My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 355: I am the only one who does this, and future rulers will not follow

"Since Emperor Taizu Gao established the Han Dynasty, there have been two armies, the Southern and Northern, the Feihu Army and the Juzhu Army, and the three camps of Xiliu, Bashang, and Jimen;"

"According to the Empress Dowager, what are the similarities and differences between these seven armies?"

In response to his grandmother, Empress Dowager Dou's question of "why are you so overbearing", Liu Rong, who rushed to Changle Palace to explain to the old lady, did not rush to give his own opinion.

Instead of answering, he asked a question and threw the question back to the old queen.

Although she was slightly annoyed by Liu Rong's question instead of answering, the old empress still took a deep breath and gave her own opinion based on her own understanding.

"The Southern and Northern Armies established by Emperor Taizu Gao are the foundation of our Han nation."

"——Since Emperor Taizu Gao gathered his men in Mangdang, those who followed Emperor Taizu Gao, whether they were generals such as Xiao He, Cao Shen, Zhou Bo, Fan Kuai, or the soldiers who charged into battle, were almost all from Fengpei."

"He was the 'old brother from Shandong' mentioned by Emperor Taizu Gao, and later, people privately called him 'Fengpei Yuancong'..."

···
"Thanks to the support of the folks of Fengpei, Emperor Taizu Gao was able to raise an army of righteousness and punish the tyrannical Qin."

"Until Emperor Taizu entered Xianyang first and accepted the surrender of the Third Emperor Ziying, Emperor Taizu Gao always relied on the children of Fengpei the most."

"——Even the extremely evil Zhu Lu also had a rich family background;"

"Gong is merit, fault is fault."

"The crimes of the Lü clan must not be questioned."

"But the Lu family's contributions must also be acknowledged..."

As the old empress dowager finished her words, Liu Rong nodded slightly with approval.

Just as the old empress dowager said: In the early days of his business, Emperor Taizu Gao - or Pei Gong Liu Ji - undoubtedly relied most on his initial entrepreneurial team, Fengpei Yuancong.

Liu Rong is more accustomed to calling it: Fengpei Group.

Back then, Emperor Taizu Liu Bang was just a small pavilion chief in Pei County, Fengyi, Sishui County of Qin.

It was during the time when Emperor Qin Shi Huang was busy with construction projects, including building the Great Wall in the north and the Straight Road in the south.
He built the Afang Palace in Guanzhong and the Mausoleum of the First Emperor in Mount Li, and also spent a large sum of money to give Xu Fu a mission to the East China Sea to seek immortals and ask for the way.

Even to the barren land of Southwestern Yi, the First Emperor sent people there to build a straight five-foot-long road!
Such a heavy and large-scale project, especially in a feudal agricultural civilization, includes huge and complex projects such as infrastructure, wonders, and military facilities;
Nature needs people.

As the head of the Sishui Pavilion, Emperor Taizu Liu Bang naturally escaped the fate of being conscripted for labor by virtue of his connections in both the black and white worlds, but he was still involved in this matter.

——The county government of Pei County, following the instructions of the Qin court in Xianyang, selected hundreds of young and strong men from its jurisdiction and sent them to Mount Li to participate in the pruning work of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor.

The task of escorting the young and strong men fell on the head of the Si Shui Pavilion: Liu Bang.

Everyone has basically heard about what happened later.

When the team reached Mangdang Mountain, some people in the team began to spread panic, saying that all the young and strong men recruited by the First Emperor, whether they were going to the north to build the Great Wall, to the south to build the Straight Road, or to Guanzhong to build the Imperial Mausoleum, would never return!
Those who went to build the Great Wall were exhausted;

Those who went to build a straight road all starved to death.

Those who built the imperial mausoleum were even more miserable - the moment a tomb was completed, all the people who participated in the construction of the tomb would be sealed inside the tomb and suffocated to death!
It is said that it is to keep secrets...

The servants were scared to death - the more they talked, the more bizarre and terrifying it became. That night, several of them stole the horses of the escorting officials and fled overnight.

The team was short of people, and Liu Bang was well aware that according to the law of collective responsibility in the Qin Law, the entire team, starting from Liu Bang and including every person, would inevitably be sent to the Tingwei prison to be punished.

If you have some connections, some money, you might be able to get out with half your life.
If you don’t have any connections, you won’t know whether you will be buried at the foot of the Great Wall or in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.

Anyway, the minimum you get if you go is half dead, with no upper limit, so Liu Bang made a decision immediately: let's all run!

Anyway, going to Xianyang means death - or even worse than death, so we might as well go our separate ways and seek our own chances for life.

As a result, hundreds of young and strong people scattered like birds and beasts, but there were a dozen people who had always admired Liu Bang for a long time and decided to stay with Liu Bang.

The names of these people are basically well-known in later generations.

Longli Hou Zhou Zao~
People like Xi Juan, the Marquis of Lu.

That night, Liu Bang, who had become a bandit, and his brothers who voluntarily stayed behind to follow him drank heavily until midnight, and then they pursued and killed the white snake that symbolized the "mandate of heaven" of the Qin Dynasty.

After that, he spent several years as a bandit, and after the death of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, many heroes rose up to fight against the tyranny of Qin.

During this process, Emperor Taizu Liu Bang relied on the fellow villagers of Fengpei from beginning to end.

——When they became bandits, their fellow villagers acted as their younger brothers, and the common people also took care of Lü Zhi, Liu Le, and Liu Ying.
When he started the rebellion against Qin, it was also the children of Fengpei who followed him and formed the most original entrepreneurial team of Pei Gong Liu Ji.

After that, he fought wars in the south and the north, until Liu Bang entered Xianyang first and accepted the surrender of the third generation Ziying. There were almost no followers or troops around Liu Bang who were not from Fengpei.

And these people - the young men of Fengpei who had followed Liu Bang since the death of the First Emperor, or even when Liu Bang became a bandit, and had made great contributions to the Han Dynasty - were the only source of soldiers for the Southern Army.

When the country was founded, it was a group of veterans fresh off the battlefield;

Later, it was the descendants and grandchildren of these veterans.

Nowadays, basically any young man with a wealthy household registration and no physical disabilities can spend a few years in the Southern Army.

This was a team that was once glorious and great.

But after the Lü Rebellion, during the battle to defend the imperial palace between the northern and southern armies, the Southern Army, which once had the purest and most "red" political composition, inevitably degenerated into a hotbed for the young people of Fengpei to eat and wait for death and to eat up all the wealth.

Therefore, during the reign of Liu Rong, people all regarded the Northern Army as the imperial guards, but only regarded the Southern Army as the "army of the sons of founding fathers and young masters".

As for the relatives of the Lü clan who had committed unforgivable crimes but had made outstanding contributions as mentioned by Empress Dowager Dou, Liu Rong also knew who she was talking about.

——Lü Ze, Marquis of Zhou.

A mysterious relative who played an important role in the founding of the Han Dynasty, but whose traces were mostly erased by historical records, and the most outstanding descendant of the Lu family's relatives...

"The Southern Army, whether it is the original Fengpei veterans or the current Fengpei young men, are all meritorious officials of our Han family."

"——Even if the entire Southern Army is filled with poor people with missing limbs, my Han family must also take good care of them."

"Because the Southern Army is the root of my Han family."

"If the roots are loosened, the ancestral temples and the country will be shaken..."

After the old empress finished speaking, Liu Rong nodded again.

Regarding the Southern Army, Liu Rong's views were consistent with those of the old empress dowager and the previous emperors of the Han Dynasty.

——This glorious and meritorious army, not to mention being unable to fight, even if they can’t take care of themselves, the Han family will have to keep them well fed and well-dressed.

A thousand golds worth of horse bones is also good;
It’s fine to erect a chastity arch.

In short, this is the only way.

Of course, Liu Rong was not willing to have too deep a discussion with the old empress dowager on this topic, not entirely because he had no opinion.

It was because the topic between the grandfather and grandson at the moment had little to do with the Southern Army. To be precise, what Liu Rong wanted to let the old queen know through this topic was not his opinion of the Southern Army...

"The Northern Army is much simpler."

"——After the Hongmen Banquet, Emperor Taizu was conferred the title of King of Han and led his troops south to Hanzhong."

"In the autumn of the same year, the Marquis of Huaiyin was ordered to openly repair the plank road and secretly pass through Chencang, and he was able to regain control of the Three Qins."

"The foundation of the Northern Army was laid at that time."

...

"It is said that when Emperor Taizu regained control of the Three Qins, the people of Guanzhong had suffered from the Three Kings for a long time. When they heard that the one entering the Pass was Pei Gong, who had made three promises, tens of thousands of people immediately joined the army and served."

"So Emperor Taizu sent his maternal relative, Lü Ze, Marquis of Zhou, to take charge of the troops;"

"As for the newly received troops in Guanzhong, they were all handed over to the then great general: Han Xin..."

These words not only recalled the past years, but also tactfully expressed the old empress dowager's views, or attitude, towards the armies of the North and the South.

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—The Southern Army, that was the original partner;
Beijun was the angel investor later.

The two are different and it is hard to say which is more important.

As she spoke further down, the old lady's speech slowed down significantly.

"The Flying Fox Army is an elite force specially used by Emperor Taizu Gao to guard the border wall."

"——It is even stronger than the Southern Army during the reign of Emperor Taizu, and even the Northern Army today!"

"The most important thing is: since Emperor Taizu Gao established the Feihu Camp, no one other than the Emperor of Han has ever successfully commanded this army."

"If you say that the Southern Army is the root of the Han family, and the Northern Army is the branches and leaves of the Han family;"

"The Flying Fox Army is the thickest, strongest, tallest and straightest trunk on the 'tree' of our Han family."

"The Han family cannot be without the Southern Army as its 'root', nor can it be without the Northern Army as its 'branch'."

"But as long as the Feihu Army is still there, no matter how bad the situation is, it will never reach the point of desperation..."

It is obvious that the old queen has a high opinion of the Feihu Army.

Of course, the Feihu Army also deserves such an evaluation.

——An isolated army of less than 20,000 people, although it could not guarantee peace for the northern wall of the Han Dynasty for fifty years, it at least frightened the Xiongnu and ensured that the northern wall could barely hold up.

What would the situation be like if there was no Flying Fox Army?

The Han Dynasty could not even accumulate strength or reduce taxes - all the heavy taxes were placed on the people, and the money extorted from the people was only enough to ensure the safety of the border walls, and there was no way to make any progress.

It is no exaggeration to say that it was the Feihu Army that, with its own strength, allowed the Han family to spare the time to develop for fifty years at a very small cost and at an extremely low strategic cost.

Such a heroic unit absolutely deserves all the praise it can receive.

"The Juzhu Army..."

"Um……"

"We fought some good battles."

"But compared to the Flying Fox Army, it is far behind..."

Finally, after leaving behind this ambiguous remark, the old empress dowager put on an attitude of "I've finished speaking, it's the emperor's turn to speak", as if she had ended her speech.

The old empress dowager's behavior finally made Liu Rong feel at ease.

——The Juzhu Army was established at the same time as the Xiliu, Bashang and Jimen camps, but it was a standing field army mainly responsible for the garrison mission on the front line of the border wall!
Naturally, like the three camps of Xiliu, Bashang and Jimen, the army was supported by the Shaofu treasury and the Xiangfu treasury, each of which borne part of the cost, and the commander-in-chief would make up the difference.

As for such an army, the old queen mother's attitude can be described as straightforward and necessary.

——Ju Zhujun, considering his meritorious service in defending the border, the old queen was still willing to mention him;
As for the three camps of Xiliu, Bashang and Jimen, the old empress dowager was unwilling to even mention them!

Even the Xiuli Camp, which played a key role in quelling the Rebellion of the Seven States of Wu and Chu, was disdained by the old empress dowager!
As for the reason, it is obvious.

Just like Liu Rong disliked this kind of army that ate from a hundred schools of thought and listened to a hundred opinions: the old empress dowager was also dissatisfied with such an army.

In this way, the problem becomes very simple.

"Even if it is the Empress Dowager who summoned me, I, your grandson, would not dare to hide anything."

With a clear mind, Liu Rong finally stopped beating around the bush when speaking.

"My grandson suggests that the two schools of Yulin and Huben be expanded to become captains, and serve as the imperial guards of the Han Dynasty to protect Chang'an, just like the southern and northern armies in the past!"

"It's just different from the past. The Southern Army is made up of young men from Fengpei, and the Northern Army is made up of men from good families in Guanzhong. The Yulin and Huben armies are both made up of orphans of heroes and have been trained since childhood."

"In this way, our Han family will once again achieve a situation where the two imperial armies check and balance each other, rather than one dominant force."

"As far as the ancestral temple and the country are concerned, this move has many advantages and disadvantages. Grandmother, you must understand..."

···
"As for the Northern Army, my grandson's intention is to wait for an opportunity to transform it into the next Flying Fox Army."

"——In fact, over the past few years, the Northern Army is more like the second Flying Fox Army than the Imperial Army!"

“Whenever there was a war—whether it was a change in the northern wall, the invasion of the Huns, suspicion in the south, or Zhao Tuo’s claim to the throne;”

"Even when the princes of Guandong rebelled, the backbone of the army sent out to suppress the rebellion were always the soldiers of the Northern Army."

"After so many years, the combat power of the Northern Army has long been enough to be used as another Flying Fox Army."

"What's more, the people in Guanzhong are tough and brave, and the people are very martial;"

"It is not a long-term solution to lock up all the soldiers from Guanzhong in Chang'an under the name of 'Imperial Army'."

"After all, Guanzhong is the foundation of our Han country and the root of our Liu family..."

After this revelation, the old lady's expression immediately warmed up a little.

——No matter what, Liu Rong was at least willing to tell the truth and had no intention of deceiving the old lady;
At this age, what the old lady cares about is actually this little bit of respect which is better than nothing...

"As for the two armies of Shuofang and Hexi, my grandson also discussed it with the generals and ministers again and again before finally deciding on it."

"As for the support of these armies, it all comes from the Ministry of Finance, and the outside court is not allowed to interfere in the slightest..."

"Grandmother, you must know the reason..."

(End of this chapter)