Several people were lying in a pool of blood, and the wet blood was flowing along the floor tiles. Shi Yanchao's clothes and armor were splattered with blood, and the blood was dripping down the blade of his sword, which looked even more terrifying. Shi Yanchao seemed to be unsatisfied with the killing. He glanced at the garrison commander who had just been helped up, and walked over with the sword in hand.
Anyway, if you can't control your subordinates, you're just a fool. What's the point of keeping you? Shi Yanchao said this and swung his sword.
Someone nearby shouted: He is not the one who violated military law, and his crime does not deserve the death penalty. But it was too late. Shi Yanchao stabbed the general in the abdomen with a knife. A scream was rang out, but the man was not dead yet, but he could not survive if he was stabbed in the abdomen.
No one dared to accuse Shi Yanchao of killing indiscriminately. All the soldiers looked at him with fear, and the people on the street were all afraid.
At this time, someone said: Marshal Guo is here.
Everyone turned their heads and saw Guo Shao getting off the carriage and walking towards them with several guards and followers. Not far away, Wang Pu, Dong Zunhui and others also came here after hearing the news, bringing a group of soldiers with them.
Shi Yanchao put away his butcher knife, stepped forward, clasped his fists and saluted, saying: "Greetings to Inspector Guodu."
Such a ruthless killer bowed to another person. The onlookers turned their eyes to Guo Shao, curious to see what kind of person could control such a brutal warrior. However, they saw that General Guo was a tall and strong young man, nothing special about him, because most of the Zhou army's forbidden soldiers were such strong young men.
Guo Shao couldn't help but glance at Shi Yanchao at this time, because he felt that Shi Yanchao's attitude towards him was a little different today. This guy has always been more obedient to military rules and obeyed military orders, but he is arrogant and has a bad temper. Today, he is quite respectful. What caused Shi Yanchao's attitude to change in front of him
Guo Shao ignored Shi Yanchao, stepped over the bloodstains on the ground, walked to the front of the military camp, and shouted: "There are national laws above and military regulations below. Those who defy military laws will end up like this."
The people around watched all this and became quiet.
Guo Shao turned around and looked at the victim standing there in shock, as well as the several covered corpses on the street, and said: "Killing someone means paying with your life. Even if it is my soldiers, if they violate the law, they will be severely punished. If anyone in the world has weapons, they can do whatever they want and kill people without regard for their lives. In the past, the world was in chaos, the Ten Kingdoms were fighting and the people were living in misery. The innocent became bandits, the bad guys were in power, the foreign invaders took the opportunity to bully, and the people who lost their land became slaves. It was because of this that you, fellow villagers, still want to continue living in troubled times.
He paused and then spoke loudly: In the reign of the Great Unity, the people must live and work in peace and contentment, be self-reliant and resist foreign humiliation, punish evil and promote good, and the sword and gun must be held in the hands of the benevolent. The benevolent will protect the people, distinguish between good and evil, and be fair and just. The benevolent will be invincible.
Soon someone among the people shouted: Well said!
Dong Zunhui behind him shouted excitedly: The benevolent are invincible. The imperial guards immediately followed suit and the soldiers and civilians below the city wall were in an uproar. Guo Shao quickly left the place at this time, and the noise was still going on behind him.
He quickly ran into Wang Pu and others. He saw that Wang Pu had a strange expression on his face and was looking at him again and again.
"Envoy Wang, let's go," Guo Shao said.
Wang Pu said: Li Gu arrived in Jiangning City today. As a colleague, I will go to the city gate to greet him.
When Mr. Li arrived at Guoshao, he immediately changed his plan and said, "I will go with Envoy Wang."
Although Li Gu was the prime minister of the Political Affairs Hall, he had been with the army on many expeditions. In the Jinyang Campaign, he was responsible for transferring grain from various states and counties, but he did not do much. Later, when he conquered Huainan, he was appointed as the vanguard, but he was obviously not very good at fighting. After that, he was always in charge of logistics in the wars, including the war to suppress the rebellion of the two Lis, the war to attack Shu, and the current attack on Jiangnan. He made a lot of contributions, and Guo Shao had a good personal relationship with him.
The group waited for a while at the city gate, and sure enough, they saw Li Gu and his companions riding into the city. After some greetings, Guo Shao invited Li Gu to the central army camp.
Guo Shao felt that Wang Pu was not good at making friends, but he was surprised that he came to pick up Li Gu today. As expected, Wang Pu did not say a few words of greeting, and immediately mentioned his purpose: I heard that Li Xianggong had a long-term friendship with Han Xizai, a minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Li Gu was quite frank and said: "Han Xizai's family was originally an official in the Central Plains. We were close friends regardless of age difference. Later, the Han family was implicated in a rebellion and Han Xizai could not escape. At that time, I escorted him to Zhengyang to cross the Huai River."
Li Gu smiled and said: "When we parted, Mr. Han and I agreed that if the Southern Tang Dynasty used him, he would definitely take over the Central Plains. Now that the Southern Tang Dynasty has been destroyed, I am afraid he is ashamed to see me."
Wang Pu shook his head and said: The friendship between us still exists.
Oh Li Gu looked at Wang Pu.
Wang Pu turned around and said to Guo Shao on horseback: "For so many years, the Central Plains has been in chaos, and everyone from the nobles to the common people has been unable to escape; the population of the Southern Tang Kingdom is prosperous, and a large part of it comes from the migration from the Central Plains to the south. Han Xizai is in a high position, has a wide range of friends, and is quite famous. He can influence the attitudes of many nobles and has a great effect on public opinion. If this person can be won over to return to the Great Zhou, it will be of great benefit to stabilizing the situation in the Southern Tang Kingdom."
Guo Shao nodded.
Wang Pu added: "For the sake of reputation and family prestige, southern scholars often build roads and bridges to accumulate good deeds, which wins the hearts of the local people. The common people trust scholars the most; they make friends with people from top to bottom, are good at writing and reasoning, and have a firm grasp of public opinion. If General Guo wants to pacify the various parts of the Southern Tang Kingdom as soon as possible, he must not rush to rob and extort these people, but must win them over, otherwise it will be difficult to win the hearts of the people."
After hearing this, Guo Shao thought it was a good idea and immediately adopted Wang Pu's suggestion: it would be a good thing if Han Xizai could be allowed to serve as an official in the Great Zhou.
There is also Chen Qiao, the assistant to the Guangzheng Yuan. As far as I know, he is also the leader of the Southern Tang scholars. Wang Pu said, however, Chen Qiao's whereabouts are unknown now, so he will ask Han Xizai when he sees him.
Wang Pu turned to Li Gu and said, "Mr. Li, how about you come with me to visit Han's mansion now?"
Li Gu had just arrived in the city exhausted and had no place to stay, but he couldn't refuse, so he had to bow and say: Since this is a national event, how dare I slack off
Guo Shao looked at Li Gu and said with a smile: "Envoy Wang is a man of swift and decisive actions. Thank you for your help, Prime Minister Li. I will host a banquet to welcome you tonight at the central military headquarters."
Guo Shao then said goodbye to the two men. At this time, Wang Pu looked serious and said after a moment of silence: "Oh, last time I asked to stay in Jiangning temporarily, but I think Li Gong and Li Gu might be more suitable. When General Guo returns to the capital, I will also go back with the army."
It won’t be too late to discuss it later, Guo Shao said casually.
He and Zuo You and others returned to the Central Army Headquarters and requisitioned a government office of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Zuo You followed them into the hall, and as soon as the two entered the hall, he said: I think that Wang Shumi's change of tone today may not be due to Li Gu's arrival in Jiangning, but to re-state his position, perhaps to support the lord's important cause.
Guo Shao was also thinking about it and did not comment at the moment.
Zuo You added: “People from the enemy countries, Northern Han and Southern Tang, spread rumors that the lord wants to establish himself as an independent ruler. However, it may not be a bad thing if the rumors come from the mouths of our opponents.”
Guo Shao immediately agreed with Zuo You's opinion: After the major arrangements are made, some rumors must be released to help distinguish different people's attitudes.
He thought of Shi Yanchao's change of attitude today, and guessed that it might be related to the stone of usurpation in the Yangtze River. Shi Yanchao did not seem to be willing to stop him from becoming emperor. There were other people who were waiting and watching, so they could be prepared. The more people supported Guo Shao on the eve of doing something big, the less risk he would face.
Zuo You finished what he wanted to say, looked out and saw that the sun was already at its zenith, so he said goodbye and left.
Guo Shao left the hall from the back and prepared to go to dinner. He couldn't help but take out the report from Tokyo from his pocket and read it again. Although according to Zuo You and himself, being exposed would not have much impact, the four sentences that were fished out of the Yellow River were too ugly. Guo Shao couldn't help but feel angry again.
It must have been done by Zhao Kuangyin, and also by Li Yun of Hedong. The person who was most reluctant to see himself proclaimed emperor was obviously Zhao Kuangyin, but he was in the Northern Han Kingdom, and it was not easy for him to come to the Yellow River. He might have colluded with Li Yun.
Guo Shao paced back and forth under the eaves, and after a while he came up with an idea: recruit the brothers and personal soldiers who followed Zhao Kuangyin, and let them bring back Zhao Kuangyin's head to make amends.