Vol 2 Chapter 919: Emperor's mind

"The sons and ministers pay homage to the emperor!" Liu Zhao bowed, respectfully and obediently.
"Come back! Let's walk with me."
The old voice rang in Liu Zhao's ear.
"Father!" He was in agitated and mixed mood.
After a few years of absence, the father and the emperor have grown a lot, making it impossible to look directly at him.
Emperor Wen De laughed. He wanted to reach out and pat Liu Zhao on the shoulder, but suddenly found that his son was half a head taller than him.
At the moment when Emperor Wen De was about to let go of his hand, Liu Zhao suddenly made an unexpected move.
He knelt down and looked up at Emperor Wen De, full of complex emotions, and called out: "Father!"
Emperor Wende moved his lips slightly and his eyes were complicated. In a blink of an eye, he laughed again, this time he smoothly patted Liu Zhao's shoulder, "It's great, I didn't lose the face of the Liu family."
"I dare to lose my life, not to lose face."
"Hahaha..."
With his hands behind his back, Emperor Wende took the lead out of the main hall and walked along the three-foot-wide path towards the back mountain.
Liu Zhao was half a step behind and followed Emperor Wen De.
From time to time, he stretched out his arm to help, and quickly released his hand before Emperor Wen De noticed it.
He did this naturally.
Sometimes Liu Zhao thought about it, but he hated it in his heart.
Hate his father for treating him unfairly, hate his father's cruelty.
However, when he saw his father's hair, beard and beard, walking slowly and heavy, all the hatred turned into nothingness.
In my memory, the upright, majestic and natural father Emperor will have an old day.
Birth, old age, sickness and death, even the emperor cannot escape.
Liu Zhao's heart was ups and downs, giving birth to many emotions.
The father and son did not speak, and climbed the mountain silently.
The palace servants and guards followed suit.
Finally reached the top of the mountain.
The back mountain is not high enough to see the small mountains. You can only see the palace halls hidden in the mountains and forests, and the palace people and concubines who shuttle through them.
On the periphery of the palace, house after house were the residences of accompanying officials, royal family members and others.
Looking around, Liu Zhao finally found the place where he and Gu Jiu lived among the many houses scattered around.
Located in the center of many houses, the stars are arched over the moon.
He was shocked, all the stars Gongyue?
Is this intentional? Or a coincidence?
He looked at Emperor Wen De.
Emperor Wen De looked for a stone and prepared to sit down.
Chang En hurriedly stepped forward and put the soft cushion on the stone, "The stone is cold, your Majesty be careful of your body."
Emperor Wen De waved his hand to signal him to retreat.
He beckoned Liu Zhao to come forward, "Tell me about the Northwest affairs, what is the situation now? Have you seen Luhou?"
"Tell my father, the situation in the northwest has been determined. The Metropolitan Government is determined to send troops to the depths of the grasslands and take advantage of the situation to occupy the grasslands."
"Occupy the grassland?" Emperor Wen De pondered, "Li Bingming mentioned such a sentence in the memorial, and I didn't think it over carefully. Tell me about your and Li Bingming's ideas."
"The idea of ​​Erchen and Master Li is to push the border into the depths of the grassland."
Emperor Wen De frowned.
"The grassland is very large, the climate is bad, and it is not suitable for farming. It is only suitable for the grazing life of living by water. Living by water means that the population is migrating. How to manage the government? There are only officials in one place and one city in Dazhou, but there is no follow-up. Officials migrating from herders. This is not conducive to court management."
"Father's words are quite true. This is also the fundamental reason for the past dynasties to abandon the management of grasslands. There is no way to count the population and acres and cannot be managed. But if we do not manage the grasslands, the enemy will manage them. The enemy not only manages the grasslands, but also in turn. Stomped us hard."
After a pause, Liu Zhao continued: "Without Beirong, Dazhou would not manage the grassland. Within a few decades, a new nation will be born in the grassland. What Xirong and Dongrong are all wolf ambitions, and they are planning to rob Dazhou. Zhou Guohuo. Erchen thought that if he could not take the old road of past dynasties, he could try to take a new road, a road that no one had walked before. Erchen thought, no matter how bad the new road is, it will not be better than the previous two years. The situation is worse."
Emperor Wende looked into the distance, frowning and thinking, "What new path do you want to take?"
Liu Zhao said: "In the past few years, with the permission of the emperor, a number of fortresses were built on the grassland. With these fortresses, the Xiliang cavalry was effectively blocked and an effective supply line was established. It is possible to pass through the grassland. With these fortresses as the center, count the population and livestock."
Emperor Wen De asked: "Then have you ever thought about how much it will cost to travel through the grasslands? Where does this money come from? How much taxation can the grassland herdsmen and livestock provide? If the fortresses are learned by the barbarians, they will deal with it in reverse. What about Da Zhou?"
Obviously Liu Zhao was prepared, he calmly said: "My son has carefully considered that the costs are mainly from three parts. The first is to set up a designated market to collect livestock transaction taxes. The second is to establish a wine industry and to collect taxes on alcohol. The third is minerals. Taxation. Grasslands also have mineral resources, which are worthy of careful consideration. After a few decades, maybe a city can be built on the grasslands."
Emperor Wen De smiled, "The idea is very good, but it is only an idea. You can tell your idea in the court, I dare to say that no courtier will support you in doing this."
"I understand! I am not in a hurry, I need to plan slowly for this matter."
Emperor Wen De nodded approvingly, "It's good to have an idea. Do things without rush or impulsiveness, so that big things can be done."
"The child minister remembers his father's teachings." Liu Zhao said, bowing.
Emperor Wen De looked towards Chang En.
Chang En knew the opportunity and immediately led people away.
The guards surrounded the entire hill to make sure that no mosquito could fly in.
Emperor Wen De patted the stone beside him and motioned Liu Zhao to sit down.
Liu Zhao chose a small stone and sat at the bottom.
Emperor Wende asked in a chatty tone: "Tell me about Luhou! Is there any way for the court to restrain him?"
Liu Zhao thought for a moment, and solemnly said: "The general situation of Lu Hou has been achieved, and it is difficult to control. If he adopts tough measures, he is afraid it will be difficult to avoid military disaster."
Emperor Wen De frowned, "Is there no way to deal with him? Do I have to cut Northwest to him? With Northwest, he wants to own the entire Great Zhou. Even if there is a military disaster, he must find a way to get rid of Lu. Hou’s confidant trouble. Continue to raise their Pei family father and son, and one day they will raise a tiger and raise a troubled courtier."
Emperor Wen De was very anxious, he wanted to solve the problem of the Northwest Army as soon as possible.
After solving the two external troubles of Beirong and Xiliang, the Northwest Army has become the internal worry of Da Zhou and the biggest and most serious factor of instability.
Liu Zhao said unhurriedly: "Father, calm down! The idea of ​​a child minister can be avoided as far as possible if you can avoid military disaster. My son has an immature idea, which may be available."
"tell me the story."
Liu Zhao dipped his fingers in the water and made a few random strokes on the stone to outline the rough terrain of the northwest.
"You can try to drive away the wolf and devour the tiger and drive Luhou to lead the Northwest Army to attack westward. The court provides part of the grain and grass, and the remaining grain and grass are allowed to be plundered by the Northwest Army along the way to support the war."
Liu Zhao moved his finger to the Xiliang location a little bit, "If the Northwest Army can capture this place, it is far away, and it is not realistic to send officials to govern. It is better to be more generous and seal this place to the Pei family. Let the Pei family travel the northwest for generations. To the west, Dazhou Bingfeng is determined to go west. And it can also be used to train troops. The recruits will be pulled over in batches to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army. At the same time, the fortresses on the grasslands will become the first barriers worthy of the name of Dazhou. This is a preliminary idea of ​​the son, what about the father's will?"
Emperor Wen De stared at the stone and remained silent for a long time.
The traces of water dried up and disappeared gradually.
Emperor Wen De's eyes did not look away.
After a long time, Emperor Wen De let out a sigh of relief.
"Is this your personal opinion?"
Liu Zhao shook his head, "Master Li also has the same idea. This is a last resort to avoid military disaster."
Emperor Wen De asked again: "In your ideas, how much did Gu Jiu participate in?"
Liu Zhao was stunned on the spot.
Emperor Wen De laughed, "You still want to hide from me and dream. Such a long-term plan and such a big hand, it looks like Gu Jiu's style of acting. She likes to count the birds with one stone, and she always tries to take care of everything. Benefits. This plan is tantamount to cracking the earth and confining the land, and taking the land of Xiliang to do favors with the Pei family and the Northwest Army.
I guess that Luhou should not be able to refuse. After all, he was not sure of winning against the army of the upper court, and at the same time he didn't want to lose everything he had. The situation is deadlocked, but it cannot be deadlocked forever. The advance of the Northwest Army to the west was simply a stroke of magic. "
Liu Zhao was sweating secretly.
He really didn't expect that the emperor father was so sharp, he could see through this opportunity to have the shadow of Gu Jiu.
After Wen De finished speaking, he laughed again.
After laughing, he asked: "Did Gu Jiu say how much money and food is needed to promote this opportunity, how many years?"
Liu Zhao did not conceal, "This plan will be completed within ten years. The amount of money needed is no less than tens of millions."
Emperor Wende frowned, "Where does so much money come from?"
"Snatch from Beirong, from Xiliang."
"She dares to think about it. She is more bold than many courtiers in the court. Those civil servants chatting about the nation of benevolence and righteousness in my ears every day are all shit."
Liu Zhao laughed, "Xiao Jiu also said that the foreign enemy benevolence and righteousness is the greatest cruelty to the people of the Zhou Dynasty."
"This is a good thing. It should be told to the courtiers. Let them know what real benevolence and justice are."
Emperor Wen De was in a good mood.
He patted Liu Zhao on the shoulder, "This plan may not be realized in my lifetime. It is up to you to solve Luhou and Pei family."
"Father!" Liu Zhao was shocked.
The words of Emperor Wen De had to be passed on to him.
Emperor Wende smiled frankly, "I know my body, and there is not much time left. I don't trust the Jiangshan Sheji in the Great Zhou Dynasty. I don't worry about it. Leave it to you, I don't worry."
Liu Zhao bowed to the ground, his eyes flushed, "The sons and ministers dare not live up to his father's entrustment, open up the frontier and expand the land, and promote my great Zhou Tianwei. Everyone in the world can hear the voice of Da Zhou."
"So ambitious! I also want to go to the west of the northwest to see if there are really so many countries and so many people."