[Red Chamber] I am Lin Daiyu and her uncle

In the 42nd year of Tiansheng, there was a severe drought in the Huangliang Kingdom for several years, and the grain was not harvested. The Empress Dowager Lan asked the Nanke Kingdom to pay tribute with grain instead of money and cloth.

The troops of Nanke Kingdom have only reached Xuanhe Pass, and there are still many people living outside the pass.Nanke Kingdom and Huangliang Kingdom are far away from each other by the West Sea, and these people outside the pass live on the coast of the West Sea.

The ownership of Xihai Yanzi is very complicated.

Before Emperor Gaozu founded the country, there was no one inhabited here. Later, Gaozu ruled the world. In order to better guard against Huang Liangguo, he moved some of the people in the pass to the West Sea to reclaim wasteland.After the death of Emperor Gaozu, the succeeding Emperors Taizong and Emperor Xizong were mediocre and indulged in pleasure, causing the court to be smoky and the common people to live in poverty, and there were constant uprisings in the country, and small vassal states were also ready to move.Due to internal and external troubles, the soldiers on the frontier had no more energy to protect the people along the West Sea, and the people were burned, killed and looted by the cavalry of Huang Liangguo.

After Empress Dowager Wenhuan came to power, Xihai Yanzi was reintroduced into the protection scope of Nanke Kingdom, and was no longer ravaged by the cavalry of Huangliang Kingdom.However, the good times didn't last long. Empress Dowager Wenhuan failed to attack Huang Liangguo, and soon died of depression. The people in Xihaiyanzi lost their protection again, and were ordered by Queen Mother Lan to retaliate severely.At that time, the sky was high and the emperor was far away, and Xia Xu was only in charge of the government, so he couldn't take care of himself. How could he care about these leftover people on the border?The people of Xihaiyanzi complained that every day should not be done, and that the land and the earth were not working. They lingered on their last legs under the harm of Huang Liangguo, and even had a human tragedy of changing their sons and eating them.

After Xia Xuteng took the initiative to deal with the West Sea issue, he adopted the strategy of keeping a low profile and biding his time under the proposal of some scholars headed by Gongsun Liang, and exchanged tribute for peace. Only in this way can the border be stable for decades.

So if Xia Xu rejects Huang Liangguo's proposal this time, then the people in Xihai Yanzi will suffer again, the border will become unstable, and even lead to a war between the two countries.

Give it, but it's too useless.Huang Liangguo's lion opened his mouth. On the one hand, the country can also tide over the difficulties with its previous grain reserves, but we have been hiding our strengths and biding our time for so long, so it should be somewhat effective, right?You can't always bow down to Huang Liangguo in a humble manner.Besides, Huang Liangguo is now in short supply of food, isn't it the perfect time for us to make a comeback?

Therefore, based on these two ideas, the officials of the imperial court were roughly divided into the main combat faction and the main peace faction.

The nobles are basically on peace, because once a war breaks out, the emperor will inevitably harvest another wave of Jiangnan's finances for military supplies, and they will even have to hand over their old books; Most of the leading generals are in the main battle. After all, there is no chance for them to make contributions in a peaceful and prosperous age.

The main battle faction and the main peace faction were arguing endlessly. The public said that the public was right and the woman said that the woman was right. There were a lot of discussions inside and outside the court, and the courtiers had different opinions.

Xia Xu hadn't recounted the past with his two grown sons for a long time, so he found an excuse and asked Xia Xiang and Xia Zhen to accompany him for a meal at the Fengbo Pavilion in the palace.

Xia Xiang and Xia Zhen walked towards the Fengbo Pavilion together, but when the two brothers arrived, they were told that Xia Xu would not be able to come until a quarter of an hour later, so they chatted for a while.

First, Xia Zhen cupped his hands to congratulate Xia Xiang who was sitting opposite: "I heard that Cousin Zhou is pregnant again, and she will give birth at the end of the year. My brother is here to congratulate the emperor in advance."

Xia Xiang smiled back and said, "Let me give you a good word from my fifth brother! However, since we are talking about this aspect, the elder brother can't help but say a few more words, and I hope the fifth brother will not think that the third brother is nagging."

"Fifth brother is now in his [-]th or [-]th year of life, and he is in full bloom and high spirits. Third brother already has his first child at your age, but fifth brother, you haven't even made a date yet. The ancients often said, "Cultivate one's morality, govern the family, govern the country and the world." If we men want to have a career, in addition to perfecting ourselves, it is best to start a family first, and we must know that the backyard does not catch fire, and we can do things with half the effort."

Xia Zhen raised his eyebrows, "Third brother, didn't my concubine mother ask you to say this?"

Seeing that he was found out so quickly, Xia Xiang was a little embarrassed, so he grinned, but he still tried to persuade him: "The virtuous mother and concubine also care about you, and you are not young anymore, it's time to start a family."

Xia Zhen understands that Xia Xiang has good intentions, but... Sigh.

"Third brother, don't you know my body? It's God's blessing to be able to hold on for so many years. My mother and concubine worry about my body all the year round. How can I bear to delay a good girl?"

Xia Xiang was about to comfort him, but Xia Xu arrived just in time.

The two hurriedly got up to greet them, "Royal Father."

Xia Xu came to the main seat and sat down, smiled and said: "There is no need to be too polite, everyone sit down."

"Thank you, Father!"

After saluting, the two brothers returned to their seats and sat down.

After the father and son exchanged pleasantries, Xia Xu changed the topic to Huang Liangguo.

"A few days ago, Huang Liangguo asked for food tokens, what do you think?"

Xia Xiang was confident at the moment, and his staff had reminded him a few days earlier that Xia Xu might ask him and Xia Zhen their opinions on this matter.The suggestion given by the staff is not to say whether the main battle is still the main peace, but to find another way and request that all the people living in the West Sea Coast be moved back to the pass.

The reason why these aides made such a suggestion was that Xia Xu was a benevolent monarch, and he definitely didn't want to see the people on the border suffer.If Xia Xiang followed what they taught, no accidents would make Xia Xu feel that Xia Xiang had a heart of benevolence and love for the people, and he also had the demeanor of a wise gentleman.

After making up his mind, Xia Xiang couldn't wait to express his thoughts to Xia Xu: "Father, my son thinks that regardless of the main battle or the main peace, the most important thing is to bring the people of Xihai Yanzi back to the pass."

Xia Xu has been used to hearing the words "main battle" and "main peace" in the past few days. Hearing the words of the third son at first, he couldn't help being interested.

"Oh? Why did you say that?"

Xia Xiang was very excited: Father finally no longer only sees the fifth brother alone!So he stood up slowly, made a deep bow to Xia Xu, and then started his own performance.

"During the reign of Emperor Gaozu, the people of Xihaiyanzi moved from inside the pass to outside the pass. Although it has been a hundred years, they always believe that they are the people of Nanke Kingdom. In the early days of the founding of the country, Xihaiyanzi was barren. People's efforts have turned the West Sea from a wasteland into a rich land that Huang Liangguo covets. Today, they have already overfulfilled the tasks assigned to them by Emperor Gaozu. Even though they have experienced various hardships along the way, they still have not changed their loyalty to the country. My son believes that this is really rare, so I really can't bear to see the people who are loyal to the country and the court suffer again."

After Xia Xu listened, he smiled and waved his hands, signaling Xia Xiang to sit down.It's just that there is a bit of relief in this smile, and at the same time, there is a little...disappointment?

Seeing Xia Xu smiling, Xia Xiang thought that his answer had been approved by his father, and couldn't help but look a little happy, but he didn't notice other things Xia Xu was hiding under the smile.

"My son is really kind. The people in Xihai Yanzi have indeed paid too much for the country." Speaking of this, Xia Xu sighed sincerely, "In the final analysis, the imperial court is sorry for them..."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Xia Zhen who was sitting there silently, and couldn't help asking, "Zhen'er, what do you think?"

When Xia Xu called him, Xia Zhen got up quickly, first saluted Xia Xu, and then expressed his opinion: "I think that not only can the people of Xihaiyanzi not be moved back to the pass, but we should take advantage of the shortage of food in Huangliangguo to do a good job. The preparation for the war with Huang Lianguo is just not to start the war now, but to delay it for a few years."

Xia Xiang didn't expect Xia Zhen to speak so directly, and looked at Xia Zhen with a little disbelief in his eyes: "No way, isn't my younger brother famously gentle and kind? Why this time...

Xia Xu's eyes flashed, and he looked at Xia Zhen who was standing first in front of his eyes, seemingly unintentionally, and asked: "It seems that Zhen'er is the main combat faction, but why has it been delayed for a few more years? Can you explain the reason to the emperor?" what?"

Xia Zhen smiled and expressed his opinion frankly.

"At the beginning, Empress Dowager Wenhuan failed to attack Huangliang, causing countless elites in the army to die in battle. If chaos ensues, this is why we adopt the strategy of keeping a low profile and exchanging money for time for domestic development.”

"As for the Nanke Kingdom, under the rule of my father for decades, its national strength has gradually approached its heyday at the beginning of the founding of the country. In other words, we already have the strength to fight against Huang Liangguo!" Speaking of this, always The gentle and calm Xia Zhen was rarely excited, and his eyes were even more frighteningly bright.

"Isn't Huang Liangguo facing a food crisis this time is a good opportunity that God has given us? If we give him all the food, it is tantamount to raising tigers. When he recovers, we will still have to be coerced by him. It’s not worth the candle.”

Xia Xiang asked unwillingly: "But what does this have to do with moving the people from Xihaiyanzi back to the pass? Besides, if there is a war, shouldn't they be moved back so that they will not be affected by the war?"

Xia Zhen nodded, "That's the truth. But the reason why we say 'recover' Xihai Yanzi instead of 'occupying' it is largely because Xihai has been living in our Nanke country ever since there were people. In other words, we have natural jurisdiction over it. If there is a war, the Huangliang Kingdom will definitely invade the West Sea first. The West Sea is the territory of our Nanke Kingdom, and invading it is equivalent to invading our own country.

"The invaders must be the unjust side, and we who defend our homeland are naturally the righteous side, and we have a moral advantage. The so-called 'the righteous will be helped more, and the unjust will be helped less', as long as the West Coast lives The most important ones are the subjects of our Nanke Kingdom, and morality is on our side. Through the ages, looking through the history books, it is mostly the righteous army who won the victory. The soldiers know that they are fighting for the country and their relatives, and their morale is also very good. .”

Xia Xiang only felt that Xia Zhen's words were all false, didn't it mean who had better soldiers and horses, and who had a higher level of generals?Where can you get these messy and specious things.

So he dismantled the stage bluntly, "Although what the fifth younger brother said is somewhat reasonable, if you ignore the lives and deaths of the people in Xihai Yanzi just because of this, it would be a bit of putting the cart before the horse. His life is alive in front of his eyes."

When Xia Xu heard this, he already had his own thoughts, but he felt that Xia Zhen was not the kind of person who would completely obey God's will.His son looks gentle and gentle, but he is actually a decisive personality. If it is not restricted by illness, he is really an excellent heir apparent.

really……

The reason why Fengbo Pavilion is called Fengbo Pavilion is mainly because there is always a cool breeze blowing through it all year round, and the lake water on the lake surface will ripple with the footsteps of the wind.

Just at this moment, the light breeze swept across the sparkling lake, rolling up Xia Zhen's wide sleeves, and Shengxue's white clothes were elegant and free under the wind's encouragement, but his eyes were calm and powerful, and there was a trace of compassion hidden between his brows.

Hearing this, he explained unhurriedly: "It's not enough to have morality alone. In fact, Xihai, as the dividing line between Nanke and Huang Liang, has a certain strategic buffer effect. Once the two countries are at war, Xihai must be the first The battlefield. If we rashly evacuate the people from Xihai Yanzi out of the pass, wouldn’t that tell Huang Liangguo that we are about to start a war against him? If we push them into a hurry and attack the Xuanhe border recklessly, more people will only die.”

"According to my investigation, Huang Liangguo's food shortage has not reached an unsustainable level. We only need to lend a small amount of food to let them get through this difficult time, but they will not fully recover. Then we can infer that this year's food reserves It was damp and moldy, and there was no extra food to borrow at all, and the envoys were asked to bribe the Queen Mother's cronies and attendants around her with a lot of money, and let them intercede. Compared with the food borrowed and the subsequent benefits, the money for bribes is simply not worth it. Worth mentioning."

Xia Xiang still couldn't believe it, "So we want to bet the lives of all the people in Xihai?!"

Xia Zhen sighed deeply, "There is no way to do this. Then, it must be to connect them to the customs, but not now. Before our new military force grows up, we can only exchange space for time. We must never start a war rashly. Decades of planning... It depends on whether we can stabilize it in the past few years."