Liu Zhongli suffered a great defeat, and finally escaped death, did not dare to stay in Bowangshu, and led the remnants of the soldiers with Wu Mingche to retreat to Jiankang.

Jiankang Taicheng, Xiao Gang was furious when he learned of the defeat at the front, but he vented his anger, and he was more panicked.

He clearly knows what will be the outcome waiting for him once his two younger brothers enter Jiankang.

After Xiao Gang knew that Liu Zhongli was worried about the safety of Jiankang and was ambushed, he did not punish Liu Zhongli, but comforted him and ordered him to contain the rout and preside over the city defense with Wu Mingche.

At the same time, he summoned Liu Jin and other henchmen together and asked everyone for advice.

Liu Jin has served Xiao Gang for almost forty years, and he knows the temperament of the lord very well, and if he doesn't kill Liu Zhongli, it is nothing more than selling him a favor and letting Liu Jin say what he thinks for himself.

"Your Majesty, the rebels are in full swing, and they can't be shaken, so it's better to send an envoy across the river and ask for help from the Lord of Qi."

When Liu Jin said this, the whole hall was shocked, and no one thought that he would propose to ask for help from a foreign enemy.

Someone was about to object, but they heard Liu Jin's beard say:

"If the king enters the city, the princes of the court can still protect the glory and wealth, but Your Majesty and my confidants will die, and the Lord of Qi is Your Majesty's son-in-law, and he is a family, and he uses his reinforcements to resist the enemy, why not!"

This statement is exactly what Xiao Gang wants, compared to being killed by his two younger brothers, and the concubines were adulterated by them, Xiao Gang doesn't mind being the emperor for his son-in-law.

After Liu Jin's reminder, all the henchmen in the palace woke up, once the tyrannical Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi entered Jiankang, they really did not end well, as Xiao Gang's henchmen, over the years, they have not been involved in the dispute between the Xiao family brothers for succession, and it is not shallow to celebrate the festival with those two, especially Xiao Lun.

"If the Qi people go south and take advantage of the situation to kill my Liang Sheji, what should I do?"

Wei Cang, the attendant of the free horseman, wondered.

Wei Cang is the grandson of Wei Rui, a famous general of Southern Liang, and the son of Wei Fang, but unfortunately he did not inherit his father's martial arts, otherwise Xiao Gang would not have made Liu Zhongli a handsome.

Everyone looked at each other and didn't say a word, but they heard Xiao Gang grit his teeth and say:

"If the Qi people send troops, I am willing to be rewarded with Jingnan, if Gao Cheng is insatiable, this country and society, I Ning and outsiders, not thieves!"

All the henchmen were shocked by Xiao Gang's determination, and Xiao Gang knew his situation well, judging from Gao Cheng's style of treating Yuan Shanjian kindly, even if he really died Daliang Sheji, he would give him a wealth and wealth, but Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi wanted his life.

Yanagizu continued:

"Your Majesty can also issue an edict from the Son of Heaven to edict all soldiers and horses to work hard."

Xiao Gang immediately complied, not only sent an envoy to cross the river to Luoyang for help, but also issued an edict extensively, ordering all prefectures and counties in Jiangdong to go to Jiankang Qinwang At the same time, he also ordered Xiao Ji, the king of Wuling, to lead his troops to attack Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi's back road, and was willing to take Jiangzhou as a reward afterwards.

At the same time, Liu Zhongli and Wu Mingche burned down the houses on the south bank of the Qinhuai River and relocated all the local people to the north bank in addition to the rout, and then demolished the pontoon bridge on the Qinhuai River, and guarded the Qinhuai River with Xiao Yuanming's subordinate division who was ordered to assist in the defense.

Soon the combined forces of Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi arrived at Xinting on the south bank of the Qinhuai River and stationed, and the two did not care about the houses on the south bank that were burned to ruins, but they were furious at the news that Xiao Gang asked for help from the Northern Qi, and hurriedly sent envoys to cross the river, trying to persuade Gao Cheng not to interfere in the Xiao family's civil war.

At the same time as ordering the soldiers to erect a pontoon bridge, they also sent a letter to the north bank of the Qinhuai River, claiming that they raised troops only to worship the emperor, and if they were allowed to cross the river, they would immediately withdraw their troops after worshipping their deceased father.

Seeing that the military disaster was coming, Jiankang Shimin was all shocked, and at the court meeting the next day, many ministers suggested that Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi should cross the river to worship the emperor, if they did not withdraw the army as they wished, then the morality was in their own right.

Hearing this, Xiao Gang couldn't wait to crack open these people's brains on the spot to see what was inside.

also let him know that as Liu Jin said, Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi are powerful, and these people can still enjoy glory and wealth, and they are not of the same mind as themselves.

And Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi didn't wait for Xiao Gang to be stupid, and they also sent people to win over Xiao Yuanming in private.

Originally, Xiao Yuanming was inclined to Xiao Gang, after all, the title of the Son of Heaven was placed here, but when he heard that Xiao Gang exchanged Jingnan for Northern Qi troops, his position also changed.

For Xiao Yuanming, in this civil war of the Xiao family, it doesn't make much difference who wins and who loses, and who becomes the emperor, but the move of the Son of Heaven to cut the land and bribe Qi cannot be accepted by him.

He has a good relationship with Gao Cheng in private, but as said before, Xiao Yuanming is more grateful for the kindness of his uncle Xiao Yan, seeing that the great country in Jiangnan is about to change his surname Gao, Xiao Yuanming immediately defected and responded to Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi.

Without the attack of the sailors, the rebels successfully erected a pontoon bridge and crossed the Qinhuai River, and Liu Zhongli and Wu Mingche had to retreat to the Suzaku Gate.

Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi attacked the city for several days in a row, and the situation was once again stalemate under Jiankang City.

Speaking of Luoyang, the results of the battle of Dongliang Mountain reached Gao Cheng's ears, and he and his cronies sighed:

"I never thought that these two brothers who shared the same bed and had different dreams would really come true."

The result of the civil war of the Xiao family was really beyond Gao Cheng's expectations, and he thought that the two sides were deadlocked at the foot of Dongliang Mountain, and either retreated with a strong attack by the rebels without success, or retreated with no logistics, but he didn't expect Liu Zhongli to fold again.

"Your Majesty, now that the situation in Jiangnan has changed again, we should make plans as soon as possible."

Cui Jishu's words were exactly what Gao Cheng wanted, and he immediately summoned a group of free riders to discuss in what name to intervene in the Jiangnan war.

Just when everyone was worried about this, Duan Shao sent someone to send a secret letter quickly, it turned out that Xiao Gang sent an envoy to ask for help, and on the way, he wanted to use Jingnan as a thank you gift and invite Gao Cheng to send troops.

It can really be said that he was sleepy, so someone sent a pillow, and after only two days of waiting, Xiao Gang's envoy also arrived in Luoyang non-stop and was warmly received by Gao Cheng.

"Lord Liang, my father-in-law, how can I not save it!"

Gao Cheng and his cronies staged a scene in front of the messenger, ignoring everyone's dissuasion, insisting on rescuing Xiao Gang.

He ordered the 10,000 sailors stationed at the Huai River to quickly enter the Yangtze River, and ordered the 20,000 sailors of Shangyong County to carry part of the grain and grass of the Xincheng County camp to the south along the Han River.

He personally led 30,000 cavalry, 60,000 foot soldiers, and five sons under his knees, even Gao Xiaocong was also in the army, and the army left Luo and marched to Huainan.

On the way, Gao Cheng met the envoys of Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi, and saw that the envoy talked about the covenant, and there was no need for Gao Cheng to come forward, Chen Yuankang quibbled on his behalf, and the covenant only said that he would not invade Jingnan and Jiangzhou, but did not say that he was not allowed to rescue Jiangdong.

The messenger was speechless.

The news of Gao Cheng's dispatch of troops spread to Jiangnan, which also frightened Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi, and seized the time to storm Jiankang.

On August 12, Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi broke through the Suzaku Gate and the Propaganda Gate in a row, and entered Jiankang, and the ministers and some defenders in the city changed their flags one after another.

However, the news that Gao Cheng was about to go south to rescue also encouraged the defenders, and under Xiao Gang's assignment, Liu Zhongli and Wu Mingche continued to lead the army to retreat to Taicheng.

In order to motivate the soldiers, Xiao Gang opened the treasury, gave a large reward, and personally went to the city to offer condolences, which also allowed the defenders to stabilize their position under the strong attack of the rebels.

At the same time, Chen Baxian gathered an army of 50,000 troops, including many soldiers, shuttled between the mountains of Nanling, and finally walked out of this lofty mountain.

"The king of Xiangdong (Xiao Yi) and the king of Shaoling (Xiao Lun) rebelled and rebelled against the imperial court.

"King Wuling (Xiao Ji) got the edict of the Son of Heaven and was ordered to attack the rebels' rear road, so he ordered us to go north.

"However, the Son of Heaven bribed Qi with the land of Jingnan, and if we don't do anything, we will all be enslaved by the northern captives!

"We are waiting for the world to receive the grace of the country, and when we are dead to serve the country, how can we bear to see the northern captives involved in the south of the Yangtze River!"

When all the soldiers heard this, they all shouted:

"Seize Jingnan, and conquer the north!"

Uniting the goal with the soldiers, Chen Baxian took the 50,000 soldiers from Lingnan to Jingnan.

Of course, there are more than these 50,000 soldiers in Lingnan, after all, Li Ben's rebellion was able to gather more than 100,000 troops.

It's just that it was difficult to supply along the way, so Chen Baxian had to select 50,000 elite soldiers to go north, leaving his nephew Chen Qian to assist Zuo Xiaoji to guard Lingnan.

Chen Ba first took Hou Andu as the vanguard general, and then led the army himself.

After Chen Baxian put down the rebellion of Lan Yu and Lan Jingli, Hou Andu led thousands of people to defect, and was soon led by Chen Baxian as a confidant.

Because Xiao Lun only left a small number of troops to guard Jingnan, Hou Andu attacked the city along the way, and did not encounter many obstacles, and soon swept through the southern part of Jingnan, until the soldiers invaded Xiangzhou, Xiao Lun, who was rushing to attack Taicheng, did not receive the news.

Xiao Lun was resentful of this, Xiao Gang used his Jingnan to please Gao Cheng, and Xiao Ji also took advantage of the emptiness in his rear to send troops to attack, how could he swallow this breath, he had to go back to the division to rescue.

Xiao Yi got the news and hurriedly rushed to Xiao Lun's camp.

"Half of Jingnan has fallen into the hands of Xiao Ji, I will wait to return to the division, but I am afraid that Xiao Ji has already annexed the entire territory of Jingnan, so why not fight Xiao Ji to the death again? Now it has become a fact that we are thieves, only Taicheng is left, we have to enter Taicheng and drive Xiao Gang off the throne, you and I will have vitality, if you enter, then the yellow robe will be added, if you retreat, you will die and the clan will be destroyed, and the six brothers will think about it! ”

Xiao Lun was scolded by Xiao Yi and woke up, and knew that it was too late to return to the teacher now, so he endured his grudge against Xiao Ji and continued to attack Taicheng with Xiao Yi.

And Gao Cheng, who arrived in Shouyang, also learned the news that Chen Baxian went north, and he didn't care about it, whether it was Jiangdong or Jingnan, what he wanted was a foothold in the south of the Yangtze River, so that Nanliang would lose the Yangtze River moat.

The news that Chen Ba attacked and occupied Jingnan first did not affect Gao Cheng's southward rescue of Jiankang, and the 20,000 sailors who went south along the Han River had already converged with the 10,000 sailors stationed in the Huai River before, and clashed with Xiao Yuanming's troops several times.

However, the Northern Qi Water Division is no longer the new recruits who fought in the Huai River water system, and the Southern Liang Water Division has been corrupted by Gao Cheng for many years, and it has lost the courage of the year, and the two sides are actually fighting on a par.

In view of this, Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi respectively dispatched Jingnan and Jiangzhou sailors to the east to support Xiao Yuanming.

However, Yuwentai, who was stationed in Chuzhou, made a mistake at this time, and the current situation in Jiangnan has changed greatly, and it is no longer what they originally expected.

In the planning of the Western Wei Dynasty, Jingnan was used as bait, waiting for Gao Cheng and Xiao Ji to compete for food, and when the soldiers on both sides were tired, he would take advantage of the situation to go east.

But now that Gao Cheng is rescuing Xiao Gang, the soldiers rushed to Jiankang and let Xiao Ji send troops to Jingnan, which has deviated from Yuwentai's previous plan, and he didn't expect that Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi, who have different intentions, could really succeed.

Now the question in front of Yu Wentai has become whether to compete with Xiao Ji for Jingnan.

"This Jingnan will just give up to Xiao Ji."

Yuwentai is a person who can give up and dare to give up, although Jing Nan is good, but he and Chen Baxian won both defeats, so that Gao Cheng picked up the cheap, he would rather leave it to Xiao Ji and Chen Baxian, and he can also have one more powerful ally on the road to resist Qi.

So he sent someone to contact Chen Baxian's military camp, and the two sides never mentioned the matter of Yuwentai's attack on Shu at the beginning, and they were about allies, helping each other, and joining forces to resist Qi.

And in the land of Hanzhong, when Hu Luguang did not hide his intentions and made up his mind to build four walls and trap Duguxin and Yang Zhong in Nanzheng City, the two finally decided to break through.

Once the wall was built, the Northern Qi encircled the point to send reinforcements, luring the Western Wei army out of Sichuan to the north to rescue, for the Western Wei was already stretched to the national strength is undoubtedly a devastating blow, if there is no reinforcements, they are besieged in the city of Nanzheng, and there are only two endings: surrender and death.

So in a battle with Hu Luguang that ordered Yang Zhong to lead the army out of the city, seeing that the Qi army could not be defeated, Dugu Xin and Yang Zhong led the troops to flee at night, and encountered Hu Luguang's interception on the way, losing a lot of men and horses, but finally fled back to Shu.

Hu Luguang was able to lead the troops into Nanzheng after dawn, occupy Hanzhong, due to Dugu Xin and Yang Zhong fled, the rest of the counties in Liangzhou have surrendered, when Hu Luguang sent good news to Luoyang, Gao Cheng had already led the troops to arrive in Hezhou.

Duan Shao, the assassin of Hezhou, went out of the city to greet him, and Gao Cheng discussed the matter of crossing the river with a group of cronies that night, and finally decided to erect a pontoon bridge on Quarry Rock.

Gao Cheng has been preparing for this day for many years, taking the opportunity of smuggling with Xiao Yuanming, the Northern Qi ships have been going back and forth between the north and south for several years, and have long figured out the width and depth of each section of the Yangtze River, including the hydrological situation near the quarry rock.

Accurately calculated the local hydrology, and naturally made a lot of bridge-building equipment in advance, everyone in the Ministry of Engineering knew that Gao Cheng attached great importance to this matter, but they did not dare to cut corners.

Quarry Rock is also known as Niu Zhu Rock, it is said that in ancient times, there was the story of the Golden Bull out of Zhu and then got the name, in the Three Kingdoms, there were monks who mined colorful gems, so it was renamed Quarry Rock, and Chengling Rock, Swallow Rock together called the Yangtze River Three Rocks.

Seeing that the situation in the city of Kantai was becoming more and more dangerous, the next day, Gao Cheng only rested in Hefei City for one night, that is, he led his troops to Quarry Rock, and summoned Duan Shao to accompany the army counselor, and ordered the accompanying Ministry of Industry Shangshu Xinshu to be fully responsible for the erection of the pontoon bridge.

When Xiao Lun and Xiao Yi heard the news, they immediately destroyed the water diversion division, and divided their troops to garrison the south bank to defend against the enemy.

For this reason, the Northern Qi Sailor and the Southern Liang Sailor fought bloodily on the Yangtze River, and Xin Shu did not waste the time of the Northern Qi Sailor with his life, and in only three days, he successfully erected a pontoon bridge in Quarry Rock.

Gao Cheng ordered Gao Aocao and Peng Le, the pair of Northern Qi Shuangbi, to be the vanguard of the river crossing force.

The two crossed the river through the pontoon bridge, although Gao Aocao and Peng Le were over fifty years old, but they were still the world's generals, after a big battle, they finally retreated the defenders on the south bank and successfully gained a foothold in the south of the Yangtze River.

Gao Cheng learned of the good news on the south bank, so he ordered all his troops to cross the river in an orderly manner, while the Northern Qi naval division was still fighting the Liang people on the Yangtze River.