Chapter 12 Five Zhao Pu is a tall man

On New Year's Day in the fourth year of Jianlong (963), Zhao Kuangyin decided to change the year name to Qiande, that is, this year was renamed the first year of Qiande.When the imperial court changed its name, all civil and military officials naturally wanted to congratulate them. Zhao Kuangyin also took this opportunity to give a banquet to all civil and military officials to comfort the ministers.The whole Bianliang City was immersed in a sea of ​​joy.Just when the joy of the monarch and ministers was still unfinished, Zhou Baoquan, the governor of Wuping, suddenly sent an emergency document to the court.

Zhou Baoquan is the son of Zhou Xingfeng.When Zhou Xingfeng was in Zhou Shizong, because of his meritorious service in pacifying Hunan, he was named the governor of Langzhou, and also the military governor of Wuping Army, governing the whole territory of Hunan. After Zhao Kuangyin became emperor, in order to stabilize the situation, he was named Zhongshu Ling and continued to serve as the military governor of Wuping Army.Zhao Kuangyin initially established the Central Plains, was busy stabilizing the throne, and did not have the energy to intervene in the affairs of Langzhou. As long as he did not make waves against the imperial court, everything would be fine. Therefore, all systems in Hunan still followed the old system, and did not force them to follow the rules of Zhao Song Dynasty, and Zhao Kuangyin never asked about it. .

In the third year of Jianlong's reign, Zhou Xingfeng fell ill, and he became terminally ill.Before he died, he called all his old subordinates to the sickbed and arranged for his death. He told the generals that his son Zhou Baoquan was too young, only eleven years old. After he died, please support and protect his son.He said that he treats everyone well, so he will not have any disagreements, but Zhang Wenbiao, the governor of Hengzhou, has a fierce temperament. After his death, he may make trouble.At that time, Master Yang will be asked to lead the army to conquer, and he has repeatedly asked everyone to help his son and not to lose the land.As a last resort, I would rather submit to the imperial court than fall into the tiger's mouth and suffer the same disaster!

After Zhou Xingfeng died, the generals followed Zhou Xingfeng's will and supported Zhou Baoquan, who was only eleven years old, as a Jiedushi. When the obituary of Zhou Xingfeng's death spread to Hengzhou, Zhang Wenbiao was not convinced.He thought that since he debuted with Zhou Xingfeng, Zhou Xingfeng was more capable than him, he was convinced, and when Zhou Xingfeng was alive, he could reluctantly obey.Now that Zhou Xingfeng is dead, it is really unreasonable to hand over the Jiedushi to a young child, and ask him to surrender to a child.Unconvinced in his heart, of course he had to show it in his actions. He immediately took action to rectify the army, geared up his troops, and waited for an opportunity to cause chaos.

It happened that Zhou Baoquan sent troops to Yongzhou to change defenses, and the troops who changed defenses passed through Hengyang.Zhang Wenbiao felt that this was a good opportunity, so he sent troops to surround the changing troops and force them to surrender.Then, he ordered these people and his soldiers to put on mourning clothes and dress up as a funeral procession to Langzhou. The funeral procession came to the city of Tanzhou, and the defenders reported to Liao Jian, the marching commander of Tanzhou, that the procession was very strange, not like a funeral procession, and someone found that Zhang Wenbiao was also in it, so there might be fraud.

Liao Jian always looked down on Zhang Wenbiao, and didn't pay attention to this group of people at all. At this time, he was drinking with the guests, and heard that a funeral procession had arrived at the city, and Zhang Wenbiao was among them. When they come in, what is Zhang Wenbiao, after he comes in, he will be arrested." After that, he continued to drink and have fun with the guests. After Zhang Wenbiao led his troops into Tanzhou City, he stormed into the left-behind mansion. Liao Jian realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly reached out to draw his sword. However, he was already so drunk that his hands didn't even have the strength to lift the sword, and the sword hadn't been drawn yet. , Zhang Wenbiao rushed forward and chopped off his head.In this way, Liao Jian went to report to Lord Yan in a daze.

Zhang Wenbiao captured Tanzhou, took Liao Jian's seal, and replaced Liao Jian's position, claiming to be an agent to stay behind. When the news of Zhang Wenbiao's capture of Tanzhou reached Langzhou, Zhou Baoquan turned pale with shock, and hurriedly ordered Yang Shi?Then he wrote two letters of credence, one sent to Jingnan, asking for troops to support, and one sent to Bianliang, asking for help from the imperial court. Jingnan is adjacent to Hunan. Gao Jichong, governor of Jingnan, worried that Zhang Wenbiao would take the opportunity to attack Jingnan, so he also sent an emergency document to the imperial court, asking the imperial court to send troops to destroy Zhang Wenbiao.

Zhao Kuangyin was ecstatic when he received the memorials from Langzhou and Jingnan.Why?It turned out that since Zhao Kuangyin lifted the military power of the generals and eliminated the potential threat to the throne, he put the issue of unifying the country on the agenda. After the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, there were many feudal vassals and towns, and the north and south were divided.Several separatist forces in the south, such as Jingnan, Langzhou, Southern Han, Southern Tang, and Western Shu, expressed their submission to the Zhao and Song courts, but they were in the form of vassals and states, and the land did not really belong to the territory of Zhao and Song.The country that Zhao Kuangyin painstakingly obtained from the Chai family's orphans and widows, that is, a small piece of the Central Plains, and the entire Greater China are still in a state of fragmentation.

Zhao Kuangyin was calculating in his mind, how to expand Zhao Song's territory.Looking at the two memorials on the royal case, he seemed to see two gourds emerging from the water. Since the gourds popped out automatically, wouldn't it be a good thing to pick them up and put them in the kitchen at home? Zhao Kuangyin, as a generation of sages, has lofty aspirations and far-sightedness. As early as a year ago, he sent Lu Huaizhong as an envoy to Jingnan to investigate the reality of Jiangling.After Lu Huaizhong came back, he told him that although Gao Jichong had a well-organized army in Jingnan, his number was less than 30,000.In addition, Jiangling is close to Changsha in the south, Jiankang in the east, Bashu in the west, and the imperial court in the north. It is surrounded by enemies, easy to attack and difficult to defend. It is not difficult to capture Jingnan.Since then, he has been figuring out how to eat up Jingnan's piece of fat.Now, the appeal letters from Langzhou and Jingnan arrived one after another. This is a godsend opportunity, which gave him an excuse to send troops. How could he not be ecstatic about such a good thing?

After Zhao Kuangyin recovered the emergency documents, he quickly replied to the Wuping envoy, saying that the imperial court was about to send troops to help Zhou Baoquan put down the rebellion.After the envoy of Wu Ping withdrew, he smiled and said to the courtiers: "It's really God's help, the regimes in Jinghu and Jinghu have come to an end." The courtiers didn't understand the meaning of the emperor, they stared at him with big eyes and small eyes, but Zhao Pu stood in the queue with a smile on his face, as if he knew the secret. Zhao Kuangyin smiled and said: "Jiangling is adjacent to the Yangtze River in the south, Jiankang in the east, Bashu in the west, and Bianliang in the north. It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. Liu Bei was unwilling to give up this place when he borrowed Jingzhou. Now Hunan, Jiangling is torn apart, civil strife broke out, and the imperial court just took the opportunity to take back Jiangling. I will send troops to Hunan, pretend to go to Jiangling, and take Jiangling by taking advantage of it. Isn’t it killing two birds with one stone?”

"Fake Yu to attack Guo!" Zhao Pu blurted out, "The strategy used by Lord Xiangong in the pre-Qin and Jin Dynasties is really ingenious and unpredictable." Zhao Kuangyin laughed out loud when he saw Zhao Pu revealing his plan. Zhao Kuangyin successively issued orders: Murong Yanzhao was ordered to be the marshal and Li Chuyun was to be the supervisor of the army.Taking advantage of the opportunity, he took Jiangling by the way.Murong Yanzhao and Li Chuyun led the way and left.Another imperial decree was issued, ordering Jingnan Gao Jichong to send an army across the Yangtze River to Tanzhou to attack Zhang Wenbiao. Jingnan Jiedu envoy Gao Jichong obeyed the order and dispatched 3,000 sailors, led by general Li Jingwei, to send troops to Tanzhou. The troops of Murong Yanzhao and Li Chuyun arrived in Xiangyang and sent Ding Deyu as an envoy to Jiangling to convey the imperial decree. The imperial army wanted to use Jiangling to rush to Hunan to suppress the rebellion. Gao Jichong heard Ding Deyu's excuse, so he quickly called a meeting of his staff to discuss the Song army's excuse. General Sun Guangxian suggested that China has had the ambition to unify the world since the time of Zhou Shizong.Today's Lord Song is more powerful, and his army is stronger than that of Zhou Shizong.Jiangling is a corner of the country, the land is narrow and the people are poor, so it is impossible to compete with Zhao Song. Instead of competing with him and being eaten by him, it is better to return to Zhao Song as soon as possible. Gao Jichong hesitated after hearing this, and discussed with his uncle Gao Baoyin.Gao Baoyin suggested to check the reality of the Song army first, and then make a decision.Therefore, Gao Jichong prepared dozens of fat cows and hundreds of urns of fine wine, and sent Gao Baoyin to send them to the Song camp in Jingmen to reward the soldiers of the Song army. Song Junjun Li Chuyun warmly received Gao Baoyin.Gao Baoyin was very happy to see the warm reception.On the second day, the coach Murong Yanzhao hosted a banquet in person, and they exchanged cups and cups, and the atmosphere was very harmonious. Gao Baoyin saw that the commander of the Song Army was warmly entertaining him and had no intention of annexing Jiangling, so he sent someone flying back to Jiangling to comfort Gao Jichong, telling him not to worry, saying that the Song Army had no intention of annexing Jiangling. What Gao Baoyin never expected was that when he and Murong Yanzhao were exchanging cups, Li Chuyun had already led an elite force to Jiangling overnight. In Jiangling City, Gao Jichong was finally relieved when he received the message from Gao Baoyin, but at this moment, a spy came to report that the Song army had arrived in Jiangling.Gao Jichong's expression changed drastically.He didn't understand why Song Jun came to Jiangling suddenly, and an ominous premonition hit his heart.Even so, he took people out of the north gate to meet Song Jun.Fifteen miles away from the city, they encountered the troops led by Li Chuyun head-on. Li Chuyun welcomed Gao Jichong into the camp, asked the cold and warm, and was very enthusiastic. While Li and Gao were chatting in the camp, Murong Yanzhao had already entered Jiangling City with a team of troops. Zhao Bing took Jiangling without bloodshed. Seeing that the situation was over, Gao Jichong knew that it would be useless to resist any more, so he reluctantly took out his official seal, took out the album of money and gifts from all over Jingnan, and handed them over to Murong Yanzhao, the commander of the Song Army. Murong Yanzhao sent someone to report to Bianliang on a fast horse. Of course Zhao Kuangyin was very happy to learn that Murong Yanzhao had successfully recovered Jingnan.Immediately arranged for Wang Renshan to be the inspection envoy of Jingnan Capital, rushed to Jiangling to convey the imperial decree, rewarded Gao Jichong's court clothes and jade belt, and continued to serve as Jingnan Jiedu envoy; Murong Yanzhao and Li Chuyun made a surprise attack on Jiangling by pretending to attack Guo, and took the territory of the thirty-six states and counties in Jingnan to Zhao Song. After Murong Yanzhao and Li Chuyun regained Jingnan, they led the Song army across the Yangtze River and continued to march towards Tanzhou, Hunan. The situation in Hunan at this time has undergone dramatic changes.Yang Shi? led the army to fight fiercely with Zhang Wenbiao at Pingjin Pavilion, and captured Zhang Wenbiao alive in one fell swoop.Master Yang's men hated Zhang Wenbiao so much that they cut off Zhang Wenbiao's body piece by piece, boiled it in a large pot, and made it as a side dish. Zhou Baoquan asked the imperial court to send troops to put down Zhang Wenbiao's rebellion. Now that the Zhang Wenbiao rebellion has been put down, it stands to reason that the imperial court's soldiers and horses should be fine.However, the Song Army led by Murong Yanzhao showed no sign of stopping its advance.The army continued to advance and approached Tanzhou.At this time, Tanzhou City was already an empty city. Murong Yanzhao and Li Chuyun led the Song army to drive straight in, and occupied Tanzhou without a single soldier. Wuping Jiedu envoy Zhou Baoquan was still a child and didn't understand anything. His father's former subordinates made decisions for him on major military affairs.Zhang Wenbiao rebelled, and Zhou Baoquan knew that he was invincible, so he went to the court and asked for troops to support him.Now, the civil strife has been quelled, but the rescuers invited have occupied Tanzhou. It is easy to invite God, but it is difficult to send God off.Zhou Baoquan was very embarrassed, so he called his staff and generals to discuss how to deal with this matter. Ya general Zhang Congfu advocated that, taking advantage of the current military prestige, he would strive to compete with the Song army.He believes that the city of Langzhou is strong, and even if it cannot win, it can still hold on. The Song army came from a long distance, and there is not enough food and grass, so they must not last long. When the time comes, they will naturally retreat. Zhang Congfu was overestimated, and compared with Zhao Song's army, he really didn't know how high he was. It's a pity that none of these people in Langzhou have a brain, but they all agreed with Zhang Congfu's opinion and decided to fight hard with the Song army. Murong Yanzhao first sent Ding Deyu to Langzhou to persuade Zhou Baoquan to donate his soil and surrender.Ding Deyu brought more than a hundred people to the city of Langzhou and shouted loudly that he was Ding Deyu, the gate envoy of the imperial court, who had come to convey the emperor's imperial edict and asked the guards to open the gate. Zhang Congfu stood on the tower and said with a sneer: "What imperial decree is passed on? Is it the idea of ​​Langzhou? You go back and tell Song Tianzi that the land of Langzhou is hereditary. Zhang Wenbiao has been wiped out and there is no need for Song soldiers to enter. We still Guard the borders and don't hurt your peace." Ding Deyu scolded loudly: "Do you dare to resist Master Wang?" Zhang Congfu sneered and said, "Langzhou is no better than Jiangling. Don't underestimate us. If we attack the city by force, we won't be afraid. If you don't know people, you will have to shoot arrows." Seeing that he could not enter the city, Ding Deyu had to retreat to Tanzhou.Murong Yanzhao quickly reported the situation in Hunan to the imperial court. Zhao Kuangyin received the military report from the front and learned that the former army had successfully captured Tanzhou. When he was happy, he suddenly received a report from Zhou Baoquan for resisting the king's division, and immediately sent someone to Langzhou to question Zhou Baoquan. In the edict, Zhao Kuangyin blatantly accused Zhou Baoquan that it was you who asked the imperial court to send troops to rescue you, so the imperial court sent troops to rescue you.Now, the thieves have been wiped out, you actually repay kindness with grievances and resist Master Wang, what do you mean? On the surface, what Zhao Kuangyin said seemed to be justified, but when he thought about it carefully, it seemed that it was not the case.According to Zhao Kuangyin's way of thinking: You ask me to help you put down the rebellion. Now that the rebellion is put down, your land must belong to me. Otherwise, you will be resisting Master Wang.Zhao Kuangyin's remarks obviously have a robber logic. Standing on the tower, Zhang Congfu still kept the Zhao Song envoys out of the city, and ignored the edict read by the envoys.It seems that he is determined to fight against the court. In order to prevent the Song army from attacking the city, Zhang Congfu ordered the demolition of all bridges in the territory; sunk all the ships; Murong Yanzhao discussed with Li Chuyun and decided to attack Langzhou in two ways. Li Chuyun first went to the Lijiang River on this journey, and saw the flags and flags on the other side of the river, and the military tents everywhere, and knew that Langzhou was ready.So he ordered the soldiers to cut wood and build rafts, as if preparing to cross the river, but secretly divided his troops and sneaked across the river from the upper reaches. Zhang Congfu ordered all the soldiers to pay close attention to the movement of the Song army on the other side of the river. Unexpectedly, a Song army suddenly rushed out from the back mountain, and was rushed by the Song army without any preparation.Li Chuyun on the other side saw that the Song army who had smuggled across the river had succeeded, and quickly commanded all the soldiers to cross the river by raft to join the Song army who had crossed the river first. Seeing that the Song army was powerful, Zhang Congfu couldn't resist, so he was defeated and returned to Langzhou. The Song army won a complete victory and seized a large number of ordnance, supplies, food and grass.Li Chuyun picked out a few fat ones among the captives, ordered them to be killed, cut off their flesh, cooked them into porridge, and shared them with everyone.The rest of the captives had already been frightened out of their wits, and their livers were torn apart. Many of them peed their pants in fright and passed out on the spot. After eating the human flesh porridge, Li Chuyun selected several strong captives, tattooed their faces, and released them back to Langzhou.These soldiers fled back to Langzhou City and reported to the Song army that they ate human flesh.There was a sudden panic in the city, and they fled one after another. Thinking of the Langzhou army, they had cut off Zhang Wenbiao's meat and ate it before, but now it was their turn to eat their meat, they were also afraid.Tat for tat, isn't it the natural retribution? When Li Chuyun's troops arrived at the city of Langzhou, the city was even more panicked.Zhang Congfu knew that he was no match for the Song army, so he fled to Xishan.Don't let Wang Duan protect Zhou Baoquan and Zhou's family and hide in the temple on the south bank of the river. Li Chuyun captured Langzhou City without much effort.As soon as Murong Yanzhao's troops arrived, they went out of the city to search for the fleeing enemy.When they found Xishan, they ran into Zhang Congfu. Someone testified that this was the chief culprit of Langzhou's resistance to the Song army.Song Jun rushed forward and hacked Zhang Congfu to death.Visited the temple and captured Zhou Baoquan and his family.Wang Duan took the opportunity to escape and was also killed by the rebel army.Fourteen prefectures, one prison, and sixty-six counties in Hunan were all taken over by Zhao Song. Zhou Baoquan was escorted to Bianliang, and Zhao Kuangyin ordered someone to untie him.Zhou Baoquan was still an eleven or twelve-year-old child. When he saw the emperor, his legs trembled in fright, and he couldn't even speak clearly. When Zhao Kuangyin saw him, he suddenly felt compassion.He decreed to pardon his crimes, specially conferred the title of General Youqianniuwei, and gave him an old mansion to live with his family. After pacifying Jingnan and Hunan, Zhao Kuangyin took into account that the troops were exhausted after several months of expedition, so he arranged for the troops to rest temporarily and did not arrange military operations. When the army is fighting, everyone is very busy, and there are fewer troublesome things.After resting and having nothing to do, some messy things followed.One day, Shi Gui and Shi Hanqing of the military academy filed a complaint in front of Zhao Kuangyin because of some conflicts with Zhang Qiong, the prince of Yu in front of the palace. In his eyes, he secretly took bribes and accumulated a lot of money. In fact, both of them talked in general terms and didn't say anything substantive at all, that is to say, there was no real evidence.However, Zhao Kuangyin's ears softened at this time, and he immediately summoned Zhang Qiong and asked him if there was such a thing. Zhang Qiong is a straightforward person. When he saw someone slandering him and accusing him of making false accusations in front of the emperor, he was very unconvinced. Seeing that Zhang Qiong was so presumptuous, Zhao Kuangyin ordered him to slap himself. Standing aside, Shi Hanqing saw the emperor's words and asked Zhang Qiong to slap his own mouth, so he walked over, raised the iron rod in his hand, and hit Zhang Qiong on the top of the head. Sitting aside, Zhao Kuangyin didn't stop this crude behavior. If he didn't stop it, it would be tantamount to indulgence. Seeing that the emperor did not stop him, Shi Hanqing ordered Zhang Qiong to be dragged out and put in prison. Zhang Qiong woke up in the prison, the pain was unbearable, and he felt that he was seriously injured. He cried loudly in the prison and said that he had been shot by several arrows during the battle against Shouchun. Today, he was framed by a villain and died in prison for no reason. He died unjustly and scolded Shi Hanqing for a bad death. After crying heartily, Zhang Qiong took off her belt and handed it to the jailer, asking him to help to hand it to his mother.Then, he slammed his head against the wall. Caught off guard, the jailer couldn't stop him. He watched a tiger general on the battlefield die in the prison for no apparent reason. Zhao Kuangyin heard that Zhang Qiong was killed in prison and ordered someone to ransack his home. It turned out that Zhang Qiong's family was impoverished. Only then did he realize that he had heard the slander and regretted it. He ordered the relevant departments to sympathize with Zhang Qiong's family. Nothing was done about Shi Hanqing, the culprit who framed Zhang Qiong. In the second year of Qiande (964), Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, and Wei Renpu were dismissed at the same time.Zhao Pu was promoted to Tongping Zhangshi. The official system of the Song Dynasty followed the system of the Tang Dynasty, and Tongping Zhangshi was the synonym for the prime minister. Zhao Kuangyin also wanted to arrange a deputy minister, but he didn't know what name to use, because there was no deputy named Ping Zhangshi, so he asked Hanlin Chengzhi what name Tao Gu should use. Tao Gu said that when the Tang Dynasty was under Emperor Taizong, the emperor held a meeting to study major political affairs, and only officials at the prime minister level could participate, and those who were not high enough could not participate in the meeting.In order to enable those who are talented and capable but not at the level of prime minister to participate in the central government organization and the meeting of the prime minister's political affairs hall, Li Shimin set up the official title of "Shenzhi Zhengshi" so that officials who are not at the level of prime minister can be added after the official. The official title of participating in political affairs, with this official title, you can participate in the meeting held by the emperor to study state affairs.Participate in political affairs and perform the duties of a prime minister, which is equivalent to a deputy prime minister. Zhao Kuangyin felt that this method was good, so he appointed Xue Juzheng, a direct scholar of the Privy Council, and Lu Qingyu, a minister of the Ministry of War, as the political counselors to assist the prime minister in handling affairs, and the salary was half of the prime minister. Zhao Pu is capable, but he is also very authoritarian. Apart from the emperor, he can only have the final say on anything. Zhao Kuangyin was a very diligent emperor. He trusted Zhao Pu very much. He had to discuss with Zhao Pu all matters of the imperial court. Sometimes a matter was not decided, and he often went to Zhao Pu's home to discuss in person at night.Therefore, after Zhao Pu returned home, he did not dare to take off his court clothes, in case the emperor came suddenly and it would be too troublesome to change into the court clothes to meet him again. On this day, it was snowing heavily, and the snow on the ground was more than a foot thick. Bianliang was a vast expanse of whiteness. There were no pedestrians on the street, and there was silence everywhere.Zhao Pu retreated back home, after dinner, he saw heavy snow falling in the sky, guessed that the emperor would not come tonight, wanted to take off his court clothes, but was a little hesitant. The servant said that the weather is so cold today that even ordinary people don't want to go out, and hide at home to warm up by the fire.The emperor is the son of heaven, how could he come out in such cold weather? Zhao Pu thought it was reasonable, so he took off his court clothes, retreated into the inner room, and chatted with his family by the fire.Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and at the moment of doubt, the doorman ran to report in a panic, saying that the Holy Majesty is coming! Zhao Pu didn't have time to put on court clothes, so he hurried out in casual clothes. Seeing Zhao Kuangyin standing in the wind and snow, his cloak was covered with snow, he hurriedly greeted the emperor into the house, and said in panic, "I'm late to pick you up, and I beg your Majesty to punish you for being disheveled!" Zhao Kuangyin laughed and said, "It's snowing heavily tonight, no wonder you, why bother apologizing?" Zhao Pu welcomed Zhao Kuangyin into the palace, and respectfully invited him to sit up. After paying homage, he said to Zhao Kuangyin with concern that the weather is cold, and your majesty should take care of the dragon's body and not go out easily. "It's okay! It's okay! My body is very strong." Zhao Kuangyin asked with a smile, "I asked Guangyi to come together, hasn't he arrived yet?" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Guangyi came in under the leadership of his disciples. Seeing that Zhao Kuangyin had arrived early, he hurriedly stepped forward and said: "I am late, please forgive me, brother!" Zhao Kuangyin stretched out his hand to support Zhao Guangyi, and then told Zhao Pu that the reason for his visit on a snowy night was that he was uneasy about some things, so he specially asked Guangyi to come over to discuss it. Zhao Pu immediately ordered people to set up cushions in the living room, turned on the fire, served mutton and fine wine, and called his wife Lin to pay homage to the emperor. When Lin went to the hall, he first paid homage to the emperor, and then Zhao Guangyi. Zhao Kuangyin said to Lin: "Sister-in-law Xian, I will trouble you today!" When Lin saw the emperor calling her sister-in-law, she was a little flattered.Zhao Pu quickly thanked the emperor on behalf of his wife. After a while, the meat was cooked and the wine was hot. Mrs. Lin brought the wine and the meat and set them up. Zhao Pu picked up the knife and cut the meat into small pieces, and put them on the plates in front of the emperor, Zhao Guangyi and himself. Pour hot wine again, and the three monarchs and ministers chatted while drinking and eating meat. Zhao Kuangyin picked up a piece of meat and was about to put it in his mouth, but suddenly put it down again, and said to Zhao Pu solemnly: "I am hesitant about something, and I want to hear your opinion." "Please speak, Your Majesty!" Zhao Pu put down the wine glass in his hand and said. Zhao Kuangyin said: "Although my throne is stable, there are still a few parts of the country that are owned by others. Surrounded by other countries, they still stare at my land in the Central Plains. Every time I think of these things, I feel unwilling to eat and sleep peacefully." Zhao Pu put a piece of meat into his mouth, chewed slowly, fixed his eyes on Zhao Kuangyin, and waited for him to continue.Seeing that Zhao Pu didn't answer, Zhao Kuangyin said tentatively, "Among the foreign enemies, the Northern Han Dynasty is the most powerful. I want to take Taiyuan first, and then conquer other separatist regimes. What do you think?" "That can't be done." Zhao Pu blurted out, "The Khitan is in the northwest of Taiyuan. Although the Northern Han Dynasty is my enemy, it is Zhao Song's barrier, blocking the west and north sides. If our army captures Taiyuan, the land will be directly separated from the Khitan. Bordering the border. The Khitan is stronger than the Northern Han Dynasty. At this time, the other country is not peaceful, but it is not a perfect strategy to directly face such a powerful enemy." "What's your opinion?" Zhao Kuangyin asked. "In my opinion, it is better to start with the easy and then the difficult, first the south and then the north, and after the southern countries are flattened, then use the victorious troops to attack Taiyuan. Taiyuan is a small place, and it is easy to take. Your Majesty, please be careful." "It's really a hero who sees the same thing." Zhao Kuangyin laughed loudly, "What I said just now is to try you. Now that our monarchs and ministers want to go together, I can rest assured. If you want to flatten other countries, what do you think should be done?" Where to start first?" Zhao Guangyi interjected, "In my opinion, it is better to take Xishu first." Zhao Kuangyin stared at Zhao Pu. "My minister's idea is to take Western Shu first." Zhao Pu analyzed, "Western Shu is a land of abundance, and the country is rich and prosperous. If we conquer Western Shu, the wealth of the land of abundance will be used by me." Zhao Kuangyin also agreed to attack Western Shu first.Therefore, the three monarchs and ministers discussed how to conquer Xishu for two hours before they rested. In the middle of the night, the brothers Zhao Kuangyin got up to say goodbye, and Zhao Pu sent them out of the house and said goodbye.