Summing up the existing conditions, Shang Cheng concluded that even if the Prime Minister's Office agreed to send troops to the East, it would not be possible to use troops until three years later at the earliest.

Gu Shi is a person who is more enthusiastic about sending troops. He had this thought, not because he felt that this was an opportunity to meddle in the important affairs of the Eastern Wa Kingdom, but because he considered his own situation. Now that the crown prince is newly dead, the situation in the court is turbulent and the future is unclear, so the opponents have not yet begun to deal with him seriously. But there are also some signs. In the past, when he was recuperating in Zhuangzi, no matter what happened in the court, someone would always report to him in time, but recently, there are obviously fewer such people. Obviously, those who were originally close to the Gu family must have also sensed that the wind was not right, so they were already vaguely alienating him. The more delicate the moment, the more he hoped that the situation could become more complicated, the more confusing the situation became, and only when a pool of water was completely muddied would he have time to think about countermeasures, and only then could he find an opportunity to get the family out of the situation. He carefully calculated that if he wanted to make the situation chaotic, there were not many ways to think of it, and there were no more than three ways: first, the matter of Lichu had not been resolved for a long time, second, Zhang Pu's southward faction had fallen, Dong Quan and the northward faction had made a comeback, and third, Xiao Jian had been defeated. No matter what happens, it will cause a shock in the DPRK situation, and it is impossible for anyone to care about dealing with him when others are caught up in the battle for the storage position, the dispute between the north and the south, and the responsibility for the defeat. But all three of these things are difficult to achieve. Since he was expecting them to happen, someone else would do everything possible to prevent them from becoming reality; And whether these things will happen, how they will happen, and how they will develop, are not under his control, and what kind of situation will evolve in the end may be beyond his expectations, and it is difficult to say whether his situation will deteriorate even more, so these are all strategies. And the real best strategy is to cause or create a fierce conflict in the court, whether it is military or government, as long as the conflict can attract the attention of most people. Of course, the Eastern Wa's request for help was not a good opportunity to create conflict; After all, the Eastern Wa Kingdom is too far away from Great Zhao to attract the attention of many people. But it's always an opportunity, and there's always someone to pay attention to it. He has even begun to plan in his mind which people he needs to pull together to cheer for the war in the East. However, Shang Cheng's judgment that "the army can only be sent in three years" immediately interrupted his thoughts. He couldn't wait that long, and it was unlikely that the Gu family would hold out until that day, unless Shang Yanshan was willing to lend a helping hand to the Gu family. However, if Shang Cheng is willing to help, does he still need to worry about anything? Forget it, it is imperative to continue to think of an ingenious way to send cicadas directly to the business.

He had no interest in the Eastern Wa Kingdom, and it was not easy to say it directly, so he asked Zhenqian: "Huaichun, if the army is sent after three years, can the warships, grain, and ordnance be prepared neatly?" ”

Zhen Qian nodded with a blank face. He didn't quite understand what Gu Shi meant by this. Sending troops to the Eastern Wa Kingdom is a matter of striking while the iron is hot, and if you don't do it immediately, when the time passes, there is no possibility of paying much attention to it. But at present, there are hidden worries in the imperial court and there is a war outside, and it is impossible for Zhang Pu and the prime minister's public office to agree to send troops to the Eastern Wa State no matter what; Can't Gu Shi see this?

Thinking of this, he swept his gaze to Gu Shi, and it happened that Gu Shi was also looking at him, and the two of them looked at each other, and they smiled and stopped talking, so they went back to their seats and sat down to drink water.

Shang Cheng took the record made for the New Year, carefully pondered it according to the map, and from time to time he would say a few words to the New Year. Although the Eastern Wa Kingdom is not a subordinate of the Great Zhao Domain, the Ministry of Rites still knows some general information, and the Chinese New Year is not a big or small Qipin Lang in the Yamen, and he can answer a few words. And when he made the record just now, he also had some ideas about the situation in the Eastern Wa Kingdom in his mind, although the context was not very clear, but he could just talk to Shang Cheng.

No one paid any attention to the first three.

The first three hung their arms and stood in front of the desk in despair.

Three years. Three years......

Is three years a long time? No, three years is not a long time at all, especially for a monk who has been strictly observing the precepts for many years, either chanting sutras and reciting Buddhas or accompanying the ancient Buddha of the green lantern, it is meaningless, but it is just a flick of a finger. But three years is too long for a person who suddenly hopes to become the king of Dongwa, so long that it will make expectations come to naught, hope into despair, and even make a person from a mortal body into a loess ......

Just a moment ago, his heart was filled with indescribable joy, but in an instant, the joy that had been more than forty years late was shattered by the merciless truth. It's hard for him to articulate how he's feeling right now. Joy and sorrow, life and death, past and future, these are the questions he has been thinking about all the time in his more than forty years as a monk, but has never found the answer; However, just now, right now, he got the answer: just as a person's hand is turned over is the palm of the hand is turned over and the back of the hand, there is only one line between life and death......

He stood there expressionless, his eyes squinted, as if trying to escape the sunlight shining on his face through the window lattice. The sun is warm and warm; There were no figures walking around in the courtyard; A sparrow jumps around on a bluestone slab; The faint smell of tea wafted from the side room that he couldn't see, and along the breath, he could still hear the voice of the woman talking, and there was a faint woman giggling, and the sound was as crisp and beautiful as the cry of a lark......

No! He groaned with grief in his heart. He doesn't like "sadness", and he doesn't like death even more. He likes to hear the singing of larks, he likes the fragrant and rich tea soup, he likes the feeling of the sun shining on his face to teach people to be lazy, instead of being helpless as he is now, and the whole person is in a state of anxiety......

He must find a way, do everything he can think of, say to move these officials of Da Zhao, say to move the county uncle in front of him, and let them help him!

But what can he do?

Is there anything about him that impresses them? gold, he still has more than 100 catties of gold. But this bit of gold is definitely not enough, and forty catties of it are to be given to Ying Xianbo, just with today's scene, only by the rank of the officials present, he must also send the gold. If there isn't enough money, what else can he do? Make a wish to the Great Zhao court, and wait for him to repay it after he gets his wish? As soon as this thought came to mind, he immediately abandoned it. Even if he is only a monk and is most familiar with Buddhist scriptures and precepts, he also knows that painting bread is not enough to satisfy hunger. What else can he do? He had to find something to say, otherwise the opportunity he had been waiting for would soon disappear from his face......

Shang Cheng had finished talking to the New Year and was putting away the records. He said to He Nian, "Why don't you put these records here for two days?" ”

He Nian said: "You asked too many things just now, and the great monk said it in fragments, and many places are very sloppy. In this case, I will take it back and copy it again, and then I will send you a copy. ”

Shang Cheng handed the record to He Nian and said with a smile: "You still think it more carefully." ”

The first three suddenly interjected: "Uncle Shang, there is something I didn't mention just now, I don't know...... I don't know if it's not, can this ...... Helpful? ”

"Great monk, please speak." Shang Cheng said. He made a "please" gesture toward the other side of the chair, meaning that we should go over and sit down and talk. But the first three didn't move.

"When I left China last year, it was on August 14." The first three said while reminiscing. It was the only thing he felt could possibly impress Shang Cheng, so he desperately recalled all the details of that trip. "On August 14, when the sun had just risen over the treetops, I boarded a sea boat at Namba Port, spent three days walking through the Seto Sea, then Hakata, then turned north, and walked on the sea for another seven days, and on August 24, I arrived at Lihai Castle in Goryeo Mushu......"

Shang Cheng didn't know what he wanted to say, so he didn't say anything. As a result, the more he listened, the more confused he became, and he couldn't help but interrupt the first three mouthfuls, frowning and asking, "You went from Goryeo to Shangjing, and you walked on the road for half a year?" "From the Japanese archipelago to Shangjing in the Central Plains, even if the sea and land routes are not smooth, it is impossible to walk for six months, right?

"It is true that as Shang Bo said, no matter how smooth the road is, it is impossible to go for half a year." The first three said, "When I arrived at Lihai in Goryeo, I just wanted to replenish the food and drinking water on the boat, and then I took advantage of the south wind to continue northward, preparing to turn due west in Hanju, Goryeo, and if the wind direction was right, I could reach the vicinity of Dengju in one day and one night." This is how I have traveled the first few times to and from the sea. But this trip met with misfortune. Lihai City detained my two sea boats, forbade me to go to sea for more than three months, and also seized the belongings and money on the boats. Two of my acolytes were also accused of being spies and kidnapped......"

Shang Cheng didn't speak, just listened silently, and at the same time encouraged the first three to continue talking with his eyes.

“…… I wanted to rescue the two acolytes, so I used ten taels of gold to buy off a tax item in Lihai City, and asked him to go to the rescue again. But the Goryeo official I asked was a step late, and the two of them had already gone to the Buddha Kingdom first...... "The first three said, "Although they could not be rescued, they got acquainted with the Goryeo official." From him, I heard something about the Goryeo Kingdom. In the summer of the 17th year of the 17th year of the Eastern Era, the new king of Goryeo succeeded to the throne, and soon sent a large number of towns to the provincial capitals to garrison them, which made several provincial states in southern Goryeo unhappy. I don't know what the reason is, the new king of Goryeo formed a grudge with Buyeo, and fought two battles in succession in five years, but both were defeated, and more than half of Hanju was ceded out. But internally, he said that he had won a big battle. Last summer, he said that he would build a high platform and build a palace on the high platform, so that he could show his merit to the sky, and he would raise taxes for two seasons. As a result, it annoyed the six families surnamed Zheng Xi, Li Wu, Zhou, and Cui of Wu Kangliang and Quan. Liangzhou and Quanzhou are better, but some people don't come out to say a few words, but the surname Li in Wuzhou and the surname Cui in Connecticut drove away the town garrisons of the two seven states. It is also a coincidence that last year, Wuzhou Province died two times in succession and was imprisoned, and Goryeo Kaijing put the responsibility on the head of the Li family and transferred troops from all over the country to Wuzhou Province. The surname Li was not to be outdone, and gathered all the clansmen to Wuzhou City, when I was there, it was the moment to draw the crossbow on both sides, and the panicked soldiers were chaotic, and it was inevitable that Haizhou would be detained and the monks were innocent......"

The first three muttered a lot, and Shang Cheng felt a headache when he heard it. In some places, the first three people did not match the words, in some places they were chiseled by the first three, and in other places, Shang Cheng did not know the history, geography and administration of Goryeo, so he could not think about the specific situation at all.

Fortunately, there is also the Chinese New Year next to it, just to explain to Shang Cheng. Goryeo and Buyeo, in fact, the two countries were established by the Tang people who fled there during the rebellion in the feudal towns in the last years of the Tang Dynasty. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the relationship between the two Wang families has been good and evil, and when it is good, they marry each other, and when it is bad, they naturally use knives and guns. Speaking of the new king of Goryeo, this person is the son of the elder brother of the former king of Goryeo, because the throne is not right, and he has a problem of great joy, so he has a bad reputation in Goryeo, and many Goryeo scholars are scolding him openly and secretly. As for the six families with the surnames of Zheng Xi, Li Wu, Zhou Cui, and other six families in the four states of Wukangliang in southern Goryeo, they all said that they were all descendants of the Tang people who avoided trouble and went to other places, some of them were true, and some of them were true and false. Among them, the surname Cui of Kangzhou and the Zhou family of Liangzhou are indeed Liangzhou, as well as the historical materials left at the end of the Tang Dynasty can be corroborated.

Shang Cheng frowned and listened, was silent for a long time, and suddenly asked, "Are there any envoys from the Goryeo Kingdom in the capital?" ”

He Nian shook his head: "The envoys of the Goryeo Kingdom have not been here for twenty years. The last time, I came here for He Shengjun's accession to the throne, but at that time it was already the third year of Eastern Era......"

Shang Cheng grinned. It took three years to congratulate Emperor Dongyuan on his accession to the throne, is this to congratulate, or is it specially to curse people? Fortunately, Emperor Dongyuan was not Emperor Yang of Sui, otherwise he would have jumped up and beaten people with his sleeves rolled up. He asked, "What's that...... The six surnames, who have been here to contact the imperial court? ”

Shang Cheng asserted that it would be impossible to send troops to the Eastern Wa Kingdom within three years, and Zhenqian was relieved. Since there was nothing to do, he planned to find an opportune opportunity to leave. But he was holding a teacup and pondering how to make an excuse, when he suddenly heard Shang Cheng pop out of his mouth about the six major clans of Southern Goryeo. He straightened up in the seat all of a sudden, what did Shang Yanshan want to do? In order to help a monk from the Eastern Wa Kingdom, he didn't even let go of Goryeo?

Not to mention that he was frightened, but Gu Shi, who hated to poke a hole in the sky immediately, was also shocked by his words. He Nian even stammered when he spoke: "Okay, it seems to be ...... Goryeo, that's what, I've never been here, one hundred and six surnames, I've never been here. ”

Shang Cheng continued to wrinkle his brows and think deeply, and after a while, another sentence came out: "Since there are six surnames in Southern Goryeo, what about Northern Goryeo, are there also big families, and they are also controlling the place?" Just like the great monk mentioned Hanzhou just now: a large piece of land in Hanzhou was ceded out because of the defeat, will those big families in Hanzhou also have a different mind? ”

No one spoke to him. Everyone was startled by his words, and the whole study fell silent in an instant, so quiet that one could almost hear each other's heavy breathing.

Shang Cheng saw that no one spoke, so he asked He Nian: "Can your Ministry of Rites send someone to investigate?" ”

He was so excited that he was a little speechless. Being able to hear about this kind of national event with his own ears can make him so excited that he can't sleep well for a few days and nights, not to mention that he still participates? But excitement is excitement, after all, he still has self-knowledge, and understands that this kind of thing is not his turn to interject and suggest, so he smiled reluctantly, and snorted: "Uncle Ying, Xia Guan is just a seven-grade Lang Zhong......"

Shang Cheng knew that he had asked the wrong question, nodded apologetically, turned his head to look at Zhen Qian and said, "Lao Zhen, you said, the Ministry of Rites will send someone to touch the bottom?" If it doesn't work, simply send a few competent people to the military department, and we must always visit to understand it in order to feel at ease. ”

Zhen Qian sat on the chair with a dark face, and said after a long time: "No need to check!" The second son of Lord Xu of Xu Nanshan married the daughter of the Yang family in Youzhou. The Yang family of Youzhou, and the Yang family of Hanzhou, Goryeo, go back to seven generations and are the same ancestor! "The Xu Nanshan he said is the right attendant of the military department, surnamed Xu Mingli alias Nanshan.

"Oh?" Shang Chengden was overjoyed, and then asked, "That old Xu is in the military department, did he mention the matter of the Yang family in Hanzhou in Goryeo?" ”

Zhen Xiang didn't say anything. But the look on his face clearly told everyone that the Yang family in Goryeo did have some ideas.

Shang Cheng stroked his palms and laughed loudly: "God help me wait!" ”

Zhen Xiang let out a long breath and said, "If it's God's help, you can only know when you turn around." Let me tell you first, three years ago, the people of the Yang family in Hanzhou secretly entered Beijing, and Xu Nanshan also helped them speak, but from beginning to end, there was not even a single person who was willing to come out to meet them. ”

Shang Cheng didn't care. At this time and then, when the two factions of the north and the south were fighting happily in the court, who had the time to pay attention to the local power of a Goryeo country? But now it's different. General Shang was already idle in the capital and was about to get moldy, and he just had time to do these things that others didn't want to pay attention to. But he wasn't crazy enough to agitate for a big sword in order to kill time, so he immediately explained to the left squire of the military department. He said, "I mean that I can ask the Yang clan of Hanju in Goryeo, the Lee clan of Wuju, and the Choi clan of Connecticut to borrow from them. One by one, it is to use the port to stop ships to supply grain and fresh water. As he spoke, he looked back at the three mouthfuls in front of him and said with a smile, "It's almost too late, big monk, are you hungry?" Why don't you go and eat something for a fast? ”

The first three knew in their hearts that Shang Cheng said that he was inviting him to dinner, but in fact, he was asking him to leave, and they wanted to discuss confidential matters about Goryeo. But Goryeo had nothing to do with him, and he didn't dare to be hated here, so he was as good as a stream, bowed down and recited the Buddha's name, and went to eat elsewhere with a guard called by Shang Cheng.

He Nian also stood up and wanted to avoid it, but was called down by Shang Cheng: "You keep it." One by one, I want you to keep a record. Besides, this matter cannot be done without the participation of your Ministry of Rites. Then he shouted outside, "Rouge, go to the stove and say something, and send some food quickly." I don't want wine; Tell them that they don't need to be elaborate, as long as it's hot enough to fill their stomachs! ”