In Tokyo, some shops opened late and shops selling fabrics usually have no business in the morning. The wooden boards embedded on the storefront on the roadside (in Guo Shao's eyes, equivalent to roller shutter doors) are being taken down, and the day's business has not started yet; but at this time, Guo Shao had already handled the affairs of the Temple Front Department for a day and was riding a dark horse towards the imperial city.

In the Jinxiang Palace Imperial Study Room, Guo Shao walked outside the inner door and saw Fu Jinzhan still dealing with the memorial. There were many memorials on the table with a yellow tablecloth, but they were all neatly placed there. Jinzhan wore a purple round neck robe and a squid head, looking very calm, and his movements were elegant and unhurried.

An eunuch next to him saw Guo Shao, bent down next to Jinzhan and said something, and then withdrew with a few people. Fu Jinzhan also raised her head and looked at Guo Shao with a smile.

"I bow to the Queen Mother."

"Flat."

Guo Shao walked to the table, Fu Jinzhan pointed to the round stool beside him: "Sit down and talk." Guo Shao said: "Thank you." He sat down on the stool, "Yesterday, the minister sent someone to the palace to report a private matter. Did the empress dowager hear about it?"

Fu Jinzhan gently put the brush in her hand on the inkstone, then pressed a piece of paper in front of her. She had a yellow ring on her finger, her fingers were white and slender, but the details were very round and integrated. If there was an infusion in this era, it would be difficult to find her blood vessels. The sunlight from the window shone in, and at a certain angle, the reflection of the ring shone.

"Didn't it be that the second sister and Li Yuan'er have both? If you can have a boy, your Guo family will have a successor." Fu Jinzhan didn't have much emotion when she said this and said it calmly.

Guo Shao owed his body and whispered: "If there were any jins there one day..."

A hint of shame flashed across Fu Jinzhan's face, and she looked out from the inner door and said softly: "I don't want to."

"Why?" Guo Shao said.

Fu Jinzhan said: "General Guo has successors, so you will fulfill your responsibilities to the ancestors of the Guo family; our Fu family has male members. I don't need to bear this responsibility now."

"Just fulfilling your responsibility?" Guo Shao thought.

Fu Jinzhan said: "I have never liked children."

Guo Shao thought for a while and said, "It is said that when Wu Zetian was about to pass the throne, she wanted to pass it to the people of the Wu family. Di Renjie made a comment that if the emperor was in power for a hundred years, if your descendants were in power, they would put the tablets on his mother in the Taimiao. Therefore, Wu Zetian gave up the idea of ​​passing on his mother's family..."

"I don't need others to remember me, just remember me." Fu Jinzhan said.

After hearing this, Guo Shao was stunned and said, "What if I'm gone?"

Fu Jinzhan looked at his face and said, "Will you let me go with you?"

Guo Shao said: "Then it would be too much, it's like burying a life of burial."

Fu Jinzhan's expression seemed to be a smile: "I have walked twice at the gate of hell, and I wanted you to accompany me to bury him."

Guo Shao didn't understand Fu Jinzhan's words for a moment. He often felt that his knowledge was more advanced, and he had been thinking about the ancients' remarks that might not understand him, and rarely encountered things that he did not understand the ancients' thoughts... As long as they spoke oral rather than written in classical Chinese, he found that he might not necessarily understand Fu Jinzhan's words.

"Wang Pu also wrote a letter, suggesting that we continue to use troops in the south first." Fu Jinzhan changed the topic and said, "After the attack on Shu, the court tasted a lot of benefits. If we continue to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty, all the civil and military officials in the whole country would support this strategy."

Guo Shao came back to his senses and said, "The Great Zhou Dynasty established its country with martial law. As long as the army does not strongly oppose it, we do not need to obey the people of the world... The truth is sometimes in the hands of a few people."

After hearing the last sentence Fu Jinzhan raised her pretty black eyebrows on her white skin and said, "What does General Guo mean? First, north and then south?"

Guo Shao said: "No, I have expressed my attitude before and supported the next step in dealing with the Southern Tang Kingdom; what I just said means is that my attitude is not to adapt to everyone."

Fu Jinzhan held her chin with her wrist, looked at Guo Shao's face with bright eyes, and asked with interest: "Why did General Guo make such a judgment?"

In a history I have read before, after Zhao Kuangyin unified southern China, he wanted to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, but he never took action. He set up a savings warehouse, claiming to buy the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun from the Liao Kingdom... Some people also said that they secretly saved money and used it to reward the head price of the soldiers' beheadings. No matter what the warehouse is used for, it can at least show that Zhao Kuangyin is very cautious about going to war with the Liao Kingdom and can fully recognize the strength of the Liao Kingdom.

Otherwise, Zhao Kuangyin would not be willing to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun? That would be impossible. He probably wanted to take back it back in his dreams. This great achievement that could be exiled for a lifetime would be rejected if he could do so without an emperor.

Although Zhao Kuangyin was Guo Shao's mortal enemy, Guo Shao would not deliberately slander his abilities in his heart. Zhao Kuangyin was a hero with real skills... Such people think that the Liao Kingdom is difficult to fight and dare not act rashly, so they must have his insights.

Guo Shao wanted to say: "The Liao Kingdom is the weakest time now. The timing is more appropriate, but we should not be too impatient... First, if we miss one blow, the external pressure we put on the Liao Kingdom will most likely have an impact on its internal momentum; the successive return (the Northern Expedition of Chai Rong occupied several peripheral states last year) will weaken our confidence in victory."

Fu Jinzhan nodded slightly: "It's reasonable."

Guo Shao also said: "Secondly, risks. After the victory of the Shu Kingdom War, the Great Zhou Dynasty was a little more stable, the authority of the court increased, and internal contradictions were alleviated; but it was not as stable as Mount Tai, and it still could not withstand too much failure. Once defeated, it may lead to internal turmoil; it will also weaken the elite strength accumulated by the Great Zhou for many years.

It is very difficult to accumulate elite soldiers who are good at fighting. I am a junior general from a small jockey, and I know very well that a soldier with combat effectiveness is rare; no one male can become an elite. Generally, the arm strength is only 20 or 30 pounds, and qualified elite soldiers should at least draw a strong bow with one or two stones and fight. The physical strength is not the same level at all. It requires a strong body, long-term training and accumulation of practical experience. It is not possible to fight hard battles in just a few months and one or two years of training. The 100,000-200,000 troops in Shu Kingdom, facing more than 20,000 people from the east, are still too weak to dare to fight. This is the reason."

Guo Shao continued: "Thirdly, we are not prepared enough, and it will take some time. Attacking the Southern Tang Dynasty itself is also a kind of preparation. Fighting such a country with less military strength than the Great Zhou Dynasty will not lose money and make money, and will continue to expand its military; successive war victories will continue to increase the status of our court and make a more stable layout. At that time, our resilience to bear losses will increase."

Fu Jinzhan said: "The three principles that General Guo said are very real, and I agree with your proposal."

Guo Shao nodded and said, "So we have to prepare well in advance, concentrate our efforts before taking action, and we need to do our best."

Fu Jinzhan whispered: "If you really can't take back the Sixteen States of Youyun, it's useless to force it. There will be other ways to continue to maintain it."

"What the Empress Dowager said is that if you are really powerless, no one can do anything about it." Guo Shao said, "But I want to try it. Now the Great Zhou Dynasty was in power. If such great achievements were achieved during the Empress Dowager's rule... People will remember the Empress Dowager, and the history of all ages will also record this."

He looked Fu Jinzhan's eyes and whispered: "Not only I will remember the Queen Mother, but billions of people will remember you."

Fu Jinzhan immediately smiled on her face, "The moment I left, I probably won't be so scared anymore."

The two were silent for a while and immersed in the longing just now. Guo Shao said, "You can fight Wuping (Hunan) first to fight from the upper reaches to the Southern Tang. The Jiedushi of Wuping originally belonged to Chu. After Chu was defeated by the Southern Tang, he rebelled. The remnants of Chu were ineffective and there was no need to work hard. Luo Yanhuan's first wing of the Guards stationed in Jingnan, plus some of the navy returned by Shu, was enough to deal with Wuping."

Fu Jinzhan nodded.

Guo Shao pondered: "How about letting Li Chuyun take charge of the command and go to Jingnan to dispatch troops. How about being responsible for the battle in Wuping?"

Fu Jinzhan did not answer immediately. She said nothing and reached out to play with her ring, as if she was thinking about something.

Many people in the Imperial Guard thought that the superiors would stare at Shi Yanchao, but in fact Guo Shao and Fu Jinzhan didn't care about him... Guo Shao thought about Li Chuyun's affairs last year. Now, looking at Fu Jinzhan's hesitation, he understood that some of his thinking was not unique to him, and Fu Jinzhan's heart might be the same; although the two of them had never talked about Li Chuyun's affairs.

Fu Jinzhan finally whispered: "If Li Yuan'er gave birth to a boy and Li Chuyun is powerful, how can you end up?"

Guo Shao said: "Li Chuyun at least cannot reach my level."

Fu Jinzhan still didn't let go: "Brother Shao was still careful and thought about it again. There is no shortage of military generals who could stand alone in the court... Isn't Xiang Gong also useful? Even though he did not break through Jiannan Pass, he would be like a slim attack on Hanzhong."

Guo Shao said: "According to my judgment, Li Chuyun is a rare general. But he does not have much prestige in the army and it is not easy to lead troops. If he is idle, he will not be able to fully utilize his abilities in the future. Our Northern Expedition will not be considered as giving full play to his strength."

"Would you care if you use one or two less people?" said Jinzhan.

Guo Shao said: "Planning depends on people and accomplishing things depends on heaven, but we have to do our best to hand over the referee power to heaven... and Li Chuyun can't wait for the day when it becomes a hidden danger."

Jinzhan moved his body and asked softly, "What does this mean?"

Guo Shao said: "Once the external military pressure of the court decreases, the current military system will no longer be insured. The Privy Council and the Second Division concentrate on all the power of the army, as if the sword has been unsheathed... In the future, we will be able to divide the military power, separate the power of the military command, the power of dispatching military power, and the logistics power. Weak some of the war capabilities and add a few more insurances. In peacetime, of course, we should not use the system of the war era, and it is difficult for anyone to use force casually."
Chapter completed!