With Xiao Yan's operation, if it weren't for the fact that only the four sons were alive, I was afraid that Jiangnan would not just have four beams standing side by side.

In view of the old affairs of Nanliang, Gao Cheng kept a close eye on his sons, although he allowed them to encircle the courtiers in Luoyang, but he strictly guarded against death and did not let them cultivate power in the local area.

But Gao Cheng didn't have time to take care of family affairs anymore, and Xiao Lun of Northern Liang was ready for a decisive battle with Xiao Ji after receiving the support of materials and weapons from Northern Qi.

The battle between Xiao Lun and Xiao Ji was inevitable, and a large number of people and materials were taken away by Chen Baxian, even if Xiao Lun could swallow this breath, the soldiers under his command would not stop if they were taken captive because of their family rolls.

What's more, with Xiao Lun's temperament, who is the master who swallows his anger, so he sent an envoy to Luoyang and is willing to be a vassal to Northern Qi.

Gao Cheng naturally supports this, and among the four beams, the most taboo he is Nanliang, or Chen Baxian.

In order to let Xiao Gang go south, Gao Cheng and the envoy promised that once Xunyang Xiao Yi or Shudi Yuwentai coveted Jingnan, no matter whether he went west or east, he would never stand idly by.

even deliberately wrote to Xiao Yi in front of the envoy, warning him not to attack Jingnan.

As for Yu Wentai, people are guarding the danger and will not care about his threat.

Of course, the envoy believed in Gao Cheng's promise, and it was really unexpected that King Xiao Gao could give up the capture of Jiangdong and resolutely withdraw his troops from Jiankang.

It's just that after Wu Mingche secretly surrendered, for Gao Cheng, subverting the Jiangdong regime was nothing more than a matter of issuing a secret edict in Luoyang.

Xiao Lun's envoy left Luoyang satisfied, and Gao Cheng had a new idea, that is, to strengthen Jiangdong's military equipment, and then provoke a war between Xiao Gang and Xiao Yi through the bribed Minister of Jiankang.

Led by Liu Zhongli, if he wins, because Xiao Lun and Xiao Ji have no time to withdraw, Xiao Yi will inevitably ask Luoyang for help, and he will be able to gain a foothold in Jiangzhou calmly, just like controlling the East Liang, and grasping the West Liang in his hands.

If he is defeated, he will secretly exert pressure on Xiao Gang, belittle Liu Zhongli, and make Wu Mingche monopolize Jiankang and the surrounding military power.

In this way, no matter whether you win or lose, you will not only benefit yourself, but also consume the strength of both sides.

When their Xiao family brothers beat Jiangnan Tian and people resent, it was the time for him to hang the people and fight the people.

Immediately, Gao Cheng ordered someone to summon Wei Xiaokuan into the palace.

Wei Xiaokuan has been in the battle since Xitongguan and surrendered to Qi for 12 years, and has always been engaged in intelligence work all these years.

As we all know, Gao Cheng will never treat his own family members who work hard, and there is no need for Wei Changying's pillow wind, Gao Cheng has already given Wei Xiaokuan to the county prince of Jianzhong, with 1,500 households.

As soon as Wei Xiaokuan entered the Mingguang Palace, he saw the eldest daughter serving beside Gao Cheng.

After Wei Changying lost her husband, she was included in the mansion by Gao Cheng, who was still the king of Qi at the time, and she had been in the palace for many years, but she had never been pregnant.

In this regard, Wei Xiaokuan didn't care, he was really afraid that his daughter would give birth to a grandson for him, and that grandson would not be able to do his best, so he would want to get involved in the battle for succession.

Nowadays, who is clear-sighted who doesn't know that the Son of Heaven is raising Gu, how much warmth can be said about the treatment of these so-called flesh and bones.

It's just that this approach is indeed responsible for the court and the people, after all, a king's temperament and talent are related to the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people.

It's not that no one holds the old concept of having a descendant and having no heir, but the people are happy to see it come to fruition in this battle for succession.

They don't care about the life and death of the loser, they only care about whether the successor is virtuous or not.

Walking quickly to the bottom of the imperial steps, Wei Xiaokuan saluted respectfully.

"Wei Guozhang doesn't need to be polite, I called you here today to ask for something."

After that, he explained his plan to provoke a war between the East and West Erliang, and asked:

"I don't know if the national master has the confidence to succeed?"

Wei Xiao's broad mind said:

"But please rest assured, Your Majesty, the minister will live up to the trust."

Wei Xiaokuan's confidence is not groundless, it is just to instigate Xiao Gang to send troops, this matter is easy to hear, and now the Minister of Jiankang, but everyone who has knowledge, has prepared a Qizi flag at home, and is always waiting for Gao Cheng to decide to destroy Xiao Liang Sheji, so that it can be hung outside the house.

Gao Cheng was very satisfied when he heard this, the matter had to be handed over to a professional person, he ordered Wei Changying to send his father out of the palace, and the reason why he called her was also to reunite the father and daughter for a while.

Seeing the father and daughter leaving, Gao Cheng fell into deep thought alone in the Mingguang Palace.

In fact, the reason why Xiao Gang was left is not only for the so-called political credibility.

During the fifty years of Xiao Yan's reign, the Jiangnan Shi clan was used to being arrogant and had to strike hard.

But Gao Cheng is a person who does not stick to the pot, and Yuan Shanjian has the most say in this, and the Jiangdong regime that left Xiao Gang is intended to let him take action to remove thorns for himself.

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At least when he was in Jiankang, Xiao Gang did a good job of confiscating some of the ministers' family property, which is why many ministers secretly fell to the Northern Qi.

Regardless of whether Xiao Gang was persecuted by Gao Cheng or not, it chilled people's hearts after all.

Gao Cheng enjoys sitting in Luoyang and controlling the situation in Jiangdong remotely, Xiao Gang is equivalent to just a black glove for him, and many things that are inconvenient for him to come forward can be handed over to him to deal with.

When Xiao Gang lost his use value, he only needed to force the other party to write a surrender in Jiankang, and he could enter the land of Jiangdong without even sending troops, of course, the prerequisite was to let Wu Mingche take charge of Jiankang's military power alone.

Wei Xiaokuan returned to Tingwang Sifu Ya, this intelligence department established by Gao Cheng 20 years ago, and now has tentacles all over the place, in addition to the Southern Ya led by Wei Xiaokuan is responsible for Jiangnan and Shudi, and the Northern Ya led by Li Yuan is responsible for Mobei, Tuyuhun and Kumoxi, Khitan, and Goguryeo in the northeast, there is also the internal government secretly controlled by Chen Yuankang, which is responsible for intelligence collection in the Northern Qi Dynasty.

The residences of the four princes are the top priority of Chen Yuankang's internal work.

Yesterday, Yuan Huairen and Gao Xiaowan had a conversation, and it was clear that the slave had been dismissed, but he was still sent to Gao Cheng.

Gao Cheng then ordered someone to put a needle on the felt, and sent the felt as a reward to the palace of King Zhao.

Gao Xiaowan returned home on duty, and when he heard that his father had a gift, he was overjoyed, thinking that his performance in the ministry these days had won Gao Cheng's praise.

Can open the gift box, see the felt in the box, has changed his face, cousin only said yesterday like sitting on needle felt, father today sent a needle felt, how can Gao Xiaowan accept it with peace of mind.

Feeling uneasy, Gao Xiaowan hurriedly summoned the carriage and pulled Yuan Huairen into the palace with him to ask for guilt.

Yuan Huairen learned what happened, and he was even more frightened, yesterday he saw that he was alone with Gao Xiaowan, and there was no one to open his mouth, but he said a lot of taboo words.

As soon as he entered the palace gate, Yuan Huairen also wanted someone to report a message to his aunt Yuan Zhonghua, and when the time came, he would come to Mingguang Hall to save himself.

was stopped by Gao Xiaowan.

"Cousin, at this time, don't be smart anymore, sincerely asking your father for the blame is the best policy, if your father really wants to deal with you, he will not send felt, but let Song Youdao bring someone to arrest him."

When Yuan Huairen heard it, it was really such a reason, after all, his uncle really wanted to kill himself, why should he be so troublesome, just send a palace person to pour a bowl of poisonous wine.

And the reason why Gao Xiaowan is afraid is that he is worried that he will dislike his father.

"The nephew is guilty, and he asks his uncle to punish him."

Yuan Huairen's buttocks injury did not heal, and he knelt in the Mingguang Hall to plead guilty.

Gao Cheng said quietly:

"What are your sins?"

"Nephews shouldn't talk about uncles."

"Well, for the sake of you calling me uncle, I will not punish you today."

When Yuan Huairen heard this, he kowtowed excitedly and thanked him, and his head banged.

"Don't knock it, get up, if you knock your head stupidly, I am reluctant to marry my righteous daughter to an idiot."

After saying that, he looked at Gao Xiaowan, who was kneeling in the hall with Yuan Huairen to plead guilty, and sighed:

"Wan'er, you should get up too."

"Thank you for your father's (uncle's) forgiveness."

Only then did the two of them stand up, looking respectful.

Gao Cheng did not forget to warn:

"I don't send felt, I don't want to intimidate the two of you, you need to know that 'the king does not lose his country, and the minister does not lose his body.'" What I did today is just to remind you two that you can't leave anything to chance. ”

Gao Xiaowan and Yuan Huairen said yes again and again.

"Okay, go and visit your mother, Huairen, you will go with you, and you will go out of the palace after worshipping your aunt."

The two of them said goodbye, but when they walked to the gate of the palace, Gao Xiaowan asked again:

"Father, you warned your sons to be thorough, but..."

Halfway through the conversation, he stopped his voice again.

But in the end, it was father and son, Gao Cheng understood the meaning of his words, and said with a smile:

"As a young assistant to my father, I have been in charge of the country for many years, the weight of authority, and the depth of my foundation, how can you easily deceive the past. I sent people to listen to your and other actions, just to prevent you from making friends with generals privately, so as not to cause trouble in the south of the Yangtze River in the country. As for some of the complaints and deeds of your brothers when they are alone, my father actually heard a lot, but what matter, when my father was young, he also used to..."

Speaking of this, Gao Cheng quickly shut up, he couldn't let his sons know that when he was young, he found someone to pretend to be He Liuhun to beat him up, and finally abandoned the black history of the wilderness.

On the road to Yuan Zhonghua's bedroom, Yuan Huairen suddenly whispered:

"Actually, my uncle treated me very well, if I had changed to another uncle's meditation practice, my mother might be able to save me, but my father and I will definitely die."

Gao Xiaowan glanced at Yuan Huairen, thinking that it was difficult for his cousin to let the accompanying palace people pass the words into the ears of his father.

When he was puzzled, he heard Yuan Huairen continue:

"My mother taught me to read history since I was a child, and told me about the change of the Jiangnan Dynasty, all of which were in the royal family before the slaughter, and I was really treated as a nephew like my uncle, and I didn't hear of it."

Gao Xiaowan was silent when he heard this.

The two went to Yuan Zhonghua's dormitory, and were scolded again, it turned out that the matter had already reached her ears, which made Gao Xiaowan psychologically balanced, it turned out that she didn't know how many eyes and ears she had around her, and the eunuch Gong'e was indispensable to pass the news to people.

Even my father can tolerate the existence of these people, so why should he care about it.

The officials of the various ministries had already been on duty and returned to their homes to rest, and Gao Cheng was still convening Zuo Servant, Cui Jishu, the secretary of the household department, and Feng Zihua, the secretary of the military department, to discuss how to strengthen Jiangdong's military equipment.

For Gao Cheng, it can be regarded as a rare diligent government.

Xiao Gaowang's attitude has always been very clear, government affairs cannot be slack, but he must also enjoy life.

He always insisted on an eight-hour work system, and unless it was a major military matter that needed to be solved urgently, he would never delay his entertainment time.

It is indeed a troublesome thing to strengthen Jiangdong's armament, although Wu Mingche exists, there is no need to worry about the wild horses being full and breaking free from the reins.

If you want to develop the military, you can't do without economic support, Xiao Gang relied on copying his family, and paid Gao Cheng's first batch of military expenses, 100,000 pieces of cloth, and there is indeed some surplus left, but it is not much, after all, now the Jiangdong Imperial Court is transparent to the Northern Qi Dynasty, and Gao Cheng is like a treasure for its affairs.

Calling Cui Jishu today is to ask about the impact of lending the 100,000 pieces of cloth back to Xiao Gang on his own treasury.

Cui Jishu thought about it in his heart and replied:

"Your Majesty, if you don't have a war to conquer the country this year, you think it's feasible."

Gao Cheng was shocked when he heard this, he also wanted to raise troops for a year of truce this year, and last year he captured Hanzhong, and went to Jiangnan with great momentum, and the treasury expenditure was really large.

Of course, there is also good news, Huainan and Jianghan have already resumed production, and the fertile land and sufficient water and heat in these two places have raised the national strength of Northern Qi to a higher level.

Gao Cheng asked Xiang Feng Zihua again and said:

"I lent Xiao Lun some weapons before, how much is left in the arsenal now?"

Feng Zihua truthfully reported the specific number, and Gao Cheng saw that the arsenal was sufficient, so he said:

"Prepare the swords, guns, and bows that can supply an army of 100,000 in a battle."

The seal should be painted immediately.

With cloth and silk and sufficient weapons, all Xiao Gang did was to appease and motivate the soldiers who had been defeated before.

Of course, it was not Gao Cheng who took the initiative to send cloth and weapons, and there would be Jiankang courtiers who proposed to borrow from Luoyang, and there were not a few Eastern Liang ministers who were willing to do things for King Xiaogao.

After the matter was explained, Gao Cheng fell into a tangle again, in all fairness, he naturally hoped that Dongliang could win, so that he could respond to Xiliang's request, send troops south, and take advantage of the situation to control the Xunyang court.

But Liu Zhongli has a few catties and a few taels, Gao Cheng couldn't be clearer, and it is impossible to expect him to be against Wang Shengbi, Wang Lin, Du Gong and others.

After hesitating again and again, after Cui Jishu and Feng Zihua retired, Gao Cheng ordered someone to send a letter to Wei Xiaokuan, changing the candidate from Liu Zhongli to Wu Mingche.

At the same time, he ordered Wei Xiaokuan to find a way to separate Xiao Yi and Wang Seng Debate, no need to rebel against Wang Seng Debate, just work Xiao Yi's side.

No matter how loyal Wang Seng Debate is, he can't help Xiao Yi's persecution when he thinks about it.

As for Wu Mingche, even if he is defeated, there will be no incident with Jiankang's ministers pleading, after all, Liu Zhongli was defeated in Dongliang Mountain before, and now he is not still a general in charge.

During this period of time, the news of Jiankang has never stopped.

At this time, in Jiangdong, except for the forbidden army and the former prince Wei led by Wei Cang, the rest of the elite soldiers were all under the command of Liu Zhongli and Wu Mingche, Liu Zhongli garrisoned in Dongcheng, and Wu Mingche garrisoned in Zhuquehang.

Xiao Gang wanted to take back his military power, but the 30,000 troops of the Northern Qi Dynasty were on his side, and he could only trust his henchmen.

On the seventh day of the second month of the fifth year of Zhaode (552), someone from Jingkou secretly came to Jiankang and handed a message to the courtiers who were secretly serving, that is, they asked them to encourage Xiao Gang to reorganize his armament.