A few families were happy and a few were sad, and the news of the defeat of the rebel army reached the capital, and Cui Jie, who had just left the early dynasty, was almost so angry that he died of cerebral congestion, and immediately sent seven or eight confidant ministers, including Changsun Tai, to the imperial study for discussion.

The eldest grandson Tai had an expression of concern for the country and the people, and said bitterly: "How can this be! The emperor is the true dragon emperor, the spirit of the king blesses the whole army, he should be invincible and invincible, how could he lose to a group of rabble! This is simply a misfortune for the country, a great misfortune for the country! ”

The ministers lowered their heads and didn't dare to say anything, and Changsun Tai beat his chest again and said: "There are 200,000 people in the rebel army sent by the imperial court, and there are less than 40,000 people in the hands of King Wu, and we are more than five times as many as them, how can we say that we will be defeated and have no power to fight back?" There must be a name for it! The soldiers in front did not do their best for the emperor, but fled from the battle, Shi Bang was the main general's responsibility, although Rong Hai was a deputy general, he could not get out of it, and I implore the emperor to punish these two people heavily, with the style of the army! ”

Guo Mao held the wat board with both hands, squinted his eyes, and looked at him with sympathetic eyes, the eldest grandson Tai still didn't know that a catastrophe was coming, and continued to gush: "Your Majesty, the rebel army is well fed, if it weren't for the poor command of the generals, it would never be a defeat, the emperor-"

"Enough!" Cui Jie let out an earth-shattering roar, grabbed the teacup on the desk and threw it at him.

The eldest grandson Tai was caught off guard, and was smashed on the spot and his head was broken and bleeding and fainted to the ground, and the ministers were shocked, and hurriedly knelt down in unison: "The ministers are waiting for ten thousand deaths!" ”

The little eunuch came in and put people out and handed them over to the imperial doctor for diagnosis and treatment, Cui Jie's face was ugly, his eyes were fierce, and he swept over the ministers in front of him, all of them shrunk their shoulders and lowered their heads, not daring to make a sound.

"Didn't you say that 200,000 people were enough to annihilate the Martial King in one fell swoop? Yes? Now it has been defeated by less than 40,000 rebels! What's going on, what the hell is going on?! Cui Jie was furious, his hand swept on the desk, and the precious blue and white porcelain pen of the last three dynasties fell into pieces with a bang, and the red pen also fell into two pieces, rolling out of the distance.

He shouted, "Speak! Usually one is more eloquent than the other, why is it that now one by one is silent, and they have all become mute! Did I raise a bunch of rice buckets? ”

An old minister trembled and said, "The emperor is angry!" Take care of your dragon! There must be a reason for the defeat of the rebel army, maybe some of the rebels will use the demon law, call for wind and rain, and scatter beans into soldiers......"

Cui Jie looked at him coldly: "Do you believe Ma Aiqing's words?" ”

The old minister hurriedly bowed and retreated, Guo Mao squinted at him, stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, there are many people fighting and few people, and there is never a reason to win, and I hope that the emperor's quasi-ministers will take a look at the battle report and then analyze it." ”

Cui Jie waved his hand with a tense face, and Fu immediately trotted over with the battle report in his hand.

Guo Mao arched his hand, unfolded the battle report and read it carefully.

The war report said that Shi and Rong two generals led 200,000 troops to occupy the Xuanzhou Mansion, successively went to war, and successively recovered more than ten cities, it was the time when the spirit was high and victory was in sight, but he never wanted to be attacked from the rear, and the Xuanzhou Mansion was occupied by people unknowingly overnight, Rong Hai was careless and negligent, and fell into the enemy's trick of inviting the king into the urn, and all the 40,000 Ganzhou troops under his command were trapped in the city, and Rong Hai himself was uncertain, Zhong Yuanshan led 20,000 people, biting the tail of the remaining town rebel army to chase and beat hard, Shi Bang was so frightened that he fled all the way into Jiangzhou, He was ambushed again and was seriously wounded.

The eunuch brought a cup of tea again, Cui Jie drank some, calmed down a little, and when Guo Mao finished reading the battle report, he asked, "How is it?" ”

"Back to the emperor, the military newspaper is written vaguely, and there is a suspicion of shirking responsibility, the minister does not dare to say that he understands, he can only analyze it slightly, right or wrong, only for the emperor's reference." Guo Mao returned the battle report and said respectfully.

Cui Jie's face looked better, and he sat down in the dragon chair: "Speak." ”

Guo Mao nodded, and began to express his understanding: "Xuanzhou Mansion was occupied overnight, this is by no means a demon law, but Shi and Rong, the two generals fell into the plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, the state capital is an important place, at least send a deputy general to guard it, Xuanzhou is known as the granary of Chu, the importance of the state capital is particularly prominent, once it is occupied by the rebels, it will end up passive, lack of food and grass, shortage of ordnance, how can it be undefeated!" ”

"I don't need you to say this, I know this," Cui Jie's expression was indifferent, "What I want to know is why the two of them fell for the scheme, before leaving, I repeatedly told the Xuanzhou Mansion to be defended, did the two of them dare to ignore my orders, ignore the Xuanzhou Mansion, and instead focus on those inconsequential small towns?" ”

On the side, another minister read the battle report and said: "According to Weichen's opinion, maybe it was King Wu who fought under the gate of Xuanzhou Mansion, General Rong ignored military discipline and chased after Xuanzhou Mansion without authorization, and the letter said that the loss of Xuanzhou Mansion was a mistake that General Rong did not notice, if General Rong obeyed the military order and stuck to the city, it would not be so!" ”

As soon as his voice fell, another person chimed in: "Your Majesty, the minister also thinks so, General Rong Hai relies on himself to be the cousin of the emperor's maternal uncle's family on weekdays, and he is arrogant and arrogant in the capital, wantonly harassing the people, and he is also disobedient and willful in the army, and this defeat must be caused by his unauthorized departure from his post!" ”

Cui Jie's face was gloomy, and he bowed his head and said nothing.

Guo Mao said: "Your Majesty." ”

Cui Jie absentmindedly: "You go on." ”

Guo Mao bowed: "Has the emperor already decided in his heart that General Rong Hai was negligent and defeated?" If the emperor had already made a decision, the minister did not dare to continue. ”

Cui Jie's brows furrowed suddenly, revealing a little unhappy, but he still said: "I can't listen to the words of the family, and you will tell your opinion, right and wrong, I will judge." ”

"Yes," Guo Mao continued, "let's put aside the fall of Xuanzhou Mansion for the time being, and then see how General Shi reacts after that." General Rong and 40,000 Ganzhou troops were trapped in the city, General Shi was the main general, and there must be 100,000 coalition troops in his hands, even if you remove the battle-dead, surrendered, and escaped, there are at least 80,000 people, which is still twice as many as the rebels. ”

Cui Jie's brows tightened, and he sat in the dragon chair and didn't know what he was thinking.

Guo Mao said: "The loss of Xuanzhou Mansion may be caused by General Rong's carelessness and abandonment of the enemy, but General Shi has more than half of the troops, and when he learned that the state capital had fallen, he did not think of counterattacking, but blindly fled south, but fell into the ambush of the Jiangzhou army, the emperor, the minister thought it was ......."

Before he finished speaking, the minister who was the first to claim that the defeat was Rong Hai's fault strode forward and interrupted him: "Your Majesty, General Shi led 80,000 rebel troops, and it is impossible to defeat Zhong Yuanshan's Jiangzhou army with less than 20,000 troops, it must be that Rong Hai surrendered to King Wu and provided the troops and military habits in General Shi's hands, so that General Shi could not return to help, and could only flee all the way!" ”

Another person said: "The minister also thought that Rong Hai made a mistake first, and surrendered to the enemy first, so that General Shi was unable to return to the sky, the emperor tried to imagine, the rebel army was less than 40,000 people, although the number of people recruited in the war is unknown, but if you add the 40,000 Ganzhou army in the hands of Rong Hai, there are as many as 80,000, and the king of Wu is a person who can fight, and in the battle of Huben Pass, he can defeat the Beidi general Lu Batu with one enemy and three, if there are 80,000 soldiers and horses, try to ask who can compete with it!" ”

"What the two adults said is wrong!" Guo Mao said unhappily.

However, it seems that everyone in this imperial study is in a hurry to detain the black pot to Rong Hai, no one listens to what he says, and the tongue of the lotus flower is as if he has seen it with his own eyes, Guo Mao tried to defend himself several times, but failed to grab the gap, and finally could only be silent and no longer refute.

Cui Jie thought for a long time, and when everyone was quiet, he raised his head and said tiredly: "I'll get here first today, I'm tired." ”

The ministers bowed and retreated, only Guo Mao was still standing in place, Cui Jie asked indifferently: "What, you still have something to say?" ”

Guo Mao sincerely persuaded: "Your Majesty, King Wu rebelled, Jiangzhou Muzhong Yuanshan cooperated, those two are not ordinary people, if they are not exterminated in time, they will become a big trouble in time!" Now is the time to employ people, and General Rong is a rare general, and he can't give it up! ”

Cui Jie breathed a sigh of relief and looked at him: "Guo Ziyan, I heard from the grandmother of Yanshou Palace yesterday that the Queen Mother ate the gastrodia you offered, and her head wind eased a lot. ”

Guo Mao was shocked, and hurriedly knelt down: "Your Majesty, the ministers are wholeheartedly loyal to the emperor, and they will never dare to have two hearts!" The emperor has worked hard for the rebellion of King Wu, and the minister heard that the queen mother was suffering from a head wind and could not sleep well, knowing that the emperor is a person of great filial piety in the world, and he was afraid that the emperor would add troubles, and the hometown brothers happened to send some good gastrodia, so he entrusted someone to the queen mother, and asked the emperor to see it! ”

Cui Jie looked at him expressionlessly, and Guo Mao lay on the ground and didn't dare to get up.

"Guo Ziyan."

"The minister is here."

Cui Jie said coldly: "You are a smart person, I just took a fancy to your cleverness, so I promoted you exceptionally." ”

Guo Mao was sweating profusely, trying his best to maintain his composure, and said: "The emperor's kindness is felt by the minister, and he is willing to be loyal and wise, and solve problems for the emperor, even if so, it is difficult to repay one ten-thousandth of it!" ”

Cui Jie dusted off the tip of the golden dragon soap boots with one hand, and said meaningfully: "I am very pleased that you can have this heart, but there is an old saying that smart is mistaken by smart, sometimes it is not a good thing to be too smart, only by being able to control it and put it freely, can you become a generation of virtuous ministers, don't you say?" ”

Guo Mao's forehead was on the ground, and he muttered: "Minister...... Obey the Emperor's teachings. ”

"Stand down."

Guo Mao got up lightly and retreated.

Fu next to the dragon chair smiled: "Your Majesty, this Guo Ziyan is really not enlightened, when the emperor is a fool, can't you see anything strange in this war report?" So many adults say that it is General Rong's fault, and he will defend it with all his might, isn't this a fishy thing? ”

Cui Jie snorted and sneered: "Guo Mao is too smart, and he likes to show off too much, he doesn't know how to be a courtier, and the most important thing is to observe words and feelings." ”

Fu Fu sneered: "That's natural, the emperor is the son of heaven, the lord of all people, the courtier is the sword in the emperor's hand, the horse under the crotch, what to do is to follow the emperor's wishes, help the emperor to do what he wants to do but can't do, how can he be like him to make his own opinions, and the emperor to do it, the emperor said yes, right?" ”

"I still need him now, let him go first," Cui Jie narrowed his eyes, and a touch of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes, "I have always disliked disobedient knives, if he can learn to be obedient, it will be fine, if he can't learn to be obedient, if he can't learn to be obedient, ......"

The corners of the emperor's mouth hooked up a cruel sneer, which was reflected in the flattering eyes of the minions.