Chen Wu wants too many things, and if he really wants to speak, it is not at all something that the eldest prince can afford. Therefore, he did not directly answer Song Fugui's question, but asked another question instead.

"If I agree, what does the eldest prince want me to do?"

Is it just verbal support for the eldest prince to take over as emperor?

Although no one dared to ignore the statement from a governor of the three counties who held more than 100,000 troops, but just a statement was not enough to satisfy the other party. Other forces in the world may not believe that the Songjiang Army is completely on the side of the Great Prince just by a few empty words and not by actual actions.

Regarding this issue, Song Fugui obviously had a detailed discussion with the eldest prince before he came. Seeing that Chen Wu's attitude was very resolute, he said after a little hesitation: "If the eldest prince ascends the throne, there is naturally no need for Governor Chen to bother. If so...... Dissatisfied with the eldest prince's accession to the throne, and even attempting to commit rebellion, the governor must send troops to fight with the royal division under the command of the eldest prince. ”

As for the number of troops, treatment, and pensions, we can slowly discuss them in the future -- it doesn't really matter whether it is 30,000 or 50,000, but the meaning of the move itself.

"The day the Governor sends troops and announces to the world is the time for the Great Prince to respond to his promise!"

Song Fugui summed it up with such a sentence, and then stared at Chen Wu again, expecting his answer.

"Do you want to send troops......

The request of the eldest prince was not unexpected by Chen Wu. He can even think of all the plans of the eldest prince, first buy himself in the name of a king with a different surname, and after joining forces to send troops to clean up the five princes and other forces, the other party will ascend the throne and hold the name of righteousness, so he can turn around and suppress himself calmly. With the power of the whole country. Deal with your own three counties, no matter how you look at it, you will win and not lose!

This plan is not bad, but it's a pity that the other party underestimates himself too much.

He sneered in his heart and said to Song Fugui: "Send troops, you can!" However, except for the throne of the king. The Governor also needs Tokai County, including the Tokai Division! ”

The preservation of Ninghai Master allowed Chen Wu to complete the transformation from scratch in an instant. With his patchwork and vigorous investment, he also expanded the Ninghai division several times. Although the combat power still needs to be trained and tempered for a longer time, at least the scale is already there, and great achievements have been made in a short period of time. However, even now, the scale of the Ninghai Sea Division is still no more than that of the East China Sea Division, not to mention the combat power.

Ninghai Division is only a supplement in the Empire. The main task is also to assist in the prevention and elimination of pirate harassment. And the task of the East China Sea Division is to confront the Ocean Sailors of the Lena people!

Since its establishment, it has indeed fought seven or eight naval battles, large and small, with some losing and some winning, but in general the situation can be maintained.

For this naval division, as well as the shipwrights, shipyards and other supporting personnel and facilities serving the East China Sea Division, and of course, the seaport of Denglai, Chen Wu has coveted it for too long. Although taking it down incidentally means resisting the hatred with the Lena Oceanic Mariner. But it can instantly make the Songjiang Army have the first-class naval strength in the entire Eastern Continent.

In addition, Tokai County itself is also quite a rich state county. There is sea salt in Denglai. There was also the most prosperous seaport and sea trade business in the eastern part of the empire. It may not be as good as Songjiang, but it is definitely stronger than Ninghai, Tiannan or the nearby Yuanshan County.

If this county can be connected with the three counties of Songjiang, then most of the eastern coastal areas of the empire will fall into Chen Wu's hands. Further north, Yanshan County is still partially seaside, but it freezes in winter, making it unsuitable for harbors and docks. This meant that Chen Wu would monopolize all of the empire's seaports and maritime trade.

"The Governor wants Tokai-gun?"

Song Fugui frowned. I couldn't tell what was going on in his mind. After a while, he spoke: "This request is not impossible. However, among the five prefectures in the East China Sea, the northernmost Bohai Province must be jointly managed by both sides, and the Songjiang Army cannot garrison troops in Bohai Province. ”

Bohai Province is bordered by Yanshan County in the southeast. If it is also assigned to Chen Wu, it may cause tension and friction between the two sides. If it is jointly managed and no troops are garrisoned, Bohai Mansion can become a buffer zone between the Great Prince and Chen Wu's forces. The two sides use this as a boundary, so that everyone does not need to waste too much military power to confront each other.

Although Chen Wuhui will lose half of the territory of the mansion because of this, this mention is actually good, he thought about it and agreed.

After negotiating the ownership of Donghai County, the rest will be easy to handle. Chen Wu put forward some conditions one after another, but none of them mattered compared to the ownership of a county. After two hours of arguing, Chen Wu and the Great Prince's envoy Song Fugui reached a preliminary agreement. In the unlikely event that the situation in the middle of the court suddenly changed, and the eldest prince had to raise troops to seize imperial power, Chen Wu would send a force to fight with the eldest prince according to the situation.

The reason why he said preliminary, rather than insisting on it, was because Chen Wu also wanted to hear the offer of the five princes.

To do such a big business, of course, you have to shop around. Although Chen Wu did not have any contact with the Five Princes before, but was a little discordant, but when it came to the dispute in the world, even if he only had the idea of what happened, the Five Princes would definitely send someone to try it. If the Five Princes were willing to offer a higher price, Chen Wu wouldn't mind turning around and supporting the Five Princes.

Of course, this probability is very low, and the reason is mainly because of geography!

The reason why the five princes can compete with the eldest prince is because of the attitude of the old emperor, and because of the Di family in the Eight Great Gates, and the foundation of the Di family is in Zhongzhou. In contrast, the roots of the Great Prince lie in the Song family in Yanyun County, which is too close to Chen Wu's territory. If he really joined forces with the five princes, the first attack of the eldest prince would probably be Chen Wu. After all, there is no reason for the other party not to fight the enemy in front of him, so he will go to Zhongzhou first to fight with the five princes.

Of course, Song Fugui also knew that the verbal secret agreement reached now was only an intention, and it did not represent an absolute victory. But being able to negotiate means that the eldest prince has taken the lead in winning this important ally. He also knew that the eldest prince had an innate advantage in wooing Songjiang, so he left Dengzhou with confidence and boldly the next day after it was finalized, and replied to the eldest prince instead.

After that, the eldest prince will send another person to Songjiang to communicate with Chen Wu.

………

Although the connection between the eldest prince and Chen Wu was hidden, it still failed to hide it from the fifth prince.

The news was not from Chen Wu's side, after all, Song Fugui only stayed in Dengzhou for one night, and he was still disguised, and left in a hurry the next day. The reason why it leaked was that Song Fugui did not show up on the Song family's side for many days. so much so that it aroused the suspicion of the five princes to install secret agents, and then deduced it according to various clues.

Although the news was not accurate, and there was no way to know what his brother had discussed with Chen Wu, he could guess it as long as he thought about it.

It's just that Qian Mingde wants to win over Chen Wu to deal with him.

Although as soon as he received the news, he ordered someone to prepare a generous gift and prepared to go to Dengzhou to lie down. But the five princes were not optimistic about the final result. However, Qian Minghao's reliance and hope were not placed on this. For him, in addition to the Di family represented by his mother Concubine Zhen, the biggest help is the support of Qian Yuanji.

As long as the old emperor is willing to put Concubine Zhen on the throne of the queen, the certainty of the five princes ascending the throne will be at least fifty percent higher. The name of orthodoxy is very important for the struggle for the throne. What's more, as long as the old emperor expresses his position, Chengguo Gongqian Taizhuo will also support him. In this way, he will have one more Eagle Yang Legion in his hands out of thin air!

And just half a day ago. The old emperor just made another decree, ordering Tang Mingzhe, the commander of the City Guard Corps, to personally take action and take down Song Mingji, the division commander of the First Division of the City Guard Army.

Although this person is also surnamed Song, he is not from the Song family in Yanyun County. However, the eldest prince Qian Mingde still used this relationship to constantly show favor and win over, and successfully developed Song Mingji into an important chess piece that he planted in the city guards. The old emperor knew about this matter before, but he didn't want to embarrass the eldest prince too much, so he only ordered Ji Junchen of the Military Intelligence Bureau to strictly monitor it. And didn't do it.

But this time, in the name of deducting soldiers' salaries, he suddenly took down Song Mingji. Undoubtedly a very obvious signal.

Without this man, the city guards would be completely loyal to the old emperor. When he ascends to the throne in the future, the city guards will turn their allegiance to him. Counting the Praetorian Guard Legion to defend the Qianyuan Imperial Family, the Five Princes will have at least three legions at their disposal. Maybe the Praetorian Legion will not leave the capital, but the Eagle Yang Legion and the City Guard Legion are real strength.

"It seems that I have to speed up my preparations."

Qian Minghao pondered for a moment. It was decided to intensify the activities of the officials who had been bribed over the years. Song Mingji, who was taken down, is still only in prison and has not been interrogated. Qian Minghao hoped that the officials under his command would make a few more moves to impeach the other party, and strive to make Song Mingji an iron case as much as possible, so as to prevent long nights and dreams.

Perhaps, he still needs to go to the palace again. After all, the recent competition between Mother Concubine Zhen and Queen Song has also reached a critical juncture.

………

Song Mingji's arrest brought a series of consequences. Throughout the summer of 676, the situation in Zhongzhou was constantly shaken, and one after another ministers were dismissed or lost their positions. Of course, there are the Five Princes faction, but they are just abandoning the pawn to protect the car, and most of the real wrecked bigwigs are people from the Great Prince's faction.

The old emperor's acquiescence and even connivance towards this fierce and white-hot struggle was undoubtedly an unmistakable statement. At the same time, the news from the harem of the imperial city also confirmed that the old emperor had not set foot in the Fengque Palace where Empress Song lived for a whole month.

Everyone realized that the old emperor might really want to set up another empress, and then put the fifth prince Qian Minghao on the throne.

Even, based on the rumors that the old emperor would not be able to survive this winter, some people inferred that by the latest before the beginning of autumn, the preparations would be completed as soon as they were ready.

There is not much time left for the eldest prince to struggle for the end.

However, the party struggle in Zhongzhou, which is thousands of miles away, has not affected the three counties in the southeast that are self-contained. Chen Wu's side, while sitting in the southeast to watch the struggle between the eldest prince and the fifth prince, while remotely controlling the development of the iron ore mine of the Asahikawa Domain and the follow-up strategy of North Luzon Island.

After a summer of operation and the passing of a reinforced brigade, the strength of the Songjiang Army in Northern Luzon had reached 14,000 men, more than one division. At the same time, on the basis of the surrendered Northern Army Corps and Medan Army soldiers, up to 13,000 North Luzon Garrison Division regiments have also completed preliminary training and running-in. After the weapons and equipment seized in the first battle on Yanjian Island were distributed, this garrison division has already gained initial combat effectiveness.

Although their loyalty and morale are a big question mark, at least on paper, the Songjiang Army has 27,000 troops on North Luzon.

In contrast, the Duchy of Luzon had only 30,000 men in the Cebu and royal capitals. Among them, the Cebu Corps is still stationed in the southwest of North Luzon and has not been dispatched, and as for the Northern Corps reorganized by the Principality of Luzon, it has just set up a shelf. Although the people have recruited 10,000 people in two large battalions, under the delay, the training has not been carried out at all, and there is a big gap in the armament, and it is a pure militia level on the side of the empire.

In this sense, just looking at the central part of North Luzon and the Quezon Plain, the Songjiang Army that came across the sea had a local advantage in terms of troops!

In this case, the Matsue army on the island will naturally not be idle.

Although Chen Wu left them plenty of time, the deterioration of the old emperor's physical condition on the central side would undoubtedly accelerate the change of the imperial situation. In the event of a big battle between the two emperors, the Matsue army would likely be drawn into the war in advance. At that time, it would be impossible for the Songjiang Army to station too many troops on the side of Northern Luzon for a long time.

Based on this consideration, He Shixiang started a new step of negotiation after the Ninghai fleet brought reinforcements and left with food again.

At present, with Mindoro as the center, the northern part of the Quezon Plain to the north has been occupied by the Songjiang army. However, in order not to stimulate the local forces to unite around the Duchy of Luzon, the Songjiang army did not dare to attack the local leaders and nobles for the time being. He Shixiang is not ready to do this now, but is ready to continue to expand his territory.

Because of the previous peace negotiations and Suleiman V's strict provocation, the Matsue army did not find a suitable excuse or reason to the south of Mindola City. Just when He Shixiang was considering whether to take the initiative to make one, in the southeastern part of the Quezon Plain, only 200 kilometers away from Mindu Los Angeles, the local natives gave He Shixiang an excellent reason to do it.

For the reason that the soldiers did not bloody plunder the gold of Northern Luzon, in addition to a brigade of soldiers, there were also a batch of exquisite silk and Songjiang cloth, as well as a thousand sets of exquisite porcelain. Even the Andaman people had to import this from the empire to sell on the central and western continents, and the Turks of North Luzon had never seen these things, and they all rushed to buy them at a high price. Silk porcelain and the like were easily sold for as little as five times as much as ten times the price.

Such a huge profit, while earning a lot of gold for the Songjiang army, also attracted the covetousness of the Tu tribe! (To be continued.) )