Before we knew it, the year came to an end.

The Emperor of Sui has already won the title of a pen and no longer deals with political affairs, and Yang Shuang can also rest.

Over the past six months, with the strong policy support of the court and the cooperation of officials from various places, the Wei people have willingly become Sui people, and order has been restored in various places.

Therefore, the court has begun to send people to count the population and fertile land, which is a thorough investigation to better manage the place.

It was also a good opportunity to clean up the stubborn diseases here, such as the aristocratic families and landlords, and exchange them for a brand new environment.

Now it is the end of the second year of Kaihuang. It is expected that by the middle of the third year of Kaihuang, all hidden dangers in Wei will be completely eliminated. At that time, there will be no such thing as Wei, and it will be the land of the Sui Kingdom.

As for Cao Ang of Ryukyu, Li Haiyang, the Marquis of Pingbo, had not led his troops to attack, not because he was afraid of them, but because he was too lazy to fight. When the Wei territory was managed in an orderly manner, it would not be too late to destroy the remaining Wei forces.

As for the army in the Tang Dynasty, with the arrival of severe cold, the army has stopped attacking and began to recuperate in the occupied territory. It is not too late to continue the attack when the weather warms up next year.

Moreover, the Great Sui Dynasty has now occupied three-fifths of the land of the Tang Kingdom. With the Tang Emperor Li Yuan fleeing to Yizhou, it was difficult for the Tang soldiers in other areas to fight against the Great Sui soldiers, so they all admit defeat or surrender directly.

In order to control these occupied areas, the Sui Emperor dispatched another 200,000 troops to guard the place, and the main cities were guarded to prevent the Tang army from counterattacking.

Now, the Great Sui Dynasty has more than 600,000 troops in the Tang Kingdom, which is twice the existing Tang troops. Therefore, according to the plan of Emperor Sui and Yang Shuang, the Tang Kingdom must be destroyed next year.

Yang Shuang is very confident about this plan.

Look at the power to attack the Tang Dynasty.

The army of 600,000, as well as the powerful generals such as Li Jing, Luo Cheng, Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Xue Wanche, etc., they picked up any of them, and they were all independent generals. In contrast, there were also military generals who could take action in the Tang Dynasty, but they seemed weak in comparison.

If such a situation still cannot solve the Tang Kingdom, Yang Shuang will feel that her face is lost.

So Yang Shuang was not worried about the situation in the Tang Kingdom at all. Now he no longer cared about the situation in the Tang Kingdom. Let Li Jing, Gao Jin and others make trouble. Anyway, he is destined to be able to solve the problem of Tang Kingdom unless Li Yuan becomes Liu Xiu and understands the technique of summoning meteorites.

Now Yang Shuang has focused part of her attention on Shu Kingdom.

After being assassinated by Zhao Yun and Ma Chao, Yang Shuang sent an envoy to Shu Kingdom and sent a letter of state that Zhao Yun was not dead, and asked Liu Bei what price he was willing to pay to redeem Zhao Yun.

It is naturally impossible for Yang Shuang to let Zhao Yun go. He admired Zhao Yun, so he did not kill him, but unfortunately he was not used by him, so he could only keep him in the air and lock him up until he died of old age and could not be left to the enemy.

So the reason why I asked Liu Bei what price he was willing to pay was purely disgusting Liu Bei, to see if Liu Bei was truly benevolent or just benevolent or just.

On the other hand, Yang Shuang sent her confidant dressed up as a caravan and began to go to the capital of Shu to do spy missions. After destroying Tang and rectifying the territory of Tang, Shu will be the next one.

According to the first five-year plan formulated by Emperor Sui and Yang Shuang, the five-year Kaihuang operation will be officially launched, and the Shu Kingdom will be destroyed within two years and the unification of China will be achieved.

So for Emperor Sui and Yang Shuang, there is still a lot to do, and the two of them are full of energy. In order to realize this plan, it is essential to the layout of Shu Kingdom.

......

The imperial capital of Shu Kingdom.

Liu Bei received a letter of nationality sent by Yang Shuang to envoys.

He already knew that the assassination failed and Ma Chao died. He thought that Zhao Yun had escaped, but he did not expect that he would be captured alive, and the result was much beyond Liu Bei's expectations.

Liu Bei knew that Zhao Yun's loyalty and martial arts were captured alive, which shows that Zhao Yun encountered a great dilemma at that time and encountered an opponent with a huge gap in strength.

Regarding the redemption of Zhao Yun, Liu Bei immediately called Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu and Pang Tong to discuss together.

All three of them have the power of the prime minister and are Liu Bei's most trusted civil officials. Liu Bei will discuss matters of Shu Kingdom big and small.

This time, we have to discuss the redemption of people.

After Zhuge Liang and the other four entered the palace, Liu Bei handed the letter of the country to the three.

After seeing it, the three of them frowned immediately.

Pang Tongyi looked sad and bowed: "Your Majesty, I will die! Assassination is my idea! Not only did it kill General Ma Chao, but it also caused General Zhao Yun to be captured alive. I will be blamed for his death!"

"The assassination plan is the result of my discussion with you. It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, get up." Liu Bei said.

Zhuge Liang also said: "If you say you are guilty, then you are guilty. It is me who suggested that Zhao Yun and General Ma Chao be responsible for the matter themselves, which hurt the two generals!"

"I can't refuse the blame!" Xu Shu also replied.

Liu Bei immediately raised his voice and said, "Okay, OK, I have never blamed you. And it's time to discuss who is responsible, but to find a way to redeem Zhao Yun. How do you think we should reply to the Sui Kingdom?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhuge Liang and the other two looked at each other and were silent.

"What's wrong? Talk!" Liu Bei asked.

Zhuge Liang sighed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, if we are willing to pay the price, we will admit that we sent assassins to assassinate Yang Shuang. This is because we have a mistake first. In the future, the Sui Kingdom can use this excuse to attack us. But if we do not admit it, it means that the assassination is false, but Zhao Yun's life and death are..."

"Yes, Your Majesty, how to choose is the most difficult thing at the moment! And in my opinion, the Sui State sent someone to send this letter of nationality not to let us redeem people, but to see our thoughts and let us admit that we had assassinated him!" Pang Tong added.

Liu Bei nodded. He had been considering Zhao Yun's life and death, but forgot about the problem hidden behind this matter.

"Zhao Yun devoted his efforts to Shu Kingdom, worked hard and made great contributions. I cannot ignore Zhao Yun's life and death in order to hide the truth." Liu Bei quickly made up his mind and said, "And... the ambition of Sui Kingdom is now obvious. He was famous for attacking Wei Kingdom, but there was no reason to attack Tang Kingdom. Don't forget that Sui and Tang Kingdom were still in alliance. Sui Kingdom could even be betrayal and righteous. Such a treacherous country would tell them what kind of benevolence and righteousness?"

Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong looked at each other and saw the relief in each other's eyes. Who wouldn't want to follow the lord is a benevolent and righteous king?

Liu Bei continued: "So the topic goes back to the redemption of people. How do we reply to the Sui Kingdom? What I mean is to take out the occupied Wei lands in the three states and the Wei lands in exchange for Zhao Yun's safety! What do you think?"

Pang Tong said: "Your Majesty, the land of the three states is already very large, but I am still worried that the Sui State would not ask for ransom, so even if we express the conditions, the Shu State would still be too small."

"Yes, Your Majesty, the purpose of Sui State is not to release people, so no matter how much you pay, you will not be able to feed the wolf of Sui State!" Xu Shu also agreed.

Liu Bei looked at Zhuge Liang and asked, "Kong Ming, what do you think?"

Zhuge Liang replied: "I agree with Pang Tong and Xu Shu. The land of the three states is no longer expensive to use as ransom, but I believe that the Sui State has a greater appetite. If the Sui State says that we must hand over all the land of Wei before we are willing to let Zhao Yun go, what should we do? If we do not agree, the Sui State's conspiracy will succeed. And if we agree, not to mention the people in the country, even Zhao Yun will apologize for his death. At that time, both the people and the territory will be gone!"

"What should I do?" Liu Bei sighed.

Zhuge Liang said again: "And more importantly, Your Majesty is sure that Zhao Yun is still alive?"

"This..." Liu Bei was stunned.

Yes, is Zhao Yun’s life or death?

The reason why Liu Bei knew that Ma Chao was dead and Zhao Yun was captured was explained after the assassin sent to him came back. Are these words true? Didn’t Sui State deliberately act for Shu State to show?

Moreover, Liu Bei knew Zhao Yun and knew his character, so he would definitely rather die than obey. He knew that after he was captured, he would probably be used as a bargaining chip, so he might fight to the death and show his ambition.

Perhaps from the beginning, this was the conspiracy of the Sui Kingdom!

Liu Bei looked at the three of them and asked, "So you three still don't agree with me to redeem them?"

"Unless we are allowed to see Zhao Yun! Otherwise, it might be the conspiracy of the Sui Kingdom!" Zhuge Liang replied.

Liu Bei said: "Since that's the case, I will reply and send an envoy to you. I must see Zhao Yun with my own eyes and discuss the follow-up matters! What do you think?"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and Xu Shu bowed in unison.

Then, the three of them left the palace together.

On the way, the three of them did not talk until they walked out of the siege that Pang Tong suddenly said, "Kong Ming, I'll do the next thing."

Zhuge Liang sighed and said, "Okay, thank you for your hard work!"

Xu Shu lamented: "I can only feel wronged by Zhao Yun!"

The three of them have a clear meaning. No matter who goes to Sui State or whether the person they meet is Zhao Yun or not, they must bite him to death. Zhao Yun is fake.

They had no grudges with Zhao Yun. On the contrary, they had known good friends for many years, but for the sake of Shu, they had no choice but to do so.

At this time, Xu Shu asked again: "How is the research on gunpowder?"

Although Yang Shuang ordered the use of gunpowder to be strict and confidential, with large-scale use, Shu Kingdom sent people to Tang and Wei territory. After all, he tried every means to get some gunpowder and sent it back thousands of miles away and handed it over to Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang is an omnipotent, knows everything and has a good understanding of everything, so it is most appropriate for him to study the ingredients of gunpowder.

Zhuge Liang had been studying at this time for more than a month. When he heard Xu Shu's inquiry, Zhuge Liang sighed: "It's more difficult. Many confusing ingredients have been added to the gunpowder, just to prevent it from being studied. However, it can basically be locked in the items such as sulfur, charcoal and other items. I have ordered people to start configuring it. Even if I try it thousands of times, I have to make the gunpowder come out. If there is no gunpowder, how long can Shu persist in the attack of the Great Sui Dynasty?"

"Yes! The pressure is on you now." Xu Shu said.
Chapter completed!