In the afternoon, the officials came to the meeting hall one after another. The emperor had not arrived yet, and a dozen people quickly formed a small circle in the casual conversation. There were only fifteen people in total, six military generals, three each from the Palace Guards, the Horse and Infantry Departments; nine civil officials, two from the Privy Council, three from the Political Affairs Hall, and four from the Cabinet.
As soon as Zan Jurun came in, Zuo You asked: "Have you finished the important matter of Minister Zan?"
A trace of disappointment flashed across Zan Jurun's face, and he quickly clasped his fists and said: It's settled.
As soon as they started talking, they started chatting. People should be group creatures, and being sociable makes them feel much more comfortable; especially in such occasions, when everyone is talking, if someone is isolated, they will probably feel very uncomfortable.
Han Tong and Shi Yanchao were the kind of people who were isolated. Han Tong looked at them with a pair of big eyes, as if others owed him money. For a while, no one talked to him, because no one wanted to put their warm face in the cold butt and get rejected for no reason. Of course, they would talk to people who were friendly and easy to get along with.
Shi Yanchao held his head high, sneered from time to time, and looked at people with contempt. He acted like the most powerful general in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Han Tong and Shi Yanchao didn't talk to each other, and it seemed that they looked down on each other.
Yang Biao's leg has almost recovered. He recently returned to work at the Dianqian Division without using a crutch, and his injury seems to have recovered well.
At this moment, an eunuch came in and said: The Emperor has arrived.
The crowd immediately dispersed and divided into the civil and military sides, according to their positions. When Guo Shao came in, everyone knelt on the ground and shouted long live his life.
Guo Shao was almost unassuming in such occasions. He wore an old purple round-necked robe and a black gauze hat. People who didn't know him would think he was just a civil servant. He took a seat at the top, greeted the ministers, and was then asked to sit down.
Guo Shao looked at Lu Duosun and said, "Lu Fuzheng is the one who went to the northwest in person. I would like to hear your opinion first."
Lu Duosun stood up and bowed to the emperor, and then saluted to the ministers on both sides. His voice was a little nervous, and he said cautiously: "We will take the northwest, and the Hexi area is particularly important. The land here is fertile, and there are abundant cattle, sheep, horses, and food. It is a place to defend for a long time. In addition, the Han family has taken root and operated here for hundreds of years, so it is easier to surrender. As long as our dynasty can occupy Hexi, we can guard against the Western Region Uighurs and other tribes in the west, which is a long-term plan; we can attack the Longyou tribes from both sides, so that they will not dare to move east easily.
Guo Shao asked: How to occupy Hexi
Lu Duosun pondered for a moment and said: I think we can only take it slow. We can first establish prestige among the tribes through alliances, trade, and tribute.
Before he could finish his words, Shi Yanchao said coldly: You are really a consumptive. You came back and were robbed and killed one after another. You almost lost your life. Instead of asking for troops to take revenge, you made such a fuss about it.
What Lu Dosun said was hit hard in his stomach. His face turned blue and white. He looked at Shi Yanchao, unable to speak.
Wang Pu, Wei Renpu and others looked at each other.
Wang Pu couldn't bear to watch it anymore and asked: "General Shi, how do you think we should use our troops to take revenge?"
Shi Yanchao thought for a moment and said: We only need to send tens of thousands of elite cavalry from the imperial army to start from Longyou and drive out all the Tubo and Dangxiang in Longyou; then we can go to Ganzhou in Xiliang, expel the barbarians, take back the entire Hexi, and join up with the Guiyi Army in Guasha.
Everyone was silent after hearing this. Han Tong stopped glaring and rolled his eyes.
Wang Pu said coldly: "General Shi, you said it so lightly. It's more than 2,000 miles from Tokyo to Hexi. How much food and grain would it cost for the imperial army to march west with tens of thousands of cavalry? Do you know how much money was spent on the Northern Expedition this year? How much money did Cao Bin spend to build the Jiangnan camp? Let's not talk about these. Can tens of thousands of cavalry conquer Hexi?"
Before crossing the Yellow River, they attacked the Tanguts; the Tanguts in Xiazhou could no longer sit still. General Shi had to come up with a strategy to attack Xiazhou first.
Shi Yanchao frowned and said: The Dangxiang tribe in the south and the Dangxiang tribe in Xiazhou are of the same mind.
Wang Pu said: General Shi must not have read the files that Lu Shijun brought back. The Dangxiang tribes in the west are active from the Yinchuan Plain in Lingzhou to the Xining Plain in Shanzhou. The Li family of Xiazhou and these tribes are of the same race and language, and they not only have frequent exchanges, but also have intermarriages. Shanzhou has excellent iron, and the armor and weapons of the Dangxiang in Xiazhou are mostly obtained from the south. How will the Li family of Xiazhou fare if they go to fight the Dangxiang
Shi Yanchao said nothing.
Guo Shao discovered that Shi Yanchao looked down on civil servants and rarely contradicted Wang Pu; and Wang Pu never spoke to him in a good tone.
At this time, Wei Renpu said: If we want to march west, it will take a lot of time and cost a lot. The court should first deal with the Youyun Liao army and cannot easily fall into the quagmire in the west. I agree with Minister Lu's proposal that we should focus on appeasement.
Wei Renpu was also a war advocate, and his words often advocated victory by force. Even he said so. This made Guo Shao more certain that the mess in the west could not be easily solved.
Guo Shao believed that the Xiazhou Dangxiang would be the Xixia Kingdom, which would be very difficult to deal with in the future, and regarded it as a thorn in his side. But at this time, he really couldn't touch it casually. It was already very difficult to deal with the Liao Kingdom. If he fell into another difficult war quagmire, wouldn't that be courting death
Lu Duosun glanced at Shi Yanchao, clasped his fists and said: "The land of Xiazhou and other five states has pastures and large tracts of arable land. Salt, iron and copper are also produced in the north. There are sufficient grain and fodder, and all the Dangxiang people are soldiers, with strong soldiers and horses. If we want to start a war, I'm afraid it won't be easy."
At this time, Wei Renpu said: I have some ideas these days.
Guo Shaodao: Deputy Envoy Wei, please feel free to speak.
Wei Renpu stood up, looked around and said: According to your majesty and the officials of the court, the court is currently aiming to stabilize the west and expand the war horses from the northwest, and has no plans to attack the northwest. Therefore, the war cannot be started lightly.
I have observed that the Xiazhou Dangxiang tribes had been subservient to the Central Plains for decades even when the Central Plains was in turmoil; this shows that the Xiazhou Li family still had awe for the great country of the Central Plains. Last year, when the Great Zhou attacked the Eastern Han and Northern Han, the Li family sent troops to the Yellow River to support the Great Zhou army; and regardless of their intentions, they had the intention of making peace.
Therefore, if the imperial court had not forced the Li family, Xiazhou would not have easily taken the risk of becoming an enemy of our dynasty.
The Tibetan tribes and the Hexi Uighurs were now in disarray, each ruling its own empire. They had no power to threaten Guanzhong, and were far away from each other. The imperial court should first make alliances with the distant and attack the nearby.
Wei Renpu bowed to the emperor and said: Your Majesty, you can choose a minister to lead a group of people to tour the west.
One of the itineraries is to call the Tanguts in Hexi to negotiate, to discuss the mutual looting between the Zhou vassal states and the Tangut tribes, and to ease the relationship. You can also invite the Li family of Xiazhou to participate in the peace talks. There have been constant conflicts on the border in recent years. If left unattended, there will inevitably be hidden dangers of intensification and chaos.
The second part of the journey was to call on the northwestern tribes to form an alliance, open up trade, and exchange horses.
Everyone was not very happy after hearing this, but no one objected.
Back then, the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu made peace, and the Tang Dynasty and the Tubo made peace, all to ease the relationship, either because the enemy was too powerful to destroy or because they were too powerful to deal with. Compromise, at least temporarily, is a necessary strategy, otherwise there would be wars on all sides, and the national strength of the Central Plains was not strong enough to do so.
Guo Shao felt uncomfortable too, but thinking that his current primary target was Youyun, he remained silent.
The feeling of being trapped became stronger, and Guo Shao finally couldn't help but said: I want to go on the western tour myself.
As expected, the ministers dissuaded him. Guo Shao did not say anything decisive, but said: Deputy Envoy Wei proposed the proposal, and it is the Deputy Envoy Wei who will be responsible for liaising with the various ministries and arranging the matters. He turned to look at Lu Duosun, and said: Minister Lu is the only one present who has been to Hexi, so you will be the deputy.
The two received the order.
When the group broke up, Guo Shao summoned Wang Pu and Wei Renpu to the Yangde Hall for a secret talk.
Guo Shao paid attention to the northwest. In addition to guarding against rebellions by the barbarian tribes, he was also concerned about the northwestern vassal states, especially the Zhe family of the Jingnan Army, because they had a personal grudge against Guo Shao.
When Guo Shao ascended the throne, in order to reduce resistance, he did not dare to touch those powerful vassal states, and everything remained the same. Now, we should gradually start to sort out these vassal states.
The northwest strategy will soon take shape in general. We just need to check for omissions and make up for them, and weigh the pros and cons for a while before we can implement it.
Guo Shao stood in front of the large map on the wall. The western topography had been completed, and there were several large separatist territories in the south. However, Guo Shao finally looked towards Youzhou, Hebei.
Regardless of the north or south, it is all for the purpose of another northern expedition.
What they are doing is nothing more than accumulating strength to reduce threats elsewhere so as to concentrate their attacks.
At this time, the threat from the northwest was not urgent. The remaining countries in the south had never had the strength to move north to threaten the Central Plains. Even the Liao Kingdom showed no signs of large-scale southward plunder due to internal chaos.
The Great Zhou was in the offensive period.
Although others are not attacking you now, you cannot stop attacking. If you don't attack now, you will be attacked later. Should you hold on to what you have and live a mediocre life, or should you move forward to a higher place? Opportunities are always hard to come by.
Guo Shao was good at sensing opportunities before, but they were always small opportunities. This time, he was sensing the opportunity of history.
Youyun is the most important place. At this time, Liao was in civil strife and was weak. The Central Plains had just stabilized from the war and was expanding its territory. Usually, the dynasty was most powerful at this time. If we don't occupy the key place and take the opportunity to establish our position, when will we be able to do so
Guo Shao thought to himself: My judgment should be correct.
He turned his head and looked out the window of Yangde Hall. The towering palaces and towers of the imperial city, as well as the broad brick and stone avenues, were quietly in his sight, solemn and grand. In the still landscape, time seemed to stand still.
People here could not notice it, as if time was passing and changing as a matter of course; but Guo Shao knew that everything was gradually changing and was moving towards an unknown direction.
Guo Shao didn't know where it was heading, he just felt that everything stopped at the place where it was out of track.
It was Guo Shao who led the vast trend away from its direction. Time was rushing like a river. Perhaps there was a new river waiting ahead. Guo Shao was trying to lead it there.