Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1330: Tang Division Crosses the River

Pogangdu is not far from Jiankang. After the war here ended, relevant battle reports were quickly transmitted back to Jiankang City, including Hua Jiao's report that the Wujun Rebellion was planned by Linchuan King Chen Qian.

"The Marquis of Wu is indeed a famous general who is feared by the Jiangbei people. He has already defeated a part of the rebel army shortly after leaving the capital. The rebellion in Wu County will surely be quelled soon!"

After learning the news of Wu Mingche's victory in the first battle, Chen Chang could not help but clap his hands in admiration. Although this victory only opened up the passage to Pogangdu, it was still far from truly quelling the rebellion, and Wu County was still in the hands of the rebels, but this was already a rare good news for Chen Chang in recent times.

However, the situations Hua Jiao explained were not so pleasing. Although people with good eyes had already seen that Chen Qian was behind the incident in Wu County, as long as the inside story was not revealed, there was still room for covering up the matter.

But if the actual situation were to be made public, the imperial court would have no room for avoidance and would have to send troops directly to attack Chen Qian, otherwise it would not be enough to intimidate other local powerful forces.

Of course, Chen Chang also wanted to take advantage of the situation to solve the problem of Chen Qian, but the Southern Chen court obviously did not have such ability at the moment. If they completely broke off relations with Chen Qian and had to resort to fighting to resolve the conflict, they would inevitably have to go down the old path and borrow troops from the Tang Dynasty.

However, the Three Wu region is the heart of Jiangdong. If the Tang army is allowed to come south, it would be tantamount to inviting thieves. No matter how much Chen Chang wants to get rid of Chen Qian, he can't expose the famous families of the Three Wu to the Tang!

Moreover, the people of the Three Wus were already dissatisfied with the overly close relationship between the imperial court and the Tang Dynasty. Once the Tang army was invited to come south to attack, it would inevitably make the people even more agitated and make the people of the Three Wus even more alienated from the imperial court.

Therefore, the most prudent way at the moment is to endure it temporarily and just solve the rebellion in Wujun. It is not appropriate to pursue this matter to the end. After the situation stabilizes, we can slowly deal with Chen Qian through other means.

Therefore, Chen Chang ordered Wu Mingche again, asking him to lead his troops to Wujun quickly and not to go to Wuxing to avoid further escalation of the situation. At the same time, he asked Wu Mingche to keep the inside story secret and execute Hua Jiao directly in the army, so as not to let him spread any remarks that would undermine the overall situation to the current leaders.

Of course, Chen Chang did not just endure it. After telling Wu Mingche about it, he ordered his cousin Chen Xu and his family members who were held hostage in the capital to be taken to Taicheng and controlled. Some officials who had close relations with Chen Qian were also marginalized to prevent the possibility of chaos in the capital.

At the same time, he sent someone to convey a message to Xu Du in Jingkou, ordering him to quickly march south to join forces with Wu Mingche and take advantage of the momentum of the victory in the first battle to quickly put down the rebellion in Wujun.

At the same time, this move was also to prevent Chen Qian from taking risks when he saw the situation was not good. After all, he had always acted without regard for the overall situation, making the country weaker. If he really made a risky move at a critical moment, with Wu Mingche and Xu Du as the two generals to fight against him, the harm could be minimized.

This series of very directional personnel adjustments in the court naturally made people in the capital panic, with a sense of undercurrents. However, the momentum of the quick resolution of the Nanchuan Rebellion was still there, and coupled with the victory of the first battle of the rebellion-suppressing division, even if those officials who had been stripped of their power had some dissatisfaction in their hearts, they did not dare to act rashly for a while.

Although the court officials remained calm and restrained, Chen Chang did not feel at ease because soon after that, various rumors began to spread in the city, such as the Tang army's fleet upstream gathering on the river bank, and signs of troops and horses being mobilized. What's more, some people even said that a Tang army division had appeared in Jingkou, making the situation even more confusing.

"This must be a traitor who has lost power and is filled with resentment, so he fabricated rumors to confuse people and intends to destroy the diplomatic relations between our country and the Tang Dynasty! His intentions are worthy of death, and we must investigate thoroughly!"

When Chen Chang heard his subordinates report such rumors, he immediately became furious. In his opinion, these were purely rumors spread by some villains who were only afraid of chaos in the world. They wanted to destroy the diplomatic relations between the two countries and undermine his prestige. He immediately ordered a thorough investigation of the source of the rumors and prohibited the people in the capital from continuing to spread related rumors.

But the story could not be false. As time went by, the relevant information not only did not disappear, but became more and more numerous, and the rumors became more and more certain and specific, so much so that Chen Chang began to gradually doubt whether the story was true.

This situation only lasted for a few days. Although Chen Chang was still half-believing and half-doubting the various rumors in the market, when the imperial envoy returned from Jingkou and informed him that more than 10,000 divisions from Guangling would cross the river in batches and station in Jingkou in the near future, even though Chen Chang was mentally prepared, he still felt like a bolt from the blue when he heard the news, and his shocked mind went blank.

"How, how could this happen? Tang army, Xu Du... Jingkou actually changed its master? How dare Xu Du, this bastard!" After a long time, Chen Chang gradually reacted, and immediately began to curse Xu Du: "This bastard, didn't I treat him well? He actually ignored the emperor's grace and was willing to be a criminal in Jiangdong, leading the invaders across the river! What is the current situation in Jingkou? The people of Jinling, will they let the Tang army cross the river? Have the Tang army's divisions and brigades already come to Jiankang?"

In his opinion, the Tang army's sudden and treacherous crossing of the river to occupy Jingkou must have been lured by the traitor Xu Du, who intended to capture Jiankang in one fell swoop. Therefore, the anger in his heart was soon replaced by fear, and he asked in a trembling voice what the Tang army stationed in Jingkou would do next.

What made him feel a little relieved was that the Tang army did not make any more moves after entering Jingkou, especially did not try to attack Jiankang, which made him feel greatly relieved, but he soon said in a hurry: "With the loss of Jingkou, Jiangdong is in danger. If we do nothing and just sit there and wait for death, we must do our best to recapture Jingkou! The current situation is extremely critical, quickly inform the people in the city and send all the young men in the country to Jingkou!"

"Your Majesty, please be careful! We still need to send an envoy to ask why the Tang army is stationed in Jingkou. In addition, there are also Tang army ships gathering upstream. The situation is dangerous. We must not act rashly now, and we must not cause chaos in the capital!"

As soon as he said this, Yin Buhai, who was among the ministers, hurriedly stepped forward to advise him, and several other ministers also said it was impossible.

After hearing these advice, Chen Chang's face was terribly gloomy, and he snorted coldly: "The Tang people have been disloyal and brazenly approaching Jiangbei. This is already a fact. You still want to stop me from using troops. Are you afraid of the enemy's might and dare not fight them, or are you greedy for profit and can't bear to give up!"

"The shame of losing a country is a great humiliation for a minister! As long as we can protect the prosperity of the country, we will also be brave enough to repay this kindness! However, now that a great change has suddenly occurred and the situation is unclear, rash actions may not be beneficial. Previously, when the enemy Qi troops entered Zhongshan, the First Lord was still able to fight them off. If the Tang army really approaches Jiankang, there will definitely be soldiers who will die for the country! We just beg the Lord not to panic."

Chen Chang's accusation was so serious that Wang Tong, the Shangshu Pushe who was at the front of the group, had to come out and bow.

With the advice and consolation from other ministers, Chen Chang gradually calmed down. He also knew that it would be difficult to deal with this change by simply responding to various stressful actions. Only by resuming communication as soon as possible and finding out the intentions of the Tang Dynasty could he hope for some turnaround.

So he asked someone to write a humble letter and sent it to the Tang army upstream and downstream. Not long after the letter was sent, the Tang envoy also crossed the river to Jiankang and stopped outside Shitou City to hand over the letter and ask for an audience.

The panicked Southern Chen monarchs and ministers naturally hurriedly welcomed the Tang envoys into the court with a respectful attitude, and hurriedly asked the Tang army what the series of extraordinary actions were intended to do. When they learned that these actions of the Tang army were all aimed at Hou Andu of Kuaiji, the Southern Chen monarchs and ministers could not help but be dumbfounded.

"The Tang Kingdom is still bullying us! They are making such a big fuss, is it just to get rid of Hou Andu? Besides, even if Hou Andu is rebellious and lawless, he is still an evil minister of the Chen Kingdom. Why should other countries punish him and kill him?"

  Chen Chang naturally would not believe this reason, but after some angry remarks, he had to face reality after all. He asked his staff to ask the Tang envoy if the Southern Chen court could arrest Hou Andu and his confidants and send them to the Tang Kingdom, would the Tang army downstream be willing to retreat back to the north of the Yangtze River?

Such negotiations were meaningless, and the Tang envoys only repeatedly assured that this action was absolutely not aimed at the Jiankang court, and that the Tang army would not enter Jiankang City without the permission of the Chen Lord. Of course, the premise was that Chen Chang must issue a proclamation to attack Hou Andu in the name of the Southern Chen court and announce his crimes to the people of Jiangdong.

Naturally, Chen Chang refused to agree to such a request. Although the other officials of the Southern Chen were also afraid of the power of the Tang Dynasty, they felt that the practice of sending a large army directly into the country without any prior communication was really too much. They were all very angry and expressed their dissatisfaction in silence.

However, as the Tang army's navy upstream continued to move south, the front brigade even crossed the Hengjiang River and was about to arrive in Jiankang. The Southern Chen court gradually stopped keeping silent. Some people successively suggested that there was no need for the court to make enemies with the Tang Kingdom, its long-time close ally, in order to protect a criminal like Hou Andu.

After the first person spoke out, subsequent speeches became more frequent. As more and more people expressed their opinions, Chen Chang, who was originally full of resentment and dissatisfaction, began to relax. Finally, under external pressure and internal instigation, he met the demands of the Tang State and issued a manifesto to fight the rebels in the name of the court.

As this manifesto reached the three Wu counties, it immediately caused an uproar in Wuzhong. For a time, even the Wu County rebellion that had not yet been resolved was forgotten by the times, and the attention of all those who were paying attention to the development of the situation was attracted by this incident.