Hongying asked someone to see Yang Ye off, then she looked out the window for a long time and sighed softly.
Suddenly a voice asked: What is the relationship between the lady and Yang Ye
The expression on Hongying's face changed and she said with a smile: Friend.
The person who walked into the door was the handsome young man named Yu Liang, who came to Tokyo to take the imperial examination. He was obviously unhappy, with a look of humiliation and anger on his face.
Hongying smiled as she glanced at his face, thinking that San Zi was immature, but precisely because of this, this scholar was much more interesting than those guests who lived a life of debauchery.
Sure enough, Yu Liang suppressed his anger and said: I'm afraid it's more than that.
Hongying did not argue with him. Instead, she leaned over gently and said, "If I didn't know those dignitaries, how could I find a way for you? Don't be angry. No matter how many people I know, my heart is not yours."
Yu Liang was still angry, but there was nothing he could do.
Hongying rolled her eyes at him and said: If you continue to be so noble, we won't go to Han Xizai for help.
Yu Liang sighed and said angrily: I hate officialdom, but this is the only way to achieve success.
Hongying advised: That painting of Han Xizai's Night Banquet has become so popular so quickly, Mrs. Shen has put a lot of effort in it. Do you think Mrs. Shen is just waiting for a price? The famous paintings in her house are much more expensive than this one. But the biggest difference between those famous paintings and this Night Banquet is that the people in the famous paintings are dead, while the people in the Night Banquet are still alive.
A scholar-official may despise money, but who would not want to be famous among scholars and be respected wherever he goes? This is a great honor. Mr. Han knew how good he was to Madam Shen.
Now we are asking him to do us a favor and send the poems you usually write to Li Gu, the prime minister in the court. Can he refuse
After hearing this, Yu Liang said with mixed emotions: No matter what, my wife has done me a favor.
It's good that you know it. The heartless Hongying raised her pink fist and punched him in the chest. Yu Liang grabbed it with one hand and said: I will punish you.
Outside the door, night gradually fell.
The warm wind makes the night intoxicating, the lights of Tokyo are bright at night, the sounds of stringed instruments and orchestras echo in the streets and alleys, and the spring scenery is charming.
The prosperity of Dongjing and Bianliang was growing day by day, and there were signs of prosperity. However, the imperial court did not give up the policy of war.
Wei Renpu, deputy envoy of the Privy Council, presented a strategy to the emperor, calling for additional spies to infiltrate Youzhou, the capital of Liao, to find out the internal affairs of Liao and wait for the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Youzhou when there was a rebellion in the country.
Guo Shao did not respond, and he did not agree with it, so he summoned Wang Pu, Li Gu and other ministers to ask for advice. Guo Shao had the final say on the positions of ministers, but if a plan was implemented without the support of the ministers, it would be troublesome to implement it, so there was a delicate balance of power between the emperor and the prime minister.
Wang Pu, who was also a minister of the Privy Council, did not agree with this strategy. He believed that Wei Renpu's strategy was no different from the Northern Expedition at the beginning of this year. The Northern Expedition at the beginning of this year was to create opportunities and suddenly march north, while Wei Renpu's strategy was to wait for a favorable opportunity, but the essence was still a surprise attack and a quick victory.
The previous method had already proven to be a failure, so Wang Pu and the prime ministers were not in favor of trying it again. Although the army had not suffered heavy losses in the previous Northern Expedition, it had consumed a huge amount of military expenses and manpower, and had not gained much benefit.
After hearing this, Guo Shao no longer mentioned Wei Renpu's strategy.
A few days later, Guo Shao was processing memorials in Jinxiang Hall, and not far away, Zuo You and the other two were busy sorting and sorting. At this time, Zuo You stood up, took a memorial and walked to the imperial desk, bowed and said: Your Majesty, this memorial is a little unusual.
Guo Shao put down his brush, reached out to take it, and carefully read the unpunctuated content. He pondered and said:
Zuo You hurriedly said: "The Guiyi Army is in the Hexi Corridor, and governs Shazhou, which is the Dunhuang side. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, they revolted and broke away from Tubo, and paid tribute to the Central Plains. But the situation there is complicated, and the traffic is blocked. There has been no communication for many years. It is rare that the Guiyi Army suddenly submitted a petition.
When Guo Shao heard the familiar place name Dunhuang in Hexi, he immediately became interested and hurriedly asked the eunuch to get the map.
Unfortunately, the largest map only had the names of Shazhou and Dunhuang marked, and the other side was blank. Guo Shao stared at the blank paper in a daze, unable to make out anything.
Zuo You said: The Central Plains got Hexi from the Xiongnu during the Han Dynasty, and the army built a city there. For hundreds of years during the Han and Tang Dynasties, the imperial court took Hexi as its base, went out to the Western Regions, opened up trade routes, and attracted all nations to come to the court. Unfortunately, after the An-Shi Rebellion, the Central Plains was in chaos and had no time to look west.
Guo Shao's fingers stroked the blank space, and a familiar and confused feeling came over him. Most of the Western Regions should be modern Xinjiang; Dunhuang belongs to Gansu, which are all well-known places. Nearly a thousand years ago, China opened up territory to these places, but now in his hands, it was blank, and he couldn't even find a map for a while.
Guo Shao, who had experienced extreme self-confidence, was in a very complicated mood at this time. The country was not as big as he had imagined.
He subconsciously measured the distance with his palm, and finally cast his eyes to the northeast of Beijing. Compared with the loss of control in the west, Youzhou was the most threatening loss of land.
Guo Shao put this memorial aside and said: We must actively respond to the memorial of the Guiyi Army.
This matter received unprecedented attention. The State Council and the Privy Council consulted many previous archives and roughly figured out the situation in Hexi in recent years.
After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Han people in the Hexi Corridor broke away from the control of Tubo and became very powerful, owning eleven states. They submitted a petition to the emperor, recognizing the Tang Dynasty as the legitimate dynasty and the Zhang family as the governor of the Guiyi Army.
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Guiyi Army was in internal strife and its strength declined, becoming a vassal of the Ganzhou Uighurs. The Cao family, a great clan in Shazhou, revived the Guiyi Army and occupied Shazhou and Guazhou until today.
The person who recently wrote to the Central Plains Dynasty was from the Cao family, named Cao Yuanzhong.
The contents of the memorial were too few, and the Central Plains had no time to look westward in recent years, so they knew little about the specific situation in the far west. Most of the ministers' discussions were based on speculation.
The ministers believed that the reason why Cao Yuanzhong sent people to contact Tokyo was because the continuous expansion of the Great Zhou in recent years accelerated the unification of the world, and its reputation had begun to spread far and wide; Cao Yuanzhong was in a difficult situation in the complex Hexi region, and wanted to use the name of the Central Plains dynasty to establish an orthodox reputation in the local area.
For a time, officials vied with each other to sing praises to the emperor, and his reputation spread far and wide, gaining recognition from all sides.
Sitting on the dragon throne, Guo Shao had to admit one thing: it was easy for him to be inflated by the praises of his ministers. But he knew the truth in his heart: he had not even recovered Beijing, the capital of later generations.
The emperor and his ministers hit it off and responded generously to the Guiyi Army, officially conferring the title of Hexi Jiedushi and Western Regions Grand Protector.
No one objected, because the power of Zhou could not reach Hexi at all, and in fact it had no control. The locals took the initiative to submit to the legitimate government, and did not ask for money or soldiers, so of course they were very generous in giving them status.
Due to the court's attitude, Cao Yuanzhong could not only nominally govern Hexi, but also legitimately interact with the tribes in the Western Regions using the identity of the Central Plains dynasty.
Guo Shao decided to send an envoy and an envoy of the Guiyi Army to Hexi, bringing the imperial edict to find out the situation.
At this time, Lu Duosun, an official from the Hanlin Academy, volunteered to be the envoy.
During the war against Southern Tang, Lu Duosun risked his life to go to Jiangning to persuade the Southern Tang to surrender, but his contribution played little role in the war for Southern Tang. In addition, his qualifications were too shallow, so he was still not reused after returning to the court.
This time he asked again, and Guo Shao agreed to his request. He also asked the Privy Council to order Wang Jing of Qinzhou to receive the imperial envoy and send troops to escort him.
The envoys of the Tokyo Provincial Government had close contacts with Wuyue, hoping that Wuyue would surrender. Han Xizai, a highly respected scholar in the Jiangnan literati, also tried to persuade the Qian family. But there was little progress. Wuyue was submissive and paid tribute every year, but it still maintained a large number of military forces. On the one hand, the Great Zhou could not find a reason to mobilize troops against Wuyue, and on the other hand, it felt that Wuyue was not easy to fight because it was a waste of money and manpower. The Southern Tang Dynasty had fought with it for decades but failed to destroy it.
Last year, the Great Zhou also sent an envoy with an imperial edict to contact the Southern Han Kingdom. Unexpectedly, the ruler of the Southern Han Kingdom responded to the court by calling himself "Zhen" and claiming to be the emperor of the Great Han Dynasty. This angered Guo Shao and his ministers.
At the beginning of this year, they sent people to negotiate again, asking the ruler of Southern Han to give up the title of emperor and become a vassal of the Zhou Dynasty. The ministers thought this was a reasonable request. Now that the Great Zhou Dynasty was in the Central Plains, it had annexed Shu, Southern Tang and a number of separatist regimes and was already the largest country; while Southern Han was in a remote corner, it was natural and wise for it to become a vassal of the Central Plains.
Unexpectedly, a few days after Lu Dosun left Tokyo, he suddenly received a report from Jiangnan: the ruler of Southern Han had failed to reach an agreement with the envoy of Great Zhou and had killed him in anger.
When the ministers heard the news, the whole court was in an uproar.
People couldn't understand why the King of Southern Han did that. Wang Pu said directly: The King of Southern Han is a tyrant.
The ministers discussed and immediately launched a war against Southern Han. The generals also volunteered to lead a troop to destroy Southern Han. The generals were very enthusiastic. They saw that Southern Han was relatively weak and internally chaotic, so this was an obvious opportunity to establish military merit.
But Guo Shao did not express his opinion immediately. Although he was as angry as the court officials, he could not disrupt the situation; observing Wang Pu, Li Gu and other ministers, they were not in a hurry to call for war and killing.
Guo Shao couldn't help but ponder. The specific consideration was that it was too far to transfer troops. There were not many soldiers capable of fighting in Jiangnan now. After the demise of the Southern Tang Kingdom, the elite troops were withdrawn and the military power was divided. The main purpose was to guard against the Wuyue Kingdom and internal rebellion, and the offensive force was insufficient.
Secondly, it would take time to hastily launch a war to destroy a country thousands of miles away. The general strategy of the Great Zhou Dynasty before was to conquer the north first and then the south, to establish prestige through the northern expedition, and then to take advantage of the situation to recover the remote areas in the south; now launching a war in the south again would change the strategic direction, and it could not be done rashly.
Guo Shao now needs an adjusted overall strategy.