Chapter 4173: Pacifying Jiangnan
The golden crow fell into the sea, and the heaven and earth were extinguished.
When the afterglow on the river and sea gradually faded away, the boat returned to Huating Town along the Wusong River waterway. Xiao Guan was already waiting at the dock with a few servants. When he saw the boat docking at the dock and a sailor boarding the gangplank, he hurriedly stepped forward He rushed forward and helped his grandfather down the gangplank.
After stepping on the shore, Xiao Guan knelt on the ground and cried bitterly: "My child is incompetent, and my grandfather was trapped in the rebel army. He deserves to die!"
Xiao Xun gave a bitter smile, stretched out his hand to touch the top of Xiao Guan's head, and sighed: "If he really died in the army at that time, it would not be a bad thing. At least he wouldn't have to be poked in the back by the Jiangnan nobles in the future... That's all. That's it, husband. What else can I say? I will stay here for a few days and have a chat with Fang Xiang. You can go back and tell your father to quickly raise a load of money, food and military equipment and send it here, and send it to Guanzhong to support the prince. "
In fact, when Tongguan was controlled by the King of Jin, supplies from the south of the Yangtze River could not be transported to Chang'an by water. The so-called raising money, food and weapons was just an expression of the Lanling Xiao family's attitude - since then, they had given up on the King of Jin and instead supported the King of Jin. Prince.
Xiao Guan was slightly stunned. Even if the Jiangnan private army was defeated in a battle and could no longer fully support the King of Jin, he would not switch to the camp to support the Crown Prince, right?
The Xiao family was the first to raise a private army to go north, calling on the Jiangnan nobles to raise food and supplies. Now that the Xiao family is supporting the prince, isn't it equivalent to selling out all the other Jiangnan nobles?
This is not just scolding, it is simply ostracizing oneself from the Jiangnan gentry...
Even if the sea trade is completely cut off by the navy, they cannot commit such a treacherous act!
Xiao Guan looked anxious and wanted to persuade, but Xiao Xun waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "You can go back and discuss this matter with your father and convene the clan members. As for whether you can do it or not, you don't need to worry about me."
After saying that, he walked towards Fang Xuanling who was waiting in front. The two of them chatted and laughed happily and walked into the town office compound together.
Xiao Guan was alone and messy in the wind...
Although I don’t know how coerced my grandfather was by Fang Xuanling, even Xiao Yu, the nominal head of the family, had to respect his grandfather’s opinions, let alone their father and son? He quickly returned to Nanlanling overnight, saw his father, and summoned the clan elders to discuss the matter.
……
A banquet was already served in the town office. Fang Xuanling and Xiao Xun took a shower and invited him to take a seat. Su Dingfang was accompanying them.
Xiao Xun was old and weak, so he couldn't drink strong liquor, so he prepared a pot of rice wine, which was good for stimulating blood circulation and refreshing people.
After drinking a few glasses of wine, Xiao Xun was full of thoughts, picked up a few dishes at random, looked at Su Dingfang and praised: "I have always heard that the navy has crossed the seven seas without losing a single defeat, but I have never seen it, so I don't think so. Now I know the water The division's combat power should be the best in the world. Governor Su leads the troops well and has great strategies. He is short-sighted and is looking at the sky from a well."
Since the establishment of the Royal Navy, it has traveled across the seven seas and been invincible. Many pirates who originally occupied the East China Sea islands have been wiped out. The navies of Silla, Baekje, Wa, Annam, Johor and other countries are even more vulnerable. It opened up several routes, connecting north and south, and traversing east and west, allowing the merchant ships of the Tang Dynasty to travel across the ocean smoothly and smoothly.
The first impression of such a fierce battle in Jiangnan was not that the navy was powerful, but that the pirates and the navies of various countries were underground, ragtag, and vulnerable... Since the Tang Dynasty's army on land was able to expand its territory , to overwhelm the barbarians, the navy should do the same.
Therefore, he was dissatisfied with the huge amount of commercial tax collected by Huating Town, and he was thinking of replacing it, completely taking the power of sea trade into his pocket, grabbing huge profits for generations, supporting the Jiangnan gentry to occupy Tiannan, and competing with the central government.
This led to the call for various families in the south of the Yangtze River to raise private troops in an attempt to go north to assist the King of Jin in fighting for the throne.
The King of Jin is currently weak and relies on his clan to fight against the prince. When he ascends the throne and rewards according to his merits, he will still rely on the clans of the world to stabilize the foundation of governance. The clan politics will rise to the scale of the early Zhenguan years, and even still exist. Pass it.
However, all this was shattered into pieces by a naval artillery fire at Yanziji and disappeared into thin air...
What needs to be prepared now is not how to control the south of the Yangtze River and rule by rivers, but how to survive the threat of the navy.
Not only the navy, when the prince ascends the throne, what will follow will inevitably be the suppression of Jiangnan policies...
Su Dingfang was experienced and calm, and did not take any advantage from his thorough attack on the Jiangnan private army. He smiled reservedly and said: "Mr. Nanhai is so complimentary. This station is all dedicated to the lives of the generals and the three armies under his command. I am sitting in the rear and have not exerted even half of my strength. I dare not accept it." This praise.”
When you attack a mere private army of tens of thousands of powerful people and a mob, why do you need me to take action? The generals under his command easily settled the matter...
Xiao Xun smiled bitterly and shook his head, then turned to Fang Xuanling and said: "Xuanling, don't worry, the family will definitely agree with the decision to support the prince. Since the fall of Nanliang, the Xiao family of Lanling has no longer had the ambition to separate one party from another. The previous treatment of His Majesty Li Er I am loyal and loyal, and I will bow to His Majesty the Crown Prince from now on, and I will never have the heart to be rebellious.”
It is one thing to support the King of Jin in fighting for the throne, but it is another thing to raise troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty. After the failure of the former, you can still obey the prince's orders and try your best to restore the prince's bad feeling, but the latter will definitely become the target of the entire empire's full blow. The Lanling Xiao family cannot bear such heavy pressure. If they are not careful, the whole family will be destroyed.
Fang Xuanling toasted him with a glass of wine, and then said calmly: "This is the best."
He has made it very clear what should be said. If the Xiao family still cannot see clearly the situation, is unwilling to give up control of Jiangnan, and still thinks of disrespecting the central government's orders and resisting the local authorities as before, then it is self-inflicted and will not survive.
No matter what the consequences are, the Xiao family will have to bear them.
He asked Su Dingfang: "Why don't you see Wang Xuance? Have you notified all the families in the south of the Yangtze River about what I told you before?"
Wang Xuance has now become the actual manager of the "East Datang Company". He is responsible for all the affairs of the company and has great authority. He usually sits in Huating Town, liaises with Huating Town and the Navy, and is in charge of the company's external trade matters.
Su Dingfang replied: "Seizing the goods, money, silk and real estate of various Jiangnan companies in Huating Town and overseas ports is too involved. It is difficult for Huating Town alone to do it. Xuance is summoning many managers and accountants of the company to cooperate. , notification has been sent to If any Jiangnan family continues to disobey the central government's decree, their maritime trade licenses will be revoked, and no one will be allowed to own shares in their maritime trade. Once verified, they will be punished with the same crime and fined ten times the amount of concealed share profits, as a warning to others. .”
Xiao Xun smiled bitterly and shook his head repeatedly.
Various families in the south of the Yangtze River are connected with each other. If one or two of them are punished by Huating Town and are not allowed to engage in maritime trade, it is easy to invest money in other people's maritime trade in exchange for shares and continue to enjoy the profits of maritime trade.
But Huating Town obviously has a plan for this. Once this decree is issued, who dares to risk huge sacrifices to sell favors to those whose licenses have been revoked?
It can be said that the necks of every family in the south of the Yangtze River are stuck to the neck of Huating Town.
However, the three yamen and a group of people, including the Navy, Huating Town, and Shibo Division, were all under the control of Fang Jun, making it impossible for the Jiangnan nobles to try to relax restrictions...
With the three-pronged approach of military, politics, and economy, what could the Jiangnan gentry have to contend with?
To resist stubbornly can only lead to a dead end.
He looked at Fang Xuanling, who was calm and gentle, and sighed deeply.
In the past, when Fang Xuanling was in charge of the central government, everyone in the world thought that the reason why he served as the head of the prime minister and assistants was because he accompanied His Majesty Li Er to fight all the way. head.
After all, he had not made any outstanding achievements in the few years he had been in charge of the central government. Although his reputation was known as "Fang Xuanling's plan to stop him," he was obviously surpassed by Du Ruhui. Everyone thought that Fang Xuanling had no shortcomings in morals. , but the ability is average.
But now that Fang Xuanling is sitting in Huating Town, without any help from the central government, he can single-handedly suppress the Jiangnan nobles until they have no resistance. Only then did he suddenly find that his mind, vision, and methods are beyond the reach of ordinary people. high.
One person, one naval force, and one Huating town were able to completely pacify the south of the Yangtze River.
Only now do we know how clever Fang Xuanling's political skills are. Those who are good at fighting have no great achievements...
……
Not far from the town office, there is an antique courtyard, adjacent to the dock, with convenient transportation. There are constant patrols with helmets and armors coming and going. It is obviously a very important place.
This is the temporary office location of "Dong Datang Company" in Huating Town.
Wang Xuance was sitting in his office wearing regular clothes. He read the letter from Nan Tianzhu in his hand carefully, then put it on the desk. He stood up and walked to the giant map hanging on the wall, focusing his attention on the peninsula where Nan Tianzhu was located. tip.
Behind him, Xi Junbai said: "The people of Tianzhu are not so courageous. Who dares to attack the Tang people's hoarding land unscrupulously now? Pallawa and Zhelouqi have been fighting for the hegemony of southern Tianzhu all the year round. This time Zhelouqi A fleet of Louqi tried to bypass the sea and land in the south of Pallava, forming a north-south pincer attack on Pallava, so there was a conflict with our navy stationed in the north of Ceylon Island. "
Wang Xuance turned around, came to the table, and said in a deep voice: "It doesn't matter what the people of Tianzhu think. The fact is that our navy was attacked, some soldiers were killed, and the route to Dashibao via Ceylon Island was blocked. If we don’t stop for a short time, the losses will be huge, so we must give a warning to others.”
Xi Junmai agreed: "How to warn?"
Wang Xuance turned around again, put his palm on Ceylon Island, and said: "Mobilize the navy from Da Nang to rush to South Tianzhu, send troops to occupy Ceylon Island, and drive away all Tianzhu people on the island. From now on, no Tianzhu people are allowed set foot on Half a step away from Ceylon. After occupying Ceylon, the navy went north to land and attacked Jianzhibulo, forcing Pallava to sign the cession of Ceylon. Otherwise, he would destroy his country with Zhelou. "< br>
"Ah this..." Xi Junmai was a little dizzy. Although the Tang Dynasty had long coveted the island of Ceylon, but now it was Chalukya's fleet that attacked the navy, resulting in the death of soldiers, but in turn asked Pallava to cede the land. Compensation...is this still unreasonable?
(End of chapter)