Li Gu was sent to meet Guo Shao at Qigou Pass by eunuch Wang Zhong, but when he returned, he was personally received by Chai Rong.
"Knock to your majesty." Li Gu bowed, but of course he couldn't see the emperor at this time, and his face was almost touching the floor tiles.
Hearing the voice of "Stand Up", Li Gu carefully climbed up. He also heard the eunuch whispering beside him: "This is the Li Mansion, you must not make the emperor angry." He still did not dare to look up at the emperor, but the hall was not big and there were no high steps that needed to be looked up to see. Even if he did not look directly at Chai Rong, he could see 70% of it clearly.
Chai Rong was not wearing armor, but a loose purple robe. His face was dark and spotted, and he looked sick indeed. Li Gu recalled a fellow villager who had passed away and had similar symptoms when he was ill; that fellow villager had pulmonary swelling, and in addition to his face, his legs were also swollen. But Li Gu was not a doctor, and he had not studied this in depth, so he could not determine what disease the emperor had.
But for the time being, it seems that the emperor can still hold on and can sit there and talk.
Chai Rong spoke again: Guo Shao reported that he had killed 10,000 people. Were they all Khitans? Is this true
Li Gu hurriedly replied: "It should be true. I have seen the heads transported back from Zhuozhou. I have seen thousands of them with my own eyes. They are all the heads of Khitans and Xi people. When they passed through Qigou Pass, Han Lingkun and other generals also saw them. There were many carts full of heads, which was really frightening.
Upon hearing this, Chai Rong bowed and said a little excitedly: Guo Shao is a good general.
Li Gudao: Your Majesty is right. Most of the Hujie Army is infantry. It is not easy for infantry to achieve so many results in defeating cavalry.
Chai Rong nodded and said: "It will also let Yelu Ming know that he is a tyrant, and I am still afraid of him."
Having said this, he sighed again, but he didn't know what he was sighing about.
At this moment, Li Gu took out a letter from his arms and presented it with both hands: Your Majesty, I met General Guo at Qi Gou Pass. He submitted a memorial and asked me to bring it back to present to Your Majesty.
Eunuch Wang Zhong came over, took the envelope from Li Gu, and turned to look at Chai Rong. Seeing Chai Rong nod slightly, Wang Zhong opened the envelope, took out the paper inside, unfolded it, and handed it to Chai Rong.
Chai Rong read it and said: Wang Zhong, go and gather the generals and discuss the matter in the hall later.
All the generals came very quickly, except Guo Shao who was on the way to Xiongzhou and Han Lingkun who was at Qigou Pass. When they heard that the emperor had summoned them, they all came early, because they had not seen the emperor for several days, and the army was in a panic. If they could see the emperor once, they would always feel at ease.
Chai Rong looked very bad, but his condition was better today. He could walk to his seat in the lobby by himself and of course he could speak.
After the greeting, Chai Rong asked Wang Zhong to take out Guo Shao's memorial without saying anything and give it to the generals for review. There were not many senior generals, but it took a long time to pass it around and read it. During this process, the hall was very silent and the atmosphere was a bit depressing.
Chai Rong neither mentioned Guo Shao's contributions nor the fact that he had fled from Zhuozhou without permission, and no one in the court mentioned it either.
As a warrior, Chai Rong was very straightforward, and he immediately said: Guo Shao recommended Han Lingkun to patrol the northern border, I plan to let Han Lingkun withdraw his troops to Xiongba; when the army returns to the capital, we will come back at another time. What do you think
Zhang Yongde stepped out and said: "The Khitan lord has gathered more than 100,000 troops, and people have reported that they have marched towards Zhuozhou. Zhuozhou is only a hundred miles away from Xiongzhou. Your Majesty, if we withdraw our troops now, will Yixiongbamozhou be attacked by the Khitan?"
Chai Rong endured the pain and gasped for a while, then suddenly sneered: If the Liao Kingdom is really ready for a large-scale attack and Yelu Ming really dares to cross the river, I will accompany him.
After hearing this, the generals felt a sense of dominance coming towards them, and they were speechless. The emperor did not take Yelu Ming seriously at all.
Chai Rong quickly withdrew, perhaps because he was too weak to sit for too long. However, he had already finalized the matter in a few words: once Han Lingkun arrived in Xiongba, the Zhou army could withdraw.
There is no need to discuss or argue about this matter. I'm afraid this matter cannot be changed.
Zhao Kuangyin left the palace in a gloomy mood and returned to the camp. He dismissed his attendants and summoned Zhao Pu to see him, and told him what happened in front of the emperor and Guo Shao's letter.
Zhao Pu also frowned when he heard this: Guo Shao was too cruel to slander so blatantly. The emperor even passed the memorial to all the ministers. Did the emperor directly accept Guo Shao's recommendation to keep Han Lingkun to patrol the border? Could it be that he believed Guo Shao's slander
Kuang Yin sighed and said: Everyone knows that Guo Shao and I have a grudge. He just said a few bad things, and everyone thinks it is just human nature.
That's true. Zhao Pu was at a loss. He thought Guo Shao couldn't leave Zhuozhou, but he didn't expect things to turn out like this. That guy is really hard to deal with. Hey, a military general can fight with words. I heard that the main staff member around Guo Shao is called Zuo You. I used to look down on him. I don't know where he came from.
Kuang Yin said: This matter has little to do with the staff. I just realized it in the palace. I remember before the Northern Expedition, the emperor said that whoever made great contributions to him in the Northern Expedition would be more relied on. Guo Shao cracked the trap we set for him, which was to grasp the emperor's mind.
He first ambushed the Liao army and captured many people, and then he had the courage to withdraw without authorization after he had made great contributions. He created a fait accompli, and then he openly wrote a letter to explain the pros and cons, so he escaped and turned the tables, which made me feel very uncomfortable now.
Zhao Pu thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
Kuang Yin added: Although I am worried, I have to accept the loss. In this matter, he has the ability to beat Xiao Siwen, has the courage to retreat without authorization, can grasp the emperor's mind, and has both defense and offense in the layout. It is really smart.
Kuang Yin pondered for a long time, then shook his head and murmured: This is indeed very unlike the methods that a general like Guo Shao can have.
Zhao Pu whispered in the emperor's ear: If something happens to the emperor, if we let Guo Shao return to Tokyo now and he collaborates with the queen, our lord's future will be worrying.
Kuang Yin nodded thoughtfully and said: We have been keeping an eye on Guo Shao, but we have actually ignored another person. If it weren't for that person, Guo Shao, a general of the Imperial Guard Division, would only have the Tiger and Jie Army and Gao Huaide under his command, and his strength would be just so-so. I think it was not Guo Shao who planned this, but that person. This person had long planned to have Guo Shao return to Beijing with a very clear purpose, and his plan was sophisticated and ingenious, so we have to guard against it.
Zhao Pu immediately said: My Lord, I have another plan.
Kuangyin said directly: Just say it.
Wei Renpu had just arrived in Hebei and left the palace with Wang Pu. They were also discussing the memorials that had just been passed to the ministers. The two had a good relationship, but it was a bit like a gentleman's friendship, and they rarely interacted privately. Today, they happened to meet.
The two were the chief and deputy chief councilors of the Privy Council. Many people had said in front of Wei Renpu that Wang Pu would replace him.
But Wei Renpu didn't mind at all, and instead praised Wang Pu for his great talent, saying that if Wang Pu were to be the Privy Councilor, he would be happy to give way to him. When Wang Pu heard this, he had a rare personal relationship with his colleague. The two were in a competitive relationship, but they also admired each other: Wang Pu admired Wei Renpu's demeanor and bearing, and Wei Renpu admired Wang Pu's vision, insight, and strategy.
It was not easy to make friends with Wang Pu. Among all the officials in the court, almost no one had any friendship with Wang Pu. This person was difficult to get along with, and he often used the legalist method to control people without sincerity. Anyone who was with him had to be careful.
At this time Wang Pu said: Guo Shao's memorial does contain some strategies.
Wei Renpu said: General Guo and General Zhao were not on good terms, so it is not surprising that he wrote a letter to ridicule General Zhao for being too powerful and wrote words that hurt his heart. He laughed and said: If I had a grudge against Envoy Wang, I would also say bad things about you in front of the emperor.
Wang Pu glanced at Wei Renpu beside him, but did not smile. Wei Renpu laughed awkwardly twice, as if he had made a joke that was not funny, and then he stopped smiling.
Wang Pu then said: I mean his method of fighting back against Zhao Kuangyin was very strategic. He thought for a moment and said, but it can't just be about strategy. Twenty thousand infantrymen swallowed up Xiao Siwen's several thousand cavalry in one breath, which is not something that ordinary people can do. This matter requires both military force and strategic layout. If he was just a warrior, why would he rush back after making great contributions? Now it's good, the first meritorious service in the Northern Expedition, but the government didn't even give him a public commendation.
Wei Renpu did not comment.
Wang Pu added: In fact, if we put both Guo and Zhao in Tokyo, there will be no balance.
Wei Renpu asked casually: Why
Wang Pu looked around and said in a deep voice: How can we achieve checks and balances? For example, you and I can check and balance each other, because we have no hatred, there is no need to rank each other, so we can coexist.
His example was not inappropriate, but why did it sound so harsh to Wei Renpu
Wang Pu added: "Guo and Zhao are different. They are both eager to kill each other. Once there is no one to stop them, they will probably do whatever it takes and ignore the rules. There will definitely be a winner or a loser, and the result will come quickly. Therefore, if the emperor wants to use Guo Shao to contain Zhao Kuangyin, it will be in vain and will only intensify the internal struggle."
Wei Renpu asked tentatively: What do you think is the best way to do this
This time Wang Pu remained silent and did not comment.
Wei Renpu knew that Wang Pu was a man of his own ideas. Seeing that Wang Pu didn't say anything, he guessed that he was unwilling to speak out. He couldn't help but provoke him again: Could it be that Deputy Envoy Wang meant that we should place one of them in a garrison outside to separate them
Wang Pu immediately objected: "Letting one of them take the elite imperial guards outside, is it to encourage them to consume half of the elite imperial guards in the future civil war? But if the military power is seized and then sent out, how can the people in the border towns fight against the other person without elite soldiers? How can they become prey? How can we talk about checks and balances? This is no different from choosing a camp and helping one side to deal with the other side. In any case, balance cannot be achieved."
After a while, Wang Pu said again: "However, we don't have to worry for the time being. As long as the emperor is here, no one dares to act rashly."