Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1320: Come When You Call

Li Tai did not intend to treat Wang Lin and his people harshly. Difficult tasks would naturally bring extraordinary rewards. If Wang Lin could really withstand the pressure of Hulugu's invasion and make an effective counterattack, he would certainly not hesitate to reward him and give him a prominent treatment of ennobling his wife and children.

After making this decision, Li Tai immediately ordered people to quickly convey the relevant orders to the Nanchuan front line, ordering Li Xun to immediately dispatch his troops to migrate his followers northward after accepting Wang Lin and his group of surrendered people, and to settle their male and female family members in Luoyang. Wang Lin and his subordinates would continue to advance northward to Youzhou and be under the control of the Youzhou General Administration.

This incident concerning Wang Lin also made Li Tai realize that his cousin Li Xun indeed had an excellent overall view. Therefore, all subsequent matters of the Nanchuan expedition would still be handled by him, including matters such as accepting surrenders and capturing prisoners, which did not require further instructions. They would be summarized and reported after the war was over and the expeditionary force returned victoriously.

When the imperial edict was passed to Nanchuan, Li Xun was very happy to see that the emperor had many words of praise for his work in the imperial edict. Wei Shou, who had been invited to give him this suggestion, sighed, "My uncle is not ignorant of the general situation. This time, your plan is very much in the hands of the sage. In the past, I was entangled in public opinion, perhaps because I was misled by the old customs of the bandits. Now that the oranges have entered Guanzhong, I should cultivate my character and change my mind. In the future, I will be able to stand upright in the court!"

Wei Shou was able to receive so much courtesy and honor in the court of Northern Qi, which naturally showed that he possessed considerable political wisdom. He did not simply seek advancement by flattery, but also had a very keen and profound understanding of the general trend and the intentions of his superiors.

This time he tried his hand and found that he was still very sharp. He was feeling very pleased with himself, but when he heard his nephew's earnest and implicit advice, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry for a moment. He could only nod in agreement. He also knew in his heart that under the rule of the Tang Dynasty today, he really needed to adjust his way of doing things.

When Li Xun conveyed the court's decision to Wang Lin and his group, Wang Lin and his group were both happy and worried. They were happy that the Tang Dynasty had finally accepted their surrender, and they no longer had to wander around the world like homeless souls, with nowhere to go. They were worried that the court did not keep them in Nanchuan as they had expected to prepare for the expedition to Jiangdong, but instead moved them to Youzhou in one fell swoop.

"Where is Youzhou? How many tens of millions of miles away is it?"

Most of Wang Lin's troops were Jianghuai bandits, and their life experiences were limited to this vast swamp. Many of them had no idea where Youzhou was. When they heard that they were going to such an unknown place immediately, many of them could not help but reveal expressions of fear and confusion on their faces.

Wang Lin also hoped to stay in the familiar land in his heart, so after learning about this, he bravely asked Li Xun: "I am fortunate to be blessed by the Supreme King to live, and I am so grateful that I want to sacrifice my life! However, I am a water ghost by the river, and I grew up here. Most of the skills I learned are also used in the rivers and lakes. If I leave this hometown suddenly, I will be like a fish on the shore. I am afraid that I don’t have the skills to serve the king and repay this kindness. Therefore, I boldly ask the king to grant me another favor and allow me to follow the king to conquer Zhejiang, Fujian and Lingnan for the king!"

When Li Xun heard this, his face darkened and he shouted angrily, "When you came to beg before, you were extremely respectful. Now that your situation has improved, you are asking for indulgence. How can you measure the grace of heaven? Are you trying to test the sword of the law?"

"I dare not, I dare not, please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

After hearing this, Wang Lin hurriedly banged his head on the ground again until his forehead was broken and blood was smeared on his face. He stopped only after hearing Li Xun's cold snort to show his forgiveness, and did not dare to bargain anymore.

Although the journey was long, it was also an opportunity for Wang Lin and his people. Moreover, their families could stay in Luoyang, and it was said that they could be granted land and registered as households based on their merits in guarding the border, which was also a great hope for many people.

They have done many evil things and have not accumulated any merits in their lives, and their families have suffered a lot as they have followed them around the world. If they can use their lives to secure a stable livelihood for their families, it would not be considered that their sins have been wasted on the world.

So finally, under Wang Lin's call and constraints, a group of people packed up their few luggages, and under the guidance and supervision of the Tang army, they crossed the river to the north in batches, and headed towards Heluo via Sui Lu.

Although the Tang army did not deliberately conceal the interaction between Wang Lin and the Tang army from the Southern Chen army, they did not reveal too many details.

The commander of the Southern Chen, the Prince of Nankang, Chen Tanlang, was still following the orders of the King Chen Chang to find a way to solve the problem of Hou Zhen. Chen Chang told him to imprison Hou Zhen after entering the country, but Hou Zhen's years of chaos were not in vain. After Chen Tanlang entered the country, Hou Zhen simply avoided him.

Therefore, during this period of time, Chen Tanlang did not pay much attention to the situation of the Tang army. He was sending envoys to negotiate with Hou Zhen. When he heard the relevant news again, it was that Wang Lin's problem had been solved. He surrendered directly to the Tang Dynasty and evacuated Nanchuan. The troops were already on the road! "Is the power of a great country so great? Wang Lin is a stubborn and stubborn thief who roams the rivers and lakes. The first lord has fought several times but failed to eradicate this trouble. The Tang army has come here and eliminated this stubborn disease without fighting?"

When Chen Tanlang learned about this, he couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise and sighed in disbelief. Then he thought about the fact that his mission had not been completed yet, and he felt a little irritated.

However, something even more depressing happened next. After Wang Lin's problem was solved, the Tang army would leave Nanchuan and continue to move southwest to join Li Qianzhe's troops from Xiangzhou who had already gone there first to jointly attack Chunyu Liang from Guizhou.

According to the agreement between the two countries, the Southern Chen army would not be required to participate in the subsequent war, and of course the captured Lingbiao prefectures and counties would naturally be under the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty. However, before the Tang army left, the Nanchuan prefectures and counties had to be handed over to the Southern Chen army to guard them separately, so Li Xun sent someone to invite Chen Tanlang to meet him and asked him to quickly prepare for the handover and not delay the army's departure.

However, when Chen Tanlang faced Li Xun's request, he hesitated and dared not agree. He said a little embarrassedly: "Now there is Wuzhou Governor Hou Zhen, who has long refused the king's orders and refused to comply. Now he is summoned, but he does not come to see me. I am ordered to pacify Nanchuan, but the troops I have are not enough. Once the king leads his troops to leave the country, I am afraid that the situation in Nanchuan will be disturbed again..."

Speaking of this, Chen Tanlang was also full of grievances. The imperial court had only assigned him seven or eight thousand soldiers, but Nanchuan had always been an area full of powerful people, and Hou Zhen had failed to recruit them this time, which showed that he was obviously wary and had disloyalty.

It was fine that the Tang army was staying in the territory to deter the invaders. Once the Tang army withdrew, he would not be able to suppress the rebels with his own troops. If Nanchuan was lost in chaos after the handover, he would be guilty of a great crime.

Li Xun couldn't help but feel a little headache after hearing this. This was the first time he encountered such a situation. He wanted to return Nanchuan, but the Southern Chen didn't dare to take it. If possible, he certainly hoped to continue to control Nanchuan in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, but now the main task of the army is to conquer Guizhou, so there is not much time to stay here and kill time with Chen Tanlang.

Cheng Lingxi, who came here with Chen Tanlang, also felt quite ashamed at this moment, so he said in a deep voice: "King Jiangxia also has his own orders, and cannot stay here for long. I have been ordered to come here, but I have not done anything so far. I ask the king to stay for two more days, and I will lead my troops to fight Hou Zhen..."

After hearing this, Li Xun waved his hand and said, "Although Hou Zhen refused to listen to the orders, he is still a minister of the dynasty who obeyed the orders of the King of Chen. He has not shown any signs of rebellion. If we rashly use force, even if we can resolve the situation quickly, it will inevitably make the other powerful people in Nanchuan suspicious and make the people on the surface feel uneasy.

Now my Lord is willing to return Nanchuan to the rule of Lord Chen, hoping to benefit Jiangdong politics, not to cause unrest on the surface. At present, Hou Zhen does not know where my army is going, so why not send him another letter to explain the righteousness, hoping that he will return to the right path! "

Hearing what Li Xun said, Chen Tanlang and Cheng Lingxi looked at each other helplessly, and then said to Li Xun: "In this case, I will trouble you, Your Majesty."

  Then it was time for Wei Shou to come on stage with his brilliant writing skills. He first stressed that the Tang army had recaptured Wang Lin without bloodshed, and then rebuked Hou Zhen for refusing to come and pay homage, asking if he was planning to take the blame and die in place of Chunyu Liang of Guizhou?

Not long after Li Xun sent out the letter of accountability, Hou Zhen, who Chen Tanlang had been summoning for days but failed to appear, finally showed up. He was dressed in cloth and brought only a few followers with him. He came to the Tang army camp to pay his respects and apologize, without any arrogance at all.

When Chen Tanlang saw that Li Xun solved the problem that had been bothering him for many days with just a letter, he felt very complicated for a moment. On the one hand, he felt relieved after completing the task assigned by his master. On the other hand, he was also deeply aware of the huge gap between their Southern Chen and the Tang Dynasty in deterring the powerful forces in Nanchuan.

Hou Zhen was so obedient because he was shocked by Wang Lin's easy surrender. You must know that his power is not as strong as Wang Lin's now. He thought Wang Lin would fight with the two armies for a few times, and he could wait and see. But as soon as Wang Lin surrendered, he was immediately exposed. If he showed more of a jump, he might really be like Wei Shou said, and he would die in the place of Wang Lin and Chunyu Liang.

Of course, in addition to being frightened, the reason why Hou Zhen was no longer as rebellious as before was also because Chen Qian, the King of Linchuan, who had interacted closely with him before, suddenly stopped making any moves. This also made Hou Zhen suddenly fall into an isolated and helpless situation. At this time, he was threatened by the King of Jiangxia of the Tang State and could only bow his head and submit.

As for why Chen Qian in Wuzhong had no time to deal with Hou Zhen, it was because he had already devoted his energy to Wujun, and his confidants were already leading the newly recruited troops on their way to Wujun.