Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 455: Founding Heroes (Special thanks to book friend Aa Wang Lufei for his 2 monthly tickets!)

Tang Qi, the chief eunuch standing by, smiled for a while and said:

"Your Majesty, since Basil II formed an alliance with our Great Zhou, he has kept his word and made great efforts, sending an army of 600,000 to attack the neighboring Black Caliphate and Khwarezm.

In the past few years, Basil II sent envoys to Bian Jing twice to present gifts and visit Empress Anna.

If we attack Khwarezm for several years and withdraw without taking a single state, I am afraid that Basil II will be embarrassed among his subjects.”

Chai Zongxun nodded, thinking:

"If Basil II sends an envoy to beg me, I will consider the alliance with the Eastern Roman Empire and Princess Anna is my beloved concubine, so I will discuss it.
If Basil II dares to send troops to rob us, then I cannot be blamed!"

At the morning court session the next day, the emperor and his ministers discussed the establishment of rule in Khwarezm, and decided on the chief officials who would go to serve as governors. The permanent garrison would be a corps of the Longxiang Army.

Minister of War Li Fang came out and said:
“Your Majesty, although Yang Ye led the 8th Dragon Army to conquer the entire territory of Khwarezm and made great contributions, he took the initiative and violated the imperial decree this time, and led the army to the five states of Donkwo in the west of Khwarezm, which almost destroyed the alliance between our Great Zhou and the Eastern Roman Empire and provoked a war between the two countries!
This is the second time that Yang Ye has disobeyed the order of His Majesty, which shows that he is arrogant and domineering because of his great achievements!
I beg Your Majesty to punish him!"

Dozens of ministers came out together and said:
"We beg Your Majesty to punish Yang Ye! If you don't punish him, it will be difficult to show Your Majesty's majesty to the military!"

Chai Zongxun pondered for a while, knowing that after more than 30 years of wars of unification and foreign expansion, the military generals had made outstanding military achievements, many of them had been granted titles, and they also held military power. Their power already surpassed that of the civil officials in the court.

Chai Zongxun knew very well that every person, every group, and every party is selfish by nature and tends to pursue its own interests.

Faced with a group of military commanders whose power surpassed their own, the civil officials could no longer help wanting to suppress and weaken them, perhaps out of jealousy.

Yang Ye was a surrendered general of the Northern Han Dynasty with very shallow roots. During this expedition, he violated the imperial edict of Emperor Chai Zongxun twice in the matters of collecting grain and seizing territory, and thus immediately became the target of criticism from all the civil officials.

Seeing that Emperor Chai Zongxun was silent, the Prime Minister Li Hang looked at several important cabinet officials and said:
“Your Majesty, the military generals are too powerful, which is definitely not a blessing for the country.

Your Majesty unified China, expanded the territory, and achieved both civil and military virtues. You are the greatest emperor in the history of China. Naturally, these military generals are respectful in front of Your Majesty.

However, when it comes to your Majesty's descendants, how can they make the now powerful group of military commanders obey the imperial edicts? "

Chai Zongxun was shocked and thought that this was indeed a serious problem.

The capable ministers and generals who followed the founding emperor to conquer the world had outstanding contributions and extremely high prestige. Except for the founding emperor who could suppress them, once the second generation of emperors came to power, they had neither political achievements nor prestige in the military, and were often ignored by these arrogant generals.

This is also the reason why Emperor Gaozu of Han and Emperor Taizu of Ming in previous generations killed many founding generals.

There were also emperors who protected founding heroes, the most famous of whom were Emperor Guangwu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang.

However, after the empire was pacified, these two emperors also stripped their generals of their military power and maintained them in wealth and leisure.

Chai Zongxun said:

"I know what you, my dear ministers, mean.

I have used the military supervision system, the gendarmerie system and the retirement system to restrain the generals, so that they will not cause harm to the country.

With these systems, my descendants can also firmly control military power, and there will be no possibility of warlordism."

Wang Dan, the Vice Minister and Minister of Finance, came out and said, "Your Majesty, Yang Ye has violated your Majesty's military discipline twice during this expedition. If you don't punish him, how can you declare to the world that your Majesty's decree cannot be disobeyed?"

Chai Zongxun sighed and said:
"Yang Ye acted on the spot twice, all for the sake of my country, and it doesn't count as disobeying my will!
For example, he temporarily requisitioned food and fodder from the people of Khwarezm. As soon as he conquered the city of Kotim, Yang Ye immediately ordered the soldiers to repay the people with the confiscated food from the treasury.

For example, when Yang Ye took over the five states of Donkovo, his move was a bit reckless, but it was not an intentional provocation to the Eastern Roman Empire. He was both brave and resourceful.

It means that we can take the five states into our Great Zhou territory, and we won't become enemies with the Eastern Roman Empire, so what's wrong with that?"

The civil officials made suggestions many times, but they were all suppressed by Chai Zongxun. They had no choice but to stop raising the issue.

Chai Zongxun said:

"Now that Khwarezm has been destroyed, the Black Caliphate is the only big country left in the Star Religion world. The remaining twenty or so small countries can be taken down in one fell swoop.

After the wars in the past few years, the Black Arabs lost about 300,000 soldiers, and their own army is no more than 500,000. I must destroy them!
There is no need to use a butcher knife to kill a chicken. The country of the Black-clad Arabs alone does not need as many troops as the ten corps of the Longxiang Army to continue the war.

I intend to send the 13th to 16th Corps, which have mature combat capabilities, to the West Asian front to continue fighting against the Star Church world until it is completely conquered.

The soldiers of the ten legions now on the march have been on the march for a long time and have made many sacrifices. I cannot bear to see them continue to work so hard.

After the 13th to 16th Corps arrive, these ten Corps will set off to return to Beijing, which will also greatly save the current treasury expenditure."

When the ministers in the Chuigong Hall heard that the emperor wanted to withdraw the ten corps currently engaged in wars in Central and West Asia, they all agreed immediately as this would be a good opportunity to reduce the number of meritorious service provided by the generals and ministers.

Minister of War Li Fang came out and said:
"Your Majesty, Holy Ming!
The Black Arabs alone were defeated by our Great Zhou. Four armies are more than enough to defeat them!
This move will immediately reduce the annual treasury expenditure for conquering the Star Sect world from over 100 million taels to less than 40 million taels. "

Minister of Rites Kou Zhun came out and said:
"Your Majesty, after conquering the Star Religion world, our country has bordered the Eastern Roman Empire, a country with a population of 20 million, so we must be on guard.

I believe that the Longxiang Army stationed in the central and western parts of the country is also indispensable.

In order to consolidate its rule, Khwarezm should also send immigrants to garrison here."

Chai Zongxun nodded slightly and said with a smile:
"Yang Ye scared off more than 100,000 Eastern Roman troops in Donkvor, and I wonder how Basil II will react?
They probably wouldn't dare to start a war against our Great Zhou lightly.

Our two countries have been allies for many years, and I still hope that we can live in peace.

As for the immigration to Khwarezm, we will recruit 3 million Han people from the public on the same terms as the immigration to Khitan.

A few days later, the reorganized 13th to 16th Corps set out westward to the battlefields in Central and West Asia.

Also setting off at the same time were hundreds of officials and Longxiang garrison troops selected from the past decade who had performed well in their political performance and went to Khwarezm to establish their rule.

After the imperial court issued an edict to recruit immigrants to Khwarezm, many people signed up because of the favorable conditions that allowed them to immediately become small and medium-sized landlords.

In just less than two months, three million people had been recruited in populous states.

(End of this chapter)