The eunuch Cao Tai waited for Wang Pu inside Xihua Gate. He went up to greet him, said a few words, and then gently reminded him: "For the Western Expedition, why don't you step forward and recommend someone?" Wang Pu asked casually: "Who do you recommend?"
Cao Tai threw the whisk into his arm, freed his hands and clasped his fists, saying: You are the prime minister, of course you can recommend whoever you want.
The two said goodbye after a while. From a distance, it looked like two acquaintances who met by chance in the imperial city and just exchanged a few words.
Wang Pu was confused for a moment. At first, he thought that the eunuch Cao Tai was asking for a favor for the queen or some nobleman. He was thinking that if he was giving a mediocre person a backdoor, it would be difficult to deal with. The Western Expedition to Shu was no small matter. How could he treat military and national affairs as a joke for the sake of favors? Besides, even if he wanted to treat it as a joke, it was not possible. The Privy Council was not decided by him, Wang Pu, alone. Even if everyone in the Privy Council said it was okay, such a major matter would not be approved by the emperor.
But the eunuch said, "You can recommend whoever you want." Wang Pu was confused.
Since it is according to my idea, why does the eunuch say this
However, Wang Pu was only in his thirties and his brain was not slow. He quickly understood the key point of the eunuch's words: what they meant was not who to recommend but who would recommend. Only in this way did the eunuch have to say the two sentences just now.
Wang Pu thought to himself: I'll recommend someone. In my opinion, Xiang Xun is a good person who is prudent and considers the overall situation.
Thinking of this, Wang Pu suddenly realized that the secret was here.
Among the military commanders, Xiang Xun and Wang Pu were closest to each other and were the ones he admired the most. If Wang Pu were to recommend someone, he would almost certainly recommend Xiang Xun, and Xiang Xun would probably ask the Privy Council for someone, such as Guo Shao, the Inner Palace Guard.
Others did not know that because Wang Pu had some contacts with the Queen's people, he happened to pay attention to some of the Queen's small actions outside the palace, such as awarding the Fu family's villa in Tokyo to a military commander: Guo Shao, the inner palace guard. This military commander happened to be recommended by Wang Pu to the emperor, so he had an impression of him.
After thinking about it together, it turned out that the eunuch Cao Tai came here to use the back door today and the person he wanted to help the most was Guo Shao.
It's just that this favor was arranged so cleverly that no one said who it was, and in the end everything was arranged. It was definitely the Queen's intention. Wang Pu didn't think that the eunuch Cao Tai had such intentions.
A smile appeared on Wang Pu's face. He felt that it was just a favor and there was nothing difficult about it.
Cao Tai returned to the palace and wandered into the Queen's palace again. He was exactly the same as usual, and there was nothing unusual about him, because he always walked around the Queen. Everyone in the palace knew that this old eunuch had long since surrendered to the Queen, which was too normal.
The Queen was meeting with the concubines, female officials, eunuchs and attendants in a large hall, listening to reports on various matters in the harem. The Queen seemed absent-minded, but everyone else did not dare to be absent-minded and was serious.
Cao Tai didn't care what the group was saying at all, and walked straight up the steps as if no one was around. He leaned over the couch and whispered in Fu's ear: I have already met Prime Minister Wang. At Xihua Gate, he met the eunuch Wang Jinzhong, who said that there was a Taoist temple next to the Daxiangguo Temple. The temple owner Jingniang and Guo Shao had close contacts, and it seemed that they might get married. Jingniang was suspected to be the sister of Zhao Kuangyin, the chief military officer of the palace, but I felt that maybe even Zhao Kuangyin didn't recognize her, otherwise how could she have fallen to this point.
He made things clear in just a few words, only talking about the most important things, and usually adding some of his own opinions to relieve the queen's worries. This eunuch spoke clearly and did not talk too much, was very efficient in doing things, and was also very logical in giving advice; no wonder he was trusted by Fu.
When Fu heard this, she stood up and said: Everyone should go away and do your own job.
The people in front and behind bowed and knelt, paying their respects.
Cao Tai cleverly followed the queen and entered a side hall at the back amidst the crowd. Then the queen dismissed everyone.
She glanced at Cao Tai and said: You are too conspicuous, so let Wang Jinzhong go and meet Shao Ge'er.
Yes. Cao Tai bowed and said, "Please tell me what Wang Jinzhong should say when he meets Guo Shao."
So Fu called Cao Tai over and whispered a few words to him.
The old eunuch took the order and left. He sent someone to call the eunuch Wang Jinzhong, while he wrote a letter and sealed it with lacquer. When Wang Jinzhong came, Cao Tai ordered him to deliver the letter in person.
The meaning of the letter was very simple and overbearing, leaving no room for bargaining. Guo Shao was not allowed to marry Jingniang as his principal wife, and he was not allowed to marry in the next one or two years until the Queen felt the time was right and would make arrangements.
There was no seal and no one knew whose handwriting it was. However, upon closer inspection, it did not look like it was written by a woman, so it could not be the handwritten letter of Empress Fu.
Fortunately, Guo Shao had a good memory. Last time the queen awarded a house, she sent an eunuch to identify the place. The eunuch was white, fat and round-faced. It was him who delivered the letter this time. It was certain that the letter was sent by someone close to the queen, and it seemed that the eunuchs did not dare and had no need to forge such a thing to fool a general of the imperial guards.
Guo Shao saw the tone of the command, which was definitely from a superior or elder, and it felt more like an elder, because he even controlled his family's marriage. He felt a little resistant at first, but after thinking about it for a while, he accepted it.
I have no roots in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, no one to rely on, not even parents or relatives. I was spotted by the Queen without knowing why. This was also a coincidence, an opportunity that the young man had planted with his life. If it weren't for this mysterious opportunity, it's hard to say what I would be like now.
Most likely, he would be promoted to a top officer among the hundred men. Then he would slowly gain military merits and experience countless battles for another ten years, and see if he could survive every battle. Then he would have a certain chance to become a mid- to high-level general. If he continued like this, he would not dare to think that he would not be willing to follow Zhao Kuangyi and have lofty ambitions. It would be a good thing if he could survive.
Because at that time, even if he had made some merit by killing Zhang Yuanhui with one arrow, without Zhang Yongde's name and praise for his merit in front of the emperor, he would not be famous, let alone stand out. It was not even certain that he had shot the Northern Han general to death. The infantry camp of the Xiaodi Army where he was located at the time completely collapsed because the commander-in-chief was dead, and there was no one to prove it and no one to claim credit.
Why did Zhang Yongde speak specifically for himself? It was obviously because of the Queen's face. The Queen was respected by the generals, and Xiang Xun appreciated Guo Shao. Perhaps there were other reasons: Guo Shao was known to Zhang Yongde, the highest-ranking general in the imperial army and the son-in-law of the emperor.
Guo Shao has figured it out: his success depends entirely on one person, and that is Queen Fu.
Now the Queen is in charge of me, isn't that a good thing
But what puzzled him was, what did she mean by "don't care", she just wanted to take care of her own marriage. Could it be that the Queen wanted to find a candidate for her personally? If so, that would be fine, as long as the candidate was not too ugly. After all, it was a marriage of arrangement, and Guo Shao had no intention of being picky.
He had more doubts in his mind. All the young man did was not run away in times of danger and went to die. For someone as noble as Fu, did he need to remember the favor for so long and repay it again and again