented people, Lin Zhan has always admired them. But this time he didn't have the heart to admire, when it came to the issue of military engagement, his personal feelings should be put aside first.

"The letter from the king of the east has already been sent to the city by Japan, and the king of the south is not here in person, so the reinforcements will not be discussed. This is what the king of the east meant, and Mr. Dou just went back and said to the king of the south that he was just acting on orders. Lin Zhan refused very simply.

In Han Jian's order, he only needed Chen Bing outside Yuzhou City, and the rest was to wait and see.

If the Nanwangfu sent troops, then the Dongwang army did not need to be polite, it was originally to rescue Yuzhou, as long as the Nanwangfu made the first move, then there was no discussion, and the Dongwang army could even be used as a robber to attack the states and counties east of Yuzhou. It is regarded as a division of Yuzhou with the West Wangfu and the North Wangfu.

If Yang Luochuan, the king of the south, was willing to go out of the city and surrender in person, the situation would return to the right path. The soldiers and horses of the Dongwangfu can rescue Yuzhou, but the premise is that Yuzhou does not defend the Dongwang army, and Yang Luochuan has to go to Jiangdu to show his loyalty.

With Lin Zhan's understanding of Nanwangfu, Yang Luochuan probably wouldn't accept such an rude condition, unless Yuzhou was really in a hurry.

At present, Yuzhou has not yet reached the time of life and death. But that day is not far off.

Dou Sheng smiled and said, "General Lin, is it really impossible to discuss?" ”

"Is this still negotiable? Although the two families of Dongwangfu and Nanwangfu were allies, when Dongwangfu was invaded by thieves. Can the Southern Prince's Mansion send troops and horses to help? ”

"That's not the case. Then. King Nan personally sent soldiers and horses to the rescue, did General Lin forget? Dou Shengdao.

"Isn't this the East King also coming back?" Lin Zhan said coldly.

Dou Sheng smiled bitterly. This is really a flaw that must be reported, when Jiangdu was attacked by the Beiwangfu and Luoyang army. Yuzhou sent 10,000 soldiers and horses. It is stationed in the south of Jiangdu. Watch the fire from the other side. Now that Yuzhou has been attacked, the Dongwangfu actually painted a scoop according to the gourd, and also sent such soldiers and horses. It's also watching the fire from the other side.

But the soldiers and horses of the East Wangfu have heavier killing intent, and the soldiers and horses don't seem to be many, but they are all excellent divisions that have just annihilated the Luoyang Army in one fell swoop. said that the soldiers and horses just came to watch the fire and watch the show on the other side, Dou Sheng would not believe it, and no one in the world would believe it.

"In that case, then I will go back and report back to the king of the south." Dou Sheng didn't talk nonsense, and after getting Lin Zhan's resolute denial, he didn't force it, and went home directly.

Lin Zhan naturally wouldn't send it. He has to constantly return to Jiangdu, and he also has to deal with possible surprise attacks at any time. The raid may not only come from Yuzhou, but also may be the North King Army or the West King Army, at this time the East King Army is less than a hundred miles away from the West King Army, and the West King Army is going to come to sneak attack, and it can be reached overnight.

……

……

In Jinling City, in the palace of King Hui, King Hui is holding a banquet to entertain guests.

Since King Hui was appointed as the new auxiliary minister, more and more people have come to King Hui's mansion to befriend Xiao Ling. Every day, King Hui's Mansion has to receive a lot of greetings, but Xiao Ling doesn't want to see any of them, so that many people feel that King Hui has no intention of doing anything as an auxiliary minister, but just wants to be his free prince.

Xiao Ling really thinks so.

In the end, it was Sima who explained his interests to him, telling him that at this time he was no longer just an idle King Hui, but had to shoulder the responsibilities of the imperial court, and some people who came to visit wanted to see him. As a last resort, Xiao Ling arranged such a banquet, and all the visitors were entertained at one time, and it saved the trouble of going to see them one by one.

I heard that King Hui held a banquet to entertain his ministers, and it was as if there was an earthquake in the officialdom of Jinling City. A lot of people who didn't vote for the worship post have been throwing worship posts like this for the past few days, and Sima has sorted it out, and there are two or three hundred people who have voted for the worship post. This also shows how many idlers the court of Jinling City raises.

These are only some of the people in the Jinling officialdom, mainly the staff and subordinates of the former four auxiliary ministers. These people, in the face of the downfall of the four auxiliary ministers of Song, Huang and Li Yue, must rely on new forces to survive under the collapse of the tree, and the powerful and powerful King Hui, who is trusted by the Queen Mother, has become their best choice.

Mainly because King Hui is an upstart in the officialdom, there was no force to help him before, and this time he came to him, many people wanted to occupy a place among King Hui's staff and get King Hui's absolute respect.

Based on his understanding of Jinling officialdom, Sima Yi made a choice for some of them, and only selected some officials of relatively higher rank, as well as some officials of important yamen. And those sesame officials, he has no intention of taking care of them, and King Hui's Mansion can't entertain so many people.

The selection of guests from King Hui's Mansion has also caused a lot of discussion in the officialdom of Jinling City. Many people think that it is an honor to be invited by King Hui, and many people even feel that King Hui invited these people to prepare to accept them as subordinates and help him do things in the future.

The actions of King Hui's Mansion also aroused the vigilance of Zhu Tongjing and Xie Rumo, and both parties sent people to come, so it seems that this banquet in King Hui's Mansion is just an ordinary banquet. And some officials who originally "expressed" to King Hui through the banquet, after knowing that Zhu Tongjing and Xie Rumo had sent people, were vigilant and did not dare to get too carried away.

At the beginning of the banquet, Sima Yi did not go outside to entertain the guests. He can also be regarded as a staff member of King Hui's Mansion, unlike those officials outside, he has no official or character, but he has Xiao Ling's absolute trust.

Xiao Ling has been entertaining guests outside since the night came, and did not return to the hall until the end of the reception, with a reluctant and tired face.

"Brother Sima, tell me, there are so many people outside, how can I greet me alone? Or send some people, give them some food and drink, and let them take care of themselves, so that no one can be light? As soon as Xiao Ling entered the hall, he complained to Sima Yi non-stop.

"The past is not the past." Sima borrowed his hand to hold the teacup, with an unfathomable appearance, which made Xiao Ling feel that this person in front of him was a talented scholar when he looked at it.

"What do you mean?" Xiao Ling frowned, he didn't understand Sima Yu's words.

"This is not the same as in the past, you are in the imperial court, and you are an auxiliary minister. The heavy duty of guarding Gyeonggi also falls on you, and they come to talk to you, even if you don't want to see them, you must greet them decently, so as to show your sincerity and welcome to them. In this way, more capable people will come here to join you. Sima Yi said.

"Shouldn't all capable people stay out of the way and watch from the sidelines?" Xiao Ling said with some puzzlement.

"Being in the officialdom, whoever withdraws from the matter shows that he has no political consciousness." Sima said, "Who doesn't add officials to the king of the west, and the neutral person doesn't mean that there is no one around to help him, and the road to officialdom is boundless?" ”

"It seems to make some sense. Hey, Brother Sima, you can be regarded as able to eat openly, over there in the Northern Dynasty, you have your good friend Dongwang, he is now the prison of the Northern Dynasty, how powerful is it, you are an official, that is really a sentence. Now that you are in the Southern Dynasty, our relationship is not bad, you are among the courts, I just need to say a word to the imperial sister-in-law. You...... Do you have any plans to do that? ”

Sima Yi shook his head slightly and said, "Being an official may not be good, but if you are not an official, it means that you will be oppressed by others." Or not. It's better than someone like me, who has people in officialdom, but is not in officialdom himself. ”

"Alas, it's a pity I can't be like you."

Xiao Ling sighed, and at this time, the entourage came to report, saying that it was the palace and that the queen mother had also sent someone to pass on the message to him.

"The imperial sister-in-law sent someone? For what? This is a little incomprehensible, the imperial sister-in-law is not bad to say, but she is always mysterious, and many times she can't see her if she wants to. This time, she asked me to be the Auxiliary Minister, and it seemed that she asked me to help her, but she didn't say it too clearly, which is really strange. Xiao Ling got up as she spoke, preparing to go outside to greet the envoys from the palace.

"Because the Queen Mother wants to use you to balance Zhu Tongjing." Sima Yi also got up and walked out with Xiao Ling, and said a word at the same time.

Xiao Ling smiled, even if he didn't understand these things, Sima Yi had said them in his ear many times, and under the influence of his ears and eyes, what the court schemed should not be a rare thing. In the past, he could always avoid these things, but now he is in the middle of things, and he can't avoid them if he wants to.

Outside, the originally noisy banquet also calmed down. Two arrogant-looking visitors were standing at the door of the courtyard looking at the people in the courtyard. As soon as outsiders saw the dress of these two people, they knew that they were eunuchs in the palace, that is, the cronies of Empress Dowager He.

"Two fathers-in-law, it's been a long time." Xiao Ling appeared with a smile, followed by several attendants. followed by Xiao Ling was the little-known Sima Yu.

"King Hui is polite." The two fathers-in-law looked arrogant in front of others, but when they saw Xiao Ling, they immediately put on a smiling face, and their faces seemed to change very quickly, as if they were wearing masks, "The two of us were ordered by the Queen Mother to deliver the decree for King Hui." ”

"How about talking inside?" Xiao Ling made a gesture of invitation.

"No, it doesn't hurt to say it here. The Queen Mother ......"

In a word, everyone present knelt down to accept the order, and only Xiao Ling stood alone.

Because in the officialdom of the Qi Dynasty, although the queen mother is respected, she is at the same level as the prince, Xiao Ling, as the prince, is only one level lower than the emperor, and can even meet the emperor without kneeling. (To be continued......)