Li Shun's determination to punish severely forced Privy Councilor Zhang Yu to step forward. Zhang Yu frowned and cupped his hands and said: "Reporting to the king, the army led by General Dou in the attack on Jianmen Pass this time was not elite, and some bandits and other rabble were added along the way. They did not have much fighting power at all. Moreover, the intelligence we initially received was also wrong. The number of officers and soldiers guarding Jianmen Pass was not a few hundred. They and the reinforcements totaled more than 2,000 people. We were careless and underestimated the enemy. In addition, among the officers and soldiers guarding the city, there were people who really knew how to fight. Therefore, this defeat was not due to fighting. Please forgive me and give them a chance to atone for their sins."
After listening to Zhang Yu's words, before Li Shun could speak, Wu Yun, the head of the civil service under Tong Zhongshu's sect Ping Zhangshi, came out and said: "Your Majesty, Privy Zhang's words are wrong. Although the veteran is a civil servant , but we also understand that the so-called easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain of Jianmen Pass is for the enemy in the north of Guan. We are attacking Jianmen Pass from the inside, and the so-called natural danger does not exist. Even if Jianmen Pass has two thousand We had more than 10,000 defenders, five times as many troops as they did. Why were we still unable to capture the pass? How could we be invincible until the arrival of the imperial imperial army? Dou Shengxing and his wife died on the way to escape. It would be unfair if they were not held accountable. That's all, but if the defeated army is not held accountable, where is military discipline and law? Where is the majesty of the king? I want to be a villain for once, and ask the king to severely punish the officers who took the lead in escaping, so as to set the right course. Act as a warning to others!"
Li Shun nodded after hearing the words, looked at the ministers with a solemn expression, and issued the decree.
Chengdu Mansion, the headquarters of the Kowloon Society. In front of the mourning hall set up for Dou Shengxing and Li Taotao, Leng Qixian and Meng Yiyi, dressed in plain clothes, were burning paper money in the charcoal brazier with tears in their eyes. Next to them were Chu Lihan, Nangong Wu and Huo Ji, all dressed in ink. He looked at the rows of seats in the mourning hall with a stern look, without saying a word.
Since the brothers and sisters came out of the mountain, they followed Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun to conquer cities and territories, and made great achievements in military affairs. After Li Shun proclaimed himself king, they also gradually ascended to high positions. Once you have the power in your hands, you can do whatever you want in your life. But the price of being a high-ranking official and being rich and powerful is the loss of brothers and sisters one after another.
Chu Lihan sighed and said: "The nine of us brothers and sisters have been away from the mountain for half a year, and now there are only five of us left. The deaths of the fourth brother, the fifth brother, the sixth sister, and the seventh brother one after another made me feel like a knife. The five of us People must live well in the future, and the Kowloon Society can no longer afford to lose anyone else."
"Brother, since the King of Shu entered Chengdu, he has been discouraged by the prosperity of Jinguan City. He has been obsessed with sensuality all day long and has no ambition. He only knows the art of imperial checks and balances. He has not yet settled down. Jiangshan has begun to doubt the heroes. To put it bluntly, I really don't think much about the future of Shu." Huo Ji said angrily.
After Wang Xiaobo died in battle, Li Shun was quite good at accepting advice when he took over the power. He humbly accepted everyone's suggestions and always held high the slogan of "equalize the rich and the poor", which enabled the rebel army to maintain strong combat effectiveness and a steady stream of There is new blood joining it.
After capturing Chengdu, Li Shun ascended the throne as King of Shu with the support of everyone, established the Great Shu Kingdom, changed the reign name to "Yingyun", minted "Yingyun Tongbao" copper coins, posthumously named Wang Xiaobo the King of Shu, and established the Ancestral Temple. And gave everyone official positions according to their merits. Li Shun was quite accomplished when he first came to the throne. Although he was not as talented and enterprising as his brother-in-law Wang Xiaobo, he could still be regarded as a conservative king.
Perhaps it was because Chengdu Prefecture easily gave people a sense of comfort, or perhaps because Li Shun, who had been born in poverty since childhood, suddenly realized the wealth and honor brought by power, which made him obsessed with it. This may be the mentality of "poor people become rich".
Once power is in hand, fame and wealth are at your fingertips, and beauty is also indispensable. On the third day after Li Shun entered Chengdu Mansion, he hosted a banquet for meritorious ministers at Guanfang Tower, the largest restaurant in the city. It was during this banquet that Li Shun met the top courtesan of Guanfang House - Miss Luo Lan.
When Li Shun met the oiran for the first time, he was overwhelmed by Luo Lan's beauty, and Luo Lan was also attracted by Li Shun's identity. From then on, the two became inseparable. Lu Bin, the former inspector of the Xichuan capital, was Luo Lan's guest, and now, Li Shun has become Luo Lan's guest again. This shows that the beauty of this oiran must be extraordinary.
After hearing Huo Ji's words, Chu Lihan frowned and said, "Third brother, please don't lie. We were entrusted by the late king before his death and swore to assist the King of Shu to achieve great things. Now it's just a small setback. The imperial guards have just arrived. With a small group of cavalry, the real army cannot arrive so quickly. As long as our 200,000-strong army captures Zizhou as soon as possible and then sends the army to Jianmen Pass, why worry about not being able to capture the pass? More importantly, the imperial court still needs to send a large army to defend it. With the Liao Kingdom in the north and the Xixia people in the northwest, we simply cannot spare enough troops to go south."
Nangong Wu on the side also said: "I hope this setback at Jianmen Pass will wake up the King of Shu and stop indulging in pleasure."
"Huh, if he just indulges in pleasure, that's all. Even if he doesn't do things himself, he won't let us do things!" Huo Ji said with a cold snort.
Chu Lihan gave a bitter smile. He knew that his third brother Huo Ji had a lot of complaints against Shu King Li Shun, but due to his status, he could not express them in court, so he had to bury them in his heart. He thought for a while and then said: "The third brother is the most strategic among our brothers, and he has a lot of knowledge and contacts with the Liao people. I want you to go north to the Liao Kingdom as our envoy from the Great Shu Kingdom. Join forces with the Liao to attack the Song Dynasty, tell the Liao Kingdom the current situation on our side, and ask them to quickly send troops to attack the Song Kingdom from the north and the south with us."
In fact, Chu Lihan asked Huo Ji to be an envoy to the Liao Kingdom. On the one hand, it was true that Huo Ji had contacted the Liao people before and was familiar with the temperament of the Liao people, so he was more suitable for negotiation. On the other hand, it was also because Huo Ji had a lot of complaints about Li Shun. Although Li Shun didn't say it with his mouth, he already held a grudge in his heart. Chu Lihan was afraid that he would be wrong if he said too much here, so he sent him north to protect him.
Hearing this, Huo Ji also understood his elder brother's intentions and felt warm in his heart. He pondered for a while and then asked: "What is the bottom line of our bargaining chips in negotiating with the Liao Kingdom? The Liao people are very greedy."
Chu Lihan thought for a while, his pupils shrank slightly, and he said, "If something big can be accomplished, the area north of the Yellow River can be returned to the Liao Kingdom."
Huo Ji's eyelids twitched a few times when he heard this, and then he nodded and said, "In this way, it can be done, but the most important thing right now is to capture Jianmen Pass as soon as possible. As long as we can gain a foothold in Shu, then Only the Liao Kingdom would send troops south..."
