contend

Chapter 984 Extra Story 4 Decline
No matter how good the system is, it cannot stand the erosion of time.

The Great Qin Empire has staggered through 120 years. After Emperor Xuan and Emperor Xiang, the empire has experienced four more ordinary emperors. In the era of the tenth emperor, Emperor Zhao, the Great Qin Empire has accumulated various conflicts and ushered in unprecedented challenges. crisis.

The former government military system and land equalization system have long existed in name only. With the intensification of land annexation, more and more fleeing households appear.

Because the soldiers of the Chinese army did not receive land rewards, their combat effectiveness continued to decline.

Taxes at the local level continued to drop sharply.

Emperor Zhao did not ascend the throne until he was 50 years old. The legendary experience of this emperor is also the source of material for various novels and romances in later generations.

His mother, Lian Ji, was an ordinary court lady in the harem. Strange to say, Emperor Ping, who had been infertile all the time, failed to conceive his concubine through various methods, but had sexual intercourse after drinking once and sowed the seeds.

But at that time, Empress Pingyuan was jealous, and all concubines who were pregnant in the harem would die inexplicably.

Lian Ji was also a ruthless person, fearing the persecution of Queen Ping Yuan, she hid in the cold palace, ate bran and swallowed vegetables all day long, caught mice and birds for food, survived the tenth month of pregnancy, and gave birth to Zhao Emperor Yang Ju.

She was named a noble concubine, and gradually defeated Empress Pingyuan, who was born in a famous family, in the harem infighting, and was named Empress Pingxuan.

The three clans were wiped out by the Chen family, the empress of Pingyuan.

Having a mediocre father and an overly strong mother is not a good thing for Emperor Zhao Yang Ju.

Living in the shadow of his mother since he was a child, and witnessing all kinds of open and dark arrows, Emperor Zhao Yang Ju was also extremely scheming.

In the 13 years since Emperor Ping died, Empress Dowager Pingxuan has been listening to the government behind the curtain.

However, during the 13 years that this powerful empress dowager was in power, a large number of stubborn and conservative gentry and powerful forces were hit hard.

Of course, Empress Dowager Pingxuan's life was not very disciplined. A woman with a strong desire for power also had strong other desires. She once raised three hundred male pets in the palace, and was talked about by the common people.

When everyone was not optimistic about Emperor Zhao, he who had endured for many years suddenly made a move. Together with the imperial guards in the palace, he wiped out the eight minions of the Empress Dowager Xuan and put the Empress under house arrest. Overnight, he gained the highest power of the Great Qin Empire.

This scheming emperor is extremely good at employing people.

Wang Meng, who was born in a common family, was used to forcefully reform the government. The land equalization system and the government army system were abolished.

Wang Meng also recommended Fang Mo, Fang Kuang, Cui Yi, Han Yin, Tian Xie and a large group of practical talents.

The tyrants of the gentry were ruled obediently in their hands, and the hearts of the vassal kings were clearly ruled by them...

Wang Meng dealt with these powerful vassals so ruthlessly that some of the Great Qin clan were forced to commit suicide by him.

Wang Meng, who was on the cusp of the storm, also fell into the siege of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty.

But Emperor Zhao seemed to have recognized him, and tried his best to deal with the powerful clansmen, and even restored him to the post of prime minister.

Under the joint efforts of the monarch and his ministers, the conservative forces of the Great Qin Empire were completely suppressed.

Afterwards, Wang Meng led his troops to go north, and once again severely injured the Rouran people, and completely made the stubborn Rouran people a thing of the past.

Another 20 troops were sent to the west, and in the battle of Chuhe, they defeated the Han State with [-] cavalry, forcing the Western Qin Emperor Yang Zhao to cancel the emperor's title and change back to the Han King.

The Western Regions, which had been blocked for a hundred years, returned to the embrace of the Central Plains Empire.

The Hexi Corridor was reopened.

The Great Qin Empire entered its third prosperous age—the Kaiyuan prosperous age.

This prosperous age lasted for 53 years with the efforts of three generations of Emperor Zhao's father and son.

Even Da Qin continued his life for 130 years.

The subsequent emperors were either mediocre or incompetent, and the Great Qin Empire went from being strong to declining.

Land mergers are intensifying, the rich have tens of thousands of mansions, and the poor have no place to stand.

A large number of people who lost their land were reduced to child servants of the powerful gentry.

It is worth mentioning that despite the gradual decline of the Great Qin Dynasty, the Qin army was still powerful because of the recruitment system. It defeated the Shangshung Empire on the plateau and defeated the newly-emerged Turks, Gaoche, and Dingling on the grassland.

The unbearable performance of the Han Dynasty in the first battle of the Chu River caused the Sasanian Empire and the Roman Empire to misjudge, thinking that they could also come to smooth the tiger's beard, and the two countries had a tacit understanding of attacking Hezhong from the south to the north.

The two sides secretly reached a tacit agreement, the land belongs to Sasanian, the population belongs to Rome, and the money and food are divided equally...

The state of Han asked the court for help.

The imperial court sent [-] fine cavalry to help, with Yu Wentai, the general of chariots and cavalry, as the general.

As soon as Yu Wentai arrived in Qinxing County, he rebuilt the Anxi Protectorate, assembled 20 troops from seventeen countries including Han, Tian, ​​Zhou, and Zhaowu. Directly invaded Khorasan, burned, killed and looted, and personally led [-] elite cavalry to attack the Sasanian capital Tessiphon. The Arabs in the south saw the opportunity and took the opportunity to revolt. Open the city and welcome the Qin army.

Yu Wentai fought directly to become a god, captured the Sasanian monarch, and dedicated it to Daxing City.

Seeing that the Qin army was so ferocious, the Romans on the North Road retreated hastily, but unexpectedly, they had already been targeted by an even fiercer tiger.

The descendants of the Xia Kingdom suddenly rushed out from the Volga Valley, defeated the [-] Roman army with a mere [-] troops, and took advantage of the situation to cover up and enter Constantinople, changing this famous Mediterranean city to Changxing.

And in the next 20 years, they continued to invade the land of Europe, looting their cities, robbing their wealth, and robbing their population.

Yang Ming, the king of Xia, defeated the Roman allied forces repeatedly with his outstanding cavalry command ability, and was called "God's Whip" by the Westerners.

But these military victories, for Daqin, belonged to the past.

There are more and more internal conflicts, the imperial court has lost control of the localities, more and more states and counties are in a semi-autonomous state, the governors and prefects are hereditary, the taxes are kept for themselves, and soldiers are recruited at will...

Finally, the tax increase by the imperial court and the double-layer exploitation of the local government finally brought this once glorious empire to its end, just like the great Han once did.

The peasant uprising quickly swept across the Central Plains.

Nearly a million Caofu joined them, and the Jianghuai River, the last blood transfusion site of the Great Qin Empire, was completely cut off.

All that awaits it is death.

The rebel army was in full swing, and under the influence of local forces, they broke through cities loyal to the Great Qin court and defeated armies that were still loyal to the court.

Although it failed under the joint strangulation of local forces in the end, the local forces rose completely.

They annexed each other, as if raising half of the Gu became stronger and stronger.

On the land of the Central Plains, the five kingdoms of Wu, Liang, Tang, Zheng, and Chu gradually formed. The five kingdoms obeyed the Qin Dynasty in name, but in fact, like the Warring States Period, they governed independently.

The five countries fought for 30 years, and finally the Tang State, which originated from Bingzhou, won the final victory...

(End of this chapter)