(I am grateful every day. I am grateful that I can continue. I am also happy that I have a platform that allows me to realize my dreams. No matter what, I will write it down clearly because the theme outline was completed many years ago.)
Zhang Yongde stood quietly with his hands behind his hands, looking at the person in front of him.
The man in front of him was so calm. This calm-looking man had a calm face and no stage fright in front of him.
He quietly told himself what was happening around him, and what had happened to his relatives and friends these past few days.
This man has a good appearance and looks like a handsome gentleman. Thinking about his methods and ideas of contacting him, suddenly, he appeared in front of him mysteriously. Although Zhang Yongde was not the kind of swordsman and chivalrous person who could fly over walls and walls, he was still a famous general in the Great Zhou Kingdom, a figure who had actually gone on the battlefield and commanded an army.
There were many retainers and guards in his house, but they were like nothing in front of this person. Zhang Yongde thought of the swordsmen and rangers that were popular in the late Tang Dynasty, and his heart was turned upside down at this moment. If you offend these people, no matter how much fame and fortune you gain, it will all be in vain.
Hey, everything is a headache, maybe everything is an opportunity. Zhang Yongde asked himself that he had met many masters. Faced with these elusive masters, Zhang Yongde found that his personality and methods of dealing with things were both good and bad at this time. After all, with his identity and status, he has naturally seen many big scenes. If the other party wants to be disadvantageous to him when he sees him, he will definitely not be his meal.
The things the other party just said were all known to him through several people in the court who knew the secrets. Of course, they must have been told to him by the emperor's instructions. Whether it was a hint or an inevitable move, it was all the means of those in power. Nowadays, even few people in the court know about it, but the other party knows everything about it and talks to me. It is obvious that he not only knows the things, but also knows these things in advance!
Who is he? Zhang Yongde didn't feel like anyone would threaten him. With his usual way of doing things, as well as the low profile of himself and the princess, it should be impossible for anyone in the Zhou Kingdom to make such an article. As for the so-called check-in to make the emperor, Zhang Yongde felt that if the emperor Guo Rong knew about the spread of such rumors, he would definitely analyze it.
Of course, as to why there is such a rumor, Zhang Yongde feels there are only two points. One is that his position makes others jealous, and he is trying to find a way to defeat him; or someone is afraid that he has ideas and wants to gain more power. As for this person, it is self-evident.
Nowadays, the Zhou State and the Northern Han Dynasty have always been at odds with each other. This is a historical reason. If they make a fuss about themselves, it will be possible. But according to the information he has, Beihan, who prefers to stay alone, probably does not have the manpower and material resources now.
There is also Shuzhong, where Emperor Chai Rong has always wanted to take action. Shuzhong, which enjoys peace and happiness, is even less likely to have such a posture. Because the leader of the country has no such intention at all, it is too late for the people below to escape.
As for the Southern Tang Kingdom, which had always wanted to do something, Zhang Yongde thought it was even more impossible, because now more than half of the spies from the Zhou Kingdom were in the Southern Tang Dynasty. It can be said that the monitoring of the Southern Tang State is strict from top to bottom. Now the Zhou State is gathering the last bit of thoroughness to prepare a fatal blow to the Southern Tang Dynasty, and it is even more clear about the actions of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Their only purpose in dealing with themselves was to sow discord between themselves and Emperor Guo Rong. I am not a fool, and the emperor is not confused. Regardless of whether these people's intentions are deep or shallow, there will naturally be consequences. Zhang Yongde knew this well, so he did not express his stance first. Of course, Zhang Yongde did not rule out that the emperor had thoughts about him.
First, his cousin Zhang Yongheng was assassinated in the street by one of his family members because he relied on his status and power to bully men and women when he was serving as Sima in Bianzhou. Then, his brother-in-law Lu Xie commanded the army in the Yangtze River and connived. He was unable to stop his soldiers from escaping south. Instead, he was killed in the military camp by the soldiers who wanted to escape. And just last night, his uncle Zhang Jun, the former Luozhou Military and Horse Supervisor, with a family of more than 150 people, unexpectedly Being beheaded in his own village was a bloodbath.
No matter what it is, it is not a small matter for the court. As for the relationship between each victim and Zhang Yongde, it is not a good thing for Zhang Yongde's position. If it were an era of peace and prosperity, each of these things would be enough to hurt Zhang Yongde's roots; for this era of disregarding human life, this may be insignificant or it may be earth-shaking.
However, Zhang Yongde knew that these things were not that simple. Of course, he would not make random guesses. After all, whether these things were coincidences or deliberate actions, Zhang Yongde knew that he was the most suitable at this time to adapt to changes in the face of change.
Indeed, as a political figure in the Great Zhou Kingdom, Zhang Yongde's situation in the Zhou Kingdom is very delicate and sensitive, and everyone knows the secret between him and the country's leader. Zhang Yongde holds a high position and Guo Rong is young and promising. The two of them became famous for a while.
My family has been passing down martial arts for nearly a hundred years. Although everyone is a military general, they are all skilled in both civil and military skills. Most of the children in the family are famous for their benevolence and filial piety, and all of them have good martial arts skills. Although Zhang Yongheng, his cousin, is not a particularly outstanding celebrity, nor is he one of the best brothers in the family, nor is he the kind of commander-in-chief who responds to everything, in fact, his martial arts skills are not much different from his own, including sword and horse kung fu. It's ok. It's not a problem to have more than ten big men, not to mention that as a Sima now, he will definitely have a few following him, but he didn't expect to be assassinated in the street.
In a scene like being stabbed to death in the street, either the murderer has outstanding martial arts skills, or his cousin is too bad and is as vulnerable as a child, but is such a thing possible? If you tell Zhang Yongde, he won't believe it.
My cousin still wants to make a difference in politics, so the family has been gradually cultivating him in recent years. I had just met him during the Spring Festival, and it could be said that his whole body was full of anger. It was also the most exciting time. Although his cousin had several wives and concubines, even though he always doted on him, he suffered because of it. Zhang Yongde felt that things were a bit mysterious.
My uncle Lu Xie is my youngest uncle, not many years older than me. Although it was because the late Emperor Guo Wei promoted him for his own sake after he ascended the throne, he was indeed a person with great ideas and abilities.
Now, as General Dingyuan of the fifth rank, he is stationed along the Yangtze River with the Zhou army. Since the Tang State surrendered and ceded territory, all north of the Yangtze River belonged to the Zhou State. As a general of the Zhou Kingdom, Lu Xie naturally had an army and set up a camp as a base.
As for the story that some soldiers fled to the Southern Tang Dynasty, Zhang Yongde completely believed it. No matter how powerful the Zhou State's military strength was, it was now even forcing the Tang State to cede territory and surrender to the vassal state. However, the Tang State has always been more prosperous than the Zhou State, and many of the soldiers stationed along the Zhou State were originally from the Tang State. Although they were rearranged and joined different teams, it was impossible for them to become successful in a small area.
However, the soldiers of Zhou State have always been a mixture of veterans and new recruits, and the surrendered soldiers were separated from the original generals. There is an obvious ratio between surrendered soldiers and new recruits in each military camp. As for the soldiers in Lu Xie's military camp, Zhang Yongde was deeply suspicious that they could kill generals and escape. After all, Lu Xie also had his own soldiers. It is said that Lu Xie's All the close soldiers were killed. Now his uncle's ability to lead the army and this complicated situation made Zhang Yongde deep in thought.
Because it was indeed the late Emperor Guo Wei's favor that Lu Xie was able to gradually become a general that day. Later, it was Lu Xie who showed his ability and stood out in the army. The late emperor discovered his strengths and gradually promoted him to a middle-level general, and was on his way to training and leading high-level generals. If it was just to save his own face, the late emperor could have left Lu Xie in the capital as an idle official.
Today's emperor Guo Rong is indeed young and promising. He did not look at Zhang Yongde's face and promoted Lu Xie. However, Lu Xie was promoted smoothly in Guo Rong's hands. This just proves Lu Xie's ability and competence. The incident of his soldiers fleeing, and in the end he was killed by the fleeing soldiers, made Zhang Yongde feel sad.
My uncle Zhang Jun once served as the military commander of Luozhou, although his position was not high and his status was not obvious. But because of the titles granted by his father and grandfather, and his status in the Zhou Kingdom, he also enjoyed extremely high status and treatment.
He also wisely withdrew from officialdom, bought a manor outside the capital to retire, and lived a pleasant life. Unexpectedly, now a disaster has occurred inexplicably, and the entire family has been killed. It is said that some time ago, he fell in love with a widowed wife who gave birth to a son, and somehow managed to escape.
When I received the news, although I sent people to conduct a thorough investigation and search, I still haven't seen my uncle. I don't know the reason and why these things happened suddenly. Zhang Yongde has always been benevolent and filial to the world. If the person in front of him does not come to look for him, he is preparing to rush to the manor outside the city himself.
He has never revealed anything to others about the differences between himself and Emperor Guo Rong. Zhang Yongde has never mentioned a word to others about his thoughts about the Great Zhou Kingdom and himself. He has also been silent about his family's thoughts and meanings. Word. He was not worried about anything, but felt what he should do as a minister.
Now in the Zhou Kingdom, he not only keeps watch in front of the palace, but is also the supreme commander of Emperor Guo Rong's imperial army. Regardless of his relationship with the emperor, Zhang Yongde understands his position. For an emperor, Zhang Yongde's position and identity must be the most taboo and fearful. Although the emperor never revealed anything or made any move towards Zhang Yongde, Zhang Yongde himself understood that his current position must be very embarrassing and sensitive.
There are currently only two people in the Zhou Kingdom with high human rights and high positions, and they obviously pose a direct threat to the position and influence of Emperor Guo Rong, because these two people now have heavy troops, and they both have a deep relationship with the late Emperor Guo Wei. relation. The late emperor Guo Wei relied on these people to have smooth sailing both in the previous dynasty and in the Great Zhou Kingdom.
Zhang Yongde knew that one of them was barely him, and the other was the father-in-law of the current emperor Guo Rong. He was born in a family of Huaiyang kings who were known as military generals in the Central Plains. Fu Yanqing, the king of Wei, now controls Tianxiongjunjiedu in the vassal town alone. Wei Wang Fu Yanqing's identity is even more special, but he is a general without ambition. On the contrary, he has been in office for four consecutive dynasties and no one is jealous.
As the emperor, Guo Rong, he and Fu Yanqing should be considered close relatives. But when it comes to power and fame, which dynasty’s leader can naturally let go! Although he has never shown anything inappropriate, he will definitely monitor the behavior of the two of them. Zhang Yongde has no doubt about this.
Zhang Yongde was born into a wealthy family in Yangqu, Bingzhou, and his family's ancestors had practiced martial arts for generations. They were a famous military general family since the Tang Dynasty. His father, Zhang Yinggong, once served as a senior military attache under Shi Jingtang of the Later Jin Dynasty and was the defense envoy of Anzhou at that time. In terms of the job configuration of military generals at that time, that was a very high-ranking official.
The bodyguard of the Emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty at that time was the later Emperor Taizu of the Zhou Kingdom Guo Wei, who was also the father of the current Emperor Guo Rong of the Zhou Kingdom. He was known as Guo Que'er in the world. At that time, Zhang Yongde's father, Zhang Ying, was a minister in the same palace as Emperor Taizu Guo Wei, and they were very good friends back then. Therefore, Zhang Yongde, who has been known to Guo Wei since he was a child, was known and appreciated by Guo Wei when he was young.
However, Guo Wei appreciated Zhang Yongde not because of his martial arts skills and talents, but because of the virtues he had been cultivated in his family since he was a child. Because Zhang Yongde was still very young, his biological mother passed away, and later his father Zhang Ying remarried. However, Zhang Yongde served this stepmother just like his own biological mother. Therefore, Zhang Yongde has been famous in his hometown for his virtuous and filial piety since he was a child, and has won the praise of the villagers and family members.
When Zhang Yongde was 20 years old, Taizu Emperor Guo Wei married his fourth daughter to him. No one expected that they were still such a good match.
Of course, at that time, no one expected how the situation would develop. Emperor Taizu was still a minister of the Han Dynasty. Later, Emperor Taizu ascended the throne, and Zhang Yongde naturally became the Prince Consort. That is to say, in the year that Zhang Yongde got married, Emperor Taizu Guo Wei, who was good at fighting and had a strong military spirit, was promoted to Privy Council of the Han Dynasty by Emperor Yin of the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains, and took control of the decision-making power of the entire Han Dynasty's military. Emperor Taizu Guo Wei did not avoid suspicion because of the high regard of the imperial court. He recommended his outstanding son-in-law Zhang Yongde to be the enshrinement officer of the Han Dynasty.
However, the young Emperor Yin was very afraid of Guo Wei's power, and he was also afraid that Zhang Yongde would become the leader of the enshrining officials around him, so the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he became. Later, under the instigation of people around him, and because he was really worried about Guo Wei, he wanted to harm Zhang Yongde first to intimidate Guo Wei.
He first asked Zhang Yongde to send something to Chang Si, the then governor of Zhaoyi Jiedu. This kind of nominal gift was the birthday program that was often used in the Song Dynasty in later generations. As the emperor of a country, the feudal towns should pay tribute to him. However, during the Five Dynasties, the power of the warlords became so powerful that the central government could no longer control it. Regarding this common thought, Emperor Yin took a gentle approach. Of course, these may not be something that a fool like Emperor Yin could come up with. Then, Emperor Yin sent a secret edict to Chang Si, hoping that after Chang Si saw Zhang Yongde, he would find an excuse to kill him. Because Emperor Yin knew that although Chang Si and Guo Wei were ministers in the same palace, the two had always been at odds with each other, and they often quarreled and dealt with each other because of the issue of uniting the army.
However, Emperor Yin ignored Chang Si's courage and his ideals. Although Chang Si usually served as a minister in the same palace as Guo Wei, because he was protected by the emperor, he still dared to challenge Guo Wei and compete for his favor. Later the emperor fell and the new emperor came to power with no one to support him. Chang Si knew that Guo Wei was becoming more and more powerful, and there were more and more people around him. It was obvious that he was no longer Guo Wei's opponent. Unexpectedly, he was unwilling to take chestnuts from the fire for Emperor Yin, but he imprisoned Zhang Yongde at that time and entertained him with good wine and food. It was obvious that he just wanted to be a wallflower.
Sure enough, not long after, the confused little emperor Yindi listened to the slander and overestimated his own abilities, and did something very cruel in the history of the Five Dynasties. He planned to kill Privy Councilor Guo Wei's family in the capital, and even boldly wanted to kill Guo Wei. What he did directly led to the destruction of a country.
The reason was that the grief-stricken Guo Wei rebelled. In the end, the mutiny killed Emperor Yin, and even used tricks to force Emperor Yin's uncle to retreat. Liu Yun's biological father, who later wanted to take the throne, left Liu Chong in Beijing (Taiyuan) who was also serving as an army leader. , and has since controlled the power of the court. Although he avoided it for a period of time, Guo Wei inevitably became emperor.
Chang Si was very wise in adapting to the situation. At this time, he immediately sent Zhang Yongde, who was under house arrest, to the capital. This completely pleased Guo Wei, who was in the spotlight, and also saved the grateful Zhang Yongde. Of course, it was naturally after Guo Wei ascended the throne that Zhang Yongde was able to truly enter the center of power in the Zhou Kingdom, and it was also when Zhang Yongde's own talents were displayed.
It seems that Guo Wei's ascension to the throne is a happy event, but his biggest distress comes from the lack of male offspring. When Emperor Yin went crazy and killed all the descendants of the Guo family, it was a real annihilation. Even the eldest son of the current emperor Guo Rong was not spared.
No one thought that things would be like this, and Guo Wei also made various efforts. However, years of riding horses and fighting will naturally have an impact on male fertility, not to mention Guo Wei's age, which is already considered old in this era. Although Guo Wei had many concubines around him, he never left any descendants.
Originally, as Guo Wei's biological daughter and son-in-law, Zhang Yongde should have an advantage. However, Zhang Yongde knew that his family was powerful and the Zhang family had many members, which made Emperor Taizu Guo Wei, who had always been traditional and nostalgic, suspicious. What's more, Zhang Yongde also knew that he was not the most powerful and prestigious person in the family. As the emperor, Guo Wei must have doubted whether he could maintain the smooth development of the house under his name in the Zhang family. In other words, maintaining this country is the world for himself and the princess's descendants.
The most important thing is that Guo Rong, who is considered the adopted son of Guo Wei, is Guo Wei's nephew, and he is smart, capable and resourceful. The talents emerging in many places are even better than his own. Although he has not fought for anything, Zhang Yongde understands that he is only suitable for what he is not suitable for in this life.
The man looked at Zhang Yongde with a smile and said calmly: "A certain Ji Hongzhong is originally from the Central Plains. Now he lives in Lingnan. He travels to various countries in the Central Plains and is mainly engaged in the resale of various specialties from various places. It's a pleasure to meet Mr. Zhang!"
"Lingnan!" Zhang Yongde was still extremely surprised to see that this elegant and refined man was actually a businessman. Of course, Emperor Guo Rong of the Great Zhou Kingdom had also been a businessman before, and Zhang Yongde would never despise this man.
But when he heard him mention this place, Zhang Yongde felt a little strange. It was a place too far away in his memory. Historically, before the previous dynasties, the areas outside the Five Ridges of Chu were collectively referred to as barbaric areas. The forces and vassal towns in the Central Plains were too lazy to pay attention to the information about that barbaric land.
Zhang Yongde's information seems to still be stuck on a person he heard of many years ago. That person was the figure who established that power, Emperor Gaozu of the Southern Han Dynasty, Liu Yan. Of course, there is also Liu Yan and his family history. In the Central Plains region, Liu Yan was dismissive of the forces and territories outside the Five Ridges.
Sometimes, Zhang Yongde would hear someone talking about that distant place in Lingnan, which was said to be rich in fruits and seafood. However, due to the ruggedness and the barrier of thousands of mountains, as well as the uncivilized locals, it was a barbaric place where sinners were sent into exile by previous dynasties.
Even later, Zhang Yongde also heard about some messy things in the Southern Han Dynasty, which of course even demonized the people of Lingnan. It is said that after Emperor Liu Yan died, one of his sons inherited the throne. One year, there was an uprising in the territory, which reached the Southern Tang Dynasty. Later, the Southern Tang Dynasty took action together to destroy the uprising force.
Because it was so far away, Zhang Yongde had no idea about that distant place. In his mind, it was all about the euphemism of Jiangnan and the atmosphere of the Central Plains. Even the Central Plains has always been centered. Looking at this majestic man, it is like a dreamlike figure in the painting. Zhang Yongde didn't believe at all at this moment that this elegant man could come from the barbaric place he imagined.
No matter where he was, Zhang Yongde had a strong interest in this handsome man, and he almost couldn't wait to know everything about this distant place. And, what is the connection between this man and the things happening around him?
So he came over personally to close the distance and invited the man named Ji Hongzhong to take a seat.
