By the time the Southern Liang Imperial Court learned the exact location of Li Lian and his party in the city again, the time had already arrived more than an hour later. The group settled in a temple in the east of the city, and guarded the temple entrance, not allowing the invited Southern Liang officials to enter and refusing to communicate.

"Who is it that sent the envoy to the north? It's damn that such a simple thing was done wrong! ”

Emperor Liang Xiao Yi looked annoyed and angry, and said angrily.

The crowd in the hall bowed their heads one after another, not daring to look at the emperor's angry eyes, and today's Shangshu Province's upright left servant shot the king saw that the responsibility for the matter could not be shirked, so he stood up and said: "The envoy from the north did not tell him, and when the minister got the news in the province, His Majesty was at a banquet in the inner garden to invite the envoys, and he did not dare to send someone to invite him to disturb. Fearing that the two would meet unexpectedly and cause further trouble, the envoy told the envoy to be careful to welcome him, but he did not want to make a mistake, presumably the apostle's words were not careful, so that the news leaked and angered the envoy from the north. ”

The reason why Nanliang received Li Lian and his entourage with such a strange attitude was not because they had bad intentions, but because they were doing bad things. Of course, it can't be said to be a bad thing, after all, the Jiangling court has an independent political status and sovereignty, and it is not a puppet like Xiangyang that is completely dependent on the Western Wei Dynasty, even if it is to receive the envoys of the Northern Qi Dynasty, it is nothing, and the northern part of the country cannot manage their foreign affairs.

But the truth is that this is the truth, in fact, it is still a bit of a thief. Not to mention Emperor Liang Xiao Yi, these officials in the hall have shot Wang Bao from the left servant of Shangshu, who has not benefited from the north? Either the family ran the trade with the northern part of the country, or they received financial gifts directly from the Jingzhou Governor's Office.

When Xiao Yi heard Wang Bao's words, his expression was also a little unnatural. Of course, he couldn't be wrong, and the one who was wrong must be the messenger who greeted him, so he said coldly: "Cut off the head of the faint envoy, and invite the Wei envoy again, you must not let them leave!" ”

Although it is said that the Jiangling Imperial Court has absolute diplomatic sovereignty, the inside story of this meeting with the Qi envoy really cannot be known to the Western Wei Dynasty, especially the northern part of the country, because this time Emperor Liang met with the Qi envoy to discuss the matter of cooperation in dealing with the northern part of the country.

Although the Northern Qi made frequent moves in Huainan, it did not break off the exchange of envoys with Jiangling. After the end of the Hou Jing Rebellion, the rest of the troops who remained in Jiangbei took refuge in the Northern Qi, and the Northern Qi also sent troops to respond.

As a result, because of the rebellion of the Guangling expatriates, they colluded with Chen Ba to go north to besiege Guangling City. At that time, the Northern Qi had no time to rescue, so he asked for peace, and the road was that as long as Chen Ba withdrew his troops first and let the Qi troops in the city evacuate, the Northern Qi would return to Guangling, Liyang and other important towns in Jiangbei.

Although Chen Baxian was unwilling, he couldn't resist the mood of the other parties who were eager to recover the towns in Jiangbei without blood, so he could only lead his troops back to Jingkou.

This kind of thing can't be true with your ass, not to mention that there will be chaos such as Xiao Ji, the king of Wuling, going east and the rebellion in Xiangzhou, and then it will be even more impossible for Northern Qi to spit out the fat that has been eaten in his mouth. Moreover, he intensified his efforts to take advantage of the fire and loot, and sent Bu Da Khansa and other generals to Linghui and Guo Yuanjian to continue to attack Nanliang.

Fortunately, Wang Shengbi was still as strong as ever, and after the war in the west was over, he quickly returned east, and defeated Guo Yuanjian's army near Dongguan in Hefei at the end of last year, which reduced the pressure on Huainan.

This year, due to the fact that Gao Yang, the lord of Qi, successively used troops to interfere with the hegemony of the grassland and to suppress Jihu, the troops in the south were insufficient, so there was a rebellion in Su Zhuhao and the strong city and took refuge in Nanliang. Su Pre has approached Xuzhou, not far from Xiapi, if this place is lost, it will directly hit the entire Huainan layout of Northern Qi.

So this time, Gao Yang, the lord of Qi, sent an envoy directly to Jiangling, and sent people to Jiangling through Yingzhou Assassin Shi Lufa to convey the meaning of the lord of Qi, hoping to unite with Nanliang. If the Southern Liang gave up the struggle for Supre and did not use troops in the towns north of the Yangtze River, then the Northern Qi would no longer attack the south of the Yangtze River, and concentrate Huainan forces to advance into Yiyang, which was still in the hands of the Western Wei.

At that time, the people and horses of the northern part of the province will inevitably be attracted to Yiyang, so that the Jiangling side can take the opportunity to seize the lost territory, take back the Xiakou and other Jiangbei ports that had been forcibly occupied before, and even cross Wuning and take Xiangyang directly. If the Jiangling side is strong, it is not impossible to make the situation on the Jianghan side return to before the Hou Jing Rebellion.

Of course, this is just a prospect outlined by the Qi envoy to the Southern Liang monarchs, but even if it is just a painting cake, the temptation for Emperor Xiao Yi of Liang is also great.

Now that he plans to set up the capital of Jiangling, he has no intention of moving back to Jiankang in the short term, so the security around Jiangling is something that needs to be solved urgently. Comparatively speaking, the dispute with the Northern Qi in Huainan was no longer so deadly.

In particular, Shuzhong was captured by the Western Wei Dynasty, and the results achieved in Handong and other places before the Northern Empire actually formed an encirclement of Jiangling. If the situation is not improved, the slightest carelessness can have a fatal effect.

Therefore, Xiao Yi also attached great importance to the arrival of this envoy, and even personally came forward to receive it. But he didn't expect that the banquet for entertaining the envoys had not dispersed, and the envoys from the north heard the news. How deep does this have to be to infiltrate Gangneung to be so astute?

As soon as he thought of this, the sense of crisis in Xiao Yi's heart became more and more intense, and his one-eyed eyes swept over the ministers in the hall one by one, and he said sharply: "I know that there are many interests between you and the north, who is not profitable?" There's nothing about it.

What's more, now that the people's livelihood is withered and there is a shortage of all kinds of things in the country because of the war, it is natural to seek to visit abroad. I am not a mean lord, and I certainly will not force my ministers to cry hunger and cold, and I will not strictly prohibit you from living for your families.

But a gentleman is easy to use and does something, especially in the face of major rights and wrongs, he needs to be cautious and decided! Why is the north willing to lose the profits to you? So Li Boshan is really willing to give and not care about material resources? The plot is nothing more than your own power.

You must know that the skin does not exist, the hair will be attached, I will rest with the country, if you lose your power, how much value do you have in the eyes of the slave? Will it reap the benefits of today? The disaster of Chengdu is still in front of us, and what we are discussing today is also related to the survival of Jiangling, if you can't keep the secret, then you will give yourself the life to others! ”

After everyone heard this, they nodded again and again, no matter what they thought in their hearts, of course they didn't dare to say anything more at this critical juncture.

But after another while, after all, someone couldn't help but speak: "Your Majesty really wants to conspire with the Qi people?" Qi people have no faith, cunning like foxes and ferocious like jackals, and they need to be cautious if they conspire with them!

What's more, the world's famous generals in Li Boshan, the north of the country, have no defeat since the army, who of the generals of the Qi State dare to win? I'm afraid it's just a lie to protect Huainan and make me a bad neighbor! If Wang Taiwei returns to Handong, it will be difficult for Jiankang to take care of it, so he will fall into the arms of Qi people. Why should Qi people fight hard in Yiyang, isn't it better to disturb Jiankang? ”

Although Xiao Yi's words are very clear, there is no money spent in vain in this world, and if there is, it is not enough. Listening to these remarks, it is obvious that he does not want to cooperate with the Northern Qi and rashly fights with the North.

Xiao Yi also groaned after hearing this, and after a long while, he said in a deep voice: "Now Jiangling looks like a lonely city, and this state must not be long. If Wei wants to be at peace with me, he must return Wuning, Shicheng, Xiakou and other towns, so that I can have a cover. Otherwise, it will force me to conspire with the Qi people, and then they will lose more than they gain because of their stubbornness! ”

directly fighting with the northern side as an enemy, Xiao Yi didn't want to, not because he was afraid of Li Boshan's prestige. After all, now that he sits firmly in Jiangling, he has quelled many rebellions in the country, and even Gao Huan and Yuwentai, the two heroes of the northern land, are slightly inferior to him because they are ultimately ministers, and Li Boshan is brave, but he can't support a town in the north, and his vision and strength are limited after all.

However, Xiao Yi also understood that some of the disadvantages of Southern Liang in military affairs could not be compensated for by simple strategy, such as the lack of elite cavalry field forces, so it was difficult to recover the lands of Handong with its own troops.

For Xiao Yi, an armed conflict with the Western Wei Dynasty was a plan. The Northern Qi envoy sent him a bargaining chip that could be used to negotiate with the Western Wei. Even if we can't recover all the lost ground, we must try to recover some of the losses so as to improve the defense around Gangneung.

After all, the Western Wei Dynasty has just completed an abolition, and the situation in the country must be very unstable. And Yuwentai should also very much want to reach the top, after all, Southern Liang and Northern Qi are all new monarchs, but here in Western Wei he is still only a powerful minister.

However, if the external environment is not stable enough, Yuwentai may not dare to take this step. And this is exactly the opportunity that Xiao Yi needs, if Yuwentai wants to be stable internally and externally, he must not allow Southern Liang and Northern Qi to jointly attack it.