Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The next day, more than a dozen boxes were moved to Guo's mansion, and Guo Shao opened them in the room for inspection. One of the boxes was filled with copper coins, not ordinary copper coins, they were all newly minted, brand new and in good condition, and then wrapped in red silk. The other one was opened, but it was a box made of silver and carved with exquisite patterns; when it was opened again, there was a golden box inside. In the innermost part is a large box of gold and gemstone jewelry, with a large bead the size of a quail egg placed in the middle. He couldn't help picking it up to observe it, wondering if it was a night pearl and how much it was worth.

Guo Shao looked at the pearl for a while, and thought: It takes a lot of money to marry a wife, I am almost bankrupt now.

Then Zhao Kuangyin's wife died at the end of last year, and he needs to marry another; the loss should be quite large, and the money spent on the marriage of the Ming media is obviously in vain.

No amount of money is really enough. It is not easy for Guo Shao to save some money. When he fought against Shu, he did not hesitate to kidnap prisoners and extort him; The money was gone all at once... I even got a big deal from Mrs. Chen, otherwise the betrothal gift would have to be discounted by at least half; presumably Mrs. Chen also spent a lot of money, and this money would put pressure on senior generals and bureaucrats like Guo Shao.

Of course, because of her background, Second Sister Fu is worth more than this little money. It’s not that that person would not be able to marry her with so much dowry... Just as Guo Shao once said, it’s worth trading the Sixteen States of Huainan, the only problem is that the Sixteen States of Huainan are not his.

Comparing the two sides, Yulian and Yang's are easy to get, basically the same for nothing, and Jingniang is similar. No wonder women are generally unwilling to be concubines. Everyone wants to show their value and status. It may not be a pleasant thing to be taken home without any movement.

Guo Shao didn't care too much, marrying the second sister Fu was enough for him to toss about, so he had to worry about busy work for a while.

At the same time, the "Shen Chen Li" firm will have a caravan going to Youzhou to import and export goods in the near future. Guo Shao felt that he would not necessarily have the knowledge to find out any valuable information if he only sent his own soldiers and servants there, so he fooled Zhou Duan and asked him to go to Youzhou as a spy leader;

Zhou Duan is a branch of the Zhou family in the Southern Tang Dynasty. He is unknown and has no achievements. Whether he has talent or not can only be said by himself. It is not easy to be an official;

Although Jiezhen in Xuzhou had no elite soldiers, it was a big city anyway, and Jiedu envoys behaved in a manner of not interfering in the government affairs of local prefectures and counties, but they could be local emperors in one city;

...

Zhao Kuangyin married Hebei Wang Shizhong before Guo Shao, but now he cannot marry a wife. The Zhao family's funeral was almost over. He had written to Ding You, but was rejected and retained as appropriate. The emperor didn't want a person he regarded as a capable general because his father would be useless after his death.

The generals are relatively free now, and Zhao Kuangyin and Guo Shao have no contact with each other. They met once in the hall on the first day of April.

None of the generals spoke at the court meeting, and the emperor and civil officials were all focused on ensuring agricultural production in various places. Li Gu presented detailed measures to prevent and control the Yellow River, and urged the abolition of farmland and the implementation of a new tax system and labor law, and quarreled with several other officials in the hall. Wang Pu submitted a letter to continue planning, expanding Tokyo City, and improving the water transportation system. Wang Pu presented a map of water conservancy irrigation in Hebei... and some people suggested various wonderful methods to prevent locusts.

The emperor finally focused his energy on governing the country, and all the civil servants scrambled to offer advice, hoping to show their merits and value.

Zhang Yongde, Zhao Kuangyin, Guo Shao and others didn't say a word, caring who was right and who was wrong.

After finally disbanding the court meeting, the high-ranking generals walked out of the palace bored. Zhao Kuangyin and Zhang Yongde were together, and the two did not conceal their friendship. One of them was the commander of the Dianqian Commander, and the other was the inspector of the Dianqian Division. They were the two most powerful men in the Zhou Dynasty.

The two of them went out from the Donghua Gate, then rode to the official office in front of the hall, and went to the rest room to drink tea together.

Zhao Kuangyin is one year older than Zhang Yongde, but he respects Zhang Yongde very much in words, and often calls him "Gong": "After the Battle of Gaoping, if I hadn't done my best for me, Zhao would not be where I am today. I dare not forget the kindness of knowing you."

Zhang Yongde shook his head and said: "It's the officials who have shown kindness to Brother Zhao. I just found talented people for the officials."

Because there was no outsider, Zhao Kuangyin poured tea for Zhang Yongde himself, opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but swallowed it from his mouth, and then said: "The officials are so focused on adjudicating local affairs that they will have sufficient supplies for the Northern Expedition, so as not to worry about the future. Didn't Wang Pu say that as long as there are good harvests this year in summer and autumn, the Northern Expedition will start next year! It seems that the weather is good this year and there will be no major disasters. It will be time for us to go to battle in a few months."

Zhang Yongde said sternly: "It's not just this year's preparation... It's been three years since the Battle of Jinyang. Which day will the officials not prepare for the Northern Expedition? The attack on Qinfeng and Huainan is to eliminate the worries of the Northern Expedition. Youzhou has always been a pain in the Central Plains since Shi Jingtang was dedicated to the Liao Kingdom. If this place can be recovered in the hands of the officials, it must be a great achievement praised by all generations. Our forbidden army has fought so many battles, and we are waiting for that day!"

"From this point of view, the key to this battle is to capture You Yun, and we only need to drive the Khitan soldiers out of Hebei." Zhao Kuangyin said.

Zhao Kuangyin felt that the emperor's mood was very urgent... Could it be because his body was getting weaker day by day? He and Zhang Yongde are people who often see the emperor, and they can observe the emperor's complexion and physical condition carefully.

There was no expression on the black face, Zhao Kuangyin pondered for a long time. He wanted Zhang Yongde to say something in front of the emperor, but he didn't know where to persuade Zhang Yongde... Before he opened his mouth, he wanted to talk about Guo Shao's marriage with King Wei;

There is one very obvious thing that lingers in Zhao Kuangyin's mind: once the official family dies, the longest prince, Chai Zongxun, is only three years old, and the Empress Fu must be regent.

Zhao Kuangyin had to consider that Guo Shao was a military general and the queen's confidant who was born in the Palace of Wei, and now he was going to marry the Fu family, and the relationship went further;

As long as the emperor Chai Rong is in power, this kind of situation is irrelevant, but seeing Chai Rong's weakness now puts a lot of pressure on Zhao Kuangyin. Empress Fu didn't hear anything wrong with her after she suffered a serious illness in Huainan. She is still so young, so she should live longer than the official family. There is also Guo Shao, who is alive and kicking in his twenties.

Zhao Kuangyin felt more and more that it was not Guo Shao who was the biggest threat to him, and that his grievances with him only accelerated the conflict... The most difficult thing to deal with was Empress Fu.

The queen hasn't shown her face for several months, but as long as she pays attention to her layout, it is not difficult to find that everything is very beneficial to her.

She also holds the name of the mother of the prince Chai Zongxun as the empress; no one can threaten her in the harem, and she has been more cautious in her words and deeds in the past few months, refusing to make any mistakes at all. In the imperial army, she is widely favored and has a very high prestige in the hearts of the soldiers. In terms of prestige and support, she even surpasses Zhang Yongde... Not only that, but she also promotes her confidants, concretizes military power, and further stabilizes the power in the imperial army through marriage.

That Guo Shao has a lot of power in the bodyguard department. It doesn't matter that the elite troops are not as powerful as the Dianqian Division. From now on, as long as he is inserted in Tokyo, he will be enough to threaten everyone and dare not resist, so as to protect the will of the Regency Center. And the position is just right, if Guo Shao is now in Zhang Yongde's position and is the queen's personal, the emperor is not willing to reuse it.

The Fu clan was only conferred more than a year ago, and Zhao Kuangyin didn't pay attention to this woman at all at that time, he was too busy to take care of himself at that time. But just one year later, looking back, Empress Fu had already arranged everything.

Zhao Kuangyin had to look up to this woman. He said calmly to Zhang Yongde: "In the past, when I went to court, I could occasionally see the queen, but in the past few months, I have never seen her enter and leave the palace with officials."

Zhang Yongde looked up in thought, thought for a while and nodded in agreement.

Zhao Kuangyin continued: "Fan Zhi once told Dou Yi about a secret matter. Did you hear about it? When it was rumored that Taizu passed away, he mainly focused on two people. One was to let Wei Renpu be the privy envoy, and the other was to strictly order the official family to be the empress. Taizu believed that only these two people could safely hand over the great position to the official family."

Zhang Yongde shook his head and said: "I have never heard of this. But the current empress is extraordinary, she has the bearing of a mother."

Zhao Kuangyin thought to himself: Wei Renpu's role is completely understandable. At that time, the position of the official family was not stable when they first came to the throne, and a capable and reliable person was needed to control the military power of the Privy Council; what direct role can the Empress Fu have? Could it be that Taizu had a long-term vision and had already considered that all the descendants of the Guo family were slaughtered and there would be no successors, and he would also think about the third generation of the throne? If the empress wholeheartedly defended the royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it would be much more stable for someone like her to preside over the government after a hundred years of officialdom.

But now it seems that no matter what she thinks, it is not a good thing for Zhao Kuangyin... If the Zhao family can marry the Fu family and there is no Guo Shao, the queen's confidant general, Zhao Kuangyin will naturally not feel the queen's threat. It was what the queen had done that made him very uneasy.

He said calmly: "The Taizu's edict was far-sighted, and Wei Renpu is still a privy envoy."

Zhang Yongde said without hesitation: "I see the situation, Wang Pu may replace Wei Renpu as the privy envoy."

After hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin said again: "The title of Empress is also what Taizu meant earlier. If the official family is away on an expedition and is no longer in the court, the empress can also preside over the overall situation."

Zhang Yongde was taken aback when he heard this, and felt that the tone of the words was a bit wrong. Doesn't that mean that it doesn't matter if there is an emperor in this world, and the queen can control the court?

Regardless of the consequences, Zhao Kuangyin emphasized the tone and hinted: "Your Majesty, please think carefully about whether the Queen's prestige and strength can preside over military affairs...Nowadays, the officials and the Queen respect each other as guests, and the dragon and the phoenix live in harmony. It is indeed a blessing in the world."