In the side hall of the middle hall of Yuwen Mansion, Yu Wenhua and his surrogate father received guests. Two guests were sitting on the guest table. The elder was Yun Dingxing, who was known as an official slave and the de facto head of the Yun family, and the elegant man next to him was Yun Dingxing. The young man is Yuan Min, the son of Yuan Shou.
Yuan Min secretly went to Taozhou to secretly contact the leader of the party, Tuoba Congning, under the order of the family leader Yuan Zhou, and was almost caught by Yang Ji. However, due to the overnight offensive launched by Wei Yunqi, Baishui, Heishan and other Qiang leaders, , so that he and his younger brother Yuen Long escaped in the darkness of the night.
He has now become a member of the Neishi Sheren of the Neishi Province, and has had a deep friendship with Yuwenzhiji, Yuwenshu's third son, since childhood. The head of the family, Yuanzhou, asked him to come to visit him on his behalf. Yu Wenshu, who has no deep friendship with him, just wants to use the friendship of the juniors to act as a communication bridge to facilitate access to the high-ranking Yu Wenshu.
As for the role and value of Yun Dingxing at this moment, it is the stepping stone for Yuan Min to meet Yu Wenshu.
Yuan Min put down the tea cup in his hand and asked Yu Wenhuaji: "Brother, why haven't you seen Zhiji recently? Have you gone somewhere to hunt for beauty again?"
"This time I'm not hunting for beauty, but doing business." Yu Wenhuaji explained with a smile: "Isn't there a Yiyou General Competition held at the end of the year? His father also asked him to participate in this competition, and he also hopes that he He was able to achieve a ranking that would make him famous all over the world, so he spent these days hiding in Baqiao Villa to practice martial arts. It is said that he was extremely hardworking and wished he could master in just one day what Wei Wentong had learned all his life."
The late emperor stipulated that each state in the Sui Dynasty would select three talented and talented scholars to the imperial court at the end of each year. They would come to Beijing to take the scholar and Ming classics examinations. The imperial court would award officials according to their rankings. Those scholars whose test scores were not satisfactory would not be awarded the title. Although they cannot become officials or prepare to become officials, they can enter Guozixue to further their studies and accumulate knowledge for the exams in the coming year.
Since the time of this year's recommendation coincides with the counter-insurgency, when Shangshu Sheng Youpushe reminded Yang Guang at the court meeting, the Sui army strongly requested Yang Guang to use force to promote generals. Many people say that it is not good for a country to be militaristic, but it is even worse to emphasize civility and education. In the Sui Dynasty, only equal emphasis on civility and military affairs was the right way.
Nowadays, people use literature to promote talents, but they do not use military force to promote generals. What does it look like?
Yang Guang was so impressed that he readily agreed to the military's request.
Why did their father and son rack their brains to purge the generals? Don’t you know the military importance of a general? Of course they know, but they have to clean it!
Because those generals put their clan and faction first, once the interests of their clan or faction conflict with the interests of the court, they will immediately change from a loyal and good general to the most deadly dagger.
If we respond to the demands of the military and initiate the use of military force to select generals, we can select direct generals from the civilian population and from low-level generals and soldiers. We can catch all outstanding warriors who are capable but have no connections, and cut off the influence of aristocratic families on civilian warriors. In addition to strengthening himself, he also weakened the chance of aristocratic families receiving forced awards from the source.
As these low-level generals stand out and join the army, the military monopoly of the Guanlong nobles will be broken. Even if some people can't withstand the temptation of wealth, beauty, and power and eventually fall into the arms of the Guanlong nobles, there will still be some who will stay. Even if only one person out of a hundred people stays and is loyal to the court, it is much better now. .
The most important thing is that as long as it sets a precedent of using military force to win generals, Yang Guang can win over the hearts of the world's warriors. After the world's warriors have a way to become officials, they will not idle around harming the countryside, fighting, killing and setting fires all day long.
However, the decision to use military force to promote generals seriously harmed the interests of the Guanlong nobles. The nobles from Guanlong objected one after another, saying that the generals in this comparison were either illiterate or just armchair warriors. If they were to be generals, they would be useless to the army. It’s not beneficial and it’s not beneficial to the country.
But Yang Guang didn't listen.
This is not because he adheres to the principle of opposing the nobles of Guanlong if they support it, and supporting the nobles of Guanlong if they oppose it, but that their arguments are simply unreasonable and untenable.
Because he chose middle and low-level generals instead of generals or commanders of an army. This type of generals only need to follow the orders of the general to perform tasks. It doesn't matter whether they are knowledgeable or not. As for the talk on paper, it is even more nonsense. How can a big war be done? The general and the coach have the final say on where to fight and where to fight. How can such generals participate? If they dare to disobey the orders of the general and commander, military law will deal with them.
Therefore, after Yang Guang refuted the opponents and considered the various benefits of using force to raise generals, he issued an edict on the spot: the imperial court will hold a competition to use force to raise generals at the end of January and early February next year. As long as he feels he has the ability, , whether they are serving generals and soldiers or civilian warriors, they can come to the capital to sign up to participate. Anyone who wins the ranking will be awarded a military position by the court at its discretion.
When Yuan Min heard what Yu Wenshu said, he nodded. When he thought that Wei Wentong was an outstanding existence among Yu Wenshu's many pretenders, he couldn't help but ask, "Won't Wei Wentong participate?"
"Of course he will participate." Yu Wenhuaji said: "But he is already a general. In fact, it doesn't matter whether he participates or not. The main thing is that the first place will get the general, so his father asked him to compete with the heroes of the world. "
Yuan Min nodded slightly. The general Yu Wenhuaji mentioned was a third-grade military official. However, although he has no real power, if he defeats the world's heroes in a world-famous competition, he will be recognized by people as the dazzling number one in the world. , are you afraid that you will never get ahead? Therefore, it is completely reasonable for Yuwenshu to send Weiwentong to fight for it. If Wei Wentong wins this honor, coupled with Yu Wenshu's strong help, a period of high power will be just around the corner, and Yu Wenshu will also receive a strong helper.
Unfortunately, their Yuan family does not have any powerful warriors.
Just as he said this, a cough suddenly came from the hall, but it was Yu Wenshu who heard it. The three of them stood up quickly and bowed together, "See you, Father/General!"
Yu Wenshu approached the lobby and waved his hand: "No need to be polite, please sit down!"
Everyone sat down again, and Yu Wenhuaji asked the maid to serve tea to his father and then ordered him to leave.
Yu Wenshu glanced at Yuan Min and said meaningfully: "The Yuan family is full of talented people. Their literary skills and martial arts are the best in the world. This time to raise generals by force, there should be many outstanding people from the Yuan family participating, right?"
"The general is not an outsider, and I'm not afraid of your jokes. We do have people participating in this competition, but we don't have any hope." Yuan Min's face turned red. The biggest problem of their Yuan family is that each generation is not as good as the last. His father Yuan Min Shou Cong destroyed Nan Chen and was promoted to Shangshu Zuocheng with his martial arts. His uncles Yuanzhou, Yuanmin, Yuanyan, and clan uncle Yuanyan were all highly skilled in martial arts and transferred to civil administration. When everyone was most proud, they all reached the level of prime minister. the height of.
But in their generation, only Yuan Hongsi could do it. However, when Yuan Hongsi was the governor of You, he reported Yan Rong's brutal behavior and corruption and perversion of the law, and Yan Rong was conscripted back to the capital and sentenced to death. But what is ridiculous is that Yuan Hongsi, who replaced Youzhou as the general manager, was even more cruel than Yan Rong. In the end, he not only lost his position as the general manager of Youzhou, but also became known as a disgusting cruel official. And they The next generation's talents will wither even more.
Yun Dingxing, who was standing next to him, saw the awkward atmosphere and quickly spoke out to ease the situation: "Yuan Renhui, the son of the Yuan family leader, and Yuan Wu, the adopted son, are both brave generals. I think there is a chance of being selected!"
Yu Wenshu said calmly: "I don't know much about Yuan Renhui, but Yuan Wu does have some martial arts. It's a pity that his background is not good."
"Let the general laugh!" Yuan Min understood that Yu Wenshu was mocking the Yuan family for having no one, and actually let Yuan Wu, who was from a humble background, participate in the battle, and at the same time said that Yuan Wu's martial arts was insignificant. But he was sneering in his heart: Do you really think that because you are wearing the cloak of "Yuwen", others will not know what you are saying? Besides, if you have someone to succeed you, why do you have high hopes for Wei Wentong? Now you have the nerve to talk about our Yuan family? So fucking shameless.
A look of surprise flashed in Yu Wenshu's eyes. With his current identity and status, Yuan Min was not worthy of the cynicism and innuendo that made him surrender. The reason why he said this was because he heard that Yuan Min had been very active recently, so he This way of testing him, now that he saw Yuan Min taking it calmly, he knew that he had heard his own sarcasm. However, the calmness and calmness he showed made him look even more suspicious, regardless of Yuan Min's ability. However, just this wealth and self-cultivation alone left the eldest son and third son far away.
After glancing at the cheerful Yu Wenji, Yu Wenshu was immediately furious with the bullfighting star and wanted to kick him to death. He took a sip of tea, tried hard to suppress the anger in his heart, and turned the topic to business: "My good nephew came to me today. What advice do you have?"
"How can I, the junior, be qualified to teach the general?" Yuan Min said humbly: "Just because the head of the family has been ill recently and is not able to walk, so he cannot visit the general in person, so I asked the junior to tell the general something."
Logically speaking, as a junior, Yuan Min could only run errands and deliver letters at most, but the Yuan family suffered a big loss from He Ruobi, so Yuan Zhou did not dare to communicate with Yu Wenshu quickly, fearing that he would be exposed, so he asked Yuan Min to do it for him. Send oral messages. However, it would be very rude to do so, because if you were to pass on a verbal message, you would have to ask your peers to visit Yu Wenshu. This is the most basic respect and etiquette among nobles.
"I wonder if Patriarch Yuan has anything that I, Yu Wenshu, can do for me? I'm all ears." Yu Wenshu bowed in a distant manner. Although he was dissatisfied with Yuan Zhou's rudeness, he couldn't get angry at Yuan Min, so he said "service" and " "I'm all ears" and the body language of saluting to express one's dissatisfaction.
Yuan Min also realized his uncle's shortcomings, but he couldn't explain anything, so he had to bite the bullet and said: "Uncle heard that King Wei killed generals in front of the battle, but he didn't understand why the saint didn't pursue the crime of King Wei's overstepping his authority. But I wonder if the general knows the reason?"
Yu Wenshu immediately understood that Yuan Zhou wanted to suppress and bring down Yang Ji with him, so he asked Yuan Min to test him, and Yun Dingxing was their matchmaker. But his first enemy is Yang Su, not the prince Yang Ji. There is no direct conflict of interest between him and Yang Ji, the shepherd of Liangzhou, so how can he become the revenge blade of the Yuan family? If Yang Ji is angered and joins forces with Yang Su to mess with him, he will definitely not be able to withstand it.
Yu Wenshu pondered for a moment and then said slowly: "King Wei did not commit the crime of overstepping his authority by killing Zhao Shizhu and He Lanyi, but he had already gone to the saint to show that they had reached a secret agreement with Qiao Zhongkui. At that time The Youzhou Army was blindly arrogant and the situation was extremely critical. If King Wei did not behead Zhao Shizhu and He Lanyi to deter the entire army, they would lead the Youzhou Army into Qiao Zhongkui's encirclement. Since the two generals were rebel generals He is the brother of Zhao Zikai and He Lanyou, so he and the sage agree with King Wei’s explanation and approach.”
"So that's it!" A cunning look flashed in Yuan Min's eyes, and he suddenly asked: "Zuo Pushe suppressed the rebellion with lightning speed this time. I'm afraid he will go one step further. I wonder what the general thinks?"
Yuan Min's understatement struck a deep chord in Yu Wenshu's heart. Yu Wenshu's face suddenly darkened. He quickly calmed down the dissatisfaction in his heart and pretended to be indifferent: "If Zuo Pushe goes one step further, , that is well deserved.”
"The general is so knowledgeable and insightful, I admire him." Yuan Min secretly smiled in his heart. Everyone knew about the grievances between the Yuan family and Yang Ji. Yu Wenshu would definitely not use the Yuan family's sword against Yang Ji. He took Yang Ji's killing of generals as an example. It was just to take off Yu Wenshu's guard. His real intention was to test the relationship between Yu Wenshu and Yang Su on Yuan Zhou's order.
Although Yu Wenshu covered it up quickly, Yuan Min couldn't hide his expression. It can also be seen from this that Yang Guang's former right-hand men are no longer in harmony with each other. As long as they are no longer of the same mind, the Yuan family will use the struggle between the two major forces to seek benefits.
Yuan Min's goal had been achieved, and he continued to say indifferent words for a while, then said goodbye to Yun Dingxing.
Yu Wenhuaji saw off the guests and ran back to the door of the study quickly. Seeing his father pacing back and forth with a gloomy face, he whispered with some fear: "Yeah, they're gone."
"Well! Come in and sit down. I have something for you to do." Yu Wenshu nodded. Yuan Min's words just now broke his mood and guard, exposing his weakness in trying to surpass Yang Su in advance. , which made him really angry.
"Here!" Yu Wenhuaji closed the door and sat down inside. Seeing that his father was worried and frowning, he probed in a more cautious tone: "Ah, are you worried about Yang Su?"
"How could I not be annoyed?" Yu Wenshu was silent for a long time, and then he let out a long sigh: "Seeing him go further and create better conditions for his descendants to threaten the survival of my descendants, I feel really sad in my heart. I can’t calm down!”
Yu Wenshu is already fifty-nine, and is about to reach the age where he will know his destiny. At his age, the most important thing to consider is the future of the family. Although his eldest son Huaji and his third son Zhiji are capable of both literary and military skills, they have fatal flaws in their characters. , if he gets old, how long can the glory of the Yuwen family last?
Although the second son was a good scholar, his upcoming status as Prince Consort also severely restricted him, making him not only unable to inherit his family business, but also unable to provide more protection to the family.
Therefore, whether the family will prosper or decline in the future depends on whether he can go further and provide more and better conditions for his children. If he is a highly respected official during his lifetime, he will be able to lay a strong and prosperous foundation for future generations. With Shiji's help and supervision, no matter how much Huaji and Zhiji spend their money, the third generation has quite favorable conditions for growth and a starting point for becoming an official.
But Yang Su is the biggest stumbling block to his position as a supreme minister. If he can't be moved away early, what kind of a supreme minister can he be?
What's more serious is that Yang Su is only two years older than him. It's hard to say who will die first. It is the little life left that makes Yuwen Shushen feel the urgency of time, so in order to have the effect of hitting Yang Su, he does not hesitate to kill Yang Su. Yang Ji's whereabouts were betrayed to Yang Liang, hoping to destroy Yang Su's strategic policy of quick victory from the side.
However, he underestimated Yang Ji.
It was Yang Ji who entered Daizhou as scheduled that caused the rebellion to be quickly extinguished. In the end, not only was he unable to attack Yang Su, but he also added an enemy to himself. If Yang Ji knew that he had betrayed him, how could he remain indifferent? ?
Yu Wenhuaji was relieved when he saw that his father was not angry with him, and asked again: "According to Yuan Min, the saint plans to promote Yang Su to the official position?"
Yu Wenshu glared at his son dissatisfied: "The whole capital is rejoicing, and all kinds of songs and praises are flying everywhere. Don't you understand the point?"
Yu Wenhuaji was startled when his father glanced at him. He straightened his body and bent down again. He said the truth with trepidation, "The child didn't pay close attention."
"You should pay more attention to such important events in the court in the future, especially the rumors in the market. And the rumors that dominate the situation are usually some people secretly fueling the flames and building momentum in secret, with the purpose of achieving a certain goal. ." At this point, Yu Wenshu snorted again and said: "You must take what I say to heart, otherwise you will die without knowing what happened."
Yu Wenhuaji said humbly: "My child knows his mistake."
"But you won't change!" Yu Wenshu had heard his two unsatisfactory sons say "children know their mistakes" thousands of times, but in the blink of an eye, they were back to their old ways, so his preaching method also started from patient explanation. , detailed analysis turned into fighting with fists and kicks, and serving with sticks. Fortunately, the eldest son has consciously changed a little bit during this period, so he said something but said nothing more.
Yu Wenhuaji saw that the expected fists and kicks did not appear unexpectedly, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Then what is the saint's attitude towards Yang Su's contribution?"
"This is no longer a problem for saints." Yu Wenshu sighed: "Now the whole city calls Yang Su the God of War, pushing him to an unprecedented height. If the saint does not reward him, wouldn't it chill the hearts of his subjects? What if? If a 'military god' who has made great achievements cannot be rewarded, how will he be able to make people work for the court in the future?"
Yu Wenhuaji suddenly said: "Is this what Aye said, 'Some people are secretly fueling the flames and building momentum in secret'?"
"Maybe, maybe not. But no matter what, Yang Su is bound to be promoted." Yuwen Shu's father was greatly relieved by his son's active learning and application, and his livid face finally looked much better.
After a moment of silence, Yu Wenhuaji asked again: "Aye, what do you mean by the Yuan family?"
"Hey!" Yu Wenshu sneered and said disdainfully: "The Yuan family always remembers the glory and greatness of their ancestors who conquered the mountains and rivers, and their ambition to restore the country never dies. If the world is peaceful in the Sui Dynasty, then the Yuan family will not be able to glorify again without them. opportunity."
Yu Wenhuaji plucked up the courage and said, "But don't our Yuwen family also want the world to be in turmoil?"
Yu Wenshu was startled. He never expected that his son would say such a sentence. His son had no ambitions, little talent, and only knew how to bully men, dominate women, and pursue pleasure. At this time, he actually said such ambitious words. This really impressed him, and at the same time, he was so excited that his heart skipped a beat. It's not that Yu Wenshu wants to seek the world, but he feels that once the eldest son has ambitions, he will study hard and work hard to realize his ambitions. Even if he cannot become emperor in the future, at least he can keep the family business that he has worked hard for. .
He asked in an arrogant tone: "Then what do I think?"
Yu Wenhuaji said: "My child feels that the Yuan family has a deeper background than our family. We can join hands with the Yuan family and use their power to deal with Yang Su and even confuse the court. This will make our Yuwen family from Profit from chaos.”
When Yuwenshu heard this, he felt deeply in his heart. The Yuwen family could only rise for three generations, and its foundation was far inferior to that of the Yuan family. If they joined forces with the Yuan family, which was deeply rooted, they would indeed have a lot of conveniences, but he had to consider Yang Guang's attitude. If Yang Guang knew that he and the Yuan family were flirting with each other, but he couldn't even keep his current status, not to mention taking a step further.
He thought for a while and said: "What my son said is right. The Yuan family wants to use my power, and we also want to use their strong foundation to profit, but it is not appropriate for me to come forward. From now on, you will represent me in dealing with the Yuan family. However, you must report everything truthfully, and you are not allowed to make promises or make decisions without authorization. Otherwise, you will be tricked by the Yuan family without knowing it."
Perhaps because he felt that his tone was too serious and harsh, Yu Wenshu softened his tone and said gently: "It's not that I don't believe in your ability, it's just that cooperating with the Yuan family is no less than seeking skin from a tiger. I'm worried about your Yuan family." They are all foxes, and I fell into Yuan Min’s trick just now, so we, father and son, came together to deal with the Yuan family.”
In order to dispel his son's idea of making decisions without authorization, Yu Wenshu even told his own embarrassing stories, which greatly increased the cunning of the Yuan family.
"Here!" Yu Wenhuaji hesitated for a while and asked his father: "Ah, how should the child deal with the Yuan family? How should he reply to them?"
"The two parties are just trying to communicate now. It's still early for answers and promises, and I don't trust them, so don't worry about it for now." Yuwenshu thought for a while and said to his son: "You will have a banquet outside tomorrow. Yuan Min, be careful to invite more people to the banquet. It doesn’t matter how you eat, drink, or talk about things, but in terms of seats, you must arrange Yuan Min to the first guest seat. You are my eldest son and the heir of the Yuwen family, outside , you represent me. So as long as you make such an arrangement, the Yuan family will understand my attitude! If the Yuan family really joins forces with us, then Yuan Min will definitely entertain you the day after tomorrow and arrange you to the first guest seat . Repeat this cycle a few times, and then you can have an individual interview.”
"I understand, kid!" Yu Wenhuaji nodded, thought for a while, and then asked, "Don't you want to go through Yun Dingxing?"
Yu Wenshu shook his head and said coldly: "Yun Dingxing, this insatiable white-eyed wolf, has my promise, and he actually acts as a stepping stone for Yuan Min. This also shows that he has a close relationship with the Yuan family. Maybe he has some agreement with King Yuzhang that we don’t know about, so this person is quite unreliable and we must not let him know about the family’s rise and fall.”
"My child understands."
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