Nanping, Jiangling Mansion, fifty-five-year-old Gao Congjie is already very old.

He stood on the palace wall of the Nanping Prince's Mansion and looked at a horse riding in the distance, feeling very uneasy.

Nanping Kingdom is located south of Xiangzhou and is the smallest among all the kingdoms in the world.

However, it is located in a strategic location, with fertile land and the benefits of fishing from the Yangtze River.

Therefore, although there are only three states and seventeen counties, the number of people is still over 14,000 or 3,000, with a population of nearly 800,000.

The founder of Nanping was Gao Congjie's father, Gao Jixing, who was a domestic slave of Zhu Wen's adopted son Zhu Yourang. Because he was brave in battle and eloquent, he was favored by Zhu Wen and asked Zhu Yourang to adopt Gao Jixing as his adopted son.

Therefore, Gao Jixing was nominally the righteous grandson of Zhu Wen. After the fall of Zhu Liang, Gao Jixing took advantage of the situation and became the master of a country from the post of Jingnan Jiedushi of Houliang.

However, the reputations of father and son Gao Jixing and Gao Congjie are not very good. The father and son are collectively called Gao Laizi. They are fond of each other, which is beneficial and they can do anything.

Gao Congjiao was a man who was better than his master. He was a strange person among the kings of the country at that time. He was famous for being shameless and loved to do two things in his life.

The first thing is to recognize the boss everywhere. He recognizes the Hou Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains, the Later Jin Dynasty, the eldest brother Hou Shu and the Southern Tang Dynasty on both sides of the Yangtze River. He recognizes Ma Chu who is about the same strength as him in the south.

Even with people like Nan Han and Wang Min, he was able to curry favor with them and treat them as vassal states.

You know, Wang Min's national power is probably not as strong as that of Nanping.

What you are asking for is, of course, a reward. If you become the emperor, I, Lao Gao, will become your vassal and become your minister. Three melons and two dates cannot be spent.

Ugh! At the beginning, all the countries despised Gao Congjie's character and called him a scoundrel who came to beg for food. It was at this time that the name of Gao Congjie flourished.

But later, after the kings of various countries proclaimed themselves emperors, they suddenly began to reward Gao Congjie lavishly, fearing that he would not pay tribute.

Why?

It's very simple! All the countries in the world are standing side by side. You think you can claim the title of emperor with your holy literature, divine power and martial arts, but even Gao Congjiao and Gao Laizi don't come to proclaim themselves ministers. How can you have the face to claim the title of emperor?

So in the end, when someone from each country wanted to proclaim himself emperor, they would even notify Gao Congjie in advance and ask him to pay tribute and become a minister. The level of magic is evident.

The second thing Gao Congjie loved to do was to rob and detain missions and even business groups from various countries going to the Central Plains.

Nanping is stuck in Jiangling Prefecture (Jingzhou), an important transportation hub on the Yangtze River. Most of the southern countries going north to the Central Plains, and Meng and Shu connecting with the Southern Tang Dynasty, all have to take this road.

Therefore, Gao Congjie made full use of the geographical advantages, gave full play to his own specialties, and embarked on the crime of "I opened this road and planted this tree."

Gao Congjiao's idea of ​​drilling holes in the sky was ruined for all the large business groups and missions heading north.

Of course, Gao Laizi's methods were very mild. He did not kill people or rob them directly. He usually detained people from business groups or missions in the Nanping military camp or other places, and then waited to see the owner's reaction.

The owner sent someone to discuss it carefully, and he would pay a ransom, which wouldn't be too much. Anyway, it would be within the scope of the owner's ability to consider himself unlucky.

If the enemy wanted to raise troops to attack him, Gao Congjie would deploy his troops and generals as if he would not hesitate to fight.

Secretly, they bribed the owner's confidants to persuade them in private and try to trick them. In the end, the owner basically admitted that he was unlucky and spent money to eliminate the disaster.

Of course, it would be cool if the owner of the property just ignored him. Gao Congjie would usually wait a month or two. If the owner really didn't come to ask for it, he would keep the property and drive the person away.

Gao Congjie and Liu Yuan of the Southern Han Dynasty were truly an indescribable pair.

A shameless beggar who goes around and likes to be a bandit and rob people on the road.

One turned all his ministers into eunuchs, and then often led the navy to sea as pirates.

However, objectively speaking, Gao Congjie's ability to govern the country is at least a few steps ahead of Liu Yuan's.

This person goes rogue everywhere, not to satisfy his selfish desires, but to strengthen the Nanping Kingdom.

At home, he could respect civil servants and generals, be courteous to virtuous and corporal officers, live simply in food and clothing, liked to read classics and historical works, and was able to avoid punishments and be light in corvee and infringement of taxes.

In his hands, Nanping Kingdom has always been quite stable and prosperous.

The people of Nanping are extremely grateful to the Gao family and his son for protecting them in troubled times, and this is what the people want.

This is also the key reason why Nanping, a small and weak country, can still survive well in the cracks of major powers.

It can be said that among the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Gao Congjie was the third person in governance ability after Zhou Shizong Guo Rong and Wu Yue King Qian Miao.

It's a pity that Nanping is too small. Gao Congjie tried to expand several times, but he won first and then lost because of his small size. In the end, his efforts were in vain.

No, Gao Congjie, who was already in his sixtieth year, made another huge mistake. When he learned the result of the battle between Yongliao and Luoyang in his mansion, he passed out directly.

Because when Yelu Deguang first entered the Central Plains and Zhang Zhao had not sent out troops, Gao Congjie made accurate judgments based on more than ten years of paying attention to the political situation in the Central Plains.

He judged that the Khitans would not stay in the Central Plains for long, and according to the world practice since the Later Tang and Later Jin Dynasty, Gao Congjie believed that the one who finally had the ability to clean up the mess and establish a new dynasty must be Liu Zhiyuan, who was born in Daibei Wuxun and was always popular.

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Therefore, Gao Congjie decided to make a bet in advance. According to his usual style, he went to the Khitan people to express their surrender and pick up Yelu Deguang's wool.

On the other hand, he secretly sent an envoy to communicate with Liu Zhiyuan, expressing that Nanping State was willing to support Liu Zhiyuan in proclaiming himself emperor.

It can even supply grain, grass, soldiers and horses, as long as Liu Zhiyuan hands over Yingzhou (Zhongxiang, Hubei) to his management after the matter is completed.

Shortly after the emissary set off, the situation in the world further confirmed Gao Congjie's judgment. The Khitan people not only conquered the Central Plains violently, but also raided grass and valleys. For a time, resistance surged.

At this time, a piece of news deeply stimulated Gao Congjie.

That was Li Jing, the leader of the Wu and Tang Dynasties, who received the surrender of Hu Cile, the military commander of the Wuning Army in Xuzhou of the Later Jin Dynasty.

Wu Tang took the opportunity to annex his territory Haizhou to Xuzhou, renamed it Huaihai Jiedushi, and stationed himself in Xuzhou.

Li Jing conferred the titles of Hu Cile as the Grand Protector of the School, the Military Envoy of Huaihai, the Military Commander of the Wuning Army, the Duke of Xu, and was given the title of 5,000 pieces of colorful silk and 20 million in money.

He also transferred the Jianwu Army from the north of the Yangtze River to Xuzhou to assist in the defense. He appointed Hu Ci's eldest son Hu Wei as the deputy commander of the Longwu Army of the Imperial Army of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He went to Jiangningfan, the capital of the Wu and Tang Dynasties, to stay as a guard, using his clan daughter as his wife.

By this time, the Southern Tang Dynasty basically had Huainan land.

It has always been said that to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huaihe River. Whether the Jiangnan regime can survive is completely different with or without Huainan.

In addition to Wang Min's repeated encounter last year and Zhu Wenjin's regicide and independence, Li Jing took the opportunity to send General Zha Wenhui to lead an attack and completely destroyed Wang Min.

Against the background of the great chaos in the Central Plains, Wu Tang, who regarded himself as the clan of the Tang Dynasty, actually gained the momentum of being the greatest country in the world.

Gao Congjie's jealous eyes turned red. Why? Why did Gao Congjie, who had worked hard for seventeen years, not do as well as Li Jing, the second generation ancestor?

So Gao Laizi couldn't wait for the messenger to come back, so he decided to make enough food and clothing by himself.

Huh! I, a high-profile kid, have been pretending to be a grandson for most of my life, why can’t I stand up for myself?

Wu and Tang could touch the territory of the Central Plains, but we, Nanping, couldn't touch it?

So Gao Congjie first sent ten thousand naval troops up the Han River to attack Xiangzhou.

Although people on Shannan West Road were panicking at this time, Xiangzhou Defense Commander Jiao Jixun had great prestige. He personally went to the city head to lead the soldiers and civilians to defend the city. The Nanping navy could not take any advantage and could only withdraw in disgrace.

Then Gao Congjie, who was unwilling to give up, sent another 6,000 infantry troops to attack Yingzhou. The result this time was even worse.

Yin Shi, the governor of Yingzhou, heard about the arrival of the Nanping army. Instead of being afraid, he was very excited and felt that the opportunity to make meritorious deeds had arrived.

So, the Nanping Army, who said they were going to capture Yingzhou, were stopped and beaten by Yin Shi and hundreds of warriors before they reached Yingzhou City.

The Nanping Army's vanguard of 2,000 men collapsed at the first touch, and then led to the collapse of the entire army. The damaged troops retreated to Nanping, and only collected close to 4,000 men.

This battle was so shameful that Gao Congjie, who was in Jiangling, was so angry that he lay in bed for several days.

As a result, today at just one o'clock, I woke up and drank a bowl of sugar porridge, and the bad news came.

The person in front of Gao Congjie was a Jiangling businessman. The businessman had received orders from the envoys of the State of Zhou and came to inform Gao Congjie that he should prepare to clean his butt and prepare for a slap in the face.

"The Khitan army of 100,000 people was completely wiped out? Even the leader of the Khitan Kingdom, Yelu Deguang, died?" Gao Congjie asked the merchant in a scream, almost in tears.

Damn your mother, aren’t you Khitans riding cavalry outside the Great Wall like the wind?

If you can't win, you can't run away. Even the emperor died in the battle. Isn't it a shame?

You should at least hold on for a few more fucking months so that I can have a chance to make amends for my mistake!

Gao Congjie, who was on the verge of collapse, sent greetings to all eight generations of Yelv Deguang's ancestors.

"Back to your Majesty, this is absolutely true. When the servant came to Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo, the Khitan masters were all transformed into emperors and returned north.

It is said that tens of thousands of Khitan heads were chopped off under Yanshi City, and the city was built as a temple. Many people saw it with their own eyes."

Gao Congjie believed the merchant's words, because the merchant's whole family was in Jiangling, so he dared to say whether he wanted the whole family's life?

"Do you know where the angel of Zhou is? Are you trying to scare you?"

Gao Congjie still refused to believe that things had reached this point, and asked with luck.

The businessman shook his head like a rattle, "When I started to leave, the Emperor of Zhou appointed Zhou State General Er Zhujing as the military envoy, leading the Zhou State's 2,000 forbidden troops and 1,500 Wei Sheng army tooth soldiers, who were already heading south.

, Li Gongcunhui, the adopted son of the emperor, even asked his servant to bring a message to the king."

"What are you talking about? Tell me more." Gao Congjie asked cautiously with the last glimmer of hope in his heart.

The merchant's expression became a little strange, and he replied hesitantly: "Li Gong asked his servant to ask the king, since the Gao family has submitted to all directions, why does it not submit to the Zhou Dynasty alone?

Is it because the Sixth Army of the Emperor is not powerful enough, or does the King feel that Jiangling City is impregnable?"

"I have been cautious all my life, but I made such a big mistake when I was old. My Gao family's ancestral temple is in danger!"

After saying that, Gao Congjie hammered his chest fiercely. He felt extremely depressed. Suddenly, his face was like gold paper, he screamed, a mouthful of blood spurted out, and he passed out again.

Just when Gao Congjie passed out and died, 3,500 people led by Er Zhujing had actually arrived in Xiangzhou.

The position of Jiedu Envoy of Shannan West Road, where Xiangzhou is located, has not been established since An Congjin's rebellion. Jiao Jixun has always been in charge of the work in the name of Xiangzhou Defense Envoy.

Jiao Jixun, a native of Xuzhou, had great ambitions when he was young. He once said, "A real man should make contributions to foreign lands and win the title of marquis from ten thousand households. How can he work diligently with pen and inkstone!"
To be continued...