First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 591 Domineering Strategy
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After listening to Feng Ang's words, Feng Xuan fell into silence and did not respond for a long time.

Feng Ang didn't rush him, he just sighed, stepped forward in person, poured a cup of tea for Feng Xuan, and said, "Second brother."

Feng Xuan was shocked and raised his head in disbelief. His face was very unnatural and he asked in a trembling voice: "You, what did you call me?"

"Second brother!" Feng Ang stared at Feng Xuan, whose face was wrinkled, and sighed in a deep voice: "It's been 37 years since the eldest brother passed away. You and I brothers... are also full of white hair now, and they are past their sixties. Why should we do this again? Stubborn, if you are still obsessed with the position of chief, I will give up the position, no matter what."

The corners of Feng Xuan's mouth trembled, and Feng An's eyes gradually became moist. After all, he managed not to lose his composure and turned his face to one side, "It's been 30 or [-] years, and I can't remember the last time you called me second brother." ”.

Having said this, Feng Xuan stood up and said, "There is no need for the position of chief. You can do better than me. After paying homage to my grandmother tomorrow, I will go to Luozhou."

Seeing Feng Xuan's hunched back, looking very depressed, Feng Ang felt extremely sad in his heart.

As the three direct grandsons of Mrs. Xian, Feng Hun, Feng Xuan and Feng Ang, they were carefully nurtured by Mrs. If Feng Xuan hadn't missed the opportunity, Feng Hun might have survived.

For this reason, people once suspected that Feng Xuan might be coveting the position of chief and deliberately killed Feng Hun. This also caused Feng Xuan's reputation to plummet.

But Feng An believed that Feng Xuan definitely did not have such vicious thoughts.

Feng Xuan, the second son of the Feng family, has always valued wealth over righteousness. He is cheerful and open-minded. He likes to make friends with heroes from various states. He can be said to be friends everywhere. Feng Xuan and Chen Longshu and Chen Fozhi are sworn brothers. Therefore, after Chen Fozhi rebelled, Feng Xuan couldn't bear to go to war, but he didn't expect to get involved. The attack moved his entire body, delaying the opportunity to fight, causing Feng Hun to die in Guangzhou. Madam Xian was so furious that she had Feng Xuan dismissed from his post and imprisoned, and designated Feng Ang as the heir to the Feng family.

Feng Xuan was very angry. Seeing that the world misunderstood him, many people even spurned him for killing his brother. Feng Ang would take over as the chief of the Feng family. Feng Xuan left Gaozhou in anger. It has been more than [-] or [-] years since then.

"After careful planning, fortunately, I did not disgrace my destiny."

At the post house, Feng Ang came to the backyard in person and paid his respects respectfully.

Feng An had a clear mind, and he understood that now was not the time to talk about personal relationships, but only business matters.

He had seen all Gao Chong's previous gestures, and did not give much face to Feng. The sentence, "Feng, I think you also know what the consequences will be..." is enough to show that Gao Chong has no mercy towards Feng Xuan. , once Feng Xuan does not know what is good and what is good, he can only die.

It's very simple. If Feng Xuan understands current affairs, actively repentes, and cooperates with the manager to persuade Tan Dian, Gao Chong can be lenient and even grant him an official title for the sake of his old friendship.

But if Feng Xuan is stubborn, Gao Chong will not disregard the national law and will directly punish him with the crime of treason. Although the entire Feng family will not be implicated, at least Feng Xuan will not escape death, and his son Feng Wanfu and others will also inevitably die. Felony.

"Okay", Gao Chong stood up with a smile, "Mingda Gong has indeed lived up to his expectations. If I successfully persuade His Highness Tan to come down, I can not only ask the saint to pardon Feng Xuan's crime, but also grant him the corresponding official position. Mingda Gong can convey his message well."

Feng An looked grateful and nodded in response.

The next day, Feng Xuan came to the post house and looked at the young manager. There was not much in his heart. After the brothers were relieved yesterday, Feng Xuan's mentality also changed rapidly.

"Jing Lue Shi, I know that I cannot escape the responsibility for my crimes, but I still rebelled and followed the thieves. It was all my own doing. I left the Feng family 30 years ago, and I hope Jing Lue Shi can learn from it."Feng Xuan bowed and worshiped.

Gao Chong chuckled softly, stood up with his sleeves fluttered, his back turned to Feng Xuan, his attitude was extremely arrogant.

"No need to say any more nonsense. You only need to know one thing. You will live if you give up your merits. If you are stubborn, you will die. Feng Mingda must have made it clear to you about the rest. Let's go, five days, five days After that, if there is no news, I will send troops."

Hearing Gao Chong's toughness, Feng Xuan suddenly felt a lump in his heart. He felt that Gao Chong was simply unreasonable. He had already agreed to surrender and actively committed crimes, so why should he be so tough?

Dang Ji said bluntly: "Tan Palace is entrenched in Panshe Ridge of Yunkai Mountain. There are more than ten thousand people living there, and it is surrounded by rivers. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. How do you send troops?"

Gao Chong's expression remained unchanged, he turned around and walked towards him, smiling slightly, "Why attack the mountain?"

Feng Xuan was a little confused.

"Tell Tan Dian that if he doesn't come down from the mountain, I will burn him to ashes." Gao Chong whispered in Feng Xuan's ear, every word clear and decisive.

Even though Feng Xuan was old and prudent, his expression suddenly changed when he heard this, and he looked at Gao Chong in disbelief, "How dare you?"

Gao Chong laughed loudly, "It's a joke, but it's just a traitor and traitor, why shouldn't I dare?"

Feng Xuan was shocked. After thinking about it carefully, it was really feasible. If Gao Chong ignored his reputation and directly set fire to the mountain, then Tandian would really have nowhere to escape.

The main reason is that the geographical location of Tandian's hometown is so unique. Fenxi is a larger tributary of the Longjiang River. It flows out from the Yunkai Mountains and originally flows from north to south. As a result, it winds around a large bay at Panshe Ridge and turns around. From south to north, it forms the shape of "凵".

Panshe Ridge is located in the shape of the river, facing water on three sides and the slope of the mountain gate on one side. As long as the mountain gate is guarded, it is really easy to defend but difficult to attack.

If it were an ordinary offensive and defensive battle, if Tan Dian sent people to guard the mountain gate and patrol the banks of the river frequently, it could be said to be impregnable. After all, in this era of cold weapons, it is almost impossible to forcefully cross the fast river and attack the mountain.

But now Gao Chong is not determined to attack the mountain. He only needs to draw an isolation zone in front of the mountain gate and set fire to it. It is now hot summer, the weather is dry and the vegetation in Panshe Ridge is dense. A fire is enough to burn Panshe Ridge to ashes. , and it will not affect other Liliao tribes in Yunkai Mountain because there is a river blocking it.

Wanting to understand the connection between this, Feng Xuan suddenly felt chilled in his heart. Over the years, Tan Palace has been stationed in Panshe Ridge and often attacked other tribes. Among them was his third brother Feng An, who defeated Panshe more than once. At the foot of Snake Ridge, they just couldn't break through the mountain gate, so they had to retreat.

Maybe other people have also thought about setting fire to the mountains, but it is too violent. People like Feng An and others still need to gain a foothold in Lingnan. If they burn the mountains inhumanely and without following the rules, then those who live in the mountains and dense forests will What about the bureaucrats?
They grew up in deep mountains and dense forests, and it was common for them to attack and plunder each other. If there was a conflict, they would set fire to the dense forests they depended on for survival. The fire was ruthless and might harm themselves, so no one would do this.

But it doesn't matter to Gao Chong now. He is not a scumbag in the dense forest. As long as he suppresses the rebellion and talks about the palace surrendering to the imperial court, he has no worries. Even if he burns more than [-] scumbags to death, it will not cause any trouble. He could say that he had suppressed more than [-] thieves. Not only would the scribes in the Central Plains not attack Gao Chong, they would also praise him.

Feng Xuan had no choice but to say, "Set fire to the mountain will harm the peace of the world. Wanwang must be careful with his strategy. I will do my best to persuade His Highness to go to the mountain."

Gao Chong just shrugged and said indifferently: "Then it depends on Tan Dian's choice."

Feng Xuan bowed and resigned.

After Feng Xuan left, Gao Chong took a deep breath, shook his head and said with a smile: "It's so difficult to pretend to be a bully. It seems that I am too kind."

Xue Rengui and the others who came in carrying tea looked at each other in shock upon hearing this.

"What are you doing standing there?" Gao Chong turned around and saw four young men standing at the door, neither entering nor retreating.

"Master, please have some tea." Xue Rengui served the tea respectfully, and then carefully looked at Gao Chong's expression.

"If you have something to say, just say it," Gao Chong spat, "Don't imitate Tian Yangming and be sneaky every day."

After the words fell, there was a silence.Gao Chong turned his head and saw Tian Yangming standing at the door with a sad and angry face.

"Look, I'll just tell you, he's so sneaky that he doesn't even know to call for a report when he comes in." Gao Chong pointed at Tian Yangming and sneered.

The crowd burst into laughter.

"Brother You, you are ruining my reputation like this," Tian Yangming said with a look of resentment.

"What reputation can you destroy?" Gao Chong said angrily: "Tell me what it is."

Tian Yangming dared not speak out in anger, so he could only say: "Someone from the court is here."

"Who is it? Be clear." Gao Chong rapped his fingers on the desk and said, "The bad habit of talking half-heartedly must be changed."

"Messengers of condolences," Tian Yangming said with a dark face, and then continued to add: "The background is not young, one of you knows him, Li Gongyan, the minister of Sanqi, who was the long history of Dou Jiande in Hebei Province, and the other is Jingzhao Weishi The head of the Nanpifang family, Wei Shuxie, the official servant of the Sanqi family, announced the decree in Longzhou the day before yesterday, and is expected to arrive in Gaozhou in the next two days."

"I know Wei Shuxie too," Gao Chong glanced at him, then rubbed his chin and said, "He's finally here."

"You know everyone," Tian Yangming curled his lips, then realized and asked, "Did you know they were coming?"

"I called them here, what do you think?" Gao Chong found that when facing Tian Yangming, he liked to quarrel with him, especially when Tian Yangming was obviously very unhappy but helpless.

Tian Yangming was completely convinced.

"Go and inform Pang Xiaojie that we will move into the guard station tomorrow." Gao Chong thought for a while and then directly ordered Tian Yangming.

"Why?" Tian Yangming didn't react for a while, "Is it uncomfortable to live in the post house?"

"Brother Ziguang, our inn is full, why don't you let the angels stay at the inn?" Pei Xingjian said, covering his face.

Tian Yangming suddenly realized, "That's not possible. How can we wrong the angels? We can just move out. We must not be disrespectful to the angels. I will make arrangements right away." After that, he hurriedly left.

Gao Chong shook his head and smiled, "The conspicuous bag...".

"How serious?" Pei Xingjian looked curious.

"Xiao Long Bao," Gao Chong said with a smile.

"Xiaolongbao? I have only ever eaten Xiaolongbao, especially the Xiaolongbao from Huang Si's family in Xishi City. It was really filling and thin..."

Xiao Long Cake is the later Xiao Long Bao. Shu Zhe of the Western Jin Dynasty also specially wrote a "Cake Fu": "The cage has no meat... thin but not split." Long Cake is a steamed bun, and Xiao Long Cake is a small steamed bun. , almost equivalent to Xiaolongbao, Pei Xingjian is really good at it, he is really a talent.

"Stop it," Gao Chong said immediately, "Back to the original topic, Rengui, what do you want to say?"

Xue Rengui didn't react for a while. After he thought about it and recovered from his master's thoughts, he asked: "Master, you will be in power in Lingnan from now on, so as to frighten the powerful chiefs everywhere and impose tyranny." , don’t you worry that it will be difficult to win the hearts of the people in the future?”

Hearing Xue Rengui's words, Gao Chong suddenly laughed, "People's hearts? Although they are powerful chiefs, they can't represent the people's hearts. Besides, what do I need the people's hearts for? That's not something that a minister can get involved in."

Pei Xingjian slapped his head and said, "I understand."

"What do you understand again?" Gao Chong said with a smile: "Xiaolongbao is Xiaolongcake?"

"Oh no," Pei Xingjian was a little surprised. "Master is now the military envoy. You are the biggest in Lingnan. If you still want to collect the hearts and minds of the people, how can the saint rest assured?"

Gao Chong glanced at the young Pei Xingjian with admiration. With his political consciousness, he was worthy of being a person who could be both a general and a prime minister, and could start well and end well.

Gao Kan also nodded. He was the oldest and calmest among the people present: "My brother is now intimidating the powerful chiefs everywhere, and he also takes the opportunity to increase his personal prestige, which will be more conducive to future governance."

Tu Dijin also nodded in agreement and said seriously: "Only if they are strong enough, they will surrender from the bottom of their hearts, so the master must be strong so that they do not dare to have the slightest bit of resistance. In the words of the Central Plains people, it is obedience." Those who go against will prosper, those who go against will perish. Follow the scriptures and eat a little bit of meat."

Gao Chong's face darkened. These four boys seemed to have gone a little off track. Although there was nothing wrong with their views, they sounded weird and sounded more and more like villains.

"You kid, those who follow the rules will prosper and those who go against will perish. Don't learn this kind of talk from now on." Gao Chong slapped Tu Dijin on the head. "Sit up straight. I'll explain it to you."

After hearing this, the four teenagers immediately straightened their clothes and sat up straight.

Gao Chong coughed and said, "Generally speaking, these principles of governance fall into the two categories of kingly and domineering. Have you heard about it?"

"I know." Pei Xingjian, who was familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, raised his hand first.

"Tell me".

"Mencius said: 'Those who use strength to pretend to be benevolent will dominate, and domination will have a great country; those who practice benevolence with virtue will be kings, and kings will not be great.'"

"Yes, the battle between kingship and domineering is more like the battle between civil and military forces. Since ancient times, great Confucian scholars and scholars have advocated the kingship and advised the emperor to implement benevolent government all day long. However, they do not know that if they follow the kingship alone, their country's destiny will not last long. It’s easy to break, but it’s also not feasible, so kingly and domineering must go hand in hand.”

"It's a bit far-fetched. The topic returns to Lingnan. The same is true. If you think about it carefully, what do you think of what I have done and what the court has done?"

The four teenagers frowned and thought, and Gao Kan's eyes suddenly lit up, "Brother, is he acting domineeringly to intimidate you, while the court comes to act royally to appease you?"

"Yunzhi has made great progress," Gao Chong nodded slightly.

"I also understand that the master is the domineering preacher to intimidate, the sage is the royal emperor to comfort, you come to beat people, the sage comes to comfort, you act as a bad person, the sage comes to be a good person," Pei Xingjian said with wide eyes.

"Shut up," Gao Chong said. He quickly picked up the fruits on the desk and blocked Pei Xingjian's mouth. "You are really childish, and you use domineering tactics to intimidate him, one after another."

　I’m so tired after the holidays and I really want to go to work.

　　Time is in a hurry. If there are any typos, please point them out in time and I will correct them immediately. Thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)