Three Kingdoms Eschatology

"Report to the Holy Majesty, the two rebels, Yuan Jie, have been wiped out, and their heads have been passed to Wandu." Taiwei Yang Biao was the first to report.

Naturally, the ministers had known the news for a long time, but they all bowed to Liu Xie again, and said loudly: "Congratulations to the Holy Majesty, and wiped out the traitors. Great Han Wan'an! Long live Your Majesty!"

While they were congratulating, the two wooden boxes had already been brought up to the hall by the eunuch Huang Men and presented to Liu Xie on the table.

When the wooden box was opened, it was naturally the heads of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao.They were all dried up with lime, and Yuan Shao's head was obviously scorched by fire.Liu Xie waved his hand in disgust and said, "Take it down and hang it on the top of Wandu City to show the public."

Grand Tutor Zhu Jun immediately came out and said: "Your Majesty Qi Zuo, I think it's better to show these two heads to the princes of the world. It is a warning to deter everyone."

Taiwei Yang Biao immediately retorted: "It's not right. You know, to defeat the two thieves Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, each of the nine princes in the world has contributed their strength. On the contrary, the imperial court has not sent a single soldier. Now it is The heads of the traitors they wiped out, in turn, frightened them. Not only did they fail to achieve their goals, but they felt that this was a threat from the court, and it was a ridiculous threat."

All the ministers in the hall immediately disagreed on this, and discussions arose.In fact, the dispute between the two was apparently about how to deal with the two thieves, but it actually opened the curtain of a major issue.That is how to determine the relationship between the imperial court and the nine princes after Er Yuan was wiped out.

Before Yuan's rebellion, the officials in the court basically unified their opinions and reached a consensus that the princes and the court would live and die together.But now, the two largest princes of the year have been wiped out, and the situation in the world is different from the past.So this matter was brought up again.

After some heated debates, the Yang Biao faction took the mainstream.They even believed that not only should the imperial court not interfere with the princes, but should grant the princes more power in name.In fact, this is also a rational attitude to face reality.

Yang Biao opened his mouth and said: "Your Majesty, this time, in order to reward the feudal lords for their achievements in hunting down Yuan's bandits, I believe that they should be crowned kings, dukes, and marquises, and their territories should be clearly defined."

As soon as this remark came out, the entire court fell silent.Even if he was on Yang Biao's side, he was extremely shocked.You know, since Liu Bang's white horse oath, different surnames are not queens.Excluding the short 20 years when Wang Mang usurped the throne, there has not been a prince with a non-Liu surname in 400 years.

Zhu Jun was naturally the first to retort: ​​"Does Yang Taiwei know about the covenant of Gaozu's white horse alliance back then? There can be various forms of rewarding princes, so why is it necessary to confer kings and marquises on them? What does the Taiwei mean?"

Chapter 180 In Spring

Above the main hall, the young Liu Xie also cast a suspicious look at Yang Biao.

Yang Biao explained calmly: "It seems that this move is just a reward for the princes. But the real purpose of doing this is for our Han court. The main purpose of doing this is to prevent the princes from annexing each other. In the end, lead to a dominance situation.”

Liu Xie, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke, and only said two words, "Why?"

"Now the princes can use an excuse to attack other people's borders. Why, because the princes are all officials in name. Anyone can question others in the name of the court and under any pretext, and anyone can be accused by others .

If you give them the dignity of princes, draw a clear line between them.Then they are justifiably the lords of the feudal country, as long as there is no arrogance, they don't need to be controlled by others in the feudal country.If any of them attack the territory of another country at will, it is tantamount to conspiracy.The princes of the world will fight against the thieves together, and they will end up like the two Yuans. "

Zhu Jun snorted coldly beside him: "But where does this put me as a 400-year-old man? Doesn't this mean that my Han family has survived in name only? Back then, the great ancestor Baima swore that there would be no king with a different surname. Law."

At this time, Sikong Huangfusong came out and said: "How can it be said that our Han Dynasty survived in name only? Guozuo, who lived nearly a thousand years ago, can we say that the emperor of Zhou was a fake? When Gaozu opened the dynasty, there were also more than a dozen vassal states. At that time, Gaozu had millions of soldiers, and he had no choice but to take advantage of the prestige of attacking Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu. Now our Han Dynasty has only [-] soldiers, and the suppression of rebels depends on the princes of all parties. How can we do like Qin Huang Han Wu The power of the monarch?"

Seeing them arguing endlessly, Liu Xie raised his eyes to look at Situ Caiyong.Cai Yong lowered his eyes and stood aside without saying a word.

"Cai Qing, what do you think of this matter?"

Seeing Liu Xie's initiative to ask Cai Yong, Cai Yong had no choice but to answer: "Your Majesty, I'm sorry that I can't answer this matter. The old minister needs to avoid it." Liu Xie thought about it too, his son-in-law is one of the nine princes.No matter what he said, there was suspicion of favoritism, so he didn't ask him any more.

Liu Xie said indifferently: "That's all for today's court meeting. I haven't been able to take charge of the government yet. After discussing and making decisions as usual, I will present it to you and let me use the seal."

The attendant of the Huangmen who was watching from the side immediately sang: "If there is something to play, leave the court if there is nothing to do!" Seeing that no one is going to play again, Liu Xie waved his sleeves and retreated from the hall, and all the officials also left the hall in an orderly manner...

……

In March of Yangchun, Feng Yu accompanied Cai Yan and Wei Lier to the outskirts of Zhuyang for a spring outing.At the same time, he was also looking for a place suitable for planting sugar cane.

A large number of guards surrounded the car and marched up the Zhushui River.Feng Yu suddenly saw a thatched cottage in the countryside, surrounded by mountains and rivers.Although the materials used in the house are simple, the courtyard and hall are extremely clean and tidy.

He felt strange, because the houses in Zhuyang are generally built systematically, with a unified architectural style.Even the mansion of the staff and generals under his command is a mansion in the city.

Feng Yu asked, "Whose house is this?"

"My lord, this is the house built by Zhuge Xuan, Prime Minister of Zhuyang Kingdom!"

Feng Yu nodded and said: "So that's the case. I heard that the Prime Minister of the State has been feeling unwell recently. Since we are here, let's go and see Mr. Zhuge."

Zhuge Xuan came to join Feng Yu after he failed to be the prefect of Yuzhang.At this time, he had replaced Xun You as the Prime Minister of the Zhuyang Kingdom, and Xun You had become the governor of Liangzhou.

When Feng Yu came to the courtyard gate of Zhuge's mansion, the servants in the mansion had already gone to report.Two teenagers, one big and one small, greeted Feng Yu at the door.The big one is Zhuge Jin, but the young one is Zhuge Liang.Under the guidance of the two, Feng Yu entered the inner room and visited Zhuge Xuan who was ill in bed.

Seeing Feng Yu's arrival, Zhuge Xuan forced himself to sit up, and said, "My lord personally bowed down to visit this subordinate, which really frightened my subordinates. I'm sorry that my subordinates are sick and cannot be treated with courtesy."

Feng Yu quickly stopped him: "The Prime Minister doesn't need to be too polite, the most important thing is to recuperate."

After Feng Yu comforted him a few words.Zhuge Xuan suddenly said: "My lord, I know that time is running out. I am really ashamed that a certain person who joined the lord's command without any accomplishments is going to die. I dare to ask the lord for a favor."

Feng Yu continued: "The Prime Minister just talks."

"A certain child has no children. There are only five nephews, nieces and nieces, two or three of whom are underage. I hope the lord can take care of one or two of them after the subordinates go down."

"It's natural. The Prime Minister will do it without saying anything. The Prime Minister is good at self-cultivation, so don't worry about other things."

Seeing that Zhuge Xuan was indeed seriously ill, Feng Yu bid farewell and left Zhuge Xuan's bedroom.When I got to the outside room, I chatted with Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang again.

Feng Yufa asked: "Are you studying in a school now?"

Zhuge Jin smiled and said: "General, I have already passed the age of the crown. My two younger brothers have reached the age of school, but they did not go to the school in the city to study. Instead, my father taught them in his free time. Sometimes They also teach themselves a thing or two."

"Oh? I see." Feng Yu became curious, and asked Zhuge Liang what he learned every day.Zhuge Liang spoke eloquently, with a shy expression, but he spoke neatly and expressed fluently.

Feng Yu asked a few more questions and passed Zhuge Liang.In the end, I found that the knowledge he involved was quite complicated, but there was no system at all.This requires him to rely on his talent to organize and summarize diligently.

Feng Yu shook his head and said: "The kid has learned a lot, but it's not real knowledge."

Zhuge Liang turned his head and said anxiously: "What is the real knowledge that the general is talking about? How is it different from what the kid learned?"

Feng Yu said with a smile: "It's hard to express it with words, and you can't understand it either. You only need to go to Zhuyang School to see the difference between what you learned there and what you learned."

Zhuge Liang looked up at Zhuge Jin, and Zhuge Jin nodded as he agreed to go to Zhuyang School.Zhuge Liang said to Feng Yu: "Okay, tomorrow I will go to the general's school to see and see."

In fact, the knowledge taught in this systematic school in Zhuyang is closer to the modern knowledge system.

It's not just as simple as adding more science subjects.There are also many knowledge related to natural science in miscellaneous studies of this era.But modern knowledge is self-logic complete and inter-systematic.Not only to teach people knowledge, but more importantly, to teach people how to think about problems.For example, the difference between "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" and "Geometry".

After Feng Yu came out of Zhuge's mansion, he took his wife and concubine to travel around the mountains and rivers, and finally found a place suitable for planting sugar cane, which was relatively secret.In the dimension of Zhuyang, planting sugar cane will definitely not produce high yields, but it can be planted, and the cost is much lower than honey.

Feng Yu called out the system and opened up a thousand acres of sugarcane fields here.The system will automatically deploy manpower to cultivate.

Feng Yu returned to Zhuyang to build a sugar factory and a cheetah training center.When he was about to return to the mansion, there were soldiers to report, and the imperial envoy came.

Chapter 181 Four Kings, Four Dukes and One Marquis

"The emperor's edict said: here is Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu's two thieves have usurped and disrupted the world. It is said that Liang, Yongzhou, Hetao, Yunzhong, Hedong and other places are designated as the land of Liang State. Feng Yu was granted the title of King of Liang, and the land of Liang State... hereby!"

Before the incense table, the imperial envoy who delivered the decree finally finished reading the "long" imperial decree with hundreds of words.Feng Yu immediately received an order to thank him, and ordered Yu Shigong to be sent out of the mansion to treat him well.

At this time, all the generals who accompanied Feng Yu to welcome the decree were immediately overjoyed, congratulated Feng Yu one after another, and changed their address to Feng Yu accordingly. "Congratulations to Your Highness King Liang! Congratulations to Your Highness King Liang!" the voices were endless.

This Liang Kingdom is not comparable to the previous Zhuyanghou Kingdom, and even the Liu Kingdom, which was at the same level as the county, cannot be compared at all.This is the real kingdom of feudal vassals.

This has returned to the state when Liu Bang first opened the Han Dynasty, or the state of the pre-Qin and Warring States period.It also means a change in the identities of Feng Yu's generals.From the previous staff and retainers to the founding pillars.

Feng Yu is not surprised by this, not because Feng Yu's Yuezhang Cai Yong has revealed some rumors before.But Feng Yu knew that in the past two or three years, many of the gentry officials recruited by the imperial court from various places had dual identities, representing the local interests of the princes of all parties.Their joint efforts in the court will naturally produce this result.

Immediately afterwards, the news came one after another.Feng Yu was not the only one who was canonized as king, Cao Cao was also canonized as king of Wei.Liu Yan and Liu Biao were also named King of Shu and King of Linjiang because they were originally relatives of the Han family.

Sun Ce was named Duke of Wu, Shi Xie was named Duke of Yue, Ma Teng was named Duke of West Qin, and Gongsun Du was named Duke of North Yan.For this appointment, the Han Dynasty specially restored the ancient title of "Gong", which only existed in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods.

Only Lu Bu was an exception.Lu Bu was originally a county marquis, and he is still a marquis now, but with a different title.Changed from Marquis of Wen to Marquis of Pengcheng.In name, he is older than the county marquis, similar to the marquis in the fifth rank in the early Zhou Dynasty.

There is a lot of controversy in the court about Lu Bu's appointment as duke and king.Zhu Jun didn't say anything, even Huangfusong and Yang Biao objected.

The real reason for this is unknown, but the public reason is also very simple.When discussing Yuan's war.Xuzhou was still under the rule of Tao Qian, and now Tao Qian has died of illness.Moreover, it was Liu Bei who attacked Yuan Shu on behalf of Xuzhou at that time.

Therefore, Xuzhou was not granted the title of country, and Lu Bu was naturally not given the title of prince.Xuzhou was still led by the governor of Xuzhou.In addition, the three cities of Huainan that Liu Bei actually controlled were added in name.

Among the nine princes, Cao Cao has the largest territory.Part of the eastern part of Bingzhou, which is still occupied by Yuan Shang, and Youzhou, except for several counties in Liaodong, were all assigned to Cao Cao's Wei State.Followed by Feng Yu, the Hetao where the Huns and Qiang entrenched, and several counties in the northwest of Bingzhou were all classified as Liang Guo.

The jurisdictions of the remaining six countries are roughly the same as their actual control areas.The imperial court left Nanyang County and Henan County as Sili.

……

In the early summer of the third year of Jian'an, a large number of cavalry and transport convoys appeared on the Guanzhong Plain again. They were the main force to conquer the Huns.Consisting of Zhang Liao, Hua Xiong, and Xu Rong's three major armies, with a total elite force of more than [-] people.

The main purpose of Feng Yu's move is not for the territory, but to create a buffer zone for the expansion of the Guanzhong Plain.Although the Huns were seriously injured, there are still several fierce grassland peoples in the north who are rising.After they annexed the Huns, the Hetao Grassland will become an excellent cavalry gathering place for them, and they can go south to plunder Guanzhong anytime and anywhere.

Feng Yu planned to divide the army into three groups.Huaxiong marched northward from Hedong County along the Fenshui River, with the goal of capturing Taiyuan County.Xu Rong went up from Hedong County along the north of the Yellow River, aiming to capture Yunzhong County, and then the two routes joined forces to attack Yanmen County.Zhang Liao attacked Shuofang and Wuyuan counties in the Hetao area alone.

The logistical difficulties of the two armies on the East Road were not very great, and they could rely on water transport to advance along Fenshui and the Yellow River northward.It's just that the waterway of the Yellow River is more troublesome, because when arriving at the Hukou Waterfall, the materials carried need to be transferred by land to change ships.Hundreds of Viking ships have been dragged to the upper reaches of Hukou by people.

Only Zhang Liao, who entered the Hetao area, had a bit of difficulty in logistical supplies.When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty conquered the Xiongnu in the north, the first battle was in Henan, south of Hetao and north of the Great Wall.At that time, the army of about [-] iron cavalry needed all the power of the whole country to provide logistical support, so as to use up the full treasury of Wenjing Zhizhi.One can imagine its cost and difficulty.

Of course, Feng Yu will not fight as far as Liu Che.He only needs to ensure the safety of the Guanzhong Plain in depth, and complete a few tasks given to him by several systems.

……

Under the spring sun, hundreds of cattle and sheep are hidden in the grass higher than human knees, and they greedily gnaw on the green grass.In the distance are several tents unique to nomadic Hu people.Farther away is the city wall that is as high as two or three battles. The city wall has been abandoned and covered with grass.

Looking around, the grassland is not a piece of green, and there are many ruins of broken bricks and tiles mixed in it.This is Canluan County, Beidi County. The long-abandoned county town has become a nomadic place for a certain tribe of the Huns.The city wall in the distance is not the city wall of Sanluan County, but a section of the Great Wall.

The earth trembled, and the sharp-eared herdsmen had already heard the sound of galloping horses, and they could even immediately judge that there were as many as three hundred horses on the other side.

The leader of the tribe raised his eyebrows and shouted in panic: "It's the Han people, and the heavy horsemen of the Han people are here!" The basis of his judgment is very simple. At present, it is impossible for any tribe of the Huns to have [-] armored cavalry.It's impossible for the Qiang people. There are no Qiang people within the Great Wall and north of the Guanzhong Plain.It is even more impossible for the Xianbei people.

Sure enough, within half a quarter of an hour, a large group of cavalry emerged from an earth beam, and then swooped down.At this time, the men of the Xiongnu tribe gathered on horseback with bows and arrows, and there were less than a hundred people in total.After the last Weinan War, the Xiongnu's male population has lost more than half.

"Patriarch, what should we do? Fight or flee?" A young Hun man asked the leader.The patriarch looked at his team of less than a hundred people, at the cattle and sheep that were too late to harvest, and at the Great Wall in the distance.Gritting his teeth, he said, "If we lose our livestock and retreat outside the Great Wall, we will die, and we will die if we fight. It is better to fight."

"Kill! Kill!" the Huns shouted, and the Huns also got on their horses.Together, there are nearly three hundred riders.He rushed head-on to the enemy cavalry.

Unexpectedly, the opponent stopped two hundred battles away and waved a flag to make a semaphore. Although the Huns didn't understand the semaphore, they could guess that it meant to stop them.

The head of the Xiongnu frowned suspiciously, and immediately ordered, "Stop! Stop, those Han soldiers seem to be trying to tell us something." The Huns immediately stopped galloping.

Immediately afterwards, a horse galloped out from the Han army, and when it was a hundred paces closer, a letter was shot with a bow and arrow.

The patriarch of the Xiongnu could speak Chinese but could not read Chinese characters, so he found a descendant of the tribe who could read Chinese characters and asked him to read it out.Only then did I know that the Liang Guo Zhang Liao Army of the Han Dynasty was on the opposite side, and they were ordered to move outside the Great Wall within a time limit, otherwise they could only be expelled by force.

After Zhang Liao's army entered Yiqu City in Beidi County, they began to divide their troops to drive out the Xiongnu.This is a cavalry team led by Zhang Liao himself.At this time, one of Zhang Liao's lieutenants asked, "General, why don't we kill them, but drive them away? Our target is Shuofang, Wuyuan. Driving them outside the Great Wall will inevitably leave future troubles."

Chapter 182 The Last Effort

Looking at the dilapidated Great Wall in the distance, Zhang Liao said, "Why doesn't someone know this truth. The Huns live as nomads, and it is impossible to achieve the king's goal by simply driving them away. But this is a king's order, and it can only be carried out."

At this time, the Xiongnu tribe in front had already replied, expressing their willingness to retreat beyond the Great Wall.In an hour's time, they put away their tents and gathered their cattle and sheep.Riding horses and driving through the gates of the Great Wall covered with wormwood, disappearing under the skyline of the grassland in the distance.

Zhang Liao boarded the Great Wall, overlooked the endless Hetao grassland beyond the Great Wall, and ordered: "Pass down our military order. The supply camp will start here today, and together with the civilians, we will repair the city wall and build a fortress. This place will be raided by our army in the future." Shuofang, the basic stronghold of Wuyuan."

"Excuse me, general, what is the name of the new city built?"

Zhang Liao thought for a while and replied, "Let's call it Zhenbei City."

……

The reason why Feng Yu didn't let Zhang Liao attack the Huns immediately was that he still wanted to win over the Southern Huns in the end.

Compared with the newly rising Xianbei, Wuhuan and other nomadic peoples, the Southern Huns are already highly Sinicized Shuhu.If they can be conquered and merged, it will play an irreplaceable role in defending against the harassment of the Xianbei people.On the contrary, if you want to completely eradicate the Xiongnu, you can only speed up their incorporation into Xianbei.

So Feng Yu thought of two people, one was the Xiongnu Shanyu Huchuquan, and the other was the Huns Youxian King Liu Qubei.Especially Liu Qubei, in terms of blood relationship, he is an out-and-out relative of the Han family, so he should be an object that can be won.

Cloud City, Shanyu Wangting.Hu Chuquan was watching Hu Ji singing and dancing sullenly.At this time, a soldier of the Huns came to report that an envoy from the Han Dynasty had come to ask for an audience.

Hu Chuquan said in a muffled voice: "Han envoy? Where did the Han envoy come from? Is it the Han envoy from the Han court or the envoy from their vassal states?"

"It's an envoy from the Kingdom of Liang."

Hu Chuquan jumped up against the case: "Then what are you going to report? Drag it down and kill me! That guy Feng Yu slaughtered me [-] Huns earlier, and now he has just captured our Taiyuan County. The soldiers are in the clouds Under the city, the envoys sent now are nothing more than to persuade him to surrender. It is impossible for me, Hu Chuquan, to surrender to Feng Yu!"

The orchids who were frightened by him stopped singing and dancing, and the Xiongnu ordered the soldiers to leave in a hurry.After a while, a man who looked like the head of the Xiongnu tribe entered the hall and asked Hu Chuquan, "Dare to ask the Chanyu, did Feng Yu send an envoy to negotiate a peace?" This man was Liu Qu humble.

It turned out that in addition to sending messengers to Huchuquan to persuade him to surrender, Feng Yu also sent people to visit Liu Qubei with salt, brocade and other things.After Liu Qubei heard about this, he hurried from his headquarters to Yunzhong City.Because he knew that Hu Chuquan would definitely reject Feng Yu's persuasion to surrender, and would most likely kill him.

Hu Chuquan snorted and said, "Yes, but let me drag it out and chop it up!"

Liu Qubei just said "Ah!", and a servant of the Huns entered the hall carrying the messenger's head and presented it to Hu Chuquan.Hu Chuquan waved his hands and said, "Hang the head on the top of Yunzhong City to show the public."

Liu Qubei slapped his thigh and said, "It's bad! Shanyu, the two armies are fighting without killing each other. In this way, there is no room for relaxation between us and Feng Yu."

Hu Chuquan sneered and said: "Are you afraid? The water is coming and the earth is flooding. We also have Yuan Jun's ally in Bingzhou. Feng Yu came all the way and traveled thousands of miles. It is inevitable that he will miss something. He may not win! Besides, even if he loses How about it, we will retreat to the north again at worst. The world is so vast, what can his little troops do to me?"

Liu Qubei sighed and said, "Under Cao Cao's attack, this Yuan Shang has already crossed the river like a mud bodhisattva, and he can't protect himself. How could he join forces with us?

Since the first battle in Weinan, our Xiongnu's vitality has been severely injured, and most of the young and strong members of the clan have been lost. How can we resist Feng Yujun's iron cavalry now?

Withdrawing further north, are we going to live as nomads again?In addition, once we retreat to the desert, can we still control those other parts?

We, Xiutuge, have always been able to rule the various ministries of the Huns, not because we have any super force, but because we control their lifeblood..."

It's good that Liu Qubei didn't mention the defeat of Weinan, but Huchuquan's scar was exposed when he mentioned the defeat of Weinan.The more Hu Chuquan thought about it, the more angry he became. Hearing this, he cursed: "Liu Qubei, shut up! With your words alone, you can be punished for disturbing the morale of the army!"

It was meaningless for Liu Qubei to continue talking after seeing him, so he had to say goodbye to Hu Chuquan: "Qubei was just worried about me, the Huns, and advised the Great Chanyu. Since the Great Chanyu has made up his mind, his subordinates You should respect the order of the Great Chanyu."

……

The news that Hu Chuquan beheaded the envoy of Liang Guo quickly spread to Zhuyang.At that time, Feng Yu was watching the exercise of the new projectile weapon ballista in the barracks, and the cheetah's assistance to the scouts.