Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 449 Separation
But these things are not the problems that Zhu Yi needs to think about.

As a close minister, Zhu Yi's only goal was to satisfy Xiao Yan. If he could make some money on the basis of Xiao Yan's satisfaction, that would of course be even better.

You can't say that people like Zhu Yi are incompetent. It is precisely such capable and treacherous ministers who will cause greater damage to the country.

Zhu Yi thought for a moment and said tentatively:

"The Yizhou army was completely annihilated. This was the fault of Fan Sheng who led the troops to surrender."

Seeing that Xiao Yan did not interrupt him, Zhu Yi boldly said:

"Although Xiao Ji, the governor of Yizhou, made a mistake, it was a mistake of not carefully selecting the right people. As a general of the Yizhou army, Fan Sheng did not devote all his energy to serving the country, but always wanted to ask for rewards for his subordinates."

Bian Ji couldn't help but sigh, this Zhu Yi was really a good speaker, he could turn black into white with just one sentence, it was obvious that Xiao Ji was reluctant to give the rewards promised to the soldiers, but Zhu Yi said that it was Fan Sheng holding the army hostage to demand rewards, and he also said that the Yizhou army was an army that could only fight if they were rewarded.

Sure enough, after hearing what Zhu Yi said, Xiao Yan's brows relaxed.

Zhu Yi observed his words and expressions and felt that this Bodhisattva Emperor was still old.

When Xiao Yan was young, he was not without advisers around him. In the early days of his reign, they were also willing to listen to advice.

When Xiao Yan started a rebellion against Qi and captured the city of Jiankang, he became obsessed with Yu, a concubine in Xiao Baojuan's palace, and delayed government affairs.

When his subordinate minister Fan Yun found out, he was unable to dissuade him and had to ask Wang Mao to join him in the remonstrance. He then cleverly resolved the matter by giving Yu to Wang Mao.

Afterwards, Xiao Yan gave Fan Yun and Wang Mao one million coins each.

But that was when Xiao Yan was young.

Xiao Yan is now sixty years old.

When people get older, they don’t like to do stressful things and they don’t like to hear bad news.

When the elderly in ordinary families get older, people will try to tell them only good things and report good news rather than bad news.

However, as the emperor of the entire Southern Liang Dynasty, Xiao Yan only listened to good words and not bad words, and was tolerant of his subordinates. What would be the final outcome of the Southern Liang Dynasty?

Bian Ji didn’t know. He only knew that the price of rice in Jiankang City had doubled. However, everyone from the royal family to the poor people had been caught up in the frenzy of believing in Buddhism.

It’s a pity that these Buddha statues did not help the Southern Liang Dynasty to defend Yizhou.

Putting the blame on a surrendered general, Xiao Yan nodded in satisfaction, but what happened next gave him a headache again.

Yizhou was one of the richest regions in Southern Liang. It was self-sufficient in food and could also produce Shu brocade. Losing Yizhou meant losing an important source of income.

Perhaps seeing Xiao Yan's thoughts, Zhu Yi said:

"Your Majesty, although Chengdu was taken advantage of by the northern bandits, Baidi City is still in our hands. Wang Sengbian is the son of Wang Shennian, who is knowledgeable about military affairs and good at fighting. With him in Baidi City, we can ensure the safety of the gates of Jingzhou."

"After the autumn harvest, we will raise a large army from Jingzhou to attack Shu. We will surely be able to conquer Yizhou."

Nephew Xiao Yan nodded repeatedly, and Bian Ji could only sigh that this Minister of the Central Secretariat really understood people's hearts.

Just like in Buddhism, it is impossible for you to pray to Buddha for blessings in this life, but Buddha can promise you blessings in the next life!
Bian Ji thought of what Su Ze had said in the past, "Things will be perfect if you take it slow." When big things happen, people are always unable to accept it at the time, but as time goes by, no matter how big the event is, there will be a day when they will be accepted.

Xiao Yan could not accept the loss of Yizhou for a while, and Zhu Yi just said that he would wait until the autumn grain was stored in the warehouse before attacking Shu from Jingzhou.

Anyway, when the time comes, maybe Xiao Yan will just calculate the pros and cons.

This is just like saying "definitely next time". As long as things are delayed, you will naturally feel relaxed.

However, the financial hole is a real problem facing Zhu Yi.

Bian Ji looked at Zhu Yi. The court had spent tens of millions of money on this year's Tongtai Temple lecture, and the tens of millions of money that Xiao Yan had promised to donate had not yet arrived.

Although Xiao Yan called for frugality and not killing animals during sacrifices, he himself ate vegetarian food and chanted Buddhist scriptures in the palace.

However, Xiao Yan was very generous when rewarding his ministers. For example, when many members of the Yuan clan of the Northern Wei Dynasty came to Jiankang to surrender, Xiao Yan would often reward them with hundreds of thousands or millions of coins. Even when Xiao Yan played Go with others, as long as he won, he would reward them with ten thousand coins. People even said that Xiao Yan played the most chess with Chen Qingzhi and he deliberately lost money to Chen Qingzhi to train his troops.

But Zhu Yi and Bian Ji knew that this was just Xiao Yan's generosity.

"Just cut off the source of Shu brocade?"

Xiao Yan felt a little distressed when he thought of this, but Zhu Yi quickly said:

"Your Majesty, don't worry. Today, the brocades of Jiankang are no less than those of Shu. Jingzhou also has top-quality brocades that can rival those of Shu. Wasn't the brocade presented by the King of Xiangdong (Xiao Yi) last time also very good?"

Xiao Yan asked again:
"It costs money to buy Shu brocade. Where does the money come from?"

Zhu Yi said calmly:
"Your Majesty, all you need to do is open a few more iron smelters in Jingzhou, order the King of Xiangdong to cast his own iron coins, and then purchase brocade from the people and send it to Jiankang."

Hearing this, Xiao Yan nodded repeatedly, and the unhappiness he felt about losing Yizhou disappeared.

Bian Ji also looked at the Minister of the Central Secretariat with admiration. No wonder Xiao Yan relied on Zhu Yi. The loss of Yizhou was such a big deal, but Zhu Yi made it a trivial matter in just a few words, which gave Xiao Yan the interest to continue chanting scriptures and preaching.

During this crisis, Zhu Yi also raised the status of the King of Xiangdong. Xiao Yan's crown prince, Xiao Tong, was a prince deeply influenced by Confucianism and was very disgusted with sycophants like Zhu Yi.

In fact, even if he did not hate it, Xiao Tong already had his own team when he was compiling "Wenxuan". Once Xiao Tong came to power, Zhu Yi would definitely not have a good ending.

You have to know that Xiao Yan was already sixty years old.

By this age, there have been three or four emperors in the north.

Although Xiao Yan was in good health, an old man of his age might have died suddenly from a serious illness, which was considered a long life in the Southern and Northern Dynasties when medical technology was backward.

Zhu Yi knew that the prince hated him, so he had been supporting other princes and suppressing the prince's power over the years.

Granting money to princes in remote areas and allowing them to mint their own coins is a considerable power.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the King of Huainan controlled the right to mint coins and amassed a large amount of wealth through the profits from salt and iron. This led to the Rebellion of the Seven Kings.

The Southern Liang Dynasty's system of princes stationed in remote areas was a result of learning from the historical lessons of the Xiao Qi Dynasty, where the royal family was too weak and unable to protect the royal family once a powerful minister usurped the throne. The princes stationed in remote areas had great power and possessed local administrative and military authority.

Sometimes history is so ironic. The royal family of Liu Song was too powerful, and they killed each other and destroyed their country.

After Xiao Qi replaced the Song Dynasty, it learned from this lesson and suppressed the royal family severely, so much so that after Xiao Yan led his army to conquer Jiankang, Xiao Qi could not choose a new emperor.

Xiao Yan learned from his lesson and assigned his sons to guard key locations, hoping that they would be able to risk their lives to protect the country when the court was in trouble.

But in fact, Xiao Yan's plan failed.

In the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, during the Hou Jing Rebellion, Hou Jing was able to fight all the way to Jiankang. In addition to Hou Jing's ability to attack and his courage to fight, the local troops supporting Jiankang were just like the eighteen princes who fought against Dong Zhuo back then, and each of them had ulterior motives.

At that time, Xiao Yi had the greatest power, but he was unwilling to use his own troops to rescue his father Xiao Yan, and kept delaying until Taicheng was captured.

After the death of Xiao Yan and the Crown Prince, these princes quickly changed their attitude and quickly put down Hou Jing's rebellion.

The relationship between the princes was already delicate, and with the instigation of close ministers like Zhu Yi, Bian Ji didn't dare to imagine what the future would be like.

It can only be said that all the problems of the Southern Liang Dynasty were actually caused by Xiao Yan's own sins.

Tomorrow's fruit is today's cause.

What will be the final fate of this Bodhisattva Emperor will depend on the outcome of the drama in the north.

Bian Ji's advantage was that he had been informed in advance by Su Ze and knew that Xiao Yan still had a long life ahead of him.

During my time in Southern Liang, I will also learn from Zhu Yi and cling to Xiao Yan's thigh tightly.
-
Yongle City, Baizhang Tower.

"Royal sister wants to live separately?"

Princess Chenliu looked at Princess Nanyang and asked in surprise.

After Su Ze took control of Yongzhou, he did not make things difficult for Xiao Baoyin, the governor of the Guanzhong expedition. He simply dismissed him from his post in the name of the young emperor, but retained his title of Duke of Danyang and granted him a mansion to live in Chang'an.

Xiao Baoyin had already lost his power in Guanzhong, and Su Ze was not prepared to kill him completely.

What's more, Xiao Baoyin had a bad reputation, but his wife Princess Nanyang had a good reputation.

Living apart means living apart. No matter in ancient or modern times, in China or abroad, divorce is never a decent thing.

Princess Nanyang was a member of the royal family, and her marriage to Xiao Baoyin was arranged by the emperor, so there were many troubles if she wanted to divorce.

Living separately means that the husband and wife live separately and each leads their own life. It is a compromise choice.

However, the normal separation means moving out of the husband's house, but Princess Nanyang proposed to go to Chengdu.

Princess Chenliu tried to persuade him to stay and said:

"Royal sister, Chengdu has just returned and is not stable. If you want to live somewhere else, you can just live in Yongle City. Why do you want to go to Chengdu?"

Princess Nanyang certainly would not say that she did not want to stay in Yongle City because of what Bian Ji said at the Longhua Temple about "the connection from the previous life", but she also had her reasons for going to Chengdu.

Princess Nanyang said:

"You know, my dear sister, that I have been interested in women's crafts since I was a child. Shu brocade is the best brocade in the world. I want to go to Chengdu to see it and learn how to make it."

So that's how it is. Although Princess Chenliu didn't like Xiao Baoyin, she still liked this imperial sister very much. As soon as her son was born, Princess Nanyang sent several pieces of brocade she had woven herself to make clothes.

Princess Chenliu could still satisfy such a small request as just moving to Chengdu to live separately.

She said:
"But now that my sister is gone, we sisters don't know when we will see each other again."

Princess Nanyang also said sadly:

"The mountains and rivers are broken, and I heard that Luoyang has also suffered a disaster. Imperial sister, I am willing to donate 100 pieces of brocade to help the victims in Luoyang."

(End of this chapter)