At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

After Liu Jian abdicated, Guo Peng did not renovate the palace and palace again. After leaving the back garden and hot spring palace, he did not build any palaces for leisure and entertainment. The cost in this area was very small.

In various senses, Guo Peng was a good emperor. If he hadn't held power so tightly, he would have had a very good reputation if he worked hard to toss the officials.

If he can live in harmony with the officials, everyone will be harmonious, discuss everything, and not harm the interests of the nobles and tyrants, and the officials will only need to sign and seal what they need.

In this way, he must be the great Mingjun and Renjun in the world, and he will be widely sung by later generations.

In the future, his reign will definitely be evaluated as a world-shattering prosperity in which the world clarifies the dynasties from all directions.

What a pity, what a pity.

The emperor set off so many political storms, didn't he make it clear that the people under his rule were corrupt, didn't he make it clear that his dynasty and empire were very unpopular?

So many people are against you, and you are against so many people. It must be you who are wrong, not so many people.

It is no wonder that everyone is not afraid of killing scholars and powerful people, and sitting tens of thousands of people at every turn.

No wonder you have such a good reputation.

Ugh……

Gu Yong really felt sorry for Guo Peng.

Of course, it is impossible for Guo himself to feel any pity for this. The reason why he doesn't care about personal enjoyment is not to make his courtiers feel relaxed.

On the contrary, he made himself unhappy, in order to make his courtiers unhappy.

If the courtiers are happy, wouldn't it be meaningless for him, the emperor, to be unhappy?

If you want to be an emperor happily, you can, don’t worry about anything, eat, drink, have fun, and hand over power to others, it must be very happy, but it’s hard to say whether the dynasty will be destroyed.

It's a pity that the courtiers will never think so.

Of course Gu Yong is the same.

Guo Peng wanted to go to Jiaozhou to see the situation now, but considering that his itinerary should not be too far, and there were not enough troops around him, it was not appropriate to travel rashly.

After all, Guo Jin is just the prince of the country, not the emperor. Guo Peng is constantly handling government affairs while making inspections.

This time it is better than the last Northern Expedition. Wherever you arrive this time, local officials are summoned to handle government affairs——

Don't send me the memorandum, let's hold a meeting to solve the problem, and let these local officials who have never had the chance to see what the emperor looks like in their entire lives to have a good look at what the emperor looks like.

Every time Guo Peng went to a place, he would hold a meeting, and let the local administrative officials who could talk about it come to participate, discuss issues together, and bring out some important and major issues, and speak directly in front of the emperor, who would directly give You handle it.

This really saves a lot of officials a lot of trouble.

All the way from north to south, Guo Peng continued to deal with state affairs, and he could handle about [-] state affairs a day on average.

He felt that he was more and more in line with Zhu Yuanzhang.

Guo Peng went as far as Linhai County on his southern tour this time, where he had a seafood meal and met Zhang Liao.

Chapter 1372 One Thousand 280 Two Zhang Liao Has No Friends in the Court

Before Guo Peng proclaimed himself emperor, Zhang Liao had been placed in the Jiangdong position by Guo Peng to deal with the Sun Wu regime.

Later, when the Sun Wu regime was overthrown, Zhang Liao took up the task of eradicating the Shanyue bandits in the Jiangdong area. He fought hard for many years and made many achievements.

Calculated in this way, Zhang Liao has not returned to Jiangbei, his hometown, or took a short rest or vacation for a long time.

Guo Peng still has a five-day long holiday every year, but Zhang Liao doesn't. Once there is a war, he will have to put on a bloody battle in the new year.

So Guo Peng decided to give Zhang Liao a good condolences.

"Your home is far away in Yanmen County, Bingzhou, but I put you in Linhai, Yangzhou, thousands of miles away. Do you think I'm unkind?"

Guo Peng and Zhang Liao walked alone on the beach on the coast.

"Your Majesty puts a lot of emphasis on my ministers and gives them the opportunity to display their talents. The minister's success today is all due to His Majesty's trust. Everything I receive from you is given by Your Majesty. How can I feel that Your Majesty is unkind?"

Zhang Liao replied cautiously.

Guo Peng smiled.

"Wen Yuan, there is no one else here. Let me tell you the truth. You know your own situation. Zixiao has retired. Now you are the one with the highest military achievements and the greatest prestige in the army. I said, it is a risky move to put you in the southeast to take control of the military."

Zhang Liao's hands trembled uncontrollably, and he opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he kept silent.

"What do you want to say?"

"Everything is up to His Majesty."

Zhang Liao gave up the unnecessary struggle and decided to leave everything to the emperor.

Guo Peng laughed out loud.

"If I had listened to those people's slander, I would have transferred you back to Luoyang a long time ago. Do you think I have reached the point where I have to come to Yangzhou in person to transfer you back to Luoyang?"

Guo Peng turned around and looked at Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao dared not look directly at the emperor.

The emperor is his old superior, directly under the superior, he has served under the emperor's command, is his subordinate, the old department.

Not only him, but all the generals who are now well-known in the Wei army are all the emperor's old troops, and they have been under the emperor's command.

His prestige is that as long as he is alive, no one will dare to rebel.

As long as he thinks about it, the prestige is as high as Cao Ren, and he will obediently surrender his military power and retire obediently.

Even if Cao Ren, the general of the family, was like this, Zhang Liao, Zhang Liao, who was like a rootless duckweed, was even less qualified to resist.

Zhang Liao knew very well that as Dong Zhuo's subordinate and Lu Bu's comrade-in-arms, he carried a heavy historical burden.

Therefore, he could not gain the trust and favor of the courtiers. Without the trust of the emperor, it would be impossible for him to stay in the army.

The emperor resisted the pressure of his courtiers and insisted on appointing him, which allowed him to obtain the second highest position in the general sequence of the Guowei Empire, second only to Cao Ren.

Now that Cao Ren has gone down, he is the active-duty general with the second highest prestige and military exploits, and he can still hold military power.

For a period of time, the suspicion and attacks on Zhang Liao reached a peak.

Many people said that it was dangerous for Zhang Liao to lead troops in Jiangdong alone, and it was lack of consideration. The emperor should change his approach and replace Zhang Liao with someone more trustworthy. Only in this way can he be responsible for himself and everyone.

Otherwise, once Zhang Liao raised his troops to rebel, what would he do?

There are tens of thousands of Jiangdong troops, all of whom are elite soldiers. As long as Zhang Liao does this, the Wu regime can be revived in an instant.

The ministers thought so. They speculated Zhang Liao with the greatest malice, thinking that Zhang Liao would do this, that Zhang Liao would definitely not continue to work honestly, and would definitely make something wrong.

Even the people on the staff desk said that Zhang Liao was unreliable.

The posture of the courtiers made Guo Peng think of Di Qing. After he became a privy envoy, how the courtiers of the Northern Song Dynasty maliciously speculated, slandered and slandered this rare general.

The rare general in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty did not die in battle or from illness, but was scared to death alive.

Zhang Liao had no friends in the court.

In the army, Tai Shici, Zhang Fei and others were considered his friends, but people in the army could not interfere in politics and could not help him speak in the court.

So Zhang Liao was very isolated, he had no friends in the court, and no one spoke for him. On the contrary, there were a lot of people who spoke ill of him, so once he lost the trust of the emperor, one can imagine what would happen to him.

Zhang Liao knew this, so he knew that everything about him was related to the emperor alone, and this point would not change in any way.

If the emperor wants him to retire, he must retire, there is no other way, unless the emperor wants him to continue, he can continue to work.

Before Cao Ren retired, he felt that this day would come sooner or later. After Cao Ren retired, he had been counting the days and waiting for this day. Now he felt that this day seemed to be coming.

For him, it doesn't feel strange when this day comes.

On the contrary, the emperor asked him to lead troops to make contributions in Jiangdong for so many years, which seemed strange to the officials.

Is the emperor really not worried?

Zhang Liao himself felt strange.

Now, Guo Peng's statement makes him feel even more incomprehensible.

"Your Majesty, what do you mean?"

"What I mean is, you don't have to pay attention to what other people think of you. I'm the emperor of Wei. You just need to listen to me, not anyone else."

Guo Peng's words made Zhang Liao even more confused.

"Your Majesty, I... I don't understand what Your Majesty means. Does Your Majesty want me to continue doing this?"

"Of course, otherwise, why would I come to you in person?"

Guo Peng smiled and took out a folded piece of paper from his arms.

"open to take a look."

Zhang Liao took the piece of paper with both hands in astonishment, opened it slowly, and was taken aback when he saw it.

This……

This is a map?

Which state is it?

No, this is the coastline, this is the coast of Yangzhou, here... this...

This doesn't seem to be just a map of Wei.

Zhang Liao scanned the entire map, then looked up at Guo Peng who was facing the sea enjoying the sea breeze in surprise.

"His Majesty."

"Did you see it? This map is not the map of Wei, but the map of the whole world."

Guo Peng pointed to the vast sea: "It's a map of everything that we can't see. It's isolated by the sea. The whole world, except the land of China, is here. Wenyuan, this map , is the world."

"The world?"

Zhang Liao was shocked.

Isn't the world the territory of Wei State?

This is the world of Wei State.

This... on this map is...

"Beyond China, there is a vast world. It is a world that we don't know, have never seen, and have never set foot in. It is blocked by the sea and cannot be seen without crossing the sea. The ancients believed that the sky is round and the land of China is the land of China. It's everything, it's not.

Outside of China, there are vaster lands that we have never understood or seen before. If we want to reach those places, we must cross the sea.

Wen Yuan, this is the task I entrusted to you. I want you to take a huge fleet of sea-going ships to set off from here, along the coastline, across thousands of miles of sea area, and arrive at the Great Qin Kingdom by sea. "

"maritime?"

Zhang Liao was taken aback for a moment, and then he was shocked: "Your Majesty, you mean to let the minister arrive at Daqin by sea?"

Guo Peng nodded and pointed at the map.

"From here, to here, see, this is the route."

Zhang Liao looked at Guo Peng's location from Linhai County, and drew a route on the map with his fingers.

"Through this route, you can reach the land of Daqin, from the sea instead of the difficult land, eliminate the interference of Guishuang Kingdom and Anxi Kingdom, directly contact Daqin Kingdom, and take the sea route."

Zhang Liao blinked, suddenly feeling very puzzled.

"Your Majesty, this sea road... has someone walked by?"

"I read the history books and found that in the pre-Han period, people living in the Jiaozhou area had already begun to travel westward along the coast, going to places we are not familiar with now and trading with merchants there.

They bought some rare items and provided them to the emperors of the early Han Dynasty. In the later Han Dynasty, this situation began to decrease. This sea route gradually became deserted and was not recorded in historical records. "

"I see."

Zhang Liao nodded.

"By the way, Wen Yuan, after communicating with those people from the Western Regions, I learned an interesting thing."

Guo Peng smiled and said, "Do you know why they call the Great Qin Kingdom the Great Qin Kingdom?"

"I don't know."

Of course Zhang Liao didn't know.

"I learned that in the countries around Guishuang and Anxi, there are still many people who think that our country is called Qin."