Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The envoys of the Shu Kingdom had just arrived in Jinling after several trips. At this time, the Southern Tang Kingdom had already known about the Zhou army's two-pronged attack on the Shu Kingdom.

The envoy was a lobbyist, but even with his eloquent tongue, he couldn't fool the monarch and ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty. There are still a lot of talents in Jinling. Although the momentum is weak now, the territory of Jinling was not smaller than that of the Zhou Dynasty in its heyday, and its population and wealth surpassed that of the Zhou Dynasty. As a big country, it is not so easy to be influenced by others.

Even if the lobbyists say nothing, they only have one purpose: to form an alliance with the Southern Tang Dynasty and send troops to attack the Zhou Dynasty. His eloquence is still good, especially citing the fact that the Wu-Shu alliance was able to confront Cao Wei for a long time during the Three Kingdoms period, which is very convincing... The truth is really the same, Zhou, Shu, Tang are so similar to the Three Kingdoms back then! But in fact, it is not so easy to repeat the classic diplomacy of the past.

The lord Li Jing appeased the envoys of the Kingdom of Shu, and hurriedly called the important ministers of Jinling to discuss in the imperial city.

... The magnificent palace, with exquisite carvings and jade brickwork, still exudes the aura of a great country in the Southern Tang Dynasty. This country has been established much longer than any dynasty in the Central Plains, and it has been the overlord of half of the country for a long time.

The usually sensual minister Han Xizai took the lead in refuting the reasoning of the envoys of the Shu Kingdom one by one after going to the palace, and said, "Your Majesty, this is not the Three Kingdoms."

Han Xizai talked eloquently: "Back then, Sun Quan and Liu Bei of Wu and Shu had their own ambitions. Let's talk about ancient Shu first. Whether Liu Bei rejected Jingzhou in the early stage or Zhuge left Qishan in the later stage, they always had the desire to compete; therefore, Liu Bei always threatened the north, which can be used as a check.

Today's Meng family of Shu Kingdom, it doesn't seem like a big deal, what else have they done besides relying on the terrain to stick to the two rivers and proclaim themselves emperor? At the turn of the Jin and Han Dynasties, the Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Khitan, and the Central Plains were in turmoil. The Shu Kingdom occupied Qinfeng and Qinfeng. It was the place where the Jin generals surrendered and took over, and then stood still and missed the opportunity. The Central Plains has no master and they can't come out of Sichuan, so what can they expect now?

Also speaking of my country, it is also not Sun Wu. At the turn of the Jin and Han Dynasties, why was it impossible for our country to enter the Central Plains? The elite soldiers are all trapped in the Wuyue Kingdom, and they have nothing to do with Wuyue's constraints. "

After hearing this, the ministers all looked sideways and discussed in a low voice for a while, most of them felt that Han Xizai's words were justified.

Han Xizai looked around and continued, "What's the situation now? In the battle of Huainan, Zhou's army was mobilized, and the Shu Kingdom mobilized one army and one horse; similarly, now that the Shu Kingdom has been attacked, our country is already weak, not to mention powerless, and a little carelessness may lead to fire...Then the Shu Kingdom will still not save our country. The southern countries all want to draw the disaster to others, so there is no way to send it up to block the Zhou Dynasty..."

Han Xizai's proposition immediately aroused the support of the ministers. This kind of public opinion was originally the mainstream in Jinling, and most people really didn't want to get involved in a war.

But at this moment, Li Jingda, the younger brother of the king, came out and scolded: "You civil servants, you only know how to eat, drink and play while you sit and wait for death, not a plan!"

Li Jingda was the number one leader of the Southern Tang royal family and the fourth younger brother of the king. No one dared to confront him, but kept silent.

"There are too many reasons for you, and this king only recognizes one truth: nothing can win!" Li Jingda said forcefully, "Now the Kingdom of Shu is forced to fight against the Zhou army, whether they like it or not; when should we wait if we don't use troops at this time? I have two strategies. The best strategy is to send troops to Jingnan to destroy the Zhou army stationed here, block the Zhou army's east route army, and attack the east and west of Shu to eat the elite Zhou army. The worst strategy is to recover Huainan. It is very empty; it is possible to cross the river to recover the eastern capital (Yangzhou), and restore the land of the fourteen prefectures in the north of the Yangtze River, thinking that the hegemony is the foundation."

Li Jingda clasped his fists up and said: "Brother Huang gives an order, Brother Yu is willing to be the pioneer."

The king lowered his eyes and said nothing, Li Jingda was a little impatient, and immediately asked for a fight: "Brother, don't believe the words of friendship between the Zhou Dynasty, let alone worry about annoying them, it is only right to be stronger in this world!"

Seeing the king, the privy envoy still remained silent, and said, "King Qi (Li Jingda), don't worry, your majesty has his own considerations. How can you be rash and arbitrarily go to war with the country's great plans?"

Li Jingda didn't dare to insist on persecuting him, he sighed, flung his sleeves and stepped aside with displeasure... His third brother Li Jingsui was poisoned to death because of his participation in the power struggle, and the lesson from the past is not far.

Li Jingda retreated, and Han Xizai said again: "Our country is not waiting for death, but waiting for an opportunity. I think the timing is not good now, and it is too risky to win the support of the people of the country."

A minister asked: "When is the right time for Han Gong to wait?"

Han Xizai said calmly: "I assume one thing first. When the Jin Dynasty was destroyed by Khitan, the Central Plains had no rulers. What would it be like if the Southern Tang Kingdom could withdraw and lead an army northward to the Central Plains?"

Everyone discussed that this matter had been brought up more than once, and the debate even involved the level of national policy... Because some people thought that if they had maintained peace with the southern countries and hadn't trapped the entire country's elite soldiers in the war between Wu and Yue, the turn of Jin and Han could have taken the opportunity to settle the Central Plains.

The national policy of the Southern Tang Kingdom has been vacillating. Sometimes it pursues the strategy of unifying the south to strengthen its strength and confronting each other to wait for the right time; Unable to defeat the Wuyue Kingdom, the Southern Tang implemented another national policy, which is the harmonious coexistence of the fish kingdoms mentioned by ministers from time to time to recharge their batteries.

But now the dispute is gone. After losing Huainan, Southern Tang's strength declined, let alone destroying Wu Yue, so the first road has been terminated.

Han Xizai reiterated the old story. If the hypothesis is true, the Southern Tang Kingdom is not the Southern Tang Dynasty now. It is estimated that it has been called the Central Plains as the capital of the Great Tang Dynasty... When the Jin Dynasty fell, the Hedong Jiedu envoy went south to establish the (later) Han Dynasty with a small territory, and surrendered all the way. At that time, the territory of the Southern Tang Kingdom was so large that as long as the army went north, it was easy for the Han people in the Central Plains to accept it; in any case, the Southern Tang Kingdom was much stronger than the territory in Hedong, and the chances were very great.

Han Xizai waited for everyone to discuss for a while, and then continued: "The opportunity of ten years ago was fleeting. Your Majesty has been waiting for ten years. Can't you wait a little longer?"

He looked at the twenty or so people around him, and said seriously, "That's right! We're waiting for an opportunity like the turn of Jin and Han. Zhou's army aggressively attacked the Shu Kingdom, which seemed aggressive, but in fact it was just trying to hold on. As long as Zhou's army is unfavorable in this battle, the Central Plains will be in trouble. This time, I should prepare early, instead of rushing into the quagmire."

...The ministers in the temple expressed their opinions, and there are roughly three kinds of propositions: the first is that the people headed by Li Jingda want to take a positive stance and attack Jingzhou and Jiangbei now, and they will immediately become enemies with Zhou and enter a state of war.

The second type, Han Xizai and others, tended to think that the Zhou army would not be able to capture Shu, and expected that the Central Plains would fall into chaos, and waited for a more secure time before taking action.

The third is more negative, feeling that the Zhou Dynasty is still strong and the general trend has entered the stage of unification. It is suggested to move the capital to Hongzhou, leave the Zhou Dynasty, and Jinling, where Wu and Vietnam attacked the situation, and remain submissive to the Zhou Dynasty... No one dares to say what to do in the future, but everyone understands that they may want to surrender when the situation is unstoppable.

At this moment, the king asked, "Why doesn't the prince speak?"

The prince is Li Yu, who has been rejected by the main force of the country and insisted on being the prince... Li Yu performed very well during the short period of Li Hongji's "rebellion", completely united with his father, and deeply trusted by the king.

Li Yu finally got his wish, but it was not easy to be a prince. Some people in the court objected, and most of the opponents thought that he was obsessed with music and poetry when traveling in mountains and rivers, and he was afraid of delaying important events, so he made some excuses to say that he had no son;

"My son is more in favor of Han Sheren's proposition." Li Yujin said, not much to say, but this sentence was indeed well thought out. Li Yu didn't speak before, but it wasn't that he didn't listen or think.

When Li Yu looked at his father from a distance, he felt that his father was really a little old, not because he was old (he was in his early forties), but because he seemed to be disheartened... The ambition when he opened up territories and conquered Fujian and Chu was no longer there.

Therefore, Li Yu believed that Han Xizai's proposition was most recognized by his father; he supported him, and he happened to stand with his father.

And Li Yu himself does agree with Han Xizai's proposition more.

Uncle Li Jingda is famous for his use of troops, but he thinks too simply about government affairs. Many people in the Southern Tang Kingdom, including the wealthy and powerful, are not willing to fight. If they force the Southern Tang Kingdom into the war regardless of everyone's wishes, there will be great trouble and resistance... Fight if you want to. And eager to start a war with the Zhou army is inherently risky.

But if the Zhou army was defeated in Shu, the situation would be completely different!

The terrain of the Kingdom of Shu is treacherous, and it is not so easy to fight. There were occasional strong lords in the past dynasties who could not do anything to them when the Central Plains were stable. The current Empress Dowager of the Zhou Dynasty has just been regent and the country is not yet stable. It is too risky to send troops hastily in order to establish prestige... Maybe people in the war-torn Central Plains are like this, often want to bet on the outcome of a war with the country's fortune. When Zhou Shizong had just ascended the throne, he also took the risk of taking this shortcut; now the Queen Mother of the Zhou Dynasty and her family will repeat the old trick.

Is it possible to get what you want every time?

The Empress Dowager of the Zhou Dynasty is not Zhou Shizong, nor is that Guo Shao. Li Yu thought it was hard for them not to be planted in the mountains of Shu in this battle.