Han Shizu

Chapter 423 Liu Chengyou's Determination and Doubts

Li Shaoyou and Wang Jingchong were summoned for an audience, and they went to the front of the Chongzheng Hall, just as Wei Renpu and others came out in a file, with serious expressions, they couldn't help but feel a string in their hearts.

Although the relationship between the two has become so bad, Wang Jingchong still clasped his hands and greeted him with a smile: "Duke Shouyang also came here by order?"

With a cold snort, without looking at Wang Jingchong directly, Li Shaoyou walked towards the hall first.Wang Jingchong was left behind, the smile on his face was still like a spring breeze, but his eyes were clearly cold and gloomy.

After walking a few steps, Li Shaoyou suddenly turned around and changed into a smiling face. He stretched out his hand to signal, cheerfully: "Ren Gong is old, I should invite you first. Your Majesty is calling. There must be something important. It is not good to let the king take a long time." Wait!"

Recently, Li Shaoyou has become more moody, making Wang Jingchong elusive.The strangeness in his heart quickly disappeared, and Wang Jingchong's old face almost turned into a chrysanthemum with a smile.

During this period of time, Wu Desi engaged in a fierce internal struggle, and gradually completed self-purification in the constant struggle.Many of Li Shaoyou's promoted subordinates, such as Du Zhi, relatives, investigators, etc., were eliminated. Of course, Wang Jingchong was not spared. Under the same set of rules, whoever can blackmail others can also whitewash others.

Even Wang Jingchong's loss was even greater. After all, his style of doing things was much more limitless than Li Shaoyou's, and his subordinates were caught by the handle and punished to death, and almost no one was spared.The fierce conflict gave Wu De Division a good atmosphere, and even affected the guards of Wu De's two battalions.

Seeing that it was almost done, Liu Chengyou issued an edict to Wu Desi to cool down, called Li Shaoyou and Wang Jingchong into the palace, and severely reprimanded them, and the turmoil ended.

And in this turmoil, Wang Jingchong once again understood a profound truth, that Li Shaoyou is not so easy to deal with because of his background.Originally, he thought that by catching Li Shaoyou's omissions, he could be brought down, or at least he could be transferred from Wu Desi. After all, in Wang Jingchong's view, the emperor does not care about his relatives. in front.

It was just the final result that disappointed Wang Jingchong.After learning the lesson, Wang Jingchong also changed his strategy in time, and began to avoid confrontation with Li Shaoyou, and instead catered to the emperor and actively handled affairs in order to restore the trust lost on Liu Chengyou's side during this turmoil.

Wang Jingchong is very politically sensitive.

When they arrived at the Imperial Palace, Li Shaoyou and Wang Jingchong returned to their respectful attitudes and listened quietly to the emperor's instructions.

Liu Chengyou didn't talk nonsense with them, and directly dismissed the two of them with one sentence: "Next, select the capable detectives and meticulous work under the Wu Desi, and no matter what method is used, let Zhenbei go all out to spy on Khitan's news and observe its changes. .”

"Yes!" Facing the emperor's order to die, Li and Wang did not dare to say much, and could only obey the order decisively.

The sun was setting, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on Liu Chengyou through the windows of the main hall, casting its shadow on the haloed map.

"Official, you have been standing for more than an hour, you should rest for a while!" Zhang Dejun stepped forward and persuaded in a low voice.

Liu Chengyou raised his hand and rubbed his sore eyes, only then did he feel the burden on his legs, after all, he stood for too long.Directly asked to move a high-ranking chair and sat down, Liu Chengyou asked Wang Zhu who was waiting in the palace: "Wang Zhu, you have heard the discussion in the palace just now. What time do you think the Khitan will choose if they want to make a big move?"

Liu Chengyou had nothing to say. Hearing this, Wang Zhu showed embarrassment and said, "Your Majesty, I am just a scholar. I don't know soldiers and horses, I don't know military skills, so I dare not speak nonsense. When you choose autumn high horses and fat, the Central Plains is just harvesting the autumn wheat, and it is providing food for them!"

"But this time, the Khitan thieves took advantage of my spring plowing to plunder my people and destroy my fields. What's the reason?" Liu Chengyou asked.

Wang Zhu pondered for a while and shook his head. Wang Zhu replied honestly: "Forgive me for being stupid. Although I know that the Hulu must have something in mind, I really don't know what it is."

Know what you know, don't know what you don't know, this person is king, he has no city in his chest, but his heart is simple, and he behaves like a gentleman in his daily life.

Listening to his words, Liu Chengyou said: "The Khitan people's move is to take a summer offensive, but if they want to mobilize troops in autumn, then what they want is even bigger. To destroy my spring plowing is to make me autumn grain in northern Hebei." If you don't continue, it's like fighting with soldiers at that time."

Liu Chengyou's conjectures shocked Wang Zhu, and he said angrily, "The Khitan people have such insidious intentions?"

Liu Chengyou whispered coldly: "I heard that Yeluruan likes the culture of the Han family. He learned the system of the Han family and used the people of the Han family. Such an enemy is much more difficult to deal with than ordinary Hulu. Food and grass are the most important thing, if the northern bandits adopt the strategy of attacking in spring and plundering in autumn for a long time, it will cause great harm to our court!"

"Your Majesty, is it impossible to curb the ambitions of the Khitan people?" At this time, Wang Zhu behaved like an angry youth, furious and unable to calm down.

Liu Chengyou looked up at the map that was almost engraved in his mind, his eyes changed from calm to sharp, he stood up quickly, clenched his fists, and said domineeringly: "It seems that the Khitan people have forgotten the past few years. The lesson of the Battle of Luancheng! If the Khitan people really dare to go south in a big way, even if I try my best to suspend the Huainan offensive and destroy Hebei, I will personally raise an army of infantry and cavalry, and beat them head-on. .”

"Your Majesty's pride, I bow to you!" Wang Zhuo felt something in his heart, and excitement appeared on his face.

Because of Khitan's changes, Liu Chengyou was already building a big strategic blueprint in his mind.If the Khitan sent troops to the south, they would use the whole of Hebei as the battlefield and lure them into the hinterland of Hebei. With Yeduji, Chan, Hua, Pu, and Bozhou as points, they would gather 200,000 cavalry troops to fight a strategic decisive battle in advance.Solve the Khitan threat once and for all, at least let him avoid the dilemma of being attacked by enemies in the process of unification.

Of course, this is just an immature idea of ​​Liu Chengyou, and it is also an idea that he was forced to feel the huge threat of Khitan to his "first south and then north" strategy.Even if it can be done, using the whole of Hebei as bait, not to mention the outcome of the decisive battle, it will be a huge injury to the revived Han, and it will seriously delay his process of flattening the kingdoms.

However, it is still the same sentence, how the situation develops and changes, and how the Northern Han Dynasty responds, ultimately depends on Khitan's actions.

Under the map of Dahan, Liu Chengyou stayed until night, the more sober his mind was, the more depressed he felt.

Stepping to the front of the hall, blowing the night breeze, looking at the starry night sky, it is so lofty and quiet.Between the faces, there was actually a little doubt and incomprehension.

Liu Chengyou is thinking about how Guo Rong annexed the Southern Tang Dynasty, and how to avoid being attacked by the enemy. You must know that Zhou Shizong faced, in addition to the threat of Khitan who owns the land of Yanyun, which is like a sword hanging around his neck, there is also the "" Northern Han Dynasty".

On the "Northern Han" side, Liu Chengyou can figure it out. The battle of Gaoping almost broke the backbone of the "Northern Han" and extinguished the ambitions of Liu Chong and his son. They can only take a defensive position, not daring to make big moves for harassment.

The question is why the Khitan people held back during Guo Rong's massive capture of Huainan and allowed him to annex the fourteen prefectures and millions of households in Jiangbei.Guo Rong attacked Huainan, but the three campaigns lasted for several years
What happened to Khitan?Or some other reason?
Liu Chengyou was deeply puzzled in his heart, of course, if he dabbled in a wider range, he might be able to solve his confusion.

When Guo Rong marched south, the Khitan King Yelujing was already in power.

(End of this chapter)