Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

第401章 皇长孙（鸣谢书友2019…5444/2017…8585月票）

Half a month later, on October 20th, the Ministry of Internal Affairs held a grand wedding for Crown Prince Chai Jiyu and took Sun Tong as the Crown Princess.

He conferred the title of Earl on his father Sun Li.

The weddings of twenty concubines, twenty-nine ladies and wives were also held one after another.

Chai Zongxun issued an edict to bestow upon the 950 beauties who had made it to the final round but failed, all of whom were given to the royal family, civil and military ministers, and more than 600 of them were rewarded.

As for the nearly 30,000 unsuccessful concubines who came to Beijing, Chai Zongxun issued an edict to grant each of them 20 taels of silver and half a month's leave. After touring Bianliang, they were escorted back to their hometowns by government officials.

On November 6, the 30th year of Kaixi, news came about the war on the Central Asian front. The First and Second Front Armies of the Longxiang Army of the Great Zhou Empire, totaling ten corps, attacked cities and strongholds from the east and south, and on September 22, they surrounded the capital of the Samanid Dynasty.

Since Hu Yanzan's troops of the Second Front Army completely conquered the Ghaznavid Empire in May of the 30th year of Kaixi, they rested for half a month and then marched north to attack the Samanid Empire, causing great panic among the coalition forces of the Xingxing Sect.

At this time, the Star Cult coalition, consisting of more than ten countries and more than 1.5 million troops, under the command of Samanid King Mansur, was deployed on the front line east of the capital Bukhara.

Although Jingsheng and other five corps of the First Front Army had the upper hand in the battle, the enemy was three times larger than theirs and was defending the city, so the speed of conquering the city was very slow. The morale of the coalition forces of the Star Sect was also acceptable.

In more than two years, they only advanced more than 700 miles from the east to the west, and were still more than 900 miles away from the capital of the Samanid Empire.

After Hu Yanzan's Second Front Army destroyed the Ghaznavid Empire and invaded the Samanid Empire from the south, the pressure on the coalition forces of the Star Sect increased sharply.

King Saman immediately sent envoys to the Black Caliphate and Khwarezm countries to meet with their monarchs and request them to send more troops to support their country so that they could form a large army to resist the Second Front Army of the Great Zhou in the south.

However, at this time, the Black Caliphate and the Khwarezmian Empire had both been attacked by the 700,000-strong army of the Eastern Roman Empire. The two countries had more than one million troops deployed on the Western Front and were at war with the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Eastern Roman Empire had been at war with the countries of the Star Religion world for a long time. Although it did not have advanced weapons like the Great Zhou Empire, its heavy infantry regiment's spear phalanx, which Chai Zongxun called the "Macedonian phalanx" in his previous life, was incredibly powerful.

Both the Black Caliphate and the Khwarezmian Empire were caught in the dilemma of fighting the Great Zhou Empire and the Roman Empire from the east and west at the same time.

As for the other dozen or so small countries, they were small in size and had few people. When they formed the Star Cult coalition to invade the Great Zhou, they thought they were sure to win.

Therefore, they all mobilized their entire country and sent out tens of thousands of troops in the hope of getting more credit.

If we were to send troops to rescue the Samanids now, there would be no soldiers in the country. It is impossible to destroy the country to save the Samanids, right?
As a result, the Samanid envoys returned from various countries in defeat without getting any reinforcements.

Mansur had no choice but to capture 500,000 able-bodied men in the country and put them under the command of 100,000 imperial guards, with a total of 600,000 troops, to march south to block the Second Front Army of the Great Zhou Longxiang Army.

One can imagine the morale and combat effectiveness of this army that was forcibly formed on short notice.

The two armies fought twice in Nishapur and Balkh. The 600,000 Samanid troops were almost wiped out by five corps led by Huyan Zan, leaving only more than 70,000 people who escaped back to the capital, Khabur.

When the Star Sect coalition forces on the eastern battlefield heard that the 600,000-strong Samanid army had been defeated on the southern battlefield, they panicked and feared that they would be surrounded by the Great Zhou army on the east and south, so they wanted to escape.

The eastern defense line was quickly breached by Jingsheng and his First Front Army. Of the more than 20 Star Sect countries, 15 fled back to their own countries on the way to Bukhara. Only the Black Coat, Green Coat and six small countries whose way back to their home countries was blocked by the Great Zhou Army remained, and they withdrew to Bukhara with the Samanid army.

On September 22, the two major armies of the Great Zhou met at the city of Bukhara and surrounded the capital of the Samanid Empire.

At this time, since Chai Zongxun issued an edict at the beginning of the year, ordering civilian merchant ships to attack the Angkor Dynasty navy, more and more civilian merchant ships that had been modified with "Yansu Cannons" formed teams and headed to the South China Sea Strait area.

At most, there were more than a thousand civilian merchant ships of the Great Zhou Dynasty that rushed to the South China Sea to participate in the war.

After more than half a year of naval battles, Angkor's navy and civilian warships, which used bows and arrows and jump-boat battles, were no match for the artillery warships of the Great Zhou. After dozens of naval battles, more than 2,000 ships were destroyed, and the remaining less than 1,000 warships dared not go out to sea again.

The Angkor king and his ministers were greatly frightened after witnessing the power of the Zhou artillery. Uddiyavarman I quickly recalled the troops fighting against the Zhou army on the border and strengthened the defenses of the border cities.

The trade route from Da Zhou to Tianzhu and Da Shi was completely opened in August of the 30th year of Kaixi, and the profit of one-way sea trade was as high as five to ten times.

The commodities that the merchants transported to the Great Zhou for sale were mostly silk, porcelain, gold and silver jewelry, clothing, etc., while the commodities that they transported back for sale were mostly pearls, gems, spices, etc.

As these are all high-priced commodities, the tax revenue of the Great Zhou Customs has also increased significantly, and it is estimated that it will bring in an additional 50 million taels of silver throughout next year.

Chai Zongxun was overjoyed when he received the report, and ordered the Ministry of War to transport wine, pigs, sheep, etc. to reward the entire army on the front line.

The emperor also sent an imperial edict to Huyan Zan and Jingsheng, ordering them to advance steadily, cherish the lives of soldiers, and make full use of the advantages of artillery to attack Bukhara, the capital of the Samanid Empire. The court's military supplies were guaranteed to be sufficient even if the war lasted another ten years.

After the Ministry of War issued the order, the prefectures in Central Asia, the Hexi Corridor, and the Liugufan area purchased 200,000 pigs, 300,000 sheep, and one million jars of fine wine from the public at market prices and shipped them to the front line to reward the troops.

It was already mid-December when the imperial reward arrived at the front line, and all the soldiers had a sumptuous New Year's Eve and New Year.

The Samanid Empire and the coalition forces of the Star Sect trapped in Bukhara became increasingly panicked in the face of the bombardment of thousands of "Yansu cannons" from the Great Zhou.

Moreover, after more than 800,000 defeated soldiers poured in, the food and military equipment in Bukhara City were consumed very quickly, and the city could only support it for half a year at most.

During the New Year's Eve holiday in the 31st year of Kaixi, a memorial was received from the State of Song, stating that Princess Song Chun had given birth to a son at 3:00 p.m. on December 25th of the 30th year of Kaixi, who was very strong and lively. The King of Song begged Emperor Chai Zongxun to name the son.

Chai Zongxun, Empress Dowager Fu and Queen Fu were overjoyed when they heard the news. This child was not only the eldest grandson of the emperor, but also the crown prince of Prince Song. Zhou'er's lineage now had a successor.

Chai Zongxun follows the royal family hierarchy set at that time:

Jimei Zhongqi is a man of great talent, kind and harmonious, diligent and respectful, with great talent and broad vision. He cultivates his character and strives to be profound and elegant. He is blessed with prosperity and happiness, and has a bright future. His good name will go down in history, and his virtues will be passed down for thousands of years.

After thinking for a few days, he named his eldest grandson Guo Meitai, and gave a large number of rare treasures to the Song Palace. All officials of the Song vassal state were promoted by one level.

He also issued an amnesty for the entire nation.

(End of this chapter)