On the fifth day after the morning court, General Xue led his troops along with Zhang's merchant caravan from the border between western Beijing and Hebei.
Above the open space, ten thousand people gathered, and the sound of drums and gongs rang out, with a magnificent sound that resounded between heaven and earth.
Gu Yuanbai put on his imperial gown and one by one, he toasted heaven and earth and prayed for blessings and sacrifices for the soldiers.
After he finished his blessing, it was time for General Xue's morale-boosting oath of departure.
General Xue has a lot of experience, and even off the cuff he makes you listen with fervor.
But this time, General Xue was clearly agitated as well, and he had clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he spoke of the things the border nomads had done.
The junior officers in the queue would channel every word of General Xue to make sure that everyone could hear what the commander-in-chief was saying.
When the oath was over, General Xue came to Gu Yuanbai with great strides and said with tears in his eyes, "I will live up to His Majesty's trust!"
Gu Yuanbai also heard his blood boil, wishing he could also spur his horse and charge into battle. He fixed his mind and smiled, picking up General Xue and also said aloud, "Then I'll be waiting for the General's triumph!"
After sending off General Xue and the merchant caravan, because of the Emperor's request, and in honor of the Holy Order, the Zhang Clan members in charge of the bookstore worked very hard to distribute the issue of the Daheng State Newspaper, which the Holy Emperor had specifically ordered, to all parts of Daheng.
When the magnates everywhere saw the paper, they saw what was clearly written about the rebel cohorts sending out an envelope pulling the strings of the magnates everywhere before they were exterminated.
Their hearts were completely cold.
Because of the time difference, it was only ten days after Gu Yuanbai had moved to the summer palace that this issue of the Great Hengguo Newspaper was fast-tracked across many mountains and rivers and dangerous obstacles and delivered to the hands of the magnates. And at that point, this proved that the envelopes sent out by the magnates of Jinghu South and Jiangnan had already been in the hands of His Holiness for almost a month.
Almost the next moment they saw the newspaper, all of the magnates had the idea of traveling to the capital in person, wanting to pay homage to the saint. Whether it was to prove their innocence or to feel uneasy in their hearts, they had to have to go and see for themselves.
But we can't all crowd to the capital.
So the local magnates elected representatives from all over the world, specially selecting the magnates who are famous enough and also have deep enough relationship with Jiangnan and Jinghu South, and letting them expedite to rush to the capital.
These magnates rushed to the road to half, and heard that the saint has been relocated to the summer palace, so halfway rerouted, rushed to the summer palace in Hebei.
Thus, after Gu Yuanbai had comfortably stayed in the summer palace for more than twenty days, he finally ushered in these dozens of magnates who had rushed over from all directions.
Even if these magnates are rich, they can't be bold in front of the emperor.
They were all so formal, their eyes not looking around, without the slightest specification of clothing and accessories that shouldn't be on them, they appeared in front of Gu Yuanbai in a clean, even plain manner, fearing that one careful step would offend the nobleman.
Gu Yuanbai, on the other hand, had someone bring up a fire pit.
The magnates couldn't help but look towards the fire pit, a few moments of doubt showing on their faces.
Gu Yuanbai smiled faintly and gave a sideways command, and Tian Fusheng placed a bag of snow-white envelopes next to the fire pit.
"When I sent my army to crusade against the rebels in Jinghu South and Jiangnan, many of the local magnates had already fallen into the ranks of the rebels, and they had sent out a letter to seek support and enlistment from all sides before the armies descended on the city," Gu Yuanbai said without any haste, "and this big bag is the letter that these Magnates had sent out letters."
The gazes of the magnates moved to the top of the envelope, and their hearts were so anxious that their breaths could not help but stagnate.
Gu Yuanbai smiled and said, "I know what all of you are here for, these envelopes, I have never opened them, and I don't really want to wrongfully accuse my subjects with rebel talk. Since all of you have rushed here, that's just right, Tian Fusheng."
Tian Fusheng said respectfully, "I'm here."
Gu Yuanbai said gently, "Burn these envelopes."
"Yes." Tian Fusheng pulled out a sealed letter paper from the bag and threw it into the fire pot without blinking. The sparks in the fire pot sprang up, the firelight reflected on the ground, and the gazes of the surrounding magnates were already full of shock.
How dare the Holy Spirit just give it a clean burn?
There were quite a few sharp-eyed people who knew at a glance that these envelopes were indeed in a state that had never been opened. Some of the magnates who were close to Jiangnan, they recognized the notes on the top of the letterhead, and after recognizing them, they were just shocked in their hearts, and their legs could not help but soften. Because they vaguely knew in their hearts that these envelopes must have been addressed to themselves.
But this would see this letter after being consumed by the fire, all the magnates inevitably rose a sense of gratitude for having escaped from death.
They all began to tremble with fear, and one after another, they were grateful in their hearts for the generous and magnanimous mind of His Holiness.
Gu Yuanbai said in a gentle manner, "I said I would not pursue this matter any further, a gentleman's word is a promise, so don't worry about it."
This hand to buy people's hearts, simply let the hearts of all the magnates stirred, they honestly gave Gu Yuanbai to finish the peace, leaving the summer palace in the middle, still do not dare to believe very much.
The fearfulness of the heart when he came was completely gone, and it was replaced by a deadly admiration for His Holiness.
Such breadth of mind and such determination, these envelopes that take the opportunity to rectify them say burn, what kind of grace is this!
In the middle of the palace, Gu Yuanbai sipped a few mouthfuls of tea, asked Tian Fusheng to pack down the fire pots and ashes, and began to leisurely deal with political affairs again.
In history, Gu Yuanbai remembers two people who burned letters. One was King Cao Cao of Wei, and the other was Emperor Liu Xiu of Guangwu.
These two are under the courtiers because the situation is not favorable to their own and sent to the enemy to defection letter, but after they won, in the enemy's house found these letters, all chose in front of the courtiers will be these letters as much as the burning, show that they will no longer be pursued.
This has a lot of benefits, one is afraid of falling into the situation of mutual suspicion in the future, the second is that this is a good means of subduing the hearts and minds of the people, clever, but also reflects the broad-mindedness of the superior.
Thirdly, Gu Yuanbai's intention was still to get the land back from these powerful people. However, now that the internal development is still underway, and there is still an enemy country watching from the outside, at this time, what Gu Yuanbai should do is to ease the relationship between the emperor and the powerful.
He will be Jinghu South and Jiangnan two places in their own hands, Jiangnan and the world's merchants bustling field of interest, and because of the anti-corruption matter, the powerful apprehensive, in such a time, it is necessary to come to a means that can maintain stability.
Things have to be done one step at a time, and goals can't exactly be laid out in plain sight.
This was the best way to soften their attitudes and calm them down first, so that they would trust the Emperor and completely drop their guard against him.
Gu Yuanbai put the teacup aside and corrected the word "read" on the folders.
After a few moments, the head of the guards came in with big strides, and after saluting towards Gu Yuanbai, he said, "Your Holiness ......"
He wanted to say something.
Gu Yuanbai raised his eyes to look at him and lazily said, "Speak."
"I just went out and heard an extremely exquisite poem," the head of the guards said with a flourish, "It reads well, with far-reaching meanings and rhythms, and it was written by Lord Chang Yuyan. I inquired about it, and heard that it is a good work that Lord Chang has been working on for the past twenty days or so."
Gu Yuanbai got interested, "Read it once and listen."
The Squire gave a word-for-word reading.
The first four lines were fine, euphemistic and subtle, with vivid and beautiful wording, Gu Yuanbai could only vaguely figure out that this was a bard's poem, and when the head of the guards read towards the next line, he fell silent.
It was indeed catchy, and it was indeed exquisite. The more Gu Yuanbai listened, the heavier the sense of familiarity became, and he finally spoke out directly to interrupt the head guard, asking, "To whom was this poem written?"
The head of the guards implicitly said, "I have heard that the name of the poem is 'Gift to a Friend-Night Talk with Xue Jiuyao on the 21st of July'."
"...... "Once Gu Yuanbai heard Xue Yuan's name, he realized where the familiarity in the verse came from.
He couldn't help but feel a sense of cackling and laughter rise up, and he lowered his head and sipped a mouthful of tea, swallowing the ineffable feeling before he tapped on the table, thinking for a while, and asked, "How is Xue Jiuyao doing nowadays?"
The tone of the saint's voice did not distinguish between joy and anger, on the side of Tian Fusheng's face was already strange when the head of the guards read the poem, at this moment when he heard the saint's question, he could not help but think of Xue Yuan's once said words of treachery again, his back was suddenly a chill, and he busied himself by lowering his head to reduce the sense of existence.
Previously, when His Holiness traveled to see Xue Yuan, the head of the guards took his brothers to do an errand for His Holiness, and they weren't there at the time. When they came back later, those who had been warned by Tian Fusheng over and over again didn't dare to say a single word more on the matter, so until now, the head of the guards didn't know about Xue Yuan's mischievous thoughts towards the saint.
He honestly said, "This injury of Lord Xue is already much better than before."
Tian Fusheng eyelids jumped and kept saying in the bottom of his heart, Zhang Daoren ah, you do not say it!
He had been by the side of the saint for so many years, and he couldn't see the saint's mind today. According to reason, Xue Yuan has said that kind of words, the death penalty is deserved. But the saint not only did not execute people, but also suppressed this matter, visible to Xue Yuan's attitude is not general, such a thing, they do lackeys do subjects, really is not involved.
Gu Yuanbai was a bit playful, "How did you remember to go and visit him?"
"When I went to visit the Dowager Consort's body for His Majesty in the morning, I met the Xue mansion's boy on the way back," the head of the guards said, "The Xue mansion's boy was reciting this poem, and I recognized who the person written in the poem was, so I went up to ask him, and after saying a few words, I followed the boy and went to see Lord Xue. "
The executing guards were tall, ate a lot, and had enough strength. When the big board falls, the meat can be beaten out a bruise.
It was reasonable to say that with Xue Yuan's physical fitness, nothing should have happened to him. After all, even if he was like that, he still had the strength to grab Gu Yuanbai's hand and still be able to say something like that to him.
Gu Yuanbai thought of this and was out of his mind for a while, then suddenly snorted and got up, "Let's go, I'll go out and see what's going on with this poem."
Let's see what Xue Yuan is trying to do.