The previous report Gao Yin sent back has already arrived in Jiankang.

In the report, he said that Li Mu now has no actual threat to the court and asked him to lead his troops back.

He explained that for the court, the biggest danger nowadays was not from Chang'an, but from the Xianbei soldiers that still occupy Qingzhou and the situation in the southwest.

Qingzhou has always been the base camp where the northern regime attempted to confront Guangling, known as the gateway to the north of the Jiankang River. In the past, this was the case in Northern Xia, and now it is also the case in Northern Yan. Murong operated a confidant soldier who was loyal to him in Qingzhou, eyeing him. In the previous battle of Luoyang, although Li Mu lost most of the Central Plains south of the Yellow River because of Li Mu's counterattack, Qingzhou was still in his hands and the threat to the court was not completely resolved.

In addition to Qingzhou in the north, the southwest is also the focus of the court's prevention. There are already nowhere to be reached, and the Hu tribes live in mixed places. There have been many independent Hu regimes and the Xu Mi rebellion. A few years ago, it was suppressed by Li Mu's power. Now that Li Mu is not here, the situation is afraid of a recurrence, he asks the court to pay attention to prevention.

Looking at the current situation, it is better to return early instead of letting him stay here to leave his military force.

This is a very long report, which is detailed and incisive. His eagerness is vividly revealed on the paper.

But he did not get a response as quickly as he hoped. The debate between the court over his retribution has lasted for many days.

The officials headed by Liu Hui did not change their minds because of Gao Yin's report. They still insisted that Li Mu openly betrayed Dayu and his actions were appalling. He was the biggest traitor of the court. When an announcement was issued to the world immediately, everyone could be punished. Gao Yin was ordered to immediately implement the orders issued by the court, control Chang'an and capture Li Mu.

Compared with Liu Hui and others, Feng Wei's attitude was much more relaxed. He agreed with Gao Yin's report, saying that Li Mu was not the biggest hidden danger of the court now. With his understanding of Li Mu, there should be many misunderstandings in the reason why the troops were not returned. He hoped that the court would suspend the condemnation and oppression of Chang'an first, and even recommended himself, willing to go to Chang'an in person, persuade Li Mu in person, and let him confess his guilt to the court and return to the court.

Although Gao Yongrong needs people like Liu Hui to sway and cheer for her and win people's hearts, she knows in her heart that people who can do things like Feng Wei are incomparable to Liu Hui and others. She has always relied on Feng Wei a lot.

In this debate, she had not made any statement at first.

Deep down, she was more inclined to Liu Hui’s remarks.

Before Gao Yin sent a letter to report, the news about how Li Mu was flowing across the sea and turning the tide in the battle of Luoyang had long been passed back to the Southern Dynasty. The so-called "White Tiger Appears, Saints Come Out" and the people who were struggling to pursue him in front of Kanglong Pass have even sparked heated discussions among the people.

The more excited the people are, the more it becomes a nightmare for Gao Yongrong.

No one can tolerate such a situation.

Li Mu is a mountain pressing in front of her. She will not be able to feel at ease for a day if she doesn't remove it for a day. If there is a way to remove Li Mu without shaking Dayu, she will immediately take action without hesitation.

The reason why she was reluctant to take action was because she also knew that Gao Yin’s concerns were not unreasonable.

But her hesitation did not last long.

Because of a secret message sent to her by Gao Yin, she finally made up her mind.

In the secret memorial sent to her, Gao Yin truthfully told the story of his meeting with Luo Shen.

He once again emphasized that he was willing to guarantee his own head. Chang'an is definitely not the primary goal that the court needs to be guarded against. Rongkang needs to be guarded against, and his power must be limited.

He emphasized that this is not just a reminder from Chang'an, but also a hidden worry for him.

Rong Kang was originally just a local official, and took advantage of the Xu Mi rebellion to take advantage of the situation in the court. In recent years, he has been extremely enthusiastic about the affairs of the court and his power has been constantly expanding. Combined with his previous bad deeds in Badi, Rong Kang is definitely not a person who is obedient to himself. The situation in the court is now subtle. If his power is not restricted, he is more likely to become a confidant of Dayu than Li Mu.

In recent years, Rong Kang's official position has been continuously promoted. After Li Mu took away Luo Shen and broke with the court, Gao Yongrong promoted him to General Zhenxi and Governor of Jingzhou, and ordered him to lead troops to attack Yicheng. After returning without success, he stationed in Jingzhou and submitted a letter of apology to the court, waiting for the punishment.

What Gao Yin did not expect was that the heart-warming private message he sent to Gao Yongrong not only failed to achieve the goal, but instead made the empress dowager more suspicious and even panic.

What she was most worried about finally happened.

Now, even Gao Yin was persuaded by Chang'an! Not only did he not execute his orders, he began to help Chang'an get rid of the crime.

Can the Gao family she originally relies on still allow her to continue to rely on in the future?

When trust begins to develop cracks, paranoia and doubt, it is like a snake spitting out poisonous letters, trampling in a dark corner, immersing people's hearts with blind and arrogant venom until it completely blinds people's eyes.

Looking around the world, there is no other person who can protect herself except Rong Kang who is being slandered and alienated by Chang'an.

In Gao Yongrong's eyes, Rong Kang was a reckless man who admired the gentry and wanted to gain recognition from the gentry.

Although Li Mu was born in a humble family, he was still a commoner.

And this Rong Kang is not even a commoner, he is simply a barbarian from Huawai.

Such a person dared to covet his cousin Luo Shen, and even more than once, he showed in front of her that if Li Mu was defeated in the future, he hoped that the Empress Dowager would marry him and Luo Shen.

Gao Yongrong despised him from the bottom of his heart, but he never clearly rejected his delusions in person.

She needed this barbarian to obey her own words. Rongkang has been bowing to her over the past few years. Except for the so-called "auspiciousness" that made her heart-wrenching and her failure to conquer Yicheng, Gao Yongrong was very satisfied with the rest of her performance.

Now, Chang'an uses Gao Yin's mouth to remind himself to be careful of Rongkang, which is naturally because he has the intention. In most cases, it is just a disagreement.

That night, Gao Yongrong was watching his sleeping face in his son's bedroom, tortured by the fear that his mother and son were about to become lonely, and could not sleep all night.

After dawn, she no longer hesitated and issued two imperial edicts.

The first one was sent to Gao Yin. He ordered him to continue to garrison the troops on the spot, closely monitor the movements of Chang'an, and seal Li Mu's way of going south. Without the orders of the court, no return to the army without authorization.

The second way was to grant Rong Kang the title of Duke of County and the Governor of Jiangzhou. He ordered him to send troops to Jiangzhou and obey the imperial court at any time to protect the downstream and deal with any possible attacks against Jiankang.

These two imperial edicts once again caused an uproar in the court.

Feng Wei strongly opposed it at the beginning.

The Empress Dowager seemed to have not followed Liu Hui and the others' opinions, and openly announced that Li Mu was a rebel minister, leaving room for future relocation, but such arrangements, especially in guiding Rongkang into Jiangzhou, were very dangerous in Feng Wei's view.

Jiankang only has more than 10,000 guards stationed. To Guangling, known as the gateway of Jiankang, the main force of the army has been transferred to guard against Li Mu, and now only some guards are left.

Although it is not close to Jiangzhou to Jiankang, it is not as if the Guangling Army had enough to guard the gateway, introducing Rongkang into Jiangzhou was tantamount to put Jiankang under his protection.

If Rongkang is unreliable, Jiankang is in danger.

But this time, Gao Yongrong's attitude was very firm and ordered Rongkang to take office in Jiangzhou immediately.

Rong Kang's reaction also made Gao Yongrong very satisfied.

After receiving the appointment of the court, he was grateful. Not only did he urgently submit a letter of gratitude, in order to express his loyalty to the court, he also proposed to send his eldest son to Jiankang as a gift.

Gao Yongrong not only completely dispelled his doubts, but even Feng Wei, after learning about Rongkang's decision, finally eased his attitude and no longer opposed it firmly as before.

After all, if the Guangling Army could not return in time, if Rong Kang was really loyal to the court and asked him to station troops in Jiangzhou, it would be a good thing for Jiankang to have an extra layer of guarantee.

...

In late autumn of this year, everyone walked their own way and embarked on the road they had chosen.

Li Mu and Luo Shen bid farewell again, embarked on his Northern Expedition, and moved forward for the ambition he had set when he was a young man. Murong prepared for his troops, won over all his allies, met with Yanmen, and vowed to kill the enemy with his hands and eliminate his previous shame. Gao Yin had no choice but to be in vain, but he was like a rope, unable to move forward. He could only station troops in place and report to the court again in vain, hoping to persuade those in power and allow him to return to his position. Rongkang led his army, without any obstacles, and headed straight to Jiangzhou.

No matter how the north is now on, at least in the Southern Dynasties, everything seems to be under Gao Yongrong's control.

Just as the court was waiting for Rong Kang to fulfill his promise and send his eldest son to Jiankang as a qualifier, something went wrong.

According to reports, after arriving in Jiangzhou, Rongkang's army did not garrison on the spot as instructed by the transfer order, but continued to advance eastward along the river toward the downstream.

Gao Yongrong didn't believe it at first, but it was not until a few days later that he received urgent reports from several prefects along the way that he realized the problem.

According to reports, Rong Kang used the excuse of escorting his eldest son to Beijing as a hostage to lead the army to continue advancing eastward, which was unstoppable. With the pitiful local military forces of each county, they could not stop it. What they could do was to report to the court as soon as possible, hoping that the court would intervene.

Gao Yongrong immediately sent Liu Hui to stop Rong Kang's behavior and ordered him to take his army back to Jiangzhou, allowing only his son to enter the capital.

Liu Hui not only held a high position in the court, but also a famous scholar among the Jiankang gentry. He was civilized with his agility and eloquence. When Rong Kang entered the capital several times, he seemed to have respected him a lot. It was most appropriate to send him to solve such a problem.

But Liu Hui's performance made Gao Yongrong and the officials of the court completely disappointed, and became frightened and uneasy.

When Liu Hui saw Rongkang, Rongkang's army seemed to have entered a deserted land and had already arrived at the stone city adjacent to Danyang County.

According to the Huangmen Minister who was with Liu Hui, who later fled back, he said that at the beginning of the meeting, Liu Hui was arrogant and domineering, Rong Kang was humble, but when Liu Hui conveyed the imperial decree and ordered him to immediately lead his troops to return to Jiangzhou, Rong Kang immediately changed his face and said that he had personally sent his son to Jiankang as a hostage after serving the empress dowager, but refused to return. Liu Hui felt offended and was very angry, calling Rong Kang a barbarian who was a mocking bird and was not trustworthy. Rong Kang was furious and detained all Liu Huihe's subordinates on the spot. The minister happened to be in a camp because of his discomfort and had no companions. He heard that the news was not good, so he took off his official robe and the people next to the road to change clothes, pretending to be ragged passers-by. Then he avoided the pursuit and fled back to Jiankang.

All the civil and military officials of the court were completely shocked by the news.

Rong Kang's intentions have been revealed at this point.

Feng Wei was extremely regretful and regretted that he had relaxed his vigilance at first and did not insist on opposing to the end, which led to the wolves' home, causing today's disaster.

Gao Yongrong was even more confused and didn't lift her up in one breath and almost fainted.

She never expected that in the past few years, the local general who looked loyal and reliable, which she had cultivated in the past few years, had such a cunning and vicious evil intention.

If his army reaches Jiankang, with Jiankang's strength, there will be no room for resistance.

At that time, people will be the slaughter and I will be the fish.

She finally remembered her cousin’s reminder to her through Gao Yin’s mouth, and also remembered Gao Yin’s army that was still pressed near Chang’an.

Overnight, the corners of her mouth burst into flames, and she fell ill, but she didn't want to show any weakness in front of the court officials.

At the court meeting that day, she forced herself to cheer up and stood at the door leading to the hall with her son. When she heard the whispers of officials in her ears and complained to her, for the first time in her life, she deeply felt what it means to be surrounded by enemies.

She sent someone to cross the river quickly and sent a letter to Guangling, and quickly transferred Gao Yin's garrison who had stayed there to quickly come to support and stop Rong Kang.

At the same time, he sent a letter to Gao Yin as quickly as possible and ordered him to return immediately.

After the messenger set off, Gao Yongrong and the ministers began to wait anxiously. The news that Rongkang's army was about to enter the capital soon spread rapidly throughout the city.

All those who had experienced the Xu Mi Rebellion several years ago felt the fear and despair in their hearts that the old nightmare was about to come again.

That time, in Jiankang, the head of the Gao family, Gao Qiao, was ordered to stand up and fight with his soldiers to the end until Li Mu arrived and saved the imperial city and the people in the city.

And this time, when the same nightmare comes again, who will be their rescue?

There is no more rescue, and there is no hope.

However, a few days later, the news from Jiangbei quickly swept across the city like a plague, with despair and fear.

At this critical moment, the 30,000 troops stationed in Qingzhou launched an attack on Guangling, which had only less than 10,000 troops left. Gao Yun, who had previously returned quietly in Guangling, rushed to Guangling and led less than 10,000 troops to block the Xianbei people's southward movement. The army was in a tough battle, and it was probably difficult to protect itself and could not return to protect Jiankang at all.

The main force of the Guangling Army, far away in Chang'an, even if he could receive the news as scheduled, it would not be able to relieve his intimidation.

What's more, even the news was intercepted halfway.

At the beginning of the month, just as the wealthy families in Jiankang City began to flee overnight, and more people were in panic, Rongkang's army encountered almost no decent resistance and successfully drove outside Jiankang City.
To be continued...