Straight man of steel

Chapter 312 The Theory of Ghosts and Gods

"General Tang, look, I just said that Marquis Yelang is not a fool, as long as we give him a chance to live, he will definitely agree to talk to us."

Sima Xiangru pointed at Duotong who came out of the palace with a whip, and said to Tang Meng with a smile.

Although Sima Xiangru had never seen what Dutong looked like before, the exaggerated golden armor on Dutong could directly prove his identity.

Tang Meng nodded with a smile. He just didn't want to talk about it earlier, thinking about killing all the thousand palace guards in Duotong directly, and breaking into this palace full of gold and gemstones.

I don’t really think that if Sima Xiangru talks about negotiation, Duotong will refuse.

Tang Meng still has his own selfishness, wanting to make a fortune in this war.

Duotong walked out of the palace step by step slowly, seeing the three thousand soldiers of the big man, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart.

It was this large army that forced him back to the county seat just now, and while he was walking, he was thinking about whether he should go to negotiate, and what would happen if the Han army suddenly attacked and took him hostage.

In the end, before he could come up with any results, he had already walked in front of Sima Xiangru.

Sima Xiangru and Tang Meng dismounted together because Duotong was still a prince of a big man, and they didn't treat Duotong with disdain.

"Zhonglang generals Sima Xiangru and Tang Meng met Yelanghou."

The extreme politeness of the two gave Duotong the illusion that the war just outside the city of Fu County was just a joke?
"You two don't have to be so polite. I just lost the battle, and you make me a little at a loss."

Duotong was a little flustered, he didn't know what he said.

Sima Xiangru almost didn't laugh out loud, thinking of rebelling just like that.

"Marquis Yelang should know that His Majesty the Emperor of our country is a benevolent and righteous king. Although you are unkind, unjust, loyal and unfilial, His Majesty does not blame you.

Otherwise, General Tang and I would not be so polite. "

Duotong didn't react at the moment, and asked Sima Xiangru.

"Since the emperor of Han didn't blame me, why did he send troops to attack Yelang?"

Sima Xiangru changed his previous kind face and said with a sneer.

"There is no Yelang Kingdom anymore, this is the Qianwei County of the Han Dynasty, and the city of Fu County is also a county seat of the Han Dynasty.

Although Your Majesty does not blame you, but for the sake of the face of the Celestial Dynasty, those rebels must be taught a bloody lesson. "

It was only then that Duotong realized that earlier, when he took refuge in the big man, he still thought that the Yelang Kingdom was actually preserved, but he never thought that there was another meaning waiting for him.

"You are talking nonsense, this is my Yelang, not the territory of your big men.

How can the wolfish ambition of the Han Dynasty convince the people of the world? "

Sima Xiangru didn't answer Duotong's question, and didn't want to continue entanglement on it.

"Your Majesty ordered me to suppress the rebellion in Qianwei County, Yelang Marquis Duo and other rebels, if they surrender, they will be given a chance to survive, and Duo Tong is the same as the rest of the Marquis who still retain their titles.

All government offices in Qianwei County cannot be controlled by Yelang people, and the imperial court will send officials to take over major military and political affairs.

If the Yelang tribe insists on going its own way, I have the right to wipe out everyone in the Yelang tribe.

This is an order from His Majesty the Great Han Emperor. Do you have any questions, Marquis Yelang?

Now there are only two options before you, surrender, and you can continue to be your Lord.

Resistance, all the Yelang people in this county will have only one end, and the soldiers of the big Han will not mind dyeing the entire Cangjiang River red. "

Duotong's face turned green and pale for a while. In fact, he wanted to surrender immediately, but now that he surrendered, the previous war became a joke.

Will anyone listen to what he said in Yelang?How wronged are those Yelang people who died.

"Your Majesty, surrender, Yelang can no longer die."

The Yelang minister who persuaded Duotong earlier said from behind.

After Sima Xiangru heard this, he immediately yelled.

"What kind of king is here? You really want to continue to rebel!"

The Yelang minister was so frightened that his whole body went limp, and he knelt down on the ground, begging for mercy repeatedly.

"General Shangguo, the villain made a slip of the tongue for a while, please forgive the villain."

Duotong glanced at the minister kneeling on the ground, and sighed in his heart.

"General Sima, let's stop this matter. This time, I lost my head for a while. Please also convey my sincere apology to His Majesty the Emperor of Heaven."

When Sima Xiangru heard that Duotong was willing to surrender, his complexion immediately turned cloudy, and he became kind again.

"Then the general will lead the army to retreat.

By the way, there is one more thing that Yelang Hou may agree to. "

Duotong frowned and asked Sima Xiangru.

"Whatever, as long as I can do it, I will do it with all my strength."

Sima Xiangru smiled and pointed to the thousand palace guards behind Duotong.

"We may have to take back the weapons of these people."

"What? Then I won't have anyone to protect me in the future?"

"Don't worry, His Majesty will send someone to be the sheriff of Qianwei County, and then the sheriff will form soldiers.

If Marquis Yelang is worried about his own safety, he can come back to Chang'an with me, it is the safest place in the world. "

People are swords and I am fish. At this moment, no matter how reluctant Duotong is in his heart, it is impossible to go back on his word.

"Okay, just as General Sima said.

I am a little tired and want to go back to the palace to rest. "

Sima Xiangru smiled and waved.

"You can do whatever you want, Marquis Yelang."

The conversation between the two made the people around feel as if Sima Xiangru was the host here, but Duotong became the guest instead.

After confiscating all the weapons of Yiqian Yelang Palace Guard, Sima Xiangru didn't stop any longer, and directly led the army out of the valley.

Then he ordered the release of the [-] Yelang soldiers, and after arranging some spies, Sima Xiangru and Tang Mengcai withdrew the army from Fu County, and followed the Zangjiang River all the way south to Hanyang Duwei.

Seeing that the Han army had withdrawn from the city, Zong Xing, who was hiding in a private house, was relieved.

His coming to Fu County is definitely a confidential matter. Before leaving, Zhang Yuan told Zong Xing to collect madman fruit, even Zhuo Wenjun couldn't disclose it.

Both Sima Xiangru and Tang Meng recognized Zong Xing, if they were found out, they would definitely have doubts in their hearts.

Zong Xing didn't know whether the Han army had returned to Fuguan or where they were going. He was worried that he would meet the departing Han army on the road, so he stayed in Fu county for three days before leaving calmly.

After making a fuss this time, the people of Yelang also know what the sky is high and the earth is thick. Of course, there are still many people who are not convinced, but at this juncture, no one will make any more troubles.

Chang'an City Jianzhang Palace.

Less than ten days later, Sima Xiangru summarized what happened in Southwest Yi and sent it to Liu Che's desk.

In fact, there are quite a lot of things in the south, and sometimes they cause Liu Che more headaches than the Xiongnu in the north.

Anyway, there is only one enemy in the north, and that is the Huns.

But there are too many ethnic minorities in the south, known as Baiyue.

From time to time there will always be a tribe come out to jump.

After reading Sima Xiangru's report, Liu Che let out a long sigh of relief.

He hadn't worried about things in the southwest, he just felt irritable.

As an emperor, he wanted to expand the territory for the great Han as much as possible, but the many problems he faced made Liu Che feel tired.

The population of Dahan is not large, and now it is only 5000 million, but there is a considerable part of it, almost 1000 million people do not have a registered permanent residence.

Therefore, the number of people counted by the government is only about 3000 million.

If the population of the big Han is extremely large, coupled with the expansion of the territory of the Han army in all directions, it will be able to supplement the population in those border areas, increase the proportion of local Han people, and greatly reduce the probability of accidents.

But now the population of Dahan can't even develop the original land, less than one-third of the entire territory has been developed, and the rest of the land is desolate.

That's why Liu Che has never had a good solution to solve the troubles in the south.

This is the reason why the tail is too big to drop.

"Let the Taixue order Zhang Yuan to come and see me."

Liu Che felt a little upset, and then said these words.

"Here."

A servant of the yellow gate came out from the shadows, and quickly exited the palace with a promise.

Knowing that Liu Che was going to summon him, Zhang Yuan was a little abrupt. The relationship between Liu Che and Zhang Yuan has been a bit deformed for such a long time.

Generally, when there is no major event that requires Zhang Yuan to participate, Liu Che always subconsciously forgets about Zhang Yuan.

After receiving the summoning order, Zhang Yuan arrived at Jianzhang Palace in less than an hour.

After such a long time, Liu Che was still waiting for Zhang Yuan in Yutang Palace while handling government affairs.

"Your Majesty, the Taixue Ling has arrived outside the palace."

"Announce him in."

"Xuantai Xue ordered Zhang Yuan to meet."

Hearing the shout, Zhang Yuan quickly took off his shoes and quickly entered the hall.

"Minister Zhang Yuan pays homage to His Majesty."

Seeing Zhang Yuan coming in, Liu Che put down the memorial in his hand and looked at Zhang Yuan.

"Okay, you don't have to be so cautious about Taixue Ling. I called you here today because I want to ask you something."

"Please, Your Majesty, I must know everything and say everything."

"Yelang Hou Duotong launched a rebellion in Qianwei County a few days ago, and I sent Sima Xiangru and Tang Meng to suppress it.

Now Yelang Hou Duotong has surrendered, but these barbarians always like to go back and forth, and only you Zhang Yuan in Chang'an City is very familiar with Yelang.

I want to ask you, is there any way to solve the problem of the Yelang tribe in one fell swoop. "

Zhang Yuan wanted to know what was going on with Yelang for a long time, but Liu Che came to his door and told Zhang Yuan what happened.

Since someone went to suppress it, and Liu Che still called Duotong Yelanghou, it means that the matter is not serious, and the safety of the clan should be guaranteed.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yuan relaxed a lot, but he forgot to answer Liu Che's question.

"Is there any worry in Tai Xueling's heart? Why don't you answer?"

Only then did Zhang Yuan realize that Liu Che was still in front of him.

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I still went to Yelang a few years ago. Your Majesty suddenly asked me, so I thought more about Yelang."

"Then have you come up with any good solution?"

"The minister has a way, which is to say it out for fear of His Majesty's blame."

Zhang Yuan thought about it, and indeed came up with a good solution, but it might be difficult for Liu Che to accept.

"Just say what you say, no matter what you said in Yutangdian today, as long as it doesn't go out, I won't blame you."

"Your Majesty is magnanimous, I just suddenly thought of the theory of the relationship between heaven and man that Dong Zhongshu once told His Majesty.

The minister thought to himself, since His Majesty is the spokesperson of the heavens, the son of the real dragon, and the patron of the great man, then naturally he can also be the god of other tribes in the world. "

Liu Che has always been very interested in such remarks. He stared at Zhang Yuan with bright eyes, and then said to Zhang Yuan.

"Go on."

"It is actually very simple to solve the problem of the Yelang clan. The reason why the Yelang people dare to rebel is because they do not agree with His Majesty from the bottom of their hearts.

Your Majesty is now the emperor of our Han people, but in the eyes of Yelang people, Your Majesty is not their god.

The Yelang family believes in witchcraft, mountain kings, ghosts and gods, and they must consult the ghost master if something important happens.

Yelang Hou Duotong's status in the eyes of the Yelang clan is not even as good as the ghost masters in the Yelang clan, let alone those gods.

As long as we send people to Qianwei County to spread the words among the Yelang clan that His Majesty is the reincarnation of the Mountain King and the Black God, in the long run, His Majesty will definitely become the true god of the Yelang clan.

Of course, the gods believed by this small clan are definitely not as good as His Majesty, and once they do this, His Majesty's status will be lowered. "

Zhang Yuan’s approach is actually thinking of the emperors of the later Qing Dynasty. Those Manchu emperors not only became the gods of the Manchus, but also the gods of the Mongolians and Tibetans.

Take Emperor Kangxi as an example. The Mongolian people called him Enhe Amugulanghan, the holy patriarch of the Qing Dynasty. Tibetans all regard the emperor of the Central Plains as the incarnation of Manjusri Bodhisattva in the mortal world.

These are very conducive to the rule of the ruler, and can also maintain the stability of ethnic minorities.

After listening to Zhang Yuan's words, Liu Che closed his eyes. Zhang Yuan knew that he was thinking about the feasibility of this matter, so he stood respectfully at His Highness and did not make any noise.

Soon Liu Che made a decision and opened his eyes.

"Did Taixue make you believe in ghosts and gods?"

Zhang Yuan shook his head.

"I'm not afraid of His Majesty's anger, I don't believe in ghosts and gods."

Although Zhang Yuan came here through time travel, the system's prompts can often sound in his mind. These sounds remind Zhang Yuan all the time, because if it is really the work of ghosts and gods, he can give Zhang Yuan a magic weapon. , why bother to set up a system.

The most important thing is the name of this system. Could it be that the gods in the sky have lived too long, and even read the literary masterpiece "How Steel Was Tempered"?
"Actually, I don't believe it, but I often have doubts in my heart. Sometimes I think about it for a whole day, but I can't figure out the reason.

But if you connect these doubts with ghosts and gods, everything seems to be explained. Do you usually have these doubts? "

Zhang Yuan did not shake his head this time, but nodded firmly. He felt that he had more doubts than Liu Che. The more he knew, the more question marks in his mind.

"I also have doubts from time to time, but I feel that since these doubts are doubts, there is a reason for their existence.

Doubts and troubles are not good things, they are things that people always want to stay away from and abandon, and avoid them as much as possible.

Precisely because doubts cause restlessness in our hearts, and doubts come from our hearts, these doubts need to be explained by ourselves.

Ghosts and gods cannot interfere with our original mind, and naturally they cannot answer our doubts.

People in the world are ignorant and do not understand the reason, so they don't ask the ghosts and gods when they have doubts in their hearts, but they don't know that doubts are all thoughts born in our own hearts. "

When Zhang Yuan said this, Liu Che frowned obviously, but Zhang Yuan didn't notice it, but continued talking.

"Your Majesty dares to guess what His Majesty is thinking. Your Majesty wants to make meritorious deeds for all ages and become a holy king through the ages.

This is why you want to solve the biggest trouble of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu, and also want to expand the territory. At the same time, you also think that the Han Dynasty will enter the prosperous age during your rule.

I don't know whether my guess is right or not. "

Liu Che's frown, which was originally frowned because of Zhang Yuan's words, suddenly eased.

"You're right, I really want to build an immortality."

"Then His Majesty should work hard to destroy the Xiongnu and create a prosperous world, instead of believing in ghosts and gods.

Expansion of territory requires your Majesty to build an invincible army. Your Majesty can improve the weapons and equipment of the Han army and expand the number of troops.

To create a prosperous age requires your Majesty to have wealthy people, officials who can simplify local government and clean up punishments, and grains that can fill the granary of the world.

As long as His Majesty can act in accordance with this, how can there be any doubts in his heart?
Improving weapons and equipment is the job of craftsmen, expanding the number of troops is a job of population, making the people rich is a job of courtiers, and harvesting inexhaustible food is a job of the common people.

Your Majesty only needs to choose excellent officials to handle these matters, and your wishes can be fulfilled.

If you feel that there are no outstanding talents available, it means that I have not done my best and it is the responsibility of Taixue. "

Liu Che originally only wanted to ask about the Yelang Kingdom, but he never expected that the chat with Zhang Yuan would become more and more enjoyable. From the actual situation, he immediately talked about his ideals in life.

"Then according to what you said, isn't Dong Zhongshu lying to me?"

Zhang Yuan shook his head.

"Your Majesty said a few words, Your Majesty, you and Dong Zhongshu are just taking advantage of each other.

You want to use Confucianism to control the people, and Dong Zhongshu wants to use you to elevate the status of Confucian scholars and suppress other theories. "

"Aren't you afraid of death when you say such disobedient words?"

Zhang Yuan was stunned for a moment, and sure enough, being with a king is like being with a tiger, Ma De said hi all of a sudden, and almost opened the table to reveal the darkness under the table.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for my crime. Your Majesty just said that no matter what I say in Yutangdian today, Your Majesty will not blame you."

Liu Che wanted to slap Zhang Yuan a few times, but he held back.

"I remember my promise, so I don't need to remind you too much.

However, I would like to remind Taixue Ling, just now is just your guess, I am the master of the world, who else needs to use me, in other words, no matter who wants to use me, there is only one end and that is death ! "

"I understand."

"Okay, I won't scare you anymore, but tell me how I should deal with those Confucian scholars since Dong Zhongshu is not lying to me."

"Your Majesty can use Confucian scholars all over the world as a tool, and don't believe their words, as long as the people of the world believe it."

At this time, neither Liu Che nor Dong Zhongshu knew that the "divine authority of the monarchy" was a double-edged sword. At this time, there were no conditions and opportunities to use the "divine authority of the monarchy" to restrict the monarchy.

Liu Che also didn't taste the "divine right of kings" restraining himself.

Now Liu Che only thought about being able to get rid of the constraints brought about by the prime minister's power, but he hadn't thought about the constraints brought about by God's will.

"I remember what you said. I listen to what you mean. The solution to the Yelang country's affairs is to let me act for the people of Yelang. Anyway, the theory of ghosts and gods is nonsense, so it doesn't matter whether it's a big god or a little ghost, right?"

Zhang Yuan smiled and nodded, that's what he meant.

"Your Majesty is wise, and once implemented, this model can be replicated.

There are only a few tens of millions of Han people, and His Majesty will not be able to limit his attention to the Han people only when he expands his territory and covers the whole world.

As long as His Majesty becomes the god of each tribe, the people in those tribes will support and be loyal to His Majesty just like the people of the Han Dynasty! "

"I originally thought that you, Zhang Yuan, were just a little clever, but now it seems that you know the big man better than others.

What do you think if I let you be prime minister? "

Liu Che smiled and questioned Zhang Yuan, but Zhang Yuan trembled all over. Let him be any official, even if he is fighting the Huns, but he can't be two officials. To fight against, the second is Tingwei, who is against all officials except Liu Che.

"Your Majesty, the minister is now able to be ranked as a high official, but he is already unable to do what he wants for the Taixue Order.

Now, not to mention being the prime minister, even if the minister is appointed as an important official such as the imperial censor or court lieutenant, the minister will not be able to meet His Majesty's expectations. "

"Since you don't want to, I won't force you.

Marquis Wu'an is old after all, and he doesn't know who is more suitable to take over this position.

Well, let's not mention this matter. After you go back, come up with a plan and send it to the palace. I will find another person to handle Yelang's affairs. "

"I would like to obey the holy will."

"I'm a little tired, you should go back to Taixue first."

"My minister retire."

After coming out of Yutang Hall, Zhang Yuan put another stone in his heart.

Before, I thought about the political achievements I didn’t get, and I might be finished after two years, but it turned out that when I was really sleepy, someone would come to deliver pillows, and when I was hungry, others would prepare meals for me.

The warmth Liu Che sent this time made Zhang Yuan very comfortable.

Moreover, it also let Zhang Yuan know a lot of things, the most important of which is Liu Che's attitude.

The attitude towards Confucianism, the attitude towards ghosts and gods, the attitude towards Tian Fu, and the attitude of tolerance towards Zhang Yuan himself.

If it were another person, or the former Liu Che, many things Zhang Yuan said in the hall today would have killed Zhang Yuan.

Inadvertently satirized Liu Che's grandfather, and secretly manipulated Liu Che's mind, and even said that Liu Che was using Confucianism to deceive the world.

Fortunately, only Zhang Yuan and Liu Che were in Yutangdian at the time, and Liu Che was not worried that Zhang Yuan would risk his life and spread today's words, which made Zhang Yuan walk out of Yutangdian safely.

Outsiders only know that Liu Che summoned Zhang Yuan today, but they will never know what Liu Che and Zhang Yuan talked about.

It's the same reason that when Dou Ying met Liu Che late at night with an edict issued by Emperor Han Jing, outsiders didn't know what they said.

(End of this chapter)