I have lived forever since the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 321 The Seven Kingdoms are instigating the coming

The Han family has been at peace for forty years. Since the six years since they rejected the Xiongnu and defeated South Vietnam, there has been no war that overturned the country.

As for the petty quarrels at the border, neither the emperor nor the local officials would pay attention to them with a particularly nervous attitude.

Without elite cavalry, it would be more difficult for the army to reach the grasslands, but guarding the territory would not be a problem at all.

Even if the vassal states were not ranked among the most powerful states in China, they performed quite well in resisting the Xiongnu.

In the 17th year of Emperor Wen's reign, the country of Dai was plundered by the Xiongnu during the autumn harvest season. The losses were considerable. So King Liu Ruyi organized an army the following year and went out angrily. He beheaded more than [-] enemies and suffered a battle loss of nearly [-]:[-]. Compare.

Although they did not encounter the real Xiongnu elite, they also defeated the two medium-sized tribes that were dependent on the Xiongnu and brought back a lot of cattle, sheep and horses as trophies.

In the south, it was common for the government to send troops to clear out hundreds of thousands of "savages" and bandits in the mountains.

After all, business in the Han Dynasty was beginning to recover. If counties and counties wanted to collect sufficient tariffs, they had to ensure the safety of the official channels under their rule, so that reputation-damaging things like merchants being robbed would not happen frequently.

Of course, the local government mobilized troops, ranging from two to three thousand, or even only seven or eighty people. After several consecutive "big battles", they were almost all unilateral abuses, completely unable to meet the standards of a battle.

It is precisely because peace has been maintained for so long that many people have forgotten the ferocious appearance of war.

Therefore, seven countries including Jing, Changsha, and Chengyang rebelled at the same time, and the world was shocked!
Chang'an, inside the palace city.

Liu Qi's face was as dark as water, and there were several documents scattered on the slips.

"I've met your Majesty." Chao Cuo had just been summoned, and his tone was quite cautious. He had already been familiar with the other party's temper through the years of passing the prince's family orders.

Just by feeling the atmosphere in this palace, I knew that His Majesty was in a bad mood.

Liu Qi patted the case and said bitterly: "Those traitors, I knew they harbored wolfish ambitions, and they just attacked Liu Bi, the old thief, but in the end they all stopped pretending."

Even without Jia Yi's help, after he succeeded to the throne, he still followed his original plan and began to implement the reduction of vassal status.

In fact, before targeting the Jing Kingdom, Liu Qi had already attacked several small vassal states, depriving them of their titles or substantially depriving them of their fiefdoms for various reasons.

Of course, he didn't pay attention to those small princely states at all.

This is indeed the case.

When those small princes and princes received the decree from Chang'an, they were all forced to accept it. No matter how desperate and helpless they were, they did not choose to resist the decree.

After all, people have self-knowledge.

Your Majesty has barely managed to save some dignity for himself, but if he refuses to do so, his fate may be even worse than that of a prisoner in prison.

Liu Qi believed that his only opponents were relatively powerful vassal states such as Jing State and Changsha State.

So after trying out a few small vassal states, he began to find trouble for Liu Bi.

In the eyes of those princes and kings, it had a completely different meaning.

The small vassal states suffered, and they could deceive themselves and others, thinking that those few vassals did not do well, but when the Jing state was criticized, most of the vassals could not sit still.

Your Majesty wants to boil a frog in warm water!
He had only been on the throne for a short time, and he began to plan to take action against King Jing.

In a few years, wouldn’t he also be deposed as a commoner?
If they don't do anything and don't stop, they simply rebel... In the name of "clearing the emperor's side and punishing Chao's mistakes", they raise their troops and start an uprising!
Most of these princes had been preparing for the war for three months to half a year, especially Jing King Liu Bi, who had been preparing for this war for more than three years.

They launched a sudden attack and caught the local counties by surprise. Many important passes and towns were lost, and beacons were set off everywhere in the world.

Chao Cuo gritted his teeth, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, how about you just follow the instructions of those rebel... princes?"

Liu Qi was stunned for a moment and said, "What's that?"

"I will sacrifice my life in exchange for opportunities." Chao Cuo resolutely said with a sonorous tone, "They raised troops under the banner of Qingjun. If your majesty kills me, those people will naturally lose the reason to continue to cause trouble and win the victory for you." It’s time to raise food for the army.”

The Han officials are now at a disadvantage. The main reason is that they are not prepared to cause chaos among the princes, either psychologically or in terms of material preparations.

To know about a rebel prince in the Han Dynasty, we have to trace it back to King Yu of Wei who was buried in ashes.

With such a long memory, few people would regard it as a reference for reality.

It takes time to transfer the stored grain from Guanzhong and assign generals to rectify the troops.

It happened that the Han Dynasty was retreating steadily. This situation made many people feel scared.

They even felt that before the imperial court could prepare an elite force, the rebels would disrupt everything outside the pass.

Such a situation is not impossible.

You must know that from an internal perspective, the Han Dynasty is not what it was 40 to [-] years ago. Veterans can be found everywhere, and in case of war, they can easily recruit a hundred thousand capable troops.

Now if the Han Dynasty wants to find soldiers with a lot of combat experience, they can only go to the border areas to find them. The total number may not exceed [-].

Forming an elite army was actually not as easy as Liu Qi imagined.

Analyzing from external factors, the seven countries rebelled together. Not only was the momentum astonishing, but it was actually equally destructive.

Among the seven rebel countries, there is no weak country in the true sense.

Even the weakest Jiaodong Kingdom can still recruit [-] young men to fight on the battlefield.

As for the number of soldiers and support personnel put into the battlefield by Jing, Chengyang, and Changsha, the total number exceeded 15.

And more importantly, there are seven vassal states that are in rebellion, but it does not mean that those vassal states that are not in rebellion have their hearts towards the imperial court.

After all, political stance cannot be viewed through simple diode thinking.

In the final analysis, the policy of reducing vassal states promoted by Liu Qi was fundamentally contrary to the interests of all princes.

They did not choose to rebel. Some were concerned about the strength of the Han army, some were thinking of the imperial court's previous favors, and some wanted to fish in troubled waters to seek benefits.

But it was basically impossible for them to wholeheartedly support Liu Qi in putting down the rebellion.

There are not a few princes and kings who remain neutral on the surface, but secretly keep in touch with those rebellious princes.

Among them, the most obvious one is Liu Jianglu, King of Qi.

After all, the King of Chengxi, King of Jiaoxi, King of Zhuchuan, and King of Jiaodong who raised an army are all his brothers. He wants him to go out and kill these brothers with his own hands...

Not to mention whether he is willing or not, the current Qi State does not have this strength.After all, Qi State is the place where the policy of "building more vassals but less strength" is implemented. Qi State's strength can be better than that of a certain vassal state separated from itself. However, if two vassal states join forces, Qi State can at most compete and support , but now the four princely states have rebelled together.

The King of Qi suspected that if he sent troops to stop him, he would not survive until the court came to support him.

Judging from various reasons, the situation Liu Qi is facing now is quite difficult.

I'm afraid he didn't expect that after he ascended the throne, he was still in the stage of making small adjustments, and before he officially started making big moves, he would actually light the powder keg and explode.

Regarding Chao Cuo's proposal, he felt a little moved for a moment.

If Chao Cuo's life can be exchanged for the withdrawal of his troops, oh no, just a one-year truce, then Liu Qi feels that he can take advantage of the opportunity to clean up all the vassal states that have rebelled.

However, after thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said, "Chao, I still don't intend to adopt your proposal."

"Why? Your Majesty, if you think about the friendship in the past, there is no need to do so." Chao Cuo said plausibly. He raised his head and said, "The people of the world and your foundation are more important. I sacrificed my life to get these. Isn't it worth it?"

Liu Qi was a little moved, then he sighed and said: "If your efforts are worth it, then I am willing to carry your trust forward.

But even if I kill you, what are the chances of those rebels retreating?

You must know that from the moment they raised their troops, they were completely on the opposite side of us, with no retreat left. If they fail to attack Chang'an and kill me, then they will definitely die.

Therefore, if I kill you, I'm afraid your death will be in vain.

I can't do this kind of thing that makes my relatives happy and my enemies happy. "

Compared with Liu Qi in history, he is much calmer now when facing the chaos of the Seven Kingdoms.

At least one key issue has been figured out.

Next, I have to send troops to quell the turmoil, instead of relying on political means to try to appease the rebels.

After listening to these analyses, Chao Cuo no longer insisted on dying, but a look of worry appeared on his face.

You must know that when you decide to face death, you can survive it with courage, but in the aftermath of the disaster, it will make people fearful.

Now that he saw Liu Qi refusing to sacrifice himself in exchange for a truce, he began to formally consider how to solve the next problem.

You must know that Chao Cuo originally planned to die, and never thought about how to quell the rebellion of the princes and kings from the front.

What's more, he has some talent in politics, but knows nothing about military affairs, and can only barely understand maps.

Chao Cuo sat upright for a long time, scratched his head in distress, and broke the silence and said: "Your Majesty, why don't you consider my proposal?"

The situation is so ruined that I can't see any hope of breaking through.

Sometimes after death, it is over, but there is not so much burden in my heart, unlike the living who need to consider so many issues.

Liu Qi shook his head.

After he calmed down, all the impatience in his body disappeared. He quietly picked up the documents that he had thrown on the ground one by one and read them carefully.

After about two quarters of an hour, Liu Qi raised his head and said, "I have an idea."

"Your Majesty, please speak." Chao Cuo's eyes lit up.

Liu Qi took a deep breath and said: "We have to make two preparations next.

First, we have to recruit troops in the Guanzhong and Sanhe areas, and send generals from Chang'an to lead them to fight against the rebels.

The second is to create obstacles behind the rebels so that they cannot advance so easily.Occupy territory.

I already have a candidate in mind for the general who will lead the army, and there is no one more suitable than General Zhou Yafu.

As for how to achieve the second project, I also have a plan. Later, I will issue an edict to those princes and kings who have not raised troops to rebel, asking them to help counties and counties to fight against those rebels. "

The plan he formulated in a short period of time already has a basic framework.

The rebels are now powerful, but they have not yet disturbed the core of the Han Dynasty. The Guanzhong and Sanhe areas have not been harassed by the rebels, and the imperial court has sufficient control over this area.

These two places happened to be the source of troops and grain production for the Han Dynasty. They had greater war potential than Jingdi and Qidi, where the rebel vassal states had risen.

As for the appointment of the head coach, the famous generals of the older generation of Han Dynasty, Cao Shen, Zhou Bo, Fan Kuai and Xia Houying have all passed away many years ago.

It was not that Liu Qi had not considered letting the former general come out, but the Marquis of Huaiyin had been retired for more than thirty years and was over seventy years old.

It's not that he doubts Han Xin's ability, it's just that whether the old general's physical strength and physical condition can sustain it are worrying matters.

The self-appointed general, Zhou Yafu, is indeed the most outstanding Mesozoic general in the Han Dynasty in recent years.

In these years, the Han Dynasty only had local wars with the Xiongnu, but among the three battles with the most outstanding results, except for the one when Liu Ruyi commanded the counterattack on behalf of the army, the remaining two major victories were led by Zhou Yafu.

Zhou Yafu has already proven some of his abilities. At least in commanding an army of less than 10 men, he is not inferior to the older generation of generals. Especially in terms of military discipline, he can compare with Han Xin.

"Preparing food and grass and recruiting soldiers are inevitable things, but the second point of your plan...will the princes be willing?" Chao Cuo asked hesitantly.

The first item in Liu Qi's plan, if he obeyed it honestly, there would be no problems, not to mention that it was left to General Zhou to lead the troops to fight.

What worried him was the second strategy.

You must know that in recent years, most princes and kings have not had a good impression of the imperial court.

Faced with an uncertain choice, those people will most likely be hesitant.

Liu Qi narrowed his eyes, waved his hand and said: "Whether they are willing or not is one thing, but when those traitors know this, they will be wary of the rear. As long as one of the princes and kings sends troops, those traitors will not They will attack us massively, and in this way, most of my plan will be realized."

This is a plan to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf!
And he does not need all the princes and kings to send troops to attack the rebels.

That was definitely impossible, and Liu Qi knew it in his heart.

But it only takes two to three princes and kings to respond locally, which will greatly reduce the momentum of the rebels and make those rebels wary.

"Your Majesty is wise, I will start to do it now." Chao Cuo thought about it in his mind and was amazed. As long as this method is effective, it can indeed buy a lot of time in the early stages of the war and greatly increase his own chance of winning.

(End of this chapter)