The afterglow of joy was like the wet sweat on her face, sticking a few strands of messy black hair to her face. Lady Huarui's tone was slightly complaining: It's only now that it hurts.
Guo Shao stroked her smooth and round shoulders with his palm and joked. As expected, as long as there is physical contact between men and women, they can be closer and the difference in status will be eliminated to a large extent.
Madam Huarui blushed and whispered: "Since I came to Tokyo, I have never slept with him. Maybe it's been too long."
After hearing this, Guo Shao pondered for a long time and said: It is not a good thing to hesitate on this matter. I will send a trustworthy person to reward Meng Chang with a cup of poisoned wine, and then announce that he died of a sudden illness.
After Guo Shao finished speaking, he felt that his considerations were reasonable.
Unexpectedly, Lady Huarui's face turned pale and her body trembled: "Your Majesty, for my sake, please spare his life."
Her reaction was very strong, and Guo Shao was also stunned, wondering: Things have come to this, rather than being in a dilemma, it is better to go with the flow. There is no need to hesitate, picking up meat is meat, and throwing away are bones.
Madam Huarui looked so pitiful that she even shed tears.
Guo Shao felt at a loss when seeing this, and hurriedly comforted him: Don't cry yet, I haven't done anything yet. If you have any ideas, I don't want to force you.
Madam Huarui choked up and said: "Even if Duke Qin has many faults, I cannot harm him. I was originally of humble status, but Duke Qin showed me kindness. He even built a crystal palace for me by the Mohe Pond. How can I repay kindness with hatred?"
Guo Shao thought along with her words: It seems that Meng Chang really treated her better. He did nothing, except that he saw that she was beautiful and favored her a little; as for the small care after the fall of Shu, it was for Jingniang's sake, and those helps were nothing in comparison.
He asked himself if he could really dote on her as much as Meng Chang did. Although the Zhou treasury was not short of money, the north and south had to fight wars, so it was impossible to spend a large sum of money on such a thing.
For a moment, Guo Shao did feel very strange, as if he should treat Lady Huarui better than Meng Chang.
Guo Shao couldn't help but guess what Madam Huarui was thinking, and then shook his head slightly. He thought: No matter how many excuses there are, they can't cover up the fact that Madam Huarui doesn't mean enough to him.
The hardest person to get is probably because that person has someone in his heart.
Guo Shao was silent for a while, and then said: "Then I will do as you wish, Madam. I will not touch Meng Chang. You can rest assured that I said I would kill him because I felt that Madam was in an awkward situation. If you kill Meng Chang, everything will be simple."
Madam Huarui no longer had the happiness she had just now and sighed quietly.
After a while, she said with a worried look on her face: I regret not meeting Your Majesty earlier.
After saying that, she struggled out of Guo Shao's arms and began to put on her clothes.
Guo Shao asked: Madam, why did you get up
Madam Huarui said: I have to hurry back before it gets dark.
Will this be useful? Guo Shao asked casually, he meant to cover up.
Madam Huarui looked weak and helpless: I don’t know what to do. It will be better if I don’t stay overnight. I thank Your Majesty for your love and favor, but people’s words are scary.
Madam Huarui sighed softly, tidied herself up, knelt at the door and said: Your Majesty, please allow me to take my leave.
Guo Shao sat up and said: Madam, if you need anything, please tell Jingniang.
Thank you, Your Majesty. Madam Huarui said. She left the bedroom and her skirt quickly disappeared by the door.
Guo Shao stared at her blankly, and the afterimage of her figure remained in his mind for a while. He couldn't resist the temptation. With his current situation and identity, it seemed unnecessary to resist the temptation. He just suddenly felt that the joy of this afternoon was only left with emptiness.
He thought about what had just happened. It was impossible to kill Meng Chang without Madam Huarui's consent. She would never agree. He had to bear this responsibility. But he saw that Madam Huarui was really sad, and somehow he felt that it was unnecessary to do it.
At this time, the sun was setting, but it was not yet dark. According to Guo Shao's usual schedule, he would not go to bed so early.
At this moment, Yu Lian walked to the door and said: The beauty has left. Your Majesty, would you like to get up for dinner? I will help you change your clothes.
Guo Shao heard her sour tone and observed her face, which seemed to be very angry.
Yu Lian stepped forward to help Guo Shao dress up, and said sullenly: I cooked the dinner, but I'm not that particular. I don't know if it will please Your Majesty.
Guo Shaodao: The lunch was indeed delicious, but what I want to eat every day is Yu Lian’s food.
Yu Lian said: Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness. I don’t want to say bad things in front of us.
Guo Shao reached out and held her hand: Yu Lian
Yu Lian looked down at her grabbed hand and said softly:
Guo Shao pondered for a moment, then carefully touched the calluses on her palms, and said softly: Every bit is true, I still understand a little bit about the world and human nature.
Yu Lian pursed her red lips, lowered her head and said nothing.
Guo Shao stood up and said: I will do something else, Yu Lian will sleep with me tonight.
Yu Lian whispered: Your Majesty, your health is important.
Guo Shao laughed and walked out of the bedroom.
He continued to read the strategies presented by the ministers, and there were various ways to deal with the Liao Kingdom. Although the court's national policy had begun to adjust and temporarily gave up the Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition was still a major long-term task.
He had been thinking about this for the past few days. His restless mood was only temporary, and now he was gradually calming down.
Sometimes, the world is really just a circle. After a big circle, you will still return to the starting point.
Guo Shao picked up his idea from last year again: the competition with the Liao Kingdom is still a competition of military strength; and military power must be transformed through national strength.
He remembered that he had written down the idea at the time, but he had too many notebooks and they were all sloppy. Now he didn't want to go back to the archive to look for it, so he rethought it from memory.
The Great Zhou has a large population, farmland and materials. Now that it has occupied the two great powers of Shu and Southern Tang, its overall national strength should exceed that of the Liao Kingdom, which owns Bohai, Liaodong and Youyun.
But the military force is still at a disadvantage. The number of soldiers that can fight in the Great Zhou can be counted. The more than 100,000 imperial guards are relatively strong, plus the surrendered soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty who are not very strong in field combat, the Gan De Army, the Shudi Jiannan Army, the Hedong Army, and the remaining troops of some vassal states. And most of them are infantry.
The Liao Kingdom had a large number of cavalry and herdsmen who were easy to become cavalry.
The Han Dynasty's military method of dealing with the Huns was to raise a large number of horses to expand the cavalry, but there were no stirrups at the time.
Guo Shao felt that it would be difficult to completely copy the Han Dynasty's method of transforming military power. The Central Plains at this time might not have the cohesion it had during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, and might not be able to withstand decades of turmoil.
The fastest way to convert population and national strength into military force is to use crossbows and firearms.
Because using crossbows and firearms hardly requires too much training. A group of able-bodied men can learn to use these weapons in half a month, and an army can be formed in a few months. Among them, the cost of crossbows is high, but the range is much longer, and crossbowmen are more combat-effective; the fire guns at that time could only kill armored enemy soldiers at a distance of 20 to 30 steps, which is too short, but bronze guns are much cheaper than crossbows.
A group of soldiers wearing armor and holding crossbows and firearms, even if they are not elite, are quite combat-effective. As for how infantry fights cavalry, it is a matter of tactics as long as there are enough of them.
Guo Shao is not sure whether this road is feasible, otherwise he would not have launched the Northern Expedition at the beginning of this year.
A whole set of ideas quickly took shape in Guo Shao's mind. He hurriedly picked up the brush and wrote down some ideas.
The next morning, Guo Shao proposed his own strategy to the civil and military officials in the meeting hall. First, he would requisition a batch of war horses from the northwest to expand the imperial cavalry. Second, he would launch a war against the Southern Han.
Guo Shao's idea of conquering the Southern Han Kingdom was not to mobilize a large army from the north. Instead, he recruited young and strong men from all over the country, built a new camp in Jiangnan, and conquered the Southern Han Kingdom with the new army.
The ministers were puzzled after hearing this, but no one immediately raised any objections. After all, it was the emperor who proposed it, not the ministers.
However, some people still complained. The Southern Han Kingdom did not have a capable army. To attack such a country, it would take too long to reorganize and train the army. In addition, although the Southern Han Kingdom was weak, it relied entirely on a group of civilians, so it would be difficult to destroy it.
Guo Shao thought that such a big national policy, from making weapons to mobilizing supplies and people's manpower, required the participation of the entire court, and it was impossible to keep it secret from the ministers. The people present were all central ministers, so he said: The Southern Han Kingdom is not a threat, and the main goal of waging war against it is not to destroy the country and recover the land; but to train the army.
Everyone almost held their breath after hearing this.
Guo Shao said seriously: "The Northern Expedition requires more troops. Relying solely on recruiting professional soldiers will put a heavy burden on the national treasury and the troops are insufficient. I want to try to restore the Tang Dynasty's military system and recruit troops through various states. These military soldiers are mainly infantry equipped with crossbows and firearms."
First, we should build a large camp, train and equip it, and then go south to attack the Southern Han Kingdom. On the one hand, we can test the combat effectiveness of the government soldiers; on the other hand, it is also a training exercise. The best way to get elite soldiers is to fight and fight frequently.
After hearing this, the ministers discussed the matter for a while. After all, it was a major event that involved changing the military system and alarmed all places. People also had some doubts and advice, mainly because it would increase the burden on the people and they had to guard against civil unrest and uprisings.
Someone advised him, but Guo Shao did not get angry and said: The strategy I just thought of is bound to have some imperfections. If you have any suggestions, you can write to me later to express your opinions.
Everyone bowed together and said: We obey your order.
Guo Shao was full of expectations for this strategy, and currently felt that it was a new path. As long as he could get the support of the civil and military officials in a while, he could try to implement it. Although the emperor was arbitrary, he still had to rely on the various government offices to execute everything; if too many people did not support it, it would not be very smooth to implement. So Guo Shao still hoped that the ministers could truly agree with his strategy.