The second housekeeper hurriedly took the order and went out, Li Chengliang turned around and said to Fan Yunchao: "Yunchao, today is the Shangyuan Festival, the two of us haven't had a small gathering for a long time, and it is not good to occupy your time at night, so the two of us will have a drink in the house at noon today, don't refuse." ”

Fan Yunchao smiled and said: "Brother Chengliang, look at what you said, you are a treat, how can I refuse? I just got up in the morning and was busy until now, and I was feeling hungry at this moment, so I was not polite to the little brother, and I would bother the eldest brother." ”

Soon the second steward came over with the servants, they quickly set up the high stools on the dining table, took out the dishes, chopsticks, cups and saucers from the food box and put them away, and then took out the steaming dishes and put them away, there are not many dishes, only four dishes and a copper pot, but for two people, these dishes are more than enough.

Li Chengliang has always pursued the quality of life, believing that "the food is not tired of fine, and the food is not tired of being fine", so there are few big fish and meat in the recipes of the city lord's mansion, they are all dishes with exquisite materials and fine workmanship, which look good in color and fragrance, and are accompanied by two pots of hot wine, which is the lunch of the two most powerful people in Dunhuang City.

Li Chengliang and Fan Yunchao humbled each other, and the guests sat down, Fan Yunchao asked: "Big brother, sister-in-law and nephews and nieces, can they dine?"

Li Chengliang said: "You don't have to worry about them, they have already used them in the backyard, just the two of us at noon today, the virtuous brother can let go of eating and drinking, and no one will come to ruin our fun." ”

Fan Yunchao picked up the wine jug and poured a full glass of wine for Li Chengliang first, then filled it for himself, and then picked up the wine glass and said: "Big brother, in order to accompany the little brother to eat, you snubbed your sister-in-law and nephews and nieces, which really touched the little brother, this first cup of little brother must respect you." ”

Li Chengliang hurriedly picked up the wine glass in front of him, touched it with Fan Yunchao, and the two drank it all.

Li Chengliang put down his wine glass and said, "Brother Xian, you are too polite, do we need to be so polite between our brothers?"

Fan Yunchao's eyes lit up and said: "This is Baishui Du Kang! Brother Chengliang, you even have this kind of good wine in secret, little brother, I have a good mouth today." ”

Li Chengliang smiled and said: "I have rarely seen the virtuous brother drink wine over the years, and I thought that the virtuous brother didn't like the things in the cup, but I didn't expect you to be able to taste this is Baishui Du Kang in one bite, which really impressed the eldest brother." ”

Fan Yunchao sighed: "Brother Chengliang, is it that the younger brother doesn't like to drink, how many of the soldiers don't like to drink? ”

Li Chengliang said to Fan Yunchao again: "Today is not in the army, the virtuous brother can drink a few more cups, and when you are tired, you can rest here with me." ”

Fan Yunchao drank another glass of wine and sighed: "When I first joined the army, I made my first military exploits, and the marshal at that time gave the imperial wine to the imperial court, which was this Baishui Du Kang, but there were too many meritorious people at that time, and everyone drank Baishui Du Kang mixed with water, but it was that mixed with water and bad wine that made my little brother fall in love with drinking."

I still remember that I once set a small goal, in the future, when I have money, I must save the three famous wines in the world - Baishui Du Kang of the Tang Kingdom, Luoyang Drunk of the Ming Kingdom and Lihuabai of the Song Kingdom, and get drunk at one time, but then I have money, but I have lost that state of mind. ”

Li Cheng asked curiously, "Hasn't the virtuous brother yet fulfilled this wish?"

Fan Yunchao smiled and said, "Now that I don't dare to drink wine, how can I indulge myself like that?"

Li Chengliang said: "Since Brother Xian still remembers this, it means that he still wants to drink, although Luoyang Drunk and Pear Blossom Bai are not easy to get in the short term, but I promise my brother that I will help Brother Xian fulfill this wish within this year." If the barriers in my heart are not removed, how can my life be fulfilled!"

Fan Yunchao poured Li Chengliang full of wine and said: "Thank you big brother for your love, when the eldest brother gets drunk with me, it will be complete!"

Li Chengliang took the wine glass and drank it all and said: "Okay, there is absolutely no problem, tasting the three famous wines in one day, it is a pleasant thing to think about, such a rare opportunity, I don't want to miss it for my brother." ”

After saying that, the two laughed together.

The two had a few more drinks, greeted each other about the current situation of their family and relatives, and chatted a few words.

Because there were still important things to discuss, the two of them didn't have much to think about eating, Li Chengliang called the second housekeeper and asked him to bring the staple food, and the two hurriedly finished their lunch and asked people to put away the table.

A maid came into the house and changed a new tea for the two adults, and after lighting a stove of incense, she withdrew.

Fan Yunchao asked: "Brother Chengliang, we were interrupted just now when we talked about five topics, the first one is in terms of national policy, I don't know much about it, you can give me a good analysis of Niu Xiangguo and the direction of the national policy he advocates." ”

Li Chengliang said: "Yun Chao, Niu Xiangguo has a strong personality, talent, and is resolute in his work, and to a certain extent, he can also be said to be domineering, and he can't tolerate other people's disobedience to his ideas, and anyone who is regarded as an enemy by him will be hit by his fierce methods sooner or later."

So he has another nickname in the court called 'Bull Demon King', which shows that his style of doing things is to never leave a way back for others and himself.

is such a powerful figure, who will control the government in the next few decades, so no matter who wants to make a difference in the military and political circles in the future, he can only seriously study Niu Xiangguo's behavior and strategy, otherwise he will not be able to gain a foothold in the DPRK and China at all.

The Tang State is now in the bottleneck period of the development of national strength, the internal growth is weak, there are many external strong enemies, the contradictions accumulated between the various classes are deepening day by day, the domestic situation seems to be calm, but there are also many crises, and someone urgently needs to come out to eliminate the maladministration, otherwise within a few decades, the Tang Dynasty will usher in a great change.

What kind of talent can reconcile the contradictions between the civil and official system, the military general faction and the common people of the Hao clan within the Tang Kingdom, at present, this Niu Xiangguo is the most suitable person.

He did not have a prominent family affair, but he entered the imperial examination with real talent and real learning, served as a low-level state and county official, and understood the various conditions in the world and the suffering of the people, so his governance had many strategies that favored the common people, but he did not squeeze the wealthy and wealthy businessmen too much, both of which were acceptable to him;

He has rich political experience, has been in politics for 26 years, changed at least ten important positions, made a large number of relatives and friends, division commanders, peers, and colleagues, and also took the opportunity to cultivate a large number of protégés and former officials, so the power of the Niu Party among civilian officials is very strong, and he is known as 'a courtier and half a cattle', which can be imagined as his energy among the Chinese officials of the DPRK;

He also served as a border army, and was promoted to deputy general and squire of the military department with his outstanding military exploits, and the military also regarded him as his own person, hoping that after he came to power, he could raise the status of the military attache group that was strongly suppressed when Wang Xiangguo was in power, so Niu Xiangguo used a westward and northward policy to pull the military attache system under his own banner;

In addition, Niu Xiangguo stimulated the emerging wealthy merchant groups through the slogan of expanding the territory and establishing a meritorious cause for all generations, and satisfied their demands for political and military participation.

Through the above brilliant strategy, Niu Xiangguo will successfully divert the contradictions between various strata in the country, and use war and war to pull all relevant production industries to increase input and output, and obtain more resources from other countries by means of war, so as to achieve the purpose of curbing excessive population growth and reducing domestic contradictions.

This method seems to be effective, but for the people of the border lands, it is an extremely hidden and cruel national policy, and from then on, the people of the border will have to spend decades or even hundreds of years to bear the pain caused by the change of national policy with their own flesh and blood. ”

Fan Yunchao finally understood the horror of Niu Xiangguo's new national policy at this time, and he could directly imagine the scene of beacons everywhere on the border of the Tang Dynasty in his head, and maybe the border people would pay for this national policy for generations or even dozens of generations of lives.

Fan Yunchao only felt that his throat was a little dry, and he hurriedly took a sip of tea and said, "Brother Chengliang, you mean that Niu Xiangguo's thunderbolt method may make Tang Guo strong for a while, but in the long run, it is tantamount to drinking water to quench his thirst?

Li Chengliang shook his head and said: "Today's saint has a resolute personality and extraordinary talent, after he ascended the throne, in order to ensure the stability of the dynasty, he chose the national policy of accumulating people's power, and he also endured Wang Xiangguo for 20 years. ”

Fan Yunchao sighed: "Go west and go north!" It's just four words, but how many soldiers and people's flesh and blood are needed to fill this hole, these adults sitting on the court, a small decision will make tens of millions, hundreds of millions of Tang people fall into a situation of no return, how can they bear it!"

Li Chengliang said: "In fact, there is no point in saying these things now, the national policy has been decided, and much change will not be made in the short term." As the courtiers of the Tang State, we only have the share of execution, and complaining will not solve the problem.

Dunhuang City, as the first city in the northwest border, must bear the brunt of the implementation of the new national policy, I called the virtuous brother today, just to discuss with you, how to deal with and implement the policy of the imperial court to go west and north. ”

Fan Yunchao said: "Brother Chengliang, since you have revealed so many secrets of the imperial court to me, then I will also tell you some of my superficial views on the new national policy, and I hope you will correct it!"

Westward and northward movement seems to be a parallel national policy, but I think westward expansion is the mainstay, supplemented by northward expansion.

Now the Mengyuan Empire is flourishing, and the Menghuang Emperor is also a generation of heroes, these years have been committed to adjusting domestic policies, resolving the contradictions of various classes, and has achieved initial results, and the Mengyuan Empire has gradually changed from the previous loose tribal alliance system to a feudal centralized state.

Although this year suffered a thousand years of heavy snowstorms, but it is not enough to shake the national capital of Mengyuan, just look at the siege performance of the barbarian coalition army, you know that the national strength and combat effectiveness of the Mengyuan Empire is far stronger than the Western Regions, the Western Tibetan countries, if you want to go north to defeat them, you can't do it in the short term.

Xifan is located on the plateau, a bitter cold land, the land is poor, not suitable for development, and the area of tens of millions of miles can only support the people of the Tibetan nationality with a population of tens of millions, so it is meaningless for us to seize such a land.

Besides, Western Tibet and the Song State have many borders, and it is really unwise for us to forcibly seize Western Tibet, which may cause a fierce reaction from the Song State and destroy the balance of the past so many years.

At present, the only thing that can be attacked is the countries of the Western Regions, there has been no decent power in the Western Regions for tens of thousands of years, the ethnic and religious differences between the small countries are huge, there is no possibility of integration at all, war, annexation and enslavement are the themes there, there are nearly 100 large and small countries in the Western Regions, which are scattered and scattered, and the imperial court chooses to pass through the Western Regions is the right way. ”

Li Chengliang said: "Yunchao, your thoughts coincide with mine, but the Western Regions are vast and sparsely populated, and mainly nomads, separated by the Gobi and the desert, it is indeed a long way and difficult to travel, and the nearest large city to us is also nearly 800 miles away, and then to the west, there may not be a city within a range of thousands of miles."

If the Tang army goes on an expedition, the radius of such a battle is too large, even if we can capture the city, we will not be able to conquer it, because we simply do not have the manpower to garrison there, and if we withdraw, those nomads will soon come back and reoccupy it, so that all our previous efforts will be in vain. ”

Fan Yunchao nodded and said: "There is no formation of a group of people mainly living in the Huaxia people, and the so-called expansion of the territory is just a game of people's death, if the policy of westward expansion and northward expansion is not accompanied by the great migration of the Tang people, it will not be effective." ”

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