The red warbler asked someone to send Yang Ye away, looked at the window for a long time, and sighed faintly.

Suddenly, a voice said: "What is the relationship between the lady and Yang Ye?" ”

The look on Hongying's face changed, and he smiled: "Friend." ”

The person who walked in the door was the handsome young man named Yu Liang, who had come to Tokyo to participate in the imperial examination. He was visibly upset, with a look of humiliation and annoyance on his face.

The red warbler swept her gaze over his face with a smile, thinking in her heart that the three words "ignorant" were in her heart, but because of this, this scholar was much more interesting than those happy guests who spent all their time drinking and drinking.

Sure enough, Yu Liang held back his anger and said, "I'm afraid it's more than that?" ”

Hongying didn't quarrel with him, but leaned over gently, and said, "If I didn't know those dignitaries, how could I find a way for you?" Don't be angry, no matter how many people I know, the heart is not yours yet. ”

Yu Liang's anger was still not gone, but he was helpless.

Hongying glanced at him and said, "If you are so high, let's not go to Han Xizai." ”

Yu Liang sighed "sighing" and said indignantly: "I hate officialdom! But only this road can be successful! ”

Hongying persuaded with good words: "That "Han Xizai's Night Banquet Picture" became hot so quickly, and Mrs. Shen didn't put a lot of effort into it. What do you think Mrs. Shen is for? Just want to wait for the price and sell? Madame's famous paintings are much more expensive than this. But the biggest difference between those famous paintings and this night banquet picture: the people in the famous paintings are dead, but the people in the night banquet pictures are still alive.

A scholar may be able to treat money like dung, but who doesn't want to be famous all over Shilin, and people will be in awe everywhere they go? This face is big. Han Gong's kindness to Mrs. Shen is clear in his heart.

Now we are just asking him for a small favor and sending the poems you usually wrote to Li Gu, who is the prime minister in the court, can he refuse? ”

Yu Liang said with mixed emotions after hearing this: "No matter what, the lady is kind to you." ”

"It's good if you know, you don't have a conscience!" Red Oriole threw a pink fist and punched him in the chest. Yu Liang grabbed it with one hand: "Look at me, I can't treat you well!" ”

Outside, night is falling.

The warm breeze blows the night drunk, the lights of Tokyo are bright at night, and the sound of silk and bamboo orchestras echoes in the long streets and alleys, and the spring color is charming.

…… Tokyo's border beams are becoming more and more prosperous, and there is already a sign of prosperity. However, the imperial court did not abandon the national policy of war.

Wei Renpu, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, presented a strategy, and sent a fine envoy to Shangjing and Youzhou in the Liao State to find out the internal affairs of Liao, and when there was a rebellion in his country, he took the opportunity to raid Youzhou.

Guo Shao did not respond, and he did not agree with it in his heart, so he summoned Wang Pu, Li Gu and other ministers to ask for advice. (Guo Shao, the official position of the minister, has the final say, but if one is forcibly implemented without the support of the ministers, it will be troublesome to implement it, so there is a delicate balance between the power of the monarch.) ）

Wang Pu, who is also a minister in the Privy Council, is also not very appreciative of this policy. It is believed that Wei Renpu's strategy is no different from the strategy of the Northern Expedition at the beginning of this year, the Northern Expedition at the beginning of the year is to create an opportunity for a sudden Northern Expedition, and Wei Renpu's strategy is to wait for a favorable opportunity...... But the essence is still a surprise attack and a quick victory.

The previous method had proved to be a failure, and it had to be done all over again, and Wang Pu and the prime ministers did not approve of it. Although the army did not suffer heavy losses in the previous Northern Expedition, it consumed a huge amount of military expenditure and civilian power, and did not gain any benefits.

When Guo Shao heard this, he no longer mentioned Wei Renpu's strategy.

A few days later, Guo Shao was in Jinxiang Hall to deal with the recital, and not far away, Zuo You and the others were also busy sorting out and classifying. At this time, Zuo You stood up, walked to the imperial case with a piece of music, bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, this piece is a little unusual. ”

Guo Shao put down the brush, stretched out his hand to take it, carefully looked at the content without punctuation, and muttered: "Guiyi Army? ”

Zuo Yu hurriedly said: "The Guiyi Army is in the Hexi Corridor, and the Shazhou is the Dunhuang side. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he rebelled out of Tibet and entered the Central Plains. But the situation there is complicated, the traffic is blocked, and there has been no contact for many years. It is a rare thing for the Guiyi Army to suddenly come to the table. ”

When Guo Shao heard the familiar place names such as Hexi and Dunhuang, he immediately became interested and hurriedly asked the eunuch to find the map.

It's a pity that on the largest map, only the names of places such as Shazhou (Dunhuang) are marked, and there is a blank there. Guo Shao looked at the blank paper and was stunned, unable to see anything.

Zuo You said: "During the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains got Hexi from the Huns, and the army built a city. For hundreds of years in the Han and Tang dynasties, the imperial court took Hexi as the foundation, went out of the Western Regions, opened up trade routes, and all countries came to the court. It's a pity that after the Anshi Rebellion, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and there was no time to look west. ”

Guo Shao's fingers caressed the blank space, and a familiar and dazed feeling came to his heart. Most of the Western Regions should be modern Xinjiang; There is also Dunhuang that belongs to Gansu, which is a well-known place. Nearly 1,000 years ago, "China" opened up territory to these places, but now in its own hands, it is completely blank, and for a while it is impossible to find a map.

Guo Shao, who has experienced extreme self-confidence and inflation, has very complicated emotions at this time. The country is not as big as it seems.

He subconsciously measured the distance with the palm of his hand, and finally set his eyes on the place of "Beijing" in the northeast. Compared with the loss of control in the west, Youzhou is the most threatening loss of territory.

Guo Shao put this piece away separately and said, "Let's actively respond to the music of the Guiyi Army." ”

This matter has received unprecedented attention, and both the Government Hall and the Privy Council have consulted many previous archives and probably figured out the situation in Hexi over the years.

After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Han people in the Hexi Corridor broke away from the control of Tubo and were very strong, owning the territory of eleven states.

After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Guiyi army was in internal strife and weakened in strength, and became a vassal of the Ganzhou Uighurs. The Cao family, a big clan in Shazhou, restored the Guiyi Army, and possessed the two prefectures of Sha and Gua, until now.

The person from the Central Plains Dynasty who recently wrote about it was a person from the Cao family, named Cao Yuanzhong.

There is too little content in the recital, and the Central Plains has no time to look west in recent years, and has little understanding of the specific situation in the far west. The deliberations of the ministers are mostly speculation.

The ministers believed that the reason why Cao Yuanzhong sent people to contact Tokyo was because the Great Zhou Dynasty had continued to expand and accelerate the unification of the world in recent years, and his prestige had begun to spread to distant places; Cao Yuanzhong was in a difficult situation in the complex Hexi region, and wanted to use the name of the Central Plains Dynasty to establish an orthodox reputation in the local area.

For a time, officials vied with each other to praise the emperor, and his prestige spread far and wide, and was recognized by all sides.

Guo Shao sat on the dragon chair and had to admit that it was easy to be self-inflated by the courtiers singing praises of virtue. But he still knew the truth in his heart: even the capital of the later generations was not returned, Beijing.

The monarch and the ministers hit it off, responded generously to the Guiyi Army, and officially canonized Cao Yuanzhong with the title: Hexi Jiedu Envoy, Protector of the Western Regions......

No one objected, because the power of the Zhou State could not reach Hexi at all now, and in essence, it could not be controlled. The locals took the initiative to come to Fengzhengshuo, and they didn't want money and soldiers, so of course they were very generous.

The attitude of the imperial court, Cao Yuanzhong can not only nominally manage Hexi, but also justifiably use the identity of the Central Plains Dynasty to communicate with the Western Regions.

Guo Shao decided to send an envoy and an envoy from the Guiyi Army to Hexi, bring the edict of the imperial court, and go to find out the situation.

At this moment, Lu Duoxun, an official of the Hanlin Academy, took the initiative to ask Ying.

During the battle of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Lu Duoxun risked his life to persuade Jiangning to surrender, but his merits did not play a big role in the Southern Tang War, and his qualifications were too shallow, so he was still not reused after returning to the dynasty.

This time he asked for help again, and Guo Shao agreed to his request. He also asked the Privy Council to order Wang Jing of Qinzhou to receive the imperial envoys and send troops to escort them.

…… The envoy of Tokyo Province had close contacts with Wu Yueguo, hoping that Wu Yueguo could surrender to the land; Han Xizai, who is highly respected in Jiangnan Shilin, is also trying to persuade the Qian family. But there was little progress, Wu Yueguo was obedient and paid tribute every year, but he still maintained a large amount of force in the country. On the one hand, Da Zhou couldn't find a reason to move troops against Wu Yueguo, and on the other hand, he also felt that the people were hurting the people...... Wu Yue Kingdom was not very easy to fight, and the Southern Tang Kingdom had been at war with it for decades and had not been destroyed.

Last year, the Great Zhou also sent an envoy with an edict to the Southern Han Kingdom to liaise, but unexpectedly, the lord of the Southern Han Dynasty responded to the imperial court and called himself "I" and called himself the "Emperor of the Great Han". This Guo Shaojunchen was very angry.

At the beginning of this year, he sent people to talk, asking the lord of the Southern Han Dynasty to give up the title of emperor and claim to the Zhou Dynasty...... The ministers considered this to be a reasonable request. Now the Great Zhou sits in the Central Plains, annexing Shu, Southern Tang and a dry separatist regime, and is already the largest country; And the Southern Han Kingdom is in a corner of peace, and it is natural and wise to call the Central Plains a minister.

Unexpectedly, just a few days after Lu Duosun left Tokyo, he suddenly got a report from Jiangnan: The lord of the Southern Han Dynasty and the envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty did not get along, and he was killed in anger!

When the ministers heard the news, the court was in an uproar.

People couldn't understand why the lord of the Southern Han Dynasty did that, and Wang Pu said straightforwardly: "The lord of the Southern Han Dynasty is a faint monarch!" ”

The ministers discussed one after another, and immediately launched a war against the Southern Han. The generals also asked to bring a group of soldiers and horses over to destroy the Southern Han Kingdom...... The generals were very active, and they saw that the Southern Han Kingdom was relatively weak and the interior was very dark, which was an obvious opportunity to make military achievements.

But Guo Shao did not express his position immediately. Although he was as angry as his courtiers, he could not disrupt his position; Observing Wang Pu, Li Gu and other ministers, they were not in a hurry to shout and kill.

Guo Shao couldn't help but ponder, specific considerations ...... After the fall of the Southern Tang Kingdom, the elite soldiers were withdrawn and the military power was divided, mainly to guard against Wu Yueguo and internal rebellion, and the offensive force was insufficient.

Secondly, it will take time to rashly launch a war of annihilation thousands of miles away. Before the Great Zhou, it was roughly "north first and then south", establishing prestige through the Northern Expedition, and then taking advantage of the situation to recover remote areas in the south; To launch a major war in the south again now is to change the strategic direction, and we cannot act rashly.

Guo Shao now needs an adjusted overall strategy.