Do you know: I am Yuan Wenshao

Chapter 295 Unexpected Letter

Zhao Ceying didn't know that because of his excitement, Yuan Wenshao guessed the secret of Longzhu.

Of course, this is just a guess in his mind. Whether it is true or false is not yet certain.

Zhao Ceying hurried to the palace, passed the notification, and was taken into the royal study.

Zhao Zongquan was busy working on geography in the side hall of the imperial study.

It is now early June, and the two patches of wheat planted have slowly turned from green to yellow.

"My son, I pay homage to my father." Zhao Ceying saluted.

"Ying'er is here. Look how good the wheat is growing. It seems like this year will be a good harvest." Zhao Zongquan said with a hearty smile.

Food is the most important thing for the people. A good harvest will not only provide the court with enough military rations, but it is also the basis for the stability of the world.

Throughout history, although the change of dynasties is related to the emperor's ignorance and land annexation, natural disasters are also a catalyst.

If there were no natural disasters, even if the people were squeezed, they would still have something to eat and would not be unable to survive.

The people are kind but also ignorant. As long as there is a stutter, no matter how bad it is, most people will not choose to rebel.

For Zhao Zongquan, this was his first autumn harvest as emperor.

If there is a natural disaster, people will spread rumors that God will punish him because he was not in the right position.

As the saying goes, there is a cause and a result. In order to stabilize the imperial power, the emperor will basically add some supernatural color to himself.

The emperor himself did not believe that the imperial power was granted by heaven, and neither did the civil and military officials.

But many ordinary people believe it.

Therefore, once a natural disaster occurs, not only will the court be exhausted to provide relief to the victims, but the emperor's majesty will also be affected.

Some ambitious people will also incite people to rebel.

Zhao Zongquan was just a clan member who was not taken seriously before and had limited knowledge.

But since he ascended the throne, he has been learning how to be a good emperor.

The late emperor was dead, and no one could teach him. Plus, he was suspicious, so he didn't trust those people.

So I looked for the answer in history books. As the saying goes, we can learn from history and gain and lose.

The importance of food was summed up by him from history books.

"That's all due to my father's diligent government affairs." Zhao Ceying said with a smile.

"Nonsense, it's going to rain today and my mother is getting married, who can care?"

Having said that, the smile on Zhao Zongquan's face was very happy.

Zhao Zongquan came up from the ground along the ladder. Upon seeing this, Zhao Ceying quickly went up to help him.

Zhao Zongquan came to his seat and sat down. He took a few sips of tea and asked, "What's the matter with Ying'er coming to see me?"

"Father..."

Zhao Ceying repeated what Yuan Wenshao said and said: "My son feels that what Zhongyong Hou said is reasonable. The Southern Tang Dynasty was peaceful. Although it was rich, the treasure obtained when surrendering was already an astronomical figure. Even if If we hide some, how many can we have? It’s not worth Xixia’s trouble.”

"Then what do you think it is?" Zhao Zongquan asked.

"The imperial seal!" Zhao Ceying lowered his voice and spoke word by word.

"what!"

Zhao Zongquan stood up immediately after hearing this: "Are you telling the truth?"

"Father, this is just my son's speculation. It has not been confirmed yet and it is not easy to make it public." Zhao Ceying reminded.

Zhao Zongquan knew that he was a little excited. He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "You guys, please step aside."

"Yes." The maids and eunuchs in the palace bowed and left after hearing this.

After everyone went out, Zhao Zongquan said: "Ying'er, no matter whether it is true or not, as long as there is a slight possibility, we can't let it go."

Since the Qin Dynasty unified the world and changed the king to emperor, he ordered people to carve a jade seal with the words "accepted by heaven, he will live forever".

From then on, this square jade seal was also owned by emperors of all dynasties, and became known as the national jade seal.

It's like if there is no jade seal, the position will be incorrect.

Although it has been hundreds of years since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, emperors of all dynasties have never stopped looking for jade seals.

If the jade seal passed down from the country can reappear in his hands, it means that he has been appointed by heaven.

Why did Zhao Zongquan not have much trust in the ministers of the DPRK after he ascended the throne? Why did he want to seize power from the Queen Mother not long after he ascended the throne?

That's because he doesn't feel safe.

He got the throne so easily, it was almost like picking it up.

Even though he has been on the throne for more than half a year, there is always an unreal feeling.

When I dream at night, I often dream that this is just a dream. When I wake up, he is still the training commander of the small regiment in Yuzhou.

It can be said that he has never had a good night's sleep since he ascended the throne.

If we can find the jade seal passed down from the country, all this will be solved.

"This is what I thought, so I went to the palace to report to my father immediately." Zhao Ceying said.

"Yeah, well done."

Zhao Zongquan nodded, thought for a while and said, "I am now looking for someone to enlarge the pattern on the dragon ball, compare it with maps from various places, and determine the location of the treasure. Then you can take the person there in person."

"Yes! I accept the order." Zhao Ceying responded.

Zhao Zongquan called an eunuch in and asked him to summon some craftsmen.

After a while, the eunuch came in with several craftsmen.

When they saw Li, Zhao Zongquan took out the dragon ball and asked them to enlarge the pattern on it without any difference.

This stumped the craftsmen.

The micro-carving technology in this matter has not reached the point where you need a magnifying glass to see clearly.

After all, there is no such thing now.

The so-called micro-carving is just to carve the things that are carved very small, and they can still be seen clearly with the naked eye.

But the dragon ball is a golden pearl, and the person who carved it made the carving very shallow in order not to damage the bead.

If you don't look carefully, you can't see any traces of engraving.

And because the golden pearls shine a little under the light, it is even harder to see clearly.

You can only vaguely see some lines on it.

As a result, it is unrealistic to draw the lines on the door with the naked eye.

The craftsmen then tried to wrap the dragon beads with dough and mud to achieve the purpose of enlarging the printing.

The result was also unworkable because the lines carved on it were too shallow.

The dragon balls are wrapped in dough and mud. After being removed, the inner wall is very smooth and no traces can be seen.

Zhao Zongquan was so angry that he had the intention to kill.

The Jade Seal of the Kingdom is too important to him. Although it is not confirmed that the pattern on the dragon ball is a map, even if it is a map, it is not certain that it is the Jade Seal of the Kingdom.

But as he said before, as long as there is a slight chance, he cannot let it go.

Fortunately, Zhao Zongquan still had some sense. He cursed a few times and ordered people to clean up a side hall and come out. No one could leave without thinking of a solution.

……

Yuan Wenshao didn't know Zhao Zongquan's troubles, so he left Prince Huan's Mansion and returned home.

I went out the next day and went to Honglu Temple.

As soon as they arrived at Honglu Temple, Li Xuan sent someone to look for him.

When Yuan Wenshao came to Li Xuan's room, Li Xuan hugged him and kissed him.

Li Xuan acted very crazy and proactively. After finishing, she leaned lazily on Yuan Wenshao's chest. "Didn't you say you would come back after attending the wedding banquet? Why didn't you come back yesterday?"

After a while, Li Xuan regained some strength and asked, with a hint of dissatisfaction in her tone.

Yuan Wenshao said: "I am delayed because of something."

Li Xuan was silent for a while and said, "Yesterday I received a letter from Brother Huang. I should go back soon."

"So fast?" Yuan Wenshao asked in surprise.

"Isn't this fast? I have been in Bianjingdu for more than a month." Li Xuan said.

Yuan Wenshao fell silent when he heard this. He had spent more time with Li Xuan than Hua Lan during this period, and he had some feelings for her.

Yuan Wenshao felt a little reluctant when he thought that if Li Xuan went back, it would be difficult for the two to meet again.

"Aren't you curious about what my brother said in the letter?" Li Xuan asked.

"I'm only responsible for protecting you, not negotiating. I don't care what you write." Yuan Wenshao shook his head.

If it were before, he would definitely ask, but at this moment, for some reason, he couldn't ask.

A smile appeared on Li Xuan's lips, and she said: "My imperial brother said that we can give Dazhou 20,000 war horses and three cities near Lingzhou City close to Dazhou to form an alliance."

"This condition is good, and the officials should agree." Yuan Wenshao said.

Regardless of whether Xixia sincerely formed an alliance or had other plans, these benefits were always real and Zhao Zongquan had no reason to refuse.

However, he did not believe that Xixia would be so kind. After all, the so-called covenant was somewhat useful.

But if you say it's useless, it's really useless.

The reason why I say this is because people cannot stand without trust, and the same is true between countries.

Nowadays, several countries coexist. If Zhou and Xixia reach an alliance but are the first to violate it, future peace talks and alliances with other countries will be affected.

This is like two countries that are at war without killing each other.

After all, if you kill the envoys of other countries, they can also kill them when you want to send envoys to other countries.

But if you really want to find loopholes in the covenant, it's not difficult.

Sure enough, Li Xuan then stated a lot of conditions.

The most important one is that after the two countries reach an alliance, the number of troops stationed on the border between the two countries shall not exceed 100,000.

After hearing this, Yuan Wenshao somewhat understood Xixia's plan.

It seems that this condition is beneficial to both parties. After all, there are a large number of soldiers and horses stationed on the border, and the local area is sufficient to supply the food and grass needed by the army. Just transporting food and grass requires a lot of costs.

Reducing the garrison can greatly save food and grass consumption and reduce the pressure on the court.

The border between Da Zhou and Xi Xia is not particularly long, and a hundred thousand people on defense are completely sufficient.

But don’t forget, Xixia gave three cities near Lingzhou City to Da Zhou.

As a result, Dazhou's defense line was lengthened.

Moreover, due to the constraints of Xixia, although it occupied Lingzhou City, it was difficult to conduct trade with other countries in the Western Regions.

Now that Xixia has returned the city near Lingzhou City, Zhou will be able to trade with the Western Regions without restraint.

The Western Regions are also horse-producing areas. If there is a shortage of horses in Dazhou, they will definitely not give up.

In this way, one hundred thousand soldiers and horses can basically only defend completely. Once Xixia launches troops on Hehuang Land, the defenders on the northwest border will have no ability to stop it.

And when the news comes, it will take a lot of time to mobilize troops and horses from Bianjing.

If Xixia is fully prepared before taking action, it is very likely that Xixia will capture Hehuang before Da Zhou has time to react.

Of course, this is just his guess, but Yuan Wenshao thinks it should be close to ten.

Otherwise, why did Xixia make such a big investment and reach an alliance with Zhou Dynasty, but other than reducing the border garrison, it did not ask for any benefits from Zhou Dynasty.

As the saying goes, if you are reluctant to let go of your children, you will never catch the wolf.

When you were confused by the immediate benefits, there must be a trap waiting for you next.

And 20,000 war horses and three cities are the bait thrown by Xixia.

Although he knew it, it was difficult for Yuan Wenshao to dissuade him.

Because Xixia used conspiracy and the benefits given were real, while Xixia wanted to plot against Hehuang, but it was just speculation without any information.

In the face of huge interests, even if Zhao Zongquan could hold back, Chaozhong Civil and Military could not hold back.

Yuan Wenshao really wanted to ask Li Xuan to confirm his guess.

But he understood that although Li Xuan had been in love with him for a long time, she had not forgotten her home country.

Li Xuan told him about the Xixia Emperor's reply because these would be revealed during negotiations and there was nothing to hide.

But Yuan Wenshao wanted her to ask Xixia's true plan, and she couldn't possibly tell him stupidly.

The most important thing is that although Li Xuan is a princess, she is still a woman, and she may not be clear about military and national affairs.

"Are you willing to go to Xixia with me?" Li Xuan hesitated for a long time before asking.

Yuan Wenshao fell silent when faced with Li Xuan's words.

Although she already knew the result, in the face of Yuan Wenshao's silence, Li Xuan continued to persuade: "I know you have a wife and children. I can guarantee that if you go to Xixia with me, you will be the concubine. Your wife is said to be a concubine. I will respect her as a sister."

Yuan Wenshao was moved when he heard this. Li Xuan's words were very sincere. As a princess, it was very rare for her to do this.

"You know, I not only have a wife and children, but also relatives. They can't all leave with me. It's like I didn't advise you to stay in Da Zhou." Yuan Wenshao said.

He didn't say that it was impossible for me to go to Xixia. This would only make Li Xuan more uncomfortable.

A tear fell from the corner of Li Xuan's eyes and she said, "I understand."

Yuan Wenshao wiped her tears, and just as he was about to speak, Li Xuan kissed her.

"Love me!" Li Xuan said and kissed her again.

……

Li Xuan left.

Yuan Wenshao didn't leave her room until the next day.

Since then, Li Xuan never sent anyone to look for him, and he was rejected when he went to see Li Xuan.

Yuan Wenshao knew that she wanted to use this method to cut off the relationship between the two that should not exist.

The negotiations between Xixia and Dazhou were not beyond his expectations.

Faced with the conditions given by Xixia, Zhao Zongquan did hesitate, but with the support of the majority of the civil and military people in the Manchu Dynasty, he still agreed.

In other words, he was moved.

The entire negotiation ended after three days.

After the alliance was reached, Zhou sent a group of envoys to go to Xixia along with the Xixia envoys.

In addition to giving gifts to the Xixia Emperor on behalf of Zhao Zhongquan, it was also for the purpose of signing an alliance.

The envoy carried two copies of the covenant document stamped with the jade seal. After Xixia and the Xixia Emperor stamped the jade seal, he brought back one copy.

Until the envoys left, Yuan Wenshao was not able to see Li Xuan again.

Li Xuan's decisiveness made Yuan Wenshao feel melancholy for two days.

It's not that Yuan Wenshao has deep feelings for her, but more of a possessive nature.

After the envoys left, it was only a few days before Gu Tingye and Minglan's wedding.

Therefore, Yuan Wenshao did not go to the military camp, and planned to go after attending the wedding banquet.

Just then, he received an unexpected letter.

(End of this chapter)