The Jiangnan Association was a political group composed of the remnants of the Chen Dynasty. They were established after the demise of the Southern Chen Dynasty. In the second year of the demise of the Southern Chen Dynasty, that is, the tenth year of Kaihuang, the Jiangnan Association organized a large-scale anti-Sui uprising. The backbone members of the Jiangnan Association, Wang Wenjin, Gao Zhihui and Shen Xuanyi rebelled in Wuzhou, Yuezhou and Suzhou respectively, with hundreds of thousands of troops and a huge momentum. The army captured prefectures and counties and rebuilt Nanchen, but was eventually cruelly suppressed by the Sui army.

The Jiangnan Association also moved underground and no longer had public activities. It was in a dormant state. Until the eighth year of Daye, rebellion in the north rose and the world gradually became turbulent. The Jiangnan Association, who was in a dormant state, woke up again. With the full support of the Jiangnan nobles, they began to rebel in the Wujun area, and the momentum became increasingly powerful. The Sui army repeatedly suppressed it. With the coup in Jiangdu, Yang Guang was killed by Yu Wen and Chen Ling, who suppressed the rebellion in Jiangnan, was forced to withdraw back to Jiangdu.

The Jiangnan Association no longer had the threat of the Sui army and began to grow rapidly. At present, the Jiangnan Association has two armies in the Jiangnan area. One is a direct army, that is, the team led by Chen Faxing, with about 50,000 people, controlling the north of Wujun.

The other is the army of Meng Haigong supported by the Jiangnan Association, with about 30,000 people, controlling Yuezhou and Xuanzhou.

The Jiangnan Association's old nest is in Jiangning County, Danyang County. They control the land and materials in Jiangnan. The Jiangnan Association's owner is Chen Xian, who is the nephew of Chen Houzhu. Two years ago, his father died of illness, and Chen Xian was supported by the Jiangnan Association as the new leader.

But he was only the nominal leader, and the real power of the Jiangnan Association was in the hands of the four major geniuses, including the Shen family of Wujun, the Yuan family of Danyang County, the Wang family and the Xie family of Kuaiji. In addition, although the Xiao family of Danyang and the Yu family of Kuaiji are strong in the local area, they were not accepted by the Jiangnan Association because they had too close relations with the north.

But since last year, in order to win over Meng Haigong, the Jiangnan Association’s decision-making circle has accepted Meng Haigong’s brother Meng Xide as the fifth gentry.

Although the Jiangnan Association did not have the encirclement and suppression of the Sui Dynasty army, the Jiangnan Association was not stable either. They also had internal and external troubles, and the internal troubles were Meng Haigong. In order to reduce the military pressure of Shen Faxing, the remnants of Meng Haigong were introduced into Jiangnan. However, the facts proved that the Jiangnan Association's introduction of Meng Haigong was a one-step move, and a typical example of attracting wolves into the house.

Meng Haigong and the Jiangnan gentry were not all along the way. They did not have the background and historical heritage of the Jiangnan gentry. He was just a bandit from the north. After being supported and strengthened by the Jiangnan Association, he no longer paid attention to the Jiangnan Association. He was ambitious and showed his ambition to unify Jiangnan and become emperor more than once.

The external trouble of the Jiangnan Association was Du Fuwei. Because Jiangnan and the Jianghuai gentry had been hostile for a hundred years, Du Fuwei also adopted an attitude of hostility towards the Jiangnan Association in order to gain the support of the Jianghuai gentry, and constantly sent small groups of pirates to plunder the Jiangnan Association's fleet.

In order to strengthen one's own strength and to deal with Du Fuwei, Jiangnan would use a heavy sum of money to detain Chen Len for surrender, but Chen Len refused. Jiangnan would be angry and cut off the grain trade with Jiangdu, causing Jiangdu to fall into a desperate situation, and attempt to force Chen Len to surrender. However, Jiangnan would never have imagined that their stupid behavior forced Chen Len to surrender to the Northern Sui Dynasty, and at the same time attracted the Northern Sui Dynasty's naval army.

On that morning, hundreds of Sui army warships appeared on the river outside Jiangning County. A rapid alarm bell rang on the head of Jiangning City. Eight thousand soldiers guarding Jiangning rushed to the head of the city, and more than a dozen members of the Jiangnan Association also came to the city after hearing the news.

The leader of the association, Chen Xian, is a young man in his thirties. He had met Zhang Xuan with Shen Jian, but he did not leave any impression on Zhang Xuan. After all, he was just a puppet, which was completely different from Gao Lie who mastered the Bohai Association. He had neither Gao Lie's ambition nor Gao Lie's scheming. Chen Xian grew up in a wealthy way and had never experienced any setbacks and storms.

At this time, the Sui army warship on the river was so scared that Chen Xian turned pale. He turned around and looked at Chen Jian, "Daichi Chen, what's going on?"

Chen Jian is the representative of the Shen family in the Jiangnan Association. He controls the Jiangnan Association's business in Jiangdu and is also responsible for negotiating with the Sui army. Now, not only Chen Xian asked him, but several other important members of the Jiangnan Association looked at him, hoping that he could explain what was going on?

Chen Jian's expression was very serious. He had already received news that Chen Ling had surrendered to Zhongdu before. He was also worried that the Sui army would take action, but he did not expect that the Sui army would come so quickly.

After a while, Chen Jian said slowly: "The Sui army just took over Jiangdu and was not prepared to attack Jiangnan. Moreover, Du Fuwei was still eyeing him, so I think these warships are just here to threaten us."

"What are you intimidating us?" asked Yuan Wenzhong, another important member of the Jiangnan Association next to him.

"Jiangdu can hardly support us by threatening us to open up food trade."

Everyone looked at each other. At this time, Meng Xide said anxiously: "Although they will not attack Jiangnan, they will attack Jiangning City. We only have 8,000 defenders. Can we resist the large-scale attack of the Sui army? If the city is captured, none of us will survive."

Everyone's wealth and life are in Jiangning City. Once Jiangning City is lost, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Considering his own personal interests, more than a dozen people asked to negotiate with the Sui army to avoid the Sui army's siege. Chen Jian nodded, "Okay! I'll talk to the Sui army,

Chen Jian got off the city and took a small boat toward the Sui army warship

On the river, hundreds of warships were arranged in an array of geese. On the head of a warship of 3,000 stone, Lai Huerji sat on a half-high couch, holding a knife in his left hand, staring at Jiangning County on the south bank with sharp eyes. The city walls were full of soldiers.

At this time, General Lang Zhou Meng whispered: "General, the information says that there are only eight thousand defenders in Jiangning. We can defeat them in one fell swoop and capture all the backbone of Jiangnan Association!"

"What?" Lai Hu'er asked.

"Then they can threaten Chen Faxing's army to surrender!"

"What if Shen Faxing's army did not surrender?"

Lai Huer asked coldly: "Do you want to continue the battle? What's the difference between it and now?"

Zhou Meng understood Lai Hu'er's meaning, and he scratched his head and said, "The general's meaning is to annihilate the army, right!"

Lai Hu'er said lightly: "Wang Shichong once came to Jiangnan to suppress the rebellion, killed one group after another, killing more than 100,000 people, but he still rebelled, and Yujuluo was destroyed and reborn again and again. Just like cutting leeks, the bandits were endless. In the end, even Yujuluo died in the ineffective suppression of bandits. Then Chen Len, after more than a dozen battles, he still could not eliminate the bandits in Jiangnan. Can we wipe out these bandits?"

"What good advice does the general have?"

Lai Huer nodded and said, "Before I came, the Grand Marshal told me that there is only one way to deal with the Jiangnan Association. Let them come to beg us and wait for us to save them, and then Jiangnan Keping."

At this time, a soldier stepped forward to salute, "Report to the old general, the special envoy of the Jiangnan Association is asking for a meeting!"

Everyone gave thumbs up, "The old general is a god!"

Lai Huer shook her head and said, "I'm not talking about now, it's not the time yet. They are just here to ask for peace."

Soon, a soldier led Chen Jian over. Chen Jian knew Lai Hu'er and hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "Old General, long time no see."

Lai Hu'er smiled slightly, "It turns out it's Lord Chen, which is beyond my expectations!"

Chen Jian smiled and said, "I thought the old general had known my identity for a long time."

"I can guess, but I'm still surprised."

Chen Jian turned his topic back to his purpose and asked tentatively: "I wonder why the old general was at the city of Jiangning. Has His Highness the King of Qi decided to start a war against Jiangnan?"

"No! I just led the navy to train the ranks on the river surface, and the King of Qi did not order me to attack Jiangnan."

Chen Jian secretly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "But the old general's formation can easily cause misunderstandings."

"It's a misunderstanding! There will always be, just like Jiangnan will cut off trade with Jiangdu and seize the Jingzhou grain ships. I thought Jiangnan would start a war with us. Isn't this a misunderstanding?"

Lai Hu'er asked very sharply, and the meaning was obvious. If Jiangnan would cut off the grain trade with Jiangdu and did not return the grain ship, it would be considered that Jiangnan would declare war on the Sui army, and he actually gave the other party a step.

Chen Jian quickly grabbed the stairs and said, "The old general misunderstood. We cut off the grain trade in Jiangdu and intercepted the grain ships in Jingzhou because we thought Chen Len surrendered to Chang'an. We should know that we have always been enemies with the Guanlong nobles. We are targeting the Tang Dynasty, not the Northern Sui Dynasty."

Lai Hu'er secretly scolded Chen Jianyuanluo. When he had traded weapons with Jiangnan with the Dou family, he did not say that they hated the Guanlong nobles. However, Lai Hu'er also understood that the other party did not want to break up. Everyone just found a way to solve the food problem.

Lai Hu'er smiled slightly and said, "Now Jiangnan will understand! We occupied Jiangdu, but not the Tang army, so the grain trade should also be reopened, right?"

Chen Jian sighed secretly, come to protect his son and then fight. If they are not tactful, then the war will immediately appear in front of them.

Chen Jian nodded, "Don't worry, veteran general, we have no intention of confronting the Sui army. The grain trade with Jiangdu will be immediately banned, and we will also return the batch of grain in Jingzhou immediately."

"Very good, then we will take the Yangtze River as the boundary, and everyone will not interfere with the river."

Chen Jian changed his mind and suddenly realized that the Sui army must have attacked Du Fuwei, so he had to temporarily appease the Jiangnan Association. He quickly smiled and said, "If the Sui army wants to attack Du Fuwei, we are willing to send troops to help!"

"There is no need for this. Jiangnan and Jianghuai are enemies. If you use your power, the Jianghuai family will not surrender to us. Lord Chen said, right?"

Chen Jian smiled awkwardly, "That's right!"

Lai Hu'er smiled and turned around and ordered her to go around, "Send Master Chen back!"

Chen Jian bowed and got off the boat. He looked at the boat far away. He then ordered: "Get back to Jiangdu!"

When he turned around, he saw that everyone was a little worried, and he smiled and said, "Don't worry, Jiangnan would interrupt the food trade just to force General Chen to surrender. Now General Chen has surrendered to the Northern Sui Dynasty, so there is no need for them to cause trouble."

Three hundred Sui army warships slowly turned around and drove eastward along the water.

Just as Hu'er's army returned to Jiangdu, hundreds of grain ships that were intercepted by the Jiangnan Association had also returned to Jiangdu from Jingkou. News that the Jiangnan Association lifted the grain trade ban spread throughout Jiangdu City, and the grain prices began to turn around and dropped from 800 ciders to 500 ciders on the same day. Jiangdu was excited for a moment.
Chapter completed!