The envoys of Shu Kingdom had just arrived in Jinling after several twists and turns. At this time, the Southern Tang Kingdom had already known that the Zhou army had launched a large-scale attack on Shu Kingdom.

The envoy was a lobbyist, but no matter how clever he was, he could not fool the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Jinling still had many talents. Although his momentum is weak now, his territory and territory were not smaller than those of the Zhou Dynasty at its peak, and his population and wealth were even more than those of the Zhou Dynasty. As a big country, it was not so easy to be influenced by others.

Even if the lobbyist is spitting, he has only one purpose: to form an alliance with the Southern Tang Kingdom and send troops to attack the Zhou Dynasty. His eloquence is still good, and it is very convincing to quote the fact that the Wu and Shu alliance were able to confront Cao Wei for a long time during the Three Kingdoms period. It is very convincing... The principle is really that true. Zhou, Shu, and 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 king Li Jing appeased the envoys of Shu and quickly summoned important ministers from Jinling to discuss in the imperial city.

...The magnificent palace, exquisite carvings and jade fabrics, still exudes the demeanor of the Southern Tang Kingdom. This country has been founded much longer than any dynasty in the Central Plains, and has long been the overlord of half of the country.

Han Xizai, the minister who was usually accused of being a singular and singular, went to the palace and took the lead in refuting the principles of the envoys of Shu Kingdom one after another, and said, "The king is not the Three Kingdoms now."

Han Xizai talked eruditely: "Sun Quan and Liu Bei of Wu and Shu back then had their own ambitions. Let's talk about ancient Shu first. Whether Liu Bei rejected Jingzhou in the early stage or Zhuge went to Qishan in the later stage, he always had the desire to compete. Therefore, Liu Bei always threatened the north, which could be restrained.

The Meng family of Shu Kingdom today is not like a great success. What else have you done except to defend the two rivers and become emperors by relying on their terrain? At the ties between Jin and Han, the Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Khitan, and the Central Plains was in chaos. Shu Kingdom occupied Qin and Feng, and it was a place where the Jin generals took the initiative to surrender and took over, and then they managed to lose the opportunity. They could not leave Sichuan without a master in the Central Plains, so what else can they expect now?

It is also said that our country is not Sun Wu. When the Jin and Han ties were at the junction of Jin and Han, why could not our country advance to the Central Plains? The elite soldiers were trapped in the Wu Yue Kingdom, and there was nothing we could do about it."

After hearing this, the ministers looked sideways and whispered for a while, most of them thought Han Xizai was justified.

Han Xizai looked around and continued, "What's the situation now? In the Battle of Huainan, the Zhou army was dispatched in full swing, and Shu was a force; similarly, now that Shu was attacked, our country was already in a weak position, not to mention that it was powerless, if you were not careful, it might cause fire to burn yourself... Shu would not save our country at that time. All the countries in the south wanted to lead the disaster to others, so how could they send it to block the Zhou Dynasty's edge..."

Han Xizai's proposal immediately aroused the support of the ministers. This kind of public opinion was originally the mainstream of Jinling, and most people really did not want to fall into war.

But at this moment, the king's brother Li Jingda came out and scolded: "You and other civil officials only know how to eat, drink, play and sit and wait for death, which is not enough to make a decision!"

Li Jingda was the first strong man in the royal family of the Southern Tang Dynasty and the fourth brother of the king. No one dared to confront him, but just remained silent.

"You have too many principles. I only recognize one principle: it is useless to not win anything!" Li Jingda said in a tough manner, "Now Shu is forced to fight against the Zhou army, and they have to fight whether they want to do so. When will we not 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 eastern and western routes, and kill the Zhou army's elite troops from both sides with Shu. The best strategy is to recover Huainan. At this time, all the Zhou army's elite troops are out, and Li Chongjin in Huainan has been destroyed, which is very empty. You can cross the river to recover the Eastern Capital (Yangzhou), and restore all the fourteen prefectures in the north of the Yangtze River, thinking that it is the foundation of hegemony."

Li Jingda clasped her fists up and said, "After the emperor's order, I am willing to be the leader."

The king of the country lowered his eyes and said nothing. Li Jingda was a little anxious and immediately asked for a fight: "Brother, don't believe in the words of the Zhou Dynasty, and don't worry about annoying them. The principle is to strengthen the strength of this world!"

Seeing that the king still did not speak, the Privy Councilor said, "Don't be anxious, the king of Qi (Li Jingda) is his own consideration. How can he rush to fight against wars in a rash way?"

Li Jingda didn't dare to force him, and sighed, shook his sleeves and stepped aside with an unhappy look... His third brother Li Jingsui was poisoned to death because of his participation in the power struggle. The lessons of the past are not far away.

Li Jingda retreated, and Han Xizai then spoke again: "My country is not waiting for death, but waiting for the opportunity. I think the time is not good now, and it is too risky to get support from the Chinese people."

A minister asked: "When is the opportunity that Han Gong believes should be waiting?"

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

Everyone discussed this matter more than once, and the debate even involved the national policy level... Because some people believed that if they had maintained harmony with the southern countries and had not trapped the elite troops of the whole country in the war between Wu and Yue, the Jin and Han ties could have taken the opportunity to settle the Central Plains.

The national policy of the Southern Tang Dynasty has always been swaying. Sometimes it pursues the strategy of unifying the south first and strengthening its strength and waiting for the opportunity. This path also has results. It has successively destroyed Fujian and Chu, and it was just that when it was dealing with Wu and Yue, it was still in a quagmire and never resolved. Unable to defeat Wu and Yue, the Southern Tang Dynasty implemented another national policy, which was the ministers who occasionally mentioned that the fish and the countries lived in harmony and regained their strength.

However, the dispute is gone now. After the Southern Tang lost Huainan, the strength of the Southern Tang Dynasty declined, and even more could not be destroyed by Wu and Yue, so the first path has been terminated.

Han Xizai mentioned the old story again. If it were assumed to be established, the Southern Tang Kingdom would not be the Southern Tang Kingdom. It is probably already said that the Tang Dynasty had established its capital in the Central Plains... When the Jin Dynasty was destroyed, the Hedong Jiedushi went south with its narrow territory to establish the (later) Han Dynasty, and surrendered all the way, because the Central Plains people needed a regime dominated by the main population after driving away the Khitan. At that time, the Southern Tang Kingdom had such a large territory, as long as the army headed north, it would be easy for the Han people in the Central Plains to accept it; in any case, the Southern Tang Dynasty was much stronger than the territory in Hedong, and the chances were very great.

Han Xizai and others discussed for a while, then continued, "The opportunity ten years ago was fleeting. The king had been waiting for ten years. Can't he wait a little longer?"

He looked at the more than 20 people around him and said seriously, "No! We are waiting for the opportunity of the Jin and Han dynasties. The Zhou army launched a large-scale attack on Shu Kingdom, which seemed to be fierce, but in fact it was a strong outside and a middle-level fight, barely supporting the scene. As long as the Zhou army is unfavorable in this battle, the Central Plains will be in trouble. This time, our dynasty should prepare early instead of rushing to fall into the quagmire."

...The ministers in the temple expressed their opinions, and there are roughly three kinds of opinions: the first is that the person led by Li Jingda wants to take a positive attitude and attack Jingzhou and Jiangbei now, and will immediately become enemies with the Great Zhou and enter a state of war.

The second type is Han Xizai and others, who tend to believe that the Zhou army could not capture Shu, and expected that the Central Plains would fall into chaos and wait for a safer time before taking action.

The third type is more negative, and I feel that the Zhou Dynasty is still strong and the general trend has entered a unified stage. It is recommended to move the capital to Hongzhou, leave the Zhou Dynasty, and Wu and Vietnam attack Jinling, which is in trouble in the north and south, and remain obedient to the Zhou Dynasty... No one dares to say what to do in the future, but everyone understands that it may be that they want to surrender when the situation cannot be stopped, and surrender to the capital of the Southern Tang Kingdom, and end the foundation of the Southern Tang Kingdom.

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

The crown prince is Li Yu. He has been dismissed by the main force of the country and insisted on being the crown prince... Li Yu performed very well in the short period of Li Hongji's "rebellion", and was completely on the same side as his father and was deeply trusted by the ruler.

Li Yu finally got what he wanted, but it was not easy to become the crown prince. Some people in the court opposed it. Most of the opponents believed that he was addicted to music and poetry, afraid of delaying major events, so he found some excuses to say that he had no son. But this matter is not very important in this world, and adopted sons can be inherited. Li Yu was a little easier, so he hurriedly hugged him from his brother's house and raised a boy over one year old as his son, and the problem was completely solved.

"My son even agrees with Han Sheren (the Minister of Revenue and Han Xizai, the Minister of the Secretariat)." Li Yu said seriously. He didn't say much, but this sentence was indeed carefully considered. Li Yu did not speak before, but he did not listen or think.

When Li Yu looked at his father from a distance, he felt that his father was really a little old. It was not that he was old (that was only in his early forties), but that he showed his demeanor as if he was discouraged... The ambition when he opened up the territory to conquer Fujian and Chu was no longer there. Under such circumstances, the father could not adopt Li Jingda's proposal; and when he moved the capital to wait for surrender, the father might not be able to accept it for the time being. After all, he had a glorious time and could be called a capable monarch.

Therefore, Li Yu believes that Han Xizai's proposal is the most recognized by his father; he supports him and happens to stand with his father.

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

My uncle Li Jingda is very famous for his military use, but he thinks the government too simply. Many people in the Southern Tang Dynasty, including a wealthy and powerful group, were not willing to fight. He forced the Southern Tang Dynasty into the war regardless of everyone's wishes. I'm afraid there will be great trouble and resistance... The war is not just about fighting. Moreover, it is already risky to be rushed to fight with the Zhou army.

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

The terrain of Shu Kingdom was dangerous and not so easy to fight. There were sometimes strong lords in the Central Plains when there were stable in the Central Plains. Now, the Empress Dowager of Zhou Dynasty was not stable in the country. In order to build prestige, he rushed to send troops. This was too risky... Maybe this is the case for people in the war-torn places in the Central Plains, and they often had to take the national fortune on the victory or defeat of a war. Zhou Shizong had just ascended the throne, so he took this shortcut; now the Empress Dowager of Zhou Dynasty and his family generals used the same trick again.

Can you get what you want every time?
Chapter completed!