"Your Highness has determined that the country's situation is irreversible," Zhou Xian frowned.
Li Yu was stunned: Why did Ehuang say that
Zhou Xian said casually: Your Highness's implication is that you want to get rid of Guo Shao; just now he mentioned the recent tribute, but you can't rush to plan such a thing. The risk is too great, and it is even more difficult to succeed; it is not yet at that stage. It is not because you think that the country is in a difficult situation that you have prepared such a plan early.
Li Yu turned his head and glanced at the messy elephant chess on the table next to him. He shook his head and smiled bitterly: Ehuang thought too much, but because my father summoned me today to ask about national policy, I just let my imagination run wild.
Zhou Xian heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this and said: "It is true that Guo Shao is very important to the Zhou court, and Your Highness will inevitably think so. But that crooked path is not the way to win, Your Highness should not pin your hopes on assassination."
Li Yu nodded, held Zhou Xian's hand, and his emotions fluctuated significantly: You haven't changed your mind, right
Zhou Xian shook his head vigorously, with a hint of sadness in his eyes: Your Highness, let's forget about Tokyo. I feel like you don't trust me anymore recently.
Li Yu said: I treat Ehuang and the Zhou family the same as before. Think about it, have I ever treated you badly since I became the crown prince
Zhou Xian pondered for a moment and said quickly: The weather has been bad recently, so maybe I am prone to having wild thoughts.
Li Yu smiled and turned to look at the rain outside the door: It's raining so heavily, but Han Xizai has a night banquet at his house and I've been invited. It's getting late now.
Zhou Xian gave a few instructions and sent Li Yu out. She stood silently under the eaves, watching Li Yu's back disappear into the corridor, and then she looked away. The rain from the sky had fallen in lines, and the snow on the roof was falling rapidly, bubbling on the water surface of the stone ditch. Zhou Xian couldn't help but reach out to catch a line of water, and suddenly a cold touch came from the palm of her hand, and she shivered slightly all over.
Thinking back, the days after returning to Jinling were not much different from before, but there was a lack of this kind of reality that I could feel directly. Everything seemed to exist in my mind, as illusory as a dream.
She slowly walked back to her bedroom from the palace, her eyes resting on the elephant game on the table. She suddenly thought: the winning strategy of elephant game is different from that of go. The key to elephant game is the long-term strategy. If you can look five steps ahead before taking one step, you are considered to have entered the game.
At a certain moment, Li Yu looked at the elephant play. Was he hinting at something? He was hinting at his own vision of the country's irreversible situation. In this way, he should have seen that Li Yu was not very good at military and political practices, but he was still a very intelligent person.
Zhou Xian felt upset. It was Guo Shao who ruined everything. I hate him or not. I have already forgotten him coldly.
Zhou Xian took out the plum blossom painting she had just finished, walked to the lamp stand and opened the copper cover. The embers were gone, and she angrily tore it into two pieces, then tore it into pieces desperately and threw it into the bowl next to her. The floating scraps of paper were like falling flowers, and suddenly there seemed to be a voice: Madam is like a plum blossom, blooming in the bitter cold wind and snow, but standing beautifully and proudly.
She fell on the couch, stretched out her hand to grab the blanket and covered her head, and said uncomfortably: Why do you have to humiliate yourself like this? He probably forgot all the sweet words long ago. They are just lies.
Meihua recalled the brief scene with Li Yu just now. He asked what she was doing, and despite her efforts to change the subject, he asked what she was painting.
Zhou Xian felt guilty at the time, so he told the truth. But when he replayed the scene in his mind, he felt a little strange that the prince was testing him to see if he was lying to him.
Zhou Xian immediately sat up and sat in front of the couch for a while. Although the sound of the rain outside was very loud, it actually covered up the sound of people talking, creating a sense of tranquility.
After a long time, Zhou Xian stood up and sat down at her painting position, looking at the empty easel. She turned her head and saw a lamp stand by the wall. Zhou Xian was doing trivial things silently by herself. She stood up again, walked to the wall, and walked slowly along the wall. At this time, a small hole on a figure painting immediately caught her attention.
Zhou Xian carefully avoided the light stand in front of her and leaned forward to take a look. It was dark and she couldn't see anything. She paced back and forth in front of the painting for a long time, then turned and walked towards the door, and whispered from her red lips: one, two, three.
After she walked out of the door, she gently opened the door of the study next to her, turned around and closed it. Then she walked over slowly, step by step. Wow, this bookshelf was not heavy, and she saw the old wall when she opened it. After looking carefully for a while, Zhou Xian did not make any unnecessary movements, accurately pulled out a brick, put his eyes close to it, and bent over to look at it for a long time.
When she walked out of the study again, her face had turned pale and blue.
She returned to her bedroom and sat dejectedly in front of the window with the curtains drawn, feeling empty inside. She recalled for a long time, then suddenly stood up and picked up a thick brush hanging on the shelf next to her. She gritted her teeth and tried to break it, but she didn't have enough strength, so she threw it on the ground and stomped on it desperately, with an extremely complicated expression on her face, which even looked a little distorted.
His face turned red, and he felt angry, regretful, and ashamed. Tears started to flow out of his eyes. Zhou Xian felt sad and cried, "You dirty thing, go to hell without shame."
Zhou Xian was like a madman, tossing and turning by himself, and after a long time he was tired and leaned on the couch to catch his breath and rest, his eyes had become empty: I am just a walking corpse
Zhou Xian felt confused as his mother's earnest teachings continued to nag in his ears.
In the side hall of Jinxiang Palace of Zhou Dynasty, several of the most important ministers were talking to each other. The next step is of course to conquer the Southern Tang areas that Zhou Xing met and unify the south. The unification of the world will become a general trend. Southern Tang and other places have money and food, and the risk of using troops is also small. The court should take advantage of the victory to formulate national policies early and make preparations early.
Guo Shao was actually a little distracted on such an important occasion, because there were a few bright red plum blossoms embroidered on the curtain in front of the Queen Mother. He didn't know what Zhou Xian was doing now, and whether he was living well after returning to Jinling.
General Guo. Fu Jinzhan's voice said, what do you think
Guo Shao came back to his senses and said: I am also more inclined to take the Southern Tang Kingdom as my target, but the ministers should each submit their general plans in writing, and the Queen Mother should make a careful decision after weighing the pros and cons.
Soon, the discussion among the minority was dispersed.
General Guo, please stay. Fu Jinzhan said in a gentle voice, you led the army to conquer Shu, and you made great contributions, but I was unable to reward you.
There is a kind of merit called "greater than the master", and there is a kind of official position called "no more promotion". As the commander of the imperial guards, Guo Shao already had the highest military position among the soldiers. Adding the title of "Minister of the Secretariat" was a useless official title, and it was inappropriate to make him a king. Generally, the kings were given to local military commanders, and they were given a very high status to win them over, such as Fu Yanqing, the Prince of Wei. No military commander of the imperial guards was made a king.
Guo Shao immediately replied: I don't need any reward.
Fu Jinzhan whispered: I heard that you and Shi Yanchao had a horse race and lost a good horse.
The Queen Mother is very perceptive. Guo Shaodao.
Fu Jinzhan said: "There is a good horse in Beiyuan, which was presented to the late emperor by the Tanguts. All the horse experts praised it as a rare steed. Unfortunately, it is a wild horse and no one has tamed it yet. Is General Guo interested?"
Guo Shao had already been given the highest title he could get, and now the royal family wanted to reward him with a thousand-mile horse as a gift. This kind of thing could have been taken away by Shi Yanchao without any hesitation, just as Shi Yanchao had taken Guo Shao's mount. But if Guo Shao asked Shi Yanchao to be the inspector of the palace, I'm afraid Shi Yanchao would not dare to accept it.
I thank the Queen Mother for her kindness. Guo Shao bowed directly.
Fu Jinzhan said: The sun is almost at its zenith today and the weather is too hot. You should go to Beiyuan to see the horses early tomorrow.
"I obey your order." Guo Shao bowed.
The figure behind the curtain stood up, and soon the figure swayed, and the person inside had disappeared behind the curtain. Guo Shao then straightened up and turned to go out. Walking out of the Jinxiang Hall and standing on the brick and stone floor, he really felt like he was being roasted. Late summer is usually the hottest time.
He had been to the Dianqiansi Yamen in the morning. The army had been quiet recently and the weather was particularly hot. Guo Shao himself felt lazy and didn't want to do anything. He looked at the height of the sun and thought that it would be too late to have lunch by now, so he went to the Dianqiansi Yamen to have a public meal before going home.
After entering the mansion and passing the rainbow-like Hongqiao Gate Tower, Guo Shao went straight to the largest house on the south bank of the pond, where his living room was located. When he went in, he saw Fu Ermei and Li Yuaner Yulian sitting at the table, on which some cleaned jewelry was neatly placed.
Husband. Fu Ermei said happily, you came back really early today.
When several women saw Guo Shao coming back, they came up to greet him, their faces flushed, unable to hide their excitement.
They are all things from the Shu Kingdom's palace, good things. Guo Shao glanced at the table and smiled, "I know women like these beautiful things, but I don't know why most women love these expensive things."
But there are exceptions. Fu Ermei is not particularly interested and she doesn’t even have her ears pierced.
Fu Ermei sat back at the table and chuckled: "My husband certainly doesn't understand. A woman won't complain about having too many jewelry and clothes, especially a beautiful woman." She smiled, her eyes curved like the moon: "Because I have to change them, I wear different jewelry for different occasions. If I have so many, I would like to have no repeats for 360 days a year."
Guo Shao said seriously: So that's how it is. Thank you for your advice.
This pair of earrings is quite special. Guo Shao picked up a pair of gold and jade earrings that were round like bells. They were finely carved and had a complex hollow structure inside. They looked beautiful when worn on the ears.
Fu Ermei took it and looked at it, then curled her lips and said: It's so ugly. My husband said that everything in the Shu Kingdom Palace is good. Who would wear something like this
Guo Shao thought for a moment and said: It's not something you wear on your ears.
Fu Ermei asked: If I don't wear it on my ears, where else can I wear it
Guo Shao calmly pointed with his thumb. Several people looked at him and suddenly fell silent, their ears turning red.
Guo Shao also felt a little embarrassed. He had just picked it up randomly at the beginning and really didn't care what kind of jewelry it was. Anyway, anything colorful must be a good thing. In this era, it was impossible to artificially create things like gemstones and pearls.
Fu Ermei frowned and picked up a string of white pearls, which looked like a string of roasted quail eggs: This thing
Li Yuaner said quietly: Anyway, it's not a good thing. No wonder Shu Kingdom is going to perish. What's in the palace
Fu Ermei also felt embarrassed just now, but this did not affect her interest in strange things. She could not hide her curious eyes, and asked, "What is this for?" Then she picked up a jade thing that looked like a teapot spout and tried to put it on her finger. She couldn't put it on, and the ring didn't seem to be that long.