Xiao Zhan left Sima Yi's secret residence, came very low-key and was even more low-key when he left, the last time he came to Xiao Zhan, he also brought a palace maid dressed as a man to find Sima Yi, this time maybe Xiao Zhan was afraid of leaking the news, not to mention a maidservant, and he didn't even take the carriage. Xiao Zhan's car didn't know where to stop, and Li Fangwei didn't expect that a guest would come to visit Sima Yi, who lived in seclusion, before entering the hospital, and this person was still the empress of the Southern Dynasty.

"Sir, this ...... This is Your Majesty. After looking at the direction of the door for a long time, Li Fangwei came back to his senses and said with great surprise.

"Yes." Sima Yu didn't shy away from it, unlike the last time he saw Xiao Zhan, he directly admitted Xiao Zhan's identity under the pretext of being a friend. Sima borrowed back and went into the house, Li Fangwei followed behind, and when he entered the house, he found that there was not even decent tea. Sima Yi was still playing chess, and even when the empress came, Sima Yi did not give up his hobby, which was somewhat disrespectful to the empress.

Li Fangwei didn't sit down, and hurriedly asked, "Then Your Majesty said that there was something...... The lower official didn't understand very well, can the gentleman explain in detail? Could it be that there is something related to the lower officials? ”

Sima Yi looked at Li Fangwei and said: "Your Majesty has an errand to entrust someone to do, and there is no suitable candidate, so he came to me for instructions, so I recommended Li Taishou to Your Majesty." ”

Li Fangwei sneered and said: "Mr. is joking, the lower official is just a foreign minister, what can help His Majesty, why does a gentleman need to come out and show his eyes?" He hesitated slightly, and immediately realized the crux of the matter, "Could it be that there are some things that Mr. is inconvenient to come forward and want the officials to do it on his behalf?" ”

Sima Yi smiled slightly: "That's right. I think Li Taishou should also hear about the recent progress of the war in the north. ”

"That's that, who would have thought that the fierce Xianbei barbarians would also be defeated like a mountain, and now the Northern Dynasty is the time to gain momentum, I heard that the soldiers and horses are thousands of miles out of the North Pass, and there is a great battle to level the grassland. Heck, this is a defeat for the Xianbei people. The next one may be ......" Li Fangwei only said half of his words and didn't say any more, there were some things he didn't want to mention. The Qi Dynasty had been in the south of the Yangtze River for too long, and the soldiers and horses were slack and unable to fight with the Northern Dynasties, which was basically foreseeable by the middle and upper echelons of the officialdom, and Li Fangwei, as the person directly in charge of the troops in Xu Ding, was clearer than those Shangguan who did not listen to the suffering of the people. Sima donated grain, grass and materials to the soldiers in Xuding, which can be shown that the Shangguan Zhi of the Southern Dynasty did not raise soldiers and treat soldiers well, but thought about how to usurp power and enjoy themselves in peace. How can they fight with the Northern Dynasties in this state?

Sima said: "Li Taishou is half right. Even if the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty are strong now, the national strength is seriously depleted, and I am afraid that they will not be able to cross the river immediately to fight. If Your Majesty can take power and seize power, it will be no more than six or seven years to enrich the country and strengthen the army. It will only take one or two decades to reverse the decline, and then it is unpredictable to defeat the defeat. ”

Li Fangwei smiled bitterly: "Even Mr. said that it must be a few years or even more than ten years, let alone Your Majesty now...... cough, now that the ministers in the court are in charge, Mr. forgive me, and the lower officials do not mean to offend Mr. and King Hui. ”

Sima Yi smiled and said, "It's okay. King Hui has no intention of military politics, how can he not know it. Li Taishou couldn't tell the truth. ”

"That's it, King Hui is now in charge of the army. But in fact, there are not a few people who support the army below, that is, the lower officials also have the military power of thousands of soldiers in Xu Ding. Therefore, it is still necessary to hope that the national strength of the Northern Dynasties is empty and it is impossible to fight with our DPRK as the best policy. Li Fangwei finally said with emotion.

Sima said: "So I have to bother Li Taishou to go to the Northern Dynasty and negotiate peace with the Northern Dynasty court." This is the only way to postpone the fighting. The character of the emperor of the Northern Dynasty is well understood, and if it is not for the stability of actual interests, I am afraid that this war will start in the next two years. At that time, Jiangnan and Jiangbei will fall into chaos. ”

Li Fangwei was shocked: "It turned out to be for this matter." This...... This ......"

Sima Yi knew that although Li Fangwei wanted to climb to a high position, he was a cautious and cautious person. Know what to do and what not to do. Li Fangwei is still nominally a vassal of King Hui, how can he do things for the imperial court in the open? That will only make Li Fangwei steal chickens and rice, and even the original power to guard Xu Ding will be wasted.

Sima said: "Li Taishou don't have to worry, if you really have the heart to share your worries for Your Majesty, Your Majesty will send Li Taishou as a secret envoy, this time the north will not be publicized, and you will personally repair the book with the emperor of the Northern Dynasty, stating your purpose of going north, you will not directly communicate with the officials of the Northern Dynasty after you arrive in the Northern Dynasty, but will directly negotiate with the emperor of the Northern Dynasty, and then the two sides will sign the letter of state, and Li Taishou will return to the south, and there will be no obstacles on the way." ”

Li Fangwei couldn't help but feel a little moved when he heard this, but he still didn't want to accept it right away. It would be too risky for him to do so, and if he made a mistake, he would be rejected by King Hui, who wanted to get a higher position without losing what he had, which was the cause of his dilemma. Sima said: "If Li Taishou refuses to agree, he will explain to His Majesty when he turns around, and he can send someone else to go." ”

Li Fang's only listening to his heart is not a taste, since he chose to collect Sima Yuan, it is to be able to serve the empress, and now Sima Yi has recommended him to the empress and given him a chance to make a career, if he should not do it, then how will the empress reuse him in the future? Li Fangwei complained bitterly in his heart, so that whether he accepts it or not, he will offend people, the difference is to offend King Hui or the empress, the lesser of two evils, plus there is a fluke psychology in his heart, it is a good thing to serve the empress and go north to Luoyang. But he still didn't agree immediately, and said, "How about thinking about it later?" ”

Sima Yi smiled and nodded, Li Fangwei's personality is very special, a little indecisive, but more of an old man, even if he has made up his mind in his heart, he will think about it again in order to get a more satisfactory plan. Since Li Fangwei said that he wanted to think about it, it was actually similar to agreeing, this matter must be concealed from King Hui, even if King Hui is enlightened, he will not allow his backyard lineage to be bought by the empress.

Sima Yu seemed to have no intention of saying: "If Li Taishou goes north this time, he may be able to communicate with the emperor of the Northern Dynasty, and if he can become a bridge of communication between the Southern Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty, it will be of great help to Li Taishou's future career." ”

Li Fang only thought that this was indeed the case, and he couldn't help but feel a little happy in his heart. What Sima Yi said was indeed reasonable, as long as he went to the north once, and he was acting in secret, and any secret contacts between the two dynasties in the future would pass through him, then he would become an indispensable confidant of the empress. And not only can he be reused by the empress of the Southern Dynasty, but even the Northern Dynasty will treat him as "his own person", even if the two dynasties start a war in the future, the Southern Dynasty will be defeated and the country will be destroyed, and other officials will lose power, but he can rise.

Li Fangwei sincerely thanked Sima by saluting, and also forgot the worries in his heart before. Anyway, it's a fight. A trip to the north is not a big deal, as long as the hidden work is done well, no one will know that he "eats inside and outside".

Sima Yu asked, "Then Li Taishou has other worries?" ”

"No, no." Li Fangwei said with a smile, "Serving Your Majesty is originally the duty of a minister, and the lower officials are willing to go through this for the imperial court." I just need to mention a little more, this Northern Dynasty ...... Xia Guan didn't know at all. What he thought in his heart was that the relationship between Sima Yi and the emperor of the Northern Dynasty in front of him was extraordinary, and he had Sima Yi's "care". He should be able to succeed in this trip to the north, and if he succeeds in the south, he will not be far from rising in the court.

……

……

There are frequent wars in the north, and the southern invasion of Xianbei has been completely wiped out, but the Xianbei people have not come to the end of the road. Even if the men and horses of the Xianbei Left Khan and the Right Khan were defeated or retreated, and many of the Xianbei tribes, large and small, surrendered to the imperial court, Han Jian still could not be relieved. After this battle, the damage of the Wei Dynasty's soldiers and horses was also very serious. In addition to being powerless to stop Su Tingxia from leading his troops north thousands of miles to pursue the Xianbei people. There are no other people sent north.

Han Jian has already decided to return to North Korea.

But at this time, Han Jian got the news from the Southern Dynasty. It was Sima's letter of peace. Originally, Han Jian was ready to raise troops to the south after returning to Korea, but after receiving Sima's letter, Han Jian hesitated. In addition to reporting safety, Sima Yi also explained the recent situation of the Southern Dynasty that the Southern Dynasty still had heavy troops in Yangzhou, Jiangbei, and there was no large-scale conflict between Zhu Tongjing and Huiwang Xiao Ling's men. In fact, Sima Yu was also tactfully expressing that it was not suitable for immediate war. At the end of the letter, Sima mentioned that the Empress Xiao Zhan of the Southern Dynasty had secretly sent a man named Li Fangwei north to represent the peace talks, and stated that the negotiations were secret and that the two countries would not announce the peace talks until an agreement was reached.

Han Jian knew very well that this was a way for the Southern Dynasties to delay the war. The Southern Dynasty experienced the infighting between Xie Rumo and Zhu Tongjing. And after the farce of the Northern Expedition, there was also a lot of loss of national strength, at this time it was when Xiao Ling, the king of Hui, was in power, Xiao Zhan had just ascended the throne, thinking about steady development and then trying to obtain military and political power, and at this time he wanted to be at peace with the Northern Dynasty.

Han Jian didn't know much about Li Fangwei, but he had learned in the secret report from the Southern Dynasty that Sima Yi had gone to Fujian and Zhejiang to rectify military affairs under the escort of Li Fangwei. After that, Sima Yi recommended Li Fangwei to Xiao Zhan as the representative of the secret peace talks, which shows that this person also has a close relationship with Sima Yi, at least the person Sima Yi can trust and use in the Southern Dynasty now.

At this time, it was already late September, and there were only a few days left before the scheduled time for the return of the army. In the past few days, Han Jian's Chinese army was only stationed in Beiguan to collect some remnants of the army, including receiving the surrender of the Xianbei tribe. From the large-scale defeat of Xianbei to the end of September, the population of Xianbei's tribes in the Central Plains was more than 200,000, compared with the population base of the Central Plains Dynasty, which seemed very cold, but for the vast living environment was very bad, a relatively large tribe on the grassland was only 10,000 people, and the population of more than 200,000 people was almost the total population of all tribes in the southern part of the grassland. Coupled with the Xianbei soldiers and horses who were defeated and killed by the Wei Dynasty soldiers and horses before, the Xianbei people had more than 100,000 people in terms of loss of people alone, which also left more than 100,000 old and weak women and children. After the defeat, the tribes in the central and southern Xianbei can no longer develop with their own strength, and can only choose to take refuge in the Central Plains Dynasty in order to survive.

Previously, Han Jian and the court officials planned to settle the Xianbei tribe. There were not many officials sent by the imperial court, all of whom Ning Yuan felt could help Han Jian, and several of them were young officials recommended by Ning Yuan to Han Jian personally. Referring to the previous Wei Dynasty's policy of settling the people of the Bohai Kingdom, these people felt that all the Xianbei people should be moved to the Central Plains to be "naturalized", and then the original tribal model of Xianbei should be broken up by dividing the land, so that even if the Xianbei people wanted to make trouble, they would not be able to make trouble. At the same time, some arrangements were also made to allocate arable land to these Xianbei people to cultivate, which was tantamount to changing the original Xianbei people's survival mode and completely becoming the "obedient people" of the Central Plains.

Han Jian's own idea is to resettle the Xianbei people on the spot, so that the Xianbei people can live in some places in the north of Beiguan, so that in addition to keeping the living mode of the Xianbei people unchanged, it can also form the first barrier north of Beiguan, and form a protection for the southward invasion of the northern grassland tribes in the future. But Han Jian knew that these Xianbei people were forced to take refuge in the Central Plains Dynasty out of desperation, and if the Xianbei tribe rose again and wanted to raise troops south, it was really difficult to say whether they could become a barrier or an internal response. Between Han Jian's return to the dynasty, he did not issue an imperial order on the resettlement of the Xianbei people, and some small Xianbei tribes settled from the locality, and at the same time, he also wanted to make the people of the north return to their homeland as soon as possible, after all, a large area of barren land in the north still needs people to cultivate, and Beiguan needs the people to carry out the tuntian, so as to ensure the daily needs of the northern soldiers and horses.

On September 23, there were still two days left before the army returned south. The heart of the soldiers in the army has been very urgent, after several meritorious awards, the soldiers have also been rewarded for the bloody battles on the battlefield, and this time the battle with the Xianbei people in the north is a national battle done in the case of the Wei Dynasty tightening its belt. If it weren't for the large number of livestock and grain captured after the end of the war, it would not be enough to reward the three armies, plus the rewards for fields and meritorious service, the soldiers began to look forward to returning to their homeland to farm, marry a wife and have children earlier, even if Han Jian wanted to fight directly with the Southern Dynasties, he had to consider the soldiers' homesickness, and this war could be avoided.

In the afternoon of that day, it was Fa Ye who went north again after completing the pacification of Luoyang. Two months later, Fa Ye followed Han Jian's instructions to go south to Luoyang, temporarily suppressed the power in Han Song's hands, and ensured the stability of the Luoyang Imperial Palace and officialdom. Han Jian originally wanted Fa Yi to return to Beichuan and wait for him to meet him in the south, but Fa Ye's long-standing habit of doing things for Yang Rui was to repay him immediately after completion, even if he ran thousands of miles, Fa Yi did not show much fatigue.

However, when Han Jian saw that the method of describing emaciation also appeared in front of him, he still felt a little distressed. It's only been two months, and Fa has lost a lot of weight. (To be continued......)