He Nian walked into the courtyard with Gu Shi and the first three people, and when he looked up, he saw Shang Cheng already greeting him at the bottom of the hall steps. There was also a person standing next to him, of medium height, with a clear face, a lock of black beard on his chin that was very neatly trimmed, wearing a four-grade court official's uniform, standing side by side with Shang Cheng with a smile.

He Sui felt that this person was a little familiar, and recalled it a little, and immediately remembered that this was the left squire of the military department, Zhenqian Zhenhuaichun. He immediately realized a problem: Zhen Huaichun was the first squire of the Ministry of War, Shang Yingbo was the fictitious squire of the Ministry of War, and Gu Poyang was also the squire of the Ministry of War; There are three soldiers in a courtyard, so should today's incident be considered a private meeting or a meeting? If it spreads, what will others say?

All kinds of thoughts swirled in his heart, and he followed him into the study with a few words of greeting.

This outer study room is actually a small living room specially used to meet and entertain acquaintances and friends, but after all, it is related to the word "book", so the bookcase, book scroll and book bag are placed in the big Nanmu bookshelf on the east wall. The two north-facing windows are wide open, and in the small courtyard behind the house, a few late-blooming peach blossoms are blooming in a colorful and gorgeous manner. Under the south window of Xiangyang, there is a small case, on which the wolf ink ingots, snow paper, stone inkstones are neatly arranged; The lid of the inkstone was not closed, it was half-closed and half-open on the edge of the inkstone, and the heavy fragrance of ink drifted and swirled in the room with the warm breeze. In the middle of the small case, half of the white silk is pressed with bronze crouching tiger paperweight, and on the right side of the silk falls a line of regular script, "It is difficult to go to the blue silkworm on the high Shu Road", and there is a wolf hair with ink shavings on the Bijia Mountain on the side. It was clear that he was studying calligraphy here before the host greeted the guests......

Entering the study, He Nian took two steps forward and said to the first three: "Great monk, remember, all the adults here today, General Gu is your old acquaintance, and there is no need for me to say more; General Shang has already seen it the day before yesterday, and you will not repeat it; This true lord is the left squire of the military department of our dynasty. As he spoke, he stared deeply at the first three mouths, obviously telling the first three mouths: When the words are endless, but the meaning of the topic is endless, you should ponder it carefully......

Listening to these nondescript words, Shang Cheng and the others all frowned a little: this seemed to be waking up the words of the first three mouthfuls, how could it seem to be giving them a hint? The three of them swept their eyes and immediately knew what the problem was, and then recalled the words of the New Year, and couldn't help but praise them in their hearts in unison! Gu Shi has never acted for specific affairs since he ascended to the Zhuguo, but he still has a position to join the army in the Liyuan battalion, but he never goes; Shang Cheng, like him, is a meritorious title in Shangzhuguo, but his position is to join the army as the right advisor of the Pingyuan General's Mansion, but it is a fictitious position, and he has hardly been to the Yamen of the General's Mansion. Among the three of them, in fact, only Zhenqian, the squire of the military department, is the official of the imperial court who receives the real position. But as soon as He Nian said this, the three of them represented the Liyuan Forbidden Army, the Plains General's Mansion and the Ministry of War, plus He Nian himself was Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites, and the four big yamen of the Forbidden Army, the Garrison, the Military Department, and the Ministry of Rites were all dispatched together, and it seemed that they were completely entrusted by the imperial court to do confidential and important matters, even if the news accidentally leaked into the ears of outsiders, no one dared to jump out and talk about things. In particular, the Chinese New Year took a step forward to speak, which was faintly a reminder, implying that this private meeting was actually hosted by the Ministry of Rites, but it was inconvenient to meet in public, so he borrowed Shang Cheng's private residence. What's even more second is that He Nian said it in a way but every sentence is true, even if someone wants to make an article about him, they can't find an excuse, but they also teach the first three people not to think deeply, this astuteness is the most rare.

After He Nian finished speaking, he stopped talking, went to the small desk under the south window and sat down sideways, took a pile of paper and put it in front of him, opened the inkstone and poured some water to slowly grind the ink. This humble attitude is even more impressive.

The first three were really fooled.

This is his third visit to Shangjing; In the first two times, he spent nearly two years in Shangjing, and he had more contact with people, so he had a better understanding of the various ministries of the imperial court and their functions of Da Zhao. It was only when he understood that he became more nervous. He went to Beijing twice before, went to the Ministry of Rites, went to the vassal court, and sat in the prime minister's mansion for half a moment. Now, there are four Da Zhao officials sitting in a small room, two of them are on the pillar country, and there is also a second official of the military department, Zuo Shilang, such a scene can only imply one thing: Da Zhao is likely to send troops to help, so he sent three big men who are very influential in military affairs to meet with him! Thinking of this, his heart was full of mixed feelings, he was brave and loyal, and he risked his life to cross the ocean three times in ten years, and finally he was sincere! The Buddha and Bodhisattva opened their eyes, and the country of Japan was finally saved!

Right now, he was sitting in the guest seat on the left, his face glowing red with excitement. His hands clenched into fists, pressed against his thighs. Because of the force used, the joints on the fist were blue and white. However, even though he had exhausted all his strength to make himself appear more calm, the two trembling legs and feet still revealed his current mood. He couldn't even let his feet sit on the ground, and his heels kept falling to the ground and bouncing off as if they didn't accept his control at all......

He was so excited that he forgot to observe the seats of the four Great Zhao Dynasty officials. If he had calmed down, he would have seen many things from their seats. If this is a meeting presided over by the Ministry of Rites, the only official of the Ministry of Rites present acts as a clerk; If this was a meeting attended by the Ministry of Rites, why would the squire sent by the Ministry of War sit at the bottom of Gu Shi? In the past three days, he had obviously heard that there was a saying in the army of Great Zhao that there was "Xiao Yanggu Yan Shang", but he didn't notice the situation in front of him at all: Shang Cheng was sitting on the main seat, and Gu Shi, who had a more prominent position, a higher knighthood, and a longer age, just sat at the head of Shang Cheng......

Waiting for Rouge to offer tea soup to the guests, the guests also tasted the taste of tea soup and complimented the county Bofu for their tea cooking skills, Shang Cheng saw that the mood of the first three mouthfuls was also slightly stable, and then he began to talk to him.

He first asked the first three mouthfuls: "Great monk, now that you know all the people here, I don't have the patience to say anything superfluous, so I just ask you." He stared at the first three mouthfuls with blazing eyes, and said word by word, "In what capacity are you here to talk to us?" He waved his hand, blocking the words that the first three were about to say. What kind of Vinaya sect will pass on the sutra bowl or the monks of the Eastern Wa Kingdom and the like, you won't mention it today, it's useless to say it! In addition, you and your king are from the same sect and the same ordination teacher, so you are brothers with deep affection, and you will keep these words back to Dongwei and preach them everywhere. You just have to tell us who you really are, what you came to us for, and why do you trust you so much? ”

There was silence in the study. Gu Shi and Zhenqian have nothing to do with themselves, so they don't bother to pay attention to it, they just make a look of concern, in fact, they have long been out of the way. The initiator of this misunderstanding, Lunar New Year, was staring at the white silk "Shu Dao Difficulty" carefully pondering, trying to judge its year from the shade of ink. However, his eyes were staring at Bai Juan, but his ears were paying attention to the conversation, and when he heard Shang Cheng's fierce question, he couldn't help but feel a little funny. Could it be that Uncle Ying still thinks that the imperial court has not checked the identity of the first three? In the past two or three days, the first three tried their best to inquire about Shang Cheng, and he was not idle, and he also did his homework. In the first ten years, the three of them went to Beijing, saying that they were entrusted by the king of the Eastern Wa Kingdom, and they came to ask Da Zhao for help. Combined with the repeated temptations of several yamen, as well as the comments of those eminent monks and great masters who interacted with him, this person studied Buddhism intensively, and the Buddhist classics "Law Notes", "Four Divisions of Law Shu", "Ornament Sect Yiji" and "Acting Notes" in the Tang Dynasty Vinaya Sect were all very proficient, even if they were not the monks of the Eastern Sect of Vinaya, at least they were important figures; As for his dealings with the king of the Eastern Wo, because of the lack of evidence, he can only accept the words of his family, but he was able to carry the letter of the Eastern Wa twice, obviously because he was deeply trusted by the king of the Eastern Wa......

After a long time, the first three seemed to wake up from their trance. He hurriedly said: "I also have my country with me this time...... This time, I also brought with me the letter of the Maharaja of our country. I have handed it over to the Ministry of Rites for the Ministry of Rites to forward to the Emperor of the Pilgrimage. In this matter, Lord He can prove it for me. ”

Shang Cheng disagreed with his statement and said: "The national book you mentioned is completely written by yourself, anyway, your official language is also Chinese and Chinese characters, and it is easy to make a ghost on it." Besides, you still have this tradition, like the envoy recorded in the Book of Sui that you mentioned, didn't he just fabricate a national letter by himself? ”

“…… There are also seals that can be ......," said the first three. But the voice is obviously much lower, obviously lacking confidence.

"Even the national letter can be faked, and of course the seal can be engraved by yourself. Wood, dirt, stone, whatever it is made of, as long as it is like that. Anyway, we don't have any other books to compare with. Shang Cheng said with a smile.

"Uncle Ying," He Nian interjected, "the first two national letters brought by the great monk, according to the records of the Ministry of Rites, the first general seal is 'Nine Articles', and the second general seal is 'Xiao Liquan'. I haven't seen the national letter brought by the great monk this time, but it is said that the imprint has changed again, and it has been changed to the 'last four'. ”

Shang Cheng moved his gaze to the faces of the first three and said coldly, "How do you explain this?" Don't say it's because your emperor likes to be different, so he changed his name three times in ten years. ”

This change came suddenly, and the three links of the Eastern Wa Kingdom were three kinds of seals, and even Zhenqian and Gu Shi felt novel when they heard it. They put away their scattered thoughts and waited intently to hear stories from small overseas countries.

The faces of the first three mouthfuls were originally very ruddy, but at this time, they completely changed color. I don't know which sentence moved him, his face was gray and pale for a while, sometimes gritting his teeth to describe it hideous, and sometimes his lips squirming and chanting the Buddha's name. There seemed to be a deep thought buried in his heart, and his two hands clenched the hem of his robe, and as his expression changed, ten fingers kept bending and tearing.

The expression on his face was so rich, who among the four Da Zhao officials present would not see that something was wrong? After exchanging glances with each other, they understood, no one spoke, and sat quietly waiting for the first three to uncover the mystery by themselves.

In an oppressive death-like silence, the first three finally made a decision. He Huo Ran stood up, borrowed the monk's robe, took off the cloth belt tied around his waist, and didn't look for scissors to borrow a sword, he directly grabbed the thread with his teeth and pulled it hard, and the cloth belt was torn open with a "hiss". He took out a folded object from it, and shook his hand, and it turned out to be a silk or something like that, and there seemed to be words and paintings on it......

Cloth and belt edict!

Several people were stunned, staring at the silk and couldn't take their eyes off it, and a thought popped up in their minds at the same time: Clothes and ribbon edict! It is definitely a cloth edict written by the king of Dongwei himself! Maybe it's written with blood dipped in it.

The first three people held the silk in both hands and lowered their heads to present it to Shang Cheng.

Shang Cheng didn't plan to do anything originally. Japan is too far away from Dazhao, and it is overseas, and it is pure nonsense to send troops over to help. What he meant was to cooperate with the nonsense of the New Year, pretend to be fierce and scare this guy, so that he would not come to trouble after retreating. How do you know that after three or two sentences, he actually pulled out a rare and unheard of edict in the history books, which made him cringe a little: Is this thing to be accepted or not? If he takes it, then he has to help the first three speak; Don't answer ...... He was really curious about what was written on the edict.

As a result, he reached out and took it without hesitation. What if you take it? The headache should be Zhang Pu, what's the matter with him? It's a big deal to go to the Prime Minister's Mansion to attend a meeting, and you won't lose two taels of meat, so you should be exercising.

When he took it, he was a little dumbfounded.

It was a white silk, but it looked like it was some years old, and the color of the silk cloth was slightly yellowish. On the silk are a few lines of poetry that are not like poetry or songs:

"Step out of the Yetu Temple, the moon is full of stars. Guan Guan Shui No., shocked to hear about the world. ”

In the lower left corner of the white silk is a chicken that does not look like a chicken or a duck.

Shang Cheng's listening and speaking skills in classical Chinese are very poor, but there is no problem in reading and understanding, and he can still distinguish the quality of poetry. But the four-line words really stumped him. He couldn't figure out the taste, so he handed it to Gu Shi casually, thinking about whether there was any treacherous place or profound meaning hidden in the poem, and looked at Gu Shi on the other.

The scheming Gu Shi is not much better than him. Gu Shi turned the white silk over and looked at it several times, but he almost tore it into two pieces, and in the end he couldn't find a real "Clothes and Ribbon Edict" from the "Clothes and Ribbon Edict". Zhenqian took it and looked at it twice, and then threw it to the New Year. He doesn't care what this thing is written, anyway, there are the first three mouths of "translation", and no matter how difficult the mystery is, there is an explanation.

After the New Year was recorded, and the strange bird was painted as it was, the white silk returned to Shang Cheng's hands. He put the "edict of clothes and belts" on the case, and humbly asked the first three for advice: "Great monk, please ask for advice...... What does it mean? ”

The first three looked at the white silk sadly, but a frightening sentence came out of their mouths:

"This is a waka left by my father."

This is the real word-shocking world!

Rao Gu Shi and Zhen Xiang are both Qi cultivation kung fu that have been cultivated for many years, and what they pursue is the realm of "Mount Tai collapses in front and the color remains unchanged", and they are also shocked to change color when they hear this. Of course, Shang Cheng didn't have that share of the prime minister's city government; He opened his mouth wide, inhaled the cool air slightly, and spit out a sentence intermittently for a long time: "You, you mean, you...... Your father? ”

"Yes, the one who left this waka is my father, the Empress of Japan."

The story of the first three people should be told 47 years ago. At that time, his father Houshan had been on the throne for fourteen years; Like the previous emperors of more than ten generations, the queen of Houshan is also a woman of the Fujiwara family, and his eldest concubine and second concubine are also from the Fujiwara clan. In the winter of the 14th year of his reign, Houshan suddenly had an idea and went to the Asuka Temple outside the capital of Heian to become a monk, and by the way, he practiced Buddhism there for two months. The mother of the first three was in that monastery at the time...... In short, something happened at that time. The next year, Houshan went to the monastery again and left this white silk for the mother of the first three and some money. At that time, the first three were already born, and Houshan secretly asked the monks of the monastery to help take care of the first three. For the next twenty years, the first three were monks in monasteries here or there, until one day, his half-brother Kujo secretly found him, and after the brothers met and cried, he volunteered to come to Da Zhao; Six years ago, Kujo was persecuted by the Fujiwara clan and died with hatred, and the successor Koryizumi Izumi Ichi, who was also the half-brother of the first three families, asked him to come to Dazhao again. Xiao Liquan's fate is even more tragic, four years ago, when the first three were still running in Beijing, he was strangely "night pawn". The current Empress Shijo of Japan is the half-brother of the first three families, but his health has been very bad since he was a child, and he doesn't know if he can live until the day when he asks for help from Dazhao......

The story told by the first three is very long, and it takes about an hour before and after. How the Fujiwara clan was arrogant and domineering, how they bullied the emperors before and after, how the women of the Fujiwara family were powerful in the emperor's palace, and the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty were afraid of the Fujiwara clan and dared not speak out, and how the direct leaders, reserve leaders and subordinates of all countries in Japan hated the Fujiwara clan to the core; In a word, the Fujiwara clan is not a human being, everyone hates to eat their flesh and skin, even if the Fujiwara clan is crushed and scattered, it can't solve everyone's hatred!

Shang Cheng and the others didn't say a word, just quietly listened to the first three people tell about the Fujiwara clan's accumulated crimes. A question swirled in their minds. It stands to reason that others can hate the Fujiwara clan, but the first three have no reason. Since the Fujiwara clan is covering the sky in the Eastern Wa Kingdom, it is impossible for the Eastern Wa King to go to some temple to make trouble, and it is impossible for the first three to escape the eyes and ears of the Fujiwara clan. No matter what the inside story is, all in all, the Fujiwara clan did not find the first three people, and acquiesced in him to become a high virtue, a great monk with a temple, and appointed him as a monk, which is a kindness to him. Since the Fujiwara clan actually had kindness to him, why would he run so hard towards Da Zhao one trip after another?

In fact, Shang Cheng and they all have a faint guess in their hearts, but they still need to confirm it in person. But it's really hard to say. After all, their status is there, and Da Zhao is currently facing the problem of establishing a new prince, so there are some things that must not be said.

He Nian had been writing hard to record, and when he saw that the scene was a little deserted, he asked: "Great monk, isn't the throne of your Eastern Wa Kingdom inherited by your father and son?" ”

The first three were dumbfounded and said, "It was originally the same." But in recent years, the Fujiwara clan has not known any new schemes, and the women of the Fujiwara family who married the Maharaja have no heirs; Occasionally, a side concubine gave birth to a prince and a daughter, but she did not live to be a year old. ”

He Nian wrote down a few strokes, and then asked: "Your father, the king, is the king of Houshan, how many children does he have?" ”

Shang Cheng, Gu Shi, Zhen Qian, and the first three people, the four of them all looked at the New Year with appreciation or gratitude. That's what they really want to ask or say, but they can't find a proper reason to ask or say. Now that we have this ladder for the Chinese New Year, we can talk about many things openly.

The first three still had the same cold expression, and said slowly: "Including me, my father has a total of four heirs. He quietly changed the phrase "Father" to "Father".

At this time, the true identities of the first three are no longer important; There is no need to continue to dwell on this issue. If he can say that Da Zhao can help, then he will at least get a prince, and maybe he can climb higher, at that time he is not a clan but also a clan; If he said that he couldn't move Da Zhao and couldn't move back to save the soldiers, then even if he was really the direct clan of the Eastern Wa Kingdom and the first successor to the throne, it would be a.

Gu Shi immediately gave the first three a reassurance: If the Eastern Wa Kingdom is truly obedient, then Da Zhao can help the first three people. When he said this, his eyes kept looking at the first three mouths, and his voice also fell heavily on the three words "Great Monk", which was "the affairs of the Great Monk" that could help, not the affairs of the Eastern Wa Kingdom that could help.

The first three people understood and immediately bowed and thanked them.

Gu Shi expressed his attitude and set the tone for the matter, but he was at a loss for how to help. He is good at overall planning, and he can come up with ideas in a big way, but when it comes to specific implementation, it is basically a smear. Zhenqian is not good at this kind of thing, so the next thing is Shangcheng's business.

Since it was planning a military operation, Shang Cheng naturally took the lead. He led a few people to the small case in front of the window, sketched out the four islands in the east with a few brushstrokes, and then was pointed out by the first three people who were surprised by looking at the map for a long time that there was a mistake. The first three pointed to the big island in the north and said, "That's the place of the Beiyi people." Then he pointed to the big island in the south and said, "In the southeast of this island, there are some ghost people who don't know where they came from. ”

"Ghost people? Is it white? Shang Cheng asked in surprise and confusion. In his memory, it would take hundreds of years for white people to climb the Japanese archipelago, so why did they appear now?

The first three didn't know what Shang Cheng meant by "white", so he could only tell the news he knew: "It is said that he came from the sea more than 100 years ago." According to the local records, their population does not seem to be very large, only a few thousand, black, thin, short, hideous-faced, cruel and murderous, and like to eat human flesh. These people usually live by the sea, and sometimes they come to Kohonshu or Shikoku along the coast......"

The first three of them are not tall, less than six feet according to the Tang ruler, and they are at most one meter and four in the metric system, and even he said that those ghost people are "black, thin and short", and the size of those ghost people can be imagined. Shang Cheng pondered for a while, and then found out the origin of the so-called ghost people, the earliest aborigines of the islands in Southeast Asia. According to his memory, the aborigines of these islands are usually around 110 centimeters tall, brutal by nature, and have cannibalistic customs, which is exactly what the first three people said. It's just that these aborigines were still in the Stone Age until they died out in the long river of history, and they were still able to occupy a chassis on Kyushu Island, and I don't know what kind of fame the powerful Fujiwara clan has made in the Eastern Wa Kingdom.

While sighing with emotion in his heart, he inquired in detail about the geographical situation of the Eastern Wa Kingdom, the direction of mountains and rivers, local specialties, people's livelihood and economy, as well as the personality, hobbies and abilities of the lords in various places, and the weight of the burden of the lords...... The questions simply went on and on, and there was hardly a moment of stopping.

The first three knew that this was the biggest opportunity they faced in their lives, so they shook all their energy and answered carefully. There were some places he had walked through, so he answered in detail; Some of them are mere hearsay, and he declares that he did not see them with his own eyes; There are many things he can't say. He estimated that no one in the East could have clear answers to all these questions, even in the East of China. At least he had never heard of anyone drawing a map of the entire Eastern Wa Kingdom, let alone seen such a map. However, at the home of this Great Zhao's Uncle Ying County, he saw Uncle Ying County sketch it casually, obviously very familiar with the geographical situation of the Eastern Wa Kingdom......

Not only did he never see it, but Gu Shi and Zhenqian standing next to him also hadn't seen it. But they will not be as silent as the first three mouthfuls of admiration, but quietly, attentively listening, watching and thinking one by one, of course, thinking about the strategy of the East. As for the Chinese New Year record, he is the most untouched person. He also thought that this scribbled rough map was actually drawn by Shang Cheng from memory according to the archives of the Ministry of War.

Shang Cheng finally asserted that it could be fought, but the cycle must be very long, and it would take at least three years of preparation, so that larger ships could be built for large-scale transportation of troops and grain. Even so, the losses can be great and the consumption is bound to be greater; And the losses and consumption basically come from sea transportation. After all, the weather on the southern route is extremely strange, the sea conditions are difficult, and seven out of ten ships can be reached, which is almost good luck to the dog's head. As for the northern sea route, if there was a large-scale military transfer, the Koreans would definitely not agree to the port of warships for supplies; Without the support of Goryeo's port on the way, there is absolutely no possibility of reaching the destination in one go.

There is no way, whether it is a port in Goryeo or a larger sea ship, it is not something that can be solved if it can be solved, so even if Da Zhao immediately agrees to send troops to help the first three, it will be almost three years later......