Chapter seven hundred and forty second storm rises again
Liu Xiu gave Guo Shengtong a phoenix crown, Yin Lihua twelve east beads, and Xu Xiling a longevity lock. It was considered that he had taken care of all the three concubines in the harem.
That night, Liu Xiu held a banquet in the palace, not only to celebrate the triumphant return of the Eastern Expedition Army, but also to welcome Gai Yan, Ma Wu, Wang Ba, Liu Long and other generals.
The scale of this banquet was very large. In the court, ministers with a salary of more than two thousand dan were present. In addition, the ministers' wives, legitimate sons and daughters were also invited to the palace.
It's just that the men's banquet is in the front palace, and the women's banquet is in the harem. Men and women have different seats. This is the rule of formal banquets.
During the banquet, Liu Xiu first commended Gai Yan, Ma Wu, Wang Ba, Liu Long and other officers and soldiers of the Eastern Expedition for their achievements. Of course, he also did not forget Deng Yu’s Western Expedition and Wu Han’s Southern Expedition, which greatly influenced him.
The two men and their officers also commended them.
Hearing Liu Xiu's praise, Deng Yu and Wu Han felt a little uncomfortable. Their Eastern Expeditionary Army had won consecutive battles and returned in triumph, but what about themselves? Compared with the Eastern Expeditionary Army, they were far behind.
!
Liu Xiu was in a good mood and almost praised the soldiers in the army.
Fu Zhan, who had been promoted to Grand Situ, frowned slightly, bowed to Liu Xiu, and said, "Your Majesty, although the Eastern Expedition went smoothly, the leader of the bandits, Liu Yong, is still there, so Your Majesty must take precautions!"
Song Hong, the Great Sikong, raised his hands and said: "What the Great Situ said is reasonable. As long as Liu Yong is still alive, it will be difficult for the eastern counties to have stability."
All the generals were very happy, but what these two said was like a basin of cold water poured on everyone's heads. Liu Xiu lowered his eyes, smiled calmly, and said: "Today is a celebration banquet, we don't discuss government affairs, just talk about romance.
good."
As he spoke, Liu Xiu looked at Zhang Kun and said, "Let the dancing girl enter the palace!"
Zhang Kun bowed in response and was about to announce Wu Ji's entry into the palace when Fu Zhan said seriously: "Wait a minute! Your Majesty, I believe that we should strike while the iron is hot and eradicate Liu Yong as soon as possible to avoid future troubles forever!"
Song Hong answered: "Now Liu Yong has fled to Yanzhou. If he gets strong support from Zhang Bu, Liu Yong may make a comeback in Yanzhou at any time."
Liu Xiu frowned secretly. Today he held a banquet in the palace, not only to celebrate his achievements, but also to relax, but Fu Zhan and Song Hong kept bringing the topic to government affairs, which made Liu Xiu a little tireless.
He said slowly: "This matter can be discussed in court tomorrow morning."
Fu Zhan said seriously: "Your Majesty, now is a good opportunity to eradicate Liu Yong. Your Majesty must not miss this opportunity!"
Before Liu Xiu could speak, Pang Meng, one of the generals of the Eastern Expedition Army, said, "I wonder what kind of good opportunity the Great Situ mentioned?"
Pang Meng was originally Xie Gong's general, but later Xie Gong was killed, and Pang Meng took refuge with Liu Xiu. Pang Meng was a low-key and humble person, and was highly appreciated by Liu Xiu. He originally served as a servant in Liu Xiu's place.
Gai Yan led his army to the Eastern Expedition, and Liu Xiu sent Pang Meng there. After the Eastern Expedition, Pang Meng was also awarded the title of General Ping Di, which is General Ping Di.
Although in terms of military rank, he is on the same level as generals such as Ma Wu, Wang Ba, and Liu Long, and they are all titled generals, in fact, his status is still quite different.
Ma Wu, Wang Ba, and Liu Long all have the title of marquis. Ma Wu is the Marquis of Yang Xu, Wang Ba is the Marquis of Huai Ling, and Liu Long is the Marquis of Jing Ling. Even if they don't get a salary, just the food is enough.
The family is well clothed and well fed.
Fu Zhan glanced at Pang Meng, ignored him, and said to Liu Xiu: "Your Majesty, Liu Yong has Yuzhou as his foundation, Zhang Bu will still follow him. Now that Liu Yong has lost his Yuzhou foundation, Zhang Bu will definitely treat Liu Yong."
The humble minister thought that your majesty could send a capable minister to Yanzhou to pacify Zhang Bu. As long as Zhang Bu is willing to surrender to our great Han Dynasty, Liu Yong will definitely become a piece of meat for me."
After hearing what he said, Gai Yan, Ma Wu, Wang Ba, Liu Long, Pang Meng and other generals looked at each other and frowned.
At present, Liu Yong has lost his foundation in Yuzhou, but there are still people who are loyal to Liu Yong, and they are now gathering in Yanzhou.
In addition, would Zhang Bu, who occupied Yanzhou, be willing to accept our surrender? How big of a promise would our side have to make to him before he would be willing to surrender?
The question they thought of was also thought of by Liu Xiu. The latter pondered for a moment and asked: "Who does Da Situ think is the safest person to send to appease Zhang Bu?"
Fu Zhan was about to speak when Fu Long, the Guanglu doctor, leaned over and said, "Your Majesty, I would like to go to Yanzhou to recruit Zhang Bu!"
Fulong is one of Fu Zhan's sons. He currently holds the position of Doctor Guanglu and is subordinate to Guanglu Xun. Doctor Guanglu is not a small official. His salary is more than two thousand dan, and he is a middle-to-high-level minister.
Seeing Fulong taking the initiative to ask for help, Liu Xiu couldn't help but be startled. Recruiting Zhang Bu was not an easy task, and the trip was also very dangerous. If an agreement could not be reached, his life would be in danger at any time.
Liu Xiu admired Fulong very much. He was upright and upright. In these aspects, it can be said that he was deeply influenced by his father Fu Zhan.
Liu Xiu was unwilling to send Fulong to take this risk. He waved his hand and said, "This matter will be discussed in court tomorrow morning."
Fulong was completely the younger version of Fu Zhan, with a very stubborn temper. Liu Xiu did not agree immediately, but said that the matter would be discussed tomorrow, which was equivalent to indirectly rejecting Fulong's invitation.
However, I don’t know if Fulong was pretending not to understand or if he really didn’t understand. He raised his hand and said, “Your Majesty, I am very confident that I can appease Zhang Bu!”
Liu Xiu lowered his eyes and said nothing. Pang Meng asked: "What conditions does Doctor Fu intend to offer to Zhang Bu?"
Fulong smiled slightly and said, "As long as your majesty agrees to allow Zhang Bu to be the governor of Donglai!"
Hearing this, Pang Meng almost laughed. Zhang Bu's current sphere of influence includes Taishan County, Donglai County, Chengyang County, Jiaodong County, Beihai County, Jinan County and Qi County.
It can be said that most of Yanzhou is within the control of Zhang Bu. Now you only grant him a mere Donglai governor, and he is willing to surrender? Isn't this just a dream?
Pang Meng shook his head repeatedly and said: "Doctor Fu, how can it be a trivial matter to recruit Zhang Bu to surrender?" Zhang Bu has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses under his command, and their forces are spread all over Yanzhou and the surrounding areas of Yanzhou. They are running rampant in Shandong. How can they be easy to get along with?
Fulong ignored Pang Meng. He kowtowed to Liu Xiu and said loudly: "Please give me your permission!"
Looking at Fulong who was determined to go to Yanzhou to recruit Zhang Bu, Liu Xiu looked helpless and turned to Fu Zhan, hoping that he would stand up and stop his own son.
Unexpectedly, Fu Zhan also kowtowed to Liu Xiu and said, "Your Majesty, I think that Doctor Fu is qualified for the job."
Liu Xiu looked at Fulong and then at Fu Zhan, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.
In fact, the war of the Eastern Expedition was not over. After all, Liu Yong was still alive. Why did Liu Xiu issue an order for the Eastern Expedition Army to return to the court?
Firstly, the Eastern Expeditionary Army was exhausted from the battle and really needed to return to Beijing to rest and recuperate. Secondly, it was also because Zhang Bu's power in Shandong was deeply rooted and it was not easy to fight.
If you can successfully recruit Zhang Bu to surrender with your three-inch tongue, that would be great. But the problem is that recruiting Zhang Bu to surrender will never be as easy as Fulong said. If you just surrender to a prefect casually, he will
He surrendered obediently. His idea was very dangerous in itself.
Liu Xiu pondered for a long time and said, "Let me think about this matter again, think about it!"
"Your Majesty..." Fulong was unwilling to give in and wanted to remonstrate. Liu Xiu waved his hand to him, interrupted what he was saying, and said to Zhang Kun on the side: "Didn't I ask you to announce that Wu Ji will enter the palace?"
Zhang Kun shrank his neck in fright and hurriedly ordered the young eunuch beside him to announce the dancing queen.
After a short time, a group of two or thirty dancers walked into the hall. As the musicians played music, the dancers also began to dance in the hall.
During the Han Dynasty, both the aristocracy and the people had a culture of dancing. Liu Xiu's ancestor, Liu Fa, the king of Changsha, won the favor of Emperor Jing with a dance and suddenly added three more counties to his fiefdom.
As the dancer danced, the tense atmosphere in the hall immediately dissipated, and Liu Xiu also had a smile on his face. He picked up the wine glass and exchanged glasses with the ministers on both sides from time to time.
When Liu Xiu was in high spirits, a young eunuch walked to the door of the hall and peeked inside from time to time. Upon seeing this, Zhang Kun immediately walked over quickly.
He walked out of the hall, pulled the young eunuch aside for a distance, and then scolded him in a low voice: "You are poking your head outside the hall, you don't want your head anymore? You are not in the harem, why did you come to the front palace?"
The young eunuch hurriedly bowed and saluted, and said in a trembling voice: "Yes... the queen is unwell!"
Zhang Kun was startled. The queen was not feeling well? He asked urgently: "What's going on? Where is the queen now? Has she called for an imperial doctor?"
The young eunuch said: "The queen has returned to Changqiu Palace, and a maid has gone to ask for the imperial doctor."
Zhang Kun said suspiciously: "The queen was fine during the day, why is she suddenly feeling unwell now?"
The young eunuch glanced at Zhang Kun and whispered: "Yes... he was angry with the palace maid next to Lord Yin."
"What?" The more Zhang Kun listened, the more confused he became. Why did this matter involve Yin Guiren again? He took a deep breath and reprimanded in a deep voice: "Please explain to me clearly what is going on!"
The banquet held by the female family members was also very lively. In addition to Guo Shengtong, Yin Lihua, Xu Xiling, Liu Huang, Liu Boji and other royal relatives, the female family members present were also the wives of princes and ministers.
The atmosphere was originally harmonious, but I don't know who started it. It was said that the maid next to Yin Lihua was a prostitute.
Yin Lihua was very protective of her palace maids. She first praised Li Xiu'e for her ability to keep her integrity even though she had worked as a prostitute. Then she went on to say that Li Xiu'e was born in an officialdom and was proficient in chess, calligraphy and painting. She was a truly talented woman. After hearing this,
After Yin Lihua's introduction, Guo Shengtong casually asked Li Xiu'e to paint on the spot to see if she was really talented and a talented woman.
After the Queen spoke, the female relatives of the princes and ministers who were present naturally followed her hard and asked Li Xiu'e to paint on the spot. Li Xiu'e was not afraid of the stage, and actually made a painting on the spot, which was a dragon and a phoenix.
Hearing this, Zhang Kun became more and more confused, and interrupted: "The dragon and the phoenix are auspicious? Isn't this great? How can you make the queen angry?"
The young eunuch grinned and said: "The problem lies in this painting. She...the dragon and phoenix painted by Liu Xiu'e are one dragon and two phoenixes!"
When Zhang Kun heard this, he unconsciously opened his mouth wide. One dragon and two phoenixes. What does this mean? Does it mean that the Yin nobles also want to be the queen, and they want to be on an equal footing with the queen?
"This...this...she...how can she be so brave?! Does she not want her head?"
In Zhang Kun's view, this Li Xiu'e is simply crazy. She actually dares to make such a bold painting in front of the queen, princess and so many important wives of the court. What else is she crazy?!