In the afternoon, the princes came to the council hall one after another, and before the emperor came, more than a dozen people quickly gathered into a small circle in the chat. There are only fifteen people in total, six generals, three in front of the palace and three in the guard Ma Busi; There are nine civil officials, the second Privy Council, the third Cabinet and the fourth Cabinet.

As soon as Zan Jurun came in, Zuo You asked, "Is Zan Shilang's important business done?" ”

A trace of disappointment flashed on Zan Jurun's face, and he hurriedly clenched his fists and said, "It's already done." ”

As soon as they spoke, the two began to talk. People should be social beings, and they can feel a lot more comfortable when they are gregarious; Especially on occasions like these, when everyone is talking about it, if someone is isolated, they probably feel very uncomfortable.

Han Tong and Shi Yanchao are the kind of people who are isolated. Han Tong waited for a pair of big eyes, as if someone owed him money, and no one talked to him for a while, because no one wanted to put a cold fart on his hot face, and he would come up and touch his nose for some reason, of course, he would talk to someone who was good and good-looking.

Shi Yanchao held his head high, sneered from time to time, and looked at people with contempt in his eyes. The panache of "the first fierce general of the Great Zhou" is enough.

Han Tong and Shi Yanchao didn't speak to each other, and they seemed to look down on each other.

Yang Biao's leg is almost better, and he has recently returned to the front of the palace, and he is not on crutches, and his injury seems to be recovering well.

At this moment, a eunuch walked in first and said, "The emperor has arrived!" ”

The crowd immediately dispersed, divided into civil and military sides, and ranked according to their positions. When Guo Shao walked in, everyone knelt on the ground and shouted long life.

Guo Shao had almost no pomp on such occasions, wearing an old purple round-necked robe and a black veil on his head, and he didn't know that he was just a civil official. He took a seat on the top position, saluted the ministers, and said, "Give me a seat."

Guo Shao looked at Lu Duoxun, "Lu Fuzheng is a person who went to the northwest in person, I want to hear your opinion first." ”

Lu Duoxun hurriedly stood up and bowed to the upper position, and then saluted the ministers on the left and right, his voice was a little nervous, and he said cautiously: "The northwest strategy, Hexi is especially important. The land here is fertile, rich in cattle, sheep and horses, and sufficient grain, so it is a place to be guarded for a long time; Moreover, the Han family has taken root and operated in this place for hundreds of years, and it is easier to return to Shun. As long as our dynasty can possess Hexi, it can guard against the Uighurs and other tribes in Xizhou to the west, which is a long-term plan; To the east, you can flank the Longyou tribes from east to west, so that the enemy on its belly and back will not dare to advance eastward easily......"

Guo Shao asked: "How to possess Hexi?" ”

Lu Duosun pondered for a moment and said: "Weichen thought that he could only slow down the plan, and he could establish prestige among the tribes first by means of alliances, commerce, and tribute......

Before the words were finished, Shi Yanchao said coldly: "You are really a tuberculosis seed!" When he came back, he was bribed for road money, robbed, and robbed, and people were killed, and his life was almost lost. ”

Lu Duoxun's words were brutally beaten into his stomach, his face was blue and white for a while, and he looked at Shi Yanchao and was speechless.

Wang Pu, Wei Renpu and others looked at each other.

Wang Pu really couldn't stand it, and asked, "Then General Shi thinks how to use soldiers to retaliate?" ”

Shi Yanchao thought about it for a while, and then said: "Just ban the army with tens of thousands of elite horsemen, start killing from Longyou, and drive away all the Tubo and party items in Longyou; Then he went to Xiliang Ganzhou, expelled the barbarians, recovered the entire Hexi, and joined the Guiyi army in Guasha. ”

Everyone didn't say a word after hearing this, Han Tong stopped glaring and rolled his eyes there.

Wang Pu said coldly: "General Shi said it so lightly, from Tokyo to Hexi Guazhou more than 2,000 miles, how much food does it cost for the forbidden army to ride tens of thousands of horses to the west?" Do you know how much the Northern Expedition cost this year, and how much did Cao Bin need to build the Jiangnan camp? Not to mention these, can tens of thousands of horsemen defeat Hexi?

Before crossing the Yellow River, they attacked the party members; The Xiazhou party couldn't sit still. General Shi had to come up with a strategy for attacking Xiazhou first. ”

Shi Yanchao frowned and said: "The party tribe in the south, and the party in Xiazhou are the same nostrils? ”

Wang Pu said: "General Zongshi must not have read the file brought back by Lu Yuanjun. The Dangxiang tribe in the west has activities as far north as Lingzhou (Yinchuan Plain) and as far south as Shanzhou (Xining Plain). The Li clan of Xiazhou is of the same species as these tribes, not only frequent exchanges, but also marriages. Shanzhou has good iron quality, and most of the armor and weapons of the Xiazhou Party are obtained from the south. Go to fight the party, what will the Li family in Xiazhou be? ”

Shi Yanchao was silent.

Guo Shao found that Shi Yanchao looked down on civil officials, and rarely contradicted Wang Pu alone; And Wang Pu didn't have a good tone to talk to him.

At this moment, Wei Renpu said: "If you want to go west, it will take time and spend a lot. The imperial court first dealt with the Youyun Liao army, and it could not easily fall into the quagmire in the west. The minister seconded Lu Shilang's proposition that the main thing should be to appease. ”

Wei Renpu is also a pro-war faction, and his rhetoric advocates the theory of often winning by force, and even he said so. Let Guo Shao conclude even more that the mess in the west cannot be solved easily.

Guo Shao determined that the Xiazhou Party was the Western Xia State that would be difficult to deal with in the future, and regarded it as a thorn in his side. But you really can't just move it at this time...... It's already very difficult to deal with the Liao State, and if you fall into another difficult war quagmire, isn't that death?

Lu Duoxun glanced at Shi Yanchao, hugged his fists and said: "Xiazhou and other five states, there are pastures, large areas of cultivated land, salt, iron, and copper are also produced in the north, and there are sufficient grain and straw products, and the party members are all soldiers, and the soldiers are strong and strong. If you want to go to war, I'm afraid, it will not be easy. ”

At this time, Wei Renpu said: "These two Richen have some ideas......

Guo Shao said: "Deputy Envoy Wei said that it doesn't hurt. ”

Wei Renpu stood up, looked back and said, "According to the intention of Your Majesty and the princes of the imperial court, the imperial court currently intends to stabilize the west and expand the war horse from the northwest, and has no plan to attack the northwest. Therefore, the battle end cannot be opened lightly.

The minister's view of the Xiazhou Party is at the time of the war in the Central Plains, and he has been bowing down to the Central Plains for decades; It can be seen that the Li family in Xiazhou still has a sense of reverence for the Central Plains. Last year, the Great Zhou attacked the Eastern Han Dynasty (Northern Han), and the Li family sent troops to the Yellow River to respond to the Great Zhou army; And no matter what their intentions are, they have the intention of friendship.

Therefore, if the imperial court does not persecute the Li family, Xiazhou will not easily risk becoming an enemy of our dynasty.

The Tibetan tribes and the Hexi Uighurs were scattered at this time, and they went their own way; There is no threat to Guanzhong's strength for the time being, and it is far away. The way of long-distance friendship and close attack, the imperial court should first make alliances. ”

Wei Renpu bowed to his superiority: "Your Majesty can choose a member of the minister and lead a group of people to patrol the west."

One of the trips was to convene the Hexi Party and Xiang to discuss the mutual plundering between the Great Zhou Domain Town and the Party Departments, and ease the relationship. Xiazhou Li can also be invited to participate in the peace talks...... In recent years, there have been constant conflicts in the frontiers, and if they are ignored, there will inevitably be a hidden danger of intensifying chaos.

The second itinerary is to call on the northwest tribes to join the alliance, open mutual markets, and exchange trade for horses. ”

The crowd was not very happy to hear this, but no one objected.

Back then, the Han Dynasty made peace with the Xiongnu and the Tang Dynasty with the Tubo, all in order to ease relations, or because the enemy was too strong to destroy, or could not deal with it. Compromise, at least temporarily, is a necessary strategy, otherwise there will be a war on all sides, and the national strength of the Central Plains will not be strong enough to that extent.

Guo Shao was also uncomfortable, but thinking that his current primary goal was Youyun, he was silent.

The feeling of being caged was even stronger, and Guo Shao finally couldn't help but say: "The matter of the Western Tour, I want to go to it in person." ”

Unsurprisingly, the ministers dissuaded one after another. Guo Shao didn't say anything categorical, but said: "Deputy Envoy Wei has put forward a proposition, and Deputy Envoy Wei will be responsible for contacting the ministries and arranging all matters in this matter......" He turned his head to look at Lu Duoxun again, "Lu Shilang is the only person here who has been to Hexi, and you will be the deputy." ”

The two of them took the order.

When the gang dispersed, 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 preventing the rebellion of the barbarian tribes, he also had a grudge against the northwest feudal towns...... Especially Jing Nanjun's family, because he still has personal grievances with Guo Shao.

When Guo Shao ascended the throne, in order to reduce resistance, he did not dare to move those powerful feudal towns, and everything remained the same. Now, it's time to start sorting out these feudal towns.

…… The Northwest Strategy took shape more or less quickly. It only needs to be checked and filled, weighed for a while, and then it can be implemented.

Guo Shao stood in front of the large map by the wall, and the topographic map to the west had been added; There are also several large territories to the south. However, Guo Shao finally looked at Youzhou, Hebei.

Whether it is north or south, it is all for the sake of the Northern Expedition again!

What they do is nothing more than to accumulate strength and reduce threats elsewhere in order to concentrate the spearhead.

At this time, the threat from the northwest was not urgent, and the remaining countries in the south had never had the strength to advance north to threaten the Central Plains...... Even the Liao State was in internal chaos and showed no signs of a large-scale southward raid.

The Great Zhou was in a period of attack.

Although others have not come to fight themselves now, the attack cannot be stopped; If you don't take the initiative now, you will have to fight passively in the future. Do you hold on to what you hold on to and survive in peace, or do you want to go to a higher place? Opportunities are always hard to come by!

Guo Shao used to be the best at perceiving opportunities, but they were all opportunities for small things. This time, he is feeling the opportunity of history in the dark......

Youyun is the most important place, and at this time Liao's civil strife is a time of weakness; The Central Plains has just stabilized a little from the war, and the territorial strength is expanding and rising, and the dynasty is usually the most effective at this time. When the time is the difference between the two and the other, when will we not occupy the key places and take the opportunity to establish our position at this time?

Guo Shaoxin said: My judgment should be right.

He turned his head to look out the window of the Yangde Palace, the majestic palaces of the imperial city, the heavy eaves and the wide brick and stone avenues were quietly in sight, solemn and grand. In the still landscape, time seems to stand still.

The world here does not perceive it, as if time is passing and changing as a matter of course; But Guo Shao knew that everything was gradually going out of shape, and he was moving in a direction he didn't know.

Where is it heading? Guo Shao didn't know, he just felt that everything was still in the place where he was out of the trajectory.

It was Guo Shao who took the vast trend away from the direction, time is like a river rushing, and maybe a new river is waiting ahead. Guo Shao was trying to bring it there.