The door knocked softly, Zhang Hui strode in, Gu Han immediately stood up and bowed, Zhang Hui waved his hand, glanced at the room, and did not sit on the couch with Gongsun Changming, but dragged a chair and sat on the other side.

"Any surprises?" Li Ze asked.

Naturally, he asked about the situation of grading.

"Expected." Zhang Hui shook his head and said: "The test of Chang'an, Luoyang, Jiangnan and other places, the poems and songs are a must, and there are many excellent works, but when it comes to the strategy of governing the world and helping the people, most of them are empty talk, and they can't be combined with reality at all. ”

"That's what you want to do." Li Zedao: "After so many years of accumulation, how easy is it to sweep away this kind of atmosphere at one time?" Actually, it's no wonder that they do. It's good to be able to get this far despite the obstacles we have set up, and the rest will be arranged by the Ministry of Rites. ”

Zhang Hui nodded: "As long as they are willing to accept it, the Ministry of Rites will naturally make arrangements." Li Xiang wants to educate the world, no matter how poor these people are, they can always be competent to preside over the education of a place and teach people to read and understand etiquette. ”

"I'm afraid they don't want to go to the poor countryside to endure hardship!" Li Ze said with a smile.

"Then let's prepare for next year's exam!" Zhang Hui sneered: "The topics will only get more and more difficult, the competition will only become more and more fierce, if you don't get in touch with reality, don't participate in practice, and want to get out of the imperial examination we hold by studying hard behind closed doors, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult." ”

"But we also have an unusual character from Jiangnan here!" Li Ze pointed at Gu Han and said: "Zhang Shangshu knows that this person has a letter of recommendation from Boss Jin, but he insists on participating in the scientific examination by himself, and he successfully sits in front of you and me." ”

"There are thousands of readers in the world, and there will always be a few missing pearls." Zhang Hui took a sip of tea, looked at Gu Han, and said with a smile: "It's just a glorious pearl, or a grandiose death pearl, but you have to pass our level first." ”

Gu Han arched his hand, but he didn't speak.

Li Ze took out something, put it on the table in his hand, looked at Gu Han and asked, "Gu Han, do you know what the strategy we have set is?" ”

"Yes!" Gu Han nodded: "Although the imperial court didn't say it explicitly, I can guess it." It must be that he wants to pacify Zhang Zhongwu first, defeat Tubo, open up the Western Regions, and then press to Luoyang, Chang'an, with the momentum of thunder, and then from north to south, to dominate the world. ”

"If you guessed so accurately, why did you put forward the completely opposite opinion in this policy?" Zhang Hui asked, "Do you think this current strategy of the imperial court is inappropriate?" ”

Gu Han smiled: "On paper, it is naturally logical and impeccable. No one can pick out the thorns. ”

"On paper?" All three people in the room frowned.

This accusation is not light.

It's like saying in the chapter just now that those scholars from the south are just talking about empty words, and can only write articles full of flowers but do not understand current affairs.

"Mr. Gongsun has been in Lulong for many years, has he traveled all over the Northeast?" Gu Han looked at Gongsun Changming.

Gongsun Changming shook his head: "As a strategist, I don't have many places to move around, and most of the time, I am in Youzhou. ”

"I'll walk by." Gu Han said: "The land of the Northeast, with a vast territory, white mountains and black waters, magnificent mountains and rivers, and fertile land, is indeed a rare and good place. However, it is precisely because of the vast territory that the population is scarce, and most of them are barren and uninhabited, and in this area, bandits are rampant and ferocious. In many cases, there is no distinction between people and bandits, or even a family, picking up a knife and stepping on a horse, it is a bandit, and getting off the horse and carrying a hoe is a people. ”

All three nodded.

"The ethnic composition there is extremely complex, and the fighting between them has stained the land with blood." Gu Han tilted his head slightly, as if recalling his adventures there back then: "It was really a fluke that I was able to come back alive from that place back then. ”

"Go on." Li Zedao.

"Now where Zhang Zhongwu is in control, he has an extremely broad strategic depth, with all due respect, even if Li Xiangyou defeat Deng Jingshan in Pingzhou and find the gateway to the northeast, it is extremely difficult to completely annihilate Zhang Zhongwu's forces. If I were Zhang Zhongwu, I would definitely take advantage of the vast area in the northeast and fight Li Xiangyou. Completely drag Li Xiangyou into the quagmire of war, and you can't get out. ”

The faces of the three people in the room gradually became solemn.

They rated Zhang Zhongwu as not the same kind of person as Zhang Zhongwu in Gu Han's mouth. If Zhang Zhongwu wants to conquer the world, he will inevitably fight to the death with Li Ze, which is exactly what Li Ze wants to see the most.

But what if, as Zhang Zhongwu Zhen and Gu Han said, they have already recognized the form, and they don't want to have a hard time with Li Ze and just want to shrink to the northeast and be a local emperor?

"It seems to make some sense." Gongsun Changming muttered: "This time Zhang Zhongwu seems to have raised 100,000 soldiers to Pingzhou, but they are all slaves and servant troops, and only Deng Jingshan's headquarters is in Pingzhou, and Zhang Zhongwu's strength has not appeared. ”

"Zhang Zhongwu will definitely move his headquarters to Yingzhou, Liaozhou and other places, because he still has great interests in Goguryeo, so he does not have much problem with logistics. Enough for him to run these places well. If Li Xiang wants to annihilate him, he must go deep into the northeast. Li Xiang, that is a huge logistical pressure on the army. If you are not careful, you will lose all the games. Gu Han said.

"In your case, we have to compromise with him?" Li Ze frowned.

"A compromise for the time being!" Gu Han said: "If you want to completely pacify that place, unless you have already ruled the world by Li Xiang, in this way, even if you lose once or twice, you can't shake your foundation, and if you lose once, you can start again, one after another, step by step, little by little, you will be able to swallow him." And now, Lee Sang, you can't afford to lose. ”

"If, according to what you said, we shook hands with Zhang Zhongwu and made peace, and the well water did not interfere with the river water, didn't we give him more time for him to straighten out that land? If he has a complete foothold somewhere, it will be even more difficult to take him down. Zhang replied.

"How easy is it to take it completely?" Gu Han shook his head again and again: "The people there are fierce, the ethnic composition is extremely complex, the family tycoons are also officials and bandits, wilderness people and savages, haunting everywhere, killing inexhaustibly, and suppressing them endlessly. Zhang Zhongwu doesn't have a fortune like Li Xiang, and he only uses iron-blooded slaughter, which is not a long-term strategy for peace and stability, but it is just to destroy one place and rise from one place. It seems to be calm over there now, but in fact, because Li Xiang's oppression of the Northeast is too great, many forces there are afraid of Li Xiangyou, and they have to fight with Zhang Zhongwu. ”

The three of them glanced at each other, and they all saw a look of approval in each other's eyes.

"Speaking of Goguryeo!" Gu Han said: "Zhang Zhongwu took advantage of the contradiction between the king of Goguryeo and the minister of power Tan Daoji, sow discord, let them fight, and he profited from it, and now it is rampant in Goguryeo, but whether it is the king of Goguryeo or Tan Daoji, he is not a fool, he will always react, if my guess is correct, it will not be long before Zhang Zhongwu will encounter trouble in Goguryeo." ”

"When the time comes, he will continue to have internal troubles, and Li Xiang will throw away the sincerity of peace at the right time, and he will definitely take it over with joy." Gu Han said. "He has to deal with internal affairs, and Li Xiang can throw away this big trouble and wholeheartedly take the Central Plains first, and then go down to Jiangnan. As for the northeast, when the Central Plains is stable and the world is unified, and then slowly plotting it, it will take three or five years or even more than ten years, and it can finally be won. In a corner, how to fight against the unified Central Plains Empire? ”

"In that case, why do you want to fight a battle against Tibet in your strategy?" Li Ze asked, "Do you know the difficulties of our soldiers and horses once they go to the land of Tibet?" The logistical supply pressure is no worse than that of Zhang Zhongwu's side, and the climate there alone is not something that our soldiers can adapt to in a short period of time. A strong soldier here in us can walk dozens of miles a day, but wherever he goes, I'm afraid he won't be able to walk even half of it! ”

"Of course I do." Gu Han said: "But to fight Tubo, you don't need to go to their lair, in fact, it is obvious, Li Xiang, even if you don't want to fight them, they will come to beat you." In the past, Tubo has always had a lot of confrontations with the border towns of the Tang Dynasty, and over the years, Tubo has always had the upper hand, and you may not know very well that many border towns are now taking money and grain to buy peace. ”

"Take money and food to buy peace?"

"Yes, Tubo's current great minister Tocharo is a masterpiece, under his governance, Tubo is just strong, invaded the border towns many times, and repeatedly defeated the Tang soldiers in the border towns, but at that time there was Gao Biao in the east of the river, once there was something in the border town, Gao Biao would vigorously support, but also stabilized the situation. Later, Tubo only needed to put up a frame, and many generals in the border towns directly gave them a large amount of money and food in order to save trouble, so that they could withdraw from the army. Gao Yu actually knew this, but he could only turn a blind eye. Now that Gao Yu is gone, the Tang Empire has become the current situation again, if Tocharo doesn't want to come and fight, that's a strange thing? ”

Li Ze nodded: "In this way, it is indeed going to be a big battle." ”

"This battle is unavoidable, not only to fight, but also to win, a big victory, so that Tocharian re-examines the relationship with the imperial court." Gu Han said: "And take this opportunity, Li Xiang can also reorganize the border towns and truly incorporate them into the system of the imperial court, instead of listening to the tune and not listening to the propaganda like now, and the surface is obedient, but in fact it is divided." ”