Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

Li Gu was sent to Qigouguan to meet Guo Shao through the eunuch Wang Zhongchuan's will. But when he came back, he was personally received by Chai Rong.

"Kowtow to His Majesty." Li Gu bowed his body and bowed, of course he couldn't see the emperor at this time, his face was almost touching the floor tiles.

Hearing a "flat body", Li Gu got up carefully. He also heard the eunuch reminding in a low voice next to him: "It's about the Li family, you can't make the officials angry." He still didn't dare to look up at the emperor, but the hall is not big, and there are no steps that are so high that you need to look up to see it, even if he doesn't look directly at Chai Rong, he can still see it clearly.

Chai Rong was not wearing armor, but was wearing a loose purple robe. His face was dark and freckled, and he looked sick indeed. Li Gu recalled a fellow countryman who had passed away, and his symptoms were similar to this; what the fellow countryman suffered from was bloated lungs, and besides his complexion, his legs were still swollen. But Li Gu was not a doctor, and he didn't have a deep knowledge of this, so he couldn't be sure what kind of disease the emperor had.

But for the time being, it seems that the emperor is holding out, can sit there, and can talk.

Chai Rong said again: "Guo Shao's performance to win thousands of people, are they all Khitan people? Is it true?"

Li Gu hurriedly replied: "It should be true. I have seen the heads transported back from Zhuozhou. There are thousands of heads from what I saw with my own eyes. They are all the heads of Khitan people and Xi people... When they passed Qigou Pass, Han Lingkun and other generals also saw it; they took so many carts full of heads, it was really frightening to see!"

Chai Rong bowed his body when he heard this, and said emotionally: "Guo Shao is a good general."

Li Gudao: "What Your Majesty said is true, most of Tiger Jie's army is infantry, it is not easy for infantry to fight cavalry to gain so much."

Chai Rong nodded and said, "Let Yelu Ming know that he is a fool, how can I be afraid of him?"

Having said that, he sighed slightly again, but he didn't know what to sigh.

At this moment, Li Gu took out a letter from his bosom, and presented it with both hands: "Your Majesty, I met General Guo at Qigou Pass, and he wrote a memorial for me to bring back and present it to Your Majesty."

Eunuch Wang Zhong came over, took the envelope from Li Gu, and turned to look at Chai Rong. Seeing that Chai Rong nodded slightly, Wang Zhong opened the envelope, took out the paper inside, unfolded it, and handed it to Chai Rong.

Chai Rong looked at it once and said, "Wang Zhong, go call the generals and discuss matters in the lobby later."

... The generals will be here soon, but Guo Shao is on the way and Han Lingkun is at Qigou Pass. When everyone heard that the emperor had summoned them, they all came early, because they hadn't seen the emperor for several days, and everyone in the army was panic-stricken. If you can see the emperor, you can always feel at ease.

Chai Rong's complexion is very bad, but today's condition is better, he can walk to the public seat in the lobby by himself, and of course he can also talk.

After seeing the ceremony, Chai Rong asked Wang Zhong to take out Guo Shao's memorial without saying a word, and handed it to the generals first. There were not many senior generals, but it took a lot of time to pass it on and read it. During this process, the hall was very silent, and the atmosphere was a bit depressing.

Chai Rong neither mentioned Guo Shao's merits, nor did he mention his escape from Zhuozhou without authorization, and no one mentioned it in the class.

As a martial artist, Chai Rong's style is also very straightforward, and immediately said: "Guo Shao recommended Han Lingkun to patrol the northern border, and I plan to let Han Lingkun withdraw to Xiong and Ba; the army has returned to the court, and will come back at another time. What do you think?"

Zhang Yongde came out and said: "The Khitan Lord gathered more than 100,000 troops, and people reported that they have marched towards Zhuozhou; Zhuozhou is only a hundred miles away from Xiongzhou. Your Majesty, now that we are withdrawing from the court, will Yi, Xiong, Ba, and Mo prefectures be attacked by Khitan?"

Chai Rong endured the pain and panted for a while, then suddenly sneered and said, "Is the Liao Kingdom ready for a massive attack? If Yeluming really dares to cross the river, I will accompany him."

After hearing this, the generals suddenly felt a domineering rush towards their faces, and they were speechless. The officials didn't take the emperor Yelvming seriously at all.

Chai Rong retreated quickly, probably because he was too weak to sit for too long. However, in a few words, he had already finalized the major event. As soon as Han Lingkun arrived in Xiongba, the Zhou Dynasty army could retreat.

There is no need to discuss and argue, I am afraid that this matter has been irreversible.

... Zhao Kuangyin left the palace sullenly and returned to the camp. He turned around and summoned Zhao Pu to meet him, and told the story of what happened in front of the emperor and Guo Shao's letter.

Zhao Pu also frowned when he heard this: "Then Guo Shao is too ruthless, to be so blatantly slanderous. The officials actually passed on the memorial to all the ministers. This is really... The officials directly accepted Guo Shao's recommendation and stayed Han Lingkun to patrol the border. Could it be that they believed Guo Shao's slander?"

Kuang Yin sighed and said: "Everyone knows that Guo Shao has a rift with me. He just slandered and said a few bad things, and everyone thinks it's just human nature."

"That's true." Zhao Pu was at a loss, "I thought Guo Shao would not be able to leave in Zhuozhou, but things turned out like this. That guy is really difficult to deal with... Hey, a general can fight? I heard that the main aide next to Guo Shao is called Zuo You. He used to belittle him. I don't know why."

Kuang Yin said: "This matter has nothing to do with the staff. I just woke up in the palace. I remember that before the Northern Expedition, the officials once said that whoever made great contributions to him in the Northern Expedition would rely more on him. Guo Shao broke the trap we set up for him, so he caught the officials' minds.

He first ambushed the Liao army and captured a lot of people. After he got credit, he boldly retreated. I have caused the established thing, and I blatantly wrote a letter to reveal my interests, so I got away... and beat me back, making me feel like I am sitting on pins and needles now. "

Zhao Pu pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Kuang Yin said again: "Although I am worried, I have to be convinced after losing this game. In this matter, he has the ability to defeat Xiao Siwen, has the courage to retreat without authorization, and can grasp the official's mind. The layout is defensive and offensive... brilliant! Really clever!"

Kuang Yin pondered for a long time, but shook his head and muttered: "It's really not like the means that a general like Guo Shao can have..."

Zhao Pu whispered in his ear: "If there is any mistake in the official family, let Guo Shao go back to Tokyo now, and then cooperate with the queen, the future of the lord is worrying."

Kuang Yin nodded thoughtfully and said: "We have been staring at Guo Shao, but actually ignored another person. If there is no such person, Guo Shao is a general of the bodyguard department, and his subordinates are no more than one side of the Hujie army, plus Gao Huaide, and his strength is only so... I think it is not Guo Shao who arranged the matter, but that person. This person has long planned to let Guo Shao return to Beijing.

Zhao Pu immediately said: "Master, I have another plan..."

Kuang Yin said directly: "But it's okay to say."

...

Wei Renpu and Wang Pu left the palace together, and they were also talking about the memorial that was passed on to the ministers just now. The relationship between the two is good, but it feels like a gentleman's friendship is as light as water, and they rarely communicate in private, so they happened to meet together today.

The two were the chief and deputy privy envoys of the Privy Council. Many people once said in front of Wei Renpu that Wang Pu would take his place.

But Wei Renpu didn't mind. Instead, he praised Wang Pu as a great talent. If Wang Pu was a privy envoy, he would be willing to let him go. Hearing these words, Wang Pu had a rare personal relationship with his colleagues. The two have a competitive relationship, but also appreciate each other... Wang Pu admires Wei Renpu's demeanor and bearing, and Wei Renpu appreciates Wang Pu's vision and strategy.

It is really not easy to make friends with Wang Pu. Among all the officials in the court, almost no one has any friendship with Wang Pu... This man is difficult to get along with, and he often uses legalist techniques to control others and lacks sincerity. Anyone who is with him should be careful.

At this time, Wang Pu said: "Guo Shao's performance of the book is indeed very strategic."

However, Wei Renpu said: "General Guo and General Zhao are at odds with each other. It is not surprising that you wrote a letter to ridicule General Zhao for being too powerful." He laughed again: "If I have a grudge against Wang Shijun, I will also speak ill of you in front of the officials."

Wang Pu glanced at Wei Renpu next to him, but didn't smile. Wei Renpu laughed a couple of times in embarrassment, as if he had made a joke that wasn't funny, so he suppressed his smile bitterly.

Only then did Wang Pu say: "I mean, his method of attacking Zhao Kuangyin was very strategic." He thought for a while and then said, "But we can't just talk about strategy. Twenty thousand infantry swallowed up Xiao Siwen's thousands of cavalry in one go, and ordinary people can't do it. This requires both the force of the soldiers and the strategy of the layout. If it's just a warrior, why is he rushing back after making great achievements? Now it's all right, the first achievement in the Northern Expedition, and the officials didn't praise it in public."

Wei Renpu was noncommittal.

Wang Pu said again: "Actually, if Guo and Zhao are both placed in Tokyo, there is no way to balance them."

Wei Renpu asked casually, "Why?"

Wang Pu looked around, and said in a deep voice, "How can we check and balance? For example, you and I check and balance each other, because we have no enmity, and we don't have to be ranked high and low, so we can coexist."

His example cannot be said to be inappropriate, but why does Wei Renpu sound so harsh?

Wang Pu said again: "Guo and Zhao are different. Both of them want to put each other to death and then hurry up. Once no one suppresses them, I'm afraid they will use whatever means to break the rules. There will be winners and losers, and the quarrel and the result will come quickly... Therefore, if the officials want to use Guo Shao to contain Zhao Kuangyin, it will be futile, and it will only intensify the internal strife."

Wei Renpu tentatively said, "What does Deputy Wang think is the best way to do it?"

Now Wang Pu was noncommittal and remained silent.

Wei Renpu knew that Wang Pu was a very strong-willed person. Seeing that he didn't say anything, he guessed that he was unwilling to say so, so he couldn't help but provoke him: "Could it be that Wang Pu's intention is to put one of them in another town and separate them?"

Wang Pu immediately vetoed it: "Let one of them take the elite of the forbidden army outside, is it to encourage them to use up half of the elite of the forbidden army in the future civil war... But if the military power is seized and then released, can the people who go out of the town without elite soldiers fight with the other? How can we talk about checks and balances if they become fish and meat? This is no different from choosing a camp and helping one side against the other! Anyway, balance cannot be achieved."

After a while, Wang Pu said again: "However, we don't need to worry for the time being. As long as the officials are here, none of them dare to act rashly."