Chapter 577 Yuan's Request
Chapter 577 Yuan's Request
When Xiao Xia arrived at the VIP Hall, Liu Wenjing quickly stood up and said, "Your Highness!"
Although Xiao Xia was resting in the mansion during this period, Liu Wenjing had come several times and discussed many important decisions.
Xiao Xia waved her hand and said with a smile: "Master, please take a seat!"
The two sat down, and Liu Wenjing said, "Your Highness, Yuan Wenzhen came to see me today!"
Xiao Xia asked with a smile: "No one comes to visit you for no reason. What does he want?"
"He just came to inform us of some things. The head of the Yuan family is here too. He wants to see Your Highness!"
"What did he report to us?" Xiao Xia asked.
"Yuan Wenzhen said that the emperor decided to attack Goguryeo for the second time despite opposition from other ministers. Although there was fierce opposition from both the government and the public, the emperor had already made the decision and appointed Fan Zigai as the Minister of War to be in charge of planning and preparing for the second expedition to Goguryeo."
Xiao Xia was not surprised by this matter. In history, the emperor had conquered Goguryeo three times. In the end, the people were filled with resentment and the Sui Dynasty collapsed.
When Xiao Xia read this period of history before, he couldn't understand why Emperor Yang of Sui did this and destroyed his own country.
Now he understood a little bit that this was actually a major character flaw of Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. Yang Guang had a very serious paranoid personality disorder, commonly known as paranoia. When he did something, he had to succeed before he would give up, and he would never accept failure.
If it is an ordinary person, at most he will suffer a few big losses before slowly realizing that it is himself who suffered the loss. But if it is an emperor, such a personality disorder is dangerous. If he suffers a big loss, not only will he suffer the loss, but the entire dynasty will also be implicated.
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "The emperor suffered a crushing defeat and lost face, so he just wanted to save face. So it's not surprising that he wants to march east again."
Liu Wenjing asked again: "If the emperor marches east, will we also have to follow him on a second march?"
Xiao Xia shook his head. "It's unlikely. He won't give me another chance, but he will definitely ask us to provide transportation. He will learn his lesson the second time and won't need to conscript so many civilians. He can directly use sea transportation to provide supplies. Anyway, we have a base in Liaodong Peninsula. We can lend a helping hand to the court, and it won't have much impact on us."
Liu Wenjing sighed, "What I am worried about is that if we conquer Goguryeo a second time, the emperor will completely lose the support of the people, and the rebellions in various places will become more and more intense. The powerful families will get involved, and it will not be as simple as occupying the mountain and becoming the king."
Xiao Xia was silent for a moment and said, "Many things cannot be changed by our will. The emperor must go on a second expedition to the east, and I can't persuade him. But we can prepare ourselves and accumulate strength. Once the world is in chaos and heroes are vying for supremacy, we can also take the stage."
"I understand the humble position!"
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Reply to Yuan Wenzhen and ask his family head to come to the General Manager's Mansion tomorrow morning. I will meet him specially!"
The next morning, Xiao Xia came to the General Manager's Mansion. This was his first time to come to the government office after his return. Although he had not been to the official office for several months, the office was still tidy. His current record-keeping officer was Lu Miao, who was the first member of the Wujun Lu family who came to take the civil service examination.
Although they originally came to take the examination for civil servants, after several years of trials, many of them gradually stood out and won a brighter future with their hard work and talents. Lu Miao was a typical example.
Lu Miao was promoted step by step from a third-level clerk to a second-level clerk and became Fang Xuanling's assistant. He was serious and meticulous in his work, and all kinds of documents were organized in an orderly manner without a single mess. He was also extremely talented. Talent is also a kind of talent. Lu Miao's talent is his strong memory. When Xiao Xia needed a piece of old information, he could immediately find it accurately and quickly from tens of thousands of documents.
His talent was greatly appreciated by Fang Xuanling. After Fang Xuanling was promoted to the position of Shangshu Xingtai Judge, he recommended Lu Miao to take over his post as Jishi Canjun.
Xiao Xia sat down at his desk and flipped through the documents on the table. He had already approved some urgent and important documents two days ago, and the rest were some less urgent documents.
At this time, Lu Miao walked in and said, "Your Highness, the head of the Yuan family is here and said he has an appointment with Your Highness." Xiao Xia nodded, "Please ask him to sit in the VIP hall for a while, I will be there soon!"
Xiao Xia tidied up for a while, then got up and went to the VIP hall, where Yuan Xiaoju was already waiting.
"Your Highness, long time no see!" Yuan Xiaoju stood up, clasped his fists and said with a smile.
"Yes! It's been a year since we last met. How is the master of the family?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I am in good health."
Xiao Xia asked him to sit down and asked Lu Miao to serve tea.
Xiao Xia asked with a smile: "Why did the head of the family think of coming to Jiangnan?"
"If I say that I came here specifically to visit Your Highness, would Your Highness believe me?"
Xiao Xia laughed, "The Patriarch is putting pressure on me! It must be a big deal if the Patriarch comes to me personally."
Yuan Xiaoju nodded, "We are willing to pay 300,000 strings of cash to purchase your Highness's secret recipe for Iron Fire Thunder."
Xiao Xia was a little puzzled. Their iron fire thunder was not used very often, and even the imperial court and the emperor didn't know about it. How could Yuan Xiaoju know about it?
"Can the Patriarch tell me how you know about Iron Fire Thunder?"
Yuan Xiaoju smiled slightly and said, "In fact, your highness gave the court a batch of porcelain fire bombs. We paid attention to them and got samples for research, but found that they were not powerful enough to sink a ship. Later, Yu Zhongwen told me that your highness used a very explosive iron bottle on the battlefield of Goguryeo. This was told to Yu Zhongwen by Gao Yuan himself. He got the secret from Yu Zhongwen, but Yu Zhongwen was also at a loss. We understood that your highness gave the court porcelain bottle fire bombs, but he used iron bottle fire bombs. The power must be extraordinary and can easily sink warships and blow up city gates."
Xiao Xia nodded, "Thank you for the reminder, Master. The Goguryeo people will definitely try every possible means to steal my military secrets."
"Your Highness, is there no room for negotiation?" Yuan Xiaoju asked.
Xiao Xia smiled and shook his head. "This is a military secret that must not be leaked. Once it is mastered by the nomadic peoples of the grasslands, or by foreign countries like Goguryeo, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, we rarely use it ourselves, and only use it at key points in major battles."
Yuan Xiaoju expected Xiao Xia's attitude. He actually knew that Xiao Xia would not sell it. He hesitated for a moment and said, "If you don't want the secrets, how about selling us some finished products? One thousand coins for each one."
Xiao Xia still smiled and shook his head. Helplessly, Yuan Xiaoju could only sigh, "Okay! I want to ask your Highness again, how likely do you think it is that the emperor will win the second expedition to Goguryeo?"
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "Goguryeo also suffered a serious plague. Coupled with the destruction of the war, Goguryeo itself is also in a state of collapse. If nothing unexpected happens and if the emperor can learn from the first lesson, then it is very likely that Goguryeo will be destroyed."
"Did Goguryeo gain nothing? We almost lost all our supplies."
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Liaoshui is already a living hell. No one is collecting the bodies, let alone collecting the spoils. When the epidemic subsides in winter, all kinds of food and supplies will be almost destroyed."
Yuan Xiaoju nodded. "So the Sui army will triumph in the second eastern expedition, right?"
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "Just now I said that there must be no accidents. I am afraid that if something unexpected happens in the Great Sui Dynasty, the emperor will not be able to grasp the best opportunity."
(End of this chapter)