Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 873 My Husband's Methods Are Like Thunderclap

"Lord Yuwen, Master Fan, I thought you weren't coming to see me."

Lu You was not surprised at all and waved his hand to send all the officials out of the government office.

Fan Wenchang was just an ordinary-looking scholar who had originally lived a life of luxury and was quite dignified. However, as all the officials of Chengdu Prefecture left, his aura became weak, and he even had to hide behind the old man beside him.

Upon seeing this, Lu You couldn't help but chuckle. He stepped forward to help the old man up and slowly said, "Since Master Fan doesn't want to talk, Lord Yuwen, how about we talk in the pavilion in the backyard?"

The old man, whose hair and beard were completely white, was still vigorous and energetic. Hearing this, he nodded and smiled, saying, "That's exactly right."

Fan Wenchang stood there dumbfounded. However, with the old man in front of him not standing on his side, he was helpless and could only stand there with his hands tied.

The reason is simple: this old man is named Yuwen Shizhong, and he is over eighty years old this year. He is the younger brother of the famous ministers Yuwen Xuzhong and Yuwen Cuizhong.

This man was a high-ranking local official during the Xuanhe, Jingkang, and early Shaoxing periods. Later, in the ninth year of Shaoxing, he retired to the countryside and lived a quiet life in the woods, thus avoiding the political turmoil that followed ten years later.

Whether Yuwen Shizhong truly achieved success through self-cultivation or his tranquil nature genuinely contributed to his longevity, this fellow outlived his second brother Yuwen Xuzhong in the Jin Kingdom, his eldest brother Yuwen Cuizhong in the Song Kingdom, and even outlived his two sons. Yet, he remains alive and kicking, truly a centenarian.

According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, if Yuwen Shizhong reached that age, even if he killed someone in the street, he could not be punished. At most, his children and grandchildren would be brought out to take the blame and be beheaded.

Therefore, Lu You showed great respect, helping Yuwen Shizhong to the garden pavilion and letting him sit on a stone bench before slowly asking in the slightly chilly winter wind of Sichuan: "Has Lord Yuwen come here to offer any guidance?"

Yuwen Shizhong, leaning on his cane, said with a smile, "Lord Lu, would you allow this old man to tell the truth?"

Lu You nodded and said earnestly, "This is a private conversation, and I will naturally speak frankly and without reservation with you, elder."

Yuwen Shizhong nodded slowly, his snow-white beard trembling as he spoke: "Very well, Lord Lu, I shall take the liberty of addressing you as my nephew."

"I have come here not for the Wang or Fan families, nor even for the Yuwen family, but for you."

Lu You tapped his right hand on his knee lightly: "Please forgive me for not understanding what you are saying, Lord Yuwen."

Yuwen Shizhong shook his head: "How could someone as intelligent as my nephew not understand?"

As he spoke, Yuwen Shizhong's cloudy eyes became slightly unfocused as he fell into reminiscence: "Nephew, at my age, even if you don't know, you can probably guess that I experienced the prosperous and turbulent times of the Xuanhe era, the precariousness of the Jingkang and Jianyan eras, and personally witnessed the court gradually stabilizing and driving the Jin army back in the early years of the Shaoxing era."

"Having lived so many years, even though I am only of average talent, I have finally come to understand some of the politics of the court and have some ideas in my mind."

Lu You nodded: "Please speak, Lord Yuwen."

Yuwen Shizhong stroked his beard and said, "In the midst of political struggle, loyalty, treachery, good, and evil are all useless. If you want to do things for the country, do good things, and do great things, you must have the ability and means to sweep all your political enemies out of the court."

Lu You chuckled: "I once heard a saying in the north: if a loyal minister wants to get things done, he must be more resourceful than a treacherous minister."

Yuwen Shizhong was slightly taken aback: "Could this be what that Liu Dalang said?"

Lu You: "That's exactly right."

Yuwen Shizhong sighed, "Truly a rare talent. Nephew, that's all I wanted to say."

In my opinion, the only people in the court who can be of great use right now are Prime Minister Yu and you two. The rest are either not mentally strong, not resourceful, or simply opportunists.

If you are not willing to sacrifice yourselves, and the treacherous officials in the court seize the opportunity to impeach and remove you from office, what will become of the country?

Lu You remained silent, only looking at Yuwen Shizhong with a strange gaze.

Yuwen Shizhong, however, seemed oblivious: "You are only over forty years old and have already become a prime minister, which means you have an extremely bright future. Why are you in such a hurry to use such drastic measures and give others a handle against you?"

Lu You remained silent for a long time before sighing and saying, "Lord Yuwen, what follows are my private words. If you were to spread them elsewhere, I would not acknowledge them."

"Please speak, my dear nephew."

"The reason for such haste is quite simple," Lu You said sincerely, "It's because there's not enough time, really... not enough time..."

Yuwen Shizhong was somewhat surprised and looked Lu You up and down, thinking that he had a terminal illness.

Lu You remained silent for a long time, then brought up another matter: "Lord Yuwen has lived in Jiangnan for a long time, have you ever seen the painting 'The Night Banquet of Han Xizai'?"

"Of course I've seen them."

"Then, in Yuwen Gong's opinion, what kind of person is Han Xizai?"

Han Xizai was an important minister during the reign of Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but Yuwen Shizhong knew that this was not what Lu You wanted to ask.

"A talent capable of saving the world, yet born at the wrong time; a dissolute lifestyle, yet unable to conceal his sorrow..." After all, the Southern Tang dynasty of the Five Dynasties period was connected to the founding story of the Song dynasty, so Yuwen Shizhong immediately realized this, and then a bitter look appeared on his face: "Now... now is my Great Song also like the Southern Tang?"

That's the good thing about talking to smart people; they understand everything immediately.

Lu You sighed and said, "When Han Xizai was twenty-four years old, he boldly declared that he would govern the country and save the people from their suffering."

Decades later, however, when he became a high-ranking official in the Southern Tang Dynasty, he told the monk Deming, "The Central Plains have always coveted Jiangnan. Once the true ruler emerges, Jiangnan will be overwhelmed with trouble." Yuwen Shizhong closed his eyes, shook his head, and smiled bitterly: "Is the true ruler of the Central Plains that Liu Dalang?"

Lu You nodded, then shook his head: "Not yet, but as long as he destroys the Jin Kingdom, that will be enough. Lord Yuwen, he has already annihilated the Jin bandits' main force, and the Jin army fears him like a tiger, daring not to engage in battle at all."

If Liu Bei truly were to one day defeat Youzhou and Yanzhou and recapture Bianliang, what would become of the Southern Song Dynasty? Would it truly be forced to abandon all resistance?

Yuwen Shizhong sighed repeatedly: "How much time is left for the Song Dynasty?"

Lu You immediately uttered the number he had been weighing in his mind for a long time: "It will take at least two or three years, and at most four or five years. This is what my nephew meant by 'time waits for no one.'"

"I must quickly take control of Sichuan, gather all forces, and assist Grand Commandant Wu in conquering Guanzhong, so as to deal with the Central Plains and Hebei, and force Liu Dalang to not rebel, and dare not rebel."

This is actually Lu You talking nonsense.

He had already figured it out the day he boarded the ship heading south.

The conflict between Liu Huai and the State of Song was not a struggle for the throne, but rather a clash between new and old forces, between expansion and conservatism, between proactive and conservative approaches, and even between the study of natural philosophy and Confucianism.

It is absolutely impossible to reconcile them.

All Lu You can do now is to use every means to gain a strategic advantage in the hope of seizing the initiative in future conflicts.

However, Yuwen Shizhong was ignorant of military affairs, and he immediately believed Lu You's nonsense, while at the same time admiring the young envoy even more.

Those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their country are the kind of people who are destined for great things.

Yuwen Shizhong still said with concern, "Even so, your methods of dealing with the Wang family were too ruthless. The impeachments in the court must be overwhelming."

Having moved on from the previous topic, Lu You seemed somewhat relaxed, shaking his head and chuckling as he heard this: "Lord Yuwen, this is no big deal. It won't affect me."

"The Emperor sent me here, and one of my important tasks was to procure provisions for Grand Commandant Wu of Guanzhong. I asked the Emperor for the authority to act as I saw fit."

"His Majesty probably didn't expect me to be so audacious."

"However, if I only report based on hearsay without any real evidence, the Emperor will definitely cover for me no matter what."

Yuwen Shizhong suddenly realized, then frowned and said, "What if there is real evidence? If someone from the Wang family really goes to Lin'an to accuse you, the Censor-in-Chief will come forward to impeach you. According to custom, my nephew will have to resign."

"Given such a serious incident, unless the Emperor dismisses the Censor-in-Chief, he will certainly dismiss his nephew from his position as Chancellor."

Lu You chuckled again: "This story begins when I first arrived in Chengdu."

"The first thing I did upon arriving was to secretly investigate the farmland surrounding Chengdu Prefecture."

Not only the Wang family, but I also investigated the Fan and Yuwen families.

At this point, Lu You chuckled a few more times, while Yuwen Shizhong remained calm, seemingly unconcerned that the disaster of his family's extermination had just slipped through his fingers.

"And Wang You was indeed a clever man. He immediately guessed that I wanted to find an excuse to make the Wang family give up their land."

He was from the fifth branch of the family, a marginal figure, and he also wanted to take the opportunity to bring down Wang Hui… Heh, Lord Yuwen, you understand, right? It's just the petty scheming of powerful and wealthy families.”

"Later, I won over Wang You and kept his letters, making him my inside man. He probably just thought I was trying to scare the Wang family."

“Now that I have killed all the male members of the main branch of the Wang family, the only one left who is involved and has some status is Wang You. If he wants to implicate me, then I will show him those letters that he wrote as a pledge of loyalty. At that time, Wang You will not be able to explain himself even if he has a hundred mouths. He will not be able to escape the heinous crime of assisting outsiders in murdering his brothers, nephews, uncles and cousins.”

"As long as Wang You can stick to his guns and say that it was the work of bandits, even if he has relatives, protégés and former officials of the Wang family, he will ultimately be unable to gain any real power."

"The saying goes, 'If the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate.' If Wang You didn't file a complaint with the emperor, on what grounds could the Censor-in-Chief impeach me? Just because there are thieves in my jurisdiction?"

After Lu You finished speaking, Yuwen Shizhong was completely relieved. He then stood up and declared, "Since I have come before Prime Minister Lu, I will also make a guarantee that after I return, I will investigate the land and make sure that all the land and tenants that were previously embezzled are returned."

In addition, my Yuwen clan is willing to donate half of the grain from our granaries for military supplies.

Lu You also stood up, nodded slowly, and then asked curiously, "Lord Yuwen, why don't you try to bargain with me?"

Yuwen Shizhong sighed, leaning on his cane: "I am someone who has lived through the Jingkang Incident, and I have witnessed the collapse of the heavens and the shattering of the earth, and the destruction of my country. My elder brother even fled to the Jin Kingdom because of this, and in the end, his whole family died without a complete corpse."

As the saying goes, "When the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken." What does losing a little wealth matter now? Our Great Song still has the strength to fight back. If we fail to fight back and instead become a hindrance to Envoy Lu, it's not impossible that we'll face execution one day, and our entire families will perish.

After listening quietly, Lu You realized that the powerful clans of Chengdu had compromised and that he was not far from completely controlling Sichuan. He couldn't help but laugh heartily.

However, after only laughing twice, Lu You sighed repeatedly: "If all the officials of the Song Dynasty had the foresight of Yuwen Gong, how could the world have been divided into North and South like this?"

Yuwen Shizhong also sighed, looking up at the northern sky in the cold wind, recalling the past, and couldn't help but become a little lost in thought.

(End of this chapter)