Sun Yong and Sun Pu, the king and minister brothers, quickly entered Guihaiju from a special passage, and went up to the fourth floor, the private room that was never open to the public. The view here is the best, facing the podium below, and the overall design is also particular, so that the sound below can be clearly transmitted into the house. It is the place specially prepared for Sun Pu, who is the boss.

At this moment, as they sat down, the guys in the building brought in the best wine and food like flowing water. In just a while, the two short tables were filled with delicacies. But whether it was the emperor or the king Huai, they did not put their attention on these things at this moment.

I saw the emperor's eyes scan the room and said with emotion: "I haven't been here for two years, nothing has changed. By the way, what topic do you set today?"

"Brother, this debate topic is about the gains and losses of the Tang and Song dynasties."

After hearing this answer, the emperor frowned slightly: "If you say it, you don't have to be so restrained outside the palace, just be more casual. Also, this topic is too cliché and it sounds really boring, and it cannot show the talent and knowledge of the scholars and others below."

"Which according to the emperor's opinion should I use what questions should I take to take the exam for them?" Sun Pu smiled, no longer sitting straight as before, and asked casually.

"Well..." After thinking for a while, the emperor gave his own thoughts, "Didn't my Dayue suffer some losses in the hands of the Guirong people in the northern border? Let them talk about this. Yes, let them talk about who was the fault of the former defeat in Zhenbeiguan!"

"Brother..." King Huai, who had just relaxed, suddenly became excited and could not control his body. He said in panic, "How can such a military and national affairs be discussed casually in this small restaurant? My brother is frightened..." As he said that, he was about to get up and kneel down, but was stopped by the emperor's eyes: "What's the matter? After the New Year, aren't there many people in the city discussing the right or wrong? Many ministers in the court have different opinions, criticizing each other for shirking responsibility. What is the argument for your argument?"

"But..." King Huai complained in his heart. Can the ordinary discussions on the streets be the same as those he had made a scene here? Now there are many officials in the court below who are looking at it. Once this matter is spread, it will inevitably cause a lot of storm. After all, such major events have become the focus of the court and the disputes are constantly occurring.

The emperor looked at him and said with a smile: "Old Eighth, your courage is getting smaller and smaller. I remember that you were not like this back then. Just a debate topic, what are you afraid of? Isn't this what I mean? Also, I remember that you still wrote two sentences outside Guihaiju, which is called "About the world's affairs, and knowing gains and losses. What kind of courage is that? Why can't you do it?"

"This..." King Huai was confused for a while, but he also saw that the emperor had made a decision, so he could only respond with a wry smile: "Then I will follow the emperor's order." After that, he waved his subordinates to the door and whispered the matter of replacing the debate topic, but also made the other party feel uneasy.

"Then let's start. I can't help but see that the guests below can't help but wait for a long time." The emperor's voice sounded from behind again, and King Huai could only wave his hand and signal the manager to go down immediately to preside over the debate.

As the emperor said, the drinkers on each floor had already drunk three times at this time, and they all seemed a little excited. They began to call the shopkeepers to inquire about the debate in the building. Just as everyone was asking, they saw that the shopkeeper Wang, who had been in charge of the affairs of all kinds of the building, walked up to the wooden platform in the middle with a smile, bowed to the surroundings, and said, "Are you guests, you are a regular guest in Guihaiju, or a guest who has heard of the names and deeds of my restaurant, so I will not elaborate on the rules below. I will only give one question, but if you have your own opinions and think that you can convince everyone, you can go on stage. As long as you speak reasonably, make something, and make no statements, and get our recognition, you will be free of charge for the wine and food today, and you can leave your name in my building. You can also come back to the future and be welcomed by discounts.

"Okay, I won't talk about the more. The next topic of this month is a war that happened in our northern border of Vietnam a few months ago. Gui Rong actually took the lead in the twelfth lunar month, breaking through the few passes of Zhenbei, and even heading straight to the important town of Youzhou. Who is the fault of such a defeat? Everyone, please come on stage and speak freely." After saying that, he bowed slightly, and quickly stepped down and gave up the stage.

At this moment, hundreds of people on the four floors of Guihaiju were briefly silent, and everyone's faces changed because the question was so exciting that everyone was a little confused about how to react.

In the past, there were comments on popular things in the court in Guihaiju's thesis, but after all, they were all things that had already been judged. Sometimes they were asked to come to the stage to talk about their opinions, pointing out how wise and correct the court was. But this time, the war was not concluded before the New Year. It is said that people from all sides in the court were still arguing about this and criticizing each other. He actually took it out and let ordinary people debate. Isn't this brave?

Li Ling was also secretly shocked there. Luoyang is really worthy of being a capital city. What he talks about is completely different from the ordinary prefectures and counties he has visited. It really fits the saying that he talks about the world affairs. Can we discuss the gains and losses of military and national affairs without any concealment?

Xu Cang was a little confused: "Wen Zhong, did we ever lose in the north before the New Year?" In Xuzhou, he was determined to be on the book and naturally could not know the war in the north.

Li Ling knew something about this. When he was on a boat to Luoyang that day, he had heard some people discussing the Cao Gang. When he arrived in the capital, he also heard the servants at home secretly say it. Finally, he had a rough understanding of it. He smiled and said, "It's not considered a defeat, it's just a small loss. By the way, you should know that I am in the northern part of Vietnam, right?"

Xu Cang nodded: "I have read this in the book. Guirong is the combination of several tribes. It is a group formed by the annexation and integration of the Khitan, the Jurchens and Dangxiang tribes, as well as the Shiwei tribes in the north. The brave and barbaric, good at riding and shooting, and bloody killing, which is a great trouble for our Central Plains."

Li Ling nodded: "Yes, since the Song Dynasty of the Great Yue Dynasty, supported the Central Plains and expanded the territory in the north, the life of the northern tribes was not easy. After years of Northern Expeditions, they could only flee north in a hurry, and then the tribes merged with each other to fight each other. After decades of hard work, they had the Guirong today.

"But the northern tribe has always been like this. When our Central Plains army continued to push forward, they resigned and retreated. When our Central Plains stopped a little to conquer, they became unhonest again and always wanted to invade the pass and rob. Although it was not a big problem, it was a trouble after all.

"Especially in the past ten years, Guirong has been invading south. Last winter, because of the severe cold weather, they invaded our border again, so the court asked the troops in the northern border to defend or attack, intending to annihilate them from the defense of the pass, so as not to come again this year. At that time, the governor of the northern border Shen Zhongshan led 120,000 troops to take the initiative to attack and go straight out of Zhenbei Pass.

"Unexpectedly, after the battle, Gui Rong learned his lesson this time, and he quickly retreated due to slight damage. Shen Shuai wanted to achieve his merits in one battle, so he led his army to pursue him. He had been chasing hundreds of miles in a few days and had entered the desert grassland of Gui Rong.

"At that time, heavy snow suddenly fell, causing the road to be buried and the food road to be cut off. In addition, Gui Rong's light cavalry came and went like the wind and was elusive, which caused our 120,000 troops to be trapped in the Luoxinghai area. Gui Rong realized that this was an excellent opportunity to break our army, so he gathered more than ten tribes, and the 200,000 troops surrounded them, and even swallowed all the elite troops of our Northern Army in one bite!"

Li Ling's remarks made Xu Cang look nervous, and he even exclaimed softly: "What...what should I do?" Even though he knew that the army was just a small defeat, he couldn't help but substitute it at this time.

Li Ling took a sip of wine to moisten his throat and continued, "Fortunately, our Great Vietnamese Army is an elite army. Even if the road is cut off, he is trapped all over the place, and he still defends the camp and fights continuously. In half a month, he repelled twenty-three fierce attacks from the enemy and finally waited for reinforcements from Youzhou.

"But what they didn't know was that in fact, Gui Rong used a plan this time extremely dangerous. In addition to using a large army in Luoxinghai, they also drew elite troops to wait for our Youzhou defenders to take advantage of the opportunity to enter when they went to rescue. However, Yue Lin, the governor of Youzhou, saw through their sinister intentions earlier, so he used the plan, pretending to send troops first, wait for them to attack the city, and then suddenly killed a retaliation, and attacked the inside and outside with the defenders who remained in the city. Then he defeated Gui Rong's troops and horses, and then took advantage of the situation to go north and rescued my trapped main force.

"But after this battle, the border army has suffered a lot of injuries. I heard that there were no less than 50,000 casualties, which is one of the few major losses since our founding of the Kingdom of Great Yue. So after it was passed back, it was called a defeat by everyone. The court is still arguing endlessly today, and there are all kinds of statements. Anyway, it is just a struggle for me and scapegoat."

When Li Ling explained what he knew in detail, everyone in the restaurant was also talking. At the same time, behind the high podium, someone thoughtfully hung a huge northern border map. Although it was not too detailed, some cities, mountains, rivers and rivers entered it, giving everyone a more intuitive feeling.

As a result, everyone's enthusiasm became higher and higher. Although no one could guess that this question would be released today, they could feel that today's unusual question would inevitably mean that there was an important noble person to listen to it.

At the moment, many people quickly used their brains and cheered up, thinking about how to say something convincing, and who was the fault of the enemy.
Chapter completed!