Outside the room, it was freezing cold. Inside the room, it was as warm as spring.
After returning from Prince Sheng's Mansion, Wuxin didn't rest. He walked to the clay figurine in the hall and covered his eyes with a piece of cloth.
Guo Man put down the things and looked back. She said in surprise, "Sir, you've been working hard all day. Don't you want to rest?"
She didn't look good either. She was still feeling nauseous after witnessing the treatment.
"No need. Let's start." The blindfolded Wuxin shook his head. Holding the silver needles in his hand, he blindly inserted the needles into the clay figurine. Wherever the needles touched, the wax layer on the figurine broke. The holes were punctured and water came out.
Guo Man had to talk about the information she had gathered.
This was already a routine. When Wuxin blindfolded his eyes, he purposely asked her to talk about something to distract him. This was called multitasking.
Guo Man began to talk about the war between the Southern Province of the Yan Kingdom and the Imperial Court. Inexplicably, she herself was a little excited.
After talking about this, Guo Man paid attention to Wuxin's reaction. Slowly, she said, "Recently, there has been a happy news in the capital of Qi. It's from the royal family. It's said that King Ying's wife is pregnant. Emperor Qi is very happy and has given her many rewards. Many ministers and their families have visited King Ying's Mansion to congratulate her."
Hearing this, Wuxin's body trembled. His face tightened. The silver needles in his hand were out of control. He tried to stabilize them, but he couldn't accurately find the wax seal holes.
…
After hiding for two days, Niu Youdao returned to the Cottage Villa. Not long after he came back, he was chatting with Shang Shuqing when Yuan Gang sent a secret letter. "Daoye, a letter from the Prince."
Shang Shuqing's eyes flashed. She had been paying attention to the war between Dingzhou and Nanzhou. Uncle Meng personally took action, and the war went smoothly. Dingzhou couldn't fight back. She didn't know if this news was good or bad.
Niu Youdao took the letter and saw it was from Shang Chaozong. It was Meng Shanming's message.
Presently, the fighting had stopped. After accounting, the Nanzhou people occupied more than three counties. Dingzhou had 12 counties. This meant that a quarter of the territory had fallen into the hands of the Nanzhou people. This battle result made Niu Youdao click his tongue endlessly. It had only been a few days, yet they had managed to take down such a large territory. Was this taking over territory? This was simply like a horse racing for territory. This was a bit too godly, far surpassing Niu Youdao's initial plan of occupying a county.
At first, even he couldn't believe his own eyes. It was only after he repeatedly confirmed that he was right. He admired both Meng Shanming and Xue Xiao.
He admired Meng Shanming and Xue Xiao for being able to fight with age and admired Xue Xiao for being an idiot for losing.
Meng Shanming's meaning in this letter was that there was no need to take all the territory they had conquered. The areas that needed to be retreated should still be given up. Some areas that were not defensible could be retreated to occupy strategic and tactical locations. They could advance and retreat to defend. This was more cost-effective and could save and avoid tying down a large number of Nanzhou's military forces.
Calculating it this way, they would lose some territory, but they would still be able to keep the territory of three counties.
However, Niu Youdao had said from the beginning that the territory they had could not be given up. The letter was for negotiation. If he really was not willing to give up, Meng Shanming could not do anything.
Niu Youdao returned the letter to Yuan Gang and said, "Reply. Commander Meng is unparalleled. I trust his judgment. I will do as Commander Meng says."
He was not stubborn because he knew he didn't understand things like war. He didn't understand anything about strategic locations. In this area, Meng Shanming was an expert. He knew the pros and cons. It would not be wrong to listen to his advice.
Yuan Gang nodded and turned to leave.
…
In the Yanjing Royal Palace, in the royal study, Shang Jianxiong was talking with a few officials. The atmosphere was not bad.
Dingzhou had sent a letter saying that the Nanzhou people had stopped attacking. It was clear that the three major sects' actions had been effective. They could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Your Majesty, the Head Minister requests an audience," a eunuch entered and reported.
A moment later, Gao Jiancheng entered.
Seeing his haggard face and red and swollen eyes, the people present looked at each other.
Shang Jianxiong asked, "Why is the Head Minister so haggard?"
Gao Jiancheng bowed and said in a sorrowful voice, "I heard that my son, Gao Shaoming, was involved in the attack on Thatched Cottage Villa and fell into the hands of Niu Youdao. He has been killed by Niu Youdao. I did not discipline him well and allowed my unfilial son to act recklessly. I have come to ask for forgiveness from Your Majesty. "
Speaking of this matter made people feel awkward. The officials immediately lowered their heads. Everyone knew that the attack on Thatched Cottage Villa was an open secret. The Emperor must have sent Gao Shaoming. However, no one dared to expose it. Otherwise, the Emperor would certainly become angry from embarrassment.
As for the rumors, they had all heard that Gao Shaoming did not want to implicate the family, so he hit himself until his face was beyond recognition and killed himself. It made people sigh.
The room was silent for a while. Slowly, Shang Jianxiong said, "Since there was such a thing, could it be a rumor?"
Gao Jiancheng sobbed. "I heard the news and also found it hard to believe. Thus, I was biased and specially found Prince Long to borrow the large flying bird of the royal family. I had the housekeeper personally rush to Qingshan County to search quietly. I have already found the body and confirmed it to be that unfilial son. I did not discipline my son well and implicated Your Majesty. I also used the property of the royal family for personal gain. Please, Your Majesty, punish me for this as well. "
The officials were still silent and did not respond. If it had been something else, someone would have taken the opportunity to attack.
The position of Prime Minister was one of the Three Chancellors, and many people present wanted it. They had thought that there would be a good show, but it could be seen from the fact that His Majesty did not call Prime Minister, one of the Three Chancellors, when discussing military and state affairs recently. They all thought that Niu Youdao would definitely make a fuss about Gao Shaoming. Unexpectedly, Gao Shaoming committed suicide.
This time, the blame would probably fall on the dead man. The Emperor owed the Gao family a big favor.
Some people could not help but sigh that Gao Jiancheng had a good son!
Tian Yu secretly looked at Shang Jianxiong's reaction.
Naturally, they also learned that Gao Shaoming committed suicide. For this reason, they specially summoned the person in charge of the Intelligence Department to ask whether it was possible for Gao Shaoming to commit suicide. After all, Gao Shaoming had been in the Intelligence Department for many years, so the Intelligence Department knew him more or less.
The meaning of the Intelligence Division was that it was better to live than to die a good death. Ordinary people would probably find it difficult to make up their minds to commit suicide, but the personnel of the Intelligence Division were all specially trained, and basically all of them had poison in their teeth. Gao Shaoming was no exception back then. Once they encountered an unexpected situation, in order to not expose their identities or other things, they had to commit suicide.
The Intelligence Department judged that Gao Shaoming could be so cruel and it was completely possible for him to commit suicide.
Shang Jianxiong was silent for a while and said Slowly, "Premier, you are exaggerating. As far as I know, Childe Gao joined the Intelligence Department and lurked in the State of Zhao when he was young. According to the rules of the Intelligence Department, he could not contact his family without authorization. After returning to the court, he was sent to the State of Zhao as an envoy. He seldom stayed with the Premier for decades, so it was inevitable that the Premier was negligent. Therefore, you can't generalize it. What Gao Shaoming did is Gao Shaoming's business, and it has nothing to do with the Premier. As for taking the things of the royal family, people are not emotionless. After all, he is the eldest son of the Premier. The Premier used him to investigate the situation for the sake of the court. Don't do it again in the future. "
Gao Jiancheng sneered in his heart when he realized that His Majesty was going to let his son take the blame instead of clearing his son's innocence. But on the surface, he cupped his hands and cried, "I will remember. Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!"
"However!" Shang Jianxiong's tone became serious, "In recent years, the royal family has indeed become more and more outrageous. You are in charge of supervision, so you must keep a close eye on it. It's useless to just supervise with words. You must take practical actions to deter people. I order you to set up another 'Clan Punishment Department', and you will be in charge of handling the matters of the royal family in the future! "
Fine! Several ministers secretly looked at each other. His Majesty not only exonerated Gao Jiancheng, but also gave Gao Jiancheng the power to punish the members of the royal family. In the future, the royal family and nobles would have to be close to him and show filial respect. This was clearly a compensation for killing Gao Jiancheng's son!
To some extent, it was depriving someone of his power. Someone was tempted to object, but immediately shrank back when Tong Mo coldly glared at him.
His Majesty was about to push the responsibility of the sneak attack on the Thatched Cottage Villa to Gao Shaoming and wanted to settle the matter both internally and externally. If someone objected at this time, it would be like poking at His Majesty's sore point and asking for trouble.
He had to sigh inwardly, "No one can shake Gao Jiancheng's position for a long time."
The reason was very simple. Gao Shaoming was not the son of an ordinary family, but the son of the Premier, one of the Three Chancellors of the imperial court. No one was a fool. After the incident, everyone knew that Gao Shaoming took the blame for His Majesty. His son died for His Majesty, and the injustice was irreparable. If His Majesty punished Gao Jiancheng again, he had to consider other people's opinions.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Gao Jiancheng bowed again to accept the order.
At this time, a voice came from outside, "Report!"
A eunuch brought in a memorial. After reading it, Shang Jianxiong flew into a rage and roared, "Xue Xiao, you bastard! How did you fight this war? In just a few days, you lost three counties. You deserve to die ten thousand times! "
Shang Jianxiong paced back and forth in anger, his expression ugly.
The ministers were surprised. They already knew about the situation, so why was he angry over this matter?
After the memorial was passed on to the ministers, Gao Jiancheng finally understood what was going on. Xue Xiao had reported that the troops of Nanzhou had indeed stopped attacking, but after a slight retreat, they stopped and began to defend important areas. It seemed like the three counties they had occupied were not going to be returned to the imperial court.
Thus, Xue Xiao was embarrassed. Nanzhou had stopped attacking, and Xue Xiao had also received the imperial court's decree to stop the war. Now that things had become like this, if Xue Xiao wanted to recover his lost territory, he would have to use force, which was tantamount to starting another war. If he didn't recover them, did he have to give the three counties to Nanzhou?
Xue Xiao had no choice but to ask the imperial court to make a decision.
What would the imperial court do? It would be strange if they listened to the decree!
Forcefully recover them? The key was that after starting a war, they might not necessarily be able to win. If they could win, would they still be in such an awkward situation?
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