Prince Zhong was sitting in the main hall with a sullen expression on his face, looking at the information that had just been sent to him, as if his hands were about to be filled with tears.
Zhang Zhen's lobbying of Xian County failed. Not only that, he himself is missing. It is very likely that he was caught by the Jizhou Army. In other words, Tang Ao must have known about his plan to split Jizhou behind his back.
, this has made the two states, which had originally had bad relations, become even more tense.
"Tell me, what's going to happen next? Should we send troops to Jicheng and solve this problem first?" It took a while for King Zhong to calm down again, and then he raised his head and looked at the man standing below.
Jiang Chen, the staff member, looked inquiring.
The loyal king is not Tang Ao. In front of him, the relationship between superiority and inferiority is extremely important. Unless he takes the initiative to speak, his staff will have no right to speak.
Jiang Chen had been standing below for a long time, but he seemed to have gotten used to it and didn't feel anything was wrong. On the contrary, when King Zhong asked about it, he responded quickly. He held his fists and said: "
Your Majesty, Jizhou is a barbaric land, and it is of no benefit to us to pay the price to occupy it, so this battle is meaningless."
When conflicts and problems cannot be solved by political means, war often enters them. Generally, armies fight for a purpose, to gain something, or to prove something. But Jizhou is like a chicken to the loyal king.
There is really no merit in his existence. Otherwise, when he was in charge of the two states, he would not have ignored the land of Jizhou so much. Now he has to pay a huge price to win it again. It is not a suitable choice no matter how you look at it.
of trading.
"Should we just let the other side develop?" King Zhong asked in displeasure. But in fact, he didn't think so. With the current strength of the Liaozhou Army, they can easily gather an army of hundreds of thousands.
, it is quite safe to deal with Jizhou, which has just gained a foothold. But in this way, even if the Jizhou army tries its best, the Liaozhou army will not get any benefits, and it is likely that its vitality will be seriously damaged, and it will be unable to do so.
We are talking about taking over Daliang City.
If Emperor Qianwen seizes the opportunity and suddenly sends troops to attack him, it is still unclear whether Liaozhou can be defended. Such a risk is really not worth taking, at least for a poor Jizhou.
"Haha, Your Majesty, if Tang Ao is willing to develop Jizhou, just let it develop. As for sheep, it only makes sense to fatten them before slaughtering them, right? Besides, not even a grain of rice can be found in Jizhou, which is now blocked by us.
If you don’t go in, it will be so difficult to develop, and there will be no danger at all. There is no need for the king to have ordinary knowledge. We might as well set our sights on Daliang City. Becoming the emperor and taking control of the Central Plains is a big deal."
"Well, Mr. Jiang, do you have any ideas?" Prince Zhong nodded and agreed with this statement.
"Your Majesty, I have a plan. If done well, it can severely damage Emperor Qianwen's strength, which is no less effective than sending troops to severely damage him." Jiang Chen, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately puffed up his chest and looked very confident.
appearance.
"Oh, please teach me Mr. Jiang." King Zhong was shocked when he heard this. When he looked at Jiang Chen, his eyes were full of hope.
"Your Majesty, you are too polite. My idea is to use Daqian Bank to plunder Daliang City's gold and silver." At this moment, Jiang Chen revealed what he had been planning for a long time.
"Da Qian Bank?" Prince Zhong didn't quite understand what he heard, and looked confused.
"Yes, it is Daqian Bank. Your Majesty, now we also have Daqian Bank in Liaozhou, and as far as I know, our warehouse silver is all deposited in the bank, so we have a lot of banknotes in our hands. What if How about we send people to take the banknotes to Daliang City to exchange them? We take out our money from there, and then find a random reason to say that the Daqian Bank in Liaozhou was stolen and had to be closed down due to problems. In this way Come on, aren’t we..."
"Isn't there a double amount of money?" King Zhong reacted very quickly. He immediately understood what Jiang Chen was thinking. Because he knew it, he shook his head and said, "Isn't this bad? Wouldn't this make me lose trust in others? How will others view me?"
"Your Majesty, reputation is important, but strength is even more important. As long as we have enough money, we can vigorously develop the military and have a strong army that can conquer the world. At that time, we were afraid that others would say something What? Do others dare to say anything? The so-called winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. At that time, when the king becomes the emperor, he will not be able to say whatever he wants, and the historian will also have to listen to the king." Jiang Sheyi He said with a bewitching face.
As a scholar, or a person who grew up reading the books of saints and sages, he looks very righteous on the outside. But sometimes in order to achieve his goal, he really has bad intentions and does bad things, far more than those who are uneducated. beyond reach.
After hearing these words, King Zhong was deeply touched. But he likes such a person because he is a person who does whatever it takes to achieve his goals. "Haha, okay, Mr. Jiang, I really saw you right. So. , I will leave this matter to you. Try to exchange all our silver notes. Then I will see how the emperor can fight without money and how he can be proud."
"No. Your Majesty is wise." Jiang Chen responded with a smile and clasped his fists. If he takes the lead in this matter, as long as the matter is done well, there will be a lot of benefits, and he can make a lot of money. Already.
...
Daliang City, the imperial capital of Daqian.
Forgetful Mansion.
The eldest princess was sitting by the pond in her mansion, watching the water rippling in the breeze to form ripples, but her thoughts had long gone to unknown directions.
Since King Yuan Tailou of Qi was placed under house arrest by his brother, and the third prince, King Xiang, fled the imperial capital, the political situation in the entire court became increasingly chaotic. Suzhou could not be captured for a long time, and more and more people began to have As for other thoughts, the fifth prince was subsequently put under house arrest in the palace, and the right minister Bailigui and his family, who were extremely powerful in the court, were implicated. Now they all stand aside and sit behind closed doors in the palace every day to think about their mistakes.
King Qing, who took advantage of the situation, changed his previous behavior of not making friends with courtiers and being a lonely king. He began to frequently walk among the ministers, and soon made friends with a large number of people. He looked like a prince to the outside world. The emperor considers himself king.
Because the eldest princess had not been optimistic about Prince Qing because of his leg problems, and now that the emperor was in his prime, there would be no problem with his health. The eldest princess did not believe that the emperor, who always liked to take power into his hands, would tolerate Qing. The king continued to jump. So when King Qing sent someone to invite her to a banquet a while ago, the eldest princess refused because of her poor health.
This was equivalent to closing the channel of contact with Prince Qing, and the eldest princess firmly chose to side with the imperial brother.
This aroused the dissatisfaction of King Qing. The officials who had taken refuge in the eldest princess were now under great pressure and were suppressed. They cried to her more than once. However, the eldest princess still had no intention of bowing her head. On the contrary, she was still struggling to support her.
She firmly believed that the imperial brother would always take action. Whoever came together with Prince Qing at that time would be implicated.
"The difficulties are temporary, but the future is bright." The eldest princess sitting by the pool comforted herself. She didn't know it until the female official Zhuyun appeared next to her. "Master, someone came from the palace just now, listen.
He said that the master was not feeling well, so he sent some supplies to replenish his health."
"Is it someone sent by the emperor's brother?" The eldest princess heard a hint of joy in her eyes.
"No." Zhu Yun shook his head and said, "It was sent by the sixth prince's attendant."
"Sixth prince?" The eldest princess couldn't help but frown. The sixth prince Tang Jia, who seemed to understand etiquette and respected her very much, flashed in her mind.
Although Tang Jia had a pretty good impression on her, and she had Concubine Zhao as her backer, for some reason, the eldest princess just couldn't have a good impression of him. On the contrary, because of Concubine Zhao, she often still had it in her mind.
Tang Ao's figure will flash across.
Speaking of which, among the princes, the relationship between the eldest princess and Tang Ao is the best. It's just a pity that she didn't know the true identity of the other party at that time, and chose to stand by and watch when the other party needed help the most, and wasted nothing.
for the best chance of performance.
"Okay, now that the things are delivered, just accept them. It's rare for the Sixth Prince to show such filial piety. I'll give them some gifts in return next time I come here." The eldest princess said.
This meant that he did not completely reject the Sixth Prince's good intention to make friends with him, and of course it was not an initiative. After hearing this, Zhu Yun repeatedly agreed.
"By the way, how is Guo Changlong's current situation?" After the figure of Tang Ao flashed through her mind, the eldest princess naturally thought of the royal business.
"Not good." Zhuyun's expression became much worse at this moment. "Since the news came that His Royal Highness King Ji was suppressing the powerful people in Jizhou, these powerful people worked together to cut off business ties with Jizhou.
King Shangzhong interfered with this, and now not even a grain of grain can be transported to Jizhou. Naturally, the goods there cannot be transported. Now Guochanglong is seriously out of stock, and even the iodized salt in our house has bottomed out.
.Because of this matter, many members have quit their memberships, and business is not as good as before. Those vacancies have been taken back by some powerful people and wealthy families."
What Zhu Yun said was true, and when the princess heard it, it made her upset for no reason. She had discovered that since Tang Ao left Daliang City for Jizhou, everything had not gone well for her.
.seems to be back to the way it was before.
To say that people are like this, it's okay if they haven't lived a good life, but after tasting the sweetness of making money, suddenly going back to the past is completely uncomfortable. For example, the emperor's brother has been calling himself into the palace recently.
, the question was about Guo Changlong’s business.
Emperor Qianwen changed his previous attitude of being moderate and balancing the forces of all parties, and began to recruit troops and build an army, as if he wanted to dominate the world. War cannot be separated from money, and the source of national prosperity is the top priority. But it happened
Something went wrong at this time, which made the eldest princess feel very ashamed of her royal brother.
"Okay, I understand. Tell Fan Bai that if someone withdraws from the meeting, just let them go." Really unable to think of any good ideas, the eldest princess said as if she was resigned to her fate. Then she returned her gaze to the pool of water.
, at this moment she couldn't help but think - it would be fine if he was still here.