All the generals present looked at Fang Yun in confusion. They had never heard of such a thing before, but it was indeed an effective method. If Fang Shouye was not Fang Yun's man, after setting up this temporary military affairs room, Fang Shouye could be made his deputy, and Fang Yun could easily sideline him.
Fang Shouye did not expect that Fang Yun would come up with such a brilliant plan in such a short time. He thought that his nephew was really cunning. Fortunately, he was not his enemy, otherwise he would have been killed by him long ago.
Some generals who favor Qing State are having a headache. Once the Military Affairs Office is established, Xiangzhou will become the commander of the Military Affairs Office instead of a governor.
Fang Yun was not in a hurry. He sat in the Governor's Mansion and discussed the whole matter with the generals.
"What a pity! That old man Qu Che missed the opportunity to fight. He must be severely punished."
"Rewards and punishments should be left for the end. Now the main thing is to deal with the aftermath. How to deal with the people who were robbed and how we should fight back are the top priorities."
"Yes, how can our Xiangzhou soldiers just sit there and wait for death? What's more, they invaded from Ding County of Taihe Prefecture. Everyone should remember what happened in Ding County a few days ago."
"I see. A few days ago, the villages of Ding County and Fengzhou people were fighting over water and land, and the Qing army deployed troops on the border and then withdrew. I thought the matter was over, but they came back with a surprise attack."
"The person who used this trick must be a good player. Attacking Moyao Mountain is to seize the righteousness; robbing the people of Xiangzhou is to show strength and military power. Xiangzhou is unstable at the moment, and this opportunity is unexpected."
"Why go to Moyao Mountain now instead of earlier? It's obvious that Qing Kingdom is targeting Governor Fang."
"However, in my opinion, the aftermath and revenge are not the most important. The most important thing is how to prevent the Qing army from doing this again. Once the Qing army does it too many times, it will be like walking through the city gates. The dignity of Jingguo and Xiangzhou will be gone."
"What do you mean by walking through the city gate? That's too harsh."
The generals were accustomed to life in the military camp, and even in important meetings they would speak whatever they wanted, which was different from meetings with civilian officials.
Fang Yun did not say anything, but just listened carefully and absorbed the opinions of these generals. After all, he was a civilian, not a military officer.
The Cabinet and the Marshal's Office were slow to respond to Fang Yun's request to set up a temporary military affairs office, so Fang Yun refused to leave and the officers continued to discuss the matter.
During this period, high-ranking civil officials from Baling and generals from various places arrived one after another.
In the evening, Fang Yun and the officers and students hurriedly finished their meal and continued the meeting.
It was not until late at night that a general asked Fang Yun how he should deal with the matter.
Everyone looked at Fang Yun.
"A country's dignity requires compromise when it is weak and struggle when it is strong" said Fang Yundao.
A Qing official said unhappily: "May I ask the Governor-General, what exactly should we do? Should Jingguo fight or compromise?"
“Seek compromise in the struggle.”
The generals were stunned, and suddenly they felt as if something had suddenly dawned on them.
"Fang Xusheng's words are truly a wise saying."
"The more you chew on these words, the more interesting they become."
"At this time, Jingguo has been suffering from internal and external troubles and has been weak for many years. However, under the leadership of Fang Xusheng, in an era when the human race is constantly making progress, it is not absolutely weak. Therefore, seeking compromise in the struggle is not only a means to deal with this matter, but also the policy of governing the country for a long time in the future."
"These seven words should be engraved on the wall of the Ministry of Rites, so that those spineless people who only know how to compromise will understand that struggle is necessary, but surrender is not."
"Come on, everyone, brainstorm and formulate a strategy according to Fang Xusheng's seven-word principle."
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"Let's talk about compromise first. The so-called compromise means not to have a full-scale conflict with Qing Kingdom, but how to compromise and to what extent still need to be determined by struggle. The extent of the struggle, or the extent of our struggle power, determines the degree of compromise."
Dong Wencong said: "Inspired by Fang Xusheng, I have come up with three struggle plans. The most drastic move is to fight back and do the same thing to humiliate Qing. But you all know that the real strong soldiers of my Jing country are in the north. If the Jing army of Xiangzhou goes deep into the border of Qing, it will be too dangerous. Then, you can try the second struggle plan. The core of this plan is to restrain your emotions. Since you can't retaliate directly, you can start indirect retaliation. For example, find out who led the invasion of the Qing army, and then find problems with the leader's family and attack them to complete the struggle."
"As for the third, and weakest, method, it is to first issue a national announcement, then send troops to the border between the two states, and conduct military drills every day to let them know that we are ready for battle. If they are not afraid of the punishment of the Holy Academy, they can come and fight. These three options are easier and more stable than the last."
"Dong Zhoumu is worthy of being the champion of Jiangzhou. These three strategies are all good ones."
"Good trick. As long as we think clearly, our Jing country can advance and retreat freely."
Dong Wencong shook his head slightly and said, "Unfortunately, these strategies are too conventional."
"At times like this, Fang Xusheng needs to step in." said a general.
"Yes, Governor, can you please not just state the policy directly, but talk about the specific measures?" said an official.
Fang Yun smiled slightly and said, "I am waiting for news from the capital. If the capital sends an imperial envoy, it will be useless even if I have great connections. If the capital cannot send an imperial envoy and I take charge of this matter, then I will naturally have fair means to offset the humiliation of Qing Kingdom this time. However, no matter what, the current primary goal is to resettle the victims."
"Okay, then let's wait for news from the capital."
It was late at night and soon all the officials left.
The next day, there was no news from the capital.
On the third day, Fang Yun got news from his friends that the Qing army that went to Mount Moyao was the Xuanwu Army, one of the four great armies of Qing. It had only 50,000 men, but was led by a university scholar. However, the Xuanwu Army was now led by not one university scholar, but five.
On the fourth day, the latest Xiangzhou gazette was released.
The first article in the second edition was a poem that Fang Yun had written before.
What's wrong with giving him three feet
The moment he saw this sentence, Fang Yun felt something was wrong, so he took a look at the author of the article, Guan Yi, the right director of the Xiangzhou Lisi and the current editor of the Xiangzhou Dibao.
This person made no secret of his support for the Qing Kingdom, nor did he hide his contempt for the Jing Kingdom.
The article "What's the harm in giving him three feet" explains from many aspects such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness that the origin of Qing's invasion was the land dispute in Ding County. Instead of being hostile to Qing because of a few towns, it is better to learn from Fang Xusheng's advice to his fellow villagers and take a step back, hand over those towns to Qing, and let the villagers of the two places live in harmony, which is worse than the villagers of the two places fighting over water and land.
Finally, Guan Yi thought that it was just a remote and poor place with no value at all, so it would be better to give it up.
When this issue of Xiangzhou Dibao came out, the whole country was in an uproar, and a large number of Jing people denounced Guan Yi, believing that he was a traitor like Hua Qingniang.
Just when the criticism against Guan Yi and Hua Qingniang reached its peak, on July 20th, people from 22 of the more than 80 cities in Xiangzhou took to the streets. Some of them took the banner of expelling the Qing dogs and prevented everyone from going to the Qing people's shops to buy and sell things. There were even incidents of looting and smashing in five cities.
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