In the side hall of Jinxiang Palace, Guo Shao sat on the throne on the pedestal, with only the eunuch Cao Tai beside him. Standing below him was an old minister with narrow eyes, Wang Pu.
The envoys from the Northern Han Kingdom were brought here soon. At this time, there were not many people in the palace. It was not a formal reception for foreign envoys, but a private audience with the Emperor of the Great Zhou.
Guo Shao already knew the origin of this person. He was Li Xin, a member of the Northern Han State Privy Council. Guo Shao sat in a high position and could see the person coming in at a glance. He was a middle-aged man with a steady step and vertical lines between his eyebrows. He looked very calm, but such a person always gave people the feeling that he was worried and heavy.
Li Xin bowed but did not kneel. Guo Shao did not care, because the Northern Han ruler also called himself the emperor, and the other party recognized his own emperor, not the emperor of the Great Zhou; if they were to talk about the fact that there is no two suns in the sky and there should only be one emperor in the world, then there would be no need to talk about other things, and the dispute would start just over the etiquette.
Wang Pu glanced sideways but said nothing.
I, Li Xin, pay my respects to the Lord of the Great Zhou. Li Xin said.
The name made Guo Shao very unhappy. The signs of disharmony between the two countries were very obvious. But Guo Shao was too lazy to waste words on such things, so he skipped the greetings and said directly: I heard that there is a general in the Northern Han Dynasty named Yang Ye, known as Yang Wudi, a fierce general of the Northern Han Dynasty. Has Envoy Li heard of this
Li Xin said calmly: "I am a minister of the Great Han and Northern Han, so I know the generals of our dynasty. There are many brave generals in our dynasty, and General Yang is one of them."
Guo Shao couldn't help but smile: The difference between the Great Zhou and the Northern Han was too obvious to be mentioned in words. People all over the world knew it. Let's not talk about the many powerful generals of the Northern Han, let's talk about Yang Ye. What's his brother's name
Wang Pu replied: "My name is Yang Chongxun, and I am now a defense envoy of our dynasty. In the fourth year of Xian De, he surrendered to the Great Zhou for the second time. Our dynasty has forgiven the past and still appointed him as a defense envoy."
Guo Shaodao: By the way, Yang Ye was a general of the Northern Han Kingdom. But the brothers went back and forth, and finally returned to the Great Zhou. Envoy Li thought, what does the Yang family mean
Li Xin was speechless and was thinking about how to answer.
Guo Shao said: I summoned the envoy here, there is no irrelevant person around, and I also avoided those etiquette disputes for face. I spoke to Envoy Li directly. Yang Zhongxun stayed in Da Zhou, which was a bet by the Yang family. As the saying goes, a bunch of eggs cannot be put in one basket. What is the current situation between the two countries? Why should we cover up our mistakes? Everyone needs a way out. What do you think Envoy Li thinks
Li Xin said: I don't want to speak ill of my colleagues, nor do I agree with the judgment of the King of Great Zhou.
Guo Shao heard that his words were not too intense, and tried to persuade him kindly: The Northern Han Kingdom is now a leaky broken ship. Why is Li still staying on that ship? Why not make preparations as soon as possible? Wouldn't it be wise to surrender to the Great Zhou now
Li Xin clasped his fists and said: I am a minister of the Han Dynasty, and now as an envoy of diplomatic relations between the two countries, I will only obey the monarch and abide by my duties. I also hope that the monarch and his ministers of the Great Zhou will treat me with the courtesy of an envoy.
After hearing this, Guo Shao stopped trying to persuade him, and said, "Everyone has their own aspirations, and I will not force them." However, the officials and civilians of the Great Zhou and Northern Han are all from the same clan and clan. The one who has a grudge is the monarch of the two countries, the Guo family and the Liu family; the subjects of the two countries have no hatred. What kind of hatred can't be resolved between the same people
After you go back, talk to your colleagues who you are friendly with and ask them to show some mercy or contact me when the Zhou army invades Jinyang. I have a reputation for being kind and righteous, so I will definitely treat you well.
Li Xin said: I am sorry that I cannot obey your order. I am here because the villains sent by the Great Zhou Dynasty attempted to assassinate me in the capital a while ago.
I should not discuss this matter with you. Guo Shaodao, given the rank of Envoy Li, there will be officials from the guest province to discuss this with you. You can go and talk to the court officials, and you can also take this opportunity to see if the two countries can negotiate peace.
Wang Pu said: The Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty is able to personally summon Envoy Li despite his busy schedule, which shows that he thinks highly of you.
Li Xin immediately bowed politely and said: I'm leaving.
After Li Xin left, Guo Shao also stood up and left the side hall, and went to the room where he and Wang Pu usually met with civil and military officials. There was no etiquette to waste time in meeting with envoys, so they talked for a while, and the sun had just risen.
When he arrived at the place, important figures from the Privy Council, the Palace Guards, and the Horse and Foot Guards were already waiting there. Guo Shao was different here, his position was not very high and he deliberately did not let the people below see him; in this palace, although Guo Shao sat in a high position, he was not inferior to everyone else, and he had to maintain a relatively close and trusting relationship with the important ministers.
Everyone stopped talking to each other, stood up and bowed first.
After Guo Shao sat down, he asked them to stand up and sit down, and said directly: That Li Xin, I can't find a relationship to win him over for the time being. He doesn't seem to be willing to take the risk of opening the city gate, it seems that we can only give up. It is said that Yang Ye is a general of the Northern Han Dynasty. Can he let his brother pass a message
Wang Pu said: "Northern Han must be on guard, so the chance is probably small. But I can summon Yang Chongxun to meet and ask him."
Guo Shao turned to look at the generals, his eyes resting on Li Chuyun's face. His daughter had just been made a concubine, and he himself was a general of the imperial army, but he became even more humble, and appeared to be very low-key and silent recently.
Li Chuyun noticed Guo Shao's gesture and hurriedly clasped his fists and said: The Northern Han is poor and has few soldiers. The battles of Gaoping and Jinyang have greatly damaged its vitality. Now there is no suspense about the outcome of a head-on battle with them; the difficulty is indeed in Jinyang City. This city is a strong city and an important town, easy to defend but difficult to attack. If the Great Zhou can get internal support, this battle will be won.
I think so too. Guo Shaodao, but how to find this insider
Everyone looked at each other, no one had a solution.
Guo Shao thought: If there is a group of high-quality spies, like in modern wars, who can win over important enemy figures to revolt and surrender, as long as there is one person who can open the city gate, the war for the Northern Han Kingdom will be as easy as taking candy from a sack.
Guo Shao only realized at this time that the role of intelligence organizations at critical moments was indeed very important.
His mind suddenly recalled the scene of Chai Rong's army besieging Jinyang City a few years ago, and the tragic casualties on the city wall. A key spy could save a lot of lives and reduce the consumption of national strength.
Guo Shao glanced at Wang Pu, but didn't mention it for the time being. The affairs of the Military Department were also confidential within the court, and the Political Affairs Hall and military generals were not involved. He decided to talk to Wang Pu and Jing Niang about this matter later. He had to carefully arrange a long-term undercover plan and short-term scouts to spy on the specific situation.
How to attack Jinyang City, we must first prepare. Guo Shao spoke up and said, if you have any good ideas, please write to us.