Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 355 Came to the Palace

Soon, the No. [-] Minister of Civil and Military Affairs of Wuyue Kingdom came to the palace.

"Your Highness, I think this matter needs to be discussed in the long term. You can't set the tone now. It's better to wait for the Song envoy Xiangfu Hou Yechen to come and see what he said and did before deciding on it." Badu The commander's surname is Gao Ming Chengxiang, in his 40s, he is the commander-in-chief of the Wuyue National Army, but he doesn't look like a general, his face is fair, and his body is slightly fat. Instead, he looks more like a scholar. He speaks softly and slowly, and speaks out The content also shows that the No. 1 in the Wuyue National Army is not as direct and sharp as ordinary soldiers, but mainly based on prudence.

The left minister's name is Wei Xin, and his age is about the same as Gao Chengxiang, commander of the Eight Capitals. He is burly and tall, and he looks more like a general than Gao Chengxiang.At this time, he snorted coldly and said: "Master Gao's words are wrong. Your Highness, I think Zhao Kuangyin is too deceitful. Our Wuyue Kingdom is already tolerable. Unless Da Song surrenders the murderer who killed Duke Yue, otherwise This matter can't be just based on Ye Chen's few words. Besides, since Emperor Song agreed to marry the only princess to his son without hesitation, even if we kill some of their envoys, Even kill Ye Chen, but as long as the princess of the Song Kingdom is not hurt, and the Song Kingdom is not allowed to obtain evidence and evade it to the Maitreya Sect afterwards, it is expected that the Song Emperor will not turn against our Wuyue Kingdom."

In the face of Wei Xin's scorching and threatening, Gao Chengxiang's expression remained unchanged, and he continued to say softly: "Master Wei, don't forget that the reason why the Duke of Yue was killed was because he supported the assassination of Song Dynasty on the street of Naluguan Town. The assassin of Emperor Yue died. Regardless of whether Duke Yue was deceived or for other reasons, Song Guozhen must seriously pursue it. Duke Yue was considered to be an associate of the assassin, and Duke Yue was the envoy of our Wuyue Kingdom mission at that time. , His Royal Highness’s younger brother, can completely represent my Wuyue Kingdom. If Emperor Song thought that the Duke of Yue’s move was ordered by His Highness and was acting on the will of our Wuyue Kingdom’s court, so what? Now Master Wei even instigated His Highness to kill As an envoy of the Song Kingdom, Mr. Wei really thinks that the Wuyue Kingdom and the Song Kingdom will really turn against each other."

Gao Chengxiang's words hit the nail on the head, but it's not hard to imagine that Qian Hongchu and Wei Xin actually thought of these things too, but Qian Hongchu was grieving and indignant about the death of his brother, so he subconsciously focused on it.And Wei Xin obviously had some shady reasons, and deliberately avoided the important ones.

In any case, when Gao Chengxiang said these words, Qian Hongchu and Wei Xin's expressions changed slightly. After all, as the Song Dynasty wiped out the Houshu, Northern Han and Southern Han successively, they also relied on their own strength to block the Khitan ten thousand in the north. Wan Tieqi went south, the military prestige was strong, and the strength of the Great Song Forbidden Army had already been spread all over the world. Whether they admitted it or not, Wuyue Kingdom could not defeat Song Kingdom at all, even if Tang Kingdom was added.

Therefore, Qian Hongchu's determination just now was shaken again because of the Queen's words.

Wei Xin saw the change in Qian Hongchu's expression, cursed secretly, and said: "Your Highness, don't worry, our Wuyue Kingdom still has [-] elite soldiers. The monarchs and ministers are united, and the soldiers are loyal to the country, which is far from being comparable to that of the Southern Han Dynasty. What's more, the minister has already received the news. , Tang’s envoys to our country are already on their way, and then we will send envoys to Khitan by sea to secretly form an alliance with Khitan. He, Zhao Kuangyin, has to be afraid. When we form an alliance with the two countries, let Song know Our Wuyue Kingdom has close ties with Khitan and Southern Tang, at that time Song Kingdom was afraid of being attacked from three sides, and in order to appease His Highness' anger over the loss of his brother, he would definitely hand over the murderer."

Wei Xin's words are not insignificant, and the logical reasons are also very convincing.Qian Hongchu thought it made sense for a while.

But without waiting for Qian Hongchu to say anything, Gao Chengxiang's face turned livid, and he changed from his gentle and gentle look just now, and sternly shouted: "Master Wei, do you really want my Wuyue Kingdom to be destroyed?"

Qian Hongchu's complexion changed drastically, his brows were furrowed, and he said with displeasure, "Why did Gao Aiqing say that?"

Wei Xin also sneered, and said with a bit of yin and yang, "Master Gao is the No. 1 military force of our Wuyue Kingdom. It is a shame for our Wuyue Kingdom to be so afraid of Song."

Gao Chengxiang ignored Wei Xin, but solemnly said to Qian Hongchu: "Your Highness, Wuyue Kingdom has been a vassal state of Song State for more than ten years, and the two countries have always had good relations. The situation is completely different from that of Tang State and Khitan in the far north. Your Highness May wish to recall when Emperor Song made peace with His Royal Highness. The incident of Duke Yue being killed by mistake this time was clearly a trap set up by the Tang Kingdom to sow discord between our Wuyue Kingdom and the Song Kingdom. To put it bluntly, the Duke of Yue Song Guo is not the real murderer, but the real enemy is the person who deceived and used Yue Guogong. If His Highness wants revenge, I think that I should cooperate with Ye Chen to find these villains hidden in the dark."

Without waiting for Qian Hongchu to say anything, Wei Xin continued: "Your Highness, no matter what the truth behind this matter is, the wolf ambition of Emperor Song has been fully demonstrated. Once Tang Kingdom is destroyed by Song Kingdom in the future, our Wuyue Kingdom will still exist. Go on? Presumably it will become one of the roads of the Song Dynasty. Even if His Highness obeys the Song Emperor's will and does not make any resistance, he will be confiscated from all powers and placed under house arrest in Kaifeng. At most, he will become an idle prince, and the Shu Kingdom The emperor's lessons learned from the past, soon His Highness and all his blood will die in a daze."

Gao Chengxiang wanted to say something else, but he knew that what Wei Xin said might actually happen.After all, whether the descendant of the Shu Kingdom really died of illness, let alone, the concubine of the descendant of the Shu Kingdom, Mrs. Huarui, has now become the woman of the Song Emperor, which is a fact.

In particular, Qian Hongchu recalled what the queen said to him just now, which mentioned that Song Emperor Zhao Kuangyin vowed to collect all the four beauties in the world, that is, to snatch the queens or queens of the four countries in the world. Such an arrogant emperor, can he really make himself good from the beginning to the end?He did not forget that one of these four beauties was his queen.

Gao Chengxiang secretly sighed in his heart. As a soldier, he actually didn't want Wuyue Kingdom to submit to Song State like this, but he knew that Wuyue Kingdom had not experienced major wars for more than 30 years. Although the army's usual training was still maintained under his command, but How can an army that has not experienced the baptism of war be able to compete with the powerful army of the Song Dynasty who fought south and north.

As for the Tang State, which could have been relied on, it seemed to be much stronger than Wuyue State in terms of land area, national strength, and army number, and even not much worse than Song Dynasty.But in fact, Gao Chengxiang knew that Tang State was even worse than Wuyue State. The Tang State’s court was corrupt and the Tang Emperor was incompetent. Even if the Tang State’s army maintained some combat strength, how could it be possible for the Song Army to be an opponent? Even if Wu Yue State and Tang State joined forces , nor is Song Jun's opponent.

As for the Khitan in the north, Gao Chengxiang never doubted that when the Song Dynasty sent troops to the Southern Tang and Wuyue, the Khitan cavalry would take the opportunity to go south.But so what?Not to mention that when Song Guo dared to send troops to Tang, he must have been fully prepared in the north.Even if the Khitan army breaks through the defense line of the Song State in the north, then the Southern Tang and Wuyue Kingdom will probably no longer exist. Even if the Song State is later destroyed by the Khitan, what is the point of being with the Wuyue Kingdom?

However, what Wei Xin said just now has become a deadlock for Wu Yueguo.To put it bluntly, there are two choices.

First, in order to allow the Wuyue Kingdom to continue to exist, and join hands with the Southern Tang and Khitan to fight against the Song Dynasty, the Wuyue Kingdom can last as long as it can.In the end, once the Song Dynasty finds the right time to destroy it by force, the life of the Wuyue Kingdom will be ruined, and the ending of the monarchs and ministers will definitely not be so good. The leader of the Wuyue Kingdom is at most like the Southern Han Emperor in Kaifeng. There will never be another place.And it is more likely to suffer from the poisonous hands of Emperor Song.

Second, continue to listen to what the late emperor said, as in the past ten years, obey the Song Dynasty, and even contribute to the Song Dynasty's attack on the Southern Tang Dynasty.In the end, of course Wuyue Kingdom would not keep it, but the monarchs and ministers of Wuyue Kingdom would definitely become subjects of the Great Song Dynasty, without any fear of life, and the army and people would not be killed or injured.The Lord of Wuyue may have no power, but he can still maintain the position of a prince.As for whether he would be killed by Emperor Song secretly by means of shady means, that is not what the three of them, the monarch and his ministers, can know now.On this point, Gao Chengxiang never believed in Song Emperor Zhao Kuangyin, let alone take it as a reliance.

It now appears that Wei Xin, the head of the civil servants, supports the first choice of death and destruction.However, Gao Chengxiang, the military's No.1 Commander of the Eight Capitals, supports the second option, which seems to be a milder and safer option.

According to common sense, the views of these two people should be reversed, but the reality is just the opposite.Gao Chengxiang has such a moderate view. Although it does not match the views of most bloody soldiers, it is still understandable considering the comparison between the national power and military strength of Wuyue Kingdom and Song Dynasty.

However, the opinion of Wei Xin, the left minister, is completely different from that of most civil servants since ancient times.You must know that Wuyue Kingdom really surrendered to the Song Dynasty. Gao Chengxiang, who has not fought in war for many years, has not made any contributions to the Song Dynasty, and has no chance to show his abilities will never be reused.But civil servants like Wei Xin are different. As we all know, Wuyue Kingdom is very famous in the world in terms of cultural governance. The civil servants of the Wuyue Kingdom represented by Wei Xin were not much different between the Song State and the Wuyue State, and they were also courtiers.Even with the generosity shown by Zhao Kuangyin to his subordinates and the reputation that the civil servants of Wuyue Kingdom have now, most of them will be valued.Think about it, is it better to be an official in a big country or a small country?As long as normal people know how to choose.

What's more, at that time, the Great Song Dynasty dominated the Central Plains and unified the south, which was already an unquestionable Chinese orthodoxy, which was even more desirable for civil servants who were born as scholars.

Therefore, Gao Chengxiang's words and deeds are understandable under the command of the Eight Capitals, but it is extremely abnormal for the left minister Wei Xin, the head of civil servants, to support the choice of killing the fish and breaking the net.

The so-called "abnormality is a demon", obviously there is a problem with Wei Xin, the leftist.However, due to the different perspectives, Qian Hongchu, the leader of the Wuyue Kingdom, did not think of this. Although Gao Chengxiang had some doubts, Wei Xin was an old minister who served the rulers of two generations after all, and his character and ability were also recognized by the rulers and courtiers. It is affirmed that even among the people of Wuyue Kingdom, he has a strong reputation.Therefore, Gao Chengxiang didn't think too much about it, but felt that Wuyue's army was not strong enough, and as the number one in the army, he felt more and more guilty.

(End of this chapter)