Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 566: Unification of the North and the South (Part of the Final Chapter)
Jiangling.

Hou Jing was discussing matters with his favorite general Yang Jia.

Just as the two were discussing the matter, a messenger suddenly rushed in and handed Hou Jing a letter from home.

Hou Jing originally wanted to get angry, but when he saw his wife's handwriting on the letter, he couldn't wait to open it and read it.

Putting down the letter in his hand, Hou Jing said: "The King of Tang has accepted the abdication and ascended the throne."

Upon hearing the news, Yang Jia immediately shouted "Long live the emperor". Hou Jing then said:
"My lady sent me a letter saying that His Majesty has already led his army to the south and will arrive in Jiangling soon. The imperial emissary should arrive tomorrow."

Hearing this, Yang Jia became even more excited and said:
"General, we have finally waited for this day!"

Hou Jing nodded slightly, he stood up and looked out the window. In the past two years, he had been preparing for the southern expedition day and night.

The first is shipbuilding. In the past two years, Hou Jing has recruited craftsmen in Jiangling and built twelve large Huanglong boats. These are the super-large ships used in the attack on Baidi City.

In addition, there were a large number of fire attack ships and gunpowder ships, and civilians familiar with water were recruited to serve as naval forces to train troops on the Jiangling River.

All of this was naturally preparation for the southern expedition.

Hou Jing sighed again and said:
"Your Majesty is personally leading the army. It is not our turn to fight this time."

Yang Jia didn't feel anything. He joined the army much later than Hou Jing, but thanks to his battles in Yizhou and Jingzhou, he was rewarded with a title of nobility, which was already a great honor for his ancestors.

Moreover, Hou Jing had anticipated in the past two years that he would not be able to lead the southern expedition.

Hou Jing smiled and said:

"But my wife wrote to me saying that the Western Regions are somewhat unstable this year, and Yu Jin has been sent to the Western Regions by His Majesty, so he can't come to participate in the Southern Expedition."

Yang Jia immediately understood what Hou Jing meant.

Although the merit has not been officially awarded yet, the news that Su Ze wants to build a Hall of Meritorious Officials has been confirmed.

When the North and the South are unified, portraits of the meritorious officials will be painted and enshrined in the Hall of Meritorious Officials.

There is no doubt about the sequence of civil servants, and no one can shake Su Chao's position as the first meritorious official.

But on the military side, Yu Jin, Murong Shaozong and Hou Jing were all sprinting for the final position.

Since ancient times, only the first can be remembered.

The first is the meritorious official, that is, the most important official, who determines his position in the future court. Hou Jing has the merit of conquering Yizhou and Jingzhou. If he can get some more points in the southern expedition, he may surpass Yu Jin.

At this juncture, Yu Jin was sent to the Western Regions. As the governor of Jingzhou, he was the military general who knew the situation in the Southern Dynasty best and had to follow Su Ze into the expedition.

It seems that this military general has a chance to be ranked first among the meritorious servicemen!

Hou Jing then said to Yang Jia:

"Immediately organize the army and start inspecting the barracks tomorrow. Once your Majesty's order arrives, we will be ready for battle in Jiangling!"

"only!"

The political and military systems of Jingzhou were a complete transplant of the Guanzhong system.

After two years of recuperation, the fertile land of Jingzhou quickly prospered.

When the people of Jingzhou heard that His Majesty was going south to Jingzhou to personally preside over the war to unify the north and the south, they cheered and began to fully support the war.

As the front line, no one knows the pain of war better than the people of Jingzhou.

Only when this chaotic world is pacified as soon as possible can the people finally live a good life.
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The war machine in the north was fully activated, and the South felt much more relaxed. In the past two years, the situation in the South has not stabilized, but has become more chaotic.

First is Jiankang.

Xiao Yan, who abdicated, died of old age and illness within a few months, but the rumor among the people was that it was Xiao Gang who forced his father to death.

These rumors are not Xiao Gang's biggest trouble.

Heba Sheng and Xiao Gang, who were nominally the king and his subject, had a fierce conflict after working together for a while.

The final result was that Heba Sheng successfully killed Xiao Gang and made Xiao Gang's two-year-old son Xiao Daqi the emperor.

Now Heba Sheng completely lost his legitimacy. There were even various opinions among the people as to whether Xiao Daqi, Xiao Gang's posthumous son, was Xiao Gang's son. There were even rumors that Xiao Daqi was Heba Sheng's son.

Xiao Yi and Wang Sengbian in Shouchun saw the opportunity and immediately sent troops to attack Jiankang.

However, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Heba Sheng still defeated Wang Sengbian's troops, scaring Xiao Yi so much that he abandoned his army and fled back to Shouchun. Wang Sengbian had no choice but to gather his remaining troops and retreat as well.

Logically speaking, when the two sides were fighting to the death in Jiankang, Xiao Xu, who was entrenched in Lingnan, should have seized the opportunity to send troops.

But at this time Xiao Xu was also caught up in the chaos.

The number of Lingnan Li people is huge, but in fact their various styles and customs have been highly sinicized.

However, Xiao Yan always adopted a laissez-faire policy towards these Lingnan people, only collecting some symbolic tributes as a form of control over them, and not levying taxes on them.

In order to fight, Xiao Xu also sent tax collectors to collect taxes from the Li people, which immediately caused dissatisfaction among the Li people. Among them, the flag of the Xian tribe in Gaoliang area was the most eye-catching, which quickly gathered a large number of Li people and started a rebellion against Xiao Xu.

However, Xiao Xu was not good at fighting, so he sent his general Liu Zhongli, but he was defeated three times by the ragtag Li army. The last time, the Li leader was a sixteen-year-old girl. It is said that this girl was engaged to Feng Bao, the prefect of Gaoliang, so she was called Madam Xian. She was very good at commanding battles, and Liu Zhongli lost his armor and suffered heavy losses. From then on, he avoided fighting.

The situation in the Southern Dynasty was so chaotic that many local officials in the north had secretly prepared to surrender over the years. Hou Jing had received many envoys from the Xuan Jingsi in Jiangling and knew that they were well-informed about the internal intelligence of the Southern Liang Dynasty.

With such preparations, Your Majesty's Northern Expedition will surely succeed this time, and the next step will be the reunification of the north and the south!

With excitement, Hou Jing finally waited for Su Ze's advance team on May 10th.

The person in charge of clearing the way was Su Ze's imperial guard leader Chen Chong. Hou Jing did not dare to neglect this fellow townsman from the Six Garrisons. Although Chen Chong ranked low in the sequence of meritorious officials, he was undoubtedly a close minister to the emperor and the emperor's most trusted personal guard.

After Chen Chong checked the security of Jiangling, Su Ze's imperial carriage finally arrived in Jiangling City on May 16th.

This time, the emperor personally led the army to fight, marking the first sign of hope for the unification of the north and the south since Fu Jian.

For this war of unification, Su Ze brought almost all of his family assets.

Except for Su Chao who stayed in Chang'an and was responsible for the transportation of military supplies in the rear, most of the civil and military officials were taken to Jiangling by Su Ze.

In addition to the Jiangling route, Murong Shaozong attacked Xiao Yi's troops in Shouchun from Xuzhou.

Then they would jointly attack Jiankang from the north and west.

There are endless warships on the Yangtze River.

On both sides of the river, flags are flying.

Standing on the Jiangling City, Su Ze reviewed the navy and army, and then gave the order to march!
It will be finished tomorrow. The new book will be published next Monday, and the title has not been decided yet.

Thank you all for your support, Fei Niao is very grateful.

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(End of this chapter)