A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 902: Guarding the Fortress and Granting Honors to Stabilize the Song Dynasty, and the Yuanhe Restoration Ended with No Governance

After inspecting the three forts, Bai Hui and his party went on to inspect the nearby Quanshui Fort, Gaofeng Fort, and Riverside Fort.

Some of them are medium-sized forts with several hundred households, and some are small forts with more than a hundred households.

They were scattered across the plains near Chenliu, controlling an area of ​​more than a hundred miles in the countryside of Chenliu. The local tyrants who had been running rampant also restrained themselves.

Because of the suppression of Weibao, all the local powerful families agreed to the demands of the prefectures and counties. Those who refused were jointly eliminated by the soldiers dispatched by the Jiedufu, the fort soldiers dispatched by the Grand Marshal's Office, and the yamen runners of the prefectures and counties.

Even the bandits who had occupied the mountains and forests disappeared because of the impenetrable fortress, and the Bian Song area was thus greatly governed.

However, perhaps because the Weibao system made the nobles feel threatened, coupled with the promotion of Neo-Confucianism before, the relationship between the nobles and the Bai family reached a freezing point.

Bai Hui's request to the court to grant official titles to various guard forts was rejected by the court.

Helplessly, Bai Hui could only confer honors on these guard fort chiefs who originally had no official status and pay them salaries herself.

The heads of ten households received no salary, but enjoyed tax exemptions.

The head of a hundred households was granted the rank of sixth-rank Wuqiwei; the head of a small fort was granted the rank of sixth-rank Yunqiwei; the head of a medium fort was granted the rank of fifth-rank Feiqiwei; and the head of a large fort was granted the rank of fifth-rank Xiaoqiwei.

The only Ning'an Guard garrison commander, Liu Hu, was granted the rank of fourth-rank cavalry commander, while the three deputy garrisons were granted the rank of fourth-rank cavalry commander.

Although he was not an official, he had escaped from the common people.

Bai Hui's act of awarding honors to the chief of the Weibao greatly shocked the various powerful fortresses within his jurisdiction.

In order to win them over, Bai Hui promised them that as long as they were willing to become military households and serve in the Xuanwu Army, they would also be awarded medals.

Therefore, in order to escape from their white status, the owners of the various forts based on clans and villages surrendered one after another, bringing the able-bodied men from their forts with them to join the army in Bianzhou.

However, in just three months, the number of Xuanwu Army soldiers increased to 30,000, of which 10,000 were former sergeants, with the oldest having served for 20 years.

Among them, 10,000 were newly recruited soldiers. Anlin Wei was set up in Songzhou to accommodate military households following the army. The military name was set up as "Xuan De", and it also belonged to Xuanwu Town. There was a commander-in-chief Yuan Zhonghao. Among the soldiers, the one with the longest military service was five years.

The last ten thousand were transformed from the powerful troops, and the army was named "Xuanren". The commander was Chen Yuanan, who was originally the lord of Chenjiabao and was stationed in Xiangyi.

The 10,000 soldiers of the Xuanwu Army are veterans who are skilled in archery and horse riding and have excellent martial arts. The youngest soldier has more than five years of military service. Their combat effectiveness ranks first in Xuanwu Town, and they are led by Bai Hui himself.

The second most powerful army was the Xuanren Army, led by Chen Yuanan. Since most of their soldiers were children of powerful families or followers of powerful families, although their battle formations were insufficient, their martial arts were much more skilled than those of the newly recruited soldiers.

If we add Xuanwu Town, their official status and worries were solved, and they were freed from personal dependence on their masters, and were additionally designated as military households.

Their fighting power is almost as good as that of the main forces of other military towns.

It’s just because this army is too influenced by local powerful people, so the fluctuation range will be very large.

The last is the Xuan De Army, commanded by Yuan Zhonghao. Since they are newly recruited, their combat effectiveness is not obvious. However, as time goes by, their combat effectiveness will gradually increase, and they have great potential.

He laid the foundation through the system of guard forts and military households, and had reasonable students to govern the local area for him. Five generations of people, Bai Jing, Bai Xin, Bai Shen, Bai Xian and Bai Hui, created the powerful Xuanwu Town out of thin air in the land of Bian Song.

Relying only on the two places of Bian and Song, Liang Shang, a lowly-ranked army, could compete with Wei Bo, the world's number one military garrison, Shuofang, the veteran military garrison, and the left and right Shen Ce armies of the central imperial guards.

The 15th year of Yuanhe

The twenty-seventh day of the first lunar month
There was a mournful news from Chang'an: Saint Li Chun passed away and the country was in mourning.

Upon hearing that the saint had died again, the local warlords became more ferocious, and the aristocratic families who were originally close to the court also knew that the coming of troubled times was inevitable.

Therefore, in order to protect their own interests in the local area, they began to make moves, secretly communicated with local military governors, and sent outstanding sons of the family to serve in various military governors.

Make a move in advance in order to ensure the survival of your own family in the upcoming chaotic times and continue to be prominent in the new dynasty.

When the news reached Songxi, Taiyuan, the Bai family, as a superior family, was different from other families. They no longer needed to fight for the survival of the family. According to their own size, the Bai family could easily step into the next dynasty and continue to be prominent.

Therefore, unlike other noble families who sent their children to serve as military governors of vassal towns, and other noble families who competed for shares in vassal towns, the Bai family solely owned the two vassal towns of Hedong and Xuanwu. With only these two large towns and small shares of varying proportions in other vassal towns, the Bai family had its own military force and did not need to look at the faces of other vassal towns.

In prosperous times, the Bai family produced literary talents; in troubled times, the Bai family had martial arts. They were able to adapt themselves and became a superior family.

Therefore, when this news reached Songxi, the Bai family had a different reaction.

Because the emperors of the Li Tang royal family were too fickle in recent years, they were always wise in the early stage, but for some reason they would become greedy for pleasure in the later stage.

The same was true of Li Chun. In the early days, he was strong, wise and decisive, able to use loyal counselors. He appointed Du Huangshang, Pei Du and Li Jiang as prime ministers successively, and the politics in the court was clear for a time.

Then he pacified Sichuan Jiedushi Liu Pi and Zhenhai Jiedushi Li Qi, recruited the three towns in Hebei, eliminated Huaixi Jiedushi Wu Yuanji and Zibo Jiedushi Li Shidao, and made powerful vassal states in various places surrender one after another and submit to the imperial court.

But because eunuchs were heavily used in the process of suppressing the feudal lords.

He actually appointed his trusted eunuch Tuotu Chengcui as the left and right generals of the Divine Strategy Army, and concurrently appointed him to important posts as the military commander of the Hezhong, Heyang, Zhejiang West, Xuanshe and other road camps and the commander of the recruitment and disposal.

This greatly increased the power of eunuchs.

The ministers in the court kept advising that there should be some restrictions on eunuchs, but Li Chun said:

"Tutu Chengcui is just a family slave. No matter how much power I give him, it would be as easy for me to get rid of him as plucking a hair."

Later, when the world was generally peaceful, Tubo was suppressed on the plateau again by the Tang army.

Li Chun thought he had made great contributions and accomplished immortal achievements, so he began to become arrogant and extravagant.

He appointed the treacherous minister Huangfu Bo, who was good at amassing wealth, and dismissed the wise minister Pei Du, and the political situation became increasingly corrupt.

Some even believe in immortality and Buddha, hoping to find the elixir of immortality.

Last year, an imperial decree was issued to recruit alchemists from all over the country to help him refine the elixir of life. Huangfu Bo recommended a hermit named Liu Mi to him.

In order to refine the elixir of life, Li Chun sent countless envoys to the local areas to collect rare treasures according to Liu Mi's requirements, which made the local areas exhausted.

Han Yu, who had been promoted to the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, submitted a memorial with sincerity and earnest advice.

Li Chun was furious and prepared to execute Han Yu. Fortunately, Pei Du, Bai Hui and other internal and external ministers dissuaded him, so he demoted Han Yu to the governor of Chaozhou.

However, because he took a large amount of elixirs, Li Chun became irritable and often scolded or killed the eunuchs around him.

The eunuchs were terrified and tried to find ways to protect themselves. In order to save their lives, they split into two factions.

One faction was led by the eunuch Tuotu Chengcui, who planned to make the second son, Prince of Li, Li Yun, the crown prince.

One faction was led by eunuchs Liang Shouqian and Wang Shoucheng, who supported the third son, Prince Sui Li Heng, as the crown prince.

But no matter how the two factions fought, their common goal was not to let Li Chun continue to live.

Therefore, the secret reports received by Bai from various parties can be summarized as follows:
"Saint Li Chun was assassinated by eunuchs including Chen Hongzhi, Wang Shoucheng, and Tutu Chengcui. Prince Li Heng, with the help of his mother, Concubine Guo, Liang Shouqian, Wang Shoucheng and other eunuchs, successfully seized the position of crown prince."

"Li Yun, the Prince of Li, died at the hands of Liang Shouqian, the lieutenant of the Right Army of the Divine Strategy."

Bai Shen, who knew the secret, sighed:

"The power of the Guo family and the nobles is still very strong. Even though the eunuchs are in power now, we have to consider their opinions."

Bai Xian was puzzled, so Bai Shen explained, "Guo is the granddaughter of Guo Ziyi and has great influence in the city, while Li Yun, the Prince of Li, was born to a palace maid and has never been valued by those aristocratic officials."

At this point, Bai Shen couldn't help but find it a little funny: "This Tuotu Chengcui has made some achievements in military affairs, but in politics, he is still inferior to Liang Shouqian and Wang Shoucheng. Ahem."

Before he could finish his words, Bai Shen felt a strange itching in his lungs and couldn't help coughing.

(End of this chapter)