Seeing that Lin Jue looked a little nervous, Guo Xu smiled and said: "Lin Jue, don't think too much, I'm just chatting with you for a few words. Among the new generation of officials, you are the leader. I
People like to associate with outstanding people. I already expressed this wish that day at my second uncle's house. Although you have concerns, it does not affect my good impression of you."
Lin Jue said hurriedly: "I really don't dare to accept your highness's love. Lin Jue is just an ordinary person."
Guo Xu smiled and said: "It's not up to you to decide whether it's ordinary or not. If you don't have the ability, you can't even boast about it. Personal reputation and evaluation are the most important. Don't be offended, I'm here to check.
I know some things about you without me saying it explicitly. I will naturally know in my heart whether you are capable or not."
Lin Jue murmured in his heart that Guo Xu seemed to be really interested in him and actually investigated him secretly. But I wonder what he knew? It would be nothing if he knew something insignificant. If he knew about himself and the copycat in Funiu Mountain,
If he is implicated, then he will be in trouble. If he uses this as a threat, what should he do?
When Lin Jue was thinking wildly, Guo Xu spoke softly: "Lin Jue, I heard that you, Yan Zhengsu and your husband Fang Zhongcheng had some unpleasant troubles over the new law?"
Lin Jue was startled and braced himself. When Guo Xu asked about the reform, he had to be doubly careful in what he said.
"I don't know where your Highness heard such rumors. I did have a dispute with Mr. Yan and my mentor, but it was about the terms of the new law, not about any unpleasantness. It was for official business." Lin Jue said seriously.
.
"Haha, is it just an argument? I heard that they are asking to be transferred from the office of the Provincial Literary Examination Office. I am so angry that I want to give up. I am afraid it is not a simple argument." Guo Xu looked at Lin Jue with a smile.
Lin Jue was extremely surprised. How could the incident reach Guo Xu's ears that time? Not many people knew about it at that time. Apart from the four people who were in charge of the office of the Provincial Literary Review Office, they were Yan Zhengsu and Fang Dunru, and maybe there were people waiting for them.
The servant heard it, but he didn't know who told it.
"Actually, I agree with your point of view. I agree with the new law. After all, we need to carry out a reform now, otherwise it will appear to be in decline. However, some of the contents of the "Changping New Law" are indeed lacking.
Yes. I respect Mr. Yan. My father often said that no one in the world who works hard can be better than Mr. Yan Zhengshen. No one can question Mr. Yan’s sincerity for the country. But Mr. Yan has a shortcoming: he is too much.
If you are self-willed, your methods will not be strong. Forcing the borrowing policy will indeed have many disadvantages and may be beneficial to the people. What you suggest is to reduce the interest rate of borrowing and reduce the number of borrowings. It is a compromise.
Policy is an approach that suits the current situation."
Three words came to Lin Jue's mind: There is a mole! This is a sure thing. The dispute that day spread out maybe because someone saw the dispute. After all, there was a lot of people coming and going in the public house in the backyard, so there might be some people.
I saw the quarrel. But to say that the specific proposed measures are known to everyone, it means that someone must know the ins and outs of the whole thing and deliberately disclosed it. And there are very few people who know the content of the terms discussed before.
Those are the ones who are in the yamen, and the evil spirits must also be among those few.
"Your Highness, please forgive me for being rude. It is not appropriate to discuss the reform in private. Mr. Yan and Fang Zhongcheng have strict orders. No one from the Regulations Department is allowed to comment on the reform in private on any occasion or under any circumstances. Lin Jue As an official in the Ordinance Department, I cannot break this rule. So please forgive me, Your Highness. I cannot give any explanation or reply to what Your Highness said. I hope Your Highness will forgive me." Lin Jue decided to end the topic. He didn't want to Reveal anything about the new law. Because every word you say may become a source of leverage. Keeping silent is the only option.
Guo Xu did not show any sullenness, but smiled and said: "Okay, in that case, we won't talk about the reform. Let me say one more thing, I support the reform. Our country has reached the point where it cannot be changed. I am sorry for this." I was in favor of it with both hands. I even asked the Ordinance Department to participate in the reform, but unfortunately my father did not agree."
Lin Juexin said: "Can you agree? What's the point of you coming to the Ordinance Department? Mr. Yan and Mr. Fang still have the final say?"
"Lin Jue, our current situation in the Zhou Dynasty is very bad. The Zhou Dynasty was founded for more than a hundred years, and people say that everything has its own ups and downs. The previous dynasty Li and Tang were defeated in the year 289. In the second year of the Western Han Dynasty, It was defeated in the 110th year, and the Eastern Han Dynasty was defeated in the 240th year. It can be seen that when the country is halfway through, it is the beginning of defeat. I have been in the Zhou Dynasty for more than 140 years, can I really not get rid of this downward fate? "
Lin Jue was startled. Even a person of Guo Xu's status couldn't say such a thing. It was a treacherous statement and must not be said nonsense. When it comes to the extension of the country, no one dares to say that the Great Zhou Dynasty is in decline, and It can be concluded that more than half of the country's defeat is the beginning of its defeat. Isn't this a curse to the great Zhou Dynasty?
"Your Highness, these matters cannot be generalized. How can we infer the short and long term of a country based on a simple period of time? If it is governed properly, the prosperous age can last, and the country can also last for a long time. It will not be known for thousands of generations." Lin Jue said hurriedly.
"You can just talk to others about this outside, so there is no need to say it here. I guarantee you that not a single sentence of today's conversation here will leak out. If I leak the content of today's conversation, it will be called I can't die a good death. Of course, you can't leak it either, otherwise I won't let you go. You and I don't have to be secretive in this box. Once we leave this box, everything will disappear without leaving any traces." Guo Xu He said calmly.
Lin Jue's scalp was numb. Suddenly, the atmosphere of the entire conversation was determined by Guo Xuqin to be a truth or dare model. Guo Xu actually swore a poisonous oath to reassure himself, and the oath he swore was actually Lin Jue's oath. .Lin Jue naturally did not dare to reveal even a single word of what was said here.
"I just talked about the matter of Guozuo. I couldn't have said such treacherous words. The current situation is really not optimistic. I won't say much about internal affairs. Let's just talk about relations with other countries. At present, it has reached a dangerous stage. situation. You should know that after the new emperor Yelv Zongyuan of the Liao people came to the throne, he wanted to tear up the Yanyun Alliance between the Liao Kingdom and the Great Zhou Dynasty. The Liao people were shameless and even used force to coerce the Great Zhou Dynasty and threatened to They tore up the covenant and attacked me, the Great Zhou Dynasty. They forced me, the Great Zhou Dynasty, to increase the annual coins and annual tribute, and cut off the border cities to pay tribute. This is so rude. It is like using the Great Zhou Dynasty as a taboo, and you can intimidate me as much as you want. It’s me. The Great Zhou Dynasty has not been humiliated for hundreds of years. When I learned about this, I was so angry that I couldn't let it go for several days." Guo Xu said in a deep voice.
Lin Jue said: "Your Highness, I have indeed heard about this matter. But didn't the imperial court reject their unreasonable request and give them a severe lesson in the north of Youzhou? Haven't the Liao people stopped their activities and gone to sleep now?
?”
"Do you also believe in the Great Victory of Youzhou? Is that considered a great victory? Three million taels of silver were spent, and many times the number of soldiers and horses of the enemy were left to work. In the end, less than 3,000 enemies were annihilated. Afterwards, money and materials were compensated, and prisoners were taken.
I also sent them all back. What kind of victory is this? It’s simply embarrassing!" Guo Xu sneered.
Lin Jue was startled. As a prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty, his words were completely inconsistent with the court's caliber. Moreover, this kind of matter was very confidential. The court's follow-up handling was not announced to the outside world. Lin Jue always thought that he was like the court.
As claimed, the Liao people gave in after being defeated, so they agreed to abide by the Yanyun Alliance, without knowing that this was actually the case.
"How can the Liao people be so tiger-like and wolf-like that they will give up their ambition to covet me, the Great Zhou Dynasty, easily after a small defeat? That is just wishful thinking. As far as I know, the reason why the Liao people did not gather troops to retaliate, but agreed to
If you and I, Dazhou, continue to abide by the agreement of the Yanyun Alliance, there is something wrong within them. They have to do this." Guo Xu continued.
It was the first time that Lin Jue heard such a confidential matter, and he was naturally curious. Regardless of whether he should know these things or not, he asked in a deep voice: "What happened among them?"
Guo Xu glanced at Lin Jue and said, "You should know how the new emperor Yelu Zongyuan of the Liao Kingdom came to the throne."
Lin Jue smiled and said, "I've heard a little about it, but I don't know the specific situation. It's just a rumor on the street, and I'm afraid it may not be the truth."
Guo Xu nodded and said: "The people of Liao must have eyes all over our country in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and they must know the political developments of our Great Zhou Dynasty. This is not the case in our Great Zhou Dynasty. Our Imperial City Secretary of the Great Zhou Dynasty has many eyes and ears spread all over the Liao Kingdom, and they are all aware of the political developments of our Great Zhou Dynasty.
He was also in charge of it. Yelu Zongyuan was the uncle of Yelu Hongdao, the late emperor of the Liao Kingdom. Taking advantage of Yelu Hongdao's accession to the throne, he rebelled, killed his nephew and became the emperor himself. This happened immediately.
It is known to me, the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, although he succeeded in seizing the throne, his methods made the major noble tribes in Liao Kingdom extremely dissatisfied. Yelu Zongyuan killed many people who opposed him in the past two years in order to consolidate his position as emperor.
However, he was able to pacify the noble tribes in the five capitals of the Liao Kingdom, but he could not control the Jurchens in the white mountains and black waters of Liaodong. In the past two years, when Yelu Zongyuan was busy consolidating the throne, the leader of the Jurchen tribe, Wan Yangu, wiped out the Jurchens in one fell swoop.
The various tribes unified the Jurchen tribe. This time Yelu Zongyuan summoned Jurchen soldiers and horses when we were provocative at the border of Youzhou. However, Wanyangu refused to give the order and informed Yelu Zongyuan that his Jurchen tribe would no longer defend the territory of the Liao Kingdom.
Jurisdiction. This is a rebellion. Under this situation, Yelu Zongyuan was forced to make good friends with me, Dazhou, and turned back to put out the rebellion. It can be said that the situation formed after the victory in Youzhou is definitely not that of Youzhou.
The great victory shocked the Liao people, but the Liao people had to do it. They had to free their hands to quell the civil strife first. Those nonsense about the great victory in Youzhou are making people laugh."
Lin Jue nodded slowly. Only today did he realize that this was the reason behind it. He had been a little confused before. In the battle of Youzhou, the result announced by the court was the annihilation of five thousand enemies. Although this was a good result,
Annihilating 5,000 enemies did not seem to deter the ambitions of the Liao people who coveted the Central Plains. There must be a reason behind compromising so easily. However, Lin Jue was too preoccupied with his own affairs to think carefully about the reason behind it.
.When I heard Guo Xu say this today, it suddenly became clear and reasonable.
And all that Guo Xu said seems to be similar to the history of the Song Dynasty in another parallel time and space in Lin Jue's memory. This also seems to confirm what Lin Jue concluded, although the time and space are different,
The dynasties are different, but at the same point in time, the historical processes are surprisingly similar. This is indeed strange.
