Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 394
"Your Highness is right. The outcome of the two armies has not yet fought!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "But Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty failed to win the three campaigns against Goguryeo, and every time Goguryeo clearly won, he still sent envoys to beg for peace. Do you know why? Is it?" Wang Wenzuo did not wait for the answer from the eldest brother and prince, and said directly: "Because if Goguryeo wins, the people will be destitute and the treasury will be empty; if they lose, the country will be destroyed and the ancestral temple will be ruined!"

In the face of Wang Wenzuo's self-question and self-answer, the eldest brother and the prince couldn't help but be speechless. As a politician who has been in power for 20 years, he certainly knows that Wang Wenzuo's words just now are aggressive, but they are iron-like facts.

If only analyzed from the military point of view, Goguryeo has won brilliant victories in the three wars and is a big winner; but from the perspective of diplomacy and politics, Goguryeo is a complete loser. A behemoth like the Sui Dynasty broke out in a direct military conflict, no matter whether it wins or loses, it will be a failure. Wang Wenzuo's example is undoubtedly to remind the eldest brother Zhong of the consequences of the war with the Tang Dynasty. An unacceptable disaster.

"Hehe!" The eldest brother, the prince, laughed twice: "I just made a slip of the tongue, please forgive me. Helping Yu Fengzhang to vote, he is like a pigeon in his sleeve. The country has always governed the country with Buddhism, and the whole country is familiar with it. Dharma, just want to imitate the compassion of the Buddha!"

Wang Wenzuo laughed when he heard the words. It turned out that what the eldest brother and the prince said just now used an allusion in the Buddhist scriptures: Shakyamuni went out once before he became a Buddha, and happened to meet a pigeon that was chased by an eagle and fled into the palace. Shakyamuni hid the pigeon in his arms for protection.The eagle said to Sakyamuni: "You have shown mercy and saved the dove's life. Do you want me to starve to death?" Sakyamuni replied: "I don't want the dove to die, and I don't want you to starve to death. I am willing to exchange the weight of the pigeon with meat." After that, he took a scale, put the pigeon on the other side of the scale, and began to cut his own flesh with a knife.Strange to say, the pigeon was not heavy, but Shakyamuni cut a lot of meat and still could not balance the scale.Finally, he jumped into the scale by himself, and the weight was finally balanced.

The eldest brother Zhongzi quoted this allusion, obviously comparing Fuyu Fengzhang to the pigeon, himself to Shakyamuni, and Wang Wenzuo to the eagle, and asked how much he would have to pay to keep Fuyu Fengzhang.

"Your Highness, since you are citing Buddhist scriptures, let me give you an example: In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a state of Xu in the east of Han Dynasty, with a place five hundred miles away. Also, raise troops to attack Xu, and then destroy it. You should have heard this story, right?"

"Han Feizi's five beetles?"

"That's right!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile, "However, King Xu's practice of benevolence and righteousness led to the country's subjugation not because benevolence and righteousness were used in the past but not in the present, but because King Xu is just an ordinary prince, not Fang Bo!"

"What does your envoy mean?"

"Han Feizi's five beetles in the original text is that King Wen lived between Fenghao, a place of hundreds of miles, practiced benevolence and righteousness and ruled the world, and then compared it with Xu Wang's practice of benevolence and righteousness. But it did not say that although King Wen was only a hundred miles away, he was in the Shang Dynasty at that time. The Fang Bo in the northwest has the right to guard one side, and it is his duty to do benevolence and righteousness to Huairong Di. Although King Xu has a land of five hundred miles, he is just an ordinary prince. His benevolence and righteousness have attracted tribute from 36 countries. , I have exceeded my duty, so why not die?"

Wang Wenzuo's words are quite meaningful. Political behavior in ancient China was wrapped in the discourse of ritual and music, and cannot be simply understood literally.For example, it is said in the history books that King Wen practiced benevolence and justice, and King Xu Yan practiced benevolence and justice. It does not mean that they were kind to the common people, and the rulers were very kind and moral, but that the rulers took a comparative approach to the weak and small countries (usually barbarian forces) in the surrounding areas. An equal foreign policy, such as marriage, commerce, wooing, and division, rather than military expulsion, political exclusion, plunder, and embezzlement.

Therefore, King Wen's benevolence and righteousness means that King Wen adopted various diplomatic strategies and formed an alliance with the tribes of Xirong against the Yin and Shang. Later, King Wu used his power to eliminate the Yin and Shang.And King Xu Yan's benevolence and righteousness was his attempt to form an alliance centered on Xu State (judging from the consequences, it should be aimed at Chu State at that time), which aroused the vigilance of the then King Chu and sent troops to destroy Xu State.

"I understand!" Eldest brother Prince Zhong laughed: "You mean that unless I am the uncle of your country, I have no right to practice benevolence and righteousness?"

"If His Highness is just doing benevolence and righteousness to the people of your country, this is of course a beautiful thing, but Fu Yu Fengzhang is from Baekje, I am afraid that he has exceeded the limit!"

The eldest brother, the prince, smiled, and did not continue to argue, because there was no need to argue anymore.Wang Wenzuo has shown Datang's hole card: Datang does not allow another sub-level power center to appear in the Haidong area, and this is contradictory to the "Small Celestial Tributary System" that the Wa Kingdom has established for hundreds of years centered on itself In fact, this is not new. All the surrounding ethnic groups who imitated ancient China and learned the culture of the Central Plains, such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Xixia, Liao, Jin, and Northern Wei, all like to create their own tributary system. Inside, they are the supreme kings, the sons of heaven.

Many of them paid tribute to the Central Plains Dynasty while asking their own subjects to pay tribute to them. The rules, procedures, and titles were almost exactly the same as the Central Plains Dynasty's tribute system.Take Japan as an example. In the eyes of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the Japanese were barbarians, and the Japanese also had their own barbarians, the Ainu. The Dongguo warriors were also labeled as Dongyi and joined the ranks of barbarians. This has the demeanor that the Chang'an court scolded the Hebei native Hu Feng as a winner and regarded him as a barbarian.

In the next two days, the eldest brother and the prince stayed in his cabin and never went out. Wang Wenzuo understood the other party's feelings very well. He is playing an aggressive role now. If it were him, he wouldn't like it. Put a hot face on someone else's cold ass.But that's fine too, it's best if the two don't hate each other.

"That's the capital of the Japanese people?" Cui Hongdu looked at the distant scenery: "It's strange, why is there no city wall?"

"This place is surrounded by mountains, and there are no strong enemies around. If you have the strength to build the city wall, it is better to guard the pass in the surrounding mountains!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "I guess if there are foreign enemies invading, the Japanese will retreat to the surrounding mountain cities and hold on. Throw the city without walls to your opponent!"

"So that's how it is!" Cui Hongdu laughed and said, "Isn't this similar to what the Baekje people do?"

"They were originally from the same clan!" Wang Wenzuo sneered, "The so-called Japanese originally migrated from the mainland to this big island and multiplied to this day. Most of them are Baekje people, so it was so easy for Fuyu Fengzhang to borrow troops! "

"If this is the case, wouldn't it be very difficult for them to hand over people?"

Wang Wenzuo sneered, did not speak, and whispered after a while: "Let's play by ear!"

About half an hour later, the boat docked, and the eldest brother, the prince, went ashore directly, leaving behind an official to welcome Wang Wenzuo and his party to a building, asking them to rest in peace.

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On the west side of Asuka, there is an open space near the lake, about [-] paces in square shape, which is the Japanese market.The bazaar is surrounded by mud-brick huts, livestock pens, and lime-painted wine shops.In the center of the market is a raised hill. The Japanese dug many holes around the hill as storage rooms. A huge grass shed protrudes from each hole, and the Japanese traders do business under the grass shed.

Sha Zha Xiangru walked through the wine shop carefully, bypassing two drunk men who were snoring on all fours, and walked quickly. Around him, merchants were busy delivering goods and unloading goods, and the air was filled with all kinds of strange things. the taste of.At the other end of the aisle, two merchants were haggling over prices, the fat one shaking his head, his braids dangling from the back of his hat.

After passing two thatched huts, Sha Zha Xiangru stopped and stood in front of a shop selling dried fish. While bargaining with the merchant, he carefully scanned the surroundings with the corner of his eye, looking for possible spies.He knew that at this time, Asuka should be full of spies from various forces. This is indeed not a good opportunity to come out to meet, but he has no choice.

In the end, when Sha Zha Xiangru confirmed that there was no follower behind him, he quoted a very low price to the merchant, and the other party showed an angry expression unsurprisingly: "This is impossible! No one can accept this price, no, No one can accept it even if it is increased by half!"

"Really? But I remember that there was another family willing to pay this price a few days ago, it's here, it seems to be over there!" Sha Zha Xiangru pretended to be serious, and smiled.

"Damn it, go find that one!" The businessman waved his hand and made a gesture of repelling: "If I accept this price, I will be beaten to death by my colleagues!"

"Then I'll look for it, and if I can't find it, I'll come back to you!" Sha Zha Xiangru ended the conversation with a smile, and then quickly walked in the direction of his finger just now, when the businessman cursed from behind: "The devil has you, miser!"

Sha Zhaxiangru walked through two thatched huts, then turned to the right, and got into a hole in the ground. He untied his cloak and asked in a low voice, "Is anyone here?"

"Come on, it's inside!" a woman whispered.

"Very good, you let the wind out at the door!" Sha Zha Xiangru whispered, and then he stepped on the steps into the basement in the dark, with the help of the faint light of the torch on the wall, he saw a barefoot man sitting by the table against the wall, Seeing Sha Zha Xiangru, the man complained dissatisfiedly: "You are late!"

"Please forgive me!" Sha Zha Xiangru took out a leather bag from his arms and threw it over: "This is your reward, now there are spies everywhere, I have to be very careful!"

The barefoot man took the leather bag, opened it and poured some in his hand, and looked closely with the help of the light, the powder emitted a beautiful light under the dim light.

"The best golden sand!" Sha Zha Xiangru poured himself a glass of water: "You can rest assured that I will never lie to you!"

"Of course!" The barefoot man poured the sand in his hand into the bag and tied the bag tightly again: "The Ampere family controls the trade routes in the north, who else has more gold sand than his family?"

"My friend, you are a smart man!" Sha Zha Xiangru sneered, "But those guys who know how to keep their mouths shut these days can live long!"

"Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut like a dead man!" The barefoot man laughed, "If you give me two more bags!"

"What do you mean?" Sha Zha Xiangru's eyes narrowed dangerously: "Our agreement is only one bag, you want to play us?"

"Stop, stop!" The barefoot man smiled and said, "Don't come close, or I'll be scared and scream like a woman!"

Sha Zha Xiangru snorted coldly: "My knife is very fast, your voice will not be much louder than a cat Mingchun!"

"Okay, Baekje people. I admit that you are very powerful, I don't want to blackmail you! But this time we have lost too many people!" The barefoot man said sincerely: "The guards of the Chinese envoys are too powerful. More than 20 people died at one time, and more than twice as many were injured, so many lives are not enough for a bag of gold dust!"

"What does this have to do with me? I explained at the beginning that all the spoils of the attack on the ships of the Tang people belong to you. In addition, I will pay you a bag of gold sand, and you have agreed! Now you want more , is there such a reason?"

"That's right, indeed the original agreement was like this, but the problem is that we didn't know how powerful the Tang people are, and you have fought against the Tang people, you know how powerful the Tang people are, but you didn't tell us from the beginning, Isn't it your responsibility to watch us go to die?"

Sha Zha Xiangru didn't speak, he snorted coldly, lowered his head, and the barefoot man saw this and continued: "And now the soldiers of the government are starting to search along both sides of the Yamato River, and they even set fire to the villages of the refugees. People must leave as soon as possible, but we don't have gold to buy enough food now, think about it, if my people are captured by government soldiers, what will happen? Everything will be told!"

"Okay!" Sha Zha Xiangru let out a long breath, and said in a low voice, "I can agree to your request, but your people must leave here immediately and keep silent!"

"No problem!" Seeing that his request was granted, the barefoot man laughed happily: "I'll go buy grain immediately after taking the gold dust, and then we'll leave!"

"Forget it!" Sha Zha Xiangru sighed: "At this juncture, you go to buy food and use gold sand. Isn't this giving credit to the secret agents? Where are your people now? I'll send people to send the food!"

"That's great. It's in a cave next to the creek in the back mountain of Kasuga Taisha, and there's a large cherry blossom tree next to it—oh!" The barefoot man suddenly let out a scream, but was stabbed by Sha Zha Xiangru. Entrance.

　I feel cold all over, should I not have a sun?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)