Because Zhao Kuangyin's face was too dark, the complex expression could not be seen. He put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth on the ground. After a long time, he said: I can't think of a good way for the time being. I can only think of starting from three aspects. The first is to let Guo Shao face the threat of external force, the second is internal rebellion, and the third is to damage his prestige and reputation.
Zhao Kuangyin suddenly stopped and said: Li Yun
Li Jixun's face suddenly changed. His eldest son Li Shouen's head was chopped off by that guy. Killing his son would have been fine, but Li Shouen had gone to the marriage alliance with good intentions, but that guy turned against him and chopped off his head, and sent it to Tokyo to ask for credit. Later, in order to stabilize Li Yun and not add insult to injury, Li Jixun was forced to write a letter to apologize for his eldest son's murder, saying that it was his son's rudeness that made Li Yun angry and so on. In fact, Li Jixun wanted to cut that guy into pieces.
Zhao Kuangyin saw Li Jixun's reaction and said kindly: I know Brother Li is angry, but we have to think about it from another side: If Li Yun, who looks like a man who can rule the country, just accepts his fate and waits for the court to recover and reduce his military power, Guo Shao may really let him go and give him wealth and honor because he did not betray at the critical moment. In this way, Brother Li's revenge cannot be avenged.
Li Jixun said angrily: "Guo the blacksmith is not a kind gentleman, he is just pretending to be so as to gain reputation. He is lenient to Meng Chang and others because he thinks those people are no longer a threat. If anyone really threatens him, he will kill them without blinking an eye."
Zhao Kuangyin said: Li Yun is an arrogant man. If he loses his military power, we can find a way to make him rebel and kill himself. This will not only avenge Brother Li, but also make Guo the blacksmith feel uncomfortable.
Last time, I started a rebellion with Li Chongjin and wanted to recruit Li Yun, but he was reluctant. How can I convince him to start a rebellion alone now? Li Jixun frowned.
Zhao Kuangyin said: Last time, you couldn't trust each other. Not to mention Li Yun, Li Chongjin and Brother Li couldn't get along. Moreover, Li Yun rebelled in order to establish himself. When he started the rebellion with you, Li Chongjin had a higher qualification to be the leader. Let's think about another thing. When he started the rebellion last year, Li Yun dared to kill Brother Li Jixun's eldest son to show his loyalty to the court, but quietly let the envoy of the Northern Han Kingdom go. Why
Shi Shouxin listened to the two people talking, nodded continuously, and muttered: Brother Zhao is very insightful.
Zhao Kuangyin said: Li Yun has never given up the idea of doing bigger things, but he knows that his own territory is small and his troops are few, and he is backed by the Northern Han Kingdom, so he has always left room for maneuver.
Li Jixun said: Brother Zhao said before that the Northern Han leader only wanted to protect himself and not make progress. How could he be willing to send troops to support Li Yun
Without the Khitan watching over the Hedong land, the Northern Han Kingdom would have no chance of protecting itself with just these few people. Zhao Kuangyin said that as long as the Khitan put pressure on it and gave it some support, the Northern Han people would obey the Khitan.
Li Jixun suddenly realized and said: I know what brother Zhao means. Although the Liao Kingdom is now internally unstable and has no intention of making progress, the King of the Southern Courtyard, Xiao Siwen, still holds a grudge.
Zhao Kuangyin sneered: Brother Li is right. Most of the prime ministers of Liao Dynasty came from the Xiao family. Xiao Siwen controlled the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun and was a well-established figure in Liao Dynasty. Otherwise, he should have been executed for the loss of troops in Zhuozhou. Now it is not that nothing has happened. In the Battle of Zhuozhou, Guo the blacksmith showed no mercy and slaughtered several thousand elite cavalrymen of Xiao Siwen in one breath. Xiao Siwen did not think about the blood feud.
After hearing this, Shi Shouxin praised him again: "Brother Zhao is really an ordinary person. Now that we have fallen to this point, you can still plan for the world. You are incomparable to ordinary people."
Alas, when Zhao Kuangyin heard the praise, he sighed with a helpless tone.
He walked to the window, looked out for a long time, and said without turning his head: All our strategies are small ways.
Li Jixun couldn't help but ask: What is the so-called great way, brother Zhao
Righteousness and people’s hearts, Zhao Kuangyin said.
He said, and continued to look at the scene outside. The north wind was raging, and the snow on the ground was blown up by the wind, like dust and fog; the clouds above seemed to be surging for thousands of miles, and could be transformed into various images, ever-changing and unpredictable.
Outside Jiangning City of Southern Tang, Yuhua Terrace has been occupied by Zhou's army. Guo Shao lives in a temple in the mountains. He is writing and drawing. The strange circles are like ghost paintings, and the words are also sloppy. Only some names are roughly clear, such as Li Yun, Fu Yanqing, Zhang Guanghan, Murong Yanzhao, Zhe Dejian, etc.
Guo Shao was not used to pondering the situation in general terms. He preferred to make judgments on all sides, even down to the specific names of people.
There are several types of people here. Except for the direct generals around Guo Shao who are mainly concentrated in the various armies of the Palace Front Division, the positions of others are more complicated. Some of them will obey whoever is in power and who gives orders in Tokyo, but they have some good feelings towards Guo Shao and his people; and it is too slow to be promoted just by making merits on the battlefield. After all, the opportunities are limited, so they also want to get closer to Guo Shao. This type of people includes Cao Bin, Murong Yanzhao, etc.
Others, likewise, watched the fire from the other side of the river, but out of jealousy or sheer dislike for Guo Shao, they were happy to see Guo Shao in trouble. These people were unwilling to act rashly or take risks when the situation was favorable, but once Guo Shao encountered an unfavorable situation, they would most likely add fuel to the fire. For example, Zhe Dejian, Guo Shao did not think he liked him.
There are many more who are extremely dangerous, such as Li Yun, the governor of Hedong Zhaoyi Army.
There are many more people who have power and some soldiers, most of whom are used to fighting for power and profit, and they act according to the situation. But because they are not familiar with it, they did not show a clear position, and Guo Shao could not figure out what those people were thinking.
Guo Shao stopped writing and rubbed his temples. Zhao Kuangyin's Chenqiao Mutiny was quite famous in history. Guo Shao wanted to imitate it, but he couldn't. Because Zhao Kuangyin was crowned with a dragon robe by his subordinates at Chenqiao Inn and then proclaimed himself emperor and founded the country was just an appearance. The real deployment considerations must be very complicated. Guo Shao didn't know so much in detail before, and naturally he had no way of knowing it now. But he could at least be sure of one thing: it was impossible for a person to become an emperor innocently without extremely careful deployment beforehand. It was impossible for him to become an emperor and sit on the throne so easily. In history, from the death of Chai Rong to the Chenqiao Mutiny, what did Zhao Kuangyin do during this period
Guo Shaoyi was distracted when he heard the sound of rain on the roof. It had been snowing for a long time in this place in December, and it didn't take long for the sun to clear up before it started raining again.
He stood up and walked out of the room. The forty-year-old veteran Qin Shitou bowed slightly at the door. Guo Shao ignored him and went outside to watch the rain under the eaves. The sound of wooden fish in the temple came, and there was a sense of tranquility in the sound of rain.
Suddenly, there was a burst of bird calls, only one, lonely and high-pitched, indeed somewhat ethereal. The sound started slowly and then quickly, from near to far, and then it disappeared. Guo Shao looked up, but did not see any birds flying.
But I saw a large military camp at the foot of the mountain. The sky was covered with rain curtains, and I could see a group of thatched huts in the military camp from afar; they were not thatched huts, but because of the thatch used to cover the tents. There is a lot of rain in the south, and the Zhou army's oilcloth tents were soaked in rain for too long and leaked, so it became like this.
At this moment, two umbrellas appeared on the stone steps in the rain. Guo Shao retracted his gaze from afar and stopped to look for a while; the guards beside him, such as Qin Shitou, also looked sideways.
An umbrella was raised, revealing Zuo You's face. Zuo You immediately shouted: "My lord is outside watching the scenery!"
The person next to him also showed his face. It turned out to be the military commander Cao Bin. He and Zuo You hurriedly saluted on the wet steps. Guo Shao said: Come over and talk.
The two of them continued to walk towards this side with umbrellas. Guo Shaochu was also a little puzzled at first. Zuo You and Cao Bin had no relationship. Why did these two people walk together alone? After thinking for a while, he remembered one thing. When the Wuyue Army made progress on the eastern front, Zuo You would intentionally or unintentionally say that Cao Bin had made great contributions.
Guo Shao did not think much about it at first, but then he suddenly realized that Zuo You was recommending people and winning over his followers at the same time.
However, Guo Shao did not mind it. If Cao Bin became friends with Zuo You, his position would be closer to his own. The pros and cons were obvious. Who would complain about having too many people helping them? Guo Shao also wanted to promote Zuo You, but Zuo You's foundation was too weak and his prestige was too small. It was a good thing for him to have a group of people supporting him. Zuo You's talent was much inferior to that of Wang Pu and others, but he had the advantage of having been with Guo Shao for a long time.
Cao Bin walked under the eaves and bowed again: "The Wuyue army set out from Runzhou, from the north of Tangshan, and advanced westward along the Dahe River. Now they are stationed in the northeast of Jiangning City. I have completed my mission as an envoy to Wuyue, and I am here to report."
Guo Shaodao: General Cao not only completed his mission and persuaded the Wuyue Kingdom to mobilize its army, but also repeatedly came up with ingenious strategies in many battles. He is truly a great talent.
Cao Bin clasped his fists and said: I am just doing my job.
Guo Shao nodded seriously: "Mr. Zuo often says hello to you. I also think that General Cao is both virtuous and talented. Not bad." After he said that, he paid attention to Zuo You's expression and saw that Zuo You was quite pleased.
Let's go to the dining room, make a cup of hot tea and talk about it in detail, Guo Shao said.
Cao Bin's face flushed and he said hurriedly: "Please in, Marshal Guo."
Guo Shao took two people into the room and said directly: Let's not talk about Wuyue for now, wait until Wang Pu, the envoy, arrives, then you can talk about it. He will create files for the people of Wuyue.
After hearing this, Cao Bin nodded in agreement.
Zuo You said: The Southern Tang Kingdom is already in such a state, why doesn't it surrender
Guo Shao said: Li Yu sent someone to assassinate me because he was guilty. But the Southern Tang Kingdom really had loyal ministers, otherwise it would have been surrounded by enemies and it would have been impossible for Li Yu to surrender or not.