Originally, the Eight Sages King's third strategy for Xiao Mo was "breaking the cauldron". [Reading Network] is still a little unimpressed.

But after hearing Xiao Mo's last words, his expression also sank.

First, it was because he heard that Xiao Mo was not optimistic about the war between Chu Di, but secondly, he also felt that Xiao Mo's words were reasonable.

The Eight Sages King has read countless history books since he was a child, and naturally knows that these grassland peoples have a wolf-like temperament, and for those peoples, the consequences of showing weakness are disastrous.

After a long time, the Eight Sages King finally nodded slowly, indicating that he had kept the three strategies proposed by Xiao Mo in mind.

But then, the Eight Sages King stared at Xiao Mo tightly, and asked slowly: "Zirou, your intelligence does not need to be proven, it is completely different from those ministers of the court and the central government who only know how to recite poems on weekdays. But what this king doesn't understand is why Zirou has always been so worried about the invasion of the Di people, and even after the 200,000 troops of our Chu Dynasty were deployed in the north, they still suffered from gains and losses. No confidence? Could it be that in Zirou's opinion, with the strength of my Chu Dynasty, I can't beat the little Di clan? ”

Xiao Mo shook his head and sighed: "Lord Wang, you should know that the strength and wealth of a country are not directly related to the strength of its military. What's more, the younger generation is not without confidence, it's just that the younger generation is used to preparing for the worst in advance, so as not to be caught off guard after the worst happens, that's all. ”

After hearing Xiao Mo's explanation, the Eight Sages King frowned, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded slightly.

Although he could see that Xiao Mo didn't completely say what he thought in his heart, since Xiao Mo was unwilling to say it, the Eight Sages King was not easy to persecute.

In fact, the biggest reason why Xiao Mo has no confidence in the military strength of the Chu Dynasty is because of the military system of the Chu Dynasty - the military system of the Chu Dynasty - the implementation of the military recruitment system but the very low salary, the suppression of military force by relying on the text, the "three-nine rotation" and other systems, in Xiao Mo's view, these systems have long been strangled the blood and morale of the soldiers of the Chu Dynasty, in this case, the possibility of the army's remaining combat strength is really not high.

In addition, the whole society is heavy on literature and light on military force, the status of soldiers is low, and the army has not experienced major wars for a hundred years, etc., which makes Xiao Mo's evaluation of the combat power of the Chu Dynasty army even lower.

But these systems were all formulated by Chu Taizu himself, how could Xiao Mo mention it in the face of the royal descendants of the Chu Dynasty in front of him?

Just when the Eight Sages King was silent, Xiao Mo looked up at the window, but saw that it was already a moon hanging on the branches. So he got up and said to the Eight Sages King: "Lord Wang, it's getting late, tomorrow you will go to the north to inspect, and the juniors will no longer bother." ”

The Eight Sages King also glanced up at the sky outside the window, and then nodded lightly, but he personally sent Xiao Mo outside the study.

On the occasion of parting, the Eight Sages King patted Xiao Mo on the shoulder and said to Xiao Mo: "Zirou, after the palace examination, you will enter the court as an official." I can see that you are very different from the other ministers of the DPRK and China, and I am very optimistic about you. With the emperor's love for you, there will inevitably be countless people to woo you in the future, but I hope you can be more cautious at that time, the current situation in the court is not as simple as you imagined. If anything happens in the future, you can come to me, although as a clan, I have no fixed responsibilities and real power in the court, but my words still have some influence in the court. I hope you are doing it yourself. ”

Hearing that the Eight Sages King suddenly did not call himself "this king" anymore, and heard the meaningful last sentence of "good for yourself", Xiao Mo couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

"The meaning of these words of the Eight Wise Kings is that I should not be involved in the rights and wrongs of the court? Or let me take refuge in his hints? ”

Xiao Mo thought secretly.

Although he had some doubts in his heart, Xiao Mo didn't say much, just bowed down to thank the Eight Sages King and left.

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Sitting in the carriage back to the "Champion Building", Xiao Mo silently recalled the previous conversation with the Eight Sages King.

Through the description of the Eight Sage Kings, Xiao Mo knew that the chaos in the temples of the Chu Dynasty and the powerlessness of the army were still above his imagination.

"The current Chu Dynasty is very similar to the Northern Song Dynasty in another time and space, the same prosperity, but the same chaos and powerlessness. At that time, the national strength of the Northern Song Dynasty was far superior to that of Liao, but the wars with Liao were repeated defeats, what will happen to the Chu Dynasty today? ”

Xiao Mo rubbed his brows with his hands and continued to think: "Compared with the Northern Song Dynasty, the land of clouds in the Chu Dynasty has not been lost, and the Great Wall dangerous land and horse ranches are still under control, and they are more prosperous and wealthy. But at the same time, the army of the Chu Dynasty was even worse than that of the Northern Song Dynasty, at least the Northern Song Dynasty, which was supported by famous generals from beginning to end, which was beyond the reach of the Chu Dynasty. As for the soldiers, they have not fought for a hundred years, and the difference is even greater......"

Thinking of this, Xiao Mo was about to start the war between Chu Di. But he became more and more unconfident, and muttered with a wry smile: "Could it be that the military strength of the Chu Dynasty is really not as good as that of the Northern Song Dynasty?" The army of the Northern Song Dynasty was notoriously useless. ”

Sighing secretly, Xiao Mo knew that he couldn't help with these things at all, so he simply didn't think about it anymore, Xiao Mo had done his best for the affairs of the Di clan, but the rest could only do his best and obey the destiny of heaven.

Then, Xiao Mo thought of the Eight Sages King's vague words to him before leaving, and he didn't know if he was implying that Xiao Mo had taken refuge in him, if that was the case, then it was obvious that the Eight Sages King was not just thinking about being an idle prince.

Coupled with the open and secret battle between Zhang Qian and Wang Han, the more Xiao Mo thought about it, the more chaotic he became, so he simply closed his eyes and slowly pretended to sleep.

The next day, the Eight Sages King personally led the 8,000 Imperial Forest Army to inspect the north, and Emperor Chu Ling specially held a huge send-off ceremony for this purpose, but it was known to everyone in the capital, and there were countless onlookers.

Coupled with the rumors that 100,000 troops were transferred to the northern states, everyone vaguely guessed. There may be a war in the Chu Dynasty.

The Chu Dynasty has rarely fought for many years, and the last time the army was used was five years ago when the "Li San Rebellion" in Hejian Province was used.

However, for the emergence of the war, the people in the capital did not panic much, but were slightly excited.

Out of confidence in the strength of the Chu Dynasty, everyone believed that even if there was any war in the Chu Dynasty, the army of the Chu Dynasty would be easily quelled in just one month, just like they did with the "Li San Rebellion".

For them, war is a distant thing. The impact is just to give them one more thing to talk about to pass the time.

When Emperor Chu Ling saw off the Eight Sages King outside the capital, Xiao Mo also deliberately left the "Champion Building" and went to watch.

I don't know what kind of mentality, the Eight Sage Kings, who were only in charge of inspection, were actually dressed in military uniforms when they left the capital, and they looked even more powerful.

After drinking the three cups of sake handed by Emperor Chu Ling himself, the Eight Sages King mounted his horse and galloped towards the south with eight thousand royal forest troops to the cheers of countless onlookers.

Silently watching the figure of the Eight Sage Kings gradually disappear from his field of vision, Xiao Mo sighed softly, silently wishing the Eight Sage Kings a smooth sailing trip.

In other words, Xiao Mo is blessing all the people of the Chu Dynasty, including him, not to bear the calamity of the Nadi clan.

Faintly, Xiao Mo felt that this battle between the Chu Dynasty and the Di clan would be a battle that would determine the luck of the Chu Dynasty in the future!!

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For the next period of time, Xiao Mo still stayed in the "Zhuangyuan Building" and rarely went out, either writing the book "Science" with Emperor Chu Ling, who came from Weifu for a private visit, or reviewing his homework alone in the study, preparing for the upcoming palace exam.

Occasionally, Xiao Mo would worry about the situation in the northern states for a moment, but he quickly put it behind him, because Xiao Mo knew very well that he could not do anything about how the situation changed and developed now.

At the same time, as time passed, after discussing and speculating for a while, the people in the capital gradually forgot about the possible war in the north, for them, the war was too illusory, and it was not as important as the upcoming palace test.

During this period of time, two major events happened in Beijing one after another, and these two events are really eye-catching for the people of Beijing.

First things first. But it was a fairy tale called "Eternal Life" came out, and it was sold in major bookstores in the capital at the same time, but the author was not Xiao Mo, but a person with a pen name "Huangshan Jushi".

The Huangshan monk is naturally the pseudonym of Emperor Chu Ling.

For a long time, fairy tales like "Eternal Life" and "Asking Immortals" have always been written by Xiao Mo. Since Xiao Mo closed his pen, many people who like these Xianxia stories are quite lonely, and now they find that someone has written a similar story, with the idea of passing the time, they are all bought at home to read, and then they were surprised to find that the readability of this "Eternal Life" is not at all under the Xianxia stories written by Xiao Mo before, in terms of understanding of Taoism, overall rigor, and even the connotation expressed, etc., it is even more on books such as "Ask Immortals".

For a time, the book "Immortality" became famous, and more than 3,000 copies of major bookstores in the capital were sold out in just seven days.

However, at the same time, many declining literati suddenly discovered that Xianxia stories similar to "Eternal Life" and "Asking Immortals" were not only written by Xiao Mo, nor only Xiao Mo could write well, or because of interest, or because of manuscript fees, in the next period of time, people began to learn from Emperor Chu Ling, writing all kinds of bizarre stories under a pen name, selling them in major bookstores to make money.

Because of the whim of Emperor Chu Ling, he actually created a group of literati who made a living by writing various stories, and the theme of novels rose in advance because of this, but this is all a later story, and there is no need to mention it.

If the first thing is just to make Xiao Mo feel unpredictable, then the second thing is closely related to Xiao Mo's vital interests.