Shen Mu smiled. "What I am most worried about is that you will not agree to this matter. Haha, you are indeed a person capable of great things. You are decisive. Good, very good! "
Shen Mu's smile faded. "The second matter is actually not a big problem. The key is that Duke Di is against sending troops to the Western Regions to recapture the four towns of Anxi. You respect Duke Di very much and may agree with his opinion. However, the Emperor wants to recapture Anxi. You are a member of the court and should naturally follow the Emperor's will. This matter should not be too difficult for you. "
Yang Fan understood his meaning and asked, "You are worried that the situation in Longyou will develop in a direction that is not conducive to sending troops. Or perhaps, the intelligence gathered in front of the Emperor's desk will not be conducive to sending troops to Longyou and cause the Emperor to change his mind? Thus, you want the court to send troops to Longyou as much as possible? "
Shen Mu cheerfully said, "It is indeed easy to speak with intelligent people."
Yang Fan looked straight at him and asked, "Whether the court sends troops to Longyou or not, does it have much to do with the aristocratic families? Why are you so keen on this matter? "
Shen Mu replied, "Of course it has a lot to do with it. Do you know how many aristocratic families in the Western Regions that have been passed down since the Han Dynasty? Do you know how many connections and interests they have with the aristocratic families of the Central Plains? Do you know how much wealth will be lost if the Western Regions trade routes are in the hands of the foreign races? "
Yang Fan was somewhat displeased. "Just for this, for the interests of the aristocratic families, you are willing to start a war?"
Shen Mu shook his head. "You are wrong! In the end, the aristocratic families are just a representative of the local community. Do you think these interests are just the interests of the aristocratic families? Even if it is just the aristocratic families, do you know how many businesses they run, how many shops they open, how many people they employ, and how many people they provide jobs for? If they lose these sources of income, they will not need to engage in these unprofitable businesses. To these rich and powerful aristocratic families, it is just one less source of income. But to the commoners, it is the loss of a way to live. If the court cannot work for the welfare of its commoners, then why does it exist? Is it just for the glory and wealth of the imperial family? "
"Further on, Longyou and Liaodong are all places where barbarism breeds. If we don't control these places in the hands of the imperial court, they will become a great threat to our Central Plains sooner or later. Although the Li Tang Imperial Family was Han, they had the blood of the Hu. Of the twenty-four meritorious officials of the Lingyan Pavilion, thirty percent were of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Turkic races. Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Hua Xia was the orthodox and the barbarians of the four barbarians were his subordinates. However, our dynasty emphasized that Hua and the barbarians were one … "
At this point, Shen Mu suddenly turned his head and looked out the window. He seemed to be looking at something far away, and his gaze suddenly deepened. Yang Fan followed his gaze and looked out, only to see layers upon layers of green mountains and clear waters, rising and falling, like a beautiful landscape painting.
"A man has no intention of harming a tiger, but the tiger harms a man. Our Han people are tolerant of all rivers running into the sea, we treat everyone equally, but when the barbarians become strong, they rarely treat us as brothers. You haven't experienced it, so of course you can't understand it. Although I haven't experienced it as well, I was born in a family with a thousand years of heritage, so I am more aware of many things that have been forgotten or overlooked by others. "
Shen Mu retracted his gaze and looked at Yang Fan, solemnly saying: "In the first year of Yongxing, the Hu dogs and Xianbei pillaged the Central Plains, plundering countless riches and capturing hundreds of thousands of Han women. They raped them in the evening, cooked them in the morning, and thousands of women threw themselves into the river, cutting off the flow of the Yi River. The Jie dogs were violent, treating the Han as' sheep 'and killing them for food. In the fourth year of Yongjia, they surrounded and hunted the Han people, killing more than a hundred thousand princes and dukes. Not long after, the barbarians and Xianbei set fire to the surrounding areas, roasting the Han for food, killing more than two hundred thousand people. In the first year of Taixing, Emperor Min was humiliated and died at the hands of the Xianbei. All these are too numerous to list! Today, the Hu barbarians have the ambition of wolves, delighting in plundering and slaughtering, taking glory from the Han people … "
Shen Mu paused for a moment before asking: "Do you know what I just said?"
Yang Fan shook his head. Shen Mu continued: "What I just recited is a part of the 'Kill the Hu Order' written by King Wu Ai!"
Yang Fan has heard of the 'Kill the Hu Order' before, and his countenance could not help but change: "Ah! So this is the 'Kill the Hu Order'. "
Shen Mu continued: "No one is clearer than us aristocratic families on what happened at that time. At that time, the number of Hu who migrated from the north to the Central Plains has reached seven million, but the local Han population is only five to six million. The number of Hu is still increasing, but our Han people are constantly being killed, driven, enslaved, and our numbers are decreasing.
King Wu Ai issued the 'Kill the Hu Order', calling on the exterminated Han people to rebel and kill countless Hu. Although he was defeated and died in the end, he accomplished two great things.
Firstly, under his' Kill the Hu Decree ', the Han people in the north, who had been bullied and humiliated, responded and killed a large number of the foreign tribes. If he had not stood up at that time, then after the Han people in the north were killed, their descendants would continue to multiply and grow stronger, and then they would attack Jiangnan. At that time, there were only three million Han people in Jiangnan. They will also be killed, and the Han people will be extinct!
The second thing was that even though the Martial Mourning Heavenly King had died, his heroic deeds allowed the cruel Hu people to see clearly that the Han people weren't sheep that could be bullied by anyone. Even though they defeated Ran Min in the end, their hearts were filled with reverence. They bestowed Ran Min the title of Martial Mourning Heavenly King to appease the Han people. From then on, they no longer dared to bully and slaughter the Han people.
They did not even dare to let the Han people serve as soldiers, and did not dare to let the Han people touch weapons. It was under these circumstances that the small barbarians and barbarians killed each other, and the Han people who only focused on farming were able to recuperate and multiply. By the time the continuous wars caused a large number of Hu people to die in battle, they had no choice but to once again recruit Han soldiers. The Han people's strength could no longer be ignored.
At this time, in order to win over the Han people, they had no choice but to marry off their princesses to the rich and powerful families of the Han people. The Han people used this opportunity to grasp power step by step, and continued to grow until Yang Jian destroyed the Hu people and established the Sui Dynasty. "
At this point, Shen Mu sneered and said, "It's funny to say that to this day, there are some arrogant, boastful, and stupid people who forget their ancestors, who are still cursing Ran Min as a butcher! If it wasn't for King Wu Ai, his ancestors would have long been enslaved to death, and he would not even exist! "
At this point, Shen Mu said to Yang Fan with sorrow, "The situation at that time was really scary. The aristocratic families all fled to Jiangnan, living in fear. The Central Plains changed, and the aristocratic families never feared it. The emperor could be Zhang Wang Li Zhao, and the world would still be the Han people's country. However, when the Hu people entered the Central Plains, there was a real possibility of extinction.
I never denied that my main goal was for the continuation and inheritance of my family, but to achieve this goal, I had to maintain the prosperity of my Han people. If the skin doesn't exist, where will the hair attach to? So, even if my original goal wasn't to help the world, what does it matter?
Now that our Central Plains is strong and prosperous, if we don't take advantage of this time to control the Western Regions, consolidate the Northwest border, and suppress the Hu people's growth, are we going to wait for the Central Plains to weaken, or for internal strife to occur, and give the Hu people the opportunity to invade? Erlang, you and I are good men, why don't we take this opportunity to help our Central Plains recover the Western Regions? Not only can we serve the country, help the people, and achieve success and fame! "
Yang Fan slightly lowered his eyes. After a long time, his eyes slowly raised, and met Shen Mu's eyes.
"Brother Shen, you've convinced me!"
Yang Fan raised his cup with one hand, and supported the bottom with the other. He solemnly gave a toast to Shen Mu, and said in a deep voice, "Let us take this opportunity to do something great!"
Shen Mu was overjoyed, and also solemnly raised his cup.
"Dang!"
The two silver cups touched, and the wine in the cups rippled like blood!
…
The cavalrymen escorted the three carriages, following the inclination of the mountain, making many turns to the left and to the right, traversed the difficult mountain path, and, after rounding the foothills, came a comparatively gentle downhill road, from which the journey was easy.
Duoduo brought the child and Miss Qiqi to stay in the second carriage. Although Miss Qiqi was the daughter of a noble family, she did not put on any airs. After a few days, she became close to the straightforward and lively Duoduo. Naturally, Xiao Qi also became Miss Qiqi's favorite.
She always rushed to do such interesting things as changing diapers and feeding goats milk. At first, she was clumsy and needed Duoduo to teach her, but now she seemed to be even more skilled than Duoduo. Because of Xiao Qi, and the fact that Yang Fan and Shen Mu were inseparable, it was not convenient for her to come over. These few days, she rarely pestered Shen Mu, which made Shen Mu heave a sigh of relief.
After going down the hill, there was an endless plain in front of them. There were no road signs here, and people who were not familiar with this place would not know where they were. Shen Mu had a guide who was familiar with this road, so Yang Fan was much more relaxed. He did not even bother to ask for directions, and only knew that after passing Tong Pass, they walked west for about half a month.
During this journey, he realized that there were more than a dozen guards around Shen Mu, and there seemed to be people secretly scouting for Shen Mu and protecting him. Yang Fan was not a disciple of a noble family, and he only thought that the disciples of a noble family were like this. He could not help but be speechless.
However, he did not know that the disciples of a noble family were not great generals with thousands of troops and horses, nor were they high officials in charge of a prefecture. How could they have such prestige when they went out? It was because Shen Mu was not an ordinary disciple of a noble family. As the Hidden Sect's Patriarch of the 'Succession Hall', Shen Mu was involved in many things, and no one dared to let him take risks.
The carriage went down the hill and entered a hilly area. The river and hills here were neither low nor high, and the undulating slope was very gentle, so it looked much more flat and wide. Especially when looking into the distance, there was no undulation at all, as though it was a flat plain.
About two miles away, a forest could be vaguely seen. At this moment, a short horn sounded from the forest. Yang Fan and Shen Mu were playing chess in the carriage. The chessboard and chess pieces were made of magnetic stones, which were suitable to be used in the carriage. There was no need to worry even if it was subverted.
When he suddenly heard the horn, Shen Mu, who was about to place a white chess piece on the chessboard, suddenly raised his head and looked out of the window alertly.
This wasn't the first time that Yang Fan had heard the horn along the way, and it was only one sound each time. Every time the horn sounded, there would be a mountain ridge, a forest, a bridge, a canyon, or any other place that could hide an ambush. However, the horn that he heard in the past was always a long sound, and it had never been this short.
Therefore, when he saw Shen Mu's expression, Yang Fan immediately realized that something had happened!
…
Note: King Wu Ai's' Hu Slaying Order 'did exist, but it was said that there weren't any detailed contents that had been passed down. The article that could be found might be a forgery by the later generations, so we shall use it for now!
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