The fifth year of Yanxi in the Han Dynasty was the fifth year of Chiwu in the state of Wu.
At that time, Gu Yong, the prime minister of Wu State, was old and sick and could not manage affairs for a long time.
General Lu Xun is temporarily in charge of the affairs of the Prime Minister.
In July, Emperor Sun Quan of the State of Wu once again deliberately sent General Nie You and Colonel Lu Kai to lead 30,000 troops to attack Dan'er (now western Hainan) and Zhuya (now eastern Hainan) on the pretext of plundering the population.
In the court hall, I was admonished by the ministers headed by the above-mentioned general Lu Xun:
"Traveling far away is barren, attacking people thousands of miles away, and storms are unpredictable. In addition, it is a foreign land, isolated from the sea, and the water, soil and air are poisonous. This has existed since ancient times. When soldiers enter and leave the people, they will inevitably suffer from diseases and will be polluted. Those who go there are afraid and cannot fight back, so
How can we gain so much?”
"Furthermore, the change of water and soil among the people will inevitably lead to diseases and epidemics. If you want to gain, you will suffer more, and if you want to gain, you will do more harm. The soldiers on the river bank are in vain, hoping for some unexpected gain, and the foolish officials are still uneasy..."
Sun Quan, who was sitting on top, looked at the crowd of ministers standing up below, all of whom were opposed to his decision. He couldn't help but feel a sense of irritation and anger in his heart.
When his eyes fell on Lu Xun at the front, he felt even more secretly resentful.
But I saw him slap his gums violently and yelled:
"You keep saying that this is a plan for the country and for Wu, good!"
"Of all your families and tribes, which tribe does not have a clan soldier? Which person does not have a tribe in the army?"
"If this is not the case, you will hand over all your respective clan armies. I will not send these 30,000 people to sea, but will send them all to attack Hefei. Are you willing?"
Sun Quan's words immediately shocked everyone.
Especially the representatives of the major families in Jiangdong looked horrified.
The song in the middle of the army is inherited by the son after the father dies, which is the tradition of Wu Dynasty.
Allowing each major clan to retain a certain amount of private clan soldiers was a compromise that King Huan had reached with the major clans since he took control of Jiangdong.
Ahem, Your Majesty, you must still remember that your Sun family has a criminal record, right?
To put it bluntly, if the major families did not have these private soldiers, they would not feel confident!
Unless your Majesty is crazy, why would you want to destroy the foundation of Wu?
Just as deep down in Sun Quan's heart, he didn't want to believe in the Jiangdong family.
How could the Jiangdong family forget that the Sun family brutally massacred Jiangdong and caused the major families to shed blood?
Of course, there are not many benefits to legally owning a private tribe and family clan soldiers.
To put it bluntly, this has almost become the foundation for the Jiangdong family and even the Huaisi Group to control the military power of the Wu State.
On this point, the two major political groups in Wu State are in rare agreement.
Zhou Gongjin died young, and his eldest son Zhou Xun also died young. His second son Zhou Yin was supposed to be the heir, but he didn't expect that he would be dismissed from official position for his crimes.
Later, Zhuge Jin, Bu Zhi, Zhu Ran, Quan Cong and other important ministers wrote letters again and again, requesting pardon for their crimes, and at the same time, the Zhou family's troops and horses were returned and their titles were restored.
Sun Quan delayed again and again, and finally he could no longer delay, so he pretended to ask for permission.
Before the edict was issued, Zhou Yin couldn't bear it anymore and died first.
Thirty years after Zhou Yu's death, when his eldest son died early and his second son was removed from office and became a citizen, it became even more difficult for Sun Quan, as the emperor, to deprive the Zhou family of their tribes.
If the second son hadn't died in a hurry, Sun Quan would have had to return his Buqu in the end.
It is conceivable that even if you are the emperor, you can't move the troops of the Wu Kingdom as you please.
Not to mention asking them to hand over Bu Qu and Zong Bing now is simply poking their roots!
Sun Quan looked at the shocked ministers below and sneered:
"What? You don't even want to?"
He was so angry that he stood up, pointed his parallel fingers at the ministers, and scolded:
"Of course I know that you are unwilling! One or two of you keep saying that it is for the sake of the country and for me."
"In all these years, have I reduced the number of men in my tribe? Have I ever reduced the number of soldiers in a clan? No, not at all. Instead, you secretly add men and women every year, and I have never said a word!"
"It's not you who are thinking about me, it's me who is thinking about you! And what about you, what do you want to do now?"
"I didn't move your troops, but you actually turned it around and wanted to tell me how to mobilize the Chinese army, right?!"
In fact, over the years, Sun Quan personally led troops to the north many times, fully aware of the dangers of generals having their own tribes.
Even in his opinion, these military generals who were too selfish and did not want to attack the city but only wanted to plunder the people should bear a large part of the responsibility for the failure of the northward march.
Therefore, he has long been determined to gather military power in the central government and strengthen centralization.
However, the hereditary military leadership system is an important military pillar of the Wu State. Once this is disturbed, the entire Wu Kingdom will be shaken.
Therefore, he could only endure it and think of ways to gradually solve it.
This time's rage was not entirely an act of pretense.
It was the actions of Lu Xun, Quan Cong and others that unintentionally touched Emperor Sun's heart at this sensitive moment.
They don't allow me to seek immortality and live a long life, and they don't allow me to take back military power. The successor I trained so hard is gone, and the current prince is young and ignorant.
What do you want to do now?
Do you just want me to die early so that you can control the future Emperor Wu?
Of course, there may be another reason why Emperor Sun was so angry that even Emperor Sun himself was not aware of.
That's because these days, he seems to be increasingly unable to control his temper.
It was unimaginable before to say these words openly in court like now.
Lu Xun, Quancong and others naturally did not expect His Majesty to say these words. They were so excited on the spot that they kowtowed in fright:
"I don't dare!"
"I will die!"
Seeing a large area of darkness lying below, Sun Quan snorted angrily, threw up his sleeves and left.
The court meeting ended hastily.
Quan Cong never expected that he would put aside his grudges and cooperate with Lu Boyan, but he would get such a result.
After walking out of the Dragon Palace, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
It seems that this time, there is nothing to dissuade His Majesty.
"Grand Governor!"
While I was worried, I suddenly heard someone calling me not far ahead.
Xun Sheng looked up and saw General Shang, who had come out earlier than him, standing not far ahead.
Next to the general, there were several ministers of the DPRK and China.
Quan Cong would naturally not quarrel with Lu Xun in public.
What's more, the two of them had just collaborated.
He took two quick steps, stepped forward and said:
"General, are you calling for Cong?"
Lu Xun looked worried:
"His Majesty retired from the imperial court midway. Is this what the Commander-in-Chief has to do?"
Quan Cong sighed:
"Your Majesty is unwilling to listen to advice, what should I do?"
Lu Xun stared at Quan Cong and said slowly:
"I heard that the Governor went to Xuanwu Gate to knock on the door two days ago, but was not received by His Majesty?"
Quan Cong frowned:
"What do you mean by these words, General?"
Lu Xun looked past Quan Cong to the Divine Dragon Palace behind him, as if he wanted to see through the Divine Dragon Palace and see clearly the palace and the harem.
Then he said in a low voice:
"Your Majesty sent a large number of troops out to sea for no reason, and what he said in court today made me feel very uneasy. Therefore, I also want to follow the example of the Grand Governor and want to see Your Majesty."
His eyes turned to Quan Cong again:
"I wonder if the Governor is free enough to accompany Xun on this trip?"
Knock?
Quan Cong was stunned.
When he saw Lu Xun's eager eyes, he couldn't help but hesitate for a moment and was about to nod.
At this time, someone beside Lu Xun said:
"General and Governor, in my humble opinion, your Majesty's recent behavior is very different from the past. I'm afraid there is a reason for it."
When Quan Cong heard this, he looked at the speaker and immediately showed disgust.
Because the person who spoke was none other than Gu Tan and Gu Zimo.
In the case of Shouchun's military exploits, it was Gu Cheng, Zhang Xiu and others who took away all the military exploits.
Who is Gu Cheng?
He is Gu Tan's younger brother.
If Quan Cong was just at odds with Lu Xun, then he had a grudge against the Gu family.
It's just that in this situation, it's obviously not easy to have an attack.
Quan Cong could only snort and look away from Gu Tan.
The actions of Lu Xun and Quan Cong were opposite. He turned to look at Gu Tan with interest:
"What do you think Zimo has to say?"
Gu Tan quickly said humbly:
"I don't dare. I'll ask the general, but Tan is just giving me my humble opinion."
"But it doesn't matter."
"Since His Majesty ascended to the throne, there has never been a master of the harem, and the concubines have not had a female monarch, so there are inevitably some omissions in the harem."
Gu Tan just said this, Quan Cong's brows couldn't help but jump!
Do you dare to criticize the imperial harem?
Quan Cong looked at Lu Xun subconsciously.
Lu Xun had no intention of stopping him. Feeling Quan Cong's eyes looking over, he just hesitated for a moment and then said:
"It is easy to say: There is a husband and wife, and then there is a father and son. This is the beginning of a wife's relationship and the prosperity of her family. There is an emperor but no queen, and there is an imbalance of yin and yang. Therefore, the discussion of establishing a queen is not only a matter of your Majesty's family and country, but also a major event of the country."
Quan Cong was unable to refute this sentence.
After Lu Xun said this, he looked at Gu Tan again:
"It's just the master of the harem, how can it be related to this matter?"
Gu Tan did not answer immediately. He looked around first.
Fortunately, when people passing by saw the general discussing matters with the governor, they would wisely stay away.
"Tan once heard that in the harem, His Majesty called his favorite concubine his immortal companion without calling her by her name. He also used the method of cultivating Taoism to cultivate immortality with his beloved concubine."
"This can be said to be that the harem has no owner, so it is forbidden to cause chaos? I should advise your majesty to appoint a queen early and clear the harem so that those with ulterior motives cannot mislead your majesty."
"Outside, we will do our best to serve as loyal ministers and give more advice, so that we can put an end to His Majesty's actions of following Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han in his later years."
Although Gu Tan did not mention a word about sending troops overseas to foreign lands, the "actions of Emperor Qin and Han Wu in his later years" are enough to explain the problem.
As soon as Gu Tan said these words, everyone around Lu Xun changed their expressions.
It is no secret that Your Majesty likes to talk about gods.
Yu Zhongxiang (also known as Yu Fan), a famous scholar from Jiangdong, once refuted His Majesty's views on gods and was exiled to Jiaozhou. He was not even pardoned before his death.
It was precisely because of what happened to Yu Zhongxiang that everyone tacitly agreed not to mention it, or rather they did not dare to mention the subject of His Majesty's quest for immortality.
Unexpectedly, Gu Zimo would dare to say it in public today.
Is he really not afraid of becoming the second Yu Zhongxiang?
Lu Xun took a deep look at Gu Tan, then turned to Quan Cong:
"What do the Grand Governors think?"
At this time, Quan Cong felt a little regretful.
I thought it was bullshit!
Not even the princess dared to mention this topic in the palace, but you, Gu Zimo, are really not afraid of death!
Quan Cong finally looked at Gu Tan:
"Then Gu Shangshu thinks, among the ladies in the harem, who can be the empress?"
"I am the Crown Prince's mother, Mrs. Wang." Gu Tan said without hesitation, "Apart from Mrs. Wang, is there anyone with more status than her?"
Quan Cong stopped talking.
Of course he could guess who Gu Tan wanted to talk about.
He just asked casually, but in fact he was already thinking about how to back down.
Quan Cong admitted that if Da Wu wants to be canonized as queen now, Mrs. Wang is indeed the most suitable candidate.
And we can only establish Mrs. Wang.
Otherwise, what should the prince do?
Mrs. Wang is not one of those concubines without status, unlike the former prince's biological mother, who can be deprived of her status at will.
But don't forget, there is a princess in the house.
This princess has always been at odds with Mrs. Wang.
If Quan Cong really wants to support Mrs. Wang in taking the throne, wouldn't that be digging his own grave?
"The matter of establishing a queen is related to the foundation of the country and must be considered in the long term. How can it be discussed openly in public? It is so inappropriate!"
Then he raised his hands and saluted Lu Xun:
"Let Cong leave first."
After speaking, he left regardless of Lu Xun's attempts to stay.
Looking at Quan Cong's back, Gu Tan felt a little worried about his face, snorted and looked unhappy.
Lu Xun sighed:
"I thought that the Governor was alone and was a selfless person, but I didn't expect..."
He believed that he had no selfish motives when it came to Shouchun's military exploits.
Therefore, he used himself to save others, thinking that Quan Cong could put aside his past grudges and work together to contribute to the country.
Unexpectedly, Quan Cong was not even willing to give him this face.
"Come on, General, what should we do?"
Lu Xun looked at the Dragon Palace again, his eyes becoming firm:
"Quan Zihuang (also known as Quan Cong) dares to knock on the door alone. How can we and others be no better than him?"
As he spoke, he looked at the people around him:
"Do you dare to go with me?"
"I would like to accompany you, General!"
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Naturally, Quan Cong didn't know what Lu Xun and others decided after he left.
After he returned to his house, he went straight to Princess Quan and told the story exactly.
When Princess Quan heard this, her expression suddenly changed, she gritted her teeth and stamped her feet:
"Gu Zimo! You dare to stir up trouble like this just because your great father is the prime minister! I really don't dare to kill you!"
She has been at odds with Mrs. Wang for a long time.
If one's own mother (i.e. Mrs. Bu) failed to become the queen during her lifetime, and her rival could eventually become the mother of a country, that would not only be an insult to her.
It will become a lingering shame and overwhelming hatred that cannot be eliminated for the whole princess's life.
Seeing this, Quan Cong quickly comforted him:
"Princess, don't be anxious. I see that Your Majesty is very determined in sending people to sea this time. The matter of establishing a queen is an important matter for the country."
"Even if Lu Boyan wants to persuade His Majesty on these two matters, I'm afraid it will not be easy."
"Having said that, Lu Boyan has a very high reputation in the government and the public." Princess Quan's eyes flashed with a gloomy light, "I heard that he was the one who persuaded your Majesty to make Sun He the crown prince."
"Who knows whether he will persuade His Majesty again this time?"
It's probably a good thing but a bad thing.
While Quan Cong and his wife were still discussing the matter, news like a bolt from the blue was sent to the mansion:
Your Majesty agreed to summon the general!
What made Princess Quan feel even more anxious was that someone in the palace took the risk to send her a message, saying that Your Majesty seemed to have decided on the matter of establishing a queen.