"If we still have to send troops and force Jingnan to fight for troops, forcing Cheng Yan to surrender... He was different from Gao Jichang's situation. Our army attacked the East Road of Shannan, first took the lead, and then went south to attack the Pingchuan Mountains. He was trembling and took the initiative. Gao Jichang knew that it would be difficult to resist for a long time, so he was willing to give up the power to control one side and save his own life.

However, Cheng Xian was in charge of Jiangling and was under the jurisdiction of the two prefectures in the Gorges, with nearly 100,000 troops and land. Although he was not a match for our army, he still had the benefits of the navy and boat troops, so it was difficult to destroy it in one go.

What's more, if we directly annex the East Road of Shannan, our army can annex the large territory of Xiaxiang, Deng, Fang, Tang, Sui, Jun, Ying and other states. Now Chengxian is controlled by Lizhou in the southern part of the Jingnan Army, Langzhou is occupied by Lei Yanwei, and Kuizhou to the west is also occupied by Shu. Chengxian is only in charge of the three states. If we want to attack forcibly, the losses must be much heavier than attacking Jingxiang and Eyue, which seems to be a bit more costly."

After thinking for a while, Li Tianqu then spoke long. After hearing this, Li Zhen immediately asked:

"In this way, Your Majesty really intends to let His Majesty take our dynasty as his backer and allow him to govern the land?"

Li Tianqu hesitated for a moment, and suddenly said meaningfully to Li Zhen:

"In the previous period, Gao Jichang had already asked for surrender to express his willingness to surrender, but if he refused to offer Shannan East Road and allowed our dynasty to be transferred, I would not allow him to surrender. If he treated Jingnan Chengxian, I would still do the same. If he refused to offer troops, he would destroy his power... Our army has many soldiers and generals, and of course he would bully him with his power, but what would he think about the vassals of the world and the vassal states and even the subordinate states and vassal states in our dynasty? "

With Li Zhen's power-making and verbal suggestion, he immediately realized what Li Tianqu's deeper concerns were.

Power, especially the power of the governor who is in charge of a vassal state, once you have grasped it and become addicted to it, you will never want to give up. If there are external forces that force you to give up the power you have, the more most people's reaction will be:

If you dare to cut off my power and conquer my soldiers, it will kill me. I will fight with you.

Li Zhen was also very clear that his power was now strong enough to attract wind. Every time he went to use troops, the world and the vassals were also closely watching the way the surrendered forces were dealt with. He forced Gao Jichang to give up the power of the military governor of the vassal states, but he could not do such things too much every time he went to the expedition. Cheng Shi also took the initiative to express his verdict, but he had to force his territory at any cost, which would convey the signal to the other forces:

Li Tianqu’s forces cannot tolerate the long-term existence of a local separatist regime. Even if you express surrender, if conditions permit, it will inevitably annex the foundation you have built.

Although Li Tianqu did have such a plan, he could not be too blatant. Otherwise, the result would be that the rest of the vassals would rather submit to Zhu Wen, Li Keyong, Yang Xingmi, Wang Jian and other forces than express their surrender to Li Tianqu easily.

Just like Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, who was vigorously trying to reduce the vassal states, it was an era of separatist rule by various vassal states, it was equivalent to offending the fundamental interests of all forces. By then, Li Tianqu was not only likely to become a public enemy of various countries, but the hostility of Zhao, Ye, Beiping, Wu and Yue, who now expressed their submission, would also increase day by day. The military governors who were enfeoffed under their command would inevitably have some strange thoughts.

Li Zhen immediately understood Li Tianqu’s thoughts, then nodded and said:

"Your Majesty is far-sighted, and I am really impressed... Then when we negotiate with Li Ting, we will only transfer tribute and tribute matters, but in fact, to the bottom line of our dynasty, we still recognize that he can submit to Your Majesty and still maintain the power to govern himself as the governor of the vassal state? "

"Of course, it can't be too cheap. Isn't his Jingnan Army good at making giant ships? There is no need to finalize the negotiations to seek peace too early. After all, Chengxian doesn't know the bottom line of our dynasty.

When I pay tribute, I have no shortage of money, food, and property. If you have such a giant ship that is twenty feet long and can carry more than a thousand people, or even a variety of navy ships, how much I can hand over to him every time I pay tribute, it all depends on your ability to argue."

After Li Zhen got the right words from Li Tianqu, he immediately started to prepare for the negotiations with Jingnan's envoy. Li Tianqu stayed in the imperial study room, while savoring the tea and thinking:

To end the separatist times and strengthen centralization, we must use slow knife to cut flesh and boil frogs in warm water... Moreover, Cheng Yan still has value in exploitation now. The vassal states of Jingnan Army that he occupied are facing the Yangtze River in the south, the Han River in the north, the Bashu River in the west, and the Hunan-Guangdong in the south... are located in the four battles, and are sandwiched between the Five Dynasties of the Central Plains and the Shu, Wu, Chu and other countries according to the historical trajectory. If they get it, they will easily lead to attacks and captures from all sides.

So it is better to keep Jingnan Chengxian as a buffer zone. Otherwise, the forces on the north side will fight against Liang, Jin, and even the countries of Heshuo, and in the south, they will have to fight openly and secretly with Shu, Chu, Wu and other countries, and they will easily fall into a dilemma of losing oneself. At least Li Tianqu’s mentality is very stable at the moment, and he will not think that he can fight the countries alone by himself.

At least for now...

According to Li Tianqu's instructions, Li Zhen continued to open the details of negotiating with the envoys of Huainan to accept Cheng Shi's surrender. There were several hostile forces around Cheng Shi, including Wang Jian, Lei Yanwei, Ma Yin, etc. who were unwilling to fight with Li Tianqu anymore, so he adopted the strategy of expressing his obedience to the Central Plains dynasty. Li Tianqu also allowed Cheng Shi to retain autonomy over the military and political jurisdiction of the vassal states, and both of them could meet the other's bottom line. Therefore, the result of the negotiations was that Cheng Shi successfully turned to Li Tianqu.

However, during the negotiation process, Li Zhen, in accordance with the principle of snatching "protection fees" from the Jingnan Army, has been delayed for a while, but it has already made the maximum number of warships that need to be provided to his own forces during each tribute.

The Jingnan Army's target of surrendering is no longer Zhu Wen. Li Tianquxin said that he had the right to interfere in his target of sending troops to fight. At least he is still in a friendly relationship with Yang Xingmi, so he always has to watch the Tiewa, who is not going to raise troops too early to fight with Nanwu.

When one day he would become an enemy of Yang Xingmi, Cheng Wen would definitely be a supporter. Even if he would defeat Nanwu according to his original trajectory and die, how did Zhu Wen take the opportunity to take over his vassal territory in official history? Li Tianqu planned to do that by then.

However, King Jian of Shu was not happy about Cheng Shi's surrender to Li Tianqu. He had only taken down three prefectures during the eastern expedition, but Cheng Shi turned to Wei. The Shu army wanted to attack again, but he was afraid of the backing behind Jingnan Army.

However, Li Tianqu didn't take it seriously, either. I accept me, is it necessary to act according to your Wang Jian's look?

The Shu Kingdom had no choice but to continue to fight for the eastward expedition and advance its territory, and Wang Jian focused his attention on the troops who fought against Ganlong in the north.

Li Tianqu was also paying attention to the progress of the war between Jin and Shu in Bianjing, which jointly raised troops to attack Liang State. Until the military information arrived in the northwest, Li Tianqu couldn't help but make a sound after hearing the news. Wang Jian was ambitious and sent two armies to attack Ganlong and Jingnan respectively. His army in the east at least snatched three military states from Cheng Yi, but the troops in the northern expedition not only did not take any advantage, but instead stole chickens and lost rice...

Wang Zongkan, Wang Zongyou and other adopted sons under Wang Jian led the troops and led 80,000 troops into Fengxiang Mansion under the rule of Liang State. He fought with Liang generals Duan Ning and Fu Daozhao first. The other side seemed to be defeated and retreated one after another. The Shu army was aggressive and pressed forward step by step, and it was necessary to take the opportunity to capture the territory of Ganlong prefectures.

However, only fifty or sixty miles away from Fengxiang Prefecture, there was also Liang's general Li Si'an and Zhang Cunjing, who led the ambush and suddenly rushed out, surrounded him several times, killing Wang Zongkan. The Shu army led by Wang Zongyou suffered a great loss and lost all the way, and collapsed and fled until they withdrew the territory under Shu. The Northern Expedition Army suffered more than half of the casualties... The Shu emperor Jian's plan to invade Liang's territory northwards was completely in failure.
Chapter completed!