At the same time that Zhang Yongde, his son, and his daughter were planning in many ways to realize their ambitions, in another secret room in Kaifeng City, more than ten people sat around the stove, drinking wine and eating meat, and discussing things in a whisper. The first of them is Zhao Pu, who has now become Zhao Kuangyin's first staff, and next to him is Zhao Kuangyin's brother Zhao Kuangyi. As for the other participants who participated in the secret discussion, they were not the brothers of the "Righteous Society" who had sworn with Zhao Kuangyin, such as Yang Guangyi, Li Jixun, Wang Xianqi, Liu Qingyi, Liu Shouzhong, Liu Guangyi, Han Chongyun, Wang Zhengzhong, and others, but also think-tank staff who had been giving advice to Zhao Kuangyin for a long time, such as Lu Yuqing, Liu Xigu, Shen Yilun, Li Chuyun, Wang Renzhen, Chu Zhaofu, and others. And what these Zhao Kuangyin's right-hand men discussed was similar to what Zhang Yongde and his righteous son and righteous daughter were plotting - that is, once Zhou Tianzi Chai Rong was killed and Long Yubin Tian died, how should he make good use of this rare God-given opportunity to seek a great benefit for his eldest brother Zhao Kuangyin and for himself.

In terms of the size of Shili alone, Zhao Kuangyin's brothers and staff members are more and more capable than Zhang Yongde, and at the same time control a bigger Liliang, if they really want to make a move, they should have more opportunities and grasps of success than Zhang Yongde - after all, in addition to these brothers and staff, after Zhao Kuangyin and his father Zhao Hongyin have been in the forbidden army for twenty or thirty years of operation and maintenance, their close friends and friends are all over the forbidden army, such as Murong Yanzhao, Han Lingkun, Gao Huaide, Zhao Chao and other forbidden army generals, all have a good relationship with Zhao Kuangyin. It can be said that except for Han Tong, who has a gap with Zhao Kuangyin, the generals of the forbidden army in the Later Zhou are all within the scope of Zhao Kuangyin's shili.

Nowadays, the only thing that can really make Zhao Pu, Zhao Kuangyi and others jealous is Shili. One is Zhang Yongde, who is in the court, as the former secretary of the palace, who controls the military power of the forbidden army of the Great Zhou, and is also the uncle of the new monarch of the Great Zhou Dynasty in the future, who has a clan relationship with the new monarch, and is the most reluctant to change the court of the Great Zhou. The other is the "Qingyuan" brothers of the Beiping Army, who have a strong army enough to be proud of the world, and have a righteous relationship with Concubine Lin Xian in the palace. Only after the problems concerning these two parties are resolved will the Zhao Group be able and bold to realize their ambitions and aspirations.

As for how to solve these two problems, although the civil and military forces present at the meeting also had different opinions, they all agreed that solving Zhang Yongde's problem was far simpler and easier than solving the problem of the Beiping Army. As Zhao Pu said when he expressed his opinion, although Zhang Yongde is a close minister of the Son of Heaven and a royal in-law, although he is the former secretary of the palace to check and control the military power of the Great Zhou Forbidden Army, it is precisely because of his identity that it is not easy to solve him, but it is not too difficult. After all, every king, whether he is virtuous or mediocre, whether he inherits the throne by various means or usurps the throne by various means, the most important thing in his heart is that the imperial power will always be permanent and the throne will be passed down from generation to generation among his descendants. They will not hesitate to attack and eliminate those who dare to covet their throne, and will never allow them to endanger the stability and inheritance of their country - even if these people are only hidden dangers now, and they may only threaten their throne inheritance.

Therefore, in Zhao Pu's view, it is not difficult to let Zhang Yongde lose his official post - at least remove him from the post of inspection in front of the palace - as long as Chai Rong, who is already terminally ill and has reached the stage of attaching the most importance to the inheritance of the throne, has suspicion and dislike for his brother-in-law, he can move away from this "stumbling block" that may affect the great cause of his group. Although Zhao Pu did not say what kind of strategy he planned to use to remove Zhang Yongde's "stumbling block", it can be seen from his confident expression that he is already confident in solving this first problem. …,

Contrary to the confident and confident performance when solving the first problem, when faced with how to solve the problem of the Beiping Army, all the people who participated in the secret discussion, including Zhao Pu, who is known as the first think tank of the Zhao Group, were worried and had a helpless expression. Because unlike Zhang Yongde, who was in the court and whose ownership came from the court and the emperor, the Beiping army, which owned the land of twenty-four states, was almost completely independent of the court, and had a strong military force, could be regarded as an outlier in the Great Zhou. Their power comes from their own strength, not from the court, not from the emperor. They have their own territory, their own people, their own sources of finance and taxes, and most importantly, they have a formidable army that is completely loyal to themselves and far stronger than all their peers in the world.

In the face of such an "outlier", it is impossible to seize power by making the emperor suspicious and suspicious. First, the Chai Guanjia has long understood that the "Qingyuan" brothers are respectful to them on the surface, but secretly they don't think so, and they know that these descendants of the remnants of the former dynasty from overseas are simply separated from themselves and the imperial court. Even if the Zhao group didn't say bad things about the "Qingyuan" brothers, the Chai Guanjia had never trusted these people. It's just that forced by the situation and the strength of the other side, they have to compromise with the other side and make concessions to the other side in many aspects. Second, the power in the hands of the "Qingyuan" brothers is forced from the hands of the imperial court through their own hard work and relying on their own strength, unless the imperial court can completely defeat the "Qingyuan" brothers and the Beiping army, otherwise, it is impossible to take back the power in their hands by relying on a few holy decrees. If Zhang Yongde is compared to a dog raised by the Chai Guan's family, the other end of the noose around his neck is always in the hands of the Chai Guan's family, and as long as the official family is willing, this noose can be tightened at any time, so that Zhang Yongde will lose the ability to resist, or simply put him to death. Then, the "Qingyuan" brothers of the Beiping Army are a fierce tiger, and there is no rope around its neck that is crucial to the imperial court.

After being silent for a long time, Zhao Pu, the first thinker of the Zhao Group, opened his mouth first, and said: "Although the Beiping Army is strong, but looking at what it has done since its birth, I feel that although these descendants of the remnants of the former dynasty from overseas lack fear and surrender to the imperial court, although they sometimes act rudely, although they have been sparing no effort to expand their territory and enhance their strength. However, judging from the fact that the territory it has touched in the past two years is outside the jurisdiction of the imperial court, and the fact that it is only secretly helping the puppet Han to resist our Great Zhou instead of fighting against the imperial court in a big way, it seems that it is not willing to really tear its skin with the imperial court, is unwilling to meet the imperial court directly and face-to-face with the imperial court, and is unwilling to change its relationship with the imperial court from an ally to an enemy—although I don't know how long this situation will last, and whether the attitude of the Beiping army towards the imperial court will suddenly change. But I think it will remain that way for at least a certain period of time.

Therefore, he thought that the Beiping Army must not be dealt with by force, and vainly thought that the Beiping Army and the 'Qingyuan' brothers would be subdued by force. Otherwise, I am afraid that not only will I not be able to subdue this tiger, but I will provoke this beast into the mouth because of its irrational behavior, and become the prey of its mouth. When dealing with such a formidable opponent, we must be cautious and never act recklessly. Second, it is necessary to use gentle policies, to move them with affection, to induce them to benefit, and to make them understand that the change of the new master of the imperial court will not only not infringe on their interests, but will allow them to get more benefits. ”…,

"So based on what Brother Zhao sees, how should we 'move it with affection and tempt it with profit'?" Zhao Kuangyi, who was quite interested in Zhao Pu's statement, asked—as the only participant present who had personally experienced the strong military strength of the Beiping Army, he very much agreed with Zhao Pu's policy that he could only be gentle and not attack hard.

"This requires a two-pronged approach." Zhao Pu explained, "On the one hand, we must try to have more contact and closeness with the 'Qingyuan' brothers, so that they have a good impression of our brothers, and feel that our brothers are good friends and good brothers who sincerely interact with them, and one day the Chai Dynasty will become the Zhao Dynasty, which will only be good and not harmful." In this way, when Kaifeng City really changes, it will only watch from the wall and will not interfere. In addition, our brothers should also try to establish a relationship with Concubine Lin Xian in the palace and be more friendly with her. After all, although Concubine Lin Xian is in the palace and has very little contact with these brothers in the past, the brotherhood between them should still be there. If Concubine Lin Xian can say a few good words to us in front of her brothers, I am afraid that it will be more effective than saying ten thousand words ourselves—of course, there is no need to show Concubine Lin Xian about the big things we are going to do, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

On the other hand, after gaining the trust of the 'Qingyuan' brothers and bringing them closer to each other, our brothers will send their right-hand men at the appropriate time to reveal to the 'Qingyuan' brothers what we are planning, and explain that once this matter is successful, the power and interests of his 'Qingyuan' brothers will not only not be damaged, but will have greater power and more interests than before. And all it needs to pay is to ignore it and deal with it calmly, just like the festivals of other feudal towns. ”

Zhao Pu's voice just fell, and before Zhao Kuangyi, who thought deeply of his views, agreed, there were already people next to him who were dissatisfied. I saw that among the ten brothers of the "Righteous Society", Wang Xianqi, who had the most relationship with Shi Shouxin, put the wine glass in his hand on the table, and asked in an unkind tone: "Brother Zhao keeps saying that he wants to make friends and get close to the 'Qingyuan' brothers, and he has repeatedly said that he wants to make a profit, so that when our brothers do big things, they will not get in the way." It's just that Brother Zhao forgot so quickly how the trustworthy brother died tragically at the hands of his Beiping army? Could it be that the great revenge of the 'Qingyuan' brothers who killed my 'Yishe' brothers is over, and they will never mention it again? ”