Hongying asked someone to see Yang Ye away, and looked at the window for a long time and sighed quietly.

Suddenly a voice said, "What is the relationship between Madam and Yang Ye?"

The expression on Hongying's face turned and she smiled and said, "Friend."

The person who walked into the door was the handsome young man named Yu Liang who came to Tokyo to participate in the imperial examination. He was obviously very unhappy, and his face was filled with humiliation and anger.

Hongying smiled and glanced across his face, thinking in her mind that the three words "ignorant" were "not sensible", but because of this, this scholar was much more interesting than those who were enjoying the world.

Sure enough, Yu Liang held back his anger and said, "I'm afraid it's not just that?"

Hongying didn't argue with him, but leaned gently over and said, "If I hadn't known those high-ranking officials, how could I find a way for you? Don't be angry, no matter how many people I know, my heart is not yours."

Yu Liang's anger has not yet subsided, but he has no choice but to do anything.

Hongying gave him a blank look and said, "If you are so noble, let's not beg Han Xizai."

Yu Liang sighed "ah" and said angrily: "I hate officialdom! But only this path can lead to success and fame!"

Hongying advised kindly: "The "Han Xizai Night Banquet Picture" became so popular so quickly, Mrs. Shen spent a lot of effort. What do you think Mrs. Shen is just trying to make a sale? Her wife's famous paintings are much more expensive than this one. But the biggest difference between those famous paintings and this night banquet picture: the people in the famous paintings are dead, and the people in the night banquet picture are still alive.

A scholar-official may be able to regard money as dirt, but who would not want to be famous all over the scholar-in-law? Wherever he goes, people will be respectful? His face is so big. Mr. Han understands the kindness he is to Mrs. Shen.

Now we are asking him for a little help and send the poems you usually write to Li Gu, who is the prime minister in the court. Can he refuse?"

After hearing this, Yu Liang felt complicated and said, "No matter what, my wife is kind to me."

"It's good that you know, you have no conscience!" Hongying waved her pink fist and punched him in the chest. Yu Liang grabbed it with one hand: "Look, I won't treat you well!"

Outside the door, night gradually descended.

The warm wind makes the night drunk, and the lights of Tokyo are bright at night, and the sound of silk and bamboo orchestra echoes in the long streets and alleys, making the spring scenery charming.

...The border of Tokyo is becoming more and more prosperous and has become a prosperous era. However, the court did not give up the national policy of war.

Wei Renpu, deputy envoy of the Privy Council, presented a strategy and sent a detailed plan to sneak into Shangjing and Youzhou, the Liao Kingdom, to understand the internal affairs of Liao, and to take the opportunity to raid Youzhou when the domestic rebellion was intensified.

Guo Shao did not respond and was dissatisfied with it, so he summoned Wang Pu, Li Gu and other ministers to ask for advice. (Guo Shao had the final say in the position of the minister, but if one was forced to be implemented without the support of the ministers, it would be troublesome to implement it in detail, so the power of the king and the prime minister has a delicate balance.)

Wang Pu, who was also the minister of the Privy Council, did not agree with this strategy. He believed that Wei Renpu's strategy was no different from the plan of the Northern Expedition at the beginning of this year. At the beginning of the year, the Northern Expedition was to create an opportunity to suddenly enter the Northern Expedition, and Wei Renpu's strategy was to wait for a favorable opportunity... but the essence was still a surprise attack, a quick battle and a quick decision.

The previous method has proved that it failed, and we have to do it again. Wang Pu and the prime ministers did not agree with it. Although the army of the Northern Expedition did not suffer heavy damage, it consumed military spending, had huge civilian power, and did not get any benefits.

When Guo Shao heard this, he stopped mentioning Wei Renpu's strategy.

A few days later, Guo Shao handled the memorial in Jinxiang Hall, and Zuo You and the other two were busy sorting out the classification not far away. At this time, Zuo You stood up, walked to the imperial case with a memorial, and bowed, "Your Majesty, this memorial is a bit unusual."

Guo Shao put down his brush, reached out to take it, looked carefully at the content without punctuation, and pondered: "Guiyi Army?"

Zuo You hurriedly said: "The Guiyi Army is in the Hexi Corridor, which is the Dunhuang side. During the rebellion of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, he broke into Tubo and entered the Central Plains. However, the situation there was complicated and the traffic was blocked, so there has been no contact for many years. The Guiyi Army suddenly reported the report, which is really rare."

When Guo Shao heard familiar place names such as Hexi and Dunhuang, he immediately became interested and hurriedly asked the eunuch to find the map.

Unfortunately, the largest map only marked the place names such as Shazhou (Dunhuang) and there was a blank space there. Guo Shao was stunned at the white paper and could not see anything.

Zuo You said: "During the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains were obtained from the hands of the Huns, and the army built a city. Only then did this place exist. For hundreds of years of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court took Hexi as the foundation, went out of the Western Regions, opened up trade routes, and all countries came to pay tribute. Unfortunately, after the Anshi Rebellion, the Central Plains had no time to look west."

Guo Shao's fingers stroked the blank place, and a familiar and confused feeling surged in his heart. Most of the Western Regions should be modern Xinjiang; and Dunhuang belongs to Gansu, which are all well-known famous places. Nearly a thousand years ago, "China" opened up territory in these places, but now it is in his own hands, and it is actually blank, and he can't even find a map for a while.

Guo Shao, who had experienced extreme self-confidence and inflation, had a very complicated mood at this time. The country is not as big as imagined.

He subconsciously measured the distance with his palm, and finally turned his attention to the "Beijing" area in the northeast. Compared with the out of control in the west, Youzhou is the most threatening lost ground.

Guo Shao put the memorial alone and said, "We must actively respond to the memorial of the Guiyi Army."

This matter received unprecedented attention. The Political Affairs Hall and the Privy Council have both reviewed many previous archives and probably figured out the situation in Hexi over the years.

After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Han people in the Hexi Corridor broke away from the control of Tubo and were very strong. They had territories of eleven states. The above statement was to regard the Tang Dynasty as the main story and the Zhang family as the governor of the Guiyi Army.

After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Guiyi army suffered civil strife and declined in strength, becoming a vassal of the Ganzhou Uighurs. The Cao family, a large clan of Shazhou, restored the Guiyi army and occupied the Sha and Guazhou, until now.

Recently, people from the Central Plains Dynasty wrote a letter to the people from the Cao family, named Cao Yuanzhong.

There is too little content in the memorial. The Central Plains have no time to look west in recent years and have little knowledge of the specific situation in the far west. Most of the ministers discussed matters with some speculation.

Ministers believed that the reason why Cao Yuanzhong sent people to contact Tokyo was because the Great Zhou Dynasty continued to expand in recent years, accelerating the unification of the world, and his reputation had begun to spread far away; Cao Yuanzhong was in a difficult situation in the complex Hexi area and wanted to use the title of the Central Plains dynasty to establish a reputation as orthodox in the local area.

For a time, officials scrambled to praise the emperor, and their reputation spread all over the world and gained recognition from all over the world.

Guo Shao sat on the dragon throne and had to admit something that was easily enlarged by his ministers. But he still knew the facts in his heart: even Beijing, the capital of later generations, was not taken back.

The king and his ministers hit it off and generously responded to the Guiyi Army, formally enthroned Cao Yuanzhong: the governor of Hexi, the governor of the Western Regions...

No one opposed it because the power of Zhou State could not reach Hexi at all, and in fact it could not be controlled. The locals took the initiative to come to worship Zhengshuo and did not want money or soldiers, so of course they gave them very generous status.

In the court's attitude, Cao Yuanzhong was not only able to control Hexi in name, but also legitimately use the identity of the Central Plains dynasty to interact with the tribes of the Western Regions.

Guo Shao decided to send an envoy and a Guiyi army envoy to Hexi, bring the imperial edict from the court, and go to find out the situation.

At this moment, Lu Duosun, an official from the Hanlin Academy, volunteered to serve as an envoy.

During the Battle of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Lu Duosun risked his life to Jiangning to persuade him to surrender, but his contribution was not very effective in the Southern Tang War. In addition, his qualifications were too shallow, so he still did not receive any reuse after returning to the court.

This time he volunteered again, and Guo Shao agreed to his request. He also asked the Privy Council to order Wang Jing from Qinzhou to receive the imperial envoys and send troops to escort them.

...The envoy of the Tokyo Guest Province had close contacts with the Wu Yue Kingdom, hoping that the Wu Yue Kingdom could surrender; Han Xizai, who was respected in Jiangnan, was also trying to persuade the Qian family. However, the progress was not great. The Wu Yue Kingdom was submissive and paid tribute every year, but still maintained a large amount of force in the country. On the one hand, the Great Zhou could not find a reason to launch troops against the Wu Yue Kingdom, but on the other hand, he felt that it was exhausting the people and the money... The Wu Yue Kingdom was not easy to fight, and the Southern Tang Kingdom had not been destroyed for decades.

Last year, the Great Zhou Dynasty also sent an envoy to the Southern Han Kingdom to contact him. Unexpectedly, the lord of the Southern Han Kingdom responded to the court and actually called himself "I" and regarded himself as "the Emperor of the Han Dynasty". This Guo Shao's monarch and minister were very angry.

At the beginning of this year, people were sent to discuss, asking the Southern Han lord to give up the imperial title and submit to the Zhou Dynasty... The ministers believed that this was a reasonable request. Now the Great Zhou was in charge of the Central Plains, annexed Shu, the Southern Tang, and a group of separatist regimes, which was the largest country; while the Southern Han lord was in a corner, and it was natural to submit to the Central Plains, and it was also a wise approach.

Unexpectedly, when Lu Duosun left Tokyo, he suddenly received a report from Jiangnan: the Lord of the Southern Han Dynasty and the envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty did not reach an agreement, but he actually killed him in anger!

When the ministers heard the news, the court was in an uproar.

People could not understand why the Lord of Southern Han did that, Wang Pu said directly: "The Lord of Southern Han is a foolish monarch!"

The ministers discussed and immediately launched a war against the Southern Han Dynasty. The generals also volunteered to bring a group of troops to destroy the Southern Han Dynasty... The generals were very active. They saw that the Southern Han Dynasty was relatively weak and the interior was very dark, which was an obvious opportunity to make military achievements.

But Guo Shao did not express his opinion immediately. Although he was as angry as the court officials, he could not disrupt his position. Observing ministers such as Wang Pu, Li Gu, etc., he did not rush to shout for a fight and kill.

Guo Shao couldn't help but think about the specific considerations... the dispatch of troops was too far away. There were no soldiers in Jiangnan now. After the demise of the Southern Tang Kingdom, the elite soldiers were taken away and the military power was divided. The main reason was to guard against the rebellion of Wu and Yue Kingdom and the lack of attacking troops.

Secondly, it takes time to launch a war to destroy the country thousands of miles away. Before the Great Zhou Dynasty, it was roughly "first north and then south", to establish prestige through the Northern Expedition, and then take advantage of the situation to regain remote areas in the south; now launching a war in the south again is changing the strategic direction, and you cannot act rashly.
Chapter completed!