Li Po carefully looked at the surrender article ghostwritten by Cen Wenwen, a member of Zhongshushe.
Cen Wenwen is one of the top literati in the world today, and there is no doubt about the quality of his articles.
The article is roughly divided into three parts. The first part describes the strength of one's side, the wisdom of the king, the virtuousness of the ministers, the list of achievements, and the integrity of the throne.
The second part begins by praising Du Fuwei, saying that he is very talented and manages Jiangzuo counties very well. His subordinates obey his orders and the people are grateful to him. These are all his achievements.
The next step is to talk about Jiangzuo's weaknesses and shortcomings in light of the general trend of the world, and tell Du Fuwei that it is not a wise move to become an enemy of the Tang Dynasty.
The third part is the words of persuasion to surrender, promising various benefits to allow him to surrender early to avoid harming himself and the people of Jiangzuo. Especially, he said in a compassionate tone that after so many years of war, there are not many people left.
, Seeing that the situation is over, why bother to act like a mantis with its arms like a chariot for the sake of selfish interests?
At the end, he talked about friendship and secretly told the other party not to be afraid. As long as you come back, glory and wealth are waiting for you, and you can even marry the daughter of a famous family in Chang'an.
In the future, your family can be like the Yuan family, Chen family and other families, with endless wealth and endless descendants.
Li Po finished reading with some difficulty. He only pondered for a moment before writing a comment, "Don't show off, I can't write such an article... Du Fuwei, a thief, can't understand it. Even if it is my own handwriting, then...
Keep it simple and let them know the pros and cons.”
There is no doubt that Cen Wenwen is talented, but this is the problem with literati. They are fine on weekdays, but at critical moments they like to show off their rhetoric and allusions. Many times they feel that the more incomprehensible they are, the more talented they are.
Li Po, a dabbler, naturally hated this kind of behavior. The memorials submitted by some people were very obscure and difficult to understand. He had to ask Yan Shigu and others to "translate" them to save him reading time, which made him very embarrassed.
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He had no formal literary education at that time, which was undoubtedly a major shortcoming for him. Fortunately, he had read some books, and his calligraphy was somewhat improved. From time to time, he could steal a few poems, occasionally showing off the emperor's "excellent" character.
Literary literacy, otherwise, he might be like Dou Jiande and others, and would have already been known as vulgar.
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It doesn't take so many tricks to persuade Du Fuwei to surrender. After this year's war, the situation in the world has become clear. Without Dou Jiande, Xiao Xian responded, and Du Fuwei, who was entrenched on the left side of the Yangtze River, could not resist the Tang army's advance.
If Du Fuwei understands current affairs, he will save a lot of effort. If he leads the crowd to resist, it will only shed a lot of blood, and the chance of changing the current situation is very slim.
It was a pity that Wang Xiongdan was sent to Lingzhou by him, otherwise it would have been more sincere to use Du Fuwei's adopted son to deliver the letter.
Of course, in his opinion, this is almost an impossible thing. The grass-head kings dominate their own territory and enjoy the hot food. How can they easily surrender to others when they are not at the end of their rope?
?
Li Mi and Li Gui are both good examples.
Li Mi defected to Zhai Rang when he was most embarrassed. Look what he did. After losing the battle with Wang Shichong, he chose to defect to the Tang Dynasty. He was still lonely and unbearable, so he ran away and killed Wang Shichong.
Li Gui was similar. He first professed his submission to Li Yuan, but then regretted it, making Li Yuan very angry.
Li Po himself was actually included in this list. He had surrendered to Li Yuan in Daizhou, but in the end he chose to steal Li Yuan's home base.
If you only think it's because of King Li Yuanji of Qi, how naive would that be?
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As soon as he issued his comments here, the eunuch over there came to report, and Cen Wenwen, a member of Zhongshushe, arrived.
Li Po called him in, and after he saluted and sat down, he asked someone to hand him his comments. Cen Wenwen only looked at them, and immediately stood up and begged the Supreme Being to forgive him in embarrassment.
After he returned yesterday, he was full of ambition and literary thoughts. It took him half a night to write this article. He felt that he was proficient in arts and sciences, both spiritual and spiritual, and touching. When Du Fuwei saw it, even if he had no intention of surrender, he should know how powerful he was.
, He is afraid of his liver and gallbladder, and loses three points before fighting.
This is the self-confidence of a literati. A piece of paper can defeat millions of soldiers. It is undoubtedly the highest state of a literati.
It's a pity that this is not popular in Kansai... The emperor's comments disappointed the Censhe people who came eagerly to wait for the emperor's praise. What was particularly embarrassing was that Yan Shigu, the regular servant of Tongzhi Sanqi, was also there.
The two of them are well-known both inside and outside the court. Although there is no quarrel between them, there is a hidden rivalry between them. After all, Wen Wu is the best.
Especially since they are taking turns teaching the prince, whoever can gain a firm foothold with the prince will naturally be better than the other party.
Yan Shigu was immersed in the papers, but his ears were perked up. Hearing Cen Wenwen's apology, he was already chuckling in his heart. He had also read the article and had to say that Cen Jingren's literary talent was excellent. It was no fluke to be ranked alongside me...
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But persuading princes to surrender is inherently thankless. Although you can make a name for yourself by doing so, but... if you are not very respectful when you reply to the letter, doesn't it mean that the letter you wrote is counterproductive?
Then when the king needs a ghostwriter again, he will definitely not use you again.
As a Kansai native, his thoughts were similar to Feng Deyi's. They both felt that Cen Wenwen's move was a bit arrogant. The chance of success was low, but it could easily hurt himself.
Over there, Cen Wenwen still wanted to struggle, "Supreme Rong, I think that to persuade the princes to come back, you should show them power, embrace them with virtue, teach them with courtesy, and move them with affection, so that they can move their hearts. If you only use ordinary words,
, I’m afraid it will be detrimental... but it will make him feel contemptuous."
Li Po said with a relaxed smile: "Du Fuwei is only a thief, but now he has been able to hold Jiangyou for nearly ten years. He has put an end to troubles, governed the people, and used troops to administer affairs. This shows that this person is not an ordinary person.
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How can such a person be moved by words without too much pretense when communicating with him?"
Cen Wenwen also knew that his idea of using his literary talent to convince Du Fuwei that he had come to surrender was a bit rash. The emperor had always been pragmatic. If his articles could not impress the emperor, how could he impress Du Fuwei?
He pondered for a moment, "Supreme Holy Ming, I thought wrongly, so I went to rewrite it... It's just that I and Xiao Shilang had a discussion some time ago, and they both felt that Du Fuwei was about to become a minister..."
At this point, he coughed twice in embarrassment, "Just a slight gesture from the Supreme Being can dispel the resistance over there."
Then he changed the subject and said: "But it is easy to claim a vassal, but it is difficult to ask him to come to Beijing to come to court..."
Li Po understood what he meant. The princes who declared themselves vassals were still princes, and the princes who entered the dynasty were like tigers in a cage, losing their previous prestige. This was what Cenwen Zhongshu asked, how should Du Fuwei be treated once he became vassal.
Li Po only said, "It is better to use your remaining courage to pursue the poor bandits, and not to pretend to be a learned overlord."