A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"Never has it."

Wei Jingyuan vehemently denied this, stating that the military governor had already seized control of the local military and political power, as well as human rights and finances, effectively making it a state within a state. Under these circumstances, what were you trying to achieve by engaging in such collusion?

If he dares to admit it, things may be fine now, but when the court has time to spare, his words will become the basis for the court to hold him accountable.

"That's good."

Li Bi seemed to believe Wei Jingyuan's nonsense and nodded. "Now that the military governors of the north and west have rebelled one after another, I wonder if the military governor of the south is also making any moves?"

"Lord Wei is well-informed; may I offer some guidance?"

"May the angels bear witness, I have always been impartial and law-abiding, only concerned with my own little territory, and rarely contact other military governors. I dare not speak recklessly."

"However, as far as I know, it seems there isn't."

Wei Jingyuan explained that regardless of whether Li Bi believed it or not, he had already given his reasons.

"Is that really the case?"

"That's really true!"

The two old foxes exchanged a glance and smiled knowingly at each other.

"That would be good, after all, Xiangzhou's geographical location is indeed very important."

"If there really is a military governor who intends to join the rebellion in the northern and western border regions, then Lord Wei will be the first to be affected."

"To be honest, Vice Minister Cui of the Ministry of War has led 30 elite troops south to guard Wuguan Pass, so that he can lend a helping hand to Lord Wei if anyone attacks Xiangzhou."

"I wonder if Lord Wei could station the army in Xiangzhou, so that Xiangzhou can be better protected and the prosperous scene that you have built can be destroyed."

"Without the assistance of the imperial court to defend it, Xiangzhou would probably be reduced to ashes, with fertile fields destroyed, trade routes cut off, and heavy losses. If there is any rebellion, please be prepared, Lord Wei."

Li Bi said with concern.

Wei Jingyuan's eyes turned cold as he sensed the threat in Li Bi's tone.

"Rest assured, my angel. Although I am not very talented, I am confident that I can protect this little bit of wealth."

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, and may the angels also be at ease."

"As for stationing troops, there is no need. Thank you for your kind offer, but as the official in charge of Xiangzhou, I will live and die with Xiangzhou."

Li Bi was not angry after hearing Wei Jingyuan's words; he remained smiling.

"Lord Wei and the people of Xiangzhou are indeed deeply devoted to each other; Li Bi admires them."

"I doubt that Lord Wei would hand over the entire Xiangzhou for the benefit of others, making Xiangyang pay the price for someone else's foolishness."

Li Bi, with a meaningful tone, kept applying eye drops to Wei Jingyuan.

Wei Jingyuan snorted coldly, "Of course."

"Would Lord Wei be willing to station troops at the two major east-west thoroughfares for the sake of the people of Xiangzhou?"

"As far as I know, not all military governors of the southern border are as loyal to the court as Lord Wei. If they are caught off guard, it will be too late to regret it."

"As the saying goes, even if a person has no intention of harming a tiger, a tiger may still have the intention of harming a person. Lord Wei, you still need to be careful."

"The prefect of Xiangzhou is one of the most important officials in the entire south. It seems that someone wants to annex Xiangzhou and use its wealth to rebel against the court or strengthen their own power. I urge Lord Wei to act with caution."

"With Lord Wei's abilities, he should be able to discover this matter if he investigates carefully."

Li Bi's words made Wei Jingyuan's expression change for the first time.

As Li Bi said, if something like this really happened, he would definitely be able to find out with his abilities.

Therefore, Li Bi had absolutely no reason to deceive him with such a thing.

As a local warlord born and raised in the south, he knew all too well what kind of warlords these south were.

They wouldn't dare to openly rebel against the court and raise the banner of rebellion.

However, they certainly had the audacity to seize this opportunity of chaos to annex other regional warlords and bolster their own power.

"Rest assured, Angel, I will verify this carefully."

Having received the answer he wanted, Li Bi was relieved and left Wei Jingyuan's residence with satisfaction.

It seemed that Li Bi had also become interested in Xiangyang. He took the opportunity to stroll around the commercial street of Xiangyang City. However, at a stall selling pufferfish, Li Bi secretly made a gesture, sat down, and ordered a serving of pufferfish.

He would never place all his hopes on Wei Jingyuan, and naturally he secretly assigned people to keep an eye on Wei Jingyuan's every move.

After seeing Li Bi off, Wei Jingyuan, with a grim expression, summoned his trusted confidants and ordered them to secretly investigate whether someone was indeed eyeing his Xiangzhou.

Ten days later, Wei Jingyuan's trusted confidant finally brought the news.

Indeed, someone has their eye on his Xiangzhou, intending to combine Xiangzhou and Jingnan into one place, and restore Jingzhou, one of the ancient Nine Provinces of the Han Dynasty.

"Chu Zhaolie!"

"You deserve to die!"

"Someone, mobilize troops to garrison Changshou County and guard against Chu Zhaolie's invasion."

Without saying a word, Wei Jingyuan mobilized 100,000 troops to march south. Did he really think that Xiangzhou's reputation as a southern hub and a source of abundant wealth was just empty talk?

Of the eight military governors in the entire south, he had the most money, the most abundant resources, and the largest army.

"My lord, should we inform the angel? Perhaps we can still use the strength of the imperial army to resist Chu Zhaolie."

"This is what Chu Jingyuan's advisor suggested."

"No need," Wei Jingyuan shook his head.

"Once the imperial army enters Xiangzhou, it's uncertain whether they will leave."

"Moreover, this is Chu Zhaolie's opportunity, and isn't it also our opportunity?"

"If Chu Zhaolie could think of retreating his troops to Xiangzhou, why can't we annex Jingnan?"

It annexed Jingnan, completely occupying the entire Jingxiang region, bordering Yangzhou to the east, Lingnan to the south, and Bashu to the west.

Although it will be difficult to move north at that time, it is not impossible to divide the country along the river, establish a kingdom, and seize territory, relying on the rich heritage of Jingxiang.

They still held purely Southern ideas, only thinking about dividing the country along the Yangtze River, and found it difficult to muster the courage to go all out for a Northern Expedition.

While visiting the largest brothel in Xiangyang, Li Bi received a note from someone. After reading it, he immediately burned it in a candle flame.

Li Bi breathed a sigh of relief; the mission was finally complete.

After dealing with Wei Jingyuan, things became much easier.

His second target was Wei Chengqian, the military governor of Jiannan Dongchuan. He controlled all the roads leading out of Shu, and if he could persuade Wei Chengqian, he wouldn't have to worry about the military governor of Xichuan.

The road to Shu is more difficult than ascending to heaven.

As long as troops are stationed to guard the area, even if Xiao Chongyue, the military governor of Xichuan, had great abilities, he would not be able to leave Sichuan in a short period of time.

Even if the imperial court doesn't intervene, by the time Xiao Chongyue is able to conquer Xichuan and leave Sichuan, the wars in the western and northern frontiers will probably have ended several years ago!