Guo Shao returned to the palace and went to Zide Hall for dinner at dusk. But Fu Jinzhan didn't come today, so Guo Shao asked his second sister, "Where's your elder sister?" The second sister just said that her elder sister didn't want to come today. Guo Shao didn't ask any more questions, after all, he still had to consider his second sister's feelings.
After the meal, Guo Shao didn't remember what dishes were there, let alone what he had eaten.
In fact, Guo Shao and Jinzhan had always gotten along very well. Both of them were thoughtful people who could understand and consider each other's feelings. The sudden indifference made Guo Shao a little uncomfortable, and he felt very disappointed and even a little angry.
He stayed in the Zide Hall for a while, feeling a little out of sorts, and then returned to the Wansui Hall to rest. He did not ask anyone to sleep with him that night, and he did some trivial things in a depressed mood before going to bed. Perhaps it was because he went to bed too early, or because of the negative emotions such as resentment and loss in his heart, he tossed and turned for a long time and could not fall asleep.
At this moment, Guo Shao suddenly realized that he had always thought that no one knew about his affair with Jinzhan, but there was another thing that he almost overlooked for a while, that is, Zhao Kuangyin once carved a stone to spread rumors, and the scandal was almost known to the world; how could Fu Yanqing not have heard of it
Fu Yanqing had just arrived in Tokyo a few days ago. When he met Fu Jinzhan, he wondered if he would scold her. Guo Shao thought this was very likely.
Guo Shao suddenly understood Fu Jinzhan. She was actually very sad. But Guo Shao had taken his anger out on her for being so cold. He felt very ashamed for a while. But fortunately, he didn't explode.
He recalled slowly, and felt that although Fu Jinzhan was in a noble position, she actually had a very hard life; a woman who was forced to marry twice, survived in the chaos, and lived in fear in Tokyo all the year round. The faint scar on her forehead was left because she disobeyed the previous emperor; and she also paid a lot for Guo Shao to be where he is today.
She did so much for Guo Shao, but what did she give her? Now Guo Shao is the only one in the world who is the most powerful and successful, but he cannot share it with her. All he can give her is the condemnation of the Confucianism and the world, and she has to endure it silently.
The more Guo Shao thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. He even thought of his sister Gao, who had her child taken away after giving birth, and then silently watched Guo Shao's glamorous status and the world. Women, life is indeed not easy. Once a secret affair between a man and a woman occurs, it is not a big problem for a man, at most he will be considered a playboy; but for a woman, it is serious.
Guo Shao thought about it and felt that the reason for all this was that he was successful but not successful enough. If he had achievements comparable to those of the Qin Emperor, Han Emperor, and Tang Emperor, and could be called an emperor, would the world still be able to slander the woman he loved
The next day, Guo Shao efficiently appointed Liu Renzhan, Lin Renzhao and others to their positions, and asked them to take the imperial edict and the people from the Privy Council to the three towns of Heyang to take over the military power of the Gande Army and speed up the deployment of preliminary military operations against the Northern Han.
After seeing Liu Renzhan off, Guo Shao picked up a pen in the study and marked the line that indicated the fatigued enemy on the booklet. He also left a line that said if the enemy was united, he would alienate them.
At this time, Jingniang came in from the back door. Seeing Guo Shao writing, she stood by without saying anything. Guo Shao immediately asked: Jingniang, please tell me what you want to say.
Jingniang then presented a file and said: I have selected a list of people who can be spies. Would the emperor like to take a look
Guo Shao came straight over and saw the names of the people on the list, and he read them carefully. The previous failure of sending spies was not far away. Guo Shao also realized that this was a delicate job. He was the most knowledgeable person about spies in this era, and he also realized the importance of spies. He dared not be too careless this time.
If the enemies are united, how can we sow discord among them
The most well-known example of the alienation strategy is the story in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where Jiang Gan persuaded Zhou Yu to surrender but Cao Cao fell into the alienation strategy and killed two naval commanders. However, such an opportunity is rare, and Guo Shao could not imitate a similar approach and could not find a specific place to start, so he had to rely on spies in the end.
These names must be kept as confidential files, and the only people who can fully grasp the names are Wang Pu, Bingcao Sishi, and you. Guo Shao pondered and said, "We can't gather them together, and they can't know each other."
After hearing this, Jingniang said: I didn't expect this kind of thing. It was to avoid one person being arrested and to make others confess.
Guo Shao nodded and said: That's right. So you have to secretly summon these people separately and organize them. The front system I can think of temporarily is a four-level organization. The first level is the undercover who mixes into the target's side at the forefront; the second level is the communication station, which is responsible for transmitting information between the undercover and the superiors; the third pole is the intelligence station, which manages the undercover under the command to collect and organize orders and information. The intelligence stations must be completely independent from each other; the communication stations must also be completely independent from each other. Therefore, the main station that gathers the information of the intelligence stations in one place must be in a safe place, preferably within the border of the Great Zhou. The personnel must also be completely reliable, and the eunuchs of the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs must be involved in supervising the people at the main station.
Guo Shao gave some instructions and asked Jingniang to supervise the establishment of the organizational structure of the Bingcao Division first.
Guo Shao started planning again in his own room where the secret files were stored. He had to do this mainly by himself. Even a smart civil servant like Wang Pu couldn't do it. There was nothing he could do. However, Zuo You and Huang Binglian from the cabinet also participated. Guo Shao hoped that they could learn specific plans and methods so that they could plan for him in the future and reduce work pressure. He seemed to have returned to the state of the Tokyo mutiny and the elimination of Zhao Kuangyin's remnants. He divided the complicated matters into categories and detailed them to the lowest level of candidates. This kind of thing was very tiring.
After repeated analysis, Guo Shao set a specific and important target on Yang Ye, who was known as the invincible Yang.
Two days later, Guo Shao secretly summoned Chen Jiali to meet him in the hall behind the study in Jinxiang Palace. Chen Jiali entered the hall from the back door and bowed very reservedly. She was dressed in a carefully dressed skirt, because she was not a royal body, so she could not wear that kind of formal dress. But in Guo Shao's opinion, her dress was much more exquisite and beautiful than the formal dress; some things really just represent a status, not how good they are in themselves.
Guo Shaoping dismissed his attendants and invited Chen Jiali to sit down.
Chen Jiali blushed and said: I have been to the palace, but I never thought I would be able to meet the emperor, sit in front of the emperor, and be so familiar with the emperor.
Guo Shao smiled gently and exchanged a few pleasantries with her, then asked: "Has Madam Shen's business reached the Northern Han Kingdom?"
Chen Jiali had a smile on her face, but her eyes seemed to be thinking about something. She said softly: We even do business with the Khitans, so how can we ignore the Northern Han, which is so close. Although the Northern Han is an enemy country, we are still dealing with Han people.
After hearing this, Guo Shao pondered and said: To be honest, I really want to ask Mrs. Shen for a favor.
Chen Jiali said: "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. If I can do it, I will never refuse your Majesty's kindness."
Guo Shao then said: The court wants to send scouts to the Northern Han to do some spy work, but it is difficult to find a reliable way at the moment. If the identity is suspicious, the Northern Han will easily arrest these suspicious people once they investigate. We dare not arrange all the spies with Madam Shen, so we only arrange a few of the most important people. Of course, if they are still caught, Madam Shen's business will also be implicated.
Chen Jiali smiled and said: The business in the former Shu Kingdom and Southern Tang Kingdom is bigger, and in the future there will also be Wuyue Kingdom and Southern Han Kingdom. If we merchants do business without investing our capital, we will not make any profit.
Haha, Guo Shao laughed out loud with joy. Chen Jiali also smiled softly, her smile was a little naughty, but not disgusting.
Chen Jiali stopped smiling and said, "I have thought of a place. Merchants like us from the south are foreigners in the Northern Han Dynasty after all. In that chaotic place, we are sometimes afraid of being bullied by the locals. In addition to making friends with people in the Jinyang officialdom, another way is to invest in bribing local shops and let the locals of Jinyang lead us to run business and share the profits. Those local merchants and neighbors must have no problems with their backgrounds and are not easily suspected of being spies."
However, the people who manage the warehouse are sent by us from the head office. Your Majesty can place your people in the merchant warehouse and give them the identity of the Yangzhou Shen, Chen and Li merchant gangs; so it would be best if those people can speak the Hedong accent or the Yangzhou accent.
Guo Shaodao: This is easy. The Great Zhou court manages so many people, can't we find a few people with reliable accents
Chen Jiali asked curiously: Your Majesty placed a few people in our store warehouse just to inquire about the news in Jinyang
Guo Shao thought for a moment and felt that Chen Jiali was quite reliable. He had also taken shelter at her house during the Tokyo mutiny, which was a matter of life and death. He then said: Those two people are only responsible for delivering messages, and another person should be sent to infiltrate a Northern Han general's residence. However, it is really difficult to choose this undercover agent, and the requirements are very high.
Chen Jiali thought for a moment and said softly: How about my Red Oriole
Hongying Guo Shao looked bewildered.
Chen Jiali said: She was one of my late husband’s concubines. She was captured in Youzhou and one of them died, leaving her with a disabled foot. But now she has a prosthetic foot and can walk slowly with a cane.
Guo Shao was immediately interested after hearing this. The woman was tortured so badly by the Khitans, and the Northern Han Dynasty was dependent on the Khitans, so maybe they were willing to do this. However, he still pondered: She is already pitiful enough, and she is a woman. It would be a bit unfair for us to use her like this.
Chen Jiali shook her head and said: Hongying is ruined now. Besides, because she is very pitiful and has great beauty and skills, it is easy for her to get close to that general. I don’t know which general your majesty is talking about.
Yang Ye. Guo Shaodao.
Oh, Chen Jiali suddenly realized, and it was obvious that she had some knowledge about famous generals.
Guo Shaodao: If we can persuade Yang Ye to surrender at the critical moment, Hongying, a little girl, can be as useful as 100,000 elite soldiers.