Li Shaoyou and Wang Jingchong were summoned to the throne and went to the Chongzheng Hall. They happened to see Wei Renpu and others filing out with solemn expressions, which made their hearts tremble.
Although the relationship between the two of them had become extremely bad, Wang Jingchong still held his hands and greeted each other with a smile: "Dong Shouyang is also here under the imperial edict?"
He snorted coldly and without even looking at Wang Jingchong, Li Shaoyou took the lead and walked towards the palace. Wang Jingchong was left behind, with a smile on his face still like a spring breeze, but his eyes were clearly cold and sinister.
After walking a few steps, Li Shaoyou suddenly turned around, his face changed into a smile, and he stretched out his hand to signal, cheerfully: "Ren Gong is old, so I'd better invite you first. Your Majesty is summoning you. There must be something important, so I can't keep you here for a long time." wait!"
Li Shaoyou has become increasingly moody recently, making Wang Jingchong difficult to fathom. The strangeness in his heart quickly disappeared, and Wang Jingchong's old face almost turned into a chrysanthemum with a smile.
During this period of time, Wudesi has been engaged in a fierce internal struggle. In the constant struggle, he has gradually completed his own purification. Many of the subordinates promoted by Li Shaoyou, including the acquaintances, relatives, detectives, etc., were eliminated. Of course, Wang Jingchong was not immune. They acted under the same set of rules. Who could cheat the other and who could cheat the other.
Even Wang Jingchong's losses were greater. After all, his style of conduct was much more unlimited than that of Li Shaoyou. His subordinates were rarely spared if they were caught and tortured to death. The fierce conflict gave Wude Division a good clean-up atmosphere, and even affected the guards of the two battalions of Wude.
After Liu Chengyou saw that it was almost over, he issued an edict to the Wude Secretary to cool down the situation. He called Li Shaoyou and Wang Jingchong into the palace and severely reprimanded them, and the turmoil ended.
During this turmoil, Wang Jingchong once again understood a profound truth: Li Shaoyou is not so easy to deal with because of his background. Originally, he thought that by catching on to Li Shaoyou's omissions, he could bring him down, but at worst he could be transferred from Wude Division. After all, in Wang Jingchong's view, the emperor did not care about his relatives, and the examples of the emperor's uncle and the country's uncle being punished could be ignored. In front.
But the final result disappointed Wang Jingchong. After learning a lesson, Wang Jingchong also changed his strategy in time and began to avoid direct conflict with Li Shaoyou. Instead, he flattered the emperor and actively acted to restore the trust he had lost with Liu Chengyou in this turmoil.
Wang Jingchong is very politically sensitive.
Arriving in front of the emperor, Li Shaoyou and Wang Jingchong both restored their respectful and respectful attitude and listened quietly to the emperor's instructions.
Liu Chengyou did not talk nonsense with them and dismissed the two of them with one sentence: "Next, select capable detectives and workmen under the Wude Department. No matter what method is used, I will go north to spy on the Khitan and observe its unusual movements. .”
"Yes!" Faced with the emperor's death order, Li and Wang did not dare to say anything and could only obey the order decisively.
The sun was setting in the west, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on Liu Chengyou through the window lattice of the main hall, casting his shadow on the haloed map.
"Guan Jia, you have been standing for more than an hour, you should rest for a while first!" Zhang Dejun stepped forward and whispered.
Liu Chengyou raised his hand and rubbed his sore eyes. Only then did he feel the burden on his legs. After all, he had stood for too long. He directly asked a chair to be brought to him and sat down. Liu Chengyou asked Wang Zhu who was waiting in the palace: "Wang Zhu, you also heard the discussion in the palace just now. What time do you think the Khitan will choose if it launches a large-scale army?"
Liu Chengyou was at a loss for words. When he heard about it, the king looked frightened and said, "Your Majesty, I am just a scholar. I don't know how to fight, and I don't know anything about military affairs. I don't dare to speak nonsense. However, it is recorded in historical records that there were many Hulu and Nan bandits. Choose the time when autumn is high and the horses are fat, when the Central Plains is harvesting wheat and ripening, and they are providing food for them!"
"But this time, the Khitan thieves took advantage of my spring plowing to plunder my people and destroy my fields. Why?" Liu Chengyou asked.
Wang Zhu thought for a while, shook his head, and replied sincerely: "I forgive you for being stupid. Although I know that the barbarians must have something up their sleeve, I really don't know what it is."
Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing. This person has no city in his mind, but his mind is simple, and he behaves like a gentleman in his daily life.
After listening to what he said, Liu Chengyou said: "The Khitans' move may be a summer offensive, but if they want to mobilize troops in the autumn, then their intentions are even greater. If they ruin our spring plowing, they want to make us unable to harvest autumn crops in northern Hebei." If we don't continue, it will be like fighting at that time..."
Liu Chengyou's conjecture shocked Wang Zhu, and he said angrily: "Khitan people, have such insidious intentions?"
Liu Chengyou murmured coldly: "I heard that Yelu Ruan likes Han culture, learns our Han system, and uses our Han people. Such an enemy is much more difficult to deal with than ordinary barbarians. Use troops to fight, Food and grass are the most important thing. If the Northern invaders adopt the strategy of attacking in the spring and plundering in the autumn for a long time, it will definitely cause great harm to our dynasty!"
"Your Majesty, is it impossible to curb the ambition of the Khitans?" At this time, Wang Zhu behaved like an angry young man, filled with rage and anger.
Liu Chengyou looked up at the map that was almost engraved in his mind. His eyes changed from calm to sharp. He stood up quickly, made a fist, and said domineeringly: "A few years have made the Khitan people forget. Lessons from the Battle of Luancheng! If the Khitans really dare to go south in a big way, even if I try to postpone the Huainan attack and try to destroy Hebei, I will personally take the infantry and cavalry troops and hit them head-on. It will hurt, and it will hurt to the bone. .”
"Your Majesty is so proud, I surrender to you!" Wang Zhu felt something in his heart, and excitement appeared on his face.
Due to the changes in the Khitan, Liu Chengyou was already constructing a big strategic blueprint in his mind. For example, if the Khitans move their troops southward, they will use the entire Hebei province as the battlefield and lure them into the hinterland of Hebei. Using Yeduji, Chan, Hua, Pu, and Bozhou as the points, they will gather an army of 200,000 horse and infantry troops and conduct a strategic advance with them. decisive battle. Solving the Khitan threat once and for all would at least allow him to avoid the dilemma of being attacked from both sides during the process of unification.
Of course, this was just an immature idea of Liu Chengyou, and it was also an idea that was forced out of him because of the huge threat the Khitan posed to his strategy of "first south, then north". Even if the trip can be made, using the whole of Hebei as bait, regardless of the outcome of the decisive battle, will be a huge harm to the rejuvenated Han Dynasty, and will seriously delay his process of flattening the countries.
However, again, how the situation develops and how the Northern Han Dynasty responds ultimately depends on the actions of the Khitan.
Under the map of the Han Dynasty, Liu Chengyou stayed until night. The clearer his mind became, the more depressed he became.
Walking to the front of the hall, blowing the night breeze, looking at the starry night sky, so high and quiet. There was actually a little doubt and confusion on his face.
Liu Chengyou was thinking about how Guo Rong annexed the Southern Tang Dynasty to avoid being attacked from both sides. You must know that Zhou Shizong faced not only the threat of the Khitan who owned the Yanyun Land like a sword hanging from his neck, but also the "Khitan" who occupied Hedong. Northern Han Dynasty".
On the "Northern Han" side, Liu Chengyou could figure out that the battle of Gaoping almost broke the backbone of the "Northern Han" and extinguished the ambitions of Liu Chong and his son. The Khitans did not move their troops. Facing the Hou Zhou Dynasty at that time, They can only take a defensive stance and dare not make any big moves to harass them.
The question is why the Khitans stood still during Guo Rong's massive attack on Huainan and allowed him to annex the fourteen prefectures and millions of households in the north of the Yangtze River. Guo Rong's campaign against Huainan was three campaigns, with several years of fierce fighting before and after...
What happened to Khitan? Or is it for some other reason?
Liu Chengyou was deeply puzzled. Of course, if he had covered a wider range of topics, his confusion would probably be solved.
At the time of Guo Rong's southern campaign, the sleeping king of Khitan, Yelujing, was already in power.
