After meeting with Xiao Xian, Ling Jing did not return to the VIP hotel immediately, but came to the temporary garrison of the Fenglei Army, which is Liu Lancheng's army. At present, the Fenglei Army still has 700 people, and is temporarily stationed in Jiangling City. They blocked the Tang army in Bashu for 19 days and delayed the Tang army's fighter jets. Not only did they make great contributions, but Xiao Xian was also deeply grateful to them and gave them the best treatment so that they could rest with peace of mind. Of course, this was also Zhang Xuan's order, ordering them to temporarily station in Jiangling.

Ling Jing came and was warmly welcomed by the soldiers of the Fenglei Army. All the soldiers came out to welcome Ling Jing's arrival. Ling Jing simply stopped and whispered to the soldiers: "Dear soldiers, I will visit you specially on the order of His Highness of the King of Qi. His Highness of Qi asked me to express his greetings and respect to you on his behalf. This time you have made great contributions, everyone will receive generous rewards, and the fallen soldiers will also receive double pensions. Not only that, the reputation of the Fenglei Army will spread all over the world, and your parents, wives and children will be honored by you."

The soldiers were extremely excited and raised their arms and shouted, "Long live His Highness, Long live!"

Liu Lancheng and three others invited Ling Jing into the tent. Ling Jing read out the commendation order from King Zhang Xuan of Qi in the tent. He awarded the title of Chief General Liu Lancheng as the marquis of Zoucheng County, with a reward of 1,000 taels and 500 hectares of land. Two deputy generals Li Keshi and Zhang Li were awarded the title of county bonnet, each with a reward of 500 taels and a hundred hectares of land. He also gave a treasure blade. The remaining Fenglei Army soldiers each received 50 taels of gold, 100 pieces of silk, and 20 hectares of land. Their family was exempted from ten years of taxes.

All three of them knelt down to express their rewards. Liu Lancheng immediately ordered the soldiers to spread the reward orders of King Qi throughout the military camp, and cheers suddenly sounded in the military camp.

In the big tent, the four people had already sat down. Ling Jing asked Liu Lancheng: "What does General Liu think of Xiao Xian?"

Liu Lancheng shook his head, "This man is kind-hearted on the outside but suspicious on the inside. All the generals under him are afraid of him. He is indecisive in the face of chaos and fearless in his work. He cannot become a climate. If the general did not protect him this time, he would have been destroyed by the Tang army."

Ling Jing frowned, "Is he so unbearable?"

Li Keshi next to him said, "General Liu once suggested that he either send troops to Yiling County or station troops in Dangyang to cut off the Tang army's food route. As a result, he was hesitant and sent a spy to inquire about the news five days later. Only then did he find that the Tang army had transported a large amount of grain to Yiling County. A good game of chess would be ruined. Otherwise, the Tang army of Bashu would be defeated without a fight, and the chance we won by burning Yiling County's grain would be missed in vain, which is really depressing."

Ling Jing nodded, "Your Highness also said that Xiao Xian's problem is that his foundation is unstable, and his army does not fully support him, so he distrusts the generals, especially when facing the powerful Sui army or Tang army, he was afraid that his generals would directly lead the army to surrender. This is why Xiao Xian dared not take the initiative to launch an attack. In fact, it doesn't matter whether the Tang army retreats. What's important is that our forces are going to enter Nanjun. Do you understand?"

The three generals looked at each other, and their eyes showed a sudden look. The general's foresight was indeed not something they could consider.

At this time, Ling Jing asked again: "Your Highness asked me to ask you, what are the difficulties there at the moment?"

Liu Lancheng pondered for a moment and said, "We lost 300 brothers in the Battle of Zigui, and there is no shortage of war horses. Let's see if the general can make up for our troops. In addition, our next action also needs instructions."

Ling Jing smiled and said, "Your Highness has already considered it for you. Five hundred elite soldiers have arrived with me. As for the mission, Your Highness hopes that you will go to Xiyang County and destroy the pig iron transportation of the Tang army. There is only one purpose. To force Chang'an to send heavy troops to Xiyang County. Do you understand what Your Highness means?"

Liu Lancheng certainly understood the intention of the head coach. Once the Tang army sent troops to Xiyang, it would be equivalent to occupying Xiyang County. Wang Shichong's trouble would come. This was indeed a brilliant move. Compared to the frustration that Xiao Xian made him feel, their head coach was more experienced and exciting."

The three of them immediately bowed and said, "We will never let the general down!"

The arrival of the 10,000 Sui Navy in Nanjun completely changed the situation of the Tang army's attack on Nanjun, not only because of the navy itself, but because the Sui army had actually intervened in the battle of Nanjun. Neither Li Xiaogong nor Qu Tutong dared to act rashly, and even Li Shimin could not make decisions without authorization. Li Shimin wrote an emergency express report, ordering the soldiers to send them to Chang'an overnight by 800 miles of emergency express report.

During this period, Chang'an and Zhongdu were also preparing for the imperial examination. About 30,000 scholars from Guanlong, Bashu, Bingzhou and other regions gathered in Chang'an to take the second imperial examination in early May. Compared with last year, more than 10,000 scholars came to Chang'an to take the imperial examination. Mainly, there were significantly fewer scholars in the southern region. Most of them went to Zhongdu, which was also the most intuitive change after the Southern Battle.

But even so, all the officials in Chang'an were busy. Emperor Li Yuan issued a special order to compare the imperial examination system with Zhongdu. In other words, Zhongdu treatment must also have the treatment of Zhongdu.

But for the emperor Li Yuan, although the imperial examination was important, it was still far from the important than the southern eastern expedition. They had successfully taken the first step, occupied the six counties of Jingxiang, especially the capture of Jiangxia County, and solved the most urgent pig iron problem of the Tang Dynasty, and washed away the gloom of the Tang army's repeated unsatisfactory expeditions. In addition, after the prince Li Jiancheng was in charge of Taiyuan, he attacked Liu Wuzhou and won three battles in three battles. Liu Wuzhou was retreated to the north of Loufan Pass. A series of victories made Li Yuanjun happy and also stimulated his greater ambitions. Although the Tang army in Bashu missed the opportunity to fight and made it unlikely to destroy Xiao Xian, Li Yuan still approved the plan of his second son Li Shimin, seized the Nanjun, and integrated Jingxiang and Bashu into one, and the game of chess in the south was alive.

However, as Zhang Xuan completely wiped out Lin Shihong's forces, Li Yuan's heart began to rise. He knew that Zhang Xuan would not sit idly by the Tang army to expand eastward and would definitely take action. As expected, he soon received a 800-li emergency report from his second son Li Shimin.

In the imperial study room, several prime ministers were urgently summoned by Li Yuan. He handed Li Shimin's express report to everyone and let them circulate it. For a moment, the imperial study room was silent.

"Chen Xiangguo, how is the progress of the Pipao incident?" Li Yuan broke the silence in the room.

Chen Shuda hurriedly said: "Report to Your Majesty, there have been more than 300 large rafts. They are currently on their way to Ba County. The first batch of grain rafts can set off in half a month at the latest."

Li Yuan nodded and asked everyone again: "Let's talk about it! What should I do when the current situation in Nanjun?"

Everyone was silent. After a while, Liu Wenjing said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to throw away the bricks and attract jade. Let me say a few words first."

Li Yuan has always disliked Liu Wenjing, but during this period, Liu Wenjing has really become a little 'wenjing' a little bit. He no longer says something ugly like a thorny head and makes him unable to leave the stage. Today he actually spoke actively. Li Yuan nodded with relief, "Please say it, Liu Xiangguo!"

Liu Wenjing said calmly: "First of all, we need to understand that Xiao Xian is just a piece of meat on Zhang Xuan's rack. Sooner or later, he roasts it and eats it. The reason why he doesn't move Xiao Xian is because they have eaten too much recently. From the Jianghuai to the Jiangnan, and then to the Ganjiang River Basin, I heard that Li Jing is still expeditioning farther southern counties, so he temporarily put Xiao Xian on. However, Zhang Xuan was afraid that Xiao Xian would be swallowed up by us, so he sent a navy army to Nanjun. In name, this navy army was assisting Xiao Xian against us, but once the conditions were ripe, this navy army would become the first knife to cut Xiao Xian."

"Liu Xiangguo is right, Zhang Xuan has ulterior motives and ambitiousness. I wonder what Liu Xiangguo thinks we should deal with it next? Should we give up attacking Nanjun?"

This is Dou Wenjing, the Minister of Rites, asking Liu Wenjing that since Pei Ji and Li Jiancheng went to Taiyuan together, Liu Wenjing's speech was missing a natural opponent.

Liu Wenjing smiled and said, "If Zhang Xuan really wants to help Xiao Xian, then he should attack Jiangxia County, besiege Wei to save Zhao, and the siege of Nanjun is established. I believe Zhang Xuan knows this very well, but he did not do so. Instead, he sent a navy army into Nanjun. Weichen thinks that Zhang Xuan is conveying a message to us. If I don't touch your Jiangxia County, you can't even think about being involved in Nanjun. This should be the meaning."

Liu Wenjing's analysis made everyone feel like they were hiding the clouds and dissipating. After thinking about it carefully, this is indeed the meaning.

At this time, Chen Shuda smiled and said, "Liu Xiangguo is right. News came from Jiangdu that Zhang Xuan passed by Jiangdu and went north. This must be his return to Zhongdu. This means that he will not attack Jiangxia County for the time being. Sending troops into Nanjun is just to warn us that we are not allowed to attack Nanjun. Once we attack Nanjun, we will definitely have a conflict with the Sui army and the situation will be complicated. At that time, there will be no only Nanjun where conflicts occur. Wars may break out between Jiangxia County and Bingzhou. Zhang Xuan was right, so he left Nanjun and returned to Zhongdu by himself."

"With the two prime ministers' wishes, we can only give up our offensive plan against Nanjun?" Li Yuan said slightly unhappy.

"Actually not the case!"

Chen Shuda smiled and said, "Weichen always felt that our preparations for attacking Xiao Xian were not sufficient. For example, the problem of grain and grass transportation was not solved. Now the Tang army in Yiling County can only rely on Xiangyang to transport grain. It is not safe to consume people's efforts, and the transportation volume is not large. Weichen means that we should maintain the current confrontation state, on the one hand, make sufficient preparations for war, and on the other hand, we can solve Xiao Xian from the inside, especially Dong Jingzhen, who is worthy of winning."

Liu Wenjing also added: "For us, Nanjun is only convenient for the integration of Jingxiang, Bashu, and Shu. However, before we solve the problem of water transportation, even if we take down Nanjun, it is not very meaningful. Weichen thinks that the iron ore of Jiangxia County is more important to us, and we should protect the safety of Jiangxia County at all costs."

Liu Wenjing's attitude was very clear. Iron ore was the top priority of the Tang Dynasty. Jiangxia County was much more important than Nanjun. He reminded Li Yuan not to lose his big picture because of small things. Chen Shuda also meant the same thing. Don't cause a war to break out for the sake of Nanjun. Li Yuan was eventually convinced. Although he did not want to give up the Nanjun plan, he had to make a choice for the safety of Jiangxia County.
Chapter completed!