Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 359 Urgent News
"Now the court is supported by my master, unlike before when it was controlled by evil hands. The sky will be cleared up in a matter of days. Lord Bai is a great sage in the world. Whether in the Central Plains, Chu, Jiangdong or Hebei, the people all praise him. People of the time admire him... Why should you let the evil people deceive you and damage your reputation? I hope Lord Bai can judge right from wrong and not make any mistakes."
Jian Yong looked at Bai Tu with sincerity on his face.
The improvement in the situation of the Han court made Jian Yong much more "tough", but not tough in attitude, but tough in conditions!
Before, Jian Yong would definitely not have the crazy idea to ask Bai Tu to withdraw from Jingzhou, even though Liu Bei's original intention was just to let Liu Biao keep Nanjun and the southern part of Nanyang - when Jian Yong left Chang'an, the news of Liu Qi's death had not yet spread, and the general's mansion had not yet sent troops into Nanjun.
However, when persuading Bai Tu, Jian Yong praised Bai Tu highly.
He recognized Bai Tu's reputation and achievements, acted as if he cared about Bai Tu, and even promised, on behalf of the court, that Bai Tu would rule Yangzhou forever.
"That's wrong. The greater your ability, the greater your responsibility. The wiser you are, the more you should care about the people. Now the world is in chaos, how take a break?" Bai Tu still looked like he refused to accept it.
"It is true that Lord Bai cares about the world, but now that the trapped dragon has ascended to heaven, Your Majesty and the dignitaries in the court, as well as my lord, Liu Jingzhou, Liu Yizhou... are not people without virtue. Lord Bai was able to reorganize the four counties of southern Jing, which shows his sincerity. He does not need to take on more responsibilities!" What Jian Yong meant was that the four counties of southern Jing would not have to be returned.
Jian Yong now has a lot of room to express himself...
According to the court's intention, he was to commend Bai Tu and then persuade him to withdraw from Jingzhou. Jian Yong even heard that this was the result of the strong persuasion of Liu Ai and others. Otherwise, Liu Xie meant to "reprimand" Bai Tu, that is, after a warning, order him to retreat to Yangzhou, and the general's army was not allowed to appear outside Yangzhou.
However, Liu Bei's private intention was to let Jian Yong persuade Bai Tu to "stop" . After all, most of Nanyang plus the four counties in southern Jing were the "meat" that had already been eaten, and Liu Bei estimated that Bai Tu would not easily spit it out.
However, when Liu Bei and Jian Yong said "stop", Liu Qi was still alive. Jingzhou Prefecture not only had Nanjun intact, but also had most of Jiangxia, a small half of Nanyang, half of Changsha, and the defense line in the north of Wuling...
However, by the time Jian Yong saw Bai Tu, the southern part of Nanjun had already been lost, and the four southern Jingjun counties and Jiangxia had all fallen into the hands of the General's Mansion. Stopping now... is not the same as it was two months ago.
According to Liu Bei's idea, as long as Bai Tu stopped, he could coordinate with the imperial court to temporarily recognize the General's Office's jurisdiction over the existing control area. It would not be too late to slowly take it back after the imperial court stabilized its position.
In other words, Jian Yong's bottom line is Xiangfan, so that Liu can have a ticket to "take back" Jingzhou...
As long as the important town of Xiangfan and the defense line to Xinye in the north are still there, Jingbei will still be named Liu. Otherwise, if the general really annexes Jingyang, he will truly become the hegemon of Chu.
In terms of "persuasion", Jian Yong has always tried his best to appeal to people's emotions and reason, and to praise Bai Tu highly.
Obviously, the imperial court is not going to raise the banner directly now, like the Qin State did, advancing from the east to sweep across the world. As for the local princes who are not surnamed Liu, the main approach is still to appease them.
When the Xu Du Rebellion broke out, Hua Xin decisively judged that it was meaningless to stay in Xu Du, but he did not return to the south. Instead, he entered the pass with the imperial court and continued to serve as the face of the General's Mansion in the court.
In this way, it is actually very dangerous for Hua Xin. After all, Cao Pi is in Jinling, but the General's Mansion has no hostages from the imperial court!
However, the court had no reason to treat Hua Xin harshly, whether because of his own desire to return the seal or the general's office behind him. After settling in Chang'an, Hua Xin was promoted to Guanglu Xun, but was not given real power.
Of course, Jian Yong did not forget to remind Bai Tu during his speech that the court was now about to restore its authority, and that the Han Dynasty had been orthodox for four hundred years after all... He would also cite the examples of Emperor Guangwu and Wang Mang from time to time.
Bai Tu did not intend to be convinced, but at this moment, Taishi Ci suddenly had urgent military information to pass on - Bai Tu knew that the military information that would "disturb" him at this time might be related to his negotiations with Jian Yong!
He simply read the letter in front of Jian Yong.
Then he frowned and glanced at Jian Yong.
Although the latter did not show any strange expression on his face, he was a little nervous in his heart - what was the news? Jian Yong didn't know either!
"Xianhe, you've been traveling a long way. Jiangling was previously occupied by rebels and has just been recaptured by the General's Office, so it's still a little noisy. Xianhe, you should take a rest first." Bai Tu said with a stern face, directly suggesting that he should see the guest off.
Jian Yong had originally prepared to make a concerted effort today, at least to get the promise of the white map, but... now the arrival of the military intelligence made Jian Yong a little hesitant.
Due to the lack of key information, although he was not sure whether Bai Tu was delaying on purpose, Jian Yong still took his leave.
After all, Bai Tu had clearly stated that "it was previously occupied by rebels" - this was to confirm that Jingzhou Prefecture was considered a "rebel" prefecture in the eyes of the General's Mansion!
Jian Yong suspected that this urgent report contained some military intelligence from Jingzhou Prefecture that had angered Bai Tu.
But after Jian Yong left, the sternness on Bai Tu's face gradually turned into a sly smile from the corners of his mouth...
The urgent report just now was not a hoax, nor did it mean that the General’s Mansion had gained any advantage. It was an urgent report from Nanyang!
The Jingzhou army in the Xiangfan area suddenly headed north to launch a "surprise attack" on Wancheng.
It is said that the General's Mansion was fighting fiercely with Jingzhou Mansion, and the dispatch of troops from Xiangfan at this time could not be considered a surprise attack. However... considering the cowardly nature of Jingzhou Mansion, they actually took the initiative to attack, which was no less unexpected than a surprise attack.
After sending troops from Xinye, the five counties south of Wancheng, namely Anzhong, Rangxian, Nieyang, Jiyang and Yuyang, were quickly occupied by Jingzhou Prefecture - after all, Zhang Xiu had only occupied them in the last one or two years, and after he defected to the General's Mansion , the Nanyang area had long been considered an "enclave".
Although some officials have been arranged at the local level, they are still deeply influenced by the power of local powerful families!
It's a typical case of changing flags as long as you convince the local nobles.
The troops dispatched by Jingzhou Prefecture obviously received a response from the local wealthy families, with whom they had always cooperated before. In this way, the General's Mansion took over the southern part of Nanyang without much effort, and conquered it all in one go.
However, there were no large-scale garrisons in other counties, but in Wancheng, there were not only some elite troops left by Zhang Xiu, but also generals like Lei Xu and Zhang Xian.
Although he was far from being a famous general, at least he had fought his way up among the Western Liang Cavalry under Zhang Ji - about the same level as Song Xian, who was raising pigs.
And... Zhang Chunhua was also staying in Wancheng as the chief clerk of the Nanyang Ministry of Revenue!
Half a month ago, news came that Anzhong and other counties had revolted again, and that night, at the foot of Wancheng, about several hundred defeated soldiers with blood on their armor arrived at Wancheng. Judging from their attire, they were the garrison in the southern part of Wancheng.
During this special period, the city gate guard did not dare to open the gate and specially reported to Lei Xu and Zhang Xian. The two came to the top of the city wall and spoke in Xiliang dialect. If the other party was really the troops stationed outside Wancheng, although he did not know them all, he knew that there must be people from Xiliang among them!
Seeing that the leader of the other party really understood and answered in Xiliang dialect, the two of them believed it...
