Guo Chongtao gave the emperor an idea and asked the emperor to put all those prisoners back.

Sure enough, after those captives were put back, it made it very difficult for Xishu to deal with this matter.

******

Let's talk about Li Tang.

On this day, the emperor asked Guo Chongtao: "Prime Minister Guo, what should we do next?" ”

Guo Chongtao said: "Next, you should ask your ministers to go to the six southern countries again. ”

The emperor said, "Tell me what you mean." ”

Guo Chongtao said: "This time Xishu's invasion of our border is not a trivial matter, and we can't let this matter pass like this." Let's use this to make a fuss. It is better to let this matter make the southern countries exclude Xishu from their alliance of several countries. ”

The emperor said, "Yes." ”

Guo Chongtao said: "This time, we can go and ask a few countries in the south, since Xishu can send troops to fight us, can we also send troops to fight him." If the southern countries say yes, if the southern countries say that Xishu is old and troublesome, we don't regard Xishu as a friend, and we exclude Xishu from the alliance of our countries. That's good. ”

The emperor said: "Good! ”

******

The next day was the day when Guo Chongtao was going to leave the south.

The emperor also personally sent Guo Chongtao off.

The main purpose of Guo Chongtao's mission to the south this time was to persuade the southern countries to exclude Xishu from their alliance of several countries.

If the southern countries really excluded Xishu from their alliance of several countries, then Xishu would not be far from the death of the country. Because Xishu is far from Li Tang in terms of power, once Xishu does not have an alliance of several countries, if Li Tang sends troops to fight him, he will definitely not be able to support it.

******

However, on the evening of Guo Chongtao's trip to the south, an uninvited guest came to the emperor's place.

This uninvited guest is that Kong Qian.

At this time, when the emperor was thinking there, someone suddenly said, "Your Majesty, someone wants to see you." ”

The emperor said, "Let him come in." ”

Kong Qian came in.

*******

As for Kong Qian, I talked about it earlier. Kong Qian's identity is very complicated. He is the son of the former Tang princess, he is also the elder brother of Dao'an, and he also claims that he is a descendant of Confucius, and he is also the emperor's father-in-law. How much do you say about his identity? He's done a lot before. When the Queen Mother was robbed, he once reported to his good friend in time to build a building, and asked his good friend to build a building to save the Queen Mother. In addition, he also harmed Guo Chongtao, and he also harmed Xie Gaoyu.

What needs to be pointed out here is that Kong Qian's attitude towards the emperor is very bad. Because he is the son of the former Tang princess, he always thinks that Jiangshan belongs to his maternal grandfather's family, and he always tries to recapture Jiangshan for his maternal grandfather.

Today, this Kong Qian, who has "all five flavors" on his body, saw the emperor coming.

******

Yesterday, when the emperor was discussing matters with Guo Chongtao and others, Kong Qian was not present. Because of Kong Qian's low status, he was not qualified to sit with several important ministers of the emperor to discuss national affairs.

This afternoon, Kong Qian heard the news that Guo Chongtao was going to send an envoy to the south.

After Kong Qian heard the news, he simply packed up, and he thought about what to say after seeing the emperor, and he saw the emperor coming.

******

When the emperor saw Kong Qian coming in, he asked, "Is there something wrong?" ”

Kong Qian said: "The minister thinks that it is inappropriate for Prime Minister Guo Cheng to envoy to the south this time. ”

The emperor said, "What's wrong? ”

Kong Qian said: "Your Majesty, have you ever thought about the advantages and disadvantages of Prime Minister Guo Cheng's envoy to the south this time?" ”

The emperor said, "I have thought about it." ”

Kong Qian said: "What advantages does the emperor think there are? ”

The emperor said: "If you want to talk about benefits, it is natural that Prime Minister Guo Cheng's envoy went smoothly, and the southern countries really excluded Xishu from their alliance." Do you want to talk about cheats? It doesn't seem to be a downside. It's just that Prime Minister Guo Cheng's mission is unsuccessful, at most, isn't it to maintain the status quo? ”

Kong Qian said: "Definitely. ”

The emperor said, "What? Isn't that right? ”

Kong Qian said: "Your Majesty, have you ever thought about it, if Prime Minister Guo really asks them to exclude Xishu from their alliance of several countries this time, the emperor will send them a signal that they are trying to drive a wedge between them and try to break them all?" ”

The emperor nodded.

Kong Qian said again: "If Prime Minister Guo succeeds this time, it's okay, but what if Prime Minister Guo doesn't succeed this time?" If Prime Minister Guo is not successful this time, will it make them more worried about the emperor, will it make them more afraid of the emperor, will it make their alliance stronger? ”

The emperor nodded again.

The emperor asked: "You said that this time Prime Minister Guo Cheng sent an envoy to the south, what is the success rate?" ”

Kong Qian said: "At most, fifty percent." ”

"What?"

The emperor really didn't expect that the success rate of Guo Chongtao's mission to the south this time would be so low.

Kong Qian also saw that the emperor didn't believe his words a little.

Kong Qian said: "When I say fifty percent, I still say it in many places; To say less, that is, thirty percent. ”

The emperor was even more surprised.

The emperor said: Since Guo Chongtao followed our father and son, the success rate of his advice every time is okay, will his success rate be so low this time?

The emperor said, "Can you elaborate on it?" ”

Kong Qian said: "It's very simple. It is enough to think a little about the standpoint of the countries of the South. If I were the lord of a certain country in the south, I would think like this, is it better to exclude Xishu from our alliance of several countries, or to continue to keep Xishu in our alliance of several countries? If Western Shu is excluded from the alliance of our countries, we will not have much strength to compete with the north (Li Tang). If Western Shu is excluded from our alliance of several countries, and the north destroys Western Shu, we will have no strength to compete with the north. If we continue to keep Xishu within our alliance of several countries, we will have the strength to compete with the north, and the north will not dare to move us easily. Therefore, the success rate of Prime Minister Guo this time will not be very large. ”

The emperor said, "What do you think we should do?" ”

Kong Qian said: "This time, the emperor let Prime Minister Guo Cheng go, and it should be." Xishu is so tossed on our ground, the emperor sent someone to talk about it, it should be. However, the tone should change. The tone should be changed from 'we ask them to exclude Xishu from their alliance of several countries' and negotiate with them instead. This time, let's go and ask them what their attitude is when Xishu invaded and beat us this time. If they think that Xishu is always causing trouble, they are not suitable to continue to let Xishu be their friend, and they take the initiative to exclude Xishu from their alliance of several countries, that would be better. If you don't, you won't send them a bad signal. We can also go and tell them that it is said that Xishu first sent troops to fight us, and we have a reason to send troops to fight him, and we came to tell you for the sake of Xishu being your friend. Yes, if he is only allowed to send troops to fight us, we are not allowed to send troops to fight him? ”

The emperor said: "Good! ”

*******

So, the emperor immediately wrote a holy decree to Guo Chongtao

In the holy decree, the emperor said what he meant, and it was also Kong Qian's meaning.

The emperor ordered: "Come here." ”

Someone came in.

The emperor said: "You go after Guo Chongtao immediately, you ...... this holy decree." ”

The emperor was about to say that you would immediately give this holy decree to Guo Chongtao, but as soon as the emperor's words came to this, he immediately hesitated again.

The emperor said in his heart: This Kong Qian, I just met, I don't know him very well, can his words make me believe 100%, he won't have other plans, right?

When the emperor thought of this, he put down the holy decree he had just written.

At this time, the emperor wrote a letter to Guo Chongtao again.

The meaning of the letter is the same as that of the decree.

The emperor changed the proclamation to a letter.

The meaning of the proclamation and the sending of the message are different. If it is a decree, it is an order of the emperor, you have to listen to it, and if you don't listen, you have to listen, if you don't listen, you will resist the decree, and if you don't listen, you will die; Sending a letter is when the emperor speaks to someone in his own name, and if the emperor thinks that he can't do that, he can do not do that.

The emperor also specially instructed the messenger: "You must hand over this letter to Guo Chongtao before he meets Gao Jixing." ”

*******

The messenger took the emperor's letter and chased Guo Chongtao.

However, the emperor asked him to give the letter to Guo Chongtao before Guo Chongtao met Gao Jixing, but he was still one step too late.