Zhao Kuangyin heard the words and said: "Qiyu bixia, the minister thinks that what Lord Zhang said is true, and what Lord Fan and Lord Wang said also has a certain truth. How to deal with the 'Qingyuan' brothers and their private soldiers still needs to be considered in the long term and cautious. ”

Chai Rong was not satisfied with Zhao Kuangyin's somewhat "muddy" reply, and he said with a little unhappiness: "The strength of the 'Qingyuan' brothers is not bad, and I naturally know that it is because of this that I brought you Aiqing to discuss. All of you Aiqing are important ministers of my Great Zhou Dynasty, and at this critical moment, it is the time for you Aiqing to do things for the court and share worries for me. Now that the imperial army has been stationed under Youzhou City for more than two months, there is really not much time to think about it in the long run. ”

Seeing that Chai Rong was dissatisfied with his answer, Zhao Kuangyin no longer had reservations, but said truthfully: "Bixia is angry, what the minister said is by no means prevaricating and perfunctory, but acting according to the truth. ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Kuangyin paused slightly, peeked at Chai Rong, and saw that although the other party's face was still uncertain, he did not interrupt himself, so he continued: "The reason why the minister said that what Lord Zhang said is true is because the minister has been with Wang Kunjun, Qian Yuanshan and others all these days, and he has seen everything he has done in his eyes and in his heart. In Yichen's opinion, the 'Qingyuan' brothers are by no means as desireless and indifferent to fame and fortune as they advertised before. On the contrary, everything it does in the Cloudy Lands is purposeful and purposeful. Although the minister does not know what his ultimate goal is, one thing is certain, that is, the 'Qingyuan' brothers' plan is not small, and it is by no means as they said before, just so that they can make money and enjoy themselves comfortably in the land of clouds.

And the reason why the minister said that what Lord Fan and Lord Wang said is also reasonable, is also because the minister and the 'Qingyuan' brothers have been getting along for a long time, especially this time with Wang Kunjun and Qian Yuanshan from Yuguan back to Youzhou, and what they saw and heard along the way through the state and county, so that the minister had to be impressed by the skills of the 'Qingyuan' brothers, especially the ability to sell people's hearts. In Yichen's view, the 'Qingyuan' brothers have been operating in the land of clouds for many years, especially in the eight states in front of the mountain, and they are not only very familiar with the officials and guards of various states and counties, but also so that every time they go to a city, the officials and guards in the city are all talking to them and calling them brothers. Moreover, the gentry and people from all over the country also respected and praised them, and bluntly said that the 'Qingyuan' brothers raised the banner of righteousness, raised the righteous soldiers, drove the Khitan barbarians far away, and saved the people of Youyun Han from fire and water, which was to do the right thing for heaven and respond to the people. What's more, since the Khitans were driven away by the rebel army under the 'Qingyuan' brothers, then the 'Qingyuan' brothers should take over the sixteen states of Youyun, and their leader Wang Kunjun is the new lord of Youyun.

From this point of view, the 'Qingyuan' brothers not only have strong force, but also have successfully collected the hearts of the people in the Land of Clouds for their own use. If the imperial court's placement of the 'Qingyuan' brothers and the so-called 'Youzhou Rebels' under their command does not conform to the wishes of the Youyun gentry and the common people, even if the 'Qingyuan' brothers do not go against the holy will, the local people will be resentful, and it will be very disadvantageous for the imperial court to take over the land of the sixteen states. After all, the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun have fallen into the hands of the Khitans for decades, and the local people have not been educated for a long time, and they do not understand the truth of 'the whole world, not the king's land' as the people of the Central Plains. Moreover, the minister dared to assert that if there was a conflict between the imperial court and the 'Qingyuan' brothers, the local officials might not help each other and wait and see neutrally, but the local gentry and common people would help the 'Qingyuan' brothers and go toe-to-toe with the imperial court. ”

Seeing that Zhao Kuangyin seemed to support the opinions of that group of ministers and wanted to be gentle with the "Qingyuan" brothers, Zhang Yongde hurriedly interjected: "Bixia, the minister thinks that the 'Qingyuan' brothers must not be soft and weak, otherwise where is the face of the court and the prestige of the official family." Moreover, if the sixteen states of Youyun are handed over to the 'Qingyuan' brothers this time, it is likely to make the people of the world, especially the towns, think that the imperial court is weak and can be bullied, thinking that as long as their strength is strong enough, they can fight against the imperial court, and they can divide one side and do whatever they want. If this goes on for a long time, won't it lead to chaos in the world? Moreover, in this Northern Expedition, the soldiers fought bloodily and fought all the way to the city of Youzhou, and suffered heavy losses. If the imperial court easily gives away the land of the sixteen states to others, I am afraid that the soldiers will also be angry in their hearts, which will also be very unfavorable to the imperial court. ”…,

"Lord Zhang's words are wrong." Zhao Kuangyin retorted, "Speaking of ordinary feudal towns, even the various pseudo-imperial courts in Jiangnan have no force comparable to the private soldiers under the 'Qingyuan' brothers. The 'Qingyuan' brothers made outstanding achievements in expelling the Khitan barbarians, which is seen by everyone in the world. The imperial court rewarded meritorious deeds, and at the request of the people of Youyun, it was ordered to take charge of the sixteen states of Youyun. As for the prefectures and counties seized by the officers and men of our army, they naturally have to be placed under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court. I thought that the 'Qingyuan' brothers should not have any objections to this. ”

"Master Zhao also said that the 'Qingyuan' brothers are not small. That being the case, how could they willingly hand over the three states of Ying, Mo, and Zhuo to the imperial court? Han Tong, who disagreed with the Huairou "Qingyuan" brothers like Zhang Yongde, asked rhetorically.

"Ying, Mo, and Zhuo are now under the control of the imperial court, unless the 'Qingyuan' brothers rebel immediately, the imperial court only needs to exclude these three states from the reward, and it is logical that the land of these three states will be brought back to the imperial court." Zhao Kuangyin replied confidently.

Han Tong had yet to argue with Zhao Kuangyin for a few more words, but Chai Rong, who was behind the throne, waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "You Aiqing don't have to argue anymore. As the saying goes, 'only by knowing the other can we win a hundred battles', and now that the imperial court has no knowledge of the intentions and intentions of the 'Qingyuan' brothers, how can they negotiate a proper way. I intend to summon Wang Kunjun, Xu Shao'an and others to come to the palace in three days, personally find out their intentions, and then take countermeasures, what do you think? ”

Although Chai Rong asked the ministers of civil and military affairs in a consultative tone, the expression on his face was very firm, and he had obviously made a decision. Therefore, whether it is Zhang Yongde, Han Tong or Zhao Kuangyin, they all kept silent and responded to "Bixia Shengming" in unison.

The imperial meeting did not come to a clear conclusion, and he couldn't figure out the thoughts of the "Qingyuan" brothers for a while, Chai Rong returned to the back account in a bad mood to find the virtuous concubine Lin Xiaoyu, intending to listen to the opinions of this close person who knew the "Qingyuan" brothers better than Zhao Kuangyin in a sense.

Chai Rong wanted to discuss with Lin Xiaoyu about the "Qingyuan" brothers, so naturally he would not allow others to be around, so Ma Ping'an, who had been serving by his side, was also sent out by him. It was also by taking this opportunity that Ma Ping'an immediately wrote a secret letter, explaining in detail the process of the imperial meeting of the Later Zhou monarchs, and sent his powerful spies to develop in the palace to pass them into Youzhou City through the corresponding secret channels, and transferred to the temporary headquarters of the Yellow Sea through the "Dark Feather" Youzhou Branch, and was finally sent to Wang Kunjun, Zhang Weixin and Xu Shao'an, who had just arrived in Youzhou City.

Looking at this secret letter written by Hanyu Pinyin - this is the method used by "Dark Feather" to transmit the contents of the high-level secret, unless there is a special situation where the person who intercepted the secret letter is a traverser who is hostile to the crossing team, it is impossible to decipher it, and listening to Huang Hai softly read the content of the letter that has been translated into Chinese characters, Wang Kunjun suddenly sighed a little emotionally, and when Huang Hai finished reading the letter, he smiled and said: "Chai Rong held the imperial meeting yesterday afternoon, We can get its details this afternoon, the difference between before and after is only a day, it seems that the work of 'Dark Feather' in the Hou Zhou Imperial Palace was not in vain. In the meantime, the relevant personnel of 'Dark Feather' should be rewarded in the name of the committee. ”

Zhang Weixin nodded after hearing this, and agreed: "Fifth brother is right, we were able to achieve such a great result this time, which is not only the result of the soldiers in front who are not afraid of life and death and bravely kill the enemy, but also thanks to the arrangements in the past few years in the land of clouds and even various states and counties in the Khitan to arrange eyeliner and collect intelligence with all their might. If we can successfully control the clouds this time, our brothers will not only reward the soldiers who rushed to the front line, but also reward the unsung heroes who work silently on the hidden front. ”…,

Xu Shaoan also echoed: "The two brothers are right, the importance of intelligence warfare is no less than fighting on the battlefield, and there are many times when a key piece of important information is worth the power of tens of thousands of troops. Today's situation reminds me of a movie I watched in my previous life about the peaceful liberation of Beijing, in which there was such a plot: What Fu Zuoyi said and did the night before in Beiping City, and even what emotions and moods he had, he could get a very detailed report from Xibaipo the next day. The intelligence work has reached such a point that it is difficult for Fu Zuoyi not to give up Beiping City.

Although our intelligence work has not yet been able to do what Chai Rong said the night before, and it was put on our desk early the next morning, considering that our intelligence personnel have no radio available, it is quite commendable to be able to transmit the dynamics of Chai Rong and Hou Zhou Zhongchen in one day. To put it mildly, the intelligence work has reached our level, coupled with the brilliant results achieved by the armed forces under our command before, it would be really unreasonable for him Chai Rong not to give up the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to our brothers. ”

"If that's the case, I, an atheist, am only afraid to wonder if he Chai Rong is really destined by heaven and ordered by heaven." Zhang Weixin said jokingly.

Hearing Zhang Weixin's joke, the three brothers looked at each other and couldn't help laughing. After laughing, Wang Kunjun waved his hand and said: "The fate of the bullshit is to be ordered by the heavens, but it is just a pretext used by those who want to be emperors to fool the ignorant people. If we talk about the Mandate of Heaven, then we can travel through thousands of years of time and space to come to this era, and do such a vigorous thing that changes history beyond recognition, can it also be said that God intends to let us come out of nowhere to save the people and their descendants who have been devastated by the troubled times in this era, so that they will not suffer more suffering and humiliation in the future, so that the Chinese nation will not experience the barbaric and backward rule of foreign races, so that they can always stand in the east of Shijie and be worshiped and admired by other peoples. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Kunjun stood up with a resolute expression and a gleam in his eyes. If at the previous quasi-plenary meeting, he was still confined to the team system and reluctantly accepted the resolution of the general assembly that everyone asked him to serve as the so-called "envoy of the clouds and festivals", then the grief and indignation of the suffering suffered by the land of China when it was ruled by two barbaric and backward nations in the previous life, especially the darkest and most humiliating history experienced by the descendants of Yan and Huang in the nearly 300 years after the seventeenth century, gave rise to a sense of responsibility in his chest, a sense of responsibility that must change history and never let the history of the previous life be repeated in this time and space.

This sense of responsibility made Wang Kunjun, who was originally very city government and pay attention to stability, also rarely excited, he looked at his two brothers, and said word by word: "For the sake of the Han people, for our children and grandchildren, we are going to decide on the sixteen states of Youyun." He has to give it to Chai Rong, and he has to give it if he doesn't give it. ”

"Fifth brother is right, the sixteen states of Youyun were brought down by us, and he Chai Rong didn't want to leave. If he dares to come with us, then we'll beat the fuck. Xu Shaoan also said with a little excitement.

Seeing that Wang and Xu's emotions suddenly changed, and they didn't do anything, and vowed to slap Chai Rong and Hou Zhou Jun to the ground, Zhang Weixin hurriedly came out to cool down the two, and explained: "What the fifth brother said is extremely true, and the brother often thinks about it. It's just that, as the saying goes, 'Eat one bite at a time, and do everything one by one', people can't expect to become a fat person after eating one bite. Now our priority is to continue to develop and strengthen our strength, and we must not rush to achieve success. Until we have the ability to clean up the old mountains and rivers, it is really not appropriate for the Central Plains region to fall into the chaos of warlords again. …,

Moreover, according to Ma Ping'an's letter, most of the civil and military generals of the Later Zhou court seem to be more inclined to hand over the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to our brothers. In this case, why don't we sit back and wait for the other party to offer the land of the sixteen states with both hands, and Weishenme has to fight again, so that the people of Youyun, who had begun to settle down, will experience panic and uneasiness again? After all, for our brothers now, the people's will is far more important than the official title of a festival envoy. As long as the people's hearts are there, we will be the uncrowned kings of the sixteen states of Youyun, and no one will want to take this place away from us; lost the hearts of the people, even if Chai Rong crowned us as the king of Youzhou, in the end we would be spurned by the people of Youyun, so there would be no place to stand. ”

Zhang Weixin's words made Wang Kunjun's emotions gradually calm down, and he also realized that he had just lost his temper, and hurriedly said: "What the seventh brother said is right, because the brother is in an impetuous mood. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Kunjun paused, thought for a while, and then said to Zhang Weixin: "However, when you talk about the people's hearts, you have an idea. Thinking that although Chai Rong and most of his military generals are more inclined to hand over the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to our brothers, in the final analysis, handing over the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to our group of idle officials who are only granted by the courts of the Khitan and Later Zhou Dynasties, and have never held any actual positions in the Land of Youyun and the court, such a decision will make the faces of the Later Zhou Court and Chai Rong a little unpleasant. In that case, why don't we do them a favor and find them a step down, so that they can have a more excuse to justify their surrender of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. ”

"How does the fifth brother plan to help Chai Rong and the Later Zhou court?" Zhang Weixin asked with interest.

"Let's give him a share of the 'Ten Thousand People's Fold', and give Chai Rong and his court a righteous title of 'obeying the people and understanding the people's will'." Wang Kunjun explained, "In this way, anyone who has any doubts about the decision of the Later Zhou court will be gagged by the other party's sentence of 'the people's will'." ”

"This method is good, but Chai Rong is going to meet us in three days, where can we go to find so many people to sign and draw in just two days?" While Xu Shaoan agreed, he also expressed his own concerns.

"It's not that hard." Zhang Weixin said, "Now that Youzhou City is under our control, the original officials are all looking forward to our brothers, and it is not difficult for them to write a sincere and sincere 'Wanmin Fold' for our brothers." As for the issue of getting the people to sign, first, the so-called 'Ten Thousand People's Fold' is just a metaphor and a general term, and it does not really require 10,000 signatures from the people. Second, with our current energy, it is not impossible to mobilize people to mobilize the people in Youzhou City to sign and draw on the 'Ten Thousand People Fold', and it is not impossible to recruit 10,000 people to participate in this matter within two days. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Weixin turned to Wang Kunjun and suggested, "According to the junior brother, it is more appropriate to leave this matter to the Zhong liaison envoy and your father-in-law, Han Tuiguan, who had been assisting the junior brother in managing Youzhou City. First, the two of them are familiar with the officials in Youzhou, and it is much more convenient to get things done than for us to go directly to those officials. Second, they are close to our brothers, and they will definitely do their best to do this kind of thing that is beneficial to everyone, and strive to do the best. ”

Wang Kunjun nodded when he heard this, and said, "In this way, I will do what you say." Zhong contacted the envoy over there, you went to inform him, as for Han Tuiguan's side, it would be better for me to go there in person for my brother. After all, even if he didn't write about 'Wanmin Fold', since the son-in-law of Brother Wei arrived in Youzhou City, he would have to visit his father-in-law's house anyway. ”